Chapter 145: Subscription Shakedown
Chapter 145: Subscription Shakedown
Working honestly in society only meant you were the one getting screwed.
You had to take what you could grab and seize the profits where they lay.
That was the point of exploiting Source Coin's money-copying machine.
"Roona surging 24 times over is really surprising."
"It seems to be because it's linked to the stablecoin Tay. With coin prices keeping on rising and all."
When Tay's price drops, they keep issuing Roona, and when Tay's price rises, they buy up Roona with Tay.
'What's the difference from just copying money back and forth with two currencies?'
Kwon Do-jin and Tayform Labs had used this method to inflate Roona to a value of $6.7 billion.
Their personal assets were estimated at over $2-3 billion as well.
Earth Resource was prohibited from issuing Source Coin beyond its capital base.
Tay and Roona faced no such restrictions—issuance happened freely based on price.
It was money-copying without any business ethics.
"Is this scheme still holding up?"
"There are opinions calling it a scam, but so far, it seems to be maintaining well."
"Hmm."
Teaming up with a massive e-commerce firm was hard to believe, and investors were mostly just chasing rising prices anyway.
Few coins followed through on their roadmaps properly.
'It's exactly like a casino.'
I checked out Tayform Labs' homepage.
―The center of virtual currency trading.
―Tayform Labs currently holds $3 billion worth of Source Coin.
―Deposit Roona for 20% annual interest.
―Roona, 7th in virtual currency market cap.
As Roona's price climbed, investors kept pouring in.
Just a quick scan of the coin forums showed the frenzy.
―Roona! Roona! To the moon!
―Roona keeps rising lol
―Any good news for Roona today?
―Looking for a Roona KakaoTalk room!
―Is Roona a god? Or is God Roona?
―Hearing Roona is good makes me feel it right away.
While Source Coin investors stayed calm, Roona-related posts were overflowing with hype.
Coin investing needed that manic hype from expectations. But something still nagged at me.
"Can we really trust Roona as a coin?"
"No way to know. And even though they claim to hold over $3 billion in Source Coin, the actual amount isn't that."
"Yeah?"
"Yes. Most Source Coin transactions are traceable by the company."
Earth Resource had a feature to track issued Source Coin.
It couldn't detect small trades under ten coins, but anything larger got reported to the company.
"Roughly around 45 million coins, I'd estimate. They might hold more under proxies."
"So just under $1.5 billion."
Half of what Tayform Labs claimed.
In the stock market, false disclosures triggered SEC investigations, but coins had no such oversight.
'The U.S. government must be watching all this.'
I recalled my conversation with Senator Bill Karen.
―Bill: The U.S. administration or the Fed won't hand over control of the economy.
―Bill: They know the coin market's a mess, but they're leaving it alone under the guise of investor freedom.
―Bill: Honestly, the current situation is somewhat intentional.
―Kim Shin: Intentional?
―Bill: No government regulation means high risk of investor losses. Fake news and scam outfits are everywhere.
―Bill: In the end, the coin market won't grow beyond a certain size.
Cracking down hard on the coin market could drive it underground.
It was about keeping an open market while preventing reckless investor rushes—managing it that way.
"Leonard."
"Yes."
"The coin market's a total shitshow."
"A complete mess of speculators and scammers mixed in."
"Right. As operators of an exchange, what measures can we take?"
One virtue of a company leader was listening to subordinates' opinions.
Conversely, when things were ambiguous, you could push solutions onto them.
The power of the one signing the paychecks, I suppose.
Leonard didn't hesitate.
"We rate the coins."
"Rate them?"
"Like credit rating agencies classifying corporate bonds by grade—Earth Resource does the ratings."
"......"
It was an answer I'd never even considered.
Credit agencies like UK's Fitch, America's Moody's, and S&P wielded immense power, swaying global finance.
They rated companies and countries' credit, determining interest rates accordingly.
There were grades under investment-grade, caution, and non-investment-grade.
"If we did that, we'd gain customer trust."
"Exactly. It should reduce cases of people getting burned by blatant scam coins."
"But the downsides?"
"We'd need to hire more staff for the exchange."
"Hiring Wall Street talent wouldn't be hard."
Earth Resource was highly sought after by job seekers.
Recruiting experienced pros would be no issue.
"Still, coin issuers won't like it. Most coins would score low."
"What kind of scores?"
"Mostly non-investment-grade or caution. Even using college GPA standards instead of credit agency formats, nothing above a C."
The virtual currency market boom had pushed daily coin trading volume past $250 billion.
Just sitting still brought in over $50 million daily through the exchange.
Judging coin values and assigning grades would piss off coin companies and investors.
Some coins' prices could even drop.
"As an exchange making money, we have to think of our customers too."
"So then..."
"Let's rate the coins."
* * *
―Jo Soo-ah: Weather's clear today.
―Kim Shin: No fine dust?
―Jo Soo-ah: Hardly any days with fine dust since COVID.
Chatting with Jo Soo-ah brought a sense of calm.
It was a shame we couldn't meet often, but seeing her too much might addict me to that warmth, which scared me.
―Jo Soo-ah: Manager Ahn looks worn out lately.
―Kim Shin: Why? Too much work?
Biolife was still busy selling vaccines.
Biolife had become a key pillar of the vaccine supply alongside Pfizer and Moderna.
It exported vaccines around the world and significantly reduced the damage caused by COVID-19.
―Jo Soo-ah: His wife and kids went to Hawaii.
―Kim Shin: Huh?
I heard about An Myeong-guk from Jo Soo-ah.
His family had gone to the U.S. for school, leaving him a lonely goose dad, struggling.
'Had he stayed at Arcor, this wouldn't have happened. Did I change his life?'
During company days, Team Leader An Myeong-guk had been my sturdy shield.
He had shielded me from the worst pressures and helped me adjust to an unfamiliar corporate environment.
On the company rooftop, he'd shown endless photos of his two kids.
Learning instruments he never could, swimming, soccer, baseball lessons.
He'd let me vicariously experience how complex and tough raising kids was.
I couldn't forget An Myeong-guk's face—tired yet proud when talking about his children.
'If they go to Hawaii, I won't see him often...'
It was his family matter, so I couldn't interfere, but as someone close, it bothered me.
No future job for me meant he'd be my eternal memory of a workplace boss.
―Kim Shin: Senior Managing Director.
―An Myeong-guk Senior Managing Director: Yes, sir.
―Kim Shin: I've got two pieces of good news. Which first?
―An Myeong-guk Senior Managing Director: What is it? Hit me with the better one first.
It was spontaneous, but something I'd pondered watching his work.
―Kim Shin: Hard to rank them, both great.
―An Myeong-guk Senior Managing Director: Then just tell me.
―Kim Shin: Take the VP spot at Biolife.
―An Myeong-guk Senior Managing Director: Me? Already promoting?
―Kim Shin: Yes. Dr. Lee Ho-yeon handles core R&D; you take business operations.
The role would involve managing Korean vaccine manufacturers and leading overseas sales for the business division.
For a salaryman, how joyful was a promotion?
―An Myeong-guk Senior Managing Director: I'll work hard!
―Kim Shin: One more good thing left.
―An Myeong-guk Senior Managing Director: Something as good as a promotion? Excited now.
―Kim Shin: Salary bumped to VP level.
It was all I could offer: promotion and pay raise.
―An Myeong-guk Senior Managing Director: Thank you, sir!!!
No specific amount mentioned, but I planned a big raise.
Dr. Lee Ho-yeon's salary and incentives totaled around 6 billion won.
As the principal K-Vaccine researcher and one of Biolife’s founders, he deserved to be treated accordingly.
I had no intent to profit personally via Biolife anyway.
'For a VP, around 600 million won makes sense.'
That compensation was on par with what the CEOs of major Korean pharmaceutical companies received.
Might seem like lavishing a parachute hire, but the richer you were, the more you valued people.
Another call from Korea.
―Kim Sang-gi: Meeting Hangul execs and major shareholders to negotiate acquisition.
―Kim Shin: Yeah. How'd it go?
Pangea Live's key pillar: document editing and office software.
Good translations meant global distribution with no functional gaps—prefer a familiar Korean firm.
―Kim Sang-gi: These bastards got cocky with cash.
―Kim Shin: Huh?
―Kim Sang-gi: They're settling on subscriptions. Say operating profits will skyrocket, current stock price plus 30% control premium is chump change.
Switching document software like Hangul to subscription, charging monthly fees.
OTT boom birthed "subscription economy."
Even fridges, washers, TVs—not to mention beds, blankets, pillows—going subscription.
'Subscription my ass. It's just renting monthly instead of one-time sale—what's the difference?'
OTT firms had to deliver new content monthly.
Fair for viewing fees, but slapping subscriptions everywhere didn't seem customer-friendly.
Cars alone: leases cost way more than cash buys.
―Kim Shin: But customers might not want subscriptions. What if they prefer buying software outright?
―Kim Sang-gi: They say no more software sales.
―Kim Shin: What?
―Kim Sang-gi: No more selling Hangul. Only via subscription from now on.