Yoo Seon-jun held quite a significant position at Berlin-Bearings Bank.

His usual public role was that of an outside director, but after the major shake-up in Korea, his status as the branch head overseeing all of East Asia had gained semi-official recognition.

That was the nature of the foreign exchange crisis era—times when opportunity and disaster coexisted. It was hard to distinguish light from shadow. Whether the money came from bloodshed or illicit dealings, even the government took it without question.

It meant this was a critical chance for my hidden underlings, who had long governed from the shadows under fake identities, to emerge into the light with official legitimacy.

Looking back now, that was far more important than a few bucks made in Korea. Money can be earned anytime—but chances like this don’t come often.

That’s why I could speak to Yoo Seon-jun confidently.

“Oppa. You’ve been buying Russian bonds, right? I think this would be a good time to sell them.”

Still rough-faced from likely skipping a proper shave after flying in from Europe, Yoo Seon-jun rubbed his stubble and asked,

“If you’re saying that... something big must really be about to happen. You think the bond prices are going to drop further? Hmm. Then I’d better pull out quickly from my investments in Russia too... but I’ll need to lay some groundwork first.”

“Please, Oppa.”

When I shamelessly smiled sweetly and coaxed him, Yoo Seon-jun let out a deep sigh.

“...You never even treat your brother with proper respect.”

“But I play with Jaeyeon a lot, don’t I? You, on the other hand, should pay more attention to your own kid.”

– Flick.

“If you hadn’t dumped all the work on me, I would’ve.”

Hmph.

I rubbed my forehead where he flicked me.

“You could at least have Seon-a handle the minor stuff. Sure, we can’t touch Yoo Sang-jun since Uncle’s watching over him, but Yoo Seon-a’s not in that category.”

Yoo Seon-a was actually decently smart. Not genius-level or anything—honestly, she barely scrapes into the top 5%—but with the family name bonus, she’d do just fine.

She’d be mad if she heard me say that... but it’s not like I’m wrong.

“I don’t plan on dragging our cousin into this. Would you want to work under a younger sibling?”

Yoo Seon-jun grimaced and waved his hand dismissively.

“Most people in my organization are older than me.”

Pouting slightly, I then smirked with a glint of realization.

“Oh, so that means... you feel it too? That working under your adorable little sister isn’t so bad after all—but it’s hard because I’m just too brilliant and it makes you jealous? Hm?”

As I leaned closer across the desk, Yoo Seon-jun backed away in clear disgust.

“I can’t talk to you. I’ll handle the Russia situation, so back off.”

“Aww, no need to be embarrassed. It’s not your fault I’m a genius. Still, I’m kind of impressed. I didn’t expect you to have such a strong ego.”

“...What now?”

“Well, come on. You’re obviously a capable person, but when compared to me... it’s a bit lacking, isn’t it?”

Grinning innocently, I tilted my body ever so slightly. The gap between «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» the top few buttons of my shirt revealed a hint of cleavage.

Hmm? Even with this, you’re going to stay calm?

Now I was really curious to see how Yoo Seon-jun would deal with his cheeky cousin.

– Flick.

“Kyah!”

“Go to sleep. Don’t start acting weird.”

Tch. Can’t even mess around a little?

***

Was he actually angry, or just trying to leave? Either way, I barely managed to stop Yoo Seon-jun, and now I was sipping cocoa as I explained.

It must’ve been exhausting flying all the way to Wall Street. How tiring would it be if he just turned around and left right away?

“So basically, you’ll have to invest in Russia again later.”

Russia couldn’t be allowed to completely collapse. Sometimes people who go all-in on shorting forget: capitalism’s core theory allows everyone to prosper without turning other countries into beggars.

That’s why capitalism ultimately won the systemic competition, isn’t it?

Starving Russia was not only morally wrong—it was also poor talent management and foolish from a capitalist standpoint.

“...Yeah, I get why you dragged me into this. If it were just about pulling the investment, an email would’ve done. But this...”

“Yep. It’s tough.”

Picking up fallen stocks is always hard work. Normally, you’d wait for some recovery before diving in.

But that wasn’t an option for BBB. The bank investment was meant to trigger a recovery in Russia’s economy.

“This is going to be a pain. I’ve been focusing on Asia lately, and a bunch of clueless idiots have taken up all the key positions.”

“Wow, that sounded really evil just now.”

“You made me this way. Hah... this is exactly why I don’t want to give Seon-a any work.”

Grumbling under his breath, Yoo Seon-jun nonetheless got to work formulating a capital flow strategy. For all his complaints, he was competent. With this much input, he’d handle the rest well on his own.

– Rustle.

I unfolded a newspaper and skimmed through a few articles. These days, the business section was dominated by reports on the Alpha Fund’s $100 billion in assets, the East Asian financial crisis, and Russian government bonds... but that wasn’t the main topic.

It was the final great bubble of this century—one that had run wild for months and that people had finally grown accustomed to.

[Dotcom Bubble Drenched in Madness!]

[NASDAQ Expected to Break 5000 Within a Month – Record Highs in Sight]

[Firms With No Profits Valued in the Billions – Market in Frenzy]

“A chaotic world, truly.”

I sighed.

Sure, I was the one who poured gasoline on the fire and stirred up the dotcom bubble midway, but in hindsight, this was peak absurdity.

Ultra-low oil prices had pushed Russia to the brink of collapse, Asia was entering a nightmarish recession that shattered the working class economy, and the U.S. was struggling with a dotcom bubble inflated by middling interest rates...

And Europe? France was still in political chaos thanks to the Crédit Lyonnais scandal. The U.K. had yet to recover from the damage Soros and the Alpha Fund had inflicted on the Bank of England.

Only Switzerland—where suspicious amounts of cash had been pouring into banks—seemed to be enjoying the moment. The rest of the world? It looked like Pax Americana was coming to an end, chaos everywhere.

And that’s why I was still in Wall Street, wasn’t it? Leaving the fun of corporate shopping in Korea to someone else because my hands were full with bigger tasks.

“There are so many places to spend money, it’s like I’ll never stop needing more.”

Just yesterday, Japan was said to be in danger, so I had to buy up one of their old securities firms.

Now I needed someone to head the Japan branch... Ha Joo-seong was saying he wanted to retire soon...

While I was deep in thought, Yoo Seon-jun, who had been staring blankly at the life-sized standing cutout of Yoo Ha-yeon in school uniform, casually spoke up.

“Hmm, by the way, Ha-yeon, aren’t you supposed to be in school?”

“...”

Ah.

I forgot.

***

“Yes, this is she. It’s been a while. Yes... you’re saying you’d like to extend the experiential learning leave? Of course, of course. We’ve already processed it that way. No need to worry—it’s our responsibility, so please enjoy yourself without concern.”

– Click.

After making a few administrative arrangements with Daehwa High School, I wiped the sweat off my brow and shook my head.

“Whew. That could’ve gotten annoying.”

“How does a student forget something like that?”

Perfect timing—Yoo Seon-jun seized the chance to scold me, but I was unfazed.

I mean, come on... it’s not like I actually forgot school. What are they going to do if I don’t show up? Do I have to go?

To me, school is just a playground for enjoying school uniform roleplay (not that kind).

Sure, it pained me a little that I had only about a year left to enjoy student life, but if I really wanted to relive it later, I could just change my identity and shamelessly re-enroll in high school. As someone who once attended elementary school with the mind of an adult, shame was a concept long since discarded.

Can’t get into college due to attendance issues?

Just bend the law a little and tweak my paperwork. Maybe get myself designated under some gifted education law or whatever. As long as I get an exception clause created for me, it’ll be fine.

If some extremely diligent observer were monitoring closely, they might notice that, on paper, Yoo Ha-yeon appeared to be in a state of quantum superposition—existing simultaneously in New York and Seoul...

But if such a thing really happened, the moment they observed me, my location would collapse into one state. Whoever that observer was, they’d clearly be a classical physics devotee and would end up sealed in a dark room as part of a real-life double-slit experiment.

Who am I, anyway? Yoo Ha-yeon, the girl who authored a paper on quantum tunneling in semiconductors—recognized as a legitimate scholar in the academic world.

“...Still, are you really sure this is okay?”

“Yeah, it’s fine.”

It might stir controversy later, but... as long as I ace the college entrance exam this year, that’ll be enough.

Respectable adults often value results over process.

Just like me.