Chapter 10

Past Life Returner 10

“Did you regret going back to New York?

I greeted Jonathan with those words as he disembarked, deep in thought.

“In all counts.”

Jonathan immediately replied as he raised his head. Later on, in the same restaurant, his gaze went back to the now useless investment draft proposal, which had only covered until the baht exchange rate started to fall.

-June second

While Jonathan had highlighted the date with a red pen, he had been unable to use the chance.

“How could you have known the date, even if you predicted the trends?”

“Calculation.”

“Will you show them to me in the future?”

Jonathan’s eyes shone.

“I’ll let you hear the ingredients.”

The hedge funds were planning a counterattack by borrowing on the Japanese yen, which had a low-interest rate. Since this was already known, I felt no need to speak of it.

“Only the ingredients? How about the recipe?”

Jonathan had completely changed his attitude in the past few days.  He acted like a young man raised in the country who just had his first look at the lights of the big city rather than a successful financial manager in Wall Street. As I did not know what Jonathan’s personality was like when he was young, I could only understand and let him be. I smiled silently, and Jonathan left it at that since he still had his pride as a manager.

“I still don’t know your name, and that should be corrected.”

“It’s Sunhoo.”

“Sun, who. It’s not bad. Can I call you Sun?”

In my first life, Jonathan had shown me his bright side only twice, and they were when he boasted of his prime in 1997 and after he had cleared a dungeon, surviving to the end. He was like a wounded beast at other times. He would drink whenever there was no work and called out his daughter’s name when he had nightmares of his deceased family. Compared to that, this younger Jonathan, still retained his bright personality. Since I remembered how he had looked the last time I saw him in my past life, I liked seeing him smile like this now.

“Jonathan and Sun Investment.”

Jonathan spoke suddenly about the name of the company we were about to establish.

“The shares are 51 to 49, so my name is first. It would not be wrong to say it would be my company.”

“Remove my name out of it.”

I spoke.

“You seem to be past the age of being coy.”

“I don’t care about the company name. How much capital?”

“Sun, you’re too wily, which is why you succeeded in this crazy deal. I will fund the capital and hand you 49 percent of the shares.”

“I need 51 percent.”

“What?”

“If you don’t like that, I don’t care how little capital you fund.”

“Even if it’s just ten thousand dollars?”

“As you wish.”

“Where does that confidence come from?”

“Will it be ten thousand dollars then?”

Jonathan held out four fingers and spoke on.

“Four hundred thousand dollars. While I want more, that’s all I have.”

Since I have a 51 percent share, I have gotten a little more than two hundred thousand dollars for free.

“Don’t you have any funds to help, Sun?”

“If I did, I wouldn’t have called you to Korea.”

“Why was it me? How did you know me?”

“From the website.”

“…Only a website? You didn’t care who it was  as long as you could establish an investment firm in America?”

An investment firm in America? I wanted to start one from a tax haven if possible. However, considering Jonathan’s savings, I could not.

“Are you disappointed?”

“No, I just think that opportunities come strangely. It never came when I desperately wanted one.”

It never came when I desperately wanted one.

The words felt like déjà vu. When Jonathan had opened a master box with the points he had accumulated after risking his life and nearly dying several times, he had given up on life. He first had a grand plan of not opening any boxes below a challenger box until he had enough points. However, after a series of events that cornered him mentally, he had opened a master box.

Therefore, he had wanted an item instead of a skill or a trait from the master box. If I think back to what Jonathan had said, he seemed to have been planning to sell it and live like crazy in the red-light district until he died.

However, a miracle happened to him, as a skill at the level of a challenger box came out of the master box. That was the second time I had seen something of a higher level come out of a lower box. Only twice. Not even one of the luckiest men I had ever seen had managed to do this, and it was on that day Jonathan had walked away to seek his revenge despite my trying to stop him. That was the last memory I had of him, and I heard of his death by rumors.

***

“Why are you looking at me like that? Are you honored that I acknowledge you as an ‘opportunity?’ From what you have shown me, you’re my chance. My own Sun. I only need one since I’m ready for it.”

I saw Jonathan’s excited face after coming back from my memories.

“Will you bet everything you have if I said to go all-in?”

“All-in?”

Jonathan smiled with meaning.

“Just because I changed the investment product doesn’t mean that I stopped being a trader. I invested in you, which means that I’ll give you all I have.”

Jonathan placed his 007 suitcase on the table with a loud thump, and documents that warranted the sound came out of it. Those were documents needed to establish an investment firm, and he had already signed wherever he needed to. Jonathan had to be the initiator and the CEO since he was an American citizen. He needed my official documents from the Korean government to prove my identity, like my resident registration certificate.

Jonathan’s brow furrowed deeply, seeing it, and he stared at me in confusion. I pointed at my name.

[Sunhoo Na (850228 – *******)

“That’s the only document that will prove my citizenship. That’s my name, and those two are my parents’ names.”

“What are the numbers?”

“They are the Korean equivalent of social security numbers, and they are called resident registration numbers. Proceed with this. I’ll send you my passport as soon as it’s issued.”

“Hey Sun, this number. That’s not your date of birth, right?”

“It is.”

“85 does not mean 1985, right?”

Jonathan asked in surprise. A long time passed during which he simply could not speak from the shock. He needed me to confirm something unbelievable…

“You’re thirteen? Thirteen?”

Jonathan was surprised on two accounts. His co-founder was thirteen, and he already looked like he had finished growing. Jonathan covered his face with one hand like the day he had met Sunhoo, but the eyes peeking through his fingers were different this time. Actually, a bigger thrill than his initial anger burned in them.

“So, you’re an Asian genius.”

***

Jonathan had evaluated my preparedness and tenacity, but now, he thought of my genius as my best asset. The young Asian financial genius. Jonathan looked at me like a westerner who traveled to Tibet and Japan to chase an . While I would have liked to punch him in the eyes, I threw a date instead of a punch.

“The second week of June, from the ninth to the thirteenth.”

Jonathan’s posture changed as I spoke of actual dates.

“I’m certain that stocks will fall by ten percent during that period.”

“You think that Thailand will surrender during that week?”

Jonathan leaned a bit toward me and tried to erase the excitement in his eyes.

“It’ll take longer for that.”

“What do you think will happen in the second week of June?”

“Do you remember what I had said before?”

“That Thailand would be only the beginning?”

“The battle between the hedge fund coalition and Thailand has come to a situation where no one can expect the outcome. So far, the results have been that people think that Thailand would be able to successfully defend themselves.”

“However, we think that they can’t.”

Jonathan used the word we.

“If Thailand’s stock price falls by more than ten percent during the second week, it will be a turning point. The atmosphere will change, and the fear will spread.”

“People will panic.”

“Reinforcements, like sharks scenting blood in the water, will follow the hedge fund coalition that is attacking the baht, and the fear will spread all across Asia. The hedge fund coalition will change battlefields to harvest as much as they can, and their ultimate goal is…”

I stopped and waited for Jonathan to answer.

“Hong Kong.”

Jonathan replied without hesitating like he had been thinking about this issue for a long time.

“You’re wrong. It’s South Korea.”

Jonathan frowned.

“Is that because it is your country? Korea is in a completely different situation compared to Thailand and others. The attackers cannot attack the foreign exchange of this nation. What are you talking about?”

“You’re right. They cannot manipulate the Korean exchanges market, since they are blocked from funneling in funds from outside of Korea.”

“Yes.”

“However, the hedge fund coalition’s funds will not be attacking Korea. It will be the fear that has spread across East Asia that now Korea has to face. Jonathan, the hedge funds are creating fear that the creditors will pull out the foreign investments that are in this country.”

As he imagined the financial crisis from Thailand storming through Asia and, finally, Korea, Jonathan had become quiet. It would be quite a sight for someone on Wall Street. Jonathan’s hands were tightly fisted now.

“Sun, you want to stop it? An individual like you? That’s very patriotic, but this is not my country.”

He shook his head.

“It’s the same for me. People like us, our devotion and love is only for money.”

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Jonathan did not sneer or smile, and he silently nodded as he waited for me to speak the conclusion of this long tale.

“The hedge fund coalition will fight the war, but the day after the war is over, they will know who has benefited the most. They will be surprised.”

Edited by Userunfriendly