The Chaebols Are Back

"Later. Please. Smith."

"Yes, father."

"Yes, give your mother some champagne."

At the instructions of Senator Walker, Smith led his mother to the bar prepared in the special room.

"Seongsu, what do I have to tell you?"

"Are you close with the Bush family?"

"The Bush family?"

As I know, George Herbert Walker Bush, Bush's father, is now the US Ambassador to the United Nations.

'That's not the important thing.'

The Bush family is an affluent family that owns energy groups.

"What does that mean?"

He asks me with a stare that implies a great deal, for he is a Republican, George Herbert Walker Bush.

"Can I meet the CEO of America's biggest energy company through George Herbert Walker Bush?"

Briefly put, George Herbert Walker Bush is a stepping stone.

Anyway, Senator Walker Smith was very surprised by my request.

But why am I like that?

'7th light district.'

To be exact, it is because of the Korea-Japan joint development area.

'The Korean government first, around May 1970.'

They tried to pronounce sovereignty of the continental shelf and start developing it, but for lack of interference by the government of Japan as well as not having enough capital and technology with which to conduct underwater surveys, they could only sign off the Japan-Korea Continental Shelf Agreement submitted by the Japanese government in 1974.

Let us avoid that in advance.

'The only one that can suppress Japan is America.'

America is a gangster with its own business interests ahead.

'anyhow!'

I'm going to reform all the terrible conditions in Korea from one to ten.

I was the most powerful tycoon before, but now I've come back again. What can't I do?

* * *

Nauru Republic Airport.

There were a few transit points to travel from South Korea to the Republic of Nauru.

Fly out of Gimpo Airport in South Korea, into Tokyo Airport in Japan, and then to Australia.

And from Australia to the Republic of New Zealand and all the way to the Republic of Nauru, it was a long and difficult trip.

Lee Seong-su's partner and subordinate, Kim Gwang-pil, had just come to the Republic of Nauru with the suddenly bestowed diplomatic status.

"Where am I? Why me? Damn it!"

Kim Gwang-pil felt dizzied because of the exhausting travel.

[Old man, fly to the island nation of Nauru in the middle of the South Pacific.]

Kim Gwang-pil, who stepped out of the tiny plane, struggled to ease his airsickness and remembered what Lee Seong-su had told him.

[I dislike everything about island nations, but I dislike the Japanese, I dislike the British, and I dislike this nation where an individual who served under the Japanese, became a teacher and soldier, and joined the Gando Special Force to arrest independence fighters has become president.] [Is that making you think you are different when you tell me so?] [Okay, why in a nation named the Republic of Nauru?] [There is a lot of bird droppings there that have become like rocks and accumulated.] [Does bird droppings generate money?] [I said bird droppings, but the island itself consists of phosphate. And phosphate is a natural fertilizer.] [You are saying that you want to become the head of a trading company that buys phosphate from that island nation and sells it nationally?] [The population of the Republic of Nauru is less than ten thousand.] [But?] [Thanks to the richness of phosphate, the entire population is affluent. Do you think an affluent individual would seek employment?] [Like a miner or nurse sent to Germany?] [Senior, sometimes a rolling stone can upset an entrenched one, so go ahead and verify the atmosphere, politics, and power relations of that island nation before me.] [How am I going there?] [I will be providing a South Korean diplomatic ID card soon.] [Really?] [Yes, I applied for it at the Blue House.] [Wow, this really is a dictatorship country.] [Senior, I told you to watch your tongue.]

"Seongsu, he can do anything, since he sent me here and had that good idea."

Kim Gwang-pil gazed at the island landscape thinking about Lee Seong-su.

"Are you a Korean diplomat?"

A Republic of Nauru government official, who came over dressed like a tourist, greeted Kim Gwang-pil at that moment and asked:

"Yes, my name is Kim Gwang-pil, the future consul of the Republic of Korea in Nauru. Nice to meet you. Hahaha!"

* * *

A Plaza Hotel room in New York.

"But Ambassador Bush to the UN is a Republican?"

Advertisements

Senator Walker's subtlety appears to suggest that you, Seongsu, are attempting to get in line with the Republican Party too.

"Yes, I understand you are a Republican."

"What does it mean?"

"Bush will be a stepping stone for you, me and Smith."

Actually, it would not do any harm to be associated with someone from the Republican Party.

'Flowers and power are the same.'

Hwamusipilhong!

The power lasted for around 10 years.

Anything longer than that is nearly dictatorship.

'Then what about the President of the Republic of Korea?'

He is a dictator.

'Politicians and businessmen also have a lot in common.'

Politicians will do anything for votes.

Businessmen also won't hesitate to do anything to make a profit.

"so?"

"In fact, I'm proposing a massive offshore energy development project not to the Republican Party but to the largest energy company in the United States. If successful, it will be comparable to the North Sea oil fields in the UK."

"North Sea oil fields?"

Oil was discovered in the North Sea region of England around October 1970.

This was Britain's blessing. Indeed, there had been a discovery of crude oil in adjacent Norway and Denmark, but for the first time, oil was discovered in British maritime waters.

'As far as I know!'

I know that this is the culmination of 34 drillings for 15 years. Just thinking of the amount of time taken, it is the culmination of 30 years of effort.

'Britain's blessing still remains.'

What remains?

Because enormous oil fields, such as the Brent field, will burst one after another in the near future.

If I possessed $1 billion of capital at the current moment, I would invest it in British offshore oil fields.

'What if that takes place?'

We may be able to obtain about 20% of the mining rights via the Brent field.

If we record such achievements, South Korea can accomplish economic development without concerning ourselves with crude oil.

But such massive funds are not available today.

"The region called Block 7, which is the sea area of the Republic of Korea, is likely to be greater than the North Sea oil fields if development is achieved."

"A subtlety that provides a sense of hope."

What if an enormous oil field similar to the North Sea oil field is found and successfully drilled in South Korea, which yields not a drop of oil?

'Is this really a blessing?'

Is it a curse?

In a way, it could be that they grew economically through concentrating so ruthlessly on exports because they didn't have anything.

"That's why I really want to meet Ambassador Bush."

Senator Walker, what I am going to say will sound like someone else.

So, you must stamp it as something that is about you.

"Only then will the grandchildren of the great lord stay in the top 0.01% of the rich world and enjoy more."

Why do you want to be a politician with authority?

Why do you want to be wealthy again?

That must be a legacy from human nature.

'What if you don't plan on passing it on to your children?'

Because I won't be collecting them so desperately.

"Seongsu, even now my son and I are enjoying it enough."

Advertisements

"I know. But it won't work if you just keep it that way. In the future, new conglomerates will be created one after another, starting with the United States."

That Bill from Microsoft!

The bald man at Amazon.com.

Even the squares crazed with square, rounded corners and smashed apples!

Perhaps it was feasible because it was America.

"New conglomerate?"

I am looked at by Senator Walker, to whom I am asked the question.

He looked at me as if I could be a new tycoon.

The big thing is that in the political history of America, there are instances where father and son were presidents but no family where grandson or granddaughter became president of the United States."

"Haha, so my godson is gearing up for the next 50 years?

It is human nature to feel elated just to hear that you can be a candidate for the US presidential election, but you seem to be highly contented when you hear that your son can be the US president and that your grandson or granddaughter can be the US president too.

'Fatherhood doesn't cost money.'

But the impact is good.

"In the oriental chess game Baduk, there is a layout called Po-seok."

"so?"

"It is to prepare beforehand. If you do not prepare beforehand, what will return later will be descendants who will resent others."

"Just as predicted, Seongsu, you have a superlative capacity for arousing people. Incidentally, did you mention 7th district?"

Congressman Walker Smith most likely doesn't even know where District 7 is at.

"Yes, it is the marine region south of Jeju Island, which is South Korea's biggest island. Being a continental shelf region, there is a very high chance that there are oil and gas reserves."

"That could be so. But Seongsu, how many years did it take to develop the North Sea oil field?"

"32 years."

"I see."

If the British hadn't planned 32 years ago, the North Sea oil fields would not have been exploited in 1970."

The reason I used 'Englishman' to Senator Walker is that Irish people have an automatic dislike of the English.

'actually.'

There's a reason Irish immigrants account for 10% of the population in the United States.

The British government, which had Ireland as a colony, did not offer any help when the great famine struck Ireland.

This resulted in over a million deaths due to starvation in Ireland, and a lot of people went to America to escape starvation.

'At that time, England was very cruel to Ireland.'

Even when Russia proposed to donate £100,000 to Ireland, the British government did not provide it.

The reason for not donating was because the Queen of England had donated only 40,000 pounds towards the Irish famine, and no other nation shall be permitted to donate more than the Queen of England.

"You British bastards, hahaha!"

Hatred of Britain by Irish people is the same as hatred of Japan by Korean people.

"Isn't that so?"