It feels like just yesterday the new year began, but somehow the calendar has already flipped to December.
I was heading to Norway on a plane with Taekgyu. The reason for going to a place where we don't know a single person is none other than the Nobel Prize ceremony.
Professor Kim Ho-min was also heading to Sweden for the same reason.
When the Nobel Prize was first established, Norway was part of Sweden. Later, in 1905, Norway became independent, and in the process, it was decided that Norway would retain the authority to award only the Nobel Peace Prize. That's why, while other Nobel Prize ceremonies are held in Stockholm, Sweden, only the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony is held separately in Oslo, Norway.
"Norway is well-off, right?"
"Yeah. The per capita income is around $80,000."
Taekgyu was startled.
"$80,000? What makes it so high?"
Korea has barely surpassed $30,000, so it's more than double. Well, the population is ten times smaller, so Korea's total GDP is overwhelmingly higher.
"Besides salmon, is there anything else famous in Norway?"
"You don't think they earned that much just selling salmon, do you? It's all thanks to oil."
There are also tourism, manufacturing, and fishing, but resource exports are overwhelmingly dominant. If there were no North Sea oil fields, they wouldn't be enjoying the wealth they have now.
"Norway must be cold, right?"
"Probably? Its latitude is higher than ours."
"But Korea's pretty cold too, you know."
"That's true."
Summer was ridiculously hot, and conversely, winter is ridiculously cold. It feels like the weather only has summer and winter left.
Is this all because of global warming?
"We should go to a warm country for vacation in the winter."
Should we try to plan that trip we couldn't go on before? Guam or Hawaii?
Taekgyu, who had been looking out the plane window, turned his head towards me.
"By the way, are you really receiving the Nobel Prize?"
"They wouldn't invite me and then not give it to me, would they?"
I never thought I'd receive a Nobel Prize in my life.
When I was first selected as a laureate, I just thought, "Oh, okay." But now that I'm actually going to Norway like this, it's starting to feel real.
Alfred Nobel, as everyone knows, was a businessman who invented dynamite. And he made a lot of money selling it. However, the explosives he created were used much more in battlefields than for construction.
Nobel deeply regretted this fact and left a will to create the Nobel Prize by establishing a foundation with his estate.
Thanks to that, he left his name not as a merchant of death, but as someone who contributed to the peace and progress of humanity, and his homeland gained the honor of awarding the world's most prestigious prize.
If he hadn't created the Nobel Prize, his fortune would have been torn apart by his relatives, and Nobel would have remained just one of those ordinary businessmen. Perhaps he would have been forgotten in everyone's memories by now.
Looking at it this way, how you use the money you earn is as important as how you earn it.
Should I build something like Rockefeller Center or Carnegie Hall?
"But, should I really be receiving this alone?"
"You're a joint recipient with President Ronald and Professor Mohan, right?"
"No, I mean you."
He doesn't like being known, but Taekgyu also worked hard to save people. He even contributed his entire share along with mine.
But receiving it alone makes me feel somewhat guilty.
Taekgyu patted me on the shoulder and said.
"Why are you worrying about something like that? Isn't our friendship more important than some Nobel Prize?"
"..."
That's too cool of a line for him to say.
Taekgyu crossed his arms.
"Speaking of the Nobel Prize, it reminds me, should I create something like the OTK Prize before I die?"
"Huh? OTK Prize?"
"An award ceremony for games, anime, manga, and novels in general. Like the OTK Game Award, OTK Anime Award. Should the prize money be around $1 million each? It would be great if it became the most prestigious award in subculture."
"Are you really going to do it?"
"Why not? Then my name would be left in subculture history like Nobel's, wouldn't it?"
"..."
It'll probably just be called the Otaku Prize.
***
The plane landed at Oslo Gardermoen Airport.
X-Cop security guards had arrived ahead of us and finished security preparations. A huge crowd was already gathered in front of the airport.
We got into a waiting car.
As we entered the city center, we saw protesters holding signs everywhere. Some signs were written in English saying "Fossil Fuels Out."
Since the oil spill accident, Norwegian environmental groups have been unanimously demanding the closure of the North Sea oil fields and a complete transition to eco-friendly energy.
Many electric cars were visible on the streets. Norway announced a plan to ban the sale of internal combustion engine vehicles within 5 years and has been striving to promote the adoption of electric vehicles by providing various incentives.
Thanks to that, electric vehicles account for over 30 percent of new car sales, which is the highest rate in the world.
Therefore, it is a very important market for CarOS as well.
The problem is that as electric vehicles increase, more electricity is needed. This is a major point of contention even in Norway.
Should we build more thermal power plants? Should we build nuclear power plants? Should we increase eco-friendly power generation? And so on.
Thermal power generation inevitably emits pollutants. Nuclear power generation has low generation costs and emits fewer pollutants, but the disposal of radioactive waste is a problem. Not to mention accidents like Chernobyl and Fukushima.
The best option is eco-friendly energy, but…
"Strictly speaking, there's no such thing as completely eco-friendly energy."
Wind power, hydropower, solar thermal, solar photovoltaic, and geothermal power are usually considered eco-friendly energy sources. However, wind power generates enormous noise, and countless birds collide with the blades and die. Solar thermal and solar photovoltaic cannot be used on cloudy days, and their energy production per unit area is low, requiring a large land area. Hydropower changes the river ecosystem by blocking waterways and building dams. Geothermal power carries the risk of causing earthquakes by altering the energy flow underground.
Taekgyu nodded.
"Hmph, to survive, humans can't avoid environmental destruction."
The point is how much we can minimize it.
Until now, economic development was prioritized even if it meant environmental pollution. However, environmental pollution has now exceeded a serious level and is even hindering economic development.
Global temperatures are rising year by year, and abnormal weather phenomena are becoming more frequent.
In China, air pollution is so severe that it's difficult to walk around without wearing a mask. They are even at the point of having to stop factory operations near cities to be able to breathe properly.
We need to think about how to grow in the future.
Can technological advancement solve this problem?
***
We stayed at the Grand Pharos Hotel, a famous American hotel chain.
I roughly unpacked my luggage and then called Ellie.
[How's Norway?]
"The city is beautiful. I wish you could have come with me."
[Heeing, I wanted to go too.]
Ellie said she had been to Norway for a trip before when she was studying abroad in London.
"It's work, so it can't be helped."
The end of the year is originally a busy time for financial companies.
[It's a town with many beauties there. Don't let your eyes wander.]
"Is there any woman prettier than Ellie?"
Ellie laughed out loud at my words.
[That's the right attitude.]
After ending the call, I washed up and rested. President Ronald and Professor Mohan are scheduled to arrive tomorrow.
Around dinner time, a middle-aged man came to visit me at the hotel. He was in his mid-50s, tall, and with very pale skin, a typical Caucasian.
His name was Nicolas Carlsen.
Ordinary people may not know him well, but anyone in the financial industry would have heard of him at least once. He is the head of the investment management division of the Norwegian Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), the sovereign wealth fund.
Currently, the assets under management of the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund are a whopping $1 trillion. That's more than double the amount of the Korean National Pension Service. Therefore, when it comes to Norway in the financial world, the first thing that comes to mind is this sovereign wealth fund.
The source of the operating funds is the North Sea oil fields.
Countries that suddenly receive the blessing of resources usually squander them or have them monopolized by some ruling class. However, Norway was not that foolish.
They managed their resources transparently and fairly, and the members agreed to create a sovereign wealth fund and invest it for the future.
Crude oil is the largest market among raw material markets and also the most distorted market.
In a normal market, prices are naturally determined at the point where supply and demand meet. However, the oil market has been supplier-centric and controlled by OPEC's collusion.
Collusion destroys the normal functioning of the market. OPEC member countries arbitrarily adjusted supply and caused prices to skyrocket, and the world had to suffer two oil shocks.
This was possible because oil is the seed of modern civilization. No civilization can survive without oil, so even if it's expensive, they had to buy it with tears in their eyes.
North Sea oil-producing countries were not members of OPEC, but they had benefited from OPEC members' collusion all along.
Who cares what anyone does, as long as oil prices go up, isn't it good?
The OPEC cartel, which seemed like it would last forever, began to crack when a huge supplier emerged outside the cartel.
The United States developed technology to fracture shale rock and extract oil and gas from it, and also secured profitability.
The United States went from the world's largest crude oil importer to an exporter, and OPEC member countries suffered a huge blow.
Venezuela collapsed, and Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and others suffered difficulties due to a sharp decrease in exports.
Even though they had prepared sufficiently in advance, the UK, Netherlands, and Norway, which are Brent oil exporters, are also experiencing difficulties due to the drop in oil prices.
In particular, this oil field damage and oil spill will be quite a blow.
Currently, the North Sea oil field is in a shutdown state and is undergoing restoration. Winter is a time when oil demand increases due to seasonal factors. While the North Sea oil field is out of operation, Middle Eastern countries are happily selling Dubai crude oil and contributing to price stability.
Financial losses are losses, but environmental damage from the oil spill is a more serious problem. Among the countries around the North Sea, Norway has suffered the most damage. Black oil slicks covered the coast, and fishermen are working hard on disaster prevention efforts.
No wonder environmental groups have risen up.
Director Carlsen greeted me in British English.
"It's a great pleasure to meet CEO Kang Jin-hoo."
"The pleasure is all mine. I have always wanted to meet you as well."
How many funds manage $1 trillion in assets?
It invests in approximately 80 countries and 10,000 companies, so it's practically investing all over the world. It also invests in domestic stocks and bonds, and is a major shareholder of major Korean companies including Seosung Electronics.
We talked over coffee.
After simple greetings, he got to the main point.
"I would like to make two proposals to you, CEO."
"What are they?"
"The first proposal is that we would like to invest in OTK Company. As you know, the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund has one important principle in its operation."
I nodded and replied.
"Investing in assets that have low correlation with oil prices, right?"
"That's right."
Countries that live off specific resources are good when resource prices rise, but suffer huge losses when they fall. Therefore, they have this principle to diversify the risk of falling oil prices.
The companies owned by OTK Company have low correlation with oil prices. In particular, CarOS is focused on electric vehicles, so it's rather the opposite.
Norway has invested heavily in electric vehicle-related companies as much as it has focused on promoting the adoption of electric vehicles. Nikola, BYD, LG Chem, etc. But the problem is that the stock prices of those companies haven't been very good lately.
If the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund says it will invest, most companies would welcome it with open arms, but I'm a bit different.
"We are not in a situation where we need additional investment funds right now."
Director Carlsen nodded as if he expected that.
"We would like to continue discussing that part in the future. The second thing I want to talk about is to ask for your advice on the operation of the sovereign wealth fund."
I was startled inside.
I had somewhat expected the investment proposal for OTK Company. But the proposal to ask me to advise on fund management was unexpected.
The capital market is strictly one vote per dollar. Therefore, having more money is unconditionally advantageous. And it doesn't really matter whether that money is your own or someone else's.
Although the equity value is large, the available cash is not that much when you look at it. If I accept the offer, my influence in the financial world will become even greater.
Since it's not personal assets but the money of the Norwegian people, my word alone won't immediately determine investments. But it was clear that it would become an important guideline.
Because I have never failed in investments so far.
If I could operate the sovereign wealth fund as I wish, where would be a good place to invest?
Director Carlsen looked at my face and said.
"We will accommodate your desired conditions and treatment as much as possible."