Money Keeps Piling Up No Matter How Much I Spend

Chapter 97

Translator: DreamscribeThe Prime grade division usually didn’t have much to do.

While teams at other securities firms were overworked from dawn to night, analyzing market conditions, writing reports, and getting investment approvals, there was no need for any of that here.

Of course, they still reviewed the materials sent from the Research Department and fully understood them before reporting to CEO Jung Jin-ho.

They also put together their own investment reports based on that information, but ultimately, it was Jung Jin-ho who devised every investment strategy.

That’s why their job could be described as leisurely observing the market over a cup of coffee, watching how things unfold and how Jung Jin-ho’s magic takes place once again.

“Deputy Yoon. The task I gave you earlier? Did you handle all the order volume?”

“Yes. Thankfully, the institutional side took them. Phew. They kept rejecting at first, so I had a hard time persuading them over the phone.”

“Sorry, but we don’t have time to feel tired right now. Move on to the next order right away. Quickly!”

“Ah, yes!”

Then why does the Prime grade division exist?

Because once CEO Jung Jin-ho decides on an investment strategy, there need to be people to carry it out as instructed.

Normally it's a quiet place, but once things start moving, it becomes busier than anywhere else in the world.

That’s because the amount of money handled here is on a completely different scale than regular securities firms.

“Manager Lee. How much have we processed so far?”

“5 trillion won.”

“Damn. Still half left? That’s too slow.”

“I know. I’m trying to do it as quickly as possible, but the amount is just so massive......”

10 trillion won.

Not 1 trillion, but a staggering 10 trillion won.

And they had to dump that entire amount into just one place, the French stock market. Of course, even if they allocated it to futures, options, ETFs, and so on, there were limits.

No matter how much larger the French market was compared to Korea, more than twice the size, it couldn’t absorb 10 trillion won all at once.

That’s what made it complicated.

They had to insert the money while avoiding the gaze of the French Financial Supervisory Service, which was always monitoring the market, and they had to secure enough volume to handle that 10 trillion won.

“On top of that, speed is everything for us. Why do you think the CEO pays us such high salaries to sit here? For crucial moments. For times exactly like this. We don’t even have the right to say it’s hard. Honestly, if it weren’t hard, that’d be the weird part given how much we’re getting paid.”

There are various ways to inject 10 trillion won into the market.

The best way is to spread it over a period and slowly bring in the funds.

Buy a wide range of stocks so that the 10 trillion won melts into the market naturally.

But CEO Jung Jin-ho doesn’t invest with a long-term view.

If he really wants to take a long-term approach, he just buys the whole company and grows it himself. Everything else is approached with a short-term return in mind.

“That’s why it has to be handled fast, no matter what. Whether it’s 1 trillion, 10 trillion, or 100 trillion! We just need to shove this money into the French stock market exactly as the CEO instructed! That’s the only way we can earn our keep. Got it?”

“Yes!”

Once work starts here, not a single second can be wasted.

The value of CEO Jung Jin-ho’s time is different from everyone else’s.

Even a delay of just one second could cost hundreds of billions, even trillions, that’s how his investment strategy works.

“All right. What’s our team’s motto?”

“Abandon your ego!”

“Okay. Everyone move!”

With that, Department Head Seo picked up the receiver again, encouraging the team members.

He had to pressure the institutions that were refusing to provide the short-selling volume in order to reach the targets CEO Jung Jin-ho wanted.

‘But can we really absorb all of this?’

To be honest, after the 2 trillion won day-trade incident, he thought nothing could surprise him anymore. But he had no idea where this madness of trying to short 10 trillion won at once was coming from.

Logically speaking, is it even possible to process that much volume in such a short time?

But there was one thing he knew for sure.

So far, CEO Jung Jin-ho had never ordered anything impossible.

***

“Wow.......”

“Should I say this is just insane or what......”

We were watching the chaos on the TV in the meeting room today.

It was because the Yellow Vest protests that erupted in France were spreading rapidly.

Normally, one would expect people to hold pickets and shout through megaphones during a protest, but France was a bit no, a lot different from our expectations.

“I heard they start by setting fires before the protest even begins over there?”

“Isn’t that just media framing?”

“I thought so too, but judging by what we’re seeing, it seems to be true.”

I know that during the peak protest periods in our country, clashes between protesters and police would lead to overturned buses and water cannons, it was pretty intense. But compared to what we were watching now, that looked like nothing.

Shops on the streets were being looted, and fires were being set.

How should I put it?

It felt like they were using the protests as an excuse to create a lawless zone.

As if they had been waiting for this day, the protesters rose like a mob, destroying the streets. Clashes with the police trying to stop them were leading to violent, bloody incidents.

“The number of people who joined the initial protest was about 200,000, but now it’s over 500,000, and it looks like it’ll surpass one million next week.”

“It’s spreading like wildfire.”

“Yes. They say the scale of the protest grew significantly because of posts and videos on PicPic and FaceWeb encouraging people to participate.”

It looked like the French government was quite flustered as well.

Even though Europe is known for its frequent protests, they didn’t expect hundreds of thousands to gather this quickly.

“There are reports that YouTube, along with FaceWeb, saw this as an opportunity and intentionally highlighted protest-related videos to all users to encourage participation.”

“What about PicPic?”

“We didn’t deliberately push such content, but due to the algorithm, protest-related videos were heavily exposed for a while. Then FaceWeb reignited it, and that spread back to us, creating a continuous cycle.”

So, in summary, we at PicPic didn’t intend it, but after FaceWeb passed the ball, we spiked it, and now we were tangled up in it together.

“We unintentionally became partners, huh?”

“Yes. Especially since PicPic is currently the most popular SNS app in France, they say the protest would have ended early if protest-related content hadn’t spread through social media.”

But now, for a week straight, enraged protesters were rioting, and the unrest was spreading throughout the city.

“At first, it looked like they were trying to keep it peaceful, but the problem is that opposition groups saw this as a chance and got involved. That’s when it started getting more violent.”

I felt uneasy.

Even if I didn’t pressure PicPic to intentionally expose those videos, feeling guilty was only human.

They say businesspeople shouldn’t be swayed by emotion.

But I felt like that idea didn’t apply to someone like me.

Still.

You have to do what needs to be done.

“What about the stocks we bought?”

“It’s going just as you expected, CEO-nim. When the protest first started, the French stock market barely showed any volatility. Just like the other markets.”

All global markets were frozen at the moment.

Because of the ongoing financial crises, no one was moving their money.

“But as the protest intensified, the French stock market started to swing heavily. People realized this wasn’t like any previous protest. There’s talk that if it keeps going, it could become the largest since the 1960s.”

As a result, the French stock market was experiencing a bear market.

Even though global markets were frozen, the French market was swinging wildly.

And we had poured all 10 trillion won in and taken short positions on everything.

I had selected stocks based on intuition and handed them over to the team, wondering how they could possibly digest that amount, but they managed to do it.

“It’s really fascinating. When you told us to take short positions with the full 10 trillion won, I honestly thought it was impossible. Maybe if it were over the long term, but to do it in such a short time, I thought there was no way.”

“But once we started, it actually worked.”

Thanks to that, we were making a lot of money every time the stock market shook.

“The problem is the sell timing. The amount of money in the market is beyond imagination, so while getting it all in was hard, pulling it out might be even harder.”

That’s why I was also gauging the timing.

Where would the bottom truly be?

Even in 'The Big Short', a movie based on a true story, the characters who knew the stocks would fall even further still chose to sell midway.

Because if things went down any more from there, companies and institutions would go bankrupt, cheering as they collapsed, and the stocks would all turn into worthless paper.

But I didn’t have to worry about things like that.

Because I had a power that no one else had, something others didn’t know about, a power that belonged only to me.

“.......”

I placed my hand over the stocks listed on the sheet.

Some gave off signals, and others gave nothing.

It felt like my intuition were telling me exactly which stocks needed to be cleared out right now.

“Please dispose of all the ones marked here. Space them out over a few days so as not to shock the market.”

“Ah, yes. I’ll act on it right away.”

As the team members moved according to my instructions, I stopped them again.

“Please contact PicPic. Tell them to take down all the provocative protest videos currently being uploaded. Also, make sure all content that encourages violent protests is removed as well.”

“Um… CEO-nim. If we take all of that down, the spreading protests may cool off. That would increase the chance that the stock market stabilizes again…”

“Even if we’re making money from shorting, I don’t want to justify or encourage something so violent.”

“Yes. Understood, CEO-nim.”

After the team members left, I let out a short breath.

I felt like the heavy feeling in my chest had eased a bit, but it still weighed on me.

“…Maybe I should make a donation or something.”

***

The Élysée Palace, the official residence and office of the President of France, was in a state of mourning.

The protests had grown uncontrollably large, fires were being set throughout the city, and police forces were being deployed every day to contain them.

Amid the intense protests, the clashes between both sides had left thousands injured.

Turning on the news would just show endless footage of confrontations between protesters and police all day long.

“What are the protesters’ demands?”

“They want a complete withdrawal of the policies we’re currently pushing. Starting from the fuel tax hike to the tax cuts for the wealthy.”

“I heard one of their demands is for me to resign?”

“You can ignore that. That’s the opposition trying to use this protest as an excuse to oust you, Mr. President. But… we may need to consider withdrawing the policies, including the fuel tax.”

No one expected the public to rise up to this extent.

We thought they’d complain for a few days and then stop.

“When they say a complete withdrawal of the policies, that includes the digital tax too, right?”

“Yes. OTT platforms like YouTube and Nflix have announced that if the digital tax is enforced, they’ll all raise their subscription prices. YouTube also plans to significantly raise its previously cheap premium cost.”

“Not only that, but there are also rumors that FaceWeb and PicPic are seriously considering withdrawing from France.”

President Perron clenched his teeth.

To be honest, there was no reason for the protests to get this violent.

But those bastards coordinated and cornered the French government.

Using fake videos and all kinds of rumors, they framed Perron as the president of the rich and incited this violent protest!

“But… it is somewhat true that the recent policies favored the wealthy…”

“That doesn’t matter. What matters is who incited those crowds. Even if we withdraw everything else, we absolutely cannot cancel the crackdown on those people.”

“Still, wouldn’t it be best to try and resolve things peacefully? The stock market is swinging so much that even domestic companies that supported us at first are now starting to voice opposition.”

The wealthy who had initially strongly supported President Perron also turned against him once their own assets began to be threatened.

As expected, they were never to be trusted.

“But Mr. President, there’s a strange rumor circulating in the financial markets right now.”

“Rumor?”

“Yes. It’s said that just before the protests began, billions of euros flowed in from outside. And all of it was used to take short positions.”

“Billions of euros?”

“Yes. It’s estimated to be around 6 billion euros.”

“What?! Six billion?! Isn’t that market manipulation at that point?”

“The issue is that the money wasn’t concentrated on one side. It was spread across various companies, including large corporations, supposedly to avoid shocking the market too much…”

At that moment, something flashed through President Perron’s mind.

“Don’t tell me this is connected to that Kwangwoon?”

“Yes. We haven’t conducted an investigation, so we can’t be sure, but according to circulating rumors, it seems so.”

Perron slammed the table hard.

“I knew it. Those bastards placed their bets before pulling the trigger together.”

It was still just suspicion for now, but that was fine.

As long as he could launch an investigation under presidential authority and shake them down completely, it didn’t matter. He was about to issue an order immediately, but his aides stopped him.

“Mr. President, please think rationally.”

“Rational? Do I look rational right now?”

“We’ve just received word that all protest-related videos on PicPic have been taken down.”

“…What?”

The very ones who had been at the forefront of inciting the protesters and stirring people up, suddenly?

“Once PicPic began taking down all the videos, FaceWeb and YouTube also started quietly lowering exposure.”

“Why?”

“Aren’t they sending a message to our government? They’ve already shown us the full extent of their power, and now they’re saying, ‘Let’s stop here.’”

Only then did Perron realize their intent.

“So, they want to pretend this never happened?”

“Yes. If we completely withdraw the digital tax, they’re saying they won’t provoke further unrest.”

He let out a dry laugh in disbelief.

The audacity of these shameless bastards.

“Mr. President, you need to negotiate with them.”

“How can there be such a one-sided negotiation? This is basically us raising the white flag and surrendering!”

“But… if we turn them into enemies now, they’ll plaster those videos everywhere again. And then the current one million protesters could turn into two million.”

“.......”

Perron swallowed dryly.

This was what it meant to truly feel how the world had changed.

When he first became president, it felt like France was beneath his feet, but in reality, someone else stood above.

True power no longer lay in the government, but with those who knew how to manipulate the psychology of the masses and extract money from it.

And Kwangwoon had even sent a clear message.

If they crossed the line further, they would truly turn all of Paris into a hell of fire.

"You need to make a decision now."

A decision.

“Is there even a decision to make?”

The answer was already clear.