The first thing I did was to call my parents to calm them down.
<I’m all right. Don’t worry, I am not even in Manhattan at the moment.>
Yeonhee turned down the TV volume as I talked to my parents. I saw from the television that the plane had crashed at 8:46 AM, and I immediately called Jonathan after ending my call.
“You didn’t touch the funds I told you not to, right?” (EN:, I think this is referring to Chapter 121, where Sun says to Jonathan the time isn’t ready for them to start a bank.)
<Yes, but…>
“How is the futures market doing?”
<They are not selling yet. Actually, it’s rallying.>
“We don’t have time, Jonathan. Sell all the future positions in the group as much as you can, never mind the losses.”
<The losses will be immense…but I will do so.>
“I’ll call you back soon.”
(EN: Futures Contract- In finance, a futures contract is a standardized legal agreement to buy or sell something at a predetermined price at a specified time in the future, between parties not known to each other. The asset transacted is usually a commodity or financial instrument.)
The market had not realized yet that this plane crash was an act of terrorism rather than a mere accident. I texted Jillian, Jessica, and Daniel, a new manager independent of the Isle of Man, to sell all positions at once. I checked the time. It was 8:48 AM, and the next five minutes were critical. Even though the date was different, the events should be the same. That meant the second plane would crash into the other tower after five minutes.
The world would know then that this was a terror attack. I called an agent from SIlvermann who managed my private orders for future accounts. I had three billion dollars in future contracts. I told the agent to sell all my positions despite his protests, and now it was 8:49 AM.
I could not reach Jonathan as he was on a call with someone else. I knew that the American Government would track all our activities right after this event, which was 8.11 now. Therefore I had to minimize the funds I had tied up in the futures markets.
While this may seem like an opportunity to increase my assets, I needed to suffer losses rather than win a profit. In my past life, a group of college students had invested in stocks and made a jackpot on 9.11 in the original timeline. However, their luck changed to he11, as the government had crushed them under the newly passed Patriot Act because there had been an Arab student in the group. I would not be an exception, as I was a Korean. The American Government would note this fact during this investigation. They would not give a [email protected] whether I was North Korean or South Korean.
Moreover, using this event to make a profit would bring about America’s wrath. I saw that it was 9:02 AM when Jonathan called me back.
(EN: Ok, Gentle Readers, here’s what I think is happening. I think that Sun had deliberately set up billions of dollars in Futures Contracts predicting a downturn in the market in the near future. If Sun kept those Futures Contracts, he’d make a fortune. By selling them right after the Towers fell, he’s imitating someone who’s panicking, and selling off low value assets in order to gain liquidity (cash) so that they have funds on hand just in case. However, because the Futures Contracts predicted a downturn, he lost hundreds of billions in potential profits. Sun deliberately lost a payout of hundreds of billions of dollars just to prevent the US government from having any pretext to crush NY and Isle of Man. The most diabolically clever thing is that Sun’s big competitors would buy them. Right now, they’re far too attractive. And they just bought themselves a close investigation by the FBI. They’re poison pills, filled with toxic scrutiny of the US government armed with the Patriot’s Act. ^_^ )
<The market is selling strongly now, especially from London and Isle of Man. The problem is that others are imitating us.>
“Wait, what line are you using?”
<BT&T (Bell Telephone & Telegraph.>
It was all right then, as we owned the majority of the shares there. I could refuse to give evidence even if the American government subpoenaed me.
“Sunhoo!”
Yeonhee shouted, and I heard Jonathan curse loudly over the phone. The salon became even more chaotic as everyone started running out like there was a fire while talking on their phones.
The second plane had crashed, and I saw black smoke rise in the TV monitor. The reporter was shaking, and everywhere it was chaos.
“Another crash! Are they the Awakened?!”
Yeonhee would think so, as the situation was too surreal to be realistic. I heard Jonathan’s voice again.
<I have to evacuate our employees right now!>
He ended the call, and I could not reach him again.
**
The two major cities of global finance were New York’s Wall Street and London. That meant London was also in shock, and I saw that everyone was running like there had been a war with cell phones pressed to their ears. It was true that this attack had made a major impact on the global financial system, and London’s stock market had been open, unlike New York.
“You should go back to our rooms.”
I sent Yeonhee back and went to the building where Jillian’s investment company was. The only one quiet there was the lobby receptionist.
“Please inform the CEO of the Jillian Investment Group that Ethan is here.”
“I am sorry to say that you cannot meet him now even if there had been a meeting scheduled. We ask for your understanding.”
There were many in the lobby, as people had come to the City Bank located on the first floor of this building.
“There are massive funds involved. Hurry!”
The receptionist could not get through on the phone, and the lobby guard had to escort me directly. I heard phones ringing and employees talking everywhere as I entered the office, and Jillian was no exception. He had stepped out of his office to wait for me but was talking on his cell phone all the while. We greeted each other with only a glance, and Jillian ended his call after quite a while.
“I am sorry to have you kept waiting. Were you in London?”
“Yes. Did you get my message?”
“Yes. We did not have enough time to clear all positions before the crashes were confirmed as terrorism. However, we had managed to sell most of them before suffering massive losses.”
Jillian answered with a long face before I opened my mouth.
“Our directing department had not expected this.”
“I understand. This is…a catastrophe.”
“Yes, it is. Therefore, you are not responsible for the losses accumulated in this situation. This had not been included in the proposal anyway. The important thing is what we do now. America will lower interest rates faster, and it has become easy for them to declare war on Iraq. Jillian, you know how things were predicted. Let’s talk about that and leave the chaos for the employees.”
Jillian went out to give orders and came back into the office after lowering the blinds. However, Jillian had to call his friends in New York and check whether they were safe. It took Jillian a long time to check whether they were alive or not. Meanwhile, the third plane hit the Pentagon while the fourth crashed in Pittsburgh.
“Thank you for waiting. They’re all safe.”
Jillian sighed as we continued our meeting, and I listened to his future plans according to the long-term proposal regarding the oil and real estate markets. His plans were immaculate.
That evening, I heard that my flight had been canceled. No planes would fly today.