In the gray world, the reshaping of rules was silent and swift. The "suicides" of three finance ministers and the scandals exposed in their wake drove three wedges into the Achilles' heel of the global financial system. The chain reaction far exceeded expectations. Offshore fortresses of dirty money, impregnable for decades, melted away in the sunlight. Countless hidden fortunes and centers of power were exposed amid panicked transfers, evaporated, or were frozen and confiscated by an emerging international network of joint regulators, indirectly brought into being by my "operation."
The news was filled with reports of tycoons jumping from buildings, politicians resigning, and multinational corporations' share prices collapsing. Panic spread like a plague through certain social strata. They began to realize that the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads was no fanciful legend. It was real, and... it was no longer content with eliminating individuals.
Ryuk still lurked in the corner, munching on his apples. But more often now, those hollow eye sockets "watched" me with the interest of a researcher studying a rare specimen.
"How does it feel to rewrite the underlying code, Creator?" he asked hoarsely, his voice unusually clear in the gray air.
I did not answer. My consciousness was already immersed in planning the next "operation." The upheaval in the financial system was only the beginning, a skimming of scum from the surface. The true tumors were rooted deep in international laws and trade agreements controlled and twisted by vested interests. Those were the breeding grounds that nourished injustice and exploitation.
I fixed my sights on a global intellectual property agreement known as the "Developer's Wall." Under the guise of protecting innovation, a handful of tech giants abused it, using patent barriers to stifle competition, monopolize technology, and artificially create a digital divide, then exploiting