Chapter 191

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“Deputy Kim, the report? Did you finish the revisions?”

“Yes. Everyone gathered starting two days ago and worked without sleep to complete all revisions.”

“So it can go out today?”

“Yes. As soon as you approve it, we’re ready to release it.”

Yeouido is in an uproar right now.

Because two days ago, Gwangwoon suddenly released a negative report on China.

The report, filled with scathing criticism, was clearly targeting the Chinese market.

“We’re not the only ones in chaos. I heard Wall Street is flipped upside down too. They were about to release positive reports on China like us.”

There are trends in the financial markets.

And it was the job of securities firms to guide customers’ money toward those trending stocks.

The reports that analysts release influence customers’ investment decisions more than expected, and them manipulating trends has been a constant phenomenon since long ago.

In that regard, the Chinese market was the trend the financial world chose this time.

But there’s one place that even those who lead trends cannot defy.

“If Gwangwoon tries to go against the flow, there’s nothing we can do. Gwangwoon’s light breath is stronger than our barking or Wall Street’s.”

Financial trends are no longer made by Wall Street.

Surprisingly, one securities firm here in Korea creates them.

“Everyone is just watching what kind of report Gwangwoon will release this time. Then if the content is opposite to their own reports, they quickly revise them.”

Gwangwoon currently has the power to move thousands of trillions of won in the stock market.

From Gwangwoon’s own capital to the National Pension.

It’s no exaggeration to say they’re currently the world’s biggest player.

Although there are companies like WhiteRock and Wingard with over 1 quadrillion in managed assets, they can never match Gwangwoon’s power.

Because their assets are split into tens of thousands of funds, making it nearly impossible to consolidate into one.

“In contrast, Gwangwoon can be moved solely by one person named Jeong Jin-ho. That’s the scary part.”

It’s already widely known that Gwangwoon Group revolves around President Jeong Jin-ho.

Furthermore, Jeong Jin-ho has been praised as an immortal investor who will never appear twice in human history, and has quickly become a star both in Korea and overseas.

“He doesn’t appear much in media, but wouldn’t it be nothing for that man to casually say one thing and cause hundreds of companies to disintegrate?”

The power behind Jeong Jin-ho’s words comes largely from the media power Gwangwoon possesses.

Even if what he says is false, Gwangwoon has the power to make it true.

“This is why Wall Street pays attention to his words. Look at this China situation. Honestly, China doesn’t have as many problems as Gwangwoon claims in their report, right?”

The report Gwangwoon released worldwide was rather exaggerated.

But as mentioned earlier, the truth doesn’t matter.

What matters is Gwangwoon’s will.

Why would Gwangwoon release such a report?

It was a declaration of war that they would wreck China according to the content here.

In other words, the reason Wall Street and domestic stock markets are buzzing isn’t because Gwangwoon’s analysis was accurate.

It was because it revealed that Gwangwoon has started moving with China in their sights.

“It’s scary. That one person can control the world economy.”

“That’s understandable. Gwangwoon dominates almost every field right now. Recently, they’ve even invested massively in sports and are trying to swallow that up too.”

Messi’s transfer gave a huge shock to the global sports market.

Furthermore, there was much criticism that a bigger spender than Saudi Arabia was entering and tainting the sports market, but regardless, Gwangwoon isn’t stopping and continues to pour in money.

“Now they want everything under their control.”

“But isn’t that too dangerous? This is a company that surpasses the power of nations.”

“What can be done? There have been several attempts to stop Gwangwoon, but ultimately they couldn’t stop them and instead made them grow even more.”

Before, most predictions were that Gwangwoon would act recklessly without knowing their limits and eventually get trampled.

But now everyone’s thinking has changed.

No matter how much they tried to step on Gwangwoon, they wouldn’t be stepped on and instead trampled on others.

In other words, they’ve now grown into a company that can neither be brought down nor stepped on.

Because of that, Wall Street calls them this:

KW Empire. It means they’ve already become an empire.

“Don’t think too deeply. Securities people like us shouldn’t look far ahead, just think about the profits right in front of us. If you really hate that, then win at every investment like that Mr. Jeong Jin-ho.”

“Phew. I definitely can’t. Besides, the moment we go against this flow, we’ll be the ones getting beaten up.”

Looking at it this way, maybe investing has become easier than before.

You just have to copy what Gwangwoon does.

But the moment you do the opposite, you’ll have to bear the consequences that follow.

***

“Internal turmoil? In China?”

“Yes. The signs aren’t looking good right now. Our assessment is that military action might even emerge from within China.”

What kind of place is China? At one point, China was on the verge of division.

So they pondered. Should they fully open up like this, or maintain control for power?

In the end, they chose the latter, putting forward a man named Li Jinping.

And they purged all forces that opposed him, even massacred innocent citizens, and finally established the current regime through blood.

“Isn’t the current regime the most unwavering and solid?”

“Yes. It was certainly the most powerful regime in Chinese history. That’s why even America had difficulty attacking China.”

America has toppled various regimes through operations until now.

China was also their target, but they ultimately couldn’t accomplish it.

Because China had already solidified their foundation and prepared all measures to not be shaken by external operations.

“Such a China is being shaken? And because of Gwangwoon?”

Anthony, the head of Gwangwoon Sentinel, let out a hollow laugh hearing the reports coming in due to this Chinese financial crisis.

Because what America and other developed countries couldn’t accomplish despite struggling, Gwangwoon was accomplishing.

“How is that even possible?”

“Looking into it, it seems there was build-up from quite a long time ago.”

“Build-up? By Gwangwoon?”

“Yes. Starting from the Tianjin port incident in 2015, they gradually put capital into China. Then they officially became partners in the Chinese government’s Belt and Road initiative. Of course, there was resistance to that, but since Gwangwoon had already secured the port business rights, they benefited the most.”

“That means they already had lines to the Chinese government from before.”

“Yes. During the Korean Wave ban, all Korean companies took damage, but Gwangwoon profited. But the decisive thing was the Evergrande Group incident.”

Evergrande Group was one of China’s major conglomerates.

But when Gwangwoon induced Evergrande Group’s bankruptcy, China’s real estate bubble burst.

“Apparently there were forces dissatisfied with the current regime even before that. The problem was the current regime’s power was too strong for them to properly stretch their limbs, but they achieved great growth when Evergrande Group collapsed.”

“So when the real estate bubble burst and Evergrande Group went bankrupt, naturally more people became dissatisfied with the current regime?”

“Yes. Companies that couldn’t grow because they were marked by the current regime starting to rise up after Evergrande Group’s bankruptcy was also a decisive factor.”

“Then inducing Evergrande Group’s bankruptcy was ultimately to nurture forces opposing the current regime?”

“Correct. And what emerged from the surface because of that is the Reform Faction.”

The Reform Faction.

A new group currently confronting China’s current regime.

“The Chinese government implemented Zero COVID and locked down cities, increasing citizens’ discontent, and natural gas pipeline production was completely halted due to Evergrande Group’s bankruptcy, making them lose to Gwangwoon in energy supply. Also, the violent suppression of Hong Kong protests caused all the capital there to flow out to Korea. They lost the honor of being Asia’s hub to Korea, and the dark money that Chinese public security was supposed to use was also absorbed there.”

So Gwangwoon had slowly been doing groundwork for years, cutting off the Chinese government’s arms and legs.

“And the Sichuan earthquake played the most important role. Thanks to that earthquake, we were able to deploy many of our agents disguised as Gwangwoon Foundation volunteers.”

“Then the Sichuan earthquake was also perhaps…”

“Yes. It seems Gwangwoon deliberately caused it. Knowing that China wasn’t a structure that could be easily brought down, Gwangwoon has been building up for years to lead things to this point. Looking at how they deployed our agents to conduct operations and caused this Chinese financial crisis to increase chaos, it was all a meticulous plan.”

This Chinese financial crisis honestly was something that would have just passed in normal times.

It means even if citizens starved to death, the Chinese government would have remained solid.

But now the situation is very different.

Something called the Reform Faction has appeared and is directly confronting the Chinese regime, and public opinion that the current regime must be overthrown is strongly spreading even within China.

Moreover, the global crop failure and food shortage are directly hitting China, causing discontent to spread to a level that the current government has difficulty controlling.

“So, could the Chinese government really collapse like this?”

“It’s still fifty-fifty. We can’t know how the current regime will act or how the Reform Faction will respond.”

If the Chinese government gets overturned like this, the whole world will be shocked.

“Then the Chinese government should be realizing it by now, right? That Gwangwoon is behind all this.”

“Yes. They should be slowly realizing when they started being manipulated by Gwangwoon.”

So Anthony was a bit worried too.

Isn’t there a saying?

A cornered mouse bites the cat.

Would the Chinese government being cornered be any different?

***

“Yeah, Mom. Don’t worry too much. I’ve been busy with work and haven’t been able to pay much attention, but Hye-rin is preparing things well. And I’ve made restaurant reservations for both families to meet together soon. Yeah. Okay. See you later.”

I hung up the phone and let out a short breath.

Then the Vice President, who was sitting in the back seat with me, cautiously checked my mood and asked.

“I heard you’re getting married soon, but it seems preparations aren’t easy.”

“Yes. There’s much more to prepare than I imagined. Plus, since I’ve been busy with work, I feel sorry for not paying enough attention.”

“They’ll understand. Aren’t you doing the most important work in our country, President?”

“Phew, why would you pressure me with such words?”

“It’s something all Koreans know.”

“I can’t walk around on the streets alone these days. Too many people recognize me.”

Just a year ago, there were almost no people who recognized me on the street.

But now it’s become impossible to walk around alone as everyone in Korea recognizes me.

God of Investment, Genius Investor, Legendary Investor, and so on.

Labels I never wanted or intended are now attached to me in droves, following me around like tags.

“This is why I tried not to appear in media.”

I rejected most of the pouring interview requests and broadcast appearances, and asked headquarters to help minimize media exposure, but this was the result of cutting back as much as possible.

These days, it feels like I’m doing broadcasts or interviews about once every three days.

“Because your achievements are so remarkable, President. Normally trends cool down quickly, but interest in you is still hot. Perhaps when it’s about to cool down, something new immediately breaks out to keep it going.”

“Because of China this time?”

“Yes. Aren’t you boldly investing in the opposite position with the prediction that the Chinese market will collapse? Our Gwangwoon Securities has also released reports about it, and the market is currently noisy with that content.”

In the past, I had no hesitation when investing.

But now I feel some burden building up.

Because unlike before, the whole world’s eyes are now on me.

Is this why they say it’s best to make a lot of money without your face being known?

“So, how is the Chinese market right now? I was about to receive that report… ugh.”

“President?”

This again.

I clutched my throbbing head.

My condition has been strange these past few days.

Even when I wasn’t doing anything, my intuition would suddenly activate, making me so dizzy that I had to crouch in place, and there was a day when I couldn’t drink even one glass of water because my stomach felt like it was about to throw up.

And now my head was hurting severely again, and as if I was about to faint, my vision momentarily blacked out.

‘Why is this happening again suddenly?’

Just as I was about to call out to the Vice President for help before fainting, my black vision brightened and some kind of vision unfolded before me.

‘Wait. That’s…’

What was brightly illuminating the darkness in front of me was none other than—

“!?”

The headlights of a large truck coming at terrifying speed.

End