[Scale of Pound Short-Selling Reaches $120 Billion!]
[Pound/Mark Exchange Rate at 2.8... Bank of England Rushes to Buy More Pounds]
[Bank of England Injects £30 Billion into Forex Market... Are the UK’s Vaults Enough?]
Another night passed dimly as I pulled another all-nighter.
I picked up a morning newspaper from somewhere in the US and let out a sigh.
“It’s a shame, that I can’t step out into the spotlight.”
“The One Who Brought the Bank of England to Its Knees.”
In my past life, that title belonged to George Soros, who succeeded in shorting the pound.
But in this life, that title would go to Alpha Fund. Or maybe to Ha Yeong-il.
The people close to me know what I’m really doing, but that’s only a “those who know, know” kind of thing... It’s seriously disappointing that the world doesn’t acknowledge this incredible plan I pulled off.
I do enjoy being the mastermind in the shadows, but what I like even more is being openly praised. And Seon-jun, who’s at least capable of following my thinking and understanding what I’m doing, looks at me like I’m some sort of cryptid. Not a fan.
“So... when do you think you’ll actually come out into the open?”
Seo Joo-eun asked, having overheard my muttering. She’s the type who almost never voices her opinions—unexpected.
I stared straight at # Nоvеlight # her, and after a slight hesitation, she answered. She must’ve decided that it was smarter to just respond honestly, being the perceptive type.
“It’s because... well, I overheard what you discussed with Master Seon-jun. It got me personally curious. I know you're unable to come forward now because of practical constraints... Oh, I’m just saying I was curious, that’s all.”
“You know, right? I’ll probably step out around the time I become an adult.”
Joo-eun nodded. The restriction of being a minor was a perfectly reasonable explanation. And yeah, it just so happens the year I become an adult is also the timing of the currency crisis... Total coincidence, though.
I stepped closer and adjusted her collar. Something felt a bit off about her lately...
“Are you seeing someone? An office romance?”
My second secretary’s face turned slightly red.
Well, she’s not my type, but Joo-eun is kind of pretty.
“Hmm, well... that’s fine. It’s not like I asked you to report that kind of stuff. Just make sure you don’t leak any confidential information, okay? And if you can, keep it in-house.”
For certain complicated reasons, we actually encourage office romance at Daehwa Securities and Daehwa Investment Bank. Give it another twenty years, and we might even start to look like some noble family or something. (Though I felt reassured once I realized that’s just how chaebol families tend to work.)
“So who is it? I mean, you’ve been busy—how do you even find time to date?”
“Uhm... calling it dating might be a stretch. It’s... with the young master...”
That short reply told me everything I needed to know.
I clicked my tongue. No wonder Seon-jun oppa smelled like a woman when I hugged him earlier...
“So that’s what you were curious about? You figured I wouldn’t be able to take parental leave once I come of age... Once this is over, take some time off. Yeon-ha’s gotten somewhat trained up by now anyway.”
“...As expected, there’s no such thing as retirement.”
She looked subtly relieved, like she’d figured as much.
“Of course not. Did you think I’d fire you just because you had a baby?”
“In most companies, yes. Once a woman gives birth, she usually retires to raise the child...”
Hmm, now that I think about it, yeah. If Joo-eun hadn’t been an orphan, her parents might’ve pressured her to do just that.
“It’s fine! I’ve got money, so I can afford generous employee benefits. Especially when it’s such a high-pressure job. Our company guarantees lifetime employment.”
I waved my personal ledger with a grin. I had spent quite a bit on acquiring Barings Bank, but... this year’s earnings still far exceeded that.
Current profit: $600 million.
A $10 billion short position inevitably comes with massive risk. Leveraged short-selling costs a lot even if you just sit still.
That’s why I was spending every night bouncing between Daehwa Investment Bank and Daehwa Securities.
“There’s no major update from the UK yet... but forecasts say they’ll soon withdraw from the ERM.”
Lee Si-hyun reported. Normally solid and strong from constant training, even she was starting to show signs of strain—her hand was trembling slightly.
“Yeah, the issue is when, exactly.”
A difference of a day or two could completely change the scale of profits or losses. That’s how shorting works.
Because I’d tampered with the past, the pound short wasn’t entirely under my control anymore—so I could still enjoy the rush of it.
“...To be honest, this is way too much of a gamble, Miss.”
“Just copying the answer key isn’t fun, right?”
This was something between gambling and inevitable history. I’m not like Seon-jun, who leaves everything to probability.
I want full control—even over probability itself.
“...Yes. Of course you’d say that, Miss.”
“Okay, okay, let’s focus. Today’s important.”
I was tense. And with good reason—I’d set a pretty tight deadline for the short. If the pound didn’t crash in time, I’d take a monstrous loss.
I might even go bankrupt and end up on the streets...
Ah, right. I’m a chaebol now. That’s not happening.
“So what do we do now? We finished everything you told us to do...”
Normally, she would’ve found something to do on her own, but Si-hyun was so exhausted she just stood there mumbling.
...Is she asleep standing up?
“Once this is over, I’ll let you rest for real, so wake up! We’ve still got to respond to margin calls and keep the team in line! And once the news drops, we need to time the position clear-out—got it?”
My secretaries and subordinates weren’t mindless reaction bots parroting “Oh, the stock is up! Oh, the stock is down!” while dumping everything onto a suspicious genius.
They weren’t some useless user support team in a fantasy game spouting, “What can we even do, boss? We don’t have authority, so we just trust the player and the AI...”
Of course... I mean, they’re still kind of reaction bots. Just not useless. Maybe slightly more competent than Wall Street’s money demons.
Anyway—they get the job done.
“Ah, hello, Miss. Good morning.”
A Daehwa Investment Bank employee with a zombie-like face bowed. He’d been at Berlin Bank yesterday handling the Barings acquisition.
A colleague beside him pointed something out.
“It’s six. That’s evening. Looks like it’s definitely not early morning.”
“Huh? Isn’t it morning? I saw the chief secretary, so...”
“Oh, right. If the chief’s here, it is morning.”
The guy who corrected him nodded dumbly.
I glanced back and forth between the wall clock and the TV.
...it’s lunchtime. The wall clock’s broken.
I let out a quiet sigh, sat down, and chewed on a sandwich while reading internal Barings Bank documents. The cold ham didn’t go down easy, but since I was working, it tasted okay.
“Phew, I just wanna go home and eat something good...”
As I was flipping through channels with the remote, a news flash suddenly appeared.
A bright red headline lit up the bottom of the screen.
[Bank of England Officially Announces Withdrawal from ERM!]
[Bank of England Surrenders! UK Abandons ERM, Switches to Floating Exchange Rates!]
My pupils dilated. A deep thrill surged from my gut and curled into a faint smile. I immediately calmed myself and calculated the profits.
‘With the gains from Spain and Sweden... and factoring in the Barings expenses...’
That’s how much I earned from this incident.
Far off in the background, I saw employees cheering and shouting about going home. Smiling faintly, I gave the order to liquidate the positions.
Alpha Fund hits 30% annual return in just one month!
An old, frail man walked slowly through the City of London. And he thought—
Once, this was the center of global finance.
Once, this was a country called the Empire on which the sun never set.
Once, this was a bank wealthy enough to lend money to the US government...
All of that is in the past. The UK’s global stature has steadily declined through WWII and the Cold War.
No—maybe it really started when the British Empire stopped being an empire. Some might argue it’s just because America got too successful...
But for a leader of a country, that’s not an acceptable excuse.
“Sigh... I don’t even know where Britain is headed anymore.”
His cane struck the pavement slowly. A crumpled newspaper on the ground told of the Bank of England’s humiliation.
[Pound Exchange Rate Plummets—Pound Nearly Halved]
[It’s All PM John Major’s Fault, Says Parliament. Who Will Take Responsibility for the National Treasury Handed Over to the US?]
[Losses in the Billions of Pounds... UK Faces Long-Term Economic Recession. Where Is the British Empire Headed?]
Long ago, India was brought to its knees by a mere company—the East India Company.
And as a result, India became the British Empire’s greatest jewel.
“Maybe Britain, too...”
Having finally bowed to American capital—
Where is the British Empire headed?
Robert Leigh-Pemberton, Governor of the Bank of England, sighed and dragged his heavy steps forward.
It was the era of Pax Americana.