World's Richest Man: I Leaped Across Time

"Alright, let's start by finding a forum. Something popular. The more traffic, the better. "
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After some time, we settled on Yahoo Finance.

"You need a clean email. Something disposable. We'll use a five-minute email service."

He navigated to a temporary email site, grabbed a random email, and entered it into the Yahoo form. "Now for the username," he said, pausing. "We'll use an acronym—'MK.'"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Those are popular first letters of names and surnames in Slavic countries. Nothing specific, really. That's the point. It's generic, common, and forgettable. Exactly what you want."

"And," he added, his voice lowering a bit, "you're going to need a secure way to store the password. You don't want to rely on traditional password managers. Too easy to get hacked. I've got a better method. You're going to store your password in an image."

"What?" I blinked.

He grinned. "Here's how it works. You use image editing software—Photoshop, GIMP, whatever—and encode your passwords into the pixel values of an image."

He opened his laptop. "You'll need the original image and a program to extract the hidden data. You just load the image, extract the pixel information, and voila—there's your password. The key is making sure the images look like standard photos or graphics. The more normal it seems, the harder it'll be to trace."

For the next 30 minutes, he explained to me step by step how to do it and created a password that I could use.

Finally, he entered the username and password, completing the account setup. "There. Clean email. Clean account. No ties to you."

He then opened the forum and looked back at me, "Now comes the tricky part—how you write."

"What about it?"

"If you're serious about staying anonymous, you need to watch your tone and style. Writing is like a fingerprint. Certain words, phrases, and even punctuation can give you away. And if someone connects you to Jack Somnus, you're toast."

"I haven't had any public talks yet or written any publicly available articles. Not that many people know my talking style."

"That's for now, but what if you will in a year or two? Then you're fucked my guy, and you don't want to be fucked."

I stared at him.

"Listen..." he continued. "your writing has to stay neutral. No regional slang, no idioms, nothing that screams a particular background."

"Neutral? I don't think that's going to be possible. If I want to start a movement, the writing needs to be inspiring—something that makes people relate to it, something that makes them want to step behind it."

He sighed, rubbing his temples. "Alright, then keep it broad. Avoid accents or cultural nuances. Write in a way that could resonate across Europe—because that's where your logins will show up. Stick to universal ideas, common experiences."

I considered that for a moment, leaning forward. "So, no overly American phrases or references. No hyper-localized slang."

"Exactly," he said. "And keep your tone professional, but not too polished. You're aiming for relatability without standing out. The goal is to get people on board, not to give anyone a reason to wonder who you are."

"Got it," I said, nodding. "Anything else?"

He leaned back, crossing his arms. "Yeah. If you want people to trust you, sprinkle in some vulnerability. Not too much—just enough to make them feel like you're one of them."

"That was my goal from the very beginning. I want to create a story that people would be willing to follow. A poor guy fighting against the system."

Finally, it was time to begin.

I took a deep breath and scrolled through the forum's threads, filled with investors venting their frustration, discussing penny stocks and their latest losses.

I could feel the pulse of desperation—these were people who were on the edge.

The perfect target.

I clicked into a thread that was already bubbling over with complaints about a stock — VitalStream Holdings, Inc. (VSTH). The stock had tanked hard from its high, now hovering under $1, with a market cap barely touching $20 million.

It had gotten crushed in the market, with shorts piling on and market makers pushing it further down. The company was in the online streaming space. In 2004 streaming wasn't popular at all so obviously the company wasn't having a great time.

However, with over 60% of the float gulped up by shorts, this was a great opportunity.

I began typing:

Subject: "I'm Stuck, But This One's Got Serious Potential – Market Makers Are Just Trying to Keep Us Down."

"Hey guys,

I've been stuck in this one for a while now, but I'm telling you, this is a hidden gem. The stock's been crushed, down under $1, with a market cap barely above $20 million. But if you look at what they're doing in the online video streaming space, you'll see it's only a matter of time before they break out.

The market makers are trying to keep this stock down. Shorts are all over it, pushing it further into the gutter. But the demand for streaming services is only going to grow, and VitalStream is in a prime position to capitalize on that. They've got technology that's ahead of the curve for video streaming, and as the market expands, their services will be needed more and more.

The fundamentals are there.

Right now, it's all being overlooked because the stock's getting dragged down by shorts and manipulation.

But when this thing squeezes, it's going to run big time.

Short are going to pay.

Don't sell.

I'm still holding on to my shares, and I believe in this company. If this doesn't go up in the next week, I'll pay you guys back with the rest of the money I've got. We're in this together.

Stay strong. Hold tight."

I hit post and watched the message go live. There were already people typing their answers.

"Yeah, I see it too. This stock has been beaten down, but if you look at the long term, it's definitely got potential. I'm holding too. I'm with you, bro. Hold strong, don't sell!"

"Fucking shorts are trying to drag this one into the dirt. If I ever catch one of those bastards in real life, I'll make sure they know what it's like to get squeezed! VSTH is going to moon, mark my words."

"Are you seriously fucking kidding me? Do you think VSTH is going to go anywhere? This company is a sinking ship and you're just grasping at straws hoping for a miracle. The market doesn't care about their tech—if they did, it wouldn't be sitting at 80 cents. This is pure delusion. Good luck with your 'squeeze,'"

"LOL, 'I'll pay you if it doesn't go up.' Dude, this isn't the lottery, it's the stock market. You can't make promises like that. I'll be watching this dumpster fire with popcorn. Let's see if you actually know what you're talking about."

I smiled.

This was the beginning of something.

A thread that could grow.

A story that could build momentum.

All it took was a little push, a touch of vulnerability, and the perfect lie wrapped in a glimmer of hope.

The tech guy watched over my shoulder. "There you go. I think you've got them hooked."