There were two Nobel Laureates in Economics, and their impact on not only Wall Street but also the financial world was truly remarkable. They created financial derivatives and caused a mathematical economic boom. However, these two great professors were placing all of their assets including the Nobel Prize reward in LTCM and worked as partners in the firm. Everyone believed that LTCM would bring everything they wanted to become successful back then, and LTCM actually had become a global hedge fund. They managed a trillion dollar fund and were placing large bets on Russian government bonds. This meant that the two Nobel Laureates believed that Russia would never collapse.

Therefore, who would join us under such circumstances? Kim Cheong-Soo from New York and Gillian from the Isle of Man were suffering and enduring the pressure of our enemy. At that time, my offshore funds showed a two-digit loss rate. The numbers were showing up in blood red: -35%, -41%, -29%, -48%... The one with the largest loss rate was close to the margin call. If this trend continued, I would lose nearly forty percent of my original funds, which basically meant 1.2 billion out of three billion had evaporated into thin air.

Obviously, the Russian bankruptcy was a historic event in the past, and there was no abnormality in the data. There was no way Russia could survive. However, the battle with the hedge funds union didn’t exist in the past. We did intentionally pull them in by creating an artificial boom…

We were suffering great losses and had no more troops to send to the front. What if we did something that could prevent Russia’s bankruptcy? What if there was a secret agreement that the U.S. Treasury Department or Japan’s Ministry of Finance hid?

I glared at the monitor with my arms crossed. Until a few days ago, there was nothing left to watch and that was the right choice. I wasn’t anxious, but my heart began to beat faster. The date on the bottom of the monitor was July 13th.

“Not yet…” I murmured.

The phone rang. The guy was speaking in English, but it wasn’t Jonathan.

<Hello.>

I had a hunch after hearing the man’s mechanical greeting. I hated getting this type of call as in the past I had gotten similar calls announcing the death of someone. I waited for him to continue while putting my phone on my shoulder and my hand on the ledger.

<This is the Cayman office of Florida Wizer Securities. I called you to inform you that your deposit has gone below the maintenance margin.>

It was an official death notice, a margin call.

<Seon-Hu: Could you wait for a moment please? I’ll check.>

The account with the Wizer had been trading on the FX margin.

「Account name: Tailroad Corporation 」

「Account value : ＄420,000」

「Valuation profit and loss: - ＄580,000」

「Estimated Profit: -58 %」

One knight had died.

<All positions will be liquidated by the system, and your estimated loss is greater than sixty percent of the current balance of your deposit after all positions are finalized.>

The employee indirectly mentioned Miranda’s law and hung up after hearing my thanks. The Tailroad paper company was dealing with the most intense battles, and I expected they would hit a jackpot like in Thailand. However, it didn’t take long for the account to die out, and it was obvious that the loss would soon reach a percentage above sixty.

In the meantime, the same calls continued nonstop as Tailroad failed. I decided to leave them be since they were only a few of many battlefields in the front. Those who were in less danger were bearing the enemy’s attack pretty well.

We just have to hold onto the pressure! You’ve got this! I thought.

In the past, I had been in a boss fight like this before. It was powerful, but it wasn’t that complicated to defeat it. It was a so-called reinforced monster, and this type returned to its original weaker entity after enough time passed. If we managed to hold out until the monster’s reinforced state disappeared, we won. If not, we were wiped out. However, the rewards had been superb; we had opened platinum boxes endlessly afterwards.

Compared to that, fighting against Russia was easier as we were fighting the hedge funds union that defended Russia to save themselves. However, the truth was that their king, Russia, was suffering deadly. Soon or later, Russia would be out of breath.

***

It was Korea’s constitution day, and I headed to the office early in the morning.

“Hello.”

Woo Yeon-Hee welcomed me while holding a crossbow. She was ready to greet me as she expected I would come early. I saw newspapers arranged neatly on the table, and the printer in the workout room was spitting out hard copies. The television was on CNBC’s Asian channel broadcasted from Singapore. Woo Yeon-Hee had been acting like a secretary since last week, but I let her do so.

“Did you have breakfast?” she asked.

I approached the printer while I nodded. She had been printing main articles from financial websites including Financial Times only because I was interested in them. I felt it was more prudent to use her email account to register for the newsletters.

Anyway, yesterday’s articles were also dealing with the war over the Russian market. The western financial community started using the term ‘war’ around when Woo Yeon-Hee began to act like a secretary. Considering the daylight saving time system, there was a five-hour difference between Moscow and Seoul. It was currently 5 AM in Moscow. Usually, the big announcements started between 10:30 AM and 12 PM as the bureaucrats finished their pre-briefing around then.

Therefore, if there was no news from 2:30 PM to 4 PM in Korea, nothing would happen that day. I had been running to the office after school for the past week, but there was no news. What about today?

“Summer vacation has started, right?” Woo Yeon-Hee asked.

“Since yesterday,” I replied.

She replied, “That’s nice. You’ve been waiting for a break. But if we’re talking about explaining your absence to your parents, how about talking about the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT)? Since I was your homeroom teacher in seventh grade, I’ll convince…”

“Actually,” I cut in.

I was about to explain that the biggest reason for entering into dungeons and earning massive profits was for my parents, but I stopped when I remembered her terrible relationship with her family. The memory of when her mother stormed into her daughter’s work and shouted that she was insane was still vivid in my mind. A mother shouldn't have done such a thing to her own daughter, even if she thought she was insane.

“As you can see, my physical development is highly advanced compared to others. I don’t want to stray further,” I continued.

I wanted them to see me grow in a normal fashion. Therefore, I made the choice not to immigrate a long time ago. My parents’ families and friends were here, so their happiness wouldn’t last long in a golden mansion in America with a thousand servants. Mother had been like that as well in my past life.

“...”

Woo Yeon-Hee smiled faintly.

“Put down the bow, and come and sit here,” I said.

It was time to tell her more realistic precautions to take before going into the dungeon. Her face grew serious as I explained. Although she realized how terrifying the dungeon was, the fact that specific countermeasures were being discussed meant that the time to enter the dungeon was near.

Gillian, Kim Cheong-Soo and I set the deadline to be from late July to early August. We were determined to liquidate our position regardless of Russia’s state by then. If they went bankrupt, we would gain massive profits, but if not, we would suffer a great loss.

Anyway, the timing was nice since it was summer vacation. My parents felt relieved when I mentioned my former homeroom teacher in my report of summer activities. It was possible to have a month to target the dungeon slowly and safely.

My explanation continued after ordering delivery food, and, around 2:30 PM, I ended up describing the F-level dungeon. Woo Yeon-Hee looked at the clock and didn’t disturb me as she knew my schedule. I sat on a couch, and CNBC Asia’s anchor was having a discussion about the financial war in Russia with experts.

“Hedge funds often become aggressive because they have to make a profit, and it has had a detrimental impact on the world economy. Think about what Asia has been up to since last year,” one of the experts sitting on the right said.

“Hedge funds are like…hackers. There are good ones and bad ones, but I believe that both work the same way and affect corporations to a similar degree. Firms under attack by hackers recognize their weakness, and they reinforce themselves and become stronger,” the other answered.

“The problem is that they are bad hackers and ask for lots of money. The financial war in Russia is not just a battle between two hedge fund forces. There’s bound to be an innocent victim,” the expert on the right side stated.

The other refuted, “Well, I don’t think so. Many transactions are managed in the futures market, and most of them are institutions who use the hedge funds.”

One was attacking hedge funds while the other was defending them. The main anchor stopped the two’s arguments.

“A major announcement has just begun in Moscow. According to the news, Russia has just declared a moratorium a few minutes ago.”

At that moment, I felt my body sink into the couch. Russia had finally collapsed.