Money Keeps Piling Up No Matter How Much I Spend

Chapter 221

Translator: Dreamscribe"CEO-nim. Trading volume has surged 340% compared to the previous day. The ripple effect sent S&P 500 futures and the spot index soaring, but a sharp reversal is expected soon due to liquidity distortion. We're approaching the Circuit Breaker trigger level."

"But there was talk that the authorities might delay activation this time, wasn't there?"

"Yes. Each exchange has announced they'll minimize market stabilization measures. However, whether they actually follow through remains to be seen."

As Department Head Seo-nim delivered his report, I scanned the market conditions shifting by the second.

When I reached toward the exchange at the center of the issue, my instinct sent me a powerful signal.

"Then we'll need to pull some funds out again and put them here. They said they wouldn't intervene, but they've always been good at going back on their word, haven't they?"

"Yes. There's certainly a risk of that. So where should we pull the funds from?"

My instinct flickered toward the European markets on the display board.

"Let's reallocate part of our funds. Abandon the London portfolio I'm about to issue orders on and pour everything into the S&P 500."

"Yep."

I pulled up the list of holdings we currently had spread across the London market.

From there, I checked off every position where my instinct sent a flickering signal.

"Sell the ones I've checked as top priority and funnel the proceeds in. It doesn't matter if it shocks the market. Our goal right now is to push the crashed index back up."

Just because one thing was done didn't mean the work was over.

The next urgent report came in immediately.

"CEO-nim. The drop in the French market is severe. When we initially injected money, it looked like it was spiking for a moment, but it's falling right back down."

"That's because of the credit issue, right?"

"Yes. There are rumors that France's credit rating is about to drop to A+. That's probably why we can't stop the freefall."

France was a country plagued with deep structural problems.

It was a textbook case of a nation ruined by clinging to an unsustainable welfare model.

Welfare itself is a wonderful thing.

When the elderly population surges and welfare falls short, crime, riots, and political instability naturally follow. Welfare policy exists to prevent exactly that.

It also improves the quality of life for citizens and even lays the groundwork for economic growth.

But welfare must ultimately be sustainable.

And that was precisely where France had failed.

The point at which continued welfare became impossible had arrived.

"That's why President Perron staked his approval ratings and his entire political career on pushing through aggressive reform, but as you know, the massive public opposition caused the reform to fail, making the future painfully obvious. That led to a loss of investor confidence."

France had its chance.

President Perron had pushed for reform even at the cost of his own career, but the people rejected it.

They chose their own comfort and security over sparing future generations a crushing burden of debt.

In other words, that was why France alone was buckling despite all the money we were pouring in.

"......"

Yet my instinct was still sending positive signals about France.

Not for many stocks, granted.

But several were clearly shining with a bright light.

"Keep an eye on the stocks I've checked here, and the moment prices drop further, buy immediately. Use every asset the assigned team has."

"Got it."

No matter what investment decision I made,

no one questioned it or pushed back.

That was because of the absolute rule in our Command Room.

The so-called "Kill your ego".

It was a slogan Department Head Seo-nim had posted at the entrance and throughout the Command Room.

At first it felt both bewildering and absurd, but it was nice not having to waste time arguing.

"Team J-5. Dump all the volume you're holding."

But less time spent arguing didn't mean there was time to rest.

I had to watch markets from around the world flashing across dozens of monitors and the massive display board, relaying instructions to each team every time my instinct sent a signal.

"......"

That was why I couldn't take my eyes off it for even a single moment.

Because information was flooding in at a relentless pace in real time, and my instinct was sending signals accordingly.

'If I miss that split-second window, I lose money, just like that.'

This was a battle of reflexes.

Just because my instinct sent me a signal didn't mean I was guaranteed to make money.

There were times when my attention drifted elsewhere for just a moment and I missed the timing my instinct had pointed out. In other words, even with an ability like instinct, in a global market where volatility shifted in real time like this, being even one second late meant the opportunity was gone.

'On top of that, this is the first time I've ever deployed this much money across the entire world.'

This wasn't just a handful of markets. It was an investment spanning every stock exchange on the planet.

And it was being conducted with an astronomical sum.

Several times more information than before, several times more instinctive impulses were bombarding me.

My head was already overloaded, my brain feeling like it was being scorched dry.

'But I can't stop.'

It wasn't because of some sense of duty to save the world's markets.

I simply loved this moment of total focus on one thing, the endorphins born from this perfect state of immersion coursing through my veins, jolting me into a state of hyper-awareness.

I felt truly alive.

Especially the thrill of knowing that even a few seconds of hesitation could mean tens of trillions of won evaporating, the dopamine seizing control of my brain.

I had no idea how many hours had already passed.

Right now, I had forgotten all fatigue and wanted nothing more than to surrender myself to this grand game board that would never come again in my lifetime.

* * *

"It's been... about three days now, hasn't it?"

"Yes. We're heading into day four."

For Department Head Seo and everyone else in the Prime Department, these had been the three most heart-pounding days of their lives.

An investment with the company's fate on the line.

An investment with the fate of the world at stake.

And the wager was a staggering 5,000 trillion.

Any sane person would barely be able to breathe under that kind of pressure, day after day.

The only reason they could endure was the history they'd built alongside CEO Jung Jin-ho.

"Still, I'm seriously shaking. Sometimes a few employees accidentally enter the wrong order or miss the timing, and every time that happens, trillions just vanish."

Department Head Seo felt the same way.

He thought he'd been through every trial imaginable at the CEO-nim's side, but this was on a completely different scale.

Watching trillions disappear before your eyes from a single mistake was enough to make you lose your mind.

"But the CEO-nim told us, remember? He said we can't let ourselves get buried in those mistakes and lose our heads. That if you come down too hard on someone who made an error, they'll only make bigger ones."

"The thing is, even if you wanted to scold someone, you can't. The next order comes pouring in right away."

"How does the CEO-nim even multitask like that? I can barely handle three markets before I'm so confused I can't tell what's what. And right now, he's watching dozens of markets by himself and giving orders on all of them?"

He wasn't an AI or something.

What kind of processing system was running inside that head of his that let him monitor all those markets and issue orders?

What was truly chilling was that CEO Jung Jin-ho's orders were always accurate.

There were times when missed timing led to losses, but those weren't his mistakes. They were the fault of employees who couldn't Rapid Click fast enough after receiving his instructions.

"But has the CEO-nim slept at all? We've been rotating shifts here."

"Yes. We've been catching sleep in shifts, but the CEO-nim... I don't think he's slept a wink yet."

"Wait. So you're saying he's been doing that nonstop for three days without a single minute of rest? What about meals?"

"He's been getting by on sandwiches and issuing orders all day. As you know, when one market closes, another one opens because of the time differences. So he has virtually no time to rest."

"Isn't he going to collapse?"

But looking at CEO Jung Jin-ho now, his eyes were more alive than anyone else here, all of them steeped in exhaustion.

For someone who hadn't slept in three days and had done nothing but work, he looked far too sharp.

"How much have we made?"

"We can't calculate the exact figure right now. Things are moving too fast. But... it's certain we've made an enormous amount. We're earning faster than we're losing."

The picture would probably come into focus by tonight.

What was clear was that under CEO Jung Jin-ho's command, they were gaining as much as they were putting in.

How he could so calmly issue orders and make money in a situation that made your hands tremble just from watching, it was always a marvel no matter how many times they saw it.

If anything deserved to be called the heart of a true beast, untouchable by anyone in the world, it was that.

"But the CEO-nim is actually feeling a lot of regret right now."

"He's making a fortune, isn't he? The estimated figure so far is 20 quadrillion won, right? No, more than that. Isn't this already record-breaking at this level?"

20 quadrillion won

An absurd sum.

But the reason it was possible wasn't just CEO Jung Jin-ho's transcendent insight. It was also due to the extraordinary circumstances of the market.

There were no restrictions on trading, and moved by Jin-ho's impassioned speech, people everywhere were pouring money into the markets.

It could be said that a unified will had gathered, a desire to revive the world's stock markets and restore a crumbling civilization.

"That's true. But he said if we'd been able to enter the Chinese and Russian markets as well, we could've made far more. So he asked us to check with headquarters on whether there's any way to open those two markets."

He wanted to ask why Jin-ho would go that far, but he held his tongue.

How could a sparrow ever fathom the ambitions of a phoenix?

"On top of that, the CEO-nim's focus isn't really on making money; it's on saving the world's markets. When someone begged him earlier to please take a short break, he said that if he rested now, he wouldn't be able to keep his promise to save the global markets."

"Hah. Honestly... the whole world should recognize what our CEO-nim is doing."

Watching Jin-ho's devotion to the world's markets up close, it was like being hit by a tsunami of emotion. Did the people of the world have any idea of his desperate struggle to protect civilization?

But the Chinese and Russian markets, huh...

"Did you contact headquarters?"

"Yes. They replied that they'd try to find a way no matter what, but... do you think it's possible?"

Those regions had already collapsed into civil war.

Fighting was still raging even now.

Opening stock markets in places like that.

It was anything but easy.

* * *

"What's the situation? Is he still investing?"

Anthony Watson of Sentinel had been living for the entertainment of watching the world's stock markets these days.

"Yes. Under CEO Jung Jin-ho-nim's command, they're continuously repeating Buy and Sell orders, shaking up markets across the entire globe."

The man was certifiably insane.

All that talk about saving the world's markets, putting on every kind of show.

And what it all came down to was Day Trading.

With a sum beyond imagination, no less.

Who in the world could have imagined someone taking that much money and Day Trading across every stock exchange on the planet?

"Then again, it takes that kind of madness to have grown Kwangwoon to this level."

"Yes. It never ceases to amaze. No one could have predicted that after going on media, tearfully making his appeal, he'd turn around and blindside the entire world."

But there was something worth paying close attention to here.

"It's clearly working, though, right?"

"Yes. The governments had no idea Kwangwoon was going to Day Trade, so they seem quite rattled. But looking at the results, the markets are recovering. Kwangwoon keeps delivering massive shocks to the market through Day Trading, and people are piling in."

Kwangwoon's method resembled that of stock price manipulation rings.

They'd dump a massive amount of money into specific stocks, driving prices sky-high, then sell everything off and crash them back to the floor.

But they weren't doing this just once. They were repeating it endlessly.

Across every market in the world.

As a result, even ordinary people who had initially been reluctant to enter the market lost their minds at seeing Upper Limit Prices blasting through the ceiling and started throwing money in.

In short, everyone was drunk on dopamine, intoxicated by the fantasy of turning their lives around, liquidating their savings to pile in.

"And this round of Day Trading isn't simply about Kwangwoon making money. Based on the pattern so far, Kwangwoon is clearly targeting Wall Street."

"They're dismantling the Financial Cartel?"

"Yes. Whenever Wall Street puts money in trying to chase the Upper Limit Price, Kwangwoon immediately sells to destroy the price, and they keep repeating this. As a result, the companies representing Wall Street are being pushed to the brink of bankruptcy."

Could this be coincidence?

Every stock Kwangwoon bought was a precision strike against the Financial Cartel.

They were reducing every holding the Cartel owned to worthless scraps while pumping up everything else.

"That's not all. They're also demolishing companies where hostile takeover battles were previously near-impossible. If this keeps up, Kwangwoon will end up owning even the companies that were hardest to acquire, effectively seizing Management Rights of every major influential corporation at bargain prices."

"And the governments see this plain as day but aren't stopping it?"

"They can't. The market is already open, and countless people have piled in on the back of Kwangwoon's rally. If they shut the market down now to prevent Kwangwoon's monopoly, it would trigger a massive uprising."

In other words, once again, Kwangwoon had given them no choice.

This was always their way.

They only ever gave the other side an extreme set of options.

Either sit quietly and watch what Kwangwoon does, or die trying to stop it.

What politician in their right mind would choose the latter?

"By the way, headquarters is apparently looking for a way to open the Chinese and Russian markets."

"Is that even possible? Those countries are in civil war, so opening a stock exchange is out of the question. Doing business there wouldn't be easy either."

"Yes. For that to work, the civil wars would need to end first."

Ending the civil wars.

If Kwangwoon truly intended to rule the world, civil wars were something that could not be allowed to persist.

The only reason they had instigated the wars in the first place was to create a situation exactly like this one. In the world Kwangwoon wanted to build, civil wars were variables that needed to be eliminated.

"There haven't been any direct orders for us?"

"No."

"......"

Anthony narrowed his eyes.

Dropping this kind of information without giving clear instructions, what could that possibly mean?

It meant Kwangwoon intended to wrap things up through another shadow organization they were running, one separate from Sentinel.

Did they still trust that shadow organization more than Sentinel?

It was impossible not to feel stung.

After everything Sentinel had done to build this borderless empire!

There was no way he would let someone else steal that credit.

"Ultimately, to quell the civil wars, a specific faction needs to hold overwhelming power."

"Overwhelming power, you mean..."

"The nuclear missile command authority that Russia and China have lost."

"!?"

Both nations had lost their heads of state, and with them, the tangled web of nuclear missile command authority had been lost as well.

They possessed nuclear weapons but couldn't actually launch them.

"For Kwangwoon, nuclear missiles are the biggest wild card. They wouldn't want those things to destroy the empire they've worked so hard to build."

"So what Kwangwoon wants isn't simply to open the Russian and Chinese markets..."

"Exactly. Opening the markets ultimately means the civil wars are nearly over, right? So in the end, that's just a convenient pretext."

What Kwangwoon truly wanted was something else entirely.

"The nuclear missile command authority held by Russia and China. That's what Kwangwoon is after right now."