Golden Spoon Investment Portfolio - Chapter 126

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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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126. You’ve found something quite fascinating.

“What are you up to?”

Seok-won, who had been sitting alone in the cramped Shoe Repair Shop polishing shoes as usual, lifted his head at the familiar voice.
Manager Oh was strolling in with a toothpick lodged in his mouth, apparently on his way back from lunch, moving with casual familiarity.
He then naturally dragged over a blue plastic chair and plopped himself down on it with such ease that one couldn’t tell who was the shop owner and who was the customer.
Since he practically stamped in like clockwork every day, Seok-won had grown so accustomed to his presence that he would wonder if something was amiss on the rare day he didn’t show up. So he paid little mind, setting the polished shoes neatly on the floor.

“Welcome.”
“A customer’s here—aren’t you going to offer me a cup of coffee?”
“Didn’t you have a vending machine coffee on your way out after lunch?”
“I came here specifically to drink it here.”

At his matter-of-fact response, Seok-won’s expression turned incredulous.

“Anyone listening would think I’d left this place in your care. Why do you refuse the complimentary coffee at the office but come here demanding I make you some?”
“So is it a waste?”

At Manager Oh’s shameless attitude, Seok-won shook his head in resignation.

“Fine, fine. Since you want a cup of coffee, I suppose I’ll have to make one for you.”

Seok-won pushed aside the cloth stained with shoe polish and rose from his chair.
He then retrieved two packets of instant coffee from the shelf, poured them into a paper cup, added hot water, and stirred with a teaspoon.
This method produced a coffee that was sweet yet twice as strong.

“Here you go.”
“Thanks.”

Manager Oh took the paper cup and blew on it to cool it before taking a sip of the steaming coffee.

“Ahh. Now that’s the taste. This is exactly why I can’t quit your coffee.”
“Is it really appropriate to praise a shoe repair shop owner for making good coffee? If that were the case, I should have opened a tea house instead.”

At Seok-won’s less-than-enthusiastic response, Manager Oh narrowed his eyes and spoke.

“Did you have a fight with your wife yesterday? Why are you being so prickly?”
“No, I didn’t.”

Seok-won grumbled as he carefully gathered up the freshly polished shoes.

“I was planning to deliver these shoes anyway, so this works out perfectly. Could you watch the shop for a moment?”
“Where are you going?”
“ST Securities in the building downstairs.”

At that, Manager Oh’s smug expression vanished instantly as he spoke.

“Ah. The atmosphere there probably isn’t great right now, so wait a bit before you go.”
“Why? Did something happen?”
“Don’t even ask. A customer came storming into the Trading Floor with a gasoline container, screaming that he was going to set it on fire. It was absolute chaos.”

Seok-won was startled and asked in disbelief.

“Did something like that really happen?”
“Police cars came and everything was in complete uproar. How did you not know?”
“Ah, so that’s what all the police sirens were about earlier? I heard them but didn’t realize.”

Manager Oh clicked his tongue in disappointment.

“You’re really oblivious. Even though we’re just a block away, with all that commotion, how could you not notice?”
“I was busy working. When you’re focused on polishing shoes, these things happen.”
“Good grief.”

Manager Oh dismissed the indignant Seok-won and took a sip of his coffee.
Seok-won, casting a sidelong glance at Manager Oh, sat back down and couldn’t hide his curiosity as he spoke again.

“But what was the reason for all that commotion?”
“If a customer caused a disturbance on the Trading Floor, there’s only one possible reason.”
“Money?”
“That’s right.”

Manager Oh pulled a cigarette pack from his suit jacket pocket, extracted one, and lit it.
He inhaled the white smoke deeply, then exhaled as he spoke.

“One of the Trading Floor employees who managed a group of clients apparently secretly encouraged them to invest, claiming he knew about a major stock manipulation scheme coming soon.”
“Stock manipulation?”

Manager Oh nodded while holding a cigarette between his fingers.

“You’ve been in this business long enough to know—stock manipulation is when someone moves quietly without anyone noticing.”
“That’s right.”

Manager Oh sighed as if exasperated.

“But seeing how he was blabbing about it everywhere, they should have recognized it as a scam at first glance. I don’t understand how they missed it.”
“They may have had a deep personal relationship beforehand. And when someone dangles the prospect of making big money, greed can cloud your judgment.”
“Still, shouldn’t they have been suspicious? Hearing that they fell for it so easily makes my blood boil.”

Manager Oh puffed on his cigarette repeatedly, then smacked his lips with a clicking sound.

“Though I suppose when someone sets out deliberately to commit fraud, it’s not easy to avoid falling victim.”
“So what happened in the end?”
“The outcome was predictable. The scammer pocketed all the money they’d entrusted and fled abroad. When the victims belatedly discovered what happened and came to the securities company demanding answers, the company refused to compensate them. They drew a line, saying they had no responsibility since it was a private transaction conducted without company approval.”

Seok-won nodded in understanding.

“So that’s why the angry fraud victim came to the Trading Floor and caused a disturbance.”
“Exactly.”
“Thank goodness it didn’t escalate further—if they’d actually set a fire, it could have been a major disaster.”
“Tell me about it. Anyway, those kinds of people should be swept out completely and cleaned from this industry. Tsk!”

Then Manager Oh, cigarette still in his mouth, looked at Seok-won sitting across from him and offered some advice.

“You be careful too and don’t get tangled up in anything like that.”
“Come on, what stock manipulation would someone like me be involved in?”
“You trade stocks, don’t you?”
“That’s just something I do casually to pass the time.”

Still, Manager Oh didn’t relax his stern expression.

“Gambling always starts as a joke with small amounts, but in the end people sell their houses and land and ruin themselves completely.”

Seok-won started to respond playfully, but seeing Manager Oh’s serious face, he closed his mouth.

“Did I ever tell you that among the people I knew, there was someone who got involved in an operation and lost his life?”
“No. Something like that happened?”

Manager Oh lit a cigarette with a bitter expression, as if recalling distant memories.

“Yes. He was drinking late at a bar in Gangnam and came out to catch a taxi at dawn when a stranger stabbed him with a knife. He died from the wound.”
“My goodness.”

Seok-won perked up his ears at this story he was hearing for the first time, listening intently.

“At first, I thought it was just a simple robbery-murder case, but it turned out to be something else entirely.”
“What do you mean?”
“Not long after, the police arrested two suspects, and one of them was a coworker from the same company.”
“How could something like that even happen?”

Seok-won’s eyes widened in shock at this twist that rivaled a melodrama.
Manager Oh continued speaking in a grave, measured tone.

“The perpetrator, who was a company colleague, owed the victim 70 million won. When he found out that the victim was managing hundreds of millions of won in customer funds through nominee accounts, he committed the murder to steal that money.”
“Hmm.”
“And he promised his accomplice 100 million won as payment for killing the victim.”

Manager Oh rubbed out his nearly finished cigarette in an ashtray made from a tin can, speaking as if spitting out curses.

“It’s all nonsense.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Does it make sense that someone who wanted to steal money would suddenly stab someone to death without even kidnapping them first?”

Now that I thought about it, if the victim died, the money in the nominee account couldn’t be withdrawn anyway, so something didn’t add up.

“You’re right. That really doesn’t make sense.”
“The story about stealing money was just an excuse. The real motive must have been silencing him.”
“Silencing him?”
“Yes.”

Manager Oh held a paper cup of coffee as he spoke.

“When the incident occurred, there was a scheme involving Boseong Communications that resulted in a continuous surge to the daily limit, quadrupling in value in just two months.”
“You mean the person who was murdered was involved in that?”
“Exactly. The sudden price surge made the Securities Supervisory Board suspicious of market manipulation, so they launched an investigation. Just days later, the person was murdered.”
“Now that you mention it, that does seem suspicious.”

I listened to the story with a grave expression.
Even if there were no connection whatsoever, the timing was far too coincidental to dismiss suspicion.

“What’s truly infuriating is that despite everything being riddled with inconsistencies, the case was closed as is.”
“How could that possibly happen?”

I asked, unable to comprehend.

“Because the person behind it all was a major player.”
“Who was it?”

Manager Oh took a sip of coffee from his paper cup before answering.

“You know the Donghae Group, right?”
“That’s the company that went bankrupt during the IMF crisis.”
“The eldest son was behind it. Of course, it was never officially confirmed—just rumors circulating around Yeouido—but that’s what people said.”

Though he called it a rumor, the way Manager Oh spoke with such certainty suggested it was likely true.

“At the time, he was undergoing successor training at the Donghae Group, so being implicated in a stock price manipulation scandal would have been quite problematic in many ways.”
“So… they cut off the tail to save the body.”

Manager Oh nodded heavily.

“The dead tell no tales, after all.”

Though the Securities District is known for its ruthlessness, hearing that someone would callously take a life sent chills down my spine, as if I’d glimpsed a dark underbelly of this world.
As I swallowed hard with a rigid expression, Manager Oh made a dismissive sound.

“That’s why you need to be careful too.”
“…Yes.”

Manager Oh finished the rest of his coffee and slowly rose to his feet.

“Well, I should get going then.”

* * *

“Department… Department Head.”

At the sound of Choi Ho-geun’s voice calling out to me, I snapped back from my reverie.

“Oh. Sorry. I was lost in thought for a moment.”
“Not at all.”

Leaning back in my chair, I spoke.

“So Donghae Peregrine Securities is involved in this, then?”
“It’s still speculation, but yes.”

I folded my arms and stroked my cleanly shaven chin with one hand as I continued.

“This is quite fascinating.”

If what Manager Oh had told me before my regression was true, then Woo Ho-geun had to be the mastermind behind this operation.
Picturing that detestable face of Woo Ho-geun’s, I briefly pondered how best to exploit this situation.
As I gazed down once more at the printed Boseong Communications stock chart, my eyes suddenly gleamed with insight.

“According to the chart, they’ll be shaking out the retail investors soon.”
“That’s likely.”

The practice of artificially crashing stock prices that had risen during the share accumulation phase, frightening individual investors into selling, was called “shaking out the retail investors.”

“Once they’ve shaken out the retail investors and secured their stake, they’ll begin driving the stock price up in earnest.”

The cycle of accumulation, shaking out retail investors, and explosive stock price surges was the classic pattern of a manipulated stock operation.

“For now, keep monitoring Boseong Communications’ stock movements and report immediately if anything changes.”
“Understood.”
“And you’ve done an excellent job uncovering something quite intriguing.”
“Thank you.”

Choi Ho-geun relaxed visibly at Seok-won’s praise, then left the office.
Alone now, Seok-won rose from his chair and walked toward the window.
Across the expansive glass pane.
The building bearing the Donghae Peregrine Securities sign loomed directly opposite, standing tall across the two-lane asphalt road.

“A counter punch won’t do, but throwing a light jab before the real game begins wouldn’t be so bad.”

Seok-won murmured to himself, a dark smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

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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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