Port of Zamboanga.
An enormous cargo ship was entering port.
Carrying a Small Modular Reactor (SMR).
Just looking at it filled me with pride.
Ah, and I was grateful too.
To think he sent it already.
Brother Wei Zhonglin really is a tsundere.
He showed such displeasure, yet when he sent it, he sent it in spectacular fashion.
Even the shipping was free.
Well, I did complain a bit in the middle.
We really have no electricity.
If the power cuts out, I might not be able to make Ashend.
I want to supply it properly too, but the conditions just aren't good.
If this keeps up, we might really run out of Ashend.
Yesterday too, the power was out for a couple of hours.
So I spent a lot of time resetting everything.
Well, that’s how it went.
Wei Zhonglin had complained that it was unfair, saying he already gave me solar panels and an ESS.
But this could be shut down with one line.
“It’s been cloudy these past few days, so we can’t produce electricity.”
They say this is the art of negotiation.
Right?
It’s not blackmail, is it?
And the solar panels weren’t a gift from Wei Zhonglin.
I bought them with my own money.
That needs to be made clear.
I traded them for Ashend; they weren’t obtained for free.
Anyway, thanks to my negotiation skills, the SMR that had been slated for somewhere else came to us first.
As expected of Brother Wei Zhonglin, a magnanimous leader of Asia.
Thanks to him, we were able to receive the SMR quickly.
The Belt and Road Initiative is a total goldmine.
If I had my way, I'd want to do even more Belt and Road business.
Here’s why it’s such a jackpot.
The SMR sent from China is owned by the Zamboanga Electric Company.
Not by the Philippines, but by Zamboanga Electric Company.
In other words, it’s my company.
I bought it from Magiting for 100 pesos (2,500 won).
Through the Belt and Road project, we obtained a nuclear power plant for free.
In exchange for conducting tests, that is.
Once the nuclear power plant starts producing and supplying electricity, people will use it and pay fees.
Those fees go to us.
We don’t bear the cost of building the nuclear power plant, but we take the fees.
It’s not like I’m Bongyi Kim Seondal—I couldn’t believe something like this existed in the 21st century.
Isn’t this a special case?
A deal only possible because of my relationship with Wei Zhonglin?
Right.
But even if we bought it with money, it would still be a profitable business.
Why?
Ownership is ours, but if we don’t pay later, the government provided the guarantee, so the government has to pay.
So to put it simply.
Let’s say our company bought a nuclear power plant from China through the Belt and Road Initiative.
Promising to pay it back over 20 years.
Principal and interest would accrue during that time, right?
But what if we don’t pay that money?
We’d have to repay the principal plus interest by selling electricity, but if people don’t use as much as expected, or if we just don’t feel like paying and don’t—what happens then?
Then the Philippine government pays instead.
Belt and Road requires a state guarantee.
Would the Chinese government just sit still until then?
Wouldn’t they absolutely collect before then?
They let it be.
They even wait.
From China’s perspective, dealing with a government is far easier than dealing with a single company.
They have far more to threaten, far more to blackmail, and far more to seize.
Sell what needs to be sold, pocket what needs to be pocketed, then file for bankruptcy, and the rest is the Philippine government’s responsibility.
Suck out all the honey without having to clean up the mess.
Make money without paying debts.
What kind of business is this?
So that’s why people try to gobble up infrastructure projects.
Looking at Melchor’s assets, there was good reason he had so many infrastructure projects like this.
Clever bastards.
As expected, they swim in different waters.
*******
Celeste del Rosario watched television with an unreadable expression.
On TV, panels from both sides were arguing fiercely over the topic of the consecutive term system.
Fiercely, they said.
But underlying it all was the basic premise that the consecutive term system wasn’t bad.
Anyone watching would think it had been perfectly crafted to deceive.
One side argued that the consecutive term system wasn’t bad but was still premature, and that many parts needed supplementing.
The other side refuted with logic like: No. The Filipino people now fully possess the ability to discern such matters. The national consciousness has matured enough that we can trust our people and hold elections. The election system is also perfectly prepared to the point where a fraudulent election is impossible. Therefore, there is no problem introducing the consecutive term system.
Whatever the case, the consecutive term system isn’t bad.
A strong nuance wafted that the question was simply when to introduce it.
Having watched the TV debate for some time in her office, she called her secretary through the intercom.
“Yes, Chairwoman.”
“Summon La Camara.”
Celeste del Rosario.
In her early fifties, she was the chairwoman of the Philippines’ massive conglomerate, the Del Rosario Group, and the eldest daughter of the prestigious political family, the House of Del Rosario.
Her grandfather was a former Senate President, her father a former Minister of Economy.
Moreover, her mother came from a financial tycoon family and ran a sizable insurance company.
Naturally, Celeste had grown up among them, living in comfortable familiarity with politicians, tycoons, and military generals.
That alone was enough for Celeste to live without the slightest inconvenience.
She could have lived like a princess her entire life.
But Celeste could not be satisfied with merely that.
She wanted to achieve something more.
Recognized for her managerial capabilities, she took over the Del Rosario Insurance that her mother had run and began managing it herself.
Having been clever since childhood, she knew well what her weapons were.
And she did not hesitate to use them.
If necessary, she mobilized everything she possessed.
Whether it was money, power, or feminine wiles, it did not matter.
Her tall stature, slim figure, fair skin, and golden hair were additional weapons that made her stand out.
To her, means were always merely choices to achieve her goals.
A little corruption and illegality in the process?
Of course.
If you have weapons but don’t use them,
isn’t that stranger?
The world is not fair.
Celeste was born into a better family than others and was more outstanding than others.
Therefore, it was only natural that she lived a superior life to others.
Perhaps that was why.
Though in her fifties, she was maintained so impeccably that her age was unbelievable.
Her brilliant mind, quick calculations, and sharp judgment had become even keener than in her youth.
And her tenacity to use any means necessary once she set a goal had grown more meticulous.
Del Rosario Insurance improved the group’s financial soundness through restructuring, stabilized its profit structure, and secured new growth engines through M&A to seize new markets.
Thus, Del Rosario Insurance grew larger and larger.
Now it was no longer Del Rosario Insurance, but the Del Rosario Group.
It had been in a place where it couldn’t even be ranked, but now she had elevated it into the top five of the business world.
It had started from insurance but grew into finance, energy, mining, logistics, and real estate.
Rather than manufacturing, which forms the foundation of life, she concentrated on businesses like finance, real estate, and logistics, where you put in money to make more money.
As a result, it had become a major Philippine corporation known to all at the mere mention of its name.
But Celeste’s true identity was not that of a corporate chairwoman.
She was the leader of the Philippines’ political cartel, La Camara.
A cartel created through long acquaintance between families and between people.
Her true form was the leader of La Camara, created using old connections.
Countless restructurings and M&As were not created just like that.
They were restructurings and M&As that should never legally have happened.
All were results created through dealings with politicians, tolerating illegality, and forcing things through.
And behind it all was La Camara.
From the outside, La Camara looked like an ordinary charitable organization.
A good-looking charity where politicians and businesspeople gathered to help the unfortunate of the Philippines.
But its other face was entirely different.
Comprised of major Philippine political and economic figures, La Camara often decided the country’s major affairs behind closed doors.
They decided among themselves who would become president or congressmen.
If someone was displeasing, they harassed them in every way and put them in prison.
National projects being designated and divided among themselves was a common occurrence, nothing surprising.
That wasn’t all.
They monopolized markets by secretly acquiring or bankrupting competing companies.
They pressured major media outlets to block reports unfavorable to them.
Major bills and regulations proceeded according to their will.
In that process, they did not hesitate to use public funds and infrastructure projects for their own gain.
It may sound absurd, but looking at the roster of La Camara’s members, one could tell it was no lie.
High-ranking government officials, not to mention figures from the media, the economy, and the military—a diverse array of people from every sector belonged to La Camara.
The La Camara members all possessed extraordinary loyalty and affection for the organization.
Thus, they were turning the Philippines into La Camara’s kingdom.
A certain high-rise building in Manila.
From there, with Manila visible at a glance, a temporary meeting of La Camara was held.
It was a meeting urgently summoned by Celeste.
Only about a dozen top commissioners from among La Camara’s members had gathered.
“You know why we’re here?”
Everyone flinched at Celeste’s cold voice.
They had done nothing particularly wrong, but merely hearing her voice made them shrink.
None of those gathered here was someone who would fall behind anywhere else.
They were all people who spoke loudly elsewhere, but here in La Camara, they became docile sheep.
Before Celeste, none of them could even make a peep.
It was also the reason she was called the White Empress.
“Does no one really know? Don’t you watch the news?”
“I’m sorry.”
Someone apologized quietly from somewhere.
“Sigh... we don’t have time, so I’ll get straight to it. There are people trying to change the single term system to a consecutive term system...”
As Celeste spoke, they finally seemed to understand and began talking over one another.
“It will never pass. Public sentiment is against it.”
“That’s right. We will absolutely block it.”
“I will move the media. I’ll create reasons why the consecutive term system won’t work and broadcast them.”
“I’ll take care of the newspapers.”
“I will meet with the National Assembly and the bureaucrats.”
“It will never happen.”
“It won’t even pass the National Assembly. You need not worry.”
They all spoke with confident voices.
Seeing that, Celeste put her hand to her head in frustration.
The thought of working with these people was suffocating.
It had been suffocating before, but that suffocation was growing.
They were all too old and too full-bellied.
They hated changing further and had no desire to develop.
They despised thinking and despised acting even more.
All these people gathered here wanted was to maintain the status quo.
To these people, this place was heaven right now.
They could feel no need to change.
Thus, they had no interest in how the world turned.
Except for Celeste.
“That’s not it.”
“Pardon?”
Everyone in the conference room was startled.
They had thought they gave perfect answers, but apparently not.
“The point is, why didn’t we think of it? Why didn’t we think of changing the single term system to a consecutive term system!!”
At Celeste’s sharp voice, everyone shut their mouths again.
Honestly, these people had never even thought of changing the presidential system.
Whoever became president would listen to them anyway.
What did it matter which obedient dog took the seat?
Whether it was Yellow, Hwanggu, or Happy did not matter.
As long as it wagged its tail beside them, that was fine.
No one could become president without La Camara’s help.
So they hadn’t paid it any mind.
But suddenly, talk of the consecutive term system had emerged.
And what she said next was even more shocking.
“Help me. Help make it a consecutive term system.”
“Excuse me?”
“This time, let’s try reaping the rewards without lifting a finger too.”
Celeste smiled faintly.
The meeting ended, but Celeste did not leave.
She remained in the conference room.
And across from her, one person remained.
For whatever reason, Bituin, seated opposite her, looked extremely uneasy.
Bituin was the Director of Internal Revenue—a post similar to our country’s National Tax Service—and came from a prestigious family.
Thanks to his friendship with Celeste, he had been able to enter La Camara, and his promotions had been swift.
He was already the Director of Internal Revenue.
It was a powerful position, overseeing all of the government’s financial income.
Yet even a man like Bituin was thoroughly cowed in front of Celeste.
“Bituin. Don’t you have something to report to me?”
“That is…”
“I think the Melchor matter is something you should tell me about. Where Melchor’s assets under borrowed names went.”
Melchor had collapsed in an accident.
He was unconscious.
But Celeste did not seem particularly interested in Melchor’s health.
She seemed interested only in the assets Melchor possessed.
As expected, Melchor was also a member of La Camara.
Naturally, the president had received La Camara’s help as well, and La Camara had greatly assisted him in building his fortune.
Melchor had not kept the wealth from the casinos, plantations, and PPP all to himself.
He had shared all of it with La Camara.
It was a promise made from the moment La Camara had “permitted” Melchor.
In other words, it would not be wrong to view Melchor’s fortune as joint property of La Camara rather than Melchor’s alone.
That much was obvious just from the fact that La Camara took a larger share than Melchor did.
Even so, Melchor could not refuse.
Even though he was the one who had prepared everything and brought it in, while they had merely helped with the relevant approvals.
Nevertheless, Melchor had no choice but to keep making payments upward.
If Melchor said he disliked it, they were the kind of people who would bring Melchor down and put up another president.
So he obeyed well.
He was an obedient dog.
“Why aren’t you answering? Surely you haven’t failed to grasp the situation by now. Are you saying it’s fine even without that money?”
“No, ma’am.”
“We need to at least know the situation before we can make plans.”
“That… President Melchor held all his assets under borrowed names.”
When Celeste’s voice softened a little, Bituin finally opened his mouth with difficulty.
“I know that.”
“We approached them in order to locate Melchor’s borrowed-name assets, but… they have all disappeared.”
“Pardon? What did you say? The assets disappeared?”
“Yes. They were all changed to different names, and the borrowed names Melchor had been using were all deleted.”
As if she could not believe it, Celeste asked again and again.
“Hah. You expect me to believe this? Does this sound believable to you?”
“I’m sorry. We checked several times as well, but we cannot determine where those borrowed names disappeared to.”
For example, Melchor had been managing his personal fortune under the borrowed name “Hong Gil-dong,” but when they checked Hong Gil-dong’s assets one day, Hong Gil-dong had already disposed of everything and vanished.
When they checked the shares, Hong Gil-dong’s stake had been taken over by a company no one had ever heard of.
They investigated that company, but all they could find out was that it was located in the Cayman Islands.
Of course, the name on the borrowed-name account was not actually Hong Gil-dong, nor were there only one or two borrowed-name accounts, but they knew.
They knew that someone had already set up an intricately designed board.
Otherwise, there was no way they could have cleaned everything up so neatly and walked away.
There should have been traces left somewhere, but there were none at all.
It was clean.
Whoever it was, they were certainly an expert.
And bold, too.
To think they had stolen La Camara’s money.
Even in this bewildering situation, Celeste did not lose her composure.
She was not worried.
She knew that the money and assets would return to La Camara’s embrace.
Though things had become somewhat annoying and troublesome.
“Was it Raksa, did you say? The person who managed Melchor’s slush fund. It seems we’ll have to find him.”
“We are looking for him as well, but his whereabouts are unclear.”
At Bituin’s answer, Celeste could not hold back the deep sigh that escaped her.
“Hah. This is extremely disappointing. To think you weren’t even managing things to that extent.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I’ll give you one week. Bring me Raksa. And the borrowed-name accounts with him.”
“That… that’s…”
Bituin, who had been about to say it was impossible, saw Celeste’s cold eyes and eventually had no choice but to answer.
“…Yes.”
“I hope you don’t make a mistake this time. You do want to become Minister of Finance, don’t you?”
Hiding the cold expression she had worn moments ago, Celeste once again motivated Bituin in a warm voice.
“Yes. I will do my utmost.”
Bituin answered in a small voice with his head bowed.
He knew it would not be easy.
But failure was not an option.
He had to do it, no matter what.
If he failed, it would not end with him simply not becoming Minister of Finance.
It would not end with him merely being expelled from La Camara.
His life was on the line.
Bituin began to move in search of Raksa.