chapter 172

Jerry D. Williams, the chairman of AP Morgan Group, was on a broad expanse of land, and his car was heading deep into the estate. Jerry hurried as soon as he got out of the car. An old man was waiting for him, and his voice and eyes were weak and lonely. Every time Jerry faced the old man who was sitting dangerously in a wheelchair like a corpse, he felt like he was looking at a ghost. The old man said he was disappointed, then disappeared with the medical staff. After that, Noah, the old man’s successor appeared.

“Noah… I’m ashamed.”

Jerry looked dejected because he had just been rebuked by the old man.

“The closing price of Googol’s tenth round has exceeded five hundred dollars. How do you feel about them breaking Wall Street traditions?” Noah asked sarcastically.

“Excluding the Jonathan Group doesn’t help with anything. We should admit that they are leading the market.”

Jerry felt like he had to say that. The Jonathan Group’s message to Wall Street through Googol’s IPO was clear.

Look. We are confident that we will win against the entire Wall Street at any time. Therefore, you should be prepared if you want to challenge us!

It was an arrogant warning, but they had the right to say such a thing.

“We have reached a point where we cannot control the market without the Jonathan Group’s cooperation. It’s too late to start an argument regarding Na Seon-Hu’s ethnicity. Look at the situation. Why do you think he’s attacking Wall Street by putting Googol forward? I’m not talking about the IPO’s success or failure. I’m talking about our order.”

If they had ignored Na Seon-Hu’s ethnicity and had embraced the Jonathan Group earlier, things wouldn’t have come this far. The more Jerry thought about it, the angrier he became. The situation was disgraceful, but the Jonathan Group’s message that blocked any possible revenge irritated him even more.

“How was the Bilderberg Club this year?”

This question came out of the blue. Jerry couldn’t understand Noah’s intention as Noah knew about the conference already.

Jerry answered, “It was the worst ever. The British and European members were busy attacking us. Then, they caused internal strife among themselves, and an unsavory incident occurred.”

Jerry recalled Cassandra, who was gone now. He remembered the sight of her running riot and the disastrous scene he saw in the Rothschild’s room. On top of that, these unpleasant matters happened in the greatest and most secretive place in the world… He still couldn’t believe it.

Then, Noah interrupted his thoughts, “As expected, you didn’t hear about it yet. You should work a little harder as you are not trustworthy to the members.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

Noah dropped a bombshell. “The Rothschild family is claiming that Na Seon-Hu was the one who masterminded the internal conflict behind the scene.”

“Na Seon-Hu?”

“Do you know that he is eighteen years old this year?”

“Yes, I’m aware of it.”

The Jonathan Group arose six years ago during the Asian financial crisis. In other words, Na Seon-Hu had entered capitalism at the age of twelve. It was as unbelievable as Cassandra’s rampage at the Bilderberg Club.

Jerry grumbled, “I don’t think Na Seon-Hu is a real person. I know… that an eighteen-year-old boy named Na Seon-Hu exists in Korea… But that’s a disguise. That’s what I’ve been saying lately. It would be unbearable for him if we put him at the Bilderberg Club.”

“There was an attempt a few years ago. But, we tried taking him out of the world, not into the Bilderberg Club.”

“Yes, but I heard Jonathan Group was also aggressive back then as they always are.”

“Yes. Ed was certain that Na Seon-Hu wasn’t a disguise.”

Ed was the name of the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury.

“I’ve never heard of that. If Na Seon-Hu isn’t a cover-up, then a twelve-year-old boy established the Jonathan Group six years ago… But that is even more ridiculous.”

“Let’s say that he is a genius. Anyway.”

That was the only possibility that Noah could come up with.

“There’s evidence that Na Seon-Hu started the internal conflict. It’s not a hunch.”

Jerry listened attentively.

“The chairman, Colton, is moving Goldstein’s core businesses to other corporations. Have you heard of the Jeon-il Group?” Noah asked.

Jerry frowned slightly. “The Jeon-il Group… It’s the same Korean-American fund as ‘Na Seon-Hu.’ Was it that one?”

“While there was an internal fight among European members, an incident called ‘Jeon-il Gate’ broke out in Korea, where people doubted the origins of the firm. I did my own research, so take a look at this.”

Noah handed the file to Jerry, and Jerry took a long time reading through it.

“They perfectly concealed it,” Jerry said.

Then, he compared Na Seon-Hu’s past immigration records and the Jonathan Group’s growth. They matched.

“Na Jeon-il’s son, Na Seon-Hu… But we can’t do anything with this record. They had put so much effort into hiding the fund. Oh, gosh. All I can say is… Wow… I can’t believe this is the work of a twelve-year-old boy.”

“The important thing is that the Jonathan Group is run by Na Seon-Hu. He’s the commander, Jerry.”

Jerry protested, “But, what’s the difference? Even before the Jonathan Group had grown this much, they had been aggressive towards the White House. When someone hits them, they get upset and jump in. If we ignore the message they sent during the IPO…”

He slowly shook his head and continued, “The Goldsteins have collapsed. These are the Goldsteins! The other families won’t cooperate, and I can guarantee that, Noah. This time, Wall Street could go down. You probably don’t want to admit it, but you should. I rushed to come here to stop you.”

Jerry had poured out so many words at once but he still felt heavy with anxiety as Noah didn’t react much.

“What do you mean Wall Street would go down? Why did you become so weak? Also, if Wall Street gets ruined, the Jonathan Group collapses too. Things are different now from when they were losing their temper at the White House. They can’t start a war here,” Noah said calmly.

“So… you’re going to do it?”

“No. As I said, things have changed. There was also a message, but…”

“But?”

“But we can’t let Na Seon-Hu run wild anymore. If we hold him even for a few years, we can create incidents that Jonathan can’t handle by himself. Again, the commander of Jonathan Investment and Finance Group is Na Seon-Hu.”

The word that popped up in Jerry’s mind was ‘kidnapping.’ However, the world was currently quite noisy because Cassandra had disappeared, so something like this shouldn’t happen so soon again. At least, that was Jerry’s conclusion. When Jerry was about to oppose the idea of kidnapping…

“Of course, it would be better if he disappears forever.”

“Noah!”

Jerry’s clenched fist trembled suddenly as he felt miserable. The situation was worse than he had expected, and he couldn’t believe he was working under a person who commanded him to blatantly break laws, such as murdering someone.

He had suffered from a huge loss in the Asian financial crisis and the Russian financial war. Last year, he was even kicked out of the OIl Cartel Group, and he was barely managing to keep his group in the mortgage market.

But!

He now understood Cassandra’s madness.

“…You can’t do this to me. I’ve devoted myself to the elder,” Jerry’s voice shook as he replied.

Noah said mercilessly, “How did we end up like this? I’m sorry that we have to come this far, but that Asian guy should disappear. You should also agree that he has grown too big.”

“Does the elder know about this?” Jerry asked, but there was no reply.

“Oh, Gosh…”

Jerry lost strength in his legs. He couldn’t believe the world’s most influential family was trying to resolve the problem by murdering the guy. Moreover, it was the old man’s direct order.

“The Asian guy is in New York now. What are you going to do?”

“…Even though we will kill him… That means we are admitting our defeat. The older generation like the elder and I have lost, but Noah, you should win in the end.”

***

“The sudden resignation of AP Morgan Group’s chairman and chief executive, Jerry D. Williams, is expected to cause major turbulence in the financial industry. Regarding his resignation, Former CEO Jerry D. Williams has stated ‘I respect the board’s decision. I had a disagreement with the board over management strategy,’ and officially announced that he had been fired.”

A loser had broken away from the battlefield.

“Jerry is leaving like this?”

The call girl alternately looked between me and the television. As if she was trying to show off her slender legs, she was pacing around me. She was a premium call girl that I had brought to the self-congratulatory party between the two Googol founders, Jonathan and myself.

The Hispanic call girl acted cutely and remarked as if she felt sympathy, “By the way, it must have been tough for an Asian to succeed in Wall Street.”

“How did you succeed?” I questioned.

“Well, my beauty is the top in this field. Your body must have helped you to succeed,” she replied with a smile.

“And?”

“I studied a lot. I think I studied as much as you did, but I’ve never heard about you. Why haven’t I seen you before?”

“You must know a lot about Wall Street.”

“They are excellent customers. Meeting nice customers is always fun. Today’s party was awesome. Congratulations, Mr. Billionaire.”

Then, she blew hot breath into my ears as if she was trying to seduce me.

She whispered, “I also invested in Googol. You’re going to take good care of your investor, right?”

Since Googol’s listing had proceeded in the auction format, which was very different from the traditional method, it meant that she had to be an active market participant to take part in it. It was true that she had studied a lot, but tonight wasn’t the night to count numbers.

“That’s going to be hard because I’ve suppressed some things for too long,” I answered.

“You’re lying! You don’t seem like that kind of person with this solid body.”

“You will see.”

“Aaah!”

The call girl widened her eyes as I lifted her in an instant, then laughed her head off on the bed. She was an attractive woman with rich brown colored skin that reminded me of a bronze box. She knew how to use her beauty and had studied hard to survive on Wall Street. It wasn’t a coincidence that she had become the top call girl who earned thousands of dollars a night.

She took off her jacket with a big smile.

“Why?” she asked as I stood up from the bed.

“I need more whisky,” I gave her a flippant answer, but it was actually because I had heard the footsteps of several men. I stood behind the door in a robe and waited for them. The room was quite spacious, like the size of a mansion, so the call girl didn’t know where and what I was doing.

Who are they?

I didn’t remember calling Mick’s subordinates. They stopped right in front of my door, and they were three guys who had been trained intensely. They were interrupting my precious one-night departure without my permission.