Golden Spoon Investment Portfolio - Chapter 365

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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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365. To let such a cornered prey slip away like this.

The moment the New York Foreign Exchange Market opened, the Quantum Fund dumped massive quantities of Hong Kong dollars onto the market as if determined to finish the job once and for all.

“Insane! The Quantum Fund is selling over a billion dollars worth of Hong Kong dollars in New York alone.”
“They dumped a massive amount in London too.”
“If you add what they sold in Tokyo and Hong Kong, they’ve unloaded over four billion dollars in a single day.”
“Holy shit!”
“They’re really going for the kill today.”

The Bear Stearns foreign exchange traders, their eyes meeting across the room, frantically grabbed their phones or pounded their keyboards without hesitation, adding to the Hong Kong dollar selling pressure.

“Three hundred sold at 7.87!”
“Let’s sell two hundred Hong Kong dollars at 7.87!”
“Okay, done!”

Not only the Bear Stearns foreign exchange traders but numerous Wall Street investment banks and hedge funds joined in, indiscriminately dumping Hong Kong dollars in the wake of the Quantum Fund.
As this carpet-bombing assault of selling pressure rained down, the Hong Kong Foreign Exchange Reserve Trading Center, which had been defending the exchange rate, was thrown into chaos.

* * *

“The exchange rate has risen to 7.87 per dollar!”

At the anguished cry, Tian Long-chan, startled, lifted his head and looked at the large market display board in front of him, his face contorting as he rose from his seat.
Without thinking, he spat out a harsh curse.

“Damn it!”

[HKD : 7.87 (▲0.02)]

It was no wonder—the exchange rate band they had desperately maintained all this time had been breached far too easily by the overwhelming volume assault.

“The selling volume has exceeded six billion, no, six and a half billion Hong Kong dollars!”
“The exchange rate continues to rise as if the reins have been released!”

At the cries coming from all directions, Tian Long-chan’s voice rose with veins bulging in his neck.

“Dump all available dollars into buying Hong Kong dollars right now! Hurry!”

Upon receiving the order, the traders rushed to place buy orders, frantically scooping up the Hong Kong dollars flooding the market in a desperate attempt to drive the exchange rate back down.
But with the volume being dumped back onto the market far exceeding what they could absorb, the exchange rate that had broken through the band showed no signs of declining.

“Damn it!”

The delicate balance that had been maintained was crumbling, and the scales were tipping increasingly to one side—but what truly gnawed at Tian Long-chan’s insides was the balance that was evaporating like snow in the sun with each intensifying moment of the struggle.
A staggering seventeen billion dollars—an astronomical sum—had melted away like spring snow in less than four days, leaving barely a billion dollars remaining.

“Can we even hold on until morning….”

Tian Long-chan muttered to himself as though posing the question to his own conscience, his expression turning skeptical.
With selling pressure pouring down like a broken dam, it seemed doubtful he could even make it past midnight, let alone until tomorrow morning.

“Damn it.”

As he bit down hard on his lower lip, the telephone on his desk rang loudly.
When Tian Long-chan picked up the receiver, the sharp voice of Heo Jo-gang, the Director, burst through.

[The band’s broken—what are you doing instead of bringing the exchange rate down immediately!]

Tian Long-chan hastily opened his mouth in response to the harsh rebuke.

“We’re doing our best, but the selling pressure is simply too intense.”
[Then why don’t we just fight fire with fire on our end!]

Tian Long-chan’s expression grew frustrated as he clenched his fists tightly.

“I wish we could, but our balance is down to barely a billion dollars now.”
[What? Didn’t you say we had seven billion dollars just this afternoon? You’re telling me you’ve spent it all already?]
“Yes, sir.”

As Tian Long-chan replied with a dejected expression, Director Heo Jo-gang fell silent for a moment, then let out a deflating sigh.

[This is insane.]

Even as he was on the call, Manager Tian Long-chan watched his rapidly depleting balance on the monitor while buying up the Hong Kong dollars that were being dumped, and spoke.

“At this rate, we won’t last even an hour before our reserves are completely depleted.”
[Hmm.]

Heo Jo-gang, the director, exhaled a heavy sigh.

[I’ll speak with the Minister and secure additional dollars somehow. In the meantime, do everything you can to prevent the exchange rate from rising further.]

Tian Long-chan, lacking confidence in his ability to succeed, nonetheless couldn’t bring himself to refuse, so he answered with slumped shoulders.

“Yes, understood.”

After hanging up the phone, Tian Long-chan lifted his head and stared at the monitor.
The trading screen, filled entirely with Hong Kong dollar sell-offs, resembled a pack of starving wild dogs salivating and lunging at him and Hong Kong from all directions, ready to tear them apart.
Tian Long-chan felt as though he were surrounded by cliffs on all sides, and he released a deep sigh of frustration.

* * *

Meanwhile, as darkness deepened, the Fund Management Department Office of Daeheung Venture Capital was in complete chaos, with telephone bells ringing from every corner and team members shouting out bids while clutching their receivers.

“Buy 500 contracts at 6,500!”
“What? Okay, execute at that price.”
“200 contracts, buying at 6,300!”

As Yu Seok-hyun, who had just completed a transaction, hung up his phone and shouted, Noh Hee-won, a new recruit, quickly jotted down the executed trade on the whiteboard nearby with a marker.
As Daeheung Venture Capital, which had sold off massive quantities of Hang Seng Index futures and held short positions, began repurchasing futures to close out its positions, the market responded with a violent tremor.
Other investors who had bought futures only to see the Hang Seng Index plummet by half, now seizing the opportunity to minimize their losses, unleashed a torrent of sell orders.
The result was the abundance of executed trade numbers filling the whiteboard.
As the hedge funds’ relentless assault finally broke through the band and the exchange rate surged upward, the belief that the Hong Kong Government would soon surrender and raise the white flag intensified the selling frenzy in Hang Seng Index futures.
Thanks to this, Choi Ho-geun and his team members were able to unwind their positions with remarkable ease.
With his sleeves rolled up and arms crossed, Choi Ho-geun stood from his seat, his face taut with tension, and asked Noh Hee-won.

“How much is left now?”

Noh Hee-won checked the numbers written on the whiteboard and answered.

“250 contracts remaining.”

Realizing that the final finish line was now within reach, Choi Ho-geun barely suppressed the excitement threatening to burst forth as he stared intently at the Hang Seng futures index displayed on the large market board.

[HIS : 6,439.11 (▼61.2)]

Despite purchasing an enormous volume of futures contracts all at once, the sheer magnitude of sell orders meant the futures index wasn’t rising—it was falling further instead.
This was clear evidence that the market sentiment had shifted decisively toward the belief that when the Hong Kong dollar devalued soon, the shock would send the Hong Kong stock market plummeting once again.
It was then that Jung Hwan-yeop set down the receiver and shouted loudly.

“Okay! We’ve liquidated all positions!”

The moment the final trade concluded, the office—which had been as chaotic as a trading floor—fell silent in an instant.
The team members, utterly drained from frantically executing countless trades in such a short span, slumped in their chairs like lifeless bodies.

“Ugh….”
“I’m dying. I’m absolutely dying.”
“Am I still even alive?”

Watching their exhausted state, Manager Choi Ho-geun offered encouragement with a satisfied smile.

“You all did great work.”
“Phew. I don’t even have the strength to pick up the phone anymore.”

Jung Hwan-yeop tilted his head back and exaggerated his exhaustion.
Under normal circumstances, Manager Choi Ho-geun would have chided him not to be so dramatic, but given how hard everyone had worked today, he simply laughed it off.

“I know you’re all tired, but everyone needs to organize the trade confirmations and hand them over to Miss Noh. We need to finish this properly.”
“Yes.”
“Understood.”

The team members responded in weary voices.

“Your blood sugar must be dropping. Want some candy?”
“That would be nice.”
“I’ll take strawberry flavor.”

As Jung Hwan-yeop shook the candy jar he’d brought as a snack, Yu Seok-hyun and Hong Jae-hee each took one.

“Here, Miss Noh, take one too. You worked hard today.”
“Thank you.”

After handing a candy to Noh Hee-won, Jung Hwan-yeop suddenly felt a piercing gaze and turned his head.

“You’re going to wear a hole in your face. Stop staring at them like that.”
“You’re not offering me any?”
“Ugh, fine. I’ll give you two specially, Manager.”

Manager Choi Ho-geun shot Jung Hwan-yeop a sidelong glance as he continued his protests, then popped a candy into his mouth.
The sweet and tangy flavor was exactly what his tired body needed.
Jung Hwan-yeop unwrapped a candy for himself and placed it in his mouth before speaking.

“We liquidated all our positions as the director instructed, but I’m not sure if it was the right call.”
“Why? Do you think we sold too early?”
“Looking at the foreign exchange market conditions, Hong Kong doesn’t seem like it can hold out much longer. That’s why everyone’s dumping Hang Seng futures.”

Jung Hwan-yeop continued, shrugging his shoulders.

“Well, it did make the work easier, but if Hong Kong really throws in the towel, the Hang Seng will be completely decimated. I feel like we missed out on some additional gains.”

Hong Jae-hee and Yu Seok-hyun, who had been quietly organizing their trading slips, nodded in agreement, sharing the same sentiment.
Manager Choi Ho-geun felt the same regret but kept it hidden as he reassured his team.

“Even if our prediction was off and the Hong Kong stock market falls further from here, we’ve already made sufficient profits, so there’s nothing to regret. There’s an old stock market saying: buy at the knees, sell at the shoulders. Greed always leads to trouble.”
“You’re right—the confirmed profits alone are already a jackpot.”

Jung Hwan-yeop nodded in agreement.

“Exactly. We won’t know until we finalize the settlement, but at this rate, we’ll have set the highest profit record for our department, won’t we?”
“With the amount we bet? Absolutely.”

Jung Hwan-yeop answered matter-of-factly to Hong Jae-hee’s spirited remark.
Then he grinned with barely contained anticipation.

“Hehehehe. The bonuses are going to be absolutely massive.”

Seeing him practically drooling with excitement, Manager Choi Ho-geun chuckled.

“You care more about the gravy than the prayer, don’t you?”
“I need to recover from the losses I took when I bought Kichang Motors stock and watched it tank. Do you know how much I lost?”
“Good grief. You’re not some rookie—you’ve been eating in Yeouido for years—and you bought a stock that had a notorious reputation for being risky and got stuck with it? Don’t tell anyone you work under me. It’s embarrassing.”
“That’s too harsh.”
“What do you mean? You brought it on yourself.”

Jung Hwan-yeop pouted his lips with a sorrowful expression.
Regardless of what he said, Manager Choi Ho-geun pulled his mobile phone from his pants pocket and called Seok Won-han, who would be waiting for his contact.
The dial tone rang, and shortly after, Seok Won-han’s voice came through.

[Is the liquidation complete?]
“Yes. I’ve just closed out all positions.”
[Good work.]

* * *

Westchester County, New York.
With darkness settling heavily beyond the expansive window, George Hamilton, dressed in comfortable clothes, sat alone at his study desk lined with multiple monitors, his face stern as he smoked a Cuban cigar.

“Hmm.”

George Hamilton, staring at the Hong Kong dollar exchange rate chart displayed on the center monitor, let out a low groan.

[HKD : 7.85 (▼0.07)]

Over the past four days, despite pouring tens of billions of dollars into pounding Hong Kong, they had failed to break through the exchange rate band.
Just then, as if announcing the end of the match, the antique grandfather clock standing in one corner of the study struck midnight with a resonant chime.
Immediately after, as if on cue, the mobile phone resting on the desk began to ring.
George Hamilton, who did not answer immediately but stared at it for a long moment, eventually picked up the phone with a reluctant gesture.
Upon answering, the voice of Huxley, the White House Chief Secretary, came through.

[It’s been four days past midnight, and Hong Kong still stands firm.]
“….”
[I trust we can assume that, regrettably, you will withdraw from Hong Kong as promised?]

The coercive question etched deep furrows across George Hamilton’s forehead.
Yet, having made the promise himself, George Hamilton responded with a reluctant expression and a heavy, subdued tone.

“…I shall concede.”

Then Huxley, the Chief Secretary, spoke with a satisfied voice.

[A wise decision. I’ll report this to the President accordingly.]

And with that, the call ended abruptly, as if there was nothing more to say.
I set down my phone, suppressing the humiliation that threatened to overwhelm me, and fixed the monitor with a fierce, predatory gaze.

“To let slip through my fingers prey I had already caught. Damn it.”

A harsh curse escaped through my clenched 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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