CH458 | Heir

The next day.

I pressed my temples as I headed into the Finance Tower.

Vice Chairman Han, who knew I’d spent a long time at the Blue House yesterday, brought me a glass of honey water.

“Did your talks with the Blue House go well?”

“Phew… I can’t tell if what happened is something to be happy about or not.”

“What do you mean?”

“They’re saying they’ll entrust part of the National Pension Fund to Finance Tower.”

“Is that even possible? I’ve never heard of a case where a public pension fund was entrusted to a private financial company.”

“Did Saudi Arabia hand over money to us just because there was precedent?”

The National Pension Fund carried countless restrictions.

It was also one of the most sought-after workplaces for Korea’s financial elites.

Because of that, it managed over 550 trillion won and consistently produced returns above 4 percent.

“Wouldn’t the fund managers themselves push back? The National Pension Service is a place with strong cohesion and immense pride in being the elite.”

“That’s exactly why the National Pension has never been entrusted to an outside institution before. But with the Saudi sovereign wealth fund acting as a precedent, an opening has appeared.”

Even the president couldn’t do whatever he pleased with the National Pension.

Since it sat at the very center of Korea’s welfare system, even the slightest misstep would trigger an avalanche of criticism.

“Thanks to the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, Finance Tower might finally get to manage at least part of the National Pension.”

“The best option would be full-scale pension reform, but do you think the political class would ever agree to that? That’s why they’ve chosen the next best thing: a way to boost the fund’s returns.”

“Still, the political backlash will be fierce.”

“It’s a gamble with the president’s re-election on the line.”

The presidency gave Choi Jaeseok the possibility of a second term.

He enjoyed solid approval ratings; even by staying still he stood a good chance of being reelected.

Still, President Choi had gambled with the National Pension, and now his reelection depended on the Financial Tower’s performance.

“You could say it’ll be criticized as favoritism toward certain companies.”

“Do you think the Blue House doesn’t know that? They chose this precisely because they were desperate to prevent the pension from collapsing.”

“There’s also the local elections next year. You could regard them as a midterm evaluation of the president.”

“If we don’t deliver returns that satisfy the public before the local elections, the People’s Economic Party could suffer a crushing defeat.”

In Korea the president is granted quasi-royal powers.

That didn’t mean he could act with impunity.

If his policies antagonized the public mood, voters would mete out judgment at the ballot box.

“Knowing that the local elections and even the president’s reelection now hinge on us, I feel very heavy. Exactly how much of the National Pension fund are they proposing to give us?”

“The Blue House wants half, but that’s unlikely. I estimate around one hundred trillion won.”

“So roughly twenty percent of the National Pension would be entrusted to us. It may sound exaggerated, but it means we’re about to shoulder Korea’s future.”

Election outcomes aren’t the only thing that determine a country’s future.

But if the National Pension were drained by investment mistakes, Korea’s future would darken considerably.

“Then we should focus on generating as much short-term profit as possible.”

“The scale is so vast that making short-term returns will be difficult.”

“Let’s start by investing in the gaming industry.”

“Investing in games right now is risky. If it were the top game company, maybe— but the Saudi sovereign wealth fund already acquired a stake in MCSoft.”

For a long campaign, you must first show short-term results.

To do that, we had to spend a precious card on the National Pension: the game studio Blackhole, whose title Battle Arena just set the record for simultaneous users on a Korean game platform.

“When the National Pension fund comes in, begin by acquiring a stake in Blackhole.”

“Blackhole spun off from MCSoft, didn’t it? I believe its market cap is under one trillion won.”

“They’re launching a new game this time. They’ve brought in a famous international game developer for development. It’s bound to succeed.”

“If you say so, Chairman, then it will succeed. As soon as the National Pension’s money arrives, we’ll buy as much of Blackhole’s shares as possible.”

It was a stock with the potential to return at least tenfold.

And since the game was poised to take the world by storm, it already carried immense buzz.

It was more than enough of a card to win the trust of both the public and the political sphere, paving the way for long-term investments afterward.

“For the rest of the funds, put them into bonds or oil—something stable—and wait. By the end of the year, plenty of good investment opportunities will emerge.”

“It’s a bit disappointing that we have to share the pie, but since it’s for the country, we’ll give it our all.”

We weren’t managing the National Pension Fund for free.

We would take a certain fee, though in truth, the commission wasn’t a large sum from our perspective.

Even with our own capital, we could easily generate enough profit and more.

Still, in the long run, this was far from a bad deal.

Considering the U.S.-China trade war and the looming COVID era, the more money we had to manage, the better.

***

While I was swamped with matters at the Finance Tower, David arrived in Korea.

Every time he came, he brought along some weighty matter, so I braced myself as I greeted him.

“Did something happen again?”

“Boss! Straight to business without even a hello? This time it’s not that big. I mostly came because I wanted to see your face.”

“Thanks for making the trip. But let’s hear the news first, and then we’ll have a welcome party.”

David exaggeratedly showed his American-style displeasure, but I didn’t so much as blink. Left with no choice, he launched into the real reason.

“We’ve begun development on the North Sea oilfield. It was hell getting approval through Europe’s strict regulations, but I managed it.”

“You’ve worked hard. With all of Europe pushing eco-regulations, developing an oilfield couldn’t have been easy. It’s thanks to your effort that it succeeded.”

“It helped that the North Sea oilfield had already been developed to some extent, and that it sat just outside the scope of heavy regulations. If it had been a fresh site from scratch, breaking through those restrictions would have been near impossible.”

Developing an oilfield usually took at least five years.

If exploration had to start from the beginning, it could drag on for ten, even twenty years.

But the North Sea oilfield had already been explored. All that was left was drilling, which meant production wouldn’t take too long.

“Still, is it wise to start developing now? Oil prices are gradually falling.”

“If there are days it falls, there are also days it rises. Even if we take losses, we can’t just sit on the North Sea oilfield after pouring in such massive capital.”

“At this moment, we’re the only company in the world investing this kind of money into an oilfield. Maybe that’s why the White House is starting to pay attention.”

The United States had always been deadly serious about oil.

It was a country willing to wage war if it meant controlling energy. The shale revolution had eased that somewhat, but not entirely.

“Why is the White House interested in the North Sea oilfield?”

“It’s not the oilfield itself. They’re looking at the money poured into it.”

“They want us to invest that kind of capital in America, too?”

“Exactly. The president won on an ‘America First’ platform. Naturally, the White House wants more of this scale of investment happening inside the U.S.”

It meant they wanted a massive investment in the U.S. oil industry as well.

Being early in the administration, the White House wanted more performance—and they were hoping for an investment on the scale of the North Sea oilfield.

“Will they relax the regulations?”

“That’s the complicated part. You could say they want an environmentally friendly oil project. Since they care so much about approval ratings, they want the development to avoid harming local residents.”

“So they want to develop an oilfield without loosening regulations? Quite remarkable.”

The U.S. had enormous untapped oil reserves.

Yet only a limited number had actually been developed, and many areas couldn’t proceed due to regulatory hurdles.

Even so, producing oil from just the developed fields already yielded more than many oil-producing nations.

“So basically, they’re just asking for money. I let it slide and didn’t take it seriously.”

“If we invested around forty billion dollars in oilfield development, what could the White House get in return?”

“At that level, they’d likely accommodate almost any request.”

“Then just let it be known that Taewoo Group is interested—nothing more.”

“Are you really planning to invest forty billion dollars?”

“Not right now. The plan is to invest in about three years, right before the Trump administration ends.”

Technically, we could invest now.

But all investments had to start at the lowest point to yield the greatest profit.

To negotiate favorably with the White House, oil prices would need to fall much further than they were at present to secure maximum gains.

“If we spread the word, the White House will respond immediately. But if we say the investment will happen three years from now, the response probably won’t be enthusiastic.”

“As an initial bait, offer around ten billion dollars.”

“Ten billion would be enough to satisfy the White House.”

“A very high-quality bait, indeed.”

Investing at the lowest point was ideal.

But if investment was delayed too long and oil prices rose before production could even begin, it would be meaningless.

So the best approach was to make an initial investment of around ten billion dollars, and only proceed with the rest of the negotiations once production preparations were complete.

“But is there an oilfield worth investing in? Most are already owned, and the remaining ones are either heavily regulated or unviable.”

“There’s exactly one left. A place in the U.S. with oil, but no one lives there.”

“Is there really such a place?”

“Alaska. It’s a land that nobody pays attention to.”

“I know Alaska has a lot of oil, but can it be productive? Transportation costs are high, and exploration and development are difficult there.”

At the moment, the Alaska oilfield didn’t mean much.

But after the U.S.-China trade conflict and the Russia-Ukraine war unfolded, the situation would change.

Alaska wasn’t that far from Asia, and it would allow natural gas and oil to be supplied at relatively low prices.

“Since it’s a difficult region to develop, you could leverage it to get a lot from the White House, right?”

“That’s true. From the White House’s perspective, there’s no risk of loss, and it’s an ideal place to build performance.”

“No need to rush. Proceed slowly and make the White House impatient.”

“That’s my specialty. I can even make President Trump personally visit Korea!”

In truth, it was a somewhat risky investment.

If the Russia-Ukraine war hadn’t occur, developing the Alaska oilfield could have been a losing proposition.

But I believed.

Before my regression and now, I was certain that Russia’s desire for territorial expansion wouldn’t change.