Damn the World, Ride a Submarine - Chapter 177



Only Krnovel

Episode 177 – 10,000 TJ

In European countries, the mafia has reached a point where it has an influence on the entire economy and public security, to the point where the term advanced country is meaningless.

A prominent journalist stated in a newspaper editorial:

‘After the sun sets, Europe is ruled by the mafia.’

It meant that there was another country within the country.

In addition, deserters from various wars and conscriptions joined the mafia in large numbers or formed new mafia groups.

Such mafia politics and mafiaism have long dominated real-world politics in South America, including Mexico, Brazil, and El Salvador.

This reality has drawn attention to the relatively peaceful Korean Peninsula, and a new hashtag has begun to trend on online social media.

#PolarKoreaSanctuary

That meant that the only sanctuaries still intact on Earth were the North Pole, the South Pole, and South Korea.

The media called the North Pole, South Pole, South Korea, and the Far East Republic the Polar-Korea-Peacebelt.

…

The Middle East war, which had entered a new phase with the entry of the United States, seemed to be proceeding as the United States intended.

The 1st Marine Division took control of the small city of Minab in the Strait of Hormuz, then the port city of Bandar Abbas, and a large-scale landing of American troops began.

But it wasn’t just Iran that was being hit.

First, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stationed in Israel was recalled to the mainland, and the regular Iranian army also began to reorganize its ranks.

If the Revolutionary Guard enters Iranian territory through Iraq, the US military will find itself under attack from both sides.

Iran also took the drastic step of setting fire to its oil fields to limit US airstrikes.

The flames and smoke from the oil fields disrupted the air operations of fighter jets from the aircraft carrier. Intermittent suicide drone attacks and indiscriminate artillery fire from Iranian artillery were enough to halt the advance of the US Marines.

Despite the massive airstrikes by the US military, Iran’s military assets did not dry up. It seemed that quantity itself was becoming quality, rather than quality over quantity.

It was also because the Iranian military was so large.

Iran knew all too well how to hide and conceal its military assets from US air strikes.

Some have cautiously speculated that the Iranian military facilities and equipment destroyed by US airstrikes may be decoys or outdated equipment.

Another problem was Iran’s vast territory.

During the Iraq War, it was only about 470km to advance to Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. Moreover, the roads were straight.

However, the road from Bandar Abbas, occupied by the US military, to Tehran, Iran, was more than 1,400 km long and the roads were not in good condition.

There were countless cities and ambush sites along the 1,400km route that the US military had to pass through to advance into mainland Iran. Every time they encountered a city, they had to overcome it through street fighting.

And even if they advanced to Tehran, there was another problem.

Azerbaijan and Tehran, annexed by Russia, are only 370 kilometers apart.

What happened when Napoleon invaded Russia or when Germany invaded the Soviet Union could happen in a war between the United States and Iran.

However, it only changed from snow and cold to hot thirst and sandstorms.

Perhaps the US hoped that once US forces captured Iran’s oil fields and secured the Strait of Hormuz, Iran would come to the table to negotiate.

But Iran dashed those hopes by setting fire to several of its oil fields.

Iran’s scorched-earth operation was not limited to mainland Iran.

They also set fire to the oil fields in Basra, near Kuwait, in the Iraqi territory they occupied.

Iran’s response has worsened public opinion in the United States more than the US military.

It was a realistic voice asking, ‘Why did Israel start a war that is sacrificing American youth, accelerating instability in the Middle East and destroying the world economy?’

The United States appeared to be sinking into yet another quagmire following Afghanistan.

For the United States, which had much to lose, going to war with a country that was prepared to face annihilation was a challenge that could not be overcome even with the most advanced weapons.

Perhaps the strategies and tactics that come from Western values ​​accustomed to persuasion, negotiation, compromise and politics were useless in the face of the intelligent martyrs.

Witnessing such scenes, it occurred to me that perhaps American tactics only work on foolish dictators (During Operation Desert Storm, Iraq’s leader Hussein commanded the entire army despite having no military experience).

Looking at this situation, I fell into deep thought.

‘What would the world look like without America?’

‘Will the dollar survive if the American political system collapses?’

‘If the dollar system collapses, how should I maintain my wealth?’

‘If America were to collapse, would I have the power to stop it or delay it?’

‘Would my hoarding be hastening the collapse of the world economy?’

Suddenly, it occurred to me that the worries I was having were extravagant worries. I immediately called Director Lee Shin-young.

“Yes, sir.”

“Sir, I need to buy you some precious metals.”

“What kind?”

“Gold, silver, palladium, platinum ···.”

It occurred to me that now is the time to worry about the ‘future of wealth’.

The world of money was now engulfed in war, and there was a risk of a cataclysmic change in the preservation of value and the means of exchange.

Director Lee Shin-young questioned the order to buy precious metals.

“Sir. You still have over 1 ton of gold? Should I buy more?”

“Yes. I want them to indiscriminately hoard not only gold and silver, but also raw materials such as iron ore, copper, and titanium, as well as high-value luxury goods such as cigarettes, whiskey, and wine, and even medicines such as painkillers, antibiotics, and insulin.”

“Because it’s a war zone, you only talk about expensive things…”

“Sir, do you have any idea when the war will end?”

“… How would I know that?”

“That’s why I’m doing it. I’ll talk to Director Jeong Si-woon and OSL, so please push for it actively.”

“How big do you think it will be?”

“How much cash equivalents do we currently have?”

“Um… It’s a little less than 5,500 trillion.”

“I would like to spend 2,000 trillion.”

“Hey, you’re the CEO!”

“I know. It won’t be easy, so please prepare as much as possible.”

“The world economy will be shaken.”

“It’s already shaking. And the U.S. government’s annual budget is over 900 trillion. Even if 100 trillion is released… prices will go up a bit, but it won’t happen right away.”

“Anyway, I understand. Where are you going to store all that stuff?”

“First, we will stockpile large quantities in the Marshall Islands and Kiribati, and about 50% of the precious metals will be distributed to separate spaces on submarines and aircraft carriers.”

“Carrying is also a job.”

“You can discuss going to the camp with Director Kim Wan-jun, and storing it in the fleet with Director Kim Jun-myeong.”

“Okay, sir. But…”

“yes?”

“If you collect like this and the price goes up, please let me sell about 10% of it. The price will definitely go up significantly, and if you let it go a little towards the end, you will be able to save a lot of money.”

“Yes, yes. The director will take care of that part.”

“Yes, sir.”

The price of gold had already more than tripled in just a few years.

Moreover, when China signed the RISE agreement, China, Russia, India, Iran, and Central Asian countries were outside the dollar economic zone.

And China was implementing a policy similar to the Continental System, which Napoleon had implemented to economically restrain Britain after failing to overcome British naval power in the past.

It is a measure to accept only yuan and rubles for exports and imports in the resource belt connecting Russia, Iran, Central Asia, and Africa, and its purpose is to check the dollar economy.

America’s economic hegemony is facing a serious challenge.

In the past, the United States resolved the current situation through political and economic coercion (Japan: Plaza Accord) or war (Iraq), but now the other party has taken the initiative in taking those two measures.

– Plaza Accord: The United States, which felt threatened by Japan’s economic growth in the 1980s, met with finance ministers and central bank governors from five major countries—the United States, Japan, West Germany, France, and the United Kingdom—at the Plaza Hotel in New York in September 1985 and agreed to increase the value of the Japanese yen.

– With this, the Japanese economic bubble burst, ushering in the ‘Lost Decade’ and creating the Japan we know today.

All economic entities in the world were aware of this situation, and the falling status of the dollar led to a panicky competition for value accumulation.

It is no exaggeration to say that there are only two means of exchange that transcend national borders in the world: gold and Bitcoin.

Gold has an atomic number of 79 and is a substance that cannot be artificially synthesized like diamonds.

This means that it is created by the nuclear fusion of 79 protons and neutrons.

To synthesize 1 gram of gold, it takes as much energy as 10,000 lightning strikes.

Typically, a single lightning strike has an energy of 1 TJ (terajoule: one trillion joules).

If we convert this into oil, it would take approximately 260 million liters of oil to produce 1 gram of gold.

On the other hand, Bitcoin, which is once again in the spotlight, has already reached 99% of mining completion by 2024 and will soon reach 99.99%.

In a situation where the national system was in doubt due to war, the endless issuance of currency was bound to increase distrust, and gold was an inconvenient means for storing and exchanging it.

It had been a long time since one Bitcoin had been worth over 500 million Korean Won, and I still had a huge amount of Bitcoin left in my wallet.

Yet my imagination allowed me to imagine a situation where all of that would be useless, and that anxiety and worry led me to endless stockpiling and backups.

As I was growing anxious about the future in the ARK office, the emergency alert lights began to flash, and I headed to the ship’s operations room. As I entered the room, the operations officer approached me and saluted me.

“Sir, China has started to move.”

“Please summarize the current situation and report back to me.”

“A number of missiles were launched targeting the aircraft carriers of the 1st Strike Group, and most of them were successfully intercepted.”

“Most of them?”

“Yes. There was a missile that failed to intercept, but missed its target and fell into the sea.”

“What caused the interception failure?”

“The missile launched by China was a hypersonic missile, so we failed to intercept it.”

“Huh? A hypersonic missile?”

…