Golden Spoon Investment Portfolio - Chapter 86

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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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86. There’s nothing wrong with making a fortune because of it.

Daeheung Securities Headquarters in Yeouido.
A black BMW 540i descended the slope and entered the spacious underground parking lot.
Finding an empty spot beside one of the pillars, Seok-won stepped out of the driver’s seat—impeccably dressed in a suit, his hair neatly groomed.
After locking the car and tucking the keys into his inner pocket, he walked toward the elevator hall on the opposite side.
Stepping into the empty elevator that happened to be stopped in the basement, I pressed the button for the fifth floor and watched the floor indicator numbers change.
Soon the elevator, which had been ascending, came to a halt at the lobby on the first floor, and the doors slid open.

“Oh.”
“What? Why aren’t you getting on?”

The male and female employees who had just arrived and lined up to board the elevator froze upon seeing me inside, hesitating to enter.
The people in the back, who had been grumbling about why no one was boarding, soon sensed the situation and fell silent.
Everyone knew who I was, so their reaction was only natural.
Moreover, rumors had recently been circulating that Chairman Park Tae-hong intended to pass the group to his eldest son, who had been confirmed as his successor, and hand over the securities company to his second son, making everyone even more uncomfortable.

“Aren’t you getting on?”

A male employee standing awkwardly in front of the open elevator doors, whose eyes met mine, answered in a flustered manner.

“W-we’ll take the next one.”

Please go ahead, the male employee gestured carefully.
I easily sensed why the employees were acting so awkwardly and smiled lightly, pressing myself against the wall.

“There’s plenty of room. There’s no need for that. Just get on.”

But the male employee and the others behind him remained motionless, hesitating.
Then I continued pressing the open button with one hand while glancing at my wristwatch with the other arm raised.

“The market’s about to open. Are you planning to keep doing this?”
“Gasp…”
“R-right then. Excuse us.”

Employees who feared a catastrophe might occur if something went wrong reluctantly began boarding the Elevator one by one.
Moments later, the doors closed again, and the Elevator carrying Seok-won and the employees ascended.
When Seok-won stepped out on the fifth floor, the employees who had been tensing their bodies throughout the ride exhaled simultaneously without anyone needing to speak first.

“Phew, I thought I’d die from the tension.”
“Tell me about it.”
“But based on his appearance alone, I thought his personality would be cold—wasn’t that unexpected?”
“Right? I figured someone at the level of the chairman’s son would be arrogant and reeking of entitlement. But he doesn’t seem like that type at all.”
“There were rumors at first that he was a parachute hire, but it turned out he’s actually talented. You heard, right? Investment Team 4 made a killing again this time.”
“I heard they got a huge year-end bonus last time too. I’m really jealous.”

The employees poured out all manner of comments about Seok-won like a dam bursting.
Seok-won was far from the type to swagger around or act arrogantly in his usual manner.
Moreover, rather than receiving special treatment merely by virtue of his bloodline, he demonstrated his abilities through outstanding performance, which is why people’s reactions were mostly favorable.

Meanwhile, Seok-won exited the Elevator and walked down the corridor into the Trading Center.
Though the market opening was still about an hour away, most of the staff had already arrived and were busily preparing for trading.

“Welcome, Team Leader.”

Hong Jae-hee, dressed elegantly in a two-piece suit and seated at her desk, greeted Seok-won as he arrived.
At that, Choi Ho-geun and the other team members rose and bowed in unison.

“Good morning, sir.”
“Good morning, everyone.”

Seok-won received the team’s greetings with a smile and headed toward his private Office.
Out of habit, he powered on his computer first, then removed his jacket and hung it on the coat rack nearby.
Just then, Hong Jae-hee knocked on the door and entered carrying an iced coffee with ice cubes on a tray.

“Here’s your coffee.”
“I’ll enjoy it. But you don’t need to go out of your way to prepare it every morning like this.”
“It’s payment for the gift you gave me when you returned from the United States. Since I received something expensive, I should at least make you coffee.”
“So it’s not free—that’s what you’re saying. Then I’ll have to buy you something again next time.”

If there was anyone in the Office with eyes as keen for gifts as Jung Hwan-yeop, it was Hong Jae-hee.
With subtle anticipation, Hong Jae-hee tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and answered.

“Well, you don’t have to… but if you insist on giving me something, I won’t refuse.”

Seok-won burst into laughter at the transparent honesty of my response.

“Haha, understood. I’ll make sure to remember it—if only to get Hong Jae-hee’s coffee every morning.”

At his smile, which revealed perfectly aligned white teeth, Hong Jae-hee’s cheeks flushed crimson.

‘Is it even allowed for someone to be that handsome?’

She could have spent the entire day gazing at Seok-won’s face without a moment of boredom.

“Then I’ll take my leave.”

With a slight bow, Hong Jae-hee hurried out of the room in embarrassment, her steps quick and light.
Seok-won watched her retreating figure with a low chuckle, then took a sip of his refreshing iced coffee and set it down.
As he picked up the newspaper laid neatly on his desk, the first headline that caught his eye was unmistakable.

[President Kim: “I am grateful for the blood, sweat, and tears shed by our veterans 44 years ago in defense of the Republic of Korea’s freedom”]

The front page featured a large headline alongside a photograph of President Kim Sung-gyu delivering a speech at the 44th anniversary commemoration ceremony for the Korean War, held at the Unknown Soldiers’ Memorial at Dongjak-dong National Cemetery in Seoul last Saturday.
Turning to the next page, I saw a familiar face—my father, Chairman Park Tae-hong.

[Chairman Park Tae-hong, who recovered the Meredith Victory—the ship that brought about a Christmas miracle during the Korean War—receives the Order of National Merit, Mugunghwa Medal]

Upon seeing the photograph of Chairman Park Tae-hong standing upright as the President pinned the medal to his chest, I let out a quiet laugh.
The medal he received that day had clearly pleased him so much that I recalled it being prominently displayed in the center of my study’s bookshelf.
It seemed he had resolved to use the Meredith Victory as a card for shifting the political narrative, wearing it down to its last thread—more than two weeks had passed since the ship returned to Incheon Port, yet related articles continued to appear regularly.
The article about Chairman Park Tae-hong receiving the medal alone occupied half the page, given its considerable prominence.

“The more the media mentions the Meredith Victory, the more my father’s and the group’s image will improve. There’s nothing wrong with that.”

With the image improvement and the preliminary approval for a new duty-free shop, the returns far exceeded the investment made.

“Honestly, I never even considered the duty-free shop. But if this works out, it might be worth a serious attempt in the department store war ahead.”

If Midopa Department Store—one of the two pillars supporting the Daeheung Group—could hold its ground without being crushed by competition, the future could change dramatically.
Of course, building a new duty-free shop would require substantial investment, which would strain the already tight group finances.

“Still, it’s far better than pouring funds into failing subsidiaries that drain money like a bottomless pit.”

How to leverage the duty-free business rights I’d fortunately acquired was up to my father and eldest brother.

“Getting involved in this too would be overstepping my bounds.”

As I muttered to myself, my phone on the desk began to ring.
I picked it up and heard the familiar voice of Landon Shore.

[Is this a good time to talk, boss?]

I leaned back in my chair and checked the time on my wristwatch.

“Isn’t it nighttime where you are?”
[I had something to report, so I called.]
“Go ahead, tell me.”
[As you instructed, I took a short position of 24.7 billion dollars and used 3x leverage to sell the peso and Mexican bonds.]
“How’s the market reacting?”
[The exchange rate, which had been hovering around 3 pesos before the massive sell-off, plummeted to 4.5 pesos, but has since recovered to 3.3 pesos.]

I spoke calmly, as if I’d expected as much.

“As expected, the Bank of Mexico must have intervened.”
[That’s likely. Over the past two weeks, we alone have sold 15 billion dollars worth, and only the Bank of Mexico would have the capacity to absorb that volume.]
“Combined with attacks from other quarters, their foreign exchange reserves must be significantly depleted by now.”
[Perhaps because of that, rumors are circulating that the Mexican government will issue 5 billion dollars in new government bonds next month.]
“The market is already anxious, and now they’re issuing additional bonds? It’s practically an admission that they’re in dire straits.”
[It does suggest the Mexican government is desperate, doesn’t it?]

I let out a small, bitter laugh.

“Or they might simply not understand the situation yet.”
[Now that you mention it, that’s true. If they really wanted to extinguish this fire, they wouldn’t issue bonds—they’d abolish the pegged exchange rate system that’s strangling them and devalue the peso.]

I nodded slightly, phone pressed to my ear.

“They likely know the solution, but they’re stalling until the vote, trying to buy time however they can.”
[It’s pathetic how they’re ignoring the obvious—that the bomb grows bigger with each passing day—and scrambling to conceal and contain it.]

I shrugged slightly while seated in my chair.

“Thanks to that, we’re making a fortune, so there’s nothing bad about it for us.”
[That’s true.]

It was like exploiting Mexico’s stumbling weakness and draining the money from their coffers, yet I felt no pangs of conscience or sense of apology.

‘After all, it’s the Mexican politicians who are so blinded by maintaining power that they failed to respond properly. Who am I to blame?’

While they couldn’t have completely avoided the blow, if they had responded quickly after seeing the Federal Reserve begin raising interest rates, they could have averted the worst.

‘Besides, even if it weren’t me, other investors wouldn’t have just left such an appetizing prey alone. Under those circumstances, isn’t it better to devour it first?’

Having rationalized it to myself, I adjusted my grip on the phone in my hand and spoke.

“I heard the ruling party nominated a new presidential candidate to replace the assassinated Colosio?”
[Yes. Ernesto Cedillo—he was originally serving as the party headquarters director. He’s an elite who graduated from a prestigious American university and served as vice minister of the Bank of Mexico and the Ministry of Planning and Budget, so they say he’s an economic expert.]
“For someone hastily put forward, he seems like a reasonably appropriate choice given the economic crisis.”
[That’s true, but looking at today’s polling data showing him in a tight race within the margin of error against the opposition candidate, it seems unavoidable that his recognition is significantly lower compared to the assassinated candidate Colosio.]
“That’s probably why the Mexican government and ruling party can’t respond more actively.”
[That’s likely. If they utter words like tax increases or restructuring in this situation, they’d have to abandon the election that very moment.]
“Still, just in case. Keep a close eye on the situation 24 hours a day, and contact me immediately if anything changes.”
[Understood.]

Landon Shore, having answered, naturally moved on to the next topic.

[Ah, and we’ve completely closed out all the long positions we had on insurance and bank stocks that had plummeted in the wake of the bond massacre.]
“How much profit did we make?”

As if he’d been waiting for that very question, Landon Shore laughed with pride.

[Don’t be surprised. We made a 32% return and earned 1.22 billion dollars after expenses.]

This time too, by using 3x leverage on the original 1 billion dollar principal, I was able to amplify the profits even further.
I smiled with satisfaction, my lips curving upward.

“Good work.”
[What should we do with the profits?]

I stroked my cleanly shaven chin with one hand, pondering for a moment before speaking.

“Cisco stock has been climbing quite a bit lately, hasn’t it?”
[Yes. I believe it’s crossed the twenty-dollar mark per share.]

Watching Cisco’s stock price hit bottom after the massive accumulation and then steadily climb, Landon Shore couldn’t help but marvel once again at Seok-won’s exceptional instincts.

“Then let’s keep a billion dollars in reserve for contingencies and split the rest fifty-fifty between Cisco and Microsoft.”

The earlier acquisition of Cisco shares hadn’t been made under the Eldorado Fund—I’d invested them under my own name.
So while the purchases went through the Eldorado Fund, my name appeared on the shareholder registry.

[I’ll handle it as you’ve instructed.]

After ending the call, I set down my phone and rose from my chair, walking toward the window.
Between the towering forest of buildings stretching upward, dark clouds gathered thick as if rain were coming.

“Soon enough, the hungry wolves will catch the scent of blood and come swarming into Mexico.”

I murmured softly, then lifted my gaze toward the increasingly darkening sky.

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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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