thenovelthief Chapter 105
Chapter 105
Translator: Dreamscribe“So, is the sale process going well?”
“Yes. Following CEO Jung’s instructions, Shipping division began the sale process as quickly as possible. Also, several European companies, mainly from the EU, have participated in this project.”
Uncomfortable groans flowed from here and there.
Because although they called it a sale, it was practically no different from robbery.
"What about the price?"
“We’re trying to get the highest price in the industry. Fortunately, it seems the EU side won’t try to interfere with that.”
“Well, the BDI index is going crazy right now, isn’t it? If the bastards trying to take our company for free also try to lower the price, then we’d have no choice but to fight to the death.”
Even so, he felt uneasy.
No. He felt like he could jump up screaming.
This must be exactly what it feels like to have your nose cut off right in front of your eyes.
“Vice President.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
“How is CEO Jung right now? He must be really heartbroken. He keeps telling me he’s fine, but honestly, how could anyone be fine about this?”
“Yes. I was worried too…… but he’s doing better than I expected.”
“Hm?”
“I asked several employees who work closely with him, and they said he hasn’t shown any signs of struggling or getting irritated because of what happened. Not even once.”
The executives let out exclamations of admiration.
“As expected of CEO Jung’s mental strength……”
“He must be the angriest one of all, yet he doesn’t show it at all. Isn’t that the true virtue of a leader? Haha.”
But Chairman Hwang felt differently.
“So Jin-ho is really not reacting at all?”
“Yes. He’s working exactly as usual.”
For some reason, Chairman Hwang felt chills at that.
Jin-ho was an honest guy.
He knew that because they had played games together for years.
And if there is anywhere a person’s emotions are revealed clearly, it’s in games.
Which meant Jin-ho knew how to get angry when something pissed him off.
But the fact that he wasn’t angry at all now, what did that mean?
It meant he had no need to be angry.
Rather, it felt like he might even be smiling right now.
“What is CEO Jung focusing on these days?”
“Recently he’s been paying attention to Hong Kong. But what he’s most focused on right now is the UK. As you know, a lot of money went into pharmaceutical companies, including the UK’s AstraZenon.”
“Right. That. I was curious about it too. I don’t know that field well, so I didn’t want to ask too much and get in the way, so I was just watching quietly.”
That was also what the executives were most curious about.
British companies were supposedly on a bargain sale right now.
But Jung Jin-ho didn’t even glance anywhere else and poured money exclusively into pharmaceutical companies.
Some even speculated that he intentionally crashed the UK economy just to take over those giant pharmaceutical companies.
“I honestly don’t fully understand CEO Jung’s intentions either. However, it seems he assigned all the staff from the merged company to vaccine development. More precisely, they’re developing technology that can produce vaccines at the fastest possible speed…… but frankly, I don’t know much about that field.”
“Really?”
Until now, if anything provoked Jung Jin-ho, whether it was a conglomerate or a nation, he crushed them without hesitation.
So hearing news about this forced corporate split had made them anxious.
Just how was he going to retaliate against the EU this time?
But he wasn’t doing anything related to retaliation. Instead, he was pouring money into pharmaceuticals and building a massive pharmaceutical line.
If he were openly preparing something aimed at the EU, that would be easier to understand.
But this- this was more chilling and terrifying.
He was clearly preparing something.
But no one had the faintest idea what it might be.
However, there was one thing they knew for certain.
Right now, Jung Jin-ho was sharpening his blade.
***
Tak-!
A crisp sound echoed through the living room.
“Whoa! It’s going! It’s going!!”
Mom and Dad, who were watching TV with me, shouted in excitement.
[Left-field wall!! It’s over!! Home run!!]
“That’s it-!!”
Normally no one in my family watched sports.
Not even baseball, supposedly the nation’s most beloved sport.
But ever since Kwangwoon Prime was created, they’d been watching every game from the start of the season, and now here they were.
[Another win for Kwangwoon today! Their momentum is truly terrifying! They’ve already reached 17 consecutive wins and are racing toward a new all-time winning streak record!]
“Ahh. This is why I watch baseball. Right? Jin-ho, you really bought a great team. Where did you even find guys that amazing?”
When Kwangwoon Prime first appeared, there had been a lot of criticism.
Especially about the players.
Because they were made up entirely of cost-effective picks, players who hadn’t even been drafted elsewhere.
Fans had gone so far as to call Kwangwoon Prime a trash bin.
But defying all expectations, Kwangwoon Prime was currently in first place, far ahead of the rest.
Their momentum was truly frightening.
“Your dad never once in his life said he wanted to go to a ballpark, but last time he begged so much that I took him, and guess what, he even bought a jersey on the way in?”
“Hehehe. Cheering together with the crowd made it so much more fun. Next time you should come with us too, Jin-ho.”
“Yeah. When I get a chance later.”
But I felt a bit sorry toward Kwangwoon Prime, because I had never once watched a full game of our own team.
I only heard updates every now and then.
Even though I was the one who acquired the baseball team with the most enthusiasm, I didn’t watch baseball at all.
Even to myself, I looked like a strange guy.
“.......”
But something else bothered me more.
My younger sister, who hadn’t been watching the game at all and had just been blankly staring at her phone with a troubled expression since earlier.
“Something wrong?”
“Huh? Oh, no. Nothing.”
It wasn’t as if this was my first time seeing my sister.
She clearly looked like something was bothering her.
Sure enough.
As soon as our parents left the room, she hurriedly called me over.
“Oppa, can I talk to you about something?”
“Yeah. I figured something was up. What is it?”
“You know how I told you I was seeing someone recently?”
“Ah. Wait. I’m not great with dating advice.”
“Just listen. It’s not like that.”
I listened carefully to what she said.
“So…… the guy you’re seeing right now is someone from the Kangseong Group family?”
And it was more interesting than I expected.
“Yeah. I seriously had no idea. Usually when someone’s from a chaebol family, you can tell, they spend money like water, and it shows. But he never gave off any of that. Then when things started getting more serious between us, he confessed it.”
“Why didn’t he say anything before?”
“He said he was afraid I’d have preconceived notions…… but I don’t know. I told you before, oppa? That the Kangseong Group tried to set you up with someone from their family.”
Honestly, this wasn’t even a secret.
Chairman Kang Sung-ho had very blatantly tried to arrange a meeting for me.
"But since you, oppa, clearly weren’t taking the bait, I can’t help wondering if maybe they targeted me instead.”
It was a reasonable suspicion.
"So you think that guy doesn't genuinely like you?"
“Yeah. He’s a great guy when we’re together, but after hearing that, I just…… don’t feel good.”
From her perspective, it was more than enough reason to doubt.
And then a thought suddenly crossed my mind.
“Do you have a picture of you two together?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Here.”
A warm-looking guy smiling next to my sister.
Just in case, I placed my hand over the picture.
“......!”
Suddenly, an image flashed before my eyes, both of them smiling happily together. And the emotions that flowed in with it were warm and gentle.
“Just keep seeing him.”
“Huh? Really?”
“You actually like him, don’t you? And part of your worry is because of me.”
“Well…… yeah.”
"Oppa is fine, so if you two like each other, keep seeing him. At least he doesn't seem like someone who would make you cry."
"What? How do you know that, oppa? Can you tell just by looking at his face?"
“Hmm~. I just get a good feeling.”
My sister burst out laughing.
Still, she must not have disliked him that much, because the look of worry on her face quickly disappeared.
“Alright. I’ll keep seeing him, even if it means taking a bit of a gamble.”
“Good. And if he ever gives you trouble, tell me. I’ll go file a complaint directly with Chairman Kang Sung-ho.”
“Gasp- w, wait, you don’t have to go that far…….”
I was half joking, half serious.
But if that guy in the photo ever made my sister cry, I really would go find him.
“Aigoo. What is that?”
“Oh my, isn’t that too much?”
Just then, my parents returned to the living room and let out sighs as they looked at the TV screen.
“What’s going on?”
“Look, Jin-ho. Isn’t that horrible? In this day and age?”
I looked at the news broadcast and froze.
It was the very scene I had seen in my previous vision.
Footage of the Hong Kong protesters being mercilessly crushed by the military.
***
“CEO-nim, you were right. China really is using the military to suppress the protesters by force. What’s shown on the news is heavily filtered because it has to be broadcast, but the actual situation on the ground is said to be horrific.”
China had allowed the One Country, Two Systems policy until now.
And they allowed it only as a strategy to peacefully absorb Taiwan.
“But China has decided to change its stance. They judged that delaying unification for the sake of peace would become irreversible.”
And it began with Hong Kong.
As the anti-China forces in Hong Kong grew too large, China decided to crush them with force before they could spread further.
As a result, they violently dispersed a crowd of nearly one million protesters, beating them with clubs.
“With this, China is sending a clear message: there will be no more peace. This should be seen as a message directed squarely at Taiwan.”
“And there will be no more One Country, Two Systems either?”
“Yes. They’ll maintain it on paper until 2047 because of the agreement. But in reality, they’ll push for full communization. They’re already filling the entire Hong Kong government with pro-China personnel.”
Until then, most people had believed that since Hong Kong served as Asia’s largest financial hub, the Chinese Communist Party wouldn’t dare to use force.
But after seeing China crush Hong Kong with brute force, they finally realized it.
Hong Kong’s democracy was now finished.
“So now on PicPic and other SNS platforms, there’s a huge wave of ‘Free Hong Kong’ posts. Even in our country, content about Free Hong Kong is spreading like crazy.”
My intuition had already known this situation would happen.
What was strange, however, was that normally before events like this, my intuition would indicate what stocks to invest in.
But this time, strangely, it hadn’t pointed to a single target.
Even though I clearly knew this incident would trigger massive capital outflow.
If I had taken some Short Selling positions, I would’ve made quite a bit of profit. But not a single stock gave me that familiar intuitive spark.
“CEO-nim, what should we do about investments……?”
“For now, hold. By the way, is there any other data?”
“Ah, yes. One more thing. Because Hong Kong’s market is effectively becoming communist, investors are shocked and moving their assets en masse. Many wealthy people are even deciding to emigrate. But if they transfer their money to the U.S., the taxes are massive, so there’s only one place where all that money can flow.”
“Singapore?”
“Yes. This is the related report.”
But apparently, my intuition had been focused elsewhere.
“......!”
The intuition that had gone silent in Hong Kong, silent enough that I wondered if it was broken, suddenly exploded the moment I opened the Singapore report.
It surged so violently that I had to close the report immediately due to dizziness.
"Could you open an account in Singapore?"
***
The employees returned to the office after the meeting.
All of them wore puzzled expressions.
“It’s strange, isn’t it?”
“Yes. Very much.”
“What’s strange?”
“Well… it’s CEO-nim. Normally when he predicts something like this, he always takes Short positions or buys the relevant stocks in advance. And once again, just as CEO-nim said, China really is crushing the Hong Kong protesters with force.”
CEO Jung Jin-ho always made shocking predictions.
The Hong Kong incident was no different.
Everyone had predicted that China would back down in order not to damage its financial hub system, but contrary to all expectations, they were dyeing Hong Kong in blood.
And the only person who had predicted this was Jung Jin-ho.
If things had gone as usual, he would have bought the related stocks in advance and made a profit. But this time, he didn’t.
“It really is strange when you think about it. CEO-nim predicted this weeks before it happened, didn’t he?”
“Yes. Maybe he was too busy with the pharmaceutical companies and the Kwangwoon Shipping situation?”
“No way. Has our CEO ever once let his judgment waver? He’s simply seeing a scenery far above what sparrows like us can perceive.”
For Department Head Seo, Jung Jin-ho was practically a religion.
Actually, that went for the other employees here as well.
The problem was that just as humans can’t understand the will of gods from the start, they also couldn’t immediately grasp CEO Jung Jin-ho’s intentions.
“Instead, he suddenly told us to open a Singapore account. That part is especially strange.”
“Yeah, we’ve never invested in Singapore before, right? So why suddenly there……?”
It was while they were talking about this.
“Aha! I got it!”
Department Head Seo suddenly clapped loudly, drawing everyone’s attention.
“W-what? What did you figure out?”
“Heh. You’re all still so lacking. You haven’t understood CEO-nim’s deeper meaning yet?”
“......?”
“Remember what CEO-nim said before? He wants to make our country the biggest financial hub in Asia.”
"Ah, at the last company dinner? But honestly, is that possible? Korea has heavy legal regulations, and more importantly, Singapore is the alternative market.”
Singapore and Hong Kong are the top two competing financial hubs in Asia.
If Hong Kong collapses, it’s only natural for the capital to move to Singapore.
“Exactly. CEO-nim obviously knows that. That’s why he opened an account in Singapore.”
“......What?”
“Aigoo, how do you still not get it after all this explanation?”
The employees rolled their eyes, trying to connect the dots.
If Hong Kong collapses, capital moves to Singapore.
But…… if, just hypothetically, Singapore were to collapse as well?
“Wait. Don’t tell me he’s planning to make Korea the leading financial hub in Asia by……?”
“Exactly. If Singapore collapses too, where would the money go? Japan? They’ve already been crushed by us. Then only one place remains.”
“!?”
Only then did the employees finally realize the blueprint CEO Jung Jin-ho was envisioning.
“Then th-this time, Singapore is the target……!?”
His words about wanting to make Korea Asia’s leading financial hub-
It turned out they weren’t empty words at all, but his true intention.