"Director O, you misjudged him. Money isn't his goal. He's a man born to be either a professor or a politician. Huhuh."
An executive meeting held early in the morning.
In this gathering attended only by those at the director level and above, the Division Chief let out a hearty laugh.
He's an interesting fellow. Rather than earning one hundred trillion won overseas, it's better to burn ten trillion won domestically, because reviving domestic demand would have a hundred times the effect... Theoretically, it makes sense, but how many investors actually live by that theory as an investment principle?
"Instead, he taught me. What national macroeconomics is. It was less like a division chief and his subordinate, and more like a professor and his student. Hahaha."
He laughed heartily several times, but all the directors wore stiff expressions.
Today's meeting wasn't an 'investment' meeting. It was a 'political' meeting. With the pension reform bill imminent, the Division Chief had been clashing with the Chairman daily, and Manager Choi explained that the two had crossed a bridge they couldn't retreat from.
"Why is the atmosphere so cold? Isn't this interesting to you all? I just came back from taking a lesson from that guy."
-Haha...
The Division Chief stopped joking.
Looking at their faces, everyone seemed to guess what would be discussed today.
"Well, well. I was the only one amused. Perhaps because I know I'll be leaving soon, my mind feels much lighter."
-Ch-Chief?
"Sorry. I couldn't stop it. The ruling and opposition parties are narrowing their differences. It seems we can't block the pension law amendment."
Everyone's faces hardened.
Pay more, receive more... Under the current system, depletion would come in 2055, but if this pension reform were implemented, the depletion point could be delayed by as much as eight years. This truly had to be a patriotic decision by the ruling and opposition parties.
-Chief...
"Don't think of stopping me. This isn't a problem solved by keeping the patient on life support for a few more years."
-What did you discuss with the Chairman...?
"Well, it even came to him telling me to resign."
If it had come to that, there was no need to hear about the process. They had probably fought bitterly.
"I have no intention of backing down. This year's returns are at negative seven percent, so I supposedly lacked the face to stay and stepped down? But once this recovers, I'm charging right back in. I suppose my term is at most one year long. Haha."
The directors didn't doubt his words one bit.
He possessed a fiery temperament. Once he made a decision, he never looked back. Just as he had overwhelmed the other directors by sheer authority during Sejun's defense stock purchase, he was a man whose drive was second to none.
If the public pension fund's returns rose to a satisfactory figure, he would undoubtedly use that as momentum to charge at the Chairman again.
His retirement was already a foregone conclusion.
"Why do you all look like that? If I retire, you all automatically get promoted one rung. The personnel bottleneck clears up—isn't that great? Huhuh."
-Chief...
"I was joking. I'll do what needs to be done to make our voice heard in political circles, so you all just watch the market. It's surprising enough that war broke out, but the fact that it's already lasted four months is absurd. The market has become unpredictable. Don't let your guard down."
-Understood...
"You may all leave."
After sending out all the directors, the Division Chief called Director O aside.
"Director O, thanks to you, I had a very interesting time. After talking with him, I see why you were so confused?"
"What did you talk about..."
"I told you earlier. I came back from taking an Introduction to Macroeconomics class. Haha."
"Sir?"
"If nothing else, you can worry about one less thing. He's definitely not someone who'll quit and start his own fund. You'll have to keep him under you and put up with some grief. Huhuh."
"Didn't he also say he wouldn't go to the risk team?"
The Division Chief relayed in detail the conversation he'd had with Sejun, and the more he heard, the more troubled Director O became. As the Division Chief put it, he seemed like a man born to be either a professor or a politician.
"Anyway, discuss that guy's future with Manager Choe. I don't think I'll be here before his head swells any bigger."
"..."
"By the way, when the hell will this damned war end? What's the NASDAQ market like now? What's our portfolio trend?"
Director O put aside useless thoughts and focused on money talk.
"Yes. The NASDAQ has already fallen thirty percent, but we structured our portfolio around raw materials (gold) and recession-proof stocks, so the damage isn't severe. And we've poured ten trillion into domestic and foreign defense stocks..."
"And?"
"After speaking with Team Leader I, he says we should buy more. In fact, looking at the global outlook, Germany's rearmament declaration seems to have become a foregone conclusion. Consequently, European defense stocks are also surging."
"What a thing to witness. To think I'd see Germany rearm before I die. So how much more?"
"At least twenty trillion more. He suggests investing half of that in domestic defense again."
The Division Chief pondered briefly and answered.
"Yes, let's do that."
Director O was bewildered by the all-too-easy decision.
"But Chief. Defense stocks have already risen so much..."
"Isn't this an era where Germany is rearming? In my view, this boom won't end with just a three-fold increase. And that guy doesn't invest in defense to make money."
"...What do you mean?"
"What weapons can we make by investing in defense... If my intuition is right, that's what interests him more."
The lad had emphasized the real economy to an almost deafening degree. He said that not just weapons, but rice and meat were important too.
He explained that all economic structures were organic, and said that no matter how well we made semiconductors and automobiles, if we couldn't solve food security, we'd eventually suffocate under tariffs.
Defense was probably one of them. He seemed to think that only by developing independent technology would this not affect other economic structures.
"But isn't that... excessive pessimism? We have US Forces Korea anyway. No matter how much defense independence we achieve, we have to buy a certain amount of American weapons. There must be a limit to growth..."
"Perhaps that's why he seems not to trust America either."
"...Sir?"
The Division Chief cackled, then soon put on a serious face.
"Let's drop that subject. Director O, let's start thinking about our dirty investments too."
"By dirty investments, you mean...?"
"How high have Russian bond yields risen now?"
Director O's face hardened as he grasped the meaning.
"Yes. They've risen from seventeen percent to twenty percent."
"Remarkable. At a twenty percent annual interest rate, it wouldn't be bad to invest the entire fund."
"Chief... surely you don't mean we should buy Russian bonds? The West's financial sanctions are absolutely brutal."
"I know. But they impose financial sanctions yet don't demolish Nord Stream. Can Europe really cut off natural gas?"
Director O was at a loss for words.
The earth was warming too much to give up natural gas. As the war dragged on for months, Europe was instead gasping from energy shortages.
"Well, I'm not saying we should do it right now. I'm saying we should watch the market and time it accordingly."
"But Russian bonds are dangerous no matter what. When the Soviet Union collapsed, they didn't even repay most of our government loans."
"Didn't they give us the Brown Bear as a gift instead? Of course, it was a thoroughly losing trade."
"...Sir?"
"If Team Leader I is truly interested in defense, he's probably thinking about Brown Bear 2 as well. Of course, this is just my speculation. So keep watching the market and talk it over well with him."
The Division Chief spoke as if speculating, but in his heart he had already concluded.
He was a man who would never refuse dirty money. He was surely racking his brain over how to make contact with Russia while evading Western financial sanctions.
A man who, if unable to collect money, would demand technology instead... The Division Chief understood Sejun in that way.
*
The war that had begun in winter passed through spring and summer and approached autumn.
Thanks to the cold winds, the rasputitsa lessened and the ground hardened enough for tanks to traverse again, but the Russian army's advance slowed even further. Instead, they repeatedly lost and regained occupied territory, seesawing back and forth.
Consequently, global stock markets crashed day after day, and many citizens earnestly wished for an end to the war... but the international situation flowed in the exact opposite direction of their wishes.
[Breaking News—Hamas militants, terror attack on Israeli civilians!]
That autumn. The relatively quiet(?) Middle East situation was once again engulfed in chaos by civilian terror.
It was a horrific scene. Women and children were taken hostage, and men were killed. Moreover, this process was broadcast live across global channels in an extremely graphic manner... and surprisingly, these were not the aberrant acts of individual soldiers, but inhumane spectacles that the Hamas leadership had propagandized and broadcast on a massive scale.
[Netanyahu: "This is not an exercise. It is war. The forces of evil will pay an unprecedented price."]
And so, before the Russo-Ukrainian War could even be resolved, another war was triggered in the Middle East.
The Israel-Palestine war escalated into covert operations on a different dimension from the Russo-Ukrainian War, and Mossad's pager bombs made humanity keenly realize how boundless the possibilities of war were.
Thanks to this, global defense stocks, which had already surged considerably, drew attention once more, and Germany drove the final nail in at just the right time.
-Mein, Kampf! (We declare Germany's rearmament.)
Chancellor Scholz of Germany declared rearmament with a standing ovation from the Bundestag and overwhelming support from Europe.
Russia naturally objected.
[Kremlin: "The West's contradictory justice has been exposed!"]
[Russia: "Are the victims of the Russo-Ukrainian war greater than those of the Seventh Middle East War?"]
[Russia: "The Jews were slaughtered by the Germanic people, so why must Palestinians die?"]
World history is truly something that becomes more incomprehensible the more you know.
The Jews were slaughtered by the Nazis, so why was Palestinian land divided? Even if establishing a nation, shouldn't it have been built right in the heart of Berlin?
Let's put aside difficult talk.
Before my eyes, I could already see the graph of defense stocks that had surged fivefold.
Thanks to the dizzying international situation, KD Techwin, which had started with a market cap of five trillion won, had already grown toweringly to twenty-five trillion won.
"Director. I'll be heading to Seoul today."
Thanks to that, lately Director O smiled broadly whenever he saw me. Because the global defense stocks he had purchased in advance before the situation had reached approximately fifty trillion won.
"You're going to KD Techwin, right?"
"Yes, sir."
"Go for one night, two days. You don't have to come in tomorrow."
"Really?"
"Of course—if you're going on such a long business trip, you naturally need rest too. Book a suite. You can order every kind of room service. Just don't take the corporate card and go only to expensive places."
"...Director, that really wasn't embezzlement."
"I don't care. I don't want to hear it. If a company hosts you to entertainment, it's fine to go along. Why don't you just make it two nights, three days?"
I gave up making excuses and bobbed my head obediently.
"That would be even better. I have much to look into."
"Very well. Have a safe trip."
As I was getting up to leave, he asked in a voice tinged with concern.
"But Team Leader I. Isn't it time to slowly start unloading defense stocks? They've already quintupled. It would be good to realize some profits."
"No. The possibilities are still boundless. We should buy more instead."
"What, buy more? How long do you think this war will last?"
I smiled deeply.
Would you believe me? If I said this war would last longer than the Korean War?
"I just don't think it's time yet. Hehe. I'll be back."
I packed my things and headed for Seoul.
Defense stocks danced, but my heart was heavy.
If my memory was correct, Division Chief Bak Seongcheol had less than a year left in his term. Seeing the recent frequent personnel moves, the leadership already seemed to be preparing... I probably couldn't stop that with my current strength, could I?
I had a feeling I would have a lot to ask of Nam Sanggi when I met him today.