The Age of the 21st Century Magazine

‘Navis Technology is the world's number one company with annual sales of $300 billion and net profits of $100 billion in 2020, and is widely known to the general public for its industrial and military horse-drawn products.

Unlike IT companies like Apple and Google, Samsung is an unusually technological company and accumulates wealth from processing rare metal resources.. ’

Excerpts from some of the Fortune articles

Six months after the return of the five men,

Just moments ago, a new company entered the scallop redevelopment area.

Named after Navis Technologies, the company sits on an old cast mill site and an old three-story merchant building just next door.

The old three-storey company building, which seems to have been built at the same time as a very old and shabby casting mill, is a boxed '70s building with old tiles that are hard to find in the neighborhood.

In contrast to the new offices on the side of the Guro Corporation being built as apartment-type factories,

A furnace insulation wall with no hot insulation in summer and cold insulation in winter, and a cheap window frame where the rope barely hangs over the cracked liver is so ugly that it is reminiscent of an old ruined bridge.

Everything on the third floor of a building like that doesn't belong in the boss's office.

I'm watching CNN news coming from a smartTV with gold walls with sunglasses on and JiHoon leaning on an antique couch.

[A monster resembling an enormous boar more than nine metres in length appeared in Colorado, United States, and was killed by a state defense Cobra helicopter that smashed over 20 houses and 100 vehicles, resulting in more than 150 casualties.

State defense forces and Colorado police officials have announced that the creature is known to burst rifle shells and inflict enormous force [...]

On the news screen, a giant boar-shaped monster carcass is loaded in a truck, heading somewhere and shining a torn house around it.

In a situation that looks quite serious in the middle of the battlefield, the anchor says that some parts of Colorado have been announced as special disaster zones to support them.

"Hmm... Where did that monster come from? Do you have a portal?”

JiHoon, who was touching the center of his trademark sunglasses with his index finger, muttered as he watched the news.

The appearance of an unexpected monster and the catastrophic events in Colorado, the United States, aroused JiHoon's curiosity.

On one side of the office, Dr. Nam, who looked at the Katia design drawings with his computer, turned his chair to see if he was listening to emergency disaster news.

“Look, a higher life form with quantum mobility skills enough to open a portal has to sign up to the Galactic Federation's Technology Control Agreement.

Clans in the Galactic Federation must be banned from direct contact with technological battalions or large scale planets with technological advances below nanoage.

Now it's only in the age of it that we use the portal to turn the entire highlands of the galaxy into enemies. "

“Is the portal a natural occurrence? ”

In JiHoon's words, Dr. Nam came up with the theory of natural-generation portals at the Galactic Federal Institute of Technology.

The portal is a kind of quantum tunnel that can move objects away in an instant.

Quantum tunnels can be made artificially on large spaceships capable of warp maneuvers, but they are also naturally generated by the ether energy of the universe, according to the theory of naturally occurring portals.

Nam determined by portal theory that the flying monsters in Colorado could have been moved by a naturally occurring wormhole.

“In the view of Galactic Federation scientists, it is said that a wormhole can occur randomly by the phenomenon of rapid metastasis of ether near the hemolysis on the ether map. ”

“Hmm, that kind of monsters can come over again.”

“Well, we have to say that the probability of that converges to more than half the probability that the ether shock energy of the wormhole, which is naturally generated by the wave overlap principle, has a reaction continuity, and it's going to generate the next wormhole in a series.”

“So that monster came on a quantum tunnel portal? ”

“You don't have to define that boar-like race as a monster, because there are planets where technological civilizations have not developed physical evolution, and there may be life on par with technological civilizations.”

Dr. Nam's words that monsters can have quantum civilization-level combat power make JiHoon look serious.

The fighting power of a race of quantum civilizations is unimaginable.

Quantum civilizations have a strong combat power that can travel hundreds of light-years to warp and destroy a planet at once.

However, it is unimaginable strength for the physical evolution of the higher race.

JiHoon recalls the game Blizzard had encountered before using the ruins.

“Like a jug in a starcraft? ”

“You can see that, because the advancement of the race may evolve into physical evolution, not technological tools.”

In Nam's words, JiHoon smiled loudly and tapped the tip of Raven's sunglasses with his index finger.

When JiHoon makes that look, it's always just when he makes up the villain's chest.

“Well, whatever it is, that monster shows up as a chance to expand our funding soon.”

JiHoon's murmuring makes Dr. Nam look ridiculous.

“You can still make a lot of money with gold to make a relic of God. Already returning to Earth, the tribal council and the Italian mafia are worth more than $2 billion in gold.”

JiHoon shakes his head at Nam Doctor's words. In fact, gold is surprisingly difficult to cash.

“Rare metals, originally called gold, are as vigilant to governments around the world as uranium is to the international community.

We've released four billion dollars of gold to the black market in China for three months, and it's already fallen to close to 1,000 dollars, and we're actually in a bit of a mess.

If it is no longer brought to the attention of the international community, it could be traced back to the source of the gold. ”

In JiHoon's words, Nam also felt that the disposal of gold was difficult now.

So far, more than 10% of the $45 billion in gold traded worldwide has already been released to the market through Navis Technology through dealers associated with the Mafia or the Triad.

In order to avoid tax tracking by each government agency, it was now necessary to refrain from disposing of gold from the black market.

“Well, what are we gonna do? ”

“We're going to have to trade metallic minerals that are much more valuable than gold in the future and are at a very low risk of being tracked instead. I'm going to need to stockpile them."

“What minerals? ”

“Of course, tungsten carbide, industrial nano-tungsten powder and tungsten shingles will be price-stable for at least the next 100 years, and the development of orbital elevator technology will change the situation if we can develop ultra-large mines in the asteroid, but it's also gold."

Tungsten is a rare metal used primarily for steel products and ultra-light tools.

Because it is essential for heavy industry, the import process is also very simple, so rare metals are usually one of the items that can be easily imported with only a 4% tariff. In short, metals that nobody cares about.

However, Nam emphasized that tungsten, which is not very well formulated in countries around the world, is a perfect replacement for gold.

There was no need for special storage facilities, such as crude oil or lithium, so there was no need to reduce the price in the future because there was only tantalum in the replaceable minerals that were neither difficult to store nor expensive. This is because tantalum, an alternative mineral, is much more expensive than tungsten.

Nam Dr.Ji Hoon thought that it was the best time to buy tungsten now that the monsters erupted.

"How much is the trader now? ”

In response to Dr. Nam's question, JiHoon launched a web browser on a smart TV and searched the international price per kg of tungsten.

"I'm trading between $42 and $45 right now.”

"So how much do you want to bet? ”

"China, Shanghai, advanced metal exchanges, and small offerings around the world, and Kazakhstan and Russia.

Bet up to 80 bucks... or 100 bucks to scrape all the raw ore and scrub left in the market.

If there are mines that come out of the property abroad, don't take over the economy, but take over the entire Scandium and all the other rare mineral mines. "

“Okay, I'll start now."

“Oh, and in parallel, we're going to have to buy companies that have tungsten waste regeneration technology nationally and internationally, and if we don't, we're going to have to scrape up a stake."

“That's David in Italy, and I'll leave it to Rainy."

As Changsoo, who was lying on the couch looking at the book, said, JiHoon nodded and replied.

“Changsoo, let the Chinese state bank hand over the last gold we have to the blockdeal through a three-way trade compromise and repay it for tungsten or rare earth up to $2 billion.

That's going to add to the existing funding and we're going to have at least $3 billion in cash. I also told them to invest 500 million dollars in our affiliates in bond form. ”

“So that's $3.5 billion? ”

“$500 million should be spent on the acquisition of tungsten regeneration companies and small precision machining companies right away, so that's $3 billion."

“For $3 billion, all we can get is a minimum of 42,000 tons of tungsten metal and a rare metal mine. ”

“And the helix? ”

“If you import the refined tungsten and tungsten ore that we have secured for $3 billion into the country, you can mix it with the tungsten powder that you produced as an artifact of God! ”

“Oh, so you're selling fries? ”

“Anyway, customs or tax offices only inspect import volumes, so there's no record of any extra tungsten that we can trade for cash in the form of finished or intermediate products."

“Oh, that's a good idea."

“And soon there will be a shortage of tungsten, so import duties will fall to 0% by designating it as a special item, and it will be tax-exempt, and after one year we won't be able to save 120 bucks a kilo of tungsten. ”

JiHoon laughed in meaningful words.

The conspiracy to adjust the price of rare metals, which they will have absolute power over the world in the future, finally begins to sprout here in the scallop.

Two months later, London LME, the world's largest non-ferrous metal exchange

The warden, Lancelot, who was in charge of the area, swallowed a cup of his tea filled with thick espresso to catch up with drowsiness while preparing the materials for a client agenda meeting.

A senior manager in charge of trading risk management has then reported the key agenda to him.

“Suspicious movements have been detected in Korea and Italy. ”

“Something?”

“Navis Technology collects large quantities of tungsten and rare metals from Chinese and third-world dealers in addition to LME.

Tungsten carbide has already risen to 75 dollars per kilo. ”

“What does that mean, why is tungsten so thin? ”

“Perhaps the Korean company is looking for a short-term investment to gain a quoted profit on rare metals. This is when it is necessary to adjust the short positions for hedging extremes according to the situation. ”

Lancelot listened to his senior manager and pondered.

Can there be a price differential for tungsten?

Tungsten is an essential metal in the field of dissipation, precision machinery and oil drilling, and while demand is skyrocketing with China's economic growth, it is virtually impossible for prices to explode abnormally due to its 40,000 tonnes per year short-term purchases.

Moreover, due to the recent economic crisis in Europe, the demand for tungsten by precision processors in Switzerland, Germany and Portugal has not increased.

Although metals such as scandium and rhodium, which are relatively sparse in output, are possible to adjust quotes, tungsten is a difficult discipline to shake unless large bonded capital is actively involved, leading to the conclusion that position adjustments to hedging are not necessary for the time being.

Lancelot swallowed an espresso and told his senior manager that the stockpile amongst the middle dealers was quite a metal, which was no problem at all.

“What other rare metals besides tungsten? ”

“Mainly scandium and tantalum. ”

"Scandium and tantalum..."

Scandium is a scarce resource that can be traded at low prices, but it was not very dangerous because it has a strong substitute for titanium alloys.

With the development of rare metal replacement technology, Tantal was not as concerned because the demand for electrons was not the same as before, but the warden determined.

“Hmm. Tungsten rare earths have enough volume on the Chinese side. ”

“But, Warden, the purchase size...”

The senior manager rebounded, but the warden swallowed the remaining espresso coffee in the tea cup instead of answering. In that way, the manager bowed and replied.

“Yes, sir. So let's just keep monitoring. ”

“So, what's the next topic? ”

In doing so, Lancelot proceeded to the meeting ignoring the danger termination signal for tungsten metals.

However, given the anomalous signs of tungsten that LME's head had handed over, it was impossible to know whether Lancelot was a thoroughbred Nam or JiHoon.