"Seriously! How are we going bankrupt again?!"
The moment Lorne heard the word "bankrupt," he became visibly agitated, his voice rising involuntarily.
Ted: "..."
"Ahem..." Realizing he had lost his composure, Lorne cleared his throat twice and lowered his voice, asking through almost gritted teeth, "How did we suddenly end up facing bankruptcy when everything was going fine?"
"Wasn't everything still fine just two days ago?"
Lorne could hardly be blamed for being so shocked. Although the factory wasn't doing particularly well and was barely breaking even, it had at least gotten on track. They had even established ties with the military, and he had been counting on making a fortune from the submachine gun he had designed. How had they suddenly ended up facing bankruptcy?
Ted looked utterly haggard, as though he hadn't slept properly in days. He struggled to explain, "Boss, it's not a problem with the factory itself... It's... it's the stock market..."
"The stock market? Don't tell me... it crashed?" Lorne guessed.
"Yes." Ted nodded heavily. "Just over these past two days, the stock market suddenly collapsed. Countless people lost everything. People jumping off buildings, people fleeing... they're everywhere."
"Collapsed? Bankrupt?" Lorne remembered how, just a few days ago, the newspapers had been full of reports about the booming market, encouraging the public to invest. How had things changed so quickly...?
"Ted..." Something else suddenly occurred to Lorne. He looked at the ashen-faced factory manager before him. "I remember you mortgaged your house to the bank to buy stocks, didn't you? That money of yours..."
"It's gone!"
Before Lorne could finish, the emotions Ted had been struggling to hold back finally burst free. "It's all gone! I lost every last bit! My house... the bank took that too!"
"Boohoo..."
Watching a grown man well into his