The Chaebol Who Flies From Space - Chapter 88



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The Tycoon Who Flies Into Space Episode 88

Episode 88 Iraq War

The engagement ceremony preparations were in full swing. Two days ago, the families of both sides gathered at the mansion. The day before, the families of both sides gathered and greeted each other. I had already met and greeted Jamie’s family, whom I was meeting for the first time.

The half-siblings also got along well with their older sisters whom they hadn’t seen in a long time. The rooms in the mansion that had been empty for a while were now filled with family members from both families.

Jamie’s mother, Laurenne Waterfield, returned to her maiden name after divorcing Jeremy.

Laurenne, who was nearly 180 cm tall, had a typical lawyer-like appearance with fiery red hair and a face that resembled Jamie’s, but was cold and indifferent.

“C&G is now working in Washington on behalf of Exxon to acquire oil fields in southern Iraq. Stella has been like me since she was little, so I didn’t worry, but Jamie worried a lot. I’m glad he met a good person.”

Laurenne’s face brightened as she saw her ex-husband Jamie chatting with his parents, compared to when she first saw him.

Although they divorced because they had different opinions, they still had good relations.

They were two people who broke up not for any other reason but because their dreams were different.

It wasn’t easy for an ambitious woman devoted to work and a man who loved art to live together.

After her divorce, she was also on good terms with her ex-husband Jeremy’s new marriage and the children she had with Eric, Karin, and Ingrid.

Last year during the holidays, I invited my children and spent the holidays with them. I spent more time with my three children than with my own daughters, Stella and Jamie.

“Jamie used to grumble that her mother was closer to her younger siblings than her own daughters.”

“They’re both so busy that they don’t have time. When I said I was going on vacation, Stella said she couldn’t take it because she was busy with work, and Jamie said she was filming a lawyer drama. It’s a disaster because they filmed something so ridiculous.”

Laurence was scathing in her assessment of the TV drama in which her daughter starred.

“Didn’t the drama’s content seem plausible?”

“It’s plausible, but the content is a mess because they didn’t even get advice. That’s how Hollywood is. They only focus on what looks plausible on the surface, so there’s no substance. By the way, is that kid hanging out with his younger sibling? They look a lot alike?”

I saw Laurene and the kids rolling around in the garden while having a light cocktail. Jeongyeon and her cousin Yeongwon were running around the garden with Jeremy’s three children.

“She’s my younger sister. The boy next to her is my cousin.”

“I heard your other cousins ​​also live in America?”

“Hey, everyone is busy so it’s hard to see each other’s faces properly.”

I haven’t really met him since I came to America. I guess it’s because it’s time for my older brother Jun-ki to have a baby, but Yong-ki really didn’t show any sign of it.

When I told her cousin story, Laurenne looked curious.

“Do close relatives still keep in touch with each other often in Korea?”

“Not yet. Korea’s society is also changing rapidly. In the future, Korea will become similar to the United States.”

Laurenne’s gaze fell on Jamie, who was happily chatting with his mother.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve seen that kid make that face.”

“You don’t even get to see each other’s faces very often.”

“Because we were both so busy. Jamie went to college, and from then on, we barely saw each other even once a year. I was just too busy. To be a partner at a law firm, you have to live so busy that even 24 hours a day is not enough.”

“Stella seems to be in a similar situation to Laurence?”

Laurence laughed bitterly at my words.

“That kid is so much like me, he’s so greedy. Jamie really takes after his dad.”

I was lucky that my appearance resembled my mother and my personality resembled my father.

If even my personality took after my mother… I wouldn’t have been able to bear it.

“That’s really fortunate.”

“It may be rude to say such things in front of people, but I admit that I have a bad personality. As a lawyer, it’s an occupational disease, I can’t easily trust people.”

She said that she had several big fights with her husband because she was suspicious of him during their marriage.

“And yet you are responsible for the children’s tuition?”

Jamie’s father’s side of the family was not financially well off. They were doing okay financially while running a gallery, but they couldn’t afford to send all three of their children to private school.

Tuition at American private schools was so expensive that even Jamie’s middle-class father could not afford it.

It was thanks to Laurene’s support that her three children attended prestigious private schools in Minneapolis.

“It’s not like I’m going to take it with me when I die. Stella and Jamie already have more wealth than me, right?”

“I don’t know about Jamie, but Stella is surprising. It’s obvious how much a lawyer earns. No matter how much a lawyer’s salary is, it’s surprising that she earned that much money.”

“That kid started working as a lawyer and succeeded in venture investment, so he’s already a billionaire. He invested all his assets in IT companies in the 90s. He got out of the IT bubble early when it burst.”

Then it makes sense that Stella had a lot of wealth.

“Yongwon is also incredibly rich? How rich is he?”

“Yes, I’m probably richer than Bill.”

The wealth of Bill Gates, the world’s richest man, is estimated at $60 billion. But my wealth has already easily surpassed that amount.

“Bill? Bill Gates?”

“Yes, he probably has more wealth than that person. If you include the funds he operates as a fund without revealing them to the public.”

Laurenne shook her head in disbelief.

“You said you were going to list your company in Korea on NASDAQ? You said Merrill Lynch was the lead manager, right?”

“I am a legal advisor at Stella’s law firm.”

“I heard that kid is really busy these days. The company he’s going public with is so big that he’ll probably get a huge commission.”

Laurenne mainly worked on criminal trials, while Stella specialized in M&A.

Still, I wasn’t ignorant of corporate information.

Most of the clients she was in charge of were very interested in stock investment.

Naturally, we had no choice but to hear news of Toad’s NASDAQ listing here and there.

Although his stake would be diluted if the company went public, he was still a wealthy man who owned close to half of the shares.

That alone was comparable to the wealth of Bill, the largest shareholder of Microsoft, and he was shocked to hear from his daughter that he had a huge fund that he invested separately in the United States.

In addition, he was the actual owner of the genetic material discovered in Korea.

“How’s Exxon’s lobbying going? Aren’t they incredibly busy these days?”

“Almost, I’m in Washington meeting with congressmen, but I’m not the focus of this lobbying effort.”

“It’s very American to divide up the interests before the war even starts.”

Laurene gently swirled the cocktail she was holding. As a partner with a large stake, she had no choice but to intervene in the lobby, but she did not like the way things were going.

“That’s why this war started. The UN investigation has already concluded that there is nothing in Iraq. Everyone in Washington knows that they will start unconditionally in March.”

Laurence, who was speaking, looked straight at me.

“I guess you’re quite close with Exxon. Every time they see me, they talk about Yongwon.”

Laurence, who had mainly worked in criminal cases, was suddenly thrust into the Washington lobby not to target lawmakers, but rather to smooth relations with Exxon, a major client of the law firm.

“We’ve been working together a lot since the sale of the Cantarell oil field in Mexico with Exxon. I don’t know if we’ll have another connection.”

“Exxon is after Her. Its performance has been dazzling lately. I heard they’re developing a new oil field in the South Sea.”

News of the development of the South Sea oil field in Korea had already spread like wildfire and was information that all major players were aware of.

“We are coordinating the announcement date with the government, but I didn’t know that even the major oil companies would already know.”

“When you drill, there are a lot of eyes watching, so information is bound to leak out. Exxon wants to buy Herr’s stake.”

“I have no intention of selling. There are more than one or two oil fields that need to be developed in the future.”

Although Seohae Petrochemical holds a stake in domestic oil fields, the plan was to have Her hold a stake in developing foreign oil fields.

I had no intention of selling the goose that laid the golden eggs cheaply at the chick stage.

Laurenne smiled. Her smiling face looked so much like her daughter Jamie’s.

“I knew it. Exxon is just trying to be greedy, but they haven’t set a specific amount. In this case, it’s just a test.”

It was difficult to determine how much Herr’s stake was worth.

“Let’s talk about it once the two oil fields under development in Her are completed.”

There are limits to developing genetic resources alone. In order to develop an area where various political reasons are intertwined, it is easier to proceed with the work by joining forces with a major company.

For example, if Exxon had been involved in the development of oil fields in the polluted waters of the West Sea, I would not have had to deal with it directly.

So, there was a good intention to sell Herr’s stake.

But I was thinking of selling it for a high price. An incredibly high price at that.

There weren’t many people who attended the engagement ceremony.

This was because only close relatives were allowed to attend to avoid a crowded situation.

Fortunately, the weather was clear.

Time passed without me even realizing how the meal progressed while my grandfather and other family members watched.

After the engagement ceremony, our one-week honeymoon in Hawaii came to an end.

As spring arrived, Korea was abuzz with news of newly discovered oil fields, while the American press was abuzz with talk of Iraq nearing war.

The movement of US troops to attack Iraq has already begun.

“When did the war start?”

[It looks like we’ll attack on March 20th. The Army is preparing to land.]

“I don’t know because it wasn’t a war of occupation last time, but this time the damage will be significant, right?”

[That will be the case. The problem is after the war ends. The political situation in Iraq will not calm down overnight just because American troops are stationed there.]

In the run-up to the Iraq War, Iriel ran several simulations, but the results were an endless swamp.

The U.S. government, which was under the delusion that it could rule Iraq as it pleased simply by removing Hussein, was repeating the same foolishness as in Vietnam.

Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld, the real power behind the regime, simply thought: ‘Cut off the head of the enemy, Hussein, and Iraq will be finished.’

Reports with negative results went straight to the trash can.

“How about Korea?”

[It’s really noisy. The area around the new oilfield is a mess with reporters camped out all day long.]

“You’re pitching camp at sea?”

[They are rushing to cover the genetic development process, even renting a boat. Vice President Lee Jeong-bin is being chased by reporters to the point where he can’t even go to work. The number of reporters around the mansion has already increased.]

When I think about how much I would have suffered if I were in Korea at that time, goosebumps appear on my arms.

The oil field discovered this time is half the size of the West Sea oil field.

The oil was processed the same as before. First, it was sold to Korean refineries, and the remaining portion was sold to Chinese and Japanese refineries.

[Master, once the war starts, it seems that the price of oil will finally hit rock bottom. For now, the attack on Iraq will proceed smoothly. There will be no oil field destruction like last time. The US military is also paying close attention.]

“So what you’re saying is that oil prices will fall because there’s no destruction of genetic material?”

[Yes, so I’m going to do the reverse of investing in oil prices.]

“Wait a minute! What are the general oil price forecasts now?”

[The general view is that oil prices will rise significantly once the war starts. Oil prices also rose significantly during the first war.]

“Is that so? Are you saying that the price of oil will move in the opposite direction of what people expect?”

I was lost in thought for a moment. I thought that if I could weave this together well, I could cause great trouble to my potential enemy.