To summarize everything I’ve said so far:
Q: If Germany raises interest rates, doesn’t that an the UK has to raise theirs too, and wouldn’t that destroy the UK economy?
A: Yup. That’s exactly what happened. Or to be precise, they surrendered right before it collapsed.
The dopamine- and money-addled hedge funds bet on the UK pulling out of the ERM—and thus began one of the most legendary short-selling episodes in financial history: the assault on the British pound.
***
Of course, the UK didn’t drop out of the ERM right away. In fact, they had only joined it about three months earlier.
—Wait, then did they join knowing Germany would hike rates?
You could ask that, sure...
But honestly, the UK probably didn’t expect Germany to be this shaless. And since national policy decisions require months of preparation, the agreents had likely been settled in advance.
To their credit, the UK, proud forr empire that they were, held out for quite a while.
Right now it’s January 1991, and the short-selling event—the pound crisis—doesn’t happen until September 1992... so the Bank of England manages to hang on for 20 more months.
This is always the problem. Everyone knows the fall is inevitable, but the exact timing is everything.
Of course, that doesn’t apply to soone like —Yoo Ha-yeon, a hyper-genius regressor.
I can almost pinpoint the timing exactly.
“So? Why’d you call over?”
Yoo Seon-jun stared at as he munched on snacks.
“Why do you think? I told you—the UK’s not gonna last.”
He looked at like I was nuts.
“...A short? On the pound?”
I nodded. I know the future—of course I’m gonna ride it.
“Not right now. I’m gonna prep for it over the next year and pull the trigger when the ti cos.”
This wasn’t prophecy. It fell squarely within the realm of reasonable prediction.
Even now, anyone paying attention could see that the Bank of England was in for hell. A year from now, it’d be public knowledge.
Still, few believed the UK would swallow its pride and quit the ERM. Even fewer were willing to stake their careers on it.
...Which is to say, a few did.
One of them was the infamous George Soros.
Soros’s Quantum Fund used insane leverage to short the pound to the tune of $10 billion, then publicly declared its position, waging all-out currency war on the UK.
Like Arican revolutionaries chucking British tea into Boston Harbor, Soros took that proud British pound and hurled it straight into the gutter. And just like back then, the whole thing was sparked and driven by money.
Let’s conveniently forget that Soros was Hungarian. Most Aricans back then were British too, anyway.
In any case.
A horde of hedge funds rushed in, lured by the sll of easy money... and the total short-selling volu reached $110 billion.
One. Hundred. Ten. Billion.
That’s more than ₩100 trillion in Korean won. With that kind of money, you could crush a market on sheer weight alone. Within a month or two, you’d see major tremors.
Now that Alpha Fund had bulked up, I could toss in an extra $10 billion of our own. That ant I could fine-tune the timing however I liked.
I popped a candy into my mouth. The sugar lted sweetly on my tongue.
“Mmm. Nice.”
“Hey, hey—explain it to . How exactly are you planning to short it?”
Seon-jun grabbed my shoulder, eyes gleaming with curiosity.
Ugh—so dizzy.
“Hack! You almost made choke. I told you, I’m still drafting the plan. If Germany stops hiking rates or sothing, it’s a bust...”
“Ah, true.”
“So go eat lunch or sothing. What are you thinking, grilling your cute little sister like this?”
I puffed out my cheeks in fake annoyance.
“You’re the lunatic who wants to shake the global economy to make bank.”
Excuse ?
“Wha—rude! I’m not that kind of person!”
“This from the chick leeching off Japan’s collapse right now?”
I flailed my hands in denial, but Seon-jun just looked at like I was already halfway through so nefarious sche.
Sharp instincts, as always...
***
1991 held a bit of personal significance for .
It was the year I was born in my previous life.
While Seon-jun stepped out for a mont, I stuffed a mountain of beginning-of-year reports into my brain and idly flipped through the newspaper.
“Young Miss, what are you looking at?”
“...Just wondering what I should do later for social contribution. I was checking out orphanages and stuff.”
Si-hyun stared at like I’d lost my mind.
“Why?”
“Hearing ‘social contribution’ co out of your mouth... Did my ears go bad from old age?”
“...”
I an, I might as well toss a bone to my past self.
The only issue was that I barely rembered anything about my previous life. I didn’t even know my own na.
I’d recognize myself if I saw , probably...
The thing was, my mories of “” were no better than what a stranger might know.
It was strange, really.
My reincarnation bonus had erased all personal mories while leaving with complete knowledge of historical events.
So technically, I should’ve forgotten almost everything and fully beco “Yoo Ha-yeon.” But—
A glitch happened.
In my past life, I was such a big deal that my personal story beca a part of capital-H History.
So the two data sets clashed.
I was supposed to forget “,” yet still rember everything “I” did.
The result was this weird half-state: I had no na or private mories, but I still retained fragnts of my ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ forr self’s thoughts and personality.
...To be totally honest, that’s why I crave attention and want to be soone important.
Because I realized: even an omnipotent hand can’t erase everything.
No matter how thoroughly a wave crushes a sandcastle, once that castle enters the annals of history, it lives on—forever recorded and passed down.
As a speck of a human being, the only way I could survive was to twist history so violently that no one could ever forget .
Just like Yoo Jin-cheol’s wife was once called “Madam” but ended up swapped out and demoted to being my “nanny” in this life, I too could be reduced to nothing by the whims of so divine prank.
Separate from all that, so level of philanthropy was going to be necessary later anyway.
“Sigh... It’s not like I’m doing anything evil, right? If a company gets a bad rep, it doesn’t last long. Grandpa donates to universities all the ti too, doesn’t he?”
“Oh, right. I heard he made big donations for lung cancer research recently...”
“If I can dominate the society I give back to, then philanthropy’s actually a great concept. Not ownership—control. That’s the key.”
If you pump money into scholarship programs and similar initiatives, things go way smoother down the line. There’s a reason big companies love their education foundations.
Once those scholarship kids grow into society’s elite, they’re bound to return the favor in so way. It’s a profitable investnt.
“But right now, there’s no real way to bring your funds into Korea, is there?”
I nodded without hesitation. Most of my money was overseas, and I didn’t have the dostic setup to start a foundation yet.
“So I’m just observing for now.”
Once I start hunting companies inside Korea later, my reputation’s going to tank for sure... This is just preemptive planning.
I’m planning years in advance, and then planning again for the plans. I’m not even twenty yet, but I have to think about life past thirty.
Being the shadow mastermind is seriously exhausting.
You think soone like doesn’t care about public opinion?
How many people actually enjoy being hated? Not , that’s for sure.
I’m the type who thrives on complints and lives for reactions—especially about my looks.
You have no idea how many pictures I’ve stockpiled.
I’m going to scrapbook every single one and publish it in my official Yoo Ha-yeon biography. At company welco parties, I’ll personally hand out copies of my autobiography to all the newbies.
But even with all that, if my public image crashes, it’s all aningless. Just look at how dictators end up as jokes.
If twenty years from now I Google myself and all I see are posts like “Yoo Ha-yeon’s body—damn.jpg” I’ll be happy.
But if it’s more like “Just a lucky washed-up hag who rode the tis,” I’ll be furious—and that’ll definitely warp my personality.
Ugh...
Just thinking about it is making my stomach turn. Even the most famous, accomplished people in my past life beca targets of mockery online—so I need to take precautions.
I’m fine with being idolized and lusted after. But made into a joke? Hell no. Anyone who crosses that line... I’ll track down their IPs and deal with them in real life.
Or maybe I’ll just wield such overwhelming power that no one dares to deny .
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