Hunting (1)
“The exchange rate is rising with a rather dangerous instability.”
“Heh, yes, indeed. Ah—one can only wonder how His August Majesty will respond.”
Even after the heads of the firms were arrested like leaves falling in an autumn gale under the sharp blade of the Joint Investigation Headquarters, JD Group, now under Kim A-ra’s command, launched a full-scale counterattack.
The reports did not openly attack the imperial family, but their true thrust was clear enough: wasn’t the present crisis the result of an emperor trying to reorganize the political landscape around himself?
Was it Kim Yang-han’s orders, or was she simply trying to shake off her father’s suspicions? Or perhaps she was still reeling from the suffering she’d endured after being hauled off by the Joint Investigation Headquarters. Whatever the reason, she looked even more ruthless than usual.
Which, of course, was exactly what Kim Yang-han wanted.
It was the emperor who had foolishly tried to prod JD, only to recoil with a bitten hand, wasn’t it?
This was why you had to provoke them just enough. That was what made the underlings bare their teeth and fight.
The same went for families with reckless sons or grandsons who had cavorted around with the imperial relatives.
Even those who had practically disowned them still looked openly displeased when their so-called wastrels were dragged away by lowly soldiers.
The emperor probably thought he had drawn a knife to reverse the political frame, but even that was something Kim Yang-han could use in his effort to gather the Common Council of the Nobility.
The result was a massive capital strike.
By withholding export receipts, they blocked the conversion of dollars; in the domestic market, they used overseas investment and raw-material settlement as excuses to buy up foreign currency. Even investments that had already been decided were postponed under the pretext of “watching the political situation.”
With such powerful material thrown onto the fire, the media controlled by the hereditary families rushed in all at once to fan the flames of anxiety.
And after that, a situation like the one now before us took shape.
“Since His Imperial Majesty has been issuing one thunderous command after another, how could the market not be startled by the majesty of the throne?”
“Even if we empty the foreign exchange reserves, it will only be a stopgap. Who knows what will become of the country.”
With terrestrial broadcasters, cable news channels, and newspapers all plastered with political instability, the people were shutting their wallets on their own.
No matter how much of an emperor he was, there was no way he could stop the flow of capital.
Kim Yang-han slowly opened his mouth.
“Since all the gentlemen share the same concern, I have brought a distinguished guest before you today.”
Kim Yang-han gave a slight nod toward a corner of the room.
At that, the head of the Financial Supervisory Service, who had been waiting, bowed his head and said, “Prime Minister, have you been in good health?”
“Welcome, Director Kwon.”
Turning toward the head of the Financial Supervisory Service, Kim Yang-han said, “The market is in quite a tumult.”
“Yes, yes! Indeed it is, Governor.”
The head of the Financial Supervisory Service answered in alarm.
“We, too, have been devoting ourselves day and night to the stability of the nation. That is why today’s meeting has been called.”
At Kim Yang-han’s gesture, copies of a document were distributed to each person seated in the room.
A Nationwide Gold Collection Campaign to Overcome the National Economic Crisis
“Governor. This is...?”
When the head of the Financial Supervisory Service asked, Kim Yang-han replied coolly, “The country is in such crisis. Nobility like us must take the lead and help.”
“Ah...”
“A most righteous statement. If elders of longstanding families such as yourself do not step forward, how can the nation be set right?”
The head of the Financial Supervisory Service immediately pressed his forehead to the floor and said, “We must unite the people’s patriotism.”
“We should gather the gold ornaments sleeping in jewelry boxes and use them to repay foreign debt and defend the exchange rate. I, too, intend to give generously from my own fortune and launch a large-scale campaign through JD Media.”
On the surface, it was the noble decision of an elder statesman dedicating himself to the country, and everyone was praising that lofty spirit.
But no one actually believed it was the truth.
Though nobody said it out loud, everyone gathered here could see perfectly well how this would play out.
Fine, then.
Since they had already created a nationwide atmosphere of crisis in order to attack the emperor, they might as well exploit every opening that presented itself.
All those enormous shadow assets the Gyeonghwa noble families had scattered everywhere, with Kim Mun at their head.
Among them, the trillions of won stacked away in the form of gold bars were the greatest headache of all.
In truth, if they used this nationwide campaign platform, they could deposit it at banks under the label of patriotism, without questioning its source, and launder it into legal, transparent financial assets that would slip neatly into nominee accounts.
And if that was the main objective, there was a rather tasty side profit to be had as well.
“There’s no law saying only the nobility should worry about the country. Even those common folk are likely to be no less loyal in their devotion.”
While they were at it, the gold scraps gathered by the commoners would also be scooped up through the gold-collection platform and the banks.
Those exports would be handled by JD Trading and the merchants controlled by the hereditary families. With routed transfers and “adjusted” export prices, a few spins through the loop would make it easy to pocket the difference.
Of course, a few regulations would be in the way... but the head of the Financial Supervisory Service, who had been sitting there, understood the meaning immediately.
“As the saying goes, it is better not to act at all than to act badly. Halfhearted crackdowns are worse than no crackdown at all. I shall gather voices calling for the temporary easing of gold-export regulations.
In a situation where the exchange rate is swinging like this, if we do not offer a little convenience to the distinguished families who are working for the country, would that not be the very definition of treason?”
Thus, in addition to the goal of pressuring the emperor, they could launder slush funds and earn extra profit in one stroke, or rather, in three.
Needless to say, this was a business in which the head of the Financial Supervisory Service, along with everyone else from the Gyeonghwa noble families seated here, had their hands thoroughly buried.
They did not worry about what came after. That was the servant’s lot, not the nobleman’s.
And above all, if the emperor only retreated before this pressure and withdrew his will, any unpleasant little issues could be crushed under the force of power.
It didn’t even matter if Kim Yang-han himself did not become prime minister.
At any rate, the emperor stood alone; once he was bent even once, the world would belong to the hereditary families again.
Choose a daughter from a good house and place her at his side, fill the emperor with every pleasure the world could offer, keep him in comfort within the inner palace, and let the ministers handle the tedious affairs of state.
That was the beautiful world of harmonious rule between sovereign and subjects to which they longed to return.
* * *
I never understood why Kim Yang-han only used Kim A-ra in the drama.
It was as if, in a tokusatsu show, the villain kept using the henchman who got stomped and crawled home every episode. Even after Kim A-ra got thoroughly beaten down, Kim Yang-han would just prop her back up and keep driving her forward.
Probably because there wasn’t really any other character suitable for the role of his hands and feet, apart from the one who became Kim Yang-han’s chief of staff.
Rather than shoehorning in another character, it was probably better to dump everything onto Kim A-ra, the designated villainess.
But now that it had become reality, I understood. Kim A-ra was definitely... capable. In every sense of the word.
“She’s vicious.”
Even back when she was scheming to push Kim Yang-han into the prime minister’s seat, I’d felt it then: this woman’s control over the media exceeded expectations.
Which meant the heroine would probably also get an episode where she became a woman everyone wanted dead, hunted like a rat for a while.
Still, just looking at JD broadcasts, it felt like the country might collapse any second.
That was unavoidable, even for Kim Yang-han’s deception... though really, why would I expect any loyalty from that woman? If she had a good excuse, she’d probably be beating me enthusiastically too.
And maybe, just maybe, out of sheer embarrassment, she’d hit me even harder. Surely not. Surely.
“The exchange-rate defense line has been breached.”
In a single day, the won-dollar exchange rate had jumped by fifty won. The stock market opened to a tidal pull of foreign capital fleeing in droves, the KOSPI plunged, and the circuit breaker kicked in.
That meant Kim Yang-han had begun moving in earnest.
“Money released into the market... presumably Kim Mun’s nominee assets are all buying dollars at once, driving down the won’s value. At the same time, it appears they’re colluding with foreign hedge funds and unleashing a barrage of short-selling attacks against the Korean market.”
“And yet even the Financial Supervisory Service says nothing.”
“There may be no hard proof, and the director is also one of the Gyeonghwa noble families.”
Seo Yu-jin continued, “Our economy is actually in a positive trend, but this is a short-term exchange-rate shock deliberately manufactured. In the end, if we solve the root problem, public opinion will turn back toward Your Majesty.”
“And if it isn’t solved, then as they want, I’ll have no choice but to make a decision in the name of political stability.”
Fortunately, despite what the media was fretting over, the government had not actually ground to a halt because of an administrative vacuum.
It was true that the current administration was running like a government of vice ministers, but the reorganization of the chief-of-staff office, which would serve as the control tower, had been more or less completed.
“The once-empty chief-of-staff office seems to be functioning rather well now. On the way in, the corridor looked quite busy.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. The chief-of-staff office has been provisionally restored, centered on working-level personnel.”
Provisionally... though somehow, I had a feeling that label would never really change.
Ever since we came into Gyeongbokgung, Seo Yu-jin had gathered the surviving aides, reported state affairs to me through the senior deputies of each ministry, and managed to rebuild the chain of command to a considerable degree.
Now the chief-of-staff office’s work had fully returned to normal.
Different direction from Kim A-ra, sure, but this was still competence worthy of making one click one’s tongue.
“As ordered, I have created a dedicated task force under the pretext of responding to the current economic situation.”
Since Seo Yu-jin was the one moving things, the people selected would be those who were, to some extent, free from the clutches of the Gyeonghwa noble families.
“What about security?”
“Only the fact that a task force is being assembled has been made public. The personnel selection and its contents remain strictly confidential.”
But creating a task force was only the first step.
In the end, foreign currency was flowing out and the market was panicking because vast sums of money were evaporating.
So we needed to send a clear signal to the market.
A signal that the Republic of Korea’s fundamentals were solid, and that there was no need to worry about a liquidity crunch.
That must be why the media was pounding away day after day, insisting that political stability was necessary. The conclusion they wanted would be the appointment of someone from the Gyeonghwa noble families as prime minister.
Wasn’t that what they wanted most of all?
But if I’d been willing to compromise like that, I wouldn’t have come this far.
“It seems JD Media is leading a gold collection campaign.”
It wasn’t as if an IMF-level crisis had actually arrived, so how many people were even going to participate?
The very fact that they were trying to fool everyone through a national event like this already smelled rotten.
Whatever their real aim was, the line of attack they intended to use against us was clear: We’re gathering our jewelry to help resolve the exchange-rate crisis. What is the government doing?
You could call it a classic move from Kim Yang-han, especially considering how much he cared about managing his image.
Of course, from my perspective—
They’re rolling straight into the tiger’s mouth on their own.
I propped up my chin and said, “Summon the U.S. ambassador.”
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