To Be a Power in the Shadows! - Chapter 202

Translator: Makisima from wangmamaread

Proofreader: Hieu

Most of the rest were clothes and furniture… As expected, the cheap items were left behind.

Paintings and precious metals were taken away.

Also… there seemed to be a pamphlet for financial products. Were these Mitsugoshi Bank’s advertisements?

“Hmm……”

I had a strange feeling, so I opened the pamphlet.

“Super-excellent products that completely guarantee your capital! ! We will pay you profits 3% of the funds every month! ! And the annual interest rate can reach 36%! !”

“Isn’t it a scam?!”

I couldn’t help but want to tear the pamphlet apart.

When I cultivated in the previous world, I also learned about investment in general. After all, [Powers in the Shadows] was inseparable from the materialistic world.

Anyone who knows a little about economy will chuckle at the  words “guaranteed capitals”, monthly profits will make them laugh out loud and they will spew tea out of their noses when hearing the annual interest rate can reach 36%. But for those who don’t have no knowledge of finance, these are some interesting deals.

People knowing little about finance tended to feel reassured about so-called completely guaranteed capital, while the monthly profits could make them feel relieved, and then they would be dazzled by the annual interest rate of 36%.

These advertisements feed on their unease and insecurity, and fanning the flames of their desire for easy cash.

This kind of scam was based on such psychological tactics.

“This is a typical Ponzi scheme…”

Let me explain – the so-called Ponzi scheme is a super famous fraudulent investing scam!!

It pays profits to investors every month with funds received from them.

For example, an investor invested 1 million Zeny, and got 30,000 Zeny as returns every month. After one year, he can get 1.36 million Zeny totally including the original 1 million Zeny. If you invest 10 million Zeny, you can get 300 thousand Zeny every month, which meets the living standards of common civilians.

Of course, you can withdraw your capital anytime. (The scammer won’t tell you the capital can be withdrawn though)

By the way, a stable annual interest rate of 36% is impossible even for the top investors.

The scammer will not use the capital to generate profits.

He will only cut parts of the capital and give it back to investors as profits.

Of course, if this goes on, the scheme will end in failure someday.

However, the Ponzi scheme is an extremely effective scam that can make a lot of money in a short period of time.

There are three reasons.

First, the scheme is easy to gain trust.

The profits of the Ponzi scheme is paid monthly at the beginning.

Once investors get a few months of profits, they will feel reassured. This is a really cheap trust gained by just returning a few percent of investment money.

Second, investors will help contribute new funds.

In fact, after trusting that they get profits monthly, investors will just invest more to make more money.

Initially they invested 1 million Zeny, and then it would increase to 2 million, 4 million, and 8 million. Gradually investors will have the desire to live only by profits.

They will borrow money to invest more, or persuade relatives and friends to invest, that is to say, investors themselves have become advertising towers to help raise funds.

Third, it is not easy to be exposed.

The Ponzi scheme will not be considered as a scam during the period when profits are paid monthly.

This scam can last from months to years.

The scammer uses investors’ money to enjoy wild merrymaking while waiting for investors to raise more funds.

Then, once the scammer finds that he can no longer raise more funds, he will run away with huge sums of money.

It would not be until  then that investors realized that it was a scam.

This is an efficient scam that makes all gears fit perfectly by manipulating the psychology of investors.

“No, no, why should the Mitsugoshi Company do this?”

Although the Ponzi scheme is a very efficient scam, it has a disadvantage.

That is, it will inevitably fail one day.

So the scammer must make preparations for escape before the scam fails.

If the scam was set up by only one, then he could run away anyway, but the Mitsugoshi Company had no chance to escape, so it just went bankrupt. The risk was too high.

“No, but is it actually possible to achieve an annual interest rate of 36% in this world…?”

If it was in the previous world, it was absolutely impossible, but in this world it might be true.

If you searched, there must be a number of deceiving investment cases. In any case, they must intend to take full advantage of the knowledge copied from me in the previous world.

…I felt that it was entirely possible to do this.

“Ah, it’s written that the investment period is up to 3 years.”

In this case, did the company seriously intend to operate at a 36% annual profit?

The Mitsugoshi Company expanded its business at an amazing rate. They probably put most of their profits into the expansion of their careers.

“Is that to say these goods are used to recover funds?”

Because nowadays, money was needed anyway, so we collected money from customers, and then continued to increase our business through credit creation.

“Are they trying to conquer the world…?”

If you didn’t stop it, Mitsugoshi Company might actually become a monopoly here.

But in this way, can it still be called a super good product… um.

“Are there any better advertisements in this pile?”

I flipped through those pamphlets.

“What the… This insurance has no compound interest… This annual profit is only available in the first year… The pension here is collected from the age of 55… The average life expectancy in this world is only 65 years old. Okay…”

Goods filled with digital magic were displayed there.

But even so, these were much better than those financial products of the previous world.

The legal scams recommended by banks and insurance companies… No, it should be called a rip-off… No, it is necessary to pay more attention to goods bought for a sense of security and safety at a very high price.

“Wait… this pension is a lifelong system.”

The so-called life-long pension, as the name suggests, is a pension that can be paid every month until the policy holder dies.

Although the average life expectancy of this world is 65 years old, I planned to live for 500 years with the help of mana…

“Well… Is this not an overwhelming victory?”

I had come across the best lifetime pension here.

“That’s it…! Every month, you can get 1 million Zeny until death… oh?”

On the side of the pamphlet there was a word smaller than the rice grain.

“*Except for magic swordsmen”

I tore the pamphlet and threw it away.

“There is absolutely no serious product…”

If considered in this way, the 36% annual interest rate might also be used to attract customers. After all, people in this world knew nothing about financial products such as investment, insurance, and pensions.

Sweet baits were used to lure people in the first three years.

After that, it came to the main event.

“It’s really treacherous…”

I suddenly thought that if the Ponzi scheme was implemented in this world, it would be a great success… But wait. Now I should concentrate on the zombie incident at first.

And according to Doem’s last words, I also have the capital of Oriana Kingdom issue to care about.

“But it’s really unbelievable that there is almost no food left.”

Only the special beauty drop DX was left. Most foods were at very low cost and could barely avoid being spoilt, so there should have been more food left.

“There are reasons for having no food life.”

Margari-san answered my question.