Chapter 284

The Invisible Hand (2)

The sincerity of the speaker could be felt in the strangely mixed language.

It was a bizarre collaboration between three countries, but hey, as long as I understood, it was fine.

“Watashi wa Son Jin-hyeok desu, yoroshiku onegaishimasu.”

Grandpa Cheon Gil-ryong once said that people are mirrors reflecting each other.

Be polite to those who are polite.

I shook hands with Ito Koji and wished each other good luck.

He was 27 years old, 180 cm tall, with a well-built muscular physique. Despite having the ability to run 100 meters in under 10 seconds, he focused solely on the 200 meters at the Olympics. And as his Olympic participation proved, he was the strongest in Asia in the 200 meters. That was until Jin-hyeok set the Asian record at the Busan competition.

Jin-hyeok was now enjoying the attention of other athletes.

Exchanging glances and nodding with those who made eye contact.

‘It’s not just because of the height difference.’

The way people looked at Jin-hyeok had definitely changed after the 100-meter final.

If the once wary looks had turned into awe, was it just my imagination?

Seeing them approach first to greet him, it didn’t seem like just my imagination.

‘His expression is the same, but the look in his eyes has changed. It’s fascinating.’

As always, change reveals itself not in people but in the air, sensed not by the eyes but by the skin.

Compared to the memory of greeting newcomers like a fresh recruit with Jin Seon-kyu before the 100-meter preliminaries, it made me laugh.

To think that status could change so much in just a few days, the human world is truly an interesting place.

‘This must also be invisible power and authority.’

*

From domestic junior, middle, and high school stages to the Asian junior stage, then to the domestic senior stage, and finally to the first international senior stage, the Olympics.

Jin-hyeok had never once ignored his competitors.

He always did his best.

Except for that time he pulled off a ridiculous performance in the semifinals for Jin Seon-kyu, who seemed to have the madness of a cult follower in his eyes these days.

[Lane 5-.]

That’s why he was always overwhelming.

[Jin-hyeok-ssi-.]

Clap clap clap-.

Kyaaaa-!

Even Yoo Jin, who was dozing off in the dorm, attended as the goddess of Jin-hyeok’s victory, so all preparations were perfect.

In Jin-hyeok’s group 3, the Cuban and Japanese athletes were the ones to watch.

Michael Johnson, Michael Marsh, Frank Fredericks, Linford Christie, Jeff Williams, and Ato Boldon each took first place in their preliminary groups and were assigned to different groups than Jin-hyeok.

[On your mark.]

Red on the left, blue on the right.

The spikes were also properly prepared.

[-set.]

Hey, don’t mumble your words.

[Go-!]

The dry and cool air carried the sound of the electronic starting gun clearly.

Kwajajak-!

He powerfully stomped on the curved track where Michael Johnson had run the 400-meter final yesterday.

The dense shinbones felt even more like steel today.

Swoosh-hoo-. Swoosh-hoo-.

The breathing techniques for 100 meters and 200 meters are bound to be different.

There’s no fixed rule, so the best approach is to constantly research, practice, and find what works best for each individual.

While the audience focuses on the athlete’s speed and posture, many coaches pay close attention to their breathing. The process of matching breathing with the rhythm of the limbs, how meticulous and smooth it is, can give an idea of the athlete’s level.

Swoosh-swoosh-.

Quickly during the sprint.

Hooop-.

Poo-.

Slowly when conserving energy.

Even to the coaches, Jin-hyeok’s breathing seemed as natural as breathing itself.

Ah, since it’s breathing, it’s natural to breathe.

Anyway, in the 200 meters, the breathing cycle is shorter. Because the distance to cover is longer than in the 100 meters.

‘As expected, four steps are just right for me in the 200 meters.’

Inhale over four steps, exhale over four steps.

The stride is long and steady-.

With overflowing strength and sturdy knees and ankles, there’s no loss of power, making this stride perfect.

The height of the elbows, the stride length, the angle of the knees—all meticulously adjusted and perfected. The muscles and breathing in perfect harmony to maintain that cycle until the finish line.

A steady stride without wobbling. Despite the rapidly moving legs, the upper body remains at a constant height, stable and comfortable.

With that same comfort, he pierced through the finish line.

[Gooo-!]

Waaaaa-!

Kyaaaaa-!

1. Son. KOR. 19.70s

2. Garcia. CUB. 20.36s

3. Ito. JPN. 20.47s

4. Brimacombe. AUS. 20.53s

······

······

「New Olympic Record」

Wow, I said I’d save energy, but that was too fast.

Garcia from Cuba and Ito from Japan were smiling, but it was an uncomfortable smile. They probably thought they’d pace together in groups and finish together, but he just sprinted ahead alone.

I raised my hand to Ito to apologize. Gomen-.

Ito, who made eye contact with Jin-hyeok, smiled happily and responded with applause.

The top three qualify for the semifinals, so he achieved his goal by advancing to the semifinals.

Will Michael Marsh get upset again?

After all, he broke Marsh’s Olympic record.

Just then, he made eye contact with Marsh, who was standing behind the starting area with his hands on his hips, looking at the scoreboard. He waved to Marsh, who was expected to take first place in the next race, Quarterfinal Group 4. I’m not sorry.

Hey, don’t forget to order my dad’s sneakers.

***

New York.

At the top of a skyscraper, bathed in the morning sunlight, someone was enjoying the view. The eyes that looked down at the world were filled with boredom. So bored that it seemed like they might break the window and jump at any moment.

‘Skyscrapers······. Monotonous.’

There are areas in Seoul densely packed with buildings called skyscrapers, but New York always feels different. The first time I visited New York, I looked up at the sky and couldn’t help but gasp.

‘From below, it’s intimidating; from above, it’s charming.’

Like the difference between a child with a magnifying glass and an ant?

Anyway, it’s an unreachable height to scratch the sky.

There’s even a poem about it.

Mount Tai is high, but it’s just a mound under the sky.

‘Is it imagination or the wind that wants to scratch the sky?’

Human imagination and bravado have a common point.

Create, name, transform, and name again.

‘Skyscraper curse.’

The curse of skyscrapers.

The hypothesis that countries building super-tall skyscrapers experience the worst economic downturns.

Beyond analyzing economic and social effects and impacts, some people feared that the act itself would incur the wrath of the heavens.

Hong Ki-jun didn’t know about such hypotheses or superstitions.

Of course, he didn’t believe in them.

‘God has no interest in the human world. No, beyond indifference, he despises it like bugs.’

Humans are more benevolent towards bugs.

Out of ten humans, eight would try not to step on an ant if they found one. Two would try to crush it. Even if they accidentally stepped on it, they’d feel sorry. That’s human nature. But God doesn’t care whether humans live or die, or what they do.

God doesn’t even know we exist······. As he murmured while savoring the faint aroma of coffee rising from the cup, a loud noise came from outside.

This mentally young fat guy is pushing himself too hard. As he muttered, the door burst open.

“Boss! Boss, is that you? No contact-.”

Richard Hammond, a fat guy with yellow-tinted glasses, close to brown blond hair, and an even darker brown beard.

Hammond quickly hid his delighted expression and closed his mouth. He had spotted Hong Ki-jun with a finger to his lips.

With a slight smirk, Hong Ki-jun gestured, and Hammond lifted his massive frame onto the chair.

“Leave us.”

Still standing, Hong Ki-jun lightly issued the order, and the New York SSS agents bowed and exited in perfect order.

Disciplined and swift, their movements were so careful that even the sound of the door closing was inaudible.

Once the SSS agents left, Hong Ki-jun placed his coffee cup on the desk and revealed the purpose of his secret visit.

“Richard. Will one year be enough?”

Dramatically speaking, one year is good. Muttering, Hong Ki-jun tapped his temple.

Richard Hammond, with the mental age of 12, sat with his hands on his knees, listening like a good child.

Hammond’s only friend and boss, Raymond Hong’s words were law and the Bible.

Gulp-.

As Hammond’s throat moved, Hong Ki-jun showed four fingers.

“Four billion.”

“Fo, fo······?”

“Can you prepare it?”

After blinking a few times to steady himself, Hammond leaned back in his chair.

“Of course. If I mobilize the assets I have, it’s no problem! Others might not manage, but for Richard, it won’t even take a month. But why give a whole year? Are you waiting for the giant wave?”

“It’s not easy for someone like you to sit on such a large sum, right? Use that time to grow it. Don’t forget.”

“Got it. But is there a specific method or direction you want?”

“Not particularly. Ah-.”

Hong Ki-jun raised his index finger as if remembering something.

“Leave the Texas and Saudi oil fields alone. The Chilean mines too.”

“Okay. But that money, you’re planning to use it there, right?”

“I guess I should tell you······.”

You’re not the type to blabber about it.

“Tell me, come on.”

“Invest three billion in Korean companies.”

Hammond’s turquoise eyes shook greatly.

“Hey, boss. Are you going to miss a good opportunity? The giant wave is coming, and we should sweep up all those who get caught in it! If we pour three billion, the tasty ones won’t collapse, right?”

That’s true······. Hong Ki-jun sighed and turned back to the window.

「Even though they already have an overwhelming technological advantage, pursuing mergers and acquisitions as an expansion strategy is just another name for the greed of hunting latecomers. It’s been like that since ancient times. The banner of liberating slaves, the people, or the citizens was just a pretext for territorial expansion and internal control, nothing more than war lust. We learn wisdom from history, but we also learn from the future, don’t we?」

Some guy pretending to be good. Tsk-.

「Employment succession, job security, they’re not eternal. Even if it’s nailed down by law, laws can be changed. And the law is on the side of the heirs. You know that formal employment succession is just a formality, so how can people work comfortably? They have to live with the anxiety of not knowing when they’ll be laid off. How can you expect any efficiency or productivity from such people?

Giving other companies’ managers and employees the opportunity to choose for themselves is the magnanimity that a power player who controls the market can show.

Give them the chance to decide their own rise and fall.

They are not prey. They are colleagues and competitors who must run together. You must have read Adam Smith’s “The Wealth of Nations” from the 18th century······.」

Hong Ki-jun had tried to read “The Wealth of Nations” several times during college but always fell asleep. It was great for insomnia.

But I know about the invisible hand. It’s famous.

Young Hong Ki-jun thought of himself as an idealist.

His friends didn’t hesitate to call him crazy.

「······The proposition of the invisible hand is that under a sound social system pursuing economic order, all economic entities compete for their own interests······.」

But then an even crazier guy appeared.

I knew he was clueless, but this is frustrating.

I knew Jin-hyeok had that temperament, but this is severe. It’s like an incurable disease worse than military athlete’s foot.

– 【How romantic.】

A shadow who had been watching Jin-hyeok’s actions together said that. A long time ago, in a different place, during a different action.

Even though a sound social system that fairly encompasses all subjects in every field cannot exist due to power imbalances, even while acknowledging that fact, Son Jin-hyeok never gave up his stubbornness. He endlessly repeated that they must be given a chance. Like a parrot.

‘The only sin of the masses is stupidity.’

Jin-hyeok passionately argued that if you weigh ignorance and malice, the sin of ignorance is lighter. If you have to sacrifice, of course, you should sacrifice the malicious side.

It’s true, but where is that easy? Every time the situation gets chaotic, the common people are sacrificed because it’s the easier choice. Every power holder’s choice has been like that.

「Saein has already introduced Western-style management and corporate governance models internally and externally, and other companies are attempting to imitate them. Although it’s only superficial imitation, when the exterior changes, the interior follows. Just as people change their thoughts to become better, and when thoughts change, their appearance changes again, companies will eventually evolve through a positive cycle of change.

You’ve already thrown the topic of change into the world by changing Saein. The world has already changed so much that it’s hard to find the old ways. You’ve provided the stimulus for change, so now with a little help, even a big wave won’t collapse them.

Terms like the foreign exchange crisis or bailout funds are just fancy bait for politicians who need speech material and media who need stories.

After the fact, pouring 200 billion, 400 billion dollars of public funds, where will that money go? Pouring rain on a desert won’t wet all the sand and seep into the ground. It’ll only wet the oasis and the rest will fly away without a trace.

I think it’s better to prevent the desert from forming in the first place. If you have the eyes to see the future, read the times, and the ability to control things.

Disasters, national crises, some risk somewhere, most people don’t know these terms. Even if they don’t know such terms, they should be able to live happily day by day for it to be a good and ordinary world.

It’s the good worker ants who die, not the incompetent power holders who should disappear. The pain is the share of those struggling with tuition, living expenses, winter clothes, bus fares, and even a single pack of ramen.

Educated people should remember that what supports a country is not corporations or bureaucrats but individuals and families. If individuals collapse, families collapse, and if families collapse, the country collapses. This is connected to the saying that the individual is the state.

Just enough to realize the bubble, just enough to wake up from the dream of playing with money, reduce the stimulus. Even a cold will make companies start soft restructuring.

Let the law judge incompetent managers later. Even if the law is soft and rotten. That’s also human work.

That’s the natural and human choice.」

Natural and human choice······.

Thinking about it, it is romantic.

‘Sigh-, that bastard······.’

From a chaebol chairman’s perspective, it’s a sigh-inducing value system.

If Jin-hyeok didn’t have extraordinary survival skills, if Hong Ki-jun didn’t feel indebted to Jin-hyeok······. He might have hesitated to send his precious daughter to that guy. Just like he scolded his young daughter who begged to marry Son Jin-hyeok in her past life to get a grip.

‘I was a bastard······.’

Feeling inexplicably irritated, Hong Ki-jun scratched his chin like someone bitten by a mosquito.

He was also born the son of a poor shoemaker and met Yoo Se-ra, which changed his life. But in his old age, he couldn’t show the decisiveness and boldness of Chairman Yoo Myung-sun. After the chairman changed, he treated the person who revived the shrinking group as just a young worker ant.

‘Ah, damn it, Hong Ki-jun, you bastard.’

Ah, so annoying.

After organizing his thoughts again, he finally spoke.

“Hammond······.”

“Old story, boss.”

The genius of asset management, Richard Hammond.

The second person Hong Ki-jun sought after returning to the past.

A genius who didn’t exist in history but was found with the help of a shadow.

– “Can you find the most talented person in making money?”

– 【This guy. The most outstanding soul in the world you lived in. His condition isn’t good. That’s why no one wanted to use him.】

In his past life, Hammond lived as a cashier at a mart until he died at 40 with the mental age of 12. He didn’t even live half his given lifespan, so it could be called a premature death.

Chocolate, red meat, sugar, sugar, and more sugar.

A lonely death with no family or friends to see him off.

Well, even now, he looks far from healthy, but thanks to Hong Ki-jun, there’s no issue with his life. He’s even getting regular checkups.

Hong Ki-jun became Hammond’s only friend.

From playing video games with bland low-salt meals and zero cola to how much effort he put into recruiting this eccentric, if written as an essay, quite a few people would get cancer or collapse from high blood pressure.

“Do you trust me?”

“Of course I do! I’ve never not trusted you!”

Waving his arms like an excited child, Hammond smiled brightly.

Hong Ki-jun nodded with a solemn expression.

“Then do as I say.”

“Tell me, come on.”

“We need to stop the giant wave.”

There will be no foreign exchange crisis.

Blinded by money, foreign capital won’t dare to swallow the country.

There will be no golden army trampling on those shedding tears over collapsing companies.

‘Well, I told you to live interestingly, so I’ll grant that wish.’

That was.

The wish of the debtor Son Jin-hyeok.

「It’s shameless to ask you to build a shield with your achievements.

I’ll repay it somehow.

Even if I can’t match that grace.」

Now we’re both debtors. This damn bastard.

Hong Ki-jun’s smile as he finally made a decision was refreshing.