thenovelthief Chapter 148
Chapter 148
Translator: DreamscribeThis intuition ability has its limits.
When I had just joined the securities firm, I didn’t know this and used it recklessly for short-term trading, which caused an overload and I ended up falling asleep during work.
So now, I try to regulate it to some extent.
Even when I have to stay up all night for short-term trades like last time, I try to maintain my pace, so to speak.
Of course, even with that, I eventually hit my limit and need to take a few days of rest.
On top of that, now the intuition doesn’t just give a tingle, it even shows visions, which has made the consumption even faster.
If the vision is more vivid and the video longer, I end up completely knocked out after watching it.
"This must be one of those cases too, right?"
Aside from this book called “The Answer to Life” I tried checking if I could get an intuitive response from other books as well.
But except for this one, none of the other books gave me any kind of feeling.
“Is it because of the number of characters?”
Other books have pages packed with text.
Unless it’s a children’s book, most books are like that.
But this book has one line per page.
Sometimes only a single character. It was the very definition of effortless consumption.
And paradoxically, this turned out to be the perfect fit for my intuition.
Unlike pages filled with letters and sentences, it could give me answers in simple and clear short sentences.
"Ah, my head hurts."
If I use this book properly, I might be able to get clearer answers, but that doesn’t mean I can use it carelessly.
I’ve barely used it a few times, and I already feel a sharp pain in my temple.
“So, what’s the last piece of advice you can give me?”
As the smell of burning in my temple tickled my nose, a tingling signal came to my fingertips.
I immediately opened the book.
[Live a self-directed life]
A self-directed life.
It was a strange piece of advice.
The reason I had begun to feel fed up with my job at the securities firm was because I felt like I was working not of my own will, but following someone else’s.
It was a piece of advice that seemed to hit the nail on the head.
“And when I asked whether I should quit my job, it told me not to talk bullshit.”
To be honest, that scared me a bit.
Because for a moment, I even wondered if this intuition wasn’t actually meant for me, but something implanted by someone else to control me.
But thinking about it carefully, that wasn’t necessarily the case.
I was someone who had lived the most spectacular life of a securities man, moving around hundreds of trillions of won.
Even if I suddenly went back to being a gaming hermit in my room like before...
Could I really feel the same dopamine and joy I once felt, within that game?
‘People like us can never escape this position.’
That’s what Chairman Kang Sung-ho once told me.
He too sometimes wants to leave his position as Chairman and live a normal life like everyone else, but the thrill that seat brings, and the driving force it provides for life, makes it impossible to leave.
I think I’m the same.
Even if I quit my position as CEO of the securities firm, I would end up missing this time, and the next day, I would wake up having lost my purpose, living an empty life.
I’ve already immersed myself deeply in this world.
And I’ve become someone who can no longer go back to how I used to be.
Wasn’t that exactly what my intuition was trying to tell me?
***
“CEO-nim. Here’s the report.”
Normally, the daily report would be delivered by the Department Head.
But today, it wasn’t the Department Head, but the Vice President who came in.
“Do you have something specific to say?”
“Yes. I came because of the FaceWeb matter. You’ll see it in the report, but FaceWeb’s market capitalization has dropped to 250 billion dollars now. I thought it was really time to ask you directly.”
“Ask me what?”
“CEO-nim, are you really planning to launch a hostile takeover of FaceWeb?”
“......?”
I paused for a moment.
A hostile takeover?
“FaceWeb’s stock price has been continuously dropping, and you’ve been buying it all up. That’s why there are now a lot of rumors outside saying that Kwangwoon has begun the procedures for a hostile takeover of FaceWeb.”
The reason I’ve been buying FaceWeb stock is simply because it’s the only stock on the NASDAQ that still shines brightly.
But from an outsider’s perspective, this only looked like preparation for a hostile takeover.
“But as you also know, CEO-nim, FaceWeb is a company where a hostile takeover is impossible. Unless the founder who holds the majority of the voting rights gives up his shares.”
Dual-class voting rights.
Most American companies have that kind of structure.
FaceWeb is no different.
That’s why I had never even considered acquiring FaceWeb in the first place.
I was simply following my intuition, thinking the price would go up, and bought in.
“.......”
But looking back, it really did seem like I was preparing to acquire FaceWeb from others’ point of view.
And honestly, maybe my intuition was really telling me to buy the stock for the purpose of acquiring FaceWeb.
“CEO-nim?”
I had been lost in thought for a long time.
Because even I didn’t know with what intent my intuition had made me buy FaceWeb stock.
“Vice President-nim. Could you come back a bit later?”
“Huh? Ah… Yes. Understood.”
After sending the Vice President out, I opened my bag first.
Just in case, I had brought the book from home.
“.......”
I fiddled with the book for a moment and asked,
“Was I really trying to acquire FaceWeb? Is that the reason you showed me that stock through my intuition?”
While caressing the thick pages of the book.
Before long, a signal came to my fingertips.
On the opened page, this phrase was written:
[What matters is your will.]
My will is what matters?
“So if I want to buy, you’ll help me, and if I don’t, I don’t have to?”
I closed the book, then opened it again based on my feeling.
Creepily enough, the exact same page, the exact same phrase appeared.
“What matters is your will.......”
In other words, it meant it would follow my will.
It finally meant I could choose too.
“No. Maybe I’ve always been able to from the beginning.”
Until now, I had just been passively following my intuition.
Now I understood why I was told yesterday to live a self-directed life.
“.......”
Acquiring FaceWeb.
What kind of benefit would that bring to our Kwangwoon?
Probably the advantage of eliminating PickPick’s biggest competitor.
PickPick is competing with FaceWeb to be number one in the SNS space.
But if we acquire FaceWeb and absorb all the members there?
Then for the next ten years.... no, even longer, PickPick would become the number one SNS.
“But how would we even acquire it? Is it even possible?”
If the founder, Marcus, insists on never selling the company, acquiring FaceWeb is impossible. But not long after, a feeling came to my fingertips again.
[There is no such word as ‘impossible’ in my dictionary.]
It was a phrase that oozed with confidence.
Even if it looked impossible to us, it meant that for it, it was possible.
Then what remained was my decision.
“Acquire FaceWeb......”
TBTF.
Too Big To Fail.
If we really succeeded in acquiring it, it would be like securing one of the most iconic TBTF companies.
FaceWeb is a massive SNS company with 4 billion users, isn’t it?
And to acquire that?
Dopamine was already rushing through my whole body with a thrill.
“Yeah. Let’s do it.”
I had no idea how we were going to pull it off.
But let’s just try.
So what should I do first?
Should I buy more FaceWeb stock right now?
Or play the media game using SNS and the press?
Meet with the founder, Marcus, and talk?
Or just send over an acquisition proposal out of nowhere?
While all those thoughts were flashing through my mind.
A strong vibration came to my fingertips, and I quickly opened the page.
[Don’t make a fuss.]
“.......”
Yeah, looks like getting friendly with this thing is hopeless.
***
“What is Jin-ho planning to do?”
“He said to continue purchasing shares slowly, like now.”
“Huh. Then he’s really......?”
“Yes. It seems he genuinely intends to acquire FaceWeb.”
“But is that even possible? It’s not a company we can take just by buying a lot of stock.”
To put it in perspective, FaceWeb is like a fortress.
If the castle lord doesn’t open the gates, it’s absolutely impossible to breach.
That’s what made Hwang Dae-woon puzzled.
How on earth did he plan to swallow a colossal beast like FaceWeb?
Even if FaceWeb, once part of the trillion-dollar club, had dropped to 250 billion dollars.
Its scale remained unchanged.
“But Chairman, this… it might actually be possible.”
“Hmm? What do you mean? How is it possible?”
“As news spreads that our Kwangwoon is trying to acquire FaceWeb, several major investment firms have begun offering support fire.”
Support fire?
Those large investment firms that usually follow the money are suddenly helping Kwangwoon?
“In the end, what funds and investment firms ultimately aim for is profit. And they judged that it’s actually more profitable if our Kwangwoon takes over FaceWeb.”
“How so?”
“You know the KW Coin we recently issued? We released two coins under the algorithmic stablecoin system, KW Coin and KW2 Coin.”
These were the coins launched by distributing over 2 trillion won to those who suffered losses from the Luna Coin and FTX bankruptcies.
“That marketing impact was incredible. Even Bitcoin skeptics started buying our coins because of it.”
“And among those buyers are the investment firms supporting us now?”
“Yes. According to rumors, when Kwangwoon rejected the Luna Coin listing, Gold Reagan was the first to cut their losses on Luna Coin and bought up a massive amount of our KW Coin. After that, other heavyweight investment firms and funds also bought into our coin.”
In short, for them to make money, KW Coin had to skyrocket.
“That’s why investment firms on Wall Street are all simultaneously attacking FaceWeb. Publishing negative articles and reports through various media outlets.”
Only then did Chairman Hwang Dae-woon realize why FaceWeb’s stock price had fallen this much.
Even though Kwangwoon was aggressively buying up shares, the price continued to fall.
“Moreover, FaceWeb made a huge misstep. They suddenly started going all-in on the metaverse, pouring money into bizarre areas, and ended up losing a whopping 50 trillion won. Then Chinese cities went into forced lockdowns, and recently, FaceWeb’s ads were blocked by Apple’s full iOS security update.”
It felt like an almost absurd level of misfortune, FaceWeb had been hit by one bad event after another.
On top of that, Wall Street was mounting an attack, leaving them no way to hold out.
“Is collapsing FaceWeb actually good for Wall Street?”
“If it were just a battle between PickPick and FaceWeb, Wall Street might have just loitered nearby looking for scraps and joined the fight half-heartedly. But this is a fight overwhelmingly tilted to one side, because of KW Coin.”
KW Coin can be used across all platforms operated by Kwangwoon.
And now, if a platform like FaceWeb with 4 billion users were to be acquired by PickPick?
“That would mean all those users would now be able to use KW Coin. And as a result, the value of KW2 Coin would rise even more.”
KW Coin could truly function like a real currency.
“There was a time when FaceWeb tried to capitalize on that advantage by launching their own coin, but the U.S. government shut them down. But the situation this time is different. Thanks to Kangseong Pay, KW Coin usage is already widespread in Korea, and internationally, its usage is growing explosively as well.”
What mattered most was how KW Coin had started.
KW Coin gained public support by distributing a bailout fund of 2 trillion won, something even the U.S. government hadn't handed out.
“That was truly the decisive factor. CEO Jung Jin-ho secured public sentiment first, so no one could interfere easily. And since Wall Street has been buying the coin in massive amounts, the U.S. government can’t recklessly touch it either.”
Already, the Luna Coin incident had blown away 40 billion dollars.
Now imagine the U.S. government suddenly stepping in to regulate KW Coin?
Wall Street, which is currently pouring massive funds into it, would never allow that.
And if KW Coin were really destroyed as per the U.S. government’s intent, another few tens of billions of dollars would vanish, and Aiden would never be able to handle that public backlash.
“In short, KW Coin was CEO Jung Jin-ho’s brilliant strategic move.”
“To acquire FaceWeb?”
“Yes. If he acquires FaceWeb, he’ll be able to expand KW Coin even further. So Wall Street has every reason to support CEO Jung Jin-ho. He saw the one and only move that could bring down the impenetrable fortress known as FaceWeb.”
Upon hearing those words, Hwang Dae-woon felt a chill run down his spine.
Is this what they call a god-tier move.
FaceWeb surely never saw it coming.
That Jin-ho had laid down such a strategy in advance.
And now, that god-tier move was charging forward to take down the colossal entity called FaceWeb.