Chapter 74
Chapter 74
Translation: Godtl
"Will this incident affect us at all? From what I've heard, everyone from Saudi corporate executives to board members have been rounded up."
"Fortunately, it seems Kangsung won't be affected. We don't have any ongoing business with Saudi Arabia."
Chairman Kangsung was startled by the news.
No matter how much Saudi Arabia remained a monarchy, he never dreamed the Crown Prince would purge and execute royal family members to consolidate his own power.
Because of this, public sentiment toward Saudi Arabia had soured worldwide.
As times progressed, the very existence of monarchies was no longer viewed favorably.
"The real problem lies with the companies that invested in Neom City. It was belatedly revealed that Abdul Khadim, the second most powerful figure after the Crown Prince, had embezzled the investment funds single-handedly. Though it's just a rumor, some say Crown Prince Salman hesitated at first, but flew into a rage upon hearing about Abdul Khadim's behind-the-scenes schemes and launched this purge."
Consequently, only the companies that had invested there suffered massive losses.
Because the Saudi royal family confiscated all of Abdul Khadim's assets and announced they couldn't return the Neom City investment funds.
"What did I tell you? I said we shouldn't follow Gwangun's lead on this, didn't I? We almost threw good money after bad."
The executives had nothing to say in response.
Hadn't they repeatedly tried to persuade him, arguing that refusing would permanently damage relations with Saudi Arabia?
Yet Chairman Kangsung stubbornly ignored all their advice and ultimately avoided investment—sparing Kangsung the losses other corporations now faced.
"But Chairman, honestly—how many companies actually refused the investment proposal? Starting with NK Group, practically everyone poured money into it."
"Well, it's good for us if competitors lose money. But aren't those Saudis acting like complete thugs? They're just planning to swallow it all up and pretend nothing happened."
"Yes. Some companies are filing lawsuits over it, but even if they win, the chances of recovering their money are slim."
Of all nations to pull such a thuggish move, it had to be the wealthiest in the world.
And then, adding insult to injury, Saudi Arabia sent new proposals to the companies.
"This time, it's an investment attraction project directly managed by Hamoud Salman. They've redistributed proposals calling for participation in Neom City's development."
"What? After fleecing them once already?"
"They're offering to recognize an additional 10% investment for those affected by Abdul Khadim's embezzlement."
Hamoud Salman.
What a cunning and formidable man.
To try squeezing double the money out of them like this.
"Those companies will probably bite again, won't they?"
"They'll have to swallow their pride and accept. No corporation wants to make enemies with deep-pocketed investors."
Yet they'd have to pay up.
However painful the immediate loss, it would benefit them in the long run.
"······."
He carefully examined the investment proposal.
Frankly, it was no different from the initial offer.
The Neom City blueprint remained unchanged.
'But did Jeong Jin-ho foresee this outcome?'
While everyone rushed into Saudi investments, Jeong Jin-ho alone held back and observed from a distance.
Had Kangsung not sought his advice, they too would have blindly jumped in and lost money.
What did that imply?
It meant Jeong Jin-ho knew the investment was a sham.
And perhaps he'd even anticipated this horrific purge.
"But is it true? That the purged Abdul Khadim was harassing Gwangun?"
"Yes. Abdul Khadim's fund suffered heavy losses because of Gwangun, and he was retaliating against them."
Could it be that Jeong Jin-ho collaborated with Salman to orchestrate this...?
No. That seemed too far-fetched.
"It's almost too perfect to be coincidence."
Yet looking at Jeong Jin-ho's track record so far, his ventures always seem to trigger some major incident.
And each time, it was Jin-ho and Gwangun who reaped massive profits from these events.
At this point, it was starting to become genuinely frightening.
"Wait a minute."
Kangsung Chairman opened his phone to call Jin-ho but paused mid-action.
Strangely, the more he got to know Jin-ho, the man seemed to simultaneously grow both closer and more inscrutable.
＊＊＊
-Why are all the social media apps so slow lately?
-It's because your phone's trash
-It's not just me though, all the apps are like this now. Ampl's the worst
-Heard they can't expand servers. Even Amazon finished building data centers but can't install servers—total chaos rn
-Wait, is making servers that hard? Why aren't they making more?
The hottest topic across online communities was the server shortage.
At first, no one paid much attention, but as the apps and games they used daily grew progressively slower, people began feeling the impact firsthand.
-It's because of our country.
-What kinda nonsense is this now
-Lmao so many clueless idiots. Don't you know the semiconductor market's in shambles? TSNC controlled all foundry production but screwed up by crossing our country—now they're on the verge of collapse
-Huh? What does TSNC have to do with us?
-Read the damn news. Gwangun took over shipping lanes and blocked all vessels heading to TSNC → no semiconductors produced → no server expansion. Got it?
-So you're saying our country's corporations are controlling global servers now?
-New national pride just dropped.
Building data centers and expanding servers required massive quantities of CPUs, GPUs, memory chips—countless components.
And semiconductors were the heart of manufacturing all these parts.
No semiconductors meant no server expansion.
Thus, countless nearly-completed data centers worldwide hit emergency status.
Moreover, servers require major replacements every 3-5 years.
With many systems hitting replacement cycles simultaneously, the global semiconductor shortage was now causing catastrophic failures in server-dependent operating systems.
"..."
I was feeling this reality firsthand myself.
Thinking my computer might be faulty, I checked online communities only to find everyone saying the same thing.
Server lag was worse than ever, and many games felt fundamentally broken.
"Blue Zone was constructing a new data center to build a massive cloud server hub in Asia, but that's fallen apart now. Without semiconductors, they can't expand server capacity."
Blue Zone currently dominated the cloud server system market.
Yet even they couldn't escape this semiconductor crisis.
"Ampl's in the same boat—their data center servers needed replacement years ago but got delayed. Now they're scrambling with their backs against the wall. Should've been replaced two years ago."
"I see."
"...Yes, Chairman."
Employees continued their flustered reports to the unexpected visitor.
"So we're the ones who caused this mess?"
"While we never intended to attack TSNC, our collaboration with Kangsung to blockade maritime routes—preventing raw materials from reaching them—proved decisive."
"Hmm."
My brother listened gravely before shooting me a glance.
Though maintaining perfect composure outwardly, the tremor in his eyes betrayed him.
"Everyone, please step out. The Chairman and I need to speak privately."
"Yes sir."
Only after all employees left did my brother drop the act.
"Oh god. Jin-ho. What do we do? Our guild's about to go under."
Games held profound significance for both of us.
They brought us together and helped us meet all our current guild members.
For us, gaming wasn't just entertainment—it meant far more.
And now that foundation was shaking.
"The game's been around awhile, and the new DLC brought a huge influx of players. Problem is, the servers can't handle it. On top of that, they missed their server replacement window like Ampl did—Europe's already crashed. Players there haven't been able to log in for three days straight."
Since our game is inherently global, we have servers distributed across different continents.
With Europe already down, it's only a matter of time before the Asia server crashes too.
If that happens, even hyungnim and I won't be able to play—what an absolute disaster.
"That's something we absolutely can't allow to happen."
There's nothing more frustrating in this world than desperately wanting to play a game but being unable to log into the server. Just imagining having to endure that for several days already makes me break out in a cold sweat.
"Is there no solution from Kangsung's side?"
"Right now, they're running all their factories at full capacity. But it's still impossible to completely fill the void left by TSNC. Factories aren't something you can just whip up overnight either."
And it's not just the semiconductor issue.
Memory chips are also facing severe supply shortages.
Without either one, server expansion becomes impossible.
"AMC is doing their best to produce and supply new GPUs and CPUs, but their operation is too small-scale to make a real difference..."
Today, I truly realized just how deeply TSNC had infiltrated our lives.
And what kind of global impact its shutdown would have.
This must be why Chairman Kang Sung-ho was so desperate to cut off TSNC.
If he waited any longer, there'd be no way to turn the tables no matter what he tried.
"But even Chairman Kang Sung-ho can't handle all this alone. His ambitions were too grand. At this scale, he should've had partners."
At that moment, a sharp tingling sensation shot through my fingertips.
"Partners?"
"Yeah. There's NK Vynix, right? I heard they have the second-best memory semiconductor technology in the world."
This time, a full-body shudder ran through me.
"As it happens, NK Group has been persistently trying to schedule meetings with us. But since they're competing with Kangsung, I kept turning them down, worried you might get caught in the crossfire. They must be going crazy right now too. The market's booming, yet Kangsung's hogging all the contracts. If only Chairman Kang Sung-ho could rein in his greed a little, things might actually get resolved."
But it seems Chairman Kang Sung-ho isn't much of a gentleman either.
The phone rang almost before hyungnim finished speaking.
Chairman Kang Sung-ho and NK.
Connecting these two would probably be impudent, but...
At this rate, we might never be able to log into the game again.
Besides, didn't my intuition react to the name NK too?
"Hyungnim, could you reach out to NK for me?"
＊＊＊
Kang Sung-ho usually met Jeong Jin-ho in casual attire rather than stiff suits when they met one-on-one, but today was different.
Because this wasn't a private meeting between just the two of them.
"It's been a while, Chairman."
"Yes. I'm glad we could meet like this, at least. Despite my repeated requests for a meeting, you never made time."
"Haha. My apologies. As you know, I've been extremely busy lately."
"What will you do if you collapse from overwork? You should lighten your load a little. Greed makes you carry too much, and that always leads to a fall."
"I'll be fine. I work out diligently every day. Especially my lower body."
"..."
The power struggle begins the moment they meet.
If Daekwang Group was once Kangsung Group's greatest competitor, NK Vynix is gradually taking that place now.
Because Vynix's core business is semiconductors.
"If I'd known it would be like this, I should've brought our chairman instead of coming myself. I expected NK Group to send a different executive."
"Not at all. I have ears to hear with. I know well enough who holds the real power at Gwangun right now, President Jeong Jin-ho."
Jeong Jin-ho.
The man who suddenly appeared at Gwangun Securities one day, achieved legendary returns, and played the greatest role in elevating Gwangun to a conglomerate.
Oh Kyung-wook, chairman of NK Group, had also completed his investigation into Gwangun and Jeong Jin-ho.
Thus, he was well aware that Gwangun Group currently revolved around Jeong Jin-ho and the securities firm he led.
"So, President Jeong. What's the reason for arranging this meeting?"
"The whole world's in chaos over the server issues right now. There's massive semiconductor demand but no supply."
Supercycle.
The semiconductor market was currently experiencing a boom.
Countless companies were expanding their server capacities, and the timing coincided perfectly with server replacement cycles.
"I was hoping for a swift resolution."
"President Jeong. You do know that Kangsung and NK are competitors, don't you?"
"Yes."
"And yet, you're suggesting we collaborate?"
"Is that not possible?"
Originally, Kang Sung-ho had intended to avoid drinking during such meetings, but he found himself downing his glass in one go.
Frankly, while the word "collaboration" was being thrown around, what this really meant was sharing Kangsung's workload with Vynics.
"Competition between companies is fine, but I'd prefer to see all our domestic businesses thrive. So rather than pointlessly fighting, shouldn't we cooperate when the situation calls for it? Especially at a time like this."
"..."
"That's why I'd like the two of you to discuss this properly and reach a swift resolution. My presence here probably isn't helping, so I'll excuse myself. Please, Chairman, I leave this matter in your hands."
With that, Jeong Jin-ho, having merely set the stage, smoothly slipped away.
"..."
An awkward silence settled over the table.
Kang Sung-ho nursed his drink alone, while Oh Kyung-wook's mind raced with a whirlwind of thoughts.
This wasn't some blind date.
Was he seriously just going to arrange the meeting and then vanish?
At least with Jeong Jin-ho present, there might have been some semblance of conversation—but now even that was gone.
Was that greedy Kang Sung-ho really going to share his company's work?
"If you could allocate some of your workload to us, we might be able to stabilize supply to some extent."
"...?"
For a moment, Oh Kyung-wook doubted his own ears.
"Wait. Are you seriously considering this?"
"You heard him just now. President Jeong said he hoped for a swift resolution."
"That's... just his opinion. Are you really going to share your work with us? With NK?"
"Yes. To be honest, we're at a point where our capacity is stretched to the breaking point."
With TSNC isolated, Kangsung Electronics was enjoying unprecedented prosperity.
The problem was, they were drowning in so much work that they couldn't possibly handle it all.
"But isn't this something that'll naturally resolve itself with time?"
"That's true. It'll take a while, but eventually, we'll manage to process everything."
"And yet, you're still willing to share the workload with us?"
"President Jeong said it himself—he wants all our domestic companies to succeed."
"But wasn't that just lip service?"
"To you, Chairman, it might have sounded that way. But not to me."
Truth be told, Chairman Kang Sung-ho had felt a chill run down his spine when he looked at Jeong Jin-ho earlier.
He had never seen Jeong Jin-ho speak with such intensity before.
It was as if he was insisting, This must be done—even though he was fully aware that the two companies were competitors.
If Kang Sung-ho were to ruin the arrangement Jeong Jin-ho had set up just to satisfy his own and his company's greed, he couldn't even begin to imagine the consequences.
All the goodwill they had painstakingly built up until now could be severed in an instant.
"We'll send our operational team to discuss the details. If our two companies collaborate, we should be able to stabilize memory supply very quickly. I'll need to discuss this internally, so please prepare your side as well, NK."
"Ah. Y-yes, we'll do that."
"Then I'll take my leave as well."
Left alone, Oh Kyung-wook was utterly dumbfounded.
He never expected Kangsung to give up such a clear chance at monopolizing the market.
While it was true they were at risk of bursting at the seams, time would eventually solve that problem.
And yet, they were willing to share their workload...
"Is it because of Jeong Jin-ho?"
For the briefest moment, Oh Kyung-wook had seen it.
The way Kang Sung-ho treated Jeong Jin-ho.
They spoke casually and seemed comfortable with each other, but there was something in Kang Sung-ho's eyes—something almost like fear.
No matter how rapidly Gwangun Group had been growing lately...
For the chairman of the mighty Kangsung Group to fear a young man like that...
"Does he have some kind of leverage over him?"
If not, none of this made any sense.
It was as if Jeong Jin-ho had Kang Sung-ho on a leash.
"..."
But the real problem was that Oh Kyung-wook couldn't shake the feeling that the same leash was now tightening around his own neck.