Chapter 69
Chapter 69
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: Soviet Collapse (6)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
While Nick Leeson was happily rummaging around in hell's pantry...
Surprisingly... I hadn't done much of anything.
Well, to be precise, I'd been busy with a lot of things, but I hadn't laid a finger on Leeson. It had all followed the original historical flow almost exactly.
What was this? Auto-hunt mode?
I'd just given him a little nudge on the back, and he was drumming up his own chaos, drawing in money from all sides, and blowing himself up beautifully without any further help.
"That guy's done for, living a normal life. Tsk tsk, if only he'd stayed honest..."
Lee Si-hyeon, now a full-fledged Secretary General, looked oddly proud as she said this during our long-overdue meeting.
"What, were you holding a grudge? Like, 'Nick Leeson's younger than me, climbed that high, and here I am, what am I even doing?'"
In the original history, Leeson had racked up $1.4 billion in debt at age 28 and tanked Barings Bank. In other words, he'd demonstrated the ability to rack up $1.4 billion in debt... and now it was even more.
Lee Si-hyeon seemed to feel a fresh wave of inferiority seeing someone from a similar rags-to-riches background, even younger than her, shaking the world.
"Mm, something like that? What you did to me... I'll never forget it till I die."
Lee Si-hyeon shook her head slowly and rubbed her arm. Her eyes were filled with a misty melancholy.
I snorted and grabbed the back of her neck, yanking her down.
"What're you saying, you old hag who's gone soft in the head."
Hearing that, Lee Si-hyeon flailed on the floor in outrage.
"...That's exactly it! No, among women in their thirties, no one's aging as gracefully as me. Isn't that too much, miss? My skin's still firm and..."
"That's what makes you old."
"Guh."
Well, she did look suspiciously youthful, as she said. But teasing her was too fun.
Having melted into a puddle, Lee Si-hyeon grumbled as she roughly pulled some documents from her bag and tossed them at me.
"Here. Got your money."
It was proof that the money from the CDS contract with Leeson had been fully and safely transferred to the bank. Confirming the hefty cash influx, I relaxed and smiled.
What was bankruptcy? Not being able to pay back money, ultimately.
Knowing full well Leeson couldn't pay, I had to pull out the cash fast while he still had spare funds.
"Good, glad it worked out. As expected from Si-hyeon who swung a bat in back alleys—you've got a real knack for debt collection."
"..."
"What're you staring at? You traitor."
Lee Si-hyeon, who'd reset her 'no betrayal' streak yesterday by telling Nanny, "Actually, miss sleeps naked," sighed heavily.
"...How long are you gonna milk that?"
"Till I die? Or at least till you hit forty?"
"Haa, being a double agent is hard enough without you piling on... I might just... snap one day?"
"Haha, don't worry. Our basement's plenty big."
"Eek."
After a bit of playful banter, I rolled around on the bed in just my underwear, focusing on my game.
Next year, time would be tight. Luckily, Civilization could be played solo in spare moments, which was perfect.
Lee Si-hyeon watched me play silently for a bit before speaking up.
"...But aren't you skipping school too much? You only go during exam periods these days... Shouldn't you study a bit...?"
"It's fine. Grandpa gave permission. And school was getting boring anyway—perfect timing."
I grinned, stretching my arms wide in a big yawn. Grandpa no longer nagged me to attend school diligently.
Not because of some 'girls need college' nonsense. He'd simply realized I was a genius beyond measure.
Thanks to that, I had plenty of free time lately. I could even sleep in as much as I wanted, waking up refreshed in the mornings.
I did feel a little bad for Mai-ryun, who now had to go to school alone...
Yeah, shouldn't she be grateful a beauty like me even hung out with her?
'Ha, am I not just too amazing?'
-Ugh... What an honor to live in Yoo Ha-yeon's era...
I pictured a purple-haired character meme saying something like that and glanced in the mirror. A stunning woman whose beauty wouldn't appear twice in history was grinning like an idiot.
'I do seem a bit crazy... Gotta rein it in.'
I cleared my throat and listened to Si-hyeon chattering beside me.
"So there I was, 17 against 1 in an Osaka backstreet—"
"Uh-huh."
"Trying to recruit a European for a Swiss bank account when the cops started investigating right then—"
"Oh, really?"
"With Seon-jun oppa's help via the German account I set up... Um, miss... you weren't listening, were you?"
Lee Si-hyeon, who'd been proudly recounting her heroic tale of hiding and moving my slush funds (which I hadn't heard), pouted.
"What, I already got the report?"
"No..., but it's fun, right?"
I tilted my head and asked.
"But why's Yoo Seon-jun 'oppa'? You're older than him."
"Huh?"
"...Because he's hot, so oppa? Ha, this is bad."
No wonder the vibe felt suspicious.
"Kinda true, but not for me... You call him that too, miss."
Hm.
Did I?
Yeah, I think so... Oh, right, I did.
Perfect memory didn't lie. Feeling slightly annoyed, I pulled Si-hyeon into a hug and buried my face in her soft, plush chest.
"Tch..."
Family... huh.
Maybe Chairman Yoo Seong-pil had already half-achieved his goal.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ "Four people enter a room to play poker. Suddenly, a bomb explodes, and none survive intact. The audience is just shocked. But I first show a man planting a bomb under the poker table before they enter.
Just before it blows, the game ends, they stand to leave, and one says, 'How about a drink?' That's the feeling of 'suspense.'"
Famous words from Alfred Hitchcock. By his theory, this situation should create peak suspense.
Hundreds of millions in debt, unknown to anyone, ballooning in real time?
But to me, it felt a bit different.
[Barings Bank year-end audit complete. Nick Leeson passed without the 88888 account being discovered. Auditors seem to have missed the falsified ledgers you mentioned. Staff there said the auditors were too afraid of looking ignorant on derivatives to raise any issues.] -Flip.
Surprisingly, Nick Leeson survived. Even with debts piled high and a long tail of traces, he apparently had the skill to jump rope without getting caught.
And even more surprisingly, after this massive stunt, he wouldn't face much beyond a short jail stint. That guy was still alive and kicking even before I died in my past life?
He even had more money than me, the shut-in NEET on my deathbed. Barings Bank's losses would be smaller than in the original history—since it was mine now, I'd minimized the damage—so it'd be similar this time too.
...Hm.
This was too ridiculous to call suspense. More like slapstick comedy.
"Ah, I learned about that too. Bergson's law of laughter? Distance from the audience and lack of realism... Right?"
"Yeah, spot on. How'd you know?"
"I've been around you for years, miss. I studied up to match your hobbies."
"But why can't our Si-hyeon play games... Old age?"
"..."
Pfft.
I laughed off her sulking and issued a new mission.
"Alright, Si-hyeon. Time to start the plan."
Her subtly amused face turned serious, and she exhaled softly, nodding.
"...Yes."
We'd had a relaxed few months of fun..., but busy times were coming.
To carve as much flesh as possible from the giant's corpse, preparations were needed.
"How much capital can we mobilize right now?"
"Two billion dollars. Parked it in the US for easy access."
A decent amount, but not huge. My main Alpha Fund had started with $2 billion during Japan's bubble...
With money tied up in Eastern Europe and Russian bonds—crucial spots—even after netting hundreds of millions extra from the CDS, I was still short on hand.
"Call Ha Young-il and crank up the leverage. And... set a meeting with Quantum Fund."
The time for shorting the pound was approaching.
Britain had overvalued the pound far too much.