Study the History First
Emerging market investment.
It could indeed become an opportunity for a sudden fortune.
Even if they call the KOSPI a box market or whatever.
It had risen dozens of times from its lows. Anyone who invested early could have reaped enormous capital gains. There were people who designed exactly that. They poured massive capital and technology into developing emerging nations, yet—
"The limits are clear."
"That's right. Because they fall into the middle-income trap."
The middle-income trap. It referred to the phenomenon in which a backward nation grows rapidly up to middle-income status but ultimately never reaches developed-nation status.
No—it's not a phenomenon. It's a principle.
Not a single country had ever broken through it. Once they lost the growth engine of cheap labor, they slid onto the path of decline.
"In the end, if you can't climb over that wall, you stay an ordinary middle-income country. You can't expect any further growth."
"But……"
"Hmm?"
"Korea climbed over that wall, didn't it?"
Until Korea, that is. Just as Rachel said, Korea was the case that had successfully leaped from middle-income to developed nation.
"They call it the Miracle on the Han River, right? Other emerging countries are modeling themselves after it."
"That's the kind of talk you only hear on nationalist TV."
"?"
A pretty foreigner appearing on camera and sucking up to the audience would send the view counts skyrocketing. Channels like that actually existed.
Anyway.
He had no interest in nationalist-TV stories. He simply wanted to state a plain fact.
"India, China, Southeast Asia. Do you think countries like those can climb the wall?"
"If they copy Korea, wouldn't some of them manage it?"
"That's a Westerner's way of looking at it."
"?!"
A Russian and a Frenchman were different. In the same way, Asian nations differed enormously from one another.
Arrogant Westerners never grasp that.
Wall Street investors. In Western eyes every Asian was the same. Korea did it, so why not the others? They poured money in on that vague hope.
"It might offend you as a Korean, but many countries have greater potential growth than Korea in population, resources, and geopolitical position."
"I already told you."
"Told me what?"
"There are no people in those numbers."
Reports compiled by experts. Statistics calculated by cutting-edge computers. They meant nothing.
How the hell do you calculate a person's heart?
They had no idea how important that was—those Wall Street softies who only crunched numbers in their rooms.
"Are you trying to claim ethnic superiority?"
"It's something more fundamental."
"Pardon?"
One of them. It was no wonder Rachel failed to understand.
She's from a prestigious family, after all.
She did not know the thoughts of ordinary people who made up the bulk of any population—what they dreamed of while they lived. Just then it came into view. On the path down the mountain, private houses and small fields appeared.
"First time seeing the Korean countryside?"
"Oh…… I thought every building in Korea was sophisticated."
"You've got the order backward."
"The order?"
Rusty tin-roofed houses. Even those had once been the latest style. People had lived in truly shabby homes.
The people who lived like that.
Once they earned money, what they wanted to buy was a good house. Korea's real-estate fever found its answer in the past.
"Ah."
"Because there was a past, the future could be built."
"I understand what you're trying to say."
"A nation's growth works the same way."
The people of that nation had to dream. They had to imagine a future in which everyone lived well before that future could arrive.
Countries where that actually happens.
Greed and the drive to improve. A certain moral standard as well. Nations that possessed all three were rare. Only long history and integration forged a national character. And those nations were already developed.
"Korea was simply unlucky enough to be impoverished by successive wars."
"Because it was that kind of country……"
"Even a little support let them feed themselves and live well on their own."
Mountains of countries had received far more aid and far more benefits than Korea yet never climbed the middle-income wall. That could not be coincidence.
Where is coincidence in this world?
Everything was inevitable. For a nation of tens of millions—not hundreds or tens—to grow, their steps had to match. Which countries could and which could not had been decided from the start. If you truly wanted to invest in a country—
"You'd do well to study its history first."
"You."
"Hmm?"
"Always offer such interesting perspectives. It was helpful."
Rachel's question. In truth he already knew the answer. He had seen everything from the future.
India, China, Southeast Asia—all of them.
He could not answer her straight. She seemed to have found her own answer among the roundabout words. The expression that had been full of worry since they met that afternoon brightened a little. For him, too, it was a rewarding moment.
Thud!
They reached the foot of the mountain. Only after climbing into the parked car did she seem to remember and ask.
"Can you drive?"
"I can't."
"I drank the tea with you too…… No—that was really alcohol!"
Geumseolcha. No matter how hard you tried to think of it as tea, alcohol was still alcohol.
If we go like this it'll be drunk driving.
Even in the countryside, common sense had to be observed. He had drunk it aiming for exactly that from the beginning.
"We'll have to stay the night, then?"
"Really, drinking without a second thought……"
"Mind if I use it a little in the meantime?"
"Pardon?"
He received a one-day pass for Rachel's anus.
Rachel's daily life.
"I'm Rachel from headquarters."
"We've been waiting for you! Please come inside."
The reason she had come to Korea was not training alone. Practical missions had been assigned as well. The financial firms the Rothschild family controlled directly or indirectly—she was here to audit their Korean branches.
"Is this the place?"
"Yes, you may go in!"
"Hmm……"
An employee in his forties was waiting. A smiling face. On the surface it looked like a welcome, yet—
Beep!
ID card. She held it to the check-in recorder. The door was designed to open only after recognition.
Not leading the way, are you.
It was no ordinary employee badge. A financial company's ID card went beyond guaranteeing identity; it was directly linked to authority over the financial system itself. The higher the rank, the deeper one could reach into the company's secrets and funds. He could not possibly be unaware of that.
"Please come to this room!"
"Yes."
He had waited for her to open the door. He was refusing to acknowledge that she was his superior.
Of course, by the book that is correct.
In an industry where huge sums moved, people were sensitive. There was always the possibility of a fraudster impersonating someone. Yet social life—flexibility applied the same whether in Korea or America.
"There are no particularly reported problems. No—it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say everything is running perfectly!"
Normally they treated headquarters staff with extreme care. Getting caught on a technicality by someone from head office made life miserable.
They're looking down on me.
A young woman, green as grass. They had decided she had little experience and a soft personality. She encountered it often. Rachel's expression never changed as she simply did what she had come to do.
"So there are no problems in the reported areas?"
"That's correct! You need not worry specially……"
"Then there may be problems in the unreported areas."
"Y-yes……?"
Being young and being a woman was not always an advantage. Especially in finance.
He thinks he can sweet-talk me just because he's older.
Experience was highly valued. In this industry, simply surviving a long time was itself considered skill. A battlefield where money replaced live ammunition. In the eyes of veterans who had weathered every storm, she might look like a greenhorn, yet—
"Is this the trading department?"
"That's right! It's the pride of our branch—high performance every single year."
"On paper it doesn't look that way."
"Uh, uh? Which part……"
They were fundamentally mistaken. The battlefield was different. Even if her experience was short, in quality she stood overwhelmingly superior.
On Wall Street they never leave inefficiencies like this alone.
The Korean branch. Outdated methods stood out at once. They were running far too many traders.
"Didn't headquarters issue guidelines to cut personnel that systems can replace?"
"Uh, that…… Considering local conditions we didn't apply it immediately."
"The reason?"
"Specialized personnel are hard to replenish once reduced."
In the past that had been true. Betting money on money. The fight had been over how many high-performing traders you held.
At the branch level.
Even now it was not completely ineffective. Wall Street still had monsters who flew and soared, taking astronomical incentives every quarter.
"Is maintaining employment positive for performance?"
"Yes, in my judgment……"
"I hope this is a problem that can end with your responsibility alone."
"!!"
But such people were a tiny minority. Even that minority shrank year by year. No—the standards themselves kept rising.
Because systems deliver higher efficiency than clumsy manpower.
System trading. Computers replaced humans. Modern investment was about how efficiently you refined that process.
"The purpose of operating this branch is data accumulation. If work is still being done by hand, it has to have affected data quality."
"Th-that……"
"It will also be reflected in your evaluation."
Common sense on Wall Street. Change was racing forward at terrifying speed. Other countries were still late to the starting line.
Korea is quite late as well.
Korean institutions still clung to outdated methods. It was no wonder this branch was insensitive to change.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry…… I'll correct it as soon as possible, so please show mercy!"
Had he reported honestly she would never have spoken so harshly. An employee twice her age bowed ninety degrees at the waist.
If they simply improve, I won't apply a strict standard either.
The sight. Even for Rachel it was not especially pleasant. Yet it was a necessary part of social life. She would improve the Korean branches one by one. So that when Korea eventually grew, they could be controlled effectively.
"Wow, really fierce—so fierce……"
"That person must be the witch from the rumors."
"Witch?"
"It's all over the branch. There's a beautiful but terrifying headquarters employee."
The Korean branch after Rachel left. Employees who had just witnessed the scene stuck out their tongues—at her beauty and at her severity. She possessed a charisma that made people follow.
Creak—!
She received perfect evaluations everywhere. After finishing the audit, Rachel returned to her studio apartment to resume life as a graduate student. She was digesting a brutally tight and grueling schedule, yet—
"Ugh, wait a second. Of all times now."
What truly tormented Rachel was something else entirely. Her backside, trapped all day in stuffy stockings, itched.
Zip!
She peeled the stockings off. The brief taste of liberation lasted only a moment. The place that had itched now demanded stronger stimulation.
Why do I have to do this kind of thing!
It had become like this. The hole used every time she met Chan-uk had, at some point, turned into an erogenous zone. After he claimed they were "developing" it and fondled it all day long, the condition had only worsened—to the point she could no longer go without comforting herself.
I'm going, going, going♡
Anal masturbation had also become part of Rachel's daily life.