43. Hanon Ninety One
As the man on the passenger seat got out of the car, Team Leader Kim Jeong-soo said to me.
“Did you call me last year? What happened?”
“It’s not a big deal, I’m curious when the IMF financial crisis is.”
Team leader Kim Jeong-soo turned his head and looked at me in disbelief.
“I was living in America at the time.”
At my words, he let out a short sigh, turned his head forward, and started the car.
“It will start soon. What stands out is around summer.”
“How much does the exchange rate go up?”
“Well. Did it go up to 2,000 won?”
The current exchange rate is 700-800 won per dollar, which means that it almost triples.
Young-mi’s father works for a company that makes sporting goods.
Since raw materials such as rubber and leather are imported from abroad, such an exchange rate increase would be fatal to the company’s operations.
“When will it go up to 2,000 won?”
“Well, I don’t know exactly until that point, do you?”
“You don’t even know?”
“Is it autumn? I think it was winter… .”
He smiled and continued.
“why? You want to buy some dollars?”
“It’s not like that… There is someone I need to help.”
“ah… ! okay? Hmm… .”
His expression was visible through the rearview mirror.
He opened his mouth with a slight frown as if he was trying to remember.
“Since companies start going bankrupt in May, it’s not fall or winter… Have you been going up since then?”
“Are you sure it’s May when companies start going bankrupt?”
“Yeah, that’s for sure. At that time, several corporate presidents were arrested. Right before the bankruptcy, the company’s funds were stolen, and there was no riot.”
“Then, I think the exchange rate will rise around November.”
“okay? Hmm, I think you are right.”
I have been holding on to the Riemann hypothesis for nearly 10 years, but since there is no remarkable result, I keep selling my eyes and doing other things.
We have a lot of books on economics and trade in our house.
It’s because my mother changed her major in Korea Telecommunication University to the Department of Trade, and there were times when I fell in love with my mother’s major book without noticing the passing of time.
Reading my mother’s major books, I started to understand how the international financial market works, and after reading economic newspapers for nearly a year, I was able to improve my understanding of international economic trends as well.
Earlier this year, the 14th-ranked business group went bankrupt, but in fact, I was more concerned about the US interest rate hike than the news.
Currently, the United States is Korea’s largest exporter.
Therefore, the rate hike in the US weakens consumer sentiment in the US and naturally reduces Korea’s exports to the US.
In other words, the inflow of dollars decreases.
read at noblemtl.com
Not only this.
U.S. financial institutions begin to recoup funds invested abroad.
This is because it is advantageous to release funds in a country where interest rates are high.
And this phenomenon brings us the same result.
In other words, foreign currency flows out.
If my prediction is correct… .
With companies going bankrupt in May, foreign financial investors will start withdrawing funds from Korea.
But up to this point, it won’t be that serious.
This is because the government defends the exchange rate by releasing dollars from its foreign exchange reserves.
The problem is when the live ammunition in foreign exchange reserves runs out… .
The moment foreign currency reserves are exposed, and credit institutions like S&P and Moody’s downgrade the national credit rating… A currency bomb explodes.
I read a newspaper article that Korea’s current foreign exchange reserves are $30 billion.
And in early 1994, three years ago.
Mexico’s foreign exchange reserves were $25 billion.
In 1994, Mexico suffered a serious foreign exchange crisis, until its foreign exchange reserves of $25 billion were exhausted… It took exactly 6 months.
The size of the economy of Korea and Mexico is… .
Its GDP is around $500 billion to 600 billion dollars, which is roughly the same.
In other words, if a foreign exchange crisis begins in Korea, it will take on a very similar pattern to that of Mexico in 1994.
In other words, if corporate bankruptcies start in May… The exchange rate bomb will explode around November, six to seven months later.
The place we arrived at was the park we had been to last time.
We got off the ’97 black Avante and took a seat on a secluded bench.
“I didn’t know it when I was in the car, but now that I look at it, I’m very tall.”
“It was about 10 centimeters tall. Hmm… However, compared to the captain’s boat, it’s not that big.”
“haha–!”
“You don’t exercise?”
“Exercise? well Can’t people like us just live as we please? When I die, I go back to the beginning anyway… What, do you even exercise for the lower back?”
Team leader Kim Jeong-soo took out a cigarette, lit it, and continued speaking while inhaling the cigarette smoke deep in his chest.
“Stop talking nonsense, and I’ll ask you straight up. You guys hacked the school district, right?”
“yes?”
“Just one month ago, on March 3rd, 23:29, Gangseoyangcheon Education Office’s finance department and computer were hacked. 23:47, school administration administration and computer hacking. And the next day, at 9 pm, an official letter was sent to 12 public middle and high schools. Don’t pretend you don’t know Because you already know everything.”
I shook my head.
“I’m not pretending not to know, I really don’t know what you mean.”
At my words, Team Leader Kim Jung-soo said with a bitter smile.
“Does all access records remain on the school district computer? It’s not something you can pretend you don’t know.”
“I really don’t know. what are you talking about… .”
“So, you mean Choi In-cheol’s solo crime?”
“… !”
I raised my voice with a determined expression.
“Stop talking like twenty years old, and explain it so that I can understand it.”
Team leader Kim Jeong-soo started explaining, and when his long explanation was over, I spoke in a trembling voice.
“So… Are you saying that it is all because of In-cheol that men and women are being combined in middle and high schools across the country?”
Team leader Kim Jung-soo quietly nodded and said.
“It is a situation where only evidence has been obtained. Do you have anything to point out?”
Only then did the puzzles begin to fit.
In-cheol’s words about hacking the education office a year ago.
On the day of the entrance ceremony, he said that he knew he would be assigned to Northwest High School.
When I bought the newspaper two days ago, I even said to myself that I did something wrong… .
These words of Incheol are not all jokes.
ah… ! there is one more
Last summer, In-cheol said that the administrative office of Namseo Middle School had already been drilled a long time ago.
Is it that In-cheol and Ji-eun are in the same class for all three years of middle school?
Maybe I was assigned to Northwest High School?
then… Is it that I, In-cheol, and Ji-eun are all in the same class now?
Is this all In-cheol’s design?
I asked Team Leader Kim Jeong-soo with a confused expression.
“What does it mean to have all the evidence?”
“All records of access to the school district computer have been secured. By the way… It is still unknown whether the personal computer of the head of the Administrative Support Bureau of the Office of Education was hacked.”
read at noblemtl.com
Now, let’s think calmly.
They say that the evidence the police have is computer access records… .
Is there any other evidence besides this?
I decided to take a look at team leader Kim Jung-soo.
I opened my mouth with a serious expression.
“Did you say that the date of hacking a while ago was March 4th?”
Team leader Kim Jeong-soo nodded without a word, and I lowered my voice a bit.
“I remember that day as the day after the high school entrance ceremony.”
Because of my low voice, he said as he turned his head closer to me.
“okay?”
I said in an annoyed tone with a sigh.
“under–! But can you please turn off that cigarette?”
“ah… ! Sorry.”
His expressionless face is now starting to read emotional expressions.
This is not bad.
I started talking again.
“It was a Tuesday, and that evening the phones and modems all went down in our apartment complex.”
That’s a lie.
I continued speaking while checking the expression on the serious face of team leader Kim Jung-soo.
“I said that the whole phone cable was cut while I was working on the extension of the phone line for PC communication that day. So at that time, the apartment management office even aired. Then maybe the time… It must have been between 8:30 and 50.”
He asked me with a serious expression.
“Really?”
“yes.”
The serious facial expression of team leader Kim Jung-soo.
The evidence that the police have means that all access records remain on the school district computer.
Had he had more convincing evidence, he would have smirked at my words.
I opened my mouth again.
“And I know In-cheol, but In-cheol can’t do such a thing. What… It’s not that I’m underestimating Incheol, he’s just a guy who plays games every day on the computer.”
“… .”
“If you don’t believe it, go to Namseo Middle School and check the transcript first. Even the team leader knows how smart computer hackers are.”
“… .”
“I don’t think In-cheol is at all. And there’s absolutely no reason for In-cheol to hack into the education office. He’s really not interested in school studies… .”
Team leader Kim Jeong-soo, who listened to me with an unknown expression, said.
“Do you know where In-cheol went today?”
I shook my head.
When I returned home after meeting Team Leader Kim Jung-soo, I took a deep breath.
let’s be calm
First of all, you have to tell Incheol.
I was trying to call Incheol’s house… .
I put the receiver back down.
A call log will remain.
Isn’t it obvious?
I just met the police and heard about In-cheol’s crime, and if In-cheol calls home, it’s like acknowledging that In-cheol is the culprit.
Still, it’s too late to wait until tomorrow morning.
The only evidence the police have is access records.
If it is simply connected to PC communication, it is done.
Team leader Kim Jung-soo had clearly told me not to make a big deal out of a fellow police officer.
Obviously, there is no conclusive evidence, so it would mean to be careful.
This means that only the evidence remaining on In-cheol’s computer needs to be deleted.
This means that you only need to delete the virus code and fake official notices used for hacking.
I checked the time.
8:30.
I met Team Leader Kim Jung-soo and came home at 7:30.
An hour has passed.
In-cheol said he was going to Lotte World with Ji-eun today.
If In-cheol had arrived home now, team leader Kim Jeong-soo would have returned home after finding the suspect’s whereabouts.
But if In-cheol hasn’t come home yet, he will still be waiting for In-cheol.
At half past eight, the time is a bit vague.
Let’s wait a little longer.
9:30 a.m.
I changed into dark clothes and went out of the house.
I went to Building 105 in the opposite direction of the apartment complex and checked the cars parked in front of Building 105 one by one.
There are a total of three black Avantes of the 1997 model year.
After checking the license plate, I immediately went up to Incheol’s house.
In-cheol’s mother asked with a slightly surprised expression.
“no… What is going on at this hour?”
“sorry. I have homework that I have to do by tomorrow’s 1st class class, and I forgot about it and only now remembered it. I decided to do it with Incheol. It won’t take long.”
“Yes, come in. But have you been talking to your mother?”
“Yes, yes.”
When In-cheol entered the room, In-cheol raised his right hand with a broad smile and said:
“Voila! Jung-ho, do you know what kind of hand this is?”
“… .”
“I held hands with Ji-eun today. Electricity surged from this hand and spread all over my body, and I felt like I was flying in the sky. I mean, I won’t wash these hands for the rest of my life.”
I let out a long sigh and said in a low voice.
“You crazy bastard! Did you really hack the school district?”
In-cheol’s expression hardened at my serious voice, and I continued.
“Enter the computer CMOS, change the date to March before, and format the hard disk immediately. You have to do it about 3 times in low level format. If there is a floppy diskette containing virus code, throw it away. ah… ! not. You can’t leave it at your house. give it all to me I will take it and take care of it.”
“Hey you… Why is that, bastard, terribly… .”
“I have come to see the police. I met Kim Jung-soo, team leader. The police know everything now!”
“… !”