Chapter 87
Chapter 87
Translation: Godtl
"Do you know how many monthly active users FaceWeb currently has?"
The executives gathered in the conference room remained silent.
They knew this wasn't a question asked to hear an answer.
"2.3 billion. Even excluding duplicate accounts, we currently have 2.3 billion members actively using FaceWeb and InstaLook."
It was an astronomical number indeed.
Truly befitting the world's largest social media platform.
"But do you know how many users PicPic has gained in less than a year since its launch?"
Again, no one answered.
This time because they genuinely didn't know.
"Approximately 300 million."
2.3 billion versus 300 million.
Naturally, FaceWeb maintained an overwhelming lead.
"But these are absolutely not numbers we can rest easy about. Because PicPic reached 300 million users in less than a year. In contrast, FaceWeb and InstaLook are seeing declining new user growth. PicPic has siphoned off all the users who should have come to us."
They needed to abandon the notion that FaceWeb's current dominance of the SNS market would continue indefinitely.
This was precisely the warning being issued by Marcus Berg, FaceWeb's founder and CEO.
"An app that's barely a year old has surpassed 300 million users and is growing exponentially. This is just the beginning. We need extraordinary measures."
"However, this requires careful handling. Our initial failure to contain PicPic wasn't just because we underestimated its growth potential—there's a company behind it that's shaking the global economy."
Truth be told, some within FaceWeb had recognized PicPic's potential.
The AI algorithm-driven short-form video strategy they introduced had created massive ripple effects.
While there were voices calling for countermeasures, the problem was that the company behind PicPic was Gwangun.
"Isn't it already common knowledge that Gwangun and Kangsung move almost as one entity? Moreover, they deliberately triggered the semiconductor crisis to disrupt multiple markets for their own gain."
No corporation could claim ignorance of Gwangun and Kangsung these days.
Kangsung being Korea's sole electronics company capable of competing with Ample was one thing.
But Gwangun's name had been appearing with increasing frequency recently.
And for good reason.
By controlling global shipping lanes, Gwangun had isolated TSNC and thrown the semiconductor market into chaos—directly impacting server-dependent companies like FaceWeb.
"At first we thought they were simply trying to dominate the semiconductor market... But when FaceWeb and other SNS platforms all crashed due to server issues, didn't PicPic absorb an enormous number of users? This was intentional."
"And you're saying their intention was to destroy FaceWeb?"
"Correct. Had the White House not intervened, they would have continued withholding the server components we desperately needed. Even then, the support came dangerously late."
This allowed PicPic to grow unimpeded.
With social media platforms down globally, people sought alternatives—naturally gravitating toward PicPic's aggressive worldwide marketing campaign.
And once they experienced its content, they stayed.
FaceWeb barely survived by mobilizing every possible resource to overcome its server crisis, but other SNS platforms weren't so fortunate.
While the disappearance of competitors might seem beneficial, having them all devoured only to make way for a new predator was anything but favorable.
Especially when that predator had set its sights on FaceWeb from the beginning.
Countless SNS apps had challenged FaceWeb's dominance over the years.
Marcus Berg never gave them a second glance.
Whatever tricks they tried, he judged none could dethrone FaceWeb—the platform that had already conquered the world.
But as they say: no victory lasts forever, and no champion reigns eternal.
Just as Nokia once dominated the global mobile phone market only to have it snatched away by Kangsung and Ample, nothing lasts forever.
There is no such thing as permanence.
New competitors always emerge to take that place.
So, to avoid falling behind and being devoured, we must remain vigilant even while the gap is still widening. Otherwise, PicPic will undoubtedly dominate the global SNS market exactly as Gwangun desires.
"But they're not an easy opponent. Who could have predicted that TSNC, once an unshakable giant, would collapse like that? What's more concerning is that the current White House stance is far too favorable toward Kangsung and Gwangun."
The White House had only just seized power.
This was when their influence would be at its strongest.
And the president sitting in that White House was, frankly, a lunatic.
And now, that White House was blatantly favoring Gwangun.
"This Volmageddon crisis—I heard Gwangun was involved. Is that true?"
"Yes. According to our investigations, Gwangun clearly made a massive profit under Gold Reagan's leadership before pulling out. The SEC saw the White House's name attached and immediately swept it under the rug."
"And that's not all. There are rumors that Gwangun was also behind the Tesla delisting controversy."
Even Markus was well aware of the Tesla delisting incident.
Hadn't it set social media ablaze?
"But how is that related to Gwangun?"
"Two weeks before Milon Tusk stirred up that mess, he held a secret meeting with Jeong Jin-ho, the head of Gwangun Securities. After that, Jeong Jin-ho began purchasing shares in bulk—reportedly tens of billions of dollars' worth, step by step."
"Wait. So you're saying Milon Tusk, that madman, was acting under Jeong Jin-ho's orders?"
Milon Tusk was a figure who had garnered significant attention in the SNS industry.
What was the essence of social media?
Provocation.
And Milon Tusk was the King of Provocation.
But perhaps too intoxicated by his own ability to stir controversy, he crossed the line.
He pulled off an outright fraud, announcing he would take Tesla private after acquiring all shares.
"Though it was clearly stock manipulation, Jeong Jin-ho and Milon Tusk only engaged in Close AI share transactions that day. No other connections were found—meaning, there was no trace of any exchange of goods."
"What? Anyone can see how suspicious this is, and they just let it slide?"
"The SEC must have been at a loss too. Normally, stock manipulation involves some form of exchange, but there was absolutely nothing here. And above all, if they mishandled Gwangun and the White House—currently wielding immense power—suddenly got dragged into this, wouldn't that be disastrous?"
"Most critically, the SEC's Domestic Market directors have been recently replaced. They have no choice but to tread carefully under the government's watch."
It was absurd.
Had there ever been a time in U.S. history when a foreigner with black hair was so deeply entangled in American finance and politics?
The frightening part was that there was no telling how far the influence of this man, Jeong Jin-ho, extended.
"But we can't just sit back and let ourselves be pushed aside. Find a way. Pressure the politicians connected to us to halt PicPic's growth. We do have one advantage—we're an American company."
President Trent had been vocal about the need to bolster domestic businesses.
Of course, FaceWeb and President Trent weren't exactly on the best terms, but as he kept preaching, didn't American companies need to thrive to make America great again?
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"Milon Tusk was fined $20 million, Tesla another $20 million, and Milon Tusk was also forced to step down as chairman."
Due to the stock manipulation scandal involving Milon Tusk, our Gwangun Securities couldn't avoid scrutiny either.
However, since the SEC found no direct link between me and Milon Tusk, the case was temporarily closed—though additional investigations were still underway.
But I had no idea Musk would pull such a crazy stunt.
I'd only invested based on gut instinct.
Yet the SEC clearly seems to think there's something between us.
Though if I were in their shoes, I'd probably suspect the same thing.
The saving grace is that the SEC isn't pushing the investigation too aggressively.
Given how quickly they slapped Musk with that hefty fine, it looks like they've pretty much dropped their investigation into us.
"The real problem is PicPic. I expected pushback, but FaceWeb's counterattack is fiercer than anticipated. They're trying to completely bury our PicPic under the sheer weight of their user base."
PicPic's growth trajectory has been incredibly steep.
Which is why FaceWeb—currently holding the top spot in social media market share—has recently started openly spreading posts claiming PicPic is a foreign invader stealing precious data from American citizens.
"Obviously it's a ridiculous conspiracy theory, but people are buying into it."
"Is it affecting our user numbers?"
"Nothing noticeable yet. Growth is still strong. But if FaceWeb keeps spreading this narrative, we'll inevitably take a hit. On top of that, their InstaLook platform is aggressively poaching influencers from PicPic to shrink our ecosystem."
FaceWeb put up a staggering 2 billion.
They launched a campaign offering 1 billion to the top performer among PicPic influencers who switch to InstaLook.
"We've already lost some creators who jumped ship for FaceWeb. If they keep up this aggressive marketing, the damage will only grow worse."
This is them flexing their size advantage, huh.
"What if we run a matching campaign, CEO?"
Not a bad idea.
But we shouldn't offer the exact same prize amount.
To win, we'd need to put up even bigger numbers.
"..."
I jotted down some figures.
2x, 4x, 7x.
Still no gut feeling.
'10x?'
That's when the pen trembled in my hand.
"Let's make it ten times their offer."
"200 billion as the prize pool?"
"When they're challenging us to a game of chicken, we can't back down in fear. Besides, we made good money thanks to Tesla."
We'd invested 4 trillion and walked away with 2 trillion in profit.
200 billion wasn't exactly pocket change, but it wasn't prohibitive either.
"PicPic's team did request additional marketing funds. How much should we allocate?"
This isn't something our securities firm can cover—it needs to come from the group level.
"What amount did PicPic ask for?"
"About 100 billion."
I wrote down figures again in my notebook.
But this time too, the numbers kept climbing.
And stopped at the exact same multiplier.
"...Let's make this ten times too."
The staff's eyes all widened in unison.
"Y-you're saying we should allocate 1 trillion won entirely to marketing?"
"Yes. PicPic's growth is explosive. This is the crossroads—either we break through or get devoured by FaceWeb. And we can't afford to be the ones getting eaten here."
PicPic hit 300 million users in one go.
But explosive growth always comes with vulnerabilities.
Yet if we navigate this crisis well, PicPic could become the next dominant social platform.
At this growth rate, it's no pipe dream.
Our homegrown SNS surpassing FaceWeb to become the next tech titan.
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"...The more I think about it, the angrier I get."
Fined tens of millions of dollars, Elon Musk felt no regret over his actions.
He did wonder if he'd crossed a line—just a little.
But hearing how the short sellers who'd been tormenting him got absolutely wrecked made even that sliver of regret vanish.
But what truly angered him was something else entirely.
Gwangun Securities.
No—it was because of Jeong Jin-ho.
"He suddenly bought up a massive amount of shares and went long, and then right before I got caught, he dumped them all in a huge short sale?"
Who did Tusk despise the most?
It was those who shorted his own company in bulk.
And yet, Jeong Jin-ho had done exactly that.
He could understand making profits from going long.
But after raking in the money, he got greedy and went short too, making an even bigger killing.
Thanks to that, Tusk ended up looking like the world's biggest villain, grinding his teeth so hard it jolted him awake in the middle of the night.
Just how was he supposed to pay him back for this?
"I heard he's been butting heads with FaceWeb lately..."
Maybe he should try cooperating with them instead?
No.
There was another way.
"Make a deal with the SEC."
During the last investigation, he had only testified about his stock transactions with Jeong Jin-ho.
He swore there had been no prior plan.
If he had implied any collusion between them, it would have been outright stock manipulation—something that wouldn't end with just a fine but would land him in handcuffs.
That's why he desperately denied it.
Besides, it was the truth—there really had been no scheme.
But Tusk's punishment was already over.
Hadn't he taken the fine like a champ?
And stepped down as chairman, no less.
So what if he struck a deal with the SEC now, lowered his fine a bit, and pushed the narrative that he and Jeong Jin-ho had conspired to manipulate stock prices?
"..."
Of course, there was absolutely nothing between them.
But if he testified otherwise, the SEC would have grounds to hound Gwangun relentlessly.
Even if it came to that, he wanted revenge on Jeong Jin-ho for daring to play games with his company.
That's why he had already set up a separate meeting with SEC officials.
"...W-what the hell is this?"
Just as he was racking his brain over how to craft a scenario to stab Jeong Jin-ho in the back—
A massive scandal erupted, turning the entire media and social networks upside down.
"Personal data breach?"
A whistleblower had exposed the leak of personal data from around 100 million FaceWeb users.
It stemmed from a personality analysis app that a certain company had distributed in partnership with FaceWeb. But it wasn't just basic personal information—even the data of users' friends was automatically funneled to other companies, spreading uncontrollably in what became a massive scandal.
FaceWeb had known about this but tried to quietly bury it.
But they couldn't stop an insider from blowing the whistle.
At first, they desperately denied the scale of the breach, but as more leaks surfaced, the truth was undeniable.
This wasn't just a few people—it was a staggering 100 million accounts compromised.
The U.S. government swiftly stepped in, launching a full-scale investigation into FaceWeb executives and even scheduling a public hearing for Markus Berg.
"..."
Watching the scandal spiral out of control from a single leak, Milon Tusk swallowed dryly.
"The timing is too perfect to be a coincidence..."
This was something that could've stayed buried forever.
But the moment FaceWeb started aggressively attacking PicPic, this disaster struck.
Rumors spread that signing up for FaceWeb meant all your data would be stolen, triggering a mass exodus of users—who naturally migrated to PicPic.
Some might dismiss it as an inevitable scandal that would've erupted someday.
But not Tusk.
This was clearly orchestrated by someone.
And who else could that someone be?
"Jeong Jin-ho...!"
A shiver ran down his spine so sharply it made his back freeze.
From Deutsche Bank onwards, whenever there was a force that got in Gwangun's way or irritated them, they were mercilessly crushed.
And at the center of it all was always Jeong Jin-ho.
Even the SEC's lukewarm investigation—wasn't that because they feared the White House might be backing him?
Sharp-eyed Tusk could see the subtle fear in the investigators' eyes.
"N-no, this isn't the time."
He immediately canceled his meeting with the SEC officials.
Then, he let out a sigh of relief.
If he had rushed to the SEC without thinking things through, who knows what might've happened next...
The mere thought was terrifying.