Golden Spoon Investment Portfolio - Chapter 235

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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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235. I can’t just let this slide.

A dark night.
Only a handful of vehicles occupied the vast Hangang Levee Public Parking Lot, their sparse presence casting a desolate pall over the empty expanse.
The sky hung so heavily overcast that not even the moon was visible, threatening snow at any moment, when a BMW rolled in with its bright headlights cutting through the darkness.
The BMW traced a semicircle across the lot and pulled up alongside a solitary white Accent sedan, parking parallel to it.
As the engine died and the headlights extinguished, a profound silence descended upon the parking lot.
A dark silhouette emerged from the Accent, paused to survey the surroundings, then climbed into the BMW beside it.
Once the car door closed, Seok-won, seated at the wheel, turned to glance at his passenger and spoke.

“I thought it would take longer, but you finished faster than expected.”

Lee Chul-gyun, dressed in a black jacket, faced him with an expressionless countenance and replied.

“These guys have such dirty backgrounds that even a light brush knocked the dust right off them.”

With that, he unzipped his jacket halfway and withdrew a document envelope folded in half, extending it forward.
Seok-won accepted the envelope and switched on the interior light above his head.
As he began removing the contents, Lee Chul-gyun continued.

“Yu Jun-ho from Sechang Daily News is notorious in this industry for his appetite for money and women, but Bae Sang-yun, the director at the Securities Supervisory Authority, is just as bad if not worse.”

Lee Chul-gyun twisted his lips into a cold sneer.

“Not only does he turn a blind eye to accounting fraud in exchange for continuous bribes from corporations, but recently he even took money from a company under investigation for insider trading and made the case disappear.”

He made a disapproving clicking sound with his tongue.

“Having a man like this sitting in a position overseeing the stock market is like leaving fish in the care of a cat.”

Lee Chul-gyun’s assessment was accurate—Director Bae Sang-yun’s corruption ran deep and wide.
The bribes he’d accepted and the frauds he’d committed had accumulated to the point where he and his family owned multiple apartments and commercial buildings in Gangnam.
No matter how high his position, such wealth was utterly impossible on a civil servant’s salary.
As Seok-won flipped through the documents, he caught sight of a familiar company name and furrowed his brow.

“Director Bae was involved in Yuchang Information & Communications’ IPO as well?”

I looked up and asked, and Lee Chul-gyun nodded his head.

“That’s correct. Last year, during the Securities Supervisory Authority’s oversight of the external audit report before the listing, it was revealed that obsolete inventory assets hadn’t been written down. At that time, Director Bae apparently accepted bribes and helped cover it up.”
“I see. So that’s what happened.”

Yuchang Information & Communications was a small-to-medium enterprise with just under three hundred employees that produced video, audio, and telecommunications equipment.
It had gone public last December as a newly listed company, and thanks to the recent internet boom sweeping through the market, its stock price had shown considerable strength.
Despite this, the reason I remembered such a small mid-sized company was that Donghae Peregrine Securities had been the lead underwriter for Yuchang Information & Communications’ initial public offering.

‘If this works out right, I could create quite an interesting picture here.’

As I thought of a way to entangle both Director Bae Sang-yun and Donghae Peregrine Securities in trouble, I quietly raised one corner of my mouth in a smile.
I put the contents back into the document envelope, then gestured to Lee Chul-gyun with my chin.

“Open the glove box.”

When Lee Chul-gyun reached out and opened the glove box in front of him, I could see a paper envelope folded in half inside.
As I pulled out the envelope and opened it, stacks of ten-thousand-yen bills filled it with substantial weight.
Lee Chul-gyun pulled out one stack of bills to examine it, then turned his head toward me.

“It looks like the amount is more than what was promised.”

I answered in an offhand tone.

“It’s a bonus for handling the work well.”

Though it was quite a substantial sum for a bonus, I figured it was hush money to keep him quiet, so he accepted it readily.

“Since you’re giving it, I’ll accept it gratefully.”

As I watched him put the stack of bills back into the paper envelope, I quietly opened my mouth.

“I have a proposal for you.”
“Is there another task you want me to do?”
“No. I like the way you work, Lee Chul-gyun. Why don’t you quit freelancing and come work under me?”

Caught off guard by the unexpected proposal, Lee Chul-gyun’s expression turned lukewarm.

“Even so, my services come at quite a premium.”
“How much are we talking about?”

Lee Chul-gyun deliberately quoted an inflated price, hoping to discourage any troublesome entanglements.

“At minimum, I’d need a hundred million won.”

Considering this was an era when the average office worker’s annual salary hadn’t yet reached fifteen million won, the sum he’d named was more than six times that amount.
Yet Seok-won didn’t so much as raise an eyebrow, responding with perfect composure.

“I’ll give you two hundred million.”

Lee Chul-gyun’s eyes widened in shock. He straightened up from the seat and stared at him.

“…Are you serious?”
“Of course.”

Seok-won met his gaze and smiled faintly.
Though he tried not to show it, Lee Chul-gyun was clearly flustered by this unexpected response. Seok-won pressed forward without hesitation.

“I’ll give you a hundred million as a deposit tomorrow, and the rest at year’s end. That works for you, doesn’t it?”
Watching Seok-won push ahead so relentlessly, Lee Chul-gyun’s expression hardened.

“What exactly are you planning to have me do under your employ?”
“Just continue as you have been—gather the information I need and bring it to me.”
“If that’s all, wouldn’t it be better to hire me on a case-by-case basis?”

Seok-won’s voice turned serious as he replied.

“There will be sensitive matters and secrets that need protecting. If you become my man, I can trust and rely on you far more completely.”

Seok-won glanced sideways at Lee Chul-gyun, who sat in silence beside him.

“And frankly, I’m impressed by your competence and want to secure your talents.”

After a moment of consideration, Lee Chul-gyun exhaled deeply and shrugged his shoulders.

“I should have asked for more if I’d known it would come to this.”

When he accepted the proposal, Seok-won’s lips curved into the faintest smile as he threw out a joke.

“You know there’s no going back, right?”
“I never thought I’d get myself into something like this, I have to admit.”

Lee Chul-gyun let out a soft chuckle and glanced at him with a question.

“So I’ll need to show up at the office in a necktie?”
“If you’d like, I can arrange a position for you.”

Lee Chul-gyun laughed with practiced ease and waved his hand.

“I’ll have to decline. Working alone suits my nature better.”

* * *

The next day.
Seok-won, dressed in a gray cashmere coat and carrying a leather briefcase in one hand, opened the door to the executive office suite and stepped inside. Na Seong-mi and another Female Secretary immediately rose from their desks.

“Welcome, President.”
“Good morning.”

Seok-won greeted them with a warm smile, his eyes settling on Na Seong-mi in her two-piece suit.

“Could I trouble you for a warm cup of coffee?”
“Of course. Right away.”

I stepped into the inner office, set my briefcase on the desk, and hung my coat in the wardrobe. Despite it now being February, Seoul had seen snow fall yesterday, and the cold still gripped the city with an iron fist.
Even though it’s February now, the cold weather was still fierce enough that it snowed in Seoul yesterday.

“It’s cold, but this is better than those times when temperatures rose later due to global warming and it became hard to see the autumn leaves.”

Taking my seat at the desk, I noticed the morning papers and approval documents arranged neatly before me. As was my habit, I picked up the morning edition and began leisurely reviewing the front page when a knock sounded from outside.
Then, as he sat down at the desk, his eyes caught on the morning papers from today and approval documents neatly arranged in an orderly fashion.
“Excuse me.”

Excuse me.

With those words, Na Seong-mi entered carrying a tray.
As she set down a coffee cup with its rich aroma of roasted beans, Seok-won looked up and gazed at Na Seong-mi standing before his desk, then asked.

“How does my schedule look today?”
“There’s nothing particularly pressing aside from an executive meeting this afternoon. Also, Daeheung Textiles’ secretarial office called to say that President Park Jin-hyung would appreciate having lunch together whenever your schedule permits.”
“I don’t have any separate appointments scheduled for lunch tomorrow, do I?”
“No, sir.”
“Then contact them and suggest lunch tomorrow at the Japanese Restaurant in Walkerhill Hotel. If they agree, go ahead and make the reservation.”
“Understood. Is there anything else you need?”
“Nothing else. You can go now. Oh, and thank you for the coffee.”

Na Seong-mi offered a slight smile, bowed her head respectfully, and then left the office.
As the door closed, Seok-won picked up his coffee cup, took a sip, set it down, and turned the newspaper to the next page.
Then an article on the business section caught his eye.

[Sae Chang Telecom Launches Next-Generation CDMA Trial Service
Sae Chang Telecom, the second mobile carrier, is launching a code-division multiple access (CDMA) mobile phone trial service today, targeting Seoul, Daejeon, and the Seoul Metropolitan Area ahead of its commercial service launch on April 1st.
The CDMA method, which Korea has adopted as its personal communications services (PCS) wireless access standard, is cutting-edge technology newly developed in the mobile communications field. With collaboration between American Qualcomm and domestic companies and research institutes, commercialization has been successfully achieved, generating even greater expectations.
Sae Chang Telecom will conduct the first phase of trial service through the end of this month, followed by general customer service starting from the first of next month…]

“Come to think of it, this was when the true era of mobile communications really began to unfold.”

At this time, it was still difficult to even see a mobile phone, and most people carried pagers.
But starting next year, City Phones with outgoing-only capability and affordable PCS phones would flood the market, bringing such tremendous change that within just a few years, roughly half the students in a high school class would be carrying mobile phones.

“The speed and scale of mobile phone adoption in just two or three years is remarkable. You’d be hard-pressed to find a similar case anywhere in the world.”

This Korean national character—embracing new technology without resistance and favoring cutting-edge devices like early adopters—would become the foundation that built Korea into an IT powerhouse.

“Though admittedly, some truly bizarre failures emerge from this, like the City Phone.”

The City Phone, a transmission-only mobile device, was literally a half-baked phone that could only make calls but couldn’t receive them.
While it seemed absurd at first glance, pager users were so prevalent at the time that it was hardly an exaggeration to say nearly everyone carried one. Thus, to confirm voice messages or call back a pager number, lines at public phone booths were perpetually long.

“Things had gotten so bad that people would fight over who got to use the phone longer, and there were even murder cases over it.”

Anyway, that’s what inspired the creation of CityPhone.
The principle was remarkably simple—they installed repeaters in public telephone booths and used the existing telephone lines for communication.
Since it relied on the public telephone network, incoming calls were naturally impossible; you could only make outgoing calls.
Seok-won chuckled softly as memories of those days flooded back.

“Because the repeater’s coverage area was so limited, you’d often see the amusing sight of crowds of people standing around public telephone booths, holding CityPhones and chatting away.”

It seemed ridiculous in hindsight, but back then, the affordable call rates and low terminal prices made it wildly popular—so much so that it actually outperformed the established telecom companies for a time.

“Of course, the bubble burst pretty quickly.”

It was an inevitable outcome, given that the technology had inherent limitations from the start.
Though I’d briefly wandered down that tangent, the dawn of a new era naturally represented an opportunity to make serious money.
I tapped my fingers rhythmically on the desk to organize my thoughts, then reached over and pressed the intercom button.

[Yes, sir?]
“Get in touch with Choi Ho-geun, the director of the Capital Operations Department, and tell him to come up to my office right now.”
[Understood.]

I leaned back in my chair, my gaze fixed on the newspaper article about CDMA pilot services as I murmured to myself.

“There’s an opportunity to make money here, and I can’t just let it slip away.”

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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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