Three days after Black Thursday.
The sun, which had risen in haste at six in the morning, illuminated Manhattan Island in New York.
As usual, Bem stepped out of his car with his briefcase in hand. Just as he listlessly yawned and prepared to hurry toward the company building, he suddenly noticed that the usually deserted newsstand was now surrounded by a tightly packed crowd.
Quite a few gentlemen in suits and polished leather shoes were shoving their way inside without any concern for their appearance, trying to squeeze through the crowd like commuters on the subway and trade the cash in their hands for the newspapers held by the vendor.
"What happened..."
Muttering to himself, Bem was about to step forward when he suddenly saw a fat man with curly hair pushing his way out of the crowd, cursing under his breath.
It was none other than Karel.
Without hesitation, Bem immediately stepped forward and patted his colleague on the shoulder.
"Hey, what happened? Why is everyone gathered here?"
"Precisely because I don't know what happened, I went through so much trouble," Karel grumbled as he unfolded the crumpled newspaper. Squinting his tiny eyes, he looked at the first headline on the page.
Almost the instant his eyes touched the newspaper, Karel's expression froze.
Bem, standing behind him, was the same. His face stiffened instantly, then rapidly shifted between delight and worry.
"...The Ministry of Commerce dropped the lawsuit! ExxonMobil dropped the lawsuit! God... This, this is too..." Karel immediately cast a pleading look at his colleague and continued anxiously, "Bem, my friend, use that smart brain of yours and think. What exactly does this mean?"
Grabbing at his hair, Bem's mind was in complete chaos at that moment, no better off than his partner's.
"I don't know... This