An Investor Who Sees The Future

Chairman Im Jin-yong was like he was living at the research institute and the Seosung SB factory from the day after he was released on bail.

One of the lines at the Seosung SB Suwon Plant 1 stopped. This was where Seosung SB had first built the OTK Battery production line.

I got a progress report from Allen Eberhardt through a video call.

The plan to create a mine on the lunar surface to mine expensive resources such as rare earth elements had only existed as a plan until now.

If he succeeded, he would be the first in the world.

Once Allen Eberhardt had a clear goal, he pushed forward with the work without a moment's hesitation.

He didn't seem to think much about the possibility of failure. After all, it's because he's this kind of person that he has been able to continuously challenge things that others thought were impossible.

Come to think of it, he had publicly announced that he would build a settlement on Mars within 10 years. Compared to that, lunar resource mining is much less difficult and more realistic.

"Are you really sure that there is Geratinium in the Sea of Tranquility?"

He said with a faint smile.

"Is it by any chance information from Roscosmos?"

Roscosmos is the Russian Federal Space Agency.

Since anything related to lunar resources is top secret, information is not shared with each other. If NASA doesn't have the relevant information, it's natural to think that he obtained the information from the Russian side.

"I can't tell you the source, but it's certain information."

Allen Eberhardt nodded coolly.

"Then that's fine. If it's certain, it doesn't matter who you heard it from."

I asked him.

"How long do you think it will take?"

"I'm expecting about a month."

If we have to develop a new spaceship from scratch, it will take at least a few years.

But SpaceX is already operating a shuttle to the International Space Station and has a history of sending a rocket to the orbit of Mars.

Allen Eberhardt plans to use this very Fat Phoenix rocket to send a spaceship carrying a probe and a mining machine to the moon.

Since they are recycling the recovered rocket, the launch cost is quite cheap at about $100 million. This is just the cost of launching, and the price of the spaceship is separate.

If it fails, this cost will just be blown away. But right now, the cost is not the problem. The problem is time.

The current schedule has already been moved up unreasonably. But even if we succeed in launching the spaceship within a month, this is not the end. Everything will be over only when the spaceship lands on the moon, finds the location of the Geratinium mine in the Sea of Tranquility, and the mined Geratinium sample safely arrives on Earth.

Will the world economy be able to hold out until then?

I said, calculating the date in my head.

"Please hurry as much as you can."

***

A Rothschild mansion in Buckinghamshire.

All the information in the world gathered here. Grace Rothschild watched the chaos unfolding in various parts of the world. The US's solo run, the division of the EU, the declaration of default by emerging countries, the stock market crash, the real estate collapse, the spread of isolationism and chauvinism, and so on.

She sorted and analyzed the necessary information and reported it to the head of the Rothschild family, Grant Darrel Rothschild.

Grant listened to his granddaughter's story while lying on a medical bed. Although his life was being sustained by the power of modern medicine, he was in a state where he couldn't even move his fingers or speak. All he could do was just blink his eyelids.

But his eyes were shining more vividly than ever before.

After this is over, his life will also come to an end. He had lived his whole life for his family. It was his destiny to work for his family until the very end and die.

As Grace approached the bed, a mechanical sound came out.

[What about Kang Jin-hoo?]

The development of technology has made it possible to convert brainwaves into language. The words he wanted to say came out through the computer installed next to the bed.

"After he met with President Heo Chang-min, Chairman Im Jin-yong was released."

Chairman Im Jin-yong's defense team had requested bail several times. Although it was not stated directly, they had even promised an investment of 30 trillion won in South Korea.

In South Korea, public opinion was high that bail should be granted considering the influence of the Seosung Group on the national economy. Many chaebol chairmen had been released in that way before. But the judiciary had rejected it, citing principles.

But even though a guilty verdict was reached in the first trial, bail was granted. This was a very unusual case.

Moreover, Kang Jin-hoo had gone out of his way to greet him in front of the detention center, as if to let the whole world know that he had helped him get released.

Grant also expressed his doubts.

[Why does Kang Jin-hoo need Chairman Im Jin-yong at this point in time?]

As the crisis was escalating, he might have done so for cooperation with the Seosung Group. But is that really all there is to it?

A few days later, Grace was able to find out the reason.

"JN Battery?"

"It is said to have 20 times the capacity of the OTK Battery."

At her subordinate's report, she asked, as if she didn't understand.

"If something like that was developed, why didn't they start commercializing it sooner?"

"The main raw material is said to be Geratinium."

Geratinium is the rarest and most expensive element by weight among the rare earth elements.

Rare earth elements are used like vitamins for industry because even a small amount can greatly change the properties of a material.

The moment they used this as the main raw material, it was safe to assume that they had given up on price competitiveness.

'The fact that they are even getting the chairman of the Seosung Group out to push the project means they have found a way to obtain Geratinium?'

At first, she thought about the possibility that Kang Jin-hoo had found a mine.

But that was highly unlikely. Even if he found a mine with large deposits, it costs more than $100 per gram to extract pure Geratinium.

He can solve the quantity, but he can't solve the price. So what on earth is he thinking?

To find out Kang Jin-hoo's purpose, she paid attention to what was happening in the companies related to OTK Company.

Then she was able to notice something strange right away.

It was SpaceX's request for approval for a moon exploration. Allen Eberhardt even changed the existing launch schedules and hurried to prepare for the launch of the Fat Phoenix.

'Why is SpaceX trying to explore the moon at this point in time, when it wasn't even scheduled? Is this also related to Kang Jin-hoo?'

She had a feeling that these two seemingly unrelated things might be connected.

After pondering for a long time, Grace realized something and shouted.

"He's planning to mine Geratinium from the moon!"

She immediately conveyed her thoughts to her grandfather.

If others had heard it, they would have scoffed at it as an absurd plan.

Because no one knows if there really is a Geratinium mine on the moon, and if so, where it is.

But the story is different if it's Kang Jin-hoo doing it. There is only one reason why he is suddenly pushing the project...

Grant said.

[It seems he has seen the future.]

It is only through his unique ability that this absurd plan can become a reality.

Grace Rothschild was dumbfounded.

OTK Company, as everyone knows, grew through finance. But...

'Is he trying to face us as an industrial capital, not a financial capital?'

The OTK Battery, which only doubled the capacity of existing batteries, brought innovation to the entire industry. But what will happen if a battery with 20 times the capacity comes out?

It will cause not just innovation, but a revolution. And this is highly likely to act as a catalyst to promote the space industry.

Geratinium itself does not have great value. The reason why Geratinium is traded at a price about 4 times higher than gold is solely because of its scarcity. If mining and transportation from the lunar surface become possible and the supply increases, the price should normally plummet.

But if you make batteries with it, the story changes. The JN Battery will be traded like gold or oil in the future.

If the lunar resource mining, which had only existed in plans, succeeds, the era of full-scale space development will open. If the world finds a new growth engine, the current crisis can also be overcome.

This was truly an unimaginable thing.

I thought I had considered all the variables, but to think that such a variable remained!

What kind of value will the JN Battery have? $1 trillion? $2 trillion?

Even if the project succeeds, Kang Jin-hoo's assets will not increase right away. But people will think that Kang Jin-hoo has that much money.

If that happens, everything that Rothschild has planned so far will go awry.

As the world's wealth increases, the destructive power of a financial crisis also grows. This crisis was designed by Rothschild with all its capabilities. If it does not succeed, or if it succeeds but fails to properly manage the aftermath, Rothschild will also suffer a fatal blow.

Grace felt as if all the energy in her body had been drained. But she soon gathered herself and made a cool judgment.

Kang Jin-hoo has already shown his hand. If you know what your opponent is trying to do, it's possible to block or reverse it.

Grace muttered in a low voice.

"Geratinium..."

Currently, the only ones with the capital and technology to send a spaceship to the moon to mine are NASA and a few private space companies that have received technology transfers from them. In the future, it will require a huge amount of investment and technology to build a mine and a base on the lunar surface and have transport ships shuttle back and forth.

The Rothschilds have reigned at the top of global finance for 250 years since the founder of the family, Meyer Amschel Rothschild.

But as time passed, their influence gradually dwindled.

'If we can monopolize the Geratinium mine and transportation on the moon...'

Couldn't the glory of the Rothschilds continue for hundreds of years more?

She picked up the receiver and gave an order.

"Proceed with the plan as scheduled."

***

Germany's Deutsche Bank went bankrupt.

Startled Germans rushed to the bank to withdraw their money, but the bank was already closed. It was the largest bank failure in Europe, and it shook not only Germany but also Europe, and by extension, the entire world.

This was enough to bring back the nightmare of the Lehman Brothers bankruptcy. The fear of a chain of bank failures swept through the financial sector.

ECB President Luis Weidmann announced that he would provide emergency funds to prevent bank insolvencies in Europe, and the German financial authorities also poured all their efforts into cleaning up the aftermath of the Deutsche Bank bankruptcy.

But before the shock had even subsided, an even bigger event was waiting, one that would make this problem seem trivial.

It began with a terrorist attack in Crimea.

22 Ukrainian militiamen occupied the city council of Kerch and took 38 Russians hostage, demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops from all of Ukraine and a declaration from President Vysotsky that he would give up Crimea.

Of course, there was no way Russia would listen to this demand.

In accordance with the principle of no negotiation with terrorists, President Vysotsky immediately ordered the deployment of troops. The Russian army immediately crossed the Crimean Bridge to suppress the terrorists. After a 17-hour standoff, the cornered terrorists killed all the hostages and then blew themselves up.

After the Minsk Agreement, the Russian army had stopped its advance in Ukraine. This terrorist attack, which occurred in a situation where peace was barely being maintained, was enough to reignite the war.

President Vysotsky appeared on TV and said with a firm expression and a stiff voice.

"Russia declares war on Ukraine. From this moment on, Ukraine is the enemy of Russia, and they will pay the price for killing Russian citizens."

The whole world was horrified by this announcement.

Since World War II, the forced annexation of territory by force has been virtually impossible.

The only exception is Crimea. During the Khrushchev era, Crimea was just a province of the Russian Soviet Republic, but he incorporated it into the Ukrainian Soviet Republic.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Crimea was transferred to Ukraine, but since Russia had continued to exercise effective control even after that, there was not much opposition in Europe to the annexation of Crimea, but Ukraine was a completely different story.

If Ukraine falls, then Poland, Hungary, and Slovakia will also be within the range of the Russian army.

This was something that the EU could never tolerate.

NATO Secretary General Billy Carrington issued a warning to Russia.

"If Russia advances towards Kiev, the NATO forces will also have no choice but to move to support Ukraine. I hope Russia will not make a foolish choice."

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