God of Money

June 2011.

“Lians Bank under investigation.”

“Sangho Bank experiences bank run due to uncertainty.”

“Financial corporations experience instability and uncertainty.”

Many of the secondary financial corporations suffered from customers’ bank run. Their provision of payment rate dropped below 3%. If it went down to 0, it meant that the institution was unable to return the customers’ deposits.

The government had to do something. They couldn’t let all these organizations go bankrupt. The government started the process of purchasing these institutions and Right Capital was assigned to be the mediator.

Similar things were happening in the world.

August.

Oh Hoon’s new free meals project did not get enough votes to be passed. As he promised, he left the Seoul Mayor position.

Finally November.

It was the time Woosung has been waiting for.

The prime minister of Greece announces that the public will vote to decide the fate of IMF’s bailout plan. European stock market plummets and gave Woosung another chance to make money.

This time, Woosung made 20 billion dollars.

Every time they did this, it got easier. Afterward, Alex and Woosung popped a bottle of Champaign.

Alex said to Woosung, “Boss, it’s 20 billion dollars this time.”

“We did well.”

“Which company will you be buying with this money?”

“I will be using part of it for marketing.”

“Marketing? What kind of marketing would cost so much money?”

“I am going to use at least a billion dollars to destroy a company.”

“Are you talking about Daeyang Electronics?”

Woosung nodded.

Alex replied, “Daeyang must have done something terrible to you in your past life.”

Woosung smiled mysteriously.

***

Lee Sunghyun drank heavily and grumbled, “Bastard. He gave up his position as the Mayor of Seoul! How could he? Does he not realize how hard I worked to get him there?”

He continued to drink, but his anger couldn’t be contained.

Mayor of Seoul.

If Oh Hoon had done well, Lee Sunghyun would have entered the next election as a representative of the Liberal party. However, the party’s reputation was in ruins now.

An official from Daeyang, Suk Jinmyung, said to him, “You must have a lot of worries.”

Lee Sunghyun handed him an envelope.

“This is the report on Kang Woosung’s finances. It’s clean. Nothing illegal.”

Choi Taemin ordered Suk Jinmyung to get this record from Lee Sunghyun.

Suk Jinmyung asked, “So this means…”

“That’s right. As he claims, he made his money by using data analysis.”

Suk Jinmyung smiled and replied, “But what Daeyang found out is a bit different. We found that he has a sponsor.”

Lee Sunghyun’s eyes widened. “He has a sponsor?”

“Do you really believe he can predict the future by analyzing data?”

Suk Jinmyung stared at Lee Sunghyun. Lee Sunghyun’s hand trembled.

Suk Jinmyung continued quickly, “Did you ever consider that perhaps he made things happen and lied that he predicted it?”

“Sponsor…”

“That’s right. We suspected it’s someone from US, Middle East, or China. We need help from the government for this.”

“You want the government to find out who Kang Woosung’s sponsor is?”

“Yes. Kang Woosung is destroying the Korean economy. Important technologies or companies may end up leaving Korea because of him. Will you let that happen?”

Lee Sunghyun rubbed his chin and replied, “Of course not. That can’t happen.”

“We, Daeyang, suspect it must be Saudi Arabia that is helping Kang Woosung. Oil money.”

Lee Sunghyun nodded.

Suk Jinmyung continued, “And what if we create a negative image for Kang Woosung? Make him look like he will engulf the Korean economy using foreign funds?”

Lee Sunghyun’s eyes widened. He answered, “Let’s do this.”

***

“We came to an understanding.”

Choi Taemin smiled when Suk Jinmyung reported back to him.

“Good. This plan will benefit the government too.”

They were watching the TV together.

“Crazy project!”

“If you bring your old The One, KND will give 50% discount on your new Blue S3!”

“This ad is being aired all over the world. It must be costing Kang Woosung billions of dollars.”

“Maybe he is using his bank loans on this.”

“Or he did very well with his smartphone sales, so he may be using that profit on this marketing to destroy us.”

Suk Jinmyung was confused. “Why would he go this far?”

“He wants us to give up the cellphone business completely.”

“Our legal team has already filed a complaint against it.”

“That won’t be enough. Apple did the same thing against android phones, and it was all approved to be legal.”

Suk Jinmyung sighed deeply and murmured, “So he is now treating us as his enemy.”

“It’s a war and only one of us will come out alive.”

“Semiconductors, smartphones, and soon other electronics… So many overlaps…”

“He is preparing for the war.”

Choi Taemin licked his lips. He needed to relieve his stress.

He asked, “You said Lee Ari is no longer available?”

“That’s right. She now belongs to DNK.”

“Too bad. She was good.”

“I have prepared a new girl for you. She is good too.”

Choi Taemin nodded.

***

Julia White held her cup nervously.

“Julia, why are you so nervous?”

“Boss, we are meeting a great man today.”

Suddenly, a big man with blond hair walked in.

“Haha, nice to meet you.”

“My name is Kang Woosung.”

They shook hands.

The man replied, “I read your proposal. It was very interesting.”

“I thought you might.”

Jeremy Dison.

He was the current chairman of JP Morgan.

He replied, “A replacement of the current dollar system! Who wouldn’t be interested?”

“So did you make a decision?”

“I did a little research on you. You made a lot of money. You made decisions as if you knew the future.”

“I was lucky.”

“You’ve made a profit every single time. That’s not luck.”

“I didn’t request this meeting to discuss my past investments.”

“Haha, how can we work together without trust?”

“Trust is for the weak who fears its stronger opponent. You are JP Morgan, which means you should fear nothing.”

Jeremy frowned and replied, “You are very forward.”

“I don’t know if you are aware but for me to circulate my cryptocurrency, I don’t need all the banks in the world. I just need one famous bank to start, and it will be enough to convince the public.”

“Aren’t you too confident about it? You are underestimating the power of dollars.”

“Haha, I think you’re underestimating me. As you said before, I have never failed.”

Jeremy bit his lips.

Woosung continued, “I offered this exact same deal to BNP Paribas. If they accept it, this meeting is pointless anyway. If I get Europe and Asia, the US won’t be able to stop me.”

“It sounds like you have China or Japan already.”

“Why would you think I don’t?”

Julia took a sip of her water nervously. Jeremy glared at Woosung quietly.

Woosung continued, “China is trying its best to beat America. Japan feels the same way. Money controls the world.”

After a brief pause, Jeremy replied, “So are you really doing this?”

“Yes.”

“Overconfidence can ruin you.”

“I think I deserve to be confident. I am the richest man in the world after all.”

Jeremy frowned again.