Chapter 523: Juyoung Hong (50)

Closed Beta That Only I Played

In the Prime Minister's Office in Japan.

While silently watching the Japanese battleships sink into the dark sea after being shattered by huge ice chunks, Prime Minister Abezo shouted.

"The Myongjin Group has also been helped a lot by Japan to reach its current heights today! Don't you think Myongjin is different from other companies?"

He suddenly made some absurd remarks.

But I knew what he was trying to say, so I responded casually, "I know. So what?"

Japan colonized and ruled over Korea for about 35 years in the early 20th centry.

Then the Korean War broke out in 1950 on the heels of its liberation from Japan in 1945.

The Korean Peninsula was literally devastated by a series of national tragedies, creating a bleak situation for the Korean people who could not hope for any bright future.

After the war ended, Korea concluded an agreement with Japan to receive compensation for their past rule, but it was not sufficient at all.

Aside from the buildup of debt, South Korea's national governing system broke down completely, so Korea needed a huge amount of money to restore it. They could not give up economic growth, but they didn't have the capital for it. And they couldn't print bills endlessly because it would certainly bring about high inflation, which was a surefire shortcut to economic collapse.

So the Korean government gave preferential treatment to some large companies so they could take the necessary loan from foreign countries.

With the loan, they could build factories, make products, and hire factory workers.

They borrowed the money with about a 5-10% interest.

This interest rate might look average now, but back then the interest on commercial loans made by banks was over 40% per annum, so a 5-10% interest was a huge preferential treatment for those companies.

But it didn't matter to most of the companies at that time because despite those high interest rates, there were still many people who wanted to borrow money from the banks.

To put it simply, if anybody borrowed money from a foreign country at a 5% to 10% interest rate, then deposited it in local banks, they could earn close to 40% of profits per year.

Of course, none of the companies that were given preferential treatment by the government were stupid enough to do so.

They made lots of money by producing goods and services after buying land to build factories instead of depositing their loans with the banks.

In fact, most of the so-called chaebol, or business conglomerates, grew rapidly thanks to the government's preferential treatment.

The start line was different between the companies that got huge loans with the preferential rate of 5% interest rate, and those companies that got mediocre loans at a high interest rate of 40% after fierce competition among themselves.

Clearly, Myongjin, as one of the five major groups including Daesung, Kusan, and Daeyu, was among the companies that benefited from the government's preferential treatment. But they got most of their loan from Japan.

Although Korea was liberated from Japan in 1945, Japan's 35- year colonial rule left behind some bad legacies such as Korea's top companies' debts to Japan.

That was exactly what Prime Minister Abezo pointed out to me.

He said even Myongjin was not fully free from the shackles of the loans they received from Japan. But that didn't make me stop my offensive.

Of course, since Myongjin, just like the other large companies, competed with its rivals in an unfair manner from the beginning and enjoyed the government's preferential treatment to grow big as it was today, I felt a little bad if Myongjin had not fulfilled its social responsibility fully. But they did.

And Japan definitely did not give or lend money to Korea for free.

Those companies who got loans from Japan paid the money off later.

In the meantime, the Japanese naval battleships as displayed on the big screen on one side of the prime minister's office were crushed by the chunks of ice that were far too large to fall from the sky. They sank under the deep sea, along with all the professional soldiers under the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force and professional civil servants aboard.

At that moment, the prime minister collapsed to his knees.

"We will surrender unconditionally. We will give up our right to the Seventh Mining Area, and we won't seek any right to the Seventh Mining Area in the future."

Prime Minister Abezo mentioned surrender even a little while ago, but what he said was just empty words, and he stayed arrogant, talking to me in an informal tone.

But now he talked to me in a formal tone, with his head down politely.

But I cast my glance at the screen instead of looking at him.

About 30% of the whole fleet already disappeared into the sea.

In addition to that, about 20% of the battleships were partly destroyed by the huge ice chunks. In short, almost 50% of the battleships were damaged.

Moreover, even if they pulled out the sunken battleships under the sea, they would not be able to restore them because they were literally in tatters.

Even restoring the partially damaged battleships would take a huge amount of time and money.

In other words, Japan suffered astronomical damage because of the typhoon.

"Hmm..."

Abezo let out a groan despite himself.

Watching him who dared to defy my warning until the last moment and brought all this trouble onto himself, I momentarily thought hard about how far I should punish him.

If the typhoon I created advanced off the coast to the centre of Tokyo, it was certain that it would cause a huge disaster that they had never seen or experienced before.

Considering that Tokyo is the capital city of Japan, it was clear that the number of people who would die when hit by the typhoon would exceed several millions.

Of course, I didn't want to see that happen either.

Even though I didn't have good feelings for Japan, it didn't mean that I wanted to drive Japan to the pit of destruction.

If Tokyo were devastated, Japan would not even dream of rebuilding it because regardless of their determination, they won't have enough time or money to rebuild the ruined capital city.

In that case, Prime Minister Abezo would make the worst choice, in other words, something like 'if you kill me, I'll kill you, too.'

Of course, that would not matter to me because it would be Japan that would be ruined in the end.

'But… I don't have to go as far as that. After all, my goal is only the Seventh Mining Area'

I have no intention of becoming the ruler of the earth because I once played the role of a ruler in a world indirectly where 'Revival Legend' became a reality.

When I did so, I didn't feel as satisfied as I thought.

'Alright. I don't have to create the worst situation.'

With that conclusion, I raised my right hand and brought together my thumb and index finger at the same time everyone in the prime minister's office turned their eyes to me.

Slap!

The sound was not loud. In fact, it was quite soft.

However, that small sound engulfed the prime minister's office which had quite a few people in at the moment, and a change took place on the screen.

Wheeeeng!