thenovelthief Chapter 131
Chapter 131
Translator: Dreamscribe“What is all this about all of a sudden? Natural gas?”
“We also received the order not long ago. But CEO Jung Jin-ho is instructing us to collect as much natural gas as possible, especially the gas that is ready to be sold from Russia and other overseas countries.”
There are two ways to transport natural gas.
One is through pipelines.
The other is by shipping it in liquefied natural gas form, commonly known as LNG.
“However, to transport LNG by ship, specially designed LNG carriers are required.”
LNG carriers are specially built ships that transport natural gas cooled to ultra-low temperatures of minus 162 degrees Celsius.
“Haven’t we transported natural gas using those kinds of ships multiple times?”
“Yes. Many times. So there’s no issue with preparing the ships, but we’re not sure why CEO Jung is suddenly telling us to gather natural gas.”
The Losthood incident delivered a devastating blow to the real estate market, causing the collapse of the Evergrande Group in an instant.
As a result, the collapse of construction and real estate in China led to a complete halt in the construction of the natural gas pipeline and terminal that China had been ambitiously preparing.
Due to China's abrupt cancellation of natural gas contracts, the countries that had prepared large quantities of natural gas to supply to China were left high and dry.
“But now CEO Jung is suddenly ordering us to gather it all up?”
“Yes. Of course, right now we can bring in natural gas at almost dumping-level prices. Since it can’t be sold to China, countries are finding it difficult to even store it.”
“So we can sweep it up at cheap prices?”
“Yes. The issue is, what are we going to do with it once we have it?”
That was the problem.
Why collect natural gas that has nowhere to go?
“Was there any mention of where to move it to?”
“Yes. Canada.”
“Hm? Canada?”
“Recently, under the direction of CEO Jung Jin-ho, Kwangwoon Group acquired a large grain company in Canada. Alberta is a major wheat-producing region.”
“That’s right. I heard about that too.”
Jung Jin-ho's recent movements have been unusual.
He’s suddenly been sweeping up Canadian companies that mainly produce wheat.
“But do you know what’s in Alberta?”
“What’s there?”
“There are large natural gas storage facilities. On a global scale, there are few places that can match the scale of Alberta’s natural gas storage.”
“What?”
Recently, they acquired Canadian companies located in Alberta, and coincidentally, that location had large-scale natural gas storage facilities.
“But the timing is very peculiar. CEO Jung Jin-ho started acquiring properties in Alberta before the Losthood incident. Meaning, he bought up the area before the collapse of the Evergrande Group.”
“W-Wait a second. Then what does that mean? Are you saying CEO Jung foresaw this incident?”
“Yes. He expanded into the Alberta region just before the incident, and then, as if he had been waiting, he started buying up natural gas at rock-bottom prices. At this level, it’s certain that he knew and prepared in advance.”
On the surface, the Losthood incident looked like KW Exchange was pushing out a competitor.
But that was just the process, and if there was a different true objective?
“So you think what CEO Jung Jin-ho was really aiming for wasn’t Losthood, but something else from the very beginning?”
“Yes. The true goal was to hit the real estate market, and through the aftermath, to influence China and Canada. He already knew that if a digital bank run happened at Losthood, it would strike real estate directly.”
“Then naturally, that would negatively affect Evergrande too, causing a collapse in Chinese real estate.”
“Exactly. We could monopolize the natural gas that was supposed to go to China, and we easily took control of the Alberta region in Canada. All of this started from just the Losthood incident.”
But going even further back, the starting point of all this was GameStop.
“Is GameStop related to our Kwangwoon side?”
GameStop already led to congressional hearings in the United States.
GameStop’s CEO, as well as the community members who persistently incited people to destroy the short-selling forces targeting GameStop, were all involved.
“But the reason that post became so decisively famous was because of Milon Tusk and the power of social media. Our Kwangwoon SNS platform, PicPic, also had a huge influence.”
There’s no need to even talk about the relationship between Milon Tusk and Jung Jin-ho.
It’s clear that GameStop became globally famous through social media.
In the end, all of this had been a meticulously crafted plan that started with GameStop.
“But the final destination being grain and natural gas?”
That part was also a mystery to CEO Kang Doo-young.
After all the damage caused, from GameStop to Losthood, to Evergrande, and countless other real estate firms, the result being just those two commodities?
“What reason is there for those two to suddenly skyrocket in price?”
“I don’t know. There’s nothing that directly connects the two.”
“If I had to guess, maybe war? But in this era, if a big war breaks out, it could turn into a nuclear war. In that case, we shouldn’t be buying those two, we should be buying bunkers. Haha.”
He had a point.
War?
Honestly, it didn’t seem realistic.
Sure, there are occasional skirmishes in the Middle East, but a full-blown war isn’t happening.
Even if war did break out in the Middle East, it wouldn’t directly affect wheat prices or natural gas.
That would mean a war would have to break out in the Russian region, which is closely tied to both natural gas and wheat.
“No way. It couldn’t be, right?”
"Yes. The moment it's triggered, it means everyone dies, so how could that happen?"
Kang Doo-young, like the other executives, laughed it off.
But there was one problem.
“But what if CEO Jung Jin-ho is thinking differently from us?”
“......”
The one currently designing and executing the strategy was none other than Jung Jin-ho.
***
“CEO-nim. All the natural gas has been scheduled for transport to Canada.”
“Have we secured the large-scale natural gas storage facilities over there?”
“Yes. At first, we planned to lease them, but due to the global real estate market collapsing, the companies that own those facilities are in serious trouble. They don’t want to lease, they want to sell. So, under the Chairman’s direction, we went ahead and bought them outright.”
My hyung really went all in while he was at it.
You could say we were lucky this time.
The place where we acquired a bunch of grain companies was Alberta.
And it just so happened that, in addition to the large grain warehouses, there were also facilities for storing massive quantities of natural gas.
Right then, the companies owning those storage facilities were looking to sell, and we were lucky to purchase them at a low price.
“Kwangwoon Shipping has started moving a large number of vessels to secure the natural gas. I believe we’ve had to charter additional ships due to a shortage.”
“Are the facilities in Canada currently capable of storing everything?”
“Yes. Everything we’ve successfully purchased so far can be stored. Even with additional purchases, we’d still be fine. The scale of the facilities is that large. However, if you plan to buy the same volume again, we’ll need additional storage warehouses.”
Honestly, the volume of natural gas we had already swept up at bargain prices was massive.
“Canada is the sixth-largest producer of natural gas in the world, and it uses about 20% of its energy from it. But assuming it used 100% natural gas, the amount we currently have would last for about ten days.”
In other words, we were stockpiling an enormous amount.
At this point, I thought it should be enough, but
“......”
My instincts gave me a sharp jolt.
This wasn’t enough.
“If there’s any place offering natural gas at a cheap price, prioritize buying from them. Also, please look into additional storage warehouses.”
“Y-You’re planning to buy even more?”
“Yes. Let me know as soon as the list comes out. And what about the wheat report I requested?”
“Ah, yes. Here it is.”
I skimmed through the report.
Looking at the wheat production figures, it was clear that Canada had suffered significant damage due to last year’s severe drought.
“Other countries, excluding Canada, were relatively unaffected. As Canada struggled with wheat production, prices did rise a little, but thanks to Ukraine and Russia covering the shortfall, the market stabilized.”
“If this year’s harvest had been decent, those grain companies wouldn’t have sold to us. But with the drought and the real estate collapse happening at the same time, they probably couldn’t hold out.”
In other words, it was thanks to that drought that we were able to acquire those companies at a cheap price.
“The good news is that this year’s harvest is expected to be good.”
That was a relief.
If this year’s harvest had also been poor, we would’ve had to absorb all the losses.
“But at the rate you’re acquiring storage warehouses, our own harvest alone doesn’t seem sufficient to fill them. Will you be purchasing additional wheat aside from our production?”
I paused for a moment.
As expected.
I felt a sharp sensation at the back of my head, my instinct.
“Buy as much as you can gather at a reasonable price.”
“Yes. Understood.”
“Any other matters?”
“This is the donation list organized by the Kwangwoon Foundation. They said they would deliver the donations to the places you designate.”
The Kwangwoon Foundation provides scholarships domestically and donates internationally, mainly to countries that have experienced major national crises.
“France last time, and now Lebanon, both have shown very positive responses. The donation amount was large, and the number of relief personnel was significant, so reports say the public image is very good among citizens.”
“Is recovery going well in Lebanon?”
“Yes. People who had evacuated are returning, and the economy is gradually becoming active again. Since the port area was prioritized for restoration, it’s now functioning well. Of course, they don’t plan to store chemical substances at the Port of Beirut anymore.”
Storing chemicals at a port isn’t particularly unusual.
It’s just that this incident was so massive that now every port is enforcing strict screening procedures for chemical substances.
“It’s an inevitable response. If we don’t want a second Beirut incident. I’m sure every port was holding its breath when that disaster happened.”
I also hoped that such a horrific accident would never happen again.
That’s why all the ports where we hold business rights are conducting thorough inspections on chemical substances.
“We’re still consistently sending donations to Africa, right?”
“Yes. We’re providing regular support there.”
Then that region is covered.
What the foundation really seeks is to make large-scale contributions like it did for Lebanon.
“The passion of the foundation staff is incredible. Especially the employees you personally selected, ceo-nim. Even though no one’s offering them more money, they don’t hesitate to go to dangerous places like Africa to lend a helping hand.”
I personally selected 70% of the Kwangwoon Foundation’s employees.
Honestly, I didn’t know much about their backgrounds or pasts.
I only hired those whose profiles gave me a strong gut feeling.
And when I met them later, I realized how kind-hearted they were.
They’re truly essential to running the foundation.
Now they were simply waiting to find out where they should go next to offer help.
“.......”
I quietly examined the material sent by the foundation.
Then, one place in particular stood out.
“There’s been a lot of incidents in Indonesia?”
“Yes. Earthquakes, massive floods, cyclones, plane crashes, submarine accidents, even a terrorist attack on the police headquarters. There’s probably no place experiencing as many disasters as Indonesia right now. And to make matters worse, they were already heavily affected by COVID.”
Since last year until now, Indonesia has experienced numerous natural and man-made disasters across various regions.
There had also been a series of suicide bombings, so public sentiment was currently very unstable.
“Would it be too dangerous for our employees to go there?”
“There have been several recent terror attacks. For a few months, the country even restricted entry to foreigners. But thanks to the vaccine rollout, those restrictions have now eased somewhat. Our country has only issued a travel advisory level warning. And most importantly, our foundation staff are the type of people who don’t shy away from dangerous places...”
Above all, the most important thing was that my intuition was intensely pointing toward Indonesia.
“Then let’s designate Indonesia as the primary focus area for our next donation drive. Please proceed accordingly.”
“Yes.”
When I look at our foundation staff, it reminds me that the world is still warm.
And I, too, feel good knowing that the money my company and I have earned is being used meaningfully.
They say happiness doubles when shared, don’t they?
***
With over 17,000 islands, Indonesia is the world’s largest island nation.
It’s also a country where various ethnicities, languages, and cultures coexist.
But that wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
Even among a single ethnicity, ideologies clash, so imagine how different the perspectives must be in Indonesia, which has the most ethnic groups in the world.
The number of officially recognized ethnicities alone is over 1,300.
Because of this, even attempts to unify the people under Islam made control difficult.
“They say they’ve subdued more new terror suspects this time. It looks like they were planning to attack a specific religious facility again, like last time.”
“Again? They’re really not giving us a single day of rest.”
“Yes. But thankfully, they were stopped in advance, so there were no casualties.”
Hadn’t there already been a major bomb attack at Makassar Cathedral not long ago?
After that, there had even been a terrorist shooting targeting the police headquarters.
The country’s international standing had effectively hit rock bottom.
“No more terror attacks. We’ve already lost all our tourists because of COVID, and now if terror spreads too? That’s unacceptable.”
Indonesia’s average annual tourist count is 16 million.
But since COVID, that number plummeted to a record low of only 1,800.
Now that border restrictions are being lifted and vaccinations have made people immune to the virus, the plan is to restart the tourism industry.
But with this kind of security instability, no one will want to come.
“Vice President. A donation has come in.”
“A donation?”
“Yes. It's to help recover from terror attacks, earthquakes, and cyclones, and also to support people suffering from hunger.”
The Vice President furrowed his brows.
“But why are you reporting that to me?”
“Well... the amount is quite large.”
“How much?”
“Three hundred million dollars.”
Three hundred million dollars?
That was quite a sum to call a donation.
“What? From where?”
“It came from the Kwangwoon Foundation.”
At that, Indonesia’s Vice President, Baruf Yaman, froze for a moment.
“Where did you say...?”
“Kwangwoon.”
Now it felt like his heart had dropped.
“Kwangwoon sent us 300 million dollars?”
“Yes.”
And his mind began to go completely blank.
“Do you even know what kind of place Kwangwoon is...?”
“Pardon?”
After the Yellow Vest incident in France, what did Kwangwoon do right away? They donated.
They sent a massive donation and dispatched staff, creating a favorable public image among French citizens.
And where did they go next?
“Right, it was Lebanon, where the Beirut explosion happened. These days, you could call Lebanon Kwangwoon’s field. They poured in hundreds of millions of dollars, gave the citizens new homes and jobs. Their employees even went there personally for volunteer work, how could people not love them? All while not knowing that it was Kwangwoon that turned Beirut into that state in the first place.”
The Vice President had ears, too.
He had heard all the conspiracy theories surrounding Kwangwoon.
“And now Kwangwoon suddenly sends us a donation that huge-”
A report had also come in that staff would be dispatched for volunteer work.
What could that possibly mean?
“What exactly are they planning to pull off here...!”
No, perhaps they were already in the middle of something.
And the Indonesian government had simply failed to notice.
*****
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