thenovelthief Chapter 96
Chapter 96
Translator: Dreamscribe“What is all this suddenly about? Why are they suddenly pressuring us from France out of nowhere?”
After the policy announcement in France, every major corporation was thrown into crisis.
In effect, President Perron had practically declared war against foreign conglomerates.
Among them, Kwangwoon was poised to suffer the greatest damage.
“President Perron and his party members actually raised the fuel tax once earlier this year.”
“So what?”
“Now that they’re trying to raise it again, they’re afraid of public backlash. So they’re putting on a show and trying to rake in some money at the same time by suddenly beating down on foreign companies, including us.”
The recent policy announcement from France was, from any angle, heavily skewed to benefit domestic wealthy individuals.
On top of that, under the excuse of environmental friendliness, they were trying to increase the fuel tax to fill the national treasury.
If they imposed it directly like that, a huge backlash from citizens was expected, so they began attacking foreign companies and spreading a public opinion that these companies were leeching off France.
“In any country, don’t they always bring up external factors and create issues for the sake of approval ratings? This is the same thing.”
"What a bunch of thugs."
“France has always been known for this kind of thing, hasn’t it? They say it’s the gangster of Europe.”
“What the hell is with Europe and its gangsters? The UK’s like that, France is like that too.”
“But the problem is that this policy seems to be specifically targeting us, Kwangwoon.”
France was blatantly launching a focused attack on Kwangwoon.
Each of their policies seemed to have the clear purpose of harming Kwangwoon.
“Why us, though?”
“From the French government’s point of view, our Kwangwoon is certainly a threat. Didn’t Lusk, the largest shipping company in Denmark, collapse? And we’ve completely absorbed it. On top of that, we’re penetrating into various sectors like social media, cryptocurrency markets, automobiles, semiconductors, and so on. They see this as a chance to put us in our place.”
In that case, there was only one solution.
Meet with the ruling French party members currently in power and turn them to Kwangwoon’s side.
Put nicely, it was lobbying.
Put harshly, it was bribery.
“I heard other companies are throwing around quite a lot of money.”
“Yes. That’s the very reason foreign conglomerates have managed to survive in Europe until now. They pour enormous sums into lobbying. And it turns out, that actually works out cheaper in the long run.”
“So you’re saying we need to do the same? No, more like how would we know if we’ve never done anything like that before?”
Hwang Dae-woon had never once engaged in lobbying while running his company.
It was already difficult to do such things domestically, let alone going all the way to France to make it happen.
“As the company experienced explosive growth in a short time, I think it’s become an inevitable part of the process.”
The bigger a company grows, the more scrutiny it inevitably attracts.
Especially if a government wants to put pressure on it, they can make things unbearably difficult.
But the fortunate part was that those in the government always had open pockets.
If you filled them well enough, the pressure they were applying would turn into mere gestures and be quietly dropped.
Then once their pockets got light again, they’d hassle the companies and demand to be filled again.
That’s how the entire government system operated.
The problem was, how were they supposed to lobby French politicians when they hadn’t even done so with domestic ones? They didn’t even have the necessary contacts, so reaching out was difficult to begin with.
“How is CEO Jung handling this?”
“Well... CEO Jung Jin-ho is currently recovering all the money that had been distributed.”
“Recovering it?”
“CEO Jung Jin-ho had about 10 trillion won available to move within the Prime Department. But since he couldn’t just let it sit idle, he had placed it across various safe assets......”
“And?”
“He ordered all of it to be pulled out.”
At that, a chilling thought briefly crossed Hwang Dae-woon’s mind.
“...Why?”
“I’m not sure yet. For now, he’s just recovering the funds. But I hear he’s opening an account on the French stock market.”
“W-wait. He’s not planning to pour the entire 10 trillion won into the French stock market, is he?”
At those words, the executives began murmuring anxiously.
No matter how much larger the French stock market was compared to the Korean stock market, over twice the size, injecting 10 trillion won all at once was an act of violence.
“Isn’t CEO Jung Jin-ho someone who’s gone beyond being a genius investor and reached the level of a god? He wouldn’t make such an extreme move, would he?”
“Even injecting 1 trillion won all at once triggers sanctions. There’s no way he’d do something like that, right?”
Logically, that made sense.
If some crazy guy showed up with 10 trillion won and started dumping it into the stock market, would their Financial Supervisory Service just sit back and watch?
“......”
But Hwang Dae-woon realized there was one thing the executives were overlooking.
France had poked the whiskers of a sleeping lion.
***
[Due to Brexit negotiations, the US-China trade war, the collapse of Japan’s YCC, and other events, all global stock markets are currently frozen.]
I was chewing on some bread while reviewing the data sent from the Research Department.
It was lunchtime, but I didn’t have the leisure to head to the cafeteria for a proper meal.
Because the French situation required an urgent response.
‘It’s true that all the markets are unstable right now.’
This year was noticeably worse than last year.
Especially the turmoil triggered by the Japanese YCC incident had spread across the globe.
“CEO-nim. We’ve just recovered all the investment funds.”
“Weren’t you all supposed to be having lunch?”
“With you staying here like this, how could we possibly... Oh, after retrieving all the investments and doing the math, we made about a 2% return.”
2%.
2% of 10 trillion won was about 200 billion.
“That’s minor.”
“Yes. 200 billion is a huge sum, but strangely enough, when we’re with you, CEO-nim, even that feels small. Haha.”
That was because the funds weren’t spread out with the intention of making profits.
However, earning 2% in a short period was still a meaningful achievement.
“What’s the public sentiment in France right now?”
“It’s still split. Some people support it, some are against it. Since the policy hasn’t been implemented yet, there are many who don’t fully understand it either.”
“The Analysis Team says there will be opposition, but the government is likely to ignore it and push forward. More than anything, since the domestic wealthy have no reason to oppose it, the government’s position will become even stronger.”
In other words, if the powerful support something, the powerless can only suffer.
“But this policy... Beyond attacking foreign companies, it’s actually quite harmful to French citizens. So why is everyone staying silent?”
“Manager Lee, that’s not as easy as it sounds. Like I said earlier, the people with power are backing the government. If someone tries to oppose it, they’ll be crushed, even if by force. And it’s not easy for the people to come together in solidarity either.”
That’s why the policy was progressing so smoothly.
Even though most people opposed it inwardly, no one could step forward carelessly.
“CEO-nim, then how much capital are you planning to inject into the French account?”
We currently had 10 trillion won in hand.
An astronomical amount.
But I hadn’t withdrawn it just to put all of it into the French stock market.
If the vision shown by my intuition was correct, a major event was about to unfold in France.
Which meant that the French market would shake, dragging down the entire European market with it, and that tsunami would ripple out everywhere. In that case, no matter where the money went, losses would be inevitable. That’s why I pulled it out.
‘Let’s start with 1 trillion.’
I wrote down the amount in my notebook.
But I didn’t feel anything.
Right. There’s no way I’d be satisfied with just 1 trillion.
‘2 trillion?’
Still no reaction.
We had already played big once before with 2 trillion, so this felt underwhelming too.
‘Then 3 trillion?’
...The problem was that still didn’t trigger anything.
4 trillion, 5 trillion, 6 trillion, 7 trillion.
As the number kept rising, my hand began trembling without me realizing it.
‘Am I going crazy?’
Just how high was it going to go?
Eventually, I reached that number.
‘10 trillion.’
The moment I wrote that amount, a powerful tremor struck through my body.
“......”
I couldn’t believe it, so I reached out and touched the number again.
“!?”
Then, as if struck by a taser, a strong current shook through my entire body.
If I pushed once more here, it felt like it might really knock me out cold.
“...Let’s go with 10 trillion won.”
“What?!”
“A-all 10 trillion won?!”
But it looked like it was going to be our team members who passed out first instead.
***
Marcus, the founder and CEO of FaceWeb, had not been in a good mood lately.
The FaceWeb-exclusive coin he had ambitiously prepared had run into fierce opposition from many governments. As a result, all the partner companies had pulled out, and the coin project was naturally scrapped.
Because of that, people were now saying this about Marcus:
“The guy who crawled under Kwangwoon’s legs.”
People were saying Marcus had pulled such a stunt just to revive the falling price of Bitcoin.
That was the most frustrating part.
He had never intended anything like that.
Why would he go out of his way to do something beneficial for Kwangwoon, a company he’d rather chew up and spit out?
It was simply that, with the coin craze at its peak, he’d wanted to use the opportunity to expand FaceWeb’s utility. It had been a project meticulously prepared over a long period of time, but in the end, it had only ended up benefiting Kwangwoon.
“And now France is pulling this kind of bullshit too?”
As if things weren’t bad enough already, French President Perron was suddenly playing the role of justice warrior, cracking down on foreign companies.
“If we want to use tax havens, we have to pay five times more tax than we do now?”
“Yes. Not just us, but they’re trying to slap excessive taxes on all foreign companies right now.”
“What about the money we funneled to those politicians?”
“Well... this current regime is extremely powerful, and President Perron’s grip is at its peak. So it seems unlikely they’ll back off.”
Already dealing with the double blow of security leaks and the coin fiasco, FaceWeb users were steadily flocking to PicPic, and now France was adding insult to injury.
“What are our countermeasures? Are we just supposed to take this tax hit lying down? Shouldn’t our own government step in at this point?”
“Well... the U.S. government is too busy fighting with China right now, and they’ve already dropped a tariff bomb on Europe, so this could also be seen as part of France’s retaliation.”
This damned government was no help at all.
But what could he do?
It had always been like that.
Which meant he had no choice but to solve this problem himself.
“So we’re just supposed to obediently pay the tax?”
“If they keep pushing forward like this, we’ll have no choice. But... there are some posts and videos surfacing on social media recently.”
“What kind of posts?”
“Videos and writings from citizens opposing the current policy. There are especially strong videos criticizing Perron, calling him the president of the rich. They’re being posted more frequently these days.”
Hearing that, a twitch formed at the corner of Marcus’s eyes.
“They’re going up on PicPic too?”
“Yes. Short videos calling for unity and collective action are steadily being uploaded. Some have even made it into the trending videos.”
“In France?”
“Yes.”
“Is there a chance PicPic is intentionally boosting the exposure of those videos?”
“...I wouldn’t say it’s impossible.”
That’s when Marcus got an idea.
“You said similar posts and videos are going up on our platforms too, right?”
“Yes. The people posting on PicPic seem to be uploading the same content on FaceWeb and YouTube as well.”
At that moment, a thought crossed his mind.
Could Kwangwoon be thinking the same thing I am right now?
Could this be a signal?
What’s the terrifying power of social media?
It’s that it allows people who are far apart to share empathy, and brings them together as one.
Social media can simply be used as a tool to trigger dopamine, but in a situation like this, what if massive SNS corporations joined forces for a single purpose?
“From now on, if any post opposing this policy goes up, trend all of them.”
“All of them?”
“Yes. Not just in France, but so people all around the world can see it. And if no one’s uploading, then our company can create the videos and posts ourselves. Make them as provocative as possible, explaining why this policy favors the wealthy, and spread them everywhere.”
It wasn’t certain whether PicPic was really collecting and intentionally exposing only those kinds of videos, but if it was the meticulous Kwangwoon behind it, then there was no doubt they were fully utilizing the power they had.
‘Just this once, Kwangwoon.’
He never imagined there would come a day when he would join hands with those bastards.
And yet, for some reason, thinking of being on the same team as Kwangwoon made him feel incredibly reassured.
***
President Perron believed everything was going smoothly.
Advocating centrist politics, he had completed his first year in office with overwhelming public support. His approval ratings were high.
That’s why he believed the people would accept his policy without much issue.
But was that belief arrogance?
Or... was someone interfering?
“Th-thirty thousand?!”
“Yes. It’s a Yellow Vest protest. People opposing the recent fuel tax hike and tax cuts for the rich are taking to the streets in a massive demonstration.”
Naturally, every policy brings opposition.
Especially this one, which included tax cuts for the rich and a fuel tax hike, undeniably sensitive issues. So, they had tried to divert public attention as much as possible.
To foreign corporations.
By framing them as thieves looting France, they planned to push the policy while the people were busy cursing and hating those companies.
It had always worked well, until now.
“How could so many people gather all at once?”
“It’s because of social media.”
“Social media?”
“Yes. If you go on PicPic, FaceWeb, or YouTube right now, it’s nothing but posts and videos about the Yellow Vest movement, as if it were all prearranged.”
If all three of these giant social media corporations were simultaneously flooded with those videos, what did that mean?
The voice of the people?
No.
Those bastards were manipulating things to make it feel like the voice of the people.
“Th-those bastards...!”
The calm and gentlemanly face of Perron twisted into a fierce grimace.
It was clear that these giant corporations, once too busy competing with each other, had now joined hands.
“Arrogant fools. This is a challenge to our regime!”
“This isn’t the time to worry about them. You know better than anyone what happens when protests erupt in our country.”
France had the stereotype of being a protest-prone country.
And that was accurate.
Once protests began, it was tradition in this country to start by setting something on fire.
The problem was, even with just 300 people protesting, things would spiral into chaos, but now there were 30,000.
“Already, countless shops have been looted, buildings are on fire, and the damage is escalating beyond control.”
Just watching the news footage was enough to grasp how serious the situation had become.
Rioting mobs in yellow vests were turning the streets upside down.
But they couldn’t be dismissed as savages.
Because this nation had been built on fire and violence from angry mobs like them.