The reason why the hedge funds union only possessed a small portion of the futures market was because they were not certain that they would win. If they could guarantee victory, there was no doubt that they would have massively increased their shares of the future market and  made a profit tens or hundreds of times more than their investment. The futures market functioned to distribute the risks in the spot market. The hedge funds union’s main stage was the spot market in the baht war, and they considered the futures market only as risk management as one of their many strategies.

They didn’t trust themselves? Of course not. It was because the hedge funds union managed billions of dollars from a few super rich, not from themselves. Using fiftyfold leverage meant taking a fiftyfold risk. There was no fund in the world that could risk two hundred million dollars like that. Such a fund was a group of swindlers, and no one would blame them for being thrown into a monster’s mouth.

However, that was exactly what we were doing.

***

Again, no one could know what the market price would be tomorrow except God. There had never been precedent that ten billion dollars were transitioned with a fiftyfold risk. Of course, no such bet had ever won!

Our immense profit was a problem. It could lead to a historical catastrophe that could freeze the Thailand foreign futures market since the baht market was small and limited.

- N: Jonathan?

The futures market was a zero-sum game because there must be someone that lost when someone else won. In other words, the opponent had to accept the transactions in order for losses and profits to happen.

Jonathan couldn’t answer because he was so busy. He probably couldn’t sleep at all last night to monopolize the position worth ten billion dollars. And today, he wouldn’t be able to even use the washroom because he would be so busy liquidating them.

The foreign exchange information site restarted again.

“Huh?”

The Singapore exchange rate was rising, and the graph measured by ticks was already steep. It was different from history. It should have dropped without any recoil, but the trend was on the rise after repeating ups and downs. The spot market and the futures market were going in the opposite direction. 29 baht. 29.5 baht. 30 baht.

The baht was dramatically rising! We would only make a profit when the baht fell.

- J: The atmosphere of the market has changed due to mass liquidation. I’m on it.

An urgent message popped up on the chat.

- N: I’m sorry. I won’t bother you. Please focus.

The chat stayed quiet for a long time. Suddenly organizing our position meant that ‘it wasn't predicted that the baht would fall; it would rise’. It was true that our massive liquidation was controlling the market’s atmosphere, but it was not a big deal.

Thailand’s implementation of the floating exchange rate indicated that they gave up defending the baht. No one knew how long it would last, but I could bet my life that the baht would eventually fall. It was something that anyone could tell even with little financial knowledge. Our traders were the elite foreign exchange dealers, and they would be hungry for the money they lost in front of their eyes.

The trend began to change, and the baht fell again as I expected. The baht once surged up to thirty-three dollars, but now dropped to thirty dollars. The speed was insanely fast as it did not even take five minutes for the baht to rise back again to thirty-one, then drop to thirty dollars. I could feel the attention of the many worldwide investors looking in on this, and I couldn’t even guess how much money was passed on from one pocket to another.

- J: Eighty percent of liquidation is complete. I recommend you to hold the remaining twenty percent until the expiry date.

Ugh, I told him to focus instead of sending a message to me…However, I knew why Jonathan wanted to hold off on the last twenty percent. Completely liquidating our position when everyone was certain about the fall in baht would be stupid.

- N: I know what you mean, but proceed as agreed.

The money we were earning was from the other investors’ pockets. We had to give them an opportunity to make up for their losses, so history wouldn’t diverge too much and the battlefield would be moved.

- J: The baht is stabilized at thirty dollars. Risk has been decreased.

- N: No, Jonathan. The war is over, and the leftovers are for the hyenas. Liquidate all the positions right now, and come to Korea over the weekend. The battlefield will change, soon.

***

Even as I said that, I knew Jonathan wouldn’t wait until the weekend. Just like he had in the second week of May, he flew over the next day as soon as he confirmed our profit.

“The decline in Thailand baht reached the lowest record. This was due to the Central Bank’s announcement of implementing the floating exchange rate system yesterday, and the baht was transacted at 30.40 baht per dollar. With the plunge of the baht, there’s a sense of crisis all over Southeast Asia …”

The television at the airport was broadcasting yesterday’s big news. History had dramatically changed. It had been 28.40 baht per dollar after a 16% fall, but there was now a huge difference of two baht. In the financial world, the 0.1 percent difference between exchange rates and interest rates was greater than the gap between sky and earth. That was another reason why we shouldn’t deal with Thailand again.

“Sun…”

Compared to the way he looked in the second week of May, Jonathan appeared in worse condition. He seemed to have gone through countless battles where he had bet his life. He looked about ten years older. When we attacked the dungeon together, he was an old beast with spite. He never fluctuated between joy and sorrow and only ran for points to open a challenger box. Therefore, when he gained great benefits, he prepared for tomorrow rather than basking in immediate happiness. I had never seen him so completely restless before.

We stared at each other without saying a word, and I moved first. The restaurant we had our first meeting at was still unpopular. The sound of Jonathan’s shoes was heavy. We couldn’t initiate conversation easily because there were no words to describe our current  situation.

Jonathan sat across from me. Both of his arms were trembling, so I couldn’t stop myself from staring at him. However, Jonathan was not the only one because the cup I was holding was also having ripples. I swallowed water in a gulp, then put the cup down.

The sound the cup made functioned as a sign, and Jonathan started placing the documents on the table. They were details about the past transaction records and the final profit in our accounts. There were so many of them that they could be made into a thick book by themselves.

Only then did I realize Jonathan’s ruined fingernails, and his forefingers that would have pressed the buttons were worse.

“D…during the liquidation process, the…estimated p…profit…decreased,” Jonathan’s voice was shaking. Then, he clenched his teeth to get a hold of himself and waited until he calmed down. My insides also shook until Jonathan verbally confirmed the liquidation amount.

“T…that was inevitable,” my heart pounded as if it would burst out of my skin.

“The final liquidation amount is…fifty billion dollars…”

Ah! Although I had made a guess, my breath stopped when Jonathan confirmed the amount. We hit a jackpot! Numbers I only thought of in my head had become reality.

I fully enjoyed the bliss yesterday, but what did this tremor mean? The emotion that overwhelmed my body at the moment was similar to when I encountered a boss monster alone. My head became blank as my entire body shivered. Yes. It was the same, but…An Awakened had to observe his own emotions and physical state objectively. I could die in the dungeons by not being able to distinguish between horror and joy.

Then what was this feeling coming over me now? Fear or joy? Why was my body trembling? In the end, wasn’t a potential S class ability more valuable than fifty billion dollars? I didn’t shake this much then.

Yes, that was it. Jonathan would never know, but fifty billion dollars was just the beginning. I only used two opportunities out of the many chances that lay ahead of me. Knowing what would happen tomorrow was an amazing thing. There was a reason why people said that only God knows what tomorrow's market price will be.

The challenger box was the greatest of all the boxes, and the best thing that could come out of it was a chance to travel back in time. I was on the verge of becoming a God! This shudder has to be because of my great joy from this, and I finally felt that I had come back in time now.

***

“Are you okay?” Jonathan asked, and I nodded.

“Because it’s fifty billion dollars,” he said as if he understood me.

“Let’s come to our senses and start working, Jonathan. The Asian financial crisis has just begun,” I looked at him.

“Ah…” Jonathan couldn’t continue with his speech.

“Keep yourself healthy. We won’t be entering Malaysia and Indonesia,” I said.

When I explained our further plans, Jonathan looked at me with his eyes now awake from his daydreaming fantasy. He didn’t ask why we wouldn’t enter those two markets, or maybe, he had complete faith in me now. Also, he would have known that the two countries’ foreign exchange markets were not big enough for our intervention. We had grown that big.

“We will enter Hong Kong soon,” I was aware that Jonathan was most confident in the Hong Kong foreign exchange market. His eyes glistened with a different excitement than before.

“And I want you to do me a few favors,” I said.

“Anything,” he replied like he would take his heart out if I asked him to.

“There is one property I need to buy in Korea first,” I said.