Chapter 6
I could say that I became an easy baby to handle as I slept well during the daytime and only cried at night if there was a reason. However, my current existence was thanks to my parents' sacrifice for me over a long period of time in my past life. As every child does, I had made my parents heartbroken.
Back then, I nearly died from swallowing a piece of apple at the age of one and worried my parents because I wasn't able to talk well until I was four. I was also hospitalized for more than two months after bumping into a motorcycle at the age of seven. Of course, I didn't remember any of these memories, but my mother had told me.
Things I remembered from my childhood were more about my 'firsts' rather than being sick or injured. Those memories were fragmented like an old picture; for instance, the first time I watched fireworks with my cousin, went to my best friend's house and visited my grandfather at the hospital.
I couldn't remember my parents' dedication while raising me, which made me realize how selfish a child could be.
"Mama. Mama. Mama." For the first time, I said the word to my mother, instead of meaningless mumbles. I spoke while making eye contact with her. My mother wouldn't know, but this was to make up for all her worrying about how I couldn't talk until I was four. Ultimately though, the biggest reason was for this quest.
[Like a Human 1: 'Mom' successful.]
[You have completed the quest 'Like a Human 1'.]
[You have obtained 5 points.]
[Total points: 37]
My mother seemed not to care about whether I called for her intentionally or not, and she just enjoyed the moment. She carried me around for a while, then put me down on the floor.
The new quest was related to linguistic development, which was interesting because it underestimated a regressor like me. My pronunciation was awkward only because all my teeth had not grown in and I had a stiff tongue. There was no problem with my language skills!
My next quest mission was to speak sixteen words, which was a piece of cake. The quests that I had to risk my life for had already become only milestones in my growth development. The everyday quests I had in the original timeline were not like this since they were huge risks. Moreover, I gained five points for completing this quest. Back then, I only received two points for killing an F class monster. Moving my lips a few times with this body would give me points worth more than dealing with two monsters. I honestly could not hide my joy.
This would be the final quest of the cumulative quest 'Like a Human'.
[Like a Human 5 (Quest)
Mission: Choose a particular individual and communicate with them using more than ten sentences.]
My father was on a business trip, and I couldn't use my mother as a sacrifice for my quest. I first thought about the owner's wife. She was a mean lady, filled with jealousy. She gave birth to a son, her third child, around the same time I was born. Therefore, she could not help but compare her son and me whenever there was a chance.
When I stayed quiet, she scared my mother that I would become a harelip. When I spoke out any words to refute her, she would denounce it by saying that I had a ghost who died because it couldn't speak. She was a damn mean lady no one could stand, and she clearly enjoyed seeing my mother feeling uncomfortable.
There was another reason to choose her, and it was because she highly believed in shamanism. Talismans were everywhere - on the front door, in the kitchen, and on the way to the owner's floor. I saw so many of them while being carried on my mother's back.
I stood in front of the door that led to the front yard. Everything was huge from a baby's perspective, so the ordinary door not only looked massive but also gave me the feeling of intense pressure.
The door didn't open just by pushing. I had to push after removing the spoon on the doorknob and turning the knob. The spoon locking device and doorknob were located so far above my head that I had to fully tilt my neck back to see them. I couldn't even reach it by jumping up and down with my arm outstretched.
My small heart started beating faster, and it felt like I entered the dungeon. My spine chilled, thinking that my mother might be watching me. I looked around to find something to step on and found hard pillows piled up in the corner of the room. It was past midnight, and it was the perfect day since the owner was absent like my father.
Jindol, the dog tied in the yard, saw me and wagged his tail when I appeared. The dog looked different from when I looked down on it from my mother's back. The large beast's eyes glistened under the moonlight, and I might have been overthinking, but Jindol's leash seemed more slack than usual. As soon as the leash broke or Jindol pulled his neck from it, the dog would be like the boss monster in the wild mountains of Hwasung to me.
Wait. A thought flashed across my mind. My original plan was to complete the quest with the owner's wife by pretending to be a child's ghost and edifying her wicked mind. But why had I only thought of talking to a human adult?
It would be Chuseok soon, and I would meet my cousin. My cousin was four and spoke pretty well. Chuseok was not too far away to proceed with a plan that had a risk of waking my mother up.
"Why is my baby not smiling today? Are you shy, son?"
I wanted to nod and use Odin's Wrath on my aunts who were poking fun at my penis.
There were many babies on Chuseok, and since my younger cousins were not born yet, all the crying babies were the older ones.
Ji-ae, one of my cousins, walked towards me. She was born three years earlier and was pretty. She hated the small mole under her left eye, but that was one of her charms. Her mole, clear eyes, and sharp nose reminded me of how she looked like an adult. My aunts moved so that Ji-ae could move closer to me because they were curious as to how cute we would look on our first meeting.
Besides being a beauty, Ji-ae had a bright future ahead of her. In the past, she graduated from a prestigious university and became a prosecutor after passing the bar exam. She seemed to remain as the pride of the family forever but disappeared on the Day of Advent. She must have been attacked by a monster.
I wanted to advise my aunt to encourage Ji-ae to find a career in sports even if she showed great talent in studying. Physical ability didn't guarantee her survival, but it would be an important factor. At least her experience being a prosecutor did not help at all. People would have to at least train their bodies before the Day of Advent or would have to experience intense warlike situations.
"He is your younger cousin, so Ji-ae should look after him like an older sister." My aunt, Ji-ae's mother, put our hands together, and she hugged me tight as if she was attacking me. She rubbed my hair with her rough hands that were not familiar with holding a baby.
"Seon-hu. Seon-hu." She had a cute voice, and I also gently whispered in her ear.
"Hello, cousin." Ji-ae's hand stopped moving in surprise. My mother and other relatives were paying attention to other babies at that moment, so I quickly told her not to call the adults and that I could only talk to her. I was able to finish the quest by exchanging cute sentences with Ji-ae.
[You have finally completed the cumulative quest 'Like a Human'.]
[You have received a 'silver box' as your completion reward.]
Huh?
[Congratulations. You are the first person to complete all the quests available in the tutorial.]
[You have achieved the conditions to skip the tutorial.]
[There are no quests available from now on.]
This was just a tutorial?
[Do you want to skip the tutorial 'Infancy and Childhood'?]
I faced a torturesome decision to make, but I had to stick with my parents' side for the next few years anyway. If I stayed for the next tutorial, my behavior would be greatly restricted. However, I was still hesitant because skipping meant I could not spend time with my parents' younger days. I shouldn't make any mistakes to surprise or scare my parents, like how the First Evil grew up…
I skipped the tutorial since the real one was waiting for me, which was the Chapter of Beginning.
Chapter 7
The dark world became bright and the faint sounds became louder all at once. As soon as my vision cleared, I knew I was in a classroom. A young man was teaching English in front of young students. I held a mechanical pencil in my hand and found an incomplete scribble in my notebook.
I checked the cover of the book, and it was an English textbook for the first grade of middle school. I was sitting alone near the window at the back of the classroom. I always sat in the middle when I was a student, but things were different since the past had been slightly changed.
"Status window." I was so glad to hear my clear pronunciation after living a toothless life for almost half a year.
[Name: Na Seon-Hu
Health: F(2), Strength: F(20), Agility: F(13), Sense: F(20)
Total points: 87
Trait(1)]
My average class was F. Even though people at the F class were considered ordinary people from the Day of Advent, it was not bad at all by current standards.
My body had grown into an average adult male, and my Strength and Sense had increased enough to exceed some athletes' abilities. The stats I increased during the tutorial must have affected the time I skipped.
As expected, the past had changed. My arms were long and full of hard muscles that couldn't be regarded as a middle school student's body, and I could feel the power in my biceps and forearms.
I was clenching my fist, and a scribble on my notebook grabbed my attention. When I first saw it, it seemed like the result of me, an ordinary middle school student, killing time. However, the drawing was of an F-class monster. It was a beast-type monster that walked on two legs. The identification number was KF-07, and it was clearly written in the upper part of the notebook in messy handwriting that looked like mine. K meant for Korea, F meant the monster's level, and 07 was an arbitrarily given numeric identifier. In fact, it was called 'Guard Dog' among the Korean awakeners instead of its identification number.
I thought of something, and unsurprisingly, there was an address of a mountain in the Gyeonggi Province and its price on the previous page of the notebook.
It seemed that I had maintained life as a returner during the skipped time, and that was why I trained and prepared to attack the F-class dungeon. The first thing to do before unsealing the dungeon was purchasing the lands where it was laid.
I ran home right after class. That was the moment I realized that my family had moved to Miari. The house was the same as I remembered, and the key was in the milk basket. As I unlocked the door, I remembered that my mother had been working at the local curtain shop around this period.
I was too excited to find out how much I had been preparing during the skipped time to be indulging in reminiscence.
A picture that seemed to be taken at my elementary graduation ceremony last year was framed in the living room. I was already completely grown by that time; people would probably think that it was taken in high school graduation. I was somehow relieved to see smiles on my parents' faces in the picture.
I went to my room, but it definitely didn't seem like one for an adolescent. I didn't remember much about my room in middle school, but it was pretty obvious that the room was different from my past life. The blankets had been folded with military precision by me, and not even a single speck of dust was found on the desk.
I searched my room thoroughly, looking at places where I thought I would hide my zip drives or floppy disks which could contain the memories during the time that I had skipped. However, it appeared to me that my physical growth and friendships were the only things that changed from the past. I seemed to have just begun thinking about attacking the dungeon about now during the skipped time. Oh well, yeah…I should have been by my parents' side until elementary school.
Starting now, I was back in control.
Although I didn't buy a sealed dungeon area, it was a great decision to choose the mountain in Hwansung, Gyeonggi Province as my first conquest. I could figure out how I had searched the market price, but since I would have destroyed traces such as bus receipts, I stopped paying attention to those.
The first target was a large mountain worth about 1.3 billion won, and an F class sealed dungeon was there, waiting for the Day of Advent. There were so many things to prepare like buying the mountain and installing security systems. They all cost money. Since I knew the past, earning money wouldn't be too difficult. It wouldn't be just earning money, but more.
The five hundred thousand won I saved during my skipped time might be adequate capital. However, a minor could only establish a minor's stock account, and it fundamentally forbade speculative transactions such as future option transactions. Even if I created a corporation, it would be difficult to make the investments I was aiming for. In other words, I desperately needed an attorney. I thought of several names, Jonathan, Jillian, Kim Cheong-soo, Jessica, and others.
There was only one I could trust the most among them, and that was Jonathan.
He was a twenty-five-year-old man on Wall Street. When he recalled that period, he often titled himself and his colleagues as 'Wolves at Wall Street' because the financial company he worked for had the word 'Wolf' in it. 1997 was a year when the internet had been distributed all over the world, and it was the first time that websites were being created.
I searched for a financial company on Wall Street that included the word 'Wolf' on its title, and I found a link on the North American search engine APE. The internet loaded at a crawling speed, and the pictures of the company employees appeared extremely slowly. Since Jonathan was in a low position, his picture came last. I saw a smiling young Jonathan as pictures showed up one by one. He looked like he was in the middle of talking about how he was part of the elite in Wall Street. The picture was missing the resentment and despair of a man who lost everything. I sent an email.
- Seon-Hu: Hello, Jonathan. I am sending you this email to ask your opinion on whether the Thailand baht is being exchanged for an overvalued price these days.
Jonathan used to boast a lot about his role in the 1997 Asian financial crisis that brought the IMF to Korea. 1997 was apparently the best time of his life. Even if he had earned the title, A-class hunter, that everyone looked up to, I could see that he missed his past so much when he talked about the time.
I was certain that Jonathan would take the bait because I knew he was worried and convinced that the global hedge funds would attack the Thailand baht first. If he had trusted himself more and made bold investments from the start, his heydays would have been bigger than ever.
However, he was unable to do so because he was a loser before 1997.
- Jonathan: The Thailand baht is not overvalued.
I saw his reply in my mailbox before I went to bed.
- Seon-Hu: I apologize. I meant that if the Thailand baht was overvalued, would it be feasible?
The next reply came back immediately as if he had been waiting for my answer.
- Jonathan: Please tell me who you are and where you belong to.
As I expected, he took the bait.
- Seon-Hu: There are more conditions that can be considered feasible. The Asian foreign exchange reserves and the continued strength of the dollar would ease the problems that the hedge funds consortium faces. I expect that they will begin attacking the Thailand baht this month. However, their ultimate goal won't be Thailand. If they do attack, Thailand would be just the beginning.
Jonathan was shocked. His morning had begun with an email from nowhere.
"Thailand would just be the beginning…"
The sender was confident that hedge funds would attack the Thailand baht. He even directly mentioned the name of the most likely ones. Jonathan looked over the partition and buried his head in his arms. All of his colleagues were busy, and on second thought, the situation did not warrant someone else's advice. It was his chance.
It was no longer a secret that a large number of investment funds had poured into the hedge funds as mentioned in the message. Those who worked on Wall Street predicted that the situation would change depending on where those funds would go next. Therefore, the air was heavy on Wall Street, and this email had come during this time.
Above all, Jonathan focused on the fact that the sender used the word 'feasible' because only people working in this field could use the word in this context. He was more curious about where this email came from than who the sender was. Maybe, this was a test. Jonathan took a deep breath and put his hands over the keyboard.
- Jonathan: My office is open now. I'll be waiting for you. If you cannot visit me, you can reach me at …
Jonathan's hands trembled as if he had seen a ghost.
Chapter 8
Jonathan had sent me more than ten desperate emails since yesterday, and I intentionally did not reply to him. Of course, I read his email today, the day when the Sammi Group, which was ranked 26th in the business, filed bankruptcy following the Hando Group on the same day.
- Jonathan: I don't know when you will check this email. As you said, the attack on the Thailand baht seems to have started. Please contact me as soon as you read this. I have something that you'll be interested in.
I could see that Jonathan was still hesitating from this email. If he was willing to dive into the currency war with confidence, he wouldn't have sent me an email like this. He would have been busy day and night establishing his own investment corporation and funding investments through the connections he had created to this day.
However, in the previous timeline, Jonatahn actually jumped into the Asian financial crisis when the battlefield had already moved to Hong Kong. Even though he had insight, he lacked funds and acting power. But surprisingly, he had achieved what he called his heyday because he was cautious. In other words, if he had started working as soon as he was certain about the hedge funds' attack on the Thailand baht, he would have struggled a lot.
In 1992, it took approximately fifty days for a hedge fund to destroy the English pound. Therefore, hedge fund companies would position themselves on the assumption that the Thailand baht would also be brought down the same way, but the baht would not fall with a single strike. In the past, Thailand once had taken the lead and caused great damage to global hedge funds. However, the Thailand baht finally collapsed on July second, which was more than three months from today.
Anyway, I checked the investment product Jonathan attached in the email, and it was what I had expected. The product had bet on the fall of the baht around May. It basically meant, 'hedge funds would finish their battles within fifty days as they did in 1992, and a glorious victory will be theirs'. The product basically represented the current atmosphere and predictions of Wall Street.
- Seon-Hu: Please contact me again if there is a stock good that bets on the Thailand baht increase.
Apparently, Jonathan must be refreshing his inbox constantly despite his busy schedule because the reply came back in less than 10 minutes.
- Jonathan: Weren't you expecting the Thailand baht to fall?
- Seon-Hu: I'll make one suggestion. If you establish an investment corporation, I'm willing to offer my investment proposal. I expect fifty-one percent of the corporation shares as remuneration.
The investment product that Jonathan sent to Seon-Hu was only given to a few VVIPs. Although Jonathan took a huge gamble, the result was so disappointing that he could not even sigh.
Come to think of it, has the email mentioned that the attackers would win while saying that baht would be attacked? Ah..yeah… it didn't say anything about it.
Attacking the Thailand baht was bound to succeed. Jonathan and all the corporations on Wall Street agreed that Thailand could never withstand after being chosen as the hedge funds' prey. How could Thailand last when England failed? That was an honest opinion.
However, Jonathan was disappointed by the last sentence - the investment proposal. How could someone ask fifty-one percent of a company's shares in return for the proposal?
I was fooled by a swindler…What had I been expecting?
Jonathan frowned and picked up the phone. He had wasted so much time on an unknown scam email. It was time to get a hold of himself and call the VVIPs before he lost big accounts to other firms or colleagues. Wall Street had already finished its betting.
Then, suddenly Jonathan lowered the phone again. He had a feeling that something was missing, and if he couldn't clarify it, he would continue thinking about it.
Clickety-clack. Clickety-clack.
Aggressive sounds came out of Jonathan's keyboard. His performance had been worse recently, and he felt worse because he was sensing that his deportation time was just around the corner.
- Jonathan: On what grounds do you believe that the hedge funds will fail?
Jonathan bit his nails unconsciously while waiting for the reply. Then, the answer came.
- Seon-Hu: I might have caused another misunderstanding. I'm not saying that the hedge funds will lose, but that the Thailand Bank has many protective measures in May. Malaysia's Negara Bank would be a good previous example. Also, the reciprocal agreement they created with ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) central banks in 1995 and the dual exchange rate system remain as viable options for Thailand Bank. Hence, my conclusion is that Thailand baht will rise in the short term.
Jonathan let out a gasp, and the shock struck him so hard that it made him completely forget his disappointment. Although it looked like he was sitting there not moving a single muscle with his eyes wide open, his brain was whirring like never before. Even he thought that he could hear his neurons firing one by one in slow motion.
I..t…It's possible!
Then, the investment product manual for the VVIPs grabbed his attention. It was the one that had bet on the falling baht price in May. His colleagues were doing their best to sell this product since everyone knew it was a chance to yield the best outcome, then increase performance and build trust with VVIPs. The empty sets were from those colleagues who had already quit the job to establish their own firms. If the baht did not fall in May, they all would be beggars.
Jonathan gulped. He was debating if he should notify the board about this possible scenario and strongly suggest minimizing the risk of the product or not…He thought for a while and then his trembling fingers started typing.
- Jonathan: We don't have a product that has a bet on the Thailand baht increase, and unfortunately, there are no plans to develop such a project in Wolf.
- Seon-Hu: That's why I am suggesting you establish your own.
- Jonathan: A fifty-one percent share without conditions means that you'll control my money and future. This is too much. Who would sign such a contract?
- Seon-Hu: Take your time to think about this. My offer stands until the end of May.
- Jonathan: We should talk in person. As I've told you before, my office is always open.
That was it. The communication ended even after Jonathan sent his second email saying that he would be willing to visit me in person.
When the hedge funds decided to target the baht with the Quildom Fund in the center, everyone believed the baht would collapse. However, reality said otherwise. Although the hedge funds' attack on the baht lasted two months, the baht didn't get pulled down. Jonathan's company was tense as it had focused on selling the investment product that bet on the Thailand baht crash.
Jonathan was the only fund manager that had not sold the product. The firm wanted to force him to quit and VVIPs turned their backs on him. He didn't bet actual money like others, but he was betting something even more - his career record and future as a fund manager. Even his assistant clerk condemned Jonathan and threatened that he would quit his job.
Jonathan felt like he lived in another world especially on May fourteenth and fifteenth as he was alone in his office. That was the day when the hedge funds attacked the Thailand baht with all they had. It was enough to turn the tables, and Jonathan's colleagues got excited and yelled out a cheer as if they had never been devastated. However, it didn't last long.
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuckkkkkkk!"
"No, this is crazy! This cannot be happening!"
All hell broke loose in the entire office, and the phones didn't stop ringing. His colleagues' faces were as red as outraged bulls as they screamed out.
"Jonathan!" Jonathan's assistant clerk ran into his room, and his face was filled with surprise.
"You were right, Jonathan! You were right! The baht is rising! How did you know…"
The clerk showed printed documents of the ASEAN central banks aiding twelve billion dollars to Thailand.
"Everyone is terrified that they will lose at least three million," the clerk rattled off.
"All right, leave," Jonathan said sternly.
"Is..Is there anything I can do?" the clerk asked.
Jonathan waved his hand at the clerk without even looking at him. He was so relieved that he wanted to pee. At the same time, he didn't want to face anyone who had laughed and looked down on him. The two months he spent being despised as a coward felt like forever.
One of Jonathan's colleagues stuck his head out and said, "Harry wants you." Jonathan felt fed up with the jealous looks following him.
Harry was the largest shareholder of the company and its main trainer. Jonathan didn't want to see anyone, but he wanted to see Harry's tearful face.
Harry was with three other VVIPs in his office. They were Harry's long-standing clients and had suffered big losses from this incident. Harry was planning to overcome this crisis by introducing Jonathan as the company's new hope to assuage their anger.
However, Jonathan handed his name card to the clients as soon as he entered Harry's office and said, "I'm going to establish my own investment firm after quitting my job at Wolf today. My contacts will be the same, so if you want an investment consultation…"
"Jonathan!" Harry hurriedly took Jonathan out of the office.
"Why? You've wanted this for so long, so I'm doing this for you," Jonathan asked condescendingly.
"...Where? Do you already have a sponsor?" Harry was caught off guard.
"I will get sponsors from now on. I'm the only one without a loss, and everyone in Wall Street knows what I had bet on this," Jonathan said.
"You think this one time will get you anywhere?" Harry asked dismissively.
"When did Wall Street ever need a second success?" Jonathan asked.
"What?"
Jonathan smiled faintly, and Harry's shout behind him didn't make him turn back. He returned to the office amid envious and jealous gazes.
While he organized his things, there was one thing he had to do.
- Jonathan: I quit my job. I will accept your nonsense suggestion. I guess I'm crazy. Let's talk about this in person. Where can I meet you?
- Seon-Hu: Please come to Seoul. Right now.
Chapter 9
I was bored with my middle school life. The joy I felt in seeing my friends, whom I barely remembered, ended after one day. My bigger physique grabbed people's attention in the school, and thanks to that, time went by with no incident. No one at school, including my classmates and seniors, dared to pick on me. By my first year of middle school, I was already around six feet tall. The adult lives of teachers were more interesting to me than those of young students.
It was recess time, and the teachers' office window was filled with people as I looked at it on my way to and from the washroom. Male teachers were talking about stocks as they smoked, and they seemed happier than yesterday. Even though major firms like Hando, Samil, and Chamro were going bankrupt, their ruin had not affected the teaching profession yet. Moreover, the currency war that started in Thailand wouldn't affect them at all. The only thing that mattered to them was the rise in stocks they bought the day before.
The bell that signaled the end of recess turned on, and the students began running back to classes. The hallway was so empty in such an instant, and, at first, I felt awkward seeing it. Things had not changed after two months, and the vacant hallway, where only silence remained with no vitality, reminded me of memories I didn't want to recall, like the sight of the city where all its citizens lay dead.
I headed to Gimpo Airport after school. Jonathan's estimated arrival time was at seven o'clock in the evening. I was holding a small sign with his name on it at the arrivals hall. Since I had seen his young photo on the website and exchanged emails several times, I thought I would not be surprised by how young he looked.
However, that was not the case. Jonathan came in wearing a black suit and was holding a 007 bag. This was in direct contrast to my memories of him wearing the protective gear he got from the platinum box and carrying an iron club inwrought with mana stones. His eyes looked as if they could prove he lived in a peaceful world. His eyes flickered back and forth between my sign and me.
Jonathan's face had no scars like the picture, and it was even glowing. It seemed the long flight didn't bother him at all. He must have had pleasant dreams while crossing the Pacific Ocean to meet me.
"Hi, I'm Jonathan," he approached me and said. It was the first time I saw his eyes filled with hope and heard his lively voice.
"Let's go somewhere else. Follow me." I was fluent in speaking English. He looked a little surprised at that.
I had spotted an unpopular restaurant in the airport. Jonathan's confident footsteps followed after me as I led the way. He probably thought he could meet the person that sent him the email there, and I didn't blame him. There was no way he would think a young student with a backpack would be the person who sent the email.
He must have been thinking of a stereotypical nerdy Asian guy with a round face and slick hair. He was probably picturing that the man would wear an oversized suit, wipe his glasses, then ask Jonathan for a handshake after seeing him.
I led Jonathan to a place where no one else was around us. The person sitting across the table from him was me, who led him from the arrival hall. Jonathan blinked and shrugged as if to ask what was happening.
"I sent you the email, Jonathan. Thanks for coming all the way here to meet me."
Jonathan stared at me for a long time, then covered his face with his gigantic hands. A sigh of despair came out of his mouth. He didn't take off his hands but stared at me through his fingers.
"I came to Korea after betting my entire life on this! Everything on your little prank! Do you know what you have done?"
Jonathan didn't raise his voice, but I could see how furious he was from his eyes between his fingers. Those were the eyes I was familiar with. He had those eyes when he glared at monsters and murmured that he would survive.
Jonathan stood up without saying a word, then he looked down at me. I felt the rage in his eyes as if he would kick me, knock me down and never stop punching me until I died.
"Does Wall Street judge people by their age?"
When I answered, the server went back after coming to get our orders because we were too tense.
"How old are you? Nineteen? Twenty?" Jonathan taunted.
"If you continue to stare at me like that, someone is going to call the police," I pointed at the counter with my chin as the manager and server were whispering about us there.
"You can go back and leave things like this. But since you are a guest who came across the ocean, it's courtesy to give you a gift."
I took out an investment draft I wrote last night from the bag and handed it to Jonathan. He snatched it from my hands not to check its contents but to rip it in front of me. He grabbed the paper with both hands and prepared to tear it up, but then he suddenly stopped. His fiercely glaring eyes were staring at the chart on the report.
"Please sit down," I said.
"The current Asian economic crisis was inevitable since the U.S. government lent an infinite amount of American Dollars to Asian countries. This has happened since the time they began saying how the twenty-first century will be Asia's and hyped up the Four Asian Tigers. The hedge funds merely piggybacked on that," I said.
"Piggyback?" Jonathan halted.
I dusted off my shoulder with my fingers. Jonathan nodded to show me that he understood and started reading the draft from the beginning.
"How is Wall Street?" I asked.
"What do you think?" Jonathan replied in a distracted manner. However, the most important point was missing from that report no matter how many times he read over it. I was only showing him the large forest, and the roots and branches were hidden beneath the leaves. The dates were missing.
"This is how the trend will go," I pointed at the part where the chart dipped again.
"You won't tell me the approximate date until I sign it? You think the attackers will collapse Thailand baht in one day?" Jonathan questioned.
"Jonathan, you were part of Wall Street. How was your perspective on it before reading my report?" I questioned. Jonathan couldn't reply easily, and he wouldn't be the only one.
This was the day after the Thailand government kicked the hedge funds' butts. The battle that was considered one-sided had now become unpredictable. That was the current atmosphere in Wall Street, and it would continue until the Thailand government declared surrender on July second.
Jonathan became quiet and kept flipping through the report. If you knew what to expect, it wouldn't be difficult to piece together the process. I organized the traces of fierce battle between Thailand and New York's foreign currency markets, using numerous charts and graphs to point in a single direction.
It took less time for Jonathan to come to a conclusion than I expected.
"In the end, the attackers will win if there's one more condition…" Jonathan stared at me, and it was obvious that he was testing me.
"I'm not the one who should be answering. Jonathan, you have to do it, so I can decide if you are qualified to work with me," I said. Jonathan started to chuckle. Then, he seemed to be more refreshed now.
"Is my money, career experience and time not enough for you?" Jonathan was caught off guard.
"It's enough if you are willing to step down from management. Are you?" I asked. He smiled as if it wasn't worth answering.
"I'm risking everything. What are you risking?" Jonathan asked.
"Opportunity cost. How much do you think I could've earned from March if I chose someone else instead of you? Even as we talk, I'm losing money that I could've earned," I replied.
Jonathan stopped himself from responding right back because he knew he didn't have many nerves especially as he understood the situation. Since everyone at Wall Street was betting on the drop in baht, he was aware that I could have earned an astronomical amount of money by betting on the opposite side.
"Haven't you decided yet?" I asked.
"I need more time to think. In spite of everything, you….you are just…this is all unexpected …" Jonathan hesitated.
"Okay, I will wait until June 3rd," I replied and stood up.
"Wait. Why June 3rd?" Jonathan also hurriedly stood up and even blocked me as if I would disappear like a ghost. His eyes followed my gaze to the report he was holding.
"Oh!" He flipped through the pages of the report and stopped to show me my estimated short-term baht exchange rate chart. He pointed where the chart dipped, the point where the short-term baht uptrend stopped. No one could predict how long the uptrend of the baht would continue in this situation, so me telling him the exact date shocked him.
"This happens on June second, right?" Jonathan asked in an excited tone.
"All you have to do is figure out how much we'll lose in the remaining days," I replied.
"You can predict the trend, but not the date. Unless you are a god," he spoke firmly.
"Maybe, you are meeting with one right now," I said.
"This is insane! I've dealt with all sorts of people, but a guy like you…" he seemed to be dumbfounded.
"You have until June 3rd. If you can't make a decision until then, I will consider our relationship to be over." I was determined.
It was June 3rd, and an email arrived after a while.
- Jonathan: What should we name our company?
Chapter 10
"Is it time for self-reflection?" Jonathan was deep in thought, and I greeted him with those words.
"Yeah, absolutely," Jonathan immediately replied as he raised his head. His sad gaze went back to the now useless investment draft which only covered the period up until when the baht exchange started to dip.
June 2nd
Jonathan highlighted the date with a red pen as he had failed to take advantage of the opportunity.
"How could you know the date, but not the trends?" he questioned.
"Calculation," I replied.
"Will you show them to me in the future?" his eyes shone.
"I'll tell you what ingredients I used," I said.
The hedge funds were making a counterattack by borrowing the Japanese yen, which had a low-interest rate. Since it was already known, there was no necessity to mention it again.
"Only the ingredients? What about the recipe?"
Jonathan had completely changed his attitude in just a few days, and acted like a young man in his prime rather than a successful financial manager in Wall Street. I could only understand and let him be since I didn't know what he was like when he was younger. I smiled silently, and Jonathan stopped asking as he still held onto his stoic pride as a manager.
"I still don't know your name, which makes no sense," Jonathan glanced at me.
"Seon-Hu," I said.
"Sun. Who. Oh, that's a good name. Can I call you Sun?" Jonathan smiled as he made eye contact with me.
In the past, there were only two occasions where I've seen Jonathan's bright side. The first time was when he bragged about his prime in 1997, and the other one was when he finally cleared a dungeon after surviving to the end. Other than those moments, he seemed to be a wounded beast. He drank whenever he had no work, and often called out his dead daughter's name. Compared to that, young Jonathan still retained his bright personality. Since I remembered how he looked the last time I saw him in my past life, I liked seeing him smile now.
"Jonathan and Sun Investments," Jonathan said suddenly as he thought about the name of the company we were about to establish.
"The shares are fifty-one to forty-nine, so mine is higher. Well, there would be nothing wrong to call it my company," he said with confidence.
"Please take my name out of it," I said.
"Aren't you too old to be coy?" Jonathan wondered.
"I don't care about the company name. How much are you thinking about for capital?" I asked.
"Sun, you're too cunning, and that's why you could succeed in this crazy deal. I will fund the capital and hand you forty-nine percent of the shares," he said as if he was offering me a gift.
"I should get fifty-one percent," I said.
"What?" he was startled.
"I guess if you don't like that, you can provide less funds for capital," I maintained.
"Even though it's ten thousand dollars?" He was still in shock.
"It's up to you," I said.
"Where did you get this confidence?" he asked.
"Are you good with ten thousand dollars then?" I ignored him and continued with the deal.
"No way," Jonathan held out four fingers and continued on, "Four hundred thousand dollars. I wish I could've scraped more, but that's all I have."
Since I had a fifty-one percent share, it meant that I earned two hundred four thousand dollars for doing nothing.
"Do you have any funds to help, Sun?" he leered at me.
"If I did, I wouldn't have called you to Korea," I answered.
"But why was it me? How did you know me?" He was curious.
"From the website," I replied.
"...Just a website? You didn't care who it was as long as you could establish an investment firm in North America?" He was astounded.
Investment firm in North America? If it was possible, I wanted to start from a tax haven. However, considering Jonathan's savings, I couldn't.
"Are you disappointed?" Jonathan asked.
"No, I'm just thinking that this opportunity came at a strange time. It never came when I needed it the most," I replied.
It never came when I desperately needed one.
Those words felt like deja vu. When Jonathan opened the master box with points he gathered by risking his life and nearly dying several times, he was in despair. He originally had a grand plan to never open any box below the level of the challenger box until he had racked up enough points. However, there were a series of incidents that concerned him mentally, and he ended up opening a master box.
He wished the master box would give him items or seals instead of traits or skills. Considering what he said at the time, he was probably going to sell them and live like crazy in the red-light district until he died.
However, a miracle happened to him. A skill that would be at the level of a challenger box came out of his very own master box despite how low a chance it was to get it. That was the second time that I had seen something of a higher level come out of a lower level box. Just twice. Even the luckiest people wouldn't be able to pull this off.
That was the day when Jonathan had walked away to seek his revenge even after I dissuaded him. That was my last memory with him. I heard only rumors about his death afterwards.
"Why are you looking at me like that? Are you honored that I considered you as an 'opportunity'? From what you have shown me, you are definitely my opportunity, Sun. You are my chance. I only need one since I'm ready for it," I saw Jonathan's face full of excitement after coming back from my memories.
"Will you bet everything you have if I tell you to go all-in?" I asked.
"All-in?" Jonathan smiled with meaning.
"Just because I changed the investment products doesn't mean that I stopped being a trader. I invested in you, Sun. All-in? That's nothing," Jonathan put his 007 bag on the table.
Thump.
A load of documents poured out from the bag. They were needed to establish the investment firm, and he had already signed wherever he needed to. Jonathan had to be the initiator and the CEO since he was an American citizen. Now he was asking for the Korean government's official documents that would prove my identity, something like a copy of my resident registration certificate.
Jonathan furrowed his brows as he looked over them, and stared at me in confusion. I kindly pointed at my name.
Na Seon-Hu (850228 - *)
"This is the only document I can use to prove my identification. This is me, and these are my parents," I said.
"What do the numbers mean?" Jonathan asked.
"They are like social security numbers, and they are called resident registration numbers in Korea. I'll send you a copy of my passport as soon as it's issued," I replied.
"But Sun, these numbers…That's not your date of birth, right?" he frowned.
"Yes, it is," I answered.
"85 doesn't mean 1985, right?" he asked in shock.
He opened his mouth and said nothing for a while.
"Thirteen? You are thirteen?" He asked as his mind was trying to process this unbelievable realization.
He was shocked on two accounts: the fact that his co-founder was thirteen and that I had looked like an adult rather than a teenager.
Jonathan covered his face with his hand like the day we first met, but the eyes peeking through his fingers were different this time. Actually, his face was filled with a greater thrill than his anger at the time.
"I knew it. You…you are an Asian genius," he looked at me with astonishment.
Jonathan highly appreciated my preparedness and tenacity, but now, he praised my genius the most. In his mind, I was the young Asian financial genius. He looked at me like a westerner traveling to Tibet and Japan with Asian fantasies in his mind. In the past, I would have punched him in the eyes for looking at me like this, but I responded with a date in mind instead of my fist.
"The second week of June, from the ninth to the thirteenth," I said. When I told him the actual date, he changed his posture.
"I'm certain that stocks will fall by ten percent during that period," I was confident.
"Do you think Bangkok will surrender during that week?" Jonathan leaned towards me, and quickly erased the excitement in his eyes.
"It will take a while for them to surrender," I replied.
"Then what about the second week of June?" He asked.
"Do you remember what I told you before?" I questioned him back.
"That Thailand would be just the beginning?" He answered.
"The battle between the hedge funds union and Thailand has come to a situation where no one can predict the outcome. As of yesterday, most people are biased that Thailand would be able to successfully defend themselves," I said.
"However, we don't think they can," Jonathan used the word 'we'.
"If Thailand's stock price drops over ten percent during the second week, it will be a turning point. The atmosphere will change, and the fear will spread," I said.
"People will panic," he looked at me.
"Reinforcements will support the hedge funds union that is attacking the baht, and, of course, the fear will spread throughout Asia. The hedge funds union will move their battlefields to harvest as much as they can, and their ultimate goal is…" I stopped there and waited for Jonathan to answer.
"Hong Kong," Jonathan replied without hesitation like he had been thinking about this for a while.
"No, you're wrong. It's South Korea," I said. Jonathan frowned.
"Is that because it's your country? Korea is in a completely different situation compared to Thailand. The attackers cannot strike at the foreign exchange of this nation. What's the matter?" he was disconcerted.
"That's true. They cannot disturb Korea's foreign exchange because they are blocked from bringing in military funds into Korea," I answered.
"Yes," he nodded.
"But the hedge funds union's funds are not the ones that will attack Korea. It will be the fear across East Asia that now Korea has to face. Jonathan, the hedge funds union is creating the fear that can withdraw all the foreign investments in this country," I said.
Jonathan became quiet. He seemed to be imagining how the financial crisis from Thailand would storm through Asia and destroy Korea. It would be quite a sight for someone on Wall Street. Jonathan's fist was tightly clenched now.
"So you want to stop it, Sun? An individual like you? You are very patriotic, but this is not my country," he shook his head.
"It's the same for me. All the devotion and love from people like us are only for 'money'," Jonathan neither laughed or smiled. He silently nodded as he waited for me to tell him the conclusion of this long tale.
"The hedge funds union will fight the war, but after the end of the war, they will know who has benefited the most. They will be in for a surprise," I said.
