I didn’t like the current U.S. president as he had been embroiled in sex scandals even though the Americans liked him in the future. The reason for his low approval rating was due to his immoral behavior, but his achievement was highly praised after his tenure. People called him one of the greatest presidents in history as the U.S. economy had boomed during his term. Also, he had pioneered ‘American marketism,’ which opened global markets including South Korea.

When Korea was devastated by the IMF crisis two years ago, he completely turned away from us and treated us harshly by taking the opponent’s side. Well, he was still an ass to feed Wall Street’s financial pigs. It wasn’t even for the good of his country. The current days were the consequences of his action.

The days of the fucking IMF were never-ending. The important thing was that the IMF had violated Korea just like the Japanese Government-General did in the period of time that the Japanese Empire was under the U.S.

“Just wait until I give you the signal.”

I wanted Jonathan, and the person who reacted was Jonathan’s private driver who was also a bodyguard. He unconsciously looked at me with surprise, then looked away. Since Jonathan trusted him, I had let him drive.

“I’m so pissed, but okay. I’ll just wait. What’s the signal?” Jonathan fumed.

“You’ll know.”

***

I entered the White House and went through various checkpoints to get to a meeting room deep inside the reception area of the West Wing. It wasn’t my first time coming here. When I arrived at the room, the secretary of the treasury was waiting for me. The president wasn’t there, but it didn’t matter as the secretary was his spokesman, and both spoke for those who controlled Wall Street. They had a symbiotic relationship.

The secretary of the treasury was the person who treated Korea like a slave. Unexpected raids were the most effective, and there was no need to be polite as I wanted to speak first.

“Listen carefully, Ed. I’m seriously considering ruining LTCM[1].”

Jonathan looked at me in surprise, similar to how the driver was startled by me on our way here. There was a widely-accepted theory in the international community that no one can do anything when the U.S. Department of the Treasury took action, and Ed was the leader of that department. Jonathan didn’t expect me to be so aggressive against the strongest man in the world right now. Edward also cleared his throat and looked admonishingly at Jonathan. Jonathan sat in front of him, still in shock.

“Cough…!”

The secretary stared at another empty seat in front of him, then looked at me with mixed expression as he spoke.

“This isn’t your office, young man. I know why you’re angry, so you need to be mature. We have lots of time,” Edward said as if he was suppressing his anger toward a baby.

“About LTCM…I can’t stop you from doing such a stupid thing, but isn’t that one of your precious acquisitions?” Edward continued.

LTCM was the hedge fund that had lost heavily against us during the Russian financial war, and its insolvency almost dealt a severe blow to the U.S. economy. However, I had bought it, and it was now under the New York group.

“Didn’t you just say that you would consider my anger towards all this?”

I maintained my aggressive manner, and Edward looked at Jonathan with an awkward expression. While I was the owner of the New York group, he must have underestimated me too severely due to my young age. Jonathan didn’t intervene the way he had hoped, which made Edward look at me differently. He sat up straight.

“I’ve been waiting to meet you for a long time, Seon-Hu. But this is a little unexpected,” Edward said.

“Put it bluntly. You owe us a lot, but this is how you pay back?” I snapped at him sharply.

“What do you mean?” Edward widened his eyes.

“If we had not taken over LTCM, what do you think the consequences would have been? Also, LTCM wasn’t the only one we acquired. We had gathered all the corpses that could cause the second Great Depression. We are the ones who stopped it!” I increased my volume towards the end.

“That was to fill your own pockets,” Edward replied.

“Of course not,” I refuted.

“Jonathan, why are you so silent?” Edward asked.

“I understand why Seon-Hu is mad,” Jonathan responded blandly.

“Just because of that? I don’t get it. This won’t do you any good, so what is the point of you doing this?”

Edward shook his head as he really didn’t understand the situation.

“Seon-Hu is young, but he’s my boss, Ed. I shouldn’t get in between you two.”

Jonathan folded his arms, then Edward’s gaze returned to me.

“Did your patrons say something? Because they couldn’t get any of the Korean firms or banks they coveted? But is that my fault? Only because I’m Korean?” I asked.

Edward’s eyes grew cold, and I lashed out at his face.

“If you want to play with me, do so. Look forward to what will happen tomorrow, and don’t forget that you were the one who started it. I’ll tell the president the same thing. Let’s go, Jonathan.”

The secretary smiled when putting a country to death as if he was sending a congratulatory message, and even smiled and asked for a handshake from those who attacked him. People in Edward’s world concealed their malicious intent under smiles. They cursed with esoteric financial terms and hid their daggers under numbers. The tax evasion agency’s guy was like that too. People like this didn’t often meet naked, visible hostility, so I had switched to polite and mild mannerisms after my first threat concerning LTCM. The surest method was violence, but that was the most stupid thing to do right now.

It worked as Edward reacted with his face all red and showed his true colors.

“It’s not a big deal to get your name in a magazine!” he shouted, then widened his eyes as if he was surprised by himself.

“Then, why are you letting things go this far? I wouldn’t be raising my voice here if I were you,” I retorted.

Edward noticed the thorns and threats in my word, then frowned.

“What are you talking about?” he asked.

I said mildly, “If I were you, I’d be on a flight to Japan. Aren’t your bonds crammed in there? Don’t you have to stop a kid from purchasing all your bonds and messing around with them?”

Edward’s eyes wavered as I continued on.

“No, that kid would probably go after the American treasury bonds held by Japan instead of yen if he was in my situation.”

When Edward was about to speak, I interrupted him again, “Well, I’m not sure if Japan will welcome your visit since they are still struggling in recession from what you all did in the nineties. Also, do you know that there are many Russians who still believe that we are still having the Cold War?”

Edward placed his hand over his forehead, then swept his face slowly. He would have imagined a financial war where money flew around instead of bullets.

“I never thought I’d get a declaration of war at the White House. Even the Chinese ambassador couldn’t do that. I can’t believe this…If you keep up with this, you’ll lose all of your money,” Edward said.

“You know exactly what we have been investing in, so stop saying that. Honestly, I’m so confident that I would earn more, but I don’t care if we lose. I could end up richer than ever before,” I responded.

“What is the real reason for this? Don’t tell me that the Forbes magazine article is the reason,” Edward looked at me.

“Ugh, I can’t have a proper conversation with you. Just get a ticket to Japan, and don’t forget to tell your Wall Street patrons that you have started a new war, where they can gain back the money they had lost in Russia. They will be really happy with you, then,” I replied.

Edward glared at me like I was a boss monster. Well, technically he was more powerful than an S-class boss monster as he could create more destructive consequences by saying a few words.

“Don’t you guys love wars? Who fights with a gun these days? If your country becomes the battlefield of a new financial war, your people will follow your policies and pay taxes for you to fight against me. Shouldn’t you thank me for playing the villain?” I said.

Edward’s eyes trembled, then he shut them tightly as if he was very displeased. He seemed to want to swear at me non-stop, but he managed to hold back and opened his eyes. When he turned to Jonathan after erasing his true emotions from his face, I wanted to applaud his effort. He was using incredible patience to step out of the war.

“This guy is only fourteen?” Edward asked.

Jonathan was waiting for my signal over Edward’s shoulder, and I nodded.

“Yes. I also underestimated Seon-Hu in the beginning, but regretted it right after,” Jonathan said with a smile.

However, Edward didn’t smile like him.

“You guys are messing around too much. I’ll speak to Forbes but remember it was a mistake made by my subordinates.”

Edward glanced at me, then walked toward the door. He added a warning while holding the doorknob.

“Resolve the misunderstanding between the pension committees and us.”

Bam!

The door slammed, and Jonathan began trembling while clenching his fist like Woo Yeon-Hee. Jonathan was aware that the U.S Secretary of the Treasury had surrendered. We had won the battle in the White House.

1. Long-Term Capital Management, a hedge fund based in Greenwich, Connecticut. ☜