Golden Spoon Investment Portfolio - Chapter 272

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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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272. Tell me the specific conditions.

Copper, also known as Dr. Copper for its ability to reflect the real economy most accurately, was one of the most actively traded commodity futures with significant trading volume among various raw materials.
Following Southeast Asian companies’ junk bonds, Peregrine Securities invested substantial sums in copper futures to maximize returns.

‘But the timing was terribly unfortunate.’

Peregrine Securities’ entry into copper futures trading coincided precisely with the moment when the decade-long boom in Asian economies—created by the yen appreciation following the Plaza Accord—was beginning to collapse.
As economic conditions gradually deteriorated, copper demand naturally declined, and copper futures peaked before entering a downward trend.
Consequently, Peregrine Securities, which held long positions in copper futures, was suffering losses.
Since exposure to the outside world could lead to significant damage, Seok-won knew about the investment position kept in absolute secrecy thanks to Manager Oh, who was known as Yeouido’s biggest chatterbox.

[The possibility of nationalization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, America’s two largest mortgage lenders, is increasing.
Due to this subprime mortgage crisis, Freddie Mac has essentially fallen into a state of capital erosion, and Freddie Mac has been revealed to have recorded an astronomical deficit of 9.5 billion dollars over the fourth quarter.
According to government officials, the Ministry of Finance and the Federal Housing Finance Agency continued to demand capital increases to prevent bankruptcy, but they stated that self-capitalization was difficult.
This suggested that, contrary to the Treasury Secretary’s statement that “there is no plan to inject public funds,” a large-scale injection of public funds would be inevitable in the near future.
Meanwhile, domestic financial companies’ investment in these two mortgage companies….]

The global financial crisis triggered by the bankruptcy of America’s second-largest subprime mortgage lender in April showed no signs of abating and was growing progressively worse as time passed.
The panic that began on Wall Street spread across the entire world in an instant, plunging the domestic financial market into chaos.
Naturally, in such an atmosphere, there was no leisure to polish shoes, so for the past few weeks, I had mostly just kept the shop door open, returned home without polishing a single pair, day after day.
Today as well, I was spending time idly sitting around, listening to the radio or watching television.
Suddenly lifting my head to glance at the electronic clock hanging on one wall, I realized it was already past 8 p.m.

“I should head home now.”

I turned off the television where the news was playing and rose from my chair.
As I was organizing things by bringing the items I had left outside back into the shop one by one, I heard a slightly slurred, intoxicated voice from behind me.

“You’re still here and haven’t left.”
“Manager Oh!”

My face brightened at the sight of this familiar face I hadn’t seen in a long time.
Manager Oh stood there swaying slightly with intoxication, holding a convenience store plastic bag in one hand.

“Looks like you’ve had a drink.”
“Yeah, I did. Just one. Were you about to head in?”
“Yes.”

At that, Manager Oh lifted the plastic bag he was holding.

“Then let’s just have one can of beer each with me.”

Seeing Manager Oh’s somewhat gloomy expression, Seok-won stopped what he was organizing and opened the Shoe Repair Shop door.

“Come in.”

Manager Oh stepped into the lit Shoe Repair Shop and, as if it were his own place, familiarly pulled over a table from one corner and took out canned beers and dried snacks he’d bought from a convenience store.
Seeing that there were six cans of beer laid out haphazardly, Seok-won sat down in the chair across from him and spoke.

“You said just one can.”
“If we only have one, it feels too cold and distant.”
“You’re something else.”

Seok-won chuckled and unwrapped the dried snacks Manager Oh had brought, spreading them out.

“Almonds and peanuts, squid legs, sausages… goodness, why did you buy so much? I’ll be full just from eating snacks.”
“I wanted to eat fish-shaped pastries too, but they weren’t selling any.”
“Fish-shaped pastries all of a sudden? Besides, do beer and fish-shaped pastries even go well together? You’d be better off getting chicken.”
“What can I do when my mouth is craving it?”

Manager Oh popped open a can of beer and offered it for a toast.

“Come on. The atmosphere’s been gloomy lately, but we still have to make a toast.”
“Of course.”

Seok-won made a toasting sound and lightly clinked his can against Manager Oh’s, then took a sip.
Though it was the tail end of summer, the weather was still humid, and as the cool canned beer went down, a refreshing sensation flowed through his throat.

“Ahh, that’s refreshing and nice.”
“Right?”

Manager Oh chuckled and brought the can to his lips.
Though he was smiling, there was a shadow in his expression, and Seok-won, sensing something, asked carefully.

“Did something unpleasant happen to you today?”
“Who in Yeouido would be smiling these days?”
“That’s true.”

Manager Oh popped a piece of savory jerky into his mouth and chewed while glancing at him sideways.

“This damned subprime thing or whatever—it destroyed the director too. Are you doing okay?”
“What could I do? I got cut in half and went under. But today I scraped together every won I had and threw it back in.”
“What?”

In an atmosphere of despair, everyone was cutting losses and withdrawing funds, yet he had actually bought more stocks. Manager Oh’s eyes widened with interest.

“Don’t you know the saying—never catch a falling knife? What made you confident enough to average down?”

Seok-won simply shrugged and answered casually.

“This crisis won’t destroy the stock market completely or make it disappear. So when good stocks are trading at bargain prices, you have to snap them up quickly.”
“Hah.”

Manager Oh let out a hollow laugh, then suddenly turned serious.

“You know that Lehman Brothers—one of the top five on Wall Street—has gone bankrupt and closed its doors, and that major financial companies like AIG and Citibank are so precarious they could collapse any day, right?”
“I sit in this cramped shop all day listening to stock talk. How could I not know?”
“And yet you still averaged down. Didn’t it occur to you that the bottom might have a basement far below it?”

Despite Manager Oh’s intimidation, Seok-won remained unfazed.

“Maybe, but you taught me that when the moment feels right, you should bet boldly without hesitation.”
“You crazy bastard. So how much did you put in?”

Seok-won held up one finger, and Manager Oh asked.

“100 million won?”
“No. 1 billion won.”

Manager Oh, who had been bringing a canned beer to his lips, froze mid-motion and slowly raised his head with a creaking sound.

“What? One billion won?!”
“Yes.”
“Have you lost your mind? You’re telling me you had that much cash lying around?”

Seok-won replied sheepishly.

“I learned from you, Manager Oh, and I’ve been working hard with it all this time to build up a substantial sum.”

Manager Oh shook his head in admiration.

“I know you have quite a bit in your stock account too. The fact that you have this much cash on top of that is impressive.”
“None of this would be possible without your excellent guidance, sir.”
“Then do even better going forward.”
“That’s why I always treat you with respect. I even buy you free coffee every time.”

Manager Oh burst out laughing at Seok-won’s cheeky grin.
Their relationship had spanned over a decade, and Manager Oh regarded Seok-won with pride rather than envy or jealousy, offering his counsel.

“Still, investments aren’t always favorable like this time, so don’t get too greedy. You didn’t take out a loan using your apartment as collateral, did you?”
“No way. If my wife found out, all hell would break loose.”
“Right. Even if you trade stocks, never do anything that would put your family out on the streets.”
“Of course not.”

Manager Oh seemed reassured and took a sip of canned beer, then looked at Seok-won with renewed interest.

“But if you’ve made that much from stocks, shouldn’t you be sitting at a trading desk instead of shining shoes here?”
“It’s not quite that much. Besides, I didn’t even finish university—what business do I have becoming a trader?”
“What does that matter!”

Manager Oh raised his voice slightly, speaking with intensity.

“You know as well as I do that in this business, skill matters more than credentials. How about it—want to switch careers and become a prop trader with me for real?”

A proprietary trader typically worked under year-long contracts, trading the securities firm’s own capital to generate profits as a specialized trader.
Prioritizing returns, if they achieved a certain level of performance, they could receive up to half of the profits as a bonus according to contract terms.
However, in the opposite case, they had to pack up and leave without mercy, making it a truly high-risk, high-return profession.
In exchange, as long as they delivered results, they were given maximum freedom in trading and work hours.
Manager Oh, who had resigned on his own a few years ago, was currently working as a proprietary trader.
The reason he was still called “Manager” even though he’d been in the Yeouido market for nearly twenty years was precisely because of this.
Seok-won felt a momentary temptation, but he quickly shook his head.

“I appreciate the offer, but I’m happy with things as they are.”
“Tsk. You’ve got quite a bit of talent, you know….”

Manager Oh clicked his tongue regretfully.

“Yeah. Maybe it’s better to invest and manage your own money with peace of mind than to live stressed out, chasing profits day after day.”
“But looking at your face, it seems you’ve already had a first round somewhere else.”

As Seok-won subtly changed the subject and asked, Manager Oh’s expression turned bitter.

“You know Director Seo from ST Securities, right?”
“Of course. Isn’t he your college classmate, Manager?”
“Yeah. That bastard quit the company today.”
“Really?”

Seok-won asked in surprise.
Director Seo had been such a respected talent at ST Securities, rising steadily with talk openly circulating that he was likely to be promoted to Vice President next year.
Manager Oh crushed the empty beer can he’d finished drinking, tossed it into a plastic bag, and opened a fresh one as he spoke.

“Yeah. To be precise, I should say he was fired rather than quit.”
“Why?”
“He took a major loss trading copper futures. So he resigned and left.”
“Ah….”

Seok-won’s expression grew sympathetic.

“Even though it looks glamorous on the surface—earning nine-figure salaries and living a dazzling life—everyone in this business knows the truth: you’re just a mayfly, never knowing when you’ll be cast aside.”

Manager Oh muttered to himself, fidgeting with the beer can in his hand.

“Still, I’m grateful we didn’t cling to our position like those traders at Sumitomo Corporation who conducted unauthorized copper futures trades for over a decade before suffering that catastrophic $2 billion loss. Because we recognized the situation was deteriorating and cut our losses immediately, we were able to wrap everything up cleanly with just a resignation letter.”
“You’re referring to the famous Sumitomo scandal, aren’t you?”
“Exactly. Back then, Peregrine Securities Hong Kong also held a long position in copper and ended up suffering hundreds of millions of dollars in losses right alongside them.”

Because I had taken an interest in futures after that incident and studied them thoroughly, I could recall and not forget Peregrine Securities’ copper investment.

Dismissing the fleeting memory that had surfaced, I straightened my gaze across the conference table toward Richard Lee, meeting his eyes directly, and spoke in a calm, measured voice.

“If you reject my proposal, I will immediately sell off the copper futures.”
“I don’t know how you discovered our position, but how can you be so arrogant as to think you can manipulate copper futures prices in a market this massive!”

Richard Lee’s face darkened as he shouted, his words sharp as blades.
Then I leaned back against my chair and responded with unhurried composure.

“If you doubt me, you’re welcome to test whether I can do it or not. Though the price you’ll pay will be quite steep.”

It was true that the copper futures market was massive enough to make price adjustments difficult, but that didn’t mean the Eldorado Fund’s power could be ignored either.
Above all, what troubled Richard Lee was that copper futures prices had peaked and were now in a downward trend.
If the Eldorado Fund executed a massive sell-off of copper futures in this weakened state, it would be like throwing a match onto a pile of bone-dry hay.
Hurd, who was present with him, understood these circumstances as well, so he regarded Richard Lee with anxious eyes.
Richard Lee swallowed hard and deliberated in his mind about what to do.
Watching the two men rack their brains, I leisurely picked up the teacup before me and waited for their answer.
As Richard Lee continued to wrestle with the decision in that heavy silence, he soon realized he was truly backed into a corner, and he bit his lower lip firmly before sitting back down.
Then, with obvious reluctance, he asked me across the table.

“What are the specific conditions? How much are you asking for the bonds?”

The moment the answer I wanted came from his lips, I smiled, baring my teeth.

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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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