The American Kill Line: I Can Predict the Future

Chapter 118 If you're going to live a slovenly life again, smash it!

Although the Japanese government and zaibatsu were somewhat late in obtaining information about Ron Lai, a grand banquet was still held at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo.

Amidst the nationwide atmosphere of "self-restraint" in disaster relief, the six major conglomerates risked public opinion by inviting Mineko Iwasaki, a legendary geisha from Kyoto's Gion district and a national treasure of Japan, to perform.

In addition, Saki, the first officially recognized foreign geisha in Japan who is fluent in English, Japanese, French, and German, was arranged to accompany and translate for the entire trip.

In Japan, actors have a very low social status.

New actors at the bottom are considered expendable, earning only a meager hourly wage, which is even lower than that of a regular white-collar worker in a company.

Well-known actors have it a bit easier because they have a stable track record in TV series and movies, which allows them to secure regular film and television resources and brand endorsements.

Therefore, they are able to receive a contract salary.

Only top-tier national actors like Takuya Kimura, Sayuri Yoshinaga, and Koji Yakusho deserve to receive film salaries.

Even so, they still belong to the "townspeople class" in the minds of the zaibatsu.

Essentially, it is still used as a high-end public relations tool and will not be given influence within the system because of its artistic status.

However, there is one exception: geisha.

Actors from prestigious Kabuki families are considered inheritors of Japan's national art, with some top performers designated as "Living National Treasures."

The six largest Japanese conglomerates hired two top-tier geishas to accompany them, a level of hospitality equivalent to that given to a head of state.

Especially Mineko Iwasaki, who retired as early as 1980.

But to this day, she is still recognized as the "greatest geisha of the Showa era".

If it weren't for the personal visit of Katsunori Nagayoshi, the first president of the Mitsubishi Group, it would be difficult for an ordinary person to invite him to come.

Unfortunately, they overestimated Ron's understanding of Japanese culture.

Ron felt that his personality had been severely insulted.

An elderly woman in her sixties and a fifty-year-old Australian woman.

Her face was covered in a layer of powder thicker than a wall.

Whenever the lights were dim, he thought he had encountered a vampire.

No, vampires are still young, at least.

"Mr. Hunter, is the food not to your liking today?"

When Keidanren President Hiromasa Yonekura saw that the young Wall Street tycoon hadn't touched his chopsticks, he assumed that the other party didn't like the food.

Upon hearing this, the other tycoons in the room stopped talking and turned to look.

Although the dinner was prepared on short notice, the dishes were all top-notch kaiseki cuisine.

Aomori Oma tuna belly, Hyogo Prefecture's top-grade Kobe Wagyu beef, Kyoto matsutake mushrooms, and Hokkaido sea urchin, paired with French-flown Périgord black truffles and caviar from the Ryukyu Sea.

And the chef is personally in charge of cooking for the Japanese Imperial Family.

The sake is made with the 14th generation Ryusen Junmai Daiginjo sake, which is used by the Japanese Imperial Family.

Even they cannot enjoy this level of luxury frequently.

The reason for this, besides Ron being a representative of Wall Street tycoons, is that his own financial skills are truly astonishing.

Some chaebols have even questioned these figures.

They believe this is a deliberate fabrication by Wall Street to create a "god-like" figure.

Whether it's true or not, it's enough to demonstrate the weight this behemoth carries on Wall Street.

The attitude of the second-in-command of the Koch family towards him can give us a glimpse into this.

"Maybe it's jet lag or lack of rest."

Ron forced a grotesque smile, cursing inwardly that these wretches were inhuman, deliberately picking on two old women to disgust him.

He even asked me why I had no appetite.

Damn it, it's just that I made a little money from you guys, is it really that big of a deal?

Besides, it's not necessarily all of this money that you lost.

In short, Ron, who was already disgusted by them, felt even more aversion towards this group of people at this moment.

Robert, sitting diagonally across from his friend, noticed his friend's predicament. He lowered his head and pretended to drink, but his shoulders kept shaking.

He didn't have Ron's high status, so he was accompanied by two newly recruited geishas.

Although not well-known, their youth is a major advantage.

Robert was quite curious, though, about what heinous thing his good brother had done that led these scoundrels to treat him in such a disgusting way.

Not only Robert, but also representatives from financial groups such as Bank of America, Goldman Sachs, and JPMorgan Chase knew the reason.

So they all started chuckling to themselves.

David Koch burst out laughing.

They knew Ron's tastes all too well.

The Japanese concept of high standards and respect has no effect on Ron.

He just has a particular fondness for celebrities.

My favorite celebrities are plus-size stars.

If this plus-size celebrity had some troubles, it would be even more perfect.

However, the Japanese zaibatsu were unaware of the inside story; their knowledge of this Wall Street tycoon was limited to what they read on paper.

So when these Americans were laughing, they looked completely puzzled.

However, Koch and his team didn't explain, saying that some things you have to figure out for yourself.

If you don't understand it, you're not qualified.

Because the hosts and guests appeared tired, the dinner party ended abruptly after a short time.

Inside the presidential suite.

Simon and his team of bodyguards searched every corner to confirm that there was no eavesdropping.

Ron then began discussing with David the possibility of shorting the Japanese stock market the next day.

He had originally planned for the Koch family to pay for it, but now he has changed his mind.

One person invested $10 billion.

Operate using the Koch family's financial accounts.

"I understand that this is their culture, and I respect it, so I wasn't angry at all. But they didn't respect me."

Ron has attended countless banquets since his rise to power.

Even the usually low-key Charles Koch would find a celebrity that Ron liked to accompany him.

What the Japanese conglomerate considers respect is precisely what Ron sees as disrespect.

If you truly respect someone, you wouldn't be unaware of their preferences.

To put it bluntly, the last time they hit me hard enough.

Therefore, this time Ron directly targeted the industries of the six major conglomerates.

A strong aftershock of magnitude 6.3 struck off the coast of Fukushima, Japan on April 12. The Japanese government officially raised the nuclear emergency response level from Level 5 to Level 7, the highest level, equivalent to the Chernobyl disaster.

There is a strict classification system for international nuclear events.

Level 5 is defined as "an incident with off-site risks".

It is also a controllable standard.

Level 6 is defined as a major accident, which is uncontrollable.

Level 7 is a major accident, the highest level in human history.

Despite the earthquake and subsequent nuclear power plant explosions that struck Japan in March, the situation remains unchanged.

However, the international risk assessment has remained at level 5 to date.

Japanese officials have repeatedly emphasized that the accident was only within a controllable range at level 5.

It is conceivable that the panic caused by the announcement of the Class 7 Nobi-class Chevrolet car would be several times greater than that caused by the earthquake and nuclear power plant explosion last month.

Tomorrow is the 11th, so there's still enough time.

Ron used David Koch's phone to dial the number of the president of JPMorgan Chase's Japanese branch: "This is Ron Hunter."

"Good evening, Mr. Hunter. How may I help you?" The branch manager greeted him respectfully, without any suspicion.

Ron pondered for a moment and said, "Tomorrow I need to use the Koch family's financial account to short Mitsubishi UFJ with $15 billion, leveraged five times."

Financial groups, Mitsui Toyota Motor, Sanwa Panasonic, Fuji Canon, Sumitomo Corporation, and Dai-Ichi Kang Bank Mizuho Financial Group.

"Mr. Hunter, a $75 billion short position may not be possible to achieve without leaving a trace."

Since the subprime mortgage crisis, Japan has strictly prohibited naked short selling and short selling without warrants.

With 5x leverage, $75 billion in short selling would be equivalent to over 6300 billion yen at the current USD/JPY price of 84.

The amount is huge, but when divided among the six core companies of the consortium, it's still manageable within a day.

The only problem is that it's hard to hide.

"It's okay, no need to hide it, just control the slippage."

"OK."

The president of JPMorgan Chase's branch office issued the order.

The team quickly came up with an allocation strategy.

First, Toyota Motor Corporation, as the Nikkei's top-weighted stock and most liquid stock, was directly allocated $42 billion in nominal funds at Ron's request.

Secondly, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, a leading Japanese financial institution, received $12 billion.

Next up is Mizuho Financial Group, one of Japan's two financial giants, with $10 billion.

Fujifilm, a leading exporter, received $3.5 million.

Sanwa Panasonic, a leading Japanese consumer electronics company, received $4 million.

Sumitomo Corporation, $3.5 million.

"Okay." After reading the proposal, Ron checked the Nikkei index.

He didn't expect to make a fortune from shorting these leading Japanese stocks.

To put it bluntly, the main purpose of this is negotiation.

It's not really about ruining the Japanese stock market.

Therefore, Ron only selected the core stocks of the six major conglomerates, using this method to create a deterrent effect in subsequent negotiations.

Of course, we still need to make money.

Therefore, he chose to focus his profits on the Nikkei index.

During market panic, these leading Japanese stocks were violently dumped, accelerating the decline in their prices.

This creates a stampede effect, which in turn affects the Nikkei index.

Over the past month, the Nikkei index has seen a significant pullback.

It is currently fluctuating around 9740.

"How much is one lot of Nikkei weekly at-the-money put options with a strike price of 9700 in Japanese yen?"

"Weekly?" The president of JPMorgan Chase's branch office checked and replied, "A weekly at-the-money put option on the Nikkei 225 with a strike price of 9700 costs approximately 17 to 18 yen per lot."

There is currently no indication in the market that the level of the nuclear accident has been raised, and the general expectation is that the negative news has been fully priced in.

At-the-money put options with a strike price of 9700 points are severely undervalued by the market, with an implied volatility of only 35%.

That's why the price is so cheap.

"Then don't blame me for being impolite," Ron chuckled. "Then let's buy a smaller amount, $5 million."

"Uh—" The JPMorgan Chase president paused for a moment, then asked uncertainly, "Mr. Hunter, are the put options also to be bought tomorrow?"

"Can you buy now?" Ron asked casually. "Don't hesitate, just do as I say. All of us will enter the market tomorrow. I'll allow for a 10% price slippage."

"OK."

The president of JPMorgan Chase's branch office then began to issue operational plans to the team.

He received orders from headquarters yesterday.

There was only one person who would fully cooperate with all of Ron's actions.

But after all, this was my first time encountering him; I had only heard of this legendary god of opposition before.

Only now, having experienced it firsthand, can I truly feel the other party's overwhelming confidence and disregard for all heroes.

By the time all the contingency plans were approved by Ron, it was already midnight.

Because of the time difference, Robert couldn't sleep at all.

Seeing that he couldn't be of much help, David Koch simply took Robert out to find something to eat.

Only his assistant, Fang Wei, stayed with him in the room.

Seeing that the owner had finished his work, he brought over a glass of honey water: "Sir, would you like to order a late-night snack?"

Ron finished his honey water in one gulp: "Forget the midnight snack, give me another one. By the way, Robert isn't back yet?"

"Mr. Koch said that we're staying at the Oiran-yōrō (Girl's Courtyard) hot spring inn tonight."

"Fuck!"

Ron was very unhappy.

With both courtesans and hot springs involved, it sounds anything but respectable.

I'm busy as a bee, and these two went off to do team building.

Assistant Fang Wei brought over another glass of water, then took out a business card: "Sir, this is what Mr. Koch left before he left. He said you can call this number if you need anything."

Ron took the business card, unable to decipher the tadpole-like characters on it: "Do you recognize it? What does it say?"

Fang Wei glanced at it and said uncertainly, "These two characters look a bit like '本番' (benfan), but I don't recognize the others. Wait a moment, let me check."

"Never mind, neither of us speaks Japanese, so knowing what it is won't help. It's getting late, you should go back to your room and rest."

Ron threw the business card on the ground, took a shower, and went to bed.

He may be dismissive of the situation strategically, but he always takes it very seriously in terms of actual tactics.

We must adjust to the time difference quickly so that we have enough energy to deal with the stock market fluctuations the day after tomorrow.

Ron tossed and turned in bed all night, unable to sleep.

During this time, he was also woken up by phone calls from Jessica and Alexandra.

Currently, the only women around Ron who still keep in touch with him by phone every day or two are Jessica and Alexandra.

Kate Upton, Megan Fox.

In the first few days after the breakup, Lily Collins called me very frequently, several times a day.

They gradually decreased after that.

Don't count on Annie; she almost never calls first.

The information flow has never stopped.

She seems to particularly enjoy chatting this way.

Moreover, the language used between the lines is much more explicit than what is said face-to-face.

As for Taylor, Ron got angry.

Not only will they not tell me their location, but now they're not even answering my calls.

The key point is that she also sends photos of the scenery she travels in from time to time.

They still haven't shown their faces.

Ron lay in bed thinking about all sorts of things until he finally drifted off to sleep around three or four in the morning.