Chapter 49: Bubble Collapse (2)

December 26th.

I called Ha Jusung after a long time and we talked.

“The Nikkei index has risen quite a bit.”

Ha Jusung paused and looked at me with a strange expression.

“Again… is it that?”

“I don’t know what ‘that’ is, but. Hehe, I called you to prepare for short selling. I roughly talked about it last time, right?”

Everyone knew that the Japanese stock market had soared too high.

However… opinions differed on what would happen next.

Mainly, Japanese companies bet on ‘it will rise further’. Even though the ridiculously inflated bubble far exceeded the actual value, they only believed in the numbers they saw.

Adults really like numbers.

“I’ve already planned the operation. You worked at Nomura, and since they’re too big to touch, we’ll make them allies and… rip off some easier targets.”

Ha Jusung admired the operation plan I had made.

“Hmm… it’s a pretty elaborate report. Did you form a new team while I was away? I can feel your style in the report…”

“No? I did it alone. I worked hard on the 24th and 25th, thinking of it as a Christmas present for myself.”

Christmas spent buried in piles of documents with the sound of jingle bells, isn’t it nice? I played with my nanny appropriately and spent the rest of my time entirely on this work.

I felt bad asking other employees to come to work on Christmas, so I pushed myself a bit.

“…You did this alone? In two days…?”

“Hmph, I’m pretty good.”

I shrugged my shoulders and explained lightly.

“Basically, we won’t be at the forefront. It will be difficult if we get targeted by the media, especially the Japanese media. We’ll leave the main attack to Alpha Fund… and we’ll build up our political position.”

Ha Jusung looked at the document for a moment and raised his eyebrows.

“Comprehensive financial companies…?”

“Yes, last time, we changed all the short-term finance companies that didn’t become banks or securities companies into comprehensive financial companies, right?”

Because financial innovation was a bit faster than originally, I was able to do the groundwork smoothly.

The fact that short-term finance companies that should have remained a little longer were converted into comprehensive financial companies means that the Korean financial market has developed rapidly.

In this late 20th century, ‘development’ means ‘opening’, and it is the same as accelerating infinite competition under neoliberalism.

And I’m a returner who is confident of winning every competition.

“Do you have any other sinister schemes?”

Ha Jusung looked at me with suspicious eyes. No, that’s closer to certainty than suspicion.

“Hey, sinister. Anyway, most of those guys are from Myeongdong loan sharks, right? I’m kindly cleaning up the trash.”

“Anyway, if those guys go bankrupt, they’ll come under you, Miss…”

“Does a place where trash gathers become a trash can?”

“I didn’t say that.”

Until now, most of the issues have occurred in the United States, so I couldn’t influence the Korean financial world.

However, Japan is relatively close to Korea. Moreover, it’s time for the big players in the Korean financial world, now called comprehensive financial companies, to gradually learn the taste of money.

It means it’s a perfect time to harvest.

I was planning to plant a time bomb in the appropriately grown Korean financial world. A bomb that can explode at any time when I give the signal.

“Let’s connect them with Japan. They’re newly opened companies, so they’ll be eager to form connections, right?”

Ha Jusung was silent for a moment, then looked at the report as if savoring it.

All businesses, but the financial world also runs on connections.

New comprehensive financial companies will never refuse if offered a connection with a major Japanese securities company.

“This is… The Japanese financial world originally works like this, but… isn’t this accounting fraud? There’s a reason why you planned the operation alone, Miss.”

I smiled and asked Ha Jusung.

“You understand, right?”

“I worked at Nomura, of course I do. Tobashi… isn’t it a way to hide bad debts?”

If the Nikkei index plunges, of course, securities companies will also be greatly affected. Unlike Korea, where proprietary trading is blocked, Japanese securities companies invest in stocks or bonds by leveraging the company’s money.

Of course, there were no fools in this romantic 20th century who would announce that straight up…

They do a lot of dirty things to hide the company’s losses.

“It’s a particularly vicious type. Passing it on to another company, not even a subsidiary, will they accept this?”

“First of all, Japanese securities companies will accept the deal, right?”

“Well… if the Japanese Nikkei index plunges as you predicted, Miss, it will be so. They can pass on the losses to Korean companies, not their own country, and no one will know. But the comprehensive financial companies are not easy guys, so they won’t accept it as it is.”

“It’s okay, on paper, it’s just a normal stock bond transaction, right? It’s just… trading at a slightly earlier price, not the market price. You can use a little trick and trade based on the year-end closing price.”

Japan and Korea have different dates for opening the market in the new year. Japan opens on January 4th. But Korea opens the market on January 2nd.

“Think carefully. Do you think those great Japanese securities companies will know that the knife is on their neck only after the market opens on January 4?”

“…If the Ministry of Finance announces the interest rate at the end of the year, the securities companies will definitely know before the market opens. But the comprehensive financial companies won’t know the detailed market situation even if they know the interest rate, so if we explain it well, the Japanese securities companies will pass on the losses, thinking they’ve caught a sucker.”

It’s similar to Black Monday. Tension and anxiety accumulated before the market opened…

Bang- and it explodes.

“Yes, our country starts trading on January 2, right? Then, when the transaction order received from Japan comes to Korea, they will naturally think it is based on the previous closing price.”

It means that the transaction is based on the time when the Nikkei index was at its all-time high, but the market price will already be far below. Since they will generally sell bad debts, they should lose at least several tens of percent.

It’s a shallow trick that people familiar with the Japanese stock market won’t fall for, but those who know it have already gone to higher places.

“It’s practically like an option. The ‘minor error’ due to information asymmetry can be attributed to their mistake. But… Miss.”

“Why?”

Ha Jusung, who doesn’t know that the Japanese stock market crash is not temporary but will last for decades, expressed concern.

“Then, if the stock market recovers, only the comprehensive financial companies will benefit, right?”

That’s how the method of passing on losses is done. The side that bears the loss also has its own benefits.

You receive a small tip in exchange for taking the risk, it’s a kind of derivative. Of course, it’s not about taking on the probability of loss, but receiving the loss itself, so it’s like biting the bullet.

Still, if it returns to a recovery, the principal will be guaranteed…

But this time is different. That loss will continue to be a deficit for decades, forever.

“It will be a long-term recession. It’s not a temporary feeling like Black Monday. The US has strong fundamentals, but Japan is obviously a bubble. Even if it recovers… we’ve put debt on the comprehensive financial companies, right? That’s an advantage in itself.”

To recover the current Nikkei index, it will have to be the 2020s. A new company can never endure that.

“I see… this report, our Daeha Group is completely excluded. The proposal is also made by my connections in Japan and people from Alpha Fund…”

Ha Jusung smiled bitterly and nodded.

“Anyway, I understand. I’m already afraid of what you’ll do when you become an adult…”

I spread my arms wide playfully and smiled.

“Do not be afraid, for I am with you… well, there’s a saying like that, right? You’re on my side, so what are you so afraid of?”

It’s not us who will lose.

***

December 27th.

Rumors circulated in the financial world that Alpha Fund was conducting large-scale short selling on the Nikkei index.

Naturally, it was a rumor spread by a returner who was plotting in the Far East.

[Alpha Fund, which predicted Black Monday… predicts Nikkei index crash?]

[Japanese companies comment, will the last semiconductor company crash be repeated? Japanese companies lagging behind in fundamentals]

-Rustle.-

Nomura Securities New York branch, two people were discussing the newspaper.

“Hmm, this… what do you think, Changho? Will the Nikkei index really crash? If the headquarters shakes, it will be ambiguous here too.”

“Well… I don’t know. It’s not the first time the Wall Street Journal has said something like that…”

The young Asian man who drank coffee looked blankly at the scenery of New York.

“Alpha Fund, it doesn’t seem like a very decent place. Honestly, I don’t know. I don’t know if the stock price is collapsing because of short selling, or if they are collapsing the stock price to short sell.”

“A friend who will return to Korea soon seems to know a lot. I thought he was obsessed with Ilsan Group.”

The second son of the chairman of Ilsan Group, Seon Changho, shrugged his shoulders and replied.

“I know quite a bit because there’s a fellow countryman in that fund. Ha Youngil… he’s smart, but he’s a bit dangerous. There are rumors that he’s the real power of Alpha Fund…”

“And?”

“Haha, isn’t it Nomura of information? I like our company for this. Even though it’s a branch, all kinds of information come in.”

“Good, then… let’s see the situation in two days and decide. Although I hid it… I can smell a conspiracy.”

“What do you mean?”

“You won’t know. I just received a proposal, an Alpha Fund employee asked me to make a contract. He said he would insure the losses in the Japanese stock market.”

“Arrogant.”

“Yes! That’s what I’m saying. How dare they be so generous to our Nomura Securities… can they treat us like this? This is a complete conviction. About the Japanese stock market crashing!”

The head of Nomura Securities’ New York office sighed.

There’s definitely something. A reason why Alpha Fund is so confident. I think Ha Youngil, that guy has a connection somewhere…

“

“Isn’t it Ha Jusung? Ha Youngil’s father. I met him when I went to Nomura headquarters before.”

Ugh.

The middle-aged man who heard that shook his head.

“I can see traces of Ha Jusung, but… no. He’s outstanding, but it wasn’t this style.”

Sinister, cunning…

Above all, I couldn’t get a sense of its identity at all.

“Then will you refuse?”

“Of course not. I have to accept it.”

Even assuming that the Nikkei stock market crashes, or assuming that it rises as is, this is an offer that cannot be refused.

So it’s more suspicious.

What kind of thing is this skilled schemer aiming for…

I couldn’t figure it out at all.