NIS Agents Tearing Up the Japanese Empire - Chapter 140



Only Krnovel

Investment (4)

A company decree that required all company establishments by Koreans to go through the Government-General of Korea because of concerns that immature and naive Koreans might make mistakes or suffer bad things.

Of course, this is only an excuse, and the real reason was for the Government-General to suppress and manage the growth of Joseon capital.

Early colonial period.

The Japanese Empire, like other colonial empires, attempted to create a bloc economy by importing raw materials cheaply from its colonies, using them as a base to manufacture manufactured goods cheaply in the home country, and then selling them back to its colonies.

So, after the forced annexation of Korea by Japan, the land survey project was carried out, and the people were resentful because it stirred up good land. It was all to increase the production of rice, the raw material, and foster the primary industry within Joseon, while stabilizing the ever-fluctuating price of rice in the Japanese Empire’s mainland.

Even after that, under the name of the plan to increase rice production, Joseon succeeded in increasing rice production compared to before, but before the fruits of its labor could be tasted, the Great War ended, and in a situation where the emerging countries of Europe that had gained independence released their own agricultural products into the market in order to secure foreign currency and stimulate their economies, even American agricultural products that had been firmly holding the market were released, causing international food prices to fluctuate.

As a result, farmers in Joseon and the Japanese Empire suffered significant economic damage.

If it had ended there, it would have been another unintended policy failure, one that has been common throughout world history, but the Japanese economy also began to falter in the winds of panic that blew after the war.

It was because of this panic that the nouveau riche of the Japanese Empire who had benefited from the economic boom during the Great War and the tycoons including Bok Su-chang, who was once called the King of Midou, all died out.

However, in this situation, a major earthquake occurred in the Kanto region of Japan, which can be said to be the center of the country, resulting in numerous evacuees and unimaginable property damage.

Even in the history of the original Empire, the economic depression of the Japanese Empire, which could not afford the damage at this time, continued until the time of Emperor Showa, who ascended to the throne after the death of Emperor Taisho.

Thanks to this, the Japanese Empire succeeded in colonizing Joseon, which was its lifelong dream and a base for advancing into the continent, and was now smiling brightly at the thought of becoming an advanced country by sucking the backbones of its colonies like other colonial empires in Europe beyond Asia… … .

But their wish was only fulfilled after about 60 years.

Now, it was a situation similar to that of other advanced countries in Western Europe or the United States… no, perhaps even more severe.

In the original history, that is, before I suddenly landed in Gyeongseong, in order to overcome this economic depression, depositor protection was implemented for the first time in the world to prevent citizens from running banks, thereby calming anxiety.

However, at this time, gold was presented as an alternative to guarantee the depositors’ deposits, so the demand for gold in the Japanese Empire skyrocketed, and the Japanese government began to purchase gold and silver from Joseon in large quantities to solve this problem.

Thanks to this, Joseon experienced an unexpected mining boom.

In line with this, the Government-General of Korea also abolished the company ordinance that had hindered the establishment of companies by Koreans, foreigners, and even fellow Japanese, by adding an ambiguous clause that stated that any company that the Government-General of Korea judged to be disruptive to public order would be punished.

In any case, thanks to this announcement from the Governor-General, new companies were being created one after another throughout the eight provinces of Joseon.

Of course, now that we’re hit by a very intense economic crisis, the numbers have dropped a bit.

Anyway, thanks to this series of events, one fact was engraved in the minds of the Japanese government and the Korean people.

The point is that there is a greater amount of gold and silver sleeping in Joseon territory than expected.

So, the reason I suddenly brought up the economic history of the Japanese Empire in the 1920s is to explain something.

“I’m saying that there are quite a few companies listed on the stock exchange right now.”

“… … .”

“Right now, the Governor-General and the Police Department are so busy fighting the military that they are out of their minds.”

“Right… …?”

“In this situation, if you rotate the companies listed on the stock exchange and touch them a few times… … something truly magical happens.”

Just as a sparrow cannot just pass a mill.

Today, I was hanging out at the Sparrow Cafe again, getting free coffee and a meal while giving a passionate lecture to Inspector Sasaki about what investment is.

“That… … this teacher?”

“What is it, Inspector Sasaki?”

“I don’t know what magical thing you’re talking about, sir… … but it feels extremely dangerous.”

“Haha, dangerous! Not at all.”

“Is that so? Phew. Thank goodness… … .”

“It’s just that Oh Tae-sik of Gyeongseong and Kuroda Kyuichi, former president of the Chosun Ilbo, are taking turns buying and selling stocks.”

“… … ?”

These past few weeks.

The stocks traded on the Joseon Exchange were controlled by two people: a Japanese man named Kyuichi Kuroda and a Korean arms dealer named Taesik Oh who had come over from Shanghai.

As if they had made a pact, the two would repeatedly pick up market items while the other would continue to throw them away, slowly raising the trading volume and stock prices of the entire market.

“That… does that make sense?”

“Of course that doesn’t make sense.”

This kind of sloppy stock manipulation would never have worked if the police or the central government were a group with a sound mind.

If this method had been used in normal times, the Governor-General’s Office would have detected that something was wrong with stock trading, immediately closed the stock exchange, and halted all trading.

Then, I will just keep my money and not be able to collect a single penny.

“But these aren’t normal times, are they?”

“That’s true, but… … .”

But at this time, the Government-General was busy dealing with the Joseon Army (Japanese Army) led by Commander Shinnosuke Kikuchi, who was advancing from both the South and the North, as well as Daegu and Pyongyang.

Even though quite some time had passed, on the mainland, far from mediating the two groups, they had only just managed to mediate the dispute that had broken out in the capital and barely managed to suppress the navy and army.

The two disgruntled, armed groups were barely suppressed by the authority of the Imperial Family, and now a series of incidents have occurred on the Korean Peninsula, and so they are sending troops?

‘Who knows, what the soldiers will cross will not be the Genkai Sea but the Rubicon River?’

Simply put, the Japanese government is currently in a situation where it cannot trust the military.

So, even though there was chaos in the Governor-General’s Office, they hesitated and hesitated to provide support.

If there had been a Kwantung Army, they could have somehow helped the Government-General of Korea, but sadly, they were destroyed in a battle with the independence army.

Of course, the Japanese government is denying this to the end and is ignoring all requests from the independence army to exchange prisoners.

“To put it simply, the state of the country is in a very poor state.”

“Oh, I see.”

“In this situation, who would be interested in playing around with stocks?”

“But wouldn’t there be at least a few people among those who remain in Gyeongseong who show interest in this matter… …?”

Just like the old saying, “A dog in a private school can recite poetry after three years, and a dog in a Chinese restaurant can handle a wok like its own hands after three years,” Inspector Sasaki also became quite good at reading situations after working under me for a few months.

“That’s why I called you.”

“Me?”

Inspector Sasaki pointed at himself with a puzzled expression.

“There might be someone from the police department who suspects this stock manipulation incident, no! That crazy guy Miwa Wasaburo will definitely be suspicious!”

“Ah… … Are you talking about Miwa and the class president?”

“Yeah, that crazy guy!”

If he was the guy who had been doggedly digging into the connection between Kuroda Kyuichi and the ghost of Gyeongseong, he would have been suspicious of the name Kuroda Kyuichi that had suddenly resurfaced.

“So you take the lead and say you’ll take charge of this stock manipulation case!”

“Me, me?”

“okay!”

So, we must not give Miwa and that crazy guy any room to interfere in this incident.

“So, are you telling me to investigate and follow up on you now?”

“That’s right.”

“… … .”

“Sometimes they even throw out information.”

Inspector Sasaki asked me with an expression like a puppy that got drenched in the rain on a rainy day.

“… … Did I make a big mistake with you the other day?”

“That never happened.”

“But why me… … .”

“Hehehe, Sasaki, you buddy. Aren’t these all things I’m saying for your good luck! How long are you going to stay like that, listening to the police officer’s voice? Huh?!”

“No, that’s in Shanghai… … .”

“Excuses are a sin! Why were you rolling around like a dog in the back alleys of Shanghai, worrying about getting shot?”

“That’s… … .”

It was all for promotion.

It may be a little embarrassing to say this, but until he met me, Inspector Sasaki was the biggest obstacle to the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea in Shanghai.

Inspector Sasaki is a rare… … who does not hesitate to do all kinds of dirty work to catch independence activists.

“It was a chew of the world!”

“… … .”

“I would take the chewed bastards and made me act as a person, so I would do it.

Inspector Sasaki has no veto power anyway.

Sasaki was pushed into doing the same thing to me, just as he had done to other independence activists, by taking advantage of their weaknesses and forcing them to extract information or stabbing their comrades in the back.

There, he was in dire need of my protection, as he was also at odds with the Black Dragon Association, Japan’s largest criminal organization that controlled Japanese politics and business from the shadows.

To put it simply, Inspector Sasaki is a body that I cannot escape from.

“Still, intervening in stock price manipulation is a bit… … .”

“It’s okay to pull the trigger behind a fellow Japanese person, but I don’t want to get involved in an invisible numbers game.”

“… … .”

“I ask you one last time, yes or no?”

As I said earlier, Inspector Sasaki had no choice.

“I’m sure there’s nothing wrong with me?”

“If everything goes according to my plan, you won’t suffer the slightest harm. In fact, we might be able to get rid of Miwa and that crazy guy from the police department this time.”

“Whew. Well then, that’s good.”

Only after receiving a promise that no harm would come to him did Inspector Sasaki’s face brighten up a little.

“So what are the concrete plans?”

“For now, I’m thinking of making the board bigger.”

They plan to make the game bigger so that even people with money in Gyeongseong are jumping into this stock craze.

So when they started pouring money into the stock market one by one.

bang!

And then it explodes.

“Stocks will continue to rise in the future.”

Inspector Sasaki asked me cautiously, perhaps tempted by the news that stocks would continue to rise.

“Um… … Then can I join in?”

“Why? Do you need money?”

“That, that’s not it… … . I think it would be good if the activity expenses were a bit more generous. I also want to build a new house for my parents in my hometown.”

“no.”

“ah…….”

Inspector Sasaki trailed off, perhaps disappointed by my firm answer.

“If it is discovered that the investigator investigating stock manipulation has put money into the stock, do you think that Mi and that crazy guy will stay still?”

“ah…….”

“If this job is successful, I’ll give you a little bit of the money, so don’t worry too much and just do as I say, okay?”

“Yes, sir!”

When he heard that he would give him money, Inspector Sasaki cheered up as if nothing had happened.

Then, the madam who had been listening quietly from the side put down her teacup and asked me.

“I have some money in my possession right now to go to the provisional government… … . Can I put some of that money into stocks?”

I smiled and said to Madam.

“Madam, is this because you want to see me go crazy?”

NIS Agent Tears the Japanese Empire Episode 141