“That guy is seriously hot. Should I get his number?”

“Shh! Keep it down. If he hears you, you’re out.”

I was on a flight to Hong Kong. A short hop, but I’d booked first class.

Maybe because it was a short route, I was the only first-class passenger.

After the in-flight meal, while I was resting, I could hear the flight attendants whispering.

These days, the kind of compliments I never heard in my past life just kept coming.

The storm’s about to start…

The 2008 subprime mortgage crisis that would leave the world’s financial sector stunned was steadily gathering strength.

Even the English-language paper in my hands had begun to sound worried.

Time flew, right on schedule.

Mom’s reunion had ended in glory.

She’d reclaimed her place as queen.

It didn’t look like we’d be seeing Auntie Sun-ja again; she’d be too embarrassed to show her face.

Mom stayed one night at our Seoul place, then went back to Dad.

Before she left, she filled the fridge with all kinds of side dishes.

She’d never dream that her son had become a cook thanks to Jang-geum noona.

Still, Mom’s cooking is the best.

Right after Mom left, I got on the plane to Hong Kong.

I got in touch with Clara.

She texted back: we’d meet after she got off work.

HSBC wasn’t doing well these days, so she was busy.

The Hongkong and Shanghai Bank had taken a real beating in America.

Robert had arrived in Hong Kong yesterday.

He was traveling with his girlfriend.

“We will shortly be arriving in Hong Kong. All passengers, please return to your seats and fasten your seatbelts.”

Ding! Ding! Ding!

The landing announcement and the chime sounded.

I felt the plane’s nose tip down.

Ding-ling, ding-ling.

Just then my phone chimed with a text.

I’d set up international roaming, so the moment we were over Hong Kong, the text came through.

— Aren’t you coming to school?

It was from the art school noona, Son Yu-ri.

— I’m in Hong Kong on a short business trip.

— B-business trip? You really run a business? At your age?

Son Yu-ri hadn’t believed me when I said I was self-made.

— A lot of the world’s startup CEOs started their businesses at my age. It isn’t young.

— Okay…

I could picture the disappointment on Son Yu-ri’s face.

She was the first woman to use my bed in this life.

I hadn’t had time to see her since.

I’d had a lot to do at the office.

I was on edge that my actions might set off a butterfly effect and change the outcomes I knew were coming.

I watched and watched, anxious to catch any change.

When the amounts were small, the ripples were small, but now enormous sums were moving all over the world.

The profits of the private equity and hedge funds I ran through Robert were climbing so fast it was frightening.

The FX margin market I’d invested in personally was nothing short of astonishing too.

The real chaos hadn’t even started yet, and my ammunition had already grown to the size of an ICBM.

— When are you coming back? Will it take long?

— I’m planning to be back tomorrow.

— Are you coming to school?

— Orientation is on Tuesday. I’m planning to go then.

— Busy, aren’t… you.

Son Yu-ri didn’t seem to know yet what playing hard to get was.

No—I really was turning into a bad boy.

In the two years since my regression, I’d gotten tangled up with more women than in my entire past life.

When I read my own changed face… it said I’d never run out of woman trouble.

In the horoscope, money means jae, wealth.

And for a man, jae means money and women both.

That’s why conglomerate chairmen keep several mistresses and still chase skirts—it’s written in their horoscopes.

When jae gathers, women follow it in. That’s the law of heaven.

That’s why rich men always have women swarming around them.

Even now, the flight attendants were making eyes at me, drawn by the faint smell of money.

Money’s energy was at work on them, and they didn’t even know it.

— Let’s have dinner after orientation.

— Really?

— I know a place with great spaghetti.

— Okay. You can text me now and then.

Son Yu-ri’s last line—she couldn’t give up her pride to the end.

— Will do. I’ll text you now and then.

And so I let Son Yu-ri keep her pride.

Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s night skyline came into view.

The leading light of Asia’s cities that never sleep.

It was calling me, loud and hot.

“Boss!”

Robert came in, saw me and threw his arms around me.

“Ha, hahaha…”

What’s with this move?

There’s no describing how it feels to be hugged by an older American man.

I just laughed awkwardly.

“Robert, you look younger.”

Robert had definitely gotten younger in the past few months.

His skin was firmer, and his body was more solid, as if he’d been hitting the gym.

Money really is a good thing.

He was a far cry from the loser he’d looked like when I first met him.

“It’s all thanks to you, Boss!”

Robert let go and looked at me with respect.

It was a sincere look that went beyond age, nationality or race.

“Sit down, Robert.”

As soon as the new year began, I’d raised Robert’s salary to ten million dollars.

I didn’t want to damage the relationship over a little money.

The connections and management I gained through Robert were worth an astronomical amount.

“You seem to get more charismatic all the time. I can’t even guess your age, Boss.”

Robert looked at me in admiration.

“Most Asians look young for their age.”

I hadn’t told even Robert my age.

If he wanted to know, Robert could find out in no time, but he didn’t.

“But, Boss…”

When I sat down at the plush conference table in the suite, Robert looked like he wanted to ask something.

“Is there something you’re curious about?”

“Yes.”

“About me?”

“Who are you, Boss?”

It was a direct, simple question.

“Why do you suddenly want to know?”

“…Not even the people Wall Street calls investment geniuses have ever produced an approach or returns like yours, Boss. The way you work, Boss, as if you know everything, is godlike.”

Uncle Robert, that’s my trade secret.

Swimming with my hands on the bottom. (TL Note: The Korean saying is “swim with your hands touching the ground” — something so safe it can’t fail.)

Eating cold porridge lying down. (TL Note: The Korean saying for anything effortless — cold porridge needs no blowing, and you don’t even have to sit up.)

A rigged card game.

Somehow those have become my specialties.

“It’s possible if you can observe the flow of the world.”

“Observe the flow?”

“If you know how to read the currents of yin and yang and the five elements, the secrets of heaven, the constellations and so on, you can see through the flow of worldly affairs to a degree.”

Everyone seems to have a little con man in them.

I dressed complete nonsense up to sound plausible.

To Westerners, Eastern philosophy was still mysterious.

“Ah… some kind of martial-arts secret? Like the invisible force in Chinese movies…”

Even Robert, at his age, fell under the spell of my words.

He couldn’t help it: my investment timing was so perfect it would make a ghost wail, and he couldn’t make sense of me. (TL Note: “So perfect it would make a ghost wail” is Korean for something uncanny beyond explaining.)

“Come to Korea sometime. I’ll give you a taste of it then.”

“I’ll look forward to it, Boss!”

“How’s American politics looking?”

We got down to business.

Everything could be handled by email, but I needed an in-person report too.

Sensitive matters, like the American presidential election, especially called for secrecy.

“They’re still pegging Hillary as the front-runner.”

“No pressure?”

“I can’t say there isn’t. The Republicans have made such a mess of things with the war that the Democrats are sure to take power.”

“Put money into Hillary’s campaign.”

“What? Hillary’s?”

There was no need to make an enemy of Hillary.

She becomes Secretary of State in the Obama administration and serves as his right hand.

Eight years from now, she goes down to a blow from the world’s biggest scoundrel, but until then she’s a power player.

“Spend the maximum political contributions you can legally make.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Of course, make sure you square it thoroughly with the Obama side. Once the presidential election’s over, the Obama side will need Candidate Hillary too.”

“Ah… that makes sense.”

“Without the Democratic senators and representatives who back Hillary, Candidate Obama would be only half a president even if he won.”

Hillary’s husband is a former president.

“A brilliant political insight.”

It wasn’t political insight; it was common sense to anyone who’d lived the future and watched a little news.

There’s nothing special about foresight.

You just have to live the way I have.

“It’s not insight. The American people are worn out by tax cuts for the rich and the cost of the war. Hillary has gained and lost because of President Clinton. She was a glorious First Lady once, but not as a president. Around the world, voters are sick of establishment politicians. That’s exactly when a fresh candidate becomes the leader.”

“Ah!”

I was lecturing an American about American politics.

My knowledge was thin, picked up from internet news, but to people who didn’t know the future, it was prophecy that hit the spot.

“I went over it—the total return on our investments is over sixty billion dollars. Good work.”

In no time at all, the money had ballooned against what we’d put in.

“It’s the power of your fail-proof, aggressive investment management, Boss.”

Robert never showed off how good he was.

“It wouldn’t have been possible without your help, Robert.”

“Thank you, Boss.”

A boss doesn’t need to be stingy with praise.

You have to be used to rewarding good work and punishing bad.

“Exactly how many private equity funds have we expanded to?”

“Thirty-five private equity and hedge funds have been set up so far.”

“Increase that to fifty in the first half of the year. Hand twenty over to me. As for the rest, push them to sign equity agreements with the investment company I’m going to set up.”

“Understood.”

Through a maze of channels, every stake the private equity funds held was ultimately mine.

Private equity funds here and there were tangled together, and the ownership was complicated.

I’d memorized all of it.

If there were trouble, freezing just a few accounts would stop the money flowing.

Robert handled management, but I kept a firm grip on the core flow of money.

“A storm is about to blow.”

“Everyone suspects it, but nobody’s preparing. They seem to think the government and the Federal Reserve will do something.”

Robert knows how to put his finger on the point.

The day wasn’t far off when that damn Fed would run the photocopier on dollars and drop them from helicopters.

And sucking up that money would take thorough planning.

“Start investing in Hong Kong stocks too. The target is every Chinese stock listed in Hong Kong.”

“Boss, Chinese stocks are quite overvalued right now. Is this a buy call?”

Buy? Not in the least.

“Hong Kong has no restrictions on short selling Chinese stocks. Through Andrew Supporter and a few other private equity funds, short them aggressively and indiscriminately, watching how things go. But you don’t need to issue any reports that could get us in legal trouble later.”

“We’ll start at Monday morning’s open.”

Robert nodded.

Chinese stocks are about to crash.

There’s no need to draw attention by investing on the mainland.

Just picking at the mainland giants listed in Hong Kong would make a fortune.

I don’t pay my own money for stocks.

When the index drops from the six-thousand range to 1,700 this November, that’s buying them for free.

Only a fool pays for stocks when he can sweep them up for nothing.

“And how did the thing I asked for go?”

“The card is right here.”

Robert held out a gold envelope.

An American Express Black Card with no limit, settled from an overseas account.

What’s the point of making money?

Pinch pennies on shopping, and your money turns to crap.

“I’ve arranged it so your visa comes through the moment you apply. Your green card too.”

“I’ll send the paperwork.”

I’d be going to America a lot from now on.

I didn’t want a visa tying me down.

Throw in a few billion won and a green card is a pass.

Add a little pressure from people in power, and it goes through without a hitch.

“A few private jets are about to come on the market. Buy several useful ones among them, long-range and medium-to-short-range.”

“That’s the best news I’ve heard all day. I’ll look into it and take care of it.”

The king of American showing-off is a private jet.

It was time I got one.

As long as it wasn’t in my name.

One who rules, yet leaves no trace of ruling!

That is the world’s true ruler.

(End of Chapter 93)