Money Keeps Piling Up No Matter How Much I Spend

Chapter 220

Translator: Dreamscribe"Chairman-nim. They say the setup is complete."

"And it was done exactly as Jin-ho instructed, correct?"

"Yes. Nothing was added to or modified from his instructions. Everything was set up exactly as specified."

That was precisely what mattered.

Following the instructions to the letter.

No one dared add to or subtract from Jung Jin-ho's directives.

If someone were to ask what the secret was behind growing this company to such heights, Hwang Dae-woon would answer like this:

Because they abandoned their egos.

That single principle alone was what had carried Kwangwoon this far.

"The number of staff being deployed alone looks to be around 250."

"And all of them will be trading exclusively?"

"Yes. Once CEO Jung Jin-ho gives the order."

But now that he thought about it, something did seem odd.

When Jin-ho's instructions had first come down, there had been no reason to question anything since they just needed to follow them as given.

But now that everything was in place, something finally felt off.

"Even if the funds we're managing are enormous, do we really need 250 people if all we're doing is buying?"

"It depends on the situation. We're buying across multiple countries, after all. We'll need people to handle various tasks."

"Sure. But you said all 250 of them will be trading. Should I just take it as him wanting to get things done quickly and efficiently?"

As stated in the official letter they had already sent to the governments, a handful of people could have simply placed scheduled buy orders and been done with it.

But setting up 250 people, just like they used to for scalp trading, felt strange and unsettling.

"Vice President Kang."

"Yes, Chairman-nim."

"Have you heard anything?"

"Well......"

Vice President Kang Ji-hwan wore an uneasy expression.

"This is just something I heard from the staff. CEO Jung Jin-ho didn't explain it to me directly."

"What is it?"

"Apparently, the speculation among the employees is that CEO Jung is planning to day trade, like he used to......"

"What? Day trading?"

So that was why they needed so many people.

"How big is this day trading supposed to be? Surely he's not planning to day trade with 5,000 trillion won."

"......"

"Why aren't you answering? D-don't tell me he's actually planning to day trade with 5,000 trillion won?"

"Based on CEO Jung Jin-ho's investment style so far, whenever he sets up an operation on this scale, he has always day traded with every asset at his disposal. It seems he intends to do the same this time."

"!?"

Hwang Dae-woon and the executives gaped in stunned disbelief.

"H-has this been coordinated with the other governments?"

"No. As far as I know, there has been no discussion of that."

"So the other side thinks we're only buying?"

"Most likely. But when we first sent the official letter, we never stated that we would only be buying. We simply sent the list of stocks and requested that trading restrictions be lifted entirely."

That was true.

But who could have possibly predicted that the man who had gone on air that day, touched people's hearts with his speech, and asked for their help would suddenly start day trading with 5,000 trillion won?

"What if they suddenly halt trading?"

"That's unlikely. Their goal is ultimately the revival of the global stock market. Since we hold an overwhelming amount of capital, unless they plan to shut down their markets permanently, they can't block Kwangwoon's accounts. Even if we use all that money for day trading and disrupt the market."

That was the terrifying part.

Even if Jung Jin-ho wildly swung around 5,000 trillion won, no one could challenge him over it.

Because the one person who could save the global stock market was Jung Jin-ho himself.

"But Jin-ho hasn't told anyone about this?"

"No. That's always been CEO Jung's style, hasn't it? This time too, he probably doesn't want information leaking out everywhere. That's why he's giving orders quietly and moving ahead."

Hwang Dae-woon nodded and looked around at the executives.

"You all heard that, right? Don't go running your mouths, inside or outside this building. If word leaks from some careless source, there will be consequences."

"Yes, Chairman-nim."

He had made sure internal discipline was airtight, at least.

But day trading with 5,000 trillion won.

What on earth went through that man's head on a daily basis to come up with something like that?

* * *

I stared blankly at the employees filing into the finished workspace and finding their seats.

"......"

Too many.

No, what is all this?

250 people might sound like a small number at first glance, but gathered together like this, it was absurdly many.

On top of the 250 here, another 250 were standing by as backup.

It was like watching large guilds preparing shift rotations to clear a newly released raid.

'All we're supposed to do is buy, though.'

What was I supposed to do with this many people?

Once the scheduled buy orders were placed, there wouldn't be much left to do.

At this rate, maybe we should just throw a company event together.

"CEO-nim. Is the setup to your liking?"

"Hm? Oh...... yes."

Oblivious to what I was thinking, the Department Head stood beside me with a beaming smile.

"Everything has been set up exactly as you instructed, CEO-nim. Down to the last detail. And we've made sure the staff are thoroughly trained as well."

"Trained?"

"Yes. Whenever we do a large-scale trading operation like this, don't we always train the new employees? I've systematized it a bit further, you could say. I've also run them through a training program so they can immediately alternate between buying and selling the moment you give the order."

"......?"

When I stared at him blankly, not understanding what he was talking about, the Department Head fidgeted and bowed his head.

"Oh dear. My apologies. You haven't even officially said anything yet, and here I am getting ahead of myself."

"About what?"

"Well......"

He glanced around, then leaned in and spoke in a near-whisper.

"That you're preparing for scalp trading, CEO-nim. That's why you expanded the space and arranged backup staff, isn't it? Since you'll need to be running day trades across global markets all through the night."

That was when it happened.

"!?"

As if lightning had struck right above my head, a powerful jolt surged through my entire body.

So this was why my instincts had designed the setup this way.

"Department Head-nim."

"Yes, CEO-nim."

"You really are the only one who understands me."

"......!"

His face lit up with a deeply moved smile.

"Well, I have been at your side for quite some time now, CEO-nim. Haha."

"That's true. Before I knew it, it's been nearly ten years since we started working together."

Time really flies.

Ten years already.

"This investment might be the most important moment of our careers."

"Yes. And the fate of the world hangs on it, no less. One wrong step, and our company could collapse, or worse, civilization itself could crumble. I believe we're standing at a critical crossroads."

He was right.

This was the most important moment of my life.

"Everyone believes in you and is counting on you, CEO-nim. No, the entire world is."

The weight of those words pressed down on both my shoulders, and yet, there was something strangely exhilarating bubbling up inside me.

All this time, I had been slaying monsters in games under the pretext of saving the world.

But this wasn't a game. This was reality.

The fate of the world rested on my hands, on my investments.

And unlike a game where I could retry endlessly, everything hinged on a single chance.

"......"

The thought nearly made me retch, yet at the same time, an indescribable thrill and elation wrapped around my body.

Even by my own assessment, I was clearly not normal.

The fact that I was enjoying this kind of pressure and thrill even now proved it.

"CEO-nim. Here is the team roster, broken down by stock."

The roster itself was simple.

However, the sheer number of stocks assigned to each team made it difficult to memorize everything at once.

But perhaps it was because I could feel the decisive battle looming right before me.

Or perhaps it was the habit of a Raid Leader, honed through years of commanding hundreds of players through raids.

Strangely, as the moment of action drew closer, the stocks assigned to each team etched themselves into my memory like muscle memory.

Just like memorizing a boss's patterns.

"All right. Everyone, head to your positions and get ready."

"Yep!"

One hour until the U.S. markets opened.

I committed every stock assigned to every team to memory, then closed my eyes.

I stilled the waves of fear and excitement flooding through my mind.

Bzzzzt-!

The moment the signal sounded that the market was open, I opened my eyes.

And on the display boards, the stocks lit up and flashed all at once, ignited by my instincts.

"......"

I calmly spoke into the earpiece I was wearing.

"Teams 1 and 5, begin buying first. Go to maximum volume as the trading volume follows."

The raid to determine the fate of the world had begun.

* * *

For the financial world, this was a crisis that surpassed any national disaster.

Wall Street, which had long maintained its financial cartel and toyed with the world's money at will, had crumbled when global markets shut down. Even the largest firms groaned under the flood of debt and withered away.

"That's why today matters."

For them, Jung Jin-ho's broadcast had been like finding water in the desert.

Hadn't the Kwangwoon Group, the most profitable entity on the planet, declared it would spend everything it had to revive the global stock market?

That was as good as saying they would save the financial cartel.

"The one downside is that we don't have much ammunition left right now."

Even Wall Street's biggest firms had suffered massive losses when the markets closed.

And because the markets had shut down before they could liquidate, their cash reserves were thin.

Still, if global markets recovered, what they had would be more than enough.

And once the stocks currently locked in the markets surged in price, they could sell at the right time and recover their losses.

"It's open!"

The markets, closed for so long, had finally reopened.

And like children who had been waiting desperately for the amusement park to open, every trader in the world rushed in at once.

"Scoop up everything you see! Once Kwangwoon starts throwing money around, everything goes up!"

There were concerns that Kwangwoon might use the pretext of saving the markets to acquire countless companies, but so what?

To the people on Wall Street, at least, Kwangwoon was the messiah of the 21st century.

If Jung Jin-ho hadn't stepped up, everyone would have abandoned the markets, and Wall Street would have faded into history.

But it was Jung Jin-ho who was throwing them a lifeline.

And so he was the true savior of this era.

All Wall Street had to do was quench its long-held thirst and feast on the profits.

"Huh...... wait, what?"

But some time passed.

And Wall Street's traders realized something was wrong.

"What, what is this? Why is the trading volume like this?"

"If you look at this chart, it's straight-up stock price manipulation!"

Originally, this was supposed to be easy money.

When Kwangwoon distributed funds for the bailout, stocks would naturally rise.

All they had to do was secure positions faster than anyone else, wait for the climb, then sell. A simple operation.

But the current trading volume and charts told a completely different story.

Someone was deliberately pumping stock prices up, then crashing them back to the floor, over and over.

And they were doing it with massive trades every few seconds.

"It's not just here. Dozens of other stocks are showing the same abnormal chart patterns."

And there was only one entity in the world capable of doing this.

"Are those crazy bastards at Kwangwoon scalp trading right now!? With all that money!?"

Only then did the traders understand.

This was not a day of salvation that Kwangwoon had prepared for Wall Street.

It was a day of judgment, designed to rip them out root and stem.