Lerdprasit Crumbles – Wongthep Strikes Back

Three weeks after Lerdprasit poured their capital into the fake startup, the financial world exploded.

"Lerdprasit Invests in the Hottest Fintech Startup of the Year!" "Lerdprasit Prepares to Challenge Wongthep in Fintech!"

Their stock price surged 12% in two weeks.
The media hailed it as a brilliant strategic move.
Investors flooded in.

But Joss Wayar merely stood on the sidelines, arms folded, watching with icy detachment.

He knew—
This was the final bright moment before the gates of hell opened.

Then, on a quiet Monday morning, Wongthep released an official statement to the press:

"Wongthep Group officially withdraws from Startup X's blockchain project.
After reevaluating risk factors, we have decided not to proceed with the investment."

A simple statement—
Yet it detonated like a bomb in the heart of the financial markets.

Lerdprasit's stock price nosedived immediately.

Investors who had previously thrown money at the "hot startup" panicked.

"Why is Wongthep pulling out?" "Is there something wrong with the startup we don't know?" "If Joss Wayar isn't investing, have we made a huge mistake?"

The domino effect began.

Smaller funds and individual investors dumped Lerdprasit stocks en masse.

Within 48 hours, their market cap plummeted by 30%.

Chaos erupted.

Lerdprasit desperately tried to stabilize the situation by injecting more capital into the startup to reassure investors.

But in doing so, they only buried themselves deeper.

And Joss?
He wasn't done.

When Lerdprasit was at its most vulnerable, Wongthep unleashed another blow:

They announced a real fintech project.

This time, not a phantom startup.
A genuine collaboration with a legitimate fintech company, with solid business models and visible potential.

The market whiplashed instantly.

Investors who had dumped Lerdprasit stocks redirected their money to Wongthep.

Wongthep's stock soared.

Lerdprasit officially spiraled into a financial crisis.

They had sunk massive amounts into a nonexistent project—
and now they couldn't recover.

When Joss received the updated stock report, he simply smiled coldly.

Gawin stood beside him, equally detached.

"They'll fight back," Gawin said quietly.

Joss nodded.

"Of course."

But it no longer mattered.

Because he now controlled the game completely.

Joss stared at the market reports flashing on the screen and smirked.

"The game's just getting started."

The Traitor Revealed

As Lerdprasit collapsed,
the traitor hidden within Wongthep could no longer stay hidden.

Joss received a confidential report from his financial intelligence team:

A massive transfer of funds from Wongthep had been traced to an offshore account tied directly to Lerdprasit.

Joss narrowed his eyes.

"Whose account is it?"

The investigator hesitated.

Joss's voice dropped to a freezing pitch.

"Speak."

The man swallowed hard.

"...Your grandmother."

Joss stood frozen for several seconds.

He had suspected it.

But hearing it confirmed felt like a blade twisting deep between his ribs.

The one who betrayed him.
The one who sold out Wongthep.
Was the very person who once ruled the family empire.

The one who raised him.
The one who taught him about business.
The one he respected most.

Supanya Sangngern.

His own grandmother.

He stared blankly at the screen—
at the transaction logs, the matching timestamps, the internal memos.

All pointing to one undeniable truth:

She had orchestrated the fall of Thanarath.
She had opened Wongthep's gates to Lerdprasit.
She had groomed him, raised him, only to discard him when he outlived his usefulness.

It was her.

Joss said nothing.
He simply placed his wine glass down, his gaze turning razor-sharp.

"Bring her to me."

Gawin stood silently nearby, saying nothing.

But deep down,
he knew—

This would be a confrontation with no way back.

The night winds howled against the tall glass windows, rattling the leaves against the cold steel of the skyscrapers.
As if trying, futilely, to scrub away the rotting secrets hidden beneath layers of gold and glory.

But some stains cannot be washed away.

Blood.
Betrayal.
Broken oaths.

Joss sat alone in his office, bathed in dim golden light that failed to warm the suffocating air.

On the monitor, freshly decrypted data scrolled—

Offshore bank accounts.
Massive fund transfers.
Timestamps lining up perfectly with the collapse of Thanarath.

Every trail led back to a single name.

Supanya Sangngern.

The woman who had cradled him as a baby.

The woman who sat at the head of the family table, stern yet affectionate—or so he thought.

"No..."
he whispered, voice cracking as he gripped the edge of the desk.

But the data was merciless.

Behind him, Gawin stood silently.

He didn't interrupt.

He understood—
the pain of betrayal by your own blood was far crueler than any enemy's knife.

Internal memos, financial records, corporate shareholding documents—
all pointed to the same horrifying conclusion.

Supanya had given Lerdprasit the keys to destroy Thanarath.
She had fed Wongthep to them piece by piece.
She had groomed Joss as a pawn, only to discard him when the timing was right.

The door creaked open.

The soft tap of a cane echoed in the room.