Chapter 57: Then Leave This Room
"The profits haven't been fully realized yet."
"And?"
CEO Park paused for a moment on the other end of the phone.
I heard some rustling, as if he were checking something.
"But we're guaranteed at least ten trillion won."
"...Ten trillion?"
For a moment, I thought I'd misheard him.
"You didn't accidentally add an extra zero, did you?"
"You heard me correctly. Trillions. Ten trillion won. At minimum."
If CEO Park was calling that the minimum, then the actual number really could reach into the tens of trillions.
CEO Park chuckled quietly.
"At this point, the company could operate for the next three or four years without taking another won of outside investment. Maybe forever. Hell, we might end up becoming the ones investing our surplus money elsewhere."
My mind went blank for a moment.
Ten trillion won.
I'd thought my life had already been turned upside down by the East Sea oil field alone.
But this was on an entirely different level.
The Resource War had involved fighting, bloodshed, and vaporizing hundreds or even thousands of Japanese Hunters with my laser.
That alone had shaken an industry worth trillions.
But this?
Nobody had fought anyone.
They had just entered a few numbers into a stock trading screen and clicked a mouse and keyboard a few times.
Yet even more money was moving because of it.
Short selling is terrifying.
Honestly, the scale still didn't feel real.
CEO Park continued as though it were nothing special.
"We also bought a fair amount of debt owed by the companies we shorted, dirt cheap. If we enforce those claims, a few of those companies will probably go bankrupt immediately."
"Really?"
That sounded believable.
We were talking about tens of trillions of won moving around.
Unless those companies were sitting on absurd amounts of cash, they'd have to start selling off assets in a panic.
"And there are Japanese companies that got caught holding Mana Stone-related stocks too. Not just one or two. Mining equipment manufacturers, processing facility companies, distribution and logistics firms... even conservatively, at least five of them are probably beyond recovery. I've already heard that two of them were denied additional loans by the banks."
I thought about it for a moment.
Honestly, I didn't feel much of anything.
"Why should we care about that? Let's enforce the claims right away."
"What?"
I heard CEO Park let out an incredulous laugh over the phone.
"Whether some foreign companies go bankrupt or not isn't my problem."
Honestly, considering that they'd tried to take my resources, part of me wanted them to collapse completely.
Those wicked Japanese bastards. Trying to take the Mana Stone Mine after already going after my East Sea oil field...
Truthfully, I didn't dislike Japan.
If anything, I rather liked it.
But the moment they touched my East Sea oil field, Japan had effectively declared war on me.
"Actually, I have a better idea."
CEO Park's voice dropped slightly.
It was the tone he used whenever his head was full of calculations.
Flick.
I heard the sound of a match being struck over the phone.
"A better idea?"
"It'd be easy to enforce the debt right now and bring those companies down. But if we do that, that's all we get. Their debt. Whatever assets we seize. That's it. Even taking control of those assets is work, and we don't have much use for them anyway."
"Then what?"
"But if we wait just a little..."
That wicked amusement returned to CEO Park's voice.
"They'll come crawling to us on their own. Begging us to save them. On their knees."
"What are you talking about?"
For a while, I listened to CEO Park explain his plan.
Then, at that moment—
"H-Hunter Choi Hyunwoo! Urgent news!"
The Chairman's secretary rushed into the bunker.
I grinned and asked,
"Chief Secretary. Do you happen to need a bargaining chip for negotiations with Japan?"
"...Pardon?"
Japan.
Prime Minister's Residence.
"What happened to our Mana Stone Mine?!"
The Prime Minister's roar shook the office.
"Have we really lost it to the Koreans? Completely?"
Across from him, the Director of the Japanese Hunter Agency lowered his head, drenched in cold sweat.
Beads of sweat were practically dripping from his forehead.
"W-well..."
"Speak! This is no time to hesitate!"
"Yes. A red barrier has appeared around the Mana Stone Mine, and our Hunters are unable to break through and enter, Prime Minister."
"So it really came to this...!"
They had expected it.
The exact same thing had happened at the East Sea oil field after Japan lost.
But the important question was something else.
"Is there absolutely no way to break through that red barrier?"
"We are still investigating its exact nature, but neither our Hunters nor our researchers have been able to determine its composition or structure."
BANG!
The Japanese Prime Minister slammed the table.
"Then what about the S-rank Hunters? What the hell are our Hunters doing?! Is this why we poured trillions of yen into supporting them?! They took the money and still lost like fools!"
The Director of the Hunter Agency wanted to ask the S-rank Hunters the exact same thing.
But he had to give the Prime Minister some kind of answer.
"...They're analyzing the causes of the previous defeat and intend to raise their ranks rapidly so that in the next Resource War, they will definitely—"
"Definitely?!"
BANG!
The Prime Minister slammed the table again.
The teacups rattled violently, and tea splashed across the surface.
"How many times have I heard that word already?! At this point, even the Japanese people won't believe you when you say we'll win next time!"
The Prime Minister gritted his teeth.
Losing three Resource Wars in a row was humiliating enough.
Now they had received confirmation that Japan had been completely locked out of the mine afterward.
This was no longer merely a matter of face for the Cabinet.
The prestige of Japan itself was at stake.
At this rate, the government's approval rating could plummet.
"We must make sure the Koreans can't touch the mine!"
"But the Mana Stone Mine has already been assigned to Korea by the Tower—"
"Pressure the Korean government through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs! Make it absolutely clear that, regardless of the Tower's result, ownership of the resources belongs to Japan under international law!"
At that moment, the office door burst open.
"Prime Minister! Urgent report!"
A staff member came rushing inside, clutching a stack of documents.
"What is it? We're in the middle of a meeting."
"W-well..."
The messenger squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, as though even delivering the report pained him.
"We've confirmed signs that Korea's F&C Refining Corporation has been targeting companies in our Mana Stone industry through massive short-selling positions. Large short positions have already been established against five related stocks, and analysts believe those companies could begin collapsing one after another if this continues!"
"...What did you say?"
The Prime Minister's voice dropped sharply.
"F&C Refining Corporation? That Korean oil company illegally occupying the East Sea oil field?"
From the Prime Minister's perspective, that was exactly what F&C Refining Corporation was.
"Yes, sir."
The messenger continued in a trembling voice.
"Even at this moment, the stock prices of those companies are crashing on the Tokyo market. Some fell close to their daily lower limits immediately after opening. Meanwhile, F&C Refining Corporation's short-selling profits are apparently skyrocketing in real time..."
The Japanese Prime Minister fell silent.
Public anger was already boiling over after the Resource War defeat.
They had spent trillions of yen in tax money supporting Hunters, only for the result to be another humiliating loss.
It was obvious that the Cabinet's approval rating would be scraping the bottom.
By tomorrow morning, the opposition might even begin openly calling for the entire Cabinet to resign.
And now Japanese companies were on the verge of collapsing one after another as well.
If we lose any more ground...
The administration itself might begin to shake.
His mind went blank.
Several seconds of silence passed.
Eventually, the Prime Minister gathered himself and spoke in a low, cold voice.
"...Prepare negotiations."
Everyone in the office turned toward him.
His voice was so calm and cold that it was hard to believe he'd been shouting in rage only moments earlier.
The messenger cautiously asked,
"With the Korean government? Or with F&C...?"
"Both!"
The Prime Minister shouted through clenched teeth.
"We cannot simply keep taking losses like this! We need to grab onto something, anything! Whether it's the Mana Stone Mine or that oil company, put something on the negotiating table and reduce our losses as much as possible!"
"What bargaining leverage do we have...?"
"Export restrictions against Korea! Their economy depends on semiconductors, so it will work. Begin immediately!"
"Yes."
The Director of the Hunter Agency and the messenger exchanged glances.
Only a few days ago, the Cabinet had confidently pushed through enormous budgets for Hunter support.
Now, it had been reduced to begging for negotiations.
Seoul, Republic of Korea.
CEO's Office, F&C Refining Corporation.
Inside the office, the Presidential Chief of Staff stared across the room with a stiff expression.
CEO Park sat on the sofa opposite him.
He wore a black suit with white vertical stripes.
Gold rings glittered on his thumb and index finger.
Aviator sunglasses covered his eyes, and his hair was cut short.
He leaned back against the sofa with one leg crossed over the other.
The Presidential Chief of Staff briefly showed his displeasure.
CEO Park didn't care.
Flick.
Instead, CEO Park lit a Cuban Cohiba Siglo VI cigar with a match as though he owned the place.
Thick smoke spread throughout the office.
The Chief of Staff frowned slightly.
But he couldn't bring himself to complain.
That man is holding the country's economy in his hands right now.
He wasn't someone they could treat carelessly.
"Now then."
CEO Park slowly exhaled cigar smoke and spoke first.
"Let's make the ownership split for the Mana Stone Mine nine to one. F&C Refining Corporation gets nine."
"...Nine to one?"
The Presidential Chief of Staff's expression stiffened.
"CEO Park, that's far too much. The Association fully acknowledges Hunter Choi Hyunwoo's contribution, but resources secured through the Tower are, fundamentally, public assets. They belong to the nation as a whole."
"That's the government's logic."
CEO Park released another stream of cigar smoke.
"Who won that mine? Who broke through? Who defended it? Wasn't it CEO Choi—no, Hunter Choi Hyunwoo—who fought personally and led the other Hunters to victory? The government didn't contribute a single soldier or a single bullet. And now you're trying to wrap everything up with one word: 'public asset'?"
The Chief of Staff couldn't find a proper rebuttal.
Because none of it was wrong.
"...Understood. Then how about adjusting it to eight to two?"
"If you want to knock it down to eight to two..."
CEO Park chuckled.
"Then shouldn't the government put something on the table too?"
"...What do you want?"
Wariness entered the Chief of Staff's voice.
CEO Park leisurely took another puff from his cigar before answering.
"Allow F&C Refining Corporation to set fuel prices freely."
"And?"
"And give us exclusive distribution rights over Mana Stones as well."
The CEO's office fell silent.
The Chief of Staff's face froze.
"...CEO Park. That proposal goes too far. It's not enough that you want full control over fuel prices, you're also asking for a monopoly on Mana Stone distribution. That's practically the same as asking the government to hand over two core national industries in their entirety."
"If you think the proposal goes too far..."
CEO Park stared at him through his sunglasses.
"Then leave this room."
