Money Keeps Piling Up No Matter How Much I Spend

Chapter 188

Translator: DreamscribeThe year 2023 could probably be defined like this.

The worst famine.

There had been a poor harvest sweeping across the globe in 2021, but this year shattered that record.

"The number of people facing starvation has risen by a hundred million compared to last year due to food shortages, and crop yields have dropped by thirty-three percent. From wheat to corn, yields across the board have plummeted, and prices for everything are skyrocketing as we speak."

So that was why my Intuition had been urging me to stockpile food for so long.

Thanks to that, we stood to reap enormous profits, but honestly, I didn't feel good about it.

No matter how much food we piled up, it would never be enough to save everyone who was starving. And it was painfully obvious that countless people in places our reach hadn't yet extended to would die from this famine.

"The problem is that one side is suffering from drought while the other is drowning in too much rain."

The rain wasn't falling in any balanced way. It was dumping on one side and ignoring the other, making the situation far worse.

"Global warming really is serious."

"Yes. And yet nearly every country is turning a blind eye to the issue."

"But isn't Kwangwoon investing to address that problem?"

"Yes. We are making investments through the Kwangwoon Foundation in partnership with the rest of the world to combat global warming, but frankly, there hasn't been much progress. That's why we're pinning our hopes on the ESG Association. They've been rigorously monitoring carbon emissions in preparation for climate change."

But many scientists were already saying it.

That it was too late to reverse global warming.

And so all they could do was pray for a technological singularity to arrive and solve all these problems.

"The one ray of hope has been XPT, born from our very own Close AI. Right now, it's being trained across a wide range of fields, from medicine and media to construction and coding. If a singularity emerges from that and superintelligence is developed..."

"You're saying it could solve all the unsolvable problems humanity has been facing?"

"Yes. Technology capable of solving global warming, or perhaps even things beyond that, could become possible."

I was placing my hopes on that too.

The encouraging thing was that humanity had achieved this much development since discovering electricity. The frightening thing was that the pace of technological advancement kept accelerating.

And if superintelligence through XPT were developed on top of that, the growth from that point on would be explosively greater.

"Please have them run more advertisements about global warming. If we use the media to make people more aware of how serious the situation is, it should help at least a little."

"Yes, CEO-nim."

"And please begin distributing food to the places that need it most urgently. How much did you say prices have gone up?"

"Twenty-five times. Prices have hit an all-time high, and every country that isn't self-sufficient is groaning under the weight."

"Then release the food we've been stockpiling."

"At current market prices?"

Anyone thinking about profit would naturally sell at twenty-five times the price.

But this was a matter of life and death.

How could money come first?

"No. Tell them not to charge high prices. Sell at reasonable prices instead, and prioritize distribution to the places where food is needed most urgently."

"Yes. Then for the Africa side..."

"There, sell at even lower prices, and for areas in need of relief, distribute it for free."

"But CEO-nim. Grain is currently selling at twenty-five times the normal price."

"Shouldn't we be trying to minimize the number of people starving to death? Money is fine and all, but we didn't stockpile food to profit off people's lives in the first place."

"Ah... yes. I'd lost sight of that for a moment. I think this from time to time, but you truly are the saint of our era, CEO-nim."

"Exactly. People really should know about our CEO's warm heart. It drives me crazy how they keep painting him as some kind of evil mastermind."

I'd heard about it too, the conspiracy theories claiming I was some shadowy puppet master and that Kwangwoon was at the center of every major incident.

Of course, since they were just conspiracy theories, no one was officially making an issue of them.

But there were people who believed every word and cursed us for it.

Still, I thought of it as unavoidable.

They say that once someone's name and face become known, fans and haters come with the territory.

I believed that someday, even they would come to understand my sincerity.

"By the way, CEO-nim. We've built a number of food warehouses in the Middle East and Africa as well. If the Middle East and Europe want to purchase food from us, the fastest route would be through Libya. The problem is..."

"Libya isn't cooperating?"

"Correct. Western Libya is friendly toward us, but the east is not. Unfortunately, it's the east that controls the port authority, and they've had quite a few run-ins with Kwangwoon Shipping in particular."

Libya sat at the center of North Africa, serving as a gateway connecting the Mediterranean, Europe, and the Middle East.

The problem was that after the collapse of the Gaddafi regime in 2011, the country had plunged into chaos and was now split into western and eastern governments.

It hadn't been much of an issue before, but after a change in leadership in the eastern regime, they began showing a willingness to reunify the west by force, and our relationship with them soured.

Their position was simple.

Unless we cut all ties with the west, we couldn't use their ports.

But we hadn't gone to help the western regime. Our foundation staff had been dispatched purely to help people, so there was no real relationship to speak of.

"But the east sees it as unofficial aid. In reality, the west is backed by the United States, and the east is backed by Russia."

Looking at international politics, it always split into two.

American democracy.

Chinese and Russian socialism.

Libya, divided between west and east, was exactly the same.

This too was a proxy war between America and Russia.

It was an exhausting exercise in taking sides.

At the end of the day, everyone belonged to the same species, shared the same life, yet they were all too busy fighting.

"What if we bypass the eastern route?"

"The downside is that it takes much longer. That's precisely why Kwangwoon Shipping wants to use the Libyan gateway."

It wasn't just about cost. The longer the shipping took, the more people would suffer in the meantime.

"......"

I was about to consult my Intuition on this problem, but I let it go.

This wasn't a matter of following Intuition's guidance or not.

"Contact headquarters and ask them to negotiate with eastern Libya as quickly as possible. If this route gets blocked, the damage will be severe."

"Yes, CEO-nim."

For now, my goal was to minimize harm to people.

The reason I'd stockpiled this much food wasn't to make money. It was to save lives.

* * *

"Negotiations? Don't make me laugh. Does Kwangwoon think I can't see through their schemes?"

General Hartar, the man who held the eastern regime in his grip, scoffed.

"Kwangwoon is slowly conquering Africa as we speak. Now their creeping tendrils are reaching our Libya too."

"But General. Even Saudi Arabia ended up surrendering to Kwangwoon, didn't they? This famine gave Kwangwoon control over the food supply, and..."

The Saudi royal family had initially stood their ground out of pride, but once the historic famine made the food crisis dire enough, they had no choice but to accept the ESG Association in accordance with Kwangwoon's demands.

"There are even rumors that this famine was part of Kwangwoon's plan. The harvest was certainly bad this year, but without Kwangwoon, it wouldn't have gotten this severe."

"You're saying Kwangwoon is to blame for the severity of this crop failure?"

"Yes. They swept up food supplies recklessly, and in absurd quantities, starting two years ago. They also built massive food warehouses across Africa and filled them to the brim. In places deliberately kept out of everyone else's reach."

There was a reason they had been encroaching on Africa with capital and building warehouses on a massive scale. They had placed them in locations difficult for other developed nations to access, precisely so no one could forcibly seize the food.

"But we don't need to worry like Saudi Arabia. We may depend on imports for our food, but as long as we hold this Mediterranean gateway, food flows in to us steadily."

The reason eastern Libya was so confident lay in its ports.

Libya's ports were the link between Europe and the Middle East.

Ships passing through here were mostly carrying food, which was why the ports housed enormous food warehouses.

In other words, even though grain prices had surged and food costs were skyrocketing along with them, at least there was no risk of starving from a lack of supply.

"But will we really be alright? I've heard Kwangwoon can even cause earthquakes on purpose..."

"Tsk tsk. You still believe that kind of nonsense? Only Allah can command nature. Natural disasters are no different. Instead of worrying about such foolishness, why don't you spend that time in prayer..."

KRAKOOOM!!

Just then, a crack of thunder split the sky, and Hartar flinched.

"They said a typhoon was coming, didn't they?"

"Yes. It hasn't made landfall yet, but based on the projected path, it looks like it should veer away from us."

"This typhoon's name was... Daniel, was it?"

"Yes. That's correct."

"I should pray to Allah that it passes safely."

"Allah is watching over our Libya. I'm sure we'll be fine."

Hartar nodded.

KRAKOOOM!!

But the sky's answer didn't seem reassuring in the least.

* * *

"What collapsed?"

"Libya, sir. Apparently, the typhoon that was heading toward North Africa struck Libya head-on. It was supposed to veer off course, but it deviated from the forecast and dealt considerable damage."

Typhoon Daniel, which had made landfall in Libya.

It had become the worst typhoon of the year so far.

"The Libyan government announced the death toll at five thousand, but the real number is reportedly over thirty thousand. It could be even higher."

"That many?"

"Yes. Two dams in Libya collapsed, which made things much worse. The east took particularly devastating damage."

The typhoon itself was bad enough, but the collapse of two dams in Libya caused far greater destruction.

"On top of that, the warehouses near the Libyan ports in the east were all either flooded or destroyed, so those ports are unusable for the foreseeable future."

Libya was a country that made its money from oil.

The east had held the upper hand over the west specifically because of those ports.

They had traded oil and weapons for food through those ports, building their power that way.

And now the very ports at the heart of the east's strength had been destroyed by the typhoon.

"......"

Anthony stared blankly at the map as he listened to the report.

"There's something that's been bugging me for a while now."

"Sir?"

"You know eastern Libya, right? Ever since General Hartar seized power, he's gotten pretty arrogant. Daring to challenge Kwangwoon, defying their will. And it's been years, yet Kwangwoon never once took any real action against him."

That was unlike Kwangwoon.

"But now, right in the middle of the worst food crisis in history, eastern Libya, the link between the Middle East and Europe, has been crippled by a typhoon... If this route is blocked, how badly does that hit the Middle East and Europe?"

"We'd need to run the numbers, but... severely."

"Right. So what are the Middle East and Europe going to do?"

"They'll have no choice but to cling to Kwangwoon even harder. There's only so far self-sufficiency can take you."

"Exactly. In other words, Kwangwoon can now use food to have the Middle East and Europe eating out of their hand. What was impossible just by stockpiling food alone has now become possible, all because of one typhoon."

And what did that imply?

"General Director, are you suggesting that this typhoon was..."

"The timing is awfully convenient, don't you think? They talk about the butterfly effect. A butterfly flaps its wings and causes a massive typhoon on the other side of the world. What if Kwangwoon engineered this?"

"You're saying they've been deliberately manufacturing a typhoon to strike Libya, years in advance?"

"There's already talk that Kwangwoon may have manipulated this year's famine too. I find it entirely plausible. This is the same organization that pulled off artificial earthquakes, something everyone said was impossible. You think they couldn't cause a famine and a typhoon? And all this happens right when headquarters' strategy division sends down orders to resolve the situation in eastern Libya?"

A chill ran down his spine.

Even detonating thousands of nuclear bombs would struggle to produce a major earthquake.

Yet they had triggered artificial earthquakes of devastating magnitude, not once, but twice.

For an organization like that, manipulating the weather and conjuring a typhoon would be child's play.

"They say the most terrifying weapon in the world is nature itself. There's no evidence anyone caused it, but the destructive power is staggering. Look at Libya right now. The whole regime is shaking."

Eastern Libya had taken a catastrophic blow.

Not even their vaunted military could stop a typhoon.

"They brought Morocco to its knees with an earthquake and secured a foothold to threaten Europe. Now they've brought Libya to its knees with a typhoon and cut off the food supply line to the Middle East and Europe. What does that tell you?"

"That Kwangwoon created the food crisis on purpose."

"Exactly. The financial crises, the crop failures, the typhoon. It all leads to one thing. The Middle East and Europe can no longer survive without Kwangwoon's help."

Through multiple financial crises, Kwangwoon had seized control of their money and media, and now, in the end, they had gotten their hands on the food supply as well.

From this point on, Europe would have no choice but to obey whatever Kwangwoon said.

And Sentinel had a crucial role to play in making that happen.

"What about the factions we've been supporting in the east?"

"They took some damage too, but the current ruling power can't even rally its own military. They see this as the perfect opportunity to overthrow the regime."

"Then get our people deployed there moving first. Let's start by removing this Hartar."

Eastern Libya had to be firmly under control to complete the picture Kwangwoon wanted.

Not a vision of saving people through food, but of controlling everyone. That was the Kwangwoon utopia.