Chapter 83
Chapter 83
Translation: Godtl
"How's the current progress?"
"Ample has announced they'll be releasing a new software update, just like our Kangsung."
"About when can we expect ours?"
"Everything should be updated by tomorrow, most likely. Since it was rushed, we'll need to consistently fix bugs after the release."
Chairman Kang Sung-ho felt his head growing hot.
Just as they were smoothly sailing through the semiconductor market takeover alongside Gwangun, an obstacle had emerged.
And of all things, it had originated from the U.S. CIA.
"Damn bastards, why do they have to turn someone else's house upside down and cause this mess?"
An unidentified hacking group had attacked none other than the CIA itself, leaking classified documents—among which the most problematic was a file called "Vault 7."
It revealed that the CIA had developed hacking programs capable of infiltrating every smartphone currently used by humanity, allowing them to monitor calls, messages, usage history, and more at will.
As this document spread across the internet, people were thrown into shock, prompting all smartphone companies to hastily roll out new security updates.
Naturally, Ample and Kangsung—currently ranked first and second in the global market—were hit the hardest.
Though the document didn't explicitly state it, conspiracy theories were spreading that these companies had collaborated with the U.S. government to intentionally create backdoors.
"Tell me we didn't actually cooperate with them or anything like that."
"No, we didn't."
"Are you absolutely sure? Nothing I don't know about?"
"Absolutely not. If we had created a backdoor, people would've found out long ago. No matter how well you hide a backdoor, it eventually gets exposed if people keep digging. Besides, the CIA's hacking programs don't come through backdoors—they attack the software itself, so backdoors wouldn't even be necessary."
They had already poured immense effort into restoring their brand image after the battery explosion incident.
And now, with this highly sensitive security issue blowing up, all that hard work was being undone, chipping away at the brand image they'd barely managed to salvage.
"What about the media?"
"They've sunk their teeth into this feast. Every major outlet worldwide is tearing into the story. But there are rumors that this leak was intentional."
"Intentional? What do you mean?"
"As you know, Chairman, the financial scandal 'Volmageddon' recently erupted in the markets. There's been a lot of talk that the White House and Gold Reagan orchestrated it together."
Yet now, not a single media outlet was discussing Volmageddon.
Everyone was too fixated on Vault 7, chattering about nothing else.
"Of course, it's just a rumor."
Speculation about the White House's involvement in this incident had been circulating nonstop.
After all, wasn't it already common knowledge that Gold Reagan had taken massive positions right before Volmageddon hit?
And wasn't it just a little too convenient that key figures in the current administration were all tied to Gold Reagan?
"Even so, creating this kind of distraction to cover up the scandal seems a bit..."
Chairman Kang didn't truly believe the White House would stoop that low.
But given Trent's past remarks and a series of suspicious actions, it was hard not to have doubts.
Thanks to Vault 7, Volmageddon had long faded from public memory.
Even the media had shifted blame onto careless XIV investors who poured money in without thinking.
"But there's another party that profited the most from all this."
"Not Gold Reagan?"
"No. I hear there's a group that used Gold Reagan as their prime broker, made a killing, and then vanished. Wall Street's buzzing about nothing else. Rumor has it they turned 2 trillion won into 4 trillion in just two days through day trading."
"...?"
Chairman Kang Sung-ho burst into laughter along with the executives after a brief pause.
"That sounds even more absurd than the rumor that the White House triggered this issue to cover up Volmageddon."
Turning thousands of billions into double the amount in just two days is no easy feat.
Even if given two years instead of two days, doubling the investment isn't simple.
The reason lies in liquidity.
No matter how vast the U.S. stock market is, managing over two trillion won inevitably hits liquidity constraints.
That means the money would have to be spread across multiple investments—yet pulling off such returns through day trading in just two days?
"It doesn't make sense."
"Correct. But Wall Street isn't dismissing it as mere rumor. Though Gold Reagan is keeping tight-lipped, it's an undeniable fact that a certain entity profited massively through large-scale day trading."
Now it's clear why Wall Street is making such a fuss.
Even they recognize how abnormal this situation is.
"So, are you saying the White House and Gold Reagan orchestrated this too?"
"That's uncertain. The reason I'm bringing this up is because rumors are circulating that the entity in question is Korean."
"You mean a Korean group raided the U.S. market?"
"According to Wall Street chatter, yes. They say the large entity that used Gold Reagan as its prime broker was Korean."
A massive investment of two trillion won originating from Korea.
An abnormal move—day trading aggressively for two days with Gold Reagan at the forefront.
On top of that, not only avoiding losses but doubling the money with an absurd return rate.
"Wait."
As he pieced it together, only one place came to mind capable of such madness.
Where else had consistently profited from abnormal investments until now?
"Don't tell me—Gwangun?!"
"No names have been confirmed yet. But one thing's certain—it wasn't a fund."
Then there really was no other possibility but Gwangun.
What other Korean entity, outside of a fund, could handle that scale of investment if not Gwangun?
And who else but Jeong Jin-ho would even conceive of day trading with trillions?
That lunatic.
The bastard really has an uncanny nose for sniffing out money.
"But is this even acceptable? With that kind of capital, day trading would've been more than enough to shake the market. If a foreign company pulled this off—not even a domestic one—would the U.S. just sit back and watch?"
"Right. Whether illegal or not, if someone made that kind of profit from two trillion won in two days of day trading, the SEC would've taken some action. Market manipulation would be a given."
So is Jeong Jin-ho getting arrested?
All sorts of thoughts began swirling in Kang Sung-ho's mind.
"Yet the SEC hasn't imposed any sanctions or launched a formal investigation. They went through the motions, then let it fizzle out."
"They're not still investigating internally?"
"The SEC is usually loud. If something happens, they react immediately. If they were serious about investigating, they'd have raised hell by now. But the fact that it's this quiet... means it's been buried."
"What? They're burying it after someone day-traded and walked away with that much money?"
"Perhaps they're afraid digging deeper might drag out a name they'd rather avoid."
Even the almighty SEC has names it fears.
What could that be?
"Because of the White House?"
"Correct. The timing of Gold Reagan closing its positions and that 'certain Korean entity' exiting was suspiciously similar."
Chairman Kang Sung-ho's expression shifted to one of deep shock.
"T-Then what the hell."
Come to think of it, wasn't it Jeong Jin-ho who had Kangsung send political funds to Trent?
On top of that, during the recent semiconductor crisis, Trent had even sided with Kangsung and Gwangun.
Suddenly, all the uneasy feelings he'd had until now seemed to click into place.
"You're seriously saying Chairman Jeong Jin-ho is connected to the White House?"
***
The Volmageddon incident had briefly become a major issue at the time, but it quickly died down due to the Vault 7 document leaks.
"Still, it's strange. They're not the type to stop investigating just because the media isn't making noise."
After our investment was finalized, headquarters mobilized the entire legal team to identify all potential issues and grounds related to our investment, preparing for every contingency.
Especially since my elder brother had tearfully declared—with moving loyalty and a memorable quote—that he would take full responsibility if any problems arose regarding this matter.
"But who would've thought there'd be absolutely no news at all?"
Though ten days had passed since the Volmageddon incident ended, there wasn't a peep from the SEC, let alone the Financial Supervisory Service.
Moreover, while there had been rumors in the media about a certain group making a huge profit by day trading with 2 trillion won, even that was buried under the Vault 7 scandal.
"Isn't that good for us? In financial markets, isn't the best scenario making a lot of money while attracting little attention?"
"That may be true, but this incident isn't something that should just be swept under the rug."
"Could it be because of the White House? We used Gold Reagan as our prime broker, after all."
"You don't think the SEC misunderstood that we're in cahoots with the White House, do you?"
Suddenly, the conversation took an intriguing turn.
"The timing is impeccable, isn't it? Gold Reagan just happened to be positioned perfectly. The White House is packed with Gold Reagan people. Then Volmageddon hits right after. And as if on cue, the Vault 7 documents get leaked."
"And then some mysterious group uses Gold Reagan as a shield to make a killing before vanishing?"
"Exactly. Anyone would assume there's a White House connection. That's probably why the SEC didn't dig deeper and just covered it up."
"So we lucked out? We're not actually connected to the White House, but it looked like we were?"
"Well...that would be the case if we truly weren't connected..."
Just as the discussion was heating up, the employees turned their gazes toward me.
"Chairman...by any chance, are we really...?"
Don't tell me they think I'm connected to the White House?
I shook my head with a laugh.
"Don't be ridiculous."
"..."
But no one looked convinced.
"What about other investment opportunities?"
Before any more unnecessary speculation could arise, I steered the conversation elsewhere.
"Ah. Here's a report compiling the currently trending sectors and their respective companies."
I carefully examined the report prepared by the research team.
Given that we were now handling investments in the trillions of won, there weren't many ways to significantly grow our funds unless another major financial event like Volmageddon occurred.
Thus, the best approaches were either acquiring companies for profit like private equity funds or diversifying investments to collect dividends.
Alternatively, partial sell-offs when stock prices rose.
"..."
As I scanned through the list, one item caught my eye.
'AI?'
AI.
Indeed, since late last year, expectations around AI had surged, leading to active investments in the sector.
But current AI technology remained crude.
Which was why many were skeptical.
Would the technology ever advance to the point where AI and humans could engage in casual conversations, like in movies or novels?
Far more people viewed it negatively than positively.
Many even mocked the idea, saying it would take at least 20 more years before we'd see anything remotely worthy of being called "AI."
As a result, AI-related stocks weren't exactly a hot sector.
That's precisely why the prevailing sentiment was skepticism about AI being commercialized for everyday use.
Even now, when people hear "AI," isn't the dominant perception still that of a clueless machine that can't even properly understand our language?
"That movie—what was it, 'Her'? In it, people could talk to AI and even fall in love with it."
"But is that even remotely possible right now? At least ten years—no, forget ten. It'll take way longer than that. And even if such technology does develop, do you really think ordinary people would have access to it?"
This kind of conversation among employees reflected the general public's opinion.
"..."
But when I actually tried looking into AI-related stocks, while the AI sector itself seemed to spark my intuition, none of the specific stocks on the list caught my eye.
The message was clear:
I should invest in AI—but among these stocks, there wasn't a single one worth putting my money into.
"Could you ask the research department to re-examine the AI stocks and submit another report?"
"Ah, yes, sir."
Great, now it'll take forever to read through another report.
Sometimes, I catch myself wondering—
Will there ever come a day when I can just toss a report at an AI and have it smartly summarize everything for me?
＊＊＊
"President Hwang, here's the new report you requested. As you instructed, the research team compiled a list focusing solely on AI-related stocks. There's a lot more this time compared to last."
For a moment, I felt dizzy looking at the thick report, but I quickly nodded.
"Right. I'll review it."
If there was one saving grace, it was this:
While there might not be an AI to quickly summarize reports for me, I did have the ability to read through them and decide which companies were worth investing in.
I began flipping through the pages rapidly, scanning them almost like a machine.
"..."
But no matter how hard I looked, nothing stood out.
At the very least, I needed something to catch my eye—but instead, all I was doing was stuffing raw data into my brain.
Was I skimming too carelessly? Is that why my intuition isn't reacting?
Just as that thought crossed my mind—
"Close AI?"
A non-profit company founded two years ago.
Meaning, it wasn't established for profit.
An AI development firm—and yet, this was the only one making my intuition flare up.
I immediately requested additional data from the research team.
Before long, an employee from research personally came down and handed me the report.
"Here's the detailed data on Close AI, as you requested."
"The founders... There are multiple?"
"Yes. Among them is Milohn Tusk—one of the world's top 100 wealthiest individuals."
Milohn Tusk.
A man with a net worth of approximately 22 trillion won, who also runs Tesla, an electric car company.
"Currently, Close AI is a non-profit and isn't publicly listed. However, the reason it's included in the stock list is because Milohn Tusk is looking to sell his personal stake."
"His personal stake?"
"Yes. It amounts to about 45% of the company. Reportedly, hundreds of millions of dollars were invested during its early stages. But now, due to conflicts with Tesla's ongoing AI projects, he's decided to pull out."
And right now, he was looking for a buyer.
The problem?
It's a non-profit, and its scale is so small—only a few dozen employees—that no one's interested in buying.
"So he's selling 45% for $200 million?"
"Correct. Our estimates suggest even more money was poured into it. But with no buyers emerging, the price has naturally dropped. More critically, Close AI hasn't produced any notable results so far."
In short, it wasn't exactly an attractive investment.
Especially since, as a non-profit, expecting returns was already a stretch.
But then why...?
The more I talked with the employee, the brighter the light seemed to glow.
In fact, like a fan spinning relentlessly, a peculiar symbol pulsed through that light, searing itself deep into my retinas.
"!?"
"...President Hwang?"
"Ah. Thank you. I'll go over the materials."
"Understood."
I looked back down at the report.
The symbol that had just burned into my vision lingered like an afterimage, floating above the pages.
Almost as if it were urging me.
"Fine. I'll just buy it."
So then—Milohn Tusk.
Guess I'll have to meet this guy first, huh?