Money Keeps Piling Up No Matter How Much I Spend

Chapter 218

Translator: Dreamscribe"So Kwangwoon is going to become the savior of humanity, huh."

Of course, they hadn't put it in such grandiose terms.

"But do you think he was sincere? Just watching that broadcast, it really felt genuine."

He understood.

Even Milon Tusk, who knew Jung Jin-ho's wicked true nature better than anyone, had nearly been fooled watching him make that heartfelt appeal on air.

A momentary delusion.

The kind where you wonder if maybe Jung Jin-ho is just an ordinary person with good instincts for investing.

But considering everything Kwangwoon had done under his orders, the man had to be a thorough sociopath.

A devil who could manipulate and deceive people at any moment, voice trembling with conviction, brimming with false sincerity.

"I almost fell for Jung Jin-ho myself when I first met him. I thought there was no way someone with such a kind face could commit atrocities with Kwangwoon behind him. But you know how much damage he's done to me."

Tesla, Space T, all of it. Milon Tusk was supposed to have sole ownership, sole control.

That had been the original plan, and everything had been proceeding smoothly.

Until a bastard named Jung Jin-ho barged into his life with Kwangwoon in tow.

"If it weren't for Kwangwoon, I wouldn't be sitting here on edge like this. I'd be popping every stimulant I could find and throwing myself into work around the clock."

Milon Tusk was a workaholic by everyone's account.

He'd lived on stimulants, begrudging even the hours spent sleeping, always awake and chained to his work.

He had only one goal.

To terraform Mars and turn it into his own empire.

He had actually said as much in several public announcements, declaring he would build an independent empire on Mars, free from war, conflict, or outside interference.

That was why he'd invested in Bitcoin, and why he'd acquired every company he needed, from rockets to androids to everything else required for Mars terraforming.

But Kwangwoon stood in the way of his dream of Mars.

Jung Jin-ho, to be precise.

"But Chairman. Even if Kwangwoon has ambitions to devour countless companies, their intention to rescue the collapsing markets is genuine, isn't it?"

That was exactly where Milon Tusk was pinning his hopes right now.

"Like you said, to revive the markets, the right move would be to resurrect the biggest companies first, wouldn't it?"

"Yes. That's the most effective approach. The bigger they are, the greater their impact on the global markets."

Jung Jin-ho had announced that Kwangwoon would pour every asset it had into propping up the global markets. And to keep that promise, it only made sense to start with companies like Tesla.

Where was the center of the global markets, after all?

America.

If the U.S. markets recovered, the rest of the world's markets would naturally follow.

So the right strategy was to pick the heaviest hitters on the U.S. market and lift them up first.

"Companies like our Tesla."

Honestly, Kwangwoon had wrecked the world and was now shamelessly playing angel, and it was revolting. But what could he do?

The world was moving according to their plan.

Even if they scooped up every company on the planet, Milon Tusk didn't care. He wanted only one thing.

Tesla's resurrection.

And for that, he desperately needed Kwangwoon's power.

"What are the banks saying right now?"

"They say they'll grant a hold after seeing Jung Jin-ho's statement."

"Until when?"

"They said they can't give us long. Either we go convince Kwangwoon to revive the stock price soon, or we bring them sufficient margin."

The banks must have seen hope in Jung Jin-ho's bailout announcement too.

By the rules, they should have been carrying out forced liquidation on all positions, but doing so now would be no different from turning everything into scrap paper without getting fair value. So the plan was to hold on until Kwangwoon threw them a lifeline.

"Any contact with Kwangwoon?"

"Not yet. We've tried reaching them through the hotline, but apparently Kwangwoon cut off all communications after the announcement went out."

"Because they're getting flooded with calls?"

"Yes. We're far from the only ones with stock prices hitting rock bottom. Everyone's reaching out, begging to be rescued first."

So Kwangwoon had taken all its lines offline to deal with the flood of calls.

In other words, they would decide on their own where to deploy the money first.

"Then all we have to do is wait. Unless Kwangwoon is stupid, they'd have to start with the biggest players for a bailout to work. And above all, I'm a partner running World Link with Jung Jin-ho, aren't I?"

Milon Tusk let out a sigh of relief.

The dream of Mars, which had seemed to drift away for a moment, was drawing close once more.

* * *

I'd gone and done it.

After the broadcast ended, that was the only thought filling my head.

"......."

It would be a lie to say I had no regrets.

I'd announced on live television, with the entire world watching, that a mere corporation would carry out a bailout. The government would probably find it presumptuous, and some people would wag their fingers, calling it overreach.

"Fortunately, the response is really positive, CEO-nim."

But perhaps the world was still a warm place after all.

"They're calling you the Messiah of the 21st century. Communities and social media are going absolutely wild right now."

People could have viewed it negatively, but instead they were sending me their support.

"That's a relief. I was planning to stay off the internet for a while."

"Your sincerity must have gotten through to them. Deputy Manager Lee Hye-rin here was even in tears listening to you speak. Isn't that right?"

"Th-that's...!"

Sure enough.

Hye-rin's eyes were puffy and swollen.

"Anyway, so it's positive?"

"Yes. Thanks to your sincerity getting through, the institutions are already moving on their own. The banks are blocking all forced margin calls as we speak."

"And the government?"

"The government hasn't made any major moves yet, but there are growing voices saying they should join this effort. At this rate, it's obvious things will spiral into anarchy. Headquarters has already sent out official letters to all of them, I'm told."

"Official letters for what, exactly...?"

"Requesting that Kwangwoon be allowed to buy stocks without restriction until this financial crisis is resolved."

Despite the announcement, none of it would be possible without government cooperation.

They could block our purchases on grounds of market disruption.

But fortunately, no one had rejected our proposal yet.

Everyone instinctively knew that someone had to step up, and they had given their tacit consent for us to take on that role.

"Then the key now is selecting which companies to target."

"Yes. We've already pulled together a full list of companies. The analysis team has also prepared separate scenarios for the most efficient way to revive the markets."

The most critical moment had arrived.

If the bailout failed after I'd gone so far as to deliver a speech on global media, the backlash would be fierce.

"But the list is enormous. We focused on the U.S., since it carries the most weight, but we couldn't just ignore Europe and Asia either."

In short, there was so much data and so many companies on the list that it looked like I'd be staring at files on a tablet all day.

"We need to move as fast as we can. We can't afford to drag this out."

Out of that massive list, we had to funnel money into the companies that would do the most good for the global markets.

It wasn't just a matter of picking which companies to fund. We also had to decide the ratios for allocating the money, which made it far more complicated than it seemed.

"......."

The sheer volume of the list left me momentarily dizzy, but this was no time to lose my nerve.

Every moment I wasted here meant another crack in the dam, threatening to flood the entire world.

But there was no need to worry too much.

"......!"

The moment I opened the list, sparks began to fly around certain company names, as if they'd been waiting for me.

My intuition was showing me exactly which companies to invest in to save this crumbling global market.

"I believe the right approach is to rescue the large blue chips first. We've also prepared our own recommended list to show you, CEO-nim..."

I'm sorry, but the Department Head-nim's words weren't reaching my ears.

I was checking off companies one after another, guided by the intense intuition sending electric jolts through my entire body.

"......."

The staff simply waited in silence beside me until I was finished.

* * *

"President-nim. The Russia-Ukraine War has effectively come to an end."

The godforsaken war was finally over.

But there was no joy in it.

The Russia-Ukraine War had ended because of another war entirely.

If not for the massive civil war erupting in Russia, the Russia-Ukraine War would still be raging.

"I'd take the Russia-Ukraine War over this any day."

The Russian Civil War. The Chinese Civil War.

Both were ticking nuclear time bombs.

He missed the Russia-Ukraine War, which had at least been manageable.

"Israel has also resumed strikes on Hamas leadership. The situation there is looking dire as well."

"Compared to Russia and China, that's child's play."

There was a time when the Middle East was considered the most dangerous region in the world.

The nations bordering Israel, specifically.

But ever since Russia and China had fallen apart, no one was paying attention to the Israeli front anymore.

"By the way, did everyone watch the broadcast?"

"You mean CEO Jung Jin-ho, sir?"

"Yes. What did you think?"

"To be frank... it was a truly sincere announcement. They say genuine sincerity transcends language, and watching that, I understood what they meant."

"I agree. Kwangwoon has drawn its share of criticism over the years, but this time, it seemed like they were focused on saving the global markets rather than chasing profit."

Aiden knew his advisors' leanings well.

They had no intention of obstructing Kwangwoon, but they didn't view them favorably either.

And even they had been moved like that.

It was no wonder ordinary people were deifying Jung Jin-ho.

"As it happens, Kwangwoon has just sent over a list of companies they plan to buy heavily into."

"Oh? Have you taken a look?"

"No. I brought it straight here to report to you, President-nim, so I haven't reviewed it yet. But to save the global markets, wouldn't the priority be to revive the U.S. markets first? And that means rescuing the most influential major corporations as quickly as possible, wouldn't it? If only for the sake of the banks holding back those margin calls."

If they truly wanted to save the global markets, that was the correct approach.

Revive the American corporate giants first, boost the U.S. markets, and the rest of the world's markets would naturally follow.

"Hmm...?"

But when Aiden actually looked at the list, it was filled with entirely different companies.

Among them were many he had never even heard of.

"Hold on. Are we sure this file came through correctly?"

"Yes. It's confirmed from Kwangwoon."

"And this is really their investment list?"

"What?"

The advisors finally looked at the file themselves.

"What the... what is this!"

"They're not rescuing the major corporations? They're planning to start with the smallest companies at the bottom?"

"What do you think? Can this save the global markets?"

Every advisor shook their head.

"If they truly intended to save the global markets, this is not how you'd invest. You'd start with the big companies."

It wasn't that the list contained no large corporations at all.

But there was a clear distinction.

"They've excluded every company that's heavily leveraged with bank-held stock."

"What does that mean?"

"They intend to bleed them dry. Other companies are easy pickings since the big funds are dumping their shares, but companies like Tesla, where a single person holds a large stake, are hard to take over. So they're leaving those to wither."

"So they're using this crisis as an excuse to squeeze them until they surrender?"

"Yes. There's no other explanation for this list. It's blatant."

Just as expected.

Aiden and his advisors had believed, even if only for a brief moment, that Jung Jin-ho was sincere.

But today, they were reminded of a valuable lesson once more.

Kwangwoon and Jung Jin-ho had no good intentions.

"President-nim. This is exactly what we feared. Kwangwoon deliberately engineered an unprecedented financial crisis to seize every company in America."

Aiden nodded slowly.

"So, are you saying we should stop Kwangwoon from deploying its money?"

"What? W-well, that's..."

"For your own sake, I'd advise against it."

"!?"

"And for the sake of our country, too."

There had never been a choice to begin with.

"Move our reserves according to this list. Let's see how it plays out."

The companies not on this list were probably painting rosy futures in their heads right about now.

Clinging to the hollow hope that Kwangwoon would surely come to their rescue.

But Kwangwoon wasn't about to throw them a life preserver. It was readying a harpoon.

*****

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