I Became the Youngest Daughter of a Chaebol Family

Wearing a full suit for the first time in a while, I had to admit—its effect was undeniably strong even from my point of view.

–Rustle.

“Go ahead. I’m curious what kind of excuse you’ve brought.”

I smiled coldly at the man with long hair hanging down. Though he was a useless and incompetent accountant without any skills, his eyes moved quickly. Maybe because of that, the man with the ridiculous name ‘Frilling’ ended up confessing.

“...I-I don’t know! I-I don’t know anything!”

“You don’t know? There’s no way you could have looked through the Madoff Fund documents and not noticed anything.”

“I... I just stamped the documents sent to me. I didn’t know where the investments were going.”

It was a shocking thing for an accountant to claim ignorance of the very ledger he managed, but I simply nodded.

‘Hmm, so that’s how it is. I understand now.’

It’s often the best way to protect a secret within a large group... not sharing it with the people below you.

Because people doing the actual tasks might not know the important parts and can sometimes act inefficiently, but that wouldn’t matter much in a case like this.

Because they’re just people doing simple jobs.

“Well... as the accountant, surely you know you could be arrested, right? Even if you don’t know exactly what the Madoff Fund does...”

His face turned pale. At least he understood the scale of the crime.

“W-what should I do... P-please spare me!”

–Collapse.

His legs gave out, and he clung to me.

I gently spoke, making it clear to him that I wasn’t someone who would harm him.

“Shouldn’t I be telling the prosecution instead? Still, if you actively cooperate, you might be fine. Judging by the state of your office, it doesn’t seem like you pocketed large sums... It might even end with just about a year in prison.”

Snort.

I chuckled and lightly patted his shoulder, and Frilling’s body trembled even more.

If he serves about one year, that’s practically getting off scot-free.

“I heard the accounting firm in charge of the Madoff Fund changed recently. Do you happen to know anything about that? Arthur Andersen, right?”

“...”

He doesn’t know.

Or maybe... hmm.

“Surely, you’re not thinking of engaging in illegal trades, are you?”

“...!”

Right on the mark.

Frilling, though a bit slow-witted, was clearly someone who tried to maintain his dignity. For me, that was still good news. Since he even volunteered to hack, he had no reason to lie.

“Haha, it’s fine. Really, I don’t care at all if you’re found guilty and get prison time. I think turning over all the information to us might even reduce your sentence... Yes, I’d say that’s correct. Very wise of you.”

“U-Understood...”

Frilling rolled his eyes and looked around. Did he think being found guilty wouldn’t be much worse?

I smiled softly as I lied to him.

“I’ll give you one last chance. Confess your crimes and report the Madoff Fund. You, personally.”

“M-Me?”

“Yes, I thought the audit team might find something... so we’ll report the Madoff Fund’s secrets, felt under the weight of your conscience and pressure, directly. Oh, of course, we’ll send it to the SEC and the district prosecutors exactly as we like. The timing... you’ll coordinate well, right?”

If you don’t want to go to prison.

I swallowed those words, but anyone here could understand what I meant.

***

Marching in like a reform commissioner, I neatly organized the documents and handed them to the audit team. They were composed to make anyone feel that something was off.

And, of course, chaos broke out at the foundation.

“T-This... ahem, this can’t be what it looks like, right?”

“W-Well... um... still, isn’t it okay since we recently changed to Arthur Andersen? Isn’t that fine...? I hope so...”

“Are you serious? This... this contains content Madoff couldn’t possibly be unaware of. They clearly requested it first. We just made the appropriate paperwork and sent it.”

To the director denying reality, the only one trying to stay sane—the other director snapped. He was practically the only one who hadn’t invested personal funds into the Madoff Fund.

And at that moment, someone shouted.

“...So, what should we do?”

“...”

“...”

No one answered.

They still hadn’t realized it was a Ponzi scheme. But it was clearly criminal behavior. Whether they knew the details or not, something was clearly wrong.

For example, what if Madoff’s so-called “special investment strategy” was all a lie?

“W-We should start by pulling out the foundation’s money. The evaluation standard for poor investments... there was something about that... Ah, I don’t know. Anyway, since this has been exposed, we can’t make further investments, right? Let’s just pull out the money for now.”

Whether it was the influence of having about $100 million of his own money in the Madoff Fund, the previously stubborn director now had cold sweat running down his back as he spoke.

‘Faster change of attitude than expected.’

It was practically confirmed that he had put in all his liquid assets... or maybe that was exactly why he responded so quickly.

Right now, that person’s mind was probably filled with nothing but money. Like realizing you had stepped into a flaming charcoal pit barefoot.

“So, did you say your name was Ha-yeon Yoo? Anyway... thank you for your hard work. I know my kids put quite a bit of money into the Madoff Fund, though not as much as I did myself... Thank you for showing such courage for a foundation you’re not even close to.”

As soon as I heard that, I felt a shiver go down my spine.

–Twitch.

“...Ah.”

Ah, shit.

I haven’t pulled my money out yet.

My three thousand dollars!!!

***

After momentarily losing my mind, my reason returned.

‘...Come to think of it, it doesn’t matter.’

I had only been shocked at the idea that I might have lost my money. Looking back calmly now, I was fine.

I’d be getting that money back with interest anyway... and in the process of pulling it out, I could hit Madoff with a shock.

“Miss, are you all right?”

“Ah... yeah. I’m okay, Young-il. I guess I got a little dizzy. I’ve ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ been working a bit too hard lately...”

“Please get some rest. Besides, this is outside our jurisdiction now.”

I nodded slowly.

Since experts were now involved, there would be a proper legal siege from here on out.

“What did Quinn Emanuel’s law firm say?”

They weren’t just trying to build goodwill with me in the moment. I hoped they wouldn’t disappoint me.

“They were thrilled to get the full set of documents? Haha, even if we make a huge fuss, the results are already visible... Honestly, didn’t we all sort of doubt this was a Ponzi scheme? Even I only half-believed it...”

Well, who could’ve predicted it?

That a legendary investor on Wall Street was actually a scammer running a Ponzi scheme.

“Oh, and... you should be pleased about this. There was significant commotion even inside the foundation.”

“Are there many who invested in the Madoff Fund?”

“Yes. Fortunately, hardly anyone dared to question you, but... there were quite a few arguments and disagreements over this.”

I narrowed my eyes.

“You mean even now, in this situation, the foundation is going to risk its funds?”

“Oh, no, that’s not it. The $300 million accumulated by the foundation has already been recovered from the fund and is being held in reserve. The issue is... most of the people gathered in the foundation had privately invested in the Madoff Fund.”

Ah.

“So everyone’s going wild asking for their money back. Just as expected.”

I felt a sense of ease settle in. The kind of heavy satisfaction that comes after having endured something long and suffocating.

I hadn’t really thought about how this snowball had been rolled up or where the manipulation began... Madoff had already built a snowman so massive that we just needed to knock it over a bit.

All we had to do was slap a funeral plaque on that snowman’s forehead and inscribe the words “fraudulent investment scheme.”

***

At that moment.

A crack appeared in Director Spielberg’s usually calm expression.

“...What are you saying? Say it again. Are you saying the Madoff Fund has been deemed a poor investment?”

The usually calm-faced director slowly lowered his head.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

The same content that had been repeated dozens of times over the past few days was once again reiterated, and the reaction was just as identical.

Seeing that, one couldn’t call it an intense or dramatic response. Just like how, even if someone gets shot repeatedly in Spielberg’s films, no one calls that an overreaction.

This was disturbingly and realistically understated.

“...Then, what about the possibilities? There’s still no conclusive evidence, after all.”

“...I asked a friend who works at JP Morgan. He said Madoff did ‘absolutely nothing’ with the money he received.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean! Why, why didn’t anyone take action if they knew? From a rational standpoint...”

“From a rational standpoint, it’s perfectly normal to think Madoff had a plan... because he always had. JP Morgan thought the same. It’s not like he put all the money into one place, and there wasn’t a single employee who dared to question his authority...”

–Ha.

The director squeezed his eyes shut as if immersed in a play of tragedy. At that moment, the money he had poured into the Madoff Fund resurfaced in his mind.

“Then... what about our—no, my money?”

“...We don’t know.”

No one could see what lay ahead, and no one could offer a single word of reassurance.

Who in the world could have predicted this?

***

[...This is the SEC. We trust Mr. Madoff, but we are conducting a detailed procedural investigation. We ask for your urgent cooperation.]

[Contacting from JP Morgan. The U.S. federal prosecutors are investigating Mr. Madoff’s accounts. Under confidentiality law, if serious violations are found, we can no longer protect customer information.]

[Withdraw my money from the fund. Immediately.]

The SEC, JP Morgan, Arthur Andersen, BBB, and countless renowned investors...

Emails kept pouring in endlessly. Investors in a panic rushed to retrieve their funds, and as signs of serious accounting fraud emerged, agencies swarmed like a cloud of bees.

And then, the most important fact came to light.

“There’s... not enough money.”

His secretary said it in a restrained voice, as if sighing. The money that had been piled in the Madoff Fund was beginning to show its bottom.

In other words, this colossal Ponzi scheme was approaching its collapse.

“...”

The feast was over, and a long, winding line of creditors was now waiting for Madoff.