The Magician’s Memorial - Chapter 459



Only Krnovel

459. Big Capital (4)

Black Hole Game’s ambitious Battle Arena has been released.

Because it was a game that had been popular since its beta testing days, it received an enormous response as soon as it was released.

“Mr. Chairman! Black Hole’s over-the-counter stock price is skyrocketing.”

“It’s not likely that the stock price will skyrocket because it’s an over-the-counter stock, but I guess there’s a reaction after just one day of release.”

“The game’s popularity is beyond expectations. At this rate, it is predicted that it will sell over 1 million copies within two weeks, and it is overwhelmingly ranked first on the game platform.”

Now it was the beginning.

The game that sold over 70 million copies was Battle Arena.

It was a game that was ranked in the top 5 best-selling games in the world, and naturally, Black Hole Game’s stock price continued to rise.

“I guess I’ll have some fun with the national pension.”

“I bought stocks last month at around 20,000 won. But they have already surpassed 30,000 won, and I expect them to more than double this month.”

“More than 5 times within 3 months is possible.”

“What’s unfortunate is that the company has a very small market cap, so the investment amount is small.”

Black Hole Games was a young company that was just starting to grow.

It was impossible for the stocks of such a new company to alone absorb the national pension fund.

“Isn’t it perfect for the front page of a newspaper? Just publish an article with a headline like ‘National Pension Service, in partnership with Taewoo Securities, sees profits increase tenfold from the start.’”

“Financial tower financial companies are releasing research reports. Then, we can expect to see a lot of good reports from the media.”

The time-buying operation was successful.

Short-term strategies should have been used to calm public opinion.

Now that the short-term strategy has been successful, the long-term strategy can be used.

“Invest all the money you receive from the National Pension Service in American IT companies. Invest in large IT companies like Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, and Amazon and just leave it alone.”

“Is that okay? It’s a whopping 100 trillion won. I might get criticized for investing so irresponsibly.”

“Where would you invest 100 trillion won? It’s money that can’t even be used for operations. It’s not our money, it’s the government’s money, so it’s better to bury it somewhere safe.”

It was money that could not be invested in short selling or Bitcoin.

If the national pension fund was used for no reason in the operation, it would have been easy for the political world to bite and tear at it.

“American IT companies can easily afford 100 trillion won, but if their stock prices fall before the local elections, the government and the People’s Economy Party will suffer a huge blow.”

“You know very well who holds the largest stake in the large IT companies I mentioned.”

“…The chairman owns a large stake.”

“Would I hold shares in a company whose stock price is going to fall?”

Stocks of American IT companies promise stability and high returns.

Even if we take Microsoft as an example, its current stock price is only $64.

I remember that after a year, it would be over $90, and when the corona season comes, it would increase by about 5 times.

“Do you think American IT companies will continue to grow? I don’t doubt it, but stocks of big companies like Microsoft tend to move heavily.”

“Last year, the national pension fund’s return was 4%, right? If you leave it in Microsoft for just one year, you will earn at least 40%.”

From 4% to 40%.

The rate of return increased by a whopping tenfold.

A rate of return of this level was one that no one could find fault with.

It wasn’t just Microsoft.

Most American IT companies are growing rapidly.

So, rather than deploying it in a large-scale operation, it was possible to generate stable and high profits simply by keeping it in an American IT company.

“If you simply calculate it, it would be like earning 10 years’ worth of profits in one year.”

“If President Choi Jae-seok continues to generate that level of revenue during his three-year term, he will be able to significantly delay the depletion of the national pension fund. If he is successfully re-elected and runs it for seven years, he will be able to delay the depletion of the national pension fund by 50 years.”

A 40% return over 7 years.

The National Pension Service’s 100 trillion won in trust to Taewoo Securities will increase to over 1,000 trillion won.

Of course, as the amount increases, the rate of return may decrease, but it can be seen that it increases by more than 10 times.

“By 2023, if you combine the money entrusted to Taewoo Securities and the funds managed by the National Pension Service, it could grow to over 1,500 trillion won.”

“Unless fundamental problems like the declining working population are addressed, it will eventually be exhausted. But we can delay that.”

Actually, it could have been raised more.

If you invest properly in the operation of the financial tower, you can make profits not just 10 times, but 20 times or even 100 times.

But I didn’t really want to do that.

If it was a 10-fold return, it would be doing its job, and Taewoo Group had no intention of handing over its share of the pie to the National Pension Service.

“That is a problem that the government needs to solve, so it is difficult for us to do anything about it.”

“I’m sure President Choi Jae-seok will take care of things. We’re too busy just worrying about the Taewoo Group.”

“Yes. The damage is particularly severe due to the THAAD ban. Affiliates in the automobile and electronics industries that attempted to enter the North American and European markets early on suffered relatively little damage, but Taewoo Entertainment suffered a huge loss.”

It wouldn’t be wrong to say that the entertainment business was torn in half.

The Korean entertainment industry was making a lot of money in China, but sales plummeted after the Chinese market was blocked following the THAAD measures.

“Didn’t Taewoo Entertainment also start exploring new markets outside of the Chinese market a while ago?”

“Following the Chairman’s instructions, we have been investing heavily in the US, Europe, and Southeast Asian markets for some time now. However, as you know, opening up new markets requires a lot of investment.”

“They say that trying to open up a new market during the Korean Wave will cost twice as much money.”

The current Korean Wave can be seen as staying in Asia.

However, the era of the Korean Wave that was spreading beyond Asia to the US and Europe was slowly opening up.

“They say it is especially difficult to develop the American market.”

“It would be very difficult to do it alone. It would be a little better if we collaborate with MCA Records.”

“Ah! I just remembered that MCA Records was also a record label with the chairman as its major shareholder.”

“We transferred our stake to a fintech bank. Talk to Diamond and try to collaborate with Taewoo Entertainment and MCA Records.”

MCA Records.

It was the largest music label and record distributor in the United States.

I bought shares of that company during the IMF era, and I was still the largest shareholder of MCA Records.

“Through MCA Records, we can easily recruit the hottest songwriters in the United States. And it seems like we can easily handle everything from broadcast appearances to concert venue bookings.”

“If necessary, use social media and video platforms.”

“How can I use it? If I promote it too recklessly, I might end up getting negative reactions.”

“We use strategies that have become famous because they are famous.”

He said that when you become famous, people will applaud you even if you take a shit.

When rumors spread that someone was famous abroad, interest was bound to grow.

“Are you saying that we should inflate our popularity beyond its actual level?”

“They promote it in the US as if it were a popular singer in Asia, and in Europe as if it were a popular singer in the US.”

“I understand the method. If you use MCA Records well, it is definitely possible.”

“And make the most of short-form video platforms. Even if you just use background music for your challenge videos, it can be a huge promotional hit.”

The era of K-POP will arrive in a few years.

Singers and idol groups affiliated with Taewoo Entertainment have already gained great popularity in the Asian region.

That would be possible because I personally checked the detailed information and selected several trainees based on information before their return.

“We will start promoting singers who are popular in the Asian region.”

“But isn’t it a shame? There aren’t any proper concert halls in Korea where not only K-pop singers but also famous foreign singers can perform.”

“Although Jamsil Olympic Stadium has a seating capacity of 70,000, I understand that it is not a professional performance venue and that its sound system is significantly inferior. Most other performance venues have less than 10,000 seats.”

The number of performance halls was small and their scale was small.

For Taewoo Entertainment to develop further, there needed to be a decent performance hall in Korea.

It wouldn’t have been a bad idea to have a large concert hall to promote Taewoo Group.

“Let’s build a large-scale concert hall at the Taewoo Group level.”

“It’s a good idea, but we need to ease regulations first before we can build a venue.”

“Are you talking about regulating private enterprise ownership of sports facilities?”

“Yes. Although it is called a performance hall, it is used as a stadium during the off-season when there are no performances. You can only own it if it has facilities that can hold three or more Olympic events, otherwise you have to donate it to the local government.”

That’s why there are no concert halls in our country.

It was the big companies that were reluctant to build performance halls or stadiums due to regulations.

“I guess we need some deregulation.”

“If it is built in the form of a dome stadium, I think many sports fans will welcome it. There is currently no decent dome stadium in our country.”

“Old regulations need to be abolished. The People’s Economy Party needs to step up and make it possible for regulations to be abolished.”

“It seems like it would be possible to ease or abolish regulations without much difficulty. But how big are you thinking about the size of the performance halls?”

It was a performance hall built under the name of Taewoo Group.

It was not possible to build a performance hall called Taewoo Stadium on a small scale.

“We plan to build a dome stadium that can accommodate up to 100,000 spectators.”

“It’s similar in size to Cowboys Stadium, the largest dome stadium in the United States. Isn’t it too big? The construction cost alone will be at least 600 billion won.”

“Since it’s a concert hall that will bear the name of Taewoo Group, shouldn’t it be of that size? Is it possible that Taewoo Group’s financial situation is so bad that they can’t even afford that amount of money?”

“It is entirely possible. A sum of 600 billion won is a paltry sum compared to the projects the Chairman has undertaken so far.”

For Taewoo Group, 600 billion won was not an amount that could be burdensome.

In particular, since the performance hall could be seen as a form of social contribution, it was possible to spend more than 600 billion won.

“But it’s a little lacking.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Just having the largest dome stadium is not enough to live up to the reputation of Taewoo Group. I want to create a concert hall that has never existed before in the world.”

“What kind of venue are you thinking of?”

“How about a completely spherical concert hall?”

“I understand that a hemispherical theater is set to break ground in Las Vegas next year.”

The performance venue, called the Sphere, was hemispherical in shape.

It was a performance hall with an entire exterior made of LED that served as a large screen.

“I would like to build a concert hall that is even more magnificent than the one being built in Las Vegas. Wouldn’t it be a perfect place to show off Taewoo Construction’s technical prowess?”

“It is known that the construction cost of the concert hall being built in Las Vegas is 3 trillion won.”

“Let’s use exactly twice as much. For about 6 trillion won, wouldn’t we be able to build the world’s most beautiful spherical concert hall?”

It had to be at least this good to be worthy of the name Taewoo Group.

Of course, the cost of construction was something that Vice Chairman Han had to take care of.

That was probably why Vice President Han was blankly staring at me with his shoulders hunched.