Chapter 95

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“President. I brought more lists here.”

I examined the list of all players we could recruit currently.

Like the list I saw earlier, each player flickers with light.

Some green, blue, purple, orange, golden, etc.

I see them.

The aura they’re emitting.

‘If you compare it to games, can I distinguish something like grades?’

Who’s S-grade, or A-grade.

This intuition seemed to show me clearly.

“…”

Then I should utilize it maximally.

I checked only players whose colors looked best.

“On the next page is a list of players currently on our team.”

“Ah, is that so?”

I also checked players who were active on the existing NX Rangers team.

“…”

More serious than expected.

Almost no players had lights on.

No matter how much they say they brought only low-quality players for cost reduction..

“Hm?”

But while scanning through the list, exactly one person caught my eye.

One person emitting the most outstanding brilliance among any players I’ve seen on the list until now.

“Lee Young-hu?”

“Ah. That player can be called our team’s ace. He’s also likely to win Golden Glove this year. Though right now he’s injured making it hard to play, he swept Rookie of the Year awards last year, and he’s a player with expected future.”

A player who debuted last year and is showing outstanding performance this year too?

Of course, this team had other aces besides Lee Young-hu, but no player had brilliance like Lee Young-hu’s.

“…”

I put X marks on all players showing no light on the list, and circled other players.

“Could you deliver this to Gwangwoon Prime? Tell them to proceed with re-contracts as is, and also move to recruit people I checked as much as possible. Oh right. And tell them to hold onto player Lee Young-hu no matter what. Even if raising his salary more.”

After receiving the list from me, Hye-rin’s complexion stiffened momentarily.

“Uh.. Are you sending out this many players?”

“If we recruit according to what I checked, we can fill all positions, right?”

“W-well, that’s true but..”

Her face had much to say.

Understandably, because Hye-rin is a long-time Rangers fan, right?

Though I don’t know much about baseball, as Hye-rin is a hardcore fan her knowledge would be far more vast.

But her eyes were sparkling with different meaning.

“Then President, shall I also bring coach staff and manager lists? That market is also actively open.”

“Good.”

Perhaps my imagination?

Somehow Hye-rin looked very excited.

I did search a bit about NX Rangers through the internet actually.

The most common talk there was replacing outdated facilities and manager and coaching staff turnover. Perhaps Hye-rin is exactly representing such fans’ hearts right now.

‘But surely intuition wouldn’t flash only for players and not for coaching staff?’

That worry seemed unfounded.

When I unfolded the list smiling Hye-rin handed me, like the player list, managers and coaches’ profiles also had light leaking out.

***

“Congratulations, CEO.”

“What congratulations. I feel like sitting on a bed of thorns.”

After NX Rangers was merged into Gwangwoon, as with all M&As, a bloodbath blew through inside the company.

Over half of existing executives’ heads flew off.

“Honestly I thought we’d all get blown away including me, but they didn’t.”

“Right. Usually they blow everything away and reorganize, but Gwangwoon didn’t. And I also wonder what criteria they used to select and keep employees.”

“Right. But what’s curious is surprisingly the company runs well without noise.”

After mergers, companies necessarily shake in various systemic ways as things become unsettled.

But strangely, work seemed to flow more smoothly than at the previous company.

“I looked into it, and Gwangwoon is famous for this. After acquiring companies they turnover employees once, but there’s never been noise even once. Operations work far better.”

“Their personnel standards must be thoroughly established?”

“Yeah. But it’s also a bit strange. Usually when something happens, approval must come from headquarters, right? But here it doesn’t go through headquarters but goes to securities.”

Oh Jun-yeop appointed as Gwangwoon Prime team CEO received three guidelines through headquarters.

First. Contact headquarters if problems arise.

Second. Contact securities for matters requiring careful decisions.

Third. Absolutely follow instructions coming from securities.

“Strange guidelines.”

“Right? But other affiliates seem all similar. Here at Gwangwoon peculiarly, securities’ power is stronger than headquarters’ power.”

Can securities’ power be stronger than the chairman at headquarters?

Plus they must absolutely follow instructions coming from securities.

“But still, must we really do it this way?”

“Right. I thought they’d leave recruitment to us, but they suddenly sent this.”

Oh Jun-yeop and Gwangwoon Prime employees were troubled.

Because the first instruction from securities was exactly recruitment-related.

“Seems like they’re completely overhauling our main players and filling with new players..”

“Looking at profiles of players they’re trying to recruit, honestly they don’t seem like very good prospects?”

“That’s why I’m going crazy. They’re replacing all outdated facilities and spending money, but players they’re trying to recruit are all like this.”

When Gwangwoon known for making much money lately said they’d acquire a baseball team, people thought the era of terrible penny-pinching was over and they’d finally spend money lavishly.

Of course, replacing all training facilities was good, but regarding player recruitment they seemed to save money tremendously.

Mostly inexperienced rookies, and the veterans they’re recruiting are now aging players past their prime whose prices dropped.

They couldn’t know at all what basis they’re recruiting these players on.

“..If we do it this way, won’t next season obviously be a disaster?”

“Probably.”

“Then shouldn’t we oppose?”

“I told you earlier. Follow instructions from securities without asking or questioning.”

“B-but if we do it like this..”

“Just proceed as is. I looked into it, and here at Gwangwoon.. It’s scarier than expected. The former CEO who got caught tried not to hand over stakes to the end, right? But prosecutors swept everything leaving not even dust, so only then did he raise the white flag and surrender.”

“Somehow that guy wasn’t someone who’d easily hand over stakes. Such a thing happened?”

“That’s not all. Looking at Gwangwoon’s footsteps until now, quite a few companies collapsed fighting against them. They could bury people like us without anyone knowing. So whatever it is, just do as told. If you want to preserve your position.”

Executives nodded.

They were survivors from the first bloodbath, weren’t they?

So they also knew well that only absolute obedience was the way to live.

“Oh right. But CEO, what should we do about the partnership with the French company?”

“Renault?”

“Yes. It came in together when NX was sponsoring us, but since NX left, their position also became awkward.”

It’s not something else but sponsorship-related work.

But as tire company NX washed their hands and left, Renault that followed behind was also problematic going forward.

“They said to ask securities when important decisions arise, right?”

Even for not-so-important matters, they intended to leave most decisions to securities going forward.

“Contact Gwangwoon Securities side.”

***

Watching presidential elections proceeding around the world, usually left and right parties fight fiercely then one side remains as winner.

But in France an upset occurred.

Antoine Péron who didn’t belong to left or right but started election campaigning by making a new centrist party was elected.

Having served from Rothschild investment bank to Minister of Economy and Digital Affairs, he was pouring out policies on French economy and steadily preparing economic reforms.

“What’s important in this policy is exactly abolishing wealth tax and converting to real estate asset tax. If we do this much, domestic companies can come out very cooperatively to our government.”

“Won’t citizens’ dissatisfaction grow? Anyone can see it’s reducing taxes for the rich?”

“That’s why digital tax must be introduced. We must punish bastards making tax havens in Ireland and only sucking our money. And fill insufficient taxes from there.”

To smoothly lead policies he wants, ultimately cooperation from the rich controlling the economy is essential.

Also, shouldn’t he reward those who actively supported Péron and even provided election funds?

“But talk came up to do that next year?”

“Yes. But I think we need to move it up a bit. Because foreign companies are penetrating deeper into our economy than expected.”

“Where?”

“Google, Faceweb, Blue Zone, etc. Not to mention major corporations, but there are companies influencing society even more than them. SNS is PicPic, media is Nflix, Bitcoin is KW Exchange, shipping and automobile industries too. The problem is all companies I just listed are connected to one company.”

“All that is one company’s ownership?”

“Yes. Exactly a place called Gwangwoon in Korea. Companies like Faceweb or Blue Zone each dominate one field, but this company is different. From trade, media, virtual assets, recently Gwangwoon also destroyed the automobile alliance Renault was building.”

He understood why staff expressed concerns.

From SNS PicPic threatening Faceweb’s position to the largest OTT Nflix, plus the world’s largest trading company and Bitcoin exchange, Gwangwoon operates them all.

Other whales eat one field each, but Gwangwoon spreads like octopus tentacles here and there expanding influence, so checks against it were necessary.

“But.. Will it be okay? Isn’t Japan experiencing tremendous economic crisis? They say the reason is because of Gwangwoon. That side intentionally caused economic crisis.”

“So, must we French fear just one far-away foreign company? At times like this we must show our regime’s power. We must strike down foreign companies that used tax havens to pay little taxes with the digital tax we’ve postponed, and also release Bitcoin-related regulations to suppress KW Exchange too.”

KW Exchange already became the world’s largest Bitcoin exchange.

They thought it was over when Bitcoin that went to $30,000 collapsed, but out of the blue thanks to Faceweb doing a show of issuing coins, Bitcoin prices revived again.

“Checks definitely seem necessary. That company called Gwangwoon.”

“Yes. Their shipping business already grew uncontrollably making checks nearly impossible. But we must step on them before they grow bigger. These bastards also actively utilize tax havens like other foreign companies, so we must make them cough up at least more taxes.”

“Then what about the fuel tax increase plan?”

“That’s also thoroughly prepared. Since we French announced leading eco-friendly systems, we must keep that strategy.”

“Good. Without dragging it out, let’s announce quickly. So that place called Gwangwoon can’t prepare.”

Still, having done much economic work, he thought he grasped global economic flow fairly well. Perhaps because he concentrated too much only on politics?

The company that started from that small country Korea was already spreading in all directions trying to devour the world.

***

“President. This is definitely France targeting our Gwangwoon.”

While checking sponsors connected to the baseball team we acquired.

News came from the France side.

President Péron announced a new economic policy he’d push powerfully from year-end and complete next year.

A new France through environmental protection and energy transition.

This was the slogan President Péron put forward.

The problem was examining the plan in detail included rich tax cuts and fuel tax increases, and above all it was full of tax policies targeting our Gwangwoon.

“Even the minister announcing the policy clearly listed our company names one by one.”

“Did we not pay taxes?”

“Just like other companies do, we’re also doing it routinely. Meaning we’re paying everything we should. But the French government is making a fuss telling us to cough up more. The problem is since we’re not one company but several places, the increasing parts are all different and amounts are far bigger so the bleeding is bigger than expected.”

Plus by newly announcing Bitcoin regulations, our exchange also suffered damage.

“France does have domestic Bitcoin exchanges. But most use our KW Exchange. Though we’re not officially servicing France, they come into servers spread across Europe to use it.”

“But they’ll regulate that?”

“Precisely they’re regulating Bitcoin itself, but our exchange can’t help but suffer damage naturally.”

Though they’d check other foreign companies, to our Gwangwoon they’d swing clubs.

Somehow when the baseball team asked what to do about French sponsor Renault, the feeling was strange.

“The policy isn’t implemented yet, right?”

“Yes. They say they’ll announce the policy, go through internal meetings, and pass it as quickly as possible.”

Then we also needed responses.

Very careful responses at that.

“If we respond wrong here, obviously winds of regulation will blow throughout Europe starting from France. Then company damage will keep growing.”

But when a country targets us with regulations, how can we block it?

No matter how much I wrack my brain, there’s no proper method.

While worrying like that and bringing my pen to France written in my notebook.

“!?”

Intense tremors rose from my feet reaching my crown and images unfolded before me like a panorama.

Riots erupted in various parts of France with fires burning, and people wearing yellow vests were shouting for President Péron’s resignation.

The violent demonstration that flashed like lightning and disappeared.

Its afterimage still seemed to linger before my eyes.

“President?”

Escaping from the illusion, I caught my breath.

Though very brief, it was realism like being at that scene.

“Look into the policy the French government is trying to proceed with more in detail. Especially how French citizens are accepting this policy too.”

In the illusion my intuition showed, hundreds of thousands of people were demonstrating and rioting.

It definitely seemed like phenomena related to this policy.

That’s why citizens rose up.

I forgot something briefly.

What kind of country is France?

Exactly a country of revolution.