Chapter 347: Who Is This Unknown Player?

“Director Cha, why do you look so exhausted this early in the morning?”

Chairman Park Yeongil asked me with a puzzled expression.

After finishing my three-day business trip to China, I returned home at around one in the morning last night.

Since I had barely slept during the trip, all I wanted was to get some rest.

However, Saho, who knew nothing about my circumstances, started pestering me to play with him.

Thinking he would sulk if I ignored him, I played with him until dawn and only then managed to get into bed.

I honestly told Chairman Park Yeongil what had happened during the night.

“Ah, I see. Then leave work early today and get some rest.”

“I’d love to, but there’s a mountain of work piled up, so I doubt I’ll be able to.”

“Consider it the price of your terrifying work ethic.”

“What else can I do?”

“By the way, have Director Griffin and Director Nevers already returned to the United States?”

“As soon as we landed in Korea, they immediately left for America on a private jet.”

Knock, knock, knock.

At that moment, after knocking, the secretary opened the office door and announced the arrival of Chairman Yoon Jongu.

“He must have heard that you returned from China. Send him in quickly.”

Before long, Chairman Yoon Jongu and Chief Secretary Song Dosok entered the office.

Chief Secretary Kang Inhan, Vice President Cho Myeongsu, and I rose from the sofa to greet them.

Once the guests had taken their seats, Chairman Park Yeongil grumbled at them.

“What brings you here so early in the morning?”

“I didn’t come to see you, so stay out of it.”

“What?! Just listen to the way this bastard talks!”

As expected, Chairman Park Yeongil immediately flared up and plunged into an argument.

But Chairman Yoon Jongu, completely unfazed and without so much as changing his expression, turned to me.

“Director Cha, you know why I came, don’t you?”

“Of course.”

“So how did things go in China? Are you going to tell me?”

After thinking for a moment about how best to organize the story, I slowly began.

“Chairman Zhen Weiliang agreed to sell twelve tons of gold to Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan...”

“Wait!”

Chairman Yoon Jongu cut me off without hesitation.

Not quite understanding what the issue was, I merely blinked at him.

Noticing my expression, he immediately asked,

“Wasn’t Chairman Zhen supposed to sell only six tons of gold to Deputy Secretary Zhang?”

“That was the original plan, but circumstances changed along the way, and the amount increased to twelve tons.”

“Circumstances changed? What do you mean?”

“Politburo member Liu Peiqi planned to steal the gold prepared by Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan and eliminate Zhang himself. To push him into buying a larger amount, Liu Peiqi lied that he himself intended to present thirty tons of gold to Chairman Xi Jinping.”

“To think a filthy bastard like that sits in the Central Politburo and runs China.”

“I completely agree with you on that, Chairman Yoon.”

“Still, where did Chairman Zhen get the additional six tons of gold?”

“The U.S. government helped us.”

“I see. Fine, keep going.”

“Chairman Zhen and Deputy Secretary Zhang began negotiating the deal in Hong Kong.”

I began explaining the key events to Chairman Yoon and the others.

Whenever my explanation was lacking, Chief Secretary Kang Inhan filled in the gaps.

So many major incidents had happened in such a short period of time that Chairman Park Yeongil and Chairman Yoon Jongu kept firing questions at me one after another.

As a result, my story dragged on endlessly, like tar melting under the sun.

“Director Cha, why did Politburo member Liu Peiqi kill Secretary Deng Zhiping?”

“He discovered that Secretary Deng was managing Chairman Xi Jinping’s secret fund.”

“You’re saying that bastard got his hands on Chairman Xi’s slush fund?”

“That’s right, Chairman Yoon.”

“And how much money did he steal from Chairman Xi’s fund?”

“It has been confirmed that the amount was seventy-five point six billion dollars.”

“Whoa! What a fortune he tried to grab!”

“Exactly. Vice Chairman Tang Guochang was watching his crime through surveillance cameras, and at the decisive moment, he stormed Deputy Secretary Zhang’s safe house with his men.”

“Vice Chairman Tang detained Liu Peiqi’s group and brought them to the safe house where we were staying.”

Chief Secretary Kang Inhan joined the conversation after me.

I gave him a slight nod of thanks and continued my explanation.

“Vice Chairman Tang Guochang managed to intercept Chairman Xi’s secret fund after Liu Peiqi took control of it.”

“Ha-ha-ha!”

Chairman Yoon Jongu burst into booming laughter, genuinely delighted.

I waited until his laughter died down before quickly continuing.

“After successfully intercepting Chairman Xi’s secret funds, Vice Chairman Tang ruthlessly eliminated Liu Peiqi’s group to erase all traces.”

“Well, of course he did. But won’t Chairman Xi suspect Vice Chairman Tang himself?”

“We thought there was a very high chance of that as well...”

Without hiding anything, I told Chairman Park Yeongil and the others about the perfect-crime plan devised by Vice Chairman Tang Guochang and Commander Wang Dazhong.

“...In the end, Chairman Xi is convinced that Liu Peiqi colluded with North Korea and transferred the secret funds there.”

“And what if he demands that North Korea return the money?”

To be honest, that had worried me too.

But after hearing Vice Chairman Tang Guochang’s explanation, all my doubts disappeared.

“It seems he has no intention of doing that, so Chairman Xi decided to retaliate against North Korea.”

“How?”

“It was decided that North Korea’s nuclear weapons storage facilities would be destroyed.”

“Is that really possible?”

Chairman Park Yeongil’s voice was filled with deep doubt.

I explained in detail the method that could be used to destroy the facilities.

“...If we proceed that way, they can be destroyed.”

“If Director Cha says so, then I suppose it can be done. Still, when will our country finally be free of the North Korean nuclear threat?”

“Minister He Lifen plans to complete the destruction before the end of the year.”

“I hope Minister He keeps his promise.”

“I hope so too. That covers everything that happened during the trip to China.”

“Good work. Now let’s discuss something else. When should we sell our gold futures?”

I deliberately turned my gaze toward Vice President Cho Myeongsu.

Understanding my signal, he immediately spoke.

“The price of gold on the futures market is holding at one million two hundred thousand dollars, up five point two percent compared with last night.”

KBH Investment, Korea Investment, Hangang Group, and Bongard Investment Group had poured one hundred fifty-eight billion dollars into the market to drive up gold prices.

Thanks to that, Chairman Zhen Weiliang had been able to sell twelve tons of gold to Deputy Secretary Zhang Jinan at a price of one million dollars.

However, unexpected circumstances later arose, and we decided to push futures prices up once again.

So Chairman Bongard and I injected additional funds and bought more gold futures.

As a result, the price rose to one million one hundred thirty-five thousand dollars and remained around one million one hundred forty thousand.

Then, in the span of only about ten hours, there was another abnormal jump of five point two percent.

That could mean only one thing.

Someone had injected an enormous amount of capital into gold futures.

‘Could it be... Chairman Bongard?’

To test my suspicion, I called Chairman Bongard.

After several rings, his voice came through the phone, sounding pleased to hear from me.

[Director Cha, are you calling to tell me what happened in China?]

I had another reason for calling, but if I said that outright, he might take offense.

“That too.”

[I knew it. Director Griffin already told me what happened in China.]

Something didn’t add up.

Director Griffin had departed for the United States around midnight.

It was now nearly eleven in the morning, so he should still have been in transit.

On top of that, as a government official, he had no obligation whatsoever to report the events in China to Chairman Bongard.

And yet Chairman Bongard claimed that he had already received a report from him.

Puzzled by that, I cautiously asked,

“Director Griffin called you?”

[Director Griffin called while I was with President Douglas.]

“Ah, now I understand.” ℴ

[Now tell me why you called.]

“Gold futures prices have risen more than five percent compared with last night.”

[I thought that was strange too.]

That meant Chairman Bongard had not injected any additional funds into the market.

“Do you know who is moving the gold futures market?”

[I instructed Chief Secretary Williams to look into it. As soon as we obtain any worthwhile information, I’ll contact you.]

“I’ll wait for your call.”

[Now let’s return to our own matter for a moment. When should we sell our gold futures?]

“I think it won’t be too late to decide after we find out exactly who entered the market.”

[Understood. We’ll talk later.]

Click.

The moment I hung up, Chairman Yoon Jongu immediately began questioning me.

“Director Cha, what exactly is going on?”

“It looks like someone with colossal capital has entered the gold futures market.”

“But the increase was only five point two percent, wasn’t it?”

“We poured in one hundred fifty-eight billion dollars just to raise the price by thirteen point five percent.”

“When you put it that way, it really does sound strange. So how much did this unknown player invest?”

“It’s impossible to say exactly, but at least fifty billion dollars.”

Chairman Park Yeongil, who also had something to say, joined the conversation.

“Director Cha, could it have been Chairman Zhen?”

I shook my head, rejecting Chairman Park’s suggestion.

“Chairman Zhen has already invested his available funds in the futures market. If he had injected additional money, he would have told me beforehand.”

“Hmm... I see.”

Bzzzt—

While I was gathering my thoughts, the phone in my hand vibrated.

I quickly glanced at the screen and saw Chairman Bongard’s name.

After informing Chairman Park Yeongil and the others, I answered.

“Yes, Chairman Bongard.”

[Director Cha, I’m going to hand the phone to Chief Secretary Williams. Speak with him.]

A moment later, Chief Secretary Williams’s voice came through.

[Director Cha, it’s been a while.]

“That’s true. How have you been?”

[Getting by. I’ll get straight to the point and give you the information I just received.]

“I’m listening.”

[This morning, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China purchased a large volume of gold futures.]

The fog clouding my vision instantly cleared.

Chairman Xi Jinping had lost his seventy-five point six billion dollar secret fund.

And in order to make up for the loss, he had mobilized the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and entered the gold futures market.

“Chief Secretary Williams, you know what happened to Chairman Xi, correct?”

[Of course, I...]

Chief Secretary Williams suddenly stopped, as though something had just occurred to him.

I silently waited, giving him time to work it out.

A couple of moments later, he spoke again.

[Director Cha, are you saying Chairman Xi himself entered the gold futures market?]

“That’s the conclusion I’m leaning toward, but we need to verify the facts.”

[And how do we do that?]

Chairman Xi Jinping trusted Minister He Lifen.

If we asked him, we could find out whether Xi Jinping had entered the futures market.

The problem was that I didn’t know him personally.

‘I’ll have to use Vice Chairman Tang.’

Having made my decision, I continued speaking with Chief Secretary Williams.

“There is one way, but it will take some time to verify.”

[Understood. Let me know as soon as you clarify the situation.]

Click.

The moment I hung up, I immediately dialed Vice Chairman Tang Guochang.

As if he had been waiting for my call, he answered after the very first ring.

[Director Cha, did you make it back to Korea safely?]

“Thanks to your concern, Vice Chairman Tang, I arrived without incident.”

[That’s good. But you didn’t call merely to exchange pleasantries, did you? Get to the point.]

As expected, Vice Chairman Tang Guochang’s perceptiveness was truly remarkable.

“The thing is, Chairman Xi Jinping, in order to replenish the secret fund that was lost...”