The day after our victory in the preliminary skirmish.

As always, I went into the office to check on ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) the fund’s operations.

“Alpha Fund’s assets are sitting around $50 billion now, right?”

Ha Yeong-il nodded.

“Yes, once the Thailand investment closes successfully, we’ll hit that.”

“Good. Then it’s about time we started borrowing money.”

–Stretch.

I stood up from my seat, stretching my arms as I stared through the glass at Wall Street.

The center of finance, the place where global money converges—Wall Street... Until now, I’d kept a low profile, but it was time to take on risk.

“How much are you planning to borrow? Technically, we’ve been running at a very low leverage ratio until now.”

–Snap.

I flicked my fingers and tilted my head.

“Hmm... Let’s start with $100 billion.”

“...!”

A sharp gasp rang out. That was 100 trillion won in Korean currency—about the same as South Korea’s annual national budget.

“It’s not that shocking, is it? The Aqua Capital business is done now, so I don’t have to siphon off money from Alpha Fund anymore. This is normal.”

There’s a basic principle in accounting:

‘Assets = Capital + Liabilities’

In hedge funds and investment banks, liabilities make up a huge portion. That’s why Wall Street is the world’s financial hub.

Lots of debt means a lot of money is in motion.

And right now, the hedge fund with the most money under management in the world—LTCM—runs with 30x leverage. Out of $140 billion in managed assets, only about $5 billion is actual client capital.

For comparison, Alpha Fund has been operating with a little over 3x leverage. With $15 billion in capital, that means we’re actually three times larger than LTCM in base capital.

A 3x leverage might sound high, but it’s not. In fact, Alpha Fund has been operating at an abnormally low leverage level.

In the hedge fund world after the financial crisis, the average leverage was around 2x to 3x. But here in the booming 1990s, for the hottest fund to be running with only 3x leverage? That’s low enough to be suspicious.

Ha Yeong-il knew that too.

“Well, uh... Our fund’s low leverage is because we invest in high-risk, high-volatility areas, right? LTCM mainly plays with bonds, which are low-risk, so of course their leverage is higher...”

I shook my head.

“No, that’s not the reason. Sure, we kept leverage low to avoid risk—but the real reason was so I could siphon money.”

It’s a method often used in the industry. You post a 30% return, report only 28%, and skim the remaining 2% off the top.

‘I had a lot of places that needed funding.’

Russia, Europe... there were so many places I needed to pour money into. Even in the 20th century, a big-name fund like Alpha would always have eyes on it.

Pulling out hundreds of millions of dollars would’ve drawn attention. The higher the leverage, the greater the risk of exposure—so I didn’t really have a choice.

“...Won’t people find it suspicious?”

Ah-ha.

Sure, some might raise an eyebrow.

But...

“It’ll be fine. Everyone on Wall Street knows that opportunities like this don’t come around often. Maybe no one else is borrowing $100 billion, but lots of folks are taking out tens or even hundreds of millions.”

“Well... that’s true.”

Even during the pound short-selling episode, there were hedge funds that borrowed $10 billion to invest. And it’s been five years since then—there are way more now.

I gave Ha Yeong-il a soft smile and reassured him.

“So let’s take it slow. We’ve still got plenty of time.”

***

Of course, despite what I said, we actually didn’t have much time.

More precisely, borrowing $100 billion could be delayed a little, but when we were in the middle of a war in Thailand, time was tight.

“Uh... wouldn’t it have been better to borrow earlier?”

Seo Ji-yeon, who’d come back from another full day at Aqua Capital, asked as she listened to my tale of triumph.

–Click.

“Are you going to pay the cost of leverage? Just 0.1% of $100 billion is $100 million.”

“Ugh! Oww. Well, no, but... once we make the return, it’s all fine, isn’t it?”

Watching her blink her innocent eyes while saying that, I sighed internally.

‘She’s not wrong, but somehow... it feels like I raised her wrong.’

The dotcom bubble still hadn’t shown signs of cooling. Maybe she’d caught the fever too, because she was starting to think like someone who belonged on Wall Street.

“I mean, that’s what you always say, isn’t it? And you used to take me to gambling dens even when I was a kid!”

Ahem.

I cleared my throat and explained.

“Thailand’s not that big of a battlefield. All the money we made there was originally from other East Asian countries.”

$150 billion? Maybe if you pooled all of East Asia. Thailand couldn’t handle that alone.

I already told you—Korea, one of the few developed nations in Asia, barely has an annual government budget over $100 billion. There’s a reason LTCM sticks to the bond market with its $140 billion.

The bigger the money, the harder it is to move—and the lower the returns get. If a market can’t absorb the capital, it makes investing meaningless.

“...Then, where are you planning to use the $100—no, $150 billion?”

“Where else? The U.S., of course. Although there’s still plenty of prey left outside the U.S. too. Once we sweep through Southeast Asia, we’ll hit Korea next.”

Hong Kong was still pre-handover, so that campaign was still up in the air, but Korea? I could control that. After all, I was born there—and I’m from Daehwa Group.

“For now, let’s just focus on Thailand. Even if it’s a small battlefield, losing a few billion dollars would still change everything.”

It goes without saying, but with 3x leverage, your losses triple too. Plenty of funds have gone belly-up over a single bad call.

I seriously don’t get how people gamble like that without even knowing the future.

“What about me?”

Seo Ji-yeon pointed to herself and asked.

“You...”

I frowned.

‘The Thai forward market is finished. So next would be spot trades... Malaysia still has three months to go, but I need to start groundwork. Japan’s talking about setting up an Asian Monetary Fund, but...’

My head was about to split. Forcing myself to broaden my view and track every variable was utterly exhausting.

Think. Focus...

‘Is it time for the dotcom bubble to start deflating? Let’s think from Greenspan’s point of view. Of course the bubble takes priority, but timing is key. Jiang Zemin visited Wall Street in ‘97... right, it was October 31. So, considering the Hong Kong handover in July, that’s a four-month window—reasonable. What was Yoo Seon-jun doing at that point? He needs to pull money from BBB and hit the finance companies... ah, I need to see Grandfather first too. Then where should I send Seo Ji-yeon...?’

–Wobble.

“Ah, Miss! Are you okay?”

“...I’m fine.”

I sat down for a moment to calm myself, then bit my lip.

If it were any other day, I’d have solved it immediately—but I was tired and slipped up.

–Rustle.

I unfolded the scenario I’d been preparing for over ten years. My aching head eased, and a natural smile formed on my lips.

“Phew. This is why you make a plan.”

“...Are you really okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Ji-yeon, you just keep working at Aqua Capital. The bubble’s still got a long way to go before it bursts. But... can you get in contact with Myrian? Casually.”

“Oh, yes. Of course.”

“She’s probably working on something. Aside from rocket stuff, she must be doing other projects too—tell her to hand one over. Something profitable.”

Was it PayPal? That should be around now. I’ve fed her plenty of fintech ideas, so she should manage.

I took a sip of water and brushed Seo Ji-yeon’s hair.

“Mm... and the dotcom bubble will probably stall for a bit. Greenspan will likely raise interest rates next week. When that happens, pull out dollars from Alpha Fund and go all-in on key stocks... By then, shale gas development should be wrapping up, and the Dow Jones index will rise too.”

“...Wait, me?”

Ah, so she was listening.

“Just talking to myself. Also, once Greenspan raises rates, you’ll need to change your behavior a bit, Ji-yeon. Don’t invest like a maniac anymore—start pretending to be rational.”

“Interest rates... That’s just a prediction, right?”

“Yeah, it’s a prediction.”

At that point, I turned my head to the browser window I always had open these days, like some internet addict.

–USD/THB: 24.02

The baht exchange rate.

‘Not yet.’

Futures aside, spot baht was still solid. It looked like Thailand had fended off the speculators. Some people on Wall Street were already trying to sneak away.

“Seon-jun oppa said they’ve got about a billion dollars left. It’ll collapse soon.”

Seo Ji-yeon muttered, trying to keep a serious face.

“Timing is the most important thing.”

“Exactly. But... isn’t that why I’ve built up my scale so far? Someone like me—my existence alone is a red flag.”

“Ah...”

–Tap tap.

I poked my chest with my index finger and beamed.

“This time, let’s go big. We’re putting in $1 billion.”

The probing was over. The futures market had shaken. Now came bold investment.

***

One billion dollars.

When $1 billion was shorted against the British pound, people called it insane. So for the baht market—which was much smaller—it went without saying.

–‘At this level... no one else will even be able to trade.’

–‘It’s fine.’

Literally, it was fine.

[Alpha Fund places $1 billion short position on the Thai baht!]

[Speculators swarm... Flights overloaded as ‘tourists’ flood from Wall Street into East Asia]

[“Alpha Fund is a cowardly speculator.” Prime Minister Chavalit harshly criticizes the shadowy Alpha Fund board shrouded in fog...]

Normally, you never knew how things might turn out.

But I had made the rare move of openly declaring my position. If other fund managers decided to target Alpha Fund, that would be the end for me.

This wasn’t about Thailand anymore.

A hedge fund only sees money. Anyone could be targeted. They could just flip their positions and side with Thailand.

It would even help their reputations.

“Liquidity is vanishing fast. It appears there are forces besides the Bank of Thailand trying to block the short.”

“We’ve already used $600 million out of the $1 billion, and the FX market hasn’t even budged... Could your source have given us false information? M-Maybe it’s time to close the position...?”

Even in the Alpha Fund office, voices of concern began to erupt. Naturally so—if an unknown force on Wall Street is attacking you, the pressure is immense...

Still, how pathetic.

Do they really not trust me?

“Wait. We’ve still got three days before we deploy all the money, right?”

“By the time those three days are over, we’ll be out of funds! Uh, should we draw more from elsewhere? I mean, if we had $3 billion instead of $1 billion, we could definitely seize the upper hand!”

“We need that for other markets.”

I casually flipped through news channels, snacking. I hadn’t felt even a flicker of nervousness—unlike when I poured $300 million into the forward market a few days ago.

Back then, there was still an element of the unknown. But now—I was sure.

.

.

.

About six hours passed like that.

–Riiiing!

The news I’d been waiting for finally arrived.

[Fed raises interest rates by 50bp! Investors shocked after betting on rate cuts]

[Greenspan: “Dotcom companies aren’t worth that much yet.” Openly states intent to cool the bubble]

Phew.

This is why you need a wide field of vision.

And not even a full day after the Fed raised rates, Thailand gave up its exchange rate defense and switched to a floating exchange rate system.