[This isn’t what we agreed on!]
Masayoshi’s sharp protest poured through the receiver.
His voice was thick with confusion, frustration, and above all, a deep sense of betrayal.
[You said everything else would be my kingdom! You clearly said I could operate freely on that side without any restrictions…!]
It seems there’s been a misunderstanding.
I began to explain calmly.
“The ‘help’ I ntioned just now is entirely optional. It’s a suggestion, not an obligation.”
[Bullshit! You said the exact sa thing last ti and then demanded veto rights in the end! You’re trying the sa trick again…! Unbelievable… You have no conscience at all!]
At this point, I was being treated like a full-blown con artist.
Denying it verbally clearly wouldn’t work, so I decided to throw a fastball straight down the middle.
“If you feel that way, you’re free to refuse.”
The complaints stopped abruptly.
“I only brought it up because, in my judgnt, you might need the support. That’s all. If you don’t, then… And like I said, I will never force anything. If you want to reject it, you can reject it.”
Masayoshi fell silent for a long mont.
Because he already knows.
He knows that to successfully launch the next funds, my na is absolutely essential.
Honestly, why is money flowing into Masayoshi’s fund right now in the first place?
It’s because investors are trying to escape the storm in the tech sector and find a safe harbor.
And in this context, that safe harbor is the na Ha Si-heon.
That’s why the Visionary Fund has my na clearly stamped on it.
I injected capital directly, and I also hold decision-making power as a mber of the investnt committee.
But the second and third funds don’t carry my na yet.
And if I step away from those… will investors still be willing to entrust Masayoshi with their capital?
A mont later.
A subdued voice finally returned through the receiver.
[This ti… what are the terms? Another… veto right?]
In the Visionary Fund, I hold veto rights.
aning, no matter which investnt Masayoshi chooses, if I declare “no” at the final review, it’s dead on the spot.
He assud I was planning to slap on the sa shackles again.
He was wrong.
“No. For the next fund, I’ll participate only as a GP, without voting rights.”
[Which ans…?]
“A simple capital contribution. Around $100 million.”
In other words — I’d be putting in $100 million with no strings attached.
But then—
[$100 million?]
The surprisingly modest number made Masayoshi hesitate.
“If you don’t need it, you don’t have to take it. It’s not like you’re short on $100 million anyway.”
[…No, it’s not that I don’t want it…]
Of course not.
Because the important part here isn’t the money.
It’s the fact that Ha Si-heon invested.
That alone becos the ultimate seal of credibility — the ultimate proof of safety.
In an unstable tech market, investors will line up thinking, “If Ha Si-heon is betting on it, it must be solid.”
After digesting that, Masayoshi finally asked cautiously:
[So you’re saying… there really are no conditions this ti?]
As if.
“Of course there are conditions.”
[There it is…! I knew it!]
A snorting scoff crackled across the line, like soone saying I told you so.
This was a bit unfair.
“What I ant earlier was simply that I won’t exercise institutional authorities like veto power or approval rights. I never said there would be zero conditions.”
[Fine, fine. Then… what are the conditions?]
“It’s nothing major. I just want an at-will redemption clause.”
Typically, capital in long-term funds like Visionary is locked up for 8 to 12 years.
What I’m asking for is the right to withdraw my stake imdiately if I want.
The reasoning is simple.
‘So he’ll do what I say.’
Because what happens if I suddenly pull out?
It would imdiately signal to the market that sothing’s wrong with the fund.
So to avoid that existential risk, Masayoshi will never be able to ignore .
Masayoshi let out a tired chuckle.
[Not sure how that’s any different from a veto.]
“It’s fundantally different. On paper, the next fund will be 100% yours, and I won’t exercise any administrative control whatsoever. My na being there simply signals a partnership.”
[So you plant the flag… but leave the ruling to ?]
I blinked at the sudden taphor, but he continued on his own.
[So basically… the Visionary Fund is a colony, and the rest are vassal states.]
Odd phrasing, but…
‘Not bad at all.’
The Visionary Fund is a colony directly governed by a governor-general of my appointnt.
The future funds Masayoshi launches are vassal states ruled locally, only flying my flag.
Masayoshi seed to understand the purpose behind the structure.
[Thinking about antitrust? Or political scrutiny?]
Sharp.
Both.
‘If it looks like one person is monopolizing the entire AI industry, things could get ssy.’
The U.S. still treats monopolies like social evil.
The trauma from the Gilded Age — the era of the robber barons — still lingers in the Arican psyche.
Rockefeller, Carnegie, Vanderbilt… they didn’t just swallow competitors, they fixed prices and controlled politicians.
As a result, Aricans now instinctively view monopolies as threats to free competition and democracy itself.
The mont a single force appears to dominate a market, the U.S. governnt reaches for antitrust law automatically.
True, hedge funds haven’t been targeted under antitrust yet.
But—
‘There’s no guarantee that stays true forever.’
Especially not under the next administration, which leans heavily anti-monopoly.
They will never quietly tolerate one investor controlling sothing as strategically critical as AI end-to-end.
So rather than holding an enormous block of ownership under one na…
It’s far safer if multiple allied funds, each carrying my flag, hold pieces separately.
‘And it’ll be better in shareholder fights too…’
If a vote battle ever breaks out inside a company—
If I hold 11% alone, other shareholders will band together to oppose .
But if I hold 6% and Masayoshi holds 5%?
Then they start thinking, “We can divide them.”
That illusion of division creates complacency.
Complacency creates openings.
And openings create options.
But… that’s a story for much further down the line.
Now, the imdiate priority was—
“So, what will you do?”
To expand my vassal states.
“Let be clear. Other than moving my own capital, I won’t intervene in anything else.”
aning, I’d only send indirect signals by depositing or withdrawing my $100 million—no need for Masayoshi to bring investnt proposals to for approval.
Of course, from his perspective, even that indirect influence was less than ideal, but…
When he considers the capital inflow that just one line—‘Invested by Ha Si-heon’—could trigger, this deal wasn’t bad for him at all.
He mulled it over a little longer, then finally reached a conclusion.
[…Fine. I accept.]
That was the mont I claid not only my first colony, but my first vassal state too.
Which ans it was ti for the next step.
“Then let’s make this reconciliation official.”
***
Real reconciliation doesn’t happen through words.
Words can be flipped at any ti if soone feels like it.
The best way to prove sincerity in reconciliation…
…is to beco a community of fate.
In other words, to board the sa ship.
That way, neither side can back out, and more importantly— the odds of getting stabbed in the back later drop dramatically.
For example, the possibility of Masayoshi secretly sharpening a knife after stewing over past humiliations and eventually stabbing soday……goes to zero.
Because if I sink, the ship he’s standing on sinks with .
Anyway—
The "ship" I was referring to was an SPV—Special Purpose Vehicle.
A separate investnt entity built for a single, specific objective.
In this SPV, $20 billion ca from the Cure Fund, $40 billion from the Visionary Fund, and $30 billion from Saudi capital.
That ant—roughly $100 billion pooled into a single project.
And the mont it launched, the market exploded.
Because this wasn’t a handshake.
It was fusion.
—So they tried to kill each other, then made up like this?
—Batman and Joker making peace was shocking enough, but this is like them rging to redevelop Gotham.
—Isn’t this like Coca-Cola and Pepsi teaming up to release the next soda?
Boarding the sa ship ant this: My $100 billion from Cure and Masayoshi’s $100 billion from Visionary were now moving in the sa direction.
A combined $200 billion.
A flood of capital on a scale the market had never seen.
‘Even in my past life, this was a massive event.’
Back then, it was only Masayoshi’s $100 billion, yet analysts still called it: A force strong enough to reshape the industry landscape single-handedly.
This ti, the capital was not just double.
It was more than double.
Because—
—Saudi Arabia is in this too?
Behind us stood one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds, backed by a nation with virtually bottomless oil money.
This wasn’t just capital anymore.
This was a geopolitical coalition the global market had no choice but to watch.
—Isn’t this national GDP-level money?
—National level (X) Continental level (O)
—If these three short a company, it dies. If they go long, it becos a unicorn.
—One “we’re interested” comnt from them and a company’s valuation doubles overnight.
—Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand?
More like—Ha Si-heon, Masayoshi, and Saudi Arabia’s Very Visible Fist.
Not bad for a reconciliation gesture.
Saudi Arabia secured prestige as both a global capital giant and geopolitical diator.
Masayoshi preserved dignity—not as the defeated, but as a co-founder of the alliance.
And I— outwardly standing in a cooperative “union,” while quietly planting colonies and vassal states behind the curtain.
Everyone got what they wanted.
A perfect win-win.
But this coalition didn’t end with just the three of us.
There was one more na—an unexpected one—just joining the stage.
The final player was—
South Korea.
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