Past Life Returner - Chapter 22

When I got there, Jonathan was already in the office. He must have been impressed with my drawing yesterday since he was standing in front of it again. 

“It’s so detailed. You would succeed as an illustrator. Is there anything you’re bad at? Why did you draw a monster?” 

Jonathan looked like he was evaluating my artwork as he touched his chin while looking over the picture inch by inch. Actually he resembled a psychology consultant more.

I didn’t answer his question as I replied “It’s about ninety feet tall.”

“Were you inspired by Godzilla?” Jonathan asked.

You could say that the boss monster in my drawing was similar to Godzilla because not a single scratch could be seen on it even after it was hit by a fifteen megaton thermonuclear warhead. The Eight Evils and the Eight Virtues had to cooperate for the first and last time when this abomination appeared and I watched the battle from a television screen with a terrible connection. 

Jonathan you asked me why I had to draw this monster. It’s because this massive beast reminds me of my enemies the overwhelming fear of monsters and the vileness of the Eight Evils and the Eight Virtues. I still had twenty more years before I see this monster again. However this time I was certain that I would achieve great wealth beyond belief and change the future completely. 

Human beings are animals that need a purpose to do something. I couldn’t disagree with that point so I hung that drawing to remind me of my enemies and my goals…

“You can take it if you want. I can just draw another one.”

I took off the drawing and handed it over to Jonathan. If he kept it until the Day of Advent he would naturally know how I had become a genius. I wouldn’t be able to hide anything from Jonathan after that day and I would need comrades who I could trust genuinely especially those who became Awakened. 

“You don’t usually work out right?” I questioned.

“Hey muscle guy. If you’re about to lecture me that trading is all about physical battle make sure you know that exercise erodes vitality. There are parts of the human body that can be recovered but also those cannot be healed. There’s a reason why athletes die young. It’s because…”

Jonathan’s speech went in one ear and out the other. The reason that Jonathan could pass the Trial Tests was not because of his physical or muscular strength. The damn Trial Tests were taboo among the Awakened as there were so many horrible incidents that could not be described. We had to do everything to survive and each moment tested our humanity. 

That was the obvious reason why so many Awakened had twisted personalities. Jonathan was an ordinary guy back then with average physical abilities but he had survived until the end. What that meant was that people like him were cunning. 

Jonathan perhaps had gained his slyness from Wall Street but he was changing after he met me. When the time came I would train him hard so he wouldn’t fall behind during the Trial Tests. 

***

“Anyway.”

Jonathan opened the door to a different room. Apparently he had explored our office while waiting for me. 

The office had been divided up into two spaces. One was my private exercise room with workout equipment personal computer and the drawing Jonathan was interested in. The other was a computer room that stored our weapons. There were ten tables and each one had one computer five monitors and a terminal that was connected to the New York Stock Exchange. With all the other tools the room was like the operations center of a large bank. The men from the elevator also worked in a space similar to this.

Jonathan asked “Where is my seat?”

“This row is all yours and worth twenty five billion dollars” I answered.

Jonathan immediately understood what I was saying.

“I know it’s an obvious question but there are no additional people right?” Jonathan questioned.

I shook my head “No there shouldn’t be.”

I had already separated the funds by putting in a great amount of effort and money so why would I show my plans to outsiders? From now on Jonathan and I were going to make transactions under many different names. 

“But it won’t be as hard as before” I said. 

“Yes let’s talk about that” Jonathan took a seat and moved towards me. 

“I’m planning to reduce the leverage to a minimum” I said.

“Yeah that’s a great idea because things have changed” Jonathan responded.

No way. It was not because of the ridiculously high operational funds but because our intervention was changing history. The decline in the baht was larger than anything recorded in history and the hedge funds union and speculative forces had targeted Southeast Asia in a rougher way. Phillippine’s peso Malaysia’s ringgit and Indonesia’s rupiah had collapsed at once simultaneously not in succession. Events like each government’s announcement and numbers in history were also proceeding faster than in the previous history. 

I couldn’t use the method of predicting the exact date to use maximum leverage again. Although I could no longer guess events I had no regrets. I had already taken an astronomical amount of fifty billion dollars from the investors’ pockets and the general trend was the same even though the dates and numbers changed.

That was why I didn’t exploit the speculators who were knocking on Hong Kong’s backdoor from early August. I was looking forward to the events in Hong Kong in October because the investors’ attacks would reach maximum in that month and that would be our chance.

“You will see from the ongoing situation. Speculators chose Hong Kong as their next target and started operations as we anticipated” I said.

“The attackers will bleed” Jonathan talked about the conclusion first.

His tone was full of confidence and had the expression I had seen when Jonathan reminisced about his heyday in 1997 in Hong Kong. I was pleased to see that face again.

I continued “With these circumstances China won’t intervene.”. 

“There’s one thing that the Hong Kong government will do to protect the stock market. The attackers would think in the same way” Jonathan said.

“Don’t you think so Jonathan?” I questioned.

“Hong Kong is familiar with Wall Street’s offensive strategies. I’m not saying that they have the most elites after Tokyo in Asia but Hong Kong was the U.K.’s city until last month so they know how to think like the attackers. They are also resilient and there are about a hundred billion dollars in their foreign currency reserves” Jonathan’s point was accurate.

He proved why his heyday had been in 1997 in Hong Kong. Being able to view from the enemy’s perspective was as important as knowing oneself. That was why I could bother the Eight Evils and the Eight Virtues with my low-level abilities because I was able to predict what they would do to a certain extent. 

I crossed my arms and nodded “That’s true.”

That was my signal for Jonathan to continue his speech. However that was really it. He had correctly guessed the trends but couldn’t go in-depth. It was inevitable because Hong Kong defended itself beyond imagination.

“I’ll ask you a question. The only way to defend the attacker’s invasion is to increase the interest rate and the stock market would obviously break down from that. Will Hong Kong be able to solve this contradiction?” I asked.

“They will because it’s Hong Kong and the investors won’t be able to break them down” Jonathan replied.Theft is never good try looking at [ daotranslate dot com ].

“No they won’t. It’s certain that the stock market will crash when the interest rate is raised” I responded.

However Jonathan’s eyes didn’t flicker since he was convinced that Hong Kong could defend itself. Although he wasn’t sure of the exact defense method he was certain that the attackers couldn’t break down Hong Kong.

“Sun. Are you…going to bet on the attacker’s victory?” Jonathan questioned.

“Eventually the Hong Kong government will abolish the fixed exchange rate system to protect the stock market. Their dollar will plunge and they will get the profit” I replied.

“But that is…” Jonathan mumbled.

“Hong Kong’s stock market is the only way for China to connect with the capitalist world so Hong Kong should protect it no matter what the cost” I explained.

“Even by giving up their foreign exchange market” Jonathan’s tone was wistful because my opinion was going in the opposite direction from him.

I continued “Yes the stock market and foreign exchange. If they have to give up one from them it will be a foreign exchange.”

Hong Kong’s disclaimer on the foreign exchange market meant the attacker’s victory.

“Sun you should actually trust me this time” Jonathan said.

I didn’t mean to test Jonathan as I had already tested him multiple times. When four hundred thousand became two hundred million dollars when two hundred million became fifty billion dollars and when he divided fifty billion dollars into numerous paper companies. There were many opportunities for him to push me away in the past. Well I wouldn’t have gone down that easy. Anyway he didn’t and passed all the tests.

“There is a phrase Koreans use a lot” I said.

“Out of nowhere?” Jonathan seemed confused.

“That you have to listen to me to the end. Hong Kong renouncing the foreign exchange market instead of the stock market is what attackers would think” I answered.

“Gosh I was surprised” he said.

“You are right that Hong Kong can think like that. Then can’t you think of the answer?” I questioned.

“What you are saying is…” He slurred the end of his sentence.

“If I was a part of the Hong Kong government I would give up on the stock market not the foreign exchange market to an extreme extent that no one would’ve imagined. I would raise the short-term interest rate to the maximum like that” I put up three fingers. 

“A three percent increase?” Jonathan asked.

I shook my head “No three hundred percent.”

As expected Jonathan’s face cringed.

“Three hundred percent? Three hundred percent! I trust you Sun. But not this time. That’s insane! Not even a child would do that” he was clearly shocked.

Yes anyone would know how crazy this idea was if he or she had read Economics for Dummies. However Hong Kong was going to do such a thing. 

“Jonathan Hong Kong will destroy their stock market with their own hands” I said.