Chapter 139
Chapter 139
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 139
Chapter Title: Great Immortal Demon (3)
Flustered, I blurted out a reflexive question.
"Is something like that... really possible...?"
Not double the return, but twenty times over.
I wasn't doubting Celestina's words, but even so, it was hard to imagine such an outcome.
The incident where a top-100 insurance giant went bankrupt.
It was a massive scandal that stuck in my memory even after years of precognition glimpses... but strictly speaking, it hadn't shaken the globalized economy to its core.
Of course, the debts and financial products tied to that company would burn to the ground.
But the fallout from the 90th-ranked property insurer's collapse ultimately stayed at that level.
And most investment markets are zero-sum games. Someone has to lose for another to gain that much.
Opportunities to bet on one company's downfall weren't infinite, nor were the available shares.
'Of course, even that would be an enormous profit...'
Tessellation Investment's principal alone was on a scale too vast.
Even with leverage or repeated short selling, there simply wouldn't be enough buyers to absorb that volume.
Which made the idea of twenty times returns so hard to grasp.
But Celestina spoke with unwavering confidence.
"If you can't believe it, how about a little bet?"
"...A bet?"
"Yes. If I fail to hit my target this time, I'll grant one of Eve's wishes. But if I achieve twenty times or more, you grant one of mine. What do you say?"
She looked expectant. But I shook my head.
"No, I believe you. If Cela sis says it's possible, then it must be."
Separate from my shock, I'd never once doubted her abilities.
If Celestina was that confident, I trusted she'd pull it off.
But my response seemed to disappoint her instead.
"..."
I hurriedly added, seeing her deflate.
"So..."
I met Celestina's gaze and smiled.
"How about if you succeed, I grant one of your wishes as a congratulatory gift?"
It was a spur-of-the-moment suggestion, but I meant it.
I was always grateful to those who'd devoted themselves to me. I didn't want to miss a chance to repay them.
Especially those who'd stood by me even in the despairing future I'd foreseen.
For them, nothing was too much.
'If they had a wish, they could've just asked outright.'
But if they were too shy, this format worked fine.
"..."
Yet Celestina fell silent at my words.
Her signature ruby-red eyes held a strange glint as she stared at me.
'Wasn't this what she wanted...?'
As I started to wonder, she replied.
"Sounds good."
Celestina tilted her head slightly.
Platinum blonde hair cascaded over her shoulder.
Her ruby-red eyes locked straight onto mine.
Then she smiled faintly.
Without breaking eye contact, she murmured softly.
"That... will be a gift I could never give up."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Jacob Wilson, a 20-year veteran fund manager at the hedge fund Neptune Capital, suddenly frowned.
'What the hell is this?'
He was reviewing an anonymous research report that had just hit his desk.
It claimed Reliance Group's financial structure was unstable.
Plausible at a glance, but lacking hard evidence or key details. To an expert's eye, it was full of holes.
So why had this garbage reached his desk? Jacob wondered.
The mystery solved itself quickly, thanks to the attached report's footnote.
A significant short-selling position had opened against Reliance Group around the time this research leaked.
'Someone's attacking Reliance Group?'
Jacob immediately checked the latest bad news on property insurers.
The most likely trigger: an impending merger. Had it fallen through?
He pored over documents and called trusted sources. The response: 'All clear.'
Both sides' executives were positive, finances solid.
["If there's no issues, it'll wrap smoothly by next year. Need docs?"]
"........."
Jacob double-checked the data meticulously.
Still no solid backing for the shorts.
But he uncovered one new fact.
'Reliance's free float has shrunk drastically due to the merger.'
Market-available shares: barely 4%.
Then massive shorts piled in.
Totaling over 7%.
'This... no way.'
A chill spark ignited in Jacob's mind. Profit opportunity spotted.
Short selling bets on a stock's drop.
Borrow shares, sell high, buy back low later, pocket the difference.
'Right. Short sellers must buy back to cover.'
But if even sweeping up all available shares couldn't cover their shorts?
The stock's price becomes whatever you demand.
Short sellers buy back at any cost.
Short squeeze.
And now, Jacob eyed the perfect setup.
His eyes gleamed like a hunter's.
'Don't know which idiot slipped up like this...'
But their hand was exposed, ripe for the fleecing across the poker table.
And Jacob wasn't alone in that thought.
Wolves of global finance, sniffing blood, began to prowl.
To devour the defenseless prey in sight.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ I asked her in a somewhat bewildered tone.
"Are you sure this is okay? The storm's still a ways off..."
Wasn't the short position too early?
Even with bankruptcy locked in, a pre-crash spike could exceed margins and wipe them out.
Indeed, global investors piling in for the squeeze rocketed Reliance's stock. Celestina's shorts took billions in credits—trillions in won—losses, forcing partial liquidations.
When I arrived fretting over the news, she just smiled.
"That was the bait."
She explained in her gentle voice.
"Even with unbeatable cards, if not enough players join the table, no one's there to bet against. Stakes don't build. With the nuts, you scale up before going all-in, right?"
As mentioned, markets are zero-sum.
One loses, another gains equally.
Reliance's spoils were big, but just one top-100 firm's scale. Gains matched.
Celestina aimed higher.
"So I deliberately leaked the ghost company's short position."
To lure predators into her trap.
'No way...'
Yes. Her real prey wasn't just Reliance.
It was the global sharks drawn by the blood scent.
Hearing her full plan, I was stunned inwardly.
'Even trusting precog... burning billions as bait?'
True world-class CEO scale, beyond mortal bounds.
But her self-inflicted losses exploded volume and volatility. Derivatives surged. New shorts from squeeze believers tangled with buyers seeing more upside— a coliseum for global capital.
Celestina said confidently.
"The real hunt starts now."
Indeed, overpriced derivatives from the volatility were her true targets.
She re-entered shorts while hammering options.
Options: rights to buy/sell assets at set prices. Used for hedging. Calls (buy right), puts (sell right).
Say Reliance stock is 100 credits now.
We know it'll hit zero post-hurricane. So we buy cheap puts: right to sell at 100.
Post-bankruptcy, exercise for massive profit.
Bulls buying calls at 110? Worthless at zero. We sell calls, pocket full premiums.
Thus, she poured into derivatives.
Sell calls, sweep puts.
This main bet dwarfed the initial short.
Bait drew the volume to absorb Tessellation's flood.
She fully deployed principal.
'Pre-storm shorts alone? No way this scale.'
Overwhelmed, yet she said again.
"Now, just wait."
"........."
True. Design complete. Only waiting left.
But that wait felt the world's hardest now.
Just hearing the sums dried my mouth.
'Even bait was billions...'
She'd already endured huge losses.
Pushing this shook her position at Tessellation.
Main bet? Astronomical.
Failure meant ousting, maybe client revenge.
She'd bet her life.
No hesitation? Only one reason.
'She trusts my precog that much.'
That trust burdened me heaviest.
Success: cosmic gains. Failure: trembling catastrophe.
"........."
Anxiety lingered.
They say a butterfly's wingbeat can birth a far-off storm.
'What if reversed?'
My post-vision sigh snuffing the hurricane?
I believed natural disasters weeks out wouldn't shift easy... but
'What if delayed slightly?'
Madness, greed, chaos ruled the stock now. Unpredictable.
Days' delay could force liquidations.
Cold sweat endgame.
Thus, the wait from that day was my life's anxious hell.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Days passed.
Celestina grew unreachable.
Reckless bets drew board and investor heat. She jetted globally, wooing clients.
Just one more week, she pleaded.
But Reliance soared past short levels on squeeze aftershocks.
Tessellation pledged massive assets as collateral. Trend continued, storm delay could liquidate all.
My heart raced nonstop, anxiety gnawing.
Headache days of tension.
Endless stray thoughts near death.
Would precog future manifest exactly?
Why so certain?
Regret hit late. Irreversible now.
Wait for fate's verdict.
Thus ended hellish days. Fateful day arrived.
Rattle, rattle-!!
Cathedral windows shook in fierce winds.
Winds from thousands of kilometers away hit Omega Detroit at last.
"........."
Awake, I knew from the howl alone.
The storm to reshape destiny had come.