Money Keeps Piling Up No Matter How Much I Spend

Chapter 219

Translator: DreamscribeMilon Tusk was waiting for the results in his office.

He didn't particularly feel anxious or tense.

Because he already knew what the outcome would be.

After releasing its statement, Kwangwoon had sent official documents to numerous countries, including the United States.

From what he'd heard, they were distributing a list of stocks they intended to purchase to each government, drawing up plans for coordinated action.

"Looking at it like this, it's basically no different from Stock Price Manipulation."

It was blatant Stock Price Manipulation.

But what mattered was who you were doing it with.

Whether it was between private individuals, or with a government.

Since Kwangwoon fell into the latter category, they could use the excuse of a Bailout.

"Even if it is Stock Price Manipulation, the reality is we can't do without it."

Despite Kwangwoon appointing itself as some kind of messiah and pulling moves that were transparent to everyone, there was a reason no government could stop them.

Everyone knew that without Kwangwoon's money, the markets couldn't be saved.

Follow my lead, or die.

Kwangwoon was essentially holding a knife to the throat of the entire world.

"Board Chairman."

At last, the news he'd been waiting for arrived.

As the secretary entered the room, a smile naturally spread across Milon Tusk's lips.

"So. How did it go?"

He was eager to get back to work.

He wanted to immerse himself in his grand dream of reaching Mars once more.

Right now, everything was on hold, and he was stuck in his office, itching to do something.

That tedious stretch of time was finally over.

"How much of our stock did Kwangwoon agree to buy?"

The secretary, who had mobilized every channel available to obtain a portion of the information Kwangwoon had handed over to the White House, wore a troubled expression.

"What? Is the amount they're putting into Tesla less than expected? A small amount is fine. Once the tide starts coming in, everyone else will pile their money into us on their own."

"Th-the thing is... they say Tesla isn't part of the plan at all."

"What?"

"Tesla's name doesn't appear anywhere in the investment plan Kwangwoon submitted to the U.S. government, Board Chairman."

"!?"

Milon Tusk shot to his feet in shock.

"What are you talking about? Tesla isn't on it?"

It didn't make any sense.

To prop up the U.S. stock market, the absolute basics required boosting the Market Leader Stocks that influenced overall prices.

And Tesla was one of them.

If Kwangwoon truly intended to save the U.S. market, they needed to pour money into Tesla.

"It's not just Tesla. Most companies that have taken out large-scale bank loans using their stock as collateral have been excluded from the list."

"Wh-what?"

That was when Milon Tusk realized.

Kwangwoon had no intention of saving the U.S. stock market.

They were only obsessed with owning it.

"That bastard's made up his mind to bleed us dry."

This was a brazen move to kill off specific companies and seize control of everything.

"The problem is that the U.S. government has approved this. They plan to proceed with investments following only the list Kwangwoon provided."

"Then what about us? Are we just supposed to sit here and die?"

"......"

Milon Tusk had absolutely no intention of handing over this company without a fight.

"Do you know how hard I worked to build this company...? And the great mission of sending humanity to Mars is right around the corner. You're telling me to give that up?"

There was no way he could.

So Milon Tusk resolved to hold out to the bitter end, but...

"Board Chairman. The fact that we know this means the banks already know the same thing. And just before I came in, the banks all reached out to us at once."

"What did they say?"

"They're telling us to pay up immediately. If we don't deposit additional Margin within the deadline, they'll hit us with a Margin Call."

"......"

It was already too late for that.

Every escape route was already blocked.

"What... what am I supposed to do?"

"The only option is to sell off all the Affiliates you currently hold. You need to sell everything while prices still have some value left and transfer the debts along with them. Other than that..."

"Is there a buyer?"

"Kwangwoon will probably try to buy them, wouldn't you think? This was essentially a direct attack on you, Board Chairman."

In the end, if Milon Tusk didn't want to be arrested as a Financial Criminal, he had to sell off every last Affiliate.

The problem was that there was no buyer other than Kwangwoon.

"Why the hell are they so desperate to devour me? I've been cooperating perfectly well all this time!"

But the answer was obvious with even a moment's thought.

The sin of daring to build Milon Tusk's own empire on Mars.

The sin of daring to establish a nation beyond Kwangwoon's control.

That was why Kwangwoon was stripping Milon Tusk of everything.

* * *

"CEO-nim. They say most countries have completed their final approvals."

"That was incredibly fast. I figured something like this would take quite a while."

"Given the circumstances, every government is operating under emergency protocols right now. They all know that if the markets aren't saved, everything collapses, so this time around, they seem to be processing things quickly."

There's a saying that sincerity always finds its way through.

Now I understood what that meant.

Hadn't I appealed to the entire world through the media that day?

With all my sincerity.

"The leaders of each government were moved by it. They decided to follow your lead, CEO-nim."

"If it weren't for your broadcast that day, the entire global civilization would have collapsed all at once."

Right up until the moment before the broadcast, I'd agonized hundreds of times over whether it was really the right thing to do.

But it seemed like it had been the right call after all.

I had no gift for words and wasn't cut out for broadcasting, but perhaps that was precisely why my sincerity came through even better.

"So how much money can we move right now?"

"Three thousand trillion won in total."

Three thousand trillion.

A truly staggering sum.

It was the combined amount drawn from all of Kwangwoon's Affiliates and pooled into one place.

"Some of that money could pose legal issues. Moving funds through one Affiliate after another could be considered Embezzlement, or it could be tied to a Slush Fund. But this is a special case, so the government has agreed not to intervene."

But three thousand trillion wasn't the end of it.

"The National Pension Service has also liquidated approximately two thousand trillion won into cash, so combined, it comes to an enormous total of five thousand trillion won."

We weren't just moving Kwangwoon's money.

The National Pension Service's funds were moving with us.

When they heard our plan, the National Pension Service readily gave their approval.

"So all that's left now is the setup."

"Yes. We're talking about moving five thousand trillion won, an unprecedented investment plan in history. Of course, saving the U.S. market is the top priority since it's essential for rescuing global markets, so we'll be focusing there, but we also need to monitor and inject funds into other countries' markets simultaneously."

It was the task of deploying five thousand trillion won into the global market.

Could there ever be a more aggressive Bailout than this?

Five thousand trillion was just the starting figure. If each country and institution followed our lead properly, the amount flowing into the markets would skyrocket into the quadrillions in no time.

The theory was that the resulting shockwave would send markets soaring, and the crumbling global markets would recover on their own.

"......"

But theory was just theory. Whether it would actually work was another matter entirely.

That was the nature of the stock market.

Nothing could be predicted.

"So I've brought a layout for a setup that will let you direct things comfortably, CEO-nim. You know that space we used before here in Kwangwoon Tower? We set up all the equipment there, seat the staff, and have them execute Buys according to your orders."

A war room... calling it that made it sound like a Stock Price Manipulation operation, which didn't sit well.

In any case, it could be thought of as a command center for overseeing the entire operation.

We'd conducted several investments from that very place before.

It felt like assembling a raid party for a massive Raid.

Memories of those days came flooding back.

But this time, the scale was on a completely different level from anything we'd done before.

Still, the list of companies was already decided, and all I had to do was Buy, so there shouldn't be any need to expand the operation further...

"?"

Or so I'd thought, but apparently not.

The moment I looked at the command center layout Department Head Seo was showing me, my eyes suddenly tingled with a sharp sensation, and then, as if guided by something, a new floor plan appeared beside it.

"...CEO-nim?"

I found myself tracing lines with a pen as though entranced.

What emerged was a layout several times larger than the original.

"C-CEO-nim. This is..."

"What do you think?"

"It looks about three times larger than what I initially showed you. To fill all of this, we'd need far more personnel."

"Can you proceed with it as is?"

"I'd need to discuss it with headquarters. But I'm sure they'll carry out whatever you instruct without delay."

"Then please go ahead with this."

Even I thought it might be excessive, but given how powerfully my instincts were sending me this feeling, there had to be a reason.

The only thing was, filling all those positions would require hundreds of people.

What would I even need all of them for?

* * *

"Wow. Headquarters really is something else when it comes to execution. Like a bulldozer."

Upon receiving CEO Jung Jin-ho's floor plan, headquarters proceeded without a single word of protest.

Since Kwangwoon Tower couldn't accommodate the layout as designed, they had rented a new space and were busy hauling in all the equipment to get everything set up.

"It's our CEO-nim's orders, not just anyone's. Normally, if someone sprung something like this out of nowhere, there'd be some grumbling, but nobody would dare do that to our CEO-nim."

"When will the setup be done?"

"They say tomorrow."

"Whoa. Tomorrow? That fast?"

Headquarters understood that the company's fate was on the line.

Because of that, they were obligated to carry out even the most outrageous orders without complaint and with speed.

Everyone knew that if they defied those orders and something went wrong, it could mean the end of Kwangwoon itself.

"But why does CEO-nim need such a huge space? Honestly, we just need to Buy according to the list we sent to each government, and that's it. We could handle that from our regular office."

That was the question the Prime Department staff couldn't figure out.

This Bailout was, in a way, a brute-force operation.

Just slam an astronomical amount of money into the global markets all at once.

That was the core of the plan.

In that case, they could simply place pre-scheduled Buy orders on the temporarily closed exchanges and wait for the results.

But for some reason, CEO Jung Jin-ho had demanded a space three times the size of the existing command center and pushed ahead with the setup.

"Haven't you all served under CEO-nim for quite a while now? Sure, some people got swapped out along the way, but still, you've put in your time. And you still can't read what he's thinking?"

"Huh?"

Department Head Seo shook his head and clicked his tongue.

"This is exactly why I'm still CEO-nim's right-hand man. Why he consults me before any of you. I understand the deeper meaning behind everything he says."

"...?"

The staff tilted their heads, clearly lost.

"Don't you remember what happened every time CEO-nim gathered staff outside the Prime Department and entered the market like this?"

"Ugh, don't remind me. Every time he Day Traded or went Short with all that money, my hands would shake and I'd be drenched in cold sweat."

"I still have nightmares about those times, you know?"

"Exactly. That's what I'm talking about."

"What do you mean, that's what you're talking about..."

"CEO-nim isn't setting up this whole operation just to Buy."

The staff's eyes widened.

"W-wait, Department Head-nim. You mean our CEO-nim is...!"

They cried out, their voices stained with horror.

"He's planning to Day Trade with five thousand trillion won?!"