New Employees With an Annual Salary of 1 Trillion Won - Chapter 165

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 165. Spider Web (5)

A meeting was held at Lehman Brothers Headquarters.

It was a meeting to discuss CDS-related matters that Tiger Fund’s Chairman Robertson had brought up.

“What does everyone think?”

“Discussions about naked CDS have been ongoing, and if investment banks join forces, regulatory relaxation is definitely possible.”

“Of course regulatory relaxation is possible. What matters is whether it’ll make us money or not.”

Various opinions came out in response to Chairman Richard’s words.

Most presented the view that naked CDS regulatory relaxation would be profitable.

“There’s nothing bad about it at all. If clients want it, we create and sell it, and we just collect the fees, right?”

“Insurance companies take most of the fees and all we earn is a small brokerage commission – you’re saying that’s still okay?”

“If there are many clients wanting to buy CDS, we can make considerable profit from brokerage fees alone. Of course, I don’t know if there will be clients to buy such products.”

This was the common thinking not just at Lehman, but throughout Wall Street.

They thought the real estate market would never collapse, so CDS, which required real estate collapse as a premise, was considered a garbage product.

“Chairman Robertson said the reason for creating CDS was because they wanted to buy it themselves.”

“We need such fools to make money, don’t we? If there are clients who want to buy garbage, we just create and sell it.”

“I was thinking the same thing. But I’m a bit worried Tiger Fund might get angry later.”

Tiger Fund was an important client.

Every time they made large short sales, they would designate Lehman as their prime broker.

They were big players who partnered with them in various investment ventures.

“Since such big players want this product, shouldn’t we create it even more? We’re not committing fraud, we’re creating it according to client demands, so we have no responsibility whatsoever.”

“Really, I don’t know how it came to this. He was once a respected senior, but now he’s become an old man obsessed with risk hedging.”

“This is Tiger Fund that was driven to near bankruptcy during the IT bubble. Since they luckily survived, they have no choice but to stake their lives on risk management.”

Lehman’s executives didn’t hide their mockery.

Though they were big clients, funds were just funds after all.

They were investment banks standing at the center of Wall Street, while Tiger Fund was just one of their clients.

The executives’ tone carried subtle superiority and cynicism as if dealing with subordinates.

“Since an important client wants risk management, we should step up for them. Let’s move for regulatory relaxation.”

“Of course, insurance companies will also find it a good profit product, so they have no reason to oppose. If investment banks, insurance companies, and funds all speak with the same voice, we can definitely move financial authorities and politicians.”

Lehman began moving in earnest.

As Chairman Robertson intended, they stood at the forefront of regulatory relaxation.

With Lehman stepping up, regulatory relaxation was now just a matter of time.

***

I returned to Korea.

I went alone, but I didn’t come back alone.

“Korea has developed more than I thought. The airport is very clean from the start.”

“Thank you for the compliment. Still, compared to the United States, we have a long way to go.”

“With Mister Lee here, you’ll catch up quickly.”

The person who entered the country with me was Carter Till.

He had accompanied me to Korea, saying he wanted to personally check Redline’s information management system.

“Where would you like to go? Should we go to the hotel first?”

“No, I’d like to go straight to Redline.”

“Is there really a need to see the site in person? You should be able to understand the functions sufficiently through remote access.”

“I need to see directly how the system Mister Lee created collects data and where it’s used, so I can design more accurately afterward.”

Representative Carter Till had strong perfectionist tendencies.

That’s why he had followed me to Korea, and he wanted to go to Redline while giving up even rest.

“Then, I’ll guide you straight to Redline.”

“I’ll study some Korean in the car.”

He was even studying Korean to communicate with Redline.

During the trip from the airport to Redline, he never took his eyes off his Korean textbook.

Just as I was getting motion sickness from watching, we arrived at the Redline building, and only then did Representative Carter Till put his textbook in his bag.

“This is Redline.”

“Do you use the entire building? The scale is quite large.”

“Yes, all eight floors. First, I’ll guide you to the 7th floor where the information management headquarters is located.”

Carter Till entered the building with an excited face.

Only after smilingly accepting all the strict security procedures could he enter the 7th floor.

“Wow! This is more systematic than I imagined.”

“Most are from military or agency backgrounds, so we have a system similar to intelligence agencies. Oh! And let me introduce you. This is Redline’s Representative Park Dae-hyeok.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Carter Till.”

The greeting time was very short.

Carter Till, eager to see the system quickly, began asking questions while still shaking hands.

“Are you collecting information in real time?”

“That’s right. We’re automatically collecting all news from newspapers and broadcasters as well as various media outlets. For local newspapers that aren’t uploaded to the internet, staff members scan them and add them to the database.”

An enormous amount of data was being collected automatically.

Starting with Korea, then the United States, Japan, China, and even the Middle East.

Various information in different languages was filling the database, and beside it, work to classify the collected information was in full swing.

“The classification work is also automated.”

“Yes, primary classification is done by an algorithm that automatically extracts key keywords. Then verification personnel do the final confirmation.”

“There wouldn’t be just one main keyword, right?”

“That’s right. Dozens of keywords are extracted from a single article. We call this process tagging. It’s the work of finding keywords with even slight relevance and attaching them as tags.”

Carter Till stared at the screen for a moment.

Thousands of data points weren’t just classified by tags.

They were also being created in graph or Venn diagram formats.

“This definitely isn’t a simple information management system.”

“To utilize it in various places, we need to manage information in various ways.”

“It seems to create a kind of pattern. If you create patterns through news keywords, you could predict situations in specific regions, industries, or companies.”

It was accurate.

Carter Till had seen through the hidden intention.

What I wanted was pattern creation.

I created this system to organize all information into patterns and apply them to all situations to predict the future.

“We focus on preempting information flow beyond predicting situations.”

“Beyond detecting movements before events happen, we could also move events ourselves.”

“Manipulating events to lead them in desired directions is theoretically possible. But first, ‘control’ is more important.”

“If only I know future events, naturally I should utilize them to my advantage, shouldn’t I?”

It wasn’t wrong.

But it wasn’t the direction I wanted.

Rather than actively manipulating events, I tried to accurately predict and control the future, taking maximum advantage within that scope.

“It would depend on the situation. To maintain initiative in any situation, we need to further develop the current system.”

“It’s already an excellent system. It just seems to lack experience.”

“Since it was created not long ago, experience hasn’t accumulated. But since Redline is actively utilizing it, we can rapidly build up data.”

Experience couldn’t be gained all at once.

Of course, if the system were used simultaneously in multiple places, experience could be accumulated faster, which was also why I joined hands with Carter Till.

“If we can contract with U.S. Government agencies and have multiple departments adopt this system, we can develop it at a much faster pace.”

“Especially if places that value information like the military or CIA use our system, we can accumulate vast practical data.”

“The situation is turning very favorably for us. There’s a place that desperately needs this system.”

Suppressed excitement was evident in Carter Till’s voice.

He seemed to already be drawing a clear picture of where to start.

“Where do you have in mind?”

“The Middle East! The United States is about to invest over tens of billions of dollars in the Middle East. If our system improves efficiency by even 1%, they’ll want to sign a contract first.”

I understood Carter Till’s intention.

Though he broadly said Middle East, the exact target he meant was Iraq.

“A bill related to Iraq has passed in the US Congress.”

“You mean the authorization for the use of military force against Iraq? It passed not only in the House but also in the Senate. There was no distinction between parties. It’s only a matter of time before Iraq becomes a battlefield.”

I checked Iraq-related information through the system.

The system didn’t have enough data accumulated to predict future situations.

But there was sufficient data to remind me of the gears in my head.

Screech!

A rupturing sound that seemed to tear my eardrums.

The meaning of the sound was clear.

It definitely meant that war would break out in Iraq.

“War in Iraq will definitely happen.”

“I said it was a matter of time, but it’s difficult to predict the exact timing. Still, won’t the US make its move in earnest within next year? So we need to contract with US agencies now and expand into the Middle East.”

Nothing devoured money like war.

And it was also the environment where information brokers could make the most money.

“If we can expand into Iraq, we could certainly obtain vast amounts of data as well as generate profits.”

“For that, we need a system that can satisfy US agencies.”

“If we work with the US, we could receive satellite information in real time. Let’s create and add an algorithm that can predict locations through satellite information.”

“And we need a communication signal analysis system. We can’t conduct surveillance ourselves, but US agencies can intercept satellite phones as well as radios and mobile phones. I’d like a system that collects and analyzes such intercepted content.”

Ideas poured out.

These were ideas that emerged because we had the clear purpose of war.

Not only CEO Park Dae-hyeok, who was from the military, but other employees were also military veterans, so they began mentioning functions that the military desperately needed one by one.

“I’d also like a system that can convert civilian reports into data for analysis. In war, local intelligence can be used as crucial information that reverses situations.”

“That’s a good idea.”

“And I’d like visual materials that can show the flow of events at a glance. If we can put all information on a map, we can confirm what route the enemy takes and what they’re doing.”

Korea was still a country where the war hadn’t ended.

Therefore, the military veteran employees knew what functions were essential.

I could summarize what they were saying and determine the direction of what needed to be developed.

“Satellite information, communication patterns, language analysis, and even causal relationships of events – we can create algorithms and add them.”

“If that happens, we could perfectly predict war situations.”

“I’ll try to make it usable, if not perfect, before this year ends.”

“Is that possible so quickly? To create just one such function, at least dozens of people would need to struggle for several weeks.”

Carter Till was mistaken that RedLine would create all the functions.

Naturally, it would be impossible to create such functions within this year with just the people in this building.

“We have a separate development team of over 300 people. We’re continuously hiring additional developers even now, so we can definitely create it within this year.”

“You had such a large-scale development team? Tiger Fund indeed! Everything needed is already prepared.”

“I’ll enable real-time communication with the development team as well. Whenever you see functions that need to be added or parts that need modification, please communicate anytime.”

Carter Till could be called a workaholic without any strangeness.

He was already sitting at his desk preparing to work.

“I’ll start working right away. Would it be okay to work together at the RedLine office for a while?”

“As long as CEO Park Dae-hyeok is fine with it, I don’t mind.”

“I’m fine with it too. If he’s Branch Manager’s person, isn’t he family?”

“Then, work while consulting with each other. Later you’ll become partners helping each other.”

RedLine and Carter Till.

They were in a relationship where they needed to share and cooperate on Korean and global information.

So there was nothing bad about building friendship from now, which is why I placed Carter Till in the RedLine office.

“Mister Lee, go ahead and do other work now. Don’t worry about me.”

“CEO Park, please take good care of Carter Till.”

“I’ll take full responsibility from accommodation to restaurant.”

I could hear harmony from the two of them.

It was the moment when the information control system I wanted was taking shape.

The completion of a system that would spread webs everywhere to control all information wasn’t far away.

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