Money Keeps Piling Up No Matter How Much I Spend

Chapter 180

Translator: Dreamscribe"How on earth did this happen? Why have the protesters' numbers swelled this much?!"

When President Perron had declared his intention to push through pension reform, the number of protesters had reached a staggering one million.

Even so, Perron did not slow the reform.

Pension reform was an urgent matter that someone had to take the fall for and push through.

That was why it was something he could never back down on, even if a million protesters gathered.

And just as expected, the protesters' momentum weakened with each passing day.

No matter how much they howled, if the government shut its ears and forced its way through, the people would have no choice but to fall in line. This time was no different.

Pension reform carried the justification that someone had to take responsibility and see it through for the sake of future generations, and the government's consistent non-response had sapped the protesters of their strength.

"So how the hell did those protesters balloon to three million?!"

After the protests had gradually dwindled until barely anyone showed up, President Perron had been unstoppable.

And since dragging things out in the National Assembly could hurt his approval ratings, he had been preparing to invoke Article 49, Section 3 of the constitution to force the bill through by presidential authority without a vote.

Then today, the protesters reassembled.

Three million of them, no less, pouring out across every corner of the city.

"It seems social media has had the biggest impact. Starting at some point, an enormous amount of fake news has been circulating, primarily through SNS."

"Fake news?"

"Yes. The content claims that this pension reform is killing the common people, that the government is pocketing all the money, and that it's going straight into your personal accounts, Mr. President..."

"What? And people believe that?"

"Mr. President, no matter how absurd the content is, if the same story keeps coming out over and over, people gradually start believing it's real. Of course, there are those who don't believe it, but others begin accepting it as fact without even realizing it."

As a result, the protesters had swelled to three million.

"The problem is, if those protesters run wild, it changes other people's minds too. France is especially susceptible to agitation, isn't it? People love to mob together for protests and use the chaos as an excuse to loot."

The phenomenon had only worsened with the mass influx of immigrants.

Sure enough, with three million protesters gathered, fires had broken out across the city, looting was rampant, and public safety had already become a serious concern.

The absurd part was that even tourists occasionally got swept up in the atmosphere and joined in the looting. With all that chaos piling up, the whole of France was being shaken to its core.

More protesters had gathered than even during the Yellow Vest crisis, and they were tearing the country apart.

"So you're saying all of this is because of social media?"

"Yes. News about pension reform flooded in simultaneously, and as criticizing it became the dominant narrative, it turned into mass agitation. On top of that, immigrants who saw the chaos as an opportunity to loot deliberately mixed in, which drove the protester numbers even higher."

Why had such content suddenly spread across social media?

Pension reform was, of course, something the current generation had every reason to resent.

But it was a problem that someone absolutely had to solve for the sake of the future.

Knowing that, the protesters had been losing their justification and gradually weakening.

Then absurd, inflammatory content spread across social media, and people fell for it, launching massive protests.

"To be precise, it started from the moment you expressed your opposition to the ESG Association, Mr. President."

"...!"

Right. Of course.

Sudden agitation always had someone pulling the strings.

And once again, Kwangwoon was behind it.

Just like during the Yellow Vest crisis.

The moment he tried to stand against the ESG Association, those bastards had resorted to these dirty tricks again.

Did they really think he would cave to something like this?

"But Mr. President, this situation is serious. The sheer number of protesters flooding in is growing exponentially, and inflammatory stories keep spreading through social media."

"Then just shut down the social media."

"Excuse me?"

"The root of the problem is PicPic, isn't it? Block it."

"B-but blocking PicPic won't end this. The inflammatory posts have already spread across all kinds of online communities, and if we block PicPic, there'll be even greater backlash, with people saying the government is violating their freedoms."

Who was the true culprit behind all of this?

Kwangwoon.

And the tools they were using to stoke the flames were PicPic and FaceWeb.

Those two had to be blocked so they could no longer grip and shake this noble nation, France.

"I don't care what they say. Use every presidential power available and block all Kwangwoon-affiliated social media platforms!"

* * *

These days, one topic always led the news.

"Five million protesters? Is that number even possible?"

"Yes. The French government caved in the end, apparently. A large-scale protest usually means about a million people, and five times that number rose up. They say the military had to be deployed just to stop the protesters who were threatening to drag President Perron out and haul him to the guillotine."

France had captured the world's attention for days.

The impossibly massive protests and the French military mobilized to contain them.

Tanks rolling out to guard President Perron.

It was quite the spectacle, in every sense of the word.

"Originally, President Perron planned to use Article 49, Section 3 to force the pension reform through without a vote."

Article 49, Section 3 was a provision of the French constitution that allowed a bill to pass immediately without a vote when the matter was urgent.

However, if a majority voted to reject it within a single day, the bill would be forcibly withdrawn.

"Normally, invoking Article 49, Section 3 means that negotiations with the opposition are more or less wrapped up. But the opposition all cast votes against it, and the pension reform bill was withdrawn."

"So he got stabbed in the back?"

"The opposition probably had no intention of doing that at first. They knew pension reform was absolutely necessary. They wouldn't have opposed it when President Perron was willing to take the fall and push it through himself."

"But the protests grew bigger and more violent than expected, so they changed their stance?"

"Exactly. At this rate, the opposition figured they'd get caught in the crossfire too, so they backstabbed him in the rejection vote and pinned all the responsibility on President Perron."

"Both the ruling party and the opposition?"

"Yes. The ruling party betrayed President Perron, and the opposition overturned everything they'd agreed to."

In a way, it was a truly unfortunate turn of events.

Pension reform had been something like an inescapable fate for France.

Without reform, the funds would soon be depleted, leaving future generations to bear the full burden. That was precisely what President Perron had been trying to prevent, absorbing every arrow of criticism as he pushed the effort forward.

"Wasn't our country facing the same kind of crisis? National pension reform was more urgent than ever, but everyone was ignoring it."

"Right. But then our CEO stepped up and solved the problem, didn't he? Thanks to that, Kwangwoon is being hailed as a national hero company."

"Honestly, I still can't believe it. Other countries are in chaos over their pensions, while our national pension fund is marching toward 2,000 trillion won."

Pensions were currently the biggest headache for developed nations.

Pursuing reform meant political risk, but delaying it meant hell down the road.

Yet the vast majority chose the latter.

After all, the ones who'd suffer from the pension crisis weren't the current politicians, but the next generation.

What's more, most current politicians were wealthy and received plenty of government perks, so they had little reason to worry about retirement.

So they irresponsibly looked the other way, leaving a ticking time bomb for those who came after.

"They should just do what our CEO did, go big on Shorts and Day Trading, and double it. Hehe."

"Ha. When you put it like that, Manager Lee, I get chills all over again. I still have nightmares about it sometimes, you know? Dreams where our company blows through all the national pension money."

Looking back, even I had no idea what possessed me to take on the entire national pension fund and go Short with it.

Intuition or not, getting drunk on the dopamine rush and gambling with the people's money like that.

Even thinking about it again made my palms sweat.

Along with a strange thrill from having pulled it off.

"What about them blocking our social media? How did that turn out?"

"It was lifted pretty quickly, apparently. No matter what, it's unthinkable for a democratic country to block social media by presidential authority without even passing a proper bill. And while it's true that negative content about pension reform did go out through our platforms, the communities within France itself were actually the bigger problem."

The world these days was different from before.

With the internet so well-developed, the likelihood of people being manipulated by false rumors had soared.

So President Perron had played his extreme card, forcibly blocking PicPic and FaceWeb, only to face an even greater backlash when rumors spread that he was trying to establish a dictatorship.

"I think the reason five million ultimately gathered was because of the decision to block our social media. Even the people who'd believed reform was necessary turned their backs."

For us, it was a fortunate outcome, but it left a bit of a bad taste.

After all, there was no denying that our social media platforms were one of the causes behind this French crisis.

"So French pension reform is basically dead in the water, then?"

"Yes. It's essentially a declaration that they're dumping all the responsibility on future generations. There's no going back now. The moment anyone even mentions pension reform, the protesters will rise up all over again."

Considering all this, our country was truly fortunate.

Unlike other developed nations, our national pension fund wouldn't be depleted anytime within the next 2,100 years.

"Ah, and CEO-nim, Close AI has begun developing the enterprise AI per your instructions. However, they've sent over several documents because they need to discuss the specifics."

They were impressively thick documents.

"Since it's all AI-related, I honestly couldn't understand a word of it."

I was the same.

I was a complete layman when it came to AI.

"So, shall I send this to the Strategic Planning Team to work out the details?"

At the Department Head's suggestion, my Intuition, which had been quiet, flickered through my mind.

Since the investment decision was already made, was it telling me to leave the rest to the people under me?

"Yes. Going forward, please tell them to coordinate with headquarters and proceed."

"Will do. I'll pass that along as is."

Part of me felt like I was passing the buck a bit too easily.

But hadn't my Intuition itself sent the signal that this was better left to the experts rather than me?

If the investment was already done, it was better to delegate the rest.

That was what the Strategic Planning Team and headquarters were there for.

* * *

"So... what exactly is this?"

"It's the project outline that Close AI and our Strategic Planning Team put together."

Hwang Dae-woon blinked as he looked over the report the Strategic Planning Team had brought.

[Project Prometheus]

The name alone felt ominous.

"The plan is to develop an enterprise AI that boasts significantly enhanced capabilities over the publicly available XPT, and ultimately ensure that AI is integrated across all industries."

"And Jin-ho is paying special attention to this? Why?"

"Because the goal is to invest an enormous amount of money to maximize XPT's performance, have our subsidiaries use it, and then entice other companies to adopt it as well. If that happens, Chairman, our AI will control every industry going forward."

"...!"

An AI that controls all of industry.

Even hearing about it was terrifying.

"That's not all. As our AI continues to advance and XPT becomes embedded in most industries, it can evolve to the software level."

"Software?"

"Yes. Microsoft currently dominates the software of every industry, doesn't it? Our AI would take that position. Kwangwoon OS, an AI-based replacement for Microsoft."

"!?"

Only then did Hwang Dae-woon understand why Jung Jin-ho was paying special attention to this.

Microsoft, which currently dominated computer software.

But if XPT's artificial intelligence capabilities improved further, infiltrating every industry and eventually replacing even the software layer, then Microsoft would no longer be needed.

In other words, the reign of Microsoft, long considered absolutely irreplaceable, would be overturned by AI.

"...So Jin-ho is really targeting Microsoft with this Project Prometheus?"

"Yes. CEO Jung Jin-ho invested the money to develop the enterprise AI, then gave instructions to coordinate the specifics with the Strategic Planning Team. He laid out the entire playing field. The rest is up to headquarters to execute."

Hwang Dae-woon swallowed hard.

This wasn't just any company. This was about ending the stranglehold of Microsoft, the very poster child of Too Big to Fail.

It felt like Jin-ho had handed him an impossibly large homework assignment, but...

"He's set the stage this far. I can't exactly run away now."

Having been supplied with every weapon and item and then refusing to charge the enemy lines, that was something no Trinity Guild Member would ever do.