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nAt that moment, I suspected that my warning was weak. Otherwise, he could not have said so.

nSo I slowly stood up because I realized that it was not the Arctic where the giant glacier was supposed to appear.

nDid I want to teach him a lesson? Of course, I would do it, but only after I made him realize how wrong his current choice was.

n“There is a Korean saying ‘You have to hear the other party out’. Of course, I am not Korean, but I guess Juyoung Hong is a Korean who has often heard the other party out,” President William said.

n“Hahaha!”

nI laughed at his words because even though I knew that Korean saying, it had nothing to do with me. When I was a kid, I was so shy and timid that I tried my best not to be noticed by others, but when I grew up, nobody including the South Korean President dared to talk it through to me.

nI responded, “Alright. I hope that the joke you just made with the fate of the United States resting on it is worth it. Otherwise, that’s going to be your last joke.”

nAnyway, I sat down again, and President William opened his mouth right away, as if my stern warning paid off.

n“As you can see, Iran is a pretty special country. Its Supreme leader is a mysterious figure. Do they have a President elected by the people? Of course, they do. Iran has a presidential system. However, it is the Supreme leader who has the power to approve and dismiss the elected president. So, it is safe to say that he has the authority that surpasses that of the royal family or the imperial family in some countries. Besides, the supreme leader holds his position for life.”

n“…”

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nI didn’t complain about his long speech.

nI just frowned a bit.

nNoticing my expression, he said, “Hmm…we have found common national interests with Iran’s Supreme leader. He wanted to prioritize holding his people together over Iran’s poor economic situation. In other words, he wanted to make a strong enemy outside Iran, and the United States served his purpose. There’s nothing better than a powerful common enemy to bring people together.”

n“Then what about your national interests?”

n“Well, we are pressing China through Iran. Like almost all countries in Asia, China imports a significant amount of crude oil through the Strait of Hormuz.”

n“Tut, tut.”

nI clicked my tongue briefly. Of course, I didn’t do any more than that.

nAs I myself was a direct descendant of the Myongjin Group chairman, I knew that the Myongjin Group didn’t become one of the top five business groups by always doing business without any wrongdoing. So I didn’t want to blame Washington for his dirty collusion with Iran

nBut I said, “I know what you mean, but you don’t want to persuade me to understand your situation, right?”

nThe position of the United States and Iran had nothing to do with me.

nHe also responded, “Of course, I don’t. So I’ve made some preparations.”

n***

nAt the Daesung Group headquarters several days later.

n“Chairman, as you instructed, we made crude oil futures deals for three tankers one week later. But even if the government subsidies us, it’s inevitable that we will suffer a bit loss because we had to buy them at five times the original price.”

nSince they could not secure crude oil in the market, Daesung turned their attention to the crude oil futures market. But the problem was that due to several simultaneous incidents, the futures price skyrocketed as much as five times the previous price.

nMoreover, the closer the delivery date, the higher the price of crude oil.

nSo, lots of people with Daesung objected to the oil futures deals.

nBut Chairman Junghan Kim asked, “What about Mirae and Myongjin?”

nHis question was not precise, but they clearly knew what he was trying to ask, so Chief Secretary Insu Jang said, “Well, we haven’t noticed Mirae or Myongjin’s activities in the futures market yet. Rather, Hanil Energy and Maseok Caltex are very visible on the futures market these days. It seemed that they began to purchase crude oil futures little by little.”

n“Um…”

nChairman Kim groaned at his words, resting his chin on his hand for a moment.

n“From now on, buy all the crude oil futures that are available within the next 15 days!”

n“Pardon?”

n“Chairman?”

n“We will incur huge losses. We have already incurred a huge loss!”

n“That’s right! Moreover, we have to send tankers to Europe to load the crude oil futures that we have purchased recently. Aside from the transportation costs, the shipping companies operating oil tankers are asking for exorbitant prices because of Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Taking that into account, our losses will be bigger than just buying crude oil now.”

nMost of the executives who participated in the meeting expressed negative opinions.

nObviously, it would be a huge advantage for the Daesung Group if they alone succeeded in securing crude oil first among the other four top groups Mirae, Myongjin, Hanil Energy, and Maseok Caltex. It would be a golden opportunity to make Daesung known to the people once again, but the price they would have to pay for it was too high.

nNonetheless, Chairman Kim didn’t seem to care about their opposition.

nHe asked, “What about the current situation in Saudi Arabia?”

n“…”

n“…”

n“…”

nNone of the executives responded.

nIt’s not because they didn’t know the situation that they didn’t respond. They knew it too well. Before this executive meeting, they were briefed by the employee dispatched to Saudi Arabia.

nAccording to the briefing, Saudi Arabia hadn’t attempted to recover the damaged oil facilities yet. In other words, it was not known when Saudi Arabia would restore its previous oil production capacities.

nAt that moment, Chairman Kim asked again, “What about Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz?”

n“…”

n“…”

n“…”

nNone of the executives replied because they were briefed about the situation by the same employee.

nAccording to him, Iran has mobilized more fleets and naval forces than before, and the United States, the only country that could stop them, just sat back, doing nothing.

n“How much do they buy and sell crude oil in the market?” Chairman Kim asked.

nFortunately, one of them answered his third question.

nHe was Daesung Oil Refinery’s President Mansoo Kim.

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n“Prices are skyrocketing. Compared to the prices just before the terrorist attacks against Saudi Arabia and Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, the prices nearly doubled. Oil prices are still rising…”

n“Okay, let me choose to bet on the oil market. I’m betting the current situation will stay like this for a long time. If any of you think the situation will change suddenly in the near future, raise your hand!”

n“…”

n“…”

n“…”

nNo one raised their hands.

nAfter confirming that, Chairman Kim said in a low voice, “Then let’s do it quickly.”

n“Sure!”

n“Understood!”

nThey knew that it was crazy for the Daesung Group to invest a huge amount of money to secure crude oil, but at the same time they understood Chairman Kim’s motivations behind the decision because he wanted to beat Mirae, Myongjin, Hanil Energy, and Maseok Caltex by securing crude oil first..

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