Read 12 Hours After - Chapter 129 - That's How It Turns Out online free - Light Novel Full

Translator: Khan

Editor: Aelryinth

"I hope Director Kim will lead the company as the new CEO of Blue EM in the future."

As I said, the eyes of the man standing in front of me grew large. He got up from his seat and greeted me with a wave of applause. "I… really? Thank you! Thank you, Boss!"

The man giving the bow was Director Kim Jung-kyun. After the sudden retirement of former president Ahn Yong-kyun, the very person who clung to me during his last visit to Blue EM became a new CEO who would sort out the mess and lead the company again.

I gave him a handshake, "Yes. I would like to ask you to do well."

He grabbed my hand with both hands, deeply grateful. "Yes, Boss. I'll work hard!"

"Detailed procedures, such as annual salary negotiations, can be discussed with Vice President Jang."

I picked up the phone and spoke to Secretary Seo outside, "Secretary Seo."

"Yes, boss."

"Director Kim… No, please show CEO Kim to Vice President Jang."

"Yes, boss."

"Oh, and when you come back, please bring Jang Geun to my room, as I have something to talk with him about."

"Yes, boss."

I gestured CEO Kim out the door. He once again bowed to me and left the office. I went near the window after sending him out. The weather was so nice today. The autumn sky was so sunny. I stood with my arms folded and looked at it for a long time. Namsan Mountain, the flowing Han River, cars traveling along the road, and buildings were reflecting the sunlight.

I was looking at the tall buildings. Suddenly, I thought of Tak Joon-gi, who had disappeared screaming into the dark.

I frowned slightly. If it was a dream, I'd call it a nightmare. Having seen Tak Joon-gi die so vividly, whether he was the enemy or not, the sight seemed to be haunting my mind for a while; the face of Tak Joon-gi, who had flown over the air in horror, and the face of Jung Bosung, who had thrown him off.

That secretary…

I recalled the last words the secretary had said before he had thrown him off, holding the neck of Tak Joon-gi: "Mr. Director. When did you ever treat me like a man?" Come to think of it, the nature of Tak Jun-ki to ignore others, had cost him his own life.

'Well… his secretary… his name is Jung Bosung.' In retrospect, I'd met him many times. I had been at a cafe when I had first met Tak Joon-gi, and I had also met him at a parking lot at the award ceremony of the Seoul Mayor. And finally, just outside this president's office recently, he had been blocked by Jang Geun as he had tried to enter. Come to think of it, I had been so close to the murderer. That thought gave me a slight shudder.

'I don't want to run into him again.' But I thought I might run into him again. I didn't know how he had been closer to Tak Mun-su than to Tak Joon-gi, but as Tak Mun-su had muttered in his dream, 'Hmm, really? Han Sang-hoon… he's a funny guy. I'll have to meet him, too,' I might see him standing next to Tak Mun-su.

'Umm…' When I was thinking about it, I heard a knock from outside the door. I said loudly, with my eyes outside the window, "Come in."

Soon the door opened, and Secretary Seo and Jang Geun came in.

"Did you call me, boss?"

By the way, the scene was strange right now. In the building, the president was standing with his bodyguard. It reminded me of the nightmare again somehow. I turned around, shaking my head. "Hey, Jang Geun."

"Yes, boss."

"You… don't betray me."

"Yes? What's that…?" As I spoke, Jang Geun opened his eyes wide.

I smiled at him like that and said, "I'd like to make you be a full-time employee from today on."

"A full-time employee?"

"Yes. You've been here for two months as a temporary worker. Now sign a proper contract and get paid by me."

His expression lit up, "Ah! Yes, boss."

During the two months Jang Geun had worked, nothing happened, but I decided to keep him by my side. There were times when his very existence was helpful. Perhaps something unusual could have happened during those two months, but it hadn't, because of him. Maybe someone had tried to do something, but when they had seen Jang Geun, they might not have done it because they had been so nervous.

"The annual salary… you'll start with a hundred thousand dollars. The holiday bonuses, the year-end bonuses, I will give whatever I like. Did you hear about it from Secretary Seo? It shouldn't be small.

'It's really not going to be bad. I usually pay bonuses for the money I earn from stocks, or for the company's earnings, and I will give tens of thousand dollars to my key aides, whether Secretary Seo or Vice President Jang.

"Oh, yes. There's a title issue… …and calling you Jang Geun every time is something strange. Bodyguard Park is a little long… so I'm just going to make you my second secretary."

"Second secretary?"

"Yes, but you'll do the same thing, and only your title will be Secretary Park. It's because I'm comfortable with it."

"Yes, boss."

I added with a wink to Secretary Seo beside me, "Secretary Seo, you heard that, right? As usual, Secretary Seo will be the secretary in charge of job support, and Secretary Park will be in charge of security."

"Yes, boss."

"Yes, then. I'd like to ask both of you to do well."

The two men bent their heads at my words. I had an idea when I saw these two, 'Ability is important when I have a lower person, but the more important thing is loyalty. No matter how good he is, I will not be able to tell him to be a good man if he is not useful to me in moderation. If he has good abilities and is less loyal, he can be harmful to the master.'

Suddenly, I recalled the names of the traitors in the Three Kingdoms: Lü Bu, Mi Fang, and Shi Ren… 'It is better not to let traitors in, regardless of their ability. Like Ahn Yong-kyun, if found, they will be dealt with immediately.'

"Now, go back to work."

"Yes, boss." The two secretaries answered and left the president's office. If they had the advantage, it was none other than the time I shared with them. Secretary Park Jang Geun, was a big guy who had played with me in the neighborhood since I was five or six years old. He was a local junior who I knew for ten years, before I had gone to high school.

Secretary Seo Ji-hoon had met me at the club for the first time when we had been sophomores in college. So far, for ten years, we had been drinking, clubbing, gone to the army, and started our own business together.

Both were people who had seen and shown good and shameful aspects between us since we had been young. As a result, the two were really reliable people. They'd been humanly interacting with me since I had had no money.

'The two are Guan Yu and Zhang Fei… no, rather Zhuge Liang and Zhao Yun.' While I was thinking about it, the phone rang.

"Boss."

"Hmm?"

"Vice President Jang wants to see you."

"Oh, yes, please let him come in."

Soon Vice President Jang opened the door and came in.

"Have you met with new CEO Kim?"

"Yes, boss. I put his salary a little lower than what you had said, but he agreed to it with a big smile."

"Did I call too much?"

Jang said with a slight smile, "Yes, boss." He was one of those who thought I set salaries too high for anyone, even himself.

"Yes, you did well. It's okay if he was satisfied. Our company saves money."

"Yes, boss. What about the inauguration ceremony?"

"Let's make it small. I don't want to have a big party, as Ahn Yong-kyun left under a dark cloud. Let's go to a nice place and have dinner with the directors of Blue EM. I will cheer CEO Kim, and let them take care of the inauguration ceremony."

"Yes, boss." Vice President Jang lowered his head and turned to leave the president's office.

I caught him, "Ah! Vice President Jang."

"Yes?"

"I'd like to ask you a few questions…"

"Please tell me."

"Did you hear about the death of Tak Joon-gi of the Suyeon Group?"

"Yes, of course."

"Did you hear anything extra? Well, the back story, the reaction of the Suyeon Group… Things like that." I knew the inside story of the incident, but I had to ask Vice President Jang. I was wondering how things were going around in public.

"As far as I heard…" After a moment of muddling, Vice President Jang asked me, "Boss, have you read Our Twisted Hero?"

"Oh, I know. Isn't that the story of the captain of the school gangs, Eom Suk-dae, being bullied as he hurts other students?"

"When you look at the ending of the book, the main character says, "That's how it turns out," while he sees the character being taken away by the police. That's what they say."

I repeated his words, "That's how it turns out…"

"Yes. He's been in trouble in the Group since he was a kid. He's invested well a few times, and increased his money, but… he recently committed suicide after going through all this and that and getting into debt and becoming a criminal. Although they do their best in the Suyeon Group to keep their mouths shut as much as possible, they have similar reactions."

"Well, I see."

"Yes, do you have any more questions?"

"Oh, yes. Let me ask you one more question. What kind of reputation does that Tak Mun-su of the Suyeon Electronics have?"

His answer was rather unexpected. "I know he's a very good man. He has a good sense of business and a great skill with mercenaries, so he was named as the Group's successor early on, his subordinates are following him on their own. I hear he is very good-natured. He is said to be very good to mere employees, without being like a third-generation chaebol."

"Oh, oh, really?"

"Yes, so the people of the investment sector says that it is worth investing in Suyeon Electronics and Suyeon Group after seeing Tak Mun-su. For business, systems are important, but the most important thing is human beings."

"Well, yes…" I tapped my chin and nodded, and dismissed him, "Then, go out and work."

"Yes, boss."

When Jang stepped out and I was left alone in my own office again, I typed in Tak Mun-su on the portal site. A familiar face, the very face I had seen in my dream; the way he had tapped his left wrist with the right hand, lingered before my eyes.

'He's… he's very good-natured?'

Vice President Jang was a shrewd man when it came to industry information, but that was what he had said.

I shut the portal window, astonished despite myself.

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Translator: Khan

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"So… they want to buy a stake in Kai Games?"

"Yes."

"How much?"

"About fifteen to twenty percent. They are not interested in management either, they just want to strengthen their grip on Fantasy War Ground in China."

"Oh, that's the way it is here."

I lifted the document on the desk. It said 'Tencent,' China's IT dinosaur. Tencent, the world's largest Internet company, with a market capital over a billion dollars as of October 2019, was famous for buying stakes in other companies abroad with the money it earned in its own country.

There was no place where Tencent's money had not been put into a company that had made a popular game, such as Riot Games of League of Legend, and Supercell of Clash of Clans. Now that Fantasy War Ground had hit the global jackpot, it seemed like they were drooling over there.

I looked down at the report. "The price is not bad."

"Yes, boss. Not bad, but… I think they've made quite a lot of bets."

"Umm…"

I calculated silently. Fantasy War Ground, which had launched its Open Beta service in March, had accumulated more than twenty million in sales in six months. The market capital of Kai Games was well over a billion dollars, nearing 1.6 billion. It was about to reach two billion. The value of the stake by Invictus Investment, which had held a powerful sixty percent majority Kai Games before the release of the game, would also exceed a billion dollars.

'But twenty percent of 1.6 billion is three hundred twenty million. They're going to buy this for five hundred million…'

It was not a bad suggestion. Our company needed to get our money out of there and would use it elsewhere. I was sorry to CEO Shin Dong-woo, but there was no guarantee that the next game would be as successful as Fantasy War Ground.

'I'll have to sell it…' But while I was thinking about it, I returned the document to Vice President Jang and said, "Once, drag on the deal and refuse it."

"Yes?"

"Let's say that the timing of our exit {recovering the amount of investment} is about the middle of next year. There's still a console release for PlayStation and XBOX, and by then, we'll be selling more on Steam. If we sell it now, it's a little early."

I knew because I had already searched Shin Dong-woo in the People Search of 12 Months After.

[CEO Shin Dong-woo of Kai Games was surprised to see the forty million tickets sold by FWG Steam.]

Fantasy War Ground was still selling. In another half a year or so, the stock price of Kai Games was going to jump even more, to at least two and a half billion dollars, and maybe three to four.

"Let's talk about it again then."

"Then I'll do as you say, boss."

"Yes."

After Jang left the office, I thought for a moment about Tak Joon-gi. He'd had a five percent stake in the Kai Games. 'Even if he hadn't done things here and there, he could have made about two hundred million if he had had this.' Come think of it, Tak Joon-gi had also had his own story, which is why he had made such a hard bargain.

I still recalled his lines, fresh as ever: "You know, listen up. You're mistaken if you think I've been digging around for any other company's information. It's our company that I've been researching more closely than any other company over the last twenty years. It's Suyeon. The reason why I raised so much money in the first place was to make Suyeon mine. My last target was Suyeon.'

When I had first seen him at the Garden Envy, I had thought, 'Does the third generation of a chaebol invest in stocks? They're not short of money.'

However, he also had something to buy with money. It was the Suyeon Group. So did Lee Won-jae of Daewon Daily News, but there seemed to be a sort of sense of deprivation or inferiority for those who were not chosen to be the successor of the conglomerate.

As I thought of Tak Joon-gi, I naturally thought of Tak Mun-su, a man who killed people without a wink in the back, but who was praised in the front.

'How can he do that?' He would have an incredible amount of self-control. Come to think of it, even then, there was little change in his facial expression throughout the whole process of dealing with Tak Joon-gi.

However, just once, when Tak Joon-ki threatened him: "I'll tell them all about the vice chairman of Suyeon Electronics before I stand in court. All I've investigated!", there was only anger in his eyes, but it quickly disappeared.

'Well, he is a cold man… but on the other hand, he has a lot of shit,' I thought. Maybe the shit might be helpful to me again. Tak Joon-gi had knelt down to him for it.

I thumped on the table and thought, 'No matter what I think, there is no good place to use Crow. I need him only for this side. He only investigates the past incidents and brings the information… He only gets some hidden information. Later, if things change… but right now I can only think of this side.'

I entered the email, opened 12 Hours After and took the cursor on the bottom to the Crow Summoning Link, 'Do you want to call Crow?'

Opportunity had returned this month, too. Once a month. I didn't have anywhere to send him, so I should use him here.

'Please set a location and time to summon.' I was writing out "tomorrow evening" there, and suddenly I recalled what Secretary Seo had said: 'Boss, you're shooting MBE tomorrow.'

'When exactly did he say the shooting would be?' I couldn't remember. I picked up the phone and asked Secretary Seo, "Seo secretary."

"Yes, boss?"

"When do I start shooting tomorrow?"

"It's starting at 1:00 p.m. It is going to be over by 5:00 p.m."

I remembered the shooting had taken about three hours when I had first appeared. This was my second shoot this time, so I was more familiar with it, so it would take less.

"Oh, yes."

When I finished my phone call, I wrote down "6 p.m. tomorrow evening." 'The place is…' After thinking for a while, I wrote, "Jamwon Han River Park." That's it. Tomorrow I would have Crow investigate a guy called Tak Mun-su who was a murderer on the inside, a good character on the outside."The first guest of October 2019 of 'Meet the MBE Super Ant,' is the brightest star in the investment industry recently. His name is Han Sang-hoon, CEO of Invictus Investment."

With applause, I moved forward and sat down on a chair in the middle of the stage. On the other side was the young and beautiful female MC and the male MC with a long mustache. It was the same as last time. It was a good thing for me to avenge. I greeted the MCs, the audience, and the camera, with a big smile.

"This is our second invitation this year, since last January. How have you been?"

I nodded my head when asked by the female MC. "Yes. I'm doing well. I'm a little busy, and a little tired."

At my words, the male MC spoke up, "Blessed that you're so busy. Blessed that your company's growth has been so great lately."

He only read the script, but he also had a very different attitude. Last time, although he said, "A billion dollars? In five years? That's funny," the equity value of Invictus Investment had already exceeded that amount.

The female MC said, while looking at the camera, "The last time I introduced you as a miraculous story about Invictus Investment, which started with a capital of five million dollars and got fifteen times larger in only a few months. At that time the value of the company was seventy-five million. However, I'm going to have to tell you something even more amazing today. The equity value of Invictus Investment now stands at as much as 1.43 billion dollars."

Everyone was surprised at the huge sum.

"It's about nineteen times greater then the assets of last time. You've achieved greater growth than last time."

As soon as the female MC said it, the male MC continued, "You're amazing, really amazing. I've been broadcasting business TV for twelve years… I think you are the one who has gotten the best grade."

It was an ad lib which was not in the script, somehow he was changing himself to take a submissive attitude. I was also going to feed him a piece of unwritten ad lib, but in advance, he abased himself, so I was a little reluctant to do that.

"As I expected, the investment plan was fit and I'm glad."

"The investment plan, can you tell the audience what it was?"

"Oh, actually, it's the second time if I talk to you here… in January, I told you about what kind of stocks will be promising this year. I'd like to show you the January show…" I snooped at the camera as I said that. Of course, this was what was in the script.

Following my script, the female MC said, "Then, let's take a look at the reference."

My appearance on the screen in January was shown.

"I'm a little bit afraid to say this… but both of the companies we've invested in are promising."

"OH Entertainment and Kai Games?"

"Yes, I think both of them are going to have a storm surge as of this year."

Even the closing comment was that. "Watch OH Entertainment and Kai Games share prices this year. You'll soon find out whether I'm telling you the truth or not."

The male MC marveled at that, "Yes… really. Since then, OH Entertainment has doubled. Kai Games is ten times bigger. It's almost there. Is there anyone who watched January's broadcast and invested in it? They must have had a big hit!" The male MC said so, but frankly, few would have followed it. Even if a thirty-year-old young man appeared and said to buy this thing, few people would listen to it. Of course, the few who had believed what I said would have had a big return.

The female MC asked me, "At that time, you recommended it with confidence. That was all right."

"Yes."

"Then, is there anything you can recommend today?"

I thought it over and said, "Well, as I said at the time, I'm not sure except for what I've invested in… so I'd like to tell you what I bought this time. Blue EM and Hyun Young Pharmaceutical were added to my portfolio with the last stocks…"

Some of the audience suddenly bowed down. It looked like everyone was looking at their cell phones.

"I think these two are also the kind of stocks that can jump over the next few years."

These days, there were many people who would trade stocks through MTS because it was good. Now it was 1:30 p.m. The market was still open. I couldn't turn on the MTS right now because I was filming the broadcast, but perhaps the stock prices of Blue EM and Hyun Young Pharmaceutical would have gone up a bit right now.

Some of the guests were just buying them. It was wise, to think about it. Even if they didn't have any information, if this was on the air, 'CEO Han Sang-hoon took over this stock,' there would be a lot of ants that would buy these stocks. If they bought them now, after I did, they would be in the fast group.

'They're such smart guys.' I continued to record the show, watching them.The recording ended earlier than I thought. After the recording, the male MC came first to say hello personally, "Whew, CEO Han, I was rude on the last broadcast."

In the end, I couldn't say a word to the male MC. Throughout the shoot, he continuously said, "CEO Han, You're amazing. You're great." Therefore, I couldn't swear at his smiling face.

"Oh, yes. Well…" That was how I just sent him away.

Then the female MC came up and said hello to me, "Thank you for your hard work today, CEO Han."

Her name was Shin Min-sun, the bobbed goddess of MBE. She was pretty, a smile on her face and her long hair moving across her back with each step she took. I had no choice but to be friendly to the beautiful woman. "Thank you, Min-sun, you worked hard too."

But then, she came up to me and handed me something. "This one."

I took it. That was her business card, and said, 'MBE announcer Shin Min-sun.' When I looked at her with it in my hand, she winked a little and said without making a sound, "Please contact me." Then she twitched her hips and disappeared to the other side.

"Huh…" I stood dumbfounded with it, and Secretary Seo came up and said, "Boss."

I put the card in my pocket in surprise, and said to him, "Hmm?"

"Well, the producer says… the director's here, and he wants to see you for a moment."

"Director of MBE?"

"Yes."

'You will be close to the press' was our company's motto. I nodded, "Well… yes."

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I said I would meet first, and then I lifted my wrist and looked at the clock. It was 4:10 p.m. and my meeting with Crow was at 6 p.m. I thought it would be okay to meet up for an hour or so, and make a noise. If he would offer dinner, I would have to refuse it. I told Secretary Seo that I had a previous engagement.

"I think I'll be fine for about an hour. Where should I go?"

As I said, Secretary Seo looked around. "Wait a minute. Producer Sung said he'd show us."

Just then, a skinny guy with glasses appeared and spoke, "CEO Han and Secretary Seo. How did you decide?"

Before I said anything, Secretary Seo spoke for me, "It'll be fine for about an hour."

"Oh, I see. I… This way."

Me, Seo, and Park, who had been waiting discreetly by, followed him through the halls of the broadcasting company.

On the way, producer Sung told me, "Well… CEO Han."

"Yes?"

"Was there anything uncomfortable with today's recording?" That was what he was asking. He might be afraid that I would say something weird when I would meet his boss. Before the recording, he used to yell.

"Camera five. Aren't you awake to the full mind?"

"Hey!"

"What's wrong with him? Get rid of him."

He was a mouse in front of his boss, who had been handling the staff like catching mice.

I spoke to him, "Oh, I'm good. I was a little nervous the first time, but this was the second time and I was able to relax." I added a word to it, "And all the staff did a great job."

"Oh, they did. Thank God."

A superior's scolding of his juniors had become a trauma to me, and I still didn't feel very good about the sight. For a moment, I thought about my days at work. 'How's section chief Heo doing, by the way?'

Then, Producer Sung pointed to a waiting room. "This way, sir."

At that moment, the door opened and a gray-haired man came out. Producer Sung looked at him and, of course, greeted him with a bow. "Ah, Bureau Director. This is CEO Han Sang-hoon of Invictus Investment."

He then introduced the director to me, "CEO Han. This is Director Park Myung-chul of MBE."

Director Park Myung-chul, who appeared to be in his sixties, shook hands with a friendly smile. "Happy to meet you, sir."

"Oh, yes. Nice to meet you."

"Let's go in."

I went in with him. But when Director Park Myung-chul saw Secretary Seo and Secretary Park who was about to come in, he told me, "CEO Han."

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry, but I have something to tell you secretly. Can I ask the two of them to stay out for a while?"

It was a courteous request. I gave a wink to Secretary Seo, and Secretary Park. The two who had received my sign stood out in the waiting room. Director Park Myung-chul shut down as soon as I entered the waiting room. I was a little curious now that I was here. 'What the hell does he want to talk about secretly?'

"Sit down please." He offered me a seat. As I sat there, I was thinking about this and that. 'Is it about advertising? Or… a personal investment consultation? Did he have a loss a little bit while he was stock trading?'

When I sat down, he asked, "How was your shoot today?" Somehow, the question was the same as Producer Sung. It was a cliche question.

I gave a cliche answer, "Yes, I liked it. Everyone did a good job."

"You're thirty this year? That's great."

Again and again, I'd heard this praise a hundred times before. 'Hoo… that's boring…' I thought about it, but I answered, "That's too much praise."

Since MBE was a business TV show that represented our country, the director position had a very strong influence.

Of course, I didn't need anyone to notice me making money, but I wanted my name, Han Sang-hoon, to be well received by the public. That way, I would continue to be good to the press. That way, when I searched my name, Han Sang-hoon, in the future news, it would come out more often.

'All right, he's a director, I'll give him an hour's attention.' I made up my mind with the thought.

Then he glanced at me, and said, "Well, it's not that I've called CEO Han…" As he said that, he took a piece of white paper out of his arms. "This one. I was asked to give it to CEO Han." It had a bit of a three-dimensional effect.

'A letter envelope?' I narrowed my eyes and received it. The moment I caught it, I felt something prickly. A close look showed a gold pattern on a white background. 'Umm…' I turned it round and round. At the center of the envelope, there was a golden-colored 'R' that flashed. 'R… R… Rugal?' I didn't know what it was.

I asked Director Park Myung-chul, "What's this…?

"As you can see, it's a letter. I know it as a kind of invitation letter… you look at it once, I don't know the details. It's just… from above… Hmm. The person I know just asked me to deliver it."

He was quick to mend his words with a cough, but I heard for sure. 'From above?' No one in the broadcasting company was higher than the director. That might be the kind of person who had actually put him in charge. It should be said that he sent it to me.

'So, it is sent to me from the owner's side of MBE… Which company owns MBE? Susung? KJ? Myung Jin? LC? Or… Suyeon?' I couldn't remember well.

"Then be assured you have definitely delivered it…"

Rather, he stood up first and gave me his hand again. As a result, I had no choice but to stand up, hold his hand and shake it. I think it took about a minute or two to get there. It was different from the hour I expected.

"Then, I hope you will have a long march flushed with victories. Please come on our television show more often."

"Oh yes."

The purpose of Director Park Myung-chul was only that, from beginning to end. I looked at the letter and put it in my arms for now. As soon as the director and I came out of the waiting room, Seo and Park, who were sitting in a chair in the distance, also rose in surprise.

"Then, CEO Han. Take care."

"Yes, Director."

Seeing him go away after sending me off, I thought, 'How many people can use the Director of MBE as a delivery boy?' Such a man would be very rare."Then, I'll go to the Jamwon Han River Park…" Secretary Seo started the car right away. While he was holding the steering wheel, Secretary Park entered "Jamwon Han River Park" into the navigation. It seemed that the teamwork of the two was getting better.

While Secretary Seo was driving along the road, I pulled the envelope out of my arms, opened the flap and pulled the letter out of it. At the same time as I saw the first sentence, I glanced at my two secretaries. 'Umm…' Secretary Seo was busy driving, and Secretary Park was watching something out the window. Having checked it, I read the sentence in the letter again. 'Invitation – Garden Royale'

"Was it R of Royale that was stamped on the cap….?" It said Royale now. In the colloquial form, it was Garden Royale. There was something that came naturally to my mind: Garden Envy.

'That's right… I'm sure it' If I thought about it, then in my dream, Tak Mun-su had told Tak Joon-gi, "Are you still doing the copy show?"

'So… the Garden Envy… the copy of this Garden Royale? So the person who sent this…

Tak Mun-su.' I naturally thought so.

At that time, Tak Mun-su said, "Han Sang-hoon… I'll have to see him, too."

Because he said it, I thought about it and looked down.

'On Saturday evening, November third, we invite you.'

'Your Sponsor: CEO Jang Han-sul of KJ Shopping.'

However, the person who sent it was not from Suyeon Group, but from KJ Group, which was also one of the top twenty conglomerates in Korea. Jang Han-sul was also the next chairman of the Group.

'…this …this is the person who used the Director as a delivery boy…' I was going to search it as soon as I got out of the broadcasting company, but I didn't need to search it separately.

'It must have been that branch.'

I didn't know why all of a sudden, Jang Han-sul from KJ was asking me to meet him. But roughly, a picture was drawn. At this Garden Royale meeting, Tak Mun-su would be there.

'Maybe… Jang Han-sul was the one who granted the request of Tak Mun-su.'

Tak Mun-su also knew very well that I had had a fierce fight with Tak Joon-gi. He would have thought I might be on high alert if he called me. I looked down more. 'The place…' But the place was a bit strange.

'Myeon office of Su Dong-myeon in Namyangju City, Gyeonggi-do Province'

'Myeon office?' It was strange that the next chairmen of some big companies would be having a party at a country office. But one more word was written below it.

'If you are willing to participate, please have this letter in your possession at the correct time and place.'

"Willing to participate…"

I looked at the letter for a long time and then folded it back into my arms. In the meantime, the car passed through the Jamsu bridge and arrived at the Jamwon Han River Park. This was where Crow was summoned to at this time. Watching the Han River, I tried to eat my chicken and beer, so I looked at my watch and saw it was 5:20. I had about forty minutes left. I said to the secretaries. "Oh, by the way. Is there a mat in this car?"

"None…"

"Then get it from somewhere as soon as you go. Order me three fried chickens with seasoning, and garlic, and 1,500cc of draft beers… this will be eaten by me and my guest. You have to order your meal separately."

"Yes, boss."

I waited for Crow to come, looking at the Han River, which was flowing by, early on. After a while, the beers and three chickens arrived faster than Crow.

Korrr… Maybe because I ate lunch early before shooting, I was hungry. I couldn't stand the smell of chicken. But still, I waited, as Crow was more useful to me than anyone else. Besides, I was not sure, but I felt like there was going to be a lot more work ahead for Crow to do. Before long, I could hear his familiar voice beside the river.

"Did you call me, sir?"

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In the distance, the red sunset fell. The autumn wind blew gently, and the Han River flowed smoothly. Children kicked and played with soccer balls, and students in school uniforms were buzzing past on their bikes. Old people in colorful climbing suits played badminton in pairs. I watched it while drinking beer with Crow.

Crow, who was watching it all, said "This is good, sir."

"Yes. This is how people in Seoul enjoy their leisure time."

"I see. Most of all… look good to be peaceful."

I glanced at him. He had a strange look on his face, as if he was reminiscing.

'Umm…'

He said, holding up the neatly stripped chicken bones, "And this fried chicken is really good." He was holding a piece of spicy chicken with a lot of red seasoning on it.

After filtering out the chicken from the last buffet, I once again picked the seasoned chicken from the choices of fried, seasoned, or garlic chicken.

"Oh, yeah. This is called seasoned chicken… It is the most popular and delicious food you can eat in Korea. Most Koreans eat it at least once a month. It's popular food."

"I see." He nodded his head and tore the chicken apart. If I watched him doing this; he looked like a foreigner who came to play on the Han River.

"By the way, that's great. That black eye patch…" As I spoke, Crow silently ate the chicken. "It was like magic. There's been a lot of VR stuff coming out these days, but… they are not vivid as that."

Then, he looked at me and said, "… it's just a dream made up. Sir, don't get absorbed in it too much." His blue eyes were quite serious.

I lifted my eyebrows and nodded, "Sure."

Crow ate all three chickens. I'd eaten about a piece or two of each kind, but he was a real glutton. 'I thought three would be enough… …but I should have ordered one or two more.'

"I've had a good meal today, sir."

"Yes. I watch you twice a month, so let's eat something delicious and talk."

"Yes, sir."

"Then let's get to the point… and what I want to ask you to do this time…" As I said that, I looked around. There was no one who could hear the conversation near our mat. "Do you know Tak Mun-su, vice chairman of Suyeon Electronics, who came out in that dream?"

"Yes."

"His weakness. Can you investigate his weaknesses and evil deeds? From what I noticed, he looked quite different from the inside."

"… what exactly do you mean?…"

"Well… about something corrupt or to kill people in the process of becoming vice chairman or when he has served as vice chairman…"

However, Crow, who was listening to me, was reluctant. "That's… that's going to be a little difficult, sir."

"Yes?"

"If I'm going to investigate, I need such specific factors as a certain place, a certain time and a certain incident, etc. If you ask me to do a background check on him, that's not what I can do."

'Umm…' I thought about Tak Mun-su for a moment. 'a certain place, a certain time and a certain incident…'

Before I came here, I had already investigated Tak Mun-su for myself, but he had a very neat past. No story had been written that he had abused his power, nor had he been told that he had benefited in an unfair way. With only the information from the portal, he was completely clean.

There's a lot of praise for him in the industry, said even Vice President Jang. In addition, the news given to the public was really good and beautiful.

"There's no such thing as a peculiar case."

"Then I can't start an investigation…"

'What shall I do?' I thought for a moment, then suddenly I got an idea, 'Maybe, I can use the dream again.'

"Can I get the data that Tak Joon-gi prepared to attack Suyeon Group?"

"Do you mean the data Tak Joon-gi prepared?"

"Yes, he said in the dream. His ultimate goal was Suyeon. He was a member of the Suyeon Group, although he had a low ranking as a successor. If he decided to shoot inside and collected information, he'd be able to collect the details of the corruption that Tak Mun-su wanted to hide."

"….. yes, then, is that my job to collect data of the dead Tak Joon-gi?"

"Yes. Is that possible?"

"Yes, I think I can."

"Then I ask you, to be exact, all the information that Tak Joon-gi had for his corporate offensives. Please bring it to me."

"Yes, sir."

But, in the meantime, my cell phone rang in my pocket. I picked it up and it was Ah-young who called.

"Wait a minute," I tried to ask for his understanding, but he was already gone, as usual.

I answered the phone in a slight embarrassment, "Uh, Ah-young?"The elevator opened with a sound. I walked towards my apartment through the hallway. Then the next door opened, and Ah-young poked her head out. "You're here, oppa?" She tied her hair whether she was in the middle of her work. It looked so cute.

"How? How did you know that?"

"You said you were coming. Besides, I know if it is oppa or not, when I hear the footsteps in the hallway."

"Hmm, really?" I had been about to enter my password, but instead approached her and kissed her lightly. "I'm sorry. I've been so busy lately. I can't even show my face to my girlfriend often."

"You can't help it. Besides, I've been busy too."

I had been busy, but she had also been pretty busy preparing for her graduate work.

"So, how's your graduate work?"

"Not bad."

"Not bad?" As I asked, she picked up her cell phone and showed me the desktop. There was a figure on a colorful tree where people were angry, clapping, lost in thought, sad, and terrified.

"I'm working hard, but the professor doesn't like my work, so… I don't know what he wants."

I thought with a nod, 'Modern art…' I didn't have much thought, but sometimes such works were traded for a few or tens of million dollars among chaebols. 'Art is tax-free, and it is a great means of investment. It is a reason why all the wives of large corporate leaders run one small art gallery.'

I told Ah-young playfully, "When it's done, isn't it going to be a few hundred thousand dollars, teacher?"

Ah-young smiled cutely and said, "I'm still unknown, so it's going to be difficult. Not everyone has as much money as you."

"You don't know yet. A foolish rich person may buy it for a few hundred thousand dollars." As I said that, I pointed to my chest with my thumb.

She laughed again at what I said, "No thanks. I have enough money! Anyway, you said you had dinner, right?"

"Ah… yes, but I ate a little less." I didn't know I'd order three chickens and wouldn't eat much.

"Oh, then go in and wash first. I'll make something for you in the meantime."

"Yes, then."

Ah-young went into her apartment, ruffling her tied hair. I pressed in my password and came into my apartment. When I came in, I felt tired somehow. It was the second time, but filming was still hard.

'I didn't know it when I was talking to Crow, but was it because of the Chi-Mac?'

I undressed, hung it on the sofa and headed straight for the shower. I took a hot shower, so I felt a little less tired. During a shower, there was a noise outside. Ah-young must have come into my apartment. I finished my shower, toweled myself dry, put on my underwear, pants, and a T-shirt, and came back to the living room. Something savory reached my nose.

"What is this smell?"

Ah-young was standing behind the sofa and told me, "Walnut pie."

"Walnut pie? Well, the taste would be good."

But then, she swirled around. "Oppa, what's this?" She had a small piece of paper on her hand.

'What's that? A business card?' At the moment, I realized. That was a business card of MBE announcer Shin Min Sun, which was in my pocket.

"Ah… that."

Ah-young's tone was slightly changed. He voice was slightly cold. "Is this a business card, right?"

"That's… a business card."

'What the hell? Did she go through my pockets?'

"But why was it on the floor of the living room?"

'Ah…' I remembered just now, as soon as I had come in, I had taken off my pants and whipped them around the sofa. That must have fallen on the floor then.

"Oh, that. I got it today and put it in my pocket. It must have fallen from my pocket. It's nothing. After the filming, the female announcer gave it to me and I received it."

"Well… did you get it on business?"

"So it was."

I said so, but I was a little bit conscience-stricken as the face of Ms. Shin, who was winking and saying, "Please contact me," came to mind, and that red skirt that shook from side to side every time she took a step.

However, I told Ah-young, "You can tear it apart or you can throw it away. I don't think we'll see each other again anyway, for a while."

"Uh." Ah-young squinted her eyes and looked at me, and put the business card back in my pocket. "You have to give and take a business card. You should know somebody's phone number when you work together. I believe in you."

I loved her for believing in me.

But then she said one more thing, "But be careful. I believe in other women, too. They might even chase my man."

The sense of a woman was scary. I nodded, "Yes."Tiriri tiriri tiriri. The alarm went off. It was seven in the morning. It was my alarm, but Ah-young got out of bed first.

"Oppa, I'm leaving. I should have done more work yesterday, but I came home early to spend time with you. I'm going to school early today. Have a separate breakfast."

"Okay."

She got up, kissed me on the cheek and went to her place, as if she were a writer being chased by a deadline. Left alone, I woke up rubbing my eyes.

'Umm… what's the schedule today?'

It had been a while since I'd taken a rest while trading at home, but I would ask Secretary Seo. I came to the living room, opened the refrigerator, and drank a glass of cold water. As I saw now, the clothes I took off yesterday on the sofa were still there. I lifted my pants. In the pocket of the pants, there was a business card of 'MBE announcer Shin Min Sun.'

When I saw the business card, I crumpled it up and put it in the wastebasket. I was sorry, but I liked Ah-young. I didn't want to give up my faith. Then I tried to put it in the laundry basket.

'Oh, my God.' On the way, I suddenly remembered that there was a more important document in the coat. After a search, I found that it was still in the pocket inside: an invitation to Garden Royale, with a golden 'R' on it. I tried to open it again. What bothered me was the last phrase, 'If you are willing to participate, please be holding this letter in the correct time and place.'

"Hmm…" I examined it, and then I came back to bed with it and put it under the mattress. If the old Garden Envy was a den of snakes that couldn't become dragons, Garden Royale would be a meeting of people who became dragons.

'Garden Royale…' I lay in bed and thought about it.

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'Okay, let's sell it all at the closing price today.'

I sold the stock that I was holding using the keyboard and mouse. The last sell order was completed. I calculated that the money I had earned today was about three million dollars. Even though the money was what ordinary people might not earn in a lifetime, I reacted calmly on seeing it.

'Uh… my eyes hurt.' I just rubbed my eyes at that idea. When I looked at the monitor all day, my eyes used to be dry. It would be fair to say that it was a professional disease. When my eyes were a little looser, I turned and checked the date today. It was October twenty-sixth. October was already over. As for summing up the account this month, I made about forty million dollars, this month a little better than other months.

Rather than being good at it, the news of 12 Hours After and 12 Weeks After was just good, but I'd made some improvements and I'd been gradually mixing up single-stock futures and options to increase my profit margin these days. Due to the nature of the news of 12 Hours After, there was not much news that could be used for single-stock futures and options, but it was sometimes usable as a bonus.

What was a little bit disappointing was that the news in 12 Hours After was not specialized for the economy, but also covered the Spanish tomato festival, the war with ISIS in the Middle East, and a Mexican-born white calf; they were so heavily mixed that it was difficult to be efficient right now unless something was changed.

'As for the new excellent companies like Kai Games and Hyun Young Pharmaceutical…'

Such companies would dramatically increase my assets, a company releasing a game to dominate the world, or a company making new drugs. But such news didn't come out. It was natural, if I thought about it. Such companies couldn't come out often in the first place. But if I thought about it the opposite way, it was hard for such a company to avoid my eyes now.

As I had seen almost all the news that had been on for almost a year, a company that had been often mentioned in the news was bound to be captured by my eyes. Until then, I would have to accumulate cash quietly. 'There is a stock proverb that says, "Don't be disappointed that you don't have the chance, but be wary that you're not prepared."

'Then let's go home now for today. I don't think there's work to do.' I picked up the phone thinking that. "Seo Secretary"

"Yes, boss."

"I don't have anything on the schedule this afternoon?"

"No."

"Then I'll go home. Get ready to leave the office with Secretary Park."

"Yes, boss."

After the phone call, I put on my overcoat and came out of the office. Outside, both secretaries were also ready to leave work.

"Let's go."

"Yes."

I asked Secretary Seo in the elevator, "Do I have work to do tomorrow?"

"Yes, boss. There is a welcoming ceremony for the new recruit. And you have an award ceremony for the outstanding employee."

"Oh yes… what about the day after tomorrow?"

"You have a photo shoot and an interview with the Fortune Magazine the day after tomorrow."

"Ah… I see."

In the past, there used to be more days away from work than at work, but these days it had been the opposite. There were few days without a schedule, as I had more companies and more people to manage. Even if I delegated a lot of work to Vice President Jang, there were some things I had to do.

"What did Fortune Magazine say? How rich am I in the country?"

"They say you're in twenty-seventh."

"Really? Twenty-seventh?"

"Yes."

'It's probably decided by only the exposed shares. A 100% stake in Invictus Investment, worth of 1.3 billion dollars. Of course, I have personal assets, but so do others. Or, if I think about it, I have to say that I have a small amount of unexposed assets.

'I have no real estate, no vaults containing a bundle of cash, no assets overseas, no paper company. However, the people of Susung, Mirae, K, and LC, who have lived as men of great wealth in Korea for decades, possess many buildings, land, and artworks under borrowed names. There are even people who were found to have stocks of their own companies under borrowed names. So, this twenty-seventh place means that I am comparable to what the rich have now on their hands. In fact, it is obvious that my ranking would be a little lower, because I have honestly showed the money I have.

'It's probably much less than Tak Mun-su of Suyeon or Jang Han-sul of KJ Shopping…'

I searched for 'Fortune's one hundred richest people in Korea, last year' on my cell phone on my way home.

[Vice Chairman Tak Mun-su of Suyeon Electronics, ranked tenth, inherited 3.64 billion dollars.]

[Chairman Jang Han-sul of KJ Shopping, ranked 15th, inherited 2.78 billion dollars.]

The third generations of the chaebols, now in the Fortune Magazine, had two or three billion dollars. But this was not the end, because they had inherited only some portion from their parents. Tak Mun-su's father Tak Woo-kyung, chairman of the Sueon Group, had twelve billion dollars, and Jang Han-sul's father Jang Chul-yong, chairman of the KJ Group, had ten billion dollars, so the money would naturally go to them in time.

'Hmm…' I thought about the invitation letter to Garden Royale, which was still at home. 'Now they put me in the Royal Family… Is that it?'

I hadn't made up my mind yet whether I would go there or not.

One thought, 'Shall I go and meet them? I can see what they are playing with,' and the other thought, 'I'm sure they are elitists. What am I doing talking to them there?' came up alternatively.Late October, I met Crow in our parking lot, who had returned from his investigation. He brought me a slightly thinner report than usual. The title of the report was 'Internal Survey Data of the Suyeon Group of Tak Joon-gi.' To be honest, I was a little disappointed with the thinness of the report, but I didn't express it.

"Thank you for your good job, Crow."

It was not because Crow hadn't been able to work, but because of the lack of research by Tak Joon-gi.

"Yes, sir."

After Crowe vanished into the air, I returned to my apartment with it and began to read it. The data that Crow had investigated, to be exact, was thin, but there were some things to read.

'The CEO of Suyeon Chemical is sponsoring Lee Hye-shin, a beautiful entertainer.'

'The president of Suyeon Telecom lost thirty million dollars in FX futures.'

'Kim Chan-yong, director of Suyeon Electronics, is a key figure in the anti-Tak Mun-su faction's rebellion.'

'Lee Jun-hee, chairman of Suyeon Fashion, a figure of anti-Tak Mun-su, says, "If I rise in revolt, he will stand on my side."'

But to be honest, it wasn't enough information to attack the Suyeon Group. In particular, there was no such information like a critical blow to Tak Mun-su. 'With this…'

I read it with my head tilted, thinking as I read.

Tak Joon-gi's remark, 'My final goal was Suyeon,' was nothing more than a last attempt to blackmail Tak Mun-su. It was nothing more than bluffing, no matter how many times I looked at it; he couldn't take the chairmanship by knocking down Tak Mun-su.

'It's either one of the two. There's really no such thing, or… he didn't document it and he just kept it in his own mind… It must be a big secret.'

I turned over the report thinking that way. However, there was a slightly unusual sentence written in the last line, on the last page, 'The nuclear bomb will be fired when Tak Woo-kyung dies or is about to die.'

'Is this…?' Tak Woo-kyung was the chairman of Suyeon Group, which he was currently leading. He was a tycoon of the Korean business community, who often appeared on TV. He was also an uncle of Tak Joon-gi, and the father of Tak Mun-su. It was clear what the words were saying. Tak Joon-gi had been writing a scenario. When Tak Woo-kyung would die and Tak Mun-su would appear at the front, he would expose something that would be a nuclear bomb in the succession process and then he would succeed at the position.

'How old is Tak Woo-kyung?' I picked up my cell phone and searched for him. He was seventy-one years old. He had gray hair, white eyebrows, and was completely white, but he looked quite healthy. 'I don't think he's going to die right now.'

Well, Tak Joon-gi probably thought ahead ten or twenty years when writing this scenario. However, he had been caught by me and his everything had been cut off, and Tak Mun-su had killed him.

'Well… that would be the only chance. Usually, when a king dies or is about to die, the nation becomes confused, since there's a fight between the princes over the next king. The subjects line up behind the princes, and even before the king's death, they have a battle for their lives in each faction. Recently, Chairman Jeon Hee-joong of Masung Group was a good example. While fishing, he died of a heart attack on the fishing grounds, causing the princes to battle among themselves.'

Now my question shifted to the next. 'How's the inheritance going on?'

'Korea will apply a maximum tax rate of 50% when the inheritance exceeds three million dollars. Mr. Tak's fortune is more than ten billion dollars, according to Forbes last year. Well, I don't know how much money he has concealed. At any rate, it's the amount when I look at the stocks that have been revealed. When Tak Woo-kyung dies, he has to pay five billion dollars out of ten billion dollars in inheritance tax, by selling off shares of Suyeon Group.'

'If I attack then… it might be possible to take the Suyeon Group. It's going to be hard, but… …it's worth a try…'

I flicked the last sentence of Tak Joon-gi with my fingers. I was not sure, but I might be the one to implement the plan of Tak Joon-gi and become the head of the Suyeon Group.

'The more I think about it, the more strange it is. It was an ill-fated relationship when he was alive…' As I thought of that, I lifted the bed metrics and threw the document under there. As a result, naturally, the letter that was left there caught my eyes: the invitation letter from Garden Royale.

I took it and looked at it again. 'On Saturday evening, November third. We invite you…'

The date of the appointment was not far away. As I watched it, I decided. 'Maybe, this could be a chance at tens of billions of dollars…'

The inviter was Jang Han-sul, but Tak Mun-su would be there. I decided to go there and have a talk with him. He would definitely treat me with a well-organized smile, but seeing him in person might be different from what I imagined.

I then checked the place again. 'Myeon office of Su Dong-myeon in Namyangju City, Gyeonggi-do Province'

'No, but… what the hell are they doing in a small country office?'

I should be fully prepared for my safety. 'Well… I'll have to go with Secretary Park. And before that…'Nine p.m, I entered Han Sang-hoon into the People Search. Of course, when I typed it in, it was usually National Assemblyman Han Sang-hoon who came up on the portal first. These days, the opposition party had become weak, and he was still doing well with his strong voice.

'Let me pass over you this time.' I pressed the search button thinking about it.

'Oh!' Fortunately, my own article came up first on the news in 12 Weeks After.

[Han Sang-hoon, the twenty-seventh rich man in Korea, visited the Children's Cancer Foundation in person and donated three million dollars.]

"Ah. This!" Last week, I had decided to donate three million dollars for the Children's Cancer Foundation I had happened to see while surfing on the Internet.

"Secretary Seo, look at my schedule to visit there," I said. This was why I got the story. 'Ah, I'm going to the Children's Cancer Foundation in three weeks.'

'If I attend that meeting, and something goes wrong, there's going to be correction news, as the dead can't make a direct visit to the Childhood Cancer Foundation. All right, with this, I secured my safety.' With that thought, I threw the Garden Royale's invitation letter back under the mattress.

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I looked out the window. It was a dark country road, similar to the scenery I used to see on my way to my grandmother's house when I was young.

'Well… is there something in this place?' As I thought of that, I asked Secretary Seo, who was holding the steering wheel in front of me.

"We're almost there, right?"

"Yes, boss."

"Hmm…"

On November third, I came here to Sudong Myeon, in Namyangju City, Gyeonggi-do. I had responded to the invitation of Garden Royale. It was the same during the invitation of the Garden Envy, but it was a strange invitation. The third generations of Korean chaebols, who would soon take over the conglomerates, were meeting in this rural area. As for me, it didn't make sense. But somehow, my Bentley, driven by Secretary Seo, entered the Dong office.

Entering the office, Seo said, "It's weird, boss."

"What is it?"

"I think there's no one here. If it's the Dong office, it's still the center of the town, but isn't it normal for one or two people to be around?"

The office seemed to have recently cleaned up, as if it had been refurbished, but the lights were off and there was no indication of a person being around. It was 6:40 p.m. It was only a little early for the 7 p.m. meeting, which was odd.

"Let's get out first." I got out of the car with Secretary Seo and Secretary Park.

Two men in suits came up to us in the dark Dong office, more precisely to me. They came up to me and asked, "Are you CEO Han Sang-hoon? And who are these two?"

"They're my secretaries. Can they come to the meeting?"

"Yes. Just one person."

I gave an eye to Seo and Park, respectively. Secretary Seo took a step back, and Secretary Park approached and stood next to me. If they tried to do something strange to me, they would be rolling on the asphalt floor in a second or two.

But they didn't, just reaching out to me. "Will you show me the invitation letter?" was the only thing they asked.

I took out a prepared invitation letter from my inside pocket and showed it to them. When the man saw it, he lifted his collar and said, "CEO Han Sang-hoon is here. Please send a car." He radioed somewhere. Soon, from somewhere, a Bentley, the same type of my car, came into the parking lot. As I stared at it, one of them indicated the back seat and said, "Please get in."

"Oh, wait a second." I stood for a moment and checked my mailbox on my cell phone. I was wondering if there was any correction news. But it wasn't there, and it meant I would be healthy in three weeks and visit the Children's Cancer Foundation.

'It's going to be all right.' I took the back seat with Secretary Park. When I got in the car, the driver, who looked a little older, greeted me and said hello. "Well, I'd like to ask a favor from you, Mr. Chairman."

I didn't know, but he was like a hired driver for this banquet. He drove off along the country road again.

I thought, 'Where are we going? A hidden villa?' Then, I saw a river. It was no different than Bukhan River.

'… perhaps…' But my guess was true. There was a huge cruise ship on the river ahead, brightly lit. I'd seen it on the Han River from time to time. No, I thought, it was bigger than that one.

The car stopped at the ferry near the river. There were people in black suits waiting here, too.

"CEO Han Sang-hoon, we've been waiting for you."

There was no room for other people to interfere. I got on the boat with Secretary Park, while they held the wheel. Soon the boat made its way toward the cruise ship flashing its lights on the Bukhan River.The inside of the cruiser was the extreme of splendor. The men on guard were handsome, and the women carrying food and drinks were beautiful. The bar was lined with champagne like Dom Pérignon and Armand de Brignac Champagne, and all the furniture filling the inside were antiques that seemed difficult to measure.

'It's gorgeous, but who's going to pay for this?'

I tried to pay attention to the people inside, rather than the splendor of everything. There were quite a few familiar faces in this cruise. What was slightly different from my expectations was not just the business people here. Political and media figures were also here.

'He's the chief editor of the Koryo Daily News.'

'He's the son of a former president, isn't he? What does he do now?'

There was also a very familiar face, Lee Won-sang. He was the elder brother of Lee Won-jae, who looked like Kaiji, considered to be the next owner of the Daewon Daily News.

'Well… he's here, too?'

Somehow, they felt similar. Tak Mun-su was in Garden Royale and Tak Joon-gi was in Garden Envy. Lee Won-sang was in Garden Royale and Lee Won-jae was in Garden Envy.

'This is a place only the people who will be the next powers of the Republic of Korea will be invited to.' This was the banquet of dragons, as it was said. I took a glass of champagne from a wandering beauty and overheard them talking.

"So what do they say the constitutional amendment is going to be?"

"It won't be long before it passes. The presidential system will be maintained, with a two-term presidency, two four-year terms, and the National Assembly will be reorganized into an interlocking electoral system. The president and Son Hae-jin, the party leader, talked behind the scenes."

"Well, now we will have to talk about the next presidential election."

"Yes, if the amendment is passed, we have less than a year and a half left before the presidential election."

On one side, there was the talk of politics; on the other, economics.

"So, do you think the price of oil will go up?"

"Yes, the U.S. will continue to destabilize the Middle East in order to check China's Belt and Road Initiative. It will be the same with India and Pakistan. If the waist is cut, there is no Silk Road."

"Ah, then they are selling shale oil at a high price – they are going for the effect of killing two birds with one stone. Trump warned OPEC that oil prices are too high."

"He's just saying that to get popular with the public. He says it's hard to live in the working class because of the high price of oil, but he's actually only making it more expensive."

Those were stories that seemed to be helpful if I listened carefully. I looked up at the sky. Some birds flew, I couldn't tell whether or not they were migratory birds.

'… birds are flying… Then… I'm sure they wouldn't be surprised if a crow flies around.' I thought of an eye patch I kept at home. 'If I feel something is not enough after I hear and see things here, I'll ask Crow to show this again through my dream.'

Then, suddenly, I heard a voice that drew my ears. "How about Han Sang-hoon?"

My ears pricked up suddenly. 'They're talking about me.' I turned my eyes at the sound. It was the table where the political story came out.

"Han Sang-hoon is not bad. I think he has the potential."

"Isn't he a shallow guy?"

"He is a shallow guy and there is possibilities. These days politicians are popular only when they're far from authoritarianism."

'Ahh… not me.' Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate, it was not me who was being talked about here, but it politician Han Sang-hoon.

"There's a good chance that Joo Sung-won will come out for the ruling party, since the other runners have already lost. If there are no other variables, Joo Sung-won will come out. The opposition party is interesting. It's hard to predict the situation here. There's Han Sang-hoon, but there's also Lee Soo-won, or Jung Kyung-wha."

"Wouldn't it be a little hard for Jung Kyung-wha? In the past, she mangled an image of female politicians."

"No, we can't say that she is not possible because she's a woman. It's different from one person to another. Chancellor Merkel of Germany has been in office for more than a decade."

'Huh… Han Sang-hoon is doing great.' Rep. Han Sang-hoon, who had the same name, was now mentioned as a presidential candidate. If that happened, it would be a little bit too bad for me. My plan to find my name on the news 12 Hours After and explore the future could be sealed for a few years. No one in Korea, even top celebrities, could beat the president's name.

I thought, sipping champagne from the glass, 'If he is going to be in the presidential election… or if he is going to be a representative for the opposition party, I'm going to have to investigate him through Crow. How much dust will it come out?

'This is why the prosecution and the media become powerful in our country. If they investigate some politicians, something should come up. So the law sometimes becomes a dog of power, and sometimes a dog that bites the power.

'The press is also the same. If the approval rating is high, they write good articles; if it gets lower, they beat the president with editorials and articles. So the president, the pinnacle of the power, is being investigated by those people at the end of his term and goes to prison. I don't have the political power to wield the law, but I am confident that I could wield the media better than anyone else.'

I was thinking that, and a man in a black suit came up to me and asked, "Are you CEO Han Sang-hoon of Invictus Investment?"

I nodded, "Ah. Yes."

"Your inviter, Chairman Jang Han-sul, would like to see you."

I looked at him for a moment and nodded slowly. That was what I came here to do. At the dragon's banquet, I would be swallowed up and see what was in its stomach. When Tak Jonn-gi tried to swallow me whole, he was dug up from the inside and died. No matter how big a dragon they were, they would not be able to swallow me. I followed him through the cruise ship with Secretary Park.

His destination was a cabin on the cruise ship. He made it difficult when he saw Secretary Park in front of the cabin. "I'm sorry, but you can't accompany him inside."

I looked back at Secretary Park and nodded. No correction news had come. I'd checked two or three times since I had boarded this ship. I walked inside. There were seven people in all.

I knew all those people at a glance. They were all faces that should be recognized at a glance: Chairman Jang Han-sul of KJ Shopping, Chairman Ko Jin-hee of JISUNG Fashion, President Kim Shin of Susung Planning, Vice Chairman Jung Sung-soo of Mirae Motors, President Ha Ji-yeon of Hotel Baekje, President Huh Joon-ik of LC Construction and Vice Chairman Tak Mun-su of Suyeon Electronics.

'Every one of them…it's a group of princes and princesses.' The people here were simply those who could be the next heads of the nation's conglomerates.

'These guys are all here… what the hell are they talking about?' I was thinking that, and the host, Jang Han-sul, who had invited me, rose from his seat and held out his hand to me. "Ah. CEO Han Sang Hoon, you are here. Nice to meet you."

At that time, a person next to him stood up and asked, "Who are you?"

He was none other than Tak Mun-su, with the same face I had seen in my dream.

'You already know.'

I was thinking that but Jang Han-sul introduced me to the other six. "This is CEO Han Sang-hoon, CEO of Invictus Investment. Recently, the market capital of companies he runs has risen to over a billion dollars, right?"

"Ah yes."

It was a story of property from the first meeting. 'That way I'll be able to sit at this table…' I formally greeted them with such thoughts. "Nice to meet all the presidents and the chairmen. I'm Han Sang-hoon, the CEO of Invictus Investment."

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"Then, we'll leave."

"Yes."

I looked out the window in the back of the car. The outside landscape moved back from the country office to the country road. I was silently reminded of that line. 'Oh, that's weird.'

Well, then, Secretary Seo in front of me opened his mouth.

"Boss."

"Hmm?"

"Well…"

Secretary Seo glanced at me in the rearview mirror and hesitated and told me, "Please talk to me. How was it? What was the luxury villa where the rich got together like?"

I looked at my wrist. Now it was half past eleven. Secretary Seo had waited here for more than four hours. It must have been boring. "First, it was not a luxurious villa."

"Is that so?"

"It was a luxury cruise floating on the Bukhan River."

"Aha."

"It was good. The drinks were expensive, the food was delicious, and there were many famous people."

Secretary Park, who had been silent at the time, added, "Lee Na-yeon was there."

Secretary Seo exclaimed in astonishment, "Really?"

Lee Na-yeon was not affiliated with our company, but she was one of the top stars, comparable to Oh Hyun-joo. I asked in amazement, "Really? I didn't see her."

"Yes, boss. When you went inside that cabin, I was on standby outside… a beautiful woman was coming by, and I turned around and saw it was Lee Na-yeon."

The top actress must have been aboard the luxury ship. 'Why was the actress there…'

As I was thinking that, Secretary Seo said, "Wow, I envy you, boss. Please take me next time, not Secretary Park."

Secretary Seo seemed to be serious. 'I took Secretary Park for a reason…'

I said with my arms crossed, "Well… I don't know if I'll come back here."

"Why? Didn't you like anything?"

"No. It's not that I don't like it. It's just… It's just that I don't fit in there."

"Well, in terms of money, you're as good as them, aren't you?"

"That's right, but…"

That was all I had to say, and I said nothing more. When I closed my mouth, Seo didn't ask any more questions. I didn't need to explain any more. Secretary Park would tell him everything he wanted to hear when I was away. I thought again about the meeting that had just happened. 'It was very unusual.'At the meeting where I was introduced, I was greeted with surprise.

"Ah, this is Han Sang-hoon, the main character of the storm, right?"

"Does every company you touch succeed so well?"

"That's what our people say. A genius has appeared in the market."

"That's right, genius. That's what my men say. He's a genius."

They didn't recognize my face, but they knew my name and my company's name. They knew our company's recent rapid growth and it seemed they had an informant that brought them their information.

Chairman Ko Jin-hee of JISUNG Fashion, who was in her forties but had the twenty-year-old skin, asked Jang Han-sul, "How did you know Chairman Han Sang-hoon and invite him?"

Jang Han-sul answered with a sly smile, "I was curious when I heard the news about him. Have a seat, please." He offered me a seat.

As I sat there, I saw Tak Mun-su sitting on the opposite side. He would be the one who had told everyone else the news. But he sat indifferently, as if he didn't need to look at me.

'Well… it must have been him who wanted me here…'

I sat down and asked them, what I was most curious about. "You often get together like this, don't you?"

In my words, President Kim Shin of Susung Planning, answered shortly, "About once a year."

"Aha. So are you all acquainted, except for me?"

He nodded, "Yes, but I didn't meet them here at first."

At my words, Vice Chairman Jung Sung-soo of Mirae Motors asked, "Didn't everyone meet here and there?"

Everyone nodded at that. Lee Won-jae used to say that before. I didn't know how it happened, but they were entangled by marriages. Each of the seven had a different family name and company, but whether they were cognate or married, they were all close or distant relatives.

'I'm the only outsider…' If I thought about it, it was natural. There were only a few who had made a billion dollars by their own efforts in our country. So these chairmen showed interest in me.

President Ha Ji-yeon of Hotel Baekje asked me, "Where did you study?"

"I graduated from Sungkyunkwan University with a degree in information and communication engineering."

"Oh, I see. But you set up an investment company?"

"I've been dreaming of starting a business since my school days, though it's a little bit different."

President Huh Joon-ik of LC Construction got involved. "Oh, you majored in science. Even if I had other kids run my account, the graduates of Harvard or Seoul National University economics are the worst, and there's someone else who's better at stocks."

Jang Han-sul nodded, "Yes, it is true."

They exchanged questions with me for a while in that way. They asked me this and that, as if this was a hearing. However, it was mostly about investment and company management, because they were all CEOs.

I tried to tell them as much as I knew by the present information. It was because I'd been watching the future news every day, and I had a lot of future information in my head. So when I was talking, I had to add maybe's to everything.

"I think the retaliation against THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) will be completely lifted as of this year. Maybe." I told them what I really thought. "I think Trump will win re-election. That's what I assume when I run a company. It would go before and after the U.S. presidential election without any drastic changes."

"Oh, I see."

The funny thing was, these people took my words quite seriously, perhaps because of the achievements I had.

"CEO Han Sang-hoon thinks so. It's a little different from our staff. I'll have to think about it again."

'I'm just saying what comes to mind…' It would be a little funny if my words changed the strategy of Mirae Motors. As I talked to them, I continued to be conscious of Tak Mun-su. He only clapped at other people's stories, but he didn't talk to me in person.

'Well… he really wanted to see me once. Is this it?'

But it finally happened. "You have such great insight. CEO Han Sang-hoon," he said to me.

I naturally turned my head to him and replied, "That's too much praise. Vice Chairman Tak Mun-su."

Tak Mun-su smiled and spoke to me.'So what did he say…' I rubbed my chin and looked back at my conversation with him. No matter how much I thought about it, there had been nothing unusual. He had just talked to me about investment and management, nothing else.

I had been trying to figure out when a nuclear bomb would hit in the middle of the conversation, if I could. There had been no such thing at all, possibly since other company representatives were watching. Therefore, he might not have brought up something sensitive first. I had only had a very normal conversation with him.

What was amazing was that as I had been talking to him, I had felt it. 'This man… is really a good man.' He had had some kind of charisma. He had had the charm of leading people. If I had not seen him hitting his wrist in the dream, I would have thought of him as a good man. But I couldn't put a good man and an abettor of murder on the same line, no matter how evil Tak Joon-gi was.

'It was weird… really…'

But now that I thought about it, all six other CEOs had something that attracted people's attention. I could feel their natural leisure. They had been born in a rich family and had lived running toward the top, without any ups and downs of life. It was a little different from me.

At the end of the meeting, Jang Han-sul, the host, handed me his business card, 'Chairman Jang Han-sul of KJ Shopping.' He said, "Nice to meet you today, CEO Han Sang-hoon. I'll call you directly next time.'

To be honest, I didn't think this was a suitable place for me, either. I wouldn't be able to get along with these people after all. But it was worth attending. It was such a high-level gathering place that Crow could gather some information. That was what it was today.'The constitutional amendment for two four-year terms… The next presidential candidates are Joo Sung-won for the ruling party, and Han Sang-hoon, Lee Soo-won, and Jung Kyung-wha for the opposition party.'

I picked up my cell phone, went to the portal site, and searched for 'the constitutional amendment.' Some news came up soon.

[Discussion over the power structure of the National Assembly on the constitutional amendment has been slow to make a difference.]

[The people are behind the debate on the constitutional amendment, and it turned into a pie fight for lawmakers.]

[Two four-year terms? The parliamentary government system? What will happen to the presidential system?]

The constitutional amendment had been making little progress since last year. I had forgotten, but they must have been talking. I went on to the future news. I hadn't seen the second one today. At 8:55, as the news had arrived, I had been in the cruiser.

I entered the future news of 12 Months After and put 'Park Hyung-joon, the name of the incumbent president' in it. These last few days, I had stopped tracking the names of the president for the search of other CEOs and celebrities. There was news coming up.

[Lame-duck phenomenon with one year left in President Park Hyung-joon's term?]

I clicked on it. The article was news of July 2020, after nine months. The last presidential election was 2017. If it properly worked, it should be done by 2022, but it said only one year left in the president's term. It was just as the people who had been talking on board the ship had said.

'Certainly, inside the political world, it's been talked about.'

Soon, the Korean constitution would be amended to limit a president to two four-year terms. Then, two years later, we would have a presidential election. Depending on who would become president, it would affect me for four or eight years.

'This is definitely… I need to get my hands on it.' I closed my cell phone, thinking about it.

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I tapped on the desk and looked at the screen. There was a notepad on the monitor, with four names on it: the ruling party – Joo Sung-won; the opposition party – Han Sang-hoon, Lee Soo-won and Jung Kyung-wha; the second opposition party – Kwak Ji-won, Ahn Sang-jin. They were the six most likely presidential candidates under the current circumstances. The names I had heard on the cruise were four, but I arbitrarily added two more here.

'Well… if the constitutional amendment is passed, there's about twenty months left until the presidential election.' I was not sure who would be the next president right now. Politics was so variable that no one knew what would happen. Right now, the people knew they had two and a half years to go to the presidential election. So an article predicting the next presidential election coming out was still in the distant future.

'I'll know who it is going to be in eight months.' With twenty months left, if eight months passed, I would know who would be the president through the news in 12 Months After.

'Then let's move on; when someone I don't like comes up, I'll dig him up.'

But I thought it might be a little late if I moved then. 'Politicians have as big a mouth as the chairmen of a large corporation. Especially if there's something dirty, they become desperate to stop it. In particular, it will be blocked at the party level when it is time for the presidential candidate to rise and fall. If it is the ruling party, the president would be protected first.'

I changed my mind. 'I don't have a place to send Crow. Let's dig up information on all six of them from now on. Crow can only be used once a month. It will take half a year to investigate all six. In addition, if they enter the election, someone may appear to be a sensation during the middle of the election.

'When I get some information, I will hold and expose it at the most dramatic time while watching the presidential race. Is there anyone who is a politician who doesn't have anything to do with it? If I put the Crow on them, something will pop out in no time. Even if he becomes president later, the information will be useful. I will be a big hand to shake the presidential race.

'The first target…' I searched for 'Han Sang-hoon' in the portal window. At the top of the list, Rep. Han Sang-hoon appeared. 'I hope you'll be my first target. I don't have any bad feelings towards you, who has the same name as me, but frankly, for my benefit, you should be put on the inspection table first.'

My introduction 'CEO Han Sang-hoon of Invictus Investment' was under his. I couldn't help that for now.

'If something bad comes up, your political career will be finished. However, I'll do the same for others, so don't be too disappointed.' I went on to search for any suspicious things that Rep. Han Sang-hoon had done in the past.

'Bingo.' As expected, something came out right away. [Rep. Han Sang-hoon, who was on the list of Gu Soon-gil, took a breather after the acquittal.]

I clicked on it. [Han Sang-hoon, who was on the list of candidates for Chungjin Construction, was found not guilty this morning.]

"Ah, this case." Looking back now reminded me of the Gu Soon-gil List incident. Two years ago, a construction company CEO named Gu Soon-gil had committed suicide before being questioned by the prosecution. He had called a few lawmakers before he had been questioned, but they all had refused to help him, and he had committed suicide and had written down all their names in a suicide note. 'Han Sang-hoon $200,000, Kang Yong-joon $140,000, and Ji Jeong-hwan $100,000.'

When the person had died, all the people written there had been found innocent. This had been a clear case, and Crow could dig it out.

'Then I'll start with this first.' With that thought, I entered the email and decided where to meet Crow.

'Well… it was delicious there.' It was one of the restaurants near my place, and I would buy him unlimited spicy chicken.

Tiriri~ There was a phone call; it was Secretary Seo.

"Hmm?"

"Vice President Jang is here."

"Oh, please let him come in."

"Yes, boss."

Soon, Vice President Jang came into the president's office and said hello. He asked me as soon as he came in, "So, have you made up your mind?"

"Oh, I was going to talk to you. Have a seat, please." I sat him down and took a report out of my desk. It listed the views of several buildings. I said, pointing to a building there, "I like it. What do you think?"

It was a building near Samsung Station, one of the candidates for our new office. The relocation of the office building had been under discussion since early this year. Invictus Investment, where Jang had first attracted acquaintances and hired around twenty people, had grown to one hundred and fifty employees.

Fortunately, the building now had had a vacancy, so we had increased the size of the company by increasing the number of rental floors, but now that we couldn't do that anymore, we decided to relocate the office. It was not a lease, but a purchase.

"Oh, this is the place I thought was the best. But… it's expensive…" Vice President Jang had always had a habit of buying things cheap. He had been an investor his whole life, so it was natural, but there was something that didn't suit me.

'It's the difference between someone who's sure his assets will increase every day and someone who isn't.' I told him, thinking that, "Vice President Jang, don't think so much. Kai Games is up four percent today. Its market capital is 1.6 billion dollars, and our company's share value must have gone up more than thirty million dollars. You don't have to find something that's too cheap."

Vice President Jang smiled and nodded at my words. "You're right, boss."

"Then why don't you go with me tomorrow… or today?"

"All right, boss."

I nodded with a satisfied smile. Vice President Jang brought up the following agenda. "And for the next one, Jiwoo Entertainment will be managed by President Kwon Oh-hyuk himself. He says there will be no problem for its size. I'll deal with it as long as the boss confirms it."

"We're at ease with that. Tell him to do that."

"Yes, boss."

"Then go and contact the building. We're going to see it today and make an appointment."

"Yes, boss." After bowing, Jang left the office.The acquisition of Jiwoo Entertainment was completed smoothly. The seller wanted to sell it quickly, so if we checked a few things; there was nothing else to check separately.

'All right, so I will own six companies with this.' There were four more to reach the Grandmaster Class. In fact, the total market value of ten billion dollars was much more important than the number of companies now.

'Ten billion dollars… if the market value of Kai Games and Hyun Young Pharmaceutical goes up more than two billion dollars each… It will be about five billion dollars temporarily. However, it is still short of five billion dollars.

'A company worth five billion dollars…'

'The easiest way is to list Invictus Investment. Whether it is an IPO, KOSPI, KOSDAQ, or just listed, it is highly likely that it would be valued at two to three billion dollars. Because my reputation in the investment industry has been strong these days, the premium will be quite high.

'There are still a lot of people asking me to take care of their money. If our company is listed, they will be anxious to buy our company's stock. But I don't want that, because if I have an initial public offering, I will have to share my profits with unknown shareholders. I have won one hundred percent of my own money, anyway. Therefore, I want to grow by monopolizing a hundred percent, rather than drawing in other people's money for a few billion dollars right now.

'So I'm done with the IPO. I'll take one or two more companies like Kai Games and Hyun Young Pharmaceutical…' Thinking of that, I suddenly entered an email, clicked the news 12 Months After, and scrolled down. I then went into the Ranking News.

'I didn't use it this month.' I had a chance to use Ranking News once a month. To be honest, I had used it to check what the hottest news in 12 Months After was because even if I had used it, I had not had anything very good. If it was the hottest news in 12 Months After, whether it was any politician, entertainer, new technology, new product, new medicine,or so forth, it might be money.

'Ranking News… category… Economy.' I clicked it and pressed OK. There was more surprising news than I had expected.

[AI Company FutureSync is taken over by Amazon at two billion dollars.]

'FutureSync?' I'd heard of this company. It was an AI company started by IT geniuses in Korea. 'But will it be sold at two billion dollars?'

I read the article about the news of twelve months from now. I searched for FutureSync.

[Futuresync, the ideas of the future becomes a reality.]

On the homepage, it said its capital was five million dollars, unlisted.

'Then, the five-million-dollar company will be sold for two billion dollars to Amazon?' It meant that within a year, they would develop something huge. 'This is really… walking gold.' On the Ranking News of 12 Months After, it got the top, and it was certainly shocking news.

I clicked on the article to read the full text. The content was as it was titled; Amazon bought a hundred percent stake in FutureSync. It was exactly 2.02 billion dollars.

'This… this is what I need to buy first?' I was thinking that, the phone rang. I picked up the phone and answered.

"Boss. Vice President Jang called me and said, 'We are welcome at any time.'"

I went through the article once more as I listened to him. I memorized the article quickly. I said to Secretary Seo as I closed the window, "Oh really? Then get ready to go out right away. You guys get ready, too."

"Yes, boss."Vice President Jang, my two secretaries, and I wandered around the building, listening to the explanation of the staff in charge. The staff explained while walking around the first floor of the forty-story building.

"As you can see, the bank and the cafe on the first floor have a long-term contract. So does the family restaurant on the second floor. Up here, they are all offices, but there are almost no vacancies."

Then we went up, and up.

"Our building is an eco-friendly building with a BIPV installed on an incline of fifteen degrees between floors, increasing the light collection rate. There's a company that just got out of contract, so you can choose anything between the twenty-sixth and fortieth floors. You can rent the remaining floors again."

It was the case in the portfolio, but I liked all the floors. I decided to buy, especially when I saw the penthouse above the top floor.

"This is seven thousand one hundred and seventeen square feet. As you can see, it has a fitness center, a spa, a swimming pool, and a theater. But the rent's so high that it's been vacant for months now. You can rent it separately, or to one of the people in the company…"

The person in charge looked at me, smiled and said, "I think you could buy it."

I looked around the house, listening to him. It was definitely good. It was like a house belonging to American celebrities, or rich people. The house had a perfect swimming pool, a tennis court, a fitness center, and a spa. I especially liked outdoor spas. I thought it would be great if I took a hot bath here and had a glass of wine with a night view.

"You've seen all of our building. Think about it and…" The clerk in charge kept following me and muttering.

I cut him off. "I'll buy it."

"What?" the clerk asked me back, astonished.

I replied in a clearer voice, "I'll buy this building. Please prepare the contract."

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"This is their suggestion."

Vice President Jang handed the document he was holding to me. I took it. On the upper left, there was a blue mark that said 'Tencent' in English. Underneath it was a phrase that read 'Kai Games Acquisition Proposal Guide.'

"The last time I turned down the offer was in October last year, right?"

"Yes, it was."

"Well, it's been almost seven months."

"Yes."

It was now early summer in May 2020. It had been almost a year and a half since the release of Kai Games' Fantasy War Ground, which started CBT early last year. Fantasy War Ground, which had been a hot topic since its release, dominated the game market that year and was still competing for the top spot in global market share until this year. The market capital of Kai Games was two point four billion dollars, twelve times higher than the price I had first bought it at. Our company's value, which had a sixty-three percent stake, had reached one and a half billion dollars.

'Then let's see how much they've offered?' I took the proposal, and my eyes grew slightly bigger and I muttered, "Oh, my God."

'Of the 63% stake held, if we sell 20% of them, they will pay $600,000,000.'

'Of the 63% stake held, if we sell all the 63% stake, they will pay $2,000,000,000.'

"They're paying two billion dollars to buy our stake."

"Yes, that's right. I was a little surprised to see it."

"Oh, the Chinese are so magnanimous. Is this the spirit of the continent?"

"I can't believe they're going to add five hundred million dollars more in premium. But that's how confident they are that they'll make a profit from the business in China."

I worried myself for a while. Originally, I was only trying to sell a twenty percent share and get the cash to buy another company, but the five hundred million dollars' premium was big. I was seduced by the money.

'Premium's a matter, but… it's more about what the stock price is going to be. In any game, the trends will change like water flowing over time.'

The popularity of the Battle Royale style of game, which had been a big hit, was slowly decreasing. Fantasy War Ground was one of the latecomers, so the number of simultaneous users was still steady, but by the end of the year, it was expected to gradually reduce. I'd already checked that in the 'IT/Science' category.

'I'll consider selling them all. Of course, if I sell all of my shares, the ownership of Kai Games will be removed from me. In a word, it means that I will be far from the condition of "dominating a company worth ten billion dollars in total value" to reach the Grandmaster Class. But if I get two billion dollars in cash… it wouldn't be too hard to buy a new five to six billion dollar company. The key is money anyway.'

"I'll think about it for a little bit, and then I'll talk to you again."

"Yes, boss."

"How's Hyun Young Pharmaceutical doing?"

"It's good. FDA approval is in progress, so it should be on the market soon."

"That's great. I want them to finish it well. Give my words to them."

"Yes, boss."

Vice President Jang went out of the president's office with his head down. Hyun Young Pharmaceutical also went through the procedure I had expected, so the new drug passed the FDA's Phase Three and was waiting for a license to sell. Hyun Young Pharmaceutical, which had a market capital of just over one billion dollars at the time, had reached nearly three billion dollars for about three days on the news of the FDA's approval, but now stood at a little over two billion dollars.

Come to think of it, the ladies and gentlemen who had been watching their cell phones on the set…

I remembered my second shot of 'Meet the MBE Super Ant' last year. That day, I had told them, "Blue EM and Hyun Young Pharmaceutical have been added to the last stocks." And then, as soon as they had heard my words, there had been a bunch of men and women who had bought the stocks with their heads down. If they had bought Hyun Young Pharmaceutical, they would probably have doubled their money.

'But… if they had bought Blue EM?' To be honest, Blue EM was a bust. Blue EM, which had increased its market share by collaborating with the entertainment industry and games, had been pushed back by European TV using the same method. Share prices would have been in the plus or minus ten percent range if they had bought them. Although it was not a loss due to its business structure, it did not grow very much.

Of course, something might change if I made a big investment, but frankly, Blue EM had not been so affectionate after the case of former CEO Ahn Yong-kyun. No, to be more precise, it now seemed a little less interesting as a thirty million-dollar company. Now I had two companies worth a billion dollars.

'Our prospect is ready to make a result.' FutureSync, which had been found in October last year, was an AI translation company. Based on big data, the company would bring together past translated documents and would translate them into more sophisticated versions. The system had a more sophisticated structure than Amazon or Google.

'So they're going to pay two billion dollars to buy it. It will be this month or next month that the system is completed. Around two months after its completion, it will be announced to the AI Society in Silicon Valley, and the person in charge of Amazon's AI business there will report to Jeff Bezos, the richest CEO in the world.'

I'd already bought an eighty percent stake for fifteen million dollars last year. I didn't know how much the offer would change, but it would probably go similarly. The business was going well. I would soon be a rich man wielding a company worth ten billion dollars, reaching towards the Grandmaster Class.

I got up from my seat. I had traded occasionally in the morning and had met Vice President Jang in the afternoon; everything I had to do today had been done. I came out of the president's office and said, "Secretary Seo, Secretary Park, I'll go home first."

Secretary Park, standing outside, said goodbye to me, "Please go in, boss."

By the way, Secretary Seo stood up and followed me. "Well… boss."

"Hmm?"

"Are you going to sell Kai Games?"

'Why is he asking me this? He does not usually ask this…'

I looked at him for a moment, and said, "Follow me for a moment."

"Yes."

I stood in front of the elevator with him and pressed the up button. The elevator stopped and Secretary Seo and I went into it. The elevator had buttons for the first floor to the fortieth floor, and on top of them was a button that said 'P'. I pressed the 'P' button, and soon the voice of the machine said, "Please enter your password."

I pressed a few floors quickly, '32, 18, 7, 3, 22, 15.' The voice told us the floor I was going to, "Penthouse."The elevator stopped at the penthouse on the top floor of the Invictus Building. I undid my tie and threw it over the sofa, and said, taking a can of beer out of the refrigerator, "What do you want to drink?"

"No, I'm on duty, and… I have to drive."

"You can drink anything other than beer."

"Then I'll have orange juice."

I took out a pack of orange juice and threw it at him, and then came out to the outdoor terrace with him. May was when the wind got hot. I thought as I looked at the pool next to the terrace, 'It's about time we play in the water.'

When I was thinking about that, Secretary Seo asked me, "Well, why did you call me?"

I took a sip of beer and said, looking at the long stretch of Seoul, "You tell me the truth."

"What?"

"You bought some Kai Games, didn't you?"

As I said, Secretary Seo answered honestly, "Yes."

"How much did you buy?"

"I don't know how much I have bought."

"You don't know how much you've bought, and you've put all your payments in there?"

"Yes. The bonus, and all of them…"

I said with a laugh, "Then how much is it now?"

"It's just over four million dollars."

I laughed at the words. Secretary Seo and the people who had bought Hyun Young Pharmaceutical during the shooting, were overlapping. Secretary Seo had been with me since I had started my company, so he had been able to imitate me since the very beginning. I suddenly recalled the promise I had made with him: 'If you're by my side, you'll drive a Porsche in three years!'

So, I told him, "Yes, four million dollars would be enough to buy a Porsche and drive it."

Upon hearing that, Secretary Seo answered me instead of drinking orange juice, "Well, thank you, boss. No… brother Sang-hoon. Thank you very much."

I looked at him with some surprise. It had been a long time since Ji-hoon called me by my name in a suit. I felt a sense of incompatibility at the words, and told him, "Are you… are you quitting your secretarial job?"

"Yes. I'll only be working until next month."

"To start a business?"

"Yes."

As expected, he had spent two years sitting next to me in a secretarial position, learning English composition or computer programming. I had known he was going to leave me someday.

"Well, yes… but I don't think things will go well without you."

"I have taught Secretary Park all about the duties as a secretary starting three months ago."

"Three months ago? That long ago?"

"Yes, three months ago, I made up my mind, and told Secretary Park."

"What, then, am I the only one who didn't know?"

"Yes, boss. I'm sorry."

I knew who the next president would be in twelve months, but I didn't know my secretary would quit in a month. That was the irony of my ability.

"Well, I can't stop your dream, either. That… doesn't fit my philosophy."

"Thank you for your understanding."

"Then instead… accept one thing, my wish."

"What do you mean?"

"Sell a 51% stake in your company to me and start it up. To be precise, I will start out as an early investor."

"Yes?"

"It will be good for you. You will have a strong supporter, and four million dollars is a lot of money, but it's like nothing in the startup world. Do you really think it will be enough when you're in IT?"

"Then, I'd appreciate it."

"Yes, and you have to go public within three years. How about that?"

"I'll try."

I patted him on the shoulder. "Yes, try your best."

But then, Ji-hoon asked me, "Well, by the way, brother, are you selling Kai Games?"

I looked him up and down at the question and said, "Wow, you became a complete stock investor."

"I've been with you for two years, and the sparrow near a school sings the primer."

"Is that so?"

I drank another beer and then thought about Kai Games, which gave me the biggest return, one more time. But it seemed to be time to part.

I made up my mind here and told him, "Just to let you know… it's a deal worth a billion dollars."

"Yes."

"I'm going to sell all our stake. As Tencent will come in instead of me, it is not going to plunge, but… in the long run, the outlook…"

As I said it, Secretary Seo said, "I believe in you. Before you leave, I'll sell out quietly."

It meant selling the stock and leaving, but somehow it sounded like leaving the company. I answered with regret, "Well, yes. Thanks for your two years' service, anyway. You go out and do a good job. Report to me while you do it."

Secretary Seo, no, my university colleague Seo Ji-hoon, bowed to me and said, "Yes, big brother. I hope you'll give me a favor in the future, too."

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"Wow, that's good." Ah-young liked it like a child, sitting on a tube and splashing water with her feet. "I don't even have to go to the hotel… I think this place is better than the hotel!"

I watched her with a satisfied look, drinking a cocktail. I had bought this penthouse last fall, so it was the first time that the pool was filled with water.

Ah-young had grown up in a wealthy family and had been abroad since she was a child, but no matter how much she had been, she had never experienced playing in the water in the middle of the buildings in Seoul.

I asked her, "So, how are you doing these days?"

"What?"

"Becoming an announcer."

"Ah, it's going well. Have a look at this." She cleared her throat for a moment and spoke to me with correct, clear pronunciation. -Hello, everyone. This is the nine o'clock news for BKS on Saturday, May Second. Today's first news: former lawmaker Kim Eun-jae has been named the new chief of staff to the president. After joining politics and serving as a re-elected lawmaker, he failed to win the nomination race, but he is said to have been trusted by President Park due to his unique affinity and political sense."

She was good. If I closed my eyes and listened, I would have believed that a real incumbent announcer had just spoken to me. She was talking to me on a yellow tube, in a blue pool, wearing a red bikini, and it just didn't feel that way.

'… she is really good.' I think so, and she asked, "How about me? Am I good? Do you think I'm going to be an announcer?"

After graduating from art school, she suddenly thought of being an announcer. When her father had been found innocent in the past, she had looked up a video of herself, and the female announcer who had proudly announced the news looked so cool. It was too sudden a career change, but she had enough qualities to be an announcer. She was beautiful, and she was in good shape. Of course, she had not even known how to say 'Hello, ladies and gentlemen,' but she had quickly gained her skills, going to an announcer academy near her school.

However, I said to her with an ignorant look, "Well… I don't know."

"Hmm… really? That's weird… because my teacher complimented me a lot these days."

"It might be better if you keep doing it, but isn't the written test more problematic than the practical examination? What about the Korean proficiency test?"

"I've been working hard on that lately. My scores on the mock test are also increasing."

According to her, she had been doing well at school until she decided to pursue her career as an artist. She had just majored in art because she had liked it better. Her English score had been perfect from the beginning. She could have briefed the news in English in the first place.

"Oh, well…" I nodded.

'… it's really going to work, isn't it?' When she had first started doing it, I had thought it was a fling for a rich girl, but if she passed the written test, which I thought was the biggest barrier, she might actually become an announcer. In particular, she would be an announcer in a general programming channel, which had a low competition rate. In that field, appearance was preferred to ability. If she said she went there, she would pass the exam.

The problem was that I didn't like her being an announcer. I had felt it the last time in 'The Shock Interview Girl,' but I hadn't really liked my girlfriend being famous. When she became an announcer, she would become very popular again, as she was pretty.

'I can't stop her from doing this…'

I'd been talking indirectly about this before. "Well, do you need to be an announcer, leaving art as your major?"

But every time she said, "As I said before, modern art…"

I didn't know what the real reason was, but she seemed to have been disillusioned after seeing something dirty in the domestic art world. She said that the professor's eyes became the standard of art.

"I wish I could be a webtoon writer. I'm not going to do pure art."

So that was how it ended. She studied abroad and graduated from graduate school. It was a bit of a waste, but I had to admit it was her choice. Even if she did that, she would not have any problems.

Then, Ah-young suddenly said, "But, oppa. Isn't it a little bit big living alone here?"

"Oh, that's right," I answered, and then added right away, "But it's great. It's good to have a big theater, and it's good to get used to. And I like high places, originally." That's all I said and no more.

She'd been talking more and more about marriage these days. She then asked, "By the way, are you expecting a guest in the evening?"

"Yes."

"Who?"

"A business person."

"Hmm…" She squinted at me. That was not too much. These days, for some reason, a lot of women dashed after me, starting with the MBE announcer, including a dentist, a department store worker, a former middle school classmate, and even a new employee of the Invictus Investment, wherever I went.

"I'm supposed to meet him here. If you want to see him, meet him. He is a big foreign guy." He was none other than Crow. After meeting him a few times, Ah-Young knew of his existence.

"Really? That important foreign guest you spoke to me about then? Shall I prepare dinner for him? What does he like?" Even after moving here from next door, she would still cook for me once in a while.

"Chicken."

"Chicken?"

"Yes. He likes chicken."

"Then I'll do it for you. Less greasy. You look a little fat these days. You shouldn't get adult diseases in your early thirties." She worried about my health so often these days.

"… yes."That afternoon, I asked, looking at Crow who was ripping off the chicken leg, "How about it?"

"I think it's lighter than usual. It's the same with the sauce. But it's delicious. It's a little different from the greasy ones. Where is this chicken from?"

Crow had become an expert on franchised chicken these days. It was because he had a chicken party with me every month when he came to take a request.

"They don't sell it, but a chef made it for us."

"I see. I think the chef is good at it."

"Well… if she were a chef, she'd rather…"

"What?"

"No. I was talking to myself. I think it's the first time I have asked you to come to my new house here."

Crow replied, looking at the pool over the table, the garden, and beyond them, the night view of Seoul. "Yes, sir. It's… It's like the castle of kings."

I asked him, " Kings?"

"Yes, sir. You're like a king."

'It's not very wrong. I've been feeling that way, a little bit, since my fortune became over a billion dollars. I am a king made by capitalism. There is nothing that I can not do because I have money, and the people around me bend their heads. Even if I don't want to, if I have a lot of money, I become a king. This is the age.'

Nevertheless, I talked about democracy to Crow, "However, South Korea is a democratic country. There's no king. There's a president."

Crow nodded and said, "… president. Yes, I know that." In fact, what he had been doing for seven months had been investigating the next presidential candidates.

I continued, taking out the documents he had assembled. "Today is the second report for Rep. Han Sang-hoon."

What I received today was the second report of the investigation of Rep. Han Sang-hoon. I had already confirmed that Rep. Han Sang-hoon had received money from the dead man during the "Goo Soon-gil List" incident, by the first report of the investigation seven months ago. Of course, it was a bribery case.

However, as he had said in that incident, "I don't even know him," there would be added perjury. If this was revealed, he was sure to be hit hard as a politician.

But I didn't release it right away, because it had already been a case of "not guilty" by the Supreme Court. If it was exposed again, it would put pressure on the legal profession. 'Even if the truth is yes, it becomes no if the judiciary says no.'

Furthermore, Rep. Han Sang-hoon was a former prosecutor, who graduated from Seoul National University's law school. Numerous judges were his university seniors, colleagues, and juniors, and he was a real power of the opposition party. Therefore, there was no guarantee that it would be accepted as true if I exposed it. So I decided to add one more thing.

Rep. Han Sang-hoon had been said that before he became a lawmaker, when he was a prosecutor, he received sex entertainments and freely visited hostess bars because he was captivated by the charms of a woman. However, since he became a lawmaker, he had been so scared of reporters' eyes that he couldn't do so, so he changed his secretaries and slept with them. So I got Crow to dig up this rumor, too. The more weaknesses I knew, the better.

Crow told me, "Yes, following the last time… it contains the information you want. You can see it by the Dream of Crow if you want."

I said, nodding my head, "Yes, I'll look at the contents and… I'll do it."

But when I saw it, my face was slightly flushed and I shook the document a couple of times. 'Oh, my God. This is completely a sex story.' The report clearly stated that a middle-aged lawmaker was having an affair with his secretaries. If I slept with the eye patch on me, I would be watching a sex video.

'Where the hell did he do this?' It was the National Assembly's office in Yeouido. 'Is the National Assembly's office a motel? I didn't pay taxes for this.' I was paying tens of million dollars a year in taxes. Taxes were high, as profits were high.

'In any case, one more weakness is added.' Rep. Han Sang-hoon was married and already had three children. If this turned out, his presidential dreams would be no different than being thrown overboard. Of course, the adultery law had been abolished these days, and even though there had been generous understanding of infidelity, with this alone, he would lose about ten percent of the voter base during the presidential election. Rep. Han Sang-hoon could never be president, if I made a move.

'The question is, when will it burst? Let's see who the president will be next year and make a decision.'

Today was May Second, 2020. The next presidential election was scheduled to take place on May Second, 2021. So by tomorrow morning, I would know who the next president would be.

There were three slots in People Search. If I wrote down each name, '#1 Joo Sung-won #2 Han Sang-hoon #3 Kwak Ji-won,' such articles would appear.

[Joo Sung-won, former Seoul Mayor, was elected president!]

[Presidential candidate, Han Sang-hoon, failed to win the presidential election.]

[Presidential candidate, Kwak Ji-won, had a breeze instead of a gusto.]

That way, the articles would appear. If I didn't like the result, I would step up and change the next president.

'Shall I buy a presidential theme stock? What was the stock related to Mayor Joo Sung-won? What kind of construction was it? Was it development?'

Suddenly, I remembered seeing the future news and buying stocks during the Seoul mayoral election. At that time, I had bought, sold, and changed stocks after watching the news about who would become the mayor of Seoul, but now I had reached the point of deciding who would become the president.

'I'll decide the next president…' Come to think of it, I was the king of the present age. I was the one who could wield information of the future, and who would know all the information of the past. The President would not be able to touch me either, since I would appoint him.

I rubbed my hands and thought, 'All right, let's see who the next president will be tomorrow…'

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Tiriri tiriri tiriri… The alarm went off. I woke up, my eyes opened, I took a shower, shaved, and dried my hair. I walked to the kitchen, but suddenly I thought I would like to eat the cheesecake. There was some chicken porridge and side dishes that Ah-young had left together yesterday when she had made chicken, but I turned around and headed straight to the dressing room. I got dressed up for work, and headed to the elevator inside the house. Pressing the down button, I waited for a moment, and soon the elevator came and opened.

Ding-dong. I got in there. And when I saw the button on the elevator, I got in trouble for a while.

'First floor or thirtieth floor?' I soon finished my worries and pressed the first floor. The elevator went down and stopped on the first floor.

The door opened, and some of the employees who saw me said. "How are you, sir?" Some others stuttered in amazement, "Hello, bo… boss." Some people greeted me calmly and neatly.

I raised my hand. "Yes, hello." After receiving their greetings, I headed to the cafe on the first floor. I usually sent a secretary to buy rather than come down like this, but I stopped by once in a while. I wanted to check that business was going well. Fortunately, the cafe was crowded even in the morning.

'With this, the offices are not going to be vacant, because their business is going well.'

There was a line at the place where the order was received. I stood in line without a word.

"Did you hear that? Section Chief Park applied for a housing subscription and got it."

"Really? Where?"

"Sungsu-dong, he can only see the tip of the Han River in the kitchen, but the premium is $300,000."

"Really? A big hit!"

"That's why he stopped nagging the employees these days."

"Really? Well, that's good, then?"

"But maybe that's why he is not really interested in things these days, and he doesn't have much enthusiasm. We are also losing strength… I'm not sure if this is good."

I thought as I listened to it, 'Who's Section Chief Park?' Our company had grown to a considerable degree and we had many section chiefs. I would find out if I looked it up.

"Mr. President!" One of the female employees, who was chatting, was surprised at me being there. The woman next to her also stepped back, covering her mouth, "Uh." She was surprised that the president of her company was lined up behind her.

I raised my hand to greet her. "Hello."

The women stepped aside for me. "We want you to make an order first, Mr. President."

"No, it's your turn now."

The two looked back. There was no one in front of them. They bent their heads and ordered what they wanted. Then it was my turn. In front of me was a young part-timer who seemed to have just graduated from high school. She didn't seem to know I was the owner of this building. Just seeing that the female employees who were older than me greeted and called me, "Mr. President," she seemed to think I was their superior.

"I'd like a piece of cheesecake, and a glass of white chocolate mocha Grande, please."

"Yes." After I finished my order, I stood in the cafe for a moment and waited.

Meanwhile, a handsome man with combed hair came and said hello. "I'm Kwon Hyuk-jin from the overseas investment department. I greeted you at the last welcoming party for new recruits."

"Oh, you look familiar. Are you adapting to the company?"

"Yes, boss."

But after that greeting, a woman with a strong perfume came to me and said hello, "I have seen you for the first time, Mr. President. I am Kang Soo-jung from the real investment department."

"Oh, yes…"

I was greeted constantly. Thanks to that, there were two lines in the cafe. I was a little embarrassed, but not too badly. I usually stayed in the president's office to analyze the news and trade stocks, so I had employees who hadn't even seen my face once. It wouldn't be bad to show my face like this from time to time. Shouldn't I let them know who was paying their salaries? With countless greetings, I got back on the elevator and arrived on the thirtieth-floor president's office.

"Are you here?"

"Are you here, boss?"

Two secretaries welcomed me as always. One of them would quit within a month, but I asked Secretary Seo implicitly. "How are your preparations going?"

"They are going well, boss."

I stared at him, then turned to Secretary Park. "Secretary Park."

"Yes, boss."

"Don't quit."

At my words, Secretary Park smiled and said, "Yes, boss. I don't earn as much as Secretary Seo and I can't quit."

Park was quite close to Secretary Seo, and knew that Seo had bought stocks after me with the salary he had received and become a rich man worth tens of millions of dollars.

I laughed and said jokingly, "Don't quit, even if you're richer than Seo. He's going to have a hard time starting a business. When he leaves home, he will know how valuable home is."

Secretary Park giggled at my words, and Secretary Seo slightly lowered his head.

I said, hitting him on the shoulder, "I'm kidding, man. Try hard."

Only then did Secretary Seo speak with a slight smile, "Yes, boss."

I'd known him since his school days; he had enough ability enough to go out and succeed. I believed in him. He would certainly succeed, and the four million dollars I'd decided to invest in him would come back double.

'If it doesn't work, I'll make it work.' To be honest with myself, I had the power to make something impossible to work succeed, unnoticed.

"Then do your work." I was going to go into the president's office with the cheesecake and coffee I had just bought, leaving the words behind, and said one more thing, "Ah! Secretary Seo."

"Yes, boss."

"By contacting Director Jung, tell him to check if there is a section chief who recently signed up for a housing application in Seongsu-dong. Let Director Jung go and give him a shoulder massage, and ask if he doesn't want to work because of the apartment."

"Oh, yes."

Coming into the president's office, I turned on the computer while drinking coffee. The last computer in the president's office cost a few thousand dollars, but the new computer cost nearly fifty thousand dollars. It was a supercomputer set with three monitors. Of course, it was all about surfing the Internet or working on it, but I did it anyway. The information that came and went to this computer was worth a billion dollars.

'Especially the information that's coming in today… how much is this? I can sell it for tens of million dollars to anyone who wants to know who will be the next president.'

I recalled the Banquet of Dragons last year. The members who had a secret party on the Bukhan River would probably be very sensitive about who the next president was and what their policies would be. They would modify their group strategy according to that.

'I can't sell it, and I don't want to sell it.' I watched the time while eating cheesecake. It was 8:40. There was still about fifteen minutes left.

'Who will be…'

I once again took out the list I was investigating. 'The ruling party – Joo Sung-won; the opposition party – Han Sang-hoon, Lee Soo-won and Jung Kyung-wha; the second opposition party – Kwak Ji-won, Ahn Sang-jin.'

I had found out the deadly weaknesses of Han Sang-hoon, Lee Soo-won, and Ahn Sang-jin, one by one, using Crow. If I made up my mind, they were the ones who I could destroy. If any of these people were elected, I'd blow their chances without hesitation. They had a history of committing corruption and lying to the people.

On the other hand, there had been bad rumors about Seoul Mayor Joo Sung-won, who had an acquaintance with me, and about Jung Kyung-wha and Kwak Ji-won, but it would be strange if there was no such thing for politicians l. All of them were found to have been truly innocent by the investigation of Crow.

'I wish one of Joo Sung-won, Jung Kyung-wha, or Kwak Ji-won will be president. Then, I don't have to change the President with my own hands. Frankly speaking, changing the president with my hands is a little onerous. If the new president doesn't manage the country's affairs well, I'm responsible, too. Of course, politicians who are full of corruption and pretense should be hanged, but at least, I hope a good president will be chosen by the people's choice.'

At 8:55, an email came. As soon as I received the email, I went to 12 Months After and wrote down three of the most likely people, 'Joo Sung-won, Han Sang-hoon, Kwak Ji-won,' in the People Search. When I saw the news, it was just one news with all three names on it.

[Joo Sung-won topped the list with 40.7% of the votes, becoming the twentieth President of the Republic of Korea. Second-ranked Han Sang-hoon, 33.1%, third-ranked Kwak Ji-won, 20.1%.]

I muttered at it, "Oh, this… this is it."

In fact, it was more surprising to me that Rep. Han Sang-hoon would run for president than Joo Sung-won's election. Lee Soo-won and Jung Kyung-wha of the same party were also powerful people, but becoming a presidential candidate after defeating them, he was a politician with potential. There were a lot of crumpled corners behind him, but I thought of the actions I had to take right away seeing this result.

'I should have a closer relationship with Mayor Joo Sung-won on the grounds of those things… but I will punish Han Sang-hoon immediately. Although Han Sang-hoon fails in the upcoming presidential election, he is still in his late fifties. It is not unusual that he will have a second chance to be a presidential candidate then. I'm going to punish him here so that he can't make a full comeback.'

To punish him, I had prepared a complete scenario. The beginning would be a sexual affair with a female secretary. Disclosing that he had been filming the sex at the National Assembly office in Yeouido would give the first blow. Of course, Rep. Han Sang-hoon would not stay still. I was sure he would guard all over the place. But then, I would expose the list of Goo Soo-gil and completely destroy him. When the two were combined, it would be hard for him to stop them. Both cases had clear evidence in the first place, so it would be hard to get out of them unless he covered the eyes of the people.

'All right, then…' I picked up my cell phone and looked at the call number of Lee Won-jae, who was now the head of a listed company. He had helped me in the last incident of Tak Joon-gi, had been invested in by me and had a strong relationship with me. I phoned him.

Tiriri, tiriri. By the time the phone rang twice, he answered, "Hello, CEO Han Sang-hoon." The head of a company received a phone call faster than any secretary. Of course, he must have been surprised to see my name.

I asked him with a big smile, "CEO Lee, are you okay to run the company?"

"Yes, I'm in a good position now. What's the matter?"

"I'm trying to bury a politician…"

"Who… do you mean?"

"Rep. Han Sang-hoon, with the same name as me."

"Oh, he's… but he's one of the presidential candidates, isn't he?"

"That's why I called CEO Lee Won-jae. Will you do that for me?"

He hesitated for a moment, then told me, "Could you send me the source?"

I lifted the phone for a moment and looked at it. 'This guy…' Then I told him once more, "You have to tell me if you will do it or not. Then I'll send it to you. Are you going to make this a trial?"

When I went strong, he dropped his tail right away. "… No, I will, CEO Han. Please send me the source in my email. When should I write it?"

"As soon as possible."

"Yes, sir."

When I finished my call, I sent him an email with the file I had prepared. The email for Rep. Han Sang-hoon was a complete declaration of death as a politician. But after sending the email, there was another email for the correction news.

I saw it and thought, 'Ah, I see. If the Daewon Daily News blows it up here, Rep. Han Sang-hoon will not be a presidential candidate.' I read the correction news, thinking about it.

[The correction news: This morning, the article of Joo Sung-won who was elected the twentieth president was changed due to the involvement of the subscriber.]

I slowly read it, but there was something in it that was different from what I had expected.

"Eh?"

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The content of the article was quite different from what I had expected.

[Lee Soo-won won the twentieth presidential election with 38.8% of the votes, Joo Sung-won 36.1% and Kwak Ji-won 21.2%.]

The president was changed from Joo Sung-won to Lee Soo-won.

'What the hell is going on?'

Lee Soo-won was a sixty-two-year-old third-term politician who had competed with Han Sang-hoon in the opposition party for the next presidency. His district was Gongju, in South Chungcheong Province, and he was a typical wealthy local farmer. His father was a lawmaker in Gongju, but he was elected three times from the same place. Unlike Han Sang-hoon, a former prosecutor, he was considered a politician to the bottom of his bones.

I thought with my hands on my chin. 'Well… it's the butterfly effect. This guy… pressed Mayor Joo Sung-won… It's ironic that someone who didn't even beat Han Sang-hoon comes out in the presidential election and beats Joo Sung-won. Is there some sort of human relativity?

'It's not uncommon. Just as characters in a game are bitten and bitten like scissors and rocks, there's nothing strong about someone in the real world, instead of someone weak. Joo Sung-won is a decent and good-looking man. When he faces Han Sang-hoon, the image of a fighting chicken, it feels like he'll score even if he laughs.'

'However, he doesn't look good when he plays against Lee Soo-won. Lee Soo-won is really good at "politics," is different from Han Sang-hoon, who is a little stiff. He has the power to bring the decent Mayor Joo Sung-won into the mud.'

Come to think of it, Mayor Joo Sung-won seemed a little weak in that regard, too. In the past, he had had a hard time in the Seoul mayoral election because he had been stricken by the Me Too movement.

'Well… if I do this, the president changes… But Han Sang-hoon would have been better. Lee Soo-won is not a character for the president… Well, that's great. I was going to punish him too, so… I'll have to punish Lee Soo-won first.'

Lee had been involved in controversy over military service corruption for several years, both himself and his son. Crow had found out that he and his son had dodged military service by subordinating a doctor. In the '70s, he simply failed the medical examination for military service with the diagnosis of skin disease by a doctor who was a tenant of his father's building. It was an unlikely way to do so these days, but that seemed to have been enough at that time.

In the '70s, the doctor in charge was over 50 years old, so he had soon been dead and it was difficult to take issue with him again, but his son was different. His son broke his limbs and had surgery on his right crossbar ruptured, but it was all a lie. He gave $400,000 to a doctor in charge and $100,000 to a nurse, put on another person's X-ray photo, and changed the video of the surgery, so he was exempted from military service. I'd seen it all in real time by the eye patch.

"Wouldn't it be too much for my son to go to the military and spend two years there?"

"Yes, sir, there should be a difference in military service. Is it possible to stick them together with someone from Harvard and someone who didn't even go to college?"

"Anyways, please do a good job, Dr. Kim."

"Don't worry, Mr. Lawmaker. I'll do it for you well."

"Yes. If you make my son get through this, you will have a lot of patients in this city."

"Don't say that. I am going to do it from my heart."

Crow's research showed the list of the hospital, the doctor, and the real patient who was swapped in for his picture. They were all listed. If this went off, of course, Lee Soo-won would also be defeated. Military service corruption was an issue that would inevitably cause anger for people like me, who had spent two years in the military.

I called Lee Won-jae again right away.

Tiriri~ Tiriri~ Tiriri~ Tiriri. This time, when the phone rang four times, he answered the phone, "Ah, CEO Han."

"Yes. Have you received the email?"

"Yes. As soon as I got it, I moved it to the posting department. Now that your document will be posted by someone, the article will be published sometime this week."

"Have you done it already?"

"Yes, sir. I took care of it without delay."

I slapped my forehead. 'He is faster at times like this.'

"Do you have a problem? I can deal with your document as just ignoring it…"

"No, no. Just proceed. Someone must have seen what I sent you."

"Yes, I moved it and all the people in the political department have already…"

'Crow's information is believed by everyone who has seen it, as it's too accurate.'

"Well, then, don't force them to stop it, but first… just let it proceed." I decided to punish Han Sang-hoon first. I could send Lee Soo-won right away, but if political issues erupted too much at once, the public's eyes could be distracted.

"Well, then… I'll do that for now," CEO Lee Won-jae spoke to me in a rather trembling voice. Still, it would be burdensome for him to blow a candidate for the next presidential election.

I spoke to him, "CEO Lee Won-jae."

"Yes?"

"When this is over, you and I will probably be on the same boat with the next president. Then, your position in the Daewon Daily News will be elevated, right? Trust me and proceed."

CEO Lee Won-jae listened to me and his trembling voice subsided a little. "Oh, yes, sir. I know that and will proceed."

After I finished my phone call with Lee Won-jae, I put it down. Then, I searched for Lee Soo-won in the portal window. A man in his sixties was grinning.

'This guy's the next president? No way.'

After Han Sang-hoon, the next would be Lee Soo-won. I decided it like that.That evening, the sniper article of Rep. Han Sang-hoon that I had planned appeared in the Daewon Daily News.

[The affair with Han Sang-hoon's secretaries.]

It was a much lower-level article compared to the sex story Crow had brought, but it was still enough to arouse public attention.

– Wow, in Yeouido? Awesome!-

– Not one, but three. Are you a lawmaker trying to fuck?-

– Mr. Lawmaker, I'm disappointed as you've talked about women's rights… Isn't this sexual violence caused by power pressure?-

Rep. Han Sang-hoon denied like that, 'I never did.' But the story was so detailed that few believed it.

-If you get caught in a lie, your hands will be cut off.-

-I'll know even if this kind of article does not come out. Han Sang-hoon looks like he's going to cheat on us.-

-No, just speak up, "I did it with my secretary." I know you used to go to hostess bars freely when you were a prosecutor.-

'That's enough. In the first place, this was a preliminary effort to discredit Rep. Han Sang-hoon. As seen in the Clinton and Lewinsky cases, sex scandals are good for the talk, but they are a bit weak to deal a fatal blow. The real one is the list from Goo Soon-gil.

'All right, well, just let Rep. Han Sang-hoon go like this… for Lee Soo-won, let's leak it around a month later.' I was thinking about it, and I had suddenly an idea. I did the People Search again on the email that had come at 8:55 p.m., to make sure that the corrections news was real. By the way, it was real.

[Lee Soo-won, the twentieth president, is elected by a margin of 2% with Seoul Mayor Joo Sung-won. What's the reason of the difference?]

In 12 Months After, there was such an article to come up.

'That's ridiculous…' I clicked on the article thinking about it. But there was something interesting about the story.

[While there were other factors in the voting, the controversy over an extramarital child of Mayor Joo Sung-won, which was held a month before the presidential election and had largely dislodged supporters, was a major factor. The negative strategy of Rep. Lee Soo-won has accurately worked against Joo Sung-won, who had the image of the model student.]

I looked at it and muttered, "An extramarital child?" Surely it was an amazing story. The right-looking mayor of Joo Sung-won had an extramarital child. To be sure, the share of Joo Sung-won, which had more than 40% of the vote, was only slightly lower.

'Is this what Lee Soo-won used to attack Joo Sung-won?' In the last article on the election of Mayor Joo Sung-won, there was no controversy over an extramarital son… But judging from what happened, Lee Soo-won certainly seemed to have dug this way. I went to the portal site and searched for 'an extramarital child of Joo Sung-won.' Not a single such story was told. There was not even a rumor. If there had been one, I'd have sent Crow last time.

'Is it a real one or a fake one?' I didn't know. I had met him once, and I'd had a pretty good impression, but I couldn't tell what was inside.

'I'll check this out, too. Crow's resting…' Real or fake, I needed to be sure. I arranged a meeting with Crow and sent him for an inquiry over there.That weekend, Rep. Han Sang-hoon's sex scandal continued to make headlines, but things got bigger as one of his former secretaries stepped up. One woman, who asked not to be identified, made the revelation by saying, 'First of all, Rep. Han Sang-hoon tries to reach out to all secretaries.'

As I always felt, touching politics often produced unexpected reactions no matter what happened.

Rep. Han Sang-hoon again tried to get by in that way this time. 'I don't know.' It was rather expected.

I took out the 'List of Goo Soon-gil' here. I sent the OK sign and the Daewon Daily News released an article. [Re-investigation of the list of Goo Soon-gil: Rep. Han Sang-hoon received money from Mr. Goo.]

In the last trial, Rep. Han Sang-hoon insisted, "I don't know. I can't remember. I've never done that," but everything he had said was completely turned over. He was pushed into a defensive corner. After he'd already been branded as a liar, the Goo Soon-gil List case had been added.

President Park Hyung-joon invoked an independent counsel investigation to determine whether he feared the administration would pass in the next presidential election. Han struggled to escape from the independent counsel investigation, but when a reinvestigation was made, the case turned upside down after a former close aide to President Goo Soon-gil testified under the pressure of the prosecution. So, Rep. Han Sang-hoon, who was considered the next presidential hopeful, died politically just a month after I had shot an article through the Daewon Daily News.

Now, with this, the 'Han Sang-hoon' position in the People Search was entirely mine. Rep. Han Sang-hoon would occasionally be brought up as a politician whose career had tanked because of bribes.By the end of May, when the political death of Rep. Han Sang-hoon was confirmed, I pulled out the next card. Whatever next was, I went to punish Lee Soo-won directly. I didn't have to hit him twice, because there was already a weak link – a doctor who had received $400,000 and a nurse with $100,000.

'Rep. Lee Soo-won is a time-tested politician and he can lie to the end, but it is almost impossible for the doctor and nurse to overcome the pressure of the prosecutor's investigation. The report even shows how they received the money.'

CEO Lee Won-jae also published Crow's report with provocative headlines this time. [Does the photo of a Cruciate Ligament Tear belong to the son of lawmaker Lee Soo-won?]

It was a fatal article that hit only the exact place where it hurt. Once Rep. Lee Soo-won denied the report like Han Sang-hoon did, "It's a controversy that's not worth responding to." But he had already been eliminated from the presidency in the future. 'Joo Sung-won 48.2%, So Kang-sup 30.7% and Kwak Ji-won 21.2%.' Han Sang-hoon was not on the list, and Lee Soo-won's career would also be dead in a few days.

'Who's So Kang-sup? By the way… Mayor Joo Sung-won has become president again.' His approval rating was higher than it used to be. This time, voter turnout was close to 50%. I removed Han Sang-hoon and Lee Soo-won, and all the remaining political opponents were gone. Because of the butterfly effect, he almost failed to become president, but then he took his place anyway.

I looked at it and thought, 'Hmm… so shall I just go on like this?'

But then, Crow came to see me with the report on the extramarital child of Joo Sung-won, which had been ordered a month ago.

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Rep. Lee Soo-won's case was released shortly after the first news article was published. Before the prosecution investigation, the frightened nurse gave an interview first. "The doctor made such an offer, 'all you have to do is say nothing and get paid money.' At that time, I was divorced and raising a child alone without a father… $100,000 was too much for me. I'm sorry."

The nurse blew it first, and the doctor quickly turned himself in. "Mr. Lee was so powerful in our area that it was hard to refuse his request. I had to make a living… I'm really ashamed of myself as a medical man…"

'No, he said that he did it form the bottom of his heart…' I knew everything about the conversation, but now he said it was hard to refuse the request.

'What a lie he is spouting now.' Anyways, the doctor and the nurse, who had been directly involved in military service corruption, appeared as witnesses and Rep. Lee Soo-won was driven to the extremity right away. There were ten million reserve soldiers in Korea who had served in the army in a normal manner. His son, who ran a business after graduating from Harvard, was going to be dragged into the army instead of heading into corporate business. As the military medical examination of his son was found to be false, Lee Soo-won himself began to be suspected of military service corruption, even though I didn't touch it. [The military service corruption of the son of Lee Soo-won. Is it just about his son?]

This, in any case, completed a list of matches of the future. In the original scenario, Mayor Joo Sung-won became president, and as the opposition camp lost two of its presidential hopefuls, they raised their voices (This is political oppression and target investigation!). However, clear evidence was found, and they were not supported by the public.

By the way, the most prominent figure in the opposition camp who shouted 'This is political oppression and target investigation!' was So Kang-sup. He drew ahead of Han Sang-hoon and Lee Soo-won, and came in second. [Joo Sung-won 48.2%, So Kang-sup 30.7%, Kwak Ji-won 21.2%]

To be honest, I thought of him as such. -Yes, it's a targeted investigation, but wouldn't I find something if I investigated him?-

How could all the politicians in our country be the same? If there is no corruption, can't they do politics without corruption? I was not sure if there was anyone who wouldn't show up any matters if I sent Crow to investigate for three months. So, to be honest, I was a little tired because there was no one who had no weakness. Not even Mayor Joo Sung-won, who I was pushing in my heart.

'The extramarital child… the extramarital child…' Following the last controversy over Me Too movement, he had a lot of scandals with women. I recalled the time when I had gone to Seoul City Hall and met him. If I thought about it, the first impression I had when I met him was 'He is as handsome as any trot singer.'

He was really handsome for his middle age. In addition, he had a fantastic political career as Gyeonggi Province Governor and Seoul Mayor, and would become the next president. Women deserved to stick to him, but at the same time, he had a clean, familial image.

During interviews and during documentaries about him, he used to come out as the perfect husband who loved his wife and his two sons. So Mayor Joo Sung-won had a little boring but exemplary image.

That image was a mixed blessing. There was solid evidence that a lawmaker, Han Sang-hoon, enjoyed with his secretaries in the past, but the public didn't care all that much.

'I knew that guy would do that.'

'He did it when he was in the prosecutor's office, and he would do it when he became a congressman.'

No one was talking about his retiring from politics. Some of his supporters would say, 'Heroes enjoy the pleasures of flesh, and he could do that! Did he have sex with three secretaries? He had a great spirit.'

In the case of Mayor Joo Sung-won, however, his image was so clean that if he even touched a secretary's butt, he would be nailed to the cross and surrounded by the crowd.

'Is it good or bad to have a good image?' While I was thinking about it, Crow eventually brought a report on 'Joo Sung-won's extramarital child'.

"This is what you asked for, CEO Han."

For some reason, I don't want to see this report. That was because I liked Mayor Joo Sung-won first of all, and second, I was a little tired of seeing dirty politicians. I thought for a moment, taking Crow's report envelope. 'What else do I do when the real thing is out here? Do I have to send him, too? Or, do I have to let him off? However, I sent them to hell as soon as their corruption got caught? Yeah, that does not equitable… but… if I blow him, someone else will pop out. What about him? Will he be clean even if I dig up stuff on him?'

At any rate, this was an endless question. 'I hope not…' I accepted the report in the envelope, thinking about it. After reading it carefully, I sat on the couch thinking about it for about half an hour, then picked up my phone and called Vice President Jang.

"What's up with you, boss?"

"Didn't you tell me that you have a direct line to contact the Seoul Mayor last time?"

"Yes, there is a man who worked for a securities company who has gone into politics, and is with Mayor Joo Sung-won. He is like a private economic tutor to Joo Sung-won."

"Oh, really? So I guess he's one of his closest aides?"

"I suppose he is."

"Then, tell him to give my message to Joo Sung-won secretly."

"What's your message to him?"

"I want to see the mayor because of his daughter in the U.S… Just tell him that."

"Ah, I see. Mr. President." Vice President Jang said nothing more, started to hang up, and suddenly said one more word to me, "Mr. President."

"Yes?"

"But Mayor Joo Sung-won… doesn't he have two sons?"

"Oh, yes, so… Think of it as some kind of code, and just tell it to him that I'd like to talk to him about his daughter."

Even this time, Jang seemed to think the boss was doing something weird, and he answered with a slightly curious voice, "… yes, sir."On June 2020, I met Mayor Joo Sung-won at a traditional tea house near Seoul City Hall. "It's been a long time, Mr. Mayor. Ever since I won a prize… It's been almost a year."

Mayor Joo Sung-won greeted me with a big smile, "Yes, CEO Han Sang-hoon. How have you been?"

"I have been good."

"Good for you. Have a seat," He offered me a seat and said, "Aide Kang, you should go out and have a cup of tea." He had the man next to him leave the teahouse.

I nodded to Secretary Park, who was slightly apart. So in the end, there were only Mayor Joo Sung-won and me in the teahouse. Now, this tea house was the perfect place for the mayor of Seoul to have a private meeting. It was a long cylindrical structure, but the place where it was located was hard to see from anywhere, making conversation impossible to steal.

'Well, when everyone in Seoul knows his face… It's worth having a place like this.'

As I was thinking, Mayor Joo Sung-won, poured tea on my glass tilting the kettle. "Well… you want to talk to me about my daughter…"

"Well… there is no one to hear and the place is good, so I'll tell you straight."

When I said that, he began to concentrate on my words, his eyes gurgling. So, I spoke frankly, "It is I who recently blew up Rep. Han Sang-hoon and Rep. Lee Soo-won."

Phu-hup! Upon hearing the remark, Joo Sung-won who had taken his mouth to the glass, spat out while drinking tea, something not proper to his dignity.

I handed him the tissue on the table and said, "Are you all right?"

Mayor Joo Sung-won took it and said, wiping around his mouth, "Oh yes, it's a little shocking news…"

"Yes, well, I understand. Can I just keep talking?"

Mayor Joo Sung-won nodded.

"There are a lot of reasons, but… first of all, I think they're basically not qualified to be president."

"Oh, yes, did you?"

Mayor Joo Sung-won looked at me with great tension. In fact, he was the one who had been brought the most joy for the past month. His biggest political opponents, the greatest stumbling blocks to becoming president, fell on their own, receiving a fatal blow leading to their retirement from politics. He might have been thinking, 'I'm no different than a president already. Next year's presidential election is a piece of cake. I should prepare a plan for a second term in four years.' However, in front of him was the man who had dumped his political opponents… but he had asked to meet him because of his daughter. It looked complicated in his head.

I told him, "In addition, they were people who were against my interests. even if they were elected. Do you understand what I mean?"

"Ah… I got it." He was very nervous.

"But in the meantime, one of my informants brought up the problem of your daughter." I took a piece of paper out of my arms and handed it to him. There was a girl who looked like Mayor Joo Sung-won, tanned. "Her name is Rachel Ling. She seems to have been adopted by a Chinese family in the U.S. That's good because it's more natural than being adopted by a white or a black."

Mayor Joo Sung-won mumbled with the picture in his hand, "This is the first picture I've ever seen."

At this point, he confessed. Well, he might have guessed it when I had called him here.

He told me, "So… what do you want, CEO Han?"

I spoke to him, "To be honest, I also have a complicated mind. I've investigated all the presidential candidates, and they're all dirty. So I was wondering what to do, but… I just don't know what politics is. I'm a businessman, and I am going to choose my interests."

"Interests?"

"Yes, I thought… Mayor Joo Sung-won could talk to me freely as president in the future. That's what I thought."

The remark slightly brightened the tone of Mayor Joo Sung-won. "Oh… did you?" He spoke to me now with a polite tone, "Then what do you want from me…"

I looked at him, and said, "I don't think 'What do you want' is appropriate to say in person. Well, wasn't the country noisy in the past because of the influential persons behind the curtain? I don't want to be that kind of person."

He nodded as he listened to me silently.

"All I want is… just… I want you to subscribe to one more news."

"News"?

"Yes. Among the Internet news companies, there is Oracle News. I don't know if you're familiar with it, but…"

Mayor Joo Sung-won cocked his head. He didn't seem to know.

"It's a bit of a small newspaper… but anyway, please pay attention to it, from the news to the editorial."

"From the news to the editorial?"

"Yes. While you are in politics, please read the Oracle News every day. A politician cares about the media. Isn't that a good thing? It's a kind of communication."

Mayor Joo Sung-won nodded, "You're right." There wouldn't have been any other option since he was in a risky situation, and his career was facing an end.

"Then, I would like you to subscribe to it well. It's Oracle News. If you do well with that, I'll take you through the presidential race."

He was the man who would be president in the first place, but I put on airs here that I would make him like that.

Mayor Joo Sung-won stood up and said, "I would like to ask you a favor, CEO Han Sang-hoon."

I laughed and got up and took his hand, "No, I'll beg it of you."After the meeting with Mayor Joo Sung-won, I called CEO Jung of Oracle News in a car Secretary Park was driving.

"Yes. Sometimes I'll need to touch some editorials in my own way. Are you all right with that?"

"Of course, sir."

"Oh, yes, then, please understand that."

"Yes, boss."

With that, I had set up a channel to send a message to the next president of the Republic of Korea. I would write an article on Oracle News, and the next president would see it. It was a perfect request method, without a beginning or end.

'Okay, with this, for the next five years or nine years, politics is on my side.'

I looked out the window from the back of the car. The car driven by Secretary Par was passing by the Banpo-daero. I could see the Han River and the buildings outside. I looked at it, held my hand, and opened it. I just realized that I had birthed a dark secret to control South Korea beyond Seoul.

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I sat in the chair and clicked my mouse. At the top of the portal site, there was such news.

[The big change in the next presidential race: who can stop the lead of Mayor Joo Sung-won?]

The presidential election was a year away, but other media outlets had already begun to predict the victory of Joo Sung-won. It was not very difficult at this point. They might not know if lawmakers Han Sang-hoon or Lee Soo-won still active, but they were removed by me.

Joo Sung-won, who would originally win the election with a seven percent difference from Rep. Han Sang-hoon, would meet an easier opponent in the changed future, widening the gap to nearly twenty percent, and would be elected president.

I thought, spinning the handsome middle-aged face of Mayor Joo Sung-won on the Internet site, 'Do well and give me a favor in the future.' After thinking about that, I came back to the main portal site and wrote in "Han Sang-hoon" this time. There was news in a row about Rep. Han Sang-hoon.

[Former lawmaker Han Sang-hoon was convicted of bribery and perjury in the first trial and sentenced to five years in prison.]

[Perfect witnesses and evidence came out; can former lawmaker Han Sang-hoon really appeal?]

'I think the story of Han Sang-hoon will continue for a month or two. Since he was a big politician in his own way, he can't just disappear. However, this may be the last time he is the talk of the town. Five years in prison, or three to four years in prison, is while Mayor Joo Sung-won becomes president. No matter how nice Mayor Joo Sung-won is, he can't just leave his political opponent an out. He won't make a comeback.'

That meant the 'Han Sang-hoon' news would be mine completely. I went into the four news of 12 Hours After, 12 Days After, 12 Weeks After, and 12 Months After, and typed my name on them. All the news of 12 Hours After, 12 Days After, and 12 Weeks After had news about Rep. Han Sang-hoon.

[Rep. Han Sang-hoon decided to give up his appeal and accept his prison sentence.]

[How will the opposition party handle the absence of Rep. Han Sang-hoon?]

But in the news of 12 Months After, my name came out. [CEO Han Sang-hoon bets two billion dollars to take over FutureSync once again after Kai Games.]

'Politicians are similar to celebrities. When they are up, the public eye is focused on them, but when they are forgotten, they are easily forgotten. Now, for at least a few years, Han Sang-hoon, who is more famous than me, will find it difficult to be heard.

'All right, now… one of the three slots of the People Search in all the news is fixed for Han Sang-hoon. It's mine…' I thought so. Now my every move would be recorded in the future news and it would come to me.

[CEO Han Sang-hoon is entering the overseas market]

[CEO Han Sang-hoon once again has a great success.]

I would leave the good news as it was, and would make a change to the bad news until the correction news was made.

[In the crash at Kangnam Station, Han Sang-hoon, CEO of Invictus Investment, got involved.]

[A big loss in the transaction of the Invictus Investment.]

This had effectively made me invincible. Although I had some harm coming, I would be able to avoid it.

[CEO Han Sang-hoon died in a raw bolt from the clear sky while walking down the street.]

Then, I would just have to watch a movie at home that day. I was now the man who held my destiny in my own hands.At the end of June 2020, when the political matters were ended, Secretary Seo, who had been by my side for a long time, left the company as announced.

"Thank you for everything you have done for me, Mr. President."

"Yes. You have had a good job."

"I'm sorry, Mr. President. If I think everything you've done for me, I should stay beside you for my whole life, but…"

"No. It's not that I don't know you, and don't worry about things. Secretary Park is better than you." I said, pointing to Secretary Park standing next to Secretary Seo.

"Yes. That's a relief. Mr. President, I'll go now."

"Yes. If you find yourself in trouble, tell me as soon as possible."

"Yes, boss."

I said good-bye to Secretary Seo in the president's office. I felt relieved, but sorry that he left, but I thought one day he would help me greatly outside the company.

After Secretary Seo left, I asked Secretary Park, "Now, what will you do? It will be a little boring for you out there alone."

Secretary Park answered me, "I don't work for fun."

"Hmm. You are right, but as you can see, you will have 99% of the time to wait when you are in your secretary's office. Decide what to do, whether you will watch a movie on your tablet, watch a drama, read a web novel, or just read a book. I won't say anything about that if you do it waiting. Just be quick when you work. That's all I want."

Secretary Park bowed to me and said, "Yes, boss."

"Then it's starting today. Shall I give you a test? What's my schedule today, Secretary Park?"

"Just one. You are scheduled to do a contract with Tencent. You have a meeting with a few executives of Tencent's investment division today at 11 a.m., and our Vice Presidents Jang, Director Jung Hyung-suk, and Director Kim Hoon-il will be with you."

"Ah, yes. Okay. Return to your work."

I sent him to his seat and sat down in my chair. Countless numbers were coming and going on the three monitors in front of my seat.

'6 shares of MediGenetics were bought at $124.'

'7 shares of MediGenetics were bought at $125.'

'14 shares of MediGenetics were bought at $126.'

One side was buying shares automatically.

'4561 shares of NXN Games were sold at $4.75.'

'1560 shares of NXN Games were sold at $4.74.'

'2225 shares of NXN Games were sold at $4.73.'

One side was selling shares automatically.

In fact, all I was doing was watching it. 'How is it going?'

It had been two years since I had started Invictus Investment. Vice President Jang and I had brought in AI sales algorithms used by Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, and Nomura Securities, and modified them for our company. It was the same for my personal account.

Of course, using the news of 12 Weeks After, I decided how much the upper limit price would be and how much I would buy before then. However, the detailed trade was supposed to be automatic. These days, computers were better at this kind of trade than I was, so I had no more work to do.

Even I had said to Secretary Park, "I won't say anything about that if you do it while waiting," but in fact, I did the same. Even though I usually went to work, I spent my spare time watching movies and dramas, or playing games, all the while the automatic program was continuously making a few hundred thousand dollars.

Actually, it didn't matter if I played in the penthouse on the roof. However, I waited in the president's office, wearing a suit for an important meeting. I was afraid it might look too light for other directors, including Vice President Jang. It was to keep a minimal amount of courtesy.

'It's eleven… two hours away. Then what shall I do…' I picked up my cell phone and entered Google Play without thinking much. But there was a banner standing out.

'Thank you for winning first place in sales for the new NXN Games, Seven Legend.'

Seven Legend was the very game of NXN Games I had put sell-order to today. NXN Games was a small game company that had been listed not long ago. Twelve weeks ago, I had seen such news, 'NXN Games' Seven Legend is the top seller of Google IOS,' and had put it in the trading algorithm. Perhaps this stock had earned me at least a million dollars. I watched it.

'Is this so much fun?'

I had two hours left until the meeting. I downloaded it and tried to execute it. "Seven Legend" was a collection of RPG games. I was fed up with such games, but good graphics and well-made characters were interesting. I tried it a little while touching my cell phone. However, an SSS-class character did not come out with the first free ticket.

'Well, how much do I have to pay to get it?'

I charged about ten thousand dollars right away and tried to pull it out. All SSS-class characters became mine. However, I was ranked around two-hundredth on the server. If I looked at the release date, it had been three days. After spending ten thousand dollars and touching it for thirty minutes, I was two-hundredth place. It was 'Pay to Win.' If I spent money, they would raise my rank.

'Well, let's do a little more.' I made an extra charge of five thousand dollars more. This time, I pulled out the equipment along with the character. As I pulled out the equipment without stopping, I found weapons, helmets, armors, bracelets, and shoes. All the equipment was rated as SSS. After spending six thousand dollars, I was in tenth place on the server. It was amazing that there were nine people above me.

'Well… there's someone else besides me who spends six thousand dollars on a game. By the way, what makes me tenth place?'

Now that I searched, I needed Runes. I spent about four thousand dollars more and set the SSS rating up to Runes. Come to think of it, I was in second place after I had charged a hundred thousand dollars and played this game for about two hours. These days all games were like this. No man could beat me no matter how much they tried. When I got second place, my eyes naturally went to first place. The ID of first place was 'The Celestial Dragon.'

'What is he doing? Is he a BJ of a game?' While I was thinking about it, the phone rang. Looking at the clock, it was eleven o'clock, the meeting time. I turned off the game I had spent a hundred thousand dollars on for two hours, and I just erased it right away. This kind of game, which I could be strong right away with money, was no longer interesting to me.

'After this contract, I will take Ah-young on a trip to Europe. I was the only one who couldn't go to Europe after sending my family there last year.'

I picked up the phone and answered right away, "I'm coming now."Later that month, I eventually signed a contract to transfer the 63% of shares held by Invictus Investment to Tencent. It was the highest deal in the history of Korean game companies, exchanging as much as two billion dollars in cash. The press sent out a stream of news.

[A huge jackpot from Invictus Investment, worth two billion dollars.]

[Han Sang-hoon, who invested a hundred twenty million dollars in the Kai Games, earns two billion dollars.]

[The return rate is sixteen times higher; stock genius Han Sang-hoon stands as a big hand in the investment world.]

[What is the next investment target of CEO Han Sang-hoon, loaded with bullets worth no less than two billion dollars?]

To be honest, there was no place to spend two billion dollars right away. I ordered Vice President Jang to invest only in very conservative, safe bonds. Without a sure card like the Kai Games or FutureSync, I was not going to move.

Warren Buffett, the genius of investment, once said, "There are two principles of investment. First, don't lose money, and second, keep the first principle."

If I saved two billion dollars in cash now, chances would come someday. An excellent opportunity would arise to make another big upgrade.

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"Then while I'm away, I'd like you to take good care of the company."

"Yes, boss. Don't worry."

I patted my vice president on the shoulder and said, "Yes. I'm not worried. You have been doing well."

"Thank you for your words. Have a good trip then."

"Yes."

As I nodded, he said goodbye to Ah-young behind me, too. "Ms. Ah-young, have a good time."

"Yes, Vice President Jang."

After saying goodbye, Jang got back on the elevator and pressed the button. Soon the elevator went back up, upstairs where the company was.

I turned around and said, "Let's go."

"Yes."

Ah-young took her carrier in one hand and held my hand in the other. I walked through the parking lot with one hand holding her hand and the other hauling a carrier. In our building's underground parking lot, there was my own private parking lot separate from the company's. There were six cars in all in my private parking lot: a Porsche Panamera, a Bentley Bentay, a Lamborghini Aventador, a Ferrari 812 SuperFast, a Bugatti Divo, and a Rolls Royce Ghost.

I was not interested in collecting cars, but I bought the six of them whenever there was a big deal. Every car had become a milestone in time, honoring some accomplishments. I had bought the Porsche when I had started my business, the Bentley when I had taken over OH Entertainment, and the latest Rolls-Royce when I sold Kai Games to Tencent.

Ah-young asked me, "What are you driving?"

"Today… this." I took the key out of my pocket and pressed the button. The Bugatti Divo lit up. It was one of forty limited cars in the world, and cost about seven million dollars. At the time of production, they were completely sold out to the owners of Bugatti Siron, but one of them came to me when a rich American died. I got into the Bugatti and started the car.

The AI asked me, "Nice to meet you, driver Han Sang-hoon. Please tell me where you're going."

"Incheon International Airport."

"Incheon International Airport confirmed. The estimated travel time is fifty-eight minutes."

'Fifty-eight minutes will be enough time to look around the duty-free shop.' I stepped on the accelerator.

Br-br-br-. Bugatti Divo roared down Gangnam Boulevard.

In July 2020, I made a two-billion-dollar big deal with Tencent and went on a trip to Europe with Ah-young. It had been almost a year since I had gone to Hawaii with her. In the meantime, my assets had increased by several billion dollars, but no matter how much money I had, I had been too busy to move. But this July was a good chance.

First of all, the company's workload had been reduced a lot by selling Kai Games, and because of the introduction of algorithm sales for the stock trade, it was able to trade stocks in just one or two hours overseas. After screening with the future news, there was nothing important going on. In recent weeks, I'd been putting my name and Vice President Jang's name in the People Search and found nothing there.

So I boldly planned a month-long trip to Europe. It was a thirty-day trip going from Italy to Switzerland, Germany, France, Spain, and Portugal. It was the same trip I sent my family on last summer. At that time, I couldn't go out because of this or that, but I ended up going a year later.

Ah-young, who was sitting next to me, was quite excited. "What a trip to Europe with oppa! I've always wanted to go, and my dream came true!"

Even though she was studying as an announcer, she immediately accepted my proposal to go abroad. I didn't know if it was an expression of confidence that she could become an announcer even if she coasted along, or if she didn't want to be an announcer. Anyway, I liked it, as I didn't really want her being an announcer in the first place.

"That's right. It's good to be out of work, too. Guide me well, and translate for me, too."

It was my first time in Europe, but she said she had been there a couple of times already; once when she was young, and once when she was in college. She was the daughter of a rich family, after all. Now her fortune was only a hundredth of what I had, but when we arrived at Incheon International Airport, we took a step on from leaving the country and walked into the duty-free shop a little early.

She grabbed my arm and said, heading somewhere, "Let's go to the Gucci store first."

'How does she know this big duty-free store? It's just amazing.'

'Can't we just pay taxes, doing the shopping in Korea?' It was my thought, but she enjoyed shopping at the duty-free shop like it was a great game, so I had no choice but to join in. She said that it tasted like making money if she bought the same thing cheaper. I hadn't looked at the price of anything I'd wanted to buy since my fortune had reached over a billion dollars, with or without taxes.

Then, while walking through the duty-free shop, Ah-young suddenly pointed her finger and said, "Oh, that sister."

"Hmm?"

I turned my head and there was Oh Hyun-joo's face big up there.

"She is a good actress then, isn't she? She's from your company, right?"

I nodded, "Ah… yes." Oh Hyun-joo was my old ideal type. Having been on a stormy activity for any drama or movie until early this year, she had recently taken a little break from her work and often shot advertisements. One of them seemed to be hanging in this duty-free shop.

"I don't usually approve of anyone else."

"Hmm? What don't you approve of?"

"Beauty. But I think she's really pretty."

I said as calmly as I could, "Ah. Yes." I was afraid she would know that I used to be a fan.

Maybe it worked, and Ah-young looked at Oh Hyun-joo's face for a moment and turned to Gucci's store. "Let's go, oppa. I have a lot of things I want to buy."

"Oh, yes."The trip to Europe was really good. The exotic scenery, the food, the people, all were good. In Europe, we were treated like royalty if there was enough tipping wherever the tourist industry had developed. After seeing good things, eating delicious food, and doing something interesting, I spent my dreamy days with Ah-young.

Of course, in the midst of that, I never stopped watching the future news. It was like a ritual that I couldn't help. Like the Muslims prayed three times a day, I had my own times; once at 8:55 a.m., and once at 8:55 p.m., as I made Ah-young not disturb me. So I received news continuously in Europe. I got stock-related news as usual.

[Jinsung Electronics was taken over by Susung Electronics.]

I searched for my name and received my news.

[CEO Han Sang-hoon of Invictus Investment visited the Children's Cancer Center again this year and donated five million dollars.]

'The last time I went there, the atmosphere was warm and nice. I am going again.'

By the way, it was unusual. It wasn't that frequent, but during the month of my trip here to Europe, I had three wonderful news stories, surprising, but very close to my life.I received the first surprising news in Italy, the first destination of the trip. We were eating authentic Naples pizza and pasta, and walking near the digestive and trevi fountains. I saw the news while she was in the bathroom. It hit me in the head.

'No… wait… this… really? Is this possible?'

I read the news again. It was nothing to look at now. 'Well… yeah… sure… it's not impossible.'

Maybe it would be good news for me. I remembered the time of the incident on the news. 'Next year, April 2021… So, it's only about nine months from now.'

The first news was in nine months. Maybe it was a big opportunity for me.I received the second amazing news in a hotel in the Swiss Alps. As usual, I was tired after an active night and fell asleep. I woke up early in the morning rubbing my eyes, took my cell phone and headed right for the hotel's minibar. Then, I took out a bottled water and looked at the future news quietly. Phu-hub! I spilled water on my chest as I read the news from there.

The second was really amazing and important news. I thought for a moment with the news in front of me. 'No, this is… do I have to go back home? Now?'

The price of a plane ticket was not a big thing for me. But as I watched the news again, I soon regained my composure. The second news would come true in just one year. That was because it was exactly July 2021. I thought, 'Yes, this will happen in a year, anyway… even if I go home now, there's nothing I can do…' Thinking so, I quickly memorized the contents of the article and then closed the email. I couldn't help it even if I got into a fuss from now on. I decided to memorize the contents of the article and concentrate on enjoying my overseas trip again.

'Yes, it's not too late to go back to Korea and take measures against this.'

But even as I enjoyed my trip, I couldn't help thinking about the news. Perhaps this second news was a matter of great importance to our company…

'Should I say something to Vice President Jang? No, it will be in twelve months. That's too early. Rather, if I do it now, it will have side effects…' I admonished myself like that. It would be after twelve months; I didn't have to be too hasty.

However, Ah-young realized that I was different sometimes. "What are you thinking these days? What's wrong with your company?" She asked.

Of course, whenever I got asked, I said, "No. I'm just… thinking it's working well without me."

That was how I cooked up a good reason. Ah-young didn't say anything more to me. At this time, I could still look normal to her, until the third news came.I received the third news in Barcelona, Spain, where we arrived at the end of the trip. It was a city of the oceans, the home of football with my favorite F.C. Barcelona team. I was fascinated by the beauty of Europe all over again; the beautiful city, the people, and the F.C. Barcelona Camp Nou. The two news stories I had read sometimes wandered through my mind, but even thinking about them, I traveled around the beautiful Barcelona beaches with Ah-young.

'Oh, that's next year. Let's just enjoy our trip now.'

In the taxi back to the hotel, I accepted the email again, Ah-young having fallen asleep because she was tired. After getting the news as usual, I searched for 'Han Sang-hoon' in the People Search, and saw some very surprising news.

'No… is this… possible?' I looked at Ah-young sleeping next to me. 'This is just impossible,' I thought.

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I looked up the time when the third piece of news happened. The third news event would take place on the twenty-first of August, 2020. It was just four weeks from now. The two preceding news were in nine and twelve months respectively, but this one was in just four weeks.

'No, I mean, it doesn't make any sense.'

I saw Ah-young once. She had been walking on the beach for a while, so she was asleep without knowing what happened. I read the title of the article once again.

[Top star Oh Hyun-joo's secret early morning date. The other person is Han Sang-hoon, president of Invictus Investment?]

Then I read the article.

[Top star Oh Hyun-joo has been found to be in love with Han Sang-hoon, the president of Invictus Investment. He is a young CEO who earned four million dollars in his early thirties, and the Invictus Investment is also a major shareholder of OH Entertainment, which Oh Hyun-joo belongs to. The two are known to have met frequently at official events of Invictus Investment and OH Entertainment, and such ties appear to have led to their recent romantic relationship.]

In the middle of the article, there was a picture of the blue Bentley and Oh Hyun-joo in the passenger seat. The license plate was not listed, but the blue Bentley was my second car. It was a car that was usually used to show the CEO's presence, as it was a large SUV.

'Is this… real? Or is it… a rumor?' As I thinking about that, Ah-young tossed and turned in bed for a while. "Uh…"

I closed my cell phone in a hurry. Then Ah-young leaned her head against my shoulder. I looked out the other window for a moment. I looked at the scenery and thought again, 'This is ridiculous.'

I liked Ah-young and she liked me, too. This trip made me feel that way more and more. But after four weeks, I would have a love affair. Unless there was some magic in four weeks, it would not be possible. I thought for a moment about the time on the news. 'August twenty-first… if it is…'

It was the second anniversary of our company. There would be a gathering of all our company and our subsidiary CEOs. Although I did not know the details of the event, there was a high possibility that celebrities of OH Entertainment would attend it.

'So… something would happen then?' While I was thinking about it, the taxi arrived at our hotel. I took some cash out of my wallet and handed it to him.

"Gracias," I appreciated it.

"Muchas gracias," he also thanked me.

Ah-young, who was sleeping on my shoulder, heard his voice and woke up.

"Uh… I fell asleep." Rubbing her sleepy eyes with her hands was so cute. It was the time to show my affectionate expression as usual. But I didn't, because the article I just saw bothered me. I just came up to the hotel suite on the elevator with her arms crossed. On the way, I glanced at her. Still, she still seemed sleepy.

So, as soon as I entered the hotel room, I told her, "Are you tired? Sleep first. I'll go to the cafe and get some work done."

"Work?"

"Yes, it's an important thing for the company."

She didn't like me thinking about work when I traveled, but she didn't argue when I said it was important company work.

"Well, I see, oppa…"

I got my laptop and took the elevator back down to the hotel lobby. I then took a seat in the corner of the cafe, opened an email and called Customer Service right away.

– Welcome, customer Han Sang-hoon.-

There was no need to show the formal greeting to the AI anyway. I asked the question right away. – Not all the news from the future news is true, is it?-

All the news in 12 Hours After was not correct. 12 Hours After sent news which would release or might come out in twelve hours. A prime example was the weather forecast. [It will be windy and gusty on Tuesday, the twenty-fifth.]

Even so, there was a perfect sunny day. The answer from the Customer Service came back, – Of course. Truth is different for all viewers.-

It was too obscure and I changed the question. – Sometimes the weather forecast is wrong, and everything is not true, is it?-

– Yes, we just deliver the news that might happen in the future.-

What I thought was true.

'Yeah, well, maybe the news I saw today is just a rumor…' But now that I thought about it, I had a question. 'Well, shouldn't I have received the correction news automatically?'

Wrong weather forecasts didn't mean that the correction news would come. I wrote it right in. – Why didn't you give me the correctional news?-

– We only correct changes made by the intervention of the subscriber.-

'Yes… there is one more thing to know.'

There were detailed rules in the correction news: news would come out only once, and the correction news would come for the news I had read for a month.

'Only the news that I intervened in and changed comes gets correction news.' I remembered that fact firmly. Then, I closed the Customer Service window and thought for a moment. 'It is true that there will be news about a love affair between Oh Hyun-joo and me, anyway. It's also true that she gets in my Bentley… or a month later, I will change my mind and have an affair with Oh Hyun-joo. Or… it's not true… but it's just a rumor.'

Either way, the first or the second scenario was not very good for me.In August, I returned home after a long trip with Ah-young. To be honest, I couldn't enjoy the end of the trip. After reading the third news, I was so restless that I couldn't play well with Ah-young.

Ah-young also felt it and asked me, "What's wrong with your company, oppa?"

However, I made up a story and avoided a direct answer. "Just a little something happened to the company."

It wasn't just empty words. While the third news was the most shocking, the first and second news was also very important. As soon as I got home, I called in Vice President Jang and checked them out.

"As I mentioned before, did you buy a grade A or higher in government bonds or corporate bonds with most of the funds we got from Kai Games, right?"

"Yes."

"What about the proportion of domestic or foreign stocks?"

"About fifteen percent."

"What's the proportion to foreign stocks by country?"

"50% in the United States, 15% in Shanghai, 15% in Hong Kong, 10% in Japan, and 10% in India and other developing countries."

"I see… then, in the next half year, reduce the share of domestic and overseas stocks to the 3% level."

Vice President Jang asked me in amazement, "Three percent?"

"Yes. Invest the remaining funds in defensive stocks in the economy, like communications, or grocery stocks. Please transfer all the money to gold, silver, dollars, and U.S. government bonds. We are going to take an extremely conservative investment position."

"Yes, sir."

"And… I'd like to give two orders for Vice President Jang at the same time."

"Please tell me."

"First, I'd like to buy two companies that are defensive in the economy by the end of the year."

Vice President Jang nodded at my words.

"… All right. Two defensive companies in the economy."

"If their business is stable and they have good cash-generating power, that's all. The market capital should be less than $300,000,000. It doesn't matter if it's a little expensive, so please find something."

"Yes, boss."

"And secondly, when the two companies are finished being taking over… I'd like to sell Hyun Young Pharmaceutical."

Vice President Jang was greatly surprised at what I said. "Hyun Young Pharmaceutical?"

"Yes. Now that our company's income has exceeded a billion dollars, I think it's not too bad to sell it now."

Mostly, Vice President Jang had not argued with me, but he got me this time. "But, Mr. President, they have passed phase three and now they are starting to sell. I don't think it'll be difficult to make three or four billion dollars of the market capital if the sales figures start to be recorded."

To be honest, I thought so too, until I came back from my trip last month.

"Yes, I think so, but I don't think it's a good idea to be too greedy. Of course, it would be better to sell for a good price, but… within a year… no, I'd like to find the buyer and sell it within this year."

Jang, who listened to me, pondered my words and asked me, "Well, Mr. President."

"Yes?"

"Do you see the global stock market going negatively in the long run?"

I looked at him for a moment and thought, 'Shall I tell Vice President Jang?' But it was a year from now. It was so weird to predict that. I hesitated for a moment, then told him, "For the most part, I see it that way, anyway. Please be prepared to execute the two I told you about as soon as possible."

"… yes, sir."

I checked him once more, as he was about to say goodbye. "After acquiring two defensive companies in the economy, then we sell Hyun Young Pharmaceutical. We don't sell them until we take them over."

I needed to maintain my grade, so this order was important. To maintain the current Master Class, I must have five listed companies. Jiwoo Entertainment came in, but Kai Games went out, so I had five companies. If I sold Hyun Young Pharmaceutical and its subsidiary Hyun Young Bio, there would be only three left. I would have to increase the number of companies to seven and then I would sell two to maintain my grade.

At my words, Vice President Jang once again bowed his head. "I'll keep it in mind, sir."

After Jang went out, I sighed. 'This will get me out of some big trouble.'

I picked up my cell phone, took out a timetable, and wrote some letters on April tenth, 2021, the day the first news would come out. On July second, 2021, the second news would come out, I wrote 'D-DAY.'

Both days would be an important turning point in the operation of our funds in the future. So far, I had earned two or three million dollars a day with the algorithm program after reading the future news of which companies would go to the upper limit price and which company would be taken over. However, on those two days, I would be playing some billion-dollar games.

'There's a big game going on… until then… I need to gather as much money as I can.' I closed my cell phone at the thought. The company's fortunes were important, but I did not feel nervous right now, because it was still nine months or a year away.

'Well, I will get everything ready by then.'

I cared more about the event in the near future than that. The second-anniversary event for our company was scheduled to take place just three weeks from today…

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I looked blankly at the monitor.

[Hyun Young Pharmaceutical 4%.]

Hyun Young Pharmaceutical rose today as well. Since the passing of new drug's clinical trials, there were far more positive days than negative days. The share price, which used to be a billion dollars when I bought it, was currently above two billion dollars and rising. As I went into the stock bulletin board, there were generally good comments.

– You know it's hard to get recognized by the FDA, right? This comes from Hyun Young Pharmaceutical's forty years of experience.-

– Third-phase pass isn't the end, but the beginning. If you hold onto it for three years, you'll be rich.-

– It's going to be easy to reach a market capital of four billion dollars. I recommend active buying.-

My name was also among them.

-Does Han Sang-hoon have a golden hand? Whenever he buys, he earns two or three times more than the original money.-

-I think he has made over $500,000,000 from Hyun Young Pharmaceutical. That's amazing.-

-He's a real genius. He did a good job at Kai Games, and I'm going to buy anything else he buys again.-

And there were comments like this:

– If you're going to buy after Han Sang-hoon, shouldn't you just buy Invictus Investment?-

– Invictus Investment is not a listed company. They don't receive any funds from individual investors.-

-Then, we can just hold it until Han Sang-hoon sells Hyun Young Pharmaceutical.-

– I see. Let's just buy it and stay with Han Sang-hoon until he sells.-

I looked at it and thought, 'I am going to sell it in a little while…'

I was concerned about the fallout of the big event next year. There was a high chance that the stock market would not be good next year, regardless of the categories of the stock. Hyun Young Pharmaceutical, which had been piling up a bubble due to the development of new drugs, would be equally affected. The company itself was not bad, but the money that arrived in a hurry would go out the same way.

'I wish I could sell it at the highest possible point, but… Let's find out where to sell it… If I look for the best time to sell with the future news… The selection of buyers is next.'

As I thought of it, the phone rang. I picked up the phone and answered, "Yes?"

"Boss, here comes Vice President Jang." Secretary Park's voice was much lower than Seo's. It was a little awkward at first, but I was getting used to it.

"Yes, let him come in."

"Yes, boss."

Soon the door opened and Jang and his secretary came in.

"Boss, these are the reports I mentioned before." Jang was empty-handed, but his secretary held up some A4 papers that looked quite heavy.

"Ah, put them down there," I said, pointing to one side of the desk.

Vice President Jang's secretary put it down on the edge of my desk. Thump! The desk was shaking a little.

"Thanks. I'll review them and talk to you again when I have done so," I nodded to them.

"Yes, boss."

The two bent down their heads a little and left my office. I opened out the reports in a fan shape on the desk. The names of the companies were on the covers. I looked them over.

'CoA Infrastructure, Songjin Brewing, Roha Game, Taejin Gas, Changhae Food…'

There were about a dozen files. These economically defensive stocks. Defensive stocks meant ones that consistently post steady sales, whether the economy is good or bad. Largely, that meant companies that produced living necessities, such as alcohol, tobacco, food, electricity, gas, and cell phones, which are essential to life, and did not decrease or increase sales sharply.

I chose these because I was worried about the repercussions of the big incident next year. Even if the stock market would be fluctuating, these stocks would not fall much. This was not buying to make money, but to keep five listed companies I had to own. I would buy these to maintain my Master Class, since if I sold Hyung Young Pharmaceutical, I would also lose ownership of its subsidiary, Hyun Young Bio.

It was a bit fortunate was that my other three companies – OH Entertainment, Jiwoo Entertainment, and Blue EM – were also defensive stocks. The entertainment industry stocks, like Kai Games, had seen a steady rise in domestic demand, despite the poor global economy. So, I didn't have to sell them. They were just less than $200,000,000 in total market capital.

I made a document to share from the reports I had received for the companies and their CEO's: CoA Infrastructure and Kim Sang-kwan; Song Jin Brewing and Kam Jinseong; and Roha Game and Lee Kang-hyun.

In this way, they would all go in the People Search once. There was nothing to worry about the stock prices going up and down. I would be taking a look at what the CEO's future looked like, and then I would put in an offer for all the good companies. Then I would buy the stocks if they would accept my offer on the best terms. If anyone bought a stock following me, thinking it would be another Kai Games or Hyun Young Pharmaceutical, this time it would be a disaster for them. I was not buying them because I thought the stocks would go up.

'No… but at least I'll avoid the sensitive stocks in the economy. Isn't that a disaster? Maybe if they are a little smart, they will realize that the market might be in danger in the future.'

That was what Vice President Jang said as soon as he heard my instructions. In any case, this was how I would disperse my money. The same was true of FutureSync, which had recently been on the news. Originally, I had intended to raise the price by gently teasing them and refusing the offer of Amazon, but I would do it only once or twice and then sell it right away in dollars. Then, if I could hold on to safe assets like dollars and U.S. government bonds, gold and silver at the moment of the showdown, I might have a big chance to multiply my wealth many times more than now.

I connected the names of various companies and CEOs, then saved and sent them to my cell phone. I would look into the future of these people tonight.

'All right, let's do this.'

Apart from future preparations, there was something that kept bothering me. The second anniversary of the foundation was just two weeks away. The second-anniversary event was scheduled to be held by renting out a nearby hotel for one day. And Oh Hyun-joo was also supposed to attend that day. Not long ago, I personally called President Kwon Oh-hyuk and asked him about that.

"President Kwon, are there any celebrities coming to the event?"

"Yes, Vice President Jang asked me to invite some. The two top actors of our company, Oh Hyun-joo and Kim Jun-hyung, will host the show. There will be a Nine-Tails' performance, which has recently become part of our company."

Oh Hyun-joo was even one of the main MCs for the event. When I had been abroad, Vice President Jang must have handled it like that. Now I couldn't tell her not to come.

"Oh, I see. Okay. See you then."

"Yes, boss."

I thought about that, recalling the conversation with President Kwon Oh-hyuk. 'No, whether she comes or she doesn't… That I have an affair with her… doesn't make any sense.'

I still liked Ah-young. I had been wary of a big fight with Ah-young before and after traveling abroad, but it didn't happen. After the trip abroad, Ah-young had been studying hard at her alma mater's library again to be an announcer, and I had been busy preparing for the future, so we didn't have much time to see each other. I thought of another possibility.

'Is Ah-young cheating on me? If I can change my mind, there's only one. No matter how much I like her, I can't forgive a woman who is cheating on me because of another man.'

But since last year, she had almost tried to play the role of a wife, going beyond loving me as a lover, taking care of my health and my schedule to the extent of being a little burdensome.

'No, that's impossible. I might cheat on her, but she would not. No, that's not it.'

I crossed my mind over there, 'If Oh Hyun-joo is actively seducing me, it may be.' It had happened a lot since my fortune was revealed recently in Forbes. Starting with Shin Min-sun, the single-haired announcer, scattered women were running at me, and it was very hard to resist temptation every time.

Oh Hyun-joo was proud of herself as an actor, but perhaps there might be a strong desire for a high-class life there. She had the life of a celebrity who didn't know when or what would happen to her. She might try to grab on to me and keep a splendid lifestyle for the rest of her life. I didn't trust myself, either, when I thought about it.

'What if Oh Hyun-joo tries to seduce me? What if she hands me her room key at the hotel where the foundation ceremony is being held?'

I thought of Ah-young first, but I was not sure if I could resist that. Oh Hyun-joo had a truly attractive original beauty. But I soon firmed up my will. 'No, no. No matter how lovely a beauty who seduces me is… I can't do that. I'd rather break up with Ah-young first and then meet another woman.'

I didn't want to do anything that would hurt Ah-young right now.A week was left before the foundation ceremony. I occasionally put my name and Oh Hyun-joo's in three slots for People Search as well, along with the CEOs of the companies to be acquired.

[CEO Han Sang-hoon's Invictus Investment sold overseas stocks. What's their intention?]

Such news came out, but from Oh Hyun-joo, on the contrary, .the scandal news came out.

[Top star Oh Hyun-joo had a secret early morning date, and her partner is Han Sang-hoon, president of Invictus Investment?]

It was the same title as the news I'd seen before. I grabbed my forehead. 'What the hell is wrong with me?'

The content of the article was the same. Oh Hyun-joo was seen riding in the blue Bentley. I looked at it and thought. 'Wait a minute, this picture came out… it means the paparazzi was in the hotel parking lot.'

Oh Hyun-joo had become more popular with fans of the drama and was becoming a target of paparazzi. They would have known that she would come as an MC at our company's second anniversary. I picked up the phone right away.

"Secretary Park."

"Yes, boss."

"The hotel that will hold the second-anniversary ceremony a week later."

"Yes."

"Tell them to tighten up security for paparazzi, to the level of warding them off. Make sure that if a paparazzi is caught, they won't ever have a relationship with our company and its affiliates."

"Yes, sir."

About half an hour after the call, the correction news came.

[The correction news – 'Top star Oh Hyun-joo has a secret early morning date, and the partner is Han Sang-hoon, president of Invictus Investment?' has been modified by the reader's intervention. The modifications are as follows]

I read it. However, all the changes were taken out of the picture, and only two more lines were added to it.

[We were able to identify Oh Hyun-joo, who was moving in a blue Bentley owned by CEO Han Sang-hoon. The car carrying her arrived at Oh Hyun-joo's office located in Samseong-dong and did not move until the following afternoon.]

Perhaps, it was more stimulating than photography.

'No… what the hell is this?'

Now it was even more ambiguous that I had an affair with her. It had become even more unknowable.A week later, I went to attend the second anniversary of the Invictus Investment, still without knowing what was going to happen.

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I donned a shirt, put on a jacket, and wore a bow tie instead of the usual long tie. Then I stood in front of the mirror and looked at myself.

"Ahem…"

Today was the second anniversary of Invictus Investment. It was a huge event attended by not only our employees, but also key members of our affiliates, and was actually a year after the first time I thought of having dinner with a few executives at a restaurant near the company on the first anniversary. Naturally, I was the main character of the event, as the founder and CEO of the company, and the owner of a 100% stake. I picked up the script lying in front of me, sat down in a chai,r and read it out again.

"Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Han Sang Hoon, CEO of Invictus Investment. Today, I welcome you who have come to our company's foundation ceremony."

Thanks to my practice starting a few days ago, I could speak well without missing a single letter. If I was not too nervous, I would handle my turn well.

'I did a great job in front of the TV cameras seen by tens of thousands of people. Let's not get too nervous about this in front of my company's people and affiliates.'

That was how I held myself together. In fact, it was highly likely that the people who were the most nervous today were not me, but the executives and employees of the affiliates. It had been a long time since they had a chance to see me, because I had a house on the roof of my company and I was not very well-traveled outside Invictus Investment. Among them, there would be people who would bring me a bundle of presents, and prepare comments to make themselves look good.

'But I won't change anything for them… No, come to think of it… There was a case like Blue EM. There are certain, crucial times when a gift or flattery works.'

When I appointed a CEO or an executive, I actively looked into the future through the People Search, but there were many times that the ability of a person was not much different from the others. If A and B were alike, I chose one of my favorites, because I was human, too.

'At any rate, today, they are going to bother me. It is to be expected. Everyone's going to stick to me or Vice President Jang looking for one more word. Let's just do what I need to do. By the way… about Hyun-joo, how do I deal with that?'

The issue of the scandal was still unsolved.

'What if she says something weird in my ear today? Can I say no?'

If I came with Ah-young, the temptation might be blocked in the first place, but since the previous threat from Tak Joon-gi, I had never brought her into public view, to protect her personal identity.

Ah-young also didn't tell anyone that she was the girlfriend of a man worth four billion dollars. When she took the announcer test, she told me, "Don't put any strange pressure on the broadcasting company when I take the test. I want to do this with my own ability."

In fact, if I put pressure on them, it would be to stop her… She succeeded, anyway.

'Ha… What should I do? No, I'm the only one who needs to be strong. No matter how tempting Oh Hyun-joo may be, I just have to refuse,' I thought as the phone rang. It was a call from Secretary Park.

"Boss, are you ready?"

"Oh, yeah. I'm going to take the elevator now. Wait for that and catch it. Let's go down together."

"Yes, boss."

I came to the elevator of the penthouse with the script in my hand and pressed the down button. The elevator came up and stopped at the 'P' level. I was the only one who could get in and out of the 'P' floor in this building. The elevator went down and stopped once on the middle floor. There was Secretary Park, who got in when he saw the elevator coming down from the "P" floor.

"Let's go."

"Yes."

I took Rolls-Royce's car key out of my pocket and handed it to him. On reflection, I would probably ride the Bentley or Rolls-Royce because it was an official ceremony attended by people from the affiliates. The blue Bentley Bentayga was one of my favorites.

'It was in the picture.' It was creepy that it was in the future news. Most of all, someone had filmed it. I asked Secretary Park, "How's the paparazzi cutoff going today?"

"Very good, sir. That's what I've been doing this morning."

"Good job."

Soon after arriving at the underground parking lot, the door opened and I walked out toward the parked Rolls Royce. As I was riding the Rolls-Royce today, there would have to be a change in the correction news.

However, I did not receive it again, because of the rule that correction news would only come out once a day."… ladies and gentlemen, I hope you enjoy the event and meal prepared tonight, and have a good evening. Thank you."

At my words, there was thunderous applause.

Those in the front row, from the executives and employees of Invictus Investment, Hyun Young Pharmaceutical, OH Entertainment, Jiwoo Entertainment, to the Blue EM directors; all the high-ranking people were applauding hard. Anyway, power and money were scary. Those who were old enough to have a million dollars or even ten million dollars, were clapping their hands hard, as they were afraid I would not see them being enthusiastic.

I bowed slightly to them and stepped down from the podium. On the way down, I saw Kim Jun-hyung and Oh Hyun-joo, who were the MCs today. At any rate, they were both handsome and pretty, and seemed to draw attention from the people around them, especially Oh Hyun Joo, showing off her gorgeous beauty to the point that they could feel it. She came in a dress that was quite chest-deep today. It was a heartbreaking dress that literally demanded attention. I thought as I came down from the podium, 'Huh… this could be big trouble.'

My seat was at the very front of the event hall. It was the place where Vice President Jang, President Kwon Oh-hyuk, Chairman Shin Jae-eun of Hyun Young Pharmaceutical, President Kim Jung-kyun of Blue EM, CEO Chung So-young of Oracle News, and CEO Lee Kang-hyun of FutureSync sat. When I got back to my seat, Kim Jun-hyung and Oh Hyun-joo exchanged lines as they hosted the event.

"So far, there has been a greeting from CEO Han Sang-hoon of Invictus Investment. That was a very good speech. What's next? Hyun-joo?"

"Yes. Next time, there will be a performance by Jiwoo Entertainment's representative girl group Nine Tails, which is becoming a global group reaching beyond Korea, China, and Asia."

As top actors, the two MCs did well. If I thought about it, it was an event with a script and a screenplay. While I was looking at the two, I glanced over at Kwon Oh-hyuk, sitting on my left. He was looking at the two MCs in satisfaction. He deserved it, too. President Kwon Oh-hyuk was expanding OH Entertainment with the two of them.

'Well… yeah. They are his two most reliable people.'

I turned my eyes back to the two again. Oh Hyun-joo was the one who caught everyone's eyes, even if she was just walking the street. However, she was indeed really pretty today.After the event, the dinner followed. There were some adjustments at the table. Vice President Jang went to meet other company directors, and the older chairman Shin Jae-eun apologized and asked to go home first, saying he felt uncomfortable. Then two MCs, Kim Jun-hyung and Oh Hyun-joo, took the two seats that were now open. Oh Hyun-joo sat right next to me in the seat of Vice President Jang. As soon as she sat down, she smiled and greeted me.

"How have you been, Mr. President?"

I received it in a slightly quivering voice, "How are you, Hyun-joo?"

"Yes, thanks to you."

The word "thanks" was customary as usual, but her words contained sincerity. Thanks to me, she was hosting this event as an MC. I'd been a fan, and there was a good story with her, and I would have said something nice if I had been normal, but I could not be close to her because of the scandal news. I turned to the other side, where Chung, the head of Oracle News, was attached to the handsome Kim Jun-hyung.

"I watched the drama with pleasure last time. Jun-hyung, whenever I look at you, I think your acting skills continue to grow."

"Haha, thank you."

I wanted her to be associated with the single Kwon Oh-hyuk, but unfortunately, she didn't even turn her eyes to him.

'Well, I guess she has a taste for younger men.'

Anyway, her eyes were too high, and it was hard to get married at her age. Chung was also a woman with a rather pungent charm, but there might have been a reason why she had not married. Then, Oh Hyun-joo asked me one more time.

"I know you're busy, Mr. President, but do you still do judo these days?"

"Ah, I don't have time to practice judo, but I run lightly."

"Oh, I see. I am sorry to hear that. A CEO who's good at judo is really cool."

'Is this how the scandal starts?'

I said, pointing back at that thought, "I have a friend around me who is better than me."

Behind me was Secretary Park, standing like a pillar.

She looked at Secretary Park and spoke in a peculiar soft voice, "Aha, I see."

I answered in a dutiful manner, "Yes."

But then, suddenly, Oh Hyun-joo brought her face near my ear, and whispered something to me in a small voice so that even Secretary Park could not hear it."Let's go, boss," Secretary Park awakened me.

"Ah… yes."

I looked at the banquet hall where all the events of the second anniversary of the Invictus Investment were over, and thought, 'I shouldn't do this next time. No, I can't do it at all… Every two years… No. I'll do it every five years.'

After the meal, all that remained were countless handshakes, greetings, and much flattery. I had to suffer for a whole day because they'd try to leave a strong impression with me. It was expected, but it was still a tough day.

I said with a long sigh, "Hu-huh. Let's go."

I glanced around the banquet hall. I wanted to know where Oh Hyun-joo was. But she was not visible in the banquet hall. Maybe she got out first. On the way to the hotel's parking lot with Secretary Park, I recalled the words she had whispered in my ear. 'Thank you very much then, Mr. President.'

She didn't try to seduce me, but just gave her sincere thanks to me. So, in the end, nothing happened. I now headed to the Rolls-Royce with Secretary Park, not the Bentley. The scandal in the news appeared to be the hoax of a rogue paparazzi.

'But if it's on the future news, it's definitely newsworthy. I will see the news tomorrow. If anyone's poking me in my name, they'll never work as a journalist again.'

I had been struggling for a few weeks because of this, ever since I had gone abroad. I felt like I had bit the dust. Secretary Park ran first and opened the Rolls-Royce's back door.

"Please get in."

"Yes."

Just then, a blue Bentley Bentayga passed slowly in front of our car. I naturally looked at the people riding it. All I could see was the right side and the person who came into my eyes was the one sitting in the passenger seat, Oh Hyun-joo.

"Uh…?"

It was only then that I realized… there was one more person at this meeting who drove a blue Bentley Bentayga. A stupid reporter thought it was my car, so he wrote an article naming me!

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I looked at the distant blue Bentley. The future news article said that Bentley entered Oh Hyun-joo's house and didn't come out for a day. That would happen if someone were her lover. I stood there for a moment, grinning unknowingly. I thought she might be interested in me, but it was just my imagination.

But… when I thought about it, it would be weird that a beautiful woman like Oh Hyun-joo didn't have a boyfriend. Anyway, I was a snob these days. I thought all women would like me because I had money.

These days, so many women rushed at me, so I seemed to be a snob. I was laughing self-mockingly, when I had a thought. 'By the way, then… Who the hell is driving that?'

When I thought about it, there was a problem.

'Wait… even if I stopped the paparazzi, the news came out, which I is that I was at Oh Hyun-joo's house for a day. It means there's paparazzi near the parking lot of her house.' The paparazzi was originally here in the hotel parking lot. But because I blocked him, he moved to Oh Hyun-joo's house, so the news still came out.

I spoke to Secretary Park in a hurry, "Get in the car and chase that car."

Moving quickly, Secretary Park asked me as he nimbly got into the car, "That car?"

"Yes, the one that looks just like my car. That Bentley."

"Yes, I see."

Secretary Park started the car quickly and pulled out after it. However, it was not easy to catch up with the Bentley ahead of us. The hotel parking lot was crowded because the event was getting over. The Bentley was about to disappear from sight.

Secretary Park told me, "Boss… I'm afraid I'm going to miss it." The Bentley pulled out of the hotel lot ahead of us.

Secretary Park asked me, "What do I do?"

However, I knew the destination of that car. In the last article, it said, [We were able to identify Oh Hyun-joo, who was moving in a blue Bentley owned by CEO Han Sang-hoon. The car carrying her arrived at Oh Hyun-joo's office located in Samseong-dong and did not move until the following afternoon.]

I told Secretary Park, "… drive towards Samseong-dong for now."

Our car kept moving. In the meantime, I searched for the house of Oh Hyun-joo on my smartphone. Surprisingly, an article showing her home address came straight out on the Internet.

[It is known that Oh Hyun-joo lives in Suzy Ritzville, Samseong-dong, where the Han River is visible at a glance.]

I saw it and thought, 'A celebrity has no personal life.'

"Suzy Ritzville, Samseong-dong."

"Yes, boss."

I said one more word, "Drive as fast as you can."

"Yes, boss."

No matter how crowded Seoul's roads were, if Rolls-Royce was running, people were bound to make way for it. If they had a fender-bender and the responsibility was fifty-fifty, they might pay more than their own car. Driven by Secretary Park, our Rolls-Royce even stormed off the road. Secretary Park usually drove safely, following the law and proper morals. However, after I ordered him to drive as fast as he could, he did so with zero morality, ignoring the road regulations. At times like this, it seemed that an athlete's original beastly nature, which had always been suppressed, rose to the fore.

After driving for a long time, he told me, "I see the Bentley over there, boss."

We had almost caught up. Soon our Rolls-Royce, guided by Secretary Park, brushed past the Bentley on the right. I could see Oh Hyun-joo from my seat. She was talking to the driver, not looking away at all. I tried to see the driver's face beyond her, but it didn't work.

Secretary Park asked me, adjusting the speed, "Well… what do you want me to do? Shall I keep following the car?"

I thought about it for a moment, then said to him, "… No. We're going first. Let's go to the office."

"Yes, boss."

Secretary Park headed to Oh Hyun-joo's office faster than the Bentley, as I ordered. Meanwhile, I thought about the driver she was talking to excitedly. 'Well… who the hell is it?'

The first person that came to my mind was Kim Jun-hyung, who had hosted the event as an MC today. He was a handsome actor who was as popular as Oh Hyun-joo. Recently Hanhanlyeong was being lifted and he was making tens of million dollars across China. In addition, he could easily buy a car like the Bentley. He was a young, handsome, and rich man.

'Wait a minute, then it's more troublesome. It's a love affair between the top stars of our company.'

Of course, it was not a flaw to meet someone these days, but there was a huge difference on how our company managed them or not. Both had been in romance dramas so many times that if an article would come out a little bad, enthusiastic fans who had fantasies about them might turn their backs.

'But then… Doesn't President Kwon Oh-hyuk know about this?'

I picked up my cell phone and called President Kwon Oh-hyuk. Tiriri tiriri tiriri tiriri tiriri tiriri…

President Kwon Oh-hyuk received the call quickly. "Yes, boss. What's the matter?"

I hesitated for a moment, not knowing what to say at first, and then I asked him, "Ah… Mr. President. It's just personal curiosity. Does Oh Hyun-joo have a boyfriend?"

He seemed quite embarrassed by the sudden question. "Yes? Why are you asking me that?"

I just realized that the question could be a little misleading. "Ah. No, I'm just asking as an investor. I am afraid that Oh Hyun-joo might have a scandal."

He said, slightly slurring his words, "Well… There is no such problem."

President Kwon Oh-hyuk did not think it was an issue, so he was clear on things. I didn't want to stop or disturb other people's love, but celebrities were people who could make tens of million dollars come and go on their own behavior. At the very least, he should know that, if not me. That way, he would be on the lookout for paparazzi in the future.

Kwon asked me again, "But why are you asking me this?"

I wanted to tell him the whole story. But then, Secretary Park interrupted, "Boss, we are here."

I told Mr. Kwon, "I'll call you back."

After saying so, I hung up the phone. Our car entered the office building parking lot. The bar blocked our car first as we tried to get into the parking lot. A white-haired security guard with a creased face came forward. We met unexpected difficulty, and we came up with some conversation.

"We are here to see the residents for a while."

"What house number did you come to see?"

"It's a bit private."

The security guard saw Park, who was very big and dressed in a suit, and Rolls Royce Mark in front of the car, and just opened the bar with a greeting, "Welcome."

It was a bit embarrassing, but it worked out fine anyway. The Rolls-Royce slipped into the parking lot. This office-style apartment was quite luxurious but a little small, as it was located right next to the Han River. The parking lot was also worth a glance. Secretary Park pulled over in the right place, and I folded my hands together and waited for time to pass.Before long, the blue Bentley, which looked just like my car, came inside. The car happened to stop right in front of my car. I watched closely who got out. Oh Hyun-joo who got out first. She got out of the car and stood in front of the elevator, wearing a long overcoat over her gorgeous dress. But in the meantime, the driver was not moving.

'What? Is this a way to avoid paparazzi?'

It seemed that they would take their time due to the eyes of the residents. Even after Oh Hyun-joo went home on the elevator, the car did not move, nor did the driver walk out. I watched a little more with patience. But then, Secretary Park said something.

"Boss."

"Why?"

"Don't look back, but look in the rearview mirror. There's a guy behind us with a camera."

I didn't look back at what he said, but looked at the rearview mirror. It was now apparent that there was a person holding a long lens camera between two cars, snooping over this way.

I said without hesitation, "Go take that away from him."

"Yes, boss."

Secretary Park opened the door and approached him. I also got out of the car a little late and followed him. The man carrying the camera faltered in astonishment as a big man approached him.

"What… what is it?"

Realizing that his camera was his target, he tried to hide it behind himself, but it was meaningless resistance to Secretary Park. Park snatched the camera in an instant with his hands of a judo world championship medalist and gave it to me. The structure was unique because it was a camera for reporters, but the SD card was the same as others. I took out the SD card with the pictures in it.

The captured paparazzi shouted at me, "You… what the hell? How can you take something from someone like that? That's expensive, man!"

I put the SD card in my pocket and asked him, "It's expensive? How much is it?"

"Three… No, fifty thousand dollars!"

Fifty thousand dollars. When I heard that, I handed it over to Secretary Park and said, "Return it."

And I added, "After smashing it into pieces."

Upon hearing the second order, Secretary Park crashed the camera into his knee on the spot. The camera broke into two pieces, and he threw the two pieces on the ground. The camera was smashed once more, and the heavy foot that came down after probably didn't help. When the paparazzi saw this, his face turned white and he couldn't say anything.

I took my business card out of my wallet, threw it at him, and said, "I am Han Sang-hoon of Invictus Investment. You tried to hurt my company. Call me if you don't want the money for the camera. Let's see who's going to end their life."

The paparazzi sank down on the spot.

I turned back, leaving him behind, and said, "Let's go."

"Yes, boss."

I came back to our car. For now, there would be no scandalous news. Now all I had was curiosity. Still, the blue Bentley remained motionless in place. I looked at it for a moment and thought, '… I'm curious, but that's enough… with or without a boyfriend, it is Oh Hyun-joo's private life. Let's tell Mr. Kwon that Oh Hyun-joo is dating someone, so please pay more attention to her privacy.'

Having so concluded, I opened the back door of Rolls-Royce and said, "Secretary Park. Let's just go."

"Yes, boss."

I tried to get back into the back seat. But then, the Bentley's left door, the driver's side door, opened. I tried not to watch, but I couldn't help but see who was coming out of there.

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I carefully watched the man who got out of the Bentley. It was none other than Kwon Oh-hyuk, president of the company. I gazed at his shiny head with my eyes narrowed, and fell into great confusion.

'No, why is Kwon coming out of there? Wait, so Kwon just wanted to take Hyun-joo home…? Why did he wait here, then?'

At that moment I realized that President Kwon Oh-hyuk was the one who was dating Oh Hyun-joo. When I realized it and my body was frozen, President Kwon Oh-hyuk came up to me and said, "Well, sir. I'm sorry I lied."

I remembered the conversation I had just had with him when I came arrived.

'Does Oh Hyun-joo have a boyfriend?

'Well… there is no such thing. Why are you asking me that?'

President Kwon Oh-hyuk knew whether Oh Hyun-joo had a lover or not, but he lied because he was her lover.

'Yes, this is what happened.'

I put my game face on. Everything that had happened in recent years passed like a shadow-picture lantern. I went to Spain, I saw the news of the scandal, I thought it was me, I felt sorry for Ah-young, I tried to adjust it so that it wouldn't be scandalous for two weeks, and I followed Oh Hyun-joo to find the paparazzi.

It made me laugh. I stood there laughing. I had watched the news a month ago and now it was going on today. It was so ridiculous.I looked out of the window holding a glass of beer. Outside the window, over the Han River, I could see downtown lights in the northern part of the river. I looked at it and said, "The Han River possesses a charm of its own."

Kwon, who was sitting in front of me, replied, "Yes."

Not too far from Oh Hyun-joo's home, in a bar, I had a beer with Kwo. In any case, the future had changed. Oh Hyun-joo's boyfriend wasn't at her house, but drinking with me right here.

"I'm a local person, so I didn't know why the Han River had a premium for a long time. However, it makes sense now."

"That's right."

President Kwon Oh-hyuk couldn't say much, he answered only in a single sentence, 'that's right.' It seemed that his shoulders were much more slumped than usual.

I spoke to him, "Why are you doing that, Mr. Kwon? Love is not a crime."

"No, but don't you usually hate lying to yourself?"

I looked at President Kwon Oh-hyuk for a moment, extended my glass and said, "Well… it's case by case."

Kwon Oh-hyuk quickly pushed out his own glass and clinked our glasses together. "Yes, sir."

"As you say, I naturally hate to be fooled by others. But… for some reason, I'm not angry about this. It's just so… It's amazing. Is it because both of you have known each other for a long time? The story is deep. Anyway, that's right. I'm not angry, so don't be so nervous."

"Oh, yes, boss."

The two of us gulped down the rest of the beer. As the glasses clinked down, Kwon beckoned the owner right away and brought another 500cc glass.

I told him, sipping a beer that was bubbling over. "So, let's hear the story. When did you two meet?"

"The fact that we became lovers… I think it's been about half a year."

"Oh, really?"

It had been quite a while, half a year. President Kwon Oh-hyuk told his love story in a dutiful manner.

"… as you know, Hyun-joo was a very early member of our company, and the only one who's recently grown to be a top star. I've been watching her since the beginning, the only one to watch her. It's been going on and on, so… this is how it turned out.

I nodded, "I see."

Then, I suddenly remembered a story about when I had gone to OH Entertainment. It was already two years ago, but certainly then, when President Kwon Oh-hyuk gave a speech following me, Oh Hyun-joo was looking at him with her hands together, like a fan watching a celebrity. Even then, I had thought, 'They two have a strong sense of fellowship.' However, I didn't expect it to advance to love.

It might be because of the age difference between the two, and the difference in appearance: Kwon Oh-hyuk, who was in his early forties and short, while Oh Hyun-joo was in her late twenties and beautiful. They reminded me of the beauty and the beast. But true love seemed to transcend all that.

Kwon went on to say, "In fact, I've had this feeling for a long time… but I've avoided it. Because I don't think I'm a match for Oh Hyun-joo. About half a year ago, we were drinking wine together after an event. Oh Hyun-joo asked me to be lovers… and I failed to refuse."

"Ah… I see."

Oh Hyun-joo even asked him first. In a way, she didn't look like a top star. The secular condition was thrown aside and she wanted to date someone who supported her. It was unrealistic, but beautiful.

I spoke to him, "That's a beautiful story. I'm sure both of you must be happy. You know each other well, so you can help each other."

At my words, Kwon finally relaxed. "Yes, that's right… We've been working like one body for about five years. When you're working, it's good to have a supporter who can understand your work. Hyun-joo and I help each other."

I suddenly felt envy when I heard that. And then I naturally thought of Ah-young studying to be an announcer at her alma mater.

'Umm…'

President Kwon Oh-hyuk continued, "No matter what, I'll be more careful in the future. I've been trying to avoid the paparazzi. I didn't expect to be caught and helped by the CEO."

"Oh, yes… Please be careful. I'll support your relationship."

"Yes, boss."

I couldn't talk to Kwon Oh-hyuk, but in the future, he wouldn't get caught up in a scandal, because I would look ahead and stop it. This time, I came in person and took away the camera. I would just tighten it up remotely to prevent any news from coming out at all, no matter what would happen next time, whether it would be through Jang Han-sul of the KJ Group or via Lee Won-jae of the Daewon Daily News.That week, Saturday afternoon, I sat on the sofa and hit 'Oh Hyun-joo' in the search window. There were no articles about Oh Hyun-ju and me at all. The process was a little complicated, but somehow it succeeded in stopping the story of me and Oh Hyun-joo's scandal. The paparazzi who had taken my business card, had not called for the camera to be replaced. I didn't know whether he did it intentionally or not.

'It ended not happening.'

I tried to close the window at the thought. However, there was a notable article on Oh Hyun-joo. To be exact, there was a prominent photo.

[Oh Hyun-joo, the nominee for best actor at the Baeksang Arts Grand Prize, has a sweet dress.]

The main subject of the picture was Oh Hyun-joo, who was naturally seated among the actors. However, I could see Kwon Oh-hyuk sitting in the audience seat in the composition of the photo. It was an accidental cut with two lovers. Kwon Oh-hyuk was looking at Oh Hyun-joo with his hands together. He seemed nervous, as if he were the candidate for an acting award.

'Maybe, it's… it's time they were dating. He is waiting to see if his lover, the top star he has raised, will get the prize.'

In this way, it was understandable that Oh Hyun-joo had come to rely on President Kwon Oh-hyuk. She was a beautiful woman, and she had a great sense of work as an actor. She picked Kwon Oh-hyuk as the best person to help her with her job. It was about taking love and work at the same time.

'She is so wise.'

I hoped there would be someone around to support me when my business would grow; to be precise, a woman who would support me. I put down my cell phone and looked at the back of the sofa. Ah-young was writing something with a pen in her chair in my living room.

I called out to her, "Ah-young, come here."

Ah-young looked at me, and flipping her pen. "Uh? Why?"

"Well, come here."

She had applied for the second open recruitment, and was studying at my apartment over the weekend.

I told her straight away, "Do you really need to be that announcer? Do you want to do that?"

I'd been thinking about it for a long time, but it was the first time I had talked to her so seriously.

As she saw my seriousness, she also replied quite seriously. "I'm not sure… but I don't have much to do after I put down art. It's so pointless to just go shopping all the time and travel abroad all my life. I want to be a person who contributes to society, too."

"Well… Do you want to be an announcer because you want to be someone who contributes to society?" If it was what she intended, I couldn't say anything. Thinking about it, I brought up another story. "Ah-young, do you know what the biggest problem is in our society?"

"What?"

"It's hard to solve even if I gave out my entire fortune."

"Particulates?"

"Particulates… is a problem, but there is a problem more key than that. Low birth rate. If there's no one to breathe in the particulates, wouldn't there be a problem?"

"That's… That's right. But why are you saying that to me?"

I said as calmly as I could. "I mean, it's good to be an announcer and have a great career, but it's also good to be a great wife and a great mother, enormously contributing to society"

Ah-young looked at me for a moment, and said to me, "Oppa, that's…"

I didn't talk indirectly this time. "Ah-young, I'm going to take on a more important job in the future. Our country… No, I might be working globally beyond our country. Then… I think I'll need someone at home to support me both physically and spiritually. Of course, I'm sorry to ask you to help me at home instead of doing what you want to do in the gender equality community…"

But before I was done, Ah-young interrupted, "I'll do it, oppa. If you really want that, then the announcer thing… I can't help it."

I opened my eyes wide and looked at her. "Really? Are you okay with that?" It was a little surprising for her to give up so unexpectedly quickly.

"Yes. To be honest with you, I don't think oppa wants to marry me, so it's something I've been trying to prepare."

"Really?"

"Yes, I have my life, and I couldn't count on you. So I did this."

As I was listening to her, I pondered and said to her, "Move here. Like you said… It's too big to live alone here. Let's live together for half a year, and if I like you, and if you like me… Let's make some time and go home."

"Home?"

"Yes. My home. My hometown. The house where my mom, my dad, and my sister are."

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Doi~ Doi~ Doi~ Doi~. I looked toward the dense forest. A strange-voiced bird kept calling out.

'What kind of bird is that crying like that?' I wondered, as a gray-haired middle-aged man told me, "Come this way, Mr. CEO."

"Oh yes."

I followed him to the factory in front of me. This was a dumpling factory located at the foot of a mountain in southern Gyeonggi Province. It was where the main products of Changhae Food, a KOSDAQ-listed company, were produced. Inside the factory, women in aprons, latex gloves, and caps were constantly moving their hands.

"Our facilities have all been certified for HACCP. As you can see, it's very fresh and hygienic. We manage our staff thoroughly."

I looked from place to place under his guidance. Vice President Jang and Secretary Park accompanied me, watching carefully. Something came into my eyes: the "Mix Dumplings" series. When I was living alone, I remembered buying them in bulk because they were cheap and delicious. It had been a while, since I'd been eating only good things these days, but when I was a poor self-inflicted child, I thought, 'It's a great deal on the cost-to-benefit ratio.'

I asked him, "Mix Dumplings continue to grow in sales, right?"

"Yes. Although we're not growing as explosively as we were at the beginning of the launch, we're seeing a steady stream of revenue. We are planning to diversify our products, from Hong Kong-style dim sum to Japanese-style yaki dumplings. We were trying to acquire a nearby production line if we had a little more cash."

'Well, we can invest some money then.' I looked around the production line a little more, thinking about it, and then walked out.

"Good to see them."

The middle-aged man asked me, his hands clasped before him, "Then, when will you decide?"

"We'll review it and contact you within a month."

"Yes, Mr. CEO."

As I said goodbye, I checked his name again, embroidered on his work suit: Woo Hae-jin. We left the factory and got into our car parked in the spacious parking lot. As soon as I got in, I told Vice President Jang, "It looks good. What do you think?"

Vice President Jang told me, "There was nothing I didn't like."

Changhae Food had a market capital of $150,000,000. It was a small but profitable company that had never had a deficit since its founding. Most of these food companies were for domestic use, so there was no particular reason to invest in them, but with the success of their Mix Dumplings, Woo Hae-jin, the president of the company, was eager to enter China and Southeast Asia.

I said to Vice President Jang, "It's good to have dumplings and personal snacks. These days, people are not married anyway, and even if they're married, there's no one to cook. This market is bound to grow. I want to look at it positively."

Vice President Jang nodded. "You are right. Then, shall we proceed with the acquisition process immediately?"

"No, one more thing…"

I picked up my cell phone. I went to the mailbox, opened the future news and made an appointment with Crow. I was going to call Crow and ask him if the financial structure of Changhae Food was really neat and if the money was not going to be useful to the boss Woo Hae-jin. It was neat on the finance side, but there were companies that sometimes cheated on the finance side. Crow would make it perfect. It was a kind of double-verification system that even verified the morality of a CEO.

I spoke to Vice President Jang, "A month or so… I'll think about it more, and make a final decision then."

"Yes, boss."

That period was the month that Crow's investigation results would come out. It was September 2020 now; there were still about ten months left before "D-Day", so I still had time.

"Well, I'm done today. What's up for next week?"

"Next week is Songhae Brewing, near Chuncheon, Gangwon-do."

Songhae Brewing was also one of the companies in our company's shopping cart. Like Changhae Food, BPS was growing and one of the defensive stocks, due to its focus on domestic demand with no deficit and accumulated net profit.

'In some cases, the worse the economy is, the more people drink alcohol, and the stock price tends to rise.' I didn't know if sales would actually increase.

"Well, yes. Anyway, how's the sale of Hyun Young Pharmaceutical going?"

"We are in contact with them carefully, not releasing much information. We are spreading rumors that the reason for the sale is because of other giant MAs. That way, we'll get the right price."

"The right price?"

"Were now worth eight hundred million in terms of stock price, but I think we should get one to one point two billion dollars for a future growth and management premium."

"One to one point two billion dollars…" I nodded. Jang was a very capable man, especially since he didn't know the future. I certainly put emphasis on it! "But not too late, let us sell it early next year at the latest. It doesn't matter if the price is a little lower."

"Yes, boss." While bowing, Jang looked at me curiously for a moment. It would have been strange for him to suddenly acquire two defensive companies and get rid of a successful company in a hurry. Although he had walked the elite course since graduating from Seoul National University's economics department, there were many things that would happen beyond reason. What would happen next year was that kind of thing. We had to be fully prepared for such a thing, which was hard to predict without knowing the future. This all was thorough preparation to turn the crisis into an opportunity.

'Next week is Gangwon-do… I'm not driving, but I guess I will be a little tired. Songhae Brewing…' I recounted the name and told Vice President Jang, "What do they usually sell?"

"Fifty-year-old Makgeolli is the main product. These days, Makgeolli is diversifying its variety by putting chestnut or banana scent into it. I hear young people drink it a lot these days."

"Really? When we get back to Seoul, let's go to a nice bar instead of dinner and have a drink with the Makgeolli. It might be more important than a tour of the factory."

Jang smiled cheerfully and agreed, "Haha, yes, sir!""Please go in."

"Oh, yes."

I stepped into the elevator at the send-off of Secretary Park. Pressing the "P" button, a mechanical voice came out, "Please enter your password."

I pressed a few floors quickly, '32, 18, 7, 3, 21, 15.'

The voice of that machine tone came out once again. "The password is incorrect. Please enter it again."

'Huh? Wrong?' I took a deep breath. This time, I pressed the floors that were passworded correctly, '32, 18, 7, 3, 22, 15.'

"Penthouse," it spoke the floor I was going to, and the door closed itself. It quickly arrived at the penthouse.

When the door opened, I could see Ah-young wearing an apron, her arms folded. I raised my hands and said, "I'm here!"

She saw my red face and said to me, "You drank a lot today, didn't you?"

"Hmm? Uh-huh. Vice President Jang was so happy that his daughter won first place in school. He kept eating a lot. Even if his position is lower than me, he is older, and I couldn't get out of there."

She took off my jacket and said, "But drink moderately, oppa. Would it be okay for a man to do something big to get around like this?"

When I heard that, I said with a big smile. "You're doing well."

"What?"

"The role of a wife."

Ah-young was untying my tie, and she hit my chest with the palm of her hand. "Enough!"

I looked at her with a real smile. It had been a month since Ah-young had moved here. First of all, we were getting along without much dissatisfaction with each other. Before, even in the last apartment, her home was next door and we almost lived together, so we got used to each other.

I asked her before I went into the shower, "Could you make a hangover soup, like dried pollack soup, tomorrow morning? Well, I guess you learned something about it at the academy."

She had changed her school from the announcer's to Korean Cooking. She looked at me and said, "I've already done the dried pollack soup."

"Really?"

Ah-young said, lifting her apron slightly. "Yes. I was going to make dinner, but oppa said that you were going out for a drink after dinner. So, I prepared some hangover soup."

"Oh, yes. Good job! My Ah-young is smart." I kissed her a little. Her soft lips touched my lips, and caused a fire. I tried to put my hand inside the apron.

Ah-young pushed me right away and said, "Ahoo, the smell of drink! "Please wash yourself and come back."

"Oh, yeah, okay." I nodded and headed for the shower. It had only been a month since we lived together, but I thought we could live together at this rate…In November 2020, I acquired both Changhae Food and Songhae Brewing. In the press, my investment had become a hot topic in the public, as I gave a premium to the existing investors to take over their shares, and did the capital increase by issuing new stock for the shortfall.

The media sent out the following news:

[Han Sang-hoon, CEO of Invictus Investment, an investment genius, has acquired Changhae Food.]

[The acquisition of Changhae, CEO Han Sang-hoon is going into the food industry.]

[Hang Sang-hoon's acquisition of Songhae Brewing follows Changhae Food.]

[What is CEO Han Sang-hoon's innermost thoughts, buying a series of small and medium-sized companies?]

Ant investors responded to the questions.

[Now let's buy them. If we hold them for three years, we'll be rich, right?]

[Twenty times of Kai Games, three times of Hyun Young Pharmaceutical, double of OH Entertainment, If we follow Han Sang Hoon, we'll be rich.]

[I trust CEO Han Sang-hoon and I will sell my apartment and buy them. Let's go turn our lives!]

They responded like that. Stock prices also jumped temporarily. This was a celebrity effect. In the past, Warren Buffett was found to have bought a company in Korea, which led to a slight rise in stock price due to the institutional ants that followed him. The situation now was very similar to that.

As I was looking at it, I thought, 'I'm not sure if they are going up…'

In the first place, I didn't pick the stocks to rise, but not to come down. At the same time, I went ahead with the sale of Hyun Young Pharmaceutical. Originally, I had capped my $800,000,000 stake at $1,200,000,000, rather high for the market; but for now, I canceled it. It was because the profits from the new drug from Hyun Young Pharmaceutical was gradually rising, as it was selling in the U.S.

My shares, which used to be worth eight hundred million, were trading at about 1.1 billion these days. I couldn't sell it at the same asking price after the price went up. I put it up for sale at a real estate agency, but like a Gangnam apartment seller who saw the price rise, I took it back and put it back up at 1.5 billion. Although the price had gone up three hundred million dollars, someone was still willing to buy it. I thought the stock of Hyun Young Pharmaceutical would go up even more by the end of the year.

'July next year…' I made that trade, keeping D-Day in mind. I bought and sold the companies in the first place, and all of this was in preparation for the main game that would come in July next year.

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I sat curled up in the chair, watching the screen. On the big screen, a man in a tight black costume shouted, "The revival of Birdman Phoenix by shooting a nasty and destructive film. Children with pimples are going to cry. One billion dollars is easy to make around the world. You're a great actor. You save people from a boring, miserable life. You surprise people, and make them laugh, and cry."

"Whoop…" I exclaimed at it. The movie, which was showing in my private movie theater, was Birdman, a 2014 film. It received the best picture award at the Academy Awards. It was more like an art film than a commercial one, but somehow I found it new and fun every time I saw it.

Ah-young, her head against my shoulder must have had a similar idea. "It's funny for some reason. I don't know what they're talking about."

"Yes, I've seen this movie five times, but I can't remember all the messages. It's just… every time I see it, it's always new and fresh and amazing. Is this what they call a cinematic quality?"

"Hmm."

And then, in the meantime, I got a text message on my cell phone. It was Secretary Park. -Mr. President, we're all here.-

I looked at the clock in the upper right. It was 10:20 a.m. 'The appointment is at 11 a.m., but they're forty minutes early.' Even the latest person came forty minutes early. I told them to come slowly so I could watch a movie with Ah-young this morning, but everyone came early. They probably thought they'd look good if they showed their face even ten minutes early. It was a kind of loyalty competition. Even if I told them not to do that, they did it on their own.

'What shall I do? Shall I make them wait as long as they want? Or… do I have to go down there?.' I thought about for a moment, then patted Ah-young's thigh and said, "I think I should go down. Watch the rest of it alone."

"Huh? Already?"

"Yes, other presidents are already here."

"Really? Can I help you?"

"No. You watch a movie. All I have to do is dress up and go down."

"Okay, oppa."

Heading across the living room from the private theater, I went into the bedroom and entered the dressing room inside. I chose one of the dozens of shirts hanging in my closet, put on pants, a tie, and a jacket. Then as I was going out, I suddenly saw it snowing out the window, and I put on a long coat. It was a kind of cosplay, since my home and company were in the same place, and I had no chance to get caught in the snow outside, but I donned it in respect for the season.

Dressed up, I picked up my cell phone and called Secretary Park. "Yes, I'm heading down."

"Are you coming down now?"

"Yes, they're all together, so I'll give them a laugh, too."

"Yes, boss."

After the call, I came out of my dressing room, out of my bedroom, walked across the living room, out the front door, into the elevator across from the front door, and pressed the down button."Then I'll finish my regular report for the second half of the year."

When Jang's words were over, there was big applause. I glanced from side to side. President Kwon Oh-hyuk of OH Entertainment, Chairman Shin Jae-eun of Hyun Young Pharmaceutical, President Kim Jung-kyun of Blue EM, CEO Chung So-young of Oracle News, CEO Lee Kang-hyun of FutureSync, and President Woo Hae-jin of Changhae Food and President Koo Bon-gil of Songhae Brewing who were the most recent people gathered here, were applauding enthusiastically.

'Umm…' I watched this for a moment. As the applause died down, I opened my mouth, "I've heard your report well." I just said a word, and everyone's eyes were on me. I went on to say, "All of you are doing great, but I'd like to ask for a few things. First, President Kwon Oh Hyuk of OH Entertainment and Jiwoo Entertainment."

Not knowing he would be the first to be called, Kwon Oh-hyuk said with a hurried bow. "Oh yes, boss."

"Are you trying to re-enter China for Nine Tails?"

"Yes, sir. Hanhanlyeong is being taken down and we are going to make a big leap now."

'Well, it's not a very wrong story.' I said, poking up the report in front of me. "But are you trying to set up a joint venture between Korea and China?"

"It is essential to work with the Chinese to get through the Guānxì in China."

'Guānxì is a Chinese word for "human networking or human relationship." In business, it specifically means a connection with the Communist Party. As for all businesses, the entertainment business in particular is one that has to work with people, and we have to read the countenance of the Communist Party a lot. If we look disgusting to them, we can't do business at all.

'A few years ago, Fan Bingbing, the top star in China, was suddenly gone in a moment. It is almost impossible for a Korean entertainment company to enter China unless it cooperates with Chinese locals. Therefore, President Kwon Oh-hyuk is not wrong, if this is usual business.'

I spoke to him, "Will the establishment of a joint venture take place in… April next year?"

"Yes."

"Well, why don't you just slow it down a little to September."

"September? But then it doesn't fit my celebrities' schedules…"

"I know. But… I think it's better to put it off until September."

At my words, Kwon Oh-hyuk looked a little surprised. I'd never really told him what to do in his business. This was the first time that had I intervened in management in earnest. President Kwon Oh-hyuk spoke to me with his head tilted, "But Mr. President, considering our trust…"

He seemed to be reluctant. With the lifting of Hanhanlyeong recently, celebrities from OH Entertainment and Jiwoo Entertainment were selling like hot cakes again. If a joint venture between Korea and China was established, a new world would unfold. Therefore, he was blinded by immediate interests. But I told him clearly. Although I had a close personal relationship with President Kwon, I couldn't be that way in business.

"I think you should put it off until September next year." Then I told him what I really thought, "The financial market may be a little unstable around the beginning of next year. That's why I am doing this."

Kwon nodded for now. "… yes, boss."

He looked a little sullen at the thought of delaying his ambitious project. However, in a little while, he would thank me, as he would avoid a crisis. I then spoke to President Woo Hae-jin of Changhae Food.

"President Woo Hae-jin?"

"Yes, sir."

"You said you were buying a frozen food factory in China."

"Yes, boss."

I rummaged through the report, "When is it…"

"I've been planning it for around June of next year."

"Well, I'd like you to postpone that until September of next year."

"… Shall I do so?" Woo Hae-jin seemed to have made no decision yet.

"Yes, please. Maybe you'll get it for a little cheaper."

"Oh yes. I'll do as you say."

At the end of our conversation, Koo Bon-gil, president of Songhae Brewing, asked me, "Mr. President, our company has been planning to invest in a foundry factory in Hiroshima, Japan, early next year, so should we postpone it a bit?"

"The foundry was the Makgeolli foundry, right? Are lots of Japanese people looking for it these days?"

"Yes, sir."

I rolled my head for a moment, then replied, "That's all right. Go ahead with the original plan."

"Oh, yes, boss."

"And…" I rummaged through one or two more reports, "CEO Lee Kang-hyun?" I called his name.

"Yes, Mr. President." The young CEO popped his head out at me at the end of the table. He was the only one here who was younger than me. Though he was only one year younger, he was also the first person younger than me on this table.

I spoke to him, "How much time is left for the AI conference?"

"In twenty days, sir."

"I see. Will it be held in Silicon Valley?"

"It will be held in San Jose," he spoke in a rather tense voice. He was afraid I was going to tell him what to do.

"Yes, then. Have a good trip."

"Yes?" He opened his eyes wide and replied quickly, "Ah, yes!"

The technology of FutureSync was already complete. All we had to do was promote it. Then, the world's number one, Amazon, with a current market capital of thirteen hundred billion dollars would contact us to buy it.

'The USA… If I have time, shall I go? AI is often found in the future news.'

After the regular report, while all the CEOs and presidents were still dressed up, the gray-haired Chairman Shin Jae-eun came to me and spoke down, "Mr. President." He looked a little cautious.

I answered him, "Yes, Chairman Shin."

Then he carefully pulled out the words. "Are you going to go ahead with the sale of our company's stake?"

I said, nodding my head, "Yes. I think the seller will be chosen within a month or two."

"But… Then… Are you taking a bad view of our company's prospects?" He must be worried that I was selling his own company.

I shook my head, "No, that's not why."

'In fact, Korean pharmaceutical stocks are highly priced, and they tend to be more expensive than sales and cashable assets with future value as collateral. So even now, there are a lot of stocks that are highly priced with such stories – they're working on a cure for cancer, they're on the verge of dementia treatment, and they're cutting cancer off before they get it with gene scissors.

'However, these things are good only when the economy is good and when they can dream. When a bank asks a company to pay back a loan immediately, the account receivables cannot be recovered, and the customer is ruined, the bubble will be the first to be burst.

'Hyun Young Pharmaceutical is a company with some substantial results, but by that time it is likely to be swept away by the atmosphere and the prices of pharmaceutical stocks will fall as a whole.'

I sold it out of concern for that. I spoke reassuringly to the aged chairman, Shin Jae-eun. "We need to secure some cash, so we're selling it. I think the new drug sales will continue to increase, so don't worry too much, Chairman Shin."

He sighed with relief, as if he had heard a fortune-teller's story. "Oh, I see. All right, sir."

To be honest, I didn't know what the stock price would be like after I sold it. There was a high possibility of a fall by the middle of next year. That was why I had bought companies that sold dumplings and made drinks. They were cash-rich companies instead of bubbles.

Looking back on it, it was like just after the 1997 IMF, and during the subprime crisis of 2008, that I was able to become the richest person in Korea. When everyone was in a recession, if they had held cash, it would have been easy to get rich. Whether it had been an apartment in Gangnam, a shopping mall, or a stock, the sales had come cheap.

'As always, we should not be disappointed that we don't have a chance, but that we are unprepared. History repeats itself.'

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With the proposal in front of me, I tapped on the desk without thinking before looking up. Before me stood Vice President Jang, Director Kwon, Director Kim, and a tall, blond-haired, blue-eyed foreigner, beside him.

I spoke to him, "I've received your proposal." At my words, the foreign Director Kim translated it right away. "The executives and I will think it over and talk about it.

The white man nodded at Kim's subsequent remarks.

I stood up and shook hands with him. I asked him, "What hotel are you staying at?"

The man answered right away, "Intercontinental Seoul, next to COEX."

And again, Director Kim translated right away.

'I heard that too.' I told him, thinking about it. "I see. It's your first time in Korea, so you can take a rest and take a tour from place to place. The Jongro is good, and the nearby Seolleung and Jeongneung Royal Tombs are worth seeing."

Listening to Director Kim's interpretation, he covered his hand with his own and told me, "Thank you for welcoming me. I appreciate it."

I nodded and said to Director Kim. "When he goes out, get a taxi for him."

"Yes, boss."

After the four men went out of the office, I came back and looked at the proposal. As always, the core of the proposal was written at the end-$1,500,000,000.

I looked at it and thought, 'It's bigger than I expected.'

As I closed the proposal and looked at the cover page, I could see the logo on the top left, which said 'Pfizer' inside the sky blue circle. It was the company famous for Viagra, and a global pharmaceutical company, with a market capital of more than three hundred billion dollars. It'd only been a few weeks since I found out about this.

[Does CEO Han Sang-hoon get a big hit once again? Pfizer contacts Invictus Investment to buy Hyun Young Pharmaceutical.]

The sales of Hyunyoung Pharmaceutical's new drug for arthritis were gradually increasing in the U.S., and Pfizer seemed to be excited when I put it up for sale. The size of the companies including Tencent, Pfizer, and Amazon that we had been dealing with, had reached a ceiling. There were not many companies that could buy a company just by throwing away a billion dollars in the first place.

'Well, how much more do I call it, then? I thought $1,500,000,000 was a little high…'

I grabbed a pen and wrote '$1,600,000,000' at the top of the report.

'The proposal is one and a half billion… let's raise it by a hundred million. If news of [CEO Han Sang-hoon got a big hit! He sold Hyunyoung Pharmaceutical for $1,600,000,000] comes out in the future news, we'll proceed, but if news of [CEO Han Sang-hoon failed to sell Hyun Young Pharmaceutical. Pfizer expressed reluctance to the counter-proposal] comes out, let's offer a compromise price at around $1,550,000,000.'

'As always, persuading these global corporate buyers is harder than I think. Even if its market capital is hundreds of billions of dollars, they don't like to pay an additional hundred million dollars. In the old saying, it says, "The haves are doing more so." However, the more I invest, the more I think I have to change the saying to "The haves get a lot more."'

'The global financial market is truly bloodless and tearless, and the bigger it is, the more it is like that. At first glance, one and a half billion looks good, but Pfizer must have picked this price to satisfy the seller's mind and buy it cheap.'

'All right, let's make a deal with them. How much can we get more?'

Of course, I was the one who was standing in the lead in this negotiation. I would know the news from the future. I circled the price of $1,600,000,000. But in the meantime, the alarm went off. It was five o'clock. The alarm was for the alumni meeting. When I saw it, I stood up as I turned the alarm off.

'It's already five o'clock.' Thinking about it, I came out of the president's office with my overcoat on.

Secretary Park stood up and bowed his head.

I spoke to him, "You know there is an alumni meeting today, right?

"Oh, yes."

"Get ready to go down there. I'll go up and come back in a second."

"Yes, boss."I took the elevator to the top floor. Ah-young was waiting for me at home. She asked as soon as she saw me. "How was it, oppa?"

"What?"

"Did you have a good conversation with the American?"

Ah-young had been getting to know what was going on in our company lately. I didn't mean to say anything, but she asked me this and that since she had decided to become the queen helpmate.

I said softly, "Director Kim did a great job."

"Hmm… really? So are you going to learn English or not?"

"I'm thinking about it."

"Why?"

"I guess it'll take too long to learn. Honestly, it doesn't cost me much to use a good interpreter. There are people like Director Kim."

"But it's better if you do it yourself. I'll teach you well, oppa."

"All right. I'll think about it." I nodded and pulled the Rolls-Royce key from the car key box, two consecutive letters of capital R on the keychain. "By the way, I'll be going right back down. I am a little late."

"The alumni meeting?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure you don't mind going alone?"

"I have to go alone."

Ah-young looked at me and put her arms around me. Last time she told me, "Do I have to go to the alumni meeting as a bride-to-be?"

Considering the fact that she said that, it seemed undesirable to leave her behind. I told her, "To be honest, I am not going to the alumni meeting today. It's a similar meeting."

"Really? It is not the alumni meeting?"

"Yes. It's just that they call it that, so I call it that, too."

"Really? That's a weird meeting."

I nodded. "It's very strange. The people who gather there are just strange."

But when she heard that, her eyes glistened. "Really? That would be fun. Strange people are funny."

I snorted. "It's not funny, it's not that good. They're boring weird people."

"Really? But why are you going there?"

"For Business… I'm not going there because I want to go. But sometimes what I hear from them helps me do business."

"Hmm… well, then, goodbye, oppa."

I kissed her lightly and then took the elevator to the parking lot on the first basement floor. Secretary Park was waiting for me. I tossed the Rolls-Royce car key to him and said, "Let's go."

"Yes." Secretary Park took the steering wheel, drawing a long breath. "Hoo-hoo."

I saw Secretary Park's face through the rearview mirror. He was usually the owner of a stiff face, but he seemed a little more firm today.

"Why? Are you nervous?"

Park spoke frankly, "Yes. I'm okay when I go to other places. However, I am nervous when I go there."

"Well… is this the third time?"

"That's right." As he said that, he drove the Rolls-Royce out of there.A private bar located in Cheongdam-dong, known to be opened only for foreigners and celebrities on weekends. But even though today was a weekday, it had opened. They rented out the entire building, including this hall in the basement. Garden Royal had their second gathering of the year. I drank only a little, just a cocktail, trying not to get drunk. I didn't open my mouth much here, but I kept my ears open.

Someone said, "What does KJ think about it?"

"Joo Sung-won 6, So Kang-sup 3, Kwak Ji-won 1."

"So it's about the same. Joo Sung-won will be president, right?"

"We can't help it. Han Sang-hoon and Lee Soo-won went away like that, and there isn't another adversary for him."

As the person who had sent Han Sang-hoon and Lee Soo-won away, I only listened without saying much.

"If we don't have any variables, we'll have to line up on the side of Joo Sung-won."

"But he keeps talking about big corporate tax increases in his pledges. Is that okay?"

"No, after getting him elected, we have to control him not to do that. Besides, his term has been reduced to four years. Let's tolerate him for a year or two and when the talk about re-election comes out, we will scare him."

People here weren't too afraid of the president. They had the mindset, 'The president will be there for just four years, but money is eternal.'

When I saw them jeer at the president and his pledges who the people would elect, they were not people I would like. Nevertheless, it was necessary to keep their conversation in mind. The information that came out here was very high-end. Even if I knew the future news, I needed to keep one or two keywords in mind for my searches. I listened to their conversation politely.

But then someone called me, "By the way, CEO Han." I looked over; it was Ko Jin-hee, the chairman of JISUNG Fashion. "Why did you buy a food company recently?"

President Huh Joon-ik of LC Construction also joined in at the remarks. "Oh, I heard that too. Why did our Midas buy it? Will that go a few times too?"

Those who led the nation's big businesses also had no idea of the looming crisis. Even though they were at the top position, Korea was still only a puppet in the global economy. They couldn't know what would happen in the future.

I thought for a moment. 'How many people know this in advance? Perhaps the head of American politics, some of those who are at the peak, and others who lobby the politicians, Jewish capitalists coming out of conspiracy theories…'

I just said with a smile. "It's delicious. Have you ever tried Mix Dumplings?"

Ko Jin-hee shook her head. "No."

Of course not. She was born a princess and must have not eaten frozen dumplings.

"It's delicious for the price. It's easy to cook, so it's popular with college students and self-employed people. If we expand to China or Southeast Asia, we'll probably sell more."

Ko Jin-hee said with a nod, "Oh, I see. I'll tell the maid and try it."

Huh Joon-ik spoke with admiration, "CEO Han Sang-hoon, you have a background from the common people and know what ordinary people like. That's great!" I did not know whether it was a compliment or an insult.

'I'd say it's a compliment, but…'

This was my third time attending this meeting, so I had a rough idea of the characters of the next CEOs. These people basically thought they were nobles, different from ordinary people, and they didn't even think it was a problem. Therefore, they did not think much of speaking out someone's background, except for the only one.

A moment later someone spoke in my ear. "You don't have to pay attention to that. He does it because he does not know anything."

I looked up. It was none other than Tak Joon-gi's cousin, Tak Mun-su of Suyeon Group…

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I looked at Tak Mun-su and thought, 'I don't know if this person is a good person or a bad person.' On the surface, no one was as kind and good as this. If I hadn't seen him killing in the crow's dream, if I'd been invited here, I would have thought this person was a truly trustworthy man. I bowed my head slightly to him in appreciation, for the moment.

Tak Moon-soo received it with a soft smile.

'Umm…' I didn't know if it was because I'd seen it through the dream of Crow before, but every time he laughed, I felt like he was being pretentious. He was like a mannequin with a well-made smile. I watched the others, sipping the cocktail I was holding. The other CEOs of this group had weaknesses, every one. They were excessively narrow-minded, excessively ostentatious, excessively luxurious, excessively detached, or excessively cautious. However, if I thought about their characters the other way, they were also human. They were rich people with billions or tens of billions of dollars of assets, but Tak Mun-su did not feel that way well. It was like dealing with a computer.

He might have thought, 'I'm going to comfort Han Sang-hoon. Then I can give him a good image,' after Heo Joon-ik said what he had.

In a way, he seemed to be very capable, or very impersonal. He was somehow an odd character. I thought, 'How will he react next April?'

I thought of the secret code "TWKC" written on the timetable at the time. That was the first news I saw on vacation when I went to Europe. [Tak Woo-kyung's condition is critical and he is unconscious after a heart attack.]

'If his father, who is hale and hearty, suddenly falls into a death crisis, he will face a great ordeal. If Tak Woo-kyung dies, he'll pay an inheritance tax of 50%. Currently, Chairman Tak Woo-kyung's assets are worth more than ten billion dollars. Tak Woo-kyung has been dodging inheritance taxes by giving out the prime businesses to Tak Mun-su and providing him with a lot of work to do, but it has not been enough to pass over that much money.'

He might have thought his father would live another ten years. However, even the richest man in Korea could not escape death. Of course, he wasn't dying right away.

I kept searching for Tak Woo-kyung and found that he didn't die after losing consciousness from the heart attack. [The cause of the heart attack of Tak Woo Kyung's heart attack is an acute myocardial infarction.]

[Chairman Tak Woo-kyung is hospitalized in the VIP room of Seoul National University Hospital. He is unable to move, but conscious.]

But considering his age, it was highly likely that he would not last much longer. I felt Tak Mun-su might lose the smile at the corners of his mouth.

'Hmm…' I glanced at Tak Mun-su, downing the rest of the cocktail. Maybe it was because they were cousins. Looking at him reminded me of the face of Tak Joon-gi. Then, I recalled the data that Tak Joon-gi had investigated, and the will that was written there: When Tak Woo-kyung dies, I will detonate a nuclear bomb.

I thought I would be busy sometime in April and July next year.I brought my hand to the mouth of the dragon sculpture. The water from the mouth was very hot.

'Is it too hot?' I then put my hand in the outdoor bath. The water was just right as it cooled a little in the cold wind. 'That's enough.'

I turned my head and said, "Everything is ready here." Then I threw away the robe I was wearing and went in. It was just the right temperature.

"Oho!…" I looked up at the sky with a shout. The winter sky of December was visible at a glance. Thanks to the hot, open-air heat of the outdoor bath, I could watch the scenery while completely naked. Ah-young appeared with a tray in her hands.

"How do you feel? Is it warm?" She was only wearing a long towel.

"If you don't come in quickly, you'll catch a cold."

"Yes, wait a minute." Ah-young put the tray down next to me; a gourd bottle with some Japanese words, cider cans, and fish cake skewers were on the tray.

"What are they?"

"The outdoor bath reminds me of Japan, so I prepared them. They are hot fish cake skewers and sake, Mr. CEO."

"Oh yes. They look good."

Ah-young came into the bath with her hands on the tie of the towel. Then she asked, pouring sake to the glass, "So, what are you going to do with one and a half billion dollars?"

I corrected her words by taking a glass from her. "Not one and a half, but 1.58 billion dollars." I opened the cider can with my other hand and poured it into her glass.

"Does that make any difference when the numbers get so big?" She told me.

"Well, eighty million dollars is huge."

Ah-young and I tinked glasses and took a one-shot of the sake. A hot fire poured down my throat. I breathed deep, as if I could exhale that fiery energy. "Hoo…"

Yesterday afternoon, I had signed a contract to sell the stake in Hyun Young Pharmaceutical owned by Invictus Investment to Pfizer for 1.58 billion dollars. I tried 1.65 billion dollars as a counter offer, but after looking at the failed deal in the future news, I called it at 1.6 billion dollars, and it was counter-offered at 1.58 billion dollars. I decided to sell it there without dragging things out further.

First of all, it was not a bad price, and second, I decided it was time to raise the cash. So, I sold it. As a result, Invictus Investment had secured 1.58 billion dollars from Pfizer, following up on the two billion dollars from Tencent gained from selling Kai Games to them. A total of 3.58 billion dollars was no doubt enough to say that the ammunition for the next battle had been secured.

Ah-young handed me a fish cake skewer and said, "So what are you going to do with 1.58 billion dollars?"

"Well… I'll have to invest somewhere else."

"Umm, are you investing again?"

"Yes, money is bound to rot if it stays still."

There are two main enemies for the rich. The first is taxes, and the second is inflation. Although the tax goes out, it only does so if money comes in. If money stays still, the expense going out is inflation, chipping away at the value of each dollar every day. As a result, most rich people don't hold much cash for a long time. Most of them invest in stocks, bonds, or real estate, even if they are in debt. This is because they know that there is a greater increase in asset value there than the decrease from the inflation rate.

Ah-young asked me, "What are you going to do with your continued earnings?"

It was a simple, but quite essential question. I thought it over, and replied, "First of all, I will be the richest person in Korea. That way, I'll be able to live without anyone's help. I'm thinking of running out there for now. And then I think of something else."

As I said that, I recalled the gathering of the Garden Royale the other day. If I was not at the level to overpower all of them, I could not be said to be at the peak of Korea.

"Well, okay. What are you going to buy this time?"

"Well, I'm not buying anything this time. I'm thinking of selling it."

"You selling?"

"Yes. There are some financial products that sell things that I don't have: sell them first and buy it later and give it back."

"Well, is it… Is this a short stock sale? That's too bad. I thought I'd buy it too, if you were buying something." Everyone around me was talking about the same thing.

I told her, "No way. Investors don't make money by copying someone. You can make a quick buck, but you'll end up losing it. Just be ready to go to my parents' home next month. That's your best investment."

Ah-young replied, pouring sake again to my empty glass. "Well, I got that!"

In the meantime, I chewed a fish cake skewer she had given me. It tasted better than expected. "Wow, this is delicious."

"That's right, isn't it?"

Ah-young had been learning in the culinary academy for half a year. Her skill had been rapidly improving. Whether her major in art helped her with her dexterity or not, she had her own talent for this.

"Yes, if I do this for your parents, I'll be accepted right away as good at cooking."

"Are they ready for this?"

"Yes."

To be honest, my parents rarely opposed what I said now. I had bought them a big building and made them secure in their old age. Therefore, if I said something, it would usually go, "Yes, do it however you want."

Of course, welcoming a daughter-in-law was a different matter, but I thought they'd like to see Ah-young as well. She had been really nice to me lately. I was sure my parents would agree, if she were in their eyes.

Ah-young said, leaning against my shoulder. "Then shall I have some side dishes when I go there? They can try them."

"That wouldn't be bad, either. My parents don't like to go out to eat, even for expensive food. So if they see their daughter-in-law serving rice and side dishes this way…"

But then my cell phone on the back of the dragon's head rang. I reached out and picked it up. When I pressed the call button, Vice President Jang gasped and made a loud noise.

"Boss! We have a big deal."

"Big deal? What's the big deal?"

To be honest, I didn't have anything big to do. I'd already know if there was a really big deal through the future news. I spoke calmly, "What's the matter, Vice President Jang?"

"Oh, I got a call from Amazon. They want to take over FutureSync."

'Oh… that's it.' I took a deep breath and shouted, "Really? From Amazon?"

At any rate, it was the hardest thing to pretend to be normal. When I made an agreeable response, Jang said even more excitedly, "I heard that at the last Silicon Valley conference, a senior executive at Amazon was impressed by FutureSync's technology. They say the Amazon MA team will come to Korea soon to bargain."

I stood up from the open outdoor bath and said, "Oh, really? That's great. I am going to sell it soon."

I decided to go through the sales process without further dragging on this time. The year was about to change from 2020 to 2021. I didn't have any more time to relax.

"Then we'll prepare an MA negotiation team right away."

"Yes, Vice President. I ask a favor of you."

When I finished talking, I put my cell phone back in place. Ah-young was looking up at me. "What's going on?" she asked.

I hugged Ah-young's shoulder with one hand, and said, lifting up a sloshing glass of sake with the other hand, "Everything is going well."

"Hmm. You've never really lost…"

"That's why I named it Invictus Investment, because I have not been defeated." I drank a second glass of sake. Now all the preparations were over. It was time for the fire-breathing dragon to rise.

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I opened my eyes, finding that Ah-young was not in the bed. I got up from it and walked out of the bedroom. The sharp smell from the kitchen irritated my nose. I rubbed my eyes and said to the kitchen. "You woke up early, didn't you? Is it kimchi stew today?"

I could hear Ah-young's voice from the kitchen. "Yes. I'm trying tuna kimchi stew today. Wash yourself and eat."

"Yes." I was about to head to the shower when I suddenly looked outside. Thick snow was falling from the sky, blanketing Seoul in white. I looked at it silently with my arms crossed.

Ah-young touched my shoulder and asked, "What are you thinking?"

"No, I just… thought it was snowing a lot."

"It will be spring soon."

I repeated Ah-young's words, "Is it going to be spring…?" It seemed that it had not been long since the New Year's countdown took place, but it was already mid-February. "Did it happen already?"

As I said that, Ah-young patted me on the back and said, "Mr. President, you've been so busy lately that time seems to be running faster."

I had indeed been a little busy lately. As the year changed to 2021, I worked harder than usual. I finished the sale of the FutureSync, checking the subsidiaries. However, the knowledge that there was a tsunami coming soon, seemed to make me nervous. In any case, all the work settled in a cool way. I sold a 51% stake of FutureSync to Amazon for 1.2 billion dollars and took the cash. As a result, my company had nearly five billion dollars in cash.

The media wrote such articles.

[About five billion dollars in cash alone. What's the next step for Invictus Investment?]

[CEO Han Sang-hoon, preparing for some giant MA, will load five billion dollars into bullets.]

[What's the next target for CEO Han Sang-hoon? Is it about to acquire a global pharmaceutical company?]

But I had not moved, not touching the money. It was not the right time yet. Besides, I couldn't move easily, as there were many eyes watching me these days.

'The more information is spread, the less valuable it becomes.'

I was about to move quietly so that others could not notice. I asked Ah-young, "What are you doing today? If you don't mind, shall we go somewhere today?"

"I'm going to go shopping with your mother and sister today."

My eyes popped wide. "Oh, really?"

"Yes, I told you two days ago. Your mother will come up today and I will be attending to her by going shopping."

Come to think of it, I might have heard it. I asked, "Then… shall I come with you?"

"No, oppa, don't come. If you don't come, I can become better acquainted with them."

I looked at her and nodded, "… yes."

Ever since she had visited my parents' house, Ah-young had been quietly getting into my family. Fortunately, both sides liked one another. We were gradually moving toward marriage, although we didn't mention the word 'marriage' directly.

'If lovers have faith in each other, as always, they don't have to take it out of their mouths and say it.'

I made up my mind to get married later this year or early next year, when the incident in the summer was over.At 8:30 a.m., I took the elevator down to work in the president's office. "Good morning."

"Good morning, boss!" Secretary Park greeted me.

"How's it going?"

"Oh yes. Nothing much. We got a call from MBE. They want you to appear in 'Meet the Super Ant' again. Viewers' requests are pouring in."

I could guess the story roughly. They bought Changhae Food and Songhae Brewing along with me, but the price went up slightly and it didn't go up any more, so they'd like to ask me why.

"Tell them it's difficult. I'm so busy."

"Yes, I see, boss."

To be honest, I wasn't too busy to go on the show again, but I said that for now. The only thing the public wanted to hear from me was that Changhae Food and Songhae Brewing would go double or triple.

But to tell the truth, it would be good if both stocks did not fall. Even the price that had gone up after the people bought these stocks was likely to vanish. It was better to shut up when I couldn't talk. Moreover, I was didn't want to see the announcer with bobbed-hair who had tried to seduce me by giving me her phone number.

Before going into the president's office, I told Secretary Park. "Ji-hoon is coming today, isn't he?"

"Yes, he is."

Seo Ji-hoon, who had worked as a secretary until last year, had phoned me and said, "I will drop by your company. It's not for any matter, but for a startup interim report and a New Year's greeting."

"Yes, it's been a while since the three of us have had a meal."

"Yes."

Entering the president's office, I read the future news, searched for news in my name, and turned on the HTS to activate the automatic trading algorithm, as usual. The computer brought in more money by trading stocks, as I had programmed it.

To praise myself, I'd made a lot of donations to children who had cancer, soldiers who had been disabled while serving in the military, or children who gave up college because they didn't have money. I had started this because of my reputation, but now that a few billion dollars had come into our company, I was doing it because I thought I had to. It was noblesse oblige.

Of course, even if I would take a shower at home with a bunch of money, or would spend it around the entertainment district in Gangnam, the email of 12 Hours After would come, and Customer Service would not say anything. However, I felt that if I did not return this money to society after making money through great luck, it would not make sense somehow. I had enough money for the rest of my life, and I was sure I'd make more in the future.

Around lunch time, the telephone rang. I picked up the phone in anticipation of the loud voice of Secretary Park. But what I heard was Seo Ji-hoon's voice, which was slightly higher than his.

"Mr. President, I'm here." He must have picked up Park's phone and said it himself.

"Come in," I said with a smile.

Soon the rather frivolous Seo came in and greeted me. "How are you?"

I clapped him on the shoulder, and said, "I'm always fine. By the way, you've lost a lot of weight."

"I've been so busy lately that I don't have time to eat."

"Yes, you should be busy, as you are working with my money. Sit down."

Seo Ji-hoon took a seat in the president's office.

"So, are things going well?"

"Yes, we've got all the manpower we need, and now we're starting to develop. Please take a look." He handed me a few sheets of A4.

'Chat apps with big data collection and utilization.'

This was one of the ideas I used to think about when I had been preparing for a start-up with him in college.

"Do you really want to try this again?"

"Yes. I have enough capital this time, so I'm going to try it again."

"Well… the problem at the time was capital and regulation."

"Even advanced countries, which value personal privacy, have recently removed restrictions under the condition that they should have with a user's consent. Wouldn't Korea follow them?"

"Well, I feel that Korea is a bit conservative in regulation…" As I was saying that, I suddenly remembered that I would be able to make some adjustments to domestic policy. So I corrected what I was going to say and said to him, "But since a new president will be chosen this year, a little change might be made. Try hard first. Only those who are prepared can take the chance."

"Yes."

I put the report aside. "So where are you going to set up your company?"

"It's in Pangyo. There are a lot of people with abilities sitting there."

"Hmm, I see."

"Oh, that's what I wanted to ask you."

"What is it?"

"We are thinking of buying an office. The rent we're about to pay is very high, and it's better to start by buying an office with a few hundred thousand dollars than to pay for fixed expenses…"

"Wouldnt it be better to do it on a short-term lease?"

"Shall we?"

"Yes. In my opinion."

He said, nodding his head. "Hmm… as expected."

"As expected?"

"No, there's been a rumor going around these days; you have been just disposing of all the stocks you have and holding cash only. Therefore, I think the economy is going to be a little bad."

I nodded and looked out of the window. "The nature of things is really fun. It's like every new thing that happens, but if we look into the past, there's definitely a similar thing, so history repeats itself, I think it's true."

When I suddenly came up with a history story, Ji-hoon listened to me quietly. I kept talking. "When the economy is in a boom, people get wet with sweet dreams. House prices go up every day, and stock prices go up. The factories are running fast, and a new building is just around the corner. But when that dream doesn't come true, when the products from the factory aren't sold and they pile up in stock and the new building's empty, it becomes a nightmare."

I said with my hands on my chin, "But nevertheless, people repeat it. Looking at modern world history, it's all the same. In any country, they've all experienced it once, especially in Northeast Asian countries. They're very similar. They're diligent, their enthusiasm for education is high, and their culture is too much alike. They're basically manufacturing-based, export-based countries. When a buyer disappears, they will be hurting soon."

I swallowed and kept talking. "Japan had its peak in the 1980s as they crossed to the U.S., but after the Plaza Accord, they lost thirty years. Korea copied Japan and its chaebol-dominated government grew with great success, but growth has been stunted since the IMF hit the country in the 1990s. The captain didn't let that happen."

Ji-hoon asked me, "The captain?"

"Yes. America. Needless to say, the United States is the current head of the economic system." I asked him, "Think about it. Where will that happen next?"

Japan, South Korea… the next country was obvious.

Ji-hoon saw the answer right away. "Do you mean China?"

I kept talking, looking out the window. "The Plaza Accord was a blatant U.S. attack on Japan, and the foreign exchange crisis was also done at the connivance of the U.S. In the first place, the lack of foreign exchange means using dollars. And that's exactly what China is like now. When Deng Xiaoping died in 1997, he told his successors that they should crouch in front of the U.S. for the next hundred years. But do you think his will is being followed now?"

Ji-hoon shook his head at my words.

I told him, "Go rent an office for now. The owner of a building will not be comfortable."

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February 2021. As usual, I sat in the president's office and watched the monitor. When it rang, I picked up the ringing phone right away. I could hear Secretary Park's voice. "We're all here, boss."

I got up from my seat, fixed my jacket and left the office. Secretary Park accompanied me. Instead of taking the elevator, we went down just one floor using the emergency stairs. Right below the president's office was the conference room. I walked in and said to Secretary Park, "What about wiretaps or anything?"

"I've checked everything."

"Yes. Good job." I entered the conference room with that remark. Inside the conference room, four people were standing waiting for me: Vice President Jang, Director Kim, Director Chung, and Director Kang. The four people had all been the core of the company that had been supporting me since the founding of Invictus Investment. They bent their heads to me and greeted me, "Are you here, boss?"

I sat in the chief's seat at the end of the table, gesturing at the same time. "Sit down, please."

The four executives sat down at my instruction. I then winked at Secretary Park and he came forward and said, "Before we start the meeting, Vice President Jang and all the directors, please take out your cell phones and give them to me."

Vice President Jang and the directors looked up at Secretary Park and then at me. I nodded. They rummaged through their pants and took out their cell phones.

"Please understand. Today's meeting is a serious matter, so I have to pay special attention to security. It's not that I don't trust you, but the smartphones can be used deceptively. I'll return your cell phones right after the meeting."

As I spoke, four people bent their heads. Secretary Park took them one by one, bowed to me and left the main conference room. Now there were only five people left in the big conference room, including me. I took a look at the left and right sides. Vice President Jang and Director Chung on the right, and Director Kim and Director Kang on the left, all looking at me in a slightly nervous state. It was the first time since the company had been founded that key members were suddenly called in and their cell phones taken.

"Ahem." Once I cleared my throat, I said to them, "The reason I asked you to come today…" Naturally, all four people's eyes were on me.

"Starting today, I'm making a bet on the company's best fortune. If we win here, Invictus Investment will be a company that will be ranked one of the nation's top businesses, but if we fail here, we'll probably have to close."

Someone gulped. I continued carefully. "The biggest issue of our time, I think, is the hegemonic war between the United States and China. This is a huge, invisible war, fighting over the hegemony of the world. 2018 was three years ago. I think that's where Donald Trump started the U.S.-China trade war when he started imposing tariffs on China. And of course, at the time, it looked like it was being properly sutured, expanding imports of U.S. products, removing state subsidies from several companies and strengthening the yuan. China accepted U.S. demands."

They were listening to me in silence. I went on, "However, I think the end of the negotiations was not the end of the U.S. war with China, but the beginning of the attack. Let's think of Japan in the 1980s. The Plaza Accord forced the yen to appreciate, but since then, Japan has been on a downward spiral, losing price competitiveness at high exchange rates. The merchandise that used to be selling well did not.

"In the meantime, Korea, which had relatively low exchange rates, took advantage of the opportunity to take the position of Japan and achieved tremendous growth. However, Korea fell into the same situation as Japan in the 2010s. China's low-cost workforce and low-exchange rates have put all of Korea's major industries at risk, whether it's consumer electronics, shipbuilding, IT or chemicals."

As I talked, all of them nodded. Up to this point, it was something that anyone in the investment industry could find in textbooks.

"Two years ago, in 2019, China ended up appreciating the yuan under pressure from the U.S. That temporarily led to China's short-term bull run, with its purchasing power increasing and its stock prices rising. But so did Japan's. Even after the Plaza Accord, Japan also had a boom for several years. Was that not so?"

Vice President Jang agreed here. "Yes, sir, it was."

"But now China is going through the same situation. The forced appreciation of the yuan seems to have improved the purchasing power of the people, but exports are worsening. In the midst, the debt for the high growth rate that they've been using to support their growth is holding back. If China's economy is shaken a little bit here, it's going to be attacked by international speculators, including hedge funds in the U.S., with the approval of the U.S. government."

At my words, Director Chung told me, "But Mr. President, the hypothesis is problematic. America's imports and China's exports… If it's enough to shake the system… even if the U.S. were to hit China, they would suffer a lot too."

I nodded. It usually came as a rebuttal to this hypothesis. "There's a saying that you get a big victory instead of losing a small amount of money. I think the U.S. will make enough sacrifices to maintain its global hegemony, because it's China. Let's think of Japan, which went through the same thing. Japan has no nuclear weapons, and has little power but its navy to protect its island. Even the U.S. Pacific Fleet is stationed there. In fact, the U.S. allowed Japan to live together. Japan hasn't attacked the U.S. since the Pearl Harbor air strike in World War II."

I tapped the table twice and carried on my words. "But China is different, and it is no wonder. China is a country with great potential. They have a huge population and a great zeal for education… and they have nuclear weapons. Like the former Soviet Union, they can be a competitor, challenging American hegemony. They were actually going to do that. However, I don't think the U.S. will tolerate that."

Jang added to my remarks. "That's what I think. If the U.S. is looking for a country that can make things at a really low price, there's another alternative besides China. In the same Pacific region, there's Indonesia with the world's fourth-largest population, and there's India, a little bit further, going beyond China to the top of the population. China is too big to grow together. I think the U.S. could break the momentum down here."

I continued, clasping my hands here. "Looking back, there's been a lot of strange signs in the Chinese economy lately. Jiwoo Entertainment, which we acquired, was one such case. A large Chinese company bought a Korean company at a high price and sold it in a hurry. The company had no problem at all. There's been a little bit more of that strange thing going on lately, so… I think the collapse is not far off. I have a hunch that…"

Director Kang blurted out, his eyes narrowed, "The collapse?"

"Yes. The collapse. Chinese companies have blocked it with debt, but they may eventually go bankrupt, from small companies to big ones. Then there's going to be a problem for the banks, too. I think that's going to create a credit crunch, and that's going to cause the yuan to fall steeply. China will go through the same foreign exchange crisis as our country did in the IMF, but the United States will turn its eyes. China will not breathe comfortably for years."

Director Kang told me, "Mr. President, isn't it dangerous for our country, too? Our country has become more dependent on China than the U.S. in recent years."

I nodded. "Of course. Our country will also have a big crisis."

"Then let's move the money to safe assets…" When he said that, he stopped talking. He was the one who had turned our Invictus Investment's cash into gold and silver…

I smiled. "That's what Vice President Jang has been doing since the middle of last year; selling your company, reducing investment, transferring assets to safe assets. I was going to do this much and just watch, staying away from the casino table for a while. But as time went by, I was more and more convinced. I'm sure the crisis in China's economy is just around the corner. So, I started thinking, not just about curling up, but about being aggressive."

It was an honest remark. After the news I had seen half a year ago when I was traveling abroad, news about China continued to pour in from the "Economy" and "World" categories.

I put my hands flat and came to the point. "Listen carefully. In the next few months, our company will short sell the yuan and China. I am going to buy asset puts in China, regardless of whether it is in the U.S., Singapore, Hong Kong, or it is direct foreign exchange investment in the FX market. We will invest all of five billion dollars that we have in cash."

As I spoke, the directors, as well as Vice President Jang, were stunned.

"All five billion dollars in cash?"

I answered calmly, "Yes."

Vice President Jang also spoke up cautiously. "Boss, isn't that too dangerous?"

Director Kang also said, "There is a saying that even God doesn't know the exchange rate. Boss, you're planning too risky an investment."

Director Chung joined the group. "The yen has stabilized since the Plaza Accord. Will the yuan fall like that?"

I told him stories based on what I had seen in the future news. "The yen was able to hold out because the U.S. allowed Japan to live together with them. They let them live through the lost thirty years, and then they went through a painful deflation. But China is different. The U.S. thinks of China as a real threat. So it's probably going to lead to a state bankruptcy. They will take away its G2 status and will not let it recover for years at the same time."

As I spoke, Director Chung couldn't object any more. I talked about more future knowledge here. "If we think about the International Monetary Fund (IMF), we can see that our country was also raised by the U.S. and died by the U.S. We gained weight rapidly when the foreign exchange came in, but was almost twisted to death when it escaped. But then they saved our country's life. For the U.S., Korea is a good listener. If the sheep is mild, the owner simply cuts the wool and raises it again. But what if the sheep grows too big? And what if it wants to attack its master? The owner might kill the sheep that grew too big. I think that's what's going to happen."

At what I said, Vice President Jang and the directors only rolled their eyes at each other and couldn't speak any more. They couldn't disobey me in the first place. Our company never received any investments from anyone. There was no other shareholder or such person to oppose my decision.

I spoke clearly here, "Sell China, that is the keynote of our company this year. You know that; please move on it!"

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After the meeting with the company executives, our company began to buy China-related short-selling assets, such as FX yuan selling, Shanghai Stock inverse leverage, and Hong Kong Hang Seng foot option, very quietly and secretly. We joined hands little by little if they were betting on falling Chinese-related assets in various markets – Korea, the U.S., China, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

Originally I had planned a very aggressive FX foreign exchange transaction, but Jang's dissuasion shifted my mind to diversified investment. "If you do that, you could lose your entire fortune in real time."

The future news for me did not exactly say what the yuan would be on which date and month, or where the Shanghai Index would be. All I could see was the approximate direction. As Jang said, falling assets could go up in a day or two. If I were very unlucky after making an extreme bet, the loss could be too big to handle. In other words, the worst-case scenario was not only about losing money, but also about being demoted back to the Gold or Platinum Class. It might take years to come back. So I carried out the sale of Chinese assets on a somewhat common-sense level, though it seemed to be crazy to the general public. I was sorry, but it was okay.

'Originally, all economic cycles are like four seasons, so there's reconstruction after the crisis, there's a boom after the reconstruction. In any economy, once it's ruined, it's just a rip-off. If I buy the items cheaply with the money I earn then, I will earn several times as much money during the economic reconstruction. After it goes down, when it goes back up, I'll make a lot of money twice. So if I can figure out the inflection point of an asset, if I know the timing of the seasons, I can sweep the money completely.'

And I was getting the timing right. 'It will be July of this year.'

Perhaps some of the global hedge funds were aware that the summer of the global economy would be over, and that a harsh winter was coming after the fall.

According to reports from several directors, they were hearing such news.

[China Inverse Leverage is getting a little pricey.]

[Personal foreign exchange dealers are selling the yuan at a little less than the stated exchange rate.]

[Hedge fund Yellowstone has decided to dispose of its shares in Alibaba. The discount rate is quite high.]

They were seeing strange signs not only in our company, but also elsewhere. The Garden Royale Spring Conference in March also had such stories. I did not say anything, especially when it came to the future news. The third and fourth generation of chaebol who attended the meeting also talked about China.

"Weve decided to scale down our Chinese distribution business a bit."

"Why?"

"Some of the directors tacked the business plan, and they said the atmosphere was weird. This year, China's economy could be in a bit of a slump, so we cut back on our investment."

As I listened, I had thought, 'A bit of a slump? It's not a bit of a slowdown, but the Great Depression. The directors are idiots. No… not idiots, maybe they are too smart.'

Some directors who had tackled the issue might have made a correct prediction, but failed to give him proper advice, as I read the owner's countenance.

'The owner is motivated to run a business, no one can say, "We need to withdraw now." Even if they say it directly, they should say it properly so that it doesn't hurt the owner's feelings. Directors have a high salary, but they're all contract workers. If they save their position, they can earn one or two more years' salary. In any case, the future is an area of uncertainty for humans.'

The directors might not want to be responsible for that alone, saying 'It has to be this way. It has to be like that.' It would be safe and good to avoid danger saying, 'It could be this way. It could be that way.'

"How much did you cut?"

"70% or so."

'You should've reduced it to zero.'

Although they were at the top of the nation, none of these people were actively moving, even though they noticed some signs. It was inevitable. No matter how much they were aware of this situation, it was hard to think The Great Depression was coming to China.

And as I watched them, there was also a personal bias problem for these people. Unlike his great-grandfather, grandfather, and the generation who had founded large companies on bare ground, the third and fourth-generation chaebol lacked the spirit of challenge and looked toward stability.

They only took the so-called 'safety bread' that would win an economy of scale with inherited money. Betting their good fortune, like their ancestors, did not go well. That might be how the nation's economy had grown.

"There's going to be a slowdown in China? Our group's economic research team says that it will be fine. What do you think, CEO Han?"

Some of them asked me for my opinion, but I just replied like a real professional investor, "It could be dangerous. I think it's better to be careful."

This was the way people predicted the future of asset prices, regardless of stock and real estate.

'I think it's better…'

'You'd better do it…'

They would say something in vague terms. It would be good to be right, or it would be bad to be wrong. They would not mind if it was right or not. In fact, it was just a vague statement that they could escape from easily.

Someone who had a good grasp of my psychology said, "Come on, CEO Han. Please talk about it honestly. You're the best professional here. Up or down, what is it?"

It was a management-like breakthrough, but I managed to get away with it. "Nobody knows about the future. There's a saying in the stock market: stocks are not forecasting, but responding. Watch how the economic indicators in China come out, how the exchange rate moves and how the stock market flows. Respond carefully. Then at least you won't lose."

I was a little bit conscience-stricken when I said that. I didn't predict the future, but knew it regardless. And the economic indicators were not at all reliable because China was a country that had authoritarian aspects in economy and politics, and so they often manipulated statistics to make a good impression on their superiors. In fact, the economic indicators were still coming out good now, just five months before the date. They didn't know how rotten it was in the real world.

In the meantime, Tak Mun-su gave me some support again. "Don't be so hard on CEO Han Sang-hoon. He's not even our sole adviser."

He was always a good man to me. I didn't know why he did that for me. However, it was hard to believe that he was a good man. I had seen him say "Let him go" on the roof of Suyeon Travel. I couldn't regard him well because of the way he had tapped his wrist with one hand.

He still had a friendly face, and when I looked at him, I naturally thought 'Will that smiling expression go on until the fall?'In April, two scheduled events took place. First, Tak Mun-su's father, Tak Woo-kyung, was taken to the emergency room for acute myocardial infarction, as the news had said. He was quite healthy for his early seventies, but suddenly he had a heart attack. As the owner of a large company, a medical professional would have been assisting him. In any case, life and death seemed to be in the hands of providence.

Of course, if I had a heart attack, I would have gone to the hospital and been lying down, but most of the few people who were able to understand when Tak Woo-kyung was taken to the hospital would have thought like so:

'If Tak Woo-kyung dies so suddenly, there's a problem with the inheritance tax.'

'So, what happens to Suyeon Group's succession process?'

However, such news never came out in the media. It seemed that Suyeon Group was checking on it so that it would not be an issue.

I recalled Tak Joon-gi's words, "When Tak Woo-kyung dies, I will look for a chance," but I decided to watch the moves for now. There was something more important in the near future. I'd been busily spending every day watching and listening to Chinese stories on the future news, and getting reports from directors about investments, rather than following their moves currently.

The second scheduled event was none other than the presidential election. The presidential vote was on the second of May. Another presidential race was held about a month before the vote. Just as I prepared the way, Mayor Joo Sung-won was definitely in first. In the People Search, Joo Sung-won was the constant winner.

What was a little sad was that Mayor Joo Sung-won would face a major crisis as soon as he was elected president. He came up with an ambitious pledge to ease regulations, support low-income families, enhance welfare, support small businesses, and promote start-ups. He would not be able to complete that pledge to help the Korean economy once it started staggering due to the financial crisis in China.

[President Joo Sung-won visited Sejong City and ordered all preparations to prevent damage by the financial crisis.]

[President Joo Sung-won will check whether the savings bank is insolvent.]

[President Joo Sung-won provides public funds to companies on the verge of bankruptcy.]

'In fact, there is a certain level of luck in managing state affairs, but he doesn't seem to be very lucky…'

As I knew the results anyway, I didn't pay much attention to the presidential election itself, but I found out what happened afterwards.

'The presidential election will be held on May Second… So, when will he be taking office? Previously, a new president took office about two months after the vote. This time, with the constitutional revision reducing the current president's term by a year, the voting is in early May and his term will immediately begin in late May. So, Joo Sung-won will take office as president in late May, and just two months later, he will face a financial crisis originating from China.'

Seeing that, I decided to help him a little bit while I was busy."Secretary Park, call Chung So-young, CEO of Oracle News, and have her come see me today."

One day in April, I called Chung So-young to the president's office.

"Did you call me, boss?" CEO Chung So-young appeared in a vividly colored suit, as always. Although she was growing older, she seemed to be getting more attractive. I knew it was not common, but sometimes there were lucky women like her.

'Why is she still single?' I told her, thinking about it. "I'd like to put a story I want on Oracle News, as I said last year."

"What kind of editorial do you want?"

"It's about the economy. The title is…" I hit the table a couple of times with my fingertips and said, "How can we respond to Chinas financial crisis? I'd like to do that."

She said, with slightly wider eyes, "Are you going to write it yourself?"

I nodded. "Yes. I'll write it. But it's a secret, absolutely a secret. Don't let it slip outside."

"Yes, sir. If you send us the manuscript, we'll send it out after we do the proofreading."

"Yes, please."

After Chung So-young left the president's office, I began writing the manuscript right away, based on what I had seen in the future news. It was an editorial that actually showed the President how to get out of the crisis by managing the state. And the next president, Joo Sung-won, would certainly see the article, as he was still on my leash.

Korea's large trade volume with China made it impossible to avoid the impact of the economic crisis in China, but he might at least take measures to ease the shock if he managed the state affairs this way.

There were two benefits that I could gain from this. The first was to win the trust of President Joo Sung-won. If he saw the editorial in Oracle News go right, President Joo Sung-won would trust me more and rely on me. Then it was clear that my influence on the government would grow even bigger. Second, for a simpler reason, I was also a businessman. If the country did well, I would do better in many ways!

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Above the empty A4 paper, only the cursor was flashing. I faced it and breathed deeply, my arms crossed.

I'd seen a lot of news over the past few years, whether it had been future news or real news, but it was not easy to write my own manuscript.

'How can Korea respond to China's financial crisis?' After picking out the title and staring at the monitor for almost an hour, I turned to the right to check the current time. It was 2:00 p.m. I called in Chung So-young, and I said confidently, "I'll send you the manuscript before you leave today, so please review it right away." However, when I tried to write it, not a single line came out easily.

'I said it would be there before you leave, so I have to write it within three hours or four hours at the latest… Is this what writers who suffer from writer's block feel like?,' I thought, my arms still crossed.

'Shall I ask her to extend the deadline a little bit? I'm going to stop by a quiet cafe and write something tonight. Even if that's the case, CEO Chung So-young won't criticize me. No, I said that this morning. If I ask for an extension, my authority as the president of the parent company will be reduced. Let's just do it. No, there's something important going on at the company, so I could say that. Now I'm handling a billion dollars of money, and it's more important. It's quite thinkable. That's right… but if I put it off like that, I won't be able to write it.'

I'd been fighting inside myself, I took a long breath, reached for the keyboard, and managed to write the first sentence. 'The biggest topic running through the world in this era is the hegemonic war between the U.S. and China.'"The biggest topic that runs through the world in this era is the hegemonic war between the U.S. and China. You wrote this?" Ah-young asked me when she looked at me while looking at the Internet page with my editorial on it.

"Yes. How is it?" I said, nodding my head.

"I think you wrote it well. It's a difficult story, but I can read it easily."

"It's probably because experts touched it up. It wasn't this good at first."

"That's great, though. You wrote and posted it this way."

"But writing is harder than I thought." I smiled a bit bitterly when I saw her.

"I agree. I think I'd have a hard time writing that long. Well done, our CEO. Anyway, you wrote a good article." Ah-young came behind me and massaged me on the shoulders.

"Hoo… but I think I'll probably have to write three or four more times," I said with a sigh.

"Hmm? Why?"

"Well… because of patriotism?"

"Patriotism? What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Ah-young did not understand clearly what I was talking about, but I didn't tell her the inside story.

"There is. It's like… Oh, and it's a secret that I wrote this. Don't tell even my family or anyone else."

"… really? Hmm. Okay."

At my serious tone, Ah-young tilted her head, but accepted my words for now. The editorial in Oracle News was a very secret communication channel.

'If this turns out to be my direct talking to the president, I may be caught off guard and criticized by the public. Good or bad, our people don't have very good feelings for hidden power. In the first place, hidden power negates representative democracy.'

In any case, I regularly wrote and released the following editorials until the election and the inauguration.

[The Korean government should cut back on corporate investment in China.]

[We must be fully prepared for the financial crisis originating from China.]

[We must reduce our excessive credit and shake off false entries.]

[Now is the time to tighten up rather than invest.]

Then, the results came out, and it worked!President Joo Sung-won, who was inaugurated as the twentieth president of the Republic of Korea in May 2021, had already put the brakes on investment into China by the government, which was implemented at the same time he formed a cabinet. Everyone was surprised. Most newly inaugurated presidents had committed to holding power while checking other powerful agencies such as the National Assembly and the prosecution office. However, he unexpectedly did something to stop overseas investment.

This caused a lot of controversy. Even a media outlet in favor of President Joo Sung-won referred to it as a "weird act," while opposition parties criticized it, calling it an act that ruined economic exchanges with the second-largest GDP country. Even when several Chinese companies failed to repay debts from bond maturities in June, criticism of the president did not abate. Many people criticized President Joo Sung-won for making a dangerous bet that ignored China, the G2, and the hegemonic countries.

Then July came.On July first, I sat in the conference room and was briefed by four of my closest aides.

"Most of the Chinese Inverses in the U.S. have been bought."

"Nikkei-listed ETFs are also nearing the end of their buying sprees."

"We're close to our goals of buying dollars and selling the yuan."

Five months after our first meeting in February, the investment of five billion dollars I had distributed to them was nearing completion.

"Yes, thank you all for your hard work. Please cheer up until the end," I said in front of them. This was the beginning of the catastrophe.

But in the meantime, Director Kim, who did not understand what was going on, asked me, "Mr. President, will it be okay? Is China really going through a credit crisis?"

He still looked unsure. It was a little sad that he couldn't trust me, but it was not something I couldn't understand. China was the world's fourth-largest country, with a population of 1.3 billion, and its GDP was in the midst of fiercely pursuing the United States. China's political system was authoritative and stiff, but it also had an efficient side.

"There is also a saying, 'Too big to fail'. We are making a little profit right now, so why don't we stop taking it from here?" he went on to say.

So far the investments had been making a little, a little bit of income. This was because the Chinese government, which had recently seen companies going bankrupt and felt threatened, actively sought to rescue them. Of course, the investment was worth five billion dollars, so its income was worth ten million dollars.

"If the Chinese economy makes a comeback, we will suffer catastrophic damage."

As he said, we could lose hundreds of million dollars, or a few billion dollars once we started to take losses. Those who had made 30%, 40%, 70% and 120% of profits dozens or hundreds of times would become beggars if they took 99% losses. Right now, the investment situation in Invictus Investment was ready to lose 99%. But I wasn't worried. All the global future news was covered with China-related news, so what were the variables? Even in the Sports category such news came up: [Kim Kyu-hwan, who entered China, suffered a plunge in the yuan, and his salary plummets as well.]

That was what was going to happen. I didn't give him a broad rebuttal. The future was inherently unknown. Director Kim was also a veteran of investments who had rolled over on this side. I understood what he meant.

I said to him, "I understand what you are saying. 'Too big to fail' could be true. But I'd like to think that it is not uncommon for a big horse to die, but it is impossible for two suns to float under the sky. The U.S. won't let China grow big. What has happened in the last three years, since the U.S.-China trade war in 2018… I think it was a sort of preparation for the United States to hit China properly."

When I said that, Director Kang slipped in this time. "Well, I agree with the CEO. I've been looking at Wall Street's reaction as I invested in the U.S. To my surprise, this is happening in the U.S., too. Hedge funds are checking the yuan and China's credit defaults. Some of them are already on sale. If they sell the yuan and play the media further, China's credibility will deteriorate dramatically."

Listening to what he said, I thought, 'That's what I expected, too.'

Other than me, there seemed to be others who had predicted the collapse of China. Hedge funds on Wall Street have no blood or tears, only thinking about yields. People in this industry don't even blink at the death of anyone. One of the most famous people in this line is George Soros, who earned astronomical profits from selling Japanese yen during the Kobe earthquake and selling pounds when Britain withdrew from the ERM. This person has an interesting nickname, a widow-maker. It was because he predicted a national credit crisis or currency depreciation. He played the media, as he mentioned a national sell-off, the country's unemployment rate would soar, and the heads of families would kill themselves, creating widows.

'A widow maker…'

I thought for a moment that I might be given such a nickname. Although I was very young, I remembered things from the IMF. People around me moved away; on the other hand, there were people who came to the small Jugong Apartments near my house. My father was worried about closing the judo training center. My mother could not find even a part-time job at a restaurant. The gloomy atmosphere was all over society.

But now China looked exactly like that. At this rate, it was certain that there would be a number of unemployed people in China, people who would commit suicide, people who would suffer from depression, and families who would break up. I might be considered one of the people who caused the situation!

So I ordered, "By the way, keep our investments confidential."

They would come to light anyway, but I wanted to hide the fact that our company had preemptively sold China before other hedge funds. In the first place, a short stock sale was an act of betting on the depreciation of something, which could be very painful for the person or nation directly involved. I just read the tenor of the times and moved on, but I didn't want to get a nickname like a widow-maker.

Vice President Jang also spoke up, "There's a saying that when you make a profit from the original sale, you should keep your mouth shut. That's good for us, but it's going to be very unfortunate for someone."

I nodded, clasped my hands, and said, "Then I hope you all know, and keep trying."

I got up from my seat after the short meeting. There was an anxious atmosphere that other people, including Director Kim, who had argued against me, could not rid themselves of, but I ignored it. It was not far off, anyway.And then one day, the D-Day alarm went off on my cell phone calendar app, and the catastrophe started.

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The modern economic system is made of credit. We can buy rice, buy shoes, or take a taxi somewhere with a piece of paper featuring a great man from the Joseon Dynasty because there is a belief that it is worth that much.

These days, with the gradual development of fintech, even cash is rarely used; we recognize and exchange our assets by the numbers on monitors and smartphones. Using only the digital symbols on the display, we pay taxes, put in gas to our cars, and travel abroad. The problem is when this credit cracks.

If the money we have is just a fragment of a paper with a portrait on it, if the numbers in our accounts are really nothing more than a digital symbol, our society will collapse in a second.

I sat on the bed and looked out the window. Far away, the sun was rising and the sky was turning red. I looked at it with my arms crossed. I looked down at my cell phone once. The current time was 7:59. The moment it turned into 8:00.

Tiriri tiriri tiriri… The alarm went off and the word "D-day" appeared on the screen. I stared at it, then turned off the alarm. I could hear Ah-young's voice behind me. "Good morning!"

It was a normal day when I saw Ah-young and the sun outside the window.

"Good morning." I laughed as I received Ah-young's greeting.

"Oppa, do you have anything you want to eat today?"

"I don't want anything to eat… Just make it simple. I'm going to eat a little and go down."

"Going to work today? All right. Just wait a minute." Ah-young tied her hair and started cooking while humming, her back turned red by the sun. What a peaceful landscape it was. Looking back at history, all credit crises occurred during these ordinary days.

On a day where everything was considered to be going well, one suddenly collapses, the other collapses, and because of them, one big thing collapses, and many of the things that relied on it fall, fall, and fall. That's why, historically, people know that it's happening all the time, but they can't stop it. These things come to us more secretly than people think.After eating the breakfast that Ah-young had made, I took the elevator to work. Secretary Park, who was guarding the president's office, was slightly surprised and greeted me. "Are you here, boss?"

"What are you surprised at?" I asked him.

"Oh, you don't have anything scheduled today, but you're at work."

Today was one of the days there was no official schedule. These last days, shareholders' meetings, meetings of subsidiaries, and welcoming meetings of new employees had kept me so busy, and I'd had no day off at all… but there was nothing scheduled for today.

On such days, I would usually watch a movie with Ah-young at home and play with her while eating, or I would drive my car somewhere else. So, it was no wonder that Secretary Park looked strangely at me when I came to work, after looking at my timetable.

"Ahh… That's right. I was thinking of something I had to do yesterday," I said, blurring my words.

"What do you mean? What time will it be?" Secretary Park asked me, once again in full professional mode.

"Oh, well… I'll tell you later."

There was no work for me at the moment, but it would happen very quickly, and a lot. That was why I came down in advance. I was going to come and sit down before they came looking for me.

"Yes, boss."

I nodded to him and then went into the president's office. When I entered, I found the clock on the wall saying 8:48. I sat down and turned on the computer. It was 8:49. After booting up, I went into the mail site, put my ID and password in, and went to the mailbox. There were just four emails coming in.

[M. 12 Hours After]

[M. 12 Days After]

[M. 12 Weeks After]

[M. 12 Months After]

I opened the email of 12 Hours After.

[Politics – President Joo Sung-won said the Great Depression from China would not affect us as much as possible.

Economy – Shanghai Index Falls, Chinese version of Blackman Day. The domestic stock market is also in a tailspin.

Society – Korean-Chinese people lining up in front of the bank.

Life/Culture – People who make money in a crisis. Commenting on the movie 'Big Short'.

World – Shanghai and Hong Kong Stock Markets crash. People are devastated.

IT/Science – Did an AI's rebellion, or Automatic Trading Algorithm cause the big crash?]

Sure enough, there was a complete commotion. Except in the sports and entertainment category, there was only news about the financial crisis from China. I muttered to myself when I saw it, "It's a big problem…"

I had known all about it in advance, but today, I felt different. From today on, there would be no count of failing companies, failing owners, fired people from companies, those who had invested and would lose their entire fortunes, and those who would suffer from depression and give up their own lives.

I closed my mail, took my cursor to my own HTS and double-clicked it. Usually, I turned on the HTS at this time to have the AI do the algorithmic trade, but I didn't do that today. My timetable app, which had served as a treasure map, was completely empty for a while. Starting today, there were no surging stocks, whether it was the KOSPI or the KOSDAQ.

[Anti-cancer drug of Jaesung Pharmaceutical passes phase two of clinical trials and its stock price reaches the upper limit price.]

[Six consecutive trading days of rise due to a drop in the price of fluorescence-based pulp.]

[Pien Games gets first place in sales in new mobile games.]

Instead of the news that would be coming out, such news was so prevalent.

[Woojin Construction hit two consecutive low limit price.]

[The institutions are pouring out of Roskut.]

[Foreign investors have sold stocks for fear of a credit crunch.]

Therefore, I couldn't trade, but it didn't matter. In the first place, I made only a small amount of money, about forty million dollars this month, but when the news came out today, I would make hundreds of million dollars a day. It would soon become a reality.

The Shanghai Index, which opened at ten, with an hour's difference from Korea, started trading at a level one percent down due to increased corporate bankruptcies recently. It gradually declined two and then three percent, and trading continued at that point.

Usually, investors talk about adjustments if the Composite Stock Price Index falls around one percent, two percent they say is a slump, and three percent is a sharp fall.

China's Shanghai market started with an adjustment and was heading for a crash just an hour after the market opened. I propped my elbows on the desk, put my hands together and watched it. By now, the money I had bet on falling stock prices and the Chinese yuan was going up sharply. Around eleven o'clock, when the Shanghai Composite Stock Price Index reached -4%, something seen only once a year, I got a phone call.

"Boss, Vice President Jang wants to visit."

"Please let him come in."

Vice President Jang came to see me with a slightly excited look.

"Boss, the big incident happened."

"… Oh, yes. I'm watching it, too. The Shanghai Composite Stock Price Index is four percent off." I replied in a rather surprised tone. Of course, it was just me acting.

Jang did not seem to care much about it. He just told me what he knew. "There's news today that the Bank of China has refused to raise money for a bankrupt local state-run company. If this is true, it's going to have a huge impact."

What he called the Bank of China is not the general name of China's banks, but the state's bank in China, such as Korea's BK Bank or Duri Bank. In Chinese characters, 'Bank of China' in English is literally the bank that represents China. But the bank didn't stop state-run corporate bankruptcies. In short, the country was not going to pay for the collapse of state-run corporations.

"… that's a surprise."

I continued to give a lame performance, but Jang continued to speak regardless of whether it was due to the importance of the immediate issue.

"Yes, it's a surprising story. If this is true…"

But then, the Shanghai Composite Stock Price Index, which was on my monitor, dropped in a straight line to -7% in one second and -9% in another three seconds, where the Index stopped. Vice President Jang and I shouted at the same time:

"Circuit break!"

"Circuit break!"

Circuit break refers to when market investors' fear is so high that when stock prices fall excessively, the trading venue of the market temporarily stops trading. Too much variation can make people greedy, scared, and lose money.

Vice President Jang muttered, "The Shanghai Index is down nine percent…"

At the same time, the KOSPI had also entered the -4% range. Korea had also tripped the circuit break at -5%. It was the same in Japan, -4%. The situation in Southeast Asia was similar.

Vice President Jang was confused. "We have a big problem. No, boss, we…"

I spread my hands a couple of times and then together as I opened them up. Vice President Jang exclaimed in a jubilant voice, "Boss, we have a big hit!"

But I watched the monitor with my face fixed. Then the telephone began to ring. Tiriri tiriri~

I answered the phone and I could hear Secretary Park's voice. "Boss, Director Kang wants to see you… Oh, and Director Kim… Oh, and Director Chung is here, too."

"Please let them come in." I hung up on that remark.

Soon three men came in and shouted out:

"This is awesome, boss! The Chinese Inverse ETF we bought at Nikkei has a profit margin of more than thirty percent!"

"The FX is a lot too! The yuan's trading is temporarily stopped! I can't imagine how much revenue it would be if it resumed!"

"The U.S. doesn't have a market open, but it's already fluctuating. We'll be making tens of million dollars this very evening!"

I replied calmly, acknowledging their excitement, "Yes, that's great! My guess was correct. But just like I said before, don't get too excited. We just sold yuan and Chinese stocks in line with international speculators. Do you understand?

They nodded, but couldn't hide their excited looks. Our company's money, which was now spread around the world, was sweeping up money all around the world.

"Go back to your place and see what's going on. I'll be doing that, too," I told them.

"Yes, boss." After coming to the president's office in person so excitedly, they bowed to me solemnly and returned to their desks.

After they all went left the office, I took my hands, looked up at the office ceiling, and let out a long, exhaling breath. "Hoo-woo…" I told them to hide their excitement, but I was the one whose heart was beating faster than anyone else's!

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After D-day, China went crazy. Companies went bankrupt and collapsed one after another, and the stock price indices tumbled. The exchange rate also went mad, falling repeatedly. The Chinese government tried to patch things up, but it was not enough.

Even the Chinese people, who usually succumbed to the authoritarian government, did not care about it during their money-losing cases. They began to take their money and things out of the market against advice; stock or real estate, it did not matter. Goods released to the market quickly ran out, and the credit that supported the economic system began to crack.

Global hedge funds, smelling blood in the water, didn't miss this point. From the United States, from Europe, from Japan, they flew in like a pack of sharks, smelling blood, and upon seeing the bleeding whale, they began biting brutally.

[Larry White, CEO of Red Rock Investments says that China's slowdown will deepen. He recommends selling the yuan.]

[John Tepper, CEO of Tri Partners, says that the Chinese market crash is now beginning and real estate is even more dangerous.]

[Ray Walker proposes investors exclude the Chinese market from their portfolio.]

[Kazuo Yamaguchi, a senior researcher at Nomura Securities, says that it is time to convert the yuan into yen or dollars.]

They had sold the Chinese stocks and the yuan first, and then said that. This was a kind of psychological warfare, a slogan for building a common front. They first sold off and then played the press, and not only the rest of the world's institutional investors, but the many, many ants were on their side. This put more of their money into a selling position, thereby maximizing their profits. It was a very vicious way to cut the flesh and pour salt on it, but it certainly made them money.

Having been in a selling position in China sooner than anyone else, I made a lot of money every day thanks to their efforts. I had meetings with four key members in the conference room every day, and listened to their reports:

"The U.S.-listed Shanghai Index Inverse has soared! Given the dollar gain, we expect to see bigger profits."

"The yuan has plunged again. Profits are exploding in the FX market!"

"The yen has risen again today. The Japanese government, which was trying to lower the yen, is flustered, but it's good for us."

It was hard to check all the income coming from this. Overnight, I was making hundreds of millions of dollars. The three directors shouted excitedly whenever they reported to me.

"It's a record profit!"

"The boss will be the richest man in Korea now!"

"The yuan is going down, but the dollar is soaring. It's as good as earning money twice!"

Even the polite Vice President Jang said, "Boss, we are creating legends in the investment industry!"

It was indeed a legend. This legend would be left to be republished in the Korean investment industry later. I was gradually becoming the god of money in that myth. But then again, I asked them to hide the fact that our company was in a selling position vis-a-vis China. I didn't want to be branded by the public as the man who brought about the Chinese financial crisis…

Even if I made money, I didn't want to get named a widow maker. Considering that our country would be affected in the future, we had to keep our mouths shut. I couldn't just laugh as everyone around us was crying. I instructed the four core members to keep it all a secret.

"Yes, boss." They, too, knew the severity of the incident, so they absolutely obeyed me.

"This is awesome! Mr. President!" What we had achieved was only between ourselves, and that was how we agreed to keep it.

A month passed like that."Oppa, by the way…" Ah-young said, putting coffee in front of me. "Are you all right these days?"

Holding up the ice Americano glass she gave me, I replied, "Uh? What?"

"No, China has been going crazy lately. That's why our nation's main stock index keeps dropping… I am wondering if your company is okay."

The condition of our company was more than good. I said with a smile, "It's okay. I've been managing the risks."

"Hmm, really? Well, thank God!"

"Why did you worry?"

"No, this and that companies are all going to collapse. I thought our company was having hard times, too."

I replied, recalling my subsidiaries for a moment. "Well. Some of them will be difficult. Maybe."

The aftermath of the Chinese financial crisis had hit Korea harder than expected.

[In the financial crisis originating from China, the biggest victim is China, and then Korea.]

There was a report like that. Many companies had gone bankrupt because they had put investments in China, or they had lost the money they were supposed to receive. The stock price index was reflected this, and the KOSPI and KOSDAQ were still falling, day after day.

In addition, the won, which had a high coefficient interconnection with the yuan, had been falling a lot, further accelerating the market decline as foreign investors, who were worried about foreign exchange losses, had left. The same was true of my subsidiaries, so stocks like OH Entertainment, Jiwoo Entertainment, and Blue EM quickly fell by two-thirds.

It was okay, though. These companies had very small market capital. Although there were several tens of million dollars of losses, that amount of money was being earned back every day in the overseas markets. The only possible problem was Hyun Young Pharmaceutical, which had been sold to Pfizer. As all the other pharmaceutical stocks burst, Hyun Young Pharmaceutical also lost its market high of one billion dollars and was about to be halved. So, I was a little sorry, but I thought, 'It was a good thing I sold…'

Changhae Food, a dumpling maker, and Songhae Brewing, a liquor maker, found their places after a brief fall. Everyone knew that these companies, which sold goods in Korea for Korean raw materials, had no significant elements to lose in the face of a global crisis. Ah-young also knew what stocks our company had.

"That's right, oppa. That OH Entertainment stock fell a lot. Is that okay?"

"It's all right. It's pretty low, but… we are making that kind of money somewhere else."

"Really? Well, thank God."

In the meantime, the cell phone in my pocket rang. Tiriri tiriri tiriri… I gave Ah-young a wink and picked up the phone. When I looked at it, it was none other than President Kwon Oh-hyuk.

I answered the phone thinking, 'He acted as I expected…' "Hello, President Kwon."

"Boss. It's me, Kwon Oh-hyuk. Can I talk to you for a second?"

"Yes."

Kwon spoke in a slightly trembling voice. "Well, do you think we'll be alright, boss?"

I said, reassuring him, "Yes, I know OH Entertainment has been impacted badly by this financial crisis, but if you wait a bit, you'll be able to get over it. You haven't invested heavily in China since the last joint venture was postponed, have you?"

I had brought up the subject at last year's regular report. Back then, President Kwon Oh-hyuk had been very sorry and noted he'd have to reschedule our celebrities. However, his attitude was completely different now.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you first. Thank you, boss! I managed to avoid the risk because you blocked investment in the Chinese companies at the time!"

I spoke to him, "Hold out for a while, even if you lose a little bit of the reserved money. Sales to China will be down a little, but… think about opening a path to Japan, the U.S., Europe, and South America during this time."

He answered me quickly, "Yes, sir. I'll do that!"

President Kwon Oh-hyuk said goodbye to me and hung up the phone. I looked at the phone for a moment. Dealing with China across the sea, countless companies in Korea were like OH Entertainment.

President Joo Sung-won, who saw my editorial, had been busy making his own efforts, but there was a limit. He had only been in office for two months. It wasn't something that he could have prevented, even if he had prepared for it for two years. At the sudden thought, I picked up my cell phone and read the political front page.

[President Joo Sung-won met with representatives of small and medium-sized businesses, and discussed future measures.]

He was busy solving this financial problem, as I'd seen in the future news before. I didn't know how helpful my advice would have been going forwards…

'I think the Blue House will keep wondering what I'm going to say. I've been leading him well so far. He'll be curious about the next crisis, right? But now there's nothing else I can tell him… No, there is.'

I drank a coffee, and came up with the following editorial title to be posted on Oracle News: A crisis is an opportunity. In the financial crisis from China, Korea has a chance to make another leap.

In fact, our country was very similar to manufacturing in China in areas such as tea, chemicals, shipbuilding, electronics, and so forth. However, our country would be naturally doomed if China grew big. It wasn't long ago that the sweet money used to drive up trade with China, but in fact it was a long-term chokehold on our country.

At that time, there were tens of thousands of semiconductor engineers who were offered three to five times the salary they would be paid in Korea. We could compete with Japan because of its similar weight class, but Korea could be under pressured by China. China was different.

Their side had a structure that completely crushed our country with its large population and larger land mass. So, China's recent crisis was a bad thing for Korea in the short term, but it was a boon in the long run. Naturally, we should prepare well now.

'Well, that's the way to write it. Don't be so embarrassed right now, but let's get ready and take the chance to make another leap… Then the president will understand.' As I was thinking about it, I turned my mind to our company. 'Oh, by the way, our company needs to prepare for the next step, right?'

I called Vice President Jang right away.

"Yes, boss."

"Vice President Jang, let's start thinking about the next step. It's a little early, but it's not bad because it's fast."

"The next step?"

"Yes. Now, have some of our directors check the status of Korean companies' investments in China: how much a company invested in what field, and what the size of the asset is, and what the impact is when it went bad."

"Oh, yes, I see."

This is the benefit of betting on a fall. When they stopped, I could earn money; hungry companies that need cash sell cheaply in the market.

I started preparing for the next move, while others were still upset about the incident.

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I put my hand on the table and looked down at the reports lying there. There were four very thick reports in front of me. I was going to take a look at them one by one, but when I saw the numbers written in them, I covered them up again. Then, I looked up and said, "I will read them slowly when I have time. Just give me the summary. How much did we earn?"

Everyone turned their heads to the left and right at my words. I said as I turned to the report titled 'Status of Japanese Market Investment – Director Kang Ki-wook'. "Let's start with Director Kang."

Director Kang nodded and said, "As ofl today, we've earned 3.1 billion dollars."

I then turned the next report and said, "What about Director Kim?"

"It's about 5.9 billion dollars."

"What about Director Chung, then?"

"It is about 8.8 billion dollars."

I nodded and last looked at Vice President Jang.

Vice President Chang told me the answer before I asked. "We've earned 15.4 billion dollars in foreign exchange transactions so far as of today."

I put the numbers together in my mind. "So, it's about 33.2 billion dollars, right?"

At that enormous amount, everyone forgot to speak for a moment. We'd made such astronomical amounts of money in the last few months. If I could have made my own bets without anyone noticing, I would have pocketed more money than this.

I nodded, "All right. Let's get organized now. Take a look at the atmosphere and finish your investments."

The end of the year was approaching. In December 2021, I decided to stop investing and take my profits. Five months after the Great Depression in China, the chaos still continued, but the value of their assets, which had plummeted, was gradually stabilizing. It was due to the Chinese government's extreme prescription.

In the early days of the Great Chinese Depression, the Chinese government, which had an authoritarian political system, first sought to stabilize things with news and fabricated statistics made to the people, but once they were exposed as false, they simply fueled the asset market crash. When protests broke out in many parts of the country and even security problems were raised, the Chinese government finally acknowledged their situation and actively began to resolve the issue.

Quietly, they led movements like the "gold collecting movement" in Korea during the IMF, bent their pride and asked for help from abroad. They tried to defuse the financial crisis by opening their hands to even Japan, which they had been hurling muck at over historical issues, and to Canada and Australia. As a result, they got a loan under some pretty humiliating terms, and they put out the urgent fire. After a few months of getting news for the future, I knew the crash was going to stop at around this time.

"Yes, boss."

"I'll do that, boss."

The members of this secret meeting moved quickly, like my hands and feet.

I said one more word to them. "However, let's leave the money earned in foreign currency for now. I don't think things in Korea will get any better for a while."

It was true. After China, it was Korea itself that suffered the most from China's financial crisis. Korea was basically a country that lived on exports. China was the country with the highest proportion of foreign exports, and Korea also suffered a huge loss due to the financial crisis. As the won depreciated, the dollar, yen, and euro were temporarily more valuable.

"Yes, I see, boss."

Putting together the reports, I said, "By the way, how about the atmosphere of other investment companies these days?"

Director Chung spoke first. "They are in turmoil. They've all been grabbed by the collar by investors, and have been criticized… They are in a fuss."

Director Kang continued his words. "There is a rumor in the market that there is no one who earned money but the person who bought the Inverse. It's true to a certain extent."

Korea's stock price index also underwent a correction of more than thirty percent during the Great Chinese Depression. It was negative thirty percent talking, and most ant investors nearly went broke, as they had invested mostly in small stocks. Large-cap stocks with sound financial structure had a floor to settle at even if they fell, but small-cap stocks didn't have such a thing. A loss of seventy or eighty percent would deal an ant a non-recoverable blow.

Jang also added, "Yeouido is also in a chilly mood. There was a story yesterday that one of them jumped in the Han River and died. It was a pity."

These were all the reasons why we managed our facial expressions even after earning thirty-three point two billion dollars. No matter how good it was, it was not good when someone died and others were despondent.

"Well… I see. All right. Then, please go back to your desks, and make some profit from your work."

The whole group bowed to me and said, "Yes, boss."While everyone was about to return to their offices, I only called in Vice President Jang by hand. After the other directors went out of the conference room, I asked, "So, did you look it up?"

"I'm looking for it now. What a mess the market is in. Please wait a little longer."

What I was looking for now was a blue-chip in crisis. Although the term "blue-chip in crisis" itself was a little contradictory, it often existed in these circumstances. Such businesses had been doing well and making good money, but they had lost a lot of money by mistake during this Chinese crisis. Now that the financial crisis was coming to an end, it was time to buy the good companies at a cheap price.

There is an old stock maxim that said, 'If you hear that someone committed suicide because of an investment failure, start buying then.' When someone loses his entire fortune and tries to die when he or she is under extreme stress, the market is at the bottom. It's a little cruel, but it's true to some extent. A new bud sprouts from the dead body of an ant.

Of course, I didn't order the purchase solely on that maxim. In the future news, there was hopeful news like this.

[The collapse of KOSDAQ has reversed. Will it end up in a long decline?]

[KOSPI has a positive move after five months. Can it be a hopeful move?]

[Foreign investors return after five months. They say that even considering foreign exchange differences, Korean stocks are cheap.]

At first, I thought about investing in mainland China, but I decided to buy cheap Korean stocks and Korean companies because it was not easy for me to invest in foreign countries. It was difficult for me to control them because China had been moving back and forth on political issues.

In addition, it was also good for raising the rating for future news. The future news only dealt with companies listed in Korea. I was going to run from here right up to the Grandmaster Class. If possible, it would be better to get to the weird grade of the XXX series.

"Yes, I see. I hope you keep working hard, then."

"Yes, boss."

As of November, my four henchmen had been quietly withdrawing their investments from the global market, with billions of dollars of profit. Around the time I took the profits, China and the global market gradually regained stability, including South Korea. South Korea, which had suffered a plunge for months and had recalled fears of "the days of the International Monetary Fund," took a deep breath.

It was President Joo Sung-won who benefited most from the process. As soon as he took office in May, he had restricted investment in China, and was severely criticized at that time.

'It's so random.'

'He is ignoring China.'

'It is a diplomatic discourtesy.'

But now he received tremendous praise for what he had done, described as "excellent insight" and "brave acting power." His approval rating was in the seventy to eighty percent range, very high, and it was believed that he could make it easier to manage state affairs over the next few years. It was a good thing for me, as President Joo Sung-won and I had a kind of partnership.

Furthermore, President Joo Sung-won would now rely more on me. Now that he'd received much praise for this, he would earnestly read the articles from Oracle News even if I stopped making new ones for him.In December 2021, I received the email at 8:50 and read the news as usual. And at the end, I searched through the People Search and got the news again. The first person I wrote in was Joo Sung-won.

[President Joo Sung-won visits the Gumi industrial complex, and he gets a report on manufacturing.]

After reading the news, I wrote 'Kim Jin-pyo'.

[Kim Jin-pyo, deputy prime minister for economic affairs. We are watching the global economy. Korea will be stabilized.]

"Hmm…" I stroked my chin for a moment and read the second news. Finally, I wrote 'Han Sang-hoon'. The first two people changed every time, but my name was always fixed. I got some news for myself from there. In 12 Months After, there was such news.

[Han Sang-hoon of Invictus Investment is the man who became the richest person in Korea at the age of thirty-two.]

[Korea's richest man, Han Sang-hoon, CEO of Invictus Investment.]

[A genius investor astonishes the world. From a poor family, he becomes the richest man in the country.]

In the end, it seemed like my assets were going to be revealed. I kept it as secret as I could, but it was impossible due to the nature of the corporation's tax payments. As I read the last three news and put my cell phone on the sofa, I said to myself, "Whoa… that's how it turned out there."

I became the richest man in the country, but to be honest, the excitement was just so, as I knew my future.

'This is what could happen at any time. After all, it was only a matter of time.'

I knew all the news in my name, and it was hard not to be this rich. If anyone could get the future news and had the will, they could be rich like me.

'33.2 billion dollars! Now no one can stand up to me in Korea. Even the president has become my puppet.'

At any rate, I was satisfied to be at the top of the Republic of Korea.

Strength meant freedom. I was stronger than anyone else and I didn't have to read anyone's countenance; I didn't have to follow anyone's orders. I could do anything I wanted!

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December twenty-fifth, 2021, Christmas….

South Korea had been hit by the cold economic crisis from China, but nevertheless, trees were hung and carols were in the air all over Seoul. I went on a date with Ah-young to Jongro. The first in a long time. I had been busy working for a while, running up and down between my penthouse and the company, and I was a little stuffy.

Ah-young had said to me, "Do you want to go to Myeongdong Cathedral with me?"

Ah-young had no religion, but the atmosphere around Myeongdong Cathedral on Christmas Day was good. So I went down to the old streets of Jongro with her, having a meal, drinking coffee, stopping by Myeongdong Cathedral to pray, and enjoying a date. It even snowed a little, a White Christmas, and was more picturesque.

"This is good, oppa, isn't it?"

"Yes. It's better because it's snowing."

There were so many people around Myeongdong Cathedral on Christmas. There were many believers who came to pray, but there were also many couples who came to enjoy a date, just like us. Watching so many people, I inwardly thought, 'Couldn't someone recognize me?'

However, it didn't happen. Some people looked at our couple, but they were mostly looking at Ah-young.

"Wow, that woman's pretty."

"Hey, did you see that? Isn't she a celebrity?"

It was like that every time. I was famous in my own way, but I was only popular among investors and businessmen, and didn't seem very well known to the general public. In the first place, I was only famous for the title, "Han Sang-hoon, a genius stock investor from a poor family and a rich man," so few people could match Han Sang-hoon by looking at my face. When someone looked at me on the street, they would consider me a "social beginner from a rich family".

'Wouldn't this be the last winter to be able to walk around the streets like this?'

In a few months, it would be known that our company had taken a selling position in China well before the July crash, and that I had become the richest person in Korea. 'People usually remember only the first place, they do not know the second and third place.'

When it was known that I had made more than thirty-three billion dollars by anticipating the fall of China, now having more money than any conglomerate owner, people would remember my name and even my face. Everyone would want to know who the title of Korea's richest man belonged to.

That would make me difficult to get around like this. If anyone said, "The richest man in Korea is going there," they would try to see my face at least once. Maybe some people would be willing to do something weird. All of a sudden, they would ask for a handout, or threaten me…

'Well, come to think of it, that's really bad…'

It was a little sad to think it would be even harder to walk down such a normal street anymore. But, I'd already become the richest man in the Republic of Korea. This was a kind of tax that followed fame. Wasn't there a man who acted like that to Ah-young? She paid taxes on beauty, and I paid taxes on the title of Korea's richest man. It was unavoidable. Maybe it was the same thing as fate.

Four years ago, on the crosswalk to work, this may have been scheduled the moment I picked up the flyer that told me I was not going to be scolded for being late today…

'Fate… I can't help it. I can't help it.' As I thought about it, Ah-young asked me, "Oppa, what are you thinking?"

I answered roughly. "Uh? No. Maybe it's snowing, so I thought it was nice to have warm days."

Ah-young might be a little disappointed to know that it would be difficult to have such a normal date in the future.

"Well, I see. I will go to the bathroom, wait here." Ah-young left the words and went into a building in the Myeongdong Cathedral.

I watched her go and thought, 'We should go abroad for our date next year.'

"Huh?" A man in his forties with short hair and glasses looked at me. I looked back at him. When our eyes met, he opened his wide. "Isn't it CEO Han Sang-hoon?"

There was a person who had recognized me after all. I had thought that no one would recognize me, but when there was someone who knew me, I felt I was going to be bothered.

I thought, 'Shall I pretend I don't know?'

But he spoke with a tone of conviction, "Invictus… is right, isn't it?"

I thought it impossible to tell a lie, so I looked around and spoke a little lower, "That's right."

The man was quick-witted. When I showed that I didn't like crowds, he also quieted down. "Nice to meet you, Mr. CEO. I'm reporter Ko Yoo-sung for the Jungdo Economy News."

As he was a reporter for the economy, he had recognized me. He went on to say, "I saw you from a distance the other day, don't you remember me?"

I shook my head. While working at the company, I sometimes ran into reporters, but I couldn't remember where I had seen him at all. "I am sorry, I don't remember you."

"When President Joo Sung-won was mayor of Seoul, you came to receive the prize. I saw you then, a year or two years ago. Haha!"

"Oh, you did." I gave a cursory answer and tried to leave. Ah-young was in the bathroom right now, but she would be back soon. Not all of them, but some reporters would dig into other people's private lives whenever they could to make money, just like the paparazzi who were chasing Oh Hyun-joo, and the loyal dogs of Lee Won-jae of the Daewon Daily News.

Sure enough, he asked me questions. "This incident in China has had a huge impact on our country. Many companies in Yeouido have been in trouble this time. Didn't Invictus Investment invest in China?"

As a reporter for the economy, it was an economic question, but I didn't really intend to take an interview. I didn't want to go around saying I was the richest man in Korea."

I told him roughly, "Well, I've invested in China." It wasn't a lie, but it omitted the direction of investment.

"Oh, did you? You must have had a pretty big loss…"

But when the question came out, I saw from a distance that Ah-young was coming out of the building she had entered. As before, I didn't want Ah-young to become famous.

I said with a slight nod, "Yes, but I don't want to be interviewed here. I'm here to play."

He wanted to ask me something more, but I walked away from him and toward Ah-young. After I ignored him, he didn't follow me any further.

Ah-young asked me, "Do you know him?"

I shook my head and said, "He is a reporter. Let's go. Don't show your face. You might appear on the Internet news."

"There doesn't seem to be a camera or anything."

I glanced at him. He was watching me from afar, but his look was a bit strange. As Ah-young said, there didn't seem to be any camera.

Needless to say, the reporter Ko Yoo-sung wrote an article about me. I received it the next morning. As usual, I wrote my name on the news 12 Days After, and I got a strange piece of news. [Did Han Sang-hoon, who has been on a roll, take a big loss from investments in China?]

There had been no such news in the future news so far, but the coincidence made on Christmas Day seemed to have created a new butterfly effect. I read the article.

[… CEO Han Sang-hoon is known to have suffered a huge loss from his investment in China. CEO Han Sang-hoon, who became a big investor in the investment industry after a series of big hits such as Kai Games, Hyun Young Pharmaceutical, and FutureSync, made a large-scale investment in China, and recently lost most of the money he has earned so far, falling to the Great Chinese Depression… Faced with such difficulties, he visited Myeongdong Cathedral to pray for the power of his faith.]

I put my hands on my forehead as I saw the article. He spun a novel out of nothing.

'I said a word or two of that… Did he write this?'

On the one hand, it was amazing, and on the other, I thought it could be true. It was only natural that an investment company had lost money in the last half year, and it was not a new story. In addition, I somewhat answered him, so as to be misunderstood. Of course, it was wrong to write about me with such words.

'Yeah, this article will have some view counts. I'm sure there are a lot of people who want to see me go bankrupt.'

As usual, the public was very fond of stories about those went bankrupt. They didn't like to show it outright, but it was a very popular thing for them to say that someone who had been doing well went bankrupt. A young man in his early thirties, who was from a poor family and had been on a roll, was the target of jealousy. If I went to the Internet, I could easily see people who made bad comments about me.

– The company he worked for and his educational background are all second grade; it seems like he was just lucky.-

– I think he has good employees. I heard that the person below him, Vice President Jang, deals with all the practical affairs.-

– He was a lucky guy. That's it.-

I thought about the article. 'Shall I stop it from coming out? It's not true…'

On the contrary, however, it would be more dramatic if the article that I was bankrupt came out first, and the news came out that I became the richest person in Korea later. I could screw those who thought, 'Oh, he is bankrupt. I already knew he is going to be like that.'

'Yes, let's leave it alone. Now I'm a celebrity, but I can't always have good news, can I?'

This is what all the heads of the nation's large corporations were going through. Once they do something, they had to live with the bad comments.The day after Christmas, the news did not come up yet. It took time to write and publish a story. But, strangely enough, someone knew first that the news would come out.

Tiriri tiriri tiriri… I got a call from Lee Won-jae of Daewon Daily News. I took it without much thought. He used to say hello to me at the end of the year, even when everything was okay.

"How are you, Mr. CEO?"

"I'm fine. What about you?"

"I'm doing well, too. By the way…" He hesitated for a moment and then went on. "There is a piece of strange news."

The word 'strange news' got me straight to the point. He seemed to have received the news before anyone else, despite not being an affiliate of the Daewon Daily News.

He went on. "CEO Han has lost a lot of money by investing in China…"

I thought to myself as I listened to it, 'Why? If it's real, are you going to cut me off?'

But then, something passed through my mind. Maybe this stupid false news might be helpful for me.

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