Golden Spoon Investment Portfolio - Chapter 160

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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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160. There’s no helping it. If things get worse, I’ll have to step in myself.

The next day.
The Trading Center on the fifth floor of Yeouido Daeheung Securities Headquarters was as chaotic as ever—phones ringing incessantly, traders barking orders and confirmations into their handsets in loud voices.

Ring, ring! Ring, ring!
“Baekje Finance, selling twelve hundred shares at eleven thousand won!”
“Why is Hyunwoo Automobiles moving like this? Check if there’s any news!”
“Buying two thousand shares of Hyunwoo Heavy Industries at eleven thousand two hundred won.”
“Check the Brent oil price for me!”
“Confirm the Sasung Electronics order I placed earlier!”

Investment Team 4, occupying one corner of the spacious office, was equally busy with trading.
Jung Hwan-yeop, wearing a short-sleeved dress shirt with his tie loosened, stared intently at the CRT monitor, his brow furrowed with concentration.
Watching the numbers dance across the two bulky monitors lined up on his desk, Jung Hwan-yeop felt his energy dipping and reached into a drawer to pull out a candy from a round container.
Still keeping his eyes fixed on the monitor, he unwrapped it, popped it into his mouth, and crunched it loudly.
Just as one of his purchased stocks seemed to bounce back slightly, it weakened and slid down again, prompting him to frown and click his tongue briefly.

“Tsk.”

Hesitating between holding on or cutting his losses here, Jung Hwan-yeop rolled the candy around in his mouth and muttered to himself.

“Attachment only makes losses grow.”

Then he sold off all his holdings.
Fortunately, there was decent buying pressure at lower prices, and his sell order was filled quickly.
Having lost over twenty million won in this trade, Jung Hwan-yeop’s face crumpled visibly.
At least his morning gains kept his overall return from going negative, but thinking he’d wasted the entire day left a bitter taste in his mouth.

“Sigh… Still, selling quickly was the right call.”

Watching the stock he’d just cut loose continue to slide downward gave him some consolation.
Just then, Choi Ho-geun, the team leader, approached from the side and tapped his shoulder lightly.

“How’d you do? Make some money?”
“Don’t even mention it, sir. I just took a loss cutting my position. I’m completely wiped out.”

Jung Hwan-yeop leaned back in his chair and waved his hand dismissively.
Choi Ho-geun, who glanced at the monitor screen, let out an exasperated sigh.

“Really?”
“The market’s been sluggish today. I doubt anyone else made much either.”

Jung Hwan-yeop shook his head and grumbled.

“Look, even when the market’s bad, we still need to make money. You know that, right?”

Though it might have sounded callous, that was the reality of being a stock trader—you had to profit and hit your targets regardless of conditions.
Jung Hwan-yeop understood this well enough that he didn’t take offense.
What frustrated and angered him was his poor judgment, having squandered the gains he’d carefully built up.
Choi Ho-geun glanced at Jung Hwan-yeop and offered consolation.

“I wish we could profit every day, but that’s just how life goes—some days are like this.”
“The department head always hits home runs though.”
“Kid, the department head is special. Haven’t you heard the saying about a sparrow trying to follow a stork and splitting its legs?”
“So I’m the sparrow?”
“Did you think you were the stork?”

Jung Hwan-yeop closed his mouth, unable to argue back.
Even he had to admit that Seok-won’s eye for the market and his judgment were truly remarkable—there was nothing to say against it.
It spoke volumes that even the proud team leaders, who had survived in the market through thick and thin and built their careers on experience, followed Seok-won’s words without question.

“You’re right, the department head is in a league of his own.”

Jung Hwan-yeop scratched his head with one hand and conceded readily.

“When you rush in recklessly, you make mistakes. Don’t try to force recovery of your losses in the remaining time—just wrap things up here for today.”
“Yes, sir.”

Seeing the halfhearted response, Choi Ho-geun was about to say something more but decided against it.
Jung Hwan-yeop wasn’t a rookie anyway, and he’d understood enough.
Instead, Choi Ho-geun patted his back encouragingly.

“After work today, let’s grab a drink at that spicy pork bone place near the office. How about it?”
“Oh, you’re treating, sir?”

Jung Hwan-yeop’s eyes suddenly gleamed with renewed enthusiasm as he asked.

“Ugh, fine. Yeah, I’ll buy it!”
“See, only Team Lead Choi can do this.”
“Stop laughing, it’s annoying.”

Choi Ho-geun, the team lead, replied curtly and turned away with his arms crossed.
The man who had been drooping seemed to regain his spirits, and as I turned to head back to my seat with a faint smile,
Yu Seok-hyun, who was sitting at his desk, noticed something and widened his eyes as he looked up to speak.

“Hey! Team Lead, Hujeong Construction just got good news!”
“Huh?”

At the mention of Hujeong Construction, Choi Ho-geun stopped in his tracks and looked at Yu Seok-hyun.

“What kind of good news?”
“Hujeong Construction is selling the headquarters building they built in Jongno for 13 billion won.”
“They sold the headquarters?”
“Yes.”

Jung Hwan-yeop immediately tapped the keyboard to check Hujeong Construction’s stock price and let out a short whistle.

“It was weak just a moment ago, but it’s already bounced back and risen 300 won.”

Choi Ho-geun quickly turned around to look at Hujeong Construction’s stock price displayed on Jung Hwan-yeop’s monitor and exclaimed.

“It really is.”

[Hujeong Construction 4,530 ▲ 300]

Recalling the meeting from a few days ago when Seok-won had instructed us to purchase Hujeong Construction shares, saying good news would come soon, Choi Ho-geun felt inwardly impressed.

“This rebound is going to be quite strong. This is another stock the Department Head picked, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Wow, the Department Head is really something else.”

Jung Hwan-yeop shook his head in defeat.
It was remarkable how he could pick stocks that would rise with such precision.
Just then, Hong Jae-hee held the receiver in one hand and spoke.

“Team Leader! The Department Head is on the line.”

Choi Ho-geun quickly moved to where Hong Jae-hee was sitting and took the receiver.

“Yes. I’ve transferred the Department Head’s call.”
[Did you see the good news about Hujeong Construction?]
“I just confirmed it.”

Seok-won spoke in a calm voice, showing no excitement whatsoever.

[Once the stock price exceeds 5,000 won per share, sell off all the shares we’ve accumulated.]
“But there’s a strong possibility it will bottom out and rise further. Why sell so quickly?”
[While 13 billion won isn’t a small sum, it’s not enough to completely resolve Hujeong Construction’s financial deterioration, which is the fundamental cause of the stock decline.]

Choi Ho-geun immediately grasped the meaning behind the sharp observation.

“You’re saying it’s a temporary rebound.”
[Exactly. So sell when it rebounds.]
“Understood.”
[Relay the instructions to the other team leaders as well. If we sell everything at once, the stock price could collapse. Distribute the volume carefully and sell sequentially.]
“I’ll do that.”

After ending the call, Choi Ho-geun marveled once again at Seok-won’s ability to think not just one or two moves ahead, but three moves ahead.

* * *

Seok-won, seated at his desk, set down the receiver and murmured to himself while watching the monitor displaying Hujeong Construction’s stock price.

“If I get greedy at a time like this or make a wrong move, I’ll get trapped.”

If the stock rebounded on optimism only to disappoint and trigger a flood of selling, it would likely plummet even further—a bad sign indeed.
Just then, Na Seong-mi knocked and entered, placing neatly organized newspapers on his desk.

“Today’s evening edition, first printing.”
“Ah, thank you.”

Na Seong-mi bowed her head slightly before turning and leaving the room.
As the door closed, Seok-won reached for the evening newspaper at the very front of the stack.
Fresh from the printing press, the first edition still carried a thick scent of ink that seemed to linger in the air.
Before the regression, I would have searched and verified everything online, but since the internet wasn’t yet active, I had no choice but to rely on news and newspaper articles.
That’s why I had developed the habit of receiving and reading the first edition of the newspaper every day like this.
Spreading the newspaper across my desk, I read through it carefully, turning page by page, when one article caught my eye.

[Sampoong Department Store Scheduled for Demolition by Controlled Explosion
The bankrupt Sampoong Department Store, which had been diagnosed as being at risk of collapse due to reckless expansion and design modifications, has been decided to be demolished by controlled explosion on the 29th of next month.
Opened in 1989, Sampoong Department Store was a massive shopping facility with four basement levels and five above-ground floors, making it the nation’s largest single-location department store.
Though it had earned a reputation as a premier department store located in the heart of Gangnam, the revelation that the building was in such a dangerous state that it could collapse at any moment due to illegal expansion and design modifications shocked the citizens.
During the investigation, it was revealed that the management had engaged in various illegal activities, including bribing government officials for building design modifications. The current management is undergoing trial, and the department store has declared bankruptcy.
The Daeheung Group, which recently won the bid for the bankrupt Sampoong Department Store Site, plans to completely demolish the existing building by controlled explosion and construct a new Midopa Department Store Gangnam branch.
Though there are concerns due to a large apartment complex located only 400 meters away, Seoul City and the Daeheung Group announced that they chose the controlled explosion method because rapid demolition of the structurally dangerous building is necessary for citizen safety.
Additionally, experts will conduct thorough reviews and establish safety measures before proceeding with the demolition work….]

“The demolition date is June 29th….”

I had already learned from my father that the existing building would be demolished soon for the new department store construction.
But seeing that the demolition date was June 29th gave me an odd feeling.
It couldn’t be helped, because June 29th was the exact date when the horrific Sampoong Department Store collapse disaster had occurred before the regression.

“They say that even if you change fate, there’s an inertia pulling things back to their original state. Is this what that means?”

Knowing that the Sampoong Department Store building, which had remained as an eyesore, would now be demolished meant that even the slightest possibility of a collapse accident occurring was gone, and I felt a sense of relief wash over me.
Leaning back in my chair, I gazed down at the photograph of the Sampoong Department Store building printed in the newspaper, my arms crossed.

“The problem is that the International Monetary Fund crisis is about to hit us.”

The construction cost for the newly planned Gangnam branch, including interior expenses, was a staggering 228 billion won.
It was an enormous sum that nearly matched Midopa Department Store’s annual revenue.
Though they said they would secure it through bank loans, it wasn’t difficult to predict that the interest wouldn’t be small.

“On top of that, we used up all our cash reserves just to win the bid for the site, and even that wasn’t enough, so we had to draw from bank funds as well.”

At this rate, all the money saved by reorganizing the poorly-run subsidiaries would end up going entirely toward repaying bank loan principal and interest.
Up to this point, we could manage by tightening our belts, but the real problem was the International Monetary Fund crisis that would soon strike.
Loans totaling hundreds of billions of won would inevitably become an enormous burden on the group once the International Monetary Fund crisis hit.

“Even if we don’t reach the point of an International Monetary Fund crisis, it will still become a major obstacle in fending off a hostile takeover that could happen as soon as next year.”

If Midopa Department Store’s financial condition deteriorated due to the reckless construction of the Gangnam branch, it would give the opposing side a perfect opening to attack.
On top of that, defending against a hostile takeover required massive amounts of cash, and with empty pockets, defense would be nearly impossible.

“But if we don’t want to fall behind in department store competition, we can’t afford to miss the Sampoong Department Store Site either… It’s truly a dilemma.”

Seok-won furrowed his brow and deliberated for a long while before letting out a small sigh.

“There’s no choice. If it comes down to it, I’ll have to step in myself.”

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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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