Golden Spoon Investment Portfolio - Chapter 206

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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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206. Surely it can’t be Manager Choi Bok-rak.

Late at night on the Mapo Han River Levee.
Beneath the sparse glow of streetlights, a solitary dark silhouette stood motionless along the desolate roadside.
The glow of his cigarette briefly illuminated his face—a man in his early thirties with sharp, penetrating features.
His name was Yu Jun-ho, a senior economic reporter for the Sechang Daily News, one of the nation’s four major newspapers.
Though he wore a thick overcoat, the bitter winter wind sweeping off the Han River cut through to his bones.
As Yu Jun-ho exhaled white smoke and pulled his collar tighter, his eyes gleamed at the sight of a car approaching slowly in the distance, its headlights blazing bright.
A silver Sonata II slowed and came to a complete stop before him.
Yu Jun-ho flicked his half-smoked cigarette to the ground and stepped forward to approach the vehicle.
The darkly tinted window lowered, revealing Manager Oh Sang-hyun behind the wheel.

“Get in.”

Yu Jun-ho glanced around to check if anyone was watching, then quickly opened the door and climbed into the passenger seat.
The Sonata immediately pulled away, heading toward a public parking lot located some distance away, where it came to a stop.
As the engine cut off, the headlights died as well, plunging the surroundings into darkness.
At this late hour, the sprawling public parking lot sat nearly empty, and combined with the frigid winter air, the atmosphere felt desolate and oppressive.

“Damn, it’s freezing.”

Yu Jun-ho sat in the passenger seat, rubbing his hands together and making small talk.

“It’s good there’s no one around, but the Han River Levee in winter has such brutal winds—it’s absolutely bitter. Let’s meet somewhere else next time. I swear I nearly froze to death out there.”

Manager Oh Sang-hyun ignored the chatter and pulled a thin envelope of documents from the door pocket, extending it forward.

“I need you to write an exposé article.”
“Well, let me first check if this is even feasible.”

Yu Jun-ho withdrew the contents from the envelope and, upon seeing the photograph of his target, furrowed his brow and looked up.

“This is Manager Choi Bok-rak from the Securities Supervisory Authority.”

Manager Oh Sang-hyun, meeting his gaze, nodded with an expressionless face.
Though Yu Jun-ho was a corrupt journalist who wrote articles for hire in exchange for money, he was also a veteran who had been grinding through this industry for over a decade.
He immediately grasped the situation and his eyes lit up with intrigue.

“I remember Manager Choi making quite a fuss about investigating a stock manipulation case involving Boseong Communications or Donghae Peregrine Securities staff. Surely you’re not doing this over that incident?”

Yu Jun-ho’s expression shifted as something clicked in his mind, a knowing smirk spreading across his face.

“There were rumors circulating around Yeouido back then that the small fry got caught up in it, but the real orchestrator was supposedly the eldest son of Donghae Group. Looks like that was true after all.”
“Tsk.”

Oh Sang-hyun pulled a thick envelope from his inner jacket pocket and extended it with a displeased expression.
When Yu Jun-ho opened the envelope, a stack of ten-thousand-won bills tumbled out.
By thickness alone, it was clearly more than a month’s salary for a journalist.
Yet Yu Jun-ho’s face remained unimpressed as he spoke with indifference.

“This won’t cut it.”

Oh Sang-hyun’s brow furrowed at the irritating tone, his gaze hardening as he glared at the other man.

“It’s the same amount I always give you. What do you mean it’s not enough?”
“Well, you see, this is a different situation. We’re talking about the eldest son of Donghae Group being involved here.”

Yu Jun-ho picked up the document envelope resting on his lap and waved it, his demeanor dripping with arrogance.

“And frankly, it looks like you’re trying to blow a minor incident out of proportion and feed people a line. If I’m going to craft a convincing narrative, I’ll need to do some serious massaging of the facts, so it’s only right you compensate me for the extra effort.”

Yu Jun-ho rubbed his thumb and forefinger together in a money-counting gesture, a bitter smile playing at his lips.
Despite the lengthy explanation, he’d clearly caught on that this involved Woo Ho-geun and was simply squeezing for more cash.
Oh Sang-hyun saw through the scheme immediately, but even if Yu Jun-ho was obsessed with money, there was no one else who handled jobs as cleanly as he did.
In the end, Oh Sang-hyun clicked his tongue inwardly and nodded in resignation.

“I’ll have another envelope sent to you tomorrow.”

Only then did Yu Jun-ho’s expression brighten as he asked.

“When do you need the article published?”
“The sooner the better.”
“Understood. Once I receive the rest of the envelope, I’ll write the article, so just wait for it.”

Yu Jun-ho tucked the money envelope into his inner jacket pocket.
Then, holding the document envelope in one hand, he opened the car door and stepped out.
Oh Sang-hyun remained in the driver’s seat, watching Yu Jun-ho fade into the darkness before speaking in a low voice.

“That bastard acts like a street thug.”

Either way, the board was now set.
All that remained was to brand Choi Bok-rak as a corrupt official who had committed employment favoritism and bring him down.
It was an act of destroying a man’s life by pinning false accusations on him, yet Oh Sang-hyun felt not the slightest twinge of conscience.
Rather, he believed he was simply making him pay the price he deserved.

“This is what happens when you forget your place and act recklessly without fear.”

Oh Sang-hyun murmured in a cold voice, then started the engine again and drove out of the public parking lot.

* * *

A few days later.
True to the Major Snow season, when the heaviest snowfall of the year typically occurs, the city had turned completely white with snow that had been falling since dawn.
Seok-won stood by the window of his private office, gazing down at the snow-covered streets as he spoke with Landon Shore in New York.

[I’ve completed all the short selling as you instructed.]
“You used ten times leverage, correct?”
[Yes. We poured a massive 20 billion dollars over three days, but since the short-selling targets are all massive dinosaur corporations with enormous trading volumes, we couldn’t significantly drive down their stock prices—they simply absorbed everything.]

Seok-won’s voice remained composed, as if he had anticipated this outcome.

“If we had concentrated all 20 billion dollars into a single stock, things would have been different. But by splitting it across ten stocks, the firepower was inevitably diluted. Plus, the recent market strength riding the internet boom probably helped absorb the pressure.”
[That’s correct.]
“Besides, we never intended to drive down prices with sell orders in the first place. If anything, the fact that prices held firm instead of collapsing worked in our favor—we were able to sell the shares at higher prices. That’s a gain.”

Seok-won viewed the situation positively.

[Well, that’s true. But once the short selling ended and the stock prices rebounded, climbing above our sell prices, I was anxious wondering if we’d need to deposit additional margin to maintain our positions.]

At Landon’s deliberately exaggerated concern, he let out a soft chuckle while holding the phone.

[Fortunately, I didn’t receive a margin call, and the short-sold stocks fell again, so I was able to breathe easy.]
“I heard that Representative Eric Sabitz, who returned from the funeral of the assassinated Israeli Prime Minister, gave an interview saying he would make absolutely no concessions.”

Eric Sabitz was a senior Republican congressman from Georgia who had been elected nine consecutive times since 1978.
As a hardline conservative, he had won in last year’s midterm elections and played a major role in the Republicans gaining House majority for the first time in forty years.
Thanks to that, he was elected Speaker of the House, achieving the personal honor of becoming a Republican Speaker for the first time in forty years.

‘In this situation, it’s only natural that the Republican-controlled House and the White House would clash.’

To emphasize their identity and seize the initiative in next year’s U.S. presidential election, both sides had no choice but to maintain a hardline stance.

[Yes. As the White House responded with an equally hardline position to Speaker Eric Sabitz’s interview, anxiety about a prolonged federal government shutdown has been quietly spreading through Wall Street.]

The result was the New York stock market halting its upward momentum and beginning to stall, while gold prices—the quintessential safe-haven asset—climbed higher.

“If we don’t see a resolution by next week and the federal government closes with the shutdown extending, that’s when real panic will begin.”

Landon Shore then asked in a notably serious tone.

[How long do you think the shutdown will last?]
“Who knows? I’m not a fortune teller. But seeing how aggressive both sides are being, I’d say it won’t last longer than the last shutdown, at minimum.”

Seok-won shrugged his shoulders, a smile playing at the corners of his mouth.

“We might even set a new record for the longest shutdown ever.”
[Good heavens. That would be absolutely dreadful if it came to that.]
“Both the Republican Party and the White House know full well that chicken games end in mutual destruction. Before the situation truly becomes critical, they’ll eventually reach a compromise.”
[That’s true. But the market will experience tremendous fear until then.]

Landon Shore spoke with a note of resignation.

“The more investors panic and sell off their positions, the more our short positions turn into profits. We just need to savor the fear and exit at the right moment.”
[It’s not as simple as you make it sound, though.]

Even as he complained, I knew he would execute flawlessly when the moment came, so I simply laughed.

“Keep your antennae up for developments in Washington, and pay special attention to Speaker Eric Sabitz’s movements.”
[We’re already mobilizing all our connections and checking the situation regularly.]

Seeing him act proactively rather than merely following orders brought an involuntary smile to my face.

“Then contact me immediately if anything new comes up.”
[Understood.]

After ending the call, I murmured softly, anticipating the chaos that would soon grip the New York stock market.

“Before the main game, I can make one last big move.”

Just then, a knock sounded at the door, and Na Seong-mi, my secretary, entered carrying an armful of neatly folded newspapers.

“Tomorrow’s early morning edition, first printing.”
“Just leave them on the desk.”
“Yes, sir.”

After setting down the newspapers, Na Seong-mi clasped her hands together and asked.

“Would you like me to bring you a cup of coffee?”
“That’s all right.”
“Then I’ll be going.”

Watching the door close, I moved to my desk and sat down, then picked up the fresh newspaper with its strong scent of ink and scanned the article on the front page.
The paper was dominated by articles about the former president who had refused a summons, gone to his hometown of Hap-cheon, and was now detained at Seoul Detention Center after the Prosecution executed an arrest warrant.

“If he had committed crimes and thought he could spend his final years in peace, that would be nothing but greed.”

The two former presidents were simply reaping what they had sown, but from the very beginning of his administration, President Kim Sung-gyu had faced an endless succession of major disasters, and now slush fund scandals on top of it all.
Even though he had become the master of the Blue House he had always desired, President Kim Sung-gyu seemed to have not a single day of peace.

“The problem is that one more final-boss-level catastrophe is waiting for him.”

As I turned the pages with a bitter expression, I caught sight of a large headline on the economics section and my brow furrowed.

[Securities Supervisory Board Executive Personnel Favoritism Allegations
Four years ago, a department head in the Securities Supervisory Board’s Investigation Division 1 allegedly requested a favor from a Saebbit Bank personnel director who was his senior from the same university, arranging a job for his cousin.
The department head’s cousin, who entered Saebbit Bank through improper means, did not meet the requirements for mid-career recruitment… but it appears there was some sort of transaction between the Securities Supervisory Board executive and Saebbit Bank in exchange for this improper hiring.]

On the surface, it was just an ordinary corruption exposé, but my sharp instincts told me something felt off about it.

“A department head in the Securities Supervisory Board’s Investigation Division 1… surely it’s not Choi Bok-rak?”

I muttered to myself and immediately pulled out my phone to call Choi Bok-rak directly, but I stopped mid-dial.

“No, wait. If this is real, they’ll investigate call records, and if my number shows up, that could be a problem.”

I set down my phone and read the article in the newspaper again carefully, my expression growing darker.

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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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