Money Keeps Piling Up No Matter How Much I Spend

Chapter 106

Translator: DreamscribeThere is a saying about neighboring countries.

That, just because they are neighbors does not mean they are close.

In fact, the closer the neighboring countries are, the stronger the tendency to see each other as rivals, and naturally they often become diplomatic or social adversaries.

And Singapore, of course, has such a neighboring country.

Malaysia.

“Wow....... They even dispatched warships?”

“Yeah. It looks like the warships on both sides are facing off right now. They haven’t fought or anything yet.”

“Tsk. At this rate, isn’t someone going to press the wrong button and start a fight?”

“That won’t happen. You know. It’s just the usual staged show of force.”

North Korea has provoked us many times, but it never escalated into a full-scale war.

Of course, we have exchanged artillery fire on occasion, but it never went to the next stage.

Compared to that, the tension between Singapore and Malaysia was even weaker.

“How’s the market on the Singapore side? Has this situation had any impact?”

“It seems everyone knows it’s just a show of force, so the market remains stable. And Singapore is the financial center of Asia after Hong Kong. Unless someone actually launches a missile, it will likely stay stable moving forward.”

The reason Singapore and Malaysia were acting this way was because of territorial waters.

Malaysia had expanded its port area without prior notice, infringing on Singapore’s territorial waters.

The problem was that Malaysia was claiming sovereignty over the same waters that Singapore was asserting as its own, creating a dispute over the area.

So every now and then, they would pick a fight like this.

“Have the accounts on the Singapore side been opened?”

“Yes. We opened everything exactly as you requested. But since there are limits to how much we can handle at once, we opened additional accounts through other brokers as well. Once you give the order, we are fully set up to distribute investment capital into Singapore.”

Since the setup was complete, it was time to put in the money.

The funds we could move right now were about 10 trillion won.

The rest of the money was tied up in the British pharmaceutical company.

“Here, I’ve selected the stocks.”

"Ah, yes."

The Department Head quickly scanned the list I handed over.

He looked a bit surprised.

“Why?”

“Ah, no. It’s just...... the stocks you picked are all large-cap companies. For companies of this size to falter, Singapore’s economy would have to be really shaken.......”

At that, the Department Head and the staff glanced at me nervously.

Honestly, I didn’t know what was going to happen in Singapore either.

I just marked the places where my intuition reacted.

So I understood their reaction.

For these stock prices to drop, Singapore’s economy would have to collapse significantly.

"CEO-nim must have already considered everything in purchasing short selling and related derivatives here. I'll proceed to secure the volume as is. It will take a few days."

“Okay. Please take care of it.”

“Yes. Ah...... and CEO-nim. If I may be so bold, may I say one thing?"

“Sure. What is it?”

“It’s just that, if you truly want to make Korea an Asian financial hub, the biggest problem is Korea’s regulations. The reason our country can’t grow into a financial hub is precisely because of financial regulations. The tax burden is high as well. If these issues aren’t resolved first, establishing an Asian financial hub will be very difficult.”

Wanting to turn our country into the largest financial hub in Asia was, honestly, a distant dream.

Even though Hong Kong was in ruins and an opportunity had come, as long as Singapore existed as a powerful competitor, making Korea a financial hub would be difficult.

So it was something that required time and slow, steady progress before there could even be a sliver of hope someday.

But preparing this quickly?

I didn’t think the time had come yet.......

“!?”

In the very moment I thought that.

A strong shiver ran through my body.

What did it mean for Department Head Seo’s advice to shake my intuition?

It meant what he said was correct.

And that meant we had to prepare before it was too late.

‘But who am I supposed to discuss this with?’

To ease government regulations, I would ultimately need to communicate with the government side.

But it’s not like I can suddenly go meet those people out of nowhere.

“.......”

I fiddled with my phone.

I wondered what my hyung was doing right now.

***

“Thank you so much for taking the time to come, despite your busy schedules.”

“Haha. Not at all. In fact, we were the ones surprised. The Chairman suddenly requested a meeting, so we canceled our original schedules and rushed over.”

“Aigoo. You didn’t have to go that far.”

“It’s fine. Our government owes Kwangwoon more than a few debts, after all. Even the Blue House said that if it’s about Kwangwoon, we should give special consideration.”

Chairman Hwang Dae-woon felt slightly relieved.

Indeed, the current government felt guilty toward Kwangwoon.

When diplomatic conflict with Japan arose, it was Kwangwoon that stepped up at the forefront, crushed Japan’s economy, and forced them to kneel.

However, during the recent EU monopoly-law incident, when Kwangwoon Shipping was forcibly split apart, the government couldn’t help at all.

That was the very reason they felt apologetic.

“It’s good to hear you say that. The Minister of Strategy and Finance as well as the Chairman of the Financial Services Commission, if both of you look favorably on Kwangwoon, we couldn’t ask for more.”

The two most influential figures in economics and financial regulations were now seated before Chairman Hwang Dae-woon.

After a few minutes of exchanging small talk over drinks, the Minister of Strategy and Finance spoke first.

“Chairman, what is the reason you called the two of us here today?”

Hwang Dae-woon set down the glass he had been sipping from.

“Have you seen the Hong Kong incident this time?”

“Yes. It was brutal. I didn’t expect China to come out that aggressively.”

“It should be seen as a measure against the increasingly growing anti-China factions. It’s also a threat that if Taiwan doesn’t obediently comply, they’ll unify it by force. Anyway, the economic shock from this is enormous.”

“You mean the capital outflow happening in Hong Kong?”

“Yes. That is exactly why I brought the two of you here.”

The two looked confused, not understanding what he meant.

“Where do you think the money flowing out of Hong Kong will go?”

“Well...... won’t it concentrate in Singapore?”

“That’s likely. But isn’t it wasteful to let all of that money go to Singapore?”

“Huh?”

The two blinked several times.

As expected from seasoned political veterans, their intuition was sharp.

"Are you saying you want to bring that money to Korea?"

“Yes. If we can gather that capital in Korea, wouldn’t our country become the new Asian financial hub replacing Hong Kong?”

At those words, both men burst into laughter.

They thought it was unrealistic nonsense.

“I’m being serious.”

“But you know how difficult that is.”

“Yes. Above all, our country has very strict regulations on foreign capital. The tax burden is high as well. But if the two of you actively move to change these regulations, we will take care of everything that follows.”

“......!?”

The smiles disappeared from their faces.

They realized Chairman Hwang hadn’t called them here for jokes.

“Ch-chairman, this is too sudden...... How exactly do you plan to bring that huge amount of capital into Korea?”

“We'll figure out the method. But unless the government opens the way, no matter how much we want to bring that capital in, we cannot do it.”

“.......”

The two flustered men didn’t know how to respond.

Opening the way meant easing every regulation that had been left untouched until now, and that was extremely complicated.

No, even if they somehow opened the way properly, could he really bring in that much capital?

“Isn’t the biggest problem plaguing the current administration real estate? There’s a reason all domestic capital rushes into real estate. One of the biggest reasons is the lack of development in our financial markets. If we seize this opportunity and manage to take the role of Asia’s financial hub, wouldn’t the real estate problem solve itself naturally?”

“Well, that’s true, but.......”

“It’s an extremely complex matter. Regulatory reform isn’t something that can be decided overnight.......”

“But isn’t now the perfect time? No previous administration has ever held this many seats in the Assembly. This might very well be the first and last chance.”

The two men weren’t fools.

Replacing Hong Kong and turning Korea into Asia’s financial hub was, in truth, incredibly difficult. But as Chairman Hwang said, this might be the first and last opportunity.

Hong Kong had never been this shaken before.

“We are not saying this just to benefit Kwangwoon. Ultimately, this country must prosper. We at Kwangwoon always prioritize national interest. Only with a strong Republic of Korea can companies like ours avoid being forcibly dismantled by thuggish groups like the EU.”

At those words, the Minister and the Commission Chairman fell silent, sober.

They could hardly imagine how heartbreaking it must have been for Hwang to watch the shipping company he had raised with such care be split apart overnight.

“......Chairman, we understand your intentions clearly. And your point that our country must first be strong for our companies to be strong, we fully agree.”

“We’ll go back and discuss this actively. But as we said earlier, foreign capital absolutely must come in. If it doesn’t.......”

“Don’t worry about that. I am well aware of the scale of its impact.”

“Yes. If it’s the Chairman, we can trust you. Kwangwoon is building a legendary legacy after all. Haha.”

Fortunately, the discussion went smoothly.

As they raised their glasses with smiles, Hwang Dae-woon felt a welling anxiety deep inside.

If those two returned to the government and succeeded in relaxing the regulations, that would be good.

But what if the capital in Hong Kong didn’t come to Korea and all of it flowed into Singapore instead?

Then the Korean market would essentially be throwing open its castle gates to the enemy.

In other words, catastrophe.

If that happened, the dismantling of Kwangwoon Shipping would not be the end.

With that anxiety, he couldn't even tell if the alcohol was going into his mouth or his nose.

‘Jin-ho. I’m counting on you.’

***

The ones smiling the brightest over the global Free Hong Kong movement were none other than the Singaporeans.

Their biggest financial rival in Asia, Hong Kong, was collapsing on its own, so Singapore would now be able to absorb all that capital.

At this rate, one might even think the Chinese government was deliberately helping Singapore.

But that thought was short-lived.

“W-what is going on?”

They had been enjoying the sight of Hong Kong burning, but when they turned around, a much bigger fire was spreading through Singapore.

“Why is the financial market shaking this badly?”

It was the first time Singapore had ever suffered such a massive plunge.

Even during the famous subprime crisis, it wasn’t this severe.

"Too many negative factors overlapped."

“Bad news? You mean the military standoff with Malaysia?”

“That is part of it, but the recent public health data breach is also a major factor.”

A major public health group in Singapore had been heavily hacked, and the personal information of 3 million people had been leaked. Among them was the information of Prime Minister Lee-sen, who was sitting right here, that’s how serious the incident was.

“But that alone shouldn’t deliver a direct hit to the financial market.”

It was a major incident that could undermine financial credibility, but it couldn’t trigger a crash of this magnitude.

That was only a secondary reason.

The decisive cause was something else.

“It’s because of Kwangwoon.”

“Kwangwoon?”

“Yes. The EU is forcibly dismantling Kwangwoon Shipping right now, isn’t it?”

Prime Minister Lee-sen knew that very well.

Because he too had actively supported the EU in dismantling Kwangwoon Shipping.

All this time, those guys had taken control of countless ports and caused endless trouble.

They were an eyesore, and thanks to the EU stepping in, Singapore had been able to add its strength to the effort.

“Singapore’s core is trade. An enormous number of ships pass through here. We rely heavily on them.”

It was inevitable due to geographical conditions.

They had also deliberately designed things that way to maximize profit.

“The problem is that once Kwangwoon Shipping was forcibly split, they stopped every ship entering or leaving Singapore.”

“What?”

“At first it wasn’t noticeable, but they gradually increased the scale, and eventually, they halted all ships.”

“What? They did that even though there are active contracts?”

“They claim it’s no longer their responsibility. Since the EU and even our own Singaporean government supported the breakup, they say they can no longer operate the company. Until the pieces are acquired and resume operations, we’re on our own.”

“T-this outrageous irresponsibility!”

But Kwangwoon wasn’t wrong.

They were being forcibly dismantled by the EU, and Singapore had supported it as well.

“Is this some kind of retaliation?”

“Partly retaliation, yes, but I think there’s another intention.”

“Another intention?”

“Yes. Before this chaos broke out, a massive short-selling force had already entered the Singaporean market.”

“Wait. Don’t tell me that’s Kwangwoon?”

“We can’t be certain, but the timing is suspicious. At this level, it’s clearly intentional.”

So they were planning to make a huge fortune by crashing Singapore’s economy.

“Even so, would it really cause this level of panic? Isn’t it a bit too extreme?”

“It’s not that the damage is unrecoverable. The halt in trade is a major blow, but manageable. The real problem is how developed SNS platforms are nowadays. Once something happens, rumors spread wildly and exaggerated. That’s what’s triggering the panic sell-off.”

And the one dominating those SNS platforms was Kwangwoon.

PicPic was one of the top SNS platforms currently dominating Asia.

“Th-these bastards.......”

Prime Minister Lee-sen’s hands trembled.

Kwangwoon was practically toying with Singapore’s economy.

Was this their retaliation for pressuring them alongside the EU?

“It seems Kwangwoon intends to recover all of its shipping losses from Singapore. Especially since the capital that was about to move from Hong Kong has suddenly stopped.”

“Then where is it going? Korea? That’s impossible.”

“No. The Korean government announced new financial regulation easing just yesterday. They declared they will now actively accept foreign capital and promised to open their financial markets.”

“W-what!? So the Korean government is in on this too!?”

He was furious to the core, but Singapore had thrown the first punch, so he couldn’t argue much, though he felt wronged.

“The one dismantling the shipping company is the EU! Why are they targeting us......!”

Singapore had merely helped from the sidelines, yet now its entire economy was about to be wrecked.