Golden Spoon Investment Portfolio - Chapter 4

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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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4. A Greedy Prey.

Mapo-gu, Seoul.
The headquarters of the Daeheung Group stood prominently along a wide boulevard where vehicles constantly flowed—a structure spanning three basement levels and twenty stories above ground.
Park Tae-hong’s executive office occupied the highest floor, the twentieth level.
Seated at his desk in the spacious, elegantly appointed office furnished with mahogany pieces, Park Tae-hong was reviewing approval documents when he heard a knock and lifted his gaze.
A lean, middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses entered through the door and bowed slightly.
It was Gil Seong-ho, the director of the secretarial office and Park Tae-hong’s most trusted aide for many years.
As Gil Seong-ho approached the desk, he placed a bundle of newspapers upon it and spoke.

“Chairman. I’ve brought the American newspapers from last Monday as you requested.”
“Ah. Yes.”

Park Tae-hong straightened his posture and picked up the USA Today from the top of the stack.
In those days, before the internet had become widespread, one had to obtain newspapers directly like this to read articles from American publications.
As Park Tae-hong unfolded the newspaper and scanned through it, he found the article he sought without difficulty.

[Powerball Jackpot Explodes in Texas!
With no winners for five consecutive drawings, the Powerball jackpot had climbed to 190 million dollars when finally fortune smiled upon a lucky winner.
The Texas Lottery Commission revealed that the fortunate winner is a man in his twenties, a foreign exchange student residing in Massachusetts named Park Seok-won.
He had purchased a Powerball ticket while visiting Texas on vacation, and it struck the jackpot as the sole winner, triggering this enormous payout.
The prize could be received as a lump sum or as an annuity over twenty-nine years, and the winner reportedly decided to accept the lump sum despite the substantial tax burden.]

Alongside the article was a large photograph of his second son posing with a panel displaying $190,000,000.
Though the black-and-white photograph was slightly blurred, Park Tae-hong recognized his second son’s face instantly.
Even after their phone conversation, he had harbored doubts, but seeing the newspaper article with his own eyes made the reality of winning such an enormous lottery prize impossible to deny.

“Heh.”

As Park Tae-hong let out a hollow laugh, Gil Seong-ho, standing before him, asked cautiously.

“Is something the matter, Chairman?”

Park Tae-hong raised his head and answered, his face still filled with bewilderment.

“There is. And it’s quite a significant matter at that.”

As far as Gil Seong-ho knew, there was nothing particularly significant happening at the company, so he wore a puzzled expression.

“I’m not sure what you mean, sir.”
“You’ll see for yourself.”

Park Tae-hong set down the newspaper he’d been holding and leaned back in his chair with a leisurely sigh.
Gil Seong-ho tilted his head as he picked up the newspaper, and upon finding the article Park Tae-hong had been reading, his eyes widened in shock.

“This… surely this isn’t your second son, sir!”

Park Tae-hong, his hands clasped together as he sat, let out a hearty laugh.

“You seem quite startled yourself. Well, I can’t blame you—I’m just as shocked.”
“But isn’t your second son currently studying in the United States?”
“That’s right. But yesterday, that rascal Seok-won suddenly called me and said… what’s the name of that American lottery again?”
“Powerball, sir.”
“Yes, that’s it. Powerball. Anyway, he said he won the jackpot there. I was so flustered I’m still in a daze.”

Gil Seong-ho nodded in understanding.
Winning a housing lottery with a prize of 150 million won was already remarkable, but a jackpot worth 190 million dollars!
Of course, taxes would need to be deducted, but even so, it was an astronomical stroke of fortune that most people could scarcely imagine.
Watching Gil Seong-ho struggle to conceal his astonishment, Park Tae-hong asked.

“What’s today’s exchange rate?”

Gil Seong-ho answered immediately.

“780.5 won per dollar, sir.”
“Hmm. So my second son’s winnings would come to roughly 93.4 billion won in Korean currency.”
“That sounds about right, sir.”

Even upon reflection, it was a sum staggering enough to leave one speechless.

“Contact the US branch director and have him go to Cambridge where my second son is.”
“Is this because of the lottery winnings, sir?”
“Yes. As they say, great fortune invites misfortune. With such a large sum of money, he could easily become entangled in something unsavory.”

At those words, Gil Seong-ho’s expression hardened as well.

“Once word gets out about winning such a massive lottery prize, all sorts of hangers-on will come crawling. And since it’s abroad, the reach of unsavory temptations extends far more easily. It would be wise to establish safeguards beforehand.”
“You’re right. Especially given what happened last time—I can’t help but worry.”

A shadow flickered across Park Tae-hong’s face.
He was remembering the incident when his son had nearly died after being shot by an armed robber.
Though he’d reportedly made a full recovery with minimal aftereffects, the chairman had no desire to see his son entangled in another troublesome affair after experiencing such a harrowing ordeal.
Gil Seong-ho, sensing the chairman’s concerns, nodded with a grimly set expression.

“Understood. I’ll contact the United States branch immediately.”
“Have the winnings registered under my son’s name and placed into an appropriate investment product in the United States.”
“Yes, sir.”

As Gil Seong-ho turned and left, Park Tae-hong remained alone in his office, gazing down at the newspaper photo of his son, muttering as if still unable to believe it.

“Remarkable. You live long enough and you see everything.”

* * *

Austin, Texas.
Dressed casually, I sat alone in the hotel lounge café where brilliant sunlight streamed through expansive glass windows, sipping coffee while reading today’s Wall Street Journal.

[British Government Refuses Business Community’s Call for Rate Cuts!
In an effort to overcome deepening economic stagnation, Britain’s business community has issued a statement demanding that the pound be devalued to 1.60 marks within the ERM and that interest rates be reduced by 3%.
However, Downing Street and the Bank of England have rejected this, announcing they will maintain current financial policies for European integration.
Regarding this….]

Upon reading the article, my eyes gleamed with interest, and the corner of my mouth curved upward.

“Just as I expected.”

As a preliminary step toward launching the euro, the twelve nations of the European Community had created the European Exchange Rate Mechanism—the ERM.
The idea was to fix the exchange rates of the various currencies used by each nation and maintain designated rates.
Naturally, Britain, as a core nation of the European Community, had joined the ERM and pegged the pound to fixed exchange rates with other European currencies.

“Until now, the ERM has played a major role in stabilizing exchange rates among European nations. But not anymore.”

I rested my chin in my hand, recalling a memory from long ago.
There was one regular customer who had been coming to me since I first set up shop as a shoeshine boy in the Yeouido Securities District.
He had a cheerful personality and loved to sit on a plastic chair wearing three-striped slippers, chatting away about this and that until I finished polishing his shoes.
Once he started talking, it was hard to get him to stop—most of it was idle gossip, but occasionally he would share information from what people called underground financial newsletters or behind-the-scenes stories about the stock market.
And among those stories was one about an incident that would soon shake the Bank of England.

“Actually, the one who brought down Britain’s Bank of England wasn’t George Hamilton—it was Germany’s Bundesbank.”

I responded with a casual “hmm” while skillfully applying brown shoe polish to the cloth wrapped around my hand.

“But didn’t you say last time that someone named George Hamilton was the one who brought the Bank of England to its knees?”

The man then answered in a cheerful voice, one leg crossed over the other knee.

“That’s right. But without Germany’s selfish actions, no matter how capable George Hamilton was, he would never have dared to challenge the Bank of England.”
“What did Germany do to cause that?”

When I showed interest, the man became animated and launched into his explanation.

“Even now, but especially back then, Germany was the most prosperous nation among the European Community countries. Of course, prideful Britain and France would never admit it.”

I continued polishing the shoe resting on the stand while listening intently to his story.

“So naturally, they fixed the exchange rates of Western European countries based on the Deutsche Mark.”
“If Germany was the richest, that would make sense.”
“Exactly. But when the Berlin Wall fell and Germany, divided into East and West, was reunified, the ERM that had been running smoothly began to creak.”

I tilted my head in confusion as I carefully applied the shoe polish.

“What does Germany’s reunification have to do with the British pound?”
“It has everything to do with it. Unlike West Germany, which achieved the Rhine Miracle, East Germany was practically a ruin on the verge of collapse. They achieved their long-desired reunification, but the West German government and people found themselves burdened with an enormous weight.”

I stopped polishing and focused entirely on his story.

“Once reunification happened, they couldn’t just leave it as it was.”
“That’s true.”
“So the German government poured astronomical amounts of money into development—essentially rebuilding almost the entire East German region from scratch.”
….
“But no matter how strong and wealthy Germany was, the government budget alone couldn’t cover all the expenses this required. So do you know what the German government did?”

After a moment of thought, I blinked my round eyes.

“If the government lacks funds, wouldn’t they need to issue government bonds to borrow money?”
“Ding dong ding! That’s right.”

The man clapped his hands with exaggerated enthusiasm.

“They say even a dog at a village school learns to recite poetry after three years—you’re quite impressive!”

Instead of answering, I flashed a grin.

“Just as you said, the German government issued bonds on a massive scale to secure the necessary funds, but then a different problem emerged. Inflation, to be precise.”

The man pulled a cigarette pack from his pocket, lit a cigarette while sitting in his chair. In those days, smoking indoors and on the streets was commonplace, so it was a natural gesture.
In those days, smoking indoors and on the streets was commonplace, so it was a natural gesture.

“When the government churns out bonds and floods the market with money, inflation is bound to occur. It would be strange if it didn’t.”

I understood that much, so I nodded in agreement.

“So the Bundesbank, Germany’s central bank, raised interest rates sharply to control inflation as per its mandate, and this dealt a fatal blow to the pound.”
“Why is that?”
“Remember how I said that under the ERM, the European Community nations maintained a fixed exchange rate system centered on the Deutsche Mark?”
“Yes.”
“Then what would other nations have to do if German interest rates rose?”
“They’d have to raise their interest rates too to maintain the exchange rate.”
“Exactly. But unlike Germany, Britain and other nations were in economic recession and needed to lower rates, not raise them.”

The man exhaled smoke and smiled, showing his white teeth.

“Yet despite this situation, the British government followed Germany’s lead and raised interest rates to keep the pound at parity with the Deutsche Mark.”
“Really?”
“Yes. It’s like putting a hospitalized patient on a fast instead of giving them nutritional supplements.”
“I see….”
“And hedge funds led by George Hamilton didn’t miss that blood in the water—they pounced on the opportunity.”

So, was it an interesting story?
The man’s voice faded indistinctly from my ears.
Returning from the depths of memory, I gazed down at the newspaper article in my hand once more.
In circumstances like these, this article released today was nothing short of a dinner bell summoning hedge funds from across the globe.

“Once, perhaps, it was a lion that commanded the savage plains, but now, drained of strength and withered by age, it is merely prey for ravenous hyenas.”

I too planned to plunge into the colossal tempest about to descend upon Britain.

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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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