Chapter 158: Prophet
Chapter 158: Prophet
[US, New York Stock Market Closes Lower. Consumer Prices See Largest Rise in 10 Years]
[Fed's Dove Effect Vanishes. Stocks Fall Despite Rate Freeze]
[Powell: "Bubbles Exist in Asset Markets. Won't Raise Rates Early Due to Inflation Fears."]
[Treasury Secretary Yellen Changes Tune: "High Inflation Through Year-End."]
[Wall Street Banks: "Inflation Concerns Grow."]
At the end of last year, Kim Shin had made those remarks in front of Biden.
White House officials had briefly discussed it.
“It is probably a statement from a wealthy investor trying to increase his influence after making a fortune.”
“He is an investor, after all. He is simply promoting positions that benefit him.”
“It is uncomfortable, but given his popularity with the public, there is no reason to antagonize him.”
The Biden administration's policy was to watch and wait, and for the vaccine policy alone, they needed to maintain smooth relations.
If the K-Vaccine supply were cut off even slightly, it could create massive problems for the newly launched administration.
But the inflation they had dismissed as Kim Shin nitpicking was showing signs of surging fiercely.
"What happened?"
“It seems the excessive liquidity we have supplied so far is the problem.”
White House officials talked with the Treasury Department handling the US economy.
The Treasury was also visibly flustered by the rapid rise in prices.
"With economic activity resuming amid the liquidity unleashed since the financial crisis, prices are spiking all at once."
"We can't halt the President's infrastructure investments."
"Let's watch a bit longer for now."
However, the economic situation in June was enough to make the White House gasp in shock.
[57% of US Investors Expect Inflation to Accelerate]
[Price Shock: Nothing Hasn't Gone Up]
[New York Hotel Room Rates Top $700 a Night]
[US East to West Family-of-Four Flight: $3,000]
[US Used Car Prices Surge 45.2%]
Inflation indicators were hitting unprecedented highs.
Consumption is the core of the US economy, and as prices surged, the government, businesses, and households faced intense pressure.
"Household debt is expected to rise by over $300 billion in Q2."
"What about employment?"
“Employment is high, but the Delta variant is spreading.”
Biden's White House officials were bombarded with nothing but bad news.
* * *
To be honest, I hadn't expected inflation to be this massive.
'I'm no economics expert.'
I'd had a few successful investments.
My personality was neither excessively optimistic nor arrogant, so I became wary whenever stock prices rose too far.
There were tons of stocks that had gone up tenfold in a year without any real improvement in business activity.
It felt strongly like a bubble, and seeing fearless politicians and officials made me even more cautious.
That's why I warned that the bubble might burst... and then regretted it as time passed.
'The US economy is solid, huh?'
Employment was high, and business activity was continuing.
The Fed's influence dominated central banks worldwide.
I quietly started thinking maybe I was wrong.
―Ellie: Wall Street investment banks froze when they saw this inflation data.
―Ellie: It's tangible in daily life. Dining out in New York has suddenly jumped 20-30%. I never imagined inflation from my studies would show up like this.
I contacted Ellie occasionally for work.
She updated me on Wall Street's situation.
―Ellie: Congratulations. Investor A is becoming a legend again.
It was around late March.
With stocks still climbing since year-end, a thought crossed my mind.
'Even coins peaked higher at the end.'
Human greed could keep a bubble expanding a little longer.
It would draw in the very last person, creating what investors called a “human indicator.”
It felt as though you would fall behind if you did not invest, as though you had to seize the chance to get rich quickly.
'This investment might lose.'
I invested $40 billion in companies listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Buying their shares was partly an attempt to profit from the rise, but it was mainly a way to get a feel for the market.
My main purpose was to identify the bubble's peak.
‘If I lose money, that will be the end of it. If I profit, I can use those gains for a much riskier investment.’
Early last year, when stocks tanked hard, was a prime buying opportunity.
Conversely, when prices had risen too far, equally valuable opportunities could appear.
―Ellie: Up $13 billion right now.
―Kim Shin: Yeah. Got it.
―Ellie: "Yeah, got it"? $13 billion is huge money.
―Kim Shin: I know. It's big.
A salary of more than five million dollars still felt enormous to me, yet a hundred million dollars somehow felt manageable.
Even as the numbers grew, I could grasp them only by comparing them with my total assets. They had become abstract figures on an investment ledger.
[Kim Shin Who Warned of Inflation in Advance]
[Wall Street Acknowledges Midas Touch]
[Goldman Sachs: "We've been seriously studying inflation since Kim Shin's warning last year."]
[21st Century US's Most Successful Entrepreneurs: Elon Musk and Kim Shin]
[World's Richest Elon Musk, Closely Pursued by Kim Shin]
[Tesla's Innovation vs Earth Resource's Market Dominance]
[Earth Channel Success Makes Kim Shin Global Celebrity]
[In Europe, Kim Shin's Recognition Surpasses Elon Musk's]
The media endlessly compared me to Elon Musk.
We shared immense wealth and entrepreneur status.
'Tesla overcame countless hurdles for its success, while Earth Resource hasn't faced such trials.'
I still believed Elon Musk had many admirable qualities.
There was much to learn from him, and his relentless pursuit of his dreams deserved respect.
SpaceX was advancing humanity through private spaceflight, Starlink, and lunar projects.
But...
[Dogecoin Market Cap Tops $50 Billion]
[Dogecoin More Valuable Than GM]
An internet meme coin had reached a market capitalization of more than fifty billion dollars because of a few tweets from Elon Musk.
‘Could a single word in one of Elon’s tweets really be worth more than a hundred million dollars?’
It showed his insane popularity.
* * *
―Jo Soo-ah: Next week there's a holiday. If I use vacation days, I can get 5 days off. Planning to rest at home.
―Kim Shin: Can't come to the US?
―Jo Soo-ah: Really okay to come? You're busy with work.
―Kim Shin: No matter how busy, I'll make time for a date. Sorry to make you come far.
―Jo Soo-ah: I can come anytime.
Late June, Jo Soo-ah's vacation was set.
‘It feels as though lies are beginning to creep into our relationship.’
It wasn't the kind of lie that involved hiding another woman.
Honestly, I wasn't as busy as people thought.
“The cloud-system update is finished! We applied AI to resource allocation so the system can constantly optimize resources for each region.”
"Yeah. Good work."
I left the programming to Eddie.
“The game companies are buzzing. Last Survivor is a massive hit, and High School Girl Raising brought in a hundred million dollars in weekly revenue. That is twenty times its development cost on Earth Channel!”
Oh Myeong-woo managed the programmers and divided the work among the staff, then devoted his spare time to games.
He was practically addicted to it. I had told him to rest, but he insisted that game development was his hobby.
There was no stopping someone who enjoyed working on updates more than going on dates.
―Jo Soo-ah: Taking flight right after work Friday. Last-minute booking, not sure if tickets available.
―Kim Shin: There will be. I will arrange one that fits the time you reach the airport after work.
Back when I was making a fortune in cryptocurrency and traveling around the world, I had spent a great deal of time at airports.
I had used budget airlines back then, where delays and cancellations were common.
I couldn't afford to cut corners like that now.
If the available flight times didn't work, we could arrange one ourselves.
"Jong-yeop, check flights for Soo-ah's off time."
“Understood.”
“If there is no suitable flight, arrange one.”
"Understood."
In the worst case, I could charter a private jet for Jo Soo-ah.
How much could that possibly cost...?
I still pinched pennies over canned coffee, yet I was perfectly willing to send a private jet for my girlfriend.
* * *
While staying in Korea, Jo Soo-ah eagerly waited for the weekends when she could see Kim Shin. Even so, the situation felt strange to her.
[Dream Art Rainbow Starts Filming 'God of Investment']
[Movie on Kim Shin's Life: Total Budget Over $100 Million]
Her former senior at work—the man she had once had a crush on—had become enormously successful.
In Korea, she could learn what her boyfriend was doing at any time simply by checking the headlines.
"Soo-ah, you should meet a good guy and marry. How long you gonna live like this?"
"Sorry, Mom."
Her parents in Busan kept pressuring her to date.
After her arranged date with the doctor Choi Won-seok, he had continued contacting her without respite.
She had kept her relationship with Kim Shin secret from her parents and even from her coworkers at Arcor.
She feared that revealing it might cause trouble for him.
When the weekend finally arrived, she flew from Incheon to San Francisco.
It was her first time there, and she looked around curiously after passing through immigration.
"Here!"
Kim Shin waited at the airport.
It was two o’clock in the afternoon in San Francisco.
He wore sunglasses and a mask, but he had still come out during the busiest hours of the day to meet her.
"Oppa!"
Jo Soo-ah ran to Kim Shin and threw her arms around him, pressing herself against his warm chest.
* * *
"I'm Oh Myeong-woo."
"I'm Jo Soo-ah."
“Wow, you are even more beautiful in person. I saw you at Shin’s wedding... Ahem. I should not have brought that up.”
They had dinner at home with Oh Myeong-woo and Lee Jong-yeop.
The atmosphere was bright and cheerful.
Having grown up without a proper family, it was the first time I had experienced such familial warmth.
'What if I marry Jo Soo-ah and live like this?'
I had been married once before, but I believed it would be different with her.
Was I already thinking about marriage? It was far too soon.
‘It would be difficult for her to live in Korea, so we would have to live in the United States. Would she be all right with that?’
Before I knew it, I was already imagining two children attending kindergarten in San Francisco.
After dinner, Jo Soo-ah and I sat alone in the garden, sipping wine.
Ring ring ring!
Her phone rang.
"Yes. Yes? Please don't contact me."
She answered, hung up.
"What happened?"
"Um... Hard to say."
“Is it difficult to talk about?”
"Not really. Actually."
Jo Soo-ah explained.
The man from the arranged date kept calling her, encouraged by her parents.
She had blocked his number, but he occasionally reached her through acquaintances in Busan or from new numbers.
"That happened?"
Ring ring ring!
Her phone rang again.
"That same guy?"
"Yeah, seems so."
"Can I take it?"
As her boyfriend, I felt that I had to handle it.
If I told him she already had a boyfriend, he would surely back off.
"Sure."
She handed me the phone, and I answered.
"Hello."
―...What? Who the hell are you?
“I am her boyfriend.”