Money Keeps Piling Up No Matter How Much I Spend

Chapter 127

Translator: Dreamscribe"Have all the positions been cleared?"

"Yes. We've retrieved everything we had spread across Europe. We did it in a way that minimized any shock to the market. Still, the overall stock market did go down a bit, but since it had risen so much beforehand, it seems the EU isn’t paying too much attention."

"What about the profits?"

Department Head Seo swallowed dryly before answering.

"The National Pension Service totals 800 trillion won, and we made 120 trillion won."

"Wow. So we finally surpassed 100 trillion? And not just barely, a whole 120 trillion?!"

"Hold on. The National Pension Service has 800 trillion? If you include the funds tied up in other markets, that would make it 1,800 trillion?"

"No, no. Even the funds currently tied up elsewhere have a 20% return. So how much would that be?"

"2... 2,000 trillion?!"

I’d heard that when the government announced its policy to entrust all National Pension funds to Kwangwoon Asset Management, there were quite a few people who opposed it.

"Once they hear the current return rate, those people will probably shut their mouths."

They would have no choice.

Because now we live in an era where the National Pension has 2,000 trillion won.

"But the National Pension Service has asked us to make safer investments from now on."

"What? When our returns are this good?"

"They’re starting to get nervous. The return is incredible, but if we suddenly start losing, everything could be wiped out in an instant."

"True. I can kind of understand how the National Pension side feels. We've been working under the ceo-nim for a long time too, but still, every time he makes a huge investment, my heart starts pounding like crazy. Imagine how they must feel."

I took a moment to think.

If I were an executive at the National Pension Service and had gone all-in on one company...

And that company suddenly took a 700 trillion short position, then later bombed the U.S. market to disrupt it, and then said it would make short-term trades worth hundreds of trillions in Europe... what would I feel?

"......."

I probably wouldn't be able to sleep.

I’d likely wake up every night from nightmares of the National Pension’s money vanishing into thin air.

"What should we do? In the beginning, when the National Pension entrusted us with their funds, they said it was fine to manage them however we saw fit."

"Also, our Prime Department’s funds have increased to 120 trillion. Maybe it’s time we took a safer route? At this scale, people start turning to safe assets mainly because of liquidity issues, right?"

As the size of funds grows, the room to maneuver shrinks.

Even if we wanted to move the funds freely, every market has its own regulations, and above all, liquidity is limited.

Even if you want to aggressively buy a stock, if there's no supply, you can't buy it no matter how much money you have.

Also, with such a large fund, earning just 1% means a massive profit, and losing 1% means a considerable loss.

So as the fund gets larger, everyone naturally starts looking for safe assets and lets them sit for a long time.

"But that’s no fun."

"Ah......."

But if I had to make those kinds of ordinary investments, I could walk away from the securities firm without any regret even now.

The reason I remain in this world of investment is because nothing else excites and energizes me like this.

It’s like the purest form of dopamine you can’t find even in games.

Of course, there’s loyalty to hyung too, but I think I’ve been completely captivated by this intense, addictive world that can’t be found anywhere else.

"Still, the National Pension is our main client, right? So we have to go along with the client’s wishes. It’s not like we have a place to immediately inject a large amount of money right now anyway."

But at the moment, there was nowhere suitable to move the National Pension’s funds.

The portion in the U.S. market would be left as is, and the rest would be safely tucked into safe assets, just as the National Pension requested.

"Even so, please make sure to tell the National Pension. Just like we originally promised, Kwangwoon can move the money anytime in the direction we want."

"Yes. I’ll make sure to deliver that message without fail."

However, if another good opportunity arises, that money could be pulled out and used at any time.

Isn’t this a world where unique situations like COVID could happen at any moment?

"CEO-nim, have you seen GameStop’s stock price?"

"Huh? No, I haven’t."

"It went up 15% in just one day yesterday. Even Wall Street was apparently shocked."

To think it rose despite being under attack from every angle on Wall Street.

But the number itself wasn’t that high.

"But the price had fallen so low that 15% still isn’t that remarkable, is it?"

"Yes. A lot of short-sellers are still gathered there, and there are also many groups who took positions earlier, so a 15% rise alone won’t trigger a short squeeze. But if it goes any higher, people will start saying it’s getting risky."

"Of course, from what I can tell, this seems like a temporary spike. Everyone probably expects it to fall back down soon."

A temporary rise, in other words.

"Then... what should we do, CEO-nim?"

I took a quick look at the GameStop side.

"......!"

A strong feeling surged through me.

Was this a sign to boldly throw in a large sum this time?

So I wrote down an amount next to it.

"......?"

But it wasn’t the amount I was expecting.

"We put in a million dollars last time, right?"

"Yes, that’s correct."

"...Do the same this time."

"Just a million dollars...?"

"Yes. And could you give me daily reports on GameStop?"

"Ah, yes."

The feeling struck me so strongly that I thought it was time to pour in a large amount of money and do something.

But apparently, that wasn’t the case this time either.

Just what kind of event was going to unfold here?

***

After COVID, the global economy collapsed.

And some even went so far as to say the end of the world had finally come.

That was because, from their perspective, the border shutdowns and the risks of virus transmission had halted manufacturing, which in turn caused chaos that affected every industry.

But the world didn’t collapse the way they’d expected.

Sure, some industries did die off, but on the other hand, other industries were experiencing explosive growth.

"NASDAQ rose again today. The growth rate of tech stocks is honestly unbelievable. Apple, Microhard, Bluezone, AMD, and others, they’re skyrocketing like crazy."

An explosive rise in tech stocks.

As COVID restricted people from going out and forced everyone to stay home, the world became a place where all anyone did was stare at their phones and computers all day.

Naturally, stocks related to that space started to grow.

What especially caught Reynold’s attention were Netflix and AMD.

"Netflix stock is really high. That number is insane."

"Yes. Its PER has surpassed 100 times, and its PBR is over 20 times, yet the stock keeps going up."

These figures were undoubtedly signs of extreme overvaluation.

Netflix was leading the OTT industry.

When Netflix first said it was entering the OTT space, so many people laughed at them.

But just one company.

Only Kwangwoon didn’t underestimate them.

On the contrary, it poured massive amounts of capital into Netflix and succeeded in turning it into an OTT giant.

"And now AMD has finally overtaken NVIDIA."

"Yes. When Kwangwoon first acquired AMD, everyone thought it couldn’t possibly compete with NVIDIA, but because Kangseong had already taken over the semiconductor market, it seemed they eventually lost the power struggle from there."

Kangseong and Kwangwoon were practically one and the same.

When TSMC had control of the foundry business, they suffocated it using Kwangwoon’s shipping power and eventually seized control of the foundry sector.

"Then they targeted NVIDIA next. From what I’ve heard, Kangseong intentionally reduced the semiconductor supply over time. Also, they provided AMD with every available researcher to quickly boost its technological capabilities."

"It wasn’t just Kangseong. NK, another Korean company, also supported them by sending as many researchers as possible, which helped AMD catch up to NVIDIA quickly."

"Is it just me, or is this weird? Isn’t Kangseong focused on semiconductors too? And NK is also a semiconductor-driven company, right? But both of them collaborated to help AMD?"

Anyone would find this situation strange.

Even if they were companies from the same country, it would still be natural for them to be fiercely competing. So the fact that they were helping each other was nothing short of strange.

"Isn’t that because the power structure has already been decided?"

"Power structure?"

"Yes. Who the top predator is, and who controls the companies within Korea, it’s all already determined."

"So you're saying these two conglomerates are following Kwangwoon’s orders?"

"Isn’t there already a Deep State conspiracy theory circulating around Wall Street? It seems like Korea is already under Kwangwoon’s control. Otherwise, there’s no way those two companies would just hand over their precious technology like that."

The Deep State conspiracy theory had always existed.

The Rothschilds, the Rockefellers, the Bilderberg Group, and so on.

Honestly, until now, they were all regarded as laughable, mere conspiracy theories.

But the current Deep State theories going around, at least within Wall Street, weren’t being dismissed with laughter anymore.

"Didn’t EMIC, which owned Tottenham, try to pull a stunt on Kwangwoon and end up getting completely destroyed? From that point on, the atmosphere really felt different. Especially in public settings, people try not to even mention Kwangwoon’s name."

To be honest, calling what EMIC did a “stunt” felt like a stretch.

All they did was try to sell what they had at a high price.

They didn’t directly harm Kwangwoon in any way.

But just for the minor offense of daring to negotiate the price with them, they obliterated one of the most traditional investment firms in the UK.

And that’s when everyone realized.

This EMIC incident was Kwangwoon sending a warning to all companies.

"The message is: anyone who tries to mess with Kwangwoon can be destroyed... Is that it?"

"That’s how everyone took it. Didn’t our upper management issue orders immediately after? Telling us to carefully examine whether there were any sensitive matters related to Kwangwoon. Especially since Kwangwoon frequently uses us as brokers."

And who is Gold Reagan?

One of the top three financial firms in the world.

The arrogance of those at the top is said to be sky-high.

But even they were starting to feel intimidated by Kwangwoon’s growing influence.

"The bigger problem is that the real entity might not even be Kwangwoon. If Kwangwoon were truly the Deep State, they wouldn’t be exposing themselves so openly like this."

At first, people thought Kwangwoon was the central entity.

But as time passed, people began to notice that something, or someone, was standing behind Kwangwoon.

Otherwise, Kwangwoon wouldn’t be able to act with such boldness.

But the truly terrifying part was that no one had even the slightest idea who or what was behind Kwangwoon... no outline, no shadow.

"Let’s not try to dig too deep into that. I’d like to keep this seat for a long time. And... everyone, be careful what you say. You know what I mean, right?"

"Yes, Director."

The mood turned solemn for a moment.

No one knew how far Kwangwoon’s reach extended, or how far their ears were listening.

There were surely employees even within this very firm who acted as Kwangwoon’s ears.

No one wanted to suffer the consequences of saying the wrong thing.

"But there’s one thing I’d like to report about Kwangwoon..."

"What is it?"

"Since we’ve been acting as Kwangwoon’s broker, we get a rough idea of what kind of trades they’re making."

Since Kwangwoon was technically a foreign company, they had to go through a broker in order to invest in the U.S. market.

Unless they built a new platform that would allow them to directly invest in overseas markets.

"And?"

"This time, the stock called GameStop jumped 15%."

"GameStop? The one with the short interest over 140%?"

"Yes. It started rising suddenly due to a post that kept circulating in the community, but the issue is.... before the stock surged, the first entity to put money in was Kwangwoon."

"......What?"

GameStop.

To be honest, it was a junk stock.

It was practically a toy being played with by the short-sellers.

But Kwangwoon was far too large to be involved in something like that.

So why had Kwangwoon suddenly put money into it?

"How much?"

"One million dollars."

"That’s it?"

"Yes. And they’ve added another million dollars today."

"......?"

No matter how he looked at it, this wasn’t money put in to make a profit.

To Kwangwoon, one million dollars wasn’t even pocket change.

"Thanks to that first million-dollar injection, it does seem like the community members were stirred up and the price rose..."

"But it’s nowhere near enough to make money."

"Yes. For a player as large-scale as Kwangwoon, this is way too small to be a profit-driven move."

And yet, they were drip-feeding money into it.

"What are they trying to pull this time?"

***

In the U.S., and especially among the youth, the hottest platform was Losthood.

Losthood had made a bold move by declaring full commission-free trading and rapidly gained users, running the app with an aggressive strategy.

At first glance, it made you wonder how they were even making a profit, but commission-free trading was already a global trend. And it wasn’t that they weren’t charging fees at all, they simply weren’t charging users. Instead, they were collecting from market makers, which actually made it profitable.

They also earned interest from customer deposits and generated profits through other avenues. So the more users they had, the more profit Losthood made.

Additionally, they earned steady revenue through stock lending, premium subscription services offering research and analysis, and they collected full fees on Bitcoin transactions.

At this rate, they might even surpass KW Exchange, which currently dominated the Bitcoin market.

No, they would definitely surpass it.

"......What? How much did it go up?"

"90% just today."

"!?"

But then something exploded from an entirely unexpected direction.

"W-what? That can’t be real! Ninety percent in a single day?! And from a junk stock like that...!"

GameStop had dropped as low as 18 dollars per share.

That was just a month ago.

Now, the stock had skyrocketed to an incredible 200 dollars.

And it wasn’t even because GameStop had suddenly turned a massive profit.

"It first started gaining traction in a community, but then Milon Tusk randomly posted something weird on social media..."

Milon Tusk.

The person most skilled in the world at stirring up chaos on social media.

He was also called the greatest con artist of this generation.

That lunatic Martian had randomly posted about GameStop on SNS this morning, and it caused a massive sensation.

"Not just in the U.S., but all around the world, people are suddenly hearing about GameStop, and now money is pouring into it."

"Y-you mean it might go even higher tomorrow?"

"Yes. It rose 90% just today, but tomorrow it could rise even more."

Losthood’s CEO, Taines, felt dizzy.

"The biggest issue right now is the margin requirements. If the stock price goes even higher from here, the amount we’ll have to post as collateral to the clearinghouse will increase exponentially, and we won’t be able to handle it."

Sure, it was a problem that the hedge funds and groups with short positions on GameStop would have to meet margin calls, but the more serious problem was the margin that Losthood itself had to deposit with the clearinghouse.

Since a brokerage can’t delay settling trades on behalf of its customers, the clearinghouse requires collateral in advance. And with GameStop rising nearly 100% in a single day, the clearinghouse was demanding more and more collateral from brokerages.

In other words, they were being told to hand over more security deposits.

Brokerages with solid capital could somehow deal with it.

But Losthood didn’t have the funds to manage this.

"So if it really goes up even more tomorrow, more than 90%?"

"If it jumps another 90% tomorrow like today... then we won’t be able to withstand it. We’ve already taken out all the emergency loans we can."

It felt like everything was going black before his eyes.

How could something like this possibly happen?

"The real problem is... there are rumors going around that Kwangwoon is behind this whole GameStop incident."

"What? What are you talking about now?"

"They say Kwangwoon was the very first to put money in before GameStop started rising. And isn’t Tusk the one working with Kwangwoon on the World Link project? Right now, GameStop is being continuously promoted through social media."

That would mean Kwangwoon really is behind all of this?

They controlled SNS, too.

"Th-then, could it be that Kwangwoon targeted us and pulled off this insane stunt...!? But why?"

"Because we’re the biggest competitor threatening KW Exchange, aren’t we?"

Now, it finally started to make sense why this absurd situation had suddenly happened.

Kwangwoon had carefully orchestrated this whole thing in order to eliminate their top competitor.

"Didn’t we recently run big advertisements claiming we’d soon become number one in the Bitcoin market? That might have provoked Kwangwoon..."

At that moment, cold sweat began to trickle down Taines’s face.

It seemed he had messed with the whiskers of a sleeping lion.

TL: Sleeping Lion in this case: