Chapter 70:

Ryan Capital’s Williams Liam screamed into the phone.

“Keep buying!”

After the rate went over 15.00, tens of millions of dollars were being settled. He knew it then.

This was it.

The person or organization buying all this time decided the rate was close to reaching its max. Liam planned on following suit, but it was still an upward trend. Liam knew the trend would not change right away. Liam started to buy more dollars from the Korean foreign exchange market.

In 2009, the Korean foreign exchange market was worth about 4.4 billion dollars.

When Ryan Capital went all in with its 1 billion dollars, the exchange rate strengthened and went up further.

“Keep going, keep going, keep going…”

Liam collected the dollars Woosung sold at 13.00 and 14.00. As these transactions occurred fast, the rate soared even more.

At this rate, Korea could lose all its dollars.

Korean bank research bureau and Financial Service Bureau reported to the Blue House, the Korean Whitehouse.

An emergency report reached the Secretary general.

“Sir, there is a report from the Korean bank regarding an exchange rate issue.”

“I already looked into it. An American hedge fund got involved?”

“Yes. A company called Ryan Capital.”

“We currently have over 320 million dollars in reserve. If we use all of it, we could fix the problem right away…”

“If we do that, the US government won’t just stand by. They are sensitive right now because of the recent financial crisis.”

“Alright. Then I will let the President know so come up with other options and report back to me.”

As the Secretary general stood up, the phone rang. He answered it and after a brief conversation, he paled.

“It went over 17.00. I will call for an emergency meeting with the President immediately so please call all the relevant departments.

Lee Sunghyun, who was working as an attorney at the Law firm Pyunghwa, checked the exchange rate.

16.83.

He remembered Woosung from the KYLO party.

“It can’t be…How…?” It was too good to be a coincidence. “A report indicated that a major portion was bought from a foreign company… Does Woosung have that much money abroad?”

The report from the Blue House suspected a billion dollars were in play.

Woosung said he had about 500 million dollars, and he expected the rate to go up to 15.30. That meant one of two things.

Either Woosung was lying, and he was behind the rate increase, or Woosung was telling the truth and someone unrelated was behind it.

Either way, Woosung was involved.

“Should I call him?” Lee Sunghyun wondered.

Jung Jinsup didn’t believe Woosung at first.

Data analysis.

He studied it briefly during school.

He knew data analysis could never provide guaranteed results. Despite all that, Woosung still made a big impression on him at the party.

Big brother.

Jung Jinsup began to think perhaps it was possible. He kept checking the exchange rate frequently.

“14.30…”

Was it just a coincidence? Jung Jinsup didn’t invest in it, but it became a habit for him to check the exchange rate everyday.

He checked it twice a day.

“14.50?”

He hesitated. Should he invest? If it went over 15.00, he knew he would regret not acting on it. Yet he didn’t want to lose any money either.

“…14.81.”

As he hesitated, the rate kept going up.

Finally, it reached the number Woosung promised.

15.30.

Then it soared to 16.00 and 17.00. He picked up the phone and called.

“This number you dialed is currently busy. Please leave a message after the beep.”

He called again after a few minutes, but it still went to the voicemail.

“Are others from the party calling him too?”

Jung Jinsup bit his lips nervously. Finally, he picked up the phone and called Shin Semi, the woman who brought Woosung to KYLO.

Woosung was on the phone with Alex.

“Boss! Did you see?”

“Don’t be disappointed. It wasn’t meant to be.”

Alex laughed over the phone. “Disappointed? Me? Do you know how nerve wrecking it was for the last two weeks?”

“Then why did you ask?”

“The rate volatility level went up suddenly.”

“What?”

“Until 15.60, the volatility level was 12%.”

Woosung sighed. Alex didn’t have to explain. He already knew this.

“You’re saying someone got involved?”

“A sudden change doesn’t happen without a reason. I’m guessing a company got involved. It can’t be a country. If the Korean government got involved, US wouldn’t let it go. This isn’t good for Korea either.”

“A private company then.”

“Yes. I’m guessing a hedge fund.” Woosung nodded in agreement. Alex continued smartly. “This would also mean someone’s watching us.”

“So someone wants my money…”

Alex remained silent.

1.5 billion dollars in Woosung’s account.

He earned it, which meant someone lost it.

“Wallstreet is filled with sharks. When there is a good algorithm, someone will target it and kill it. We were lucky this time but…We need to be careful from now on.”

Woosung agreed and hung up. He leaned back and murmured.

“Be careful…”

So far, he has won against the market. However, any changes to the future could mean Woosung could lose everything next time.

One more thing.

“A hundred million dollars can change the future…”

This was the first time the future he knew changed. This meant his action of mining large quantity of bitcoin could also change the future. Woosung’s stress went through the roof.

Suddenly, his phone rang again.

It was Shin Semi.

“She must be desperate.”

His phone wouldn’t stop ringing all day.

7 missed calls.

All the leaders of KYLO shared their phone numbers. Woosung saw he had three missed calls from Jung Jinsup, two from Lee Sunghyun, one from Shin Semi, and one from an unknown number.

Woosung didn’t call anyone back. He knew value usually increases with rarity.

Shin Semi bit her fingernail. He was right again. This was the third time. Once or twice could be coincidences, but a third time?

She really believed Woosung could predict the future by data analysis. She tried to stay calm, but it was difficult.

When Jung Jinsup called her asking for Woosung’s alternative contact information, she finally called Woosung herself.

He didn’t answer her. She remembered the last time something like this happened.

After the general election result, she called him, but he didn’t answer. He only came to her when she sent someone to get him.

Was this his way of making her come to him in person again?

She had her pride. She didn’t like this at all.

How could she change this relationship?

She needed to become the one in power. Shin Semi thought carefully. She needed to learn to control him and get any information he had.

She will get her chance. She just had to wait for it.

Now, how could she get him to come to her without asking?

Suddenly, her phone rang.

“The Chairman is asking for you.”

“Pardon?”

“The Blue House has asked for help regarding the exchange rate problem.”

Shin Semi looked at her screen.

Exchange rate: 17.0310

This was getting problematic.