Chapter 351: It Doesn’t Hurt to Dream

I discussed the situation with Vice President Cho Myeongsu and Chief Secretary Kang Inhan, analyzing the rapidly developing circumstances step by step.

— Director Cho, assuming Chairman Xi Jinping opens short positions, what’s our plan?

— We plan to hold the quotations steady and prevent gold futures from falling.

— But is there any point in entering into a direct confrontation with Chairman Xi?

Vice President Cho Myeongsu immediately understood the point of my question.

If our opponent poured an enormous amount of money into the market and started playing the downside, gold futures would most likely begin to fall. It seemed Cho Myeongsu intended to wait until prices dropped as far as possible and then buy up the assets before Xi Jinping could.

However, there was one critical flaw in his plan: we didn’t know the exact amount Chairman Xi intended to invest in futures.

I asked him directly what he thought about that.

— Chairman Xi Jinping summoned the heads of the state-owned banks. Minister He Lifen, acting on Vice Chairman Tang’s instructions, is attending that meeting.

— Are you saying we’ll receive information directly from Minister He Lifen?

— Exactly, Vice President Cho.

— And when exactly will we be able to get that information?

Bzzzz—

The phone lying on the table began to vibrate.

Vice Chairman Tang Guochang’s name appeared on the screen.

After showing the display to Cho Myeongsu, I answered without hesitation.

— Looks like this isn’t the first time we’ve spoken today, Vice Chairman Tang.

[I was thinking the same thing, Chief Cha. You still haven’t left work?]

— I’m staying at the office in case anything unexpected happens.

[Excellent. Then I’ll tell you what Minister He Lifen just reported to me.]

— I’m listening carefully.

[Chairman Xi summoned the heads of eleven banks, including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. He intends to collect 20 billion dollars from them and put a total of 250 billion dollars into the gold futures market.]

Something didn’t add up.

Vice Chairman Tang Guochang said that Xi Jinping had extorted 20 billion dollars from each of the eleven banks.

Logically, that meant the total amount going into futures should have been 220 billion dollars.

So where had the extra 30 billion come from?

I asked him about the reason for the discrepancy.

[It has been confirmed that the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China is contributing 50 billion dollars.]

— Is there some special reason why the Industrial and Commercial Bank is putting in more than the others?

[Lin Jialun, President of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, is one of Xi Jinping’s closest associates.]

— I see. So he’s the one who’ll be handling the futures transactions?

[That’s correct, Chief Cha.]

— Understood. And what target return has Chairman Xi set?

[Including the short-selling operation, he’s aiming for a 33.3% return and plans to sell once the price reaches 1.5 million dollars.]

In the entire history of the gold futures market, quotations had never once broken through the 1.4-million-dollar mark.

Setting a new all-time high would only be possible if some enormous news event occurred or if an astronomical amount of capital was poured into the market.

Chairman Xi Jinping intended to push the price to an unbelievable 1.5 million dollars simply by throwing 250 billion dollars into the market.

— Well, it doesn’t hurt to dream.

[That sounds like you’re certain gold futures won’t reach 1.5 million dollars. Did I understand you correctly?]

— That’s exactly what I think.

[Well, if Chief Cha says so, then that’s how it’ll be.]

— By what deadline do the ten banks have to transfer their allocated 20 billion dollars to President Lin Jialun?

[Chairman Xi ordered them to transfer the funds today, but realistically, the money won’t arrive until tomorrow morning at the earliest.]

So tomorrow would be the decisive day.

— Then we can sleep peacefully tonight.

[Ha-ha, is that so? By the way, Chairman Xi promised the bankers that even if they suffer losses, he’ll fully reimburse their principal.]

I regarded that as nothing more than empty talk from Xi Jinping, intended solely to reassure the bank executives.

At the moment, he wasn’t even entertaining the possibility of financial losses.

— And how does Chairman Xi plan to cover those potential losses?

[He said that if things go wrong, he’ll sell the thirty tons of gold he owns and reimburse all the losses.]

— It would be excellent if we could corner him so thoroughly that he wouldn’t be able to go back on those words.

[I’ll discuss that thoroughly with Minister He.]

Click.

After hanging up, I openly relayed the contents of the conversation to Vice President Cho Myeongsu and Chief Secretary Kang Inhan.

— ...Looks like we won’t have to spend the night at work today.

— Whew, that’s great news.

Chief Secretary Kang Inhan broke into a broad smile and let out a relieved sigh.

— Then how about we go home?

— Chief, wait a moment.

However, Vice President Cho Myeongsu stopped me before I could rise from the sofa.

— Do you have a question for me?

— At what price do you think President Lin Jialun will begin buying back the futures after opening the short positions?

— The answer lies in that 33.3% target return he reported to Chairman Xi.

— Could you explain in more detail so I understand?

— If he opens a short position at 1.3 million dollars per futures contract, then an 8.3% decline would bring the price down to 1.2 million dollars.

— Ah, now I understand.

Cho Myeongsu nodded knowingly.

— Director Cho, can I leave now?

— I apologize, but I have one more question.

— Go ahead.

— At what price should we sell our gold futures?

— We’ll have to judge by the situation, but most likely the price will exceed 1.4 million dollars.

— Ha-ha-ha, understood. I won’t keep you any longer.

Bzzzz—

The moment I lifted myself off the sofa, the phone clenched in my hand began vibrating.

Chairman Bongard’s name appeared on the screen.

I sat back down on the sofa and answered.

— Chairman Bongard, I’m listening.

[I just spoke with Tracy, and one question came to mind.]

Tracy was working in the task force under Vice President Cho Myeongsu and regularly reported what was happening to Chairman Bongard.

— What exactly did you want to ask?

[Tracy mentioned that Chairman Xi Jinping might play the downside. Is that true?]

— I just finished speaking with Vice Chairman Tang Guochang. The information has been confirmed.

[I see. So how are we going to ruin his plan?]

— Why don’t you hear Vice President Cho Myeongsu’s thoughts directly?

[Put him on immediately.]

Without delay, I handed the phone to Cho Myeongsu.

After exchanging brief greetings with Chairman Bongard, he got straight to the point.

— Chairman Xi Jinping plans to pour an enormous amount of money into the market and open short positions...

***

The next day.

On my way to work, I received a call from Chairman Park Yeongil.

After receiving permission to enter, I stepped into his office and found Chairman Yoon Jongu and Chief Secretary Song Dosok inside.

After bowing politely to them, I sat on the empty sofa.

Chairman Yoon Jongu addressed me in a friendly tone.

— Chief Cha, you understand why I came here, don’t you?

Both Korea Investment and Hangang Group were participating in the task force led by Cho Myeongsu.

There was no doubt that the Hangang Group executives assigned to the special task force had already reported everything to Yoon Jongu.

He had come personally to learn all the details.

— Of course.

— How are we going to destroy Xi Jinping’s plan?

I deliberately turned toward Vice President Cho Myeongsu.

Understanding my intention immediately, he answered Chairman Yoon’s question without hesitation.

— Chairman Xi plans to short the market in order to crash quotations and buy gold futures at a low price.

— How much money will he use?

— He extorted 250 billion dollars from eleven banks. Since 50 billion of that has already gone into purchasing futures, as much as 200 billion dollars will be thrown into short selling.

— That’s a substantial amount. How far will the futures fall?

— Lin Jialun, President of the Industrial and Commercial Bank and the person in charge of the operation, expects them to fall to 1.2 million dollars, but we’ll have to watch the market.

— And what’s our counterplan?

Now it was my turn to join the conversation.

— Chairman Yoon, allow me to continue.

— Go ahead. I’m listening.

— We know the timing of the attack and Lin Jialun’s target purchase price. Using that advantage, we plan to open short positions at the same time he does.

— Instead of dumping all the futures we currently hold onto the market at once?

— If we do that, our average selling price will collapse sharply.

— Hmm... You’re thinking correctly. How much are you planning to put into the short side?

— 200 billion dollars would be the optimal amount.

— Add his money to that, and it becomes 400 billion dollars... How far would the futures fall?

— We were curious about that ourselves, so we ran a simulation together with Bongard Investment Group. The results showed a collapse to 1.05 million dollars.

— I see. And when are we planning to close the short positions?

— Everything depends on his actions, so I can’t give you a specific figure.

Chairman Yoon Jongu tilted his head in confusion.

There was no way to directly monitor President Lin Jialun’s actions from Korea.

And yet, judging by Cha Jiham’s tone, it almost sounded as though he could see every move the man made.

Noticing his doubts, I explained.

— President Lin will make transactions strictly according to instructions from Xi Jinping or Chief Secretary Zhang Hui. And we’ve inserted Minister He Lifen into that very room.

— I understand what you mean, but what if Lin acts outside their orders?

— If they suffer losses, Lin Jialun is dead. He understands that perfectly well, so he won’t take any unnecessary risks.

— That sounds convincing enough. At what price do we intend to sell the futures we’ve accumulated?

— That depends on how the quotations move.

— True enough...

At that moment, Chairman Park Yeongil, who had a question of his own, joined the conversation.

— Chief Cha, are we also keeping Lin Jialun himself under surveillance?

— Triad members are monitoring his every move.

Bzzzz—

Chairman Park had barely nodded when the phone lying on the table began to vibrate.

Vice Chairman Wei Chen was calling.

The reason for his call was obvious, so after apologizing to those present, I answered.

— Vice Chairman Wei, I’m listening.

[Chief Cha, President Lin Jialun has left his house, but he isn’t heading to the Industrial and Commercial Bank.]

— Could it be... Zhongnanhai, where Chairman Xi’s residence is located?

[I’ll let you know for certain as soon as we have confirmation.]

— Understood. If his destination really is Zhongnanhai, inform Vice Chairman Tang Guochang.

[Is there a particular reason?]

— We want to send Minister He Lifen to his meeting with Chairman Xi.

[Ah, now I understand. Give me a second.]

I could hear Wei Chen issuing instructions over another line.

A moment later, his voice returned.

[Chief Cha, the surveillance team just reported in. Lin really is heading to Zhongnanhai.]

— Excellent. Contact Vice Chairman Tang immediately.

Click.

The moment I ended the call, Chairman Yoon Jongu could no longer contain his curiosity.

— Chief Cha, what’s going on?

— President Lin Jialun is on his way to meet Xi Jinping.

— Then he’ll be carrying out the futures transactions with Chairman Xi’s personal approval.

— I’m inclined to the same conclusion, Chairman Yoon.

Knock, knock, knock.

There was a knock at the door, and a secretary entered the office and handed Chairman Park Yeongil a note.

After unfolding the paper and quickly reading the message, he nodded and asked:

— Did you ask the guests why they came?

— They said they would report it to you personally, Chairman.

— Well, nothing to be done about that. Let them in.

The secretary left, and Chairman Yoon Jongu asked in confusion:

— Park, who came?

— You’ll see for yourself.

Park Yeongil had barely answered in his usual curt manner when the office door opened again.

The visitors were none other than Presidential Chief of Staff Lee Jihun and National Intelligence Service Director Om Giyeon.

We rose from our seats to greet them.

As the host, Chairman Park Yeongil was the first to address Lee Jihun.

— What brings you here without any warning?

— We became curious about what exactly is happening in China right now.

The purpose of Lee Jihun and Om Giyeon’s unexpected visit had finally become clear.