The issues of the Saudi royal family were matters for later.
Right now, the imminent oil war was far more important.
Perhaps for that reason, even George, the head of the Quantum Fund, had come to Korea.
"Mr. Kim, you've sold all the crude oil futures you held. When should we start short selling?"
"I've seen the atmosphere in Saudi firsthand. It looks like they'll soon implement an oil production increase policy. Just wait a little longer."
"It's not just the Quantum Fund. We raised funds by borrowing, even beyond our own assets, to fund this operation. The interest piles up daily—it's suffocating."
It wasn't only the Quantum Fund.
All the financial firms in the Financial Tower, having tasted the money from the Crimea incident, were gathering as much capital as possible.
Money grows when it circulates.
If they were just going to hold onto it, people would deposit it in banks, not pour their funds into financial firms.
Investors began complaining about the financial firms' inaction.
"Please bear with us and wait a little longer."
"I can't wait much longer. Even by the first half of this year is the limit. If that passes, the cohesion of the Financial Tower may weaken."
"Trust me and wait. I will signal you the perfect timing."
George left with a restless expression.
If he reacted like that, it was pointless looking at the others.
Everyone's insides were probably burning black, almost to ashes.
I was just as anxious.
I knew the oil war was coming.
But I didn't know the exact timing, and a single day's difference could mean hundreds of millions of dollars in profit, so I had to move with extreme caution.
Click!
Out of habit, I opened a drawer and took out some photos.
They were photos of the Saudi royal family, and recently, most of my time was spent examining all their detailed information to find weaknesses.
"Chairman, Director Chun Min-jung has arrived."
"Tell her to come in."
Her eyes nearly bloodshot, Director Chun came to see me. I put the photos back into the drawer and welcomed her.
"What brings you here? Director Chun coming to find me at this hour…"
"I caught a big fish. We found accounts belonging to more than ten Saudi royals who embezzled royal funds for personal use."
Director Chun handed me the account information.
Taking it, I couldn't help but doubt my eyes.
There were far more zeros in those accounts than I expected.
"Saudi Arabia is definitely different. In Korea, embezzlement is usually in the billions won, but Saudi royals move in trillions."
"I strongly feel that these accounts are just the tip of the iceberg. Adding up all the illicitly accumulated funds by royals might exceed our country's annual budget."
South Korea's annual budget exceeded 355 trillion won.
Chun certainly knew that, and her statement was based on analyzing and interpreting the information gathered so far.
"That amount is surely enough justification for a purge. And just the scale of the accounts discovered today should solidify Governor Salman's resolve."
"Thanks to the information you gave me, I was able to track down the traces quickly."
She had studied the detailed information so hard she almost had bloodshot eyes.
Her words acknowledged that my efforts were not in vain.
"These are the additional confirmed pieces of information. They should be helpful."
"How do you get information like this? I'd better head back quickly. If we update the algorithms implanted in Saudi, we can extract even more detailed information."
"There's still plenty of time, so don't rush too much. Taking steady steps forward is enough."
"I can't sleep if I don't act as soon as an idea strikes me."
Director Chun hurriedly departed.
I transferred the data contained on the USB she left behind to Governor Salman via the internet.
I was well aware that transmitting data over the internet could present security risks like hacking.
Still, I had confidence in sending the data over the internet.
The data was secured by security systems created by Director Chun and Taewoo Group's cryptography experts.
And the data itself had been cryptographically converted, so even if it were intercepted, decryption was impossible.
The cryptography experts who created Bitcoin.
It would take even the United States years to crack the codes they made.
***
"You're already reaching out."
Thirty minutes after sending the data, I received a call from Salman.
The fact that he contacted me so urgently showed how serious the data I sent was.
[Received the data well. It's rotten beyond repair.]
"The box holding the fruit is rotten, but the contents inside are still intact. So we need to discard the box and gather the good fruit in a clean place, don't we?"
[That's right. Even if it's difficult right now, I think we'll have to do that soon. Thank you.]
Salman's voice was filled with sincerity.
He hadn't known how rotten the royals were.
Seeing their reality with his own eyes seemed to have helped him resolve what to do next.
"There are many more rotten boxes. I will continue to update you."
[Sorry to only receive your updates. I wish we could talk longer, but starting from next month, I have to head to the oil drilling site, and there's a lot to prepare. I'll contact you again later.]
Salman hung up abruptly.
If anyone overheard our conversation, they might think Salman was only taking information.
But Salman was never just a passive receiver. He paid for the information I gave him.
Heading to the oil drilling site next month?
That was a signal that Saudi would start increasing oil production next month.
Salman was subtly leaking to me high-level, confidential information.
"Call Chairman Han to come in immediately!"
I asked the secretaries to call Chairman Han.
It took less than five minutes for the waiting chairman to rush in.
"What's the matter?"
"D-DAY is decided. Saudi will start increasing oil production next month. I heard it directly from Salman, so the accuracy is over 90%."
"Then let's start short selling now! It will be total chaos starting next month."
"Oil prices will drop more than during the financial crisis."
Currently, crude oil is priced at $110 per barrel.
But with production increase decisions from Saudi and OPEC, prices would fall to around $40 per barrel.
That meant a simple price difference of $70.
But since we plan to actively use leverage, profits could increase by tens or even hundreds of times.
"We'll start short selling crude oil futures and oil drilling companies right away."
"Have you discussed this well with Dimon?"
"Yes. Most of Taewoo Group's funds have been deposited in fintech banks, and we have arranged for the fintech banks to appear to be leading the short selling. The fintech banks will also invest substantial funds in this operation."
This short selling operation was the largest ever in scale.
Naturally, the media would dig into it, and having Taewoo Group's name come up wouldn't be beneficial.
So, we borrowed the name of a fintech bank on the condition of paying a portion of the fees.
Since the fintech bank was also owned by me, the fees weren't a concern at all.
And the fintech bank planned to invest an astronomical amount in this operation, so in effect, I was betting everything.
"Are there still financial firms that don't believe oil prices will fall?"
"Most financial firms that share our intention have sold all their crude oil futures, but a few still hold tightly to theirs."
"Warn them. Tell them the oil price decline is expected. We have warned them, so they can't shift responsibility onto us."
The core financial firms moved as one.
But some financial firms that joined the operation late still lacked trust in the Financial Tower and trusted their own judgments more.
Those who doubt would pay a heavy price and hopefully never repeat the same mistake.
If they eventually align with us, they can not only cover losses but also earn high profits.
But if any firm continued moving against us to the end, they would go bankrupt.
"First, we'll secure as much volume as possible. Even if it means taking some losses now, securing the volume early will allow for bigger profits."
"You have to move faster than others to monopolize the prime cuts."
The start of the oil war was now less than a month away.
In the meantime, all the capital from the Financial Tower, including the Taewoo Group, had bet on falling oil prices.
A month later, the OPEC meeting took place, and oil-producing countries, including Saudi Arabia, announced an increase in oil production.
This matched exactly the timing Salman had predicted, and it was good news for those of us who had prepared in advance.
"Chairman! Oil prices have started to plunge rapidly. The price, which was at $110, has fallen to $105."
"That's about 5% profits. Not bad for a start."
It might seem like a mere 5%.
But a 5% drop in a single day was no small number.
If it dropped 5% every day, oil prices would be a quarter of what they were by the end of the year.
"Because we used leverage over five times, the returns are over 25%. The funds we used during the preparation period were fully recovered in just one day."
"All money coming in from tomorrow will be profit."
"The Financial Tower's atmosphere is heating up again. From tonight, the upscale bars near the Financial Tower will probably be fully booked."
It was quite easy to gauge the Financial Tower's performance.
Just by checking the sales of nearby upscale bars.
It would become difficult to even reserve seats at those bars for a while.
"What's the reaction of financial firms still holding onto crude oil? Are they still refusing to change their stance?"
"They were startled and moved from long positions to short positions. But some gave up their long positions without following the shift to short positions."
Should it be called stubbornness beyond obstinacy?
Or should it be called courage?
Despite being told the oil war had begun, there were financial firms that believed it to be just a minor incident, not a war.
"Seeing other firms making huge daily profits, they'll follow in time. And from then on, they'll trust information from the Financial Tower unconditionally."
"Executives from firms who made profits today came to thank me repeatedly. They seemed ready to obey my every command."
Indeed, the power of money was incredible.
Financial firms, proud as they were, would always bow to those who brought them profits.
"They have started wagging their tails already. There's still plenty of prey left."
"Soon they'll probably flip over the entire ship. Also, I've compiled information gathered from the bars in Myeong-dong and sent it."
"Is there any information related to the Saudi royal family?"
"I haven't checked everything, but there's quite a lot related to the Saudi royals. However, most of it is information with an unclear origin."
What can't one say at a bar?
There's talk of drunken sincerity, but many just brag and boast when drunk.
Especially in finance, people's bragging could be worse than gangsters'.
"Even if only 10% of the information is accurate, it's usable."
"Also, information is coming in through David. We're extracting data held by intelligence agencies from several countries, including the CIA."
"Compile it and send it to Director Chun. She'll filter and use it as needed."
"I'll head downstairs now. I haven't enjoyed looking at charts this much in a while."
This was only the beginning.
If it were just going to end like this, it wouldn't be called an oil war.