Alpha Fund Office.

Buried under a mountain of paperwork, I stretched and leaned against the man beside me.

“Ugh. Charles, have you sorted your thoughts yet? I know what you’re thinking, but... can you give me a hand? I just finished a hellish call with the chairman of Goldman Sachs.”

“...”

“Hey, why are you looking at me like that?”

The man wearing a very serious expression was none other than Charles Gray, VP of Alpha Fund, dragged straight into my office the moment his vacation ended.

– Tap.

“You, need help? You?”

A voice full of suspicion.

Ah, how sad. Not long ago, he used to be such a cute guy. Seeing that handsome face twist in confusion hurts a bit.

I shrugged and lightly tapped my own chest.

“Yeah, can’t you see how tired I am? I’m human too, you know.”

“Human, huh...? If nothing else, I’m pretty sure you’re not Homo sapiens. Ha, haha. Never thought I’d seriously entertain lizard people theories or ancient civilization conspiracies in my life...”

Murmuring in defeat, Charles glanced through a few documents beside me and asked:

“What kind of madness are you planning this time, Miss Witch of Wall Street? You stirred up a financial crisis in East Asia, triggered the dotcom bubble, and now you've got Russia declaring a moratorium... What the hell are you aiming for?”

“Geez, that’s kind of hurtful. I paid you plenty of money, Charles.”

“...After completely crushing the Bank of England like that?”

Oops, right. Charles is a British aristocrat.

“Well, I didn’t collapse Barings Bank, you know? If ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) anything, it would've gone down worse without me.”

“That’s...”

He trailed off, speechless, then looked at me with what seemed to be a faint, melancholic smile before lapsing back into thought.

Ever since he found out who I really was, he’d been in a state of shock for weeks. Now that he’s back and seeing me again, he’s probably thinking something like, ‘Why does she seem so normal?’ or ‘Why is she being so kind to me?’

“Come on... We even shared a bed, and this is how you act? Seriously?”

“–Pfft! Ah, w-wait a sec! You’re making it sound weird...”

“Why? I showed you my bare skin too, didn’t I?”

We just happened to fall asleep in the same room, that’s all.

I smiled mischievously and flicked his forehead. I suffer from severe insomnia if there’s no one nearby. Except during my childhood, I’ve always needed someone at my side while I sleep.

And well... even though a healthy young man spent a night next to a woman like me, he didn’t react at all. In fact, he looked at me with this weirdly sympathetic, pitying gaze.

‘Tch. I had a hunch... Must be that I talk in my sleep or something.’

It’s not like I’m clueless—I know my sleep habits. It’s not exactly pleasant, but I’ve accepted it.

“I’m curious about what you heard, but... I won’t ask. It’d probably just embarrass me.”

“...Sorry.”

Charles suddenly lowered his head, voice softened.

Predictable. Only now does he realize I’m still human. Emotional manipulation remains the most effective form of persuasion—and even more so when it’s true.

– Clap.

“So, what do you think? Seeing me again like this?”

I smiled again and met his eyes like nothing was wrong. Since nothing actually was, my acting came naturally.

At the very least, when I’m working, I possess a mind harder than granite and more brilliant than gold.

Charles Gray stared at me, then after a short pause, finally responded:

“You’re a genius.”

Ahaha, bingo.

“That’s right, I’m a genius. Let’s strip away all the complications. I’m just a genius with a messy home life. You know it, right? There are tons of talented people in this field. I just happen to be someone with a natural aptitude and the right amount of psychological maturity.”

“...Hmm. True, there are a few people out there who amass Harvard-level knowledge by the age of ten.”

Exactly the reaction I expected.

Unlike others, Charles is from a distinguished aristocratic family—and he worked in mathematics. Meaning, he’s seen plenty of eccentrics and prodigies.

So no, I didn’t reveal myself to him on a whim. I made him the Alpha Fund successor because I believed he wouldn’t treat me like some freak or incomprehensible being, but as a person.

And now...

“Feeling guilty now? Or... just embarrassed?”

“T-This close is kind of...”

Ahaha, someone who desires me this passionately is someone I can trust.

Honestly, I treated Charles pretty roughly, and I plan to do worse things to him later. Sure, I paid him generously—coldly speaking, more than enough—but human emotions are fickle.

“Let’s work well together, partner.”

Grinning, I handed him the documents. It’ll be hell trying to take over my duties, but he’s been by my side for a few months. He should manage.

– Thunk.

“Well then, I’m off! I’ve got a mountain of work, so I’ll leave you to it!”

[LTCM Acquisition Plan Report. Author: Charles Gray, VP]

He stared blankly at the author field for a moment, then reached toward me as I walked away.

“Yoo... Ha-yeon! Wait a minute! What is all this?!”

What else?

Let’s just borrow your name a bit.

***

“Could you lend me some money?”

These days, that was the phrase John Meriwether, founder of LTCM, repeated the most. It was also what his partners were murmuring like zombies as they wandered all over.

At this rate, LTCM would go bankrupt... The conclusion reached just a few days ago had been unimaginable.

LTCM’s portfolio was designed with meticulous diversification.

U.S. Treasuries, promising stocks on the NYSE, Dutch bonds, Italian bonds, British gilts, Latin America’s Brady bonds, and a scattering of junk bonds.

An elegantly constructed portfolio with a 30x leverage ratio. A near-perfect money-making formula that brought in astronomical returns...

But when the entire market moved in a single direction—and straight into the abyss—diversification became worthless.

What good is putting your eggs in different baskets if an earthquake smashes them all?

So they sought loans. Meriwether had plenty of connections.

Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway, Saudi princes flush with oil money, George Soros of Quantum Fund and his general Stanley Druckenmiller, Merrill Lynch CEO David Komansky, Julian Robertson of Tiger Fund, the Ziff brothers of publishing fortune, and Goldman Sachs executives John Corzine and Henry Paulson...

All said no.

Even Corzine, Meriwether’s friend of over ten years and fellow University of Chicago alum, refused.

—“Sorry, pal. We’re tight on money too. You know how the market is right now.”

He didn’t sound very sorry, and Meriwether knew that. The guy didn’t even show his face afterward.

Wall Street is a small world.

Literally—it’s just a street. America is huge, but Wall Street? Just a block.

So rumors spread fast.

May 5th, three days after Russia’s moratorium declaration.

Some newspapers began to voice concern.

[LTCM Default Rumors? Massive Losses Reported Following Russia’s Moratorium]

[Dotcom Bubble Warning Signs – Catastrophic Investment Losses Loom... Hedge Funds Shaking]

[U.S. Treasuries Skyrocketing... Dow Jones Plummets 20%]

Of course, everyone was panicking—not just LTCM.

The stock index plunged 20%, and the bond market went berserk. Long-term U.S. Treasuries—30-year and 29-year notes—saw their yield spreads diverge by several percentage points overnight.

Absurd. A one-year difference, not three or five, and still that gap?

Investors at LTCM bet the market would correct and bought up 29-year bonds. But the gap with 30-year bonds only widened.

With every tick of the second hand, tens of millions of dollars evaporated. Even Professor Myron Scholes—expected Nobel laureate and LTCM partner—was out pounding pavement, calling in favors.

“How did you lose that much?”

He visited William Sharpe, the 1990 Nobel Prize winner and his colleague from Stanford.

“That... I’ll explain later. For now, we urgently need more capital. You know our model—it’s perfect. Just get us through this irrational panic and we’ll pay back everything.”

“Oh? Interesting. So... the theory fails in real-world chaos, huh? Diversification seems to have broken down. Guess I should add that variable next time.”

Even appealing to sentiment didn’t work—Sharpe cared more about theory than bailing them out.

‘Goddamn it.’

“So the investment is...”

“Haha, Scholes, you know I don’t invest directly. Don’t have spare cash lying around either. Ever consider coming back to the lab? You were pretty good at sales, but you’re more suited to academia.”

“...Forget it.”

He couldn’t bring himself to say that if this kept up, he wouldn’t even have a home to return to.

***

.

.

.

–“It was a good proposal. Let’s meet in person to discuss further.”

“Ah, one thing I’d like to ask... That man—didn’t someone from LTCM ask to borrow money from you?”

–“Haha, yes. He even offered management rights... but I declined. Given the circumstances.”

“...I see. Thank you, Mr. Corzine.”

–Click.

‘I see.’

After speaking with Goldman Sachs’ CEO, I was certain.

Things had changed. No—history itself had changed.

No one would notice except me, the one who remembers it.

Of course. The Russian moratorium happened almost 16 months earlier than it should have, and the dotcom bubble had triggered three years ahead of schedule.

In my previous life, John Corzine had accepted Meriwether’s plea. He tried to secure $1.5 billion and reported to the New York Fed. He even brought Warren Buffett in a second time.

Eventually, the Fed chose a bailout, and the game ended there—a textbook case of Wall Street’s ruthlessness, burned into my memory.

–Click.

I twirled my pen with a flick of the wrist.

“Hm... What to do...”

I have money. A ridiculous amount of money. LTCM manages a lot of capital, but its net assets don’t even break $5 billion.

And I’ve got over $100 billion in dry powder. That LTCM came to Alpha Fund first speaks volumes.

I initially declined just to wait for the right timing—but honestly, I could’ve bought them outright without issue.

Waiting until now was... my choice.

“Hoo... Alright. Let’s do this. Sooner or later, it had to be done anyway.”

There’s an old saying—almost a taboo—on Wall Street:

“Never bet against the Fed.”

This time, I plan to break that rule.

Let’s see what your almighty Fed can do.