Many people name George Soros as the one who triggered the 1997 East Asian crisis.

Back then, he was the most famous hedge fund manager. Leading what was often called the Soros Empire, he commanded his own private army of capital. With the Quantum Fund, he attacked currency exchange rates in numerous countries and made off with the profits.

This time, it was similar. Even though I hadn’t done anything special, Soros was about to become my reliable ally.

And yet, Soros is also somewhat known for not making a huge profit from the East Asian crisis. The fact that most Koreans don’t even know who he is proves it.

The citizens of countries Soros did plunder know him very well. After all, he’s the guy who stole their money—how could they not?

It was partly due to a mispositioned trade, and also because he temporarily stepped away from fund management to focus on his original passion—philosophy. (Yes, surprisingly, George Soros always dreamed of being a philosopher, but started managing funds because he had no money.)

Whatever the reason, the result was that Soros didn’t have much fun during the East Asian crisis.

That is—in my past life.

[Estimated short-selling of baht reaches $3 billion. More than half from Quantum Fund.]

“Soros really means business this time,” said Ha Yeong-il, who was in charge of the currency attack under my plan, clicking his tongue. I scanned the report and smiled faintly.

“Exactly. Thanks to him, one worry is gone. If he launches the first strike, we can divert attention.”

This time, Soros stepped in as the vanguard, pouring in an enormous amount of capital.

Maybe it was because, unlike in the past, he split the profits from the Bank of England raid and failed to secure lasting fame—or maybe Thailand’s economic situation was just worse this time around.

Whatever the reason, he was moving with far more boldness and aggression. I was pretty sure Soros himself had taken the reins this time. And... this time, his judgment was correct.

East Asia would fall, one by one. The only difference was timing.

In any case, Soros’s genius—which involuntarily extracted philosophical scholarships from governments worldwide—was on full display here. A true reincarnation of Thales.

Didn’t Plato say it? That a nation should be governed by philosophers.

“Should we go in now?”

At Ha Yeong-il’s question, I shook my head.

“No. Not yet.”

It was still June 1996. A full year ahead of the original first attack on the baht.

Thailand’s economy wasn’t great, and there were danger signs cropping up all over—but to be honest, it was still too early to label it a crisis.

Besides, the Bank of Thailand still had a pretty sizable foreign reserve. They’d probably pour over $10 billion into this.

I mean... even if we entered now, we’d still make money in the end. But it was still a bit early.

“Let’s take it slow. Unlike other hedge funds that just want to make money anywhere, Korea is our main battlefield, remember?”

“...Understood.”

I relaxed and began carefully reviewing the local situation, calculating the ideal time to strike.

– Scratch, scratch.

The Hanbo scandal, which had signaled the beginning of Korea’s IMF crisis, was still far off. Malaysia and Hong Kong were holding steady. Overall, Thailand still held the advantage.

The Bank of Thailand had even signed bilateral currency agreements with its Southeast Asian neighbors.

‘So they’ll probably manage to survive the first attack—barely. But they’ll only be able to defend the spot market...’

I should test them with a jab first.

I raised my head and smiled slightly.

“Let’s start by attacking the forward exchange market. What do you think?”

“For how many months?”

“Eighteen-month forwards. Even if Thailand manages to defend the spot rate, the forward market will stay volatile. If we launch a two-front attack, other hedge funds will probably nod along.”

Discrepancies between spot and forward rates don’t usually happen often, since arbitrageurs keep the prices aligned.

But... in a crisis like this, it’s a whole different story.

The Bank of Thailand would struggle just to defend the spot market.

“True. In that case, forwards are safer. Shall we start light—say, $100 million?”

“Yeah, let’s go with a safe $100 million. Depending on how it goes, we can scale up to $300 million.”

Funny how derivatives feel safer now. The bigger the game, the stranger the moves.

And there’s one more thing to do.

“Once Soros starts the attack, let’s probe Thailand’s stock market too. I’ll pick some stocks for you to short—if it doesn’t work out, just pull back.”

As long as Thailand doesn’t completely abandon its defense of the baht, it’ll stick to a high interest rate policy. If they suddenly hike rates, stocks will tank. Probably by over 10%.

“Understood. But... are we not using Daehwa Securities for this? Wouldn’t it be easier to move cash within Korea using Daehwa?”

I shook my head. Soft hair brushed over my shoulder, tickling my collarbone.

“There is the benefit of not worrying about regulations. But Daehwa Securities is still premature. We’ve got too much to do in Korea, and I haven’t fully gotten Grandpa’s approval yet. Si-hyun said she’d provide the cash, so let’s not overextend.”

No harm in being extra cautious.

The Quantum Fund was getting its second chance thanks to me—but if I failed now, that’d be the end of me.

– Squeeze.

My hands were damp with sweat.

I was extremely, extremely nervous...

But the thrill crawling down my spine was maddening. I had missed this feeling. The razor-thin tightrope walk had begun again.

***

Bangkok, Thailand – Bank of Thailand

Unlike most buildings in Thailand, the central bank governor’s office had the air conditioning blasting. But the deputy governor still had beads of cold sweat dotting his forehead.

His face had gone pale after receiving the latest international forex market closing report, and the document in his hands was slightly crumpled.

“So... you’re telling me we couldn’t stop it again today?”

Governor Rerngchai Marakanond broke the heavy silence in a low voice. His usual firmness was replaced with fatigue and anxiety.

The deputy governor barely managed to speak.

“I’m sorry, Governor. We poured in an enormous amount of dollars, but... it wasn’t enough to stop the selling pressure on the baht.”

At those words, the other officials seated in the meeting room fell into a grim silence.

They’d been waging a desperate, invisible war for weeks. In the face of international speculative capital, Thailand’s baht was helplessly shaken. The central bank had been burning through its reserves to defend the peg.

But the situation was worsening.

“How much... how much is left in our reserves?”

One of the officials responded in a trembling voice.

“Officially, we’ve announced there’s still enough. But... to be honest, the dollars we can actually use are nearly gone. If we account for our forward contracts, we’re practically in the negative.”

“What?!”

The governor’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“What do you mean?! Just recently, you said we had enough!”

He clenched his jaw and remained silent. The belief that Thailand’s economic fundamentals were solid and that a temporary speculative attack could be fended off had shattered in just a few weeks.

A quiet voice cautiously spoke up.

“Governor... continuing the peg is no longer sustainable. If we keep going like this, we could actually face a national default. We need to consider switching to a floating exchange rate system—even now.”

“....”

The room fell deathly silent, as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped on them. Moving to a floating exchange rate would mean the baht’s value would collapse—a national humiliation.

Just look at the Bank of England a few years ago. They tried to maintain the ERM peg, failed to defend the exchange rate, and have been branded losers to Soros ever since.

Still, no one dared to refute the suggestion. Everyone knew they were at the edge of a cliff.

The deputy governor spoke, his face twisted in anguish.

“But... if we abandon the peg, who knows how far the fallout will spread? Domestic companies’ foreign debt burdens will snowball, and rising import prices will push ordinary people to the brink. Thailand’s credibility in the international community will be shattered.”

He wasn’t wrong. No matter what ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ they chose, the outcome would be brutal.

Like most East Asian countries, Thailand had grown by borrowing international capital. Which meant they had foreign debt to repay.

So if the exchange rate collapsed, the debt would balloon overnight. And there were already rumors in the U.S. that Greenspan would raise interest rates again to pop the bubble.

The international headlines on the governor’s desk screamed things like:

“Thailand Baht Crisis Deepens — Panic Spreads Across Asia’s Financial Markets.”

Governor Marakanond massaged his aching temples and let out a deep sigh.

“...Hoo.”

After a long silence, he finally spoke in a cracked voice.

“For now, raise interest rates again. Implement a dual exchange rate system. And ban offshore baht outflows.”

“B-Ban them? What do you mean?”

“I mean issue an order to the banks to halt all lending. Isn’t the reason Western capital can affect the baht because they’re dumping it? Then let’s stop them from selling it altogether.”

A hardline move. Ordering banks to halt lending was practically a death sentence.

But there was no other choice. Sometimes, extreme measures were the only option.

‘Please, just let this work... just this once...’

All they could do was pray—to whatever god would listen—that this treatment would be the cure.