Christopher (2)
After standing there dazed for a long while, Chris finally managed to collect himself.
“J-just a second. Is this some kind of hidden-camera prank show or something?”
As if he’d tear the place apart if it was, Chris clenched his fist tight.
Attorney MacCree raised a hand and shook his head. “No. This isn’t a prank. It’s all real. If you sign the papers, the vehicle will be delivered, your home mortgage will be taken care of, and your children will receive scholarships. We’ll handle all the tax issues as well, so you won’t need to worry about a thing.”
In both Korea and the United States, the biggest expenses for an ordinary family were housing loans, children’s tuition, and cars.
And yet they were just going to hand all of that over to him?
It felt almost like he’d won the Powerball.
But sweet offers like this always had a catch hidden somewhere.
What if, after I accept, they drag me somewhere and force me to take part in a life-or-death game?
That thought in mind, Chris asked again, “Who in the world is doing this for me?”
“Someone Mr. Romo knows well. I’m told he once owed Mr. Romo a tremendous debt.”
“Who is it?”
“He doesn’t want to reveal himself just yet, but—”
Chris cut in firmly. “I can’t accept something if I don’t even know who’s giving it to me, or for what purpose.”
With an air of resignation, Attorney MacCree took an envelope from his briefcase and handed it over.
“Then would you mind reading this letter?”
Dear Chris,
I don’t particularly want to make a big show of this, but I figured you might not trust what the lawyer says, so I’m writing to you like this.
Most people think I stopped the plane and saved everyone—including you. But the truth is, it was you who stopped that plane that day, not me.
If you hadn’t told me there was something wrong with the engine, I never would have known either.
You’re the real hero who saved me—and everyone else.
I owe you a great debt, so there’s absolutely no need for you to feel thankful to me or burdened by this in any way.
Please just think of this as fair compensation for what you did.
PS1. I’m sending you a voucher for the JR Blackwood Resort in Cancun. Take your wife on a trip sometime. You should be able to use business class on Bridgeworld Airlines, so I’m not enclosing plane tickets.
PS2. Our company is planning to buy a private jet before long. We need someone to manage and maintain it, so if you’re interested, please contact the number below.
— From your friend
Chris read the letter over and over again, still unable to believe it.
“W-what the hell is this…….”
Sally looked just as stunned.
“H-honey.”
No matter how he thought about it, it didn’t make sense.
True, he had been the one to notice the strange noise coming from the engine first, but Chris had been the one who calmly and decisively brought the plane to a stop.
If he’d gone around saying he was the hero himself, no one would have questioned it.
So why was that credit being given to him?
And then there was the other thing…….
That friend of his was that rich!?
He hadn’t seemed that way at all when they first met.
Besides, the seat he’d taken on the plane that day had been economy, right beside Chris.
So just how much money did he have to be able to buy him a car, pay off the mortgage, and even cover scholarships for the kids? No, more than that—why go to all this trouble in the first place?
“What on earth does this friend of yours do? Is he a millionaire or something?”
That made Attorney MacCree burst out laughing.
“Ha! A millionaire? That word doesn’t even begin to cover it. He’d be a billionaire and then some.”
“But this much money…….”
“It may be a lot to Mr. Romo, but to the boss, it’s nothing. Think of it as the same as buying a bag of jelly at the grocery store.”
“…….”
“That said, he doesn’t go around showing kindness like this to just anyone. He thinks very highly of Mr. Romo.”
“You really mean I can accept this?”
Attorney MacCree nodded.
“If you refuse, I’ll just have to keep coming back here in that big car of mine. What would you like me to do?”
Chris looked at his wife. She smiled and said, “Looks like you did something amazing in a past life.”
“Well, now…….”
After some hesitation, Chris picked up the pen and signed the documents.
The amount was simply too large to refuse.
* * *
The crash in cryptocurrencies triggered by the Pether fiasco fortunately calmed down.
That didn’t mean prices had recovered, but at least the freefall had stopped.
Crypto-related companies had been hammered, but the stock market itself hadn’t suffered much damage. If anything, people were hoping the money pulled out of crypto exchanges would start flowing into equities instead.
In the meantime, New York State became the first in the United States to implement stablecoin regulation.
The New York State Department of Financial Services, or DFS.
Originally the agency that regulated Wall Street financial firms, it had now drawn its sword on cryptocurrency.
Dollar-based stablecoins had to be approved by the DFS; reserves had to be kept separate from company assets and held with a custodian; and those reserves had to undergo monthly audits. Reserve assets were also required to be explicitly limited to deposits and U.S. Treasury bonds.
Continue Capital immediately submitted all the documents DFS demanded.
Penny was already operating under bank-level internal controls, so there was no issue at all. Other firms were in chaos, and some companies even packed up and left New York State for other jurisdictions.
It wasn’t as if it would matter much, since federal regulation was going to happen soon enough anyway.
For the first time in a while, I came into the office.
Compared to how frantic things had been not long ago, it was almost eerily quiet. When we weren’t investing, there wasn’t much for people to do, so the staff were free to spend their time however they liked.
“……So I’m thinking of buying a private jet.”
At my words, David asked in disbelief, “You’re buying a private jet to create a job for someone you know?”
“We need one.”
If I were only doing business in Korea, I wouldn’t need a private jet at all.
But the United States was a different story. It was a country with enormous distances, where it wasn’t unusual for private companies—not just individuals—to own jets, and the services for storing and maintaining them were well developed.
When a major event was held in places like Las Vegas, you could see private jets landing at the airport all day long.
And I myself was already shuttling between New York and California as if they were next-door neighbors.
It wasn’t widely known, but conglomerates like Yuseong and GL naturally had their own jets.
As far as I knew, Yuseong Group owned four of them. One was essentially Chairman Yoo Jae-ho’s personal jet, while the others were used by executives on business trips.
They said once you flew on one, your loyalty to the company soared right along with it.
“If you think about the cost, chartering would be better, but buying one wouldn’t be a bad idea. How many are you planning to get?”
“If the staff are going to use them too, don’t we need at least three?”
One for me to use, after all.
David nodded.
“Do whatever you want.”
I’d expected him to be pleased, but he sounded strangely indifferent.
It was the kind of reaction that said a private jet was nice to have, but not something that mattered either way.
“David, don’t you have anything you want? Anything you’d like to do?”
He shook his head. “Spending money isn’t that fun. Making it is a lot more interesting.”
I snorted with a laugh.
“You’re good at spending it on other people, though.”
Apparently, giving money away brought him more satisfaction than spending it on himself.
The one thing all rich people had in common was a lot of money. But when it came to how they spent it, each one had their own style.
Aaron White still lived in the old house he’d bought when he got married and drove an old car around, and for breakfast he ate McMuffins. Chairman Akea, one of the ten richest people in the world, was famous for insisting on economy class only.
And then every year, he’d donate tens of billions of dollars.
On the other hand, there were people who lived in a level of luxury ordinary people couldn’t even imagine.
I won’t name names, but one prince from an oil-rich country owned vacation homes all over Europe and had dozens of supercars.
At one point, while vacationing in France, he saw a yacht passing by that caught his eye, called the owner over on the spot, paid 500 million euros, and had it delivered immediately.
Nothing in the world is easier than spending the public’s money.
When I told them I was thinking of buying a private jet, Senior Dongho lit up.
“Exactly! It’s about time we got a jet of our own. I’m not saying this because I want to ride in it, but if we’re going to do global business, we need one.”
He definitely wants to ride in it.
“So how do you buy one? Do we just place an order with Gulfstream?”
“I was going to ask someone I know about that.”
“Someone you know? Who?”
Fortunately, I knew another expert in this area.
* * *
I called Chairman Taylor at Blackwood International.
“Have you been well?”
“Thanks to you, very well.”
That wasn’t just polite small talk.
With the successful launch of their new business, Blackwood International was enjoying the greatest boom in its history.
Maybe that was why they were so enthusiastic about adopting Penny payments.
“You’ve been making an extraordinary amount of noise lately. Watching cryptocurrencies collapse one after another made me think of the hedge fund that shorted our company during the ransomware crisis.”
“……I’m just glad you came through that crisis so brilliantly.”
“So what can I do for you?”
“I’m thinking of buying a private jet, so I wanted to ask you a few things.”
Blackwood International was a global company with hotels all over the world. And since they also operated private-jet sharing and rental services, they owned dozens of jets.
“Come to think of it, Continue Capital still doesn’t have a jet?”
“No, sir.”
“Good timing, then. Right now is the perfect time to buy one. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime chance to choose from both new and used jets to your liking.”
“Why is that?”
“Because the investors who lost money thanks to the coin crash are selling off their jets first.”
“…….”
Thanks to the crypto boom, developers and investors had piled up on the world’s rich lists one after another.
And when crypto crashed, they slid right back down those lists just as quickly.
They’d gotten so caught up in the coin rally that they’d bought jets first, and now that prices had suddenly collapsed, they couldn’t even complete the purchases.
“How many do you need?”
“I’m planning to buy three.”
“I’ll look into it right away. There seem to be yacht listings out there too—are you not interested in yachts?”
“Hmm, yachts?”
“Wouldn’t it be nice to buy two, leave one in New York and one in California?”
Yacht prices were even more all over the map than jet prices.
The cheap ones ran into the millions, while the expensive ones cost hundreds of millions.
Jets were more or less the same size no matter what, but yachts were a completely different story. Some were the size of floating islands, with swimming pools and even helicopter pads built in.
Like the one that prince from the oil-rich country had paid 500 million euros for.
“If you find anything good, let me know.”
“Good thinking. How have you been doing lately?”
“I’m planning to rest for a while.”
“That’s wise. A person has to rest when it’s time to rest. Whether it’s a person or a company, managing stress well is what lets them endure.”
The larger the sums of money involved, the larger the stress tended to be.
No wonder yoga and meditation had become so popular on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley. Some people even went so far as to consult specialists or hire life coaches.
As long as they paid enough…….
“You have to regulate your breathing and find your own rhythm.”
“Listen to the voice within you.”
“Let go of the tension in your body and strengthen your ability to endure.”
“You have to train the muscles of the mind the same way you train the muscles of the body.”
Something like that. I didn’t really know what it meant, but apparently those were the kinds of wise words they gave people.
Would listening to them actually help?
“Why don’t you take a vacation with this opportunity?”
“A vacation?”
“Get out of the city and rest in a quiet place without thinking about anything. Our company opened a new resort recently—are you interested? I can promise you, it’s the most beautiful resort in the world.”
The offer was tempting.
I needed rest and a little healing. Somewhere quiet, where I could cool my head and sort out my thoughts.
“Where is it?”