Ch.577Chapter 22. The Price of Labor (9)

There’s a law that anyone interested in financial management knows.

The Depositor Protection Act.

No matter which bank it is, even if the bank fails, the law guarantees protection of up to 50 million won.

Q: What happens to money exceeding 50 million won?

A: Who knows?

Legally speaking, one could say “it’s not protected.”

Simply put, money exceeding 50 million won becomes worthless paper if the bank goes bankrupt.

This issue occasionally occurs in secondary financial institutions, commonly known as savings banks.

Whenever this happens, you can frequently see news interviews with middle-aged men and permed ajummas saying, “Of course I’m upset. How can I just sit still when I can’t access my money?”

-Wait, does that mean we shouldn’t deposit more than 50 million won even in primary banks?

It’s natural to think this way.

But most people respond like this:

-LOL if a primary bank fails, that’s basically the same as South Korea collapsing LOL

That was actually true.

There’s a reason they’re called “primary” financial institutions.

If a bank used by most citizens goes bankrupt, it’s equivalent to saying the entire national economy has collapsed.

Even if it’s not a historic bank that has established branches throughout South Korea for decades.

Even if it’s a corporation that became a massive multinational conglomerate by aggressively consuming various businesses after the Great Cataclysm and then extended into internet banking.

-If Haeguneul Bank fails, South Korea fails too!

ㄴSo if Haeguneul collapses, South Korea collapses?

ㄴObviously!

That’s what the blood-bag leeches have been saying until now.

Things are different now.

With all the leeches extracted from Hwanghae Province and locked in steel cages, there’s no one left to defend Haeguneul on internet communities.

-I’m here to defend Haeguneul!

ㄴAre you crazy?

ㄴㄴI came to SHIELD them!! I’m a Haeguneul cafe owner, they force us to receive our salaries through Haeguneul Bank, so what happens if it collapses?!

That’s the current situation in online communities.

In the midst of all this, the words of a guard employed by Haeguneul, who could be considered an executive, are truly absurd.

[So you’re saying people who deposited more than the Depositor Protection Act covers should just give up?]

“Of course.”

Swish!

“They should have read the contract carefully before signing. Wasn’t it the depositors themselves who signed their names every time they agreed to the terms?”

He swings his fist at me threateningly as he speaks.

His speed was faster than I expected, and if I hadn’t been focused, the attack would have hit me.

[True. Contracts are the responsibility of those who sign them.]

But it’s not so fast that I can’t dodge.

[But weren’t people forced to sign these contracts?]

I can easily counter his punches with my daegeum flute while speaking.

[Didn’t people have to get loans from Haeguneul to open Haeguneul franchises, receive salaries through Haeguneul Bank, and purchase items only with Haeguneul cards?]

“That’s just basic cloud infrastructure.”

Thud!

The Goblin’s fist sinks into the sofa.

I jump up using the sofa’s backrest as a foothold and swing my daegeum, gripped with both hands, toward him.

“You’ve been enjoying the benefits of Haeguneul membership all this time.”

[You mean that useless membership?]

Clang!

The Goblin crosses his arms in an X to block the attack.

Though I swung the daegeum with considerable force, the sensation of wielding it was unlike anything normal.

“Useless? As a VVIP, I cannot tolerate such a statement!”

[Insane.]

Inside his sleeve, something golden flashed.

The gold color was deeper than ordinary gold, like a “gold-plated” shade.

“I cannot forgive you for treating membership like a sucker’s game!”

[!!]

Mana explodes from the Goblin’s arms.

Extending both fists forward, the mana explosion flies straight toward my solar plexus.

[Tch.]

I grip my daegeum vertically with both hands.

Too late to dodge, I angle the daegeum to meet the Goblin’s strike head-on.

CLANG!!

[!!]

The tremendous impact transfers through the daegeum.

His punch thrown into the air carried immense power, and I almost lost my grip on the daegeum.

[Ugh!]

My body flies backward.

I infuse mana into my toes to step on air, correcting my collapsing posture while spinning my body.

Thunk.

I stab the end of the daegeum into the marble floor, using it as support to land.

Tremble.

The impact was so great that even with the daegeum stuck in the ground and me gripping it, the middle part vibrated.

It trembled as if about to explode, but I gripped the handle as tightly as possible to suppress and contain the mana that seemed ready to burst.

[East Sea’s waters and Baekdusan Mountain.]

Rumble…

As soon as I recite the first line of the national anthem, the daegeum calms down.

Simultaneously, the mana explosion that had filled the chairman’s office subsides, and through the clearing haze, the Goblin approaches, dusting off his hands.

“Until they’re worn away, are you planning to keep getting hit? You’re weak.”

[Indeed. So this is what an S-rank is like?]

“I merely threw a weak punch. If I had punched with my full strength, a red flower would have bloomed on that white robe of yours.”

Does he sense victory?

“A red blood flower spreading from the hole blown through your chest where your heart exploded.”

The Goblin twisted the corner of his mouth.

I don’t know when he installed such a mechanism, but the lower part of his mask had disappeared, exposing his lips and chin.

“This is the end, Scholar. You who couldn’t overcome Haeguneul’s Goblin will die here.”

[Even if I fall and die, do you think you’ll be safe?]

I pull my daegeum from the floor and swing it widely to the side.

[You fake, imitating the Goblin.]

I shake off the dust and gather my magical power.

“Well, I admit I imitated the Goblin. To be honest, if I acted like the Goblin, the world might say ‘Goblin Returns’ and it wouldn’t be an exaggeration.”

The Goblin flexed his hand and approached the wall of the chairman’s office.

“If I liked using tools like this.”

[…Do all chairmen keep 7-iron clubs in their offices?]

“You must know nothing about golf. Don’t you play golf usually? This isn’t a 7-iron, it’s a 3-iron.”

[I see.]

I don’t know much about areas that don’t interest me unless I specifically research them.

If any of our executives liked golf, I would have studied it even to caddy for them, but unfortunately, neither our executives nor my acquaintances prefer golf.

[Sorry, but I prefer beating people to golf.]

“Are you trying to maintain a scholar concept? No, beating people is—”

[The Goblin’s specialty. And I do it with this.]

I hold my daegeum vertically with both hands.

As if wielding a greatsword rather than a daegeum, I take my stance and refine the magical power flowing through it.

[Did you know? The reason the Goblin mainly used a club might be because he was a batter.]

“A batter… What, are you saying the Goblin was a baseball player?”

[He might have been an elite batter in a college baseball club. Perhaps he satisfied his desire to line up terrible fielders and beat them with a bat by beating villains instead.]

“You say strange things. Hearing that makes me think you’ve studied the Goblin quite thoroughly.”

The Goblin twisted the corner of his mouth and pointed at my daegeum.

“Pretending to talk nonsense while gathering mana in your weapon to prepare for a strike. That’s what the Goblin does best. Ah, I admit it. As the most Goblin-like fake among fakes, you’ve studied well enough to be called a ‘counterfeit Goblin Scholar.'”

[……]

“But you’re no match for me. You probably know this? The Goblin doesn’t wait for his opponent to prepare an ultimate technique. Rather, he strikes before they can use their technique.”

Whoosh.

“But when he stays still despite knowing the opponent is about to use a technique, like now.”

Heat haze rises from the tip of the Goblin’s right foot.

“It means he can handle whatever the opponent does, so he’s showing leisure. No, not leisure. This is—”

[The privilege of the strong.]

“That’s right.”

WHOOSH!!

“I’ll acknowledge it. You’re the second-best Goblin copycat after me. If I hadn’t been hired by Haeguneul, you would have been the Goblin employed by Haeguneul.”

[Unfortunately, the money from my side is more than what Haeguneul offers.]

“Oh? That’s quite tempting. How much do you get?”

[Well. If this project succeeds, at least 100 million dollars will hit my account.]

Haeguneul collapse bonus.

Though not complete eradication, if this incident becomes the starting point for Haeguneul’s collapse, I should receive at least that much.

“…Are you an idiot?”

For the first time, the villain “Fakery” spoke instead of the Goblin.

“Setting aside the 100 million, dollars? I misjudged you. Dollars? Not yen or yuan? You fool. In this world, the dollar is the most worthless currency after the Zimbabwean dollar. Don’t you even know that?”

[You know one thing but not the other.]

No matter how chaotic the exchange rates have become.

No matter how much the dollar continues to depreciate.

[The Goblin invests for future value. Do you think I’d be stockpiling dollars without knowing that?]

“……?”

[Brother, I’m saying this because you’ve studied hard in your own way—before you go to prison, convert all your won to dollars.]

Now is the ankle.

[When America wins the World Cup, you won’t be able to buy dollars even if you want to.]

By next year, the dollar will double in value.

[The center of the world will change. This country will no longer be the center of the world.]

“What did you say?”

[I’m telling you this because you copied the Goblin.]

The center of the world.

[The Goblin didn’t die in an explosion in Osaka. The Goblin didn’t go to heaven, he went to America.]

The place the Goblin chose.

Is with the Syndicate.