thenovelthief Chapter 160
Chapter 160
Translator: Dreamscribe“How much of Bluezone’s shares do we currently hold?”
“Exactly 4.7%. If it goes over 5%, the government will start imposing sanctions. That’s to investigate whether we’re buying shares in bulk for the purpose of acquisition or if there’s another motive.”
“So we intentionally didn’t cross that line?”
“Yes. It seems CEO Jung deliberately walked a fine line without crossing it.”
Back when it was FaceWeb, even if Kwangwoon aggressively bought up shares, there was no interference.
That was because the governance structure was solid with dual-class voting rights.
Also, since the stock price was continuously falling, even when they bought heavily, the price didn't spike upward.
"But... why did this suddenly come in?"
Hwang Dae-woon tilted his head in confusion.
Out of the blue, proposals had come from Whiterock and Wingard, the world’s largest asset management firms, offering to hand over management control of Bluezone to Kwangwoon.
“Those two hold over 20% of the shares.”
“What about what Chairman Rainjof holds?”
“9%. Originally, it was over 13%, but he kept selling shares to develop the space industry, and it’s been reduced to 9%.”
Those two asset management firms hold 20%.
And the chairman only holds 9%.
Unless there are dual-class voting rights, it may seem questionable how he could control the company with just 9%.
“That’s because Bluezone released all its shares to the market. No single force holds a dominating share, so even that much is enough to control the company.”
“On top of that, Bluezone had strong growth and even joined the one-trillion-dollar club. So no one questioned Rainjof’s leadership.”
"Then when things blew up, the major shareholders were the first to rise up. Also, executives on the board held small amounts of shares too, and when they joined in, Rainjof was ousted from the chairmanship."
“So, a coup happened internally? And now those guys are coming to us, begging us to take the throne in their place?”
“Yes. Someone has to govern the company.”
They say history repeats itself.
In the past, rebellions overthrew kingdoms, but now coups in large corporations were ousting their executives.
“So we just happened to get caught up in it?”
"No. It doesn't seem that way."
“It doesn’t?”
“Yes. Recently, pirates attacked ships, causing them to stop, right? Because of that, all the goods that were supposed to be supplied to Bluezone got stuck at sea. On top of that, due to semiconductor supply issues, shipments to Bluezone were completely cut off. That dealt the decisive blow.”
“But the ship issue was the pirates’ doing, wasn’t it?”
“That’s true. But whether CEO Jung Jin-ho intended it or not, he might have used that as justification to shake Bluezone. It’s also a fact that he started buying shares aggressively from that point.”
Even if the shipping issue was an unavoidable disaster, cutting off semiconductor supplies was practically a declaration of war against Bluezone.
And Bluezone was already suffering from poor performance, falling stock prices, and large-scale layoffs.
“So, we delivered a critical blow to Bluezone and deliberately created this situation?”
“Yes. Originally, Wingard and Whiterock never got involved in management. Although they are the world’s largest asset management firms, each fund has different characteristics, and when they invest in large-cap stocks like Bluezone, they usually seek stable returns rather than involvement in management.”
But when the stock price of the trusted Bluezone plummeted and dividends declined due to poor performance, even those two couldn’t just sit back.
“They could’ve chosen to pull out, but instead, they chose to entrust us with management to revive Bluezone.”
“Then if we take over management, the shareholders won’t have much to complain about?”
“Yes. Ever since the news broke that Rainjof was ousted as chairman and that management would be handed over to Kwangwoon, the stock price has been rising.”
Until now, whenever Kwangwoon brought in a new affiliate, they never treated it like a neglected outsider, but always tried to find a way to grow it well.
And under Kwangwoon’s leadership, haven’t all the affiliates always turned profitable and shown tremendous growth?
“That’s exactly what seems to have won over the shareholders. They already know from multiple examples that if a company comes under Kwangwoon, they won’t suffer losses at the very least.”
“Then is this a good thing for us? Bluezone is a giant dinosaur. Feels like there’ll be a lot of places where money will pour into. And recently, their performance wasn’t even good.”
“Yes. Still, it’s Bluezone. What Kwangwoon needs most right now is platform expansion. And in that regard, there’s no place better than Bluezone. Especially, it would allow us to spread KW Coin even more widely. Above all, the key is the server infrastructure.”
As it was, Kwangwoon had been struggling with server issues lately.
And now, taking over Bluezone and seizing control of BWS?
"Then the server problems that have been plaguing us will be solved all at once. I think CEO Jung Jin-ho also made this gamble precisely to solve the KW Coin and server problems."
To think he turned the pirate attack on the ships into an opportunity, and even cut off the semiconductor supply as part of that gamble.
It was something Hwang Dae-woon had felt many times while gaming.
Jin-ho wasn’t just strong-willed... he was a beast, through and through.
“Then we have no reason to refuse, do we?”
“No. It’s good for us, but there’s one problem.”
“What problem?”
“The U.S. government. This isn’t just any company, it’s Bluezone. If we take over, the U.S. government will likely start imposing sanctions immediately. For monopoly concerns.”
Both the U.S. and Europe are sensitive when it comes to monopolies.
Haven’t they already joined forces once before to crush Kwangwoon Shipping?
Although, in the end, that did result in great gains for Kwangwoon.
“But hasn’t Bluezone been running just fine until now?”
“Yes. But it’s a different matter when another company comes in and takes over. We may not have entered the U.S. market yet, but we run a massive e-commerce business in Korea. On top of that, we also operate large-scale servers.”
“They can easily find fault with that. We're foreign capital after all, and having already taken over SNS, if we now swallow up e-commerce too, that could be terrifying for the U.S. government.”
Now that I think about it, that’s true.
The world’s largest SNS operator suddenly taking over e-commerce?
Using the already influential SNS to explode the growth of e-commerce, and adding KW Coin, which we issue ourselves, there’s no way the U.S. government could overlook that.
“But aren’t Apple and Microsoft technically monopolies too? Yet they’re left alone.”
“Yes. It’s not like they’ve never faced sanctions. But their companies were never broken up. Because in the end, America is run through votes. If those two companies were broken up for being monopolies, there’d be massive layoffs, the stock would fall, and the public would be furious.”
In other words, public opinion is scary.
“On top of that, those two companies pour a lot of money into politics. Through lobbying, they prevent their companies from being harmed by monopoly sanctions as much as possible.”
Of course, monopoly sanctions can’t be completely avoided.
At best, it’s just a show for appearances, to make it seem like the political powers are keeping big businesses in check.
“Wingard and Whiterock know that too. They know the U.S. government will get involved if we take over Bluezone’s management.”
“So?”
“They’re already working behind the scenes to steer public opinion. They can’t afford to have a company they’ve heavily invested in get split up over monopoly issues. We’ll need to match that by spreading money to media outlets, and also work in cooperation with political figures in the U.S.”
At those words, Hwang Dae-woon slowly nodded.
It had already been a while since they started spreading money in the U.S. under the guise of advertising and political donations.
Ever since Kwangwoon Shipping was forcibly torn apart, Hwang Dae-woon realized the importance of cultivating allies in the political world.
“Looks like I’ll need to visit the U.S. after a long time.”
“Yes. I’ll prepare for it right away.”
And it seemed the time had finally come to harvest the fruits of that effort.
***
There’s a saying: even a cow stepping backward can catch a mouse by accident.
Right now felt exactly like one of those moments.
"Thanks to acquiring shares as you instructed, CEO-nim, it seems we didn't cross the line. And I don't think anyone predicted Bluezone would implode internally like that."
Following my intuition, I had been slowly purchasing shares of Bluezone.
But the timing turned out to be perfect.
I never imagined Bluezone would collapse from within and end up handing over management rights to us.
“Thanks to that, the server problem will be fully resolved. And we’ll be able to popularize KW Coin even faster.”
But there was still one issue.
“What about the monopoly issue?”
“I was worried about that too, but headquarters says not to worry.”
“Huh?”
"The Chairman said so. He said he'll take care of problems like that, so just do your work."
As expected of hyung-nim.
He's truly on another level.
I have no idea what method he’s planning to use.
One thing I do know is that hyung-nim is absolutely not someone who goes back on his word.
“Then let’s trust the Chairman and move forward. Once we secure the management rights, please resolve the server issue first.”
“Yes. I’ll make sure it’s handled smoothly without any issues.”
It felt like a huge burden had been lifted.
We’d already started to see cracks forming due to server overload, so who would have thought Bluezone would end up helping us like this?
“And, CEO-nim, this is a request letter from the Foundation.”
“What is it?”
“Didn’t that massive winter storm just hit? The U.S. and Canada have suffered extensive damage. They say 36 out of 48 U.S. states have been placed under warning.”
Winter Storm Elliott.
Driven by global warming, a once-in-a-century storm swept across the U.S., burying the country in snow.
Cities were paralyzed, rescue teams couldn’t even get in due to the piled-up snow, and temperatures dropped as low as minus 45 degrees.
Already, the death toll is said to be in the thousands.
“So they’re asking if we could support them by sending aid from Korea, in cooperation with our Foundation branches in the U.S.”
“It’s not dangerous, right? I heard the storm is quite intense.”
“By the time we get over there, the storm will likely have passed, so it should be fine. The issue is that the scale of the Foundation’s request is a bit much this time.”
I glanced through the list of requests.
It included donations in the hundreds of billions of won, and a lot of supplies that we would need to procure via shipping and air transport.
“......!”
Right then, I felt a sharp tingle of intuition shoot through me.
It wasn’t that I felt dissatisfaction with the contents.
It wasn’t a feeling telling me to cut down on donations, it was more like a push urging me to send even more.
“You think it’s too much, Department Head?”
“Yes. We already made a massive donation to Saudi Arabia. For us to now make another donation of this scale…”
He meant that while doing good was fine, it should be done in moderation.
But my intuition seemed to disagree.
“Isn’t it good to do a lot of good? And while we’re at it, there’s nothing wrong with going all out. Let’s double it.”
“Huh?”
“Double everything here, the donations and the supplies. And as soon as we take over Bluezone’s management rights, distribute KW Coins to the disaster victims so they can freely purchase goods through Bluezone.”
Intuition aside, even without it, I would have gladly sent more donations and supplies.
Isn't there a saying that happiness multiplies the more you share?
I believe that saying is true.
***
“These cunning bastards. They’re trying to use this national disaster to turn public opinion in their favor?”
Aiden trembled with rage at Kwangwoon’s actions.
Due to the unprecedented winter storm called Elliott that suddenly swept across the country, the United States had declared a national state of emergency and was in chaos.
Right at that moment, Kwangwoon snatched away management control of Bluezone.
They had timed it perfectly to strike while everyone’s attention was elsewhere.
As if that weren’t enough, they were now exploiting the weakened hearts of disaster victims by distributing KW Coins and forcing them to use Bluezone.
“But the amount of donations this time is so large that it’s become a major topic. They poured in over 1 billion dollars.”
Other companies, at most, donated only a few million dollars.
But as if to show a completely different level of class, Kwangwoon casually threw in 1 billion dollars.
“They actually got it cheap. If they were seriously trying to take over Bluezone, it would’ve cost at least 100 billion dollars more. But they’re acting like heroes after throwing just 1 billion.”
That’s why people couldn’t help but call them cunning.
In a time when the whole country was suffering, anyone who made a donation that large would naturally receive public attention, and the public opinion would shift to their side.
“On top of that, Wingard and Whiterock have joined in, flooding the media with money to generate favorable coverage of Kwangwoon. Not to mention SNS. Any negative talk about Kwangwoon gets completely blocked on PicPic and FaceWeb.”
If Bluezone was taken over, Kwangwoon should be judged for monopoly.
But judging by the way public opinion was flowing, that wouldn’t be easy.
Even members of the same party were hesitating after seeing how public sentiment was leaning toward Kwangwoon.
With elections approaching, they too had to be mindful of the people’s eyes.
If they made a wrong move and triggered mass layoffs, and if Kwangwoon used that as an excuse to unleash another large-scale financial crisis, those politicians’ careers would surely be over.
“But can we really just sit back and watch this? After the PMC incident, now this? I can’t accept it, John.”
And this time, even Aiden was determined to push back hard.
“.......”
“But why are you so quiet?”
“Mr. President... I’m sorry, but... I would like to step down as Chief Secretary.”
“!?”
Aiden was startled.
“W-Why? Did I say something to upset you?”
“No, sir. It’s just... I’m exhausted. You know how it is- most Chief Secretaries don’t even last two years.”
“But we’ve been doing well, haven’t we? If it’s vacation you need, just say the word. I’ll take care of it.”
“That’s not the reason.”
John’s voice began to tremble.
“To be honest... I’m scared now.”
“Scared?”
“Kwangwoon, sir. A report came in from Nigeria. Apparently, all the politicians who opposed Kwangwoon have gone missing. It looks like they were caught up in the civil war, but you know the truth, Mr. President. Kwangwoon is now using PMC operations to carry out covert missions.”
Aiden grabbed his arm.
“Calm down. That’s Nigeria. This is America.”
“No. You’ve already seen it yourself, haven’t you? Kwangwoon has control over SNS, the media, and even massive financial powers. They’re pulling public opinion to their side. What’s happening in Nigeria will soon happen here in America too.”
“......!”
“I have a family I need to protect. What if we cross Kwangwoon the wrong way and not just me, but even my family ends up harmed? These days, I’ve been waking up every night from nightmares about it.”
John shook off Aiden’s hand.
“I’m sorry. But I have things I must protect too, and I don’t think I can endure this fear any longer. I’m truly... truly sorry, Mr. President. I’ll make sure a replacement is appointed as quickly as possible.”
“.......”
Aiden couldn’t stop John, who quietly exited the presidential office.
He had never seen John, a former soldier who had even gone to war, that terrified before.
“.......”
Aiden slumped into his seat in a daze.
His head was ringing loudly, and his vision blurred like a fog settling in.
He now truly felt like he was alone.
*****
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