I Became the Youngest Daughter of a Chaebol Family-Chapter 31: Black Monday (1)

Bull Market.

Not "fire" like burning, but "bull" as in the animal. A rising market is called a Bull Market in English—because just like a bull thrusting its horns upward, the market charges up.

There’s a famous symbol of this kind of market: the Charging Bull statue on Wall Street.

The “Charging Bull.”

One of the landmarks of Wall Street. But... it doesn’t exist yet.

It was made after Black Monday.

That brutal crash sparked it. A sculptor from Italy spent his own money to make it, hoping there’d never be a crash like that again, trying to comfort investors who got wrecked in that insane downturn.

Maybe the bull statue will end up bigger this time. If people need to be comforted, we’re going to need an even bigger bull market after this.

"A massive crash is coming."

"..."

After Japan’s market closed, I said it, and no one disagreed.

They knew now. It wasn’t just Tokyo—Wall Street, the whole world was heading for a crash.

There’s no way the markets could stay calm after the top 3 semiconductor stocks in Japan all hit limit down, one after another.

"Contact Ha Yeong-il and tell him we did it. It’s still 2 a.m. in New York, but he’ll be awake."

Friday’s US market was going to be interesting. The real crash would hit Monday, but the signs would start flashing soon.

"Yes, ma’am."

The staff nodded, heavy expressions on their faces. Like they realized they’d gotten into something huge.

Clap.

I clapped my hands lightly to break the mood.

"Alright, time to relax. We’re basically done here, aren’t we? Let’s celebrate."

Cheers.

I raised a glass of water playfully, mimicking a toast.

This whole thing was just prep for the hedge fund we’re setting up in the US. It’s for Ha Yeong-il’s big debut—not like we shorted Japan just for fun.

Daehwa Securities? They’ve got nothing else to do now.

Well, except worship me a bit more.

"Want some wine?"

Normally, you’d pop champagne for something like this...

"Absolutely not before you’re an adult. Miss, you’re still in elementary school."

Si-hyun glared at me from the side, and I smirked.

"Yeah, I’m not drinking."

I mean, spicy food, sure, but who knows what kind of embarrassing mess I’d be if I got drunk. I’d probably rack up some serious blackmail material and want to die later.

"Grape juice is fine for me. I’ll just watch you guys drink. Go on, Si-hyun, have some."

I pulled one of Ha Joo-seong’s collection bottles from the executive office and handed it to her, grinning like a brat.

"...Can I really drink this?"

"Why not? I own this place. I just handed his son a massive win, so this is nothing."

"Oh, you mean Ha Yeong-il."

Exactly.

Now it was his turn.

As long as he followed my plan, there’s no way he’d lose.

More importantly... this whole thing had to put his hedge fund on the map. Plenty of funds die not because they suck, but because no one knows about them.

"Let’s just enjoy the weekend."

The tightrope act was over—time to watch someone else perform.

***

Wall Street, New York.

In a small office, a young Korean man clasped his hands together as he held the phone. The signal had come from Korea... and he’d followed the command to the letter.

Even his own loyal colleagues had tried to talk him out of it—it was that insane.

"This is... crazy."

"Yeong, are you sure about this? I mean... yeah, there’s been a lot of bad news lately, but still..."

Ha Yeong-il calmly opened his mouth and started convincing them.

"The trend is clear. There’s enough bad news stacked up already... we can’t wait any longer. This is the rational move."

October 14th, the Dow Jones fell 3.8%.

October 15th, Iran attacked a US oil tanker. The index dropped another 2.4%.

And now October 16th, Friday. A massive storm shut down London’s market early, and Japan’s top 3 semiconductor stocks all hit limit down.

Then came the signal...

And the moment the market opened, he loaded up on put options.

Across all sectors, maxing out as much leverage as he could.

"Trust me on this—Monday’s going to crash."

A dark-skinned friend frowned hard at that.

"You should’ve just shorted the market."

"Margin calls would’ve killed us. We’re running almost 100x leverage right now."

At 100x leverage, even a 1% uptick would wipe them out, no matter how far the market dropped after.

That’s why trader skill mattered—but honestly, he wasn’t there yet.

Still, unlike short selling with high leverage, buying options only risks losing the premium. They’d probably melt with time decay, but...

If her prediction was right, it would work.

"You crazy monkey bastard! Who the hell goes 100x leverage? And if you were betting on a crash, why the hell did you go long this whole time—"

A fair point. No sane person on Wall Street would ever pull this kind of stunt.

Or more accurately, people who did stuff like this didn’t last long.

"I’m different. This analysis is flawless."

Despite the words, sweat was pouring down his face.

What if Yoo Ha-yeon’s prediction was wrong? What if he’d just fallen for a clueless kid’s overconfidence?

What if even her father had been fooled?

This translation is the intellectual property of Novelight.

‘...If she fooled him, then she’s one hell of a lunatic herself.’

Ha Yeong-il clung to that single thought as his nerves were shredded. He held onto the belief that his father’s judgment couldn’t be wrong.

Thankfully, he was good # Nоvеlight # at keeping a poker face. Like the prophet Jeremiah calling down doom, Ha Yeong-il wandered from bank to hedge fund across Wall Street, declaring:

– The US stock market is overvalued. A massive crash is coming.

As he said it, all the connections he’d carefully built on Wall Street... gave him a reasonable reaction.

“...Yeah, I’ve been uneasy too. The way the market’s moving, the Dow might drop 3% today. Did you buy puts too? What? How much? You crazy bastard—”

“You bought OTM options 20% below market? What... what’s the expiry? You bought that as a hedge, right? Your fund was all long positions. ...You flipped to a pure short this week?”

“C’mon, even if the market’s been rough lately, it’s Friday. It’s bound to bounce.”

That’s how they reacted in the morning.

But...

After scarfing down a quick burger at McDonald’s and heading back into the bank, things had changed. The news about Japan’s semiconductor crash was spreading all over Wall Street.

“D-Did you see this? The Japanese market just... damn, those Nomura guys pulled something huge.”

“Yeong-il, you knew about this, didn’t you? Of course you did! Daehwa cartel—your dad runs that place?”

Their mocking tone turned into curiosity, and interest in Yeong-il himself shifted into focus on his background.

Finally, as Friday’s market came to a close—

The Dow Jones had fallen 5%. For most people, it was one of the worst days ever. But not for his fund.

“Yeong! Hahaha! We did it. A full-blown crash! A 5% drop in one day—that’s one of the biggest single-day falls in history!”

He was thrilled by the excitement and admiration in their eyes, but fear still came first.

‘She was right. The index... dropped over 5%.’

And Yoo Ha-yeon’s prediction for Monday’s Dow Jones drop was...

Minimum 22%, maximum 26%.

***

.

.

.

The weekend passed, and the nightmare began.

Shouts and screams echoed everywhere.

Ha Yeong-il’s fund, and those who followed him and bet short, made obscene profits... but no one could celebrate—or rather, no one dared to show it.

There wasn’t a soul brave enough to smile in front of people staring at the screens like they wanted to kill someone.

Clack, clack.

The automated trading programs on the computers kept spitting out sell orders. Orders piled up like crazy. No one was buying. No one dared to stop the machines.

At last, fear completely took over the market.

Sell, sell, sell.

Only sell orders filled the air. Soulless people drifted around Wall Street.

Even the guy running the local fast-food joint took a loss that day. No one wanted to eat.

Ha Yeong-il, now holding an insane amount of money, just stared blankly at them. It didn’t feel real.

Thud.

Someone jumped from a building. People glanced that way, then looked away. They were too exhausted to care.

By the time the market closed, 500 billion dollars had vanished from the US in a single day.

Everyone called it one thing:

Black Monday.

The worst day in Wall Street’s history.

***

Morning of Tuesday, October 20th.

I woke up in the president’s office at Daehwa Securities, laid out crisp newspapers and magazines in front of me, and smiled faintly.

I could feel the stiffness in the employees nearby. No cheers, no horror, no fear... all of it was praise for me, and I happily soaked in their reactions.

Even Lee Si-hyun, who knew me well and didn’t care about economics, had a frozen expression.

And yeah, it was the kind of thing that warranted that.

[Historic ‘Black Monday’ Crash: Dow Plummets 25.2% in One Day, Global Markets Reeling]

[Shock in New York, Dow Jones Drops Over 550 Points in a Day... ‘Black Monday’ Panic Spreads]

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[October 19, 1987: Wall Street Stops: ‘Black Monday’ Aftershocks Hit the World]

Wall Street had collapsed.