Gyeonggi Province, Pyeongtaek, Republic of Korea Navy Second Fleet Command.
The heavy snow that had fallen until last night had stopped as if it were a lie, and the sky had cleared. Gray-painted warships filled the wide pier.
On one side, six identical warships, like twins, were lined up at anchor, proudly displaying the 76mm OTO Melara naval guns mounted on their bows. They were the stars of today's commissioning ceremony: newly built 250-ton-class fast attack craft.
Along the railings of the fast attack craft, crew members in black dress uniforms stood in formation at parade rest.
The venue was filled with many naval personnel and distinguished guests. Seok-won, who had spent as much as 200 billion won of his own money to build the new fast attack craft and donate them to the navy, had also been invited and was seated in the VIP section.
Unlike a launching ceremony, which marks a ship's first time touching the sea, a commissioning ceremony was usually held as an internal event within each unit.
Moreover, since these were not mainline warships but small vessels like fast attack craft, the commissioning ceremony was normally presided over by a flotilla commander with a single star.
However, today's event was attended not only by the commander of the Second Fleet, but also by Song Tae-uk, the Chief of Naval Operations, and Ahn Yong-guk, the Minister of National Defense. They took the seats on either side of Seok-won, placing him right in the middle.
As a result, not only the junior officers and sailors, but even Im Won-seop, the two-star commander of the Second Fleet, wore expressions taut with discipline.
Breathing in the salty scent of the sea, Seok-won sat in the front row and listened to the congratulatory speeches of the distinguished guests.
"Then, lastly, we will proceed with the hoisting of the commissioning pennant. The hoisting will be carried out by Minister of National Defense Ahn Yong-guk, Chief of Naval Operations Song Tae-uk, and Chairman Park Seok-won, who generously donated the fast attack craft being commissioned today."
At the emcee captain's words, Minister of National Defense Ahn Yong-guk, who was seated to the right, gestured with a smiling face.
"Shall we go?"
"Yes."
As Seok-won rose to his feet, Song Tae-uk, the Chief of Naval Operations beside him, also stood up and followed.
Guided by Im Won-seop, the commander of the Second Fleet, who was visibly tense at the presence of such lofty superiors, the group climbed aboard the hull of the lead ship of the Osprey-class, Ship No. 1.
"Certain victory!"
A young officer with a captain's insignia snapped to attention and gave a crisp salute.
Seok-won returned the greeting with a casual nod, but when he looked at the officer's face, he halted mid-step.
"This person is…."
Then Jeon Yeong-gyun, the flotilla commander, who had been standing behind them, quickly answered.
"This is Captain Seo Jeong-hun, the commanding officer of Ship No. 1, Osprey 711."
"Ah, I see."
Seok-won extended his hand first and offered a handshake.
"You must have a hard time guarding the rough seas day and night."
"Not at all! I'm just grateful that you've given us the chance to go out to sea aboard such a wonderful fast attack craft."
Captain Seo Jeong-hun replied as he clasped the hand, his enunciation clear.
"I put some thought into having them built. Do you like the fast attack craft?"
"Yes. Not just me, but the entire crew is satisfied. It's the best."
"That's a relief to hear."
Seeing his face shining with vitality, it was clear that he was genuinely pleased.
At that moment, Flotilla Commander Jeon Yeong-gyun glanced at him and cautiously interjected.
"Chairman Park, you should head forward now…."
Seok-won nodded. He took one last look at Captain Seo Jeong-hun, who would later become one of the key figures in the Second Yeonpyeong Naval Battle, and then started walking again.
"We will now hoist the commissioning pennant!"
At the shout of the officer presiding over the ceremony, Seok-won extended his gloved hand and, together with Minister of National Defense Ahn Yong-guk and Chief of Naval Operations Song Tae-uk standing beside him, pulled on the rope.
The texture of the rope transmitted through his palm was rough and heavy.
The commissioning pennant, which had been rolled up, slowly slid upward into the sky.
Pwooooo!
When the flag finally reached the top, a long blast of the horn rang out, and at just that moment, a gust of wind caught it and made it billow wide.
To the stirring performance of the military band, the attendees watching the ceremony celebrated with thunderous applause as the six new fast attack craft were officially commissioned into the Navy.
Looking up at the flag fluttering in the wind, Seok-won murmured softly to himself.
'Without a single casualty, please let everyone win the fight and come home safely.'
He had no doubt that the new fast attack craft being commissioned today would steadfastly protect the blue waters of the West Sea, which the Republic of Korea Navy had defended with blood until now, no matter what storms might come.
***
New York, Manhattan.
As always, the Lehman Brothers trading floor was noisy with the ringing of phones from all directions and the shouts of traders barking out orders at the top of their lungs.
But even in the midst of the chaos, a Christmas tree set up in one corner managed to create a year-end atmosphere in its own way.
"Sell 20,000 shares of JPMorgan at market!"
"That's all it'll get? Damn it! Fine, sell it at that price anyway."
"shit! Citi's dropping again."
Clutching his hair as he cursed, the trader snatched up the receiver and irritably placed a sell order for Citigroup.
Watching the scene, Dietz leaned his upper body slightly over the partition and whispered,
"Financial stocks have been sliding all week."
Rackman, who had loosened his tie and tossed it into the corner of his desk, kept his eyes fixed on the monitor and replied in an even tone.
"People are saying JPMorgan and Citigroup have over seven billion dollars tied up in Argentina, which just declared default. They won't lose all of it, but they're going to take a big hit to the principal, let alone the interest. If the stock didn't fall, that would be stranger."
"I guess that's true."
Dietz nodded and let out a relieved breath, patting his chest as if to calm himself.
"Good thing we're not holding any financial stocks. If we were, it would've been a real headache."
"Agreed."
Rackman said with a bitter smile.
At the end of their gaze, their colleague was still clutching the phone and shouting as if his feet were on fire.
Dietz crossed his arms and grumbled with an irritated expression.
"This is supposed to be the time when we start closing the books and getting ready for Christmas vacation, and then Argentina goes and blows everything up. What a mess."
Book closing referred to the period at the end of the fiscal year when the books were closed.
Around this time, institutions and funds would reduce their trading, so the volume of stock and bond transactions would drop compared to usual, and market volatility would also shrink.
But this year, with the U.S. government's large-scale economic stimulus package failing to pass ahead of year-end and the Argentina situation erupting on top of that, the stock market was being violently shaken.
As a result, traders who would normally have already closed their books and were killing time while looking forward to their Christmas vacations were instead staring holes into their trading screens and clutching their receivers while shouting at the top of their lungs.
At that moment, one of the traders shouted loudly.
"Argentina just announced the abolition of the peg system!"
In an instant, the trading floor erupted into an uproar, and Dietz and Rackman hurriedly checked the breaking news that had popped up on their Bloomberg terminals.
[Argentine Senate passes economic reform bill
Abolition of the peg system
Banking system reform Price controls…
Peso devaluation of 30–40%]
The peg system, as the word "peg" suggests, meant fixing a country's currency to a specific foreign currency.
In simple terms, it was a fixed exchange rate system, and for the government to abandon it was practically the same as declaring that it no longer had the power to intervene in the foreign exchange market.
In other words, it was effectively a declaration of surrender by the Argentine government, so Rackman narrowed his eyes and let out a low groan.
"Looks like it's finally come to this."
Dietz smacked his lips beside him.
"Wasn't this already inevitable the moment the president resigned and they declared default?"
"That's true."
At Rackman's calm tone, Dietz shrugged and replied.
Just as they said, perhaps because this bad news had already been expected, the stock market absorbed the announcement of the peso devaluation without much of a shock.
However, the financial stocks that had extended large amounts of loans to Argentina saw their losses deepen further after the breaking news.
"At this rate, only the Eldorado Fund, which shorted Argentine government bonds, is going to make a killing again."
Dietz wore an expression full of envy.
Rackman, too, looked at the price of Argentine government bonds, which were plunging as they drew long bearish candlesticks, and shook his head as if admitting defeat.
"Still, thanks to the Eldorado Fund, we managed to dodge a bomb right before Christmas vacation."
"Well, that's true."
Like the other traders, the two of them had originally held financial stocks in their portfolios.
In particular, Citigroup and JPMorgan, the world's largest financial groups, were both stable and paid generous dividends, so they each held quite a lot of shares.
But when they saw the Eldorado Fund buying put options on Citigroup and JPMorgan, they got a bad feeling and dumped all of their holdings.
Not long after that, the Argentina situation erupted, and it was revealed that the two banks were on the hook for enormous sums of money. Thinking about what would have happened if they had stayed in, Rackman and Dietz felt a chill run down their spines.
Meanwhile, traders who saw their returns get crushed because financial stocks were collapsing right before the year-end close were frantically dumping their financial stocks at a loss, their faces twisted in misery.
"They're already raking in money from the Enron mess, and now they even reached into Argentina. You can't help but call that incredible."
"Seriously."
Dietz put his hands behind his head and asked,
"By the way, I thought you'd pretty much wrapped up your trades. What are you staring at so intently?"
"There's something that keeps bothering me."
"Hm. What is it?"
When Dietz showed interest, Rackman pointed at the center monitor with his chin.
[WCOM: 10.34 ▼1.09]
"That's the WorldCom stock chart."
"That's right."
Rackman pointed with his finger at the price graph displayed on the monitor.
"See how sell orders have been piling up for a month now, and the price has been steadily falling?"
"Isn't that just because the merger with Sprint fell through, and the telecom sector is in bad shape because of the Enron mess?"
Dietz, who had been answering halfheartedly, suddenly widened his eyes.
"Don't tell me this is because you said the Eldorado Fund was shorting WorldCom stock last time."
"That's right."
Rackman nodded heavily and tapped at the keyboard, bringing up WorldCom's short interest on another monitor.
"The short interest has gone past 50 percent."
"All of that is the Eldorado Fund's short position?"
"We can't know exactly how much of it is theirs, but one thing's for sure. More than half of it is probably from the Eldorado Fund."
Dietz couldn't hide his shock and stood there with his mouth open.
"No. If that's true, Wall Street should be in an uproar. Why is everyone so quiet about it?"
"Between the failed stimulus package and the Argentina situation, attention's been scattered. That probably has a lot to do with it. Still, the sharp ones have definitely caught on to what the Eldorado Fund is doing and are moving under the surface."
Come to think of it, judging by how short positions had surged recently, there was a strong chance that not only the Eldorado Fund but others were also following along with copycat trades.
With a pale face, Dietz looked at Rackman.
"Th-then that means WorldCom might really have been cooking its books in secret, just like Enron."
"If the Eldorado Fund is moving this aggressively, there's a good chance that's the case."
At that, Dietz scrunched up his face.
"Damn it. There goes any hope of a relaxing Christmas vacation this year."
If WorldCom really had manipulated its accounting as well, it was obvious what would happen. The stock market, which had only just managed to recover from the shocks of 9/11 and the Enron scandal, would be shaken hard all over again.