The U.S. presidential election in 2000, which was last year, was highly suspected to be rigged. The former Democratic candidate had begrudgingly accepted his loss after the court decision, and was now appealing for national solidarity and asking for citizens to support the Commander in Chief after this incident.

North Korea hurriedly announced a statement. 

「This unfortunate and tragic incident once again reminds us of the seriousness of terrorism. As a member of the United Nations, our position against all forms of terrorism and any assistance from terrorists remains unchanged.」

If things had gone wrong, the Korean peninsula would have been ablaze with the wrath of the Americans as they wouldn’t care about the difference between North and South Korea in their fury. 

New York’s financial system was paralyzed. The stock exchange shut down, and even the mayor advised people to stay home and not go to work. This incident was as historical as the moment that separated BC[1] and AD[2], and it was more shocking than the Day of Advent.

I didn’t know why the act of terrorism occurred a month earlier than it did in the past, but I knew what chaos would happen afterward. I had to act quickly and ‘collect’ other people's money as the grass was greener on the other side of the fence.

I began with what I could do in London. When I visited Gillian again, his office was still hectic as if it had been bombed. He brought the list of investors who were believed to have come to our group’s hedge fund with their pockets bulging with oil money. I scheduled meetings at the restaurant I went to yesterday with those highlighted on the list, which indicated that they were available in London. 

The man I met was a henchman of the most authoritative Saudi power holder. The most powerful member of the current royal family in Saudi Arabia was Prince Walalman, the next in line for the throne. This guy was a low-ranked prince and had to be close to Prince Walalman if he was a board member of the Walalman Foundation and on the board of an oil company owned by the royal family. He held the ‘Keys to the Kingdom.’

“Nice to meet you. I’m Ethan,” I said.

“I thought I was meeting with Gillian alone.” 

He was fluent in English. He glanced through me and treated me like an uninvited guest. Then, Gillian corrected his misunderstanding, “He’s representing our group’s major shareholders.”

The man now stared at me with a different look in his eyes as it was common sense that Gillian’s firm was owned by someone else. 

“I’m Alid.”

“Thanks for meeting us on such a day,” I said.

“Nah, thank you for scheduling this meeting. I’ve always wanted to see you. Nice to meet you, Ethan,” Alid replied.

I started the conversation with the act of terrorism that happened yesterday, then he responded, “I know, right. Things are getting worse for us. We have pledged ten million dollars for relief funds, but the U.S. looks at us as if we were terrorists. All the money was refunded. Tsk, tsk.”

“I set up this meeting to talk about that. What have you thought of Gillian’s work so far?” I asked while looking at Gillian.

“Great. We think Gillian is doing much better than Jonathan,” Alid replied.

Interestingly, he mentioned Jonathan.

“You must have not deposited investment funds on Jonathan,” I said.

A faint smile appeared on Alid’s face as if I was asking nonsense.

“Gillian has a higher profit rate,” Alid answered.

He had distributed funds over the world including New York and London, and billions of dollars must be controlled by him. 

“What do you mean by yesterday’s incident?” he asked.

The Islamic nations had become on the lookout for Americans, so they had already pulled out over two hundred billion dollars from the U.S in one night. I estimated that around one trillion dollars of Arab investment funds remained in the U.S. Therefore, Alid could be the starting point of those funds coming to us in London and the Isle of Man, instead of Switzerland and the other havens. 

When we finished all the meetings, Gillian looked at me with admiration. He must have noticed my expertise in finance and that I wasn’t just a servant of the billionaires. 

“You’re not still dreaming of going solo, are you?” I asked.

Gillian only smiled. His chance of leaving the group had greatly reduced, and it would decrease even more when things worked out well. As soon as the oil money in the North American market flowed into Gillian’s group, London’s group would have larger capital than Jonathan Investments. In other words, the ranking of the world’s top asset management firm would change instantly. Who could resist this massive amount of money?

***

Gillian had put a considerable amount of effort into the sales department. He even worked on holidays and chatted with billionaires in-person to attract their money. This was to beat Jonathan and become the best hedge fund management firm in the world.

“Well…”

Gillian couldn’t take his eyes off my back when I walked away because I had succeeded in bringing in the majority of the Saudi funds that were formerly in America within a single day. Gillian had failed at that in the past. 

'How did he think of going for the oil money right after the act of terrorism?'

He was amazed and impressed by my swiftness, boldness, and insight. Likewise, he had been astounded at the audacity of the investment proposal I had brought with him yesterday, which led to all this. The only thing Gillian did was sit there with his mouth shut. He felt dizzy trying to understand it all, and after he came to his senses, he placed a phone call.

<Detective: Hello?>

<Gillian: It’s me, Gillian. How are things going?>

Gillian had originally not been interested in his group’s real owners as he had been thinking about going solo after receiving the promised investment funds. However, things changed last year. When he accepted reality, he hired private investigation companies to track down the real owners of the group. He had given the names of the five firms that had funded the Isle of Man and his information of the routes that the funds traveled through. Of course, it was a difficult job since he wasn’t aware that there was only one real owner, me. 

<Detective: I was about to call you because of that.>

<Gillian: Is it because of terrorism?>

<Detective: Yes, all activities in Panama and the Cayman Islands have been blocked. The problem is that it’ll be difficult to investigate for a while due to the massive presence of the U.S.’s investigative agencies. Tax havens in other countries will soon be in a similar position.>

<Gillian: That’s why I asked you to hurry. What the hell have you been doing for the past year?>

Although Gillian was mad, he was not surprised. Chasing after paper companies that were circling around tax havens across the continents was like searching for ghosts. For instance, the investment firm on the Isle of Man had secretly joined their companies in Panama and Cayman Islands. Moreover, the real owners were concealing their identities almost impossibly well. 

<Detective: It’s not only your request but almost all of the other requests we were dealing with have also been completely suspended. The other investigation companies are…no different.>

The detective over the phone sounded flustered.

<Gillian: Then, search for just one guy under the pseudonym ‘Ethan.’ He’s in London now. He is an Asian guy in his early twenties. He’s about 5’11’’ and solid, so he probably weighs about 175 pounds. I’ll take a screenshot of him from the surveillance camera recording as soon as I return to the office.>

<Detective: I’ll start right away.>

<Gillian: You better not let me down this time.>

Gillian’s group was already managing six hundred billion dollars, which was half of the net worth being handled. Moreover, the real owners owned two more investment companies on the Isle of Man. Jessica handled hundred fifty billion and Daniel five hundred billion dollars. This alone increased the property of real owners by five hundred billion dollars. If oil money came to play…

That was why Gillian thought he at least had to be aware of whose money he was investing. He felt stuck in a massive conspiracy. Whatever the truth was, their money could cause problems in the future, and one trillion dollars was an enormous amount. 

The only thing Gillian knew was that I had been at the center of everything. I was the one who brought him from Wall Street. Gillian shuddered again as he recalled how deftly I dealt with Arab financial giants.

'No way… No… That doesn’t make sense at all. The investment proposal can’t be the result of an individual’s knowledge. It must have been created by a group of geniuses.'

Gillian headed back to his room while shaking his head. He opened the door and froze in shock as I was sitting in the room, waiting for him. Gillian didn’t seem to have felt my presence and looked at me like I was a ghost. 

“Did you leave anything here?” he asked, pretending he wasn’t surprised.

I replied, “If you don’t like this position, just let me know. As we promised in the past, I’ll help you go solo and guarantee you the management rights.”

He did a double-take. 'How did things go wrong in just a few minutes?'

“What should I report to my bosses? Write it here,” I said.

Gillian stared blankly at the white paper and pen and limped inside. 'You want me to quit now? I'm almost there to beat Jonathan.'

Gillian had become a celebrity in London, and his stance on global finance had become the level of the IMF president’s. He imagined himself leaving the group, and it wasn’t glorious at all. It was rather painful.

“Write. I’ll report your exact words,” I said.

Gillian closed his eyes tightly as he couldn’t lift the pen. His self-esteem had plummeted into the darkness. Then, he heard someone writing. When he opened his eyes, there were two sentences written on the paper.

「Gillian is competent enough to manage the oil money. I recommend extending the contract with him and increasing his authority level.」

“Ethan…” he murmured.

“I wrote it for you since you seemed to be unable to do so. I’ve set the fuse on fire, so you should keep an eye on it and keep the flame alive. The oil money will pour in when the bomb explodes,” I said.

When I left, Gillian’s room was filled with silence. He seemed to be truly miserable. He suddenly kicked out of his seat after burying his face in his palms. Then, he rummaged through his clothes, tore out the insoles from his shoes, and disassembled his phone. However, there was no wiretap to be found, which was even creepier to his mind. 

‘How in the world did Ethan overhear my call and get into my office without anyone noticing him?’ Gillian wondered.

1. Before Christ. ☜

2. Anno domini. Latin for ‘in the year of the lord.’ ☜