Side Story 43. A Month Later - Kwon Seong-Il (4)

「Why is the world stock market shaking again? …Fifty billion dollars pour into Korea’s ETF」

「Is it a signal for a third surge? Or a sign of a bubble burst? ...The market’s verdict is a third surge signal! 」

「Something happened in Korea. Cheers of joy echo around the world. 」

「ETF leads the market! Experts are bewildered. 」

Jessica asked, "Are you sure it's not from our side? Who would pour such money into an ETF? Now, it's impossible to tell whether they're just stupid or a genius."

Gillian wasn't in the mood to answer because of the bizarre acts committed by the unidentified hot money in Korea. Ideally, he would have wanted to discuss this with Jessica all night, but more importantly, there was the baby Jessica was carrying.

He said, "You should rest now."

"But..."

"No one can oppose us. You don't doubt that, do you?"

Gillian managed to send Jessica to bed after some effort.

"Now, it's impossible to tell whether they're just stupid or a genius."

Gillian couldn't shake off what Jessica had said. The term "genius" had only been mentioned once by the genius Jessica. And now, this was the second time.

Gillian had to rethink his previously scorned opponent. If the opponent was an ordinary idiot, then guessing their portfolio would be easy. When people with that kind of capital planned to enter Korea, they usually invested in large-cap stocks and hedging in futures.

However, that wasn't the case. The opponent had pumped nearly fifty billion dollars into a mere ETF. And the result? They influenced both Korea's spot and futures markets, rapidly inflating the global bubble.

I never thought of this method.

The ETF, inherently bound by the direction of futures, ended up leading the futures market?

Nonetheless, market madness was hard to understand in theory alone. Thus, Gillian tried to comprehend the reality.

If they intentionally led this madness...they could be a genius.

Of course, this wasn't necessarily bad. Due to the enlarged bubble, it seemed to be possible for him to recover from the massive losses from the past agreement.

Yet, the uncomfortable fact remained that a potential genius had emerged. He had observed how the mysterious figure had taken over the Bilderberg Club, and how they monopolized the global economy. A single genius disrupted the world order and established a new one.

However, such an event should never have happened again. There had never been a market in human history filled with such good intentions. It was the same during the process of saving the world and even after completing this monumental task.

The agreement signed among the top ten global investment firms on November 4th, returning the shares of global companies in His pockets to the market, had reinvigorated the stagnant global economy even at a significant loss.

Undoubtedly, Jonathan Hunter and he had to follow His good intentions. It was their duty and responsibility.

Gillian checked the monitor again. Sure enough, the anomaly from Korea was still spreading globally.

For now, they're in an opposing position to ours. So they're inflating the bubble.

But even if they were on the same side, he had to always be wary of a genius. After all, they disrupted the existing order and exploited unforeseen vulnerabilities, much like someone trying to mimic Him.

"Hmm."

Gillian's brow furrowed with intense displeasure.

However, it wasn't just displeasure. The opponent reminded him of Him, but they lacked the same good intentions. Though He had to make many inevitable sacrifices when monopolizing the financial world, it was part of their grand plan to save the world. But now, this opponent was inflating the bubble out of sheer greed.

Gillian immediately picked up his phone. He thought Jonathan Investment Finance Group would also be agonizing over the same issue.

Soon, the call connected. No greetings were necessary, given the nature of the matter.

There was an unmistakable sound of discomfort in Brian Kim’s voice.

Gillian could vividly imagine the enraged look of Jonathan Hunter. He was terrifying in the last hearing, and Jonathan’s bloody appearance after defending against the attack made Gillian hold his breath in terror.

Where could it be? China? Russia? Arab? Or is it Japanese funds?

Gillian felt a surge of determination. He could not tolerate those who tried to trigger a global economic crisis despite already making substantial profits. He had protected this place so hard!

Gillian grabbed his coat, ready to jump into the battlefield.

***

「Wow, bros! What is going on here? After-hours trading is going crazy! Big institution-like players have appeared!」

「I told you. Hyunji Construction is the lead stock! God-liber! God-liber! God-liber! Hip hip hooray! Hip hip hooray!」

「Now, the Hyunji Construction is truly the lead stock! No regrets if you missed out on Iljoo Construction. I am really looking forward to tomorrow.」

「 Damn. Is this a tactical stock? So jealous.」

「 Congratulations. - Nationwide Democratic Stock Rich Movement」

「 I'm envious of the shareholders. Congrats, congrats.」

「 Didn't I tell you to just trust Caliber? Ah, just trust our godly Caliber.」

「As long as Lord Caliber is here, Hyunji Construction will forever be amazing. Very happy!」

「Is this the homeland of Lord Caliber? Set a feast. Cheers!」

「What is Representative Kim Joo-Han doing? If it were me, I would've changed it to 'God Caliber Construction' a while ago. Right, gentlemen?」

「Just because it rose after hours doesn't mean it will tomorrow. Please, let's not overreact.」

「Can't you see the buying sentiment? Even the tiny ones are getting caught up. Slightly faltering.」

「Get me a shot of soju and a plate of soondae! Even if I eat and die today, I'm going to heaven.」

What's with them? Why are they all copying me? It's hilarious.

Seong-Il laughed so hard his stomach hurt. Leverage closed the market with a modest profit, and even after the market closed, they managed to buy into the Hyunji Construction.

The fun of the world was right here. Seong-Il placed his hands on the keyboard with an excited smile. He started typing slowly with one letter at a time.

「 Title: Do you guys like this? It's just the beginning, so don't get too excited.

Author: 500 Billion Debt Guy

Content: But why are you guys copying the Caliber way of speaking? Are you paying for it? It's so funny I could die. I haven't laughed this hard in a while. Thanks.」

Seong-Il waited for comments. But excited posts like these kept coming up non-stop. His post was soon moved to the next page without getting any attention. The only thing that had increased was the view count, which reached double digits.

I wish I got some comments.

「Title: The institutional-level big player you guys are talking about is me! Recommend other stocks too.

Author: 500 Billion Debt Guy

Content: I still have some money left, but it feels wrong to hold cash in such a good market. Due to my manly pride, I can't tell anyone but you guys.」

「└ YOLO: Ah, sir. Stop with the lies.」

Finally a comment!

「└ 500 Billion Debt Guy: Why would I lie? It's not like I have anything to gain.

└ YOLO: Lol, you're getting overly excited.

└ 500 Billion Debt Guy: Stocks are so fun. I've been living so carelessly.

└ YOLO: Exactly, sir. Life's no big deal, right?

└ 500 Billion Debt Guy: By the way, where do you live?

└ YOLO: Busan, sir.

└ 500 Billion Debt Guy: That's close. If you lived nearby, I would've asked to grab a drink. Won-Dong's Soondae is so good.

└ YOLO: Oh, I've wanted to try God-Dong's Soondae~ But how much did you make?

└ 500 Billion Debt Guy: I made enough to not worry about interest for a while.

└ YOLO: Ah, what a worry-free concern. If only I had the money to pay some interest, it'd be a game-changer.

└ 500 Billion Debt Guy: Having lots of money isn't always good.

└ YOLO: Lol, sir. Instead of talking here, come to our group chat.」

"Ki-Cheol! What's a group chat?" Seong-Il shouted to the living room.

"It's a group messaging room. Why?"

"Come here for a sec. There's a link. How do I enter? It's not working."

[ * 500 Billion Debt Guy has entered. ]

[ * Notice: Greet with the Caliber salute! ]

***

The chat, already bustling with nearly two hundred people, was as amusing as Seong-Il had expected. Everyone was emulating their own tone as if they were on the Hyunji Construction topic board on the website.

[YOLO: God-liber! God-liber! God-liber!]

[500 Billion Debt Guy: Wassup!]

[YOLO: Welcome, bro~]

[(Room Master) Trust Only Godliber: Mr. 500 Billion Debt Guy, please follow the rules on the announcement.]

𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

[500 Billion Debt Guy: God-liber! God-liber! God-liber!]

Hehehe. This is embarrassing but fun.

[(Room Master) Trust Only Godliber: Respected members, absolutely stick to the quantity. It’s just the beginning, but I believe that none of our respected members will sell foolishly.]

[(Room Master) Trust Only Godliber: Please follow the example of the Iljoo Construction seniors. Those seniors have great determination. They never let go, so the starting price always starts from the highest price.]

[(Room Master) Trust Only Godliber: Seeing the distribution of the big player today, it's obvious that there will be more tomorrow. The fact that he was caught outside regular trading hours means he will push the upper limit with a very strong will from tomorrow.]

[* Hyunji Construct In My Fist has entered.]

[* Hyunji Construct In My Fist: God-liber! God-liber! God-liber!]

[(Room Master) Trust Only Godliber: God-liber! God-liber! God-liber!]

[YOLO: God-liber! God-liber! God-liber!]

[Craving For Soju: God-liber! God-liber! God-liber!]

[Craving For Soondae: God-liber! God-liber! God-liber!]

Seong-Il chuckled and got up from his seat. It seemed like he could now let Ki-Cheol use the computer. He left Ki-Cheol's room and finalized his greeting message on his way to his bedroom.

[500 Billion Debt Guy: God-liber! God-liber! God-liber!]

By the time he crawled into the bed...

[YOLO: Respected members! Europe is suddenly going insane! -15%! -16%. What the hell is happening?]

[Craving For Soju: European market crashes!]

"What?!"

Seong-Il kicked off his blanket as he was shocked.

[(Room Master) Trust Only Godliber: Finally, a shake. I was wondering when it would come, but it's today, the timing really sucks.]

[(Room Master) Trust Only Godliber: Anyway, this should happen once. We need to shed the individual investors to go further.]

[(Room Master) Trust Only Godliber: The powers are weeding out the individual investors, so members, never get shaken. Do we have any reason to get scared? We're smarter than our past selves, aren't we?]

[Craving For Soju: God-liber! God-liber! God-liber!]

[Craving For Soondae: God-liber! God-liber! God-liber!]

[Room Master Trust Only Godliber updated the announcement.]

[* Notice: The European market is crashing, but it's just a shake. It's called shaking off individual investors. The U.S. stock market situation tonight is crucial, but it might affect our market tomorrow.]

[* Notice: But, by shaking like this, we can fly even higher!]

[* Notice: Hold tight! Those who get shaken off here are just fools!]

"Fuck..."

Seong-Il wiped under his nose with the back of his hand. Whether it was from the sudden pounding of his heart or something else, he felt like his nose was running.

A sudden crash in the European market? However, the chat room's leader seemed like a stock expert. Everyone was following his lead, and no one questioned him.

"That's right. If you get shaken, you're a fool. Stocks are about determination and unshaking wills..."