New Employees With an Annual Salary of 1 Trillion Won - Chapter 37

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 37. US Expansion (2)

 

 

 

Private equity funds are reluctant to hold operating funds in cash for long periods.

Not only does it lower returns, but it also creates opportunity costs and trust issues, so they must invest somewhere.

 

Especially since Tiger Fund Korea Branch had an additional 500 million dollars added to its operating funds.

With a total of 600 million dollars in enormous operating funds, they urgently needed to find suitable investment opportunities.

 

“Branch Manager, Headquarters contacted us again. They were questioning our cash holdings.”

“The Chairman is pressing us. Well, since the Chairman unilaterally allocated 500 million dollars to the Korea Branch against the Executives’ opinions, he’d want to see results quickly.”

 

The Deputy Branch Manager couldn’t hide his frustration.

The current stock market was literally half water, half fish.

You could invest in any IT company and make huge profits, so he couldn’t understand why the Branch Manager was hesitating.

 

“Headquarters is investing in many Silicon Valley IT companies and achieving high returns. Shouldn’t we follow suit?”

“Would you like to manage the funds for just one month, Deputy Branch Manager?”

“Really? I would definitely invest in IT companies. Would that be okay?”

“You can invest the entire 600 million dollars in IT companies. But please structure the investments so profits can be realized within a month.”

 

The Deputy Branch Manager was also a veteran investor who had been active on Wall Street for a long time.

Even for him, 600 million dollars was a burdensome amount.

Usually they worked in teams, and even executive-level Partner Managers rarely managed such amounts alone.

 

“Are you really okay with investing all 600 million dollars in IT companies?”

“Whether Korean or American IT companies, it doesn’t matter. As long as they can be liquidated within a month.”

“Is there a specific reason for the one-month condition? We could expect higher returns with a long-term investment portfolio.”

“No one knows how the market will change. So even if returns are slightly lower, please proceed with investments that can realize profits as quickly as possible.”

 

The Branch Manager was smiling, but his tone was firm.

Faced with that determination, the Deputy Branch Manager couldn’t raise any more objections.

 

“Investing all 600 million dollars in Korea would be unreasonable. I’ll diversify between the United States and Korean Market, focusing on large blue-chip stocks that are easy to liquidate.”

“That should secure returns not much different from Headquarters.”

“In the short term, yes, but there’s a possibility the return gap could widen after a month. Stocks that are easier to liquidate inevitably have limited short-term upside potential.”

 

Large-cap stocks inherently move heavily.

Even when the overall market shows an upward trend, large-cap stock returns are relatively low.

Eventually, over time, performance would inevitably lag behind the aggressively investing Headquarters.

 

“There’s no reason for the Korea Branch to exist if we just follow Headquarters’ moves. So please operate that way for just one month.”

“Do you have separate plans for after one month?”

“I can’t say it out loud yet, but I do have something in mind.”

 

The Branch Manager’s words carried conviction.

Seeing that determined look in his eyes, the Deputy Branch Manager asked no more questions.

Having watched him since Wall Street, he could tell the Branch Manager was drawing up a big picture.

 

“I really hope you get to return to Headquarters through this opportunity, Branch Manager.”

“Well, whether I return to Headquarters or get assigned to a bigger branch will only be clear after the plan is realized. More importantly, are there any institutions hoping to buy Saera Technology Equity Shares?”

“There are too many, that’s the problem. We just threw out a little bait, and schools of fish came swarming.”

 

The hottest stocks in the Korean stock market recently were undoubtedly Saera Technology and Dream Rain.

And Tiger Fund Korea Branch held over 200 billion won worth of those two stocks.

Of that, 80 billion won worth belonged to Nexfin Employees, but the Branch Manager held all selling rights.

 

“There are many fish, but not many good fish. The only ones that stand out are a few Wall Street funds.”

“Only Wall Street can acquire our entire stake at once. Other places either want only partial amounts or are attaching various conditions.”

“Cali Fund is also on the list. They seem quite interested in Korean companies these days.”

 

Cali Fund was one of the top three private equity funds in the United States.

If Tiger Fund was the representative success story of hedge funds on Wall Street,

Cali Fund was known for traditional Private Equity Fund strategies.

The two funds had different characteristics so they usually didn’t compete directly, but Korea was different.

 

Tiger Fund Korea Branch was operating as a Private Equity Fund.

Cali Fund was the most annoying direct competitor.

 

Cali Fund is interested not only in Korean IT companies but also Banks. This was the direction Tiger Fund Headquarters expected from us.”

“I should meet with the Cali Fund Korea Office representative. Please arrange a meeting. It’ll be a very interesting Negotiation.”

 

A great opportunity to suppress a competitor.

It wasn’t simply about winning, but a calculation to even utilize Cali Fund’s power.

 

***

 

The last day of 1999.

All Nexfin Employees were staying at their posts late into the night.

 

“The millennium bug isn’t really going to hit, is it?”

“With the Patch Employee Lee made, what problems could there be? Plus the Government kept revising and distributing patches too.”

“We might be fine, but you never know about countries like China or India. If those countries launched Nuclear Missiles or something, real world destruction could happen.”

 

Everyone held their breath, staring only at their Watches.

The hands pointing to 11:59 PM crossed over to midnight… and nothing happened.

 

“What? Nothing’s happening?”

“How’s our Company system? Are there any errors or anything?”

“No errors at all. And Internet Websites are working properly too.”

 

On TV, the bells of Bosingak rang out.

At that moment, the Office was filled with both deflation and relief.

 

“Phew… Really. You don’t know how worried I was.”

“You were worried about dying before getting to spend the money piled up in your Fund Account, right?”

“Exactly! If I died without spending that money, I would have raised hell even in the Afterlife.”

 

It was confirmed that Nexfin had no problems.

Now it was Rollbook’s turn, and I quietly slipped out of Nexfin and headed to the Rollbook office.

 

Rollbook’s situation wasn’t much different.

There was no sign of tension at all, and an atmosphere of relief was circulating.

 

“Everything’s fine on our end too, right?”

“CEO! Fortunately, there were absolutely no problems. And maybe because it’s the millennium, but users have increased explosively.”

“What’s the reason?”

“People have this instinct to leave something behind before the end. Just look at any personal page. They’re overflowing with emotional posts.”

 

As Yu Min-jung said, end-of-century sentiment had swept over the site.

And strangely enough, users were also opening their wallets generously.

 

“Today’s sales hit an all-time high. I guess the mood was ‘spend it all before we die.'”

“Good. Then let’s proceed with our end-of-century update too.”

“You mean the platform update? We posted a notice, but the backlash is serious. We’ve received hundreds of complaint emails saying ‘Why are you ruining a site that works fine?'”

“We still have to do it. We need to test it in Korea first before expanding to the United States, so we can respond faster.”

 

One might think we were using the Korean server as a test platform.

But it also meant that the Korean server was leading the world.

I was confident that if it worked in Korea, it would work globally, so I wanted to know the results of the end-of-century update quickly.

 

“We’ll proceed with the update. Everyone please pray for us.”

“I hope it passes quietly like the millennium bug…”

 

With trembling hearts, we proceeded with the end-of-century update.

Rollbook, which had been one platform, was divided into three.

The rigid UI was transformed into something bright and simple with Yu Min-jung’s sensibility added.

 

Ring ring ring!

As soon as the changes went live, all the office phones started ringing at once.

 

“Hello? Yes, the update proceeded as scheduled and recovery is difficult. We apologize. We’ll make it up to you with better service.”

“Yes, we’re sorry.”

 

The phones didn’t stop, and complaints mixed with profanity poured in.

 

“Let’s unplug the phone cords today. And checking emails is also prohibited.”

“Will that be okay? User backlash is severe.”

“Let’s endure it for a few days. Right now, system inspection is more important than responding. Please recheck all functions with errors. I’ll personally monitor the Simple Payment System.”

 

The most important thing was ‘money.’

If problems arose with the payment system, it would be uncontrollable.

After checking in various ways, fortunately there were no issues so far.

 

“Looking at the community atmosphere, there are quite a few positive reactions too.”

“To continue that atmosphere, we need more carrots. Let’s distribute 50 points to all users.”

“No one dislikes free money. I’ll distribute points to all users and new members right away.”

 

50 points was equivalent to 5,000 won.

From an individual user’s perspective, it might not be a large amount,

but for us having to distribute it to all users, it was a massive loss.

 

Nevertheless, it was an inevitable choice for quick stabilization.

As expected, the reaction burst out immediately.

 

“The atmosphere has completely changed! All the complaints have disappeared!”

“The reaction is coming out quickly.”

“Rollbook Market users are surging! Everyone seems too busy shopping to write complaint posts.”

 

Indeed, there’s no better apology than money.

50 points felt like a more sincere apology than a hundred words.

 

***

 

I had never voluntarily taken time off since joining the company.

But today, for my beloved younger brother, I used vacation time for the first time and visited his high school with Mother.

 

“Hello, Coach. I’m Hae-seong’s mother. This is Hae-seong’s older brother.”

“Oh my, you didn’t need to buy all this. You could have just come empty-handed.”

“Since this is our first time meeting you, Coach, it felt awkward to come empty-handed.”

 

We presented a small gift to the newly appointed baseball club coach.

It was luxury sunglasses I bought with my own money, from a quite famous brand.

The coach checked the brand, smiled with satisfaction, and quietly put them away.

 

“Hae-seong brags about his brother a lot. You work at a large corporation?”

“I used to be with GL Group, but now I work at a company called Nexfin. Thank you for taking good care of Hae-seong.”

“Ah, so not a large corporation then. Ahem… The reason I called you here today is to discuss something regarding winter training.”

 

The winter of sophomore year was the most important time for a baseball club player.

It was the last chance to build up their body before becoming a senior, and a crucial opportunity to secure a starting position.

 

“Of course he must participate in winter training. I’ll cover the costs no matter how much.”

“You don’t need to worry too much about the amount. Jung Young-su’s father, who serves as the Parent Association President, has agreed to cover half the training costs.”

“What a wonderful person. If I get the chance, I’d definitely like to express my gratitude to him.”

 

There’s no one more grateful than someone who pays money for others.

Since it wasn’t my money going out, I could express gratitude several times over.

 

“Jung Young-su’s father has a very deep interest in baseball. He really wants to see his son play as a starter.”

“I’ll support that too.”

“His talent is good and his performance isn’t bad either. However, his position overlaps with Hae-seong’s. So from this winter training, I’m thinking of developing Hae-seong as an outfielder. Is that okay with you?”

 

It was essentially a notification.

Hae-seong had excellent talent in both pitching and batting, and I could clearly picture him eagerly waiting to take the mound as a senior.

 

“So he can’t play as a pitcher anymore?”

“There can’t be two aces on one team, right? Still, Hae-seong has a good arm and excellent instincts, so he can definitely succeed as an outfielder too.”

“Can’t he be used as a backup pitcher or closer?”

“It’s because his talent would be wasted. This kid can grow much bigger as an outfielder than as a pitcher.”

 

An explanation that didn’t make sense.

The flow of the situation was abnormal.

I strongly felt as if someone was forcibly trying to reverse the flow of gears.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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