The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 391



Only Krnovel

391. Counterattack (1)

There are only a few days left in January 2015.

Big news broke out from the Saudi royal family.

“Chairman! King Al Saud of Saudi Arabia has passed away.”

“It’s finally time.”

Death of the Saudi King.

If so, Salman, who was crown prince, will now take over as king.

It also meant that there was not much time left until we could unravel the enormous amount of corruption ledgers we had been collecting.

“With the king’s death, oil prices began to rise sharply.”

“What is the reaction of the short sellers?”

“As oil prices are rising, we are pouring out more volume. And there are many experts who believe that oil prices are rising temporarily, so Hess’ stock price is not rising at all.”

One variable was not enough.

Several variables had to come together to turn the atmosphere around.

“Now is the time for us to move. Take all the stock that the short sellers are throwing at you. Buy up all the Hess stock so that it is no longer traded on the stock market.”

“I thought I was going to die because my body was itching all this time. I don’t think I’m suited for Mercury.”

“You held back well. Now it’s time to attack without hesitation, so go wild.”

“We will sweep up the supply all at once. We have already made quite high profits due to the impact of the rise in oil prices. We will mobilize all the funds and take in all the supplies from the short sellers!”

“As you know, raise the temperature slowly. It would be difficult if the frog got scared and jumped out of the pot.”

If you suddenly invest a large amount of money, you will be scared.

So, we had to create the image that we were fighting hard to defend ourselves and buy metallurgy stocks.

Then, the short-selling forces will throw in more stock to chase us down.

The amount thrown away must eventually be recovered.

Short selling ultimately involved borrowing stocks from a financial company, then buying them back at a low price to make a profit.

But what if the stock price rises too much?

They were forced to liquidate or had to survive by paying huge interest costs.

The moment the stock price rises, the short sellers become debtors, and unless I release the stocks, they will be unable to recover.

“Slowly buy up all Hess stock by May, and I’ll go to Saudi Arabia today.”

“I will contact Saudi Arabia and prepare a private plane right away.”

A CEO rushed to the planning office to prepare.

I packed up my simple luggage and went to the airport.

* * *

I arrived in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, on a private plane.

The atmosphere in Saudi Arabia was tense as the king passed away and a new king ascended the throne.

Therefore, unlike usual, I was able to get out of the airport only after going through strict immigration screening, and I was able to go to Bin Salman’s mansion in a car prepared by him.

“Chairman Kim, are you here?”

“I offer my condolences.”

There were many guests at Bin Salman’s mansion.

Because we had eyes to see, we exchanged greetings more formally than usual.

After saying hello, Bin Salman personally guided me to the room, and when I entered the empty room, it was Bin Salman who treated me as usual.

“You had a hard time coming. What you were talking about is finally starting to happen.”

“You must never show weakness. You must realize and act on your own that you have become a completely different person from before.”

“Don’t worry. My brother and father advised me to be strong-minded whenever they had the chance, so I was mentally prepared.”

It was Bin Salman whose impression had clearly changed.

When I saw it before, it seemed playful, but now it felt majestic.

“Your Majesty will be very busy running the country now. So now you must prepare and carry out everything.”

“My father already said that he will soon appoint me as Minister of National Defense.”

The Saudi government’s de facto second-in-command was the Minister of National Defense.

The Crown Prince will declare Bin Salman’s cousin, Prince Nayef, as his successor in accordance with the laws of the Saudi royal family.

The plan was to appoint him as Minister of Defense to announce that his son, bin Salman, was the actual second-in-command.

“Being the Minister of Defense is a good position to cut.”

“First, we plan to sort out the situation in Yemen and proceed slowly with the purge.”

“Let’s draw attention to the Yemeni incident and kick out the royal family whose corruption is clear and large in scale. There is no citizen who dislikes a war on corruption.”

Bin Salman could not become crown prince right now.

This was because there was a lack of justification and performance.

However, if the royal family’s wealth accumulated through corruption could be returned to the national treasury through purges, both justification and performance could be secured.

“First, I plan to move after my father completely secures power. I think we will be able to proceed with the purge starting in May at the latest.”

“I won’t be able to help you any more now. Now that His Majesty King Salman has ascended to the throne, you will be able to easily obtain information about the royal family.”

“But I still get most of the outside information through my brother. Please provide just a little more information until the purge is over.”

Bin Salman had a somewhat generous appearance.

He just looked round and cute, but today was different.

In his eyes, there was greed and ambition that only those who rose to the center of power could see.

“We have information not only from Wall Street in the United States, but also from China and Russia, so don’t worry about collecting outside information.”

“But are you okay, brother? I heard that American oil companies are under short-selling attack? If necessary, I will help you, even if it means investing the Saudi sovereign wealth fund.”

“Will that work? Saudi Arabia and the United States are in a power struggle, so what will people think if a Saudi sovereign wealth fund supports an American company?”

Bin Salman’s heart was grateful.

However, if Bin Salman moved the sovereign wealth fund for no reason, his future would be at risk, so he could not receive it.

“Of course, we cannot directly move the sovereign wealth fund. We can provide help secretly through various overseas companies.”

“There is no need to get help from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund to fight short-selling forces. If I have to fight a bigger force later, I will ask for help then.”

“I heard that the person known as the king of short selling is leading short selling. Are you really okay with this?”

It was bin Salman who truly cared about me.

He was worried because he didn’t know that I was playing with the short selling power.

“Watch how I cook up the short sellers. It’ll be a lot of fun.”

“You have a plan.”

“In fact, short-sellers have entered the fishing net we laid out. There is no need to worry as everything is going as we planned.”

“You were playing with the short selling power.”

“I wanted to use this opportunity to set an example of what would happen if you attacked the Taewo Group. If you hide your power, people tend to think you are weak. So you have to use your power once in a while to raise awareness.”

The role model was also important.

It was ineffective to use the child as an example.

However, the king of short selling was a sufficient opponent to show off our power.

“I will keep this in mind. ‘Power is meaningful when it is used, not when it is conserved.’ “I will use my full potential to prove my position.”

“The more boldly you proceed with the purge process, the less opposition you will receive. If you proceed in a gentle manner, there may be royal family members who ignore you and try to attack you.”

Bin Salman nods.

His eyes were becoming more and more beast-like.

It was Bin Salman who would boldly and cruelly proceed with the purge without my having to step forward.

“Ah! And I think the problem of increasing oil production will continue for at least a few more years. Although my father is in power, it is not something that can be done carelessly.”

“Don’t worry about me, just do what you do. I can survive on my own no matter what Saudi Arabia decides.”

“But we will continue to send you relevant information.”

“Just give me the slightest hint.”

“When I become crown prince, I will definitely repay you.”

“What is the repayment between us? If we just get along like we are now, that will be the repayment.”

The repayment was only a one-time thing.

However, if a good relationship could be maintained, Taewo Group would gain greater benefits in the long run as it would have a strong ally in Saudi Arabia.

“Of course, I want to get along well with my brother like we do now. My father has also told me several times to get along with my brother like a brother.”

“It’s His Majesty’s command, so you must follow it. If anything happens in the future, please tell me everything, no matter how trivial. I will help you in any way I can.”

“Brother, just say the word. Oh! And we have decided to carry out large-scale civil engineering work soon, and Taewoo Engineering & Construction can give us a stand-alone order if they want.”

If you are greedy for small things, you will lose big things.

It’s not like I’m going through all this trouble just to win a civil engineering contract.

“We should avoid anything that could cause problems. We will put it through competitive bidding, so you should never give Taewo Construction special treatment.”

“I want to take care of you, but you say no to everything, so I don’t know what to do.”

“There’s nothing like that between brothers. Just being together is enough.”

How important is civil engineering work?

He could be the brother of the future king of Saudi Arabia.

“I’ve passed over all the information I have so far, so I guess I’ll just have to go.”

“Are you going to leave without saying hello to your father?”

“It’s right to say hello through you for now. I’ll come back to say hello later when I’m stable.”

One could have thought that he had flown all the way to Saudi Arabia just to hand over information.

However, considering that it was strengthening the relationship with Saudi Arabia’s future power, it was definitely not a losing business.

I really only handed over the information and returned to Korea.

* * *

Guyana, a small country in South America.

Although it was a quiet country with only 800,000 people.

The waters off Guyana were never quiet.

ExxonMobil, Hess, etc.

Various oil exploration companies were investing enormous amounts of capital to find oil fields.

Among them, Logan, who leads ExxonMobil’s oil exploration team, was working the most passionately.

“With Hess joining, the progress has definitely sped up several times.”

“The capital invested has also more than doubled. Previously, we were anxious to reduce costs in any way possible, but now we can boldly pursue exploration.”

“We received this much support, so we should repay the favor, but I have no idea where this damn gene is hiding.”

It was an oil field in Guyana that had not been seen for over 10 years.

Therefore, some oil exploration workers were working like machines out of desperation.

However, Logan was still convinced that Guyana had large oil fields through long experience and data.

And it was Logan who thought this was his last chance.

Even though oil prices are falling, we are receiving enormous support.

However, if it fails, no company will be interested in Guyana’s oil fields in the future.

That is why he was taking the lead in oil exploration, working hard on his body.

A few days passed like that.

While exploring the waters off Stavrk, Guyana.

“Team leader! I think you should come and take a look. The analysis results are completely different from before.”

“What is it?”

Logan hurriedly entered the analysis room.

I was able to check the analysis results to a degree that made me doubt my own eyes.

“That’s enough! That’s enough! This is at least 5 billion barrels.”

“Jeong, is it really true?”

“Aaaah! We’ve finally discovered a large oil field!”

10 years of hard work.

It was Team Leader Logan who finally saw the light.

Of course, those who benefited the most were ExxonMobil and Hess.

In particular, it was a huge positive news that could turn the situation around for Hess, who was under attack from short sellers.