Chapter 521: Side Story 5. Aftermath (2)

Side Story 5. Aftermath (2)

A beautiful woman in a suit was working busily at her office, checking her schedule and appointments on her smart watch.

After sunset, she wore workout clothes and ran through the city lit by streetlights. A moment later, she stopped running, wiped her sweat, and checked the workout data displayed on her smartwatch.

Then, the Seosung Electronics logo appeared, and the commercial ended.

- Ellie Kim filmed another commercial.

- Seriously, isn't it a cheat to be a Golden Gate lawyer with those looks?

- Since it's a Seosung Electronics commercial, the modeling fee must be no joke~

- Ellie Kim's value skyrocketed after marrying Kang Jin-hoo. They say French and Italian luxury brands are lining up to film commercials with her.

- Haha, Vester, who filmed a commercial with her beforehand, hit the jackpot. Their stock price doubled compared to before the commercial.

- It seems Im Jin-yong used her as a model because he's close to Kang Jin-hoo.

- Must be nice~ Meeting a good husband and filming commercials.

- LOL isn't it the opposite? She refused all the requests to film commercials from here and there, but she filmed one for Seosung Electronics because it's Seosung Electronics.

- Yeah, that's the answer. No matter how expensive the modeling fee is, it's a drop in the bucket compared to Kang Jin-hoo's wealth.

- Hearing from a friend who works at Seosung Electronics, Im Jin-yong personally asked her.

- I don't know about anything else, but she is damn pretty.

- Kang Jin-hoo is lucky~ He has a lot of money and his wife is pretty too~

- That bastard ㅜㅜ So jealous ㅜㅜ

- I'm going to watch the fish and chips commercial one more time.

- Fish-chip-fish-chip~

The Seosung Electronics smartwatch commercial was released. This commercial airs not only in Korea but all over the world where the smartwatch is released.

"The reaction to the commercial is good."

As Taek-gyu said, it was generally well-received. She is pretty even in my eyes. Not only was her appearance beautiful, but she was overflowing with intellectual beauty and healthy beauty.

After marriage, commercial offers flooded in for Ellie. Her modeling fee soared to the level of top Hollywood actors. Nevertheless, everyone was anxious to cast her. Luxury brands were particularly active.

She refused them all, but the reason she filmed the Seosung Electronics commercial was because Chairman Im Jin-yong visited her three times and personally asked her.

After watching the commercial, a Royal Fish and Chips commercial appeared along with the Vester commercial as related videos.

Vester, which she had filmed a commercial for before, saw another explosion in orders. And the number of views on the Royal Fish and Chips commercial video exploded again, now nearing 100 million views.

"At this point, shouldn't we start a Royal Fish and Chips franchise?"

"That's a good idea."

For reference, both 'Royal' and 'Fish and Chips' are common nouns, so trademark registration is not possible. Therefore, there are already more than a few shops operating under the name 'Royal Fish and Chips'.

However, you can copy the name, but you can't copy the mascot.

If we use Ellie as a model and film the second Royal Fish and Chips commercial, wouldn't it be easy to recruit 100 franchises?

Of course, she would absolutely refuse.

***

The financial crisis that swept the world has subsided, but the real work starts now.

Rapid changes have already begun in all fields, including economy, politics, society, and culture. Experts were divided on whether to view this as an extension of the 4th Industrial Revolution or the beginning of a new industrial revolution.

As the transition to electric vehicles and industrial changes are expected to accelerate due to the JN Battery, oil prices plummeted to the low 30s.

Right now, we have the core technology in the battery and electric vehicle fields, but if we sit idly by, other companies will catch up within a few years.

We need to increase market share and advance technology to widen the gap with latecomers.

Besides that, there are many things to do, such as supporting VRMMORPG development, Saemangeum development, and North Korea projects. Fortunately, we have secured the funds to proceed with all those things.

The money OTK Company earned through this crisis is about 1 trillion dollars. Although I am gradually recovering the funds to repay the bonds I issued with a one-year maturity, most of it is in stocks, bonds, and emerging market foreign exchange markets, so the exact profit will only be known after liquidation is complete. Anyway, the current valuation exceeds 1 trillion dollars. To give you an idea of how huge this amount is, it is more than twice Korea's foreign exchange reserves.

The scale of assets under management far exceeded the world's largest hedge funds and would not fall behind even compared to most sovereign wealth funds.

Such enormous assets are in our hands. Money makes the impossible possible. We discussed future plans.

Along with the Saemangeum development, the Korean government is pushing for the inter-Korean railway connection project and the resumption of the Kaesong Industrial Complex. The North Korea project is also linked to the Siberian development project being pursued by Russia.

President Heo Chang-min and President Vysotsky agreed to create a single economic bloc connecting ASEAN, South Korea, North Korea, Russia, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe.

The United States, China, and Japan form an economic bloc on their own. However, Korea cannot do that. Since the domestic market is small and dependence on exports is large, it must grow together with neighboring countries.

Whatever their inner thoughts, China and the US supported it on the surface, and the sovereign wealth funds of Norway and Saudi Arabia also expressed their intention to participate in investment. Both countries, heavily dependent on crude oil, wanted to find new growth engines.

While the whole world is eyeing the project, Japan is missing here.

"What is the reaction from the Japanese side?"

At my question, Senior Sang-yeop smiled and said.

"They are continuously contacting us. They must be burning up inside right now."

As South Korea and Russia did not reach out, Japan indirectly contacted ASEAN countries. But those countries were also negative.

In this financial crisis, Japanese capital withdrew like an ebbing tide all at once, causing great damage to ASEAN countries.

It's like lending an umbrella when it's sunny and taking it away when it rains.

If we hadn't poured funds into the market, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, etc., would have declared a moratorium or default due to a foreign exchange crisis.

Fortunately, the global economy rebounded sharply after that. The deeper the valley, the higher the mountain. The stock markets of each country, which can be called leading economic indicators, recovered almost all their losses.

However, Japan withdrew money before that, so it couldn't recover its losses and ended up only getting criticized. As this happened, Japan was flustered. They secured cash expecting emerging countries to reach out to them if the crisis worsened, but the crisis disappeared and those countries sought South Korea and OTK Company instead of Japan.

The Japanese industrial sector urged political countermeasures, fearing that Japan might be overtaken by South Korea and China in future new industries, but even within the LDP, arguments arose, and they haven't even decided on a party line yet.

Japan reached out, making friendly gestures toward Korea unlike before. The benefits that can be gained by participating in the economic bloc are limitless. But to do so, the claims agreement with North Korea must be resolved first.

The amount I proposed as a mediation plan is 70 billion dollars. Moreover, I added the condition of 'reparation' to this.

Japan countered that this was ridiculous.

If they agree to this, it would be almost like humiliating diplomacy for Japan, and if things go wrong, the regime could fall. Therefore, they will never easily accept it.

Taek-gyu said.

"In short, they're not hungry enough yet."

"That's true."

Japan has exercised influence in Asia with technology and capital as weapons. But now the situation is a bit different.

There is no problem proceeding with development even without that 70 billion dollars.

If they don't do it until the end, it's their loss. Whether Prime Minister Okazaki resigns or the regime changes because of that is none of my business.

"Tell them we won't have any dialogue without the precondition of paying 70 billion dollars in reparations."

It's not the time to care about Japan now. If they're desperate, they'll come bowing down.

We have a lot to do besides that.

***

After returning from the honeymoon, it is polite to express gratitude to those who came to the wedding.

Although some time has passed, after agonizing over how to express gratitude, we decided to hold a garden party at home.

We put tables out in the garden on a sunny day and held a party.

Requests to participate poured in from the political and business circles, wondering how they knew, but we ignored them all and invited only the acquaintances who came to the wedding.

Company people including Senior Sang-yeop came, and Yuri also came with her father and Chairman Ryu Cheol-gyun. Chairman Im Jin-yong and President Im Soo-mi brought their children.

Yang Ha-na, Min Ha-young, and Princess Anneke also came. Taek-gyu welcomed them gladly.

I muttered while watching the scene.

"Who do you think Taek-gyu will marry?"

Then Ellie said.

"I think I know who it is."

I was surprised.

"Oh! Really? Who is it?"

"Hmm, well."

Hyun-joo noona came with Henry and Geon.

"Welcome."

"A lot of people are already here."

Taek-gyu looked noona up and down and blinked his eyes.

"What's wrong?"

"Noona, you seem to have gained some weight. Don't you exercise these days?"

"Shut up."

Mother smiled brightly seeing Geon.

"Geon is here too. You've grown a lot in the meantime."

Geon can now walk alone and talk quite well. He was so cute that he monopolized the love of people around him.

Will it feel like that when Ellie and I have a child?

Mother wants to see a grandchild as soon as possible, but she seemed unable to say it for fear of pressuring us. Then Ellie spoke to Mother first.

"Mother, please say something to Jin-hoo. I want to have a child right away, but Jin-hoo keeps saying we should take it slow."

"Oh my, is that so?"

Looking at Mother's expression, it seems I'll get an earful after this is over.

Almost everyone who was coming has arrived. I poured wine for the people around me. But Hyun-joo noona waved her hand.

"I'm fine."

"You're not drinking?"

"I can't drink for a while."

"Why?"

Unlike me who didn't understand, Ellie realized immediately.

"Oh! Jessica, don't tell me you're pregnant?"

Hyun-joo noona nodded.

"Yeah."

Taek-gyu shouted in surprise.

"What!? Noona, you're pregnant again?"

"Why are you so surprised? Is it so surprising that I'm pregnant?"

Actually, it's not surprising. Taek-gyu said she seemed to have gained weight earlier, so he must have seen it correctly.

At Taek-gyu's shout, everyone's attention was focused.

"Really?"

"Oh my! That's great."

"Congratulations on your pregnancy."

People applauded and congratulated her one after another.

Hyun-joo noona touched her belly and said.

"I hope the second one is a daughter."

Taek-gyu crossed his arms and said.

"If it's a daughter who resembles noona, you'll have a hard time raising her."

"Shut up."

"Is my noona going to give birth to a third one at this rate? Ouch!"

I thought while watching Taek-gyu getting smacked on the back.

I knew he would get hit.

Still, seeing noona not denying it, does she really have greed for a third one?

The expressions of Hyun-joo noona and Henry were colored with happiness. They are a couple that suits each other well.

***

Dealing with guests one by one is not an easy task.

I came into the room with Ellie to rest for a while.

"Tell me about the Big One."

"I told you before."

"Tell me one more time. I want to hear it again."

Ellie asked questions about what I did one by one whenever she had time, and I told her what foresight I saw each time and how I interpreted it and moved.

Ellie listened to my story with an excited expression, sometimes exclaiming in regret and sometimes in excitement.

"Is it fun?"

"Of course. It's the first time I've heard such an interesting story. Don't you have any thoughts on writing a book?"

I chuckled.

"Would people believe it?"

"So what if they don't believe it? You can just say it's a novel."

Of course, I have no intention of telling anyone other than Taek-gyu and Ellie.

When I first joined hands with Taek-gyu and invested, I never imagined I would come this far.

Sometimes even I can't believe it.

"Sometimes everything feels like a dream. I worry that one day I'll open my eyes and everything will be gone."

Ellie said she sometimes felt like I would go somewhere far away. That's probably because I myself had such anxiety.

At my words, Ellie held my cheeks with both hands.

"Why are you like this?"

Instead of answering, she kissed me. I felt the soft touch and warm breath. After a long while, she slowly detached her lips and asked.

"Does it still feel like a dream?"

I shook my head.

"No. Now it feels a bit like reality."

I looked at the garden through the window.

Everyone had happy expressions. Taek-gyu talked with Yang Ha-na, Min Ha-young, and Princess Anneke, and Hyun-joo noona and Henry played with the child.

Ellie, noticing what I was thinking, smiled and said.

"You will definitely be a good father, Jin-hoo."

"Really?"

"Of course. Because you're a good person, Jin-hoo."

Beside me was a woman more beautiful, wise, and charming than anyone else in the world. Looking at her, the anxiety in my heart disappeared and a strong conviction arose.

This moment right now is the future I have seized.

[TL/n: Thank for reading ❤️ I'm working on another new novel "The Schooling of Evil" which is similar to lookism manhwa so do check it out. Till then bye bye see ya in another novel (⁠つ⁠≧⁠▽⁠≦⁠)⁠つ]