Translator: Dreamscribe
"The Lebanese governnt has conveyed their thanks to our Kwangwoon."
"Is the restoration work going well over there?"
"Yes. Aid is coming from all around the world, but didn't we donate 300 billion won? Even overall, there isn't any place that donated more than we did."
300 billion won.
It wasn’t a huge amount for us.
But when viewed as a donation, it was a very large sum.
For instance, the total donation sent by the entire EU was about 40 billion won.
In fact, if you add up all the donations sent to Lebanon from people around the world so far, it just slightly exceeds 200 billion won.
But we alone gave 300 billion won, 100 billion more than that total, so it made sense that the Lebanese Pri Minister personally expressed his gratitude to us.
"Didn't the Pri Minister and the entire cabinet resign over there?"
"Yes. When it was revealed that the Lebanese governnt had negligently allowed ammonium nitrate to sit and rot in a warehouse for six years before it exploded, the Pri Minister and other key figures all resigned. The Lebanese people’s anger is sky-high."
As a result, a new Pri Minister was appointed, but politically, the country remained in chaos.
"The President has said he will not resign. He claims that if he also steps down, the political vacuum would beco too great and dangerous."
Even though the Pri Minister and all top officials had stepped down, the President alone held his position.
Lebanon has a sowhat complicated political structure.
The people do not directly vote for the President; instead, the 128 mbers of parliant elect both the President and the Pri Minister.
And the Pri Minister holds far more authority than the President.
In reality, the one who governs the country isn’t the President but the Pri Minister.
"Anyway, the President in Lebanon plays a symbolic and ceremonial role, so it seems the people don’t care much about it."
"I heard there's talk that the Lebanese governnt isn't even properly investigating the incident."
"Yes. Likely due to political reasons. The more they investigate, the more their own incompetence is exposed."
The Lebanese governnt was not attempting to thoroughly investigate the incident.
Despite multiple danger reports being submitted over six years, they ignored them and tried to cover things up.
"So are pushing conspiracy theories, claiming the opposition may have intentionally carried out a terrorist act to bring down the current Pri Minister and cabinet. Since the Lebanese governnt isn’t conducting a proper investigation, those conspiracy theories are spreading even more."
"That’s terrifying. To think soone might have deliberately committed terrorism just to take down the opposition."
"................"
At that, the team mbers looked at quietly.
"What is it?"
"There’s another conspiracy theory, but... no, it’s nothing."
A slightly strange atmosphere lingered for a mont, but the conversation soon shifted to another topic.
"All positions in the US have been settled. The National Pension Service also liquidated about half of its positions."
"How much are our holdings worth?"
Departnt Head Seo, who was giving the report, swallowed dryly before replying.
"75 trillion won."
75 trillion won.
It was truly an enormous amount.
The US stock market had plumted in an unprecedented crash, but then rebounded at the fastest pace in history, allowing us to achieve massive profits.
"We went in with 25 trillion won, so we tripled our money?"
"Yes. It’s an incredible result. Unlike the National Pension Service, we had relatively more freedom in buying and selling, and most importantly, Tesla played a big role. Didn’t Tesla's stock price rise significantly this ti? Also, due to the impact of COVID, a huge influx of individual investors into the stock market helped boost prices too."
On Wall Street, they always say this:
Tesla's stock price is a bubble.
And that's true.
Tesla is a company specializing in electric vehicles, but based on sales performance alone, its stock price honestly doesn’t make sense.
But as the saying goes,
The world of selling products is over.
Now is the era of selling dreams.
AI, electric cars, rockets, and so on.
Tesla was pursuing future industries and, rather than showing imdiate results to investors, it was selling the future.
And surprisingly, that was working very well.
"What about the National Pension Service?"
"As expected from the beginning, if we combine the total return so far and fully liquidate the position, it amounts to 1,500 trillion won. For now, they’ve cashed out half of that. The rest has been left in the US stock market for the ti being. Just as you predicted, the US market is expected to continue trending upward. But... there's one issue."
"What kind of issue?"
"The reason we and the National Pension Service pulled out nearly half of our money was because of the proposal from the EU, wasn’t it?"
After witnessing how we revived the US stock market with a shock strategy, the EU had also requested help from us, Kwangwoon and the National Pension Service.
They too wanted to hold up their crumbling stock prices.
But there’s a saying: all global stock markets are connected to the US.
In fact, the US stock market dominates so overwhelmingly that it accounts for about 40 to 50 percent of the global stock market.
So when the US market recovers, Europe’s markets follow along.
Like how other altcoins rise when Bitcoin goes up.
"At first, just like in the US, they said they would remove restrictions so that the National Pension Service and Kwangwoon’s funds could operate freely. But as the US market recovered and the European markets also began to rebound, the EU retracted that offer."
Well, to so extent, it was understandable.
While we were tied up in the US market for three months, the European markets had also started showing signs of recovery.
"So we can assu our plan to enter the European market has fallen through?"
"Yes. That’s why we’ve prepared a separate portfolio. In terms of profitability and in many other ways, the US market is still far superior to Europe, so reinvesting there would be...."
The US market was currently a place where money multiplied the mont you put it in.
The European market had also recovered to so degree, but it wasn’t at the level of the US market.
"Especially with the US aggressively implenting quantitative easing, IT companies are springing up constantly.
The IPO market is experiencing record-breaking growth.
Of course, there is a significant bubble, but it’s also the perfect environnt to make money right now."
I also thought that simply putting the money back into the US market might be the best course of action.
"Just a mont."
However, when I had liquidated our US market positions, my intuition hadn’t resisted.
If anything, it had felt like it was actively encouraging to do so.
But now, re-entering the US market felt... off. So I reached out and touched the portfolio.
".........."
There was no reaction at all.
Even after carefully reviewing the report and reading detailed analyses on the listed stocks, shoving all that information into my brain, my intuition didn’t respond.
"Didn’t we initially plan to enter the European market? Then the Research team must’ve put together a portfolio for that as well, right?"
"Ah, yes. The Research team had prepared sothing, but since the EU withdrew their offer...."
"Then give that too."
"Yes, here it is."
I looked through the European report prepared by the Research team. And the mont I opened the report, I felt a reaction.
"..........."
My intuition, which had been quiet until now, responded to the European report. And not just to a specific stock, it was the entire report that seed to glow.
"We’re not completely blocked from entering the European market, are we?"
"Ah, no. The EU did set up a pre-opened account for us. However, unlike what they initially promised, we’d have to invest under several restrictions.
If you're truly planning to invest in Europe, it would be better not to use that account and instead open a new one through a pri broker.
Details about that account are also included in the report."
I pressed on the EU’s pre-opened account.
"!?"
A strong current rapidly surged through my entire body.
"Please put the National Pension Service’s funds into this account first."
"What? All of it, you an? But since the EU has withdrawn their proposal, they could close the account unilaterally."
"Then we can just pull the money out again if that happens. Doesn’t that make it a non-issue?"
"That’s true, but..."
Departnt Head Seo glanced at cautiously, then quickly nodded.
"Understood. I’ll contact the asset managent company and have it handled imdiately."
Kwangwoon Asset Managent was now managing all the funds of the National Pension Service.
In principle, the operation should be aligned with the nature of the fund, but that was just a general rule. In reality, we were given full authority to manage the funds however we saw fit.
That was largely due to the influence of the forr Chairman, who had now joined our asset managent firm as an advisor.
But Europe, huh...
The EU had already blocked our access, so was there really any chance they’d suddenly open the gates again?
***
"......A-Are these numbers accurate?"
"Yes. According to our calculations, it exceeds 20 billion dollars."
Germany’s largest insurance company, Munich Re.
Torsten, the CEO overseeing operations there, nearly passed out at the amount his employees presented.
"How the hell could a number like this even co up?"
The Beirut port explosion incident.
People believed Lebanon was the biggest victim in the disaster.
But Lebanon wasn’t the only one that suffered damages.
Whenever such an incident occurs, there’s a sector that inevitably gets hit hard.
Insurance companies.
It wasn’t like there were only one or two insurance policies tied to the Beirut port.
Insurance on the port itself.
Insurance on goods.
Insurance on people.
Insurance on ships, and so on.
With such an unprecedented explosion, it was now ti to pay out insurance claims.
"Originally, even with the Beirut port incident, the insurance payout was only expected to be around 3 billion dollars. After all, 99% of Lebanese residents are uninsured. And there wasn’t much coverage on the port itself either."
Even 3 billion dollars was quite a hefty payout.
But compared to 20 billion, it was nothing.
"However, when Levant took over the Beirut port, things escalated. They had taken out various insurance policies, and due to Levant’s business expansion, the number of ships and goods entering the port had multiplied. That increased the damages."
And so the calculated insurance payout reached 20 billion dollars.
"Then how much do we have to pay from our side?"
"Just from Munich Re alone, we’re liable for 1 billion dollars."
"1 billion dollars?!"
Torsten clenched his eyes shut again.
"What... should we do?"
"What do you an what? We hold out as long as we can. Are we really going to cough up the full 1 billion dollars? Do whatever it takes to reduce the payout."
"But if we do that, we’ll face massive lawsuits. Even if we do reduce the amount, there’s a limit to how much we can lower it."
In short, they urgently needed cash to pay the insurance claims.
If they didn’t pay, it would an they were ready to shut down the company.
"First, sell off all the stocks we’re holding. The total estimated payout is 20 billion dollars. Just our share is 1 billion, what about the rest of the companies?"
The executives quickly understood what that ant.
Every insurance company connected to the Beirut incident would have to liquidate all their holdings to make the payouts.
"So sell! Before it all turns to worthless paper!"
***
Due to COVID, all financial markets had been in a slump, but with the dazzling rebound of the US stock market, everything had co back to life.
And among them, the European market was the most affected.
The European markets, which had once crashed as steeply as the US market, were now steadily rising and recovering.
"But what the hell is going on? We’re crashing back into a bear market?"
The leaders of EU mber states were on the verge of losing their minds.
Just when they thought the market had recovered and public outrage had finally cald down, the crash returned as if it had all been a lie.
"It’s because of the Beirut port explosion. Europe is known for its insurance sector, right? The problem is that too many insurance policies were tied to Beirut, and when that blew up, so did everything else."
The estimated insurance payout alone was 20 billion dollars.
And European insurance companies had to pay it all.
They could hold out with tricks and stalling tactics, but in the end, the fact remained: the money had to be paid.
"Since the insurance companies need to secure funds for the insurance payouts, they're all dumping the stocks they were holding, and that’s what’s hitting the market so hard."
"And the financial scandal broke out during that process?"
To make matters worse, a financial scandal erupted on top of everything.
During the liquidation process, it was revealed that a German company that had made a na for itself in fintech had been involved in accounting fraud.
"They falsified accounting reports worth as much as 2 billion euros, and after that company even filed for bankruptcy, the European financial market was shaken even more severely."
"So in the end, all of this stems from that explosion in distant Beirut?"
"Yes. If not for that incident, our European market would’ve remained stable. It would’ve continued its upward trend just like the US."
But with nurous European insurance companies tied to Beirut collapsing, the European market also began to crumble.
"..........."
Everyone fell into silent contemplation.
They were all racking their brains, trying to figure out how to overco this crisis.
"I received a report recently."
At that mont, the president quietly opened her mouth.
"It’s about Kwangwoon withdrawing about half of the National Pension’s funds from the US market and putting it into the account we opened for them before."
"Wait... wasn’t that the account we decided to close?"
"It was. And we even inford Kwangwoon of that in advance. But still, they went ahead and deposited a large sum into it."
"Why on earth would they do that...?"
"And not long after that, the entire European market started to sway."
"!?"
Did that an Kwangwoon had foreseen all of this?
"There hasn't been any movent from that account?"
"No. Leaving such a large sum just sitting in an account without transferring it to a safe asset is an incredible waste. And there’s no way Kwangwoon wouldn’t know that. So why would they just leave it there?"
".......They're sending us a ssage."
"Yes. They’re asking, 'Do you still think you don’t need our help?'"
They held their heads in their hands again.
When the US market rebounded and the European market stabilized, the first thing they had done was retract the offer made to Kwangwoon and the National Pension.
They had deed it too risky to let them roam freely in the European market, and most of all, it was the entity known as Kwangwoon that was too much of a concern.
Strangely enough, hadn’t Kwangwoon’s na always co up whenever there was a major incident?
"There are tons of rumors going around that Kwangwoon is connected to this Beirut case too..."
"Don’t tell they planned for all this and......!"
As the atmosphere started heating up, the President quickly tried to calm them down.
"Let’s not jump to conclusions. The insurance companies already conducted their own investigations and concluded that the Lebanese governnt had been incompetently managing ammonium nitrate for six years, and that Levant’s carelessness during operations caused the explosion."
Of course, there were more than a few suspicious parts.
Even the Lebanese governnt had been doing nothing but trying to cover up the incident.
"Then are you really suggesting we just let Kwangwoon freely enter the European market?"
"The US did it, and it worked. There’s still a lot of controversy around it even now, but in the end, it was a success. Unless anyone here has a better idea? Are you prepared to inject hundreds of billions of euros into the financial market right now?"
"............."
Due to COVID, every nation’s treasury was already drained.
And now, pouring astronomical amounts of money into saving the financial markets?
It was practically the sa as declaring national bankruptcy.
"Since no one has anything to say, I’ll go ahead and get in touch with Kwangwoon again. I’ll also hear out their investnt plans in detail."
No one objected.
The tide had already turned long ago.
"Whew, what do they all want to do."
After wrapping up the eting and returning to her office, President Charol let out a deep sigh.
The heads of state, who were clinging only to their pride, were incredibly frustrating.
"But President."
"Hmm?"
"What if even this was all part of Kwangwoon's plan?"
At her secretary's words, Charol furrowed her brows.
"What do you an?"
"I an, what if the Beirut port explosion wasn’t actually about taking down a rival company, but was aid at the European market from the very beginning?"
"..............!"
The Beirut incident had occurred right after the EU had completely withdrawn their initial offer.
And it had delivered a direct blow to the European market.
"Wouldn’t letting Kwangwoon loose in Europe be dangerous?"
"..........Enough. Didn’t I tell you last ti not to bring these strange conspiracy theories?
Besides, if not that money, do you have anywhere else we can get it from?
If you have a solution, then tell . I’ll gladly take it."
"I-I’m sorry."
"Go on, get back to work."
Charol drove out the secretary, who had been spouting nonsense.
But as she looked over the report, the words from her secretary kept echoing in her mind for so reason.
If all of this really was part of Kwangwoon’s design...
Then why, of all places, did it have to be Europe?
~~~
rry Christmas & Happy Holidays to you all! 🎄🌟
Reviews
All reviews (0)