The first thing I did was reassure my parents that I was safe.

<Seon-Hu: I’m all right, so don’t worry. I’m not in Manhattan at the moment.>

Woo Yeon-Hee lowered the TV volume so as to not interrupt my call.

“A minute ago at 8:46 AM, a plane crashed into the World Trade Center. The smoke is swallowing the building and huge pillars of fire are rising high into the sky…”

I immediately called Jonathan after ending my call with my parents.

<Seon-Hu: You haven’t touched the funds that I told you not to, right?>

<Jonathan: Yes, but… sigh.>

<Seon-Hu: How is the futures market doing?>

<Jonathan: They aren’t selling yet. Actually, it’s rallying.>

<Seon-Hu: We don’t have time, Jonathan. Sell all the futures and get out of that market as soon as possible! It’s okay to lose some.>

<Jonathan: The losses will be massive, so we should wait and se…No, never mind. I’ll do that.>

<Seon-Hu: I’ll call you back soon.>

The incident wasn’t just an aviation accident, and it was the beginning of a series of terrorist attacks. However, the market had not discerned it yet.

「Sell all positions right now. Objections are not allowed.」

I sent the same text to Gillian in Manhattan, Jessica in the Isle of Man, and Daniel, a new manager independent of the Isle of Man. Then, I checked the time, and it was 8:48 AM. The next five minutes were critical. Even though the date had moved up from September to August, the events would happen at the same time. Since the attack was planned based on the flight time, the second attack would take place within five minutes after the first one. The world would realize then that this was a terror attack.

I called Silverman’s agent who managed my private orders for future accounts. I had placed three billion dollars in future contracts which was an enormous amount.

<Seon-Hu: Hi, this is Ethan.>

<Silverman agent: You must’ve heard the news. The market had turned steady now, but I recommend you to wait and see rather than clean up right now.>

<Seon-Hu: I’d like to sell all positions no matter what.>

<Silverman agent: Having an immense loss would be inevitable, and it’s not an ordinary fund. Why don’t you think about it again?>

<Seon-Hu: This will be the last time I say this. Sell all positions.>

<Silverman agent: …Okay, I will, but I made it clear.>

It was 8:49 AM, and Jonathan was on a call with someone else. The U.S. government would begin tracking all our activities and funds right after this event, which was now called ‘8.11.’ Therefore, I had to minimize the funds I had tied up in the futures markets.

While people could consider this an opportunity to increase their assets, this incident was something they should never use to gain profit. In the past, an amateur group of four college students had invested in stocks and hit the jackpot on the day of the 9.11 attacks. They even investigated their family, relatives and friends which raised human rights issues at one time.

However, their luck changed to hell as the government had crushed them under the newly-passed Patriot Act because there had been an Arab student in the group. I would not be excluded from this because even though North Korea’s official English name was the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, they were ‘Korea’ in everyone else’s minds. The U.S. government wouldn’t give a fuck whether I was North or South Korean. They were going to probe into this accident by considering all the possibilities, and North Korea was one of their enemies.

Moreover, making a profit by using this event would bring their wrath down on us. They would begin inspecting an entire corporation when they found a suspicious thing even though it was trivial. At 9:02 AM, my phone rang, and it was Jonathan.

<Jonathan: The entire market is selling strongly now. They seem to be the funds from London and the Isle of Man, but the problem is that others are imitating us.>

<Seon-Hu: Wait, which line are you using?>

<Jonathan: BT&T[1].>

Phew, it was okay since I was their major shareholder. I had enough authority to veto any demands from U.S. authorities to wiretap.

“Seon-Hu!”

Woo Yeon-Hee shouted, and I felt Jonathan’s fury over the phone at the same time.

<Jonathan: Holy shit!>

The elegant restaurant quickly became chaotic, and guests began running out of their rooms as if the building had caught fire. I would’ve heard the sound of customers yelling at their phones from the end of the hallway even if my Sense wasn’t upgraded.

A second plane had crashed into another building again, and I saw black smoke billowing on the television. The reporter’s voice was shaking with dread, and it was a pandemonium like the Day of Advent.

“Another crashed! Are they…Awakened?”

It was reasonable for Woo Yeon-Hee to think that way as the situation was too surreal to be realistic.

<Jonathan: I should get all the employees out of here first!>

He hung up right away and didn’t answer when I called back.

***

The world’s two largest financial cities were New York’s Wall Street and London. Therefore, London was also in shock when New York was under attack. Everyone was running around with their cell phones against their ears as if a war broke out. It was true that this attack had made a major impact on the global financial system. Also, London’s stock market was open at the moment unlike New York’s.

“Go back to the room,” I told Woo Yeon-Hee.

I headed straight to Gillian's investment company, and the only calm one there was the lobby receptionist.

“Please inform the CEO of the Gillian Investment Group that Ethan is here,” I said.

She replied, “I’m sorry, but you can’t see him right now even if you had scheduled a meeting. We ask for your understanding.”

There were other clients as people had come to the City Bank located on the first floor of the building. It was more like a bank run[2].

“There are massive funds involved. Hurry!” I yelled at her.

The receptionist couldn’t reach Gillian through a call, so the guards went up to ask him in person. Then, I was able to enter his office, and I heard phones ringing. Employees were glaring at the monitors while holding their phones and typing aggressively, and Gillian was no exception. He was constantly talking on the phone while he was waiting for me outside his room. We greeted each other with only a glance.

After a while, Gillian came into his room after folding his phone.

“I’m sorry. Were you in London?” he asked.

His phone rang again, but Gillian put it in his pocket.

“Did you get my message?” I questioned.

“Yes, but we didn’t have enough time to liquidate all the positions before the crashes were confirmed as terrorism. However, we were able to clear some before suffering from massive losses,” he answered with a distressed look.

I replied, “Even our directing department couldn’t predict the incident.”.

“I understand. This…is a catastrophe,” he said.

I explained, “Yes, it’s no different from a natural disaster, so you aren’t responsible for the loss. This had not been included in the proposal anyway. The important thing is what we do now.”

Gillian stopped himself from responding to me as he knew the best opportunities could be found in times of crisis.

“The U.S. will lower interest rates faster, and it has become easy for them to declare a war on Iraq. You must have grasped how things are going, right? Let’s talk about that now and leave the chaos to your employees,” I added.

Gillian gave clear instructions to the employees and returned to the office after lowering the blinds. However, he couldn’t concentrate on the meeting.

It was my fault as I totally forgot that he once lived on Wall Street and had many friends there.

“Call your friends first. We can move on after that,” I said.

It took him a long time to check their safety since the connection was horrible. Meanwhile, the third plane hit the Pentagon and the fourth crashed in Pittsburgh. One of the World Trade Center buildings had collapsed completely.

“Ah, everyone’s all right. Thank you for waiting.”

Gillian sighed in relief, then we continued the meeting. He explained his future plans according to the long-term proposal regarding the oil and real estate markets. His plans were immaculate as everything I wanted was included. It was an unfortunate incident, but it certainly gave me more information to calculate and specify a long-term proposal.

When I was heading back to Woo Yeon-Hee that evening, I got a message saying that the flight back to Seoul had been canceled. That was obvious as it was the day the world changed. No planes would fly today.

1. Bell Telephone & Telegraph. ☜

2. A situation when a large number of depositors withdraw their money from banks simultaneously due to fear that the institution would become insolvent. ☜