Money Keeps Piling Up No Matter How Much I Spend

Translator: Dreamscribe

“How’s the logistics clean-up? Is everything going well?”

“Yes. It’s like these bastards were waiting for this exact day. They’re taking over at lightning speed and moving all the cargo.”

It was truly a bitter pill to swallow.

Wasn’t Tianjin Port the key logistics hub in northern China?

Called the gateway of exports and imports, it was one of the largest ports in the northern region, drawing in export and import cargo from Beijing and its surrounding areas.

Especially around Tianjin Port, there are various industrial complexes and special economic zones. It’s a place where manufacturing factories are clustered and related logistics are concentrated, making it a core supply chain port.

There was a reason the Dragon Sea Alliance, throwing money around, was trying to take over Tianjin Port by joining forces with the Chinese government.

Even though it was sold for a fair price, truthfully, even if several times that amount had been offered, it was a strategic stronghold that should never have been sold.

“This is all because of our incompetence.”

But in the end, they lost that stronghold. Thɪs chapter is updatᴇd by novel(ꜰ)ire.net

That’s what pained CEO Kim Doo-young and the other Kwangwoon Shipping executives.

“If we had any real capability, we wouldn’t have just sat back and let our noses be cut off.”

“But… CEO-nim. Did CEO Jung Jin-ho really say to just hand it over like this?”

“I heard CEO Jung Jin-ho had a very strong connection on the Chinese side.”

CEO Jung Jin-ho had practically forced the Chinese government to pay a bargain price for the port business rights.

Especially after seeing the behavior of the Chinese official who came to negotiate with Kwangwoon Shipping, they realized once more:

Jung Jin-ho has a solid connection on the Chinese side!

That was exactly what they were counting on.

But Jung Jin-ho didn’t fight.

He simply handed over everything at Tianjin Port.

And he did so despite knowing very well how important that stronghold was to Kwangwoon Shipping.

“Don’t you get it?”

“Sorry?”

“Think about it. When we first refused to hand over Tianjin Port, didn’t the Public Security Bureau threaten all sorts of things, like arresting me? Honestly, even if I were arrested, would it have any real impact on Kwangwoon Shipping?”

“Well…”

“As long as Jung Jin-ho is backing us, it wouldn’t matter if a chess piece like me got taken away. The problem is, what happens after I get taken away? Do you think the rest of you here would be safe?”

“…….”

If CEO Kim Doo-young were arrested, his successor wouldn’t be able to hold onto the position either, and after a string of replacements, eventually, no one would be left.

“Frankly speaking, if we all got taken away, the empty seats could be filled again. But Jung Jin-ho didn’t let that happen.”

“Why would he make such a choice…”

“He simply protected us. Even if it meant suffering a huge loss.”

“!?”

Only then did the executives grasp the deeper meaning behind CEO Jung Jin-ho’s actions.

“But who are we to…”

“Like I said earlier, in this kind of battle, we’re just chess pieces. But CEO Jung Jin-ho doesn’t treat us as mere pieces. He sees us as human beings and members of this company, and he respects us.”

A wave of emotion swept through the room.

Jung Jin-ho could have fought.

If he had teamed up with his Chinese connections and launched a coordinated attack, he might have broken free from the Dragon Sea Alliance’s pressure.

But he didn’t.

He was concerned about the executives, the shrimp whose backs would break in a whale fight.

So he gave up the fight and handed over the stronghold.

“Anyone else would have ignored the fate of their subordinates and only pursued personal gain…”

“And he’s so much younger than us, yet acts like such a great man.”

“He’s truly on another level.”

He was a completely different kind of leader from anyone they had ever met before.

So young, yet he prioritized people over the interests of the company or himself.

Now they could understand why the retainers of old would devote themselves to a wise king.

He drove people mad with loyalty, it made them want to offer their very hearts.

“That’s why we have to do better moving forward. So we never go through something this shameful again.”

“Yes, CEO-nim.”

The executives’ eyes burned with passion.

Toward Jung Jin-ho, who wasn’t even in the room.

***

“CEO-nim. Just as both Netflix and we had predicted, it looks like we’ll easily earn 12 billion dollars this year. Once the year-end settlement is complete, they’re planning to distribute a special dividend to us with top priority.”

The amount of our dividend depends on how much net profit comes out of the 12 billion dollars.

Since it’s a special preferred share agreement, the dividend could range from several hundred million to even billions of dollars.

In short, Netflix has now become Kwangwoon’s cash cow.

“And as you advised, they’ve decided to push the drama ‘Money Heist’ aggressively, just like they did with ‘Stranger Things’.”

From now on is the real test for Netflix.

It was great that they hit it big with ‘Stranger Things’, but one must not forget that this is a subscription-based streaming platform.

In other words, there always needs to be another drama that can keep viewers engaged.

“But apparently, even over there, there were many negative opinions about ‘Money Heist’. It’s about robbers hitting a major bank, but in the end, the robbers are portrayed almost like heroes.”

I’d skimmed through the synopsis for ‘Money Heist’, but didn’t really know the details.

“They said the investment had been delayed because some people argued, ‘We’re riding high on Stranger Things, so is it right to portray criminals as righteous heroes rather than following a good-versus-evil narrative?'”

“And then I picked it?”

“Yes. Because you told them to go all-in on this project, even those who were previously opposed have now thrown themselves fully into it.”

Watching how the Netflix team operates, I wasn’t particularly worried.

Even before the release of ‘Stranger Things’, everything from the trailer to the promotional posters was crafted to stimulate emotion and help make it a hit through effective marketing.

They’d probably do the same for this project.

Besides, even when I first invested in Netflix, I didn’t expect the business to perform this well.

Who could have imagined that a subscription-based streaming platform would generate 12 billion dollars in such a short time?

If this project also becomes a mega-hit, I have no intention of pulling out the invested funds from Netflix anytime soon.

It’s the kind of place where you just leave it and the money keeps stacking up on its own.

“And… as expected, the problem is the shipping division.”

Department Head Seo’s voice faded slightly.

“With Deutsche Bank collapsing, the Kangseong Group has taken a seat at the table and is trying to form a new foundry company in partnership with the semiconductor firms there. Because of that, TSMC is being extremely sensitive and watching the situation closely.”

That’s why they cut ties with us.

“The problem is, the Dragon Sea Alliance has more influence than expected, and now there are already rumors circulating about a crisis at Kwangwoon Shipping. Shipping alliances are already forming in multiple places, and the Dragon Sea Alliance is supporting them.”

Naturally, cargo volumes that used to come through Kwangwoon Shipping were gradually flowing elsewhere.

“On top of that, with Tianjin Port now handed over to the Dragon Sea Alliance, that essentially served as the final blow. In Taiwan, logistics including TSMC’s have already shifted entirely to the Dragon Sea Alliance.”

What was frustrating about TSMC was that what could have just been a corporate competition was turning into a conflict fueled by national sentiment.

A while back, anti-Korean sentiment had spread in Taiwan, though it had since calmed down. But now that rumors were spreading that the Kangseong Group was trying to strangle TSMC, that sentiment was flaring up again.

As a result, most Taiwanese companies that had been using Kwangwoon Shipping had joined hands with the Dragon Sea Alliance.

And it wasn’t just that.

Companies working with TSMC like Apple and NVIDIA also declared that they would no longer use Kwangwoon Shipping.

Partly because of the Dragon Sea Alliance’s pressure, but mostly because of our partnership with their competitor, the Kangseong Group.

At this level, it felt like we should be demanding damages from the Kangseong Group.

“But we’re not at the point of shutting down, right?”

“Yes. Fortunately, we still hold shares in the Belt and Road Maritime Silk Road port development rights, and more importantly, we solidified our foundation during the last shipping crisis. The issue is, if this situation continues, no matter how strong that foundation is, there’s a limit to how long we can hold out.”

That was exactly how Hanjong Shipping had collapsed.

The fact that Hanjong Group used it as a slush fund channel was an issue, but more importantly, the shipping business is one where, once the flow gets disrupted, the domino effect is enormous.

“For now, Kwangwoon Shipping is working to establish a new main hub, but… since Tianjin Port has such excellent infrastructure and location, it’s probably going to be very difficult to find a comparable place.”

I handed over Tianjin Port to the Dragon Sea Alliance based on my instincts.

Honestly, it hurts. It hurts a lot.

We essentially gave up the core region of Kwangwoon Shipping, so of course it’s painful.

But my instincts were warning me of something.

Along with the explosion sound that had rattled my eardrums.

Was it warning me that if we stubbornly insisted on holding onto this, the company itself might explode? Or was it literally foretelling some kind of actual accident?

Even if there were an accident, fires or explosions happen from time to time.

They usually don’t impact the business on a major scale.

“…But this one’s a bit too big.”

As I was resting at home, I stared blankly at the TV screen flashing breaking news.

[Around 10 PM tonight, a chemical substance stored in a container at Tianjin Port exploded. After the first explosion, a second, even larger one occurred, leading to a chain reaction, with a total force equivalent to 35 tons of TNT…]

Based on video footage uploaded online or captured by CCTV, an explosion clip was shown.

The explosion sound was so loud it shredded the audio, and the force was so tremendous that even the people filming were blown backward.

It was an explosion of an unprecedented scale, and now every news outlet was talking about nothing but Tianjin Port.

[CEO Jung, a-are you watching the news right now?]

Of course.

CEO Kim Doo-young called me in a flustered voice.

“Yes. I’m watching too.”

[I mean, wh-what the hell is going on? First, second, third… the explosions are continuing, and it looks like even nearby factories got swept up in it. The facilities we had set up at Tianjin Port have been completely reduced to ashes.]

Countless containers, cargo, infrastructure, and even factories at Tianjin Port.

All of it was caught in the massive blast.

“CEO, this won’t cause any problems for Kwangwoon, will it?”

[That’s the first thing I checked too. But no, we’re in the clear. Apparently, the chemicals belonged to a Chinese international logistics company that’s part of the Dragon Sea Alliance. The lucky part is, if the Dragon Sea Alliance hadn’t been formed and they’d left the logistics with us, it could’ve been us in that situation.]

According to the news, the first issue was improper storage.

That alone wasn’t catastrophic.

The real problem began when they tried to extinguish the fire with water, triggering a massive chemical reaction and turning the place into complete chaos.

As a result, Tianjin Port looked as if it had been bombed in a full-scale air raid.

There’s no way the Chinese government would let this incident slide.

[But… CEO Jung. I’m really asking because I’m genuinely curious…]

I already had a good idea of what he was about to ask.

“I have absolutely nothing to do with this.”

[Hahaha. R-right? Of course, I figured that’d be the case. Ah! And now that Tianjin Port’s ended up like that, there’s going to be a massive logistics crisis. That means the ones who cut ties with us will have no choice but to come crawling back. What do we do with them?]

A long list of companies that unilaterally terminated their contracts with us flashed through my mind.

“What do you think we should do?”

[We’re probably going to be flooded with logistics. To the point where we won’t have enough manpower. Naturally, prices will rise, right? But let’s not raise them immediately. For our existing clients, we freeze the rates.]

“But for those companies that cut ties with us and are now returning, we charge more?”

[Exactly. We can’t let them off the hook for betrayal. I’m not a big-hearted man like you, CEO Jung. Heh heh. So, how should we proceed?]

I paused for a moment.

“…!”

The hand holding my phone trembled slightly.

“Let’s proceed that way.”

***

The Tianjin Port explosion incident.

This wasn’t just an accident.

It was a strategic hub for China and a place where logistics from across Asia and the entire world passed through. Because of this explosion, a global logistics crisis was now underway.

“We’re not going to suffer any damages from this incident, right?”

“No. Thankfully, it was a near miss. Since Kwangwoon withdrew from Tianjin Port just in time, our logistics were also moved elsewhere, so we avoided any damage.”

Most domestic companies use Kwangwoon Shipping.

Didn’t Jung Jin-ho say something like that before?

That he genuinely wished for Korean companies to do well.

As proof, he was offering Korean companies shipping services at significantly lower rates.

“Right now, China, the U.S., Japan, Taiwan, Europe, all of them are in logistics chaos. That’s how central Tianjin Port was as a massive hub. They say it’s impossible to even estimate the total damage yet.”

Just the damage to the port itself was already worth several trillion won.

If you include all the valuable goods from other companies, the scale of damage was only going to get worse.

“If our goods had still been tied up there, it would’ve been a complete disaster. All the memory semiconductors we were supposed to ship to various countries would’ve been wiped out.”

If Jung Jin-ho hadn’t handed over Tianjin Port, not only Kangseong Group, but all the logistics of other Korean companies would have gone up in flames, causing devastating losses.

“But we avoided the damage, and Kwangwoon Shipping, without lifting a finger, has been showered in money. With the logistics crisis, all the cargo that had been moving toward the Dragon Sea Alliance is now rushing back to Kwangwoon.”

“Unbelievable. They say the lucky ones strike gold even when they fall backwards, turns out it’s true.”

The fact that Tianjin Port was blown to bits meant it couldn’t be used as a hub for the foreseeable future. And that, in turn, meant a global logistics disaster.

Even the Dragon Sea Alliance, which had forcibly taken over Tianjin Port, had no capacity to manage the logistics now.

From what I hear, the Chinese government is already rounding up all those responsible, so they’re probably too busy just dealing with that.

“I heard Kwangwoon doubled, even tripled, the freight charges for companies that had aligned themselves with the Dragon Sea Alliance.”

“That much? And they’re still using Kwangwoon?”

“They have no choice. Now that the Dragon Sea Alliance is in shambles, the only one capable of calming this chaos is Kwangwoon. The situation’s so bad that even the Chinese government sent an SOS to Kwangwoon.”

Ninety percent of global trade moves by sea.

Some use air transport, but it’s not efficient.

Even if shipping costs are tripled, companies have no choice but to pay.

If they don’t, they can’t sell their products to other regions!

Wasn’t there an old saying in Britain?

Whoever controls the sea controls the world.

Right now, that was Kwangwoon.

“The timing is just uncanny. The moment Kwangwoon walked away from Tianjin Port, this happened.”

“Yes. That’s why people in China are now starting to say this might have been intentional.”

“What? Are they saying CEO Jung Jin-ho planned this? No matter what, there’s no way he would orchestrate something like a terrorist attack.”

Kang Sung-ho instinctively knew that Jung Jin-ho was a good person.

So he also knew that he wasn’t someone who would plan something so inhumane.

“Yes. But isn’t it a little strange? Tianjin Port had enormous strategic value, and yet he gave it up without even putting up a fight.”

“It did seem odd. He clearly had strong ties in China.”

Even from Kang Sung-ho’s perspective, it was strange how cleanly Jung Jin-ho walked away without hesitation.

“Just as you said, Chairman, CEO Jung Jin-ho might truly have nothing to do with it. But what if the mysterious official backing Jung Jin-ho planned this on his own? To crush the Dragon Sea Alliance for daring to challenge his authority.”

“…!?”

Finally, the pieces started to fit together.

The investigation was still ongoing, but this was an explosion that wiped out the entire port.

There were no witnesses. No evidence.

Because everything, and everyone, had been blown away.

But if someone had used this for a power struggle…

In any other country, it might have sounded like nonsense, but this was a place where people would do anything for power.

“…Just what kind of connection does CEO Jung have?”

They didn’t know who was backing him.

But they were starting to understand who the winner of this battle would be.