Golden Spoon Investment Portfolio - Chapter 1

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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1. Oh no, this won’t do!

Yeouido-dong, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul.
Commonly known as the Yeouido Securities District, this area housed not only major financial institutions like the Korea Exchange, Financial Supervisory Service, and Bank of Korea, but also numerous financial companies including large securities firms, investment banks, and asset management companies.
True to its nickname as Korea’s Manhattan, towering skyscrapers packed the skyline, and from early dawn until late night, people bustled about in vibrant activity.
In front of Exit 3 of Yeouido Station, there existed a narrow alley roughly 200 meters long where recognizable names in the securities industry stood facing one another in their massive buildings.
Among securities traders, it was colloquially known as Raccoon Den Alley.
The nickname arose because cigarette smoke perpetually hung thick in the air—not just during lunch hours, but from morning through the market’s close in the afternoon, as employees from nearby securities firms stepped out to smoke.
Nestled in one corner of Raccoon Den Alley sat a small Shoe Repair Shop that looked unmistakably aged at first glance.
An elderly man who appeared to be in his late sixties stood among the sandwich boards advertising shoe repair services, broom and dustpan in hand, sweeping up cigarette butts scattered carelessly across the ground.
Though his efforts would inevitably be undone within the hour, the old man continued his methodical sweeping without complaint.
Unlike the shabby shop itself, the elderly man cut a neat figure in crisp black trousers and a starched white shirt, his posture ramrod straight and his bearing suggesting robust health.
Just then, an electric scooter came speeding around the corner and came to a stop in front of the Shoe Repair Shop.
The young man who dismounted appeared to be in his early twenties.
As he removed his helmet, he grimaced at the elderly man standing before the shop.

“Really now. I’ve told you, just come to the restaurant for your jjajangmyeon.”

The old man responded as he deposited the cigarette butts he’d collected into a trash bin, his tone grumbling.

“You fool! How can a shopkeeper abandon his store?”
“A single bowl of noodles doesn’t even cover the cost of the trip out here, so that’s why.”
“It’s an electric scooter—what fuel cost?”
“Well, you know what I mean.”

The young man parried the old man’s words with practiced ease, scooping up an empty noodle bowl from the ground and tossing it into the container mounted on the back of his scooter.

“Next time, I really won’t make deliveries.”

As the young man donned his helmet again and mounted the scooter, the old man, hands clasped behind his back, launched into a lecture.

“Keep your eyes on the road and drive carefully.”
“How long have I been riding scooters? Your worry is unnecessary.”
“That’s what you said before you crashed and scraped your knees raw, wasn’t it? I saw Park Tae-jun limping back and forth to the hospital—don’t pretend otherwise.”

The young man’s face flushed with embarrassment as he offered an excuse.

“That was because a car suddenly cut in front of me.”

I forced an awkward smile to mask my embarrassment, and the old man clicked his tongue as if he found me thoroughly unreliable.

“In any case, be careful.”
“Yes, yes.”

Park Tae-jun nodded halfheartedly in response.
Just as I was about to start the scooter.
A notification chimed from the smartphone in my chest pocket.
Without much thought, I checked my phone and suddenly my face brightened as I clenched my fist tightly.

“That’s it! Hehe, it went up again.”

The old man beside me grew curious and craned his neck forward.

“What is it?”
“Well, this isn’t something I teach just anyone.”

Park Tae-jun leaned toward the old man with a smirk and spoke.

“I’m telling you because you’re special, sir. You can’t go spreading rumors about this to other people, understand?”
“I can see right through you. You’ve picked up some strange story from somewhere again.”
“That’s not it. Hmm… Have you ever heard of BM Bio?”

The old man’s brow furrowed slightly.

“That company developing an oral obesity treatment drug?”
“Huh? How did you know?”

The old man frowned as he looked at Park Tae-jun’s startled expression.

“Don’t tell me you bought stock in that company?”
“You know how the stock price of that American pharmaceutical company that made the obesity drug skyrocketed several times over, right? If this succeeds, it’ll be a massive windfall.”
“That only happens if they actually develop the drug.”
“Phase 1 trials have already passed and Phase 2 results were good too. It hasn’t made the news yet, but rumors are already spreading all over the internet.”

Even as Park Tae-jun spoke with excitement, the old man’s expression showed no sign of softening.

“Rumors are one thing, but the company hasn’t officially announced any results. Don’t you see how suspicious it is that a stock worth five thousand won suddenly jumped tenfold in a month with no real news?”

The old man looked at Park Tae-jun with an expression of utter dismay.

“This is obviously a pump-and-dump scheme. Don’t throw your money away—get out while you still can!”

Park Tae-jun, who had been delighted just moments before as the stock climbed, scowled at the old man’s unsolicited criticism.

“How would you know if it’s real or fake? And the stock is rising because there’s positive news driving it!”
“I’ve been in this business since before you were weaned, you brat!”
“You shined shoes—you never traded stocks!”

Park Tae-jun, unwilling to hear another word, simply started the scooter and rode off.

“If I lose money, it’s my loss, so don’t worry about it! And from now on, I’m not delivering noodle bowls anymore, so order some extra dumplings or something!”
“Hey, listen carefully—do as I say, you punk!”

Despite his harsh tone, the old man’s eyes betrayed genuine concern as he watched the scooter sputter away into the distance.

Park Tae-jun brought the scooter to a stop in front of Bokseong-gak, its large sign hanging prominently above the storefront, and climbed down with the delivery box in hand.
Stepping into the quiet restaurant—the lunch rush having passed—a middle-aged man with short hair and a white apron called out to him from the kitchen.

“What took you so long? Were you out playing somewhere?”
“It only took twenty minutes.”
“If it were me, I’d have it done in ten.”

Park Tae-jun set the delivery box down on an empty table with a sullen expression.

“Then why don’t you go deliver it yourself?”

After handing over the collected dishes to the kitchen, Park Tae-jun dropped into a chair and continued.

“I know Kim is a regular customer, but he only orders one bowl of jjajangmyeon each time. Isn’t it a loss if I keep delivering for him? And he always demands complimentary jjamppong broth on top because he says he needs something spicy to wash it down.”
“Well, he’s an elder, so that’s just how it is.”

Park Yu-sik, Park Tae-jun’s father, replied indifferently while wiping moisture from the utensils he’d just finished washing with a dry towel.
Struck by how unbothered his father seemed, Park Tae-jun narrowed his eyes and regarded him with suspicion.

“There’s nothing he’s holding over you, is there? Surely not.”

The moment the words left his mouth, a sharp smack landed on the back of his head, and Park Tae-jun yelped in pain.

“Ugh! How dare you smack the back of my precious son’s head like that!”
“What are you going on about.”

Park Yu-sik waved the spoon in his hand menacingly.

“Now, now—let’s settle this with words, shall we?”

Park Tae-jun suddenly widened the distance between us, then let out a sheepish laugh, and Kim Yu-sik exhaled a long sigh.

“How is it that you’ve served in the military and still haven’t grown up? You’re just like your mother, after all….”
“Mom says she’s like that because of Dad.”
“What?”

Park Yu-sik’s eyes narrowed into a glare, and he slowly crept back over, looking at his son now seated in the chair, then let out a groan of resignation.

“The owner of this building is an elderly gentleman.”

Completely blindsided by this revelation, I blinked and asked as if I’d misheard.

“Mr. Kim is the building owner?”
“That’s right, you fool.”

The shabby old man who runs the Shoe Repair Shop is the building owner?
I felt a severe cognitive dissonance and asked in disbelief.

“How is that even possible?”

It was an old six-story compact building tucked away in an alley rather than on a main street, standing for well over twenty years, but it was still in Yeouido-dong, a district where land prices were notoriously expensive.
Moreover, with the heavy foot traffic passing through the area and its location at a side-street corner, the property’s value was even greater.
Recalling a conversation my father had with a nearby real estate agent just days ago, I spoke.

“Didn’t you say someone tried to buy this building for nine billion won the other day?”
“That’s right.”
“Wow. But the building owner is Mr. Kim?”
“That’s what I’m telling you.”
“You’re not joking right now, are you?”

Park Yu-sik stood before his still-skeptical son with one leg crossed and his arms folded, speaking.

“You’re a stock trader and you haven’t heard that rumor? About the shoe repair shop owner with hundreds of billions in assets who visits high-ranking securities executives for advice whenever the market turns sour?”

There was no way I could be unfamiliar with a story that had circulated through the securities industry like an urban legend for decades.

“Isn’t that just some kind of urban legend?”
“The old man started shining shoes in Yeouido’s securities district thirty years ago. That’s more than three times the span of a generation. At first, he just listened to the securities employees who came to have their shoes polished chatting with each other, and then he started investing with the little money he’d saved up.”

Park Yu-sik asked with a playful expression.

“Where is the old man’s shop located?”
“Raccoon Den Alley.”

Park Tae-jun answered immediately.

“You might think it’s just some ordinary back alley, but it’s where securities employees constantly come out to smoke and chat. In other words, you can sit there and hear every rumor and piece of information circulating through this industry.”

Park Yu-sik let out a scoff while watching his son’s stunned expression.

“Why else would there be stories that every stock the old man picks turns into a jackpot? The younger employees might not know, but there’s hardly a senior executive at any securities firm who doesn’t know him. That says it all.”

Park Tae-jun couldn’t hide his astonishment as the insider stories of Yeouido’s securities district flowed from his father’s lips.
Then, recalling something the old man had said moments earlier, Park Tae-jun quickly pulled out his smartphone.

“What are you doing?”
“It’s urgent, so just a moment.”

Park Tae-jun hastily opened his stock app and sold all his BM Bio shares.

* * *

[…Heat wave alerts and advisories have been issued across most regions of the country. Average temperatures are recording between 33 and 35 degrees Celsius, with some areas reaching up to 36 degrees.
As this ‘oppressive humidity’ that began over the weekend continues, citizens are struggling considerably. In such extreme heat, young children and the elderly are particularly vulnerable….]

Kim Gwang-seop, who was sitting with the shoe shop door wide open and a fan on one side, muttered while listening to the news playing on the radio.

“It’s really hot.”

It was better than midday, but it was still so hot that sweat ran down my back even if I stood still.
It was better than midday, but still hot enough that sweat dripped down my back even while sitting still.

“There aren’t many customers, so I guess I’ll just go in today.”

Kim Gwang-seop slowly stood up.
Kim Gwang-seop rose slowly from his seat.
The oppressive heat had driven pedestrians from the streets, leaving them nearly empty.
Even if he remained at the shop, no customers would arrive.
After closing the shop and securing the lock one final time, Kim Gwang-seop descended to the nearby station, boarded the subway, and headed home.
Upon arriving at Changdong Station and stepping outside, the sun was already setting into twilight.
His apartment required another ten minutes of walking from here.
Having amassed considerable wealth through stock investments, Kim Gwang-seop was a man of substantial means—his assets, including a small building in Yeouido-dong, exceeded thirty billion won.
He could have lived in a luxurious new apartment in a more prestigious area like Gangnam or Yeouido-dong.
Yet for twenty years, he had remained unable to leave this place, unwilling to abandon the memories he shared here with his wife and daughter, both lost in a traffic accident long ago.
However, with redevelopment approved and demolition scheduled to begin in a few months, his time in this neighborhood was drawing to a close.
As Kim Gwang-seop trudged along the familiar street, he halted before a crosswalk at an intersection.
A Young Girl, no more than four years old, stood beside him, holding the hand of a young woman who appeared to be her mother.
While waiting for the light to turn green, he glanced idly to the side and found his gaze meeting the Young Girl’s eyes—she smiled at him with innocent delight.

‘It reminds me of the old days.’

Kim Gwang-seop suddenly remembered his daughter’s smiling face as she walked around the neighborhood holding his hand and felt a tingle in his heart.
The image of his daughter, holding his hand as they wandered the neighborhood together, suddenly surfaced in his mind, and Kim Gwang-seop felt a sharp pang in his chest.
The longing he believed had faded with time surged forth with vivid intensity.
As the signal changed, the Young Girl waved her arm in farewell and crossed the street with her mother.
Kim Gwang-seop, wearing a bittersweet smile, followed a step behind.
Halfway across the crosswalk.
A BMW sedan came into Kim Gwang-seop’s view, racing toward them at high speed.
His eyes widened in shock as the BMW bore down without slowing, despite the light having turned green.
Kim Gwang-seop’s head snapped around to look at the mother and child ahead of him.
The Young Woman had spotted the BMW hurtling toward them, but shock had paralyzed her—she stood frozen in place.

“Oh, no!”

Kim Gwang-seop, who instantly remembered the faces of his wife and daughter lost in a car accident, ran forward without hesitation.

“Hurry and avoid!”

Kim Gwang-seop, who pushed the frozen mother and daughter to the side, closed his eyes tightly as he watched the BMW approaching without slowing down.

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