I Became the Youngest Daughter of a Chaebol Family-Chapter 110: Travel Training (5)

“...So, when are you going to do it? That... the France collapse plan.”

Seo Ji-yeon asked, fidgeting with her fingers.

For someone who told me to do whatever I wanted, she’s being awfully timid.

“When the time’s right. Ideally, it’d be nice if it overlaps with the option expiration date. I’m still running the numbers.”

Just because something happens doesn’t mean stocks immediately fall. I have to consider market closure days, people’s psychology, and how fast they process information.

And derivatives, unlike stocks, include time value and other variables, which makes the calculations extremely complex. There are some math nerds eyeing it, but... recently, most of the masters of financial engineering all flocked to LTCM, so there's no one decent left.

Ah, what’s LTCM? A fund founded by geniuses that earned 30x returns within three years and became a legend on Wall Street.

It was founded this year, and by 1996, it’ll become the biggest fund on Wall Street... They don’t even have $10 billion in equity but manage $140 billion. That’s insane. freewёbnoνel-com

And yes—objectively speaking—it is insane. LTCM ultimately couldn’t withstand Russia’s moratorium and went bankrupt (though the U.S. Fed bailed them out).

I think I could manage something like that with leverage... somehow.

Alpha Fund doesn’t have enough prestige to pull off that level of leverage. Leverage only works when someone lends you money, and in my case, I invest in inherently high-volatility areas too.

‘Sometimes, when you’re managing money, your sense of scale gets fried.’

This Crédit Lyonnais loss is $25 billion, and Alpha Fund’s equity is around $17 billion. And of course, even $100 million is already a huge amount of money.

So I’d prefer to leave the heavy calculations to experts, but...

‘Let’s see how long you keep refusing my offer... Rejecting my scouting, huh? Just because a Nobel laureate called you? And you actually believed him?’

Hmph. In the end, I’ll have to do it myself for a while.

Honestly, even if I’m smart, I still lack field experience compared to top-tier players. But knowing the future gives me a decent edge.

Scratch, scratch.

I kept calculating for a while, then gently bit my lower lip.

“Mm, six weeks from now. It’ll take a week to hit the ceiling... and six weeks to bottom out.”

“Six weeks?”

I nodded slowly and wiped the graphite powder from my fingers. My calculations were flawless.

“I should contact Seon-jun oppa. Time to start selling.”

The real estate sell-off will be in one week. Shorting French government bonds starts three weeks from now. And as for options... I’ll start buying now.

.

.

.

The Crédit Lyonnais scandal that had shaken every French newspaper quickly disappeared from headlines. It didn’t seem very politically connected, and more importantly, nothing had actually been properly exposed.

Of course, the biggest reason was that the French government had made every effort to muzzle the media.

Fortunately, the government had a good distraction. The Statistics Bureau had just announced rare news of Q3 price stability... and to top it off, real estate around Paris was beginning to recover.

So France, at a glance, looked peaceful. The economy was in recession, but there were no reports of major corporations collapsing in succession, and perceived inflation was stable.

But—less than a week later—it was as if someone had lied. Inflation began rising again.

At first, people thought it was the result of the base rate cut, but soon they realized a far bigger problem had emerged.

[Consumer Sentiment Index plummets... Ministry of Economy says it’s a temporary dip from the rate cut. But the job market remains cold]

[Russian loyalist coup? Fall of democratic icon Yeltsin... European leaders issue unified statement condemning Russia’s return to dictatorship]

The situation in Russia suddenly destabilized, causing problems in raw material supply. It wasn’t quite right to say this happened because of Yoo Ha-yeon’s meddling.

Russia was always like this. Ha-yeon had only temporarily hidden it. Since the Soviet collapse, Russia had never once truly stabilized.

When commodity prices rise due to external factors, inflation follows. And this type of inflation has nothing to do with whether the economy is doing well or not—it’s because of a broken supply chain. The economy still sucks.

The beginning of stagflation.

***

After Russia’s sudden upheaval became known, bad news began pouring out.

[Crédit Lyonnais discovers additional losses... at least $2 billion estimated]

[More investments made at Crédit Lyonnais just a week ago... Paris real estate broker’s exposé. CL still hasn’t learned its lesson]

[Was the real estate revival a lie? Paris home prices drop by hundreds of thousands of francs...]

“Hmm, I didn’t do this part. Maybe Wall Street’s finally ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ getting involved.”

I don’t move the whole world. I move only a few key power brokers, institutions, and groups that can move the world.

Of course, the result is the same.

“...This is cruel. No matter what, France had no way out, did it?”

Seo Ji-yeon, who knew how much effort I had put into this, muttered quietly.

I smiled and shrugged.

“Right. The first button was misaligned from the start.”

There was never going to be a solution.

This was France’s accumulated karma, built up over a long time. The fall had been inevitable.

And falling after rising always hurts more. The spark of hope had been extinguished again, and investor sentiment would take a deep hit.

That’s a far worse blow than simply enduring a long slump.

“The problem is, I need to spin this as a Socialist Party failure—not a Republican one...”

Tap tap.

I drummed the table with my fingers, lost in thought. France’s stocks and real economy were already scraping bottom, but there was still more to extract.

“...Haven’t you already made a ton of money? I heard you hit your profit target yesterday.”

“The more money, the better, right?”

Seo Ji-yeon tilted her head.

“But Miss, you’re not really that type, are you? Normally you pull out once you’ve made your profit.”

Quite sharp.

As she said, I’m not the type to take on unnecessary risks—at least, not in this life.

Naturally, that’s not because I’m cautious.

“That’s true. Rather than chewing the bones for an extra 5% return, it’s more profitable to move on to the next juicy piece and earn 30% or more.”

“...No idea where you keep finding them, but you do keep finding new profit spots.”

Honestly, I wonder about that too.

Why are there so many disasters and scandals in this world?

“Hm. This time it’s a little different. I also have to consider political factors. I’ve earned enough money. Now it’s time to build influence.”

“Political?”

“Let’s just say... France’s current president is from the Socialist Party.”

I didn’t bother adding more. Someone living in Korea doesn’t need to know all the details of French politics—and probably wouldn’t get it anyway.

***

In France, Prime Minister Édouard Balladur clenched his jaw.

“All those taxes we spent...!”

A staggering $9 billion in U.S. dollars.

They had poured that much money into bailouts. The public’s criticism had been fierce, but they had no choice.

The losses had already happened. What could they do?

No matter how great an economic official you are, you can’t create money out of nothing. Well, you can make money out of nothing, but you can’t undo losses once they’ve happened. Maybe if Crédit Lyonnais’s insolvency had been exposed earlier...

But now? What the hell was this?

The money had been spent, and in return, they got an economy that plunged into deep recession.

“...I’m sorry.”

The Minister of Finance bowed his head.

“No... no. This was something no one could’ve predicted...”

His chest tightened.

He couldn’t see a way forward.

France was currently under a cohabitation government. The president was from the leftist Socialist Party, and the prime minister from the right-wing Republican Party.

In Korean terms, it was a divided government. The president didn’t have strong powers.

Neoliberalism had been a policy pushed by the prime minister. Just implementing neoliberal austerity policies had driven down President Mitterrand’s approval rating.

After twenty years, the Socialist Party had finally come to power—people had expected a social democratic agenda.

...And now, maybe that was really necessary.

This crisis was the result of neoliberal policies. Giving too much freedom to a state-owned bank had led to disaster—and the people finally realized it.

“So... I have to take responsibility.”

The taste in his mouth turned bitter.

President Mitterrand had tried some reforms early in his term but failed. Since then, he had left economic policy to the prime minister.

Looking back, he should’ve left the economy to his political opponent. That way, he could’ve avoided blame.

Maybe the president had already realized that no policy would revive the economy—and tossed the ball to the Republican Party on purpose.

“...Wait a moment.”

Suddenly, an idea sparked in the prime minister’s mind. He might not run in the next election, but maybe there was a way to force a change in government.

That trick Mitterrand pulled—what’s stopping the Republicans from doing the same?

“What if... we just started pushing Socialist Party policies?”

“...Excuse me?”

“Not directly, of course. Let’s not block the policies proposed by the Socialist or Communist Party. But we’ll frame it as losing ground in a political scuffle... Not outright support, just some passive cooperation. It’s not even a lie, really. I’ll issue a statement and take a step back, at least for now.”

People never know who actually pushes which policy. What matters is whose name is attached to it.

If no policy can save the economy—

Then the only move left... is to step away from the spotlight.

R𝑒ad latest chapt𝒆rs at freew𝒆(b)novel.c(o)m Only