Money Keeps Piling Up No Matter How Much I Spend

Chapter 88

Translator: DreamscribeThe Butterfly Effect.

It means that a small change can cause a major event.

I often have that kind of thought.

How many futures have I changed with this ability?

Something I might have taken lightly and brushed off, what if it caused an enormous change?

The financial market is the same.

It may seem trivial, but that tiny crack eventually triggers a massive financial crisis.

Back then, people just didn’t know.

If so, then where does this instinct that has brought change to my life come from?

I once became curious and searched for various things on the internet.

Among them, the most fascinating was the theory of human evolution.

It was a theory that if humanity were to evolve, we might be able to use supernatural powers like those seen in novels or movies.

Of course, there was no scientific proof, and it was most likely just someone's delusion.

However, since I was experiencing that evolution myself, I couldn’t just laugh it off.

But there was another theory that was extremely interesting and seemed quite feasible. It wasn’t some delusion floating around the internet, but rather an actual company that had been founded and was developing through the night for the sake of human evolution.

That was Close AI, in which our company had purchased a 45% stake.

“According to the company’s policy and internal documents, the ultimate goal of AI development is for the evolution of humanity.”

“AI development is human evolution?”

“Yes. Didn’t Tusk, the major shareholder of the company, say something like that? That someday, if AI chips are implanted in our brains, the AI will handle all the learning for us.”

It was a highly controversial remark.

But his idea was similar to the goal of Close AI.

Achieving perfect evolution through the development of AI.

To be honest, it didn’t feel like a very relatable future.

That’s because at the current level, AI can’t even hold a basic conversation.

“Still, someday, it might be possible to have everyday conversations. It could read documents for us, summarize them, and provide real-time translation in all languages, don’t you think?”

“Yes. Someday that will come. But for that level to be reached, we’d probably have to wait at least 30 years. Haha.”

“To be honest, I still get chills from Tusk’s previous remark. Implanting an AI chip in the brain!”

“Don’t worry. That’ll never happen in our lifetime.”

That was the end of the chit-chat.

There was actually another reason Close AI was being mentioned.

“After you acquired the stake, CEO-nim, you haven’t taken any particular action, so it seems they were puzzled by that. And maybe they’re getting a little anxious, too.”

They probably thought I was scheming something behind the scenes.

But I couldn’t pay attention to that because of Tesla and FaceWeb.

After the incident at Tesla, a full-blown competition with FaceWeb had begun, and I had no attention to spare for that side.

But surprisingly, both the Tesla incident and the conflict with FaceWeb ended more smoothly than expected.

Right now, FaceWeb is under intense criticism and facing a massive wave of account deletions, and all those users are flocking directly to our PicPic.

“FaceWeb released some sort of explanation, but it seems they don’t have any real countermeasure. Above all, their chairman, Marcus Burg, is scheduled to be summoned to a hearing, so he seems completely preoccupied with that.”

The recent data leak incident was quite serious.

With user data in the hundreds of millions leaking out, it was inevitable that public opinion would turn upside down.

Thanks to that, our PicPic avoided the flood of attacks and, on the contrary, is being promoted hard by our company as the safest and most trustworthy social network, using the marketing budget I had provided.

“In any case, Close AI plans to fly directly to Korea to meet with you, CEO-nim.”

I had no intention of stopping them from coming in person.

I was also curious to see who was actually running the company.

“Yes. Please schedule that well. What about the other matters?”

“I’ve brought a topic that will soon become a major issue. As you may already know, the Supreme Court recently ruled that Japanese companies must pay 100 million won each to the comfort women victims, correct?”

The Japanese occupation is over, but its scars still remain here and there.

Among them, the comfort women were major victims.

So the Supreme Court ruled that the Japanese companies at the center of the comfort women exploitation case must compensate the victims, but the Japanese government strongly protested.

They argued that it was a matter already settled long ago through a government-to-government agreement, so why bring it up again.

“There have been frequent clashes between Korea and Japan, but this time, the issue seems a bit different. The Japanese government is said to be seriously planning retaliation.”

“What kind of retaliation exactly?”

“They probably won’t touch tourism. The percentage of our citizens traveling to Japan is quite significant. So they’ll have to target another weak spot, and I suspect it’ll be semiconductors.”

Photoresist, fluorinated polyimide, and high-purity hydrogen fluoride.

These three are extremely important items in semiconductors.

The problem is, Japan controls over 80% of these three items.

Moreover, Korean semiconductor companies import nearly 90% of those items from Japan.

In other words, they’re Japan’s most powerful weapon against us.

And on top of that, isn't our country, including Kangseong Electronics, shifting its focus to semiconductors as its main industry?

“The Japanese government knows that too. It’s clear they plan to tighten the leash on us and use it to threaten.”

It was a diplomatic war.

Gone are the days when countries fought clumsily with swords and spears.

Now, they crush one another with their economic power.

“Then Kangseong will also suffer great damage. Same for NK.”

“Yes. We don’t know the exact situation over there, but both companies are probably in a state of emergency. The Japanese government hasn’t made an official announcement yet, but judging by how information is circulating, it seems like it will happen soon.”

It was at that moment.

I felt a vibration through my body.

As if my instinct was telling me that something serious was about to happen between Japan and Korea.

“Then we should also closely monitor the Japanese market.”

“Yes. Shall I prepare the Japanese market data?”

“Yes. Please do that.”

“I’ll work with the Research Team and create a report.”

Just when I thought the meeting was over.

Another report had landed on my desk.

“This one’s from Kwangwoon Shipping.”

“......Why is it so thick?”

“They said they’ve created multiple plans for the next strategic direction. It also includes routes and other detailed items. They’d appreciate it if you could evaluate the overall content.......”

The thickness of the document was murderous.

But I was the one who set it up this way, so I had no choice.

Though I should say it’s better than before.

Back then, they used to report every trivial thing to me, to the point where no one could tell who the real CEO was.

But now, instead of reporting everything constantly, they compile major strategic proposals like this and submit them for my review.

“Looks like I’ll be working late again tonight.”

“Then shall our staff summarize the report for you?”

Maybe that would be better.

Rather than doing it alone, it’d be better if everyone did it togethe-

“......?”

But just then, the report in Lee Hye-rin’s hands began to glow.

I let out a short sigh.

“No. I’ll review it myself.”

“Whoa. Then I’ll go ahead and prepare some snacks for you to have with dinner and while working late.”

“Yes. Please do.”

After Lee Hye-rin left, I opened the report, which was quite heavy in weight.

“It's a mess from the first page.”

Usually, even if a report was long, I could just focus on the parts that glowed.

But since this one was glowing from the very first page, it looked like I’d have to postpone the game plans I had set for tonight.

***

"Everyone is in a state of extreme tension right now."

“Really?”

“Yes. Rumor has it the Japanese government might go public with it as early as tomorrow.”

Right now, it was as if semiconductor companies had a fire lit under their feet.

At first, the stance was that no matter what, Japan wouldn’t go so far as to use items that could significantly impact the semiconductor market as leverage. But judging by the rumors currently circulating, things didn’t seem so simple.

“Prime Minister Dobe must have a lot on his mind. The quantitative easing policy he pushed under Dobenomics is practically ending in failure, isn’t it? It seems he’s trying to bury public dissatisfaction with this issue.”

“Why the hell are those bastards harassing perfectly fine companies? They should manage their political careers themselves.”

“That’s how approval ratings work, don’t they?”

Just as companies use politics,

Politics also uses companies.

This situation was one of those cases.

“Then we should also make some preparations. If we have to urgently secure those three items, we’ll need to use our shipping lines.”

“Yes. In the end, this will be good news for Kwangwoon Shipping. If Japan enforces export restrictions, we’ll have to import raw materials through other foreign companies.”

CEO Kim Doo-young grinned.

It was unfortunate that Kangseong and NK would suffer because of the two governments’ conflict, but thanks to that, Kwangwoon Shipping could earn more money.

“So, what about our country? What kind of retaliation are they planning?”

“Well… honestly, we don’t really have any weapons like Japan does.”

“Then we just have to sit back and take the hits?”

“Yes. It’s practically impossible to block tourism, so it seems they’re planning to make maximum use of public sentiment. That way, the number of tourists going to Japan will decrease, and so will the purchase of Japanese products.”

The problem was that, compared to Japan’s trade restrictions, Korea’s response would be far weaker.

Japan was striking at the heart of Korea’s core industry, while Korea had no such effective weapon to strike back with.

“Tsk. We’re the ones making money, but it still pisses me off.”

“It does feel a bit frustrating.”

Wasn’t it said that nothing stirs the Korean people more than a match between Korea and Japan?

Even in sports, people could accept losing to any other country, but not to Japan. That sentiment ran deep.

Also, it’s widely known that even unpopular sports events would see viewership spike if it were a Korea-Japan match.

Korea and Japan were eternal rivals in that sense.

“By the way, did we get a response from CEO Jung?”

“Yes. It came in this morning.”

“Really? He already read through that thick document?”

“You know how fast CEO Jung Jin-ho works.”

“He’s not just fast. His results are incredible. Who would’ve imagined that our Kwangwoon Shipping would become the world’s largest shipping company? It’s all thanks to CEO Jung Jin-ho.”

That’s why they had no choice but to rely on Jung Jin-ho even more.

But since he was handling so many different matters, they tried to avoid disturbing him as much as possible, only sending reports on a quarterly basis.

“Let’s take a look.”

There was only one thing Kim Doo-young needed to check.

What had CEO Jung Jin-ho marked?

No matter how brilliant the ideas or proposals were, if Jung Jin-ho hadn’t marked them, they were automatically discarded.

So no matter how regretful it was, they wouldn’t even glance at anything that hadn’t been checked.

“Pacific route, especially reevaluation of ship operation efficiency in the Northeast Asia segment... potential delays in cargo congestion, so port call schedules at major Japanese ports should be adjusted flexibly for risk management. Also, some routes should be temporarily shifted toward Central and South America or Europe…”

As he muttered to himself while going over the report, Kim Doo-young paused.

“What’s wrong?”

“Director Yang. Have you read this?”

“No, not yet.”

“Then read just this section on the routes.”

Following the instruction, Director Yang quickly scanned the report.

“......Huh?”

Director Yang also sensed the same strange feeling that Kim Doo-young had.

“This isn’t... just a simple route change.”

“Right? You see it too?”

“Yes. These changes clearly carry intent. And the focus is Japan.”

To an untrained eye, this report might not mean much.

On the surface, it looked like simple schedule adjustments and route diversions.

But to veterans like these two, it was different.

Using excuses like reevaluation of operational efficiency, potential congestion delays, and risk management to adjust port call schedules, on top of that, drastically altering routes.

At first glance, it might not seem special, but if you look into the intricately tangled routes and vested interests, it was clearly a plan to deliberately delay ships heading to Japan.

“If goods aren’t delivered by the deadline, penalties will be incurred, but if we follow this plan, we can avoid breaching any contract terms and still manage to arrive just in time to meet the deadline.”

Normally, when shipping contracts are made, the deadlines are set with a generous buffer.

So, the schedules are usually designed to ensure arrival well before the deadline.

But at this rate, the shipments would be arriving just barely on time.

“If it’s not just one ship, but dozens of vessels heading to Japan all arriving right up against the deadline...”

“Then their logistics will be thrown into chaos, right?”

“Yes. At first, it won’t be noticeable, but after just a few weeks, a logistics crisis is bound to erupt. Items that are supposed to arrive won’t, and goods that need to be sent out won’t be processed quickly.”

Cargo routes are more complex than people think.

When you're operating hundreds of ships, complexity is inevitable.

And since they don't stay in just one country but move between others, a misstep in the routes causes massive delays.

“But how does CEO Jung Jin-ho know all these routes so well? If you just adjust things based on these dates and times, everything lines up perfectly, almost eerily.”

“I’ve said it a million times. CEO Jung knows more than us. He’s a real expert. Honestly, sometimes he feels like he came from a Dragon Palace.”

With just this one report, they could tell what Jung Jin-ho was implying.

His target was Japan.

Was it anger at the Japanese government for daring to shake the semiconductor empire he had carefully built? Or was it burning patriotism, a refusal to ever lose to Japan?

“Whatever the reason, knowing CEO Jung’s personality, this is just the beginning.”

It had always been that way.

If someone stood in Jung Jin-ho’s path, no matter who they were, he would crush them without mercy.

Most people wouldn’t believe it.

But the companies that had suddenly imploded or gone bankrupt in recent years, every single one of them was connected to Jung Jin-ho.

“H-Honestly, though, this time he’s not just facing off against a single company. He’s going up against the Japanese government.”

Even CEO Kim Doo-young felt his heart tighten.

Wasn’t it just recently that FaceWeb, once on top, dared to mess with PicPic and ended up utterly devastated?

But this wasn’t a war between companies.

“CEO Jung is fighting on behalf of the Korean people. We should support him.”

“Shouldn’t we be stopping him instead of cheering...?”

No. It was already too late.

The moment that report was submitted, this feedback came in.

What did that mean?

It meant Jung Jin-ho had already planned everything.

“He’s probably already given us directions and is moving on the financial side too. For all we know, he’s already taken his position. And knowing him, he’s probably prepared something we can’t even imagine.”

The Japanese government likely didn’t have the faintest clue.

They were already basking in the glow of victory before the fight had even begun.

Because they knew just threatening with those three items was enough to win.

But beneath their feet, a massive storm was quietly brewing.

“Sakura Ending......”

“Sorry?”

“Sakura Ending Project. Doesn’t it have a nice ring to it?”

Director Yang let out a reluctant laugh.

It wasn’t really a ‘project’, they just wanted to give it a name that captured the feeling.

Operation codename: “Sakura Ending” (TL: Cherry blossoms are called sakura in Japanese)

The intricately interlocked gears were already moving, just as the plan intended.