“Don’t tell me you rammed straight into the chairman...?”
“I couldn’t do otherwise. Our returns are good, so the National Assembly went and passed the pension law right away. And the chairman, who should have been trying to stop them, was too busy reading the room.”
“...You promised. You said you would hold out a little longer.”
“I said I’d hold out until we reached the target I wanted. But it came faster than I expected.”
“...”
“To be honest, I’m a bit flustered too. I thought if we posted a 30 percent return, the chairman would at least pretend to listen to us.”
The director smiled bitterly.
“I suppose it means the political will behind this is that clear.”
“...”
“I called you in separately today to give you some advice. I’m sure there isn’t a single employee at the pension fund who thinks differently from me, but... don’t carelessly show your opinions. Power is more frightening than I thought.”
Manager Choi looked at the director with wavering eyes.
“Even so, with results like this, how can they throw someone out within a month? This must be a decision the chairman made in the heat of the moment. Please, Director.”
“The truth is, he didn’t tell me to leave within a month. He told me to leave tomorrow. I’m the one who dragged it out to a month.”
“...Pardon?”
“Manager Choi, the higher-ups’ intentions are very clear. They’re telling us not to add a single word about the pension.”
Manager Choi could no longer say anything.
He did not know what had been said between them, but it was clear they had crossed a river from which there was no return. Seeing as the director himself had said, “Don’t you do the same,” the chairman’s stance must have been extremely hardline.
“I’m sorry to leave you with a difficult assignment. But the four of us have no intention of bending our will. You’d better start organizing personnel matters from now on.”
“...The next director will be...”
“Nothing has been decided yet, but I don’t think they’ll bring in someone from outside. The four of us will try our best to make sure you can take over.”
This was the pension fund currently recording the highest returns among sovereign wealth funds this year.
It had overcome its chronic weakness during bull markets and, this year, recorded returns about four or five times higher than its annual average.
As long as they obediently followed orders, the next director would likely come from within the organization.
“...Looks like I’m going to be promoted out of nowhere.”
“Haha. Yes... It seems we’ve unintentionally opened the road ahead for you.”
“...Don’t worry about personnel matters. There are plenty of capable people inside. I’ll make arrangements so you won’t have to worry.”
“I trust you.”
Just as Manager Choi was leaving with a dark expression, the director stopped him.
“Ah, Manager Choi. What happened with our selection of outsourced managers?”
“Yes, we selected nine firms and entrusted them with investments totaling around fifty trillion won. And you told us to hold off on the remaining slot, so we left one open.”
“I see...”
“Do you have any instructions?”
“No.”
As Manager Choi bowed his head and was about to leave, the director stopped him once more.
“Manager Choi, this is my final request.”
He hesitated for a while, then spoke.
“How about leaving that outsourced manager selection to Lee Sejun?”
*
—Assemblyman Kim, let’s go together!
—Welcome, Assemblyman Park!
That morning, the sky over Seoul was especially blue.
Along the Han River in Yeouido, with cherry blossoms in full bloom as their side dish, a chicken-and-beer party was being held.
—The weather is truly wonderful. Actually, after today’s plenary session, we Honam lawmakers were planning to get together. How is your schedule, Assemblyman Kim?
—Oh, what a coincidence. We Yeongnam lawmakers were thinking of doing the same. Then shall we join up for once?
—That sounds good. Rather than just us, let’s have the lawmakers from Chungcheong, Gangwon, Seoul, and Gyeonggi all gather together too.
—An excellent idea. Hahaha.
At National Assembly Station, reached by following the Han River, lawmakers in red ties, blue ties, and yellow ties asked after one another’s well-being, giving off a warm atmosphere.
In truth, their relations had recently been so poor that they would tear into one another the moment their eyes met, but on today’s agenda, their party lines happened to coincide for once.
When the Honam lawmakers arrived at the main National Assembly building, the Yeongnam lawmakers greeted them warmly, and when the senior lawmakers arrived, the first-term lawmakers rushed over to offer their greetings.
This warm atmosphere continued until the plenary session ended.
After the trivial agenda items were finished, and the vote that drew the most attention at today’s plenary session came to an end, the Speaker of the National Assembly lifted his gavel with an emotional expression.
—Before announcing the results, there is something I, as Speaker of this National Assembly, must say to our fellow lawmakers.
The lawmakers of each party all pricked up their ears.
—We did it. There were many different opinions, but today, the ruling and opposition parties reached an agreement without fighting. As expected, the power of dialogue and compromise is very strong. I hope the National Assembly will always continue as it has today. Let us stop fighting now and show the people the harmony they desire. Let us seek a conclusion where all of us, regardless of party, can be happy.
As he explained, today’s pension bill had reached a conclusion that could only make everyone happy.
—I will now announce the results of the vote. Of the 284 incumbent members, 280 voted in favor and 4 abstained. I hereby announce that this bill has passed the plenary session.
Bang, bang, bang!
It is said that Paul McCartney’s mother, Mary McCartney, gave him this advice whenever he was struggling.
Let it be, leave it to the natural order... Perhaps it meant not to cling to things that had already left one’s hands.
That song with its sweet melody moved the hearts of people around the world and is counted among the greatest masterpieces of the twentieth century.
—Clap, clap, clap. Let us go together! Let us all be happy! The power of harmony is very strong!
It seems a famous saying remains a famous saying regardless of borders, race, or era. After all, it had brought together the ruling party, the opposition party, and the third party, who had been busy tearing into one another whenever their eyes met.
Today, the National Assembly chose not a struggle in which social conflict was glaringly obvious, but the natural order of entrusting fate to the heavens.
*
“Have you gone insane? Have you all completely lost your minds?”
But wherever one went, there were bound to be reactionaries.
The chairman of the National Pension Service glared at the director and his group, who had stormed in with the force of a coup.
“Director Park. The news praised the pension fund’s returns a few times lately, and now you think you’re something special? What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“It’s impossible.”
“What?”
“Our Management Division cannot always record returns like this, and even if we could, we cannot stop depletion.”
“You bastard!”
“You know that perfectly well yourself, Chairman!”
But today, even when the chairman glared at him, the director showed no sign of backing down.
“The Military Pension has been in deficit since 1973, and the Government Employees Pension started running a deficit last year. The Teachers’ Pension has only four years left. A pension amendment? Even with that, it’ll be in deficit fifteen years from now. Do you not know this, Chairman?”
The fact that a pension had begun running a deficit was, in effect, no different from receiving a terminal diagnosis.
The Military Pension, which began running a deficit in 1973, had already been completely depleted by 1977 and was now being propped up by government finances.
“Once the seed money starts disappearing, what reason does the Fund Management Division have to exist? There won’t be any money to manage.”
“So you’re telling me to step forward now?”
“If you find it uncomfortable, Chairman, then we will step forward ourselves.”
“You son of a bitch! Are you the president? You were appointed to invest well, so why are you going around doing something completely irrelevant?”
The director clenched his fists.
“I feel wronged too.”
“What?”
“This isn’t an issue I should have to step forward on, so why is no one stepping forward? There are no miracles. Once the Military Pension began running a deficit, it burned through all its seed money in four years. The National Pension could be even faster than that. We don’t know how much longer the low birthrate will continue, or how much longer people will live.”
In truth, whether one liked it or not, the National Pension would be reformed someday.
If it did not reform itself, it would be “made” to reform.
Greece, which fell into the abyss after the 2008 financial crisis, was forced to cut its income replacement rate from 90 percent to around 60 percent, and was “made” to undergo structural and parametric reforms that delayed the pension eligibility age by two years.
Of course, doing it oneself and having the IMF cut one’s stomach open were rather different in terms of pain. Those bastards performed surgery without even using anesthetic.
“Chairman... Please, just raise your voice once. If the seed money starts running a deficit, we won’t be able to support the KOSPI, and we won’t be able to protect our industries. We must establish measures before the deficit begins.”
In truth, the phrase “before the deficit begins” was itself rather indulgent.
Of Korea’s four major pensions, the Military Pension and the Government Employees Pension had already gone bankrupt or begun running deficits, and the fiscal funds injected accordingly had so far amounted to tens of trillions.
From a national perspective, Korea’s public pensions had already begun running deficits.
“Fine. Then I’ll say just one thing.”
The chairman glared at the director and spoke.
“I will pretend I heard none of what we have discussed until now.”
“...”
“I’m being very lenient. Your results this year were good. I acknowledge that, and so do the people. That means, from a public-interest standpoint, you can offer frank advice once or twice. But you see, just because you did well once doesn’t mean you get absolution for every wrong you commit.”
“...”
“There is, strictly speaking, something called procedure. If an asset manager posts good investment results, does that give him the right to tell the person who entrusted him with money to spend it sparingly? That’s overstepping authority. Isn’t it?”
“...”
“Decide. Will you keep doing things beyond your station and take off your badge tomorrow, or will you quietly go back?”
Silence settled over the office.
There was no one who did not know this was the chairman’s final warning.
“...Are you really going to do this? Even after we recorded returns like this, can you not raise your voice even a little?”
“You are asset managers! Will you take off your badges tomorrow, or will you quietly go back?”
The director met his eyes and opened his mouth.
“Chairman... Strictly speaking, even a bank employee who stops someone from falling for voice phishing is overstepping authority. Why interfere with how a customer uses their money? But my conscience won’t let me refrain from stopping it even once. What’s wrong is wrong.”
The head of the Strategy Division and the head of the Management Office followed.
“It’s impossible. The deficit has already begun.”
The head of the Support Department followed as well.
“There is a limit to slashing our managers’ incentives. If this deficit trend continues, the talent will leave first.”
But the price of conscience came back as four blank sheets of paper.
“Then I have no choice either. Write them up and bring them by tomorrow. You’re the ones who kicked away your last chance.”