Chapter 4: Be My Disciple
Some people might say this:
Why is a regressor like me so obsessed with power? Isn’t this a capitalist society where, as long as you have money, anything is possible?
They might ask, why not just use my future knowledge to gain wealth and fame—won’t power naturally follow?
To put it bluntly: they’re wrong.
Money is an incredibly important tool. In a capitalist society, if power had a reserve currency, it would absolutely be money. Most forms of power can be substituted with money.
But... that currency is backed by violence. It’s a violence standard, not a gold standard.
Until August 15, 1971—before President Nixon suspended the gold convertibility—you could exchange $35 for an ounce of gold. In the same way, all forms of power assume they can be converted into violence.
And—
The most basic condition of a modern state is the monopoly on violence.
Just like ice cream melting under the warm summer sun, all power that stems from money dissolves like an illusion in the face of the pure and massive power wielded by the state.
Take, for example, the 1985 dismantling of Dongguk Group. It was the eighth-largest chaebol at the time, and the moment it fell out of favor with the president, it was torn apart into dozens of pieces—so thoroughly that not even a trace remained.
How was that possible? The very fact that such absurdity is possible—that’s what makes power so terrifying.