Chapter 73
Translator: Dreamscribe
“Neom City?”
“Yes. It hasn’t been officially announced yet, but it’s said to be a massive project being pushed forward by the Saudi royal family. Investment proposals have already been sent to major corporations around the world, and one has reached us as well.”
To businesspeople, Saudi Arabia was one of the most important clients.
Wasn’t the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund already influencing the entire world?
There was a truckload of people lining up to get investments from them.
And now Saudi had sent an investment proposal first.
Not for them to invest, but for them to receive investment.
Chairman Kang Sung-ho reviewed the report with interest.
“It’s said to be scheduled for completion around 2030. But honestly, it’s nowhere near feasible by 2030.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. Just from the lineup, there are quite a few things that are considered impossible to build with current technology.”
“You think Saudi didn’t know that?”
“They probably did. And yet they still pushed it through…”
There’s a method that scammers always use.
Make everything look flashy and glamorous first.
“There are things that are simply impossible to build from an engineering standpoint. They’re talking about constructing a massive linear city that stretches 170km in length and reaches 500m in height, and the experts say that, for now, it’s absolutely impossible to build.”
“But it’s not just anyone. It’s Saudi that sent this, right?”
“Yes. The amount Saudi has allocated so far is 600 trillion won in Korean currency.”
600 trillion.
It was an amount hard to even comprehend.
The problem was, this was just the initial investment.
Once the initial construction was complete, obviously an even greater amount would be poured in.
Even if the Saudi royal family's wealth exceeded 1,000 trillion won, it would be difficult to shoulder 600 trillion won alone.
“So they’re coming to us to chip in?”
“They’re probably saying, ‘If you’ve got something to invest in, come early and secure your spot. And if there’s something that will eventually generate returns, then join in on infrastructure development.’”
Yeah. It was about time a city that looked like something out of a movie actually got built.
And it was a great project for the Saudi royal family to push forward, descendants who were practically born holding golden shovels, having landed on rich land and enjoying wealth for generations.
There was just one catch.
"It reeks of a scam."
From the costs involved to the contents of the project.
Honestly, it didn’t seem realistic.
“But the source is legitimate. It’s an investment proposal directly from the Saudi Fund.”
However, it seemed Saudi was genuinely determined to push through this crazy endeavor.
Chairman Kang Sung-ho contemplated for a moment.
Should I accept this or not?
If he refused it and passed on the opportunity, Kangseong would have to shoulder the fallout entirely.
Saudi was the largest producer of oil money.
The sums they moved were astronomical, and for Kangseong to build a semiconductor cluster in the future, it would need investments from places like the Saudi Fund to spread out the risk.
Saudi knew this too. That’s why they sent the proposal.
They were saying, “If you don’t want to be at odds with us, you’d better join in.”
“……Did Kwangwoon also get this proposal?”
“Yes. Isn’t Kwangwoon running several trillion won just within its securities firm? Among Korean securities firms, Kwangwoon is the only one that received it. Asset management companies, even if they manage large amounts of money, can’t move as freely since they’re handling client funds.”
The same went for Kangseong and KS Asset Management.
Both handled over hundreds of trillions of won.
But they couldn’t move the money however they wanted.
The money they handled ultimately belonged to their clients.
But Kwangwoon was different.
Even if they didn’t hold hundreds of trillions like the others, the money was entirely Kwangwoon’s.
So they could invest wherever they wanted.
“What is Kwangwoon planning to do?”
“That part… I’m not sure.”
“Whew. Hold on a moment.”
Chairman Kang Sung-ho took out his phone and pressed the top contact in his recent call log, Jung Jin-ho.
No need to go through complicated channels. He could just ask Jung Jin-ho directly.
[The person you are trying to reach is unavailable. Please leave a message after the beep……]
“Haha. Is this guy a bit busy right now?”
Chairman Kang tried calling again.
[The person you are trying to reach is unavailable……]
“…….”
The executives were also deliberately avoiding eye contact.
Kang Sung-ho made one final attempt and dialed the number again.
After a long series of rings,
[Yes, Chairman.]
As Jung Jin-ho’s voice came through the phone, the executives let out a collective sigh of relief.
“Why haven’t I been able to reach you? You that busy?”
[I was sleeping.]
“Huh? Is today your day off?”
[There haven’t been any big issues in the market lately, so there’s barely any volatility.]
“True. The working conditions over there are quite different from here.”
[But what’s going on? If it’s another drinking party today, I’m not going. I’ve got a stomachache.]
“Hey. Anyone would think I call you to drink every day.”
[Didn’t you do that for a whole week straight last time?]
“.......”
Chairman Kang Sung-ho glanced at the executives, who were pretending not to listen while clearly keeping their ears wide open, and let out a light cough.
“Kwangwoon got that proposal from Saudi too, right?”
[You mean Neom City?]
“Yeah. What did you decide to do about it? Are you going in?”
[No.]
The answer came without a moment’s hesitation.
He didn’t even explain why the investment proposal was rejected.
It was just a firm, definitive response.
“Because Kangseong got the proposal too. Should we go in?”
A brief silence followed.
Soon after, Jung Jin-ho’s fading voice came through.
[……You probably shouldn’t.]
“Okay.”
That was enough.
Even if he heard the reasons, nothing would change.
He didn’t make the call to be persuaded with logic.
He was simply curious about what Jung Jin-ho had decided.
“Let’s not get involved in this either.”
“What? B-but Chairman. This isn’t just from anyone, this is a proposal from Saudi Arabia. If we reject this, we might have to completely give up on receiving any future investment from Saudi!”
“Even if Kwangwoon decided not to go in, the situation between them and Kangseong is different, isn’t it? Kwangwoon doesn’t need help from Saudi, but we’re going to need a lot of Saudi investment in the future, Chairman.”
Kang Sung-ho knew it too.
If they didn’t accept this investment proposal, it would sever ties with Saudi.
But hadn’t Kang Sung-ho already made a vow?
That whatever Jung Jin-ho said, even if it put the company at risk, he would believe in it.
***
“Rejection?”
“Yes. Mega Lucky suddenly informed us that they won’t be accepting our investment.”
"Wasn't everything progressing well?"
Seeing the potential in Mega Lucky and SPS, I was planning to invest in them.
Mega Lucky currently had annual revenue of 35 billion won, still relatively small in scale.
But with SPS succeeding in expanding overseas, the outlook was promising.
Moreover, the instinct I felt from reading that report that day had convinced me this company would succeed.
So I had accepted their investment proposal and even planned to raise the offer, to acquire a 40% stake for 300 billion won.
Everything seemed to be going smoothly with the investment.
Then suddenly, they flipped the table.
“Are they asking for more investment money?”
One of the big reasons Mega Lucky wanted our investment was because of Netflix.
Hadn’t Netflix quickly surpassed 100 million subscribers and become a global company?
It seemed Mega Lucky intended to use Netflix as a platform to promote their trainees, actors and idols, by getting them featured, and thus gain major marketing effects.
“That’s not it. From what we’ve heard, they’re planning to sign a deal with Saudi.”
Saudi, all of a sudden?
“There are rumors that Saudi has recently been expanding its investment portfolio. Apparently, even the royal family is trying to pour in money to wash away Saudi’s negative image.”
“And what does that have to do with Mega Lucky?”
“This… seems to fall into a slightly different category. From what we’ve investigated, aside from the Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund, there are privately managed funds run personally by members of the Saudi royal family. Among them, the largest one is managed by a prince named Abdul Hadim.”
I listened carefully as Department Head Seo explained.
So, there’s a fund managed by a prince named Abdul Hadim, and coincidentally, a large amount of money had been poured into the semiconductor and shipping sectors, areas where we caused significant losses for them.
“So this is retaliation?”
“Yes. And not just with Mega Lucky. It seems they’ve already been spreading negative information about Kwangwoon to Chinese firms and even the U.S. government. There are recent rumors spreading in the market about Kwangwoon, and we suspect those too were intentionally planted by Abdul Hadim’s side.”
It’s not like Kwangwoon didn’t have its share of enemies.
But until now, none had a direct impact.
The problem was, this enemy was of a different caliber.
With capital assets alone worth tens of trillions.
If that money were used not for investment but to crush our Kwangwoon, they could carry out sufficiently threatening moves.
“On top of that, Abdul Hadim is reportedly directing matters related to the Saudi Neom City investment.”
“We already refused that, didn’t we?”
“Yes. Which is probably why they have it in for us even more.”
As expected, money was king.
They were mobilizing enormous financial power to harass Kwangwoon, so the pressure came from all directions.
‘......Maybe I should have put money into Neom City after all.’
I had followed my instinct and decided not to invest.
Even now, if I offered to invest, they probably wouldn’t accept it, right?
***
“How is it progressing?”
“We are using every possible means. All the contacts we have managed so far are being mobilized.”
“Any effect?”
“They are collecting the investment information Kwangwoon is pursuing and are carrying out maximum disruption operations. The problem is... when Kwangwoon usually invests, they mostly take management rights and control the company, so it'll be difficult to shake them."
Those Kwangwoon bastards.
They were more thorough than expected.
They had erected very thick barriers so that other large funds or companies could not unsettle their management rights. But no matter how exalted a barrier, a Trojan horse can breach it.
No matter how well-made a dam, there is always a small hole.
They were trying to exploit that flaw.
“We’ve also put pressure on the U.S. and Chinese governments. The problem is that both the U.S. and high-ranking Chinese officials, when the name Kwangwoon comes up, simply sweep it under the rug without asking questions.”
“Why is that?”
“The Chinese Central Committee reportedly has a close cooperative relationship with Kwangwoon. They say the recent Tianjin port incident occurred when someone tried to move against Kwangwoon. Also, an organization called the Dragon Sea Alliance tried to oppose Kwangwoon and all of them had their heads cut off, so since then no one dares challenge Kwangwoon.”
Kwangwoon was that powerful?
“And the U.S.?”
“The U.S. is not easy either. Since the Trump administration came in, it has been imposing various regulations on companies that attacked it during the election period. They claim it’s all for America. The problem is that the Kangseong Group gave substantial donations to Trump during the election period, and those donations are said to be linked to Kwangwoon as well.”
Trump was implementing absurd tariff policies while claiming he would make America great again. But you need to look more closely at the motives behind it.
Though he claimed to act for America’s benefit, there was also a degree of personal vengeance against companies that did not support him and instead attacked and pressured him.
And one of the small groups that supported him was the Kangseong Group, which was receiving great benefits. Aren’t U.S. companies like NVIDIA and Apple currently being shaken up by the semiconductor market by confronting Kwangwoon’s quasi-mafia shipping monopoly and encircling TSMC?
“If Trump follows through on what he initially declared, we cannot just stand by and watch. The government should step in to protect U.S. companies. But instead, they are standing idly by. In effect, they are saying they will back the companies that trusted and supported them to the end.”
“No. Can the leader of the world’s greatest nation run a country based on such personal emotions?”
But rulers are like that.
They always claim to work for national interests, but since they are human, petty emotions inevitably creep in.
Still, such sentiments can waver in the face of money.
Especially Trump, who is a thorough businessman.
If someone offered to invest more than Kwangwoon and Kangseong, his thinking could change.
“This won’t do. This won’t hurt Kwangwoon at all. We need to find a way to harass Kwangwoon, even if it means spreading money around...”
Bang-!
At that moment, the gunshot echoing through the building made Abdul Hadim flinch.
“What is that sound?”
He thought he might have misheard, but then gunshots sounded from all around and soldiers forcefully broke down the doors and entered.
“W-who are you? Do you not know who I am!?”
After all, he was a scion of the Saudi royal family.
Yet the soldiers paid no mind, shooting down the resisting bodyguards and roughly seizing Abdul Hadim.
When he even attempted to struggle, they didn’t hesitate to use force.
"What on earth is this..."
With blood streaming down his face, Abdul Hadim was thrown into the lobby by the soldiers and looked around in a daze.
It wasn’t just him. Numerous princes and businessmen who had gathered at the hotel today were also being detained.
Moreover, those soldiers belonged to a royal special forces unit that only moved on the king’s command.
But the current king could not possibly have been the one who ordered them.
There was only one man.
Hamud Salman, who was, in truth, acting as the de facto king of the country.
This was clearly a purge.
And not just any purge, the largest in Saudi history.
“This crazy bastard!”
***
Chairman Hwang Dae-woon thought the vice president’s complexion looked better than before.
Normally, when someone lower than you suddenly takes the CEO seat, it causes a lot of stress, but he didn’t seem to show any sign of that.
“Remember what I told you last time?”
“That you’d make me vice chairman?”
“Yeah. That offer still stands.”
“No, thank you. I’m not interested.”
“Why?”
“Because working under CEO Jung is way more fun than it ever was under you.”
He had almost forgotten.
The reason this vice president had entered the investment world in the first place was simply because it looked fun.
“To be honest, I couldn’t see any vision under your leadership.”
“W-what did you say?”
“But under CEO Jung, I can clearly see a vision. And there’s a thrill to it too.”
"Keke. Being under that guy, you do get pickled in dopamine and can't think straight."
“Yes. But it’s not just that. What matters is that I see a definite vision.”
A definite vision.
Chairman Hwang didn’t yet fully understand what kind of vision Kang Ji-hwan was referring to.
“You heard about the Saudi royal family purge, right?”
"Ah. Yeah. I thought it was the Joseon era. To think such things still happen in the 21st century."
“Well, it’s still a monarchy. The power struggle must be intense.”
Saudi Crown Prince Hamud Salman had gathered the core members of the royal family at the Ritz Hotel, then suddenly sent in the military to detain them all.
After charging them with various crimes, he carried out a large-scale purge and absorbed all of their assets.
“They say it’s related to the Neom City project too. With a project costing over 600 trillion won, they needed funds. And to consolidate power, he had to clear out the princes. So he killed two birds with one stone, both power and money.”
“Phew. That’s terrifying. But what does that have to do with Jin-ho?”
“It’s connected. One of the major figures removed was someone who had directly opposed our Kwangwoon.”
“…What?”
“It was that guy named Abdul Hadim, who had openly tried to harass our Kwangwoon. He was detained during the purge, and no one knows whether he’s dead or alive.”
Chairman Hwang felt his mouth going dry.
“Are you saying that has something to do with Jin-ho…?”
“I’m not sure. CEO Jung hasn’t said anything about it. But the timing is uncanny. That bastard was just about to launch an all-out attack on us when he suddenly lost his head.”
“…….”
Chairman Hwang gulped down a glass of water.
After the Tianjin Port incident, now the Saudi purge.
When coincidences pile up, they become inevitability.
“But there’s one more thing. Apparently, Abdul Hadim was the one pushing the Neom City proposal on all fronts. The Saudi government hadn’t officially issued any investment proposals for Neom City yet, but Abdul Hadim took the lead and started distributing them.”
“Wait, so it was a scam?”
“Whether it was truly a scam, or the Saudi government is just using Abdul Hadim as an excuse, we don’t know. But all the investments that went into Abdul Hadim have now been absorbed by the Saudi government, and the companies that invested with him got hit hard.”
“And our Kwangwoon didn’t put in any money?”
“No. CEO Jung rejected the proposal without even reading it.”
Could it be that Jin-ho really knew in advance?
“We were trying to invest in Mega Lucky Entertainment, but they turned us down because they were going to receive funding from Abdul Hadim’s fund. But with everything that’s happened, now they’re clinging to our pant legs.”
“So? What did you decide to do?”
“We renegotiated under the condition of increasing our share from 40% to 50%. We’ve already transferred the investment.”
“But entertainment, of all things? Do you really think that place is going to take off?”
I never imagined we’d be investing in an agency that trains idols.
Wasn’t Netflix more than enough when it came to media?
“I told you earlier, didn’t I? The reason I’m working under CEO Jung is because I see a clear vision.”
“What kind of vision?”
“Industry, technology, trade, and now, with Netflix and the entertainment business as well. In short, CEO Jung Jin-ho is aiming to dominate the cultural industry just like everything else. He’s not stopping at one field, he’s expanding to conquer them all.”
Every single place Jung Jin-ho had invested in so far had hit it big.
But he wasn’t content with just making a lot of money, he was acquiring companies in those industries and becoming their core.
He was taking over one sector after another.
All according to a roadmap that only he could see and no one else could predict.
“I saw CEO Jung’s vision from the very beginning. That’s why I decided to stay under him. Technology, culture, media, sports, if we keep conquering fields that are essential to the world, what do you think will happen to our Kwangwoon?”
Kwangwoon would dominate industries that are indispensable to the world, sectors that can never go bankrupt.
“A mega-conglomerate that controls every sector. It’ll probably be the only super-corporation of its kind in the world.”
In movies or, for Hwang Dae-woon, games might be more relatable.
There are often ultra-massive corporations depicted in them.
Companies so powerful that they dominate all industries and even control governments, entities with overwhelming force.
“Are you saying Jin-ho is seriously trying to build a company like that?”
“At first, I thought I was overthinking it too. But when I saw him reach into Netflix and now the entertainment business, I became sure. If you’re going to build such a giant corporation, controlling the media is essential. And the fundamentals are rock solid. He’s already taken over trade through shipping, has a global Bitcoin exchange, and now even semiconductor technology.”
“......!”
It was hard to wrap his head around it.
There had been many large corporations up to now, but never once had a supermassive company like those in games actually appeared in reality.
And now Jin-ho was trying to create one?
“Chairman, you need to live a long, healthy life. You’re going to be the first chairman of an unprecedented, super-giant group.”