After ending his call with Seok-won, Landon slipped his phone back into his pocket and lifted his head to gaze at the large market board mounted in front of him.
[USD/KRW: 2,067.01 (+160.33)]
When he lowered his eyes again, he saw more than thirty traders scattered across the wide trading floor, all seated at their stations and looking straight at him.
Despite the late hour, Andrew and Dan—both senior investment chiefs—were also present, dressed sharply in silk neckties.
Landon glanced toward Tyler, the head of the forex trading team, who was wearing a headset mic and sporting a trimmed beard.
"Everything ready?"
"Yes."
Landon gave a small nod and issued his command in a calm but firm voice.
"Then let's remind our friends on Wall Street—who are probably popping champagne right now, thinking they've won—that the game isn't over yet. Let's go. Start."
"Understood."
With a wide smile showing his white teeth, Tyler turned around and clapped loudly.
"You all know what to do. Overwhelm them before they can even think about resisting—drive them into a knockout! Set, hut!"
As Tyler shouted the football-style call used by quarterbacks to signal an offensive play, the traders responded in unison and immediately jumped into action.
"Roger!"
"Let's warm up a bit!"
"Time to show them how hot it can get."
Watching them, Tyler gave further instructions.
"Start with a big hit to break the upward momentum in the exchange rate!"
"Yes, sir!"
"We're buying Korean won simultaneously on both the spot and forward markets!"
With tension high and focus razor-sharp, the traders launched a barrage of orders, using their headset mics and phones.
The sound of clattering keyboards exploded across the floor, like a flurry of gunfire erupting in a battlefield.
"Sold twenty million dollars at 2,030 won!"
"Okay, done!"
"Another fifty million at the same rate!"
As shouts erupted from every direction, the entire trading floor was in uproar.
In the midst of it all, Landon stood with his arms crossed, quietly watching the large market board.
Before long, Dan, the senior investment chief beside him, spoke up first.
"We're already seeing a reaction."
[USD/KRW: 2,030.21 (+123.53)]
As the Eldorado Fund indiscriminately poured in dollars to buy up Korean won, the sell orders for won listed on the trading screens were swiftly executed and vanished one after another.
In response, the steeply rising exchange rate chart hesitated—then abruptly bent downward and began to fall.
Seeing this, Andrew shrugged his shoulders.
"The hedge funds must be in total chaos by now."
"Heh heh heh… I'm sure they are."
Landon chuckled smugly as he replied.
***
At the same time.
John Miller, CEO of P&P Partners Fund, stood atop his desk and popped a bottle of champagne, drawing a thunderous cheer from the traders gathered around him.
"Great work, everyone. Expect a fat year-end bonus—it's going to be generous."
With a face flushed with excitement, Miller made the announcement, and the traders responded with loud whistles and joyful shouts.
"Woohoo!"
"John Miller! John Miller!"
As the room echoed with chants of his name, John Miller spread his arms wide, soaking in the celebration.
"Hahaha!"
He sprayed the champagne—each bottle worth well over $2,000—like water, without a hint of hesitation or regret.
And no wonder. He had just raked in over a hundred million dollars in profit from shorting the Korean won.
That single move had completely offset the losses he suffered in Hong Kong, and Miller felt like he was walking on air.
After emptying the champagne bottle and stepping down from the desk, a blonde chief trader approached him.
"Shouldn't we start closing our positions now to lock in the profits?"
Miller, his toad-like face beaming with a broad smile, replied,
"Now that the 2,000-won barrier's been broken, the fear will only grow, and the rate will keep climbing for a while. No need to rush."
"Well, that's true, but…"
"Tsk, tsk. Why are you always in such a hurry?"
Miller cut him off mid-sentence, throwing an arm casually over the man's shoulder.
With a swaggering expression, he added,
"This game is already ours. Relax and enjoy the victory."
The chief trader still thought they should secure their gains properly. But he also knew that with South Korea's foreign reserves nearly depleted, the government had no realistic means of reversing the situation in the short term.
So, he held his tongue. Just then, Miller handed him a can of beer from a box he had somehow prepared in advance.
"Here, have a drink."
"Yes, sir."
As the chief trader popped the can and was about to take a sip, a sudden shout came from behind.
"Huh? What's going on?"
"The won is gaining!"
"What?!"
"Sixty-five… fifty… damn it! What's happening?!"
The traders who had been basking in joy just moments earlier now wore panicked expressions as they rushed back to their desks.
[USD/KRW: 2,020.10 (+113.42)]
The smile that had spread across Miller's face vanished as the situation suddenly turned.
"What the hell is going on?!"
The chief trader quickly checked the monitors and responded in a panicked voice, his face pale.
"There's an enormous inflow of won purchases! The amount's already exceeded 500 million— no, 900 million dollars and it's still rising!"
"That's absurd!"
Miller snapped, yelling in disbelief as if trying to deny the reality outright.
He stormed over, roughly shoving the chief trader aside to check the monitor displaying the trading screen for himself.
Sure enough, a massive wave of buy orders for Korean won had filled the screen, pushing down the previously skyrocketing exchange rate with sheer volume.
"This... this can't be happening…"
His legs gave out for a moment under the shock, and he stumbled. The chief trader quickly stepped in to steady him.
"Are you all right?"
"Damn it."
Regaining his balance, Miller straightened himself and glared furiously at the screen.
"Is the Korean government stepping in now to defend the exchange rate?"
"I don't think so. From what we've assessed, they've nearly exhausted their usable foreign reserves. If they spent a large amount of dollars now, they'd be on the brink of a moratorium."
Miller raised his eyebrows sharply at the trader's shake of the head.
"Then who the hell is it?!"
With the jackpot just within reach only to have it snatched away, his fury surged uncontrollably.
Just then, one of the traders suddenly stood up and shouted over his shoulder.
"The Eldorado Fund is sweeping up Korean won!"
"What?!"
Miller's eyes bulged as he barked at him.
"Are you sure?!"
"Yes! They're relentlessly placing buy orders through Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, and Salomon!"
"Those damn Eldorado bastards."
Grinding his teeth, Miller recalled Seok-won's face—the man he'd clashed with at last year's holiday party.
That smug bastard with a face better than a Hollywood actor's, standing in the spotlight like he was the main character in some movie. Just remembering it made Miller's blood boil.
"Oh no! The exchange rate just dropped back below 2,000 won per dollar!"
At the scream-like report, Miller squinted at the screen and growled in a voice thick with irritation.
"How much money are they throwing around to shove it down this hard?!"
The chief trader, standing beside him, replied with a grim expression.
"They've already passed the one billion dollar mark. What's worse, the volume of buy orders isn't slowing down—it's increasing."
Miller scowled and cursed under his breath.
"Goddamn it!"
"At this rate, we could be pushed all the way back to the opening price in no time."
The look in the chief trader's eyes urged him to make a decision quickly—either liquidate their position or fight back by selling more won. Miller clenched his fists tightly.
"What are the other funds doing?"
The chief trader answered promptly.
"More of them are starting to buy back the won they sold earlier and closing out their short positions. At first, they seemed like they were going to wait it out, but after seeing how aggressively Eldorado Fund is moving in, it looks like they're quickly reversing course."
"This is insane."
Miller roughly ran a hand through his hair, frustration boiling over. It had only been a few minutes since he'd popped the champagne in celebration, and now everything had turned upside down.
"It's getting out of hand. We should exit while we're still in profit."
The chief trader offered his suggestion cautiously.
Even Miller had to admit—the Eldorado Fund's rampage, as it poured in dollars, was almost terrifying. The sheer force of it felt intentional and merciless. His instincts, sharpened from years surviving on the cutthroat streets of Wall Street, were screaming that this was dangerous.
But the thought of losing the jackpot just within reach—and worse, having to back down to someone like Park Seok-won—gnawed at his pride.
While Miller hesitated, unable to decide, a trader sitting at one of the monitors suddenly shouted in alarm.
"It just dropped past 1,850—no, 1,800 won!"
"It was above 2,000 just moments ago! How is it falling so fast?!"
"Even 1,795 is at risk now!"
"Shit!"
Miller glanced at the trading screen. It was filled with nothing but massive buy orders for Korean won.
Occasionally, a rare sell order would appear, but it would be snapped up instantly, vanishing before anyone could react.
Miller muttered, stunned.
"Just how much money is this lunatic planning to throw in?"
The chief trader, clearly panicked now, pushed even harder.
"If it drops to 1,600, we'll be in the red."
It was unbelievable. Just moments ago, they were celebrating a $100 million profit. Now, they had to worry about losses.
Miller briefly considered countering by selling more won, but quickly dismissed the idea.
No matter how much he disliked Seok-won, he couldn't underestimate the financial firepower of the Eldorado Fund.
And it wasn't like a behemoth like the Quantum Fund had joined them in the short-selling. While many had taken a slice early on, none had stepped in this time for some reason.
That made it all the more dangerous to act rashly.
"If I make the wrong move, I'll get crushed."
It hurt his pride, but the reality was that Eldorado Fund and Seok-won had grown too large to go toe-to-toe with lightly.
That's exactly why other hedge funds that had been attacking the won quickly started to unwind their positions once they saw Eldorado entering the field.
"There's nothing I like about that bastard," Miller muttered bitterly.
Miller ground his teeth in frustration, then reluctantly gave the order to the anxious-looking chief trader.
"Buy back the won—clear our position immediately."
"Yes, sir!"
The chief trader, as if he'd been waiting desperately for those words, nodded quickly.
Worried that Miller might change his mind, he instantly shouted at the traders sitting at their desks.
"Sell the dollars and start buying back the won! Hurry!"
The traders, already restless as they watched the exchange rate plummeting, wasted no time jumping into action.
"Twenty lots of won at 95—no, 90!"
"Buy ten lots of won at market price!"
"Okay, bought five million dollars' worth at 1,790!"
The P&P Partners traders shouted into their phones, frantically working to liquidate their positions before the exchange rate fell any further.
As the trading floor erupted in chaos, Miller stood there cursing non-stop under his breath, watching the USD-KRW rate plummet as if falling off a cliff.