The current year, 1996, was about three years away from the peak of the dotcom bubble in 1999 and 2000.
Three years.
It’s a short span, but in the IT industry, it’s an eternity. Just considering Moore’s Law, semiconductor performance would at least double in that ti. And since this was a period of rapid technological advancent, it was more accurate to say the industry would improve by a factor of ten.
Click.
Even in the middle of my busy schedule, I took a mont to play a ga and nodded in satisfaction.
‘Still... this much is more than enough.’
Honestly, it was plenty.
From a gar’s perspective, this was already a ti of innovation upon innovation. After all, what drives a bubble isn’t logic—it’s madness.
Thanks to , the very generous investor, high-budget Evangelion was able to be released, and the launch dates of many gas had been pushed forward—a very rewarding outco.
For reference, just in the past year alone, gas like Resident Evil, Super Mario 64, Pokémon Red & Green, The Elder Scrolls II, Mario Kart 64, Warcraft II, Diablo, Civilization II, and tal Slug had co out.
Even I, who gets bored of gas easily, couldn’t find a mont to feel tired of the massive IPs that kept erging. If this had happened in the 2020s, picking Ga of the Year would’ve been hellishly difficult.
I tend to get tired of gas quickly, but of all tis, now, with all this work piling up, there just had to be a flood of masterpieces. What a tragedy.
Click.
Seo Ji-yeon flopped onto my bed the mont she entered the room and mumbled:
“Ughhh, Ji-yeon’s gonna die.”
“Oh, you’re back?”
The self-proclaid ‘angel’ who had spent the day tossing money around Silicon Valley grumbled as she stared blankly at the screen I was enjoying.
“Uuu, Miss needs to reflect! I’m running around suffering, and you’re just here playing alone!”
Hmm.
“Then wanna try doing my job instead? Like Ji-yeon says, there’s a lot of playing involved. You know, hanging out with the bank where Seon-jun oppa works in Europe, surfing waves of money on Wall Street, splashing around in suspicious black liquid with Si-hyun in Russia, and playing hide-and-seek in Korea while dodging ANSP surveillance....”
And if you get caught during hide-and-seek... you die. It’s like Squid Ga, but real. Pretty exhilarating, honestly.
“Ah—ah! Okay! I get it! It was a joke!”
“Right, right. A joke, huh? Mine was a joke too. Besides, don’t pretend you didn’t enjoy it. You did, didn’t you?”
Sprawled out like a limp rag, Seo Ji-yeon grumbled a bit.
“I do enjoy it, but still... sotis I feel like this is too much. I didn’t expect we’d be doing this much, this often.”
She was talking about IPOs and startup investnts.
“Hey, Ji-yeon. You’ll be okay in the U.S. alone, right? Can I leave for a bit?”
“Co on, I’m not a kid. I’m in high school now, rember? I’m an adult.”
“...Is that so.”
Ha... she really was such a tiny thing. And now she’d grown this much.
I felt proud, and also strangely lancholic about the passing of ti.
Seo Ji-yeon just tilted her head as if sothing didn’t sit right.
“This is all hitting all of a sudden. I an, you treated like a kid, and now you’re making do things most people in their twenties or thirties can’t even handle?”
“I did all this when I was ten.”
I jabbed at my upper chest proudly, grinning.
“...Wow, good for you. So, where are you headed?”
“Europe. Specifically, Germany.”
I had business with my dear older cousin who was currently going through hell.
***
I had two main reasons for seeing Yoo Seon-jun.
One was the dotcom bubble.
The other was the handling of BBB’s assets.
You could say they’re one and the sa—but they were a little different.
“These damn IT companies are driving nuts. It’s obviously a bubble. Ha-yeon, this is your doing, isn’t it?”
That was the first thing Yoo Seon-jun said when he saw .
Yes, Germany too was in the middle of its own dotcom frenzy. Of course, they probably thought of it as a boom.
“Co on, I only helped a little. I didn’t think it would get this bad in Germany.”
“...Is Korea okay?”
“Hmm, as far as the stock market? You know how it is—our country’s financial system is completely jamd.”
Korea probably wouldn’t even have ti for a bubble before it crashed. Without the IMF crisis as a trigger, the market would never reach a point of real activity.
But Germany, like the U.S., had already opened its market. They even had a new market specifically for startups.
It’s called the Neuer Markt. People don’t talk about it much, but the U.S. and Korea have sothing similar—surprisingly, NASDAQ and KOSDAQ are those new markets. Ironically, they represent completely opposite trajectories.
KOSDAQ’s index right now is higher than it was right ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) before I died in my past life. What the hell did they do for 20—no, 30 years?
Still, it’s so comfort that Germany won’t completely collapse like KOSDAQ did. That’s sothing.
“Phew... I never thought I’d be relieved by that. But yeah, Germany’s a ss.”
“Co on, you helped inflate this bubble too, didn’t you? You kept pouring money into startups. Germany’s gotten just as bloated as the U.S.”
Smack.
Yoo Seon-jun swatted on the head, offended.
“You brat, you’re the one who told to do it. I kept wondering what the hell I was doing getting involved in all this crazy stuff....”
“But you did it because your cute little cousin asked you, right?”
I winked and hugged my cousin tight.
“...Get off. The kid’s watching. And let’s be honest—it was more of a command than a request.”
Yoo Seon-jun pursed his lips and pushed away, then lifted a child into the air.
“Waaaah!”
The wide-eyed toddler laughed and raised both arms gleefully.
“Alright, alright. What a good kid.... Our little Jae-yeon....”
Yoo Jae-yeon. A four-year-old boy, smiling brightly with perfect innocence.
...Adorable.
I reached out, almost entranced, and touched his cheek. It was soft.
“...”
For a mont, I felt guilty. Could I really stand in front of sothing so pure and innocent?
I’d just been strategizing ways to destroy countless households, and now I was here—getting healed?
“Here, say hi to your auntie, Jae-yeon.”
Yoo Seon-jun lifted his son’s hand and waved it for him.
“Hi! Aunty!”
Round eyes, chubby cheeks.
Looking at him, I suddenly didn’t care anymore.
“...Yes, hello to you too, my cute nephew.”
Hehe. Too cute.
I cleared my head of all distractions and played with the baby like it was the only thing that mattered.
“Airplane~!”
“Waaah!”
He clapped his pudgy hands in excitent. They made no sound, but it didn’t matter.
Yoo Seon-jun grimaced as if he’d seen sothing scandalous.
“Ugh... well... whatever. As long as you’re happy.”
Why was he looking at like that?
And seriously, if he had such an adorable little creature around, he should’ve told sooner. Typical selfish family.
Should I play with my nephew for another hour...?
.
.
.
That evening.
I rubbed my sore arms and suddenly jolted awake.
“...Ah.”
Right.
What was I doing? I used up too much ti entertaining my nephew—when I had so much to do.
“...”
I looked at the sleeping child beside and let out a bitter smile.
‘Sigh... I didn’t expect kids to be this addictive.’
No regrets—but ti was short.
“Oppa.”
Yoo Seon-jun squinted at through half-lidded eyes, reclining lazily.
“What.”
“So... I’ve got a job for you.”
“Knew it. I was wondering when you’d finally get to it. So, when’s the bubble going to pop?”
Had I not told him that yet?
As I fixed my disheveled clothes from playing with the baby, I answered quickly.
“Well, that can wait. I’ll tell you later. It’s not urgent, and honestly I don’t have a precise read yet—I'll send the paperwork later. It'll be more accurate.”
“Then...”
“Oppa, you’ve processed the BBB assets, right?”
My voice dropped, suddenly serious. Yoo Seon-jun’s face tightened slightly as he nodded.
“...Yeah. Are you finally expanding into banking?”
“Mm-hmm. Planning to set up branches in East Asia. I need a company that can keep close contact with local power brokers and provide fast updates.”
Tap, tap.
Yoo Seon-jun drumd his fingers on the desk before asking:
“By local power brokers, I take it you don’t an Korea or Japan. Where is it?”
Long-term, I did plan to expand there and then into the U.S. too—but not yet.
Right now, the best options were...
“Hong Kong and Thailand.”
***
It wasn’t unusual for major banks to expand into East Asia—especially in this period.
Take BBB’s predecessor, Barings Bank. It went bankrupt because of huge losses triggered from its Singapore branch. East Asia was a rising market.
[Berlin-Bearings Bank Establishes Thai Branch! The Sleeping Giant Awakens]
Our firm also had a track record. Even though the Berlin Bank had cleared our debts through acquisition, the scars of opaque and dangerous investnts still lingered.
As long as the old Barings staff remained, the only way to erase the stigma was by doubling down on safety and stability.
[BBB Reopens Singapore Branch. Despite Exceptionally Stable trics, Concerns Remain]
So, even if credit ratings and the global outlook worsened slightly, it would not be “strange” at all for investors to start pulling out.
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