Golden Spoon Investment Portfolio - Chapter 130

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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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130. I’m not the type to get blindsided—not if I see it coming.

Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province.
On the weekend, Woo Ho-geun and his two friends had descended upon Chairman Woo Yong-gap’s villa situated right beside the Bukhangang River, throwing a lavish party alongside several statuesque models.
Though late March brought crisp weather, the sprawling glass greenhouse housed a heated swimming pool filled with warm water, making it perfect for enjoying the water without a care.
Long tables overflowed with premium champagne, fresh fruit, and delicacies like thinly sliced ham, while enormous speakers blasted upbeat pop music to set the festive mood.

“Kyaaah!”
“Oh my, you’re too much!”

When Jeon Geon-woo splashed water at the five or so statuesque models in barely-there bikinis in the pool, laughter erupted in crystalline bursts.

“Hahaha!”

Jeon Geon-woo reveled in the moment, embracing the wet models and running his hands across their bodies with unbridled enthusiasm.
Meanwhile, Woo Ho-geun reclined on a sunbed at one edge of the pool, sunglasses perched on his face, soaking in the rays.
Just then, Yoo Seok-chan—son of a major player in the Myeongdong loan shark market—approached and settled onto the empty sunbed beside him.
He handed Woo Ho-geun a cold can of beer and spoke.

“That bastard Geon-woo is really living it up.”

Woo Ho-geun lifted his sunglasses slightly and chuckled as he watched Jeon Geon-woo tangled up with the women in the pool.

“That’s nothing new for him.”
“True.”

Yoo Seok-chan brought the can of beer to his lips as he replied.
When Woo Ho-geun took a sip of his beer, the refreshing sensation sliding down his throat drew an involuntary satisfied sound.
Yoo Seok-chan set his can down beside him and, looking at Woo Ho-geun lounging on the sunbed, spoke.

“I saw yesterday that the stock price dropped to 12,100 won. How much further are you planning to drive it down?”

Unlike Jeon Geon-woo, who had entrusted his money and was now preoccupied solely with women, Yoo Seok-chan meticulously tracked the Boseong Communications stock price every single day as the operation unfolded.

“Why? Worried I’ll squander your money?”
“Not at all.”

Yoo Seok-chan shrugged and gestured toward the pool with his chin.

“Hey!! Aren’t you two coming in!!”

Jeon Geon-woo, who had caught a fleeing female model and was shamelessly groping her, shouted loudly while waving his hand.

“Ow, that hurts when you touch me like that!”
“Just stay still. Besides, there’s no one here who’d care about this anyway.”

Watching Jeon Geon-woo harass the female model with a leering laugh, Yoo Seok-chan smirked and lifted the corner of his mouth mockingly.

“If that idiot had been the careless, untrustworthy type from the start, I wouldn’t have entrusted him with money.”

Woo Ho-geun felt the same way, so he chuckled and took another sip of beer.
Then he spoke in a leisurely tone.

“Don’t worry. We’ve already squeezed the small investors dry, so starting next week we’ll begin pushing the stock price back up.”
“You said you’d pump it up five times?”
“That’s the first target, and we might push it further depending on how things develop.”

Woo Ho-geun spoke in a low voice, a bitter smile playing at his lips.

“It’s not something you can do often, so you have to pull the trigger hard when you can.”
“That’s true.”

Yoo Seok-chan also smiled with a slight narrowing of his eyes before his expression turned serious and he whispered.

“But lately there’s been talk circulating around Myeongdong that an operation has been launched against Boseong Communications.”
“What.”

Woo Ho-geun turned his head to look at Yoo Seok-chan.

“Is that really true?”
“Yeah.”

Woo Ho-geun’s brow furrowed and his face hardened.
Since they were in the middle of executing their plan, a leak could potentially ruin everything—a natural reaction.

“How on earth did the rumors spread?”
“It doesn’t seem like the plan leaked. Right now they’re just speculating based on stock movements.”
“You’re certain?”

As I pressed for confirmation, Yoo Seok-chan answered immediately.

“Yes, I’ve verified it multiple times, so there’s no doubt.”

Since Yoo Seok-chan had his own money invested in this operation, he wouldn’t have been careless in his investigation.
I stroked my chin with one hand, took a moment to gather my thoughts, then spoke again.

“Since Myeongdong is crawling with players, it’s not particularly strange that they’d catch on to the operation by watching the stock price.”

At that, Yoo Seok-chan leaned forward and said,

“Once we start pushing the stock price up, they might try to jump in and grab a piece of this deal. Will that be a problem?”

I relaxed my rigid expression and answered with a casual tone.

“Doesn’t matter.”
“Hey, what if the plan falls apart because of that?”
“That won’t happen.”
“How can you be so sure?”

I finished the canned beer, crumpled it, tossed it on the floor, and spoke.

“What’s their purpose in jumping in?”
“Obviously, money.”
“Exactly. So they can’t sabotage our plan.”

Yoo Seok-chan’s eyes lit up as he grasped the meaning.

“Because the stock price has to go up for them to make money, they won’t interfere, right?”
“Correct.”
“But they could sell before we cash out.”

Yoo Seok-chan furrowed his brow as he asked.

“That won’t happen.”
“What exactly are you basing that confidence on?”

Woo Ho-geun responded with assured confidence as I narrowed my eyes at him.

“I’ll keep feeding the fire without pause, driving the stock price up so they can’t hastily bail out.”
“So you’re making it impossible to tell whether to grab the knee or shoulder, dragging everyone along together?”

Yoo Seok-chan was indeed the sharpest mind among our group.
Woo Ho-geun grinned and spoke.

“Exactly. If other factions join in, we can push the stock price up even harder, which works in our favor.”

Yoo Seok-chan nodded slightly at the plausible strategy.

“Not a bad idea. Still, Yeouido is crawling with big players, so it’s better to move cautiously.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not stupid enough to set up an elaborate scheme only to get blindsided and lose everything.”

Yoo Seok-chan chuckled dryly in response.

“True. You’re not the type to be on the receiving end of a backstab.”

Just then, Jeon Geon-woo, who had been playing around with the models, called out loudly toward us.

“Hey! What are you two doing over there! Don’t you see the ladies waiting!”
“Come on in!”
“Let’s play ball with us!”

The models in sexy bikinis, glistening with water, called out in unison and waved their hands.

“Were you bored without us? That won’t do.”

Yoo Seok-chan rose from the sun lounger with a smooth smile.
Woo Ho-geun removed his sunglasses from his head, placed them on the nearby table, and dove into the pool with him.

“Eek!”
“Hahaha!”

As water splashed in all directions with a splash, the models nearby shrieked with delight.

“Pfft!”
“Ugh, payback!”

As Woo Ho-geun surfaced, the models splashed water at him playfully, teasing him relentlessly.
The three of them enjoyed themselves in the water alongside the lithe models, their bodies glistening in the sun.

* * *

Monday morning.
As was his habit, Park Tae-hong rose early and sat on the living room sofa, reading the morning edition delivered before dawn.

“Breakfast is ready.”
“Yes, thank you.”

At Jo Deok-rye’s words, I folded the newspaper and rose from my seat.

“Be careful—it’s hot.”

As we both took our seats at the table, the Gunsan Housekeeper, wearing an apron, ladled the simmering crab soup from the pot into a bowl and brought it over.

“Crab soup this morning, I see.”
“The female crabs were fresh and full of roe, so I made a rich broth.”
“Isn’t crab supposed to be in season in April?”
“It seems they’re being caught a bit earlier this year.”

I tasted the broth with a spoon, my expression turning satisfied.

“No fishy smell at all—it’s deliciously spicy.”
“Since the quality is excellent, I made plenty of crab sauce as well.”
“Mixing it with rice is its own delicacy.”

Noticing something felt amiss, I looked up and asked.

“Hasn’t Seok-won come down yet?”
“He left on a business trip yesterday.”

Jo Deok-rye answered with a look that questioned why I’d ask something so obvious.

“A business trip? This boy can’t seem to stay put at home….”
“Oh my. You heard about it too, so why are you acting like this?”

Chairman Park Tae-hong, who had been about to furrow his brow in anger, only then belatedly recalled that a few days ago his son had mentioned he’d be going to Europe for a few days.

“Was that yesterday?”
“Yes. You left early in the morning to play golf with Chairman Jung, so you didn’t even get to say goodbye.”
“Tsk. I’ve been so scattered these past few days that I completely forgot.”

Chairman Park Tae-hong clicked his tongue to hide his embarrassment.

“But this boy just got back from the United States not long ago, and now he’s off on another overseas trip.”
“It’s good when a young man is busy. What’s the problem?”

When Jo Deok-rye defended her second son, Chairman Park Tae-hong found he couldn’t really argue against her point, so he smoothly changed the subject.

“So where did he say he was going?”
“He said France.”
“France? What’s he going there for?”
“What do you mean why? He must have business there. Come on, stop being so stubborn and just eat your meal.”

At his wife’s words, Chairman Park Tae-hong reluctantly picked up his spoon again.

* * *

Paris, France.
On the balcony of a hotel penthouse overlooking the expansive verdant Jardin des Tuileries, Seok-won was leisurely having breakfast while attended to by hotel staff.
At that moment, Landon Shore, who had come to the room, stepped out onto the balcony and spoke.

“I see you’re in the middle of breakfast.”
“If you haven’t eaten yet, why don’t you join me?”
“Thank you, but I’ve already eaten.”

As Landon Shore took the seat across from me, a hotel staff member picked up the teapot and politely asked in English.

“Would you like some tea?”
“No. Coffee instead.”
“Certainly.”

The hotel staff member delicately retrieved a fresh teacup with gold leaf trim and poured coffee before setting it in front of Landon Shore.

“I apologize for constantly interrupting your meals.”
“It’s fine.”

Seok-won asked while placing a piece of bread that tore cleanly along its grain into his mouth.

“The meeting is in the afternoon, correct?”
“Yes. We’re scheduled to meet at 2 PM at Thomson Multimedia’s headquarters on Haussmann Avenue.”

Landon Shore added a single sugar cube to his coffee and stirred it gently with a teaspoon.

“All the details have been finalized, I assume?”
“Of course. We’ve concluded the agreement to transfer all five patents we requested in exchange for nine hundred fifty thousand dollars.”
“You made sure to include everything I mentioned, didn’t you?”
“You mean the digital audio compression technology?”
“That’s right.”
“You emphasized it so many times—there’s no way I could have overlooked it.”

Landon Shore answered with a reassuring smile.

“It’s definitely included in the list of patents we’re receiving, so rest assured.”
“Good work.”

Upon hearing the response, Seok-won gave a slight nod.
Then Landon Shore tilted his head with a puzzled expression and posed a question.

“I checked, and it’s not even a completed technology yet. Why are you so interested in it?”

In truth, today’s patent acquisition from Thomson Multimedia wasn’t a particularly significant contract, so there was no real reason for Seok-won, the owner, to travel all the way to Paris, France.
Moreover, his unusual fixation on the least valuable patent among those being acquired today—one that hadn’t even finished development—only deepened the mystery.

Landon Shore glanced at Seok-won across from him and asked again.

“Is it possible the rest is just a smokescreen, and the digital audio compression technology is what you really want?”

As if his guess had struck true, Seok-won’s lips curved into a smile.

“Even if it doesn’t seem like much now, in just a little while it will become a goose that lays golden eggs, bringing in substantial profits year after year.”
“If the technology is truly that remarkable, why hasn’t Thomson Multimedia capitalized on it?”

Landon Shore furrowed his brow, voicing his skepticism.

“That’s precisely why we can acquire the patent rights at such a bargain price.”

Seok-won lifted his wine glass, took a measured sip, and swirled it gently.

“If they truly understood its value, they would never have sold it at that price.”
“I understand you’re a wealthy man, but a million dollars hardly seems like a bargain.”

The sum agreed upon for acquiring the patent to digital audio compression technology—the technology that would soon be called MP3—was one million dollars.

“A million dollars is practically nothing. Thomson Multimedia will undoubtedly regret this contract within a few years.”
“Hmm. Is that so?”

Though still unconvinced, Landon Shore had to acknowledge that Seok-won had never failed in any venture he’d undertaken.
Moreover, considering the assets he possessed, a million dollars was truly negligible—barely a speck of dust—so Landon simply accepted it as fact.

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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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