Golden Spoon Investment Portfolio - Chapter 320

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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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320. It looks like the reinforcements we’ve been waiting for have finally arrived.

Wednesday, February 19, 1997, Bangkok, Thailand.
The International Division office at the Bank of Thailand was thick with tension from early morning.
Everyone knew that once the foreign exchange market opened shortly, a grueling battle with the hedge funds awaited them, and their expressions grew correspondingly grave.
Piyapong, the foreign exchange manager, was no exception—his face had visibly roughened from a week of blood-draining combat.
Though he ordinarily maintained an immaculate appearance, he now lacked even the time to shave, his stubble sparse and uneven, dark circles shadowing his eyes, making him look utterly haggard.
The daily struggle to defend the baht had become nothing short of a nightmare.
He would push through trading with nerves stretched taut, and when the market closed, his entire body would drain of strength, leaving him limp as a waterlogged sponge.
Yet even after Thailand’s foreign exchange market closed, trading continued uninterrupted through London and New York—a full twenty-four hours—so Piyapong and the other foreign exchange managers had been unable to leave since the baht attacks began, forced to monitor exchange rate movements and intervene to prevent the baht from falling.

“Sell orders for the baht are pouring in the moment Tokyo opens!”

At the urgent cry from the manager overseeing the Tokyo foreign exchange market, Damthatuey, the center director standing in the back, stiffened and demanded:

“How much?”
“Four billion. No—over four and a half billion baht!”

Upon hearing the answer, Damthatuey bit down hard on his lower lip.

“Damn it. They’re coming in hard right from the start today.”

He spoke with forced composure, but his mouth had gone dry at the thought that today would be another grueling battle.

“Five minutes until opening!”

Damthatuey yanked his necktie knot downward roughly as he shouted.

“They look ready to strike hard the moment we open. Everyone stay sharp!”
“Yes, sir!”

Piyapong, having downed a large cup of dark coffee, fixed his gaze intently on the monitor, eyes burning with focus.
The quiet monitor screen felt like the eerie calm before a storm.
Time crawled by with suffocating tension, and finally the Bangkok foreign exchange market opened.

“Market is now open!”

As if the employee’s cry were a signal, the moment the market opened, an enormous wave of sell orders came crashing down.

“JP Morgan, Lehman Brothers, Citibank—they’re all selling baht indiscriminately!”
“Futures have exceeded 6 billion baht in sell orders!”
“No! Goldman Sachs just dumped 9 billion baht in a single transaction!”

Like a massive tidal wave, the flood of baht sell orders transformed the Bangkok foreign exchange market into absolute chaos in an instant.
The 27 baht per dollar defense line that had been barely maintained until now crumbled pathetically under the relentless, coordinated onslaught of selling pressure.

“No, no! This can’t be happening!”
“Damn it!”

People clutched their heads in shock, their anguished cries mixing with harsh curses and screams erupting from every corner of the room.
Damthatuey, the center director, couldn’t hide his bewilderment at the ferocious assault, but he quickly clenched his fists and veins bulged in his neck.

“What are you all doing?! Buy baht immediately and push the exchange rate back up!”

Piyapong, his face drained of color, spun around in his chair and shouted urgently.

“The volume of selling is too massive—our approved foreign exchange limit won’t be enough!”
“This is driving me insane!”

Damthatuey barely managed to swallow the curse rising in his throat.

“I’ll get additional approval right now. For now, just keep the exchange rate from falling any further!”
“Understood.”

Piyapong immediately turned back and began typing frantically on the keyboard, entering buy orders.
The other foreign exchange dealers were doing the same, either entering orders directly or calling commercial banks and securities companies, their voices hoarse as they shouted bid prices.

“Damn it all.”

Watching the frenzied scene like a stirred hornet’s nest, Damthatuey gritted his teeth, quickly grabbed the telephone beside him, and called Warit, the central bank governor.

***

There was one other place that was startled by the hedge funds’ relentless selling offensive sweeping through the Bangkok foreign exchange market in a single stroke—the Eldorado Fund.

“Sir, the baht sales across both forward and spot markets have exceeded 4.5 billion baht!”
“The exchange rate has broken through 27 baht per dollar!”

The traders announced the rapidly deteriorating market situation with tense, urgent voices.
In the midst of this chaos, Andrew—dressed as always in his shirt and suspenders—turned to Seok-won and spoke.

“It appears George Hamilton is finally making his move.”

Seok-won, his hands thrust deep into his trouser pockets and his expression impassive as he studied the massive market board, gave a small nod without any visible change in demeanor.

“Indeed, he’s coming in aggressively—the kind of overwhelming assault that crushes the opposition in one fell swoop.”

Landon Shore, standing nearby, picked up the thread with a note of concern in his voice.

“The other hedge funds are piling on too, selling baht as if they mean to finish this today entirely. Do you think the Thai government can hold out?”

Even as they frantically liquidated their foreign exchange reserves to purchase baht, the fact that the exchange rate stubbornly refused to climb above 27 baht per dollar made their struggle painfully evident.

“Any movement from the Hong Kong side?”

Andrew checked the Bloomberg terminal mounted on his desk and shook his head.

“Still quiet.”

At this news, Landon muttered with evident concern.

“With China’s handover of Hong Kong coming in July, there’s bound to be considerable turmoil. I’m not sure they have the bandwidth to focus on Thailand.”

No matter how much Britain and China had agreed to maintain the “one country, two systems” framework, Hong Kong’s handover would inevitably bring profound changes across society, economics, and culture.

‘Of course, that promise to guarantee Hong Kong fifty years of its existing capitalist system won’t last long.’

Anticipating exactly this outcome, as the handover approached, Hong Kong’s wealthy had begun emigrating en masse to Britain and other Commonwealth nations, creating an atmosphere thick with chaos and anxiety.

‘And the fact that the baht attack is happening four months earlier than originally planned—that’s what troubles me.’

If Seok-won’s presence had disrupted the flow as an unforeseen variable, it would have been a catastrophic setback.
And even if events unfolded as originally planned, if Hong Kong—the most influential player with the largest foreign exchange reserves—withdrew from international cooperation, the outcome could be entirely different.
After a moment’s deliberation, Seok-won turned his gaze back to the large market display board.
Though the Bank of Thailand was mounting a defense, the assault from hedge funds centered on the Quantum Fund was so ferocious that the exchange rate remained stubbornly below 27 baht per dollar.
With Wall Street legend George Hamilton actively joining the fray, speculative demand from those seeking to capitalize on the momentum only intensified, causing the baht to slip further with each passing moment.
Seeing this, Seok-won turned to Andrew and asked.

“We’ve wagered 500 million dollars so far, haven’t we?”
“Yes, sir.”

Originally, I had intended to deploy only 100 million dollars to avoid significantly influencing the market flow, but the hedge funds’ assault proved far more vicious than anticipated, so I had increased the bet.

“Then let’s put in the remaining 500 million dollars and complete our full 1 billion dollar position.”
“Right now, sir?”
“This appears to be the critical moment. Let’s deploy everything at once.”

Landon Shore, who had been listening to their exchange, interjected with a slight furrow of his brow.

“Wasn’t the first round supposed to be merely a warm-up, testing the waters lightly?”
“That was the intention, but if our calculations go awry here and the Thai government throws in the towel, we’ll walk away empty-handed. So we need to adjust the balance to help them hold out longer.”

Seok-won shrugged as if he had no choice.

“Well, it wasn’t planned this way, but if things proceed according to the revised plan, the larger our bet, the greater our profits. There’s no downside to it.”

Landon Shore worried that this might inadvertently pit them alongside the Thai government against the hedge funds led by George Hamilton, but he kept the thought to himself and said nothing more.
Instead, he silently reaffirmed his trust in Seok-won.
Andrew, exchanging a wordless glance with Landon Shore, nodded solemnly.

“Understood.”

He then donned a headset and approached Dan, the senior chief trader, who was bustling about and shouting orders, relaying the instructions.
Moments later, Dan mobilized the foreign exchange traders to begin aggressively purchasing baht across the Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Tokyo foreign exchange markets.

“240 million baht sold at 7.4!”
“Buy 300 million baht futures at 7.5! Okay, Dan!”

As the Eldorado Fund unleashed five hundred million dollars at once, rapidly absorbing the sell orders, the exchange rate that had been threatening to breach twenty-eight baht per dollar faltered.
However, the attacking side showed no sign of relinquishing the initiative, continuing to place sell orders, preventing the rate from climbing higher.
As both sides engaged in this fierce back-and-forth exchange, Ho-geun and his team watched with bated breath from the sidelines.
Watching Tyler and the foreign exchange traders move frenetically, Jung Hwan-yeop spoke in a tense voice devoid of his usual levity.

“It seems the chairman has ordered us to purchase additional baht.”
“Looks like it.”

Ho-geun kept his eyes fixed on the monitor where exchange rates shifted chaotically by the second as he answered.

“I heard earlier that the Quantum Fund has officially joined the attack. Will we be alright?”

Yu Seok-hyun swallowed hard, wiping his sweaty palms on his trousers.

“Look at the trading volume—it’s already surpassed four billion dollars just hours after the Asian markets opened. Goodness. My hands are shaking so badly I don’t think I’d have the nerve to participate if I were in their position.”
“Same here. I really don’t want to imagine what would happen if we made even a single mistake in this.”

Hong Jae-hee beside him wore a pale, exhausted expression.
Still keeping his gaze fixed on the monitor, Ho-geun’s eyes gleamed with excitement as he spoke.

“This is an experience you couldn’t buy with all the money in the world. Everyone, don’t miss a single moment—burn it all into your memory.”

I had thought I was trading fiercely in my own right, but compared to Wall Street’s bloodless battlefield, it was nothing.

“It’s really frustrating that we can only watch and can’t participate in something this massive.”

At Jung Hwan-yeop’s words, delivered with a wistful smack of his lips, Ho-geun too felt the adrenaline surging through him despite being present at this scene, yet relegated to the role of mere spectator. The situation left him both regretful and longing.
Especially for a trader, the itching in one’s hands when witnessing such enormous sums of money in play before your eyes was almost instinctual—it was only natural.
And simultaneously, I was intensely curious about what result would come from Seokwon’s choice to raise the stakes by an additional five hundred million dollars, bringing the total bet to a staggering one billion dollars.
As this fierce, uncompromising battle continued without pause, just as Seokwon’s additional five hundred million in bets had been completely exhausted, a sudden dramatic shift occurred.

“Wait! We’re suddenly receiving massive baht purchase orders from Hong Kong!”
“Bangkok and Tokyo are the same! The amounts are enormous!”

At the traders’ cries, Seokwon leaned forward to check the monitor installed on the desk.
Indeed, tens of billions of dollars worth of baht purchase orders came flooding in all at once, completely swallowing up all the sell orders in a single sweep.
The exchange rate, which had been locked in fierce combat around twenty-seven baht, surged sharply, climbing straight up to twenty-six baht in an instant.
Seeing this, Seokwon grinned widely, baring his teeth as if he had been waiting for precisely this moment.

“It looks like the reinforcements we’ve been waiting for have finally arrived.”

Witnessing the dramatic reversal unfold before his eyes, Landon Shore’s face broke into a wide smile as well.

“With such a massive influx of capital all at once, it’s clear that Hong Kong and the other Southeast Asian nations are moving exactly as you predicted.”

Andrew, who had just checked the Bloomberg terminal, spoke with a grin.

“An official announcement just came through—the central banks of Hong Kong, Singapore, and Malaysia have accepted Thailand’s request for support and are purchasing baht.”
“With this development, even the Quantum Fund will have no choice but to retreat for now. Round one ends here.”

As the central banks of each nation stepped in to purchase baht, the exchange rate climbed steadily, as if all the fierce fighting moments before had never happened.
Witnessing this dramatic reversal with their own eyes, Ho-geun and his team members felt a thrilling catharsis—as if they had just won big at a gambling table.

“Unbelievable! Can things really turn around like this?”

As Jung Hwan-yeop raised his voice in amazement, Yu Seok-hyun cried out in equal excitement.

“Exactly! Look at the baht standing firm!”
“My goodness. How is this even possible?”

Hong Jae-hee also widened her eyes, letting out exclamations of wonder.

“Wow. He’s won again this time too.”

Ho-geun himself let out a gasp of admiration as he watched the hedge funds, which had been so aggressive moments before, helplessly pushed back.

“Surely the CEO didn’t anticipate that Southeast Asian central banks would intervene and bet on Thailand based on that calculation?”

As Jung Hwan-yeop asked, unable to hide his astonishment, Ho-geun turned his head to look at Seok-won, who stood with arms crossed.
Despite having just broken the hedge funds’ fierce assault and generated substantial profits, Seok-won maintained a composed expression.
Even as cheers erupted around him, he stood unmoved, as if everything had unfolded exactly as planned.

“Perhaps. Or rather, he must have factored it into his calculations.”
“Right. If that weren’t the case, betting on Thailand would be an obvious long shot—it wouldn’t be easy to commit funds to it.”

Still, it was undeniably a gamble that only someone with considerable nerve would undertake.
Jung Hwan-yeop gazed at Seok-won with an expression of genuine admiration.
Yu Seok-hyun and Hong Jae-hee felt the same way, and all four of them straightened their shoulders with deep pride at the fact that such a remarkable person was their boss.

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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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