Golden Spoon Investment Portfolio - Chapter 351

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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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351. You’ve worked hard—the least I can do is make sure you have a proper meal.

Monday morning, June 16th, 1997.
Park Jin-hyung, president of Daheung Textile, was seated at his desk attending to business as usual when Chief Secretary Oh In-hwan, one of his closest aides, knocked and hurried inside.

“President Park. Taehwa Shopping just filed a public notice announcing their application for court receivership.”

Startled by the unexpected news, Park Jin-hyung’s expression darkened as he straightened in his chair.

“Is that really true?”
“Yes. The moment they filed the notice with the Stock Exchange, trading in their shares was immediately halted.”
“I see.”

Taehwa Shopping was Busan’s flagship regional department store, boasting annual revenues of 140 billion won and a workforce of 650 employees.
Among provincial department stores, it was the largest in scale and highest in brand value—so to learn that such a company had suddenly filed for court receivership was nothing short of shocking.

“The cause appears to be deteriorating financial conditions due to increased external borrowing and rising financial costs. It seems the real culprit was their aggressive push to construct a new annex building at a cost of 80 billion won last year and establish a second location in North Busan, which caused their debt to balloon rapidly.”
“Rumors of insolvency have been circulating for months, but I never imagined it would actually come to this.”

Park Jin-hyung’s expression hardened as he reached out and picked up the telephone receiver.

[It’s me.]

The moment the line connected, the weighty voice of Chairman Park Tae-hong came through.

“Have you heard about Taehwa Shopping?”
[Yes. I was just about to call you, actually. I’ve summoned President Min—you come as well.]
“Understood. I’ll be right there.”

Park Jin-hyung hung up immediately.
As he rose from his chair, Chief Secretary Oh In-hwan asked from across the desk.

“The Chairman is calling for you?”
“Yes.”

Park Jin-hyung answered briefly, then reached for his jacket on the coat rack behind him and slipped his arms through the sleeves.

* * *

When Park Jin-hyung arrived at the Chairman’s Office, Gil Seong-ho and Min Pil-gi, president of Midopa Department Store, were already seated on either side of Park Tae-hong, who occupied the center position on the sofa.
With a cigarette between his lips, Park Tae-hong turned to regard his eldest son, his voice low and measured.

“Sit.”
“Yes, sir.”

Park Jin-hyung quietly gauged the atmosphere before moving to take a seat beside Min Pil-gi.
Park Tae-hong exhaled a plume of white smoke and gestured toward Min Pil-gi with a subtle jut of his chin.

“Continue where you left off.”

Min Pil-gi’s face stiffened as he resumed speaking.

“As I mentioned, when Lotte and Hyunwoo Department Store entered the market in rapid succession, competition intensified dramatically. Taehwa Shopping, which had virtually monopolized Busan until then, saw its sales plummet, resulting in a loss of 14.6 billion won last year alone.”
“If we’re struggling to withstand the aggressive expansion of three major conglomerate department stores, smaller regional retailers must be in even worse straits.”
“To remain competitive, they borrowed over 100 billion won to construct a new building and open a second location. However, following the Hanwha Group’s collapse, banks began demanding early repayment of debts, and they could no longer hold out. They’ve filed for court receivership.”

Park Tae-hong stubbed out his nearly finished cigarette in a crystal ashtray, releasing a low, rueful sigh.

“Unable to scrape together a mere 1.8 billion won in monthly interest payments, and they’ve come to this….”

It was a shocking turn of events, yet Park Tae-hong himself had once attempted to overextend his own debt to construct the Gangnam Branch on a grand scale to compete with conglomerate department stores, so an involuntary chill ran through his chest.

‘If I had ignored my second son’s advice and pushed forward with the Gangnam Branch construction as planned, we might have collapsed before Taehwa Shopping did.’

On top of that, had I pursued the additional expansion of the Chinese manufacturing plant, we would never have survived the current liquidity crisis that had dried up so rapidly.
Since the Hanwha Group’s collapse, numerous companies large and small had been falling in succession, but because Taehwa Shopping was also primarily in the department store business, their filing for court receivership struck even closer to home.
With a grave expression, Park Tae-hong withdrew a fresh cigarette, placed it between his lips, reached for the desk lighter, and lit it while muttering to himself.

“It feels uncomfortably close to home.”

Gil Seong-ho carefully observed Park Jin-hyung seated across from him before speaking cautiously.

“Had we not extended our debt maturity in advance and implemented austerity measures as the younger president advised, we too would have faced a serious crisis.”
“That’s right. We could have ended up in a position where we couldn’t even sit here like this.”

Gil Seong-ho had worried that Park Jin-hyung might harbor subtle jealousy, but he detected no such sentiment from him whatsoever.

“It seems increasingly likely that liquidity will dry up in the market for some time. Even if we take a slight loss, wouldn’t it be wise to expedite the sale of the Cheongju, North Chungcheong textile manufacturing plant?”

The textile factory in Cheongju, North Chungcheong—now shuttered after all production facilities had been relocated to China—held symbolic significance as the foundation upon which Daheung Textile had grown into a major conglomerate.
For that reason, even as we implemented austerity measures and liquidated idle assets on a massive scale, we had held onto this property until the very end.

“I won’t pretend there’s no regret, but you’re right—it’s the sensible course.”

Park Tae-hong smacked his lips and turned to Gil Seong-ho. “Daegwang Group showed interest in the Cheongju Factory, didn’t they?”

“Yes. However, the purchase price they proposed was too low to proceed to negotiations.”
“Was it 21 billion won they offered?”
“That’s correct.”
That’s right.

Park Tae-hong’s chairman slightly frowned.

“Even if it’s in a rural area, just the land value alone would be worth more than that, so this is a completely slashed price.”

After a moment of deliberation, Park Tae-hong reached his decision.
After a moment of deliberation, Chairman Park Tae-hong made his decision.

“Even if we take a slight loss, it’s important to secure cash on hand right now.”

You can’t hold onto everything just because it seems like a waste to let it go.

“Very well.”
I will do that.

Chairman Park Tae-hong tapped the cigarette ash into a crystal ashtray and turned his gaze toward Min Pil-gi, the president of Midopa Department Store.

“We shouldn’t have any major issues with cash flow, right?”

Min Pil-gi immediately answered.

“Yes. While sales have decreased due to the recent economic downturn, we still have some financial cushion since we no longer have the expenses we used to spend on supporting affiliated companies.”

Yet praising the younger son so openly before his eldest would be tactless, so I kept my expression neutral and spoke without obvious enthusiasm.
But since it would be tactless to openly praise the second son in front of the eldest, she spoke without making it too obvious.

“We can’t predict when or how the fallout from Hanwha Group’s collapse will hit us. Tighten your grip on cash reserves and push sales aggressively to clear out inventory as much as possible.”
“Understood.”

Park Tae-hong turned his gaze toward his eldest son.

“The mayor of Shenyang keeps pressing about when we’ll expand the factory, doesn’t he?”
“Yes. Not just the mayor, but Wei Jizhong as well—he calls whenever he gets the chance, threatening to revoke the promised incentives if we don’t start construction soon. He’s applying subtle pressure.”
“They’re desperate for results on their end, but we’re in a bind right now, so we can’t afford to worry about their situation. Still, if we want to keep doing business in China going forward, there’s no benefit in letting them get upset. Handle it by making excuses and keeping them appeased.”
“I’ll do that.”

While his younger son possessed the keen instinct and foresight for investment, his eldest son was equally steady and showed management abilities that matched anyone else’s.
Park Tae-hong gazed at his eldest son with confident eyes, and a satisfied smile crossed his face.

* * *

As Manager Choi Ho-geun opened the door and entered, Seok-won covered the report he’d been reading and rose from his seat.
He gestured toward the sofa with a slight nod of his chin, indicating that the manager should sit rather than stand.

“Come in.”

After Manager Choi Ho-geun gave a slight bow and took a seat on the sofa, Seok-won asked.

“What would you like to drink?”
“That’s not necessary.”

At his response, Seok-won made a light gesture, and Na Seong-mi, who had been standing by the door, stepped out.
Seok-won settled into the center seat with one leg crossed and asked.

“What brings you here?”

Manager Choi Ho-geun then placed the folder he’d brought in front of him and spoke with evident satisfaction.

“The short selling settlement with Japan’s Big Four Securities Firms has been completed.”
Seok-won’s eyes sparkled as he straightened his posture, his expression filled with anticipation.

“I see. Your expression looks so good—it seems the profit margin turned out quite well.”

Manager Choi Ho-geun, receiving his gaze, confidently straightened his shoulders.

“You won’t be disappointed.”
“That’s exactly why I’m looking forward to this even more.”

As he opened the file folder in front of him to review its contents, Manager Choi Ho-geun began to explain.

“As noted inside, across four securities, we achieved a 43% return rate, earning a total of 23.445 billion yen. After deducting taxes and other expenses, our final profit came to 22.513 billion yen.”

Seok-won lifted his head and spoke.

“That works out to roughly 177.26 million dollars when converted.”
“Precisely.”

A satisfied smile spread across Seok-won’s lips.

“You’ve done excellent work.”
“You laid out the entire feast for us, sir. We simply followed your instructions.”

At his modest response, Seok-won offered praise in a gentle voice.

“I may have set the stage, but maximizing the profits from it—that was the effort of you and your team.”
“Thank you for saying so.”

Seok-won closed the file folder and leaned back in his chair.

“Before the yen loses value, convert all the profits and principal into dollars and transfer everything to the account we’ve set up in the Cayman Islands.”

Hearing this, Manager Choi Ho-geun’s eyes widened as he asked.

“Do you believe the fallout from the Southeast Asian currency crisis will reach Japan as well?”

Seok-won shrugged and answered as if it were obvious.

“While the yen is certainly regarded as a safe asset alongside the dollar and gold, Japan has simultaneously invested the most heavily in the Southeast Asian regions now facing crisis. So it will be difficult for the yen to avoid a decline this time.”
“Now that you mention it, that makes sense.”

Seok-won smiled lightly and spoke.

“Of course, that doesn’t mean Japan will face the kind of hedge fund attacks that Thailand and Indonesia are experiencing, with the yen shaking as a result. Japan’s economy is simply too massive for that, and its foreign exchange reserves are equally substantial.”

Manager Choi Ho-geun nodded in agreement.

“Then it seems the Nikkei will struggle to break free from its decline and rebound anytime soon.”
“Until the currency crisis stabilizes, that’s likely to be the case.”

Seok-won, who had answered, interlaced his fingers and rested his hands on his lap as he continued.

“The Malaysian stock market is also in free fall, with no bottom in sight—much like the ringgit itself.”
“The 650 level broke long ago, and now even the 500 line is teetering on the edge. I wish I’d sold more futures if I’d known it would come to this.”

Seok-won laughed as he watched Manager Choi Ho-geun smack his lips in regret.

“But you’ve made substantial profits shorting Japan’s Big Four Securities Firms.”
“That’s true enough.”
“I’ll compensate you generously later, so bear with me a little longer until this situation plays out.”

Manager Choi Ho-geun replied with a voice brimming with enthusiasm.

“In all my years as a trader, an opportunity this massive might come only once in a lifetime. Even if you told me to walk away, I’d cling to your coattails and see this through to the end.”
“Ha ha ha. I won’t tell you to leave, so don’t worry about that.”

Seok-won laughed heartily, then suddenly remembered something and extended his palm.

“Oh, wait a moment.”

He rose from his seat, approached his desk, retrieved something from his wallet, and returned.

“Let’s use this for a celebration dinner today.”

Manager Choi Ho-geun’s eyes widened as he saw two checks for one million won that Seok-won held out.

“That’s far too much. Even if we feast on premium beef, there would be money left over.”
“Whatever’s left, split it for taxi fare. You’ve worked hard—your stomach deserves a proper meal.”

As Seok-won brushed aside the objection, Manager Choi Ho-geun accepted the checks without further protest.

“Then I’ll gratefully put it to good use.”

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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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