Chapter 321
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: Side Story 12: The Road to 140%
The shockwaves of the economic crash exceeded all imagination.
Every economic player around the world screamed and collapsed.
Governments, corporations, and households joined hands and dove headfirst into the river.
Even the massive Korean conglomerates, colossal enough to rival nations, could not escape ruin.
“Taeu has collapsed.”
The downfall of Taeu, the industry giant ranked second with 260 affiliates, was just the beginning.
“Gear Group too?”
As the second-, seventh-, tenth-, and thirteenth-ranked conglomerates fell one after another, thousands of companies doing business with them went under as well.
And so, an ice age descended upon the Korean economy.
“The job market’s frozen solid. What are we gonna do?”
The sluggish economy traced an endless downward curve.
“Today, Sami Group, ranked twenty-fifth in industry, has filed for bankruptcy.”
News of corporate failures and suicides filled the TV screens every day.
“Is this any way for people to live?”
To soothe the public’s discontent, the Korean government broadcast reports on the shared sinking of other nations.
“At least Korea’s got it better.”
The Kim Jeong-gil regime distracted the people with propaganda comparing conditions abroad while swiftly devising countermeasures.
The response, hammered out by seasoned Korean economic bureaucrats and the think tanks left behind by Yi Seong-jun, was as follows.
“First, we need to show hope that our economy will recover.”
“How?”
“By launching a campaign to overcome the economic crisis with the power of the people.”
“You mean a gold collection drive? I doubt that’ll prop up Korea’s economy.”
“It won’t be a huge amount, but it’ll show the world that the Korean people are backing their country’s credit.”
That way, fiscal expansion policies could proceed with less burden.
After much deliberation, the Kim Jeong-gil regime rolled out the gold collection campaign.
“Gold rings, necklaces, bracelets—anything, no matter how small. Your little contributions will be the driving force to raise Korea back up.”
For propaganda purposes, the regime mobilized elderly folks and countless cheerleaders to create lines of people donating gold.
“With the whole world in turmoil, only we can save Korea.”
Seeing the TV footage of lines forming to donate gold stirred an unwitting surge of patriotism in viewers.
“Yeah. We’ve gotta save Korea with our own hands.”
The Korean government’s gold drive soon caught a tailwind.
“Another record broken today! Korea’s gold collection challenges the limits!”
Launched in mid-1974, the campaign gathered a staggering 900 tons of gold in just three months.
Even accounting for Koreans’ substantial gold holdings, it was an unprecedented haul.
Taking this public support as justification, the Korean government launched a massive fiscal expansion policy.
“What? Expanding the fiscal budget when it’s already wrecked from subsidy wars?”
“We’ve got the Korean people behind us.”
By unleashing enormous fiscal expansion, Korea created a safety net for its plummeting, wingless economy.
Witnessing Korea’s response, countries around the world hurriedly launched their own public gold collection drives.
“No reason we can’t do a gold drive too.”
Western nations weren’t devoid of communal spirit.
They too knew how to sacrifice their time and resources when needed.
“I’ll give my gold for Britain.”
The wealthy led by example, and the common folk followed.
Western societies used these resources as a foundation to roll out quantitative easing policies.
“We’ll pump out money to boost employment.”
Following Korea’s lead, the West too achieved a soft landing thanks to quantitative easing.
“Now we can breathe a bit.”
The ones still reeling from the shock were the Third World nations.
“What good is recovering raw material demand? When will these dirt-cheap commodities rebound?”
There was no room here for gold drives or anything like it.
With manufacturing powerhouse Korea cutting production, what could they do?
Even if they wanted to, a gold drive required assets in the people’s hands.
“We’re hurting too.”
The Second World took a serious hit, if not quite as bad as the Third.
“We live by selling raw materials too—it’s driving us crazy.”
The Second World couldn’t ride an upswing until the West and Korea recovered.
Especially damaging was the flood of stockpiled goods the West and Korea dumped at cutthroat prices.
The massive volumes dealt a fatal blow to the already uncompetitive Second World industries.
Latin America faced similar woes.
“No raw material prices, and we can’t bail out industry with quantitative easing like the advanced nations. No answers here.”
Excluding the West and Korea, the world economy kept spiraling down.
Even the West and Korea’s “soft landings” were precarious—stop quantitative easing, and they could plummet anytime.
This instability rocked the faction led by Korea.
“Korea’s wobbling?”
“Yeah, if the West is shaking, how’s Korea gonna stay steady?”
As the order built around Korea as the pinnacle trembled, cracks emerged within the Third World.
“Why serve a leader who can’t even bail us out?”
Of course, any nation acting uppity got a quiet leash yank from Pyongyang.
“Gah. What did we do wrong?”
“Defying Pyongyang—that’s the sin.”
Korea managed to hold its faction together even in crisis, but that alone wasn’t enough.
To overcome the crisis, they needed to generate massive demand.
‘Is there a way?’
In the old days, they’d solve it with war.
But that was truly old-school.
Modern warfare did little to stimulate the economy.
“Military goods? How much profit do you think that brings?”
Even all military firms’ revenues combined fell short of a single modern mart.
So war was off the table.
‘The best option is for the government to create demand.’
Unlimited money-printing, though, meant unavoidable inflation.
‘Or is that the better choice?’
Letting inflation run in exchange for a weaker exchange rate would improve exports.
Getting money circulating was key, somehow.
Once calculations were done, the Korean government plunged into unlimited quantitative easing.
“Deficit spending or whatever—we’ll live to see.”
As Korea flooded the system with cash, the Third World economies leaning on it began breathing again.
“Such a brute-force method actually works?”
“Then we’ll pour in unlimited capital too.”
The US Fed, Bank of England, and others swiftly followed the Koreans’ lead.
The won, dollar, pound, mark, franc—major currencies hit new lows in unison, leaving commodity exporters bloodless.
“Take the money, and currency value tanks; refuse, and you starve without sales. What kind of absurd bind is this?”
And this race continued until others quit.
“Ever heard of beggar-thy-neighbor? Kill others to survive!”
As everyone kicked off unlimited quantitative easing, the world economy swiftly shifted to recovery.
Stock markets in Korea and other major nations surged in unison.
Buoyed by the rebound, Korea’s growth rate shot back upward.
“But prices are going berserk.”
Korea’s average inflation rate topped nearly 20%.
That far exceeded the 8% growth forecast.
“Better than the economy tanking, though.”
While acknowledging inflation, the Korean government insisted it was manageable.
“How’s that manageable?”
The middle and upper classes were fine enough.
Quantitative easing even let them thrive amid growing inequality.
The lower classes bore the brunt.
“How’s it right that I can’t even afford a single squid? Bus fares scare me these days.”
“The government will do its utmost to resolve this.”
“Yeah, when?”
Grumbling voices dragged down support for the government.
“Grand National Assembly support at 45%? Down 5% from last week.”
“Grand National Assembly approval is projected to keep falling.”
This was a grave number.
Losing the majority in the general election meant no guarantee of a smooth handover to the next Jang Dong-yun regime.
“If the opposition seizes control in the election, the country’s doomed to drift.”
“So what do we do?”
“How about rigging the vote count?”
“Rig the... votes?”
Kim Jeong-gil felt no aversion to the National Intelligence Service’s idea.
Results over process.
Substance over form.
The Yi Seong-jun rule he’d witnessed always prioritized outcomes.
Overlook procedural flaws if the results were good, right?
But Kim Jeong-gil wasn’t a fool.
“If we get caught, it’ll blow up into election fraud scandals.”
“We’ve thought of that. Just stuff the participants’ mouths with dirt.”
People with leverage over them never talked.
The National Intelligence Service’s logic rang true.
“You’re really confident?”
“Of course. Just leave it to us—we’ll handle it clean.”
By democratic standards, it was problematic, but better than letting amateurs raise a racket.
‘My skills fall short, so I’m resorting to this crap.’
Kim Jeong-gil approved the vote-rigging with a bitter smile he couldn’t hide.