Golden Spoon Investment Portfolio - Chapter 425

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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425. I’m going to turn this place into my own Fort Knox.

The very next day, Choi Jin-woo, the Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, contacted me to say he had decided to accept my proposal.
No matter how I looked at it, the terms were entirely advantageous to the government with absolutely no downside, so it was an inevitable outcome.
After formally executing the contract with the government, I immediately paid 200 million dollars as an advance and received the twenty tons of gold that had accumulated thus far.
Then I immediately boarded a helicopter with Han Ji-sung, my Attendant Secretary, and descended to Busan.
Amid the deafening whir of the rotor blades, I sat deep in my seat wearing black sunglasses, resting my chin on one hand as I gazed down through the circular window at the sprawling landscape below.
Beneath a cloudless, crystalline sky, the azure expanse of the distant sea came into view alongside densely packed buildings of varying sizes that crowded the city streets.
Then, through the headphones I was wearing, I heard the pilot’s voice.

[The mountain visible on your right is Hwangryeong Mountain.]

As I lifted my gaze, a towering mountain rose majestically from the heart of the city.
With two peaks well over 400 meters flanking either side and the ridge spreading broadly between them, it felt like an island floating alone within the urban landscape.
Banking sharply to approach Hwangryeong Mountain more closely, the helicopter gradually descended and touched down on the expansive sports field of the Civil Service Training Institute located directly below the mountainside, kicking up clouds of dust.
As the rotor above slowly came to a halt, I opened the side door and stepped out.
Then a somewhat stocky middle-aged man approached with two companions, bending slightly at the waist with one hand pressed to his head to shield himself from the rotor wash.

“Are you President Park Seok-won?”
“I am.”

I gave a slight nod, my cashmere coat and sunglasses catching the light.
The middle-aged man bowed respectfully and spoke.

“Welcome. I’m Jung Jun-yeop, the director of this facility.”
“Pleased to meet you.”

As I extended my hand, Director Jung Jun-yeop bowed and grasped it.

“I’d like to inspect the bunker first. Would you mind showing me the way?”
“Ah. Yes. Please follow me.”

Following Director Jung Jun-yeop as he led the way, I crossed the sports field and rounded behind the four-story training institute building, where a massive iron door painted in deep red suddenly appeared on the mountainside.

“This is the Gwangan-dong Bunker.”

Seok-won removed his sunglasses and tucked them into the inner pocket of his jacket, then gazed upward at the massive iron gate—large enough to accommodate even enormous dump trucks with ease.
He turned his head toward Jung Jun-yeop, the director standing beside him, and asked a question.

“The maintenance appears to be quite thorough.”
“Although it’s been twenty-five years since construction, we use it as a command center during the annual Eulji exercises each year, so we’ve been conducting periodic repairs.”

Jung Jun-yeop spoke with a slightly wistful expression, his gaze fixed on the bunker entrance with its thick concrete coating.

“However, now that the new City Hall building being relocated this year has a state-of-the-art emergency defense facility newly constructed inside, it’s no longer needed.”

Emergency defense facilities referred to secret military installations built throughout the nation in preparation for war.
The Gwangan-dong Bunker had been constructed with the purpose of serving as an emergency command center for the Blue House and military leadership in the event that North Korean forces invaded and Seoul fell, which was why its scale was extraordinarily massive.
When Jung Jun-yeop gestured, a young civil servant behind him brought keys and unlocked the enormous padlock on the iron gate—a lock the size of a child’s head.
Then he grasped the thick iron door, which opened outward on both sides, and exerted force.
Since the iron door was forty centimeters thick and nearly eight meters in height, it took two men straining together to barely open it.
As the heavy iron door swung open, a gray concrete tunnel revealed itself from its hidden state.

“The entire mountain is composed of solid bedrock, and as you can see, the entire bunker is surrounded by thick iron doors and reinforced concrete, making it impervious to even substantial bombing.”

Seok-won nodded at the subtly proud tone of his words.

“It certainly looks sturdy.”
“Shall we head inside?”

At Jung Jun-yeop’s gesture, Seok-won took his first steps forward.
Han Ji-sung and the others followed behind, moving into the tunnel.
When a civil servant opened the silver electrical panel installed on the left wall and flipped the switch, the lights positioned at regular intervals illuminated, brightening the interior brilliantly.
Looking up at the ceiling, I could see three or four thick pipes, painted in different colors for distinction, firmly secured and extending far into the depths.
As we walked slowly forward, Jung Jun-yeop kindly explained the detailed specifications of the bunker.

“The corridor width is 3.4 meters and the height approaches 4 meters, so trucks and armored vehicles can move in and out without any problem.”
“What’s the total interior area?”
“Approximately 4,330 square meters, or roughly 1,300 pyeong.”
“That’s quite spacious.”
“It was designed as a command center where the President and the top government and military leadership would stay in emergencies. If used solely for evacuation purposes, it can accommodate up to five thousand people.”

Considering this had been the wartime supreme command center, there must have been hundreds of security personnel, so this scale was necessary.

“The main corridor alone, which takes the overall shape of a lowercase h, exceeds 270 meters.”

After walking for a while, a large iron gate wide enough to allow several people to pass appeared on the left side.

“What is that?”

When Seok-won raised one arm and pointed to the iron gate, Jung Jun-yeop let out an acknowledging sound.

“It’s an emergency passage that connects to the midpoint of the mountain. There are over thousands of stairs, so you need to be mentally prepared if you ever decide to climb it.”
“Wouldn’t having a passage connected to the outside create a security vulnerability?”

Seok-won asked with a slight squint, and Jung Jun-yeop responded with a smile.

“There are several surveillance cameras installed, and more importantly, there are five of these thick iron gates positioned throughout the passage that can’t be easily destroyed even with explosives. It’s designed so that intruders absolutely cannot sneak in.”

Despite the confident answer, Seok-won’s expression remained stern.

“There’s no reason to leave an unnecessary risk factor as is. If we end up using this facility, make sure to have the emergency passage completely sealed off.”
“Understood.”

Han Ji-sung, who was standing behind, noted the instruction in his leather diary.

‘I wonder what on earth he plans to use this bunker for, being so meticulous about it.’

A hint of curiosity stirred within him, but since it wasn’t his place to concern himself with such matters, Jung Jun-yeop simply pretended not to know and moved on.
As Seok-won resumed walking, he immediately fell into step beside him and continued his explanation.

“As you can see, along the central corridor, there are conference rooms, bathrooms, and various sized rooms for accommodating personnel on both sides. And in the middle section where the corridor branches into two tunnels, there are large dining facilities, kitchens, shower rooms, and storage areas.”

The dining area, kitchen, and shower rooms were all large enough to accommodate hundreds of people simultaneously.

“We call this place the central plaza. With so many large and small rooms and such a complex layout, unfamiliar visitors tend to get lost easily.”

Seok-won examined the interior slowly while listening, then spoke.

“Being an underground tunnel, there’s usually high humidity and condensation or mold tends to form, but I don’t see any signs of that here.”
“There are ventilation shafts scattered throughout and excellent drainage systems, so there’s no concern about that. Additionally, even without operating separate heating and cooling equipment, the temperature remains at an average of 11.9 degrees Celsius year-round, making it cool like air conditioning in summer and warm in winter.”

Despite the freezing temperatures outside, the interior of the bunker felt only slightly cool.
And because it had been consistently maintained as mentioned initially, even though it had been constructed twenty-five years ago, the rounded arched ceiling and walls were pristine—not a single small crack was visible.
I gazed around the bunker’s interior with a satisfied expression, moving slowly through the space.
Without bothering to inspect the smaller rooms, I simply passed through them, yet it took over an hour just to reach the innermost section.
One final chamber was particularly expansive, arranged with tiered seating facing a central stage—apparently designed for use as an auditorium or conference hall.
Toward the rear, there was even a small projection room with a window.
With my hands resting on my hips as I surveyed the auditorium, I imagined installing a massive vault here and reinforcing the security systems further, then storing hundreds of tons of gold bullion that would be secured through a national gold collection campaign.
As I envisioned the gold bars gleaming yellowish under the lights, filling a space larger than three classrooms combined, an involuntary deep smile spread across my face.

“I’m going to create my own Fort Knox here.”

Fort Knox was a United States Army base located south of Louisville in Kentucky, famous for housing the United States Bullion Depository, a vault that stored federal gold reserves.
The amount of gold bullion stored there totaled a staggering 8,133 tons, of which 2,200 tons belonged to the American federal government, while the remainder was entrusted by central banks from countries around the world, including Germany.
While it couldn’t match that location—the place with the most gold stored anywhere on Earth—I would be placing a remarkable 227 tons of gold bullion, far exceeding what the Bank of Korea possessed, so it was fair to call it a smaller Fort Knox.
I nodded slightly, then looked toward Han Ji-sung, who stood holding his diary.

“I like it. Contact the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister and tell them we’ve decided on this location.”
“Understood.”
“And before we move the items, it seems we’ll need to conduct extensive renovation work to suit the new purpose. Find a construction company with the best reputation to handle it.”
“Yes.”

I stroked my chin thoughtfully with one hand, then issued additional instructions.

“While using this space as-is wouldn’t be bad, to strengthen security further, have them design and bring plans for excavation work to dig another thirty to forty meters deeper and create a vault chamber.”
“Yes.”

Han Ji-sung diligently transcribed the cascading instructions into his diary.
Then, I suddenly glanced at Jung Jun-yeop, who stood idly to one side, and asked him a question.

“How large is the land area of the Civil Service Training Institute outside?”
“Well, if you include the adjacent Health and Environment Research Institute’s land, it would be approximately 8,000 square meters.”
“To properly utilize this place, it seems we’ll need to acquire the Civil Service Training Institute as well. Could you contact City Hall and ask if we can see the mayor right now?”
“You mean right away?”

Jung Jun-yeop responded with a troubled expression.

“If it’s difficult to make the call, we can contact them directly through the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister instead.”

The moment Deputy Prime Minister Choi Jin-woo’s name was casually mentioned from my lips—a figure of towering importance—Jung Jun-yeop, who had been hesitant, immediately waved his hand as if he’d never objected.

“Ah, no, of course. I’ll make the call right away.”

Seok-won lifted his chin with a satisfied expression.

“Well, it seems I’ve seen enough for now, so let’s be on our way.”
“Yes, this way.”

Jung Jun-yeop hurried ahead, flustered.
Seok-won took one final look around the interior of the grand hall where the vault would be installed, then turned to leave.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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