Quantum Fund Office, New York.
George Soros, his brown eyes calm and composed, stood with his arms crossed next to CIO Rodney, both watching the fluctuations of the USD/JPY exchange rate displayed on a massive electronic board.
[USD/JPY: 81.49] ↑
[USD/JPY: 81.51] ↑
.
.
[USD/JPY: 81.50] ↓
From behind a workstation surrounded by three computer monitors, Ian, the chief manager, straightened his posture as he checked the market situation in Tokyo.
Then, with a slightly stiff expression, he approached the two men.
"The Bank of Japan has just injected an additional 500 million dollars to buy more dollars."
At this, Soros spoke with a neutral expression.
"They may be reeling from the burst bubble, but this is still Japan, after all."
Rodney, standing beside him, shrugged as he responded.
"We expected from the start that they'd be a much tougher opponent than the toothless old lion that was the Bank of England."
"That's true."
Unlike the relaxed duo, Ian looked anxious, his expression filled with concern.
"We went through all that effort to drive up the yen, but if it drops again, all the money we poured in today will have been for nothing."
"We can't let that happen."
"What do you plan to do?"
Rodney asked with an intrigued look in his eyes.
"If they're counterattacking with money, then we'll just have to bury them under an even larger pile of cash."
"Given that the Bank of Japan is fighting with full force, we'll need a single, powerful strike to completely break their resistance."
"Of course, that's the plan."
Remaining calm, Soros retrieved his phone from his inner pocket and made a call.
After a few rings, a deep voice belonging to a middle-aged man came through.
[Hello?]
"Still awake, I see."
Joseph Salucci, CEO of Goldman Sachs, replied in a dry tone.
[Thanks to someone stirring up chaos in Tokyo, how could I possibly sleep?]
With the phone still pressed to his ear, Soros lifted his gaze toward the giant price board, where an intense battle was raging at the 81-yen mark.
"For the sake of your good night's sleep, I plan to end this soon. Can you help?"
[How much do you need?]
"How much can you spare?"
[Anyone overhearing this would think I'm your personal banker.]
At Salucci's gruff complaint, Soros smirked slyly.
"Well, Goldman placed its bets on our side, so in a way, we're in the same boat, aren't we?"
[Tch…]
Salucci was silent for a moment, seemingly weighing his options, before responding in a clipped tone.
[I can push another 300 million dollars your way. Will that do?]
"Perfect. I'll be in touch."
Soros ended the call with a quiet smile.
Immediately afterward, he began dialing Wall Street investment banks one by one—JP Morgan, Bear Stearns, and others—securing additional funds to bring this battle to a decisive end.
Rodney couldn't help but admire Soros's ability to effortlessly pull in massive sums with just a few phone calls.
'Only Soros could pull something like this off.'
The Bank of Japan was holding up surprisingly well, but with George Soros leading the charge, they were bound to collapse eventually.
At that moment, Ian, who had been standing and watching the monitors without taking a seat, suddenly widened his eyes in shock.
"This is—!"
He quickly straightened his posture and turned back toward Soros and Rodney, shouting urgently.
"A 500-million-dollar yen buy order just hit the market, and the exchange rate is skyrocketing!"
Soros, who had just ended his call with the Bear Stearns CEO, furrowed his brows and turned to the massive price board in front of him.
[USD/JPY: 81.49] ↓
[USD/JPY: 81.21] ↓
.
.
[USD/JPY: 80.87] ↓
The exchange rate, which had been holding steady at the 81-yen level, suddenly surged upward.
Soros muttered, "Who placed that buy order?"
Ian immediately responded.
"We haven't confirmed the source yet, but given the sheer volume, it must have come from a single entity."
"If they have the power to move this much capital, then I should know who they are. Europe? No, could it be a force from Hong Kong joining in?"
Soros frowned, contemplating who might have jumped in to shake up the market.
"Whoever it is, one thing's for sure—if they're buying yen, that means they're on our side."
"Exactly."
Soros nodded in agreement with Rodney.
His sharp gaze glinted as he made a quick decision to capitalize on this momentum.
"I don't know who it is, but they just handed us the perfect chance to seal the deal. Missing this opportunity would be foolish."
He turned to Ian and issued a decisive order.
"Dump all the additional capital we secured—right now!"
"All of it?"
"Yes. The Bank of Japan must be at its limit by now. We're finishing this here."
"Understood."
Without hesitation, Ian mobilized the team, unleashing an all-out assault on the yen market, as if there was no turning back.
With Seok-won's intervention tilting the balance that had previously held firm, the yen exchange rate began to skyrocket even more sharply and aggressively.
Seeing this, Soros clenched his fist, confident of victory.
***
Chuo City, Tokyo – Nomura Securities Headquarters.
The forex dealing room on the 5th floor was a battlefield, filled with relentless phone calls and dealers shouting orders.
Even on a normal day, the trading floor operated at a frenzied pace the moment the markets opened. But today, the chaos had escalated to another level.
The reason?
The yen attack orchestrated by George Soros and hedge funds, which had begun in the early hours during the Sydney forex market session.
"0.8, eleven bought!"
"Done!"
"Sell 20 at market price!"
"What? Say that again!"
With the surrounding noise making it hard to hear, a colleague asked for the order to be repeated. A dealer wearing a checkered tie, holding the receiver in one hand, shouted again.
"Market price, 20 sold!"
"Okay. Done!"
The dealers continued trading nonstop, but suddenly, a flood of buy orders sent the yen surging, threatening the 80-yen level. The shock spread through the room.
"What the hell is going on?"
"Damn it! Yen buy orders are exploding!"
"Oh, no…"
"This… this isn't going to break below 80 yen, is it?"
"No way…"
They all believed that the Bank of Japan, knowing full well that breaking the 80-yen level would trigger market panic, would somehow hold the line.
Yet, with the hedge funds waging an all-out assault, determined to end this battle today, doubts crept in. Could the Bank of Japan hold out much longer?
A heavy silence fell over the dealing room. Everyone held their breath, swallowing nervously, eyes locked on the market screen.
And then, after what felt like an eternity…
The exchange rate, which had stubbornly clung to 80 yen, took another brutal hit as another wave of sell orders rained down.
The leading digit shifted from 8 to 7.
[USD/JPY: 80.09] ↓
[USD/JPY: 80.11] ↓
.
.
.
[USD/JPY: 80.02] ↓
[USD/JPY: 79.97] ↓
The supposedly unbreakable 80-yen barrier had fallen.
The dealers were in shock.
"80 yen… it broke!"
"This can't be happening…"
As they clutched their heads in disbelief, staring at the exchange rate now in the 79-yen range…
The phones suddenly erupted in a chorus of ringing.
Riiiiing! Riiiiing!
"Yes? You want to buy yen?"
"It's at 79.97—no, 79.89 yen. Are you sure?"
"Ten lots at market price? Understood."
The moment 80 yen was breached, Japanese trading companies and export firms, which had been waiting on the sidelines, rushed to sell dollars and hoard yen, fearing the depreciation of their dollar-denominated assets.
Sensing that the Bank of Japan had failed to defend the rate, Koichi Minaguchi, the head of the Foreign Exchange Center, turned pale and shouted.
"Sell all the dollars we have and buy yen—immediately!"
In a battle where every second counted, Minaguchi barked his orders, pushing the dealers into action.
"But sir! That will only drive the yen higher!"
Kosuke Motani, a section manager with neatly combed hair and gold-rimmed glasses, swiveled in his chair and protested.
"I know that! But we can't just sit back and take the full hit from the dollar's decline!"
"That may be true, but…"
"Unless you plan to personally cover all the foreign exchange losses, just do as I say!"
With the yen skyrocketing before their eyes, holding onto dollars would only lead to mounting losses.
As the largest securities firm in Japan, their decision to sell dollars and buy yen would undoubtedly push the exchange rate even higher.
Still, as Minaguchi had said, the company couldn't afford to absorb those losses—it had to defend its profitability by buying yen.
"…Understood."
Motani, having accepted the reality of the situation, began actively selling dollars and purchasing yen along with the other dealers in an effort to minimize losses.
Watching them work, Minaguchi let out a low, uneasy sigh.
"How high is this going to go…?"
The exchange rate displayed on the massive screen in front of him continued to surge without restraint now that the 80-yen barrier had been broken.
Wiping his sweat-drenched palms on his trousers, Minaguchi bit his lip.
***
Same Time—Nagatachō, Tokyo, Prime Minister's Office
[USD/JPY: 79.97] ↓
.
.
[USD/JPY: 79.82] ↓
As the already unstable exchange rate broke through the 80-yen threshold and soared, Prime Minister Suzuki, who had been anxiously watching, froze in shock.
Finance Minister Fujimoto and Economy, Trade, and Industry Minister Murata, standing beside him, were equally stunned, their mouths agape.
"This… what the hell is happening…?"
As Suzuki murmured in disbelief, the telephone on the side table suddenly rang.
He hurriedly grabbed the receiver, and a solemn voice came through the line.
[Prime Minister, this is Kajiwara.]
"Governor Kajiwara!"
Suzuki gripped the receiver tightly and shouted.
"Why is the exchange rate doing this?! What the hell is going on?!"
[We tried our best to hold the line, but the hedge funds' attack was too fierce. We couldn't hold out any longer.]
"I already approved an additional $1.5 billion for exchange rate defense!"
[In just 30 minutes since noon, the yen-buying orders have amounted to a staggering $3 billion.]
At the sheer magnitude of that figure, Suzuki let out an involuntary gasp.
"The hedge funds dumped that much money into this?"
[Soros's hedge fund is still leading the charge, but judging by the buy orders from Hong Kong, Europe, and even within Japan… it appears that not just foreign investors but also Japanese financial institutions and corporations have joined in on the yen-buying frenzy.]
"…Ugh."
Hearing that even Japan's own financial institutions and corporations were selling dollars to buy yen, Suzuki clenched his eyes shut.
[With the collapse of what we considered the final defense line at 80 yen, there's no telling how high the exchange rate will climb. If we want to stop this…]
Kajiwara hesitated for a moment before finally finishing his sentence with difficulty.
[If we want to stop this, we have no choice but to cut interest rates.]
Despite persistent pressure from the government, the Bank of Japan had resisted lowering interest rates, fearing it could trigger another economic bubble and ultimately destroy the economy.
For them to now propose a rate cut themselves—it meant the situation was truly dire.
"Is it really that serious?"
Suzuki's face stiffened as he asked.
[My apologies, Prime Minister, but if this continues… the foreign exchange market itself could collapse.]
Hearing those words, Suzuki bit down on his lip, his hands trembling.
He wanted nothing more than to grab Kajiwara by the collar and shake him, demanding another solution. But instead, he let out a defeated sigh and agreed to the rate cut in a weary voice.
"…Alright. Do it."
After ending the call, Prime Minister Suzuki set down the receiver, staring blankly at the exchange rate chart on the screen. It continued to climb steeply, showing no signs of slowing down.
***
[USD/JPY: 79.51]
Sitting at his desk, resting his chin on his hand, Seok-won fixed his gaze on the foreign exchange rate displayed on his monitor.
Now that the 80-yen barrier had been broken, it was as if a dam had burst. Investors who had been holding back were now rushing in, aggressively buying yen and driving its value higher at a frightening pace.
Seok-won was certain of victory.
"It's over."
He reached out and picked up the phone from his desk.
[This is Team Leader Kim Jung-sik.]
"You're watching the exchange rate, right?"
[Yes, Director!]
Kim Jung-sik's voice came through, brimming with excitement.
"We've made enough. Close all positions now."
[Understood!]
Kim Jung-sik, who had been anxiously waiting for the sell order, let out an exhilarated exclamation before answering without hesitation.
After setting down the receiver, Seok-won turned his eyes back to the monitor. The yen was surging, seemingly ready to break through the 79-yen mark as well.
"There's still more to squeeze out… But as an appetizer, this wasn't bad at all.