From the Taiga to the British Seas (2)

The 1997 Asian Financial Crisis was still ongoing. Though the causes were complex, it was undoubtedly an event of such magnitude that even the anomalies in the north could not fully overshadow it. How the existence of the Soviet Union would influence the Asian nations' efforts to overcome the crisis was another point that required close observation. Just as skepticism toward capitalism spread after the Great Depression of the 1920s, leading many to turn to communism as an alternative, a sudden communist drift might occur in Asia. The possibility of the Soviet Union offering carrots—such as natural resources—to the countries hit hardest by the financial crisis could not be ignored. Carrots they might be, but they were fruits harboring a creeping, crimson plague. One that would inevitably lead to national ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠division.

The probability of such an ideological transition occurring peacefully approached zero. If it did happen, it was bound to trigger severe chaos in any country involved. From the Syndicate's perspective, the current Asian stage was a land of opportunity, but also a potential battlefield where a clash with the Soviet Union was highly anticipated. So, how could I not go? I was the only one who could safely clear the fog of war.

Monday dawn. I woke up early to discuss the details of the business trip and headed to the designated meeting room, only to receive the grim news that the person I was waiting for had not yet arrived.

"What? The head of finance isn't here yet?"

"It's not that he hasn't come, but... he has some urgent circumstances that prevent him from leaving right away..."

"An urgent matter more important than meeting me...?"

Dumbfounded, I asked where the finance director was, and was told he was holed up in his office. Sure enough, the finance director was staring intently at his monitor, clicking away furiously. I pressed him, using his real name for once.

"Oleg Lazarev. What on earth are you doing to be this late?"

I grumbled, crossing my arms, but his response was truly something else.

"Don't talk to me while the market is open."

"What...?"

"Short... I have to short...! If you don't make money in this market right now, you're a legendary, brain-dead, absolute sucker...!"

"The market is open? It's five in the morning, the sun isn't even up. What nonsense are you talking about?"

Wondering what kind of gibberish he was spouting, I looked at his monitor, and only then did the finance director offer a reasonable explanation.

"My lady, it's market hours in Asia right now! The Nikkei is about to hit fourteen thousand, and the KOSPI is staring down five hundred! Can you believe it? If you short, money literally prints itself!"

"Hmm... Yes, I suppose it would."

"It's a bit painful that the exchange rates eat into our returns when we convert back to dollars and pounds... but we can easily make up for that and then some!"

Babbling with bloodshot eyes that made it obvious he had pulled an all-nighter, the finance director's condition could hardly be called good, even out of politeness. Half-empty coffee cups and chocolate wrappers were strewn all over his desk, and his computer hummed relentlessly, displaying charts and trading windows updating by the second.

"Sigh... Korea and Japan are the parties with the most to feast on, but for some reason, the returns on both are a bit disappointing..."

Complaints slipped out between his relentless clicks as he bought and sold without hesitation. Recalling the returns on the finance department's portfolio I had reviewed earlier, I asked in disbelief,

"Is three hundred and sixty percent in the Asian market alone too low?"

"We could make it higher! Especially the Korean market! If only there weren't regulations like the foreign investor registration system, limits on foreign investment sectors, and maximum stock holding caps! What do you mean three hundred and sixty percent? Three thousand six hundred percent would have been possible!"

The area the finance director was currently staking his life on was the Asian nations that had been hit—or were expected to be hit—by the financial crisis. The local companies were probably deploying every tactic imaginable to defend their stock prices, prevent bankruptcy, and thwart hostile takeovers by blocking external 'forces' from acquiring shares. But whether those involved were dying while crying, "We must win...", the market, teeming with piranhas, was a place where a company's fate was decided by the mere click of a buy or sell button. In any case, the South Korean stock market, which had become a battleground for all kinds of forces, was indeed a place where, as the finance director said, you would be a legendary sucker not to enter.

I let out a soft sigh and waved my hand in exasperation.

"Fine... I suppose I should be glad you're not wasting time on nonsense. I can't wait forever, so wrap up this trade and come over."

"Yes! Thank you for understanding!"

How could I spit on a smiling face? Especially when he wasn't throwing money away, but rather raking it in by the shovel-load.

By the time Oleg Lazarev, the head of finance, finally entered the meeting room, the sun was already up, and it was nearly seven in the morning. It seemed 'this trade' had taken a full two hours. He looked no different from a child making excuses like, "I'll go to sleep right after this video..." I decided it would be better to give him a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠strict time limit next time. It must have been a nail-biting trade, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠judging by the beads of sweat on his forehead.

"Lazarev, aren't you a bit too late? Do you have any idea how long I've been waiting?"

I snapped at him, and he at least seemed to realize he was in the wrong.

"My apologies, my lady. It has been a while since we've had a market where money breeds money, and I simply couldn't find a moment to pull away."

"Hmm, considering the time difference... the regular market hours in Asia are over, right? Then I can keep you for a while?"

Since British Summer Time hadn't ended yet, seven in the morning in London meant three in the afternoon in Seoul and Tokyo. Though I nagged him constantly, the finance director wasn't shameless enough to linger around for after-hours trading when he had a meeting. The meeting proceeded with only the finance director and Pavel in attendance, as Delis had already left for her shift at the Ministry of Magic.

"First, as we discussed before, South Korea is confirmed. And as you mentioned, Lazarev, we need to find a local partner."

"Oh... finally...!"

A 'local partner' meant someone who would execute financial transactions in South Korea on behalf of the finance director. Under South Korean law prior to the IMF bailout, it was difficult for an organization like ours to directly engage in activities classified as foreign direct investment. Placing a frontman in the country would be more than enough to evade the eyes of both the South Korean and British governments. Even if he was a frontman, we couldn't expect someone of Rybakov's caliber from the IRA. The local partner would know next to nothing about me or the Syndicate. Since we were outsourcing to someone outside the organization, we couldn't afford to trust them completely.

I added a caveat to the finance director, who was practically bursting with anticipation.

"Well, don't get your hopes too high. We won't have enough ammunition to legally acquire a merchant bank. Even if we could, running it soundly would come with too many restrictions."

Following the financial crisis, the insolvent management of South Korean merchant banks was notoriously disastrous. Because of that, no matter how much the Syndicate had grown, trying to revive a company that had collapsed after doing nothing but rolling over debt would be a massive headache. The Syndicate didn't specialize in finance, and the finance department of the Northern Covenant Syndicate was still, realistically, just a single department. So, this was strictly a 'we'll give it a try' situation. If all else failed, we would just have to swallow a lower-tier company. While it wouldn't significantly increase our manageable assets, the key advantage was that it would allow us to bypass the regulations targeting foreigners.

I clapped my hands together and moved to the next agenda item.

"Japan is still undecided. Let's make a firm decision here. Lazarev?"

"Compared to Korea, direct investment in Japan isn't nearly as difficult."

"True. Even with all the talk of their 'Lost Decade,' they're still an economic superpower. From an foreign investor's perspective, Japan is a much better environment."

"The fact that stock trading units aren't single shares is a bit of a catch, but for institutional investors, it doesn't matter much."

"Then perhaps there's no real need to go in person?"

The more countries I visited, the longer the trip would be. And a longer trip meant I would be away from headquarters for a proportional amount of time. Of course, even in my absence, the Syndicate was securely backed by formidable magical forces, including the Equinox. Nothing major was likely to happen, but the mere fact of my absence ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠still weighed on me. However, Pavel, the head of security, immediately voiced a dissenting opinion, unlike the finance director.

"My thoughts are different. The goal of this trip isn't just economic gain, is it?"

"That's true. Did Delis think so as well?"

The moment I mentioned the intelligence director's name, Pavel handed me a document.

"This is a report I received last night. I was skeptical at first, but the more I read, the more plausible it seemed, so I brought it."

Since Delis couldn't attend the meeting in person, she had apparently passed the files to Pavel.

"Alright, let's see what the intelligence director has dug up."

"Hmm..."

Whenever I encountered the altered history of Asia like this, questions naturally arose.

The document Delis had prepared thoughtfully included a family tree of the Japanese imperial household. The granddaughter of Nobuhito, the younger brother of the late Emperor Hirohito by four years. This woman was the first cousin once removed of the current Emperor, Akihito, mentioned in the document. In my original world, Nobuhito died without children... Was this, too, the result of some bizarre historical alteration?

She was clearly a person with an incredibly peculiar background. Even if she was a woman and had absolutely no claim to the throne, she was still royalty. To think a member of the imperial family had been swayed by the Reds.

"Let's see... she's still unmarried, yet she has a surname? Did she really renounce her imperial status?"

"Blofeld noted that as well. It's a sort of common name she uses."

"Her legal title is still Princess Chiyoko, and the surname Tokugawa is taken from her grandmother's side... I see. She really is the black sheep of the imperial family."

There was no way the conservative Japanese imperial court and the Imperial Household Agency would ever tolerate such a thing. Reading further down, it seemed her joining the Communist Party hadn't been officially recognized either. My interest was piqued. What kind of background could have led the great-granddaughter of Emperor Taisho to become a standard-bearer for the Japan Communist Party?

"Hmm... She seems well worth meeting. So we go with a two-track approach? Economic influence in South Korea, and political influence in Japan?"

"Blofeld said the same. Even though the Soviet Union is the leader of the global communist bloc, not all organizations follow Moscow's orders."

That was certainly true. Even if they all wore the same red mask, there was no guarantee that local communists and Soviet communists would always see eye to eye. The various communist parties operating within established political systems were often more interested in issues like workers' rights than shouting about the dictatorship of the proletariat. I understood what Delis was getting at.

"The enemy of my enemy can be a friend."

The relationship between the Japan Communist Party and the Soviet Union could hardly be described as amicable. Not all communists were die-hard zealots who would turn their backs on their own country for the sake of revolution. From their perspective, the Soviet Union was the villain that had torn their nation in half. Pavel nodded and continued.

"Besides... if you wish to observe that 'barrier,' my lady, Japan seems a better option than Korea. The inter-Korean border is a complete minefield except for the divided cities of Pyongyang and Wonsan, and even those two cities are under heavy surveillance."

If the communist bloc gained something, they had to lose something else. For instance, in exchange for seizing all of Hokkaido and Aomori Prefecture, they had been forced to take a step back on the Korean Peninsula, leaving the armistice line drawn near the 39th parallel along the Pyongyang-Wonsan line. Though they tended to act independently, both North Korea and the Ezo Soviet Republic were ultimately Soviet satellite states. Therefore, the barrier that blocked only me would likely be active there as well, even if its density was thin. I figured it would be better to probe the satellite states first rather than charging straight into the Soviet mainland. After a brief moment of deliberation, I made up my mind.

"Alright, let's do this. Corporate raiding and technology theft in South Korea; barrier observation and making new friends in Japan. Everyone agrees?"