Chapter 47: The End of the 80s (6)

“A trustworthy person?”

Ha Youngil asked me with a puzzled expression.

“Yes, a trustworthy person. How much do you trust me, specifically the orders I give?”

He thought for a moment and then answered.

“…I trust you more than my father’s insight.”

“Haha, I’m glad to hear that.”

I smiled and nodded. Then, I took out a document and placed it in front of him. It was a document containing CDS contracts.

Ha Youngil looked at the document briefly and sighed.

“Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary… But these are… not government bonds. These are all CDS of corporate bonds related to Eastern Europe. Moreover, we are the short position.”

“That’s right. Thanks to that, the premium is quite high.”

CDS is insurance against the collapse of the entity that issued the bonds. Therefore, corporate bonds, which are usually less reliable than government bonds, have higher insurance premiums.

“Are you sure about this? I don’t know much, but… these companies, I haven’t heard good news about them. If they go bankrupt, we’ll have to pay for it.”

“That’s the point.”

If you make money, you should know how to spend it.

“…What?”

“We’re also shorting Eastern European government bonds, aren’t we?”

Since Alpha Fund is managing a much larger capital than Daeha Investment Securities, it could sufficiently handle the risk of CDS.

“Ah, it’s a kind of hedge.”

“Spread it around to Western European banks. And the most important thing is…, choose a new recruit who is smart, not a mid-level employee.”

Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse, ING, Crédit Lyonnais, and Barings Bank.

The representative banks of Western Europe were listed in the buyer position.

“…I understand. Our fund isn’t very friendly to traditional old money. I was just thinking that we needed more investors.”

Traditional Western rich people are called old money. For reference, Korean chaebols and founders of famous IT companies belong to new money, which lacks foundation.

Compared to the history of new money, which is only a few decades old, the roots of old money go back to before World War II.

Since they are wealthy people who have been around for hundreds of years, they will never invest in the Alpha Fund I manage. Because it’s a place without foundation.

“You know quite a bit, don’t you? It’s easier to trade later if you have connections in Europe. At least the venerable nobles… will listen to you if you talk to them with at least one traditional bank.”

Anyway, business doesn’t work without connections. I’m giving them money for free, and they won’t invest?

Ha Youngil understood, but it seemed like he had one last question.

“I understand why you’re investing in Western European banks, but why new employees?”

I answered as if it were obvious.

“So we can put more debt on them later, of course. First, meet with mid-level employees and sign the contract, and in the meantime, select a few candidates and send them to me. Then I’ll choose a few good people.”

“…I understand.”

Ha Youngil nodded, tilting his head, but faithfully followed my words.

As he said, Ha Youngil trusted me very much.

***

After meeting Ha Youngil, I went around New York and showed Sihyeon the neighborhood. It was fun to see her looking blankly at the sky like a country bumpkin.

At the same time, it was quite impressive to see her take a strong stance against racial discrimination. The secretary-general really chose the right person.

“What are you looking at?”

“Oh, nothing. I’m just looking for someone.”

Ha Youngil quickly carried out my orders. He purged several employees of the Alpha Fund and one of his ‘friends’ and firmly established his position in the fund.

After that, everything was smooth sailing.

As the rising star of Wall Street moved, his subordinates quickly crossed over to Western Europe. They signed contracts with prestigious banks.

The documents I was looking at this time were the last ones I requested. People who are rising in European banks.

But… why isn’t ‘that’ there?

Did I mistake the year? Or is it the butterfly effect?

“Sigh…”

As I sighed and flipped through the documents, the door burst open and Ha Youngil entered.

“Huff, puff… Miss, I’m sorry. I forgot to send a fax earlier, so I came to deliver it in person.”

He was holding a bundle of documents in his hand.

“Geez, I worried for nothing. Give it here.”

I snatched the documents from Ha Youngil and handed him the documents I had circled.

“Here, I’ve decided on all the other banks. Now, only Barings Bank remains, right?”

“Huh? Yes, that’s right.”

Ha Youngil, who was taking deep breaths as if he was short of oxygen, nodded blankly.

‘Tsk, my head is f*cking complicated. Anyway, if you lack power, you have to devise such complicated plots.’

Right now, I was projecting my influence in a roundabout way.

In Korea’s Daeha Investment Bank, where I had to quietly keep a low profile and only build up experience and insight, I created CDS, and in America’s Alpha Fund, where I could freely invest, I generated funds through short selling while actively managing money.

And the remaining capital is thrown to European banks under the pretext of hedging.

Finally…

I lay the groundwork for the future.

-Rustle.-

I looked through the documents and pointed to one person.

“I’ll choose this person for Barings Bank. I like his confident appearance, it’s similar to me. Let’s push CDS trading to him from now on.”

His name was Nick Leeson.

He was a newcomer who joined Barings Bank this year, and the man who would bankrupt the 230-year-old Barings Bank in six years.

But… six years is a bit long, isn’t it?

***

While I was planning to take over Western Europe, Lee Sihyeon was reading the newspaper and pondering deeply.

“…Miss. What happens when the Eastern European revolution takes place?”

“What?”

“Communism, I mean… basically, doesn’t it deny private property? Then, what happens to the wealth accumulated in the country or the companies there?”

“Aha, that’s a good question. They have to divide it… well, by themselves.”

Sihyeon’s eyes widened slightly. Greed took root in her eyes.

You’ve grown a lot, our Sihyeon.

“So… this looks like a huge opportunity to make a killing.”

I nodded.

“That’s right. That’s why I’m forcibly entering Europe, taking losses by selling CDS.”

The Eastern European revolution and the collapse of the Soviet Union were a great opportunity for Western capital.

Especially in the Soviet Union, because the process of going from communism to capitalism was very difficult.

Let’s think about it, as Lee Sihyeon’s obvious question, private companies cannot exist under communism.

But… now the Soviet Union has collapsed. A mere people who ‘managed’ a factory has become a huge capitalist who ‘owns’ the factory.

Well, Russia did prepare some measures. It’s a policy that was also implemented in the Czech Republic and Poland…

“Let’s take Poland as an example. If you look at the news, they will do voucher privatization. I think a few other countries will go similarly.”

“Voucher privatization?”

“Voucher means coupon. Since the company belongs to the state, and the state originally belonged to the people, all the people are sold the right to purchase shares of the company with coupons… that’s it.”

It’s very ideal only in theory. It’s as ideal as classical economics, which assumes that everyone engages in rational economic activity.

“…It’s difficult.”

That’s the problem.

The biggest problem with voucher privatization was that it was ‘difficult’ to understand.

It’s already difficult to make ends meet, but I have to look at each of the country’s policies and understand them? And that too, someone who was just in a communist society?

Of course, there were people who could do that. So those people became rich.

The state sells companies without any conditions, just for money? Even things that shouldn’t be sold at a bargain price.

Of course, if it’s done slowly and little by little, like in Poland or the Czech Republic, it’s okay…

Russia, in extreme chaos, distributed coupons that could buy companies to all the people for free. Yes, they gave it away for free.

“And here’s a common sense of capitalism. Almost everything in the world can be bought and sold with money.”

I smiled and raised my index finger.

“…You’re going to buy it?”

“Yes, if you have connections, we can buy Eastern European companies. Think about it, if I’m starving to death, would a coupon matter?”

“They’ll sell the coupon. Then.”

The people of the former Soviet Union learned that first in order to avoid starvation.

Unfortunately, the concept of a joint-stock company was a deepening concept, so they learned it later. And… by then it was already too late.

The wicked bourgeoisie joined hands with the Russian new rich, the oligarchs, and took away all the state-owned enterprises.

Of course, this is the case in Russia, and since what I’m trying to eat now is Eastern Europe, I can’t be that extreme.

“That’s why Ha Youngil is preparing a paper company. Now is a time of extreme chaos, so you can create a plausible company by recruiting just a few local people. No, since it will actually be active, is it not a paper company?”

Anyway, a few paper companies are needed as connecting links, but the company to be established locally will actually exist.

Lee Sihyeon exclaimed as if she understood.

“Ah! This will make it much less noticeable, right? Because it’s a domestic company.”

“That’s right, even if it’s actually controlled by someone else, the appearance is everything to ordinary people.”

Some countries have sold to foreign capital by auction…, in those cases, things will proceed much more easily.

I’ll have to put forward multiple agents of the Alpha Fund, but I’ll have to accept that.

“…You look very happy.”

Of course.

“Ahaha, there are really few opportunities like this. I have to buy up the good companies quickly.”

“Then when are you planning to sell?”

I shook my head. The only means to control a country is the state itself, so as an individual, I had to hold at least the major companies.

“I won’t sell it back. At that time, no matter how much money you have, it will be very difficult to buy it again.”

“Then… it will cost a lot of money.”

“Ha, isn’t that why I’m making money like crazy?”

I felt a sense of satisfaction and prepared to pour all the money I had earned from shorting Eastern European government bonds back into Eastern Europe.

***

A few months later.

November 9, 1989.

I took a picture holding a broken piece of concrete at the Berlin Wall.

The photo showed a mysterious girl smiling brightly and a female bodyguard with a very stiff expression.

“Miss, tell me honestly. Did you receive… a divine revelation or something?”

“No? I’m offended, what did I do? I didn’t do anything.”

I just removed the butterfly effect.

Thanks to that, East and West Germany will reunite safely as they did originally, and the Soviet Union will also collapse according to the normal flow of history.