## Chapter 215 – 21. Family Gathering
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When I arrived at the event hall, the family, including Go Minji, was already seated.
Amidst the bustling surroundings, the space where we sat was eerily quiet, as if a hole had been punched through the noise.
It wasn’t as if there weren’t people around; guards and secretaries were stationed here and there.
“Come on in.”
Go Minji greeted me with a childish “Hmph!” expression, turning her head away, while Go Minyoung welcomed me warmly and enthusiastically.
Besides them, there were other aunts and older female cousins, and my esteemed grandfather nodded at me.
No one was beside Grandfather. There were clearly many ladies from the collateral branches, but they didn’t seem to be allowed near the direct line.
“I greet you again, Grandfather, Aunts.”
“Yes, come and sit. It will start soon.”
“Yes.”
I found my seat.
Go Hayan was next to me.
“You’re here.”
“Yes, Elder Cousin.”
She gave a small smile and then raised her left hand in front of her face.
The back of her hand faced me, and the ring on her ring finger was quite noticeable.
“That…!”
“Yes, the ring I mentioned before. How is it? Pretty, isn’t it?”
“Wow… it definitely looks different in person.”
She smiled more deeply.
“Right? All jewelry looks different in reality compared to how it looks through media.”
Go Hayan continued to talk, excited that her field of expertise had come up.
It was somewhat informative because of her professional knowledge, but it gradually became boring as time passed.
Just then,
“What’s this, you two? When did you get so close? Even wearing a ring.”
Go Hayoung, Go Hayan’s mother and my aunt, leaned in subtly, observing Go Hayan and me.
Go Hayan was startled and quickly turned away from me.
“B-Business… it just happened while we were talking about business.”
“Hmm, business?”
For some reason, Go Hayoung wore a mischievous expression.
Like a cat.
“Come to think of it~, I think I have some business to discuss with my nephew too?”
“Yes? With me?”
“Yesss~.”
What is this?
What could I possibly have to discuss with Go Hayoung right now?
Koryeo Group has so many diverse companies that if I looked, there would definitely be something, but nothing immediately comes to mind.
“You’re expanding a lot of projects lately, aren’t you? But you don’t have any loans?”
“Ah.”
That’s right.
Loans…
When running a sizable company, it’s almost mandatory to have financial products, including loans.
But I don’t have any loans.
If I had to pick something, it would be the massive short selling I did when I was playing around with Real Production?
But even that has been liquidated, so my loans are 0 won.
Only cash.
I’m pushing all my current projects forward with only hard cash, which isn’t very common.
‘And I’m not even sucking up money by listing stocks.’
To put it strongly, it could be called abnormal.
From Go Hayoung’s perspective, who is in charge of finance, she might think, ‘Is he going too slow?’
“I could give you a good deal since you’re my nephew~.”
“…”
She must be talking about interest rates?
“Ah… Thank you, Aunt. But I don’t need a loan yet.”
“Hehe. Is that so? It’s not bad to do things safely without loans. But if you want to be more efficient, you’ll need my help.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Hey, don’t keep it in mind. Even if you do, don’t borrow from Mom.”
“Oh my? What are you saying?”
Suddenly, Go Hayan and Go Hayoung started bickering.
Go Hayan was saying things like, why are you recommending a loan to a kid?
Go Hayoung was saying that he’s a businessman, so he needs to know about finance.
Honestly, I don’t know why they’re arguing.
They’re both right.
“If you borrow and can’t pay it back, your life is over that day.”
“Ha! Look at her. Do you think I would do that to my nephew?”
“I think you would?”
It seems like…
Go Hayoung has something going on too.
Her daughter wouldn’t say that otherwise.
‘But Go Minji is completely helpless against Go Minyoung, but this side is different. Harmonious? Is that what you’d call it.’
Even though they’re both from the Go family, the atmosphere seems to be different in each household.
Just in case, I glanced at Go Seona and Go Seonyul.
Go Seonyul is the daughter.
“…”
“…”
Hmm…
Two women who look similar are just fiddling with their phones without saying a word.
When they made eye contact with me, Go Seonyul indifferently turned her gaze back to her phone, and Go Seona nodded slightly before looking back at her phone.
Wow…
How can a mother and daughter be so alike?
Thump.
Suddenly, the surroundings went dark.
And a giant hologram appeared on the front.
[2076]
And the letters shattered and scattered.
‘It’s starting.’
Finally, the year-end review to wrap up the year,
and the New Year’s plan presentation to pledge goals for the new year begins.
The hologram, which had darkened the surroundings, transformed wildly, creating a video.
It was roughly about what events happened in 2076, and how Koryeo Group did this and that each time, and what results they produced.
What was surprising was the estimated total global production for 2076 announced by the Koryeo Economic Research Institute, which amounted to a whopping 120 trillion won.
‘I think the total global production in the 2020s was around 10-13 trillion won.’
Well, the Earth in this world is quite different from the one I was in, but it’s still an amazing figure.
Roughly calculated, it’s about a 10-fold increase, and to have grown that much in this chaotic situation where the Third World War blew away tremendous wealth and all sorts of countries repeatedly split and merged…
‘Even the current won is the won after denomination…’
The current exchange rate is 67 won to 1 dollar.
The dollar hegemony has collapsed as the United States split into three, but even considering that, the won is incredibly strong.
China has split into 20, Japan has been hit by continuous natural disasters and China’s fatal blows, and hundreds of millions of people are packed into the coastal belt from Shandong to the Korean Peninsula, making public order terrible and the gap between rich and poor extreme. The reason why Northeast Asia is considered the most livable place is all because of this.
The total production is only high in terms of numbers, but in reality, the global economy is in ruins.
It is sometimes described as a zombie economy.
‘In the meantime, if Asia’s total production is 80 trillion, they’re just sucking it all up.’
Out of the remaining 40 trillion, the three Americas account for about 28 trillion, Europe for 7 trillion, and the remaining 5 trillion or so is divided among the rest of the world.
Well, it’s only natural since the population is the population… but the difference is a bit severe.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that Asia is three times stronger than the United States or 10 times stronger than Europe. If the United States or Europe were to reunite into the former United States and the former Europe, the synergy would be several times greater.
Then Asia can’t just rest assured.
And considering that the two European Unions simultaneously checked the previous One China situation, perhaps an agreement on unity is already being made under the surface.
If things continue like this, it’s too obvious that they’ll be pushed back.
Europe has now fallen to a quarter of the size of the three divided Americas, not to mention Asia. They must have felt a sense of crisis that they can no longer fight among themselves.
‘The worst case is that all three Americas and two European Unions unite into one.’
Like the former NATO.
But I don’t know if that’s possible.
Considering all the betrayals and conspiracies that raged within NATO during the Third World War…
‘But if Asia alone is 80 trillion, how much is Koryeo Group making?’
They’re vaguely expressing it as ‘a group that dominates Asia’, but they’re not absorbing all 80 trillion, are they?
‘About 20 trillion? I think that’s enough to say they dominate.’
Unfortunately, that information was not revealed.
Total global production,
Total Asian production,
And briefly examining the situation of competitors Europe and the United States,
‘We’ve done so well this year.’
That was the feeling they were giving.
Clap, clap, clap,
Clap, clap, clap.
Applause poured out.
Many people clapped vigorously with expressions of overwhelming emotion.
I don’t know if it’s that great, but seeing our results, which are overwhelmingly advancing with magnificent music, I think I can understand why they might feel that way.
And the grand finale.
Until now, they had been using magnificent background music and various devices to evoke people’s emotions, but this time it was even more spectacular.
[Chairman Go Youngman, admitted as a professional Go player.]
“?”
A ridiculously decorated sentence appeared, and fireworks began to rise and explode from all directions in the venue.
“Hehehe.”
Grandfather smiled very contentedly and clapped.
The aunts looked at Grandfather with a look of disapproval before clapping a beat later, followed by the older female cousins clapping. And after me, who was clapping diligently without realizing it, the applause soon spread to everyone in the venue.
And when Grandfather suddenly stood up, everyone gave a standing ovation in a domino-like fashion, starting with the aunts, then the older female cousins, then me, and then the rest.
‘Is this right? Is being admitted as a professional Go player so important that it overrides everything else???’
