As darkness settled in,
Seok-won sat alone on the spacious living room sofa, sipping whiskey from a rocks glass while watching President George Bush's State of the Union address being broadcast live on satellite TV.
[Our United States is at war. The economy is sliding into recession, and the civilized world is facing unprecedented danger. But America is stronger than ever! Just as our predecessors did, we too will bravely confront and overcome this adversity.]
President Bush paused briefly as thunderous standing applause erupted from the senators and representatives gathered in the chamber, then soon resumed his speech in a powerful voice.
[North Korea is arming itself with weapons of mass destruction, including long-range ballistic missiles and nuclear arms, while ruthlessly exploiting its starving citizens. Iran, too, is aggressively pursuing such weapons and exporting terrorism. Iraq continues to display hostility toward the United States and supports terrorism as well. These states, along with their terrorist allies, are forming an "Axis of Evil" armed to threaten world peace.]
"So the term 'Axis of Evil' has finally come out."
That single phrase perfectly encapsulated President Bush's worldview of the world as a struggle between good and evil, and it foreshadowed a future in which the United States would sink deep into the quagmire of the War on Terror and flounder there for a long time to come.
[My first priority is protecting America. We will increase the defense budget by the largest margin in twenty years. The price of freedom has always been high and heavy, but it has never been in vain. We will strengthen the functions of the Department of Homeland Securi...]
He had expected it, but as President Bush's hardline speech continued without deviation, Seok-won set the ice-filled rocks glass down on the table and muttered to himself.
"Other than the one-hundred-billion-dollar economic stimulus package still being debated in Congress, there's no real solution. He's just highlighting terrorism and foreign issues to shift the public's attention outward. The stock market's going to be seriously disappointed."
No sooner had he finished speaking than the vibration alert went off. Seok-won picked up his phone, checked the name on the screen, and answered the call.
"It's me."
[Are you watching President Bush's State of the Union address?]
Leaning back against the plush sofa, he glanced at the large television turned on in front of him and replied.
"I am, but it's not exactly the kind of speech the market would like."
[As a matter of fact, the three major indices, which had been edging up slightly right until just before the speech, are turning back down again due to disappointment.]
"That's to be expected. Most of the speech is about terrorism and war rather than the economy."
[Thanks to that, defense stocks are surging the moment the phrase 'Axis of Evil' came out.]
From the Eldorado Fund's perspective, having bought up defense stocks in advance, this was good news. But when Seok-won thought about the countless lives that would be lost in the War on Terror that lay ahead, a bitter expression crossed his face.
[Judging by the current mood, the strength in defense stocks is likely to continue for a while, so it seems best to keep holding them as is for the time being.]
"I think so too."
[Then we'll continue to hold the defense stocks. Ah, and there's one more matter I need to report.]
"What is it?"
[We've wrapped up the acquisition negotiations for Enron Broadband that you instructed us to pursue last time.]
Seok-won's eyes lit up at the news he had been waiting for as he adjusted his grip on the phone.
"How much did we agree to acquire it for?"
[We reached an agreement with the creditors to take over all of Enron Broadband's fiber-optic network for one hundred million dollars.]
"That's thirty percent lower than the price the creditors were originally asking."
[Heh. Who do you think you're talking to? I picked apart the company's weak financial condition point by point and pushed the price down as much as possible. At first, the creditors absolutely refused to budge, but then the WorldCom scandal broke, and they hurriedly accepted our terms, afraid the value would drop even further.]
At the boastful tone in his voice, Seok-won smiled.
"And that's on the condition that all of the company's existing debt is written off as well, right?"
[Of course.]
"That's Landon for you. You really did a great job."
[It was nothing.]
Sensing his satisfaction, Landon replied lightly.
Though he couldn't see it, Seok-won was certain that the corners of Landon's mouth were lifted high over there in New York.
"Keep a close eye on the WorldCom situation, and don't miss the chance to scoop up UUNET either."
[I'll watch it like a hawk and snap it up at a dirt-cheap price just like this time, so don't worry.]
"I'll be looking forward to it."
After talking a bit more, Seok-won ended the call, set his phone down, and turned his attention back to the television in front of him.
On the screen, President Bush had just finished his address and was stepping down from the podium amid standing applause from the senators and representatives in attendance.
Picking up the whiskey bottle on the table, Seok-won poured himself another drink and, watching President Bush shake hands with lawmakers as he left the chamber, spoke in a low voice.
"Stopping at Afghanistan would be ideal, but President Bush and his inner circle, emboldened by their success in toppling the Taliban, won't think that way."
With a landslide victory in the midterm elections scheduled for this November and a successful reelection firmly in sight, they would keep the War on Terror going in order to maintain their grip on the political landscape.
"In that case, the next target will be Iraq."
Picturing the Middle Eastern deserts that would soon be engulfed in the flames of war, Seok-won swallowed the whiskey in his rocks glass.
***
Clinton, Mississippi, United States.
From early morning, the auditorium at WorldCom's headquarters in Midtown was packed with reporters, buzzing with activity.
At the front of the podium, multiple cameras bearing the logos of major networks like CNBC and CNN had been set up, preparing for a live broadcast.
Not only in front of the cameras but even in every gap between them, reporters swarmed so densely there was barely any room to stand.
And it was not just the people gathered on site. The eyes of traders far away on Wall Street were also fixed on this place.
In just a few moments, depending on what Stephen Snell, WorldCom's chairman, would say when he appeared, the stock market was bound to swing sharply up or down. That was why everyone held their breath and watched intently.
As if to prove the point, even though the market had already opened, all three major indices were moving sideways without any significant fluctuations.
Trading volume was also noticeably lower than usual, making it clear that everyone was waiting to see what Chairman Stephen Snell would say.
Just then, a ripple of commotion spread through the gathered reporters, and Stephen Snell appeared in the auditorium together with the company's executives.
Click-clack! Click-clack!
Countless camera flashes went off at once, and the deafening clatter of shutters filled the room.
Bathed in the dazzling bursts of light, Chairman Stephen Snell's face was set as hard as stone as he walked forward.
The expressions of the executives following him up to the podium were just as tense.
When Stephen Snell took his place at the lectern positioned at the center of the stage, the executives, including CFO Matthew Whitaker, lined up behind him like a folding screen.
As camera flashes erupted once more, Stephen Snell pulled out a sheet of paper he had prepared in advance from his inner jacket pocket and spread it out on the podium.
Then he lifted his head and swept his gaze across the broadcast cameras directly in front of him and the densely packed reporters.
'Damn it.'
Chairman Stephen Snell barely managed to suppress the surge of bile rising in his throat.
Not long ago, he had been a titan of the telecommunications industry, dreaming of building the largest telecom company in the United States. And now, in an instant, he had fallen into disgrace, standing before the American public as a criminal who had deceived investors.
The sheer humiliation twisted his insides, making him feel as though he might vomit at any moment.
He wanted nothing more than to escape from this place right away, but that was impossible. The SEC was scheduled to announce the results of its accounting investigation later that afternoon.
Recalling his legal counsel's advice that it would be better to confess to the accounting fraud first, if only to reduce his eventual sentence at trial, Stephen Snell let out a small sigh.
Then, standing at the podium lined with multiple microphones, he forced open lips that did not want to move and began to speak with great effort.
"First of all, I would like to bow my head and offer my sincere apologies to our shareholders and employees."
As his cracked voice echoed through the microphones, reporters bustled about, thrusting voice recorders forward or rapidly jotting down his words in their notebooks.
"Following the emergence of allegations of accounting fraud, the results of our internal audit revealed that we failed to adhere to generally accepted accounting principles and capitalized line costs under an item called prepaid capacity, thereby overstating our earnings."
Up to this point, these were facts that had already been exposed through CNBC's investigative reporting, so there was little reaction, and the atmosphere remained relatively calm.
"We discovered that more than three billion dollars had been illegally recorded as capital expenditures through last year, and that close to eight hundred million dollars in losses were omitted from the accounting books."
The moment the scale of the accounting fraud was mentioned, the reporters erupted into loud murmurs, their faces filled with shock.
"What? That means the fraud amounts to 3.8 billion dollars."
"They already have massive debt. Can WorldCom even survive this?"
Stephen Snell continued speaking in as calm a voice as he could manage.
"Going forward, I promise that we will run the company in accordance with the strictest ethical standards so that nothing like this ever happens again. And even if the losses that were incorrectly recorded or omitted in the past are reflected in the accounting books, the company will continue to operate normally. I ask our employees and customers to please be at ease and place your trust in us just once more."
Although the chairman bowed deeply and made his plea in earnest, the fallout had already grown far beyond anyone's ability to contain.
Reporters shot their hands into the air and began firing off questions like a swarm of bees.
"Was the executive team not involved in this accounting fraud?"
"There's testimony that Chairman Snell personally ordered the manipulation. Do you have anything to say about that!"
"Is it true that this was carried out in collusion with the accounting firm that conducted the audit!"
As the barrage of questions came flying at him all at once, cutting him down without mercy, Chairman Stephen Snell was unable to answer a single one.
He simply stood there as if frozen, his pale face exposed under the incessant flashes of cameras, a sight that seemed to embody the collapse of WorldCom itself.
Meanwhile, the scale of the accounting fraud far exceeded expectations, and Wall Street, watching the press conference, was thrown into absolute chaos.
"3.8 billion dollars. My God…"
"I went long thinking it would rebound. No, no!"
"Get the sell orders in, now! Sell everything!"
Across trading floors where everyone had been holding their breath while listening to Chairman Snell's announcement, groans and sighs erupted as if something had exploded.
Traders who had gone bargain-hunting and bought WorldCom shares after the exposé, only to see the stock already cut by more than half, clutched their hair and screamed. Even those who had been cautiously waiting on the sidelines cursed under their breath, convinced that this announcement would deliver a direct blow to an already weak stock market.
But that moment didn't last long.
In a frantic attempt to avoid the downpour that was about to hit, traders began hammering their keyboards or grabbing their phones to rush out sell orders, and the trading floor quickly descended into utter chaos.
"Dump all the WorldCom shares!"
"Market order, sell five thousand shares of JPMorgan!"
"Nortel at six dollars thirty cents—no, six dollars flat. Sell everything!"
"What? Thirteen dollars twenty cents? Damn it. Fine, sell it at that price if we have to."
Watching the plunging stock charts of telecommunications companies after Chairman Snell's announcement, traders hurled their shares onto the market, swallowing their losses with the feeling of cutting into their own flesh.
The collapse that began with telecom stocks spread to other sectors in the blink of an eye, turning the massive market boards a deep, uniform red.