Golden Spoon Investment Portfolio - Chapter 328

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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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328. If this isn’t dangerous, then what is?

Across seventeen blocks of midtown Manhattan between Park Avenue and 8th Avenue in New York, numerous hedge funds both large and small clustered together densely.
Among them, a nine-story building located on Park Avenue housed exclusively small and medium-sized hedge fund offices, earning it the nickname “Hedge Fund Hotel” among traders.
David Iverson, who had worked as a colleague at JP Morgan, and Bruno Karl, who founded the mid-sized hedge fund Goliath, also rented a small office here and managed approximately fifty million dollars in capital gathered from clients.
The office walls were plastered with various graphs and documents, while only telephones, fax machines, and computers occupied the desks—a sparse, almost shabby arrangement.
Though the staff consisted of only Bruno Karl and David Iverson, they harbored dreams of striking it big one day and becoming a massive fund managing tens or hundreds of billions of dollars, like the legendary Quantum Fund or Eldorado Fund on Wall Street.
The two men had already been living and sleeping in the office for over two weeks without going home, and the same was true for other hedge fund offices housed in the same building.
Even now, just past midnight, the entire building blazed with lights.
It was because an enormous gambling opportunity had opened up in Asia where staggering fortunes could be made.
Not only the major hedge funds but also small and medium-sized funds like Goliath, all hoping for this long-awaited jackpot, swarmed like ants and traded around the clock.
Bruno Karl, unshaven for days with stubble covering his face, kept his gaze fixed on the monitor where the peso exchange rate moved by the second, then reached out with one hand to grab the mug sitting on his desk.
Having continuously refilled coffee in the same cup, dark, dried stains clung stubbornly to the bottom, making it look quite filthy.
But right now, he couldn’t spare the time to wash the cup.
After shorting the Thai baht followed by the peso, he was already earning enough to exceed his annual profit targets by a significant margin.
Bruno brought the mug to his lips, then noticed it was empty and smacked his lips.

“Tsk.”

Setting the mug back down, Bruno’s eyes suddenly gleamed as he tapped the keyboard in front of him to place an additional sell order for the peso.
His eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep, having already made over a hundred thousand dollars in profit today, yet his expression was remarkably bright.

“Hehehehe.”

As Bruno stared at the monitor with a sinister smile, he realized it was nearly time for the Asian market to close and transition to the London Foreign Exchange Market.
To continue trading through the night, he would clearly need more caffeine, so Bruno decided to get up briefly and make some coffee.

“David. I’m going to make coffee—do you want some?”

Bruno asked, looking at David across the desk who was actively trading the peso.
David, wearing jeans and a long-sleeved shirt, didn’t even lift his head, just waved his hand above his head.

“Yeah. Get me a cup too.”
“Okay.”

Just as Bruno was about to stand up from his chair, David’s eyes widened and he cried out.

“Why is this suddenly happening?!”
“What’s going on?”

David Iverson kept his eyes fixed on the monitor, his brow furrowed as he answered.

“Someone in the futures market is liquidating a massive short position in pesos.”
“What?”

I returned to my seat and checked the monitor, confirming that someone was indeed buying pesos in enormous quantities to close out their position.
As a result, the peso exchange rate—which had been plummeting relentlessly—halted its decline and began trading sideways.

“The purchase volume has already exceeded a billion dollars. Who on earth is this?”

Only major players could move such sums in a single transaction, and Bruno Karl’s mind raced with possibilities.
If the peso exchange rate rebounded from here, I could suffer substantial losses, which made the tension all the more acute.

“Hold on a moment.”

Bruno Karl’s thoughts of coffee vanished as he grabbed the receiver and hurriedly dialed someone.
After a brief ring, the other party answered immediately.

[Hello?]
“Michael. It’s me.”

Michael was a former colleague from JP Morgan, someone Bruno Karl occasionally contacted when he needed premium market intelligence that other participants didn’t have access to.

[Sorry, I’m swamped right now. Can we talk later?]
“Just a moment! It’ll only take a second.”

As Michael rushed to hang up, Bruno Karl desperately held on to the line.
Michael sighed on the other end, his tone resigned.

[I really don’t have time, so just tell me what you need.]
“Who exactly is liquidating the peso short positions in the market right now?”
[… I don’t know.]

But Bruno Karl detected a slight hesitation before Michael’s response, and he immediately sensed that Michael knew something. He gripped the receiver tighter.

“Come on, we go way back. I won’t tell anyone—just let me know.”

As I persisted with my desperate pleas, Michael let out a groan of reluctance.

[Ugh…]
“Michael. Please.”

Michael hesitated for a moment before finally lowering his voice with obvious reluctance.

[Eldorado Fund.]

Bruno’s eyes widened in shock, and he let out a gasp.

“Is that really true?”
[Yeah. I don’t know the details either, so let’s just end this.]

Michael seemed genuinely busy and hung up immediately.
As Bruno furrowed his brow and set down the receiver, David asked without taking his eyes off the monitor.

“Who are they?”
“They call themselves the Eldorado Fund.”
“What!”

David’s expression shifted to shock, and he immediately leaned forward toward the monitor.

“Are you serious?”
“Yeah.”

Bruno nodded in confirmation.
David then muttered with a grave expression.

“If the Eldorado Fund is pulling out of the peso, this doesn’t feel right.”

The Eldorado Fund had demonstrated remarkable performance over the past few years, but what made it impossible to ignore was that in this current round, with their exquisite trading strategies, they were capturing the most impressive returns among the hedge funds that had swarmed in like locusts.

“What about the movements of the other funds?”

Bruno asked, and David checked his monitor before responding.

“So far, there’s no significant action. Looking at how the peso exchange rate has stopped falling and is moving sideways, it seems everyone is watching and waiting like we are.”

By now, rumors that the Eldorado Fund had liquidated its positions would be spreading rapidly across Wall Street, leaving everyone else paralyzed with uncertainty, watching each other’s every move.

“What should we do?”

Bruno asked, studying David’s hardened expression.

“What do you want to do?”
“I can’t shake the feeling that the one who pulled out is the Eldorado Fund. It keeps bothering me.”
“It is unsettling.”
“We’ve already made about 10% profit on the peso. Why don’t we take our winnings and get out while we’re ahead?”

Bruno felt the same unease, though part of him wanted to push further.
He deliberated for a moment, then nodded.

“When something feels wrong, it’s wise to protect yourself. Let’s close out and leave.”
“Good call.”

With the decision made, both men moved without hesitation, beginning to liquidate their positions.
After about an hour, as Bruno watched the final order execute, he leaned back in his chair and exhaled with relief.

“Phew. All done.”

Then his eyes caught on an empty mug sitting alone on the corner of the desk.

“Come to think of it, I was about to have coffee when all this chaos broke loose.”

The caffeine was wearing off, and exhaustion was creeping in.

“You wanted coffee too, right?”

David, who had just finished his own trades, straightened up and answered.

“Yeah. Strong, no sugar.”
“Got it.”

As Bruno began to rise, a news alert on the Bloomberg terminal installed nearby caught his eye, and he froze mid-motion.

“Huh?”

[Philippines Requests Emergency IMF Funding to Stabilize Peso!]

“What’s wrong?”

David Iverson looked at me with a puzzled expression and asked.

“Breaking news just came in—apparently the Philippines has requested emergency funding from the International Monetary Fund.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah. That’s why the Eldorado Fund liquidated its position ahead of time.”

David Iverson, who had circled around the desk and moved beside me, checked the Bloomberg terminal and let out a relieved breath.

“Insane. We almost got caught in a disaster.”

The moment the Bloomberg breaking news hit, hedge funds holding short positions rushed to liquidate, and the peso exchange rate, which had been trading sideways, plummeted before rebounding sharply.

***

[
Korea’s Total External Debt Reaches $104.5 Billion as of End of Last Year
The Bank of Korea announced that the nation’s total foreign currency debt increased by $26.1 billion from $78.4 billion two years prior, reaching $104.5 billion.
In comparison, as of the end of last year, the country held $69.8 billion in external assets, bringing net external debt to $34.7 billion.
A Bank of Korea official stated, “While some voices express concern about the possibility of a foreign exchange crisis similar to what occurred in Mexico years ago due to increasing current account deficits and recent Southeast Asian currency instability, considering Korea’s fundamental economic conditions and total external debt levels, the likelihood of a crisis like those experienced by Thailand and the Philippines is significantly low.”
Meanwhile, the government is working to address corporate bond avoidance due to Hanwha Group’s default and insufficient market liquidity….]

Seated alone in the spacious private jet, Seok-won read the article from a Korean newspaper and felt his expression stiffen slightly as he muttered to himself.

“Saying Korea’s fundamental economic conditions are sound so a foreign exchange crisis is unlikely—that’s pure self-deception.”

Just days ago, the same newspaper had run an article expressing concern that foreign exchange reserves had dwindled to $29.2 billion, marking a 21-month low.
Yet they claimed exports were declining and current account deficits were growing, but then insisted Korea’s economic strength would prevent a foreign exchange crisis—the logic didn’t add up.

“Even simple arithmetic shows that net external debt far exceeds foreign exchange reserves. If that’s not dangerous, what is?”

The Bank of Korea staff, supposedly an elite institution, couldn’t possibly be ignorant of such elementary mathematics.
Yet instead of hastily implementing countermeasures, they seemed content to reassure the public that everything was fine—a dangerously complacent approach.
Korea’s foreign exchange reserves were significantly lower even when compared to Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore, the other three dragons of Asia.

“Taiwan and Singapore alone are each sitting on $85 billion and $72 billion respectively. Hoping a foreign exchange crisis won’t arrive with less than half that amount in reserves is simply delusional.”

Seeing all this, it was almost surprising that Korea had become the hedge funds’ target only at the very end.
As Seok-won wore a bitter expression, Bella, dressed in her flight attendant uniform, approached and spoke.

“We’ll be taking off shortly. Would you please fasten your seatbelt?”

I gave a small nod and found the seatbelt beside me, fastening it as Bella smiled and walked back down the aisle.
She then repeated the same instructions to Manager Choi Ho-geun and the team members who had boarded together, and they all obediently followed her directions.
After folding the newspaper and setting it aside, I leaned back against the plush seat for a moment when the private jet parked in the parking lot fired up its engines mounted on both sides of the fuselage and began slowly moving toward the runway.
Through the circular window, watching the airport terminal building recede into the distance, I recalled the dark storm clouds steadily approaching Korea.

“It will be a painful and harsh time, but a tree that has endured hardship grows deeper roots and stretches stronger branches.”

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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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