Chapter 29
Translator: Dreamscribe
"CEO-nim. It's almost time to leave. The vehicle is waiting outside."
"Ah. Right. Let's go out together."
From morning until now, Hwang Dae-woon had been feeling uneasy.
'Why did Jin-ho say something like that back then?'
While talking in the CEO’s office, Jin-ho suddenly grabbed Hwang’s arm and told him not to go to the Middle East.
The reason wasn’t anything significant.
Apparently, a new DLC had just been released for the game they were playing.
He said he wanted to gather the hyung and Guild Members to go on a raid together for the first time in a while and have a good time.
It was a reason that could be dismissed as nonsense.
'But it felt like there was some other reason behind it.......'
What that might be, he couldn’t figure out.
But to actually cancel a business trip to Saudi just for a game?
That would be insane.
The reason for this trip to Saudi was crystal clear.
Saudi had confirmed that it would open its stock market this year.
Furthermore, it had announced active investment through the management of its sovereign wealth fund.
That was why he was trying to get there faster than anyone else to assess the situation.
There were already reports that other company chairmen were preparing to fly over to Saudi themselves.
He intended to get there first and establish some Position before they could take the lead.
"You’re here, CEO-nim."
"Ah. Senior Managing Director Tak. Did you prepare everything well?"
"Yes. Once we arrive in Riyadh, we plan to meet with the people involved with the sovereign wealth fund first. I’ve also scheduled the meetings."
"Good. But I was talking about something else. You’re extremely picky about food, aren’t you?"
"Ah. I packed a bunch of cup ramen just in case."
Riyadh is the capital of Saudi Arabia.
Once they arrive, there won’t be any time to rest or sightsee.
They would need to move fast.
All to earn even a single more won.
"But is the security in Riyadh okay?"
"Aigo. It’s more than okay. It’s the capital of Saudi Arabia, after all. In the Middle East, Saudi is basically the top dog, and their capital’s security is thoroughly managed. Are you worried because of Yemen?"
Recently, Saudi had participated in the civil war in Yemen and launched airstrikes, known as Operation Storm.
Having long had a tense relationship with Iran, Saudi effectively declared a proxy war with Iran through the Yemen conflict.
As a result, several military warehouses were destroyed by Saudi’s airstrikes, and tensions of a full-scale war in the Middle East had reached a boiling point.
"But oil-producing countries are still oil-producing countries, I guess. Normally, when a war breaks out, oil prices fluctuate like crazy, but here there’s none of that."
Usually, when war breaks out, oil prices shoot through the roof.
But because the war was small in scale, and more importantly because Saudi was a global oil producer, oil prices had actually dropped.
"So, you’re saying security-wise, it’s fine?"
"Yes. The fighting happens in Yemen, not in Saudi. It’s like Saudi and Iran are just throwing jabs at each other in the ring called Yemen, isn’t it?"
It was practically a power struggle between Saudi and Iran under the pretense of the Yemen civil war.
Their own territories remained safe, while only Yemen was turning into ruins.
"So you don’t need to worry about security. If Iran acts crazy and attacks the Saudi capital, that would give the U.S. a justification to intervene, so they’d never do such a thing."
The biggest reason Iran wouldn’t touch Saudi was because of the U.S. behind it.
Unless they wanted to declare war on the United States, no country would dare provoke Saudi.
"Yeah. I suppose you’re right."
The conclusion was that Saudi was safe.
Even so, the words Jin-ho had said lingered uncomfortably.
Knowing how important this business trip was, why would he say to skip the Middle East this time and just play a game together?
"That...... meeting, you know. Would it be possible to postpone it?"
"What? It was a hard-earned meeting slot. If we try to postpone, they probably won’t agree to meet us again. In fact, the only reason we were able to get a meeting was because we moved quicker than others."
"Hmm....... I see."
"Is something wrong? Your expression hasn’t looked good since earlier."
"Hmm? It’s nothing."
Hwang Dae-woon shook his head.
Right. What could possibly go wrong?
Maybe Jin-ho just genuinely wanted to spend some time playing the game together after all the nonstop work lately.
Once this business trip is safely over, they could always play together then.
That would be fine.
***
'He must’ve arrived safely, right?'
He said it would be a 12-hour direct flight.
That day was the first time I ever had that kind of feeling.
How should I describe it?
It was a feeling close to fear, where my hair stood on end and cold sweat flowed.
That’s why I unconsciously grabbed hyung’s arm and told him not to go to the Middle East.
While giving that ridiculous excuse about playing a game together.
Of course, hyung laughed it off, saying I was talking nonsense.
‘He said he had a lot of important appointments.’
When I grabbed him a few more times, hyung explained in a gentle tone why this trip was important.
That Saudi could become a land of opportunity.
I knew that too.
Since Kwangwoon Securities was still smaller in scale than others, it needed to move faster than anyone to secure its Position.
Besides, I couldn’t exactly explain why my instincts had suddenly flared up.
It could’ve been a signal to invest in something related to Saudi, or maybe it was about something else entirely.
So I couldn’t hold him back to the end.
If I said something unnecessary and hyung ended up missing an important opportunity, it would negatively affect the company too.
‘Should I have tried to stop him one more time?’
But why do I still feel so uneasy?
Because of that, I couldn’t concentrate on work all day.
Not that there’s much to do anyway, since I already went all-in on Franc.
Maybe that’s why it bothered me even more.
Ah. I really should’ve just braced myself and tried to stop him one more time.
Just in case, I did some research on Saudi Arabia, and there didn’t seem to be any serious security or safety issues.
Maybe I’m just worrying for nothing......
As I sat slumped in my chair, staring blankly at the ceiling.
Knock knock knock knock knock!
Urgent knocking sounded.
“Yes?”
“D-Department Head! Did you see the foreign news that just came in?”
Judging by Deputy Manager Lee Hye-rin’s expression, something serious had happened.
I checked immediately.
[Bombing in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.]
“!?”
In Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia!?
Soon, others came rushing into the Department Head’s Office.
“Department Head. You saw the breaking news, right? The market, which was calm until now, is reacting. It’s a pretty big incident.”
“Because of this news, the FX market looks like it’s about to swing hard. Saudi, known as the safest in the Middle East, got attacked. If this turns out to be Iran’s doing, even the U.S. might get involved......”
But their reports didn’t register in my ears.
Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.
That’s exactly where hyung was headed.
“No way.......”
Was that sudden instinctive alarm because of this?
My hands began to tremble.
“Department Head?”
“J-just a moment, I need to make a call......”
“Ah, yes. We’ll step outside.”
Sensing something was off, the employees quickly left the Department Head’s Office.
In the meantime, I searched for hyung’s number with shaking fingers.
I almost dropped my phone.
‘I should’ve stopped him somehow.’
Regret washed over me.
I should’ve clung to his pants and not let him go.
No. Let's not think negatively.
Even if hyung is in Riyadh, it doesn’t necessarily mean he got caught in the bombing.
“.......”
I silently prayed, please, please, please, as I waited for the call to connect.
Those few seconds felt like years.
How much time had passed?
[Ah. Jin-ho.]
“Hyung!!”
[Aigo. You scared me. My eardrums almost burst.]
“N-no, are you okay? Nothing happened to you, right?”
[Of course I’m okay, you punk.]
I let out a sigh of relief.
The intense tension that had swept over me in that brief moment suddenly released, and I nearly collapsed on the spot.
“There was a news of huge bombing in Riyadh just now. I’m so glad. I guess it had nothing to do with where you were.”
[Actually...... I didn’t go to Saudi.]
“What?”
[I was almost at the airport, but I just turned the car around and canceled all my appointments. Something felt off. Your words kept echoing in my head.]
“Wait. You really canceled it because of what I said?”
[Yeah. The top earner in our company asks to play a game together, how could I ignore that and go walking into trouble? So I turned back. Hehe.]
Hyung joked playfully, then soon asked me seriously.
[But Jin-ho.]
“Yes, hyung.”
[Did you by any chance...... know this bombing would happen?]
“You’re saying something dangerous-. How could I possibly have known?”
[Right? Yeah. That’s good then. Anyway, your hyung is safe, so don’t worry. Oh, and get the Guild Members ready. We’ve got a raid to run.]
“Yep. I’ll have everything set up in advance.”
[Alright. Get back to work.]
Thank goodness.
I had all sorts of thoughts racing through my head, thinking something really might have happened.
If something serious had truly occurred, I would have regretted for the rest of my life not holding hyung back.
But a terror attack in Saudi, of all places?
It was shocking that such a large-scale attack happened in a place considered to be so safe.
And Saudi has the United States behind it, doesn’t it?
“This isn’t the time to be sitting around.”
The terror attack in Saudi is clearly a major event that will affect the global market.
Even though all our money is tied up in the safe-haven franc, the market must still be closely monitored.
It was time to get back to work.
***
“.......”
Hwang Dae-woon sat in silence for a moment after ending the call.
The shocking terror attack in Saudi.
If he hadn’t turned the car around at the airport, if he had ignored Jin-ho’s warning, he might have been one of the casualties there.
“CEO-nim!!”
“CEOOO-nim!!”
But he didn’t even have time to remain lost in thought.
The executives burst into the CEO’s Office with a commotion.
“Whoa, you guys are really scaring me all together like this.”
“No, CEO-nim. Wh-what on earth is going on here?”
The one with the palest face was none other than Senior Managing Director Tak.
He had been the only executive scheduled to leave for Saudi together with Hwang Dae-woon.
“It’s truly a miracle. When you suddenly canceled the Saudi trip, I was completely baffled, but to think this would happen.......”
“Heaven really helped us.”
Heaven helped us.
That was right.
Maybe someone up there had sent a warning through Jin-ho.
“But why did you suddenly cancel the schedule? Senior Managing Director Tak didn’t even know the reason.”
Hwang paused for a moment.
Should he talk about it?
No. Even with a moment's thought, this was something that absolutely must not be revealed.
Even if Jin-ho didn’t know anything, if word got out that he had given an advance warning?
If someone twisted it and framed it as if Jin-ho had prior knowledge of the terror attack? Even if the chances were low, the wise thing was not to create that risk in the first place.
“I just had a bad dream that morning.”
So he kept quiet.
At the same time, the executives were left speechless.
“Really, because of a dream?”
“Yeah. I was just lucky. Like you said, heaven helped me. But who the hell did this? Was it really Iran?”
“We’ve been checking the breaking news, and Iran was quick to issue a statement saying it wasn’t them. And ISIS has claimed responsibility.”
“Tsk. It’s fine to have religion or ideology, but do they have no other way to express it? What did the people who died in that terror attack do to deserve that?”
The only relief was that the attack had been carried out by ISIS and not Iran.
If it had been Iran, a full-scale war could’ve broken out.
ISIS.
An extremist Sunni Islamic fundamentalist militant group.
A few years ago, they suddenly declared themselves a state and caused chaos, and now they’ve gone and done something like this.
“Anyway, I’m fine, so all of you get back to work. With news this big, the markets could be swinging wildly.”
“Yes, regardless of anything else, we’re just glad you’re safe, CEO-nim.”
“Right. Oh, and Senior Managing Director Tak, stay behind for a moment.”
“......Yes, sir.”
After the executives left, Hwang asked Senior Managing Director Tak, who still seemed dazed.
“Senior Managing Director Tak.”
“Yes, CEO-nim.”
“If we had been in Saudi, do you think we would’ve been caught in it?”
“......Most likely. The location we had set for our first meeting was the building where the bombing took place.”
“!?”
So that’s how it was.
Then Jin-ho really did save my life.......
“But CEO-nim, how did you know? If you hadn’t turned the car around back then.......”
Senior Managing Director Tak shivered as if just thinking about it made his blood run cold.
“Senior Managing Director Tak. Be good to Jin-ho from now on.”
“What? Why Department Head Jung Jin-ho all of a sudden.......”
“There’s a reason. Just be good to him.”
“......?”
Senior Managing Director Tak looked completely clueless.
‘How am I ever going to repay this debt?’
Jung Jin-ho.
He had grown the company, and now, he had even saved his life.
It felt like he owed him a debt he could never repay for the rest of his life.
*****
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