Chapter 74

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“Does this incident harm us in any way? From what I heard, everyone from Saudi large company CEOs to executives got dragged in.”

“Fortunately, Kangsung seems to have no damage. We’re not doing business with Saudi.”

Chairman Kang Seong-ho was shocked hearing the news.

No matter that Saudi still has a royal system, he never dreamed the crown prince would arrest and kill all royal people for his own power.

Because of this, public sentiment toward Saudi wasn’t good in various places worldwide.

As times develop, people don’t view favorably that a king exists in a country itself.

“The problem is companies that invested in this Neom City. The fact that Abdul Hadim, who had the second highest power after the crown prince, independently absorbed investment funds was belatedly revealed. It’s rumored, but they say Crown Prince Salman hesitated a bit then heard Abdul Hadim was pulling that stunt behind his back and flipped out.”

Thanks to that, only companies that put money there were suffering great damage.

Because the Saudi royal family confiscated all of Abdul Hadim’s assets then stated they cannot return investment funds for Neom City.

“What did I say? I said let’s follow Gwangwoon and not do this, right? We almost wasted precious money.”

Executives had nothing to say.

Hadn’t they attempted persuasion many times saying if we don’t do this, we must make enemies with Saudi forever?

But stubbornly Chairman Kang Seong-ho ignored all executives’ words and didn’t invest until the end, resulting in not suffering damage like other companies.

“But Chairman, honestly among places that received investment proposals, how many refused? Starting with NK Group, there’s no place that didn’t put money there.”

“Well, it’s good for us if competitors waste money. But aren’t the Saudi bastards too thuggish? They’re just going to pretend not to know and gulp it down.”

“Yes. Companies say they’ll sue because of that, but even if they win, we should see the probability of getting money back is low.”

The ones pulling thug moves happened to be the nation with the most money in the world.

But taking it one step further, Saudi sent proposals to each company again.

“This time they say it’s an investment attraction project directly operated by Hamud Salman’s side. They spread investment proposals again asking to participate in Neom City development.”

“What? After ripping them off like that?”

“For the side ripped off by Abdul Hadim, they say they’ll consider it a bit and additionally recognize 10% of investment funds.”

Hamud Salman.

A truly nasty yet formidable man.

Trying to double-extract money like this.

“Those companies will probably enter again, right?”

“They’ll have to accept it while crying and eating mustard. No company wants to make enemies with a rich money source.”

Nevertheless, they must pay money.

Even if bleeding is large right now, in the long-term future it would be profit.

“…”

He carefully examined the investment proposal.

Honestly there was nothing different from the initial proposal.

The Neom City design is the same anyway.

‘But did Jeong Jin-ho know this would happen?’

Only Jeong Jin-ho stepped back and observed the Saudi investment everyone was entering.

If he hadn’t sought Jeong Jin-ho’s advice then, Kangsung also would have entered unknowingly and wasted money.

What does that mean?

That Jeong Jin-ho knew this investment was fake.

And perhaps he even knew such a horrific great purge situation would occur.

“But is it true? That the purged Abdul Hadim was tormenting Gwangwoon.”

“Yes. Abdul Hadim’s fund suffered great loss because of Gwangwoon, so he was retaliating with that.”

Could Jeong Jin-ho have joined hands with Salman and pulled off this..

No. That seemed too much.

“To call it coincidence is exquisite though.”

But looking at the footsteps Jeong Jin-ho has walked until now, some incident always occurs in the business he conducts.

And the ones raking in big profits from that every time were Jeong Jin-ho and Gwangwoon.

At this point it’s getting scary.

“Wait a moment.”

Kang Seong-ho opened his phone and hesitated momentarily while trying to press Jeong Jin-ho’s name.

Strangely the person named Jeong Jin-ho seems to get closer while simultaneously becoming more difficult.

***

-Why do all SNS apps seem slow lately?

-Because your phone is trash

-It’s not my imagination, all SNS apps are similar now, right? Especially Ampl is the most serious I hear

-Because they can’t expand servers. Amazon also built a data center but can’t make servers so they’re in chaos now

-Is making servers hard? Why aren’t they making them?

The issue currently being most discussed in communities was exactly servers.

At first no one cared much, but it’s because they’re starting to feel firsthand that apps and games they use are gradually slowing down.

-Because of our country

-What bullshit is this again

-Wow. Many ignorant bastards. Don’t you know the semiconductor market is completely smashed now? TSNC was eating all the foundry, but they got marked by our country so now they’re at crisis of ruin

-Huh? What does TSNC have to do with our country?

-Watch the news. Gwangwoon dominated shipping and is blocking all ships going to TSNC so they can’t produce semiconductors -> semiconductor supply stopped -> server expansion doesn’t happen. OK?

-So our country’s company is controlling world servers?

-Is this new national pride?

To build data centers and expand servers requires massive amounts of CPUs, GPUs, memory chips, etc.

Many components go in.

And for these to be made, semiconductors were core.

In other words, without semiconductors, servers cannot be expanded.

That’s why numerous data centers about to complete were put on emergency.

Also, servers must be massively replaced once every 3-5 years.

By chance many places overlapped with that timing too, so now the whole world is experiencing semiconductor shortage phenomena, and this was immediately causing serious problems to operating systems connected to those servers.

“…”

And I was also feeling that firsthand.

Wondering if my computer was the problem, I entered communities, but everyone was saying the same thing.

Server lag worsened much more than before, and the game itself felt ruined.

“This time Bluezone tried to construct a new data center to make a large cloud server on the Asia side, but now that got disrupted. Because they can’t expand servers without semiconductors.”

The most famous place for cloud server systems currently was exactly Bluezone.

But Bluezone also couldn’t escape this semiconductor supply shortage situation.

“Not just that, Ampl also needs to replace their own data center servers but can’t do that now so they’re just stamping their feet. Normally they should have already replaced them 2 years ago, but they dragged it out and now fire fell on their feet.”

“I see.”

“..Yes, Chairman.”

Today employees were continuing reports while flustered by a sudden visiting guest.

“So this chaos happened because of us?”

“We had no intention of attacking TSNC, but blocking sea routes through cooperation with Kangsung so production raw materials couldn’t enter played the decisive role.”

“Hmm.”

Hyung-nim was listening to the matter seriously then glanced at my side.

Outwardly he’s trying to act like nothing while maintaining weight, but I could clearly see his pupils shaking.

“Everyone please step out briefly. President and I have things to discuss alone.”

“Yes.”

Only after all employees left did hyung-nim’s usual appearance come out.

“Oh my. Jin-ho. What do we do? Our guild might close like this.”

For me and hyung-nim, gaming was a very important part of life.

Because through games we two people met, and met current guild members.

That’s why for us, gaming wasn’t simply entertainment but more.

But now that game was shaking.

“The game is a bit old too, and this time the DLC came out very well so new users suddenly increased. The problem is servers can’t handle it. Plus like Ampl, these guys missed server replacement timing so now Europe side already had an accident. Users there can’t play the game for the 3rd day.”

Since our game is so global, servers exist by continent.

Europe exploded, so the Asia server exploding is also a matter of time.

If that happens, an unfortunate incident where me and hyung-nim also can’t play games occurs.

“That absolutely must not happen.”

The most frustrating thing in the world is wanting to play games but unable to enter servers. Thinking about having to do that for several days already makes me break out in cold sweat.

“Can’t Kangsung solve it somehow?”

“I know they’re running all factories at full capacity now. But filling TSNC’s empty seat entirely is still difficult. Factories don’t get completed at once either.”

Plus it’s not just the semiconductor problem.

Memory chips were also experiencing serious supply problems.

If even one of the two is missing, server expansion is impossible.

“AMC is also making and supplying new GPUs and CPUs as much as possible, but that place’s scale is so small..”

How deeply TSNC had penetrated our lives.

What impact it has on the entire world when that place stops.

I painfully realized today.

Perhaps this is why Chairman Kang Seong-ho desperately tried to cut off TSNC.

If it’s later, then even using any means can’t overturn the board.

“But Chairman Kang Seong-ho can’t handle all this either. His greed was too big. At this degree there should be a partner.”

Right then a tingling feeling briefly came to my fingertips.

“A partner?”

“Right. There’s also NK Bainix. I heard memory semiconductor technology is second in the world.”

Then this time trembling shook my whole body.

“NK Group kept trying to set meeting appointments with us. But since they’re competing with Kangsung, I kept refusing thinking you might get harmed unnecessarily. That side is also at crazy degree now. With the market this active, Kangsung is grabbing all the work. If Chairman Kang Seong-ho just gives up a little greed, it seems like things could be resolved well.”

But Chairman Kang Seong-ho also doesn’t seem to be a gentleman.

As soon as hyung-nim’s words ended, the phone rang.

Kangsung and NK.

Connecting the two seems rather rude..

But continuing like this, I might never enter the game.

Plus didn’t my intuition also react to the name NK?

“Hyung-nim, could you contact NK’s side?”

***

Kang Seong-ho didn’t wear a stiff suit when meeting with Jeong Jin-ho but met in comfortable attire, but today he didn’t.

Because it wasn’t a place meeting Jeong Jin-ho alone.

“It’s been a while, Chairman.”

“Yes. I’m glad to meet even like this. I requested to meet several times, but you never made time.”

“Ha ha. Sorry. As you know, I’ve been too busy lately.”

“What will you do if you collapse from overwork? Reduce work. If you greedily try to carry too much, you’re bound to fall.”

“I’m fine. I exercise hard every day. Especially my lower body.”

“…”

The power struggle is fierce from the meeting start.

If Daegwang Group was formerly Kangsung Group’s biggest competitor, now it was gradually changing to NK Bainix.

Because Bainix’s main field is semiconductors.

“If I knew this would happen, I shouldn’t have come out but brought our chairman. I thought NK Group would send another person in charge.”

“No. I also have listening ears. I know who the real power in Gwangwoon is now, President Jeong Jin-ho.”

Jeong Jin-ho.

A person who suddenly appeared at Gwangwoon Securities one day, set legendary returns, and made the greatest contribution to birthing Gwangwoon as a group.

NK Group Chairman Oh Gyeong-wook also finished investigating Gwangwoon and Jeong Jin-ho.

That’s why he also knows well that Gwangwoon Group is currently moving centered on Jeong Jin-ho and the securities firm he leads.

“So, President Jeong, what’s the reason for arranging this meeting?”

“Right now the whole world is in chaos because of server problems. There’s much semiconductor demand but no supply.”

Super cycle.

The period bringing prosperity to the semiconductor market is exactly now.

Numerous places are expanding servers, plus server replacement timing overlaps.

“I hope resolution happens quickly.”

“President Jeong, you know Kangsung and NK are competitors, right?”

“Yes.”

“Yet you’re telling us to cooperate?”

“Won’t it work?”

Originally at meeting places like this he tried not to drink alcohol, but Kang Seong-ho gulped down his glass.

Honestly calling it cooperation, it meant give work Kangsung holds to Bainix.

“The two companies competing is also good, but I hope our country’s companies do well. So rather than fighting unconditionally, shouldn’t we cooperate when we should cooperate? At times like now.”

“…”

“So after you two talk well, I hope you resolve it quickly. Since me being here probably won’t help, I’ll also leave my seat. Then please take care of it, Chairmen.”

Like that Jeong Jin-ho just arranged the seat and slipped out.

“…”

Awkward silence flowed.

Kang Seong-ho tilted his glass alone, and Oh Gyeong-wook had all sorts of thoughts.

This isn’t even a blind date.

Just arranging a seat and slipping out like this?

If at least Jeong Jin-ho was here, conversation seemed somewhat possible, but now that means disappeared.

Would that greedy Kang Seong-ho share his work?

“If we share some work from our side, how much volume do you think you could produce?”

“..?”

Oh Gyeong-wook momentarily doubted his ears.

“Wait. You’re really thinking of giving it?”

“You just heard, right? President Jeong hopes resolution happens quickly.”

“That’s.. Just that guy’s opinion. Kangsung is really sharing work? To our NK?”

“Yes. Honestly speaking, we’re also at the degree of our belly splitting now.”

While isolating TSNC, Kangsung Electronics was enjoying unprecedented prosperity.

The problem is too much work flooded in to the degree they can’t digest it all.

“But isn’t it something naturally resolved over time?”

“That’s right. It’ll take a while. Over time we’ll somehow process everything.”

“Yet you’ll give work to us?”

“President Jeong said it. That he hopes our country’s companies all do well.”

“But isn’t that just something he said?”

“Yes. To Chairman it might sound like just something said, but not to me.”

Actually Chairman Kang Seong-ho just felt his spine chill seeing Jeong Jin-ho.

Should I say I saw Jeong Jin-ho speaking this strongly for the first time?

As if this absolutely must be done, he arranged this meeting while clearly knowing they’re competing opponents.

The moment Kang Seong-ho makes the meeting Jeong Jin-ho made fail while filling his and his company’s greed, what the aftermath will be is unimaginable.

The friendly relationship painfully built until now might be severed.

“We’ll send working-level staff from our side for details. If our two companies cooperate, we can probably solve memory volume very quickly. I’ll also go into the company and discuss, so NK side please also prepare.”

“Ah, I’ll do that.”

“Then I’ll also be going.”

Oh Gyeong-wook left alone was dumbfounded.

He never thought Kangsung would give up a certain monopoly chance like this.

Though they said their belly is at splitting crisis, it was ultimately something time would solve.

Yet seeing them offer to share work like this..

“Is it because of Jeong Jin-ho?”

Very briefly but Oh Gyeong-wook saw it.

Kang Seong-ho’s attitude toward Jeong Jin-ho.

Though speaking informally and seeming comfortable with each other, his eyes somehow seemed to fear Jeong Jin-ho.

No matter that Gwangwoon Group is showing tremendous growth lately.

The heavenly Kangsung Group chairman fears that young guy.

“Did he grab some weakness?”

If not that, this situation made absolutely no sense.

As if Jeong Jin-ho put a leash on Kang Seong-ho.

“…”

But the problem is, that leash feels like it’s being placed on Oh Gyeong-wook’s neck too.