Chapter 154: < Protect – Episode 153 – Korea Shock [5] >

Mansudae Apartments were a nice place to live in, but it wasn’t appropriate for accommodating the most talented people of North Korea. The only reason why Kim Taek Sun used Mansundae apartments was because he wanted to do things that he couldn’t do in a house, and that was to chase after women. As much as he was skilled, he was also a playboy.

“Huff, huff! Ugh.”

He took pretty much everything that was supposed to work, but nothing changed. He left the naked woman in his bed and walked out to the living room.

“Damn it!’

The man’s dignity hit rock bottom. Did he have to take Viagra again? Once Kim Taek Sun chugged some water and turned around, he dropped the water bottle in surprise as soon as he turned around.

“Oh, you set up an account in Hong Kong?”

After Ahn Soo Ho looked through Kim Taek Sun’s laptop while sitting on the couch, he discovered his slush fund. However, what was unique was that he used a Hong Kong bank instead of a Swiss bank. Whether it was inside or outside the country, people mocked the Chinese government for laying down harsh punishments for offshore tax evasion. Or it was possible that someone from Hong Kong supported Kim Taek Sun from behind the scenes.

‘This is interesting.’

The people of Hong Kong endorsed independence, so they didn’t like the Chinese Communist Party. The liberal system was a bit iffy, but they still managed to live over 100 years in freedom, so it was understandable that they were mad about the government switching to dictatorship overnight. Hong Kong people argued that they were Hong Kong people and not Chinese people. They might have looked similar, but their identities refused to be Chinese.

‘Are they trying to disperse the Chinese Communist Party’s attention on Hong Kong to others around them?’

Lee Yong Hee thought that a Chinese person was the one who gave Kim Taek Sun the support he needed. As a North Korean, he probably perceived Hong Kong people and Chinese people as the same. However, the gap between Hong Kong and China was far and wide.

“Sit down.”

Kim Taek Sun sat down on the couch across from Ahn Soo Ho. And of course, magic was used. He had visited North Korea over 20 times before, but this was his first time meeting Kim Taek Sun. He was a go-getter who ended up at the center of power. Besides being obsessed with sex, he had very few weaknesses to be used against him.

“Explain to me why the missiles were fired south.”

“It was Hwang Chi Rin’s request.”

“Anne & Everick Investments?”

“That’s right. We received a request to fire a missile and provoke America so that they would work with China to resolve it.”

“He’s got some guts.”

Anne & Everick Investments was a joint investment firm of England and Hong Kong that was often called the Hong Kong Dinosaurs. While K-Bank posed a strong influence in Africa, A&E ruled all over South East Asia. A&E, which had major corporations in Hong Kong and Singapore, was famous as a senior member of the City of London, and over 30% of the speculative capital going over from China and England went through this company.

‘These bastards.’

Since they needed to divide the attention of the Chinese Communist Party in order to support Hong Kong’s independence movement, they wanted to use North Korea and a vulture fund and collect profits while they were at it. This was an international fraud that included K-Bank. A&E, as well as other investment groups.

‘Something like this happened during the foreign currency crisis as well.’

Back then George Soros’ hedge fund and another speculative force acted together.

‘But their original intent is none of my business…’

Since Korea possessed a lot in foreign currencies, they weren’t going to go down easily. He did have financial plans in mind with Korea as a target, but as long as no one attacked him, he had no intention of committing any chivalrous acts. Contrarily, for Ahn Soo Ho who had huge amounts of cash, a foreign currency crisis was an opportunity.

“Transfer it.”

He pushed the laptop toward Kim Taek Sun, and he donated a portion of his slush fund to UNICEF. That was it. As soon as Ahn Soo Ho disappeared, Kim Taek Sun fell on his face. A few powerful men of Pyeongyang didn’t wake up that morning, and as a result, the North Korean government flipped upside down.

As soon as rumors started going around that Kim Taek Sun died while having sex, they tried to conceal it immediately. Then rumors that he was killed in a purge started going around. Kim Taek Sun was the right hand of the king, but since the right hand got cut overnight, those who were watching couldn’t help but stay low.

Even the owner of the assembly hall was shocked by Kim Taek Sun’s death. There wasn’t a single piece of evidence that pointed toward an assassination. North Korea never needed evidence in the first place, but that was why it was even scarier. If people were really on an assassination mission, anyone in the upper class could be the next target.

The North Korean government thought this was America’s response to the missiles. They could have pushed the responsibility to America, but if they admitted to the fact that they snuck into Pyeongyang and assassinated the political director, their system would have tumbled down.

They just went with Kim Taek Sun’s death being a part of a purge.

‘So that’s how it’s going to be, huh? But then again, if America’s not satisfied, they’re more than capable of committing assassinations.’

America always talked about freedom, democracy, and legal justice, but they had ordered assassinations before. And everything was for the profit of the nation. Ahn Soo Ho who got in a Hong Kong private jet only found out about Kim Taek Sun’s death a week later. And after that, there were no more missile launches. However, North Korea continued with their provocative media games, but since they did that 365 days a year anyway, all they had to do was let it enter one ear and exit through the other.

He talked to Daniel on the phone.

“Some of the hedge fund positions are weird. It’s as if…”

“There was a fumble?”

“Oh! Yes, exactly!”

Daniel Navarros, who was born in South America, lived like an American, and then moved to Korea, was obsessed with soccer. It was in his blood.

“In the process of the speculative forces going over to vulture funds, there are other investors who are collecting funds.”

“That’s a sign that they want to pull their foot out before they suffer a loss in the case that the stock prices don’t end up as they planned.”

“Was that why there weren’t any missile launches in the last few days…?”

Ahn Soo Ho shrugged his shoulders.

“What about the Hope Medical Foundation?”

“They’re money-eating hippos.”

Daniel shook his head as if he had enough of them. Hosoo Entertainment Group planned to invest 10 trillion won over the span of 20 years to the Hope Medical Foundation. Whenever they announced anything, it was in the trillions, but 10 trillion won over the course of 20 years wasn’t that burdensome. The problem was that the Korean tax law required them to pay a lot of taxes.

“Trying to be certified as a non-profit organization is too vague. To be honest with you, it’s always possible for us to evade taxes.”

“There are many places in our country that were solely created to avoid taxes. That’s how most large corporations are.”

“Does the National Tax Service stand for that?”

“Well, America is even worse. Whether it’s America or England, people learn the worst things from developed countries.”

The rich acknowledged tax evasion as a skill than something illegal. Whatever they did themselves wasn’t wrong to them. But what could anyone do? The rich people of any country had less ethical sense than the average human being. The rich weren’t sons of b*tches. But most rich people were.

“If we don’t change anything, we’ll have to pay… 4 trillion won in taxes.”

“4 trillion? It’s been reduced by quite a bit.”

“We just paid an unrealistic amount last year.”

He paid 23 trillion won in taxes. He wasn’t sure if anyone was going to break that record in Korea.

“There’s no need to try so hard to reduce our taxes, Danny.”

“But there’s no reason to give them all our money either. I’ll try my best to reduce it this year.”

“Do as you please.”

Ahn Soo Ho backed off this time. Since he gave so much last year, there was no way anyone would tackle him about taxes this time around. As soon as he ended his call, Kim Woo Jung approached and handed him a bottle of beer. It seemed like he was always surrounded by women, but the truth was, most businessmen and secretaries were male. All the talk about harems were just nonsense.

“What brings you to Hong Kong?”

“I have to meet someone. What about you, Director Kim?”

“Even if they were taken over by China, Hong Kong’s film and entertainment industry have a lot of potential. In order to attempt at China’s market, it’s best to use Hong Kong first. If they use the ban against Korean culture again, there won’t be an answer.”

The celebrities and production team of Hosoo Entertainment were doing well in China. However, their current activities weren’t direct investments but were cooperative projects. In order to analyze the markets of China and Japan, they had a liaison office, but when they took over Shinhwa and FNB, the foreign branches were all shut down.

Hosoo Entertainment America and Europe had the same name, but their method of operation was completely different from the main branch. As soon as Hollywood producer Scott Warren started working under Ahn Soo Ho, the businessmen of the main branch suddenly became competitive, and Kim Woo Jung focused more on management than business.

“Hong Kong people are very different from Chinese people. They’re more cold-hearted.”

Kim Woo Jung had an accurate perception of the relationship between Hong Kong and China.

“Taiwan is actually more similar to China.”

“But you shouldn’t say that to Taiwanese people.”

“Of course not.”

The way China and Taiwan acted was very similar. Since China had a larger population, they stood out more, but if Taiwan had the same population, they would have acted the same way.

‘Their proud nature that took over Asia for thousands of years doesn’t just disappear.’

China wasn’t going to change in a 100 or 1000 years. Once Ahn Soo Ho arrived in Hong Kong, he parted ways with Kim Woo Jung and headed over to a skyscraper. It was China, but it didn’t look like China. Hong Kong was going through a dramatic change.

The 80th floor was surrounded by clouds. Other people needed binoculars to see, but his eyesight allowed him to see the people’s faces on the ground from above. The people gathered around as if they were in the middle of a protest.

“What are you looking at?”

The person who sat across from him was a woman.

Barbara Huxley

Ahn Soo Ho didn’t make the gesture of pulling out her seat, and she didn’t expect such a thing from him either. She ordered a black tea and then stared at Ahn Soo Ho.

“Is… something the matter?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Your face looks scary.”

He smirked in response to what Ahn Da Sol said as well.

“Yeah. I’m in a pretty bad mood.”

“Angeli… Oh, my bad. Da Sol said you flipped North Korea upside down.”

“It was a warning.”

“A warning?”

“Yeah. A warning that if they roam around in front of me, I’ll kick their ass.”

She wasn’t able to laugh or cry.

“Anne & Everick.”

“Is that the target?”

“For now.”

Ahn Soo Ho called Barbara to Hong Kong because he needed her help. That was because he didn’t have a point of contact with A&E. There was no use in just demanding that he meet with the chairman, and if he used his reputation and fame to get what he wanted, there was bound to be retaliation.

The pride of Hong Kong people was as high as Mount Everest.

He was soon able to meet with Chairman Hwang Chi Rin. One of the reasons was because there was a lot of British capital with A&E, but it was also because Barbara’s status was very high. He heard that he was slightly bald, with a bit of a belly. Countries that suffered from greater poverty tended to prefer bigger bellies.

‘There’s an incredible gap between the rich and the poor in Hong Kong.’

No matter how high their GDP was, the crazy cost of living in Hong Kong couldn’t be dealt with. In particular, the cost of houses there was literally a killer.

“I’m Hwang Chi Rin.”

“I’m Ahn Soo Ho.”

“I’ve heard of your reputation.”

“I’m just a retired man. But I have heard that you’re an impressive businessman.”

“Haha. That’s just what my reputation says.”

Once they complimented each other a few times, they became quite friendly. On the outside at least. Neither of them talked about the death of the political director or North Korea, and it was Hwang Chi Rin who got straight to the point first.

“I’ll halt the operation.”

“No, no.”

He tilted his head in response to Ahn Soo Ho shaking his head.

“Isn’t that what you wanted, Mr. Ahn?”

“I may be a Korean, but I’m also a businessman, Chairman Hwang. I have no intention of getting in the way of capitalistic reasoning.”

Korea’s foreign capital was at its highest limit and being maintained. Even if K-Bank, A&E, or another investment firm initiated an operation, they weren’t going to go through a foreign currency crisis.

Hwang Chi Rin’s eyes opened wide in curiosity.

“However, bringing North Korea into this was a rash decision.”

“I apologize for that.”

He put his strong pride down and apologized sincerely. This was Hwang Chi Rin’s first meeting with Ahn Soo Ho, but he knew very much about his reputation. He didn’t like that he was close with premier Yuhaipung, but since he had even America and Russia in the palm of his hands, he didn’t think China was any different.

Hwang Chi Rin looked at Ahn Soo Ho with a cold gaze.

‘They say he’s a master in martial arts.’

As someone who got to where he was through martial arts, he was very active in martial arts competition and the world’s martial arts association. After the reform of the Chinese Communist Party, they weren’t completely suppressed, but nuns, monks, and religion were still under repression. The Falun Gong was proof that China was still barbaric. Hwang Chi Rin and James Hwang, who were proud to be Hong Kong people, treated black people as if they were dirty foreigners.

In that sense, they were racists. But they probably just thought of it as Hong Kong pride.

“What is it that you want, Mr. Ahn?”

Ahn Soo Ho chugged his expensive tea and then gave him a friendly smile, but the people who could see him would have had cold sweat dripping down their backs.

“How much is your life worth?”

Barbara, who was just listening, smiled as if she was entertained, and Hwang Chi Rin’s peace was then shattered. The next day, the credit rating organizations all over the world lowered the nation’s credit by two levels. Korea didn’t receive any warning beforehand, so they felt like they were hit with a bomb.

Did North Korea’s continuous provocation increase Korea’s investment risk?

Our economy is crashing! Is this the start of the Korean shock?

Pressure the US forces in Korea to be mobilized!

The reformation of the rich cannot be put off any longer!

The real impact that shook up Korea wasn’t the fall of the nation’s credit score.

Jungil Group, which is currently ranked 5th out of all conglomerates, has been caught with accounting fraud of 3.5 trillion won!

Once Ahn Soo Ho saw the front page of the newspaper, he picked up the phone.

“Hey, it’s me. Reveal the list of secret agents.”

< Protect – Episode 153 – Korea Shock [5] > The end.

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