Foreign exchange crisis. To interpret it literally, it means there’s a shortage of foreign currency—namely, dollars—coming from outside (the U.S.). People often think the dollar is the world’s key currency, and that’s why problems arise when there’s a dollar shortage... but this isn’t a simple issue. When Koreans think about the 1997 foreign exchange crisis—commonly referred to as the IMF crisis—what kind of images come to mind? Collapsed companies, rising unemployment, and the national humiliation of having handed over economic sovereignty to external forces... Of course, that’s understandable. Those are the things most people directly experienced. And when you frame it as the 1997 East Asian financial crisis, that image generally fits. But there’s something important missing from that picture. It doesn’t explain why the dollars disappeared—or how that was even possible, or what the root causes were. Outrageous claims like “the people’s overspending caused it”—and the fact that some accepted that so casually—stem from this gap in understanding. Basically, people assumed that the crisis happened because Koreans were splurging abroad and tossing dollars around like confetti, draining the nation’s reserves. “So then, take a guess. What am I going to do?” I asked, showing the mountain of documents stacked in front of me to my closest inner circle. Lee Si-hyun, Ha Joo-seong, Ha Yeong-il, Seo Joo-eun, Yoo Seon-jun, and Seo Ji-yeon. All of them were people who had crossed a certain line I had drawn. People who had, in some way or another, come to occupy a considerable part of my heart. It was only a temporary task force, but honestly? Not bad at all. “...You’re gonna blow something up, right?” Yoo Seon-jun—one of the very few allowed to speak casually to me—joked. A ripple of laughter passed through the mixed crowd of people from all walks of life. “Mhm. That’s correct.” Correct as in I’m going to blow you up. I wanted to smack his head, but given our height difference, I settled for hitting his shoulder. Yoo Seon-jun grumbled and returned to his seat. “You all get the gist, don’t you? None of you are idiots... and you’ve seen the kind of things I do.” “What you’ve done can’t be counted on one hand, Young Miss. What exactly are you planning this time?” Ha Yeong-il, fresh from Wall Street and still mentally stuck in the thick of the dotcom frenzy, asked carefully. Lately, he’d been nervously asking how long the bubble would last. I smiled faintly and spoke calmly. Everyone’s expressions turned odd. That’s right—there’s a reason most people don’t know the actual causes of the foreign exchange crisis. It’s because... even the experts, frankly, don’t fully understand it well enough to pinpoint a single factor. Anyone can picture a person bleeding out and dying. But very few imagine the anatomical specifics—the exact origin of the hemorrhage, or which bones were broken. And back then, South Korea was a patient in full-body convulsions, bleeding from seven orifices. For reference, this is a modern setting. There’s no wise martial arts doctor here who can just go, “Hmm, the person’s energy core has been shattered. They’re doomed unless some hidden divine physician from a distant land—whose daughter just so happens to have the Nine Yin Pulse—shows up to fix them.” My inner circle only knows that I’ve fired off a lot of metaphorical bullets in many directions. They just don’t know where I’ve aimed. Unless they crawl into my head and take a tour, they’ll always be like blind men groping at an elephant. “...This isn’t like you, Young Miss.” Lee Si-hyun spoke softly. She’d returned from Russia with only a few bodyguards in tow but now carried a distinct air of menace. Not bad. I version of Si-hyun. “What do you mean, not like me?” Her eyes curved slightly, and she gave a faint smile, almost nostalgic. “I don’t know about now, but back in the day, didn’t you prefer the opposite approach? Rather than doing many things to get one outcome... you did one thing and got many outcomes.” With a rustle, the pile of documents toppled over. It represented the fruits of everything I had built—and the preparations I had made for this moment. “But Si-hyun, you remember Black Monday, don’t you? What you just described depends on your perspective. I’ve always been preparing everything for that one thing.” I improved semiconductor performance, traded options, asked Joo-seong to form secret pacts with Japanese financial firms... That’s how I made money during Black Monday. Sure, each action earned profit on its own. The Black Monday profit was just a synergy effect—but this time, it’s kind of the same. “...That’s also true.” Si-hyun nodded, stepping back. Meaning she didn’t get it. “No, I’m fine. It’s natural that I can’t read your intentions perfectly.” “No, I meant—are you disappointed in yourself for not figuring it out?” “...Not really? I think I did pretty well. How could I possibly read the mind of someone a thousand miles away? And I’m the only one who didn’t get orders this time, anyway.” “...Well, you’re not wrong.” Russia got deprioritized for now, so Si-hyun really didn’t have much to do. So it makes sense she’s a little out of the loop... But my sweet Si-hyun’s gotten so brazen. Too much time entangled with politicians, I guess. Sigh. She used to be adorable. “Are you trying to pop the dotcom bubble?” That’s when Ha Yeong-il spoke up. His voice was a bit hoarse—he’d been worn ragged by the frenzy on Wall Street. “No. It’s not ready yet. Still needs time to grow. We’re in the growth phase.” “You’re saying this is just ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) the beginning...?” The idea that this madness was only a foreshock left Ha Yeong-il visibly stunned. His body slackened. Ha Joo-seong, now graying and clearly worried about his son, gently reached out to steady him. “Yeong-il, I told you to rest, didn’t I?” “Haah... how could I possibly rest? One slip and billions of dollars sway. If even a speck lands on Alpha Fund’s name...” Yeah. He’s far too stressed. Understandably so. After all, most of my assets are concentrated in Alpha Fund. The weight of that responsibility must be crushing. Even experienced fund managers in that role often get weekly manicures because their nails get shredded from the pressure—and Yeong-il was just thrown into it on my command. “It’s okay to take a break. Look around. Why do you think I gathered so many people here today? Usually, security concerns keep us apart.” I smiled and lifted my head with confidence. “I’ll take the responsibility joyfully. You just do what I tell you to.” The fear that one wrong move might drag down everyone who follows me. The pressure of having to juggle dozens of issues at once. The burden of living up to the sky-high expectations people now have of me. All of it—I welcomed. “All right, this is too complicated, so I’ll just give you the outcome first.” Cooling the rising heat in my chest, I said it as if it were nothing. “Yup. In the end, I’m going to devour all of Korea—and while I’m at it, become the richest person in the world. Theoretically possible.” A moment of chaotic silence followed. I didn’t know human expressions could contort that many different ways. Ha Joo-seong glanced around, and thinking the atmosphere wasn’t too bad, he threw in a light joke. “Oh, it’s finally happening? I wondered if I’d live to see it. Haha.” “Ugh, I should’ve run the moment I saw those suspicious reports... Then again, I wouldn’t have met Joo-eun.” Yoo Seon-jun shook his head. I couldn’t help but burst out laughing, genuinely pleased. “Oh! So you all did know, huh? Right?” Quiet little Seo Ji-yeon, who was far lower in rank, suddenly spoke. “...It was impossible not to know. Nobody knows the how, but the end goal? Everyone does.” “Even just looking at the security team’s been shady, hasn’t it? When Si-hyun brought over those ex-KGB types in secret, I seriously thought we were starting a war.” Well, since the CIA didn’t intervene right after the Soviet collapse due to political distractions, there was no better opportunity. If I hadn’t grabbed the Soviet leftovers then, I’d have inevitably ended up in the CIA’s crosshairs later. “So, what exactly are you going to do? I mean, the bomb’s already planted in Korea. Thanks to the Japanese bubble, the merchant banks are sitting on massive Japanese debt. Everyone’s ignored it so far since there haven’t been repayment demands... but you buried it for this moment, didn’t you?” “I told you, Seon-jun oppa. I’m doing everything.” I handed out the stacks of documents one by one. BBB will suddenly withdraw from East Asia. Aqua Capital in the U.S. will whip up endless froth, sucking dollars from all over the world. Daehwa Securities and Daehwa Investment Bank will, in lockstep, convert all the won they’ve hoarded into dollars and drain the Bank of Korea’s reserves. The merchant banks, hit by sudden demands to repay Japanese bubble-era debts, will face liquidity crises and run to the Bank of Korea as well. Once the last dollar is gone... Finally, Alpha Fund will do what hedge funds do best: attack the exchange rate and devour the country—collapsing everything in a tsunami of money. And in the wreckage of Korea, there will be so, so much to feast on. A truly delightful affair. It’s now been well over ten years since I reincarnated. In that time—long enough for mountains to change—I’ve created countless butterfly effects. The causes changed. The environment changed. People changed. Of course, I’m not an all-seeing god who can predict and control the entire future. So the outcome should logically change too. But... I wanted to recreate that exact outcome. The collapsed Korean economy. The exact landscape of that foreign exchange crisis. So what do I have to do to create a patient bleeding from seven holes? Simple. I’ll just do everything. If I fire off a thousand bullets, it’ll roughly resemble my past life’s version, won’t it? I didn’t know what would kill you, so I prepared everything. Break during the meeting. Lee Si-hyun came over and asked: “So, Young Miss. What am I supposed to do?” “Oh, lend me some money. I’ll pay you back tenfold later.” What? You can never have too much ammo.