Chapter 224: Minus Oil Price (3)
February 20th, 1998, 4:00 p.m.
One day before the WTI futures expiration date.
—Bang!
A loud crash rang out as someone slammed the table.
“Does this sound even remotely reasonable?! It’s insane enough to sell for free, but now you’re telling me I have to pay to get rid of it?!”
Despite it being winter, sweat was pouring down the man’s face as he shouted.
“There’s nothing we can do. It’s not that we doubt your abilities, sir... but we believe it’s realistically impossible for you to travel all the way to Oklahoma and take delivery of hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil. Unless you can provide proof that you have the capacity to transport oil from the storage facility, we’ll have no choice but to initiate forced liquidation procedures.”
The suit-clad employee shook his head apologetically, while the man just gaped in disbelief.
Unlike Tiger Fund, which had foreseen the situation and sold its contracts early—paying money to do so—there were still quite a few people clinging to their futures.
Small Wall Street funds and minor investors with relatively small stakes were generally in that position. Large pension funds had already exited long ago because of the extreme risk.
Of course... “small” in the eyes of a pension fund or Alpha Fund was still an enormous sum for an individual.
“One million dollars! I put in one million dollars....”
Slumping over the desk in despair, he muttered the figure.
One million dollars. Roughly one billion won.
Not exactly pocket change, though not astronomical—especially for a bold Texas man who had never bothered with insurance. Of course, a truly old-fashioned Texan wouldn’t have touched a futures contract in the first place.
“There’s no way... nothing you can do?”
“...I’m sorry.”
“T-Then at least give me some time. Just a few hours...”
Brushing off the employee’s advice that prices would likely drop further, he wandered the streets of Austin in a daze.
Austin.
Not only his own name, but also the capital of Texas. Fueled by oil money, this planned city had grown into one of the most beautiful in the world—but right now, none of that beauty registered to him.
One million dollars... one million dollars...
If it had just been the loss of a million, he could have accepted it. Painful, yes, but manageable—Austin was a capable man.
Contrary to his name, Austin worked in Houston. More precisely, he was a researcher at the Texas Medical Center, the largest medical complex in the world.
So if he had to part with that million, it would hurt, but he could live with it. He was talented, well-paid, and even the chairman of the now-famous-in-America Daehwa Group had once visited his company for treatment a few years back.
But...
“Negative oil prices?”
The news struck like a thunderclap, shattering all his calculations.
The situation had changed. Now he could lose more than his initial stake.
No one knew how far prices could fall. If things went badly, he could lose not only the million he’d put in but also several million more.
That would be the end. Raising millions wasn’t impossible, but in a rush, assets would sell for far less than they were worth, and he’d lose his job to boot.
Gulp.
He swallowed hard. A life that had been smooth sailing was about to be wrecked by one bad investment.
America did not forgive failures. He would join the ranks of the countless poor.
Sitting on a bench and staring blankly into space, he felt the strength draining from his body. After working so hard, to have it all ruined just for holding a financial product a few days too long...
He shouldn’t have trusted the advice of that friend in the oil industry. In hindsight, there had been plenty of red flags.
Phew.
Lighting cigarette after cigarette, he noticed people around him frowning and moving away. Maybe it was just getting late, but in his unsettled state, every little thing set his ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) mind spinning.
“What the hell am I supposed to—”
Click.
“Mmm... Austin Obinson, right?”
A faint smile on her lips, an Asian woman with an oddly mysterious aura approached him.
“...Who are you?”
He stubbed out his cigarette, wary, but the woman sat down on the bench beside him as if nothing were strange.
“Lucky day for you. You happen to be exactly the kind of talent we’ve been looking for.”
Snap.
She handed him a stiff piece of paper.
[Job Offer]
“What?”
The cigarette fell from his lips in disbelief.
“Well, you might as well quit smoking while you’re at it. Our company strongly encourages employees to quit. Ah—achoo!”
Something about her calm voice made him uneasy.
She accepted the absurdity of the situation as if it were normal—like someone who had done this many times before.
“...Who exactly are you?”
Of course, he wasn’t going to accept a suspicious offer from some unknown company on the spot. The timing was far too strange—and she already knew his name.
Well... obviously she wouldn’t have approached if she didn’t know my name.
It wasn’t as if other companies had never tried to scout him before. In Houston’s professional circles, he was confident his name was known.
“...Ah! I didn’t tell you my name, did I? Hahaha, I’ve just got so much on my plate these days I keep forgetting things. If you were a young lady, I bet you wouldn’t—”
Clap.
Or maybe not?
She seemed a little scatterbrained.
“Here, my card, Mr. Austin Obinson.”
But that impression vanished the moment he saw the card she handed him.
[Daehwa Securities, Secretariat Office – Chief Secretary, Seo Ji-yeon]
“...Daehwa Securities?”
“Oh, wait, wrong one. Just a moment.”
“The nest of that witch Yoo Ha-yeon, isn’t it?”
His face hardened. The shady woman—Seo Ji-yeon—fumbled in her card case before producing another.
“Oh my, you know? People in America don’t usually know about Daehwa Securities.”
Thud.
[Daehwa Group 3rd Secretariat – Personal External Secretary to Yoo Ha-yeon, Seo Ji-yeon]
Another card landed on his thigh. His suspicion now had confirmation.
“What business does the witch’s dog have with me?”
His voice boiled with anger and hostility. Even if this wasn’t his field, he knew perfectly well that Yoo Ha-yeon had played a large part in his impending ruin.
When your own money—millions—was on the line, even a layman became an expert.
“Ahaha...”
She smiled awkwardly.
“Answer me.”
“Is that important right now?”
“What?”
“I’m saying—is that really what matters right now? I’ll let the way you just spoke about my young miss slide. I’ve even turned off the recorder, see? Honestly, it’s true my young miss does some pretty nasty things.”
With a strangely chilling aura, Seo Ji-yeon poked him lightly in the chest.
“What are you—”
“Your little sister. I hear she’s got a heart condition.”
“....”
He had no idea how she knew that the reason he’d taken a job in Houston was tied to his sister’s illness.
But one thing was certain: if he missed this moment, there would be no more hope.
She shrugged and continued.
“No need to overthink it. And no, it’s not something to call the CIA about. Everything will be perfectly legal. Yes—legal procedures.”
“....”
The silence stretched.
“Mmm, I’d answer quickly if I were you. I’m a busy person. And your futures are dropping in real time—it’ll be better for both of us.”
At that, Austin glanced at the oil price.
Minus $10.
What the hell...
When had that happened?
He rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was hallucinating—only to see it had already shifted.
Minus $11.
“You fucking bitch, Yoo Ha-yeon, you crazy—”
Slap.
“Mmm, watch your mouth, hmm?”
Smiling sweetly, she gave him a light slap, then tilted her head in an almost apologetic gesture.
“A-Alright. What exactly do you want from me?”
“The healthcare industry.”
“...What?”
A familiar word, but completely out of left field.
Austin stared at her blankly.
“You thought we were going to ask you to spy for us? I told you—it’s all legal. Think of it as a job change with a very good package. You’ll just have to sign a rather strict non-disclosure agreement... but that’s standard in the U.S. too.”
“That’s...”
“Daehwa Group is pushing to develop independent biotech capabilities. You know it, right? In twenty—no, even just thirty years—aging could be the most critical issue in society.”
She went on to explain that, since Korean medical technology still lagged far behind, they needed someone to transfer cutting-edge U.S. know-how.
“...Isn’t that still just corporate espionage?”
“It’s fine. We can arrange direct agreements with your current company. As you know, Alpha Fund’s Yoo Ha-yeon MD is very rich. Soon to be your boss, in fact.”
“Then there’s no need to approach me in such a shady way.”
“You can buy technology with money, but you can’t always buy people. Not unless it’s at a moment like this. Even if we build a massive medical complex in Korea, convincing someone from a U.S. metropolis to move to a Korean backwater isn’t easy.”
“I... see.”
Austin gave a noncommittal grunt.
Tap, tap.
She smiled faintly and held out a newspaper.
[‘Negative Oil Prices’ – We’ll Pay You to Take the Crude!]
[Investors in Turmoil... Asset managers who issued crude oil ETFs face massive criticism.]
[U.S. Senator says “Production cuts coming soon, nothing to worry about” – Statement shows zero understanding of futures structure, enraging investors.]
[With just one day to expiry, how far will oil fall? Some experts predict -$30 per barrel.]
“See this?”
He’d gotten in when crude was $10 a barrel. Which meant... if it fell to -$30, he wouldn’t just fail to keep his million—he’d owe another $3 million.
“...So I never had a choice.”
Seo Ji-yeon shook her head as if he’d said something silly.
“Nope. I’m not that cruel. You have three perfectly good options besides my offer.”
She began counting them off on her fingers, her tone almost gentle.
1. Sell everything now and swallow a loss of over $2 million.
2. Add more margin and pray for a miracle until expiry.
3. Or... cleanly transfer the inheritance your sister would receive, laundered, and jump from somewhere high.
“If you pick the last one, I’ll even be generous enough to settle your debt. A million dollars is nothing—I’ll pay it myself.”
On reflection, it didn’t feel like he had much of a choice at all.