The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 448



Only Krnovel

448. An eye for an eye (3)

Musk has been quite proactive.

Maersk ranks first with 17% of the world’s container ship market share.

Although the company was generating sales in the trillions of won, it was not in a position to invest 5 billion dollars.

Musk’s market capitalization is approximately 30 trillion won.

$5 billion was equivalent to one-fifth of the market capitalization.

The shipping industry has been in the red for four consecutive quarters due to the recession.

The worst cash flow situation.

At that point, even if I wanted to invest, I didn’t have money to invest.

That’s why I had no choice but to join hands with Taewoo Shipping in order to survive.

“Sorry for contacting you so suddenly. First of all, let me say hello. This is Sharen, the CEO of Musk Line.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Kim Min-jae from Taewoo Group.”

Just one day.

The very next day, President Trump announced his plan to foster the U.S. shipping industry.

The CEO of Maersk Line, the shipping business of the Maersk Group, flew to the United States.

It’s not because I have another purpose for visiting.

He flew all the way to America just to talk to me.

“Let me start by apologizing. Taewoo Shipping had previously applied to join the 2M shipping alliance, but we were unable to provide a proper response.”

“I thought I couldn’t answer because the existing shipping alliance was being reorganized.”

“Thank you very much for your understanding. I am finally able to respond. On behalf of 2M, I would like to invite you to the shipping alliance.”

There has been no response for over half a year.

But as soon as President Trump said a word, Musk immediately sent an invitation.

What did I say before?

Didn’t you say that if we donated 5 billion dollars, you would let us join the shipping alliance?

But I turned things around by investing $5 billion in American shipping businesses rather than Danish companies.

But the donation doesn’t return anything to me.

I made this choice because investing can yield not only the principal but also a bonus.

It was like killing two birds with one stone, as it could even make the snobbish Musk come and beg.

“The invitation to join the shipping alliance is very welcome news, but I cannot accept it. We are already working with many American shipping companies to form a new shipping alliance.”

“I would like to propose that the US shipping alliance centered around Taewoo Shipping and 2M join forces. Wouldn’t that be a great help to small and medium-sized shipping companies in the US?”

Musk extends his hand in regret.

But now I don’t need to join hands with the 2M shipping alliance.

To be exact, if they were to join hands, there had to be additional conditions that would benefit Taewoo Shipping.

“Small and medium-sized shipping companies are reluctant to join shipping alliances. They are afraid of becoming victims of shipping alliance cartels.”

“A scapegoat? We plan to conclude the contract in a fair manner. We are ready to accept them as a member of a real shipping alliance, not a strategic alliance.”

“Who would believe a verbal promise? Joining a shipping alliance is possible only when it is based on a level of trust that is one level higher than a contract.”

The situation has completely changed.

If we had previously begged to join the shipping alliance.

Now, on the contrary, we are in a position where we are begging 2M to join the shipping alliance.

“How can we provide greater confidence than a contract?”

“If Maersk were to hand over some of its ships to us, wouldn’t that be a symbol of trust?”

“If you say ship, what kind of ship are you talking about?”

“A ship of at least 18,000 TEU would be fine.”

“That’s too much. Each ship costs $200 million.”

Musk owned a large fleet of large container ships.

They were pressuring shipping companies with their massive shipping capacity.

I also knew very well that asking for such benefits for free was literally the sign of a thief.

“Just give us five ships, and in return we will buy some of Musk’s assets.”

“What asset are you trying to purchase that you want a ship worth over a billion dollars?”

“I heard a rumor that Musk is trying to sell the North Sea oil field. Taewoo Group will buy all of the North Sea oil field shares.”

The Musk Group doesn’t just own shipping companies.

There were various subsidiaries, including shipping companies, energy companies, railroad companies, and logistics companies.

In particular, energy affiliates held shares in oil field development rights in various locations.

“Just in case, I’ll ask. Do you know how much the North Sea oil field is worth?”

“We know it is at least $7 billion. There may be a margin of error, but Taewoo Group is analyzing that it is at most $8 billion. Am I wrong?”

“… You’re right. Are you really thinking of buying a stake in a North Sea oil field worth over $7 billion?”

“Taewoo Group does not make empty promises. Wouldn’t five ships be a reasonable gift for a deal worth over $7 billion?”

The price of a ship of 18,000 TEU or more was 200 million dollars.

However, the ships currently owned by Musk are used ships that have been in operation for at least five years.

As with all things, the value of an item will drop significantly after it has been used just once, and if it has been used for more than five years, its value will drop even further.

So the price of the five ships is roughly around 500 to 700 million dollars.

It might be a bit excessive as a deal-closing gift, but it’s not impossible.

“I have been given full authority to negotiate this deal, but the transfer of the North Sea oil field and the vessel requires the approval of the headquarters. Could you please wait a moment?”

“I can wait as long as you want. And I can help you with one more thing. I understand that you have ordered several large container ships from Korean shipyards. If you want, I can purchase those ships from Taewoo Shipping.”

The recession in the shipping industry.

In this situation, no shipping company wanted to become larger.

I wanted to somehow cancel the quantity that had already been ordered.

However, since we had already made a promise with the shipyard and the Korean government even provided support for some of the quantity, we had no choice but to take over.

“Have you confirmed that the order placed with Korean shipyards is worth 3 billion dollars?”

“Taewoo Group is also a Korean company. You can easily check that much information.”

“If you add the $7 billion North Sea oil field and the $3 billion order, it will be $10 billion. I’m not saying this to disparage Taewoo Group’s capital, but I just want to confirm. Can you pay?”

Are you worried about the Taewoo Group’s circumstances?

Who is worried about whom now?

If Taewoo Group doesn’t have money, what company in the world would have money?

“I can deposit $10 billion into Musk’s account as soon as we sign the contract. If you sign the contract now, I can deposit it today.”

“I’ll make sure to convey that part as well. Just give me 30 minutes.”

“I can give you an hour instead of 30 minutes, so please contact me and come back soon.”

The negotiations took place at the fintech bank’s headquarters.

It was not for any other reason, but because it was a fintech bank that acquired the small American shipping company.

That’s why I went to see Diamond to kill time.

Diamond, who had been spending time buried in a pile of paperwork in the CEO’s office, came running out with a welcoming smile when I came to see him.

“Did the negotiation go well? I wanted to storm into the conference room several times, but I barely held myself back.”

“The negotiations aren’t over yet. He asked for an hour to think about it. I think he’ll contact Musk headquarters and coordinate.”

“Then you have an hour free. You can talk to me during that time.”

“Weren’t you busy?”

“No matter how busy you are, you still have time to talk to the chairman. No matter how important the documents you are currently working on are, they are not more important than talking to the chairman.”

It must have been boring.

Life was really boring, dealing with the same types of paperwork every day.

Since I, too, usually live a life buried in piles of paperwork like Diamond, I understood his feelings better than anyone else.

“I heard from one of the vice-chairmen that they made a decent profit from Brexit.”

“I made a lot of money. To be honest, the profits from the oil war or China short selling were abnormally large, but there are no other investment opportunities like Brexit.”

“Well, that’s good. I heard that fintech banks are overwhelmingly number one in the US these days?”

“To be exact, the CITI Group and the fintech bank have combined to become the industry’s number one. It’s all thanks to the chairman.”

America’s leading financial group.

Although, in name only, Diamond remained CEO.

In reality, it was a group that I was the owner of, and if it had merged with Taewoo Group, it could have been ranked in the top five groups in the world in one go.

But there was no need to do that.

I didn’t want to be misunderstood, so I wanted to maintain the current situation.

And if fintech banks and Citigroup remained American companies, they would have more options.

“It is more difficult to stay in the top rank than to get there.”

“Thanks to the chairman, I have less worries about that part. I am making a lot of profit through investments like the financial tower, and the Bitcoin transaction volume has more than doubled compared to last year, so I am collecting a lot of commissions.”

“The Bitcoin price is rising at an incredible rate.”

“It’s now over $20,000. I’m worried that the price has gone up too much. The increased transaction volume is a good thing if you only look at the fees, but the government and related departments are starting to take a keen interest.”

The price of Bitcoin exceeded 20 million won.

The price, which was around 5 to 7 million won until just last year, has jumped more than threefold in just a few months.

Although they did intervene to adjust the price in the middle.

Despite our intervention, we were unable to stop the price rise.

If we had not intervened, the price of Bitcoin could have risen to over 30 million won, not 20 million won.

“The government will start to regulate, but I don’t think the trading volume will decrease significantly. Don’t worry too much.”

“We are regularly reporting to financial authorities on Bitcoin stability data. We are also planning to lobby through David.”

“I’ll tell David, but the higher the price, the more flies will flock.”

Where there is money, there are always flies.

Especially in unfamiliar fields like Bitcoin, scammers are rife.

“When you say a swarm of flies, are you referring to the force?”

“There will be forces trying to manipulate the price of Bitcoin. They may already be out there.”

“I will watch closely.”

“Let’s create a program to monitor the power at the Taewoo Group level. Since the Taewoo Group is the one that created Bitcoin, we should also create a program to monitor it.”

If it were Director Cheon Min-jeong, he could quickly create a force detection algorithm.

But she had a lot to do, and even if she didn’t step forward, there were plenty of capable people around, so it wasn’t hard to create a detection program.

“If the powers that be try to mess around, we will make sure they get a good beating.”

“If you need help, ask Taewoo Securities or Financial Tower for help. If you nip those forces in the bud, the problem won’t get worse.”

While we were talking about Bitcoin.

I got a call from Cheren, the CEO of Musk Line.

He had already finished talking with the headquarters and was eagerly waiting for me.