Chapter 72: The Value of One Pound (4)
The reason I’m going through such a complicated process to acquire Barings Bank is simple.
Because I can.
I have money, and power—normally not something you can buy with money—happens to be on the market in a form that money can buy... so there’s no reason not to.
Money, by nature, is the fundamental commodity in a capitalist society, but it’s not an absolute medium of exchange. You can’t do politics without money, but that doesn’t mean having a lot of it wins you an election...
‘...To be honest, Barings Bank does have quite a bit that needs to be cut off.’
It’s not quite Lehman Brothers level, but if I try to swallow it all at once, I’ll get a stomachache. I need to carve out the unnecessary parts under the pretext of restructuring and keep only the core assets.
Of course, the biggest problem is people. There’s just no one suitable to use.
Anyone who’s ever played those old Romance of the Three Kingdoms games would know. At the start, you steamroll the dumb AI, but eventually, even if you can win battles, there’s a point where you stagnate because you don’t have the generals to actually occupy the cities...
This was exactly that kind of situation.
“Anyway, the real problem is that there’s no one trustworthy... Si-hyun, don’t you have any friends worth recommending?”
“Recommend? Uh...”
Maybe she was reminded of something from the past—Lee Si-hyun flinched and gave a little shiver.