Golden Spoon Investment Portfolio - Chapter 513

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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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513. As expected, Chairman Cheon’s judgment was correct.

July 20th, 1999.

“Market close!”

As Noh Hee-won announced the closing in a loud voice, Jung Hwan-yeop, who had been sitting in front of the monitors with his shirtsleeves rolled up, stretched both arms high into the air.

“Whew! Another day well spent, wouldn’t you say.”

Then Yu Seok-hyun, his tie loosened, picked up his mug with a slightly weary expression and took a sip of the cold coffee before speaking.

“I thought we might take it easy today, but KOSDAQ surged over 10 points again and hit a new all-time high.”
“That’s four consecutive days of record highs.”

Hong Jae-hee, her hair tied back tightly with a cord, leaned forward and interjected into their conversation.

“At this rate, KOSDAQ might actually break 300 points by year-end.”

Jung Hwan-yeop shook his head as he watched the KOSDAQ index displayed on the monitor.

“We started at 76.12 at the beginning of the year. If it breaks 300, how many times over would that be?”
“Nearly a 300% surge.”

At Yu Seok-hyun’s response, Jung Hwan-yeop let out a hollow laugh.

“It’s absolutely insane.”
“The index has already jumped over 180%, so it doesn’t seem entirely impossible.”

Then Jung Hwan-yeop crossed his arms and spoke.

“That’s exactly what worries me.”
“But if the index rises, we can reap proportional profits. Isn’t that a good thing?”

At Noh Hee-won’s question, holding copy paper in her hand, Jung Hwan-yeop leaned back against his chair and explained the reason.

“That’s true. Stock prices can’t keep rising forever, after all.”
“That’s right.”
“Everything has an end, doesn’t it? So what would you think if the index kept breaking new highs day after day, and then suddenly just stopped dead, like someone hit the brakes?”

Noh Hee-won, receiving the question, paused to consider before answering.

“If it were me, I think I’d want to lock in my profits since the uptrend has stopped.”
“Exactly. You’d hope it keeps climbing, but if the index turns and starts falling, you’d lose money. So you’d want to sell and secure your gains.”

Watching Noh Hee-won nod, Jung Hwan-yeop continued in a notably serious tone.

“The problem is that Miss Noh won’t be the only one thinking that way. Everyone will have the same idea.”
“…!”
“When buying pressure weakens and profit-taking sells flood in all at once, the market will shake violently. Then even investors already burdened by the high index will panic and dump their holdings, fearing further declines. And in that moment—boom!—the index crashes like a dam bursting.”

As he mimicked an explosion with his hands, Noh Hee-won’s face hardened.

“Then shouldn’t we reduce our positions before the index crashes?”

Jung Hwan-yeop shrugged in response.

“That would be nice, but nobody knows if the index will turn and fall tomorrow or a month from now. You can’t wait too long, but if you exit too early and just sit around twiddling your thumbs while everyone else is making profits, you’ve disqualified yourself as a trader.”

At that moment, Choi Ho-geun, who had quietly risen from his seat, spoke bluntly.

“Disqualified is putting it mildly. You’d be clearing out your desk and leaving that very day.”
“Come on. Even if that’s reality, isn’t that a bit too harsh?”
“Then just do your job well enough that you never have to clear your desk.”
“That’s not entirely up to me.”

Choi Ho-geun gave the grumbling Jung Hwan-yeop a sidelong glance, then turned to address the team as he stepped away from his desk.

“As we’ve just discussed, it’s true the atmosphere is good with the index continuously hitting new highs. But you all know well that the stock market is like a reed—you never know when the wind will change direction.”

With the team’s attention focused on him, Choi Ho-geun continued.

“So enjoy the party, but don’t lose your wits getting drunk. Even while dancing, if something feels off, you need to be able to slip away immediately. Don’t forget—dance near the exits. Keep that in mind.”
“Yes, Manager.”
“Understood.”
“Yes. I’ll remember.”

As the team members answered with serious expressions, Jung Hwan-yeop approached from the side with a playful grin.

“You look pretty sharp today, sir.”
“This bastard, I swear!”

Choi Ho-geun’s eyes narrowed into a fierce glare, and Jung Hwan-yeop quickly stepped backward to create distance.

“What? I’m just saying you look good, and you get upset with me?”
“You really can’t read the room, can you?”

Choi Ho-geun pressed his palm to his forehead and let out a heavy sigh.

“I have no idea what sins I committed in my past life.”

As Choi Ho-geun lamented, Jung Hwan-yeop smacked his lips and spoke.

“With KOSDAQ hitting new highs and breaking through 200 points like this, I can’t help but feel regretful.”
“About what?”

At the curt question, Jung Hwan-yeop replied.

“Goldbank. I thought it was just consolidating for a bit, but after they announced last month that they’d be launching a cyber securities company, it started rallying again. Today it hit 27,450 won per share. If I’d known, I would’ve held onto more. It’s such a shame.”

Bluehole Venture Capital had sold off all 30 million shares—55% of its Goldbank stake—at an average price of 14,500 won per share.
That was 1,500 won higher than the original target price of 13,000 won per share.
Yet even after divesting, Goldbank’s stock price continued climbing alongside the KOSPI surge, nearly doubling in value—and there was nothing to be done about the regret that came with it.
Choi Ho-geun’s heart ached every time he looked at Goldbank’s stock price, but he hid it from his team and spoke.

“If you sold above your target price, that’s a win. Everyone needs to remember this: the moment you start dwelling on a stock that’s risen after you’ve already sold and moved on, that’s when your footwork gets tangled.”
“Yes.”
“Understood.”

At the somewhat deflated responses, Choi Ho-geun deliberately brightened his voice.

“It wasn’t the peak, but the shoulder—regardless, we bought at the bottom and made substantial profits, so there’s no need for regrets. And since Chairman Cheon expressed satisfaction and said he’d give us a generous bonus, you can all look forward to it.”
“Wow!”
“Really?”

The moment the word “bonus” was mentioned, the team members’ expressions brightened.
Indeed, the fastest and most reliable cure was financial therapy.

“Let’s finish the settlement quickly, clock out, and grab some soju and braised short ribs.”
“I’ll treat everyone today!”

Jung Hwan-yeop raised his hand energetically.

“Did the sun rise in the west today? What’s gotten into you?”
“Hehe. My corporate card limit just doubled this month.”

Choi Ho-geun nodded as he watched Jung Hwan-yeop chuckling.

“Then you absolutely have to treat us.”

After everyone finished chatting and hurried to wrap up today’s trades, Choi Ho-geun returned to his seat.
Then, almost without thinking, I moved the mouse and pulled up Goldbank’s stock price on the monitor.

[Goldbank: 27,450 (▲550)]

“Hmm.”

Though I pretended to be fine in front of the team, I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of regret every time I saw Goldbank’s stock price climbing so sharply.

‘Looking at how early the selling timing was, even Chairman Cheon makes mistakes.’

I had invested 1 billion won and earned 435 billion won—an extraordinary profit—but given that Seok-won had demonstrated remarkably precise timing on every sale and purchase until now, the regret was unavoidable.
As I stared at the monitor with a wistful gaze, Yu Seok-hyun suddenly let out a loud exclamation.

“Huh!”
“What’s wrong?”

Choi Ho-geun looked up with a puzzled expression.
As the other team members lifted their heads to look, Yu Seok-hyun answered urgently, his eyes wide open.

“Goldbank just released an announcement—they’re withdrawing their plan to acquire a mid-sized securities company and indefinitely postponing their cyber securities establishment plan!”
“Is that really true?”

Manager Choi Ho-geun sprang to his feet as he asked, while Yu Seok-hyun nodded from his seat.

“Yes. Goldbank announced it directly.”

Jung Hwan-yeop, who had quickly verified the disclosure information, exhaled sharply.

“This is real.”

Hong Jae-hee, unable to hide her shock, asked with bewildered eyes.

“Isn’t this a disaster?”

Goldbank, which had been expanding into various internet-related businesses including online shopping, had recently seen its stock price surge excessively before consolidating, and the decisive catalyst for breaking through 20,000 won per share was precisely the announcement of the cyber securities establishment.
But now that the positive catalyst that had sent the stock price soaring amid investor enthusiasm had vanished, it was inevitable that the impact would be significant.

“We’ll need to check the details of why they postponed the cyber securities establishment, but it’s certain this is bad news for the stock price.”

Manager Choi Ho-geun muttered gravely.

“When the market opens tomorrow, Goldbank’s stock will turn weak.”
“That would be fortunate.”

Jung Hwan-yeop spun his chair around and looked at Yu Seok-hyun.

“Like I mentioned earlier, when you’re playing hot potato and the bomb is about to explode, everyone gets scared and runs away. Maybe that bomb just detonated.”

Given that Goldbank had been the leading stock driving the KOSDAQ rally with a stock price that surged over fifty-fold, I shuddered at the mere thought of what nightmare would unfold in tomorrow’s market if Goldbank plummeted.
As everyone’s faces filled with concern and worry, Hong Jae-hee carefully spoke up.

“At least we’re fine since we’ve already sold off all our shares, but the trading departments at securities companies and individual investors must be in chaos right now.”
“There’s no worse stroke of bad luck than this. Ugh. I shudder just thinking about what would’ve happened if we’d still held those Goldbank shares.”
“We definitely wouldn’t be able to talk so leisurely like this.”

Yu Seok-hyun nodded in agreement.

“Right. We’d be working overtime without question to come up with countermeasures.”

Jung Hwan-yeop scratched his head, seeming bewildered by his own words.

“I can’t believe it. Just moments ago, I was regretting that we’d sold too quickly, and now I’m relieved we managed to unload everything in advance. Life really is something where you can’t see even an inch ahead.”

Choi Ho-geun wore an equally complex expression.

“The disclosure from Goldbank will definitely cause significant volatility in the market tomorrow. Find out through all available channels whether this is merely a delay or if there’s a genuine problem.”
“Yes!”
“Understood!”

The team members forgot about their preparations to leave and hurriedly returned to their desks, picking up their phones to assess the situation.
Choi Ho-geun also sat back down and pulled out his mobile phone to search for a contact’s number at the Korea Exchange, when his gaze suddenly fell upon the Goldbank stock price window still displayed on his monitor.

“I thought we’d sold too early because we mistimed it. But that wasn’t the case at all.”

As the largest shareholder holding 55% of Goldbank’s shares, if I hadn’t followed Seok-won’s instructions to begin selling from the 14,000 won per share range, it would have been difficult to liquidate all the shares in time.

“Otherwise, our sale would have triggered the stock price collapse.”

Either way, it would have been the worst outcome for Bluehole Venture Capital.

“Now that the bomb has exploded, I can see that was the optimal timing to sell.”

Choi Ho-geun marveled once again at Seok-won’s foresight in issuing instructions as if he’d known this would happen all along.
Though it was brief, he now regretted having momentarily doubted Seok-won and lamented what he thought was a mistake.

‘The Chairman’s judgment was correct after all.’

Choi Ho-geun nodded to himself several times, thinking how right it had been to follow Seok-won’s instructions exactly as given.

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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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