Money Keeps Piling Up No Matter How Much I Spend

Chapter 186

Translator: Dreamscribe"......Who are we signing?"

"Lionel Messi. Kwangwoon is currently putting together incredible terms to bring in a superstar."

Who was Lionel Messi again?

The man widely regarded as the greatest in the history of football.

By winning the last World Cup in Qatar, he had completed his story, and now he was preparing to leave the main European leagues and wrap up his playing career in a new region.

At first, there had been talk of Saudi Arabia, but I was well aware of the rumors that he had turned down Saudi money in favor of the United States, prioritizing his children's education and better infrastructure.

And a player like that was coming to the K-League, of all places?

"Per your orders, CEO-nim, headquarters has been utilizing the Strategy Team to go all-out on signing Messi."

"......."

Maybe I should have read that investment proposal all the way through.

The Golden Light had been surging, urging me to hurry back to headquarters, so I sent the proposal back without finishing it. Apparently, the Messi signing had been included in the parts I missed.

"After you acquired Tottenham, there was public criticism that Kwangwoon only cared about overseas sports teams, so you went ahead and acquired a team in the second division, didn't you?"

And that wasn't all. I had acquired several sports teams as a kind of community service.

"That second-division team is now in the first division. They've been on an unstoppable winning streak ever since you took over."

That was news to me.

I had zero interest in the sports side of things to begin with, and I'd left it all for headquarters to manage.

"But you were the one who personally selected every manager, coach, staff member, and player, weren't you?"

That much was true.

Whether it was a company or a team, whenever Kwangwoon completed an acquisition, I always reviewed the roster first and picked new people based on my Intuition.

"Thanks to that, not a single sports team Kwangwoon has acquired has underperformed. Every one of them is near the top of their league."

But Messi coming to Korea was a different matter entirely.

His price tag alone ran into hundreds of billions, even trillions of won.

Ronaldo, who had gone to Saudi Arabia, was set to receive a total of one trillion won over three years, including all bonuses and advertising revenue.

"Because of Messi's price tag, headquarters is currently in negotiations with the government as well. They'd have to change all the existing regulations, starting with the salary cap."

"If that falls through, the Messi signing is dead in the water, isn't it?"

"Yes. But I don't think the KFA will block it. They wouldn't oppose us pouring massive investment into expanding the market. The real problem is other companies. If we're the only ones throwing money around and bringing in world-class players left and right, it'll inevitably squeeze out the other football clubs."

In other words, if other companies pushed back, the negotiations would hit a wall.

"Wow. But if Messi actually came to the K-League, the whole world would lose its mind."

"Korean football fans would flip out, too."

"But isn't it going to be tough? Messi's already leaning toward the U.S., and American football clubs are making huge signings right now to counter the Saudi league."

Even from my perspective, the staff had a point. Signing Messi looked like a long shot.

He was heading to the U.S. for the Spanish-speaking community there, the educational facilities for his kids, and the infrastructure.

That was exactly the angle Inter Miami was using to lure him.

If money had been his deciding factor, Messi would have gone to Saudi Arabia.

But he turned down the enormous sum Saudi Arabia was offering and chose the U.S. instead.

"Let's just hope headquarters pulls it off."

"Yes, CEO-nim. The Strategy Team is all elites, so they'll find a way somehow."

Still, I kept my expectations in check.

Even if we didn't sign Messi, it wouldn't derail our investment plans.

"Also, CEO-nim, here's a list of the projects underway in Africa and the companies that have applied to partner with us."

"Oh. The list is out already?"

Land development, infrastructure expansion, and more.

These were development projects set to launch across Africa over the next ten years.

Naturally, Kwangwoon couldn't handle all of it alone, so the list right here contained the companies that would take on subcontracted work for us.

"Hmm."

I scanned through the list.

Headquarters had already filtered it, but it was still quite long.

I closed my eyes for a moment.

When I felt a tingling sensation at my fingertips, I opened them again.

Sure enough.

The list that had looked perfectly normal just moments ago was now a chaotic swirl of red, blue, and Golden Light.

"......."

I checked off names on the list at a rapid pace.

If I took too long, the ability would stay active longer, making my vision blur and my temples feel like they were burning.

"Y-you're already done looking it over?"

"Yes. Pass it along as is."

"Oh, yes CEO-nim."

The Africa project served Kwangwoon's interests, of course, but the most important goals were infrastructure expansion and the mass training of skilled workers.

The core of this project was to eliminate the poverty and hunger that plagued Africa, so that no one would die of famine anymore.

It would cost an astronomical sum, but once it was complete, Africa would no longer have to fight starvation.

'Messi, though......'

The world's greatest football star, playing in our domestic league.

I let out a quiet chuckle.

It seemed like a fantasy that could never come true.

* * *

"What the hell is going on? You're suddenly pulling out of negotiations!"

The Hobbs brothers held 75% of Inter Miami's shares.

The two men, who ran a company called the Hobbs Family, had acquired Inter Miami to boost the popularity of the American league even further, and to that end, they had recruited Beckham, the original football superstar, handing him a 25% stake.

As a result, they had landed a massive prospect in Messi, and now had the chance to elevate Inter Miami's stature even higher.

But Ricardo Hobbs came storming into the executive office in a fury over the sudden news.

His younger brother, Jose Hobbs, had abruptly torpedoed the Messi negotiations that had been going smoothly.

"Talk. We were practically done with the deal, so why the hell did you blow it up? Don't tell me you pulled this stunt just to play hardball on the transfer fee."

"That's not it. We already agreed between ourselves. Bring him in at fifty to sixty million dollars a year."

"Right. That's what we agreed on. So why? Did Messi suddenly ask for a hundred million dollars or something?"

"Even if he had, we would've found a way to make the hundred million work. He's worth it."

"Then what the hell was the problem?"

Jose handed his brother a document.

"What's this?"

"An article that came out today."

Ricardo looked at the article and furrowed his brow.

"The K-League? They're trying to sign Messi? Korea? Isn't their league tiny?"

"It is. But you need to look at who's running the negotiations."

"What crazy bastard would try to hijack a deal for Messi... Huh? K-Kwangwoon?!"

"That's right. That Kwangwoon."

At first, he had been ready to laugh at whatever fools with no business ethics were trying to interfere with a deal that was practically done. Messi had already turned down astronomical money from Saudi Arabia and chosen the U.S.

There was no buying him with money alone.

Trying to poach Messi made no sense.

But the moment Ricardo saw that the other party was Kwangwoon, the words died in his throat.

"Apparently Kwangwoon is gearing up for a massive investment push into Korean sports."

"Out of nowhere?"

"Saudi Arabia's been on this insane spending spree, blowing up the sports market, right? Looks like that changed their thinking. After acquiring Tottenham, Kwangwoon's been pulling in the highest revenue in the Premier League. They ran all kinds of tests there and decided sports was profitable."

After acquiring Tottenham, Kwangwoon had achieved the historic feat of winning the league two seasons in a row.

Tottenham had already been solid in terms of revenue, but after Kwangwoon took over management, it doubled, making them the most profitable team in the Premier League.

"So you backed off just because of the Kwangwoon name? When we nearly had Messi locked down?"

"Turn to the next page."

"Next page?"

The next page wasn't an article. It was a different document.

"Th-this is from Kwangwoon?"

"You know about the massive project Kwangwoon is launching in Africa, right?"

"Of course. Every construction company is bending over backwards to get in on that. Ours included."

There were conspiracy theories floating around that Kwangwoon was seizing control of Africa, pioneering infrastructure across the continent to turn it into some kind of colony.

Regardless of all that.

Construction companies couldn't afford to let this opportunity slip by.

If Kwangwoon actually executed the project, it meant a decade's worth of steady work.

In a time when the construction industry was struggling worldwide, a mega-project like this was like rain after a drought.

That was exactly why the Hobbs Family had submitted their application.

But they hadn't gotten their hopes up.

The competition was far too fierce.

"We made the list."

"What? W-we did? They picked us?"

"That's right. Why do you think they'd hand us something like this?"

"Read the room and back off?"

"Exactly. Don't fight it. Take what's offered and walk away. If we refuse......"

Ricardo swallowed hard.

"There'll be retaliation."

"Now you see why I pulled out?"

Ricardo's heart was pounding.

Stories about Kwangwoon were infamous in the industry.

The fate of companies that had fallen out of Kwangwoon's favor was so well known it wasn't even worth repeating. And they had nearly gone head-to-head with Kwangwoon over signing a single football player.

"Brother. You made the smart call."

"Yeah. Our family business, passed down since our grandfather's generation, almost crumbled in an instant."

The two brothers let out sighs of relief.

All things considered, it was a pretty good deal.

They felt a little bad for Messi, but.

What could they do?

Kwangwoon had already set its sights on him.

* * *

"Right. I knew something was off. It was suspicious that they were handing us the Apple deal so easily."

Politics and business were the same.

Take one thing, and you have to give one thing back.

Chairman Kang Sung-ho had actually been wondering whether this whole Apple situation was yielding too much profit for Kangseong.

No matter how close he was with Jung Jin-ho, funneling this much business their way clearly meant something was behind it.

And now he finally understood the reason.

"He's saying he wants to make our domestic league rival Saudi Arabia's, no, far bigger than that?"

"Yes. And it's not just football. Golf, Formula 1, baseball, and more. He's planning to invest across all the major sports and scale the whole thing up massively."

"And other companies are expected to follow suit?"

"Yes. If Kwangwoon invests alone, only one team gets stronger, and that's no fun for anyone watching."

Kang Sung-ho had always been reluctant to invest in sports.

The only reason he had kept it up was that his father had been a die-hard sports fanatic, and he didn't want to carelessly dismantle the man's legacy.

"If my father were still alive, I think he and CEO Jung would have gotten along wonderfully. Their tastes are exactly the same."

"But Chairman, I don't think this is simply a matter of personal taste."

"What?"

"The reason Kwangwoon is suddenly making this massive investment in sports is the same thing Saudi Arabia is after: centering all culture around Korea."

Come to think of it, looking back, Jung Jin-ho had said multiple times that he had no particular interest in sports.

Yet he was willing to shoulder astronomical investment costs in this area. Why?

Simply because he liked sports?

No.

There was another purpose.

"Kwangwoon has raised our country's standing far beyond what it was before, hasn't it? Netflix, PicPic, FaceWeb, and even Wizney. They've all declared their intent to keep producing content centered on Korean culture going forward."

"And that's not all. At the schools currently being built in Africa, the first language being taught isn't English. It's Korean."

"Wait. If that's the case......"

"If they dominate media culture and plaster the world's most popular hobby, sports, with Korean branding... Korea becomes the center of the world."

Korea, the center of the world.

"Even now, Korean content is being mass-produced across various media platforms, and the number of people learning Korean is growing exponentially. If this gradual encroachment continues, eventually Korean will become familiar to everyone."

"And someday, Korean becomes one of the world's common languages?"

"Yes. And at the heart of the culture that's taken over the world will be Kwangwoon. Even the middle-aged demographic that doesn't use social media but is fanatically devoted to sports will eventually be absorbed into the sports culture Kwangwoon operates."

Only then could he grasp Kwangwoon's true intent.

And through this project, Kwangwoon had also sent a message to the domestic corporations.

Will you follow us and invest hundreds of billions, no, trillions of won?

Or will you refuse to comply and resist?

"......."

It was a binary choice between two kinds of death.