Golden Spoon Investment Portfolio - Chapter 78

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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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78. How much higher will it go?

Evening was falling in a hazy twilight.
A large black Mercedes sedan pulled into the residential streets of Hannam-dong.
As the sedan came to a halt before the Park Family Residence, surrounded by tall walls and trees, Choo Se-young stepped out from the passenger seat and quickly opened the rear door.
Park Tae-hong, stepping from the car, felt the lukewarm breeze and murmured softly to himself.

“The weather’s already like this—it’s going to be a scorching summer.”

He turned his head and fixed his gaze on Choo Se-young standing beside him.

“You head inside from here.”
“Yes, sir. Please rest comfortably, Chairman.”

Park Tae-hong left Choo Se-young’s respectful bow behind and entered through the gates of the Park Family Residence.
The sprawling Garden was alive with tender green shoots announcing spring’s arrival and the fresh scent of grass.
As I walked along the path, I spotted three cats lounging lazily beneath a parasol table alongside their mother, Tricolor Cat, grooming themselves contentedly, and I paused.

“Meow.”

The mackerel tabby, perking up its ears, lifted its head slightly and, seeing me, let out a cry as if welcoming me home.
At that sight, I let out a soft chuckle.

“Well, at least they still recognize me—they’re not entirely shameless creatures.”

I gazed at the cats with gentle eyes for a moment, then hardened my expression and resumed walking toward the main house.
At the entrance, Jo Deok-rye and my second son, Seok-won, stood with the Gunsan Housekeeper, waiting to greet me.

“Welcome home, Father.”

As Seok-won greeted me with a smile, I scanned him from head to toe with a deeply furrowed brow and spoke curtly.

“So you did come back home.”

At this obvious display of displeasure, Seok-won scratched the back of his head with one hand.

“The business trip did end up taking longer than expected.”
“If a team leader just disappears for extended periods whenever he pleases, what do you think the staff below him will think?”

Park Tae-hong launched into his complaints the moment he laid eyes on me, as if he’d been waiting for this very opportunity.
In the old days, I wouldn’t have dared meet his gaze and would have bowed my head in submission, but now, having weathered countless storms and grown callous from it all, I possessed the thick skin of a seasoned operator and responded with easy confidence.

“Actually, the staff were all quite pleased. And I didn’t just disappear—I obtained formal permission before going to the United States.”
“What?”

Just as Park Tae-hong, looking utterly flabbergasted, was about to narrow his brow and say something, Jo Deok-rye, who had been watching, quickly interjected.

“Good heavens, what are you two doing standing in the entryway? Stop that and go wash up—you should eat dinner.”
“I already had dinner with a state representative.”

Park Tae-hong answered curtly, then immediately turned his gaze back toward me.

“I have something to discuss with you. Come to the Study Room in a moment.”

Without waiting for a response, he strode purposefully into the master bedroom.
Watching her husband’s retreating figure, Jo Deok-rye shook her head and cast a worried glance in my direction.

“Don’t provoke your father unnecessarily. Just apologize if he says anything.”
“Yes, I will.”

After waiting upstairs and timing it appropriately, I picked up a thin folder and headed downstairs, lightly knocking on the Study Room door before entering.
Park Tae-hong, now changed into comfortable clothes and seated on the sofa, gestured toward the empty space beside him with a stern expression, using only his chin.

“Sit there.”

As I settled onto the sofa, Park Tae-hong regarded me with a displeased look and asked in a reproachful tone.

“What were you doing that kept you in the United States for so long?”
“I went to handle matters related to my personal asset manager in the United States. You gave me permission to manage that alongside company work, didn’t you?”

By preemptively bringing up the previous promise before he could scold me, I left Park Tae-hong at a loss for words, and he frowned slightly around his eyes.
However, as befitted a major conglomerate owner, Park Tae-hong was not someone easily pushed around.

“Regardless, I never said you could disappear for months at a time.”
“I apologize for that aspect. But as you’re aware, the U.S. bond market underwent a major upheaval, and I had no choice in the matter.”

Interest rates were one of the most critical factors in conducting business, so Park Tae-hong, naturally aware of the bond massacre unfolding in the United States, stiffened his expression and asked.

“Don’t tell me you invested in bonds?”
“Yes. But I didn’t suffer any losses, so please don’t worry.”

Park Tae-hong recalled seeing a newspaper article a few days earlier about a major American insurance company that had invested in bonds and suffered losses in the hundreds of millions of dollars. He regarded his second son with an anxious gaze.

“Are you truly certain?”
“I may not know much else, but my instincts are sharp. I had an uneasy feeling, so I exited quickly before the interest rate hike announcement came out.”

I hadn’t merely exited early—I’d raked in enormous profits through short selling—but there was no need to mention that, so I glossed over it vaguely.

“Then I’m relieved.”

Park Tae-hong, whose expression had softened slightly with relief, soon grew serious and offered counsel.

“This time you were fortunate enough to avoid the crisis, but you should have learned clearly that investment is something where unexpected calamities can strike at any moment, from any direction.”
“Yes.”
“So don’t charge in recklessly like you did with the pound sterling. Always exercise caution, testing the bridge before you cross it.”
“I will.”

At Seok-won’s ready compliance, Park Tae-hong narrowed his eyes with suspicion instead.

“Don’t just answer me quickly. Remember that even monkeys fall from trees.”
“I’m not foolish enough to invest blindly on instinct alone, so don’t worry.”
“Hmph. And yet this same fellow threw an entire lottery jackpot into the pound sterling collapse?”
“That’s because I could see the pound was trading above its true value.”

Seok-won responded calmly, unbothered by the subtle rebuke.

“When it’s obvious a decline is coming soon, wouldn’t it be foolish to simply stand by and watch?”

Though Park Tae-hong was exasperated by the constant back-and-forth, the judgment had ultimately proven correct, so he couldn’t scold him further and merely groaned.

“I sent you to study in the United States, and you come back with nothing but sharper rhetoric and no actual learning.”
“I learned that eloquence is one of the important virtues a manager must possess.”
“You’re the type who’ll do nothing but flap your mouth if you fall in water.”

Park Tae-hong shook his head as if admitting defeat.
Seok-won, who had been smirking at the sight, quickly shifted his expression to something more serious and spoke.

“I’ll be more careful and deliberate with my investment decisions going forward, as you’ve advised.”
“Even if you succeed ten times over, a single grave misjudgment can cost you everything—that’s what it means to be an executive. Never forget that the suffering from such failures falls far more heavily on the employees beneath you.”

In reality, an owner might face no particular hardship even if poor judgment caused the company significant losses, but the employees’ livelihoods could be threatened.

‘In the IMF crisis that would strike in a few years, it wouldn’t be the conglomerate chairmen who suffered most—it would be the ordinary people who had quietly worked all along, shedding tears of blood.’

Since the IMF crisis, one of the greatest national catastrophes since the nation’s founding, Korea had undergone tremendous changes, and the most painful of these was the collapse of the middle class.
As Seok-won was lost in such thoughts, Park Tae-hong’s voice pulled him back to the present.

“Hmm. I’ll grant that there were unavoidable circumstances this time, but see that you don’t absent yourself for such extended periods again.”
“But….”

Park Tae-hong raised his palm to silence Seok-won and spoke with stern rebuke.

“I permitted you to manage your personal investment firm alongside your duties, but I never said you could neglect your work at the Securities Company. How can clients entrust their money to a team leader who constantly disappears?”
“I haven’t neglected Korean operations while I’ve been in the United States.”

Park Tae-hong snorted dismissively, his expression conveying disbelief.

“The United States isn’t next door. Don’t talk nonsense.”

Seok-won then placed a thin folder on Park Tae-hong’s desk—one he’d brought precisely for this moment.

“What is this?”
“A statement of performance results for the entrusted funds you’ve had me manage.”
“…?”

Seok-won straightened his posture and continued with confident conviction.

“Once you review it, you’ll see that what I’m saying is the truth.”
“….”

Park Tae-hong narrowed his brow and studied his second son for a moment before extending one arm to take the folder.

“Let’s see what kind of results you’ve achieved to be so confident.”

Park Tae-hong, who had been prepared to give Seok-won a thorough scolding if the results disappointed him, widened his eyes as he examined the figures listed in the statement.

[Initial Investment: 16.33 billion won
Total Returns: 58.99 billion won (as of April 6, 1994)]

Park Tae-hong lifted his head abruptly, his expression bewildered as he spoke.

“W-wait… fifty-eight point nine billion? Are you certain this calculation is correct?”

It was hardly surprising that he reacted so intensely—his investment had multiplied several times over in less than a year.
Though Park Tae-hong typically maintained an austere demeanor, his shock was so profound that he couldn’t conceal his bewilderment.
Observing his expression, Seok-won felt a surge of quiet satisfaction, though his smile remained concealed.
Instead, he answered with a composed expression, revealing nothing outwardly.

“There is a slight margin of error.”
“Y-yes, of course. The figure is too extraordinary to be exact. There must naturally be some variance.”

Yet Park Tae-hong’s body went rigid at Seok-won’s next words.

“The stock prices for O-Gwang Industries and Cheonho Steel—the companies we invested in—rose nearly five percent again today.”
“….”
“So even being conservative, we’ve likely surpassed 59 billion won.”
“…!”

At Seok-won’s casual remark, Park Tae-hong’s mouth fell open in stunned silence.
Then, scarcely able to believe what he’d heard, he asked again.

“Did you just say 59 billion?”

Meeting Park Tae-hong’s gaze, Seok-won nodded calmly.

“Yes.”

Park Tae-hong examined the statement once more, his eyes reflecting confusion as he regarded his second son.

“Is such a thing even possible?”
“I told you I wouldn’t neglect this matter and would handle it properly.”

As Seok-won shrugged, Park Tae-hong exhaled sharply, as if all the air had been knocked from his lungs.

“We’ve already tripled our profits, but this stock will climb even higher. I’d recommend we leave it as is.”

Park Tae-hong leaned forward unconsciously as he asked.

“It’ll go up more from here?”
“Yes. We should be able to capture at least a tenfold return.”
“Ten times? That’s over 160 billion won. Aren’t you being too greedy?”

Worried about losing the profits he’d already made, Park Tae-hong expressed his concern, but Seok-won replied with unwavering confidence.

“That was the target from the beginning—a tenfold return on this investment.”
“Hmm. Well, I’ll be damned.”

Park Tae-hong pressed his forehead with a troubled expression.

“When you’re at bat, it’s better to swing for one grand slam than to keep scratching out singles, isn’t it?”
“Kid, this isn’t baseball!”
“Everything is connected by the same principles.”
“You certainly never lose an argument.”

Park Tae-hong deliberated for a long moment before looking at Seok-won and asking again, as if seeking confirmation.

“Are you truly confident about this?”
“If you pull out now, you’ll regret it later. By the way, I’m keeping my own investment in.”
“Hmm.”

Park Tae-hong held his head in his hands for a moment, then finally nodded.

“Fine. I’ll trust you on this.”
“An excellent decision.”

Seok-won’s lips curved into a subtle smile.

“You’ve got nerve, I’ll give you that.”

Park Tae-hong, looking utterly drained, waved one hand dismissively.

“Now that we’ve settled this, you can go.”
“Yes.”

As if he had been waiting for this moment, Seok-won rose from his seat and left the Study Room.
Once the door closed and Park Tae-hong found himself alone, he realized he had called Seok-won intending to scold him, only to be manipulated instead, and a wry smile escaped his lips.

“This boy. He must have prepared this in advance, knowing exactly what I would do.”

Otherwise, there was no way he could have produced the investment statement so perfectly timed, as if tailored to this very moment.
Yet rather than displeasure, a smile of profound satisfaction bloomed across his face.
It was only natural, given that Seok-won had delivered results that exceeded all expectations.
Park Tae-hong, in excellent spirits, slowly reviewed the statement in the folder once more, murmuring to himself.

“That boy. He truly inherited my talent for making money, just as I suspected.”

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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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