I clicked and opened the account of a paper company with the largest amount of funds.

「Account name: Midas Bank Corporation」

「Account value: ＄432,500,000」

「Valuation profit and loss: -＄67,500,000」

「Estimated profit: - 13.5 %」

The account value used to be five hundred million, but it had decreased to four hundred. It was now operating at a net loss, instead of a profit.

「Estimated profit: - 13.51 %」

Click.

「Estimated profit: - 13.5 %」

In a second, the percentage fell by 0.01, then went up again. Then, it began to slide all the way down at once.

「Estimated profit: - 14 %」

0.5 percent had dropped in less than one minute, which meant that twenty-five million dollars had evaporated. Along with the other accounts, the total losses would be in the billions. If this had been me back in my Wall Street days, I would’ve been staring at the monitor with a rigid face and going into my boss’s office anxiously.

However, I remained calm as this situation was expected. I actually hoped the estimated profit would fall more. The above account was investing in the Yen futures market, and the loss I was seeing meant that there was a high possibility that more investors had purchased Russian government bonds! Considering each country’s financial policies, it was the only reason why the yen was falling.

From this, it confirmed that it was a good idea that I had asked Jonathan to start the fire in early June. To my amusement, the hedge funds that had allied to attack Seoul had gathered to protect Russia. Not only because their skin color was the same as the Russians, but many of them had also bought Russian government bonds around June and already had large amounts. In other words, Russia’s bankruptcy would mean huge losses.

Therefore, all the markets including stock, futures, raw materials, and oil in the major Asian and European countries became battlefields. The war front spread with Russia at the center. In fact, there was no situation like this in the past, and it was quiet. Back then, the most significant event was the major Asian countries and hedge funds union significantly altering their financial policies. It was not as intense as now, nor had they been pushed into a corner to protect Russia.

However, their stance changed as we set the fire. Also, things became hectic after the funds from New York and the Isle of Man came into play.

***

At a desk in Long Time Capital Management (LTCM), Gerald clenched his fist. He wanted to scream, but it seemed that he wasn’t the only winner. He looked at a colleague who met his eyes, and they quietly rose to their feet. The senior trader was stretching instead of reprimanding them for leaving the desks. Gerald saw him answering the phone, and it was the higher-ups sending their praise.

“If we continue doing this like today, we can stride with our heads raised high,” Gerald said.

“The office atmosphere has become better. How much did you lose during the Asian crisis last year? I lost two hundred million dollars,” his colleague asked.

Gerald’s colleague had broken the unspoken rule at the company, which was not to mention one’s performance amongst themselves except for the senior trader. However, the rule was ignored on days like this, even about the loss.

“More than that,” Gerald replied with a smile for the first time since last year.

“Who do you think they are?” the colleague asked.

Gerald responded, “They seem to have a clear purpose, right?”

Both thought that another major hedge fund was betting on Russia’s collapse.

“Mutual funds cannot be this aggressive,” Gerald mumbled.

“They’re like us. They seemed to have prepared a lot, but they’ll be bankrupt this time.”

Gerald agreed with his colleague since the overall hedge fund industry was at risk due to losses during the Asian financial crisis. If another suffered a huge loss again, the firm would be removed.

“They will be laughed at. An idiot who wrote the investment proposal is completely misreading the trends of the industry as well as the situation.”

Gerald stifled a smile even though the victor had the right to laugh at the loser. When the two were immersed in victory, the senior trader joined them at the rest area. He stood by the window and lit a cigarette, then said with a complicated expression, “We have more funds available. As soon as you go back to the office, stop trading and check the investment proposal from the director.”

Gerald and his colleague could tell that the revised investment proposal would be more aggressive than the previous one without actually reading it. Then, Gerald suddenly felt anxiety from the senior trader. There’s no way that he lost money in this situation, huh?

“...Is there a problem?” Gerald questioned.

“Haven’t you guys felt it?” the senior trader asked.

“Huh?” The colleague frowned.

The senior trader replied, “Everything's going too well. We’re winning only because of the opponents’ mistakes, not our skill.”

“I’ll recheck the translation amounts,” Gerald responded.

“I already did,” the senior trader answered.

“The opponents have the initiative, and they are dragging us into this. Well, no. That’s not the right word. I feel like they don’t care about us. They’re investing at their pace, and we are the ones responding,” the senior trader continued.

The colleague asked, “Isn’t that the attack on Russia?”

“It’s similar but different. We’re waiting for Russia to go bankrupt. The situation in other markets is similar.”

According to the senior trader, the opponents were just waiting for Russia to collapse, and that was completely the opposite of bringing Russia into bankruptcy.

“What did the directors say?” The colleague questioned.

The senior trader responded sharply, “Didn’t you hear me? There are more funds available and we received the revised proposal.”

“...”

“If I felt it, the two professors would’ve felt the same thing earlier. However, they can’t do anything since we’ve gone too deep. It’s already too late to change the strategy,” he added.

“...”

“So it’s not time to rejoice. It’s a matter of life and death. If things go wrong, we’ll all be…No, that’s not going to happen. Get plenty of rest and go back to work,” he continued.

After the senior trader left, silence filled the air. Since the man didn’t actually smoke, only the burnt ashes of the cigarette remained. Gerald and his colleague looked at each other and laughed awkwardly.

“I forgot about the Wall Street saying,” the colleague said.

It was better to think simple sometimes, especially when the situation was this clear. It was time to continue the victory.

“Let’s head back,” Gerald said.

***

The strategy that the hedge funds union had used to target Korea was spreading fear by showing how they aggressively attacked Southeast Asia and Hong Kong, Asia's financial hub. Foreign funds flowed out of Seoul, and the lending institutions pressured the government to repay their money much earlier than they were ready. Thus, our country had no choice but to collapse.

The hedge funds seemed to have misunderstood that I had invested massive funds in Korea as an invasion force poised to attack Russia. It might have been because they had done it. Well, Gillian and Kim Cheong-Soo were deliberately pretending to do so, but the funds were not there for that reason.

「Estimated profit: - 14.1%」

The 0.1 percent of estimated profit was clear evidence that we had not intended to attack Russia and destroy them. Gillian, Kim Cheong-Soo and I completed a month-long operation. Now, we only needed to hold back until Russia went bankrupt and reap the profits from those who fell with them. However, we had to wait and observe the losses calmly, and perhaps, that might be the most difficult task. The phrase “aesthetics of waiting” didn’t seem to exist.

Creak-

The door to the workout room squeaked like the wooden door in the dungeon. Since the building was built over twenty years ago, it was time to replace it instead of just painting or taping.

Meanwhile, Woo Yeon-Hee was practicing archery, and she shot her arrow into the target. She approached me while looking at me to make sure I saw her good shot.

“What about your work?” she asked.

“It’s done,” I replied.

“You live fiercely, and you make me reflect on myself,” she answered.

“Don’t be ridiculous. We’ll enter the dungeon within two weeks at the longest,” I said.

“Two weeks…” she murmured.

Things would end then.