Chapter 15

It was still the same VIP room as last time, still the same four suitcases, and the people were still the same, but Sato Daishima's attitude was much more humble.

"Mr. Spark, after our negotiations with the Ministry of Economy, we can exchange this batch of government bonds for UBS. Do you want cash or physical assets?"

Spark seemed to have heard the most beautiful music, and he smiled, "Cash, of course, cash. According to our calculations, 15 billion yen worth of your country's government bonds, with the appreciation and the interest we are entitled to, we should receive 123.8 billion yen in cash."

Sato Daishima nodded, feeling a bit liver pain, and said, "We need to re-verify the exact amount, but we will not shortchange UBS by a single yen."

Spark glanced at his companions, and seeing their slight nods, he continued, "That's the best. Please prepare some staff to go back with us for the tally. We have booked an entire floor at the Hilton, and I believe your bank's staff will be very busy for a while. By the way, I must advise you to bring more people; the amount is not small."

Sato Daishima felt the situation was a bit out of his expectation. He blinked his small eyes and cautiously asked, "You have a lot more? Not just these 15 billion yen?"

Spark shrugged and smiled, "Of course, this is just a small part. We brought two shipping containers to Japan."

Sato Daishima fell to the ground with a thud, almost spitting blood on the spot. By the great god Amaterasu, how could these damned white devils have so many government bonds? Do they want to bankrupt the Great Japanese Empire?

Spark squatted down and gently patted Sato Daishima's pale little face, ignoring the twitching wrinkles, and smiled, "Mr. President, don't pretend to be dead. Go gather the staff quickly. We must tally everything first before we can discuss the exchange, right? So, I hope to see your staff in place by 8 a.m. tomorrow."

Seeing Sato Daishima's limbs trembling and his eyes rolling back, Spark felt a sense of satisfaction. He got up and waved, leading everyone out of the central bank. This was about his bonus, and a huge one at that. He had worked hard once, and he had to make the central bank work hard again.

The next day, when Sato Daishima led over a hundred staff members to the Hilton Hotel, he found that the entire hotel had been booked by UBS. From the lobby, armed police were on guard. When he explained his purpose and was escorted upstairs by a UBS staff member, he found the security even tighter, with dozens of foreign mercenaries armed with automatic weapons guarding the entire floor.

Sato Daishima and the over a hundred central bank staff felt as if countless guns were pointing at their heads, as if any slight movement would cost them their lives.

Sato Daishima wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, knowing that the central bank was in big trouble. This was definitely not a small amount.

Especially when he was led to a meeting room and saw the Swiss ambassador to Japan, he knew that the central bank couldn't get away with this. Otherwise, Switzerland would definitely do everything to sanction Japan globally.

Seeing the pile of bonds that filled a corner, several cubic meters in size, Sato Daishima almost fainted on the spot, hoping the face value was as small as possible, otherwise Japan would suffer a huge loss.

"Mr. Sato, welcome. I represent the Swiss government in expressing my gratitude to you!" The ambassador smiled and shook hands with Sato Daishima.

Sato Daishima hurriedly replied, "This is what we should do, but this is really too much. We may not be able to pay the full amount immediately."

Spark, standing nearby, said, "We can tally first, then calculate the total amount by the deadline, and then discuss how to make the payment."

Seeing the ambassador nod in agreement, Sato Daishima couldn't help but nod with a bitter smile. Although Switzerland is a small country and has declared permanent neutrality, its status in the world is undeniable, especially in Europe. If Switzerland leads the sanctions against Japan, even the United States might stand on their side.

Ji Feng, seeing Sato Daishima's constipated expression, was delighted. He handed over the large meeting room to the central bank and Spark, and accompanied the ambassador to his room.

At the time, Spark, seeing such a massive amount of Japanese bonds, realized the serious security issue and immediately reported to the Swiss embassy. He urgently brought in a team of mercenaries from Europe, booked the entire hotel, and requested the Japanese government to send police to guard the outside, while the mercenaries were responsible for the security of the floor. He didn't want any mishaps with such a large amount of bonds, as they were bearer bonds that anyone could exchange at the central bank.

After having lunch with the ambassador and thanking him for his concern, Ji Feng saw him off.

Back in his hotel room, Ji Feng comfortably drank coffee, crossed his legs, and opened his computer to browse the internet, occasionally chatting with classmates and friends, and checking the progress on Jeju Island.

It must be said that the South Korean government was in a real bind. When Seoda proposed to reclaim the property, South Korea was in a panic. Although they had been dragging their feet by citing the need to verify historical records, they were approaching the one-month deadline and had found no records at all.

Of course, they couldn't say there was nothing. There were some historical records from the Park Chung-hee era, which vaguely mentioned Jeju Island, but did not clearly state whether it belonged to South Korea or had been sold. This left the South Korean government in a bind.

Although the signature of Park Chung-hee on the ownership agreement was determined to be genuine after various comparisons, they really didn't want to lose Jeju Island, the jewel of South Korea, the Hawaii of the East.

The government seal was the most frustrating part. If it were just Park Chung-hee's signature, they could claim it was a private act without the government's approval. However, the government seal was undeniably from the Park Chung-hee era, with no possibility of forgery. The comparison showed a 100% match.

This issue caused a heated debate within the South Korean government. They split into two factions, each attacking the other. Some argued that they should accept all policies from the previous government, including this agreement, and negotiate to buy it back if necessary.

The other faction strongly disagreed, calling it a humiliating and oppressive treaty and insisting on rejecting it. They even cursed Park Chung-hee in front of his daughter, saying he should go to hell for selling such a huge asset, especially land, to someone else, especially someone who sounded Chinese.

Even ordinary South Koreans erupted in large-scale protests against the government's inaction, cursing the politicians and demanding their resignation. They accused them of trying to dismember the Republic of Korea.

For a while, the entire country was shrouded in a thick cloud of pessimism. People's first question when they met was, "What do you think about this?" Even during meals and in the bathroom, the topic was the same.

If it were just South Korea's internal turmoil, it would be one thing. However, with the influence of money, after Ji Feng, through Seoda, promised to purchase defensive weapons from the United States, the U.S. government also stepped in. The White House spokesperson claimed that the U.S. government had found secret archives from the Johnson era, which included a document about the free trade of Jeju Island. As a supervisor, the U.S. government also had an original contract.

This was like adding fuel to the fire, exposing South Korea's last shred of dignity to the world. With the U.S. government's contract, the matter was proven true, and they couldn't deny it.

Apart from South Korea, the most concerned parties were China, North Korea, and Japan.

North Korea's "Little Kim" jumped up and down, cursing South Korea for selling the property of the entire Korean nation. North Korea refused to recognize the agreement and demanded that Ji Feng return Jeju Island unconditionally, or they would use force to reclaim it. In short, North Korea was firmly opposed.

Japan, on the other hand, firmly stood on Ji Feng's side, often criticizing the South Korean government for wanting to violate international law and renege on the agreement. They sarcastically asked how the world could trust the South Korean government in the future, and whether people would still invest in South Korea. They accused South Korean companies of being untrustworthy and called for a global boycott of South Korean products, while quietly encouraging their own companies to seize the market.

China's stance was more complex. The name "Ji Fu" clearly sounded Chinese, but at that time, there were no computers, and all records were on paper, making it extremely difficult to find Ji Fu.

China occasionally issued statements internationally, urging South Korea to return the property to Ji Fu's descendants, while continuing to search for Ji Feng. They didn't know about Ji Feng yet, only looking for Ji Fu's descendants. Finding Ji Fu himself was impossible, as he had likely been dead for many years. So, they focused on finding someone whose ancestor was named Ji Fu.

There were quite a few people named Ji Fu in the country, but very few fit the era and had such wealth, let alone a connection to South Korea. In those days, it was almost impossible to leave the country.

They also tried to get information from Seoda, but Seoda's team was in South Korea and the United States, and the China office knew nothing specific.

However, they knew that Seoda's chairman had visited the Shanghai office, so they were reviewing the surveillance footage from the area, trying to identify individuals. Although Ji Feng's face appeared several times in the footage, it would take time to identify him.

China's thinking was simple. If a Chinese citizen owned Jeju Island, the government would naturally have some thoughts. As long as they negotiated well with Ji Feng, the Chinese people would understand and support the government. Of course, sovereignty was never a consideration, as that would be hard to achieve. However, other aspects could be negotiated.

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