Chapter 65

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“Is the logistics organized? Is everything getting done?”

“Yes. As if these bastards were waiting only for this day, they’re receiving the takeover swiftly and moving all the volume.”

It was truly a heartbreaking matter.

Isn’t Tianjin Port the core logistics hub of northern China?

Called the gateway for imports and exports, as one of the largest ports in the northern region, import and export cargo from Beijing and surrounding areas concentrates here.

Especially around Tianjin Port, various industrial complexes and special economic zones exist. Since manufacturing factories are gathered and related logistics concentrates there, it could be called a core supply chain port.

The Dragon Sea Alliance wasn’t trying to take Tianjin Port for no reason while spreading money and joining forces with the Chinese government.

Though they sold it receiving fair value, honestly it was a base they absolutely shouldn’t sell even if given several times that money.

“This is all because of our incompetence.”

But in the end, they lost that base.

That pained President Kim Du-yeong and Gwangwoon Shipping executives’ hearts.

“If we had capability, this wouldn’t have happened where we lose something right under our noses.”

“But.. Representative. Did President Jeong Jin-ho really say to hand it over like this?”

“I knew President Jeong Jin-ho has a very strong line on the China side.”

President Jeong Jin-ho secured the port business rights value from the Chinese government almost as if haggling down.

Especially seeing the behavior of the Chinese official who came to negotiate with Gwangwoon Shipping, they realized once more.

Jeong Jin-ho has a solid line on the China side!

They expected exactly that line.

But President Jeong Jin-ho didn’t fight.

He just docilely handed over everything at Tianjin Port.

Even though he knew how important that place was as a base for Gwangwoon Shipping.

“Don’t you guys understand?”

“What?”

“Think about it. At first when we didn’t hand over Tianjin Port, public security made all kinds of threats saying they’d arrest me or whatever. Honestly speaking, what harm would it do to Gwangwoon Shipping if I got arrested?”

“Well..”

“As long as President Jeong Jin-ho is behind us, it doesn’t matter if one chess piece like me gets taken. The problem is after I’m taken? Do you think you guys here will be safe?”

“..”

If President Kim Du-yeong gets arrested, his successor also won’t be able to fully preserve their position, and people will just keep getting replaced until ultimately no one remains.

“Bluntly speaking, if we all get arrested, these empty positions can just be filled anew. But President Jeong Jin-ho didn’t do that.”

“Why exactly did he make such a choice..”

“He just protected us. Even though he’ll suffer great losses.”

“!?”

Only then did the executives grasp President Jeong Jin-ho’s deep meaning.

“But who are we..”

“As I said earlier, we’re just chess pieces in this kind of fight. But President Jeong Jin-ho doesn’t simply treat us as chess pieces, but respects us as humans, as members of this company.”

A tsunami of emotion swept through the venue.

Jeong Jin-ho could have fought sufficiently.

If he joined hands with his line in China and deployed a pincer attack, he could have escaped the Dragon Sea Alliance’s pressure.

However, he didn’t.

The executives who would get crushed in the whale fight weighed on his mind.

So he gave up the fight and handed over the base.

“If it were someone else, they wouldn’t care what happens to those below and would have only pursued their own interests..”

“How can such a young person be so magnanimous?”

“He’s really someone with a different caliber.”

He was someone on a different dimension from management they’d met until now.

Very young in age, and rather than pursuing only company and personal interests, he thinks of people first.

They seemed to understand why old ministers devoted complete loyalty to wise rulers.

Making people crazy like this, they have no choice but to offer their hearts.

“So let’s do better going forward. So this shameful thing never happens again.”

“Yes, President.”

The executives’ gazes were passionate.

Toward Jeong Jin-ho who isn’t in this place right now.

***

“President. As Enflix and we predicted on our own, they’ll smoothly earn $12 billion this year. When this year’s settlement is done, they plan to pay special dividends to us with top priority.”

Our dividend is determined by how much net profit comes from $12 billion.

Because it’s contracted as special preferred shares, at minimum hundreds of billions, at most even trillions of won might come out as dividends.

In a word, Enflix has now become our Gwangwoon’s cash cow.

“And as President advised, they decided to boldly push the drama called Paper Tower like Strange Tales.”

From now on is important for Enflix.

It was good until hitting the jackpot with Strange Tales, but they mustn’t forget it’s a subscription streaming service.

In other words, they continuously need dramas that can keep people hooked.

“But there seem to have been many negative opinions about Paper Tower even there. It’s a story about robbers hitting a large bank, and the robbers committing crimes are portrayed almost like heroes at the drama’s end.”

I roughly read the synopsis about Paper Tower, but actually don’t know detailed contents.

“While doing well with Strange Tales, there were also opinions questioning whether it’s right to make criminals look like apostles of justice, not good triumphing over evil, so investment was postponed.”

“Then I picked it?”

“Yes. Because President told them to give full strength to this work, even people who opposed are now all clinging only to this.”

Watching what Enflix people do, there wasn’t particular worry.

Because even before Strange Tales was released, they did marketing from trailers to promotional posters all stimulating emotions to enable even more box office success.

They’ll probably do that with this work too.

Plus actually even when investing in Enflix, I also didn’t know the business would go this well.

Who would have predicted a streaming subscription site would earn a whopping $12 billion in a short time?

If this work also hits a super jackpot, I’m planning not to withdraw the investment money that went into Enflix for a while.

Because if left alone, it’s a place that makes money pile up on its own.

“And.. As expected, the problem is the shipping side.”

Manager Seo’s voice dimmed.

“With Deutsche Bank collapsing this time, Kangsung Group occupied one seat and is trying to establish a new foundry company by affiliating with semiconductor companies there. So TSNC is watching the situation very sensitively right now.”

So they cut off dealings with us.

“The problem is the Dragon Sea Alliance has influence beyond expectations, so crisis rumors about Gwangwoon Shipping are already being heard. Shipping alliances are occurring in various places anyway, and the Dragon Sea Alliance is helping them.”

As a result, volume coming to Gwangwoon Shipping was gradually slipping away.

“Plus with even Tianjin Port going over to the Dragon Sea Alliance side, that essentially played the decisive blow role. Taiwan including TSNC already had all logistics go over to the Dragon Sea Alliance.”

What’s unfortunate about TSNC is that what should have remained as competition between companies is spreading into national sentiment fights.

Previously too, anti-Korean culture spread widely in Taiwan then quieted down, but as news spread that Kangsung Group is trying to dry up and kill TSNC, that culture is reviving once more.

As a result, most Taiwanese companies using Gwangwoon Shipping joined hands with the Dragon Sea Alliance.

Is that all?

Places like Ampl and Amvidia cooperating with TSNC also declared their position they’ll no longer use Gwangwoon Shipping.

There’s the Dragon Sea Alliance’s check, but also because of the reason of being in a cooperative relationship with rival Kangsung Group.

At this level, well, it seemed we should receive damage compensation from Kangsung Group.

“But it’s not at the level of closing doors, right?”

“Yes. Fortunately we hold shares in the Belt and Road Silk Road port business rights, and above all, solidifying the foundation during the previous shipping crisis was big. The problem is if this situation continues, no matter how solid the foundation, there’s a limit to holding out.”

Hanjong Shipping also collapsed that way.

Hanjong Group using it as a slush fund outlet was also a problem, but especially with the shipping business, once the flow gets tangled, that domino is too large.

“For now Gwangwoon Shipping is trying to establish a new main hub. But Tianjin Port has such good infrastructure and location, probably finding a place like that will be difficult.”

I handed over Tianjin Port to the Dragon Sea Alliance following my intuition.

Honestly it’s a shame. Very much a shame.

I gave away the region that’s essentially Gwangwoon Shipping’s core, so my stomach has to hurt.

But my intuition warned about something.

Together with the explosion sound that shook my eardrums.

Was it warning that if we keep insisting and holding this, the company might explode, or is it really like this because some accident might happen?

Even if an accident happens, fires or explosion accidents occur occasionally.

It’s not at a level that greatly affects business.

“..But this is quite big?”

Having come home to rest, I blankly stared at the TV screen showing breaking news.

[Around 10 PM tonight. An accident occurred where chemical substances stored in Tianjin Port containers exploded. After the first explosion, a second explosion occurred even larger, continuing chain explosions, with the scale at 35 tons of TNT power..]

Based on videos uploaded to the internet or remaining on CCTV, explosion footage appeared.

An explosion sound loud enough to tear the sound quality burst out, and people filming were all blown backward from that tremendous force.

An explosion accident of unprecedented scale to find precedents, so the media is now only talking about Tianjin Port.

[President Jeong. A-are you watching the news now?]

Sure enough.

President Kim Du-yeong called me with an urgent voice.

“Yes. I’m watching too.”

[No. How on earth did this happen? The 1st, 2nd, 3rd explosions kept continuing, so it seems even nearby factories got swept up. The facilities laid at Tianjin Port became complete ashes.]

Numerous containers, logistics, infrastructure at Tianjin Port, and even factories.

They got swept up in this massive explosion.

“President. This won’t be a problem for our Gwangwoon, right?”

[I checked that first too. But it’s not us. It even seems to have been chemicals belonging to a Chinese international logistics company within the Dragon Sea Alliance. One fortunate thing is, if the Dragon Sea Alliance hadn’t been made and logistics remained entrusted to us, we could have met that fate.]

Watching the news, there was a primary problem with the storage method.

But it was okay up to there.

The problem was that while trying to extinguish the fire by pouring water, they caused an even bigger chemical reaction creating that chaos.

As a result, Tianjin Port became devastated as if receiving large-scale bombing.

Certainly the Chinese government won’t just pass over this incident.

[But.. President Jeong. I’m really asking because I’m curious..]

Even without hearing, I seemed to know what he’d ask.

“It has zero relation to me.”

[Haha. R-right? I naturally thought so too. Ah! And with Tianjin Port like that, probably a logistics crisis will happen. Then those bastards who cut us off have no choice but to return to us again. What should we do with them?]

A list of companies that unilaterally broke contracts with us flashed through my mind.

“What should we do?”

[Probably logistics will rush in tremendously. To the degree our hands are short. Then naturally prices will rise too, right? But let’s not raise them immediately. Existing customers get price freeze.]

“But companies that broke contracts with us then return pay more?”

[Exactly that. Can’t just pass over the contempt crime. I’m not magnanimous like our President Jeong. Huhu. What do you think?]

I waited briefly.

“..!”

The hand holding the phone trembled faintly.

“Let’s proceed that way.”

***

The Tianjin Port explosion accident.

This isn’t just an accident.

Since it’s also China’s strategic base and a place logistics from throughout Asia and the world pass through, a logistics crisis broke out due to this explosion accident.

“There’s no damage coming to us from this incident, right?”

“Yes. Really exquisitely, as Gwangwoon pulled out from Tianjin Port, our logistics also moved elsewhere together, so fortunately we avoided damage.”

Domestic companies mostly use Gwangwoon Shipping.

Didn’t Jeong Jin-ho say such things before?

That he hopes Korean companies do well.

As proof, he was providing shipping services to Korean companies at much cheaper prices.

“Right now China, America, Japan, Taiwan, Europe, etc. All in logistics crisis. Because Tianjin Port was playing such a large hub center role. They say the damage amount can’t even be grasped yet.”

Just the port damage alone is at minimum several trillion won.

Including other companies’ precious logistics, that scale seemed likely to increase much more.

“If our logistics also remained continuously tied here, it really could have been terrible. Because memory semiconductors to send to each country would all disappear.”

If Jeong Jin-ho hadn’t handed over Tianjin Port, Kangsung Group of course, but even other Korean companies’ logistics would have all flown away causing tremendous losses.

“But we didn’t suffer damage, and Gwangwoon Shipping sat idle and got hit with a money windfall. As the logistics crisis broke out, work that was slipping to the Dragon Sea Alliance side all rushed there.”

“Well now. They say someone meant to succeed makes gold even falling backward. It was really true.”

Tianjin Port flying away from an explosion means that place can’t be used as a hub for a while, and that means a worldwide logistics crisis breaks out.

The Dragon Sea Alliance that semi-forcibly took Tianjin Port also had no power to handle this logistics right now.

Hearing that the Chinese government is already catching all responsible persons, probably they have no such mental capacity.

“Hearing, Gwangwoon raised transport fees 2 times, up to 3 times for companies that joined with the Dragon Sea Alliance.”

“That much? Yet they still use there?”

“They have no choice. With the Dragon Sea Alliance like that, the only place that can calm this crisis is Gwangwoon. How much must it be that even the Chinese government sent an SOS to Gwangwoon?”

90% of world trade uses the sea.

There are places using aviation, but efficiency isn’t good.

Even raising prices 3 times, companies have no choice but to give that money.

Because if not, they can’t sell their products to other regions!

Didn’t England have such words in the past?

That whoever controls the sea will obtain the world.

Right now Gwangwoon was exactly that.

“The timing is really exquisite. As soon as Gwangwoon cut off Tianjin Port, this happened.”

“Yes. So talk is coming out on the China side too whether someone intentionally plotted this.”

“What? You mean President Jeong Jin-ho did it deliberately? No matter what, he’s absolutely not someone who’d plot such terror.”

Kang Seong-ho instinctively knows Jeong Jin-ho’s character is good.

So he also knew he’s not someone who’d plot such inhumane acts.

“Yes. But isn’t it a bit strange? Tianjin Port’s influence was tremendous, yet he gave it up without even fighting.”

“That was a bit strange. There clearly seemed to be a China-side line.”

Yet cleanly pulling out with no regrets seemed a bit strange even to Kang Seong-ho.

“As Chairman said, President Jeong Jin-ho may have no relation. But couldn’t the mysterious official backing President Jeong Jin-ho have plotted it alone? To smash the Dragon Sea Alliance daring to challenge his power.”

“..!?”

Only then did the puzzle seem to fit perfectly.

They say it’s under investigation, but it’s an explosion accident where the entire port flew away.

No witnesses, no evidence.

Because they all flew away together with the explosion.

But if someone used this for power struggle purposes..

If it were another country, they’d consider it absurd talk, but even now isn’t it a place where they’ll do anything for power?

“Exactly whose line does President Jeong have..?”

He doesn’t know where that line is, but he seemed to know who the winner of this fight is.