I Am the Third-Generation Heir of a Conglomerate - Chapter 491



Only Noblemtl

491. Pranks (1)

On the way to the airport to go to Korea.

David waited in the car, hoping I would be free, and was able to give me various instructions.

“Check out Nikola. They advertise that they make hydrogen trucks, but they smell really bad.”

“I’ve heard of Nicola too. Isn’t it the hottest company these days?”

“I need to find out if it’s really hot and red or if it’s just pretending to be hot by applying red paint.”

“They’ve received close to $1 billion in investment, so how could they be fooling around?”

“It’s highly likely. Hydrogen cars are not unrealistic, but they are not an easy technology for a company that lacks the relevant technology to develop in one fell swoop.”

David, America’s top lobbyist.

He was second to none in terms of information power, and his ability to acquire new information was also excellent.

“Actually, it’s not that hard to find out. If you just monitor the Nikola factory 24 hours a day and recruit Nikola researchers, you can easily find out information.”

“First, find out about the factory that is manufacturing hydrogen trucks. If the technology is true, they are in full production right now. But if it is false, the factory will be empty.”

“I guess I should check my power usage. I should be able to get that information within today.”

“And ask a video analyst to analyze the footage of the hydrogen truck that Nikola posted. There’s no way the truck moved on its own.”

I wanted to relieve Musk’s anxiety as soon as possible.

That’s why they had no choice but to move David, whose ransom was too high.

Because David was a person who was worth the high price.

“I will gather definitive information and report back to you within a week.”

“Let’s try attacking the Nicola situation using Beryl.”

“Beryl, are you the guy who founded Togetherwork? I heard he runs a short-selling firm on Wall Street.”

“The financial tower side provides him with information on a regular basis. You can think of them as personnel raised for this kind of work.”

Neither Taewoo Group nor the financial tower could move in response to such a trivial matter.

That’s why I sharpened my chicken knife called Beryl, and I had the ability to cut someone like Nicola into pieces.

“Let’s proceed with this operation together with Beryl.”

“It will bite you more fiercely than you think. So, calm down and proceed with the work.”

“Actually, I don’t need to get involved in this. The US midterm elections are just around the corner. Shouldn’t we set a clear course now?”

This election was quite important.

It was an election that decided the Senate, House of Representatives, and even the governor.

The election was also a barometer that could confirm President Trump’s chances of being re-elected.

“It’s not too late to decide after seeing the midterm election results.”

“Should I say it feels unfamiliar? It’s the first time I’ve had to make a decision this slowly, so it feels awkward.”

“That means that the power of Taewoo Group and Financial Tower has grown stronger. Now there is no need to move quickly while taking risks.”

“Then, until the midterm elections, we will not spend a lot of money and will only provide support to make a show of it.”

We arrived at the airport after talking about the election.

As he was about to get out of the car, David opened his mouth hurriedly as if he had something to say.

“We have received information that the US will soon impose an additional 25% tariff, focusing on the IT industry.”

“How big is it?”

“It’s $16 billion. This time it was $34 billion, so if you add it up it’ll be exactly $50 billion.”

“Let’s talk about the rest over the phone.”

I couldn’t stay at the airport any longer.

David moved to Korea with the company.

***

As soon as I arrived in Korea, I went to work at the financial tower.

I relayed the details of the negotiations with President Trump to Vice Chairman Han.

Since he had already talked to Diamond and was roughly aware of the situation, he did not react strongly.

“If it’s a $300 billion bond, it’s certainly a burden. But it’s not like we’re going to spend $300 billion right away this year, and we just need to gradually absorb the amount that China is throwing at us, so it’s not completely impossible.”

“It is a burdensome amount. It is an amount that the entire financial tower would have to absorb.”

“I’m not telling you to invest elsewhere. Since it’s US bonds, you can easily raise funds.”

“Think of it as buying a ticket to an amusement park.”

From the perspective of the financial tower, the US-China trade dispute was an amusement park.

It was a fantasy land where roller coaster-like ups and downs awaited us, and a variety of delicious food was also prepared.

“Amusement park tickets are a waste of money, but US Treasury bonds are much better because you can get your money back.”

“But the problem is that there are two places that sell tickets. I bought the American ticket, so now I have to buy the Chinese ticket, right?”

“The moment the financial towers start buying up a large amount of US bonds, I think I’ll get a call.”

“So, buy US bonds strongly in the beginning. Then, won’t you get the call sooner?”

“I can’t predict whether they’ll threaten or persuade this time.”

At the time of the THAAD ban, China attempted dialogue that bordered on threats.

But will it be possible to come out that way this time too?

“If they knew that we could nullify one powerful card that China could play, they wouldn’t come out like they used to. And even if they did, it wouldn’t matter.”

“Do you even plan to antagonize China?”

“Just look at what they’re doing. If they just sold us the tickets, that wouldn’t happen.”

China was still a closed market.

Although it was more open than before, there were still many restrictions.

Receiving a ticket meant that one could engage in financial business without such restrictions.

“The moment China properly sticks with the United States, it will also become desperate to attract foreign capital.”

“There is no place in Asia that manages more foreign capital than the financial tower. Let’s wait for a call.”

We were in a situation where we had no regrets.

If we couldn’t buy Chinese tickets, our profits would decrease, but it wouldn’t be a threat to our survival.

But the situation in China was different.

If China were to lose the trade hegemony battle with the United States, it could face a severe economic downturn.

So, it wasn’t us who felt sorry, and we didn’t need to contact them first.

“While the chairman was in the US, he was making decent returns. He was short-selling companies that were producing the items that were subject to tariffs.”

“It’s thanks to the good preparation in advance.”

“There are financial companies that even say that they have already completed a year of business.”

“Your belly is quite small. It’s only the beginning, what if you’re already full?”

“I will force you to go to the bathroom and make you eat new food.”

There was no need for a full-bellied hunting dog.

But they could quickly slim down their ship by forcibly buying US bonds.

“Get the well-fed companies to start buying US Treasury bonds.”

“US bonds will act as a digestive.”

“And I don’t know if you heard the news, but the US is also imposing a 25% tariff on Chinese IT products.”

“We have already made all the necessary preparations. However, it is unlikely that we will see a significant return on our investment, as the scale is only $16 billion.”

All together it amounts to just $50 billion.

China also imposed retaliatory tariffs, so the combined total for both countries was only $100 billion.

It was an embarrassing scale to call a trade war, but there were no nuclear bombs dropped from the start of the war.

“This year, tariffs on at least $200 billion worth of consumer goods produced in China will be imposed. That’s not bad, is it?”

“If it’s something like $200 billion, we can definitely have more fun than we do now.”

“And next year, with the presidential election just around the corner, we will impose additional tariffs on a larger scale. Most of our daily necessities will be subject to tariffs. The amount will be at least $300 billion.”

In the United States alone, tariffs worth $500 billion were imposed.

China will not sit idly by either, so if the two countries were combined, a tariff war worth 1 trillion dollars could break out.

A scale that amounts to a whopping 1,000 trillion won in Korean currency.

At this scale, it could easily be called a war, and tariffs were not the only issue in the US-China trade dispute.

“If a tariff war worth $1 trillion were to break out, financial towers would see record profits.”

“That will happen. And in addition to tariffs, there will also be measures to ban imports of certain companies or certain products. The Chinese telecommunications and home appliance industries, which are growing rapidly, will likely be targeted.”

“We are already short selling to the max. It is difficult to invest further unless the Chinese government opens the market a little more.”

It was a vice president who had been preparing for several years.

Of course, they would have tried every possible way to gain profit.

To gain additional benefits, the Chinese government’s tone and policies had to change.

“Just prepare for now. If the Chinese government contacts you, won’t you have a solution?”

“We will be prepared to move first if there is a response from the Chinese government.”

“I think that should be enough to wrap up the US-China trade dispute. Are things related to Bitcoin settled down well?”

“All financial institutions reported profits and safely exited. Although a few financial institutions that were too greedy recorded low returns, at least they did not suffer losses.”

The Bitcoin bubble has completely burst.

Like the IT bubble and the real estate bubble, it crashed at an incredible rate.

But looking back, both the IT bubble and the real estate bubble recovered.

It just happened too early and the bubble burst and never got a proper evaluation.

“The price has fallen so much that now is the time to start buying again little by little. There is no rush at all, just buy a little bit at a time whenever you have the money.”

“Do you think Bitcoin will rise again? It has already fallen by more than 75%. Many experts say that it is very unlikely that Bitcoin will rise again.”

Several countries, including South Korea, have been enacting Bitcoin regulations.

But once policies and regulations stabilized, investors also began to feel more secure.

And more importantly, investors who got a taste of Bitcoin in the bull market were looking for Bitcoin again.

Is addiction something to be feared for no reason?

As long as the intense experience remains in the brain, Bitcoin will not die.

“At least you won’t suffer any losses. If you use the bitcoins you’ve acquired to start a lending business again, you could make a decent profit.”

“I had a lot of fun lending Bitcoin. But can I buy altcoins again?”

“Other altcoins are too volatile. Ethereum seems okay.”

“… … Ethereum is suffering a bigger crash than Bitcoin. It’s down over 80% and it’s still going down. It’s expected to crash by 95% by the end of this year.”

Bitcoin was relatively better.

That’s understandable, since large IT companies were able to gain traction by holding onto Bitcoin.

In the case of altcoins, there was no center.

At least Ederion was pretending to keep his balance, so it seemed like there was a chance of recovery.

“Even if you take a loss, buy little by little. If you think you can hold it for more than three years, it’s not a bad investment.”

“I will invest the remaining funds in Bitcoin and Ethereum.”

“That’s enough.”

“And we decided to hold the NVIDIA shareholders meeting in Korea.”

Semiconductors, the core of the US-China trade dispute.

In order to bring in Nvidia, which is in charge of GPUs, we had to win over the hearts of major shareholders.