Chapter 86: The Unforeseen Consequences of Wealth

“You say Dream High Investment is acting strangely?”

“Yes, your boss is suddenly buying up all the positions lost in the market crash, not just in the U.S. but across Europe, Japan—everywhere!”

George Soros, focused on the attack on Hong Kong, paused his work at his assistant’s words and fell deep into thought.

What are they thinking?

But no matter how hard he thought, their actions made no sense.

Unless the global stock markets crashed simultaneously, there was no way to profit from such behavior.

October 19, 1987, Black Monday.

Unless something like the New York Stock Exchange collapsing over 20% overnight happened again, it was akin to throwing money away.

“Are we still going ahead with the attack on Hong Kong?”

“Yes, we’re coordinating our foreign exchange market attack perfectly with your plan.”

Lost in thought, George Soros gave his assistant a command.

“For now, let’s follow Dream High’s lead.”

“They’re sweeping up all the falling stock index futures on the market.”

“Only buy what you can manage; I need to see what’s happening here.”

“Understood.”

“You focus on Dream High’s movements; forget about Hong Kong for now and report back to me.”

George Soros decided to trust his uneasy feeling.

But he was already a step behind.

* * *

Mu-hyeok! This is bad!

“…What?”

A sense of unease washed over me at Han Gyeong-yeong’s urgent voice.

Hong Kong… Hong Kong has gone insane! They’ve raised the short-term interest rate to 300%! The news is chaotic—what about Korea?

“Hah…”

Though they were a day late historically, Hong Kong eventually abandoned its stock market.

This happened as speculators, believing the Hong Kong dollar would drop, launched their final assault when the authorities couldn’t withstand the stock market collapse.

The global stock markets are reacting. Another Black Monday is upon us! It’s madness—this is miraculous!

“Let’s talk later, brother.”

Hey! Mu-hyeok!

Ignoring Han Gyeong-yeong’s desperate call, I hung up the phone.

I tossed my mobile onto the bed and buried my face in my hands.

I can’t go through this again.

Instead of defending the currency, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority had given up on the stock market.

A 300% interest rate hike?

Even the elite on Wall Street and the heads of economies worldwide never saw this coming.

Who would have predicted something like this would happen in Hong Kong?

After gathering my thoughts, I called Han Gyeong-yeong again.

Hey, Mu-hyeok! It’s chaos here!

“Brother, when the market opens next Monday, sell all the stocks you have!”

Han Gyeong-yeong was silent, stunned by my abrupt instruction.

“The morning session will be calm, but panic will start in the afternoon. Expect an unimaginable crash, beginning in the U.S. and spreading to Europe and Japan!”

…You had it all planned out? I thought you were crazy.

I could foresee the New York stock market crash, but I intended to amplify that decline.

“Sell everything! If we run out of stocks, borrow from other brokerages. We need to spread terror in New York!”

Once fear takes hold, it gnaws at reason. A paralyzed mind can’t think straight.

Okay.

“Stop the attack on Hong Kong. We won’t suffer major losses, but other hedge funds will be in mourning. If they borrowed money to attack, a 300% interest would be a death sentence!”

That day, the Hang Seng Index plummeted 104% by closing time.

Speculation is akin to gambling; capital can vanish in an instant, leaving investors with catastrophic losses. The stock market was in a panic.

This extreme measure didn’t only hurt hedge funds; American funds investing in the Hong Kong stock market also suffered tremendous losses.

They resorted to desperate measures to pay back their colossal debts.

And then came the much-anticipated October 27.

All night, I stayed awake, focusing on the U.S. stock market while talking with Han Gyeong-yeong.

The profits made in Hong Kong were nothing compared to what we could earn in the U.S.

The market difference was undeniable.

“Brother, let’s start. The moment the market opens, sell everything. It’s okay to take losses; the more we lose, the bigger our gain will be. Did you explain everything to the staff?”

Yeah, everyone is totally hyped. How many investment firms can say they’ve won against the U.S. while being on Wall Street? It’s a career-defining moment, a historical one!

“Keep selling at the lower limit; induce a stock price drop!”

Okay.

I checked the U.S. stock market with my painfully slow internet.

Every time this happened, I felt a wave of frustration.

Hah… Just a few more years, and it’ll be as fast as it used to be.

Resentful of the sluggish internet, I awaited Han Gyeong-yeong’s call.

The phone rang just before the morning session ended.

Trading has been halted; it’s already down 150 points!

Trading was suspended for 30 minutes as the Dow Jones dropped over 150 points.

It was happening much faster than before. The fear I had unleashed compelled them to sell their stocks even quicker.

As the speculators on Wall Street targeting Hong Kong began selling American stocks, the small investors fell into a herd mentality, tossing away their shares.

“Good job; you sold all the stocks, right?”

Yeah, all sold out.

“From tomorrow, start buying back slowly.”

Got it.

“In a few days, you’ll be a legend on Wall Street. Congratulations, the investment god, James Han!”

Hahaha, crazy! That’s you!

Even with just 1% of his shares, Han Gyeong-yeong would be hailed as Korea’s richest man.

With every 1% drop in stock prices, our profits soared.

“I’ll always be behind you.”

The U.S. government will start watching us closely; eventually, your identity will be exposed. Why not get U.S. citizenship while you’re at it? You’ve been exempt from the military, right?

“I’ve been considering it, but not yet. I can’t deceive the U.S. government, and I still have things to do in Korea. I’ll revisit it later; it should be fine then.”

Now, the world began to operate as one economy under the banner of globalization.

What happened in New York, the financial center of the world, wasn’t just an American problem.

What should have ended with a 7% drop resulted in a 15% crash due to my intervention—this was unprecedented in the U.S. stock market.

The drop in stock indices was the largest since Black Monday ten years ago.

The crash of the New York stock market resulted in a simultaneous crash across global markets.

The profits we made in Hong Kong and the U.S., Europe, and Japan were beyond imagination.

Though we didn’t invest all our capital, we had contracts for all possible options, making it feasible.

“Let’s start liquidating.”

Okay.

I was the winner of this gamble.

This was just the beginning.

With unmatched wealth, I would rise above everyone.

To the future I desired.

* * *

This victory caught the attention of the Clinton administration regarding Kim Mu-hyeok.

Discussions about the stock market crash were underway in the White House.

“Kim Mu-hyeok?”

“Yes, Mr. President, a 24-year-old entrepreneur in Korea.”

“Why should I need to know that name? He’s just a businessman, after all.”

“We made a fortune during the recent stock market crash—more than the entire U.S. annual budget. Don’t you think the President understands what it means for an individual to hold that much wealth?”

Clinton showed interest at the mention of money exceeding the U.S. annual budget.

“Wow, what is he, Superman or something?”

Clinton’s playful response made Robert Rubin, the Treasury Secretary, frown.

“Mr. President, this is serious. It means American wealth is flowing to a man from a small country on the fringes of Asia.”

“So what’s the problem? Was it illegal?”

“Not exactly, but…”

“Listen, Rubin, we don’t hold our nation accountable for actions within the law. If it was illegal, we could intervene, but if it was a legitimate investment, there’s nothing we can do about it, right?”

Rubin raised his voice in frustration.

“This amount of money could ruin a country’s economy. The person holding it isn’t an American, but a citizen of another nation!”

“Then just make him an American!”

Rubin slapped his chest at Clinton’s nonchalant suggestion.

Of course, Rubin himself knew he couldn’t hold Kim Mu-hyeok accountable.

“I hope we can proceed with what we discussed last time. Wall Street investors are feeling jittery after this failure.”

“You’re talking about the situation in Korea, right?”

What Kim Mu-hyeok had done to earn moey had set off a chain reaction, hastening South Korea’s foreign exchange crisis.

The U.S. acted quickly.

Robert Rubin, a former Goldman Sachs chairman, immediately instructed all investment banks on Wall Street.

Upon hearing to release negative reports about Korea, Wall Street’s wolves saw it as a chance to recover losses from Hong Kong.

They withdrew all their investments in Korea at once.

* * *

South Korea’s economy was collapsing faster than expected. It was the result of my actions.

The U.S. Treasury contacted me. They already knew about you.

“So?”

They said they’d keep quiet for now, but if there were to be a mass capital flight from the U.S., they wanted to be informed in advance. I’ve never seen a Treasury official so humble before.

It wasn’t surprising that the U.S. Treasury was being cautious.

“This is insane. You need to get back to Korea quickly. Did you set up the Korean branch?”

Yeah, bought a small building and finished remodeling it.

“Let’s get a private jet too.”

A private jet? Seriously?

“We need to travel the world now. Order one from Boeing and head back to Korea.”

On the other end of the line, Han Gyeong-yeong chuckled.

I couldn’t help but smile.

“You don’t have to worry about money, right? Order whatever you need, top of the line.”

That’s my specialty. I’ll wrap things up here and head back by next week. I need someone responsible to take over.

“You made sure all the funds are released only after your approval, right?”

Of course. I told them to invest $10 billion in stocks. We can’t just let people think everything’s fine when it’s not.

“Good. Let’s meet up in Korea.”

Sure.

In the end, South Korea surrendered to the IMF.

The humiliating result of handing over economic sovereignty to the IMF couldn’t be changed.

The U.S. government and the IMF made even more humiliating demands than before.

But the South Korean government couldn’t push back.

The IMF demanded firm commitments from the presidential candidates. Without definitive answers from all three candidates, they threatened to withhold any support.

That’s when an unexpected ally appeared.

The unification of the conservative candidate Seong Dae-kyu and the Patriot Party’s Choi Chang-geun.

‘I didn’t see that coming. Can you believe Seong Dae-kyu and Choi Chang-geun are teaming up?’

With the progressive candidate Kim Hak-gwon likely to win, their unification changed the trajectory of the election.