Although a man nicknamed the ‘living financial empire’ who overpowered existing billionaires had appeared in Las Vegas, the street was no different from any other day. It was because he had arrived in the city by private helicopter in order to avoid encountering tourists.

Only the hotel made a fuss. Jonathan showed up like a king, trailing bodyguards and hotel executives behind him. The hotel’s general manager already had a perfect business smile always present on his face, but now it was full of respect towards the new guest. It was often said that the West was more freewheeling compared to the East, but that was incorrect. Since age-based hierarchy wasn’t as important here, the vertical hierarchy based on positions and personal status was strict. Westerners didn’t stoop or bow down, but I could tell that all of the arrogant faces hidden behind kind masks were now changing. Since Las Vegas was a city that had developed its autonomy without city police, each hotel’s general manager was like a community leader, and such a guy was flattering Jonathan right now. Moreover, the manager didn’t even know Jonathan was his true boss, and he was aware of the rumor stating that Jonathan Group was in its crisis.

If Park Choong-Sik was the President of Finance in Korea, then Jonathan was the President of Finance of the entire world. When Jonathan came to the hotel to see me, the manager looked at me with startled eyes. He seemed to be reflecting on whether he had made any mistakes. The door closed, and Jonathan untied his tie.

“Are you happy having fun alone?” he asked.

“You are the one who’s having fun,” I replied.

Jonathan’s mouth turned up at my words. He didn’t look stressed this time. He threw today’s Wall Street Journal at me as if he had been waiting for this moment. The headline was huge.

[Pray Alpha Has Gone Bankrupt!

Jonathan Group’s sturdy financial empire is collapsing.]

The first few pages were all about Jonathan Group’s crisis theory. They sounded like Jonathan and I would be destroyed tomorrow.

“Even if I wanted to ruin my empire, I can’t, you idiots.”

We were beyond that level.

***

The start of everything occurred in one of our hedge funds called Pray. I had to choose one that had a reputation in the financial world but was not too large. If I opted for one that had derivative products which blanketed the world, like LTCM, there was a high possibility that it would lead to a more serious matter before the subprime mortgage crisis broke out. After selecting the hedge fund, I let the managers leave the company and improved their portfolios. I tied up only our group’s capital to Pray, so Pray’s bankruptcy ended with our group’s problem.

The hedge fund ‘Pray’ had grown over five years, and I had turned it into a group by creating new hedge funds under it. When the Pray Group was established at the end of last year, the global financial community had been clamoring that Jonathan Group had hit a home run once again.

However, no one could have ever imagined that the Pray Group was created for one purpose only. They had been designed to go bankrupt from the very beginning!

Keuk. Keuk.

Jonathan also laughed uproariously.

“This reminds me of the old days. During the Russian financial war… we spent a billion dollars to raise the stakes.”

The current situation was similar to back then, but also different. It was the same in terms of the building stages, but the scale was so grand that no one could guess that its real purpose was to actually collapse. It was never our intention to try to make a profit from it.

I said, “Anyway, others would definitely think that Pray Group is our group’s henchman.”

“They don’t actually mean much to us.”

We laughed at the same time and turned our attention to the television. The vivid voice of experts announced the market’s response to the current situation more clearly than the newspaper did. One of them was even an analyst at the Silverman Group, who claimed that they were our competitor. Well, yes. They used to be.

“Pray is one of the core groups of Jonathan Investment and Finance Group as they are formed with only net capital. It’s like Jonathan’s and John Doe’s private money storage.”

“I heard the scale is tremendous.”

“Yes, for sure. They had begun with five billion and became the integration of the parent group’s net assets after going through several capital increases. The estimate alone is more than seventy billion dollars.”

“It’s not an amount that one group can possess, but it’s convincing. People are saying that the net capital of Jonathan Group is more than that of the IMF[1].”

“Just the IMF?” Jonathan snorted.

“They say that, but things will change when the crisis that started in the Pray Group spreads throughout the Jonathan Group. That’s why the private data of the Pray Group should be revealed as soon as possible.”

“Today’s discussion should proceed with a lot of explanation so that the public can understand what's going on. Everyone needs to be aware of the seriousness of the crisis.”

“Yes. It’s like this. The Jonathan Group is one body with the global economy. When they are in danger, the world will be affected detrimentally to a great extent. It’s going to be a serious blow that no one can imagine.”

“Ah, they know that so well.” Jonathan grinned again.

“Yes.”

“But the Jonathan Group has a core business called the Pray Group, and the two of them are closely related.”

“When the Pray Group falls in crisis, Jonathan’s group will fall into danger. Then, the world’s economy begins to collapse. That’s the easiest way I can describe what is happening right now.”

“Even if the Pray doesn’t have any public investments, that’s where the problem arises. The Jonathan Group is responsible for resolving the Pray crisis. Even if it’s their own capital.”

It was an absurd argument under the logic of the financial market. The experts were stubborn, and everything they said was complete nonsense.

“That freak… He must’ve been severely beaten up by us in the past. When though? Asian financial crisis? Russian financial war? Dotcom bubble?” Jonathan asked.

“All three,” I replied.

The host seemed a bit embarrassed, but he moved on smoothly, “Let’s focus on the Pray group’s situation. Today, each of their hedge funds went bankrupt for ten billion dollars. What aspects should the market pay attention to?”

“It’s the highest single bankruptcy ever. The Pray Group has six hedge funds from Pray-alpha to Pray-zeta. As far as I know, they are intertwined, and alpha is just the beginning.”

“So you are stating that there will be a series of bankruptcies. The entire Pray Group will go bankrupt soon, and the Jonathan Group will be in crisis.”

“That’s right.”

“I can’t imagine that. If one hedge fund bankruptcy scale is ten billion dollars, the whole group’s bankruptcy will be…”

“Idiots. The minimum will be sixty billion dollars,” Jonathan’s voice pierced through the television’s noise.

“I’m saying that Jonathan should announce that. If Jonathan Hunter is watching this right now, I’d like to strongly demand him to cooperate with the market to take action by disclosing the internal data of the Pray Group and…”

I turned off the television and Jonathan said heatedly, “If I reveal things now, it will look like I’m following that idiot’s command.”

“The stock price is fluctuating, so we can’t put it off,” I responded.

We had to make it public before the fear spread further.

“Ah, fine.”

Jonathan called Kim Cheong-Soo who was waiting at the headquarters.

Things happened quickly. Kim Cheong-Soo, the CFO[2] of Jonathan Group, held a press conference, and it was broadcasted as emergency breaking news. He mentioned that approximately one hundred billion dollars from the Jonathan Group’s net capital had been placed in the Pray Group, and that it was difficult to cease a series of bankruptcies as the market predicted. However, he emphasized that the situation would only influence the group and that he would put in all-out efforts to revive the Pray Group.

The next day, Pray-beta went bankrupt, and it was a fifteen billion dollar scale bankruptcy. The amount accumulated over the next two days came to twenty-five billion, and it was obvious that some people were having fun watching us.

Laugh as much as you want.

[Pray Situation. An Estimated One Hundred Billion Dollars in Bankruptcy! Will It Turn Into the Jonathan Crisis?]

[Jonathan Investment and Financial Group’s Overall Crisis!]

[Jonathan Investment and Financial Group, the High-Flying Falcon is Plunging Neverendingly.]

[Is Jonathan Investment and Financial Group’s SOB[3] Also Shaking?]

It took a long time to complete the stage. Entry timing was significant for all investments, and withdrawal timing was just as important. As I mentioned earlier, the timing of the bomb explosion had been delayed compared to the past. The crude oil futures market had broken its record for the highest price. It used to be fifteen dollars per barrel during the dotcom bubble incident, but it had now reached a hundred twenty dollars per barrel. Besides, the expected profit was enormous as we had invested in kind while storing crude oil in oil tankers and large reservoirs. In terms of return, we would never break the records of hitting another jackpot that we had during the Asian financial crisis, but the important thing was that the crude oil market was something that could digest our capital.

Two trillion dollars a year… That vast market was dominated by three groups: Jonathan, Gillian, and the Rothschild Family. That was why. If two out of the three started taking a step back at once, their gains so far would automatically go to the one who stayed.

The market participants weren’t dumb. They wouldn’t accept the deal by calculating why the Oil Cartel Group suddenly began liquidating. Then, the amount of stake that had risen would significantly plunge, and the expected earnings would reduce. One needed a justification to withdraw, and that was what the Pray incident was for us.

Basically, we were finally withdrawing from the crude oil market. They would collapse as soon as the subprime mortgage crisis began, so I had to say goodbye.

Thank you for your work so far, and I’ll see you again with a big smile.

From now on, we would have to check the accumulated profit that cost billions of dollars every day. Then, those who would take over all those bombs would be the idiots who enjoyed our crisis. The ones with vicious intentions would even take on a mortgage business sector.

I would blow up things that needed to be eliminated as soon as possible before the subprime mortgage crisis occurred. I had sucked up all the benefits from them, so I didn’t have any regrets. They were the best harvests ever.

I said with a smile, “Let’s start cleaning up, Jonathan.”

Jonathan had been waiting for that order. His whole body trembled as if he had already felt excitement.

A final sale would begin worldwide immediately after the Great Recession, so the fun started now. On top of the accumulated assets so far, the proceeds from the crude oil and mortgage markets piled up. Where do you think they would go?

1. International Monetary Fund. ☜

2. Chief Financial Officer ☜

3. Sun of Bank ☜