Golden Spoon Investment Portfolio - Chapter 448

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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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448. If it were just the bottom, that would be fortunate, but if the water only reached my knees….

When lunchtime arrived, the Female Employees’ Break Room located in one corner of the Yeouido Daeheung Securities Building came alive with cheerful chatter.
Metal personal lockers for storing belongings were installed along the walls, and the modest space contained little more than fabric sofas and tables without a single window.
Still, it was one of the few places where the female employees could gather comfortably and rest without worrying about others’ eyes.

“Ugh. Seriously! Did Manager Choi have a fight with his wife yesterday? He’s asking me to fix some document five times.”

As Kim Su-na from the Management Support Team complained, Park Hyo-jin, the assistant manager sitting across from her, let out a soft laugh while opening her face mask lid and looking in the mirror.

“Manager Choi got into a huge argument with the director this morning. So you just have to bear with it.”
“Ugh. Am I his stress relief doll or something?”

Kim Su-na made an exasperated expression, clearly annoyed.

“Did you watch Favorable Wind OB-GYN yesterday? Isn’t the director there hilarious?”
“Right! I laughed so hard my stomach hurt.”
“Midal is a troublemaker too, but you can’t help but like him.”
“Kids that age are always like that. My nephew is exactly the same as Midal.”

Around them, people chattered endlessly about the sitcom that aired yesterday and celebrity gossip.
Except for wearing company uniforms instead of school uniforms, it was no different from lunchtime at any girls’ high school.

“Isn’t this lipstick color pretty and vibrant?”

Shin Young-hee from Investment Team 1 reapplied lipstick to her lips that had faded from eating lunch, speaking with pride.
Park Hyo-jin, the assistant manager sitting beside her, examined it carefully and responded.

“It really is. It doesn’t look too dark and it’s genuinely pretty. What shade is it? I need to buy one too.”
“It’s a new product that just came out, and it’s apparently become super popular lately.”

Shin Young-hee smiled and showed off the new lipstick she had purchased over the weekend.
Then, as she was examining the lipstick, Park Hyo-jin noticed an unfamiliar ring on her left ring finger and widened her eyes in surprise.

“Oh my! I haven’t seen this ring before. What is it?”
“Well….”

While Park Hyo-jin hesitated with an awkward expression, the female employees nearby heard the word “ring” and rushed over in a flurry.

“No way!”
“This isn’t cubic zirconia—it’s real gemstone, right?”
“Your boyfriend proposed to you.”
“My goodness. So this is an engagement ring?”
“Eeeek!”

Among the female employees making a fuss, Park Hyo-jin nodded with a bashful face.

“Yeah.”

The female employees then poured out enthusiastic congratulations and questions.

“Congratulations!”
“Oh my. I’m so jealous.”
“Senior, when are you having the wedding?”

Park Hyo-jin answered each question with a rosy blush on both cheeks.

“I think we’ll have it sometime in the fall.”
“A November bride. How wonderful.”
“Where are you planning to go for your honeymoon?”
“We’ll figure that out as we go along.”

Shin Young-hee beside her clasped her hands together, her eyes gleaming.

“I’m so jealous. I want to get married soon too.”
“For that, you need to find a boyfriend first.”

Kim Su-na, a colleague across from her, teased playfully, and Shin Young-hee rolled her eyes.

“Tsk. No matter what happens, I won’t spend this Christmas alone—just you wait.”
“Ahahaha!”
“Wow, that’s quite the determination.”
“Go, Young-hee!”

The female employees around her giggled and cheered her on.
Everyone congratulated her as if it were their own joy, but Park Hyo-jin felt a bittersweet ache beneath her smile.
The thought of having to leave the company she’d worked at for over six years once she married filled her with regret and lingering attachment.
Of course, there was no official rule requiring female employees to resign immediately upon marriage.
But once children came, continuing to work became difficult, so naturally such an atmosphere had developed.
That’s why Park Hyo-jin had resigned herself to quitting when she married, despite her reluctance.
She’d worked hard enough to earn the rank of assistant manager, and the thought of letting it all go left her with a persistent sense of loss.
Just then, a female employee with the nameplate Lee Da-yeon burst through the break room door, breathless and flustered.

“Big news! Big news! Did you all see the announcement posted on the bulletin board?”

Lee Da-yeon spoke with ragged breathing, her face flushed with excitement.

“What is it? What’s going on?”
“Why are you making such a fuss?”

Park Hyo-jin and the female employees looked at her with puzzled expressions.

“Starting today, the company is implementing a new employee welfare program.”

Everyone blinked, looking bewildered.

“What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“Just listen for a moment, please.”

Lee Da-yeon, having caught her breath, explained in detail with an excited expression.

“First, they’re giving five million won as a congratulatory bonus for getting married, and they’re providing one million won for honeymoon expenses too.”
“Really? Seriously?”

Kim Su-na’s head snapped up.
Park Hyo-jin, now on the verge of marriage herself, felt her ears perk up as well.

“That’s nothing compared to what else there is.”
“There’s more?”
“Tell us quickly.”

Shin Young-hee and Kim Su-na urged Lee Da-yeon in turn.

“They’re building an in-house daycare and operating it, and it says that both male and female employees get one year of paid maternity leave when they have a child.”

At that, Park Hyo-jin and the other female employees gasped in astonishment, their mouths falling open.

“Is that really true?”
“One year of paid leave? Is that even possible?”

Park Hyo-jin in particular sparkled with excitement, her eyes gleaming—because offering maternity leave to both male and female employees, and for a full year at that, meant you wouldn’t have to resign even if you got married.

“But you know what the real bombshell is?”
“There are more benefits?”

Park Hyo-jin leaned forward and asked.
Lee Da-yeon smiled with a knowing grin, savoring the concentrated attention, building anticipation.

“When you hear this, you’ll be absolutely floored. The last part is absolutely massive. I couldn’t close my mouth when I saw it.”
“Oh my god, I’m dying here! Just tell us already.”

Kim Su-na, impatient by nature, urged her on anxiously.

“They give a birth congratulations bonus—20 million won for the first child, 40 million for the second, and 60 million for the third!”

Everyone erupted in shock and commotion.

“They give 20 million won just for having a child?”
“The third child gets 60 million won!”

Twenty million won was roughly the annual salary of a fresh graduate from a major corporation, so it was no wonder they were astounded.

“They really give that much money?”

Park Hyo-jin asked with sparkling eyes, and Lee Da-yeon nodded her head.

“That’s what it says. It was clearly written that way on the company bulletin board.”
“Wow. So if you just have two kids, you could buy an apartment right away.”
“Benefits at this level in a company? Nobody would believe it.”
“Who on earth came up with something like this?”

In response to someone’s question, Shin Young-hee answered.

“This isn’t the kind of decision that costs pocket change. The executives wouldn’t have proposed it, which means there’s only one person it could be.”
“Who?”

Kim Su-na tilted her head curiously as she asked.

“Who else? The Chairman’s second son.”
“Ah! Park Seok-won would definitely be capable of something like this.”

The other female employees nearby nodded in agreement.
Though the subsidiary separation hadn’t been finalized yet, the equity restructuring was already complete—Seok-won had effectively inherited both Daheung Venture Capital and the securities company entirely.
And such an unprecedented welfare system requiring continuous substantial expenditure could only be decided by someone like Seok-won, who was practically the owner.
Recalling how Seok-won had demonstrated forward-thinking ideas during his time at Daheung Securities and how well he looked after his subordinates, the female employees were convinced this initiative bore his signature.

“The president is really something, isn’t he?”
“Absolutely. He’s handsome too, and he really seems to be the best.”
“Work actually felt meaningful when he was here.”

The female employees spoke in unison, lavishing praise on Seok-won.
He was the only person in the company who received such overwhelming support from the female staff.
Shin Young-hee from Investment Team 1 turned to look at Park Hyo-jin with a mischievous expression.

“Senior, you’ll need to put in a lot of effort on your honeymoon.”
“What kind of effort?”
“You need to get pregnant soon so you can receive the maternity bonus.”
“You! You’re something else!”

Park Hyo-jin’s face flushed with embarrassment as she swatted at her arm repeatedly.

“Hehe. Senior, I really think you should.”
“It’s twenty million won, after all?”
“And if you have twins in one go, it’s sixty million!”
“My goodness, really?”

As Park Hyo-jin listened to the teasing around her, she found herself thinking.
She had originally planned to have children slowly after marriage, but having them a bit sooner didn’t seem like a bad idea.

‘They did say it’s better for the child to be born when the mother is younger.’

As Park Hyo-jin’s lingering anxiety about marriage and resignation dissolved completely, she found herself laughing freely alongside the female employees.
The new employee welfare system was implemented identically across Daehung Securities, Daheung Venture Capital, and WB Bank, earning enthusiastic support from both male and female staff members.

* * *

June 15, 1998.
The Fund Management Department office at Daheung Venture Capital was gripped by suffocating tension from the morning.
The yen, which had been in decline since last year, had breached the 140 mark and was now pushing past 145, showing no signs of stopping.

“Damn it! The yen just broke through 145.”

[USD/JPY : 145.07
(󰀺1.79)]

At Jung Hwan-yeop’s words, Manager Choi Ho-geun, who stood with his shirt sleeves rolled up and arms crossed, asked in a strained voice.

“What’s the situation with KOSPI?”

Yu Seok-hyun, who was seated at his desk monitoring the screens, answered.

“It’s broken through the 300 level and continuing to plummet.”
“Good grief. Dropping over 20 points in one fell swoop—it’s collapsing brutally.”

Following Jung Hwan-yeop, Hong Jae-hee also spoke with a grave expression, looking toward Manager Choi Ho-geun.

“The won exchange rate is rising too—we’re right on the edge of breaking 1,400.”
“Accounts that used margin are getting wiped out in this crash, and the liquidation volume pouring in is only accelerating the decline. It’s absolutely catastrophic.”
“At this rate, won’t we even break through the 200 level?”

Manager Choi Ho-geun furrowed his brow and shot a sharp look at Jung Hwan-yeop.

“Don’t say such inauspicious things. If that happens, the entire stock market will be destroyed.”
“I’m just worried. But one thing’s for certain—we survived because of the chairman this time. If we hadn’t already liquidated our positions, we would have suffered massive losses.”

The other team members nodded in agreement.
Especially Yu Seok-hyun and Hong Jae-hee, who had been trading aggressively with their individually allocated funds, felt cold sweat running down their spines as they imagined what would have happened if they hadn’t managed to sell off all their holdings before the crash hit them full force.

“The yen is problematic enough, but… you don’t think another currency crisis is coming, do you?”

As Hong Jae-hee spoke with concern, Manager Choi Ho-geun responded not with words but by pulling a cigarette from his pocket, placing it between his lips, and lighting it with his lighter.
I wanted to assure her confidently that such a thing wouldn’t happen, but the yen’s frightening plunge and the won’s exchange rate surging in tandem were far too ominous to offer any such reassurance.
Manager Jung Hwan-yeop scratched his head with one hand and muttered under his breath.

“Fortunately, we dodged the downpour, but watching the market collapse entirely doesn’t exactly put my mind at ease.”

Manager Choi Ho-geun, his expression equally grave, simply smoked in silence.
When the telephone rang, Noh Hee-won, who had been sitting in the corner observing the atmosphere, quickly picked up the receiver.

“Yes. This is Noh Hee-won from the Fund Management Department.”

Noh Hee-won answered the call as usual, but her expression suddenly shifted to one of startled surprise, and she adopted a respectful demeanor.

“Ah. Yes. I’ll transfer you right away.”

She then covered the lower part of the receiver with her hand and spoke in a hushed voice toward Manager Choi Ho-geun.

“It’s the president.”

Manager Choi Ho-geun hastily stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray and rushed over to take the receiver from her hands.

“Yes. The call is transferred.”
[You’re watching the stock index, aren’t you?]
“Of course.”
[Use the cash we have on hand to sweep back up the stocks we sold last time.]

At the unexpected instruction, Manager Choi Ho-geun’s eyes widened as he held the receiver to his ear.

“Right… right now, sir?”
[Yes. We’ve hit bottom, so now it’s time to scoop them up.]
“…!”

Fear that the crash would continue dominated the market, and with the exchange rate soaring, everyone was desperately dumping their stocks.
Yet when the instruction came to buy instead, Manager Choi Ho-geun couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

[Do you understand what I’m saying?]
“Ah, yes. I understand.”

Manager Choi Ho-geun snapped back to attention, ended the call, and lowered the receiver.
Jung Hwan-yeop couldn’t contain his curiosity and immediately asked.

“What did the president say?”

Manager Choi Ho-geun didn’t answer. Instead, he swallowed hard, lifted his gaze, and stared at the large market ticker board mounted on the opposite wall.

[KOSPI : 299.89
(↓42.41)]

No matter how he thought about it, it felt like grasping at a falling blade, but Manager Choi Ho-geun bit his lower lip firmly and issued instructions to his team.

“From now on, buy back all the stocks we sold. The same positions.”
“Pardon?”
“Right now, sir?”

Everyone wore bewildered expressions, but Manager Choi Ho-geun deliberately raised his voice with stern authority.

“That’s right. It’s the president’s order, so move now!”

At the mention of the president’s order, the team members reflexively responded, though they wondered if this was too hasty.

“Yes, understood!”
“Right away!”

Then they each returned to their stations and began buying the plummeting stocks.
As Manager Choi Ho-geun watched his team focus intently on their work, he felt his mouth go dry.

“If this is the bottom, that would be fortunate. But if we’ve only reached the knee and not the floor….”

The thought alone made his chest sink.
Manager Choi Ho-geun stared at the stock index displayed on the large market ticker board with an anxious expression, then pulled out a cigarette and placed it between his lips.

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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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