After the Divorce, I Found a Thousand Bitcoins - Chapter 19

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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I Got Divorced and Found a Thousand Bitcoins Episode 019

He reached out and picked up the tablet.

The tablet displaying the electronic document with the amount Richard had written.

He touched it, but no light came out.

‘Hmm, no light here either.’

When he made the real estate transaction, light had burst out from the building.

And when he thought of prices, the light became intense or dim.

Thanks to that, he could find the appropriate price and make the purchase.

But stocks were different.

‘I don’t know what the difference is, but for some reason, only stocks don’t show light for appropriate prices.’

The difference was that stocks were electronic transactions while buildings were tangible objects.

Another difference was that the light from stocks vaguely told him when it would burst, the timeframe.

‘It would have been better if it also showed the appropriate price for stocks.’

When would he purchase real estate again?

Probably not for a while, he thought as he checked through the documents.

“Everything looks fine. I’ll sell.”

At his words of immediately agreeing, a gleam appeared in Richard’s eyes.

“Surprisingly, you’re not bargaining?”

“It’s the same as the price I had in mind. I have no intention of getting into a heated argument with a partner I’ll continue working with.”

No.

He simply thought it was best to sell now since he knew NextMove’s stock price would move sideways.

‘If it continues sideways and then some strange news comes out, the spread could plummet.’

Currently, NextMove was evaluated as having failed.

But the light was gray.

That meant it wouldn’t collapse in a short time.

As Richard said, it would take at least 1 year, at most 2-3 years.

He didn’t know how the spread would move during that period.

If it really failed, he would have sold it cheap, but.

‘Getting 14 times profit is enough.’

CDS trading was originally like this.

When companies fail, it’s the giant banks like JP Morgan that reap the final benefits.

‘Profit is always right.’

Recalling the only absolute rule of investment, he concluded the transaction.

* * *

Kang Hyeon had left.

Richard Blake, left alone in the suite room, looked out the window.

The view of Seoul from the Shilla Hotel was beautiful.

But such scenery didn’t register in his eyes.

“An interesting man.”

Interesting.

It was the perfect word to describe the man named Kang Hyeon.

The behavior Kang Hyeon had shown so far was beyond prediction.

“Did he gain 400 million dollars from this transaction?”

Including the previous transaction, it was over 470 million dollars in net profit.

He wondered if there had been any institution that earned this level of profit in just over a month.

“What’s more surprising is that he holds those profits in cash.”

Most investment institutions maintain some positions even when they reap profits.

So even when profits occurred, they were book profits, not actual profits.

Kang Hyeon was different in this regard.

He held most of his funds in cash.

He could know this because he was a broker director at JP Morgan.

He could see the balance situation of contracted companies and knew that most of KH Capital’s assets were cash.

‘A high proportion of cash means two things. Either they don’t know how to invest, or they’re stockpiling ammunition for war.’

For investors, war meant market crashes or surges.

‘If he saw a surge coming, he wouldn’t have closed all the positions he took in the first transaction.’

In other words, his outlook wasn’t for a rise.

‘He must think it will fall.’

This was opposite to the current overheated market atmosphere.

“I wonder what will happen?”

He thought meeting once would somewhat satisfy his curiosity about the man named Choi Kang-hyeon.

But it wasn’t so.

Rather, his curiosity grew even more.

“It’s time to depart.”

“Yes, let’s go.”

At his secretary’s words, Richard left the hotel.

It was time to return to the United States.

‘Next time I should come with a bit more time.’

Promising their next meeting, he departed for the United States.

* * *

It took two days to close all the short selling positions.

After closing all positions, they determined the final profit through a meeting.

“This NextMove short selling had a return rate of 57.4 percent, with profits of 290 million dollars. Excluding borrowing interest, it’s 196,584,920 dollars.”

It was a profit that made him laugh in disbelief.

Since he had positioned with 70 million dollars, the profit easily exceeded double.

That wasn’t the end.

“And including the 199 million dollars after fees from selling the CDS, out of the 200 million dollar profit, the total profit is 395,584,920 dollars.”

Calculated at the current exchange rate of 1,420 won, it was a profit of 561.7 billion won.

The original investment was 120 billion won, so he had made 5 times profit in just one month.

“It was a historic transaction.”

Lim Kwang-ho muttered as if talking to himself.

It was an accurate expression.

This level of profit was close to what a global mid-sized fund would earn in a year.

He had achieved such profit in just one month.

And that was from a place with only 5 employees.

Such transactions were hard to find even in Wall Street history.

“Thank you all for your hard work.”

Hearing the satisfactory return rate, Kang Hyeon looked at his employees and spoke.

“Thank you for your efforts to successfully conclude this transaction.”

The employees had worked hard.

They had to suddenly change their work hours from day to night shifts when taking positions.

Moreover, whenever news broke, they became a 5-minute standby team and came to the company.

Because of such hardships, they could successfully conclude this transaction.

“Like last time, this time too, 5 percent of the total profit will be allocated as incentives. It will be paid as bonuses.”

The employees’ eyes widened at the mention of 5 percent.

The bonus they received last time was also hundreds of millions of won.

They hadn’t even spent all of that yet, and now another bonus.

And 5 percent of the total profit at that?

‘The profit is 395 million dollars. How much is that in won? At the current exchange rate, 561.7 billion?’

‘5 percent of 561.7 billion is 28 billion, right?’

’28 billion as bonuses? Does this make sense?’

In fact, receiving 28 billion won in bonuses was not uncommon in the investment industry.

But most of them were traders.

Traders had high performance bonus ratios in their contracts.

However, back office or operators rarely received billions of won as bonuses.

“The bonus amount is 28 billion 850 million won, and from this amount, ratios will be determined according to each person’s role and will be deposited by today.”

Everyone looked incredulous at Kang Hyeon’s words.

“And you’ll be given two weeks of paid vacation going forward.”

“Paid vacation?”

“Yes. It’s given to all employees, so let’s take this opportunity with the bonus to have some recharging time.”

The bonus wasn’t the end.

Two weeks of paid vacation.

This wasn’t a company, it was heaven.

That’s what the employees thought.

“However, please keep in mind that if there are major market fluctuations, you may need to come to work urgently.”

“Yes!”

“Understood!”

What did that matter?

They had gotten a full two weeks of vacation.

The employees’ expressions and voices were more energetic than ever.

* * *

Kwangho came to the executive office.

Closing the door, he started conversing with Kang Hyeon in informal speech as usual.

“Wow… Our president, you’re incredibly generous, aren’t you? 28 billion in bonuses. I don’t think anyone in Korea’s investment industry has ever given bonuses like this to regular employees?”

“Everyone worked hard, so they deserve that level of bonus.”

“Are you planning to give this much going forward too?”

“What? The bonus ratio?”

“Yeah. These kinds of deals won’t continue forever, but isn’t always allocating 5 percent for bonuses too high?”

Kang Hyeon smiled at Kwangho’s words of concern for him.

“It’s fine. Everyone needs this level of bonus for motivation, don’t they?”

“Well, with this kind of money, what’s motivation? If it were me, I would have devoted my life to the company.”

“That’s what I want.”

Kang Hyeon clearly stated what he wanted.

“I like the current members. Ultimately, there needs to be merit to keep them here.”

His trading method was unique.

If he recruited new personnel, he’d have to coordinate with them again.

He felt such a process was unnecessary.

“What would be the biggest merit an employee could have at a company?”

“Money.”

“Correct. So I’m planning to continue this way.”

“Well, it’s your money. If you want to do it that way, it doesn’t matter.”

“Strictly speaking, it’s not my money but the company’s money.”

“Anyway, thanks to you I’m also handling some money. At this rate, I’ll even buy a building.”

It wasn’t a joke.

In the first bonus payment, Kwangho had received the highest ratio of bonus.

He had received a bonus of 800 million won.

But this time the bonus amount was on a different scale.

He was already looking forward to how much bonus would come in.

“When you said you found a thousand bitcoins, I think I did well to stay quiet.”

“Haha! Really?”

“Yeah, the worst choice of my life was selling 500 bitcoins for cheap. The best choice was pretending not to know when you found a thousand bitcoins.”

Kang Hyeon laughed seeing Kwangho speaking sincerely.

“With this bonus, buy your wife something delicious.”

“What’s something delicious? I should buy her the bag she wanted and change her car too. I should send my father-in-law and mother-in-law on a trip, and send our parents on a cruise trip too.”

Kwangho had already made all his plans.

“By the way, has your mother moved?”

“No, not yet.”

“Why? The house is already prepared, isn’t it?”

“There seems to be some problem with that house. So not yet. I’ve just transferred the title to Mother’s name.”

“You transferred the title twice?”

“No, since the balance is in the bank escrow, I got permission from the original owner and did the title transfer a bit slowly.”

Here too, there was help and advice from Hanbit Bank.

The proposal was not to pay taxes twice, but to deposit in escrow and deliver the balance along with the title transfer.

Since there had to be benefits for the homeowner too, he gave a bit more money, but it was a small amount compared to taxes.

“Oh… there was such a method?”

“I didn’t know this was possible either before getting advice. Anyway, I wish Mother would move quickly. I don’t understand the reason.”

“Hmm, take this opportunity to go on a trip and have a calm conversation.”

“Should I?”

“Yeah, not Southeast Asia or places like that, but since you’ve made a lot of money, how about a Europe tour?”

“Europe? Would Mother like it?”

“Our mother-in-law said this. Women are still women even as they age. Even if they want to eat pasta or different foods, they can’t because of their age.”

“Europe would be similar?”

“Right. Mothers are ultimately women too, and though they don’t say it properly, they want to go to places like Europe.”

“That’s good. I should look into it.”

“If possible, choose something that doesn’t involve much walking. You have plenty of money. It would be good to plan it as a luxury trip, right?”

Kwangho didn’t spare advice until the end.

He patted such Kwangho on the back to show his gratitude.

“Got it.”

Thus KH Capital’s first vacation was given.

* * *

Kang Hyeon had traveled abroad when he was young.

The farthest place he had gone was the United States.

It was studying abroad, not travel, but at that time Kang Hyeon was able to learn many things.

It was also through his trip to the United States that he thought he should become an investor.

The experience of that trip had greatly influenced Kang Hyeon’s life.

So he wanted to send his mother on a trip too.

‘The only proper trip she’s taken was to Jeju Island.’

It was common.

When his mother was in her prime, going abroad wasn’t easy.

When it became easy to go abroad, she had already formed a family and gotten older.

Above all, the unknown fear of foreign countries blocked adults’ steps.

He planned to resolve that part through this trip.

-Yes, President. This is Lee Jong-hyeok.

JP Morgan’s VIP concierge system.

Let’s try using it this time.

* * *

After finishing all preparations, he went to see his mother.

The preparations were perfect, but without the person’s consent, it would be useless.

He could have gotten permission first and then prepared, but he thought if he prepared everything, his mother’s consent would come faster.

The mother he visited looked worse than usual.

“Are you sick somewhere?”

“Hm? No, I’m fine.”

She said she was fine, but the atmosphere suggested otherwise.

Since reading this much wasn’t difficult, Kang Hyeon asked directly.

“You seem to have something on your mind. Please tell me.”

At her son’s earnest request, Mother sighed and spoke.

“Sigh… It’s not a big deal. The landlord keeps postponing the date to return the jeonse deposit.”

“They won’t return the jeonse deposit?”

“Yes. Even though there’s time left on the contract and I said I’d pay the penalty fee to move out as you suggested. They keep postponing the date or won’t answer calls.”

The jeonse deposit for this house was an asset Mother had built up over her entire lifetime.

Although the money wasn’t much, it was an asset created through a lifetime of effort, so the amount wasn’t what mattered.

Since she couldn’t get it back, she kept worrying about it until it finally showed on her face.

‘So that’s why she kept postponing the moving date.’

He hadn’t expected something like this to happen.

He wished she would trust him a little more.

Mother still couldn’t bring herself to mention such things, worried that her child might be concerned.

“I’ll look into it.”

“Hm? You must be busy with Company work, it’s okay. They said they’d give it soon…”

“I’m on vacation for the next two weeks. I’ll look into it bit by bit during that time. Oh, and our affiliate recommended a Europe travel package. How about it?”

“Europe? Are you going too?”

“Yes. I should go with Mother.”

“Oh my, an overseas trip with my son. Just thinking about it makes me happy.”

Mother’s dark expression brightened up a little.

Seeing that, a slight hostility toward the landlord washed over him.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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