Chapter 61: The Beginning of the 90s (3)

The fact that I received a generous amount of my grandfather’s slush fund suggests one thing.

It means that I can intervene more actively.

“Okay, I thought it wouldn’t work and gave up, but now the situation has changed a bit.”

Lee Sihyeon, who cleared away the ‘Didn’t Betray for 100 Days’ sign on the desk with a sigh, asked.

“What are you going to do this time?”

“First of all, I can hire Seonjun Oppa. Other families also parachute their children into finance companies, right? Now it’ll be okay to hire him at Alpha Fund. Then, I can naturally work with him without being detected.”

Yu Seonjun is an important card to use in Europe.

Among the trustworthy and capable people, the only ones who can be exposed to the outside besides Yu Seonjun are Ha Youngil…, but Ha Youngil is already too busy managing the fund.

“Hmm, and I’m just planning it now. I don’t know if it will work. I need to plan a bit.”

I was drawing a big picture because I thought I could make a big profit in Europe. It’s just a sketch for now, though.

“What are you going to do…”

“It’s a secret for now. It’s just a hypothesis… Let’s play some more games, Sihyeon, sit here.”

I sat Sihyeon down, who was trying to get up as if she was restless, and handed her the joystick again.

“…Honestly, I don’t know. Wouldn’t it be better to actually move your body than to play these games?”

Lee Sihyeon, who maintains a slim, busty, and moderately muscular body through consistent exercise and self-care, expressed her dissatisfaction by pretending to punch the air.

…It would hurt if she hit me. Does she have real-life ki blasts?

Isn’t Lee Sihyeon, who maintains such an unrealistic body without any special past-life perks like me, the rare species?

“You might think so. Wow, you’re really in good shape. Women would like it more than men.”

I expressed my admiration, touching her distinct six-pack abs with my finger. The way the soft chest and firm muscles naturally blended together was more unrealistic than the statues I saw in the art museum.

“…Now that I think about it, it seems so. You chased away all the men who would like me. You’ll really understand my feelings when you turn thirty, Miss.”

“If I’m thirty, aren’t you close to fifty?”

“Stop.”

“Tsk, I can’t even talk.”

“Phew, I don’t know how Miss would live without me, feeling bored.”

“Why? I have a lot of secretaries.”

“Well, that’s true, but there’s no woman with a body like mine, is there? You really have a unique taste…”

As we talked a little, the game naturally took a back seat. I also got a little excited and unbuttoned and took off my clothes.

Unlike Lee Sihyeon’s healthy and rosy skin, my half-naked body with completely white and translucent skin was revealed.

“Eek, Miss… Even so, it’s a bit much to do it with a woman. I’m heterosexual.”

What is she talking about?

I ignored Lee Sihyeon and stood in front of the full-length mirror next to me.

“Haa… This is it. Good.”

-Thump

The hand holding the mirror trembles. I looked at the mirror with a dizzying pleasure.

A woman of unparalleled beauty was looking at me with eyes as if she was in love.

Wow, really…

“Ah, phew… Ha, haa…”

When I let out a heated sigh, the woman in the mirror was also immersed in ecstasy.

“…You really have a unique taste.”

“Ah, um… I, I was just doing it.”

“Yes, yes, I understand.”

Well…

Lee Sihyeon’s body is good, but there’s no woman like Yu Hayeon.

There is a minor problem that Yu Hayeon is me, though.

***

‘Germany has been unified.’

What do you feel when you see this sentence?

“Aha! You’re talking about the German Empire! Long live the Iron Chancellor Bismarck!”

“Hmm, are you talking about Little Germany or Greater Germany? Austria is also rightfully German territory… Danzig, Sudetenland, Austria, anyway, shouldn’t all places where Germans live be Germany? So shouldn’t they all be annexed for complete German unification?”

There aren’t many people like this in the 21st century, at least. First of all, the latter is a Nazi…

But it’s the 20th century now, tsk.

Then, to correct, what can you associate with ‘German reunification’?

“The Soviet Union will feel threatened… Now we can say that capitalism has completely won in the competition of systems.”

An American politician would think like this.

“We do not want German unification! Do you intend to create the Fourth Reich?! Now Nazi Germany will return!”

The UK will show a violent rejection, recalling the nightmare of just a few decades ago.

However, German politicians, especially German economic officials, thought like this.

“I don’t have any money…”

‘But let’s stop inflation first.’

They sobbed inwardly and issued government bonds to earn the cost of unification and resolutely raised interest rates.

And the UK started to foam at the mouth and make a fuss.

“The German central bank has raised interest rates again.”

When Yu Seonjun heard that the German central bank had raised interest rates again in 1991, he muttered absurdly.

“Hayeon, how did you know this?”

I, who was comfortably eating popcorn and watching the news next to him, smiled and stretched.

“Hmm, isn’t it obvious? How do you stop that inflation? The only way to stop it is to raise interest rates.”

The economic scale of West Germany and East Germany is enormous.

And of course, the cost of unification is enormous. This is something that Koreans can easily understand.

Isn’t the problem that always comes up in the unification of North and South Korea the issue of money? The common saying was that even Germany, which had a strong physique and not much economic difference, staggered economically.

It felt strange to see that staggering in real time.

“Raising interest rates… It’s natural because they spent so much money, but…”

Germany issued government bonds to cover the cost of unification and raised funds, and of course, as money increased, inflation came.

And to stop inflation, Germany raised interest rates.

It’s a simple economic formula. It doesn’t seem to be a big problem if you only look at this.

If interest rates rise, it will be difficult to borrow money, so the economy will stagnate a bit. But Germany’s basic physique is strong, it’s Germany, after all.

However…, this simple economic logic, which seems to have no problems, had one fatal problem.

In this global village where soundproofing is impossible, the whole neighborhood is watching me whispering at home.

Yu Seonjun burst into hollow laughter and pointed out the problem.

“No, then are all the other countries supposed to die? If this happens, other countries have to raise interest rates because of the ERM, right?”

“But they stopped inflation, right?”

ERM.

It’s not Eternal Return Masters, it’s the abbreviation of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), the core of the European Monetary System (EMS).

Major European countries were currently implementing an economic policy called ERM, and the UK was also a member of the ERM…, this is, simply put, a fixed exchange rate system.

Taking the UK and Germany as an example, it means that 1 pound = 2.95 German marks must be maintained.

Absolutely.

The problem with this is that you have to pay a price to maintain the value of your currency. Doesn’t it mean that you have to forcibly buy your own money, which is being sold cheaply in the market, at a high price?

Usually, you can raise interest rates. If interest rates rise, it means that the basic return on investment rises, and as people seek that money, the value of the currency naturally rises.

That’s right. The value of the currency naturally rises.

Whether I raised interest rates to stop inflation or to stop the value of the currency, anyway, if interest rates rise, the value of the currency rises.

“The value of the German mark has already risen quite a bit. Miss, the money in Germany… shouldn’t we dispose of it?”

Seo Ju-eun, who delivered the news of Germany’s interest rate hike, carefully asked.

“It’s okay. It will rise even more in the future. Isn’t it good? We have already invested a lot in Germany.”

I smiled happily.

Do you remember that I created a company in West Germany as soon as the Berlin Wall fell?

My company, which has now grown into a decent company, was also hit by the interest rate hike, but thanks to me, who knows the future, forcibly taking the opposite position, Germany’s interest rate hike was a huge boon to me.

First of all, my money is replicated, but if I go up and other companies stagnate, it has the same effect as me running twice as fast.

“Interest rates… I don’t think they can raise them. Will other countries just stand by and watch?”

Yu Seonjun was cautious. Even the gambler he was judging that what Germany was doing now was unreasonable.

Because it’s a nuisance, a huge nuisance.

Combining Germany’s interest rate hike with the ERM I mentioned earlier yields an interesting fact.

If Germany raises interest rates, the value of the German mark rises. Since exchange rates are relative, the value of the pound falls.

But because of the ERM, the UK has to defend the value of its currency.

It means that they have to raise interest rates or buy their own currency at a high price. And… unlike Germany, it’s hard for the UK to raise interest rates because their economy is ruined.

“What was the UK’s GDP growth rate the year before last? 2.3%? How much will it be last year… It hasn’t been announced yet, right?”

Yu Seonjun sighed and answered.

“It’s 1%. I looked it up and it’s around that. It’s hard for the UK to raise interest rates.”

It’s not minus yet. The UK economy will record a phenomenal negative growth this year and next year.

“That’s right. But that’s not Germany’s concern, is it? From now on, German interest rates will rise at least five to eight more times.”

“Then wouldn’t the UK collapse…? How can a country that is about to record a negative growth rate now follow that crazy interest rate?”

That’s why it collapses.