Free Web Novel“Dreamhigh Investment is behaving strangely?”
“Yes, boss. They’ve suddenly started buying up every single position on falling stock prices. Not just in the U.S.—Europe, Japan, every market.”
George Soros, who had been fully focused on the assault on Hong Kong, paused what he was doing and fell silent in thought.
What’s their angle?
No matter how he looked at it, their actions didn’t make sense.
Unless the global stock markets all crashed at once, there was no way their strategy could yield profit.
October 19, 1987—Black Monday.
Unless something like that happened again, where the New York Stock Exchange lost over 20% in a single day, what Dreamhigh was doing amounted to turning all their money into confetti.
“Are they still participating in the attack on Hong Kong?”
“Yes. Their forex strategy is completely aligned with ours.”
Still thinking it over, Soros gave instructions.
“Then let’s tail Dreamhigh. Match their moves, but don’t overextend. Let’s see what happens.”
“Yes, sir. But Dreamhigh has already scooped up all the futures on falling indexes that hit the market.”
“Just get what we can. Don’t go overboard. I want to see what this leads to.”
“Understood.”
“From now on, stop monitoring the Hong Kong front and report only on Dreamhigh’s movements.”
Soros decided to trust his gut—even if it felt off.
But he was already one step too late.
* * *
—Muhyuk! It’s bad!
“...What is it?”
Panic was clear in Han Kyungyeong’s voice, and a chill went down my spine.
—Hong Kong... Hong Kong just did something insane. They raised short-term interest rates to 300%! It’s all over the news. Is Korea quiet?
“...Ha.”
It was a day later than it had happened in the original timeline—but in the end, Hong Kong had abandoned its stock market.
Just as speculators launched their final assault, believing Hong Kong would give in and devalue the dollar, the unimaginable happened.
—The entire global stock market is reacting! It’s like another Black Monday! This is crazy—this is a miracle!
“I’ll call you later.”
—Hey! Muhyuk!
I ignored Han Kyungyeong’s desperate voice and hung up.
I tossed the phone onto the bed and buried my face in my hands.
No way I can go through that again. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority had chosen to protect its currency—and sacrifice its stock market.
300% short-term interest rates.
No one had predicted this—not Wall Street elites, not central bankers anywhere.
Especially not from Hong Kong.
Once I’d gathered my thoughts, I called Han Kyungyeong back.
—Hey, Muhyuk. Everything’s gone insane here.
“Hyung, when the market opens Monday, dump all our stocks.”
He didn’t respond right away.
“In the morning, it might look stable. But in the afternoon, panic will hit. A crash like nothing anyone’s imagined. It’ll start in the U.S. and ripple through Europe and Japan.”
—...You had this planned all along? I seriously thought you’d gone nuts.
I had expected the New York crash.
But I planned to make it even worse.
“Sell it all. If we don’t have enough stock, borrow it. Borrow and dump it. Strike fear into New York.”
Once fear sets in, it eats away at human reason. Panic dulls rational thought.
—Okay.
“Also, stop the Hong Kong assault. We’re mostly safe, but the other hedge funds? They’re done. They borrowed money to make their moves. Unlike us, they didn’t use their own capital. A 300% rate hike is a death sentence.”
That night, the Hang Seng Index dropped 10.4% before closing.
Speculation was just gambling by another name.
Countless investors lost everything in an instant.
Even major American funds that had invested in Hong Kong suffered huge losses.
In their desperation to cover absurd interest payments, they ended up making disastrous decisions.
And then came October 27.
Late at night, I stayed up with Han Kyungyeong on the phone, completely focused on the U.S. stock market.
The profits we made from Hong Kong were nothing compared to what we’d make now.
The scale difference was insurmountable.
“Hyung, let’s go. As soon as the bell rings, dump everything. It’s fine if we lose money—we’ll profit more in the long run. You explained that to the staff, right?”
—Yeah, they’re practically buzzing. How many firms get to score a win against the U.S. from within Wall Street? They said this would go down in history—and their résumés.
“Sell everything at the lower limit. Force the stock to fall.”
—Got it.
I checked the U.S. market using this god-awful slow internet.
It frustrated me to no end.
Just a few more years and everything will be nearly real-time.
I cursed the lag while waiting for Han Kyungyeong’s call.
Right before the morning session ended, the phone rang.
—Trading’s halted. We’re down 150 already.
A 30-minute trading halt was triggered. The Dow had dropped more than 150 points.
It was much faster than it had been in the original history.
That fear I unleashed? It made people dump their stocks even faster.
Wall Street speculators, still licking /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ their wounds from Hong Kong, started selling their American stocks.
Retail investors, swept up in herd mentality, followed suit.
“Good job. You sold everything?”
—Yeah. All sold.
“Start buying again, slowly, from tomorrow.”
—Got it.
“In a few days, you’ll be Wall Street’s legend. Congrats, ‘God of Investment’—James Han.”
—Hahaha. Come on, that’s you, not me.
Even with just his 1% equity, Han Kyungyeong was now arguably Korea’s richest man.
Every 1% drop in the index meant skyrocketing profits for us.
“I’ll always stay in the background.”
—The U.S. government will start watching us. They’ll find out your identity eventually. Why not just get U.S. citizenship? You’re exempt from military service anyway.
“I’ve been thinking about it. But not yet. You can’t fool the U.S. forever. Still, I’ve got unfinished business in Korea. After that, I’ll be free.”
The world was becoming a single global economy.
What happened in New York wasn’t just America’s problem anymore.
A drop that should have stopped at 7% crashed 15%—because I interfered.
It was the worst crash since the markets opened.
Second only to Black Monday a decade ago.
New York’s collapse caused a worldwide stock crash.
And the profits we made in Hong Kong, the U.S., Europe, and Japan?
Beyond anything imaginable.
We hadn’t even invested all our capital—but we had maxed out every available option contract.
“Time to start liquidating.”
—Roger.
I was the winner of this game.
And it was only the beginning.
Armed with untouchable wealth, I would now rise above everyone.
In the future I wanted.
* * *
This victory was when the Clinton administration finally took notice of Kim Muhyuk.
At the White House, they were holding emergency meetings about the stock market crash.
“Kim Muhyuk?”
“Yes, Mr. President. He’s a 24-year-old businessman based in Korea.”
“Why should I care about this guy? Just another businessman, right?”
“He made more money in this crash than our entire national budget. I think you understand what that means, sir—when a private individual controls that much capital.”
Clinton raised an eyebrow.
“Wow. What is he, Superman?”
His joking tone made Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin frown.
“Mr. President, this is serious. An Asian national just captured the wealth of America.”
“So? Was it illegal?”
“No, but—”
“Rubin, you know our country doesn’t punish people who play by the rules. If he broke the law, we could stop him. But if he made a legitimate profit through legal investments, we can’t.”
Rubin raised his voice in frustration.
“He has enough capital to topple entire economies. And he’s not even an American citizen.”
“Then we make him one.”
Clinton’s flippant answer made Rubin clutch his chest.
Of course, Rubin himself knew they couldn’t actually charge Muhyuk with anything.
“I’d like to proceed with what we discussed earlier. Wall Street investors are shaken after this loss.”
“You mean the Korea thing?”
Muhyuk’s pursuit of profit had accelerated Korea’s currency crisis.
America wasted no time.
Rubin, formerly CEO of Goldman Sachs, immediately issued directives to all investment banks.
They were to release negative reports on Korea.
Wall Street’s hyenas, still bleeding from Hong Kong, saw their chance for payback.
They withdrew every dollar from Korea.
* * *
Korea’s economy began collapsing faster than expected.
A direct result of what I’d done.
—The U.S. Treasury Department contacted me. They already know about you.
“So?”
—They said they’ll keep it quiet. But if we ever plan another major capital withdrawal from the U.S., they want advance notice. I’ve never seen Treasury officials act so politely before.
It wasn’t surprising they were being cautious.
“This is nuts. Anyway, get back to Korea. The Korean branch is ready, right?”
—Yeah. I bought a small building and finished renovations.
“Let’s buy a private jet too.”
—A jet?! Seriously?
“We’ll be flying everywhere now. Order one from Boeing and come home.”
I could hear Han Kyungyeong grinning on the other end.
I smirked too.
“We’ve got the money, right? Go all out. The best of everything.”
—Now that’s my specialty. I’ll wrap things up here by next week. Got someone I can trust to take over.
“Set it so all funds need your sign-off before release.”
—Of course. I already allocated $10 billion to stock investments so people won’t get suspicious.
“Good. I’ll see you in Korea.”
—Yeah.
In the end, Korea surrendered to the IMF.
The humiliation of handing over our economic sovereignty remained unchanged.
No—this time, the U.S. and IMF made even more degrading demands.
And the Korean government couldn’t say no.
The IMF demanded firm commitments from all presidential candidates. No promises, no support.
That’s when an unexpected variable appeared.
The unification of Conservative Party candidate Seong Daegyu and Patriot Party candidate Choi Changgung.
I didn’t see this coming. Seong Daegyu and Choi Changgung, working together?
With Progressive Party candidate Kim Hakgwon leading the polls, this merger would completely change the trajectory of the election.
< Strike Fear Into New York > End
