Translator: Dreamscribe
[The Chinese governnt has simultaneously locked down 12 cities including Shanghai. Currently, there is a wave of panic buying across all Chinese cities, and due to a lack of inventory, serious........]
It was already known that the Chinese governnt might take extre asures.
“But I never imagined they would lock down all the major cities at once.”
The Chinese governnt had stated it was prepared to take any asure to achieve zero COVID.
“Still, to shut down those huge cities entirely......”
However, forcibly closing functioning cities and preventing people from going outside was unexpected.
Typical of China, perhaps.
Extre and bold.
“Thanks to that, all the stock markets are currently shaken. Manufacturing industries that were unprepared for the lockdown have taken massive hits as well.”
It wasn’t just the Chinese citizens who were caught off guard.
Manufacturing companies operating factories in China all ca to a halt at once.
“What about our side?”
“Fortunately, in the case of semiconductor factories, we didn’t build them in China, so the impact is minimal. If there’s a problem, it would be in shipping. We need to receive goods and transport them by sea, but since the factories that produce those goods have all stopped, we can’t transport anything.”
“But it seems that because China itself lacks the supply it needs, they’re now importing goods through other countries, and ironically, orders have even increased.”
Shipping, after all, wasn’t suffering losses because the incoming order volu was making up for it.
“But CEO-nim, due to the lockdown of Shanghai and other major cities, the stock price of FaceWeb has dropped again. There’s even talk going around that it might really fall to 200 billion dollars.”
FaceWeb had briefly joined the trillion-dollar club before crashing back down.
There had been many incidents.
The biggest, of course, was the Cambridge data leak, followed by the FaceWeb Coin incident.
Alongside those two events, our Kwangwoon’s PicPic recorded an enormous number of users with short-form videos and ended up taking the throne of SNS.
“Of course, FaceWeb still has more registered users than we do. 3.7 billion people are registered on FaceWeb.”
“What about actual users?”
“In terms of traffic, we have a bit more. Kwangwoon has a lot of subsidiaries generating revenue here and there, after all.”
FaceWeb maintains most of its revenue through ads shown on its platform.
It’s known to be trying various ways to break away from that model, but instead, it's being criticized by investors for spending money recklessly.
“And now with the lockdowns in China forcing factories to shut down, companies likely aren’t spending on advertisents. That’s the very reason the stock price is dropping.”
There was a reason why the Departnt Head was telling all this.
“CEO-nim, should we... continue buying FaceWeb stocks?”
Previously, my intuition had strongly highlighted FaceWeb as the only standout on the NASDAQ, so I instructed for a large-scale purchase.
We had bought not only the stocks available on the market but also those held by large asset managent firms.
“.......”
With prices dropping this much, it would be reasonable to stop buying.
But my intuition was still clearly highlighting FaceWeb.
Could it an that even though FaceWeb is a past-its-pri SNS, it will eventually make a coback?
“Please continue purchasing.”
***
After finishing the eting in the CEO's Office, the employees moved quickly.
It wasn’t a matter of simply clicking a button on a computer to get the desired volu. They had to go directly to the parties holding those stocks and negotiate.
“Oh? Vice President?”
“Are you here to see the CEO?”
“Ah, yes. But is the eting over?”
“Yes, we just finished and are on our way out.”
“Did the CEO say anything regarding FaceWeb this ti?”
At the Vice President’s question, the employees had expressions that showed they understood why he was asking.
“Yes. He instructed us to continue purchasing.”
“Then, as I thought... is it what I’m thinking?”
The Vice President and the employees.
They were all thinking the sa thing.
“It really seems like the CEO is trying to acquire FaceWeb.”
There’s no reason to selectively and massively purchase only FaceWeb stock while the entire NASDAQ is crashing, unless there’s sothing more.
“But would a hostile M&A even work on FaceWeb?”
“It wouldn’t. They have dual-class voting rights. The founder, Marcus, holds only 13% of the shares, but he controls 52% of the voting rights.”
A system sowhat unfamiliar in Korea.
It’s the dual-class voting system.
Even if one only holds 10% of the total shares, if one holds dual-class shares, one can control the company with just that 10% stake.
“Well, in Europe and the U.S., dual-class voting is firmly established. It’s a way to preserve the founder’s philosophy. That’s sothing we can’t even dream of in our country.”
Europe and the U.S. have already implented dual-class voting systems for a long ti.
But in our country, it can’t be introduced.
“We really can’t help it. Our inheritance culture is too strong.”
Unlike the U.S., our country has a strong culture of passing things down within families.
That makes it more likely to be abused, which is why this system hasn't been adopted.
“Anyway, Marcus has over 50% of the voting rights, so no matter how much soone tries to take over the company, if that guy doesn’t agree, FaceWeb can never be theirs.”
There’s no way Jung Jin-ho doesn’t know that.
Yet he was still continuing to buy FaceWeb stock.
“Maybe the CEO has sothing else in mind?”
“Well, a sparrow wouldn’t be able to understand the thoughts of a phoenix.”
“Right. No matter how hard we try to think it through, we’ll never be able to read the CEO’s blueprint. Just do as we’re told. Like always. So let’s get moving.”
“Yes, sir!”
The employees bustled off once again.
Vice President Kang, who had been about to ask what the real intention was behind collecting FaceWeb stock, gave up on the idea.
One thing he realized while working under Jung Jin-ho was that there’s no need to know every reason.
It’s better to just turn off your brain and follow instructions.
Because if you did understand all the reasons, you wouldn’t be able to handle the terrifying scale of Jung Jin-ho’s plans.
Still, sotis he wondered.
What on earth does the CEO, who’s shaking the world in the palm of his hand, think about on a daily basis?
***
‘Ah. I want to play gas.’
These days, weekends are what I look forward to the most.
Spending ti together raiding in the building with everyone, that ti felt truly happy.
And during that ti, I realized sothing.
That I, too, was gradually falling into a rut.
“.......”
I still rember when I first joined the securities company.
Back when I was a clueless rookie.
I relied only on intuition, doing short-term trades, and my position kept rising until I beca the CEO in the blink of an eye and grew the company into the group it is today.
And I started to think one thing.
‘Haven’t I done enough at this point?’
Intuition is like a superpower that tells you which choice is the right one.
At first, I just made decisions based on a strong feeling.
And each ti my intuition was right, every ti a stock skyrocketed, the thrill I felt was indescribable.
Now, it even took over my sight, hearing, and sll, showing clear images.
Revealing which were good stocks and which were bad ones.
As if my intuition had upgraded itself.
That’s how I made countless decisions, and that’s how Kwangwoon beca a massive group.
“.......”
But at so point, I started to wonder.
Am I really using my intuition well?
Or am I just blindly being led by it?
That doubt was the beginning.
That maybe this is enough.
That maybe there’s nothing left to achieve now.
“Oppa. Oppa!”
“Huh? Ah, yeah. What?”
“What the heck? I called you and you didn’t even answer. What were you thinking about? Sothing bothering you? Don’t tell it’s work? You suggested eating out for the first ti in a while, and now you’re thinking about work again?”
“Oh-ho. Let him be. Your oppa is a really busy man. Not to ntion, he’s getting praised by the dia as, hmm? The CEO who represents our country. Hahaha!”
One of the best things about success was definitely my family’s reaction.
Back then, I was just a useless unemployed guy wasting food and playing gas all day. But now, I’m a legendary stockbroker who started as a rookie employee and built up tens of trillions in wealth.
“What were you all talking about?”
“Ah, nothing special. Just that it’s been a while since we went on a family trip. Both you and I have been so busy. So we were thinking, maybe we should set a date and all go together.”
“We’re fine. Mom and Dad are managing well on their own. Still... going together as a family would be nice. Ahem.”
My parents were subtly hinting that they wanted the whole family to go on a trip together.
Co to think of it, when was the last ti I really took a break?
I had been running non-stop without rest, so I hadn’t really taken a proper vacation.
“Sure. It’d be nice if we all went together. I’ll try to find a date that works.”
When I said that, my younger sister stared at intently.
“Why are you looking at like that?”
“Tsk. It’s just strange.”
“Why?”
“You look like soone who’s hit a wall. Like... how do I put it? You have the kind of expression I see in people who are about to retire. I see that kind of look often at my company. You look just like that.”
I blinked.
I’ve always thought this, but my sister has a sharp eye for reading people.
Or maybe I’m just bad at hiding my expression.
“But oppa, you’re still young. And you love your work. So it doesn’t seem like you’re about to retire. Are you worried about sothing? Is it because of Hye-rin unnie? Relationship problems?”
“...It’s not that.”
“Well, even if I knew what you were worried about, how could I give you advice? The things you worry about at your level are probably things a regular person like couldn’t even imagine.”
“It’s not really that either.”
“Yeah? Then perfect.”
“...Huh?”
My sister smiled brightly and began pulling sothing out of her bag.
“Agh, seriously. Soone at work was handing out books today, and they gave this weird one. You haven’t been reading books lately, have you?”
“Instead of books, I read hundreds of pages of reports every day.”
“Those aren’t books! You need to feed your soul too, you know!”
“......”
With a grin, my sister handed a nicely wrapped book.
She was shalessly dumping off an unwanted book on her oppa.
***
–Should we go on a trip?
–Hm? Suddenly?
–I was thinking... I’ve never really done anything romantic for you. We’ve never even gone on a proper overseas trip together because of work.
–It’s fine. I’ve never felt hurt about that. Do you know how amazing my boyfriend is?
Calling her "Hye-rin ssi"... would feel strange now, wouldn’t it?
Co to think of it, officially becoming a couple with Lee Hye-rin happened quite naturally.
Just like any other day, we were eating at a udon place, then drinking, and one thing led to another... Rather than soone confessing and us starting to date like most couples these days, it just naturally developed into a serious relationship.
But becoming a couple didn’t really change much.
Aside from the occasional sneaky monts of dating at the office, both of us were buried in work.
Well, mostly because I was completely consud by it.
–Still, if you really want to, I’d love to go overseas too~
Even if she said it was fine, Hye-rin probably wanted to hang out with like a normal couple.
She was always an active person, after all.
–I’ll look up so places.
–Okay! I will too!
After finishing that conversation, I went to take a shower first.
“.......”
Taking a shower always made my head feel a bit clearer, even if just for a while.
Sitting in front of the computer in that dazed state and playing a bit of a ga helped fill the emptiness.
Ding~.
Just then, a ssage ca in.
Was it from Hye-rin?
–Oppa. Did you read the book I gave you?
It was my sister.
“Ah.”
I frowned as I looked at the book on my desk.
“What the heck did she dump on this ti.”
She said sothing about the importance of nourishing the soul, but the book she gave wasn’t sothing ant to be seriously read.
[The Answer to Life]
Each page had one or two lines of text, so pages had just a single word. A so-called random page book.
If you had sothing you were struggling with, you were supposed to open to a random page and find advice in the words written there.
That’s how you’d find the answer to life.
I wasn’t making that up, it's literally how the book was described.
“I thought she gave so kind of philosophy book.”
I thought about just sticking it on so dusty bookshelf sowhere, but since I got it anyway, I figured I’d at least open it once for fun.
“Hm.”
Not that I was expecting much.
“Do you have any advice for right now?”
What kind of advice would I need?
There were many possibilities.
Whether I should quit this company, now mired in stagnation.
Or whether I should keep forcing myself to stay.
And how exactly I should be using this intuition.
Where the limits of this ability lie, and so on.
Honestly, it was the kind of advice no one in the world could give .
Let alone so random book.
“Ugh.”
Just then.
As I was about to flip open the thick book at random, a sudden jolt of electricity ran through my fingertips.
“......?”
I froze in place and slowly opened the book at that spot.
[Now is the ti for change.]
“!?”
I got goosebumps all over.
Could it be that my intuition was showing this phrase?
I quickly closed the book.
“Are you... talking to right now?”
I ran my hand across it again.
And once again, a sharp tingle hit my fingertips at a certain point.
I opened the book again.
[Pointless questions are not good.]
“......!?”
Was it really answering ?
Even if it was, the response felt vague.
Was it saying I was right? Or seriously telling not to ask useless questions?
“.......”
I frowned.
A dull pain suddenly throbbed in my temples.
“What’s going on...”
I knew this pain well.
It happened when I overused my intuition.
If it got worse, it would feel like an overheated engine burning up, with a stinging sll and pain so intense I couldn’t even stay upright.
“Ah... Could it be that ‘don’t ask pointless questions’ ant this...?”
Was that the reason?
“In that case.......”
I thought for a mont about what to ask.
But really, there was no need to think long.
“Should I just quit and retire now? These days, when I invest based on my intuition, it doesn’t feel like I’m choosing to use it, it feels like I’m being dragged by it. That’s why I’m starting to feel unsure about company work. I used to really enjoy it. And now that I’ve grown the company this far, I feel like I’ve done enough for hyung-nim. Maybe I should just live like a loafer now? I’ve made enough money. Go back to playing gas in my room all day like I used to, forgetting everything else. What do you think? Wouldn’t that be more fun?”
Right after I said that, I suddenly felt a bit hollow.
On top of that, the question had been way too long.
I was about to summarize it from the start...
“!”
But the mont I closed the book, a powerful sensation struck .
As if sothing was grabbing my hand forcefully.
I hastily opened the book again.
[Don’t talk bullshit.]
“.......”
It was a much harsher book than I expected.
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