New Employees With an Annual Salary of 1 Trillion Won - Chapter 85

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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 85. New Connections (5)

 

The routine had been modified for several weeks.

 

The routine from morning until the afternoon work schedule remained the same.

 

But after work, I spent time at Tiger Fund Korea Branch analyzing accounting records late into the night.

 

I would analyze the materials and pass them on.

 

Then the employees would conduct intensive analysis in that manner.

 

But today I couldn’t maintain the routine. A major event had broken out.

 

“Song Sang-yeon is here? Perfect timing, the congressional hearing just started!”

 

“The SEC investigation is already finished? The insider disclosure was just two weeks ago, but they’re already holding a hearing.”

 

“Since the insider disclosure provided solid evidence, there’s no need for further investigation. And it seems the SEC has also secured definitive proof.”

 

The Branch Manager spoke quietly without taking his eyes off the TV.

 

The Congressional Hearing Room on screen. The opening declaration echoed, and soon after, the Whistleblower raised his right hand to take the witness oath.

 

“Is that person the accountant that the General Manager recruited?”

 

“That’s right. Kim Do-yoon, an accountant who’s the General Manager’s college junior, and he’s known in the industry for being quite skilled.”

 

“Is it true that he’s coming to the Korea Branch soon?”

 

“He’s scheduled to come to Korea as soon as the hearing ends. After all, staying in the United States right now could pose safety issues. And his Family Members have already settled in Seoul.”

 

While we were having our conversation, the first question began.

 

The atmosphere in the Congressional Hearing Room became much heavier, and the Congressman holding the microphone asked in a sharp voice.

 

[Is it true that Andersen Accounting Firm received requests from Enron and intentionally participated in accounting manipulation?]

 

[Yes, that’s correct.]

 

[Please tell us specifically how the accounting manipulation was carried out.]

 

Kim Do-yoon pulled out a Document Envelope from his Bag.

 

Inside were dozens of Shredded Papers, some of which had been pieced together with Tape.

 

[The first instruction I received after transferring teams was to shred documents. They were all Enron-related Materials, Documents that recorded the actual accounting figures before the accounting manipulation.]

 

[Do you acknowledge that the timing of document shredding coincided with audit season?]

 

[The shredding was carried out two days before the audit. Out of guilt, I personally kept the shredded Documents.]

 

The Congressman was persistently questioning the timing of the shredding.

 

And Kim Do-yoon revealed the exact date and time.

 

“This seems to be a legally problematic matter.”

 

“Document shredding itself isn’t illegal, but deliberately shredding when an audit has been announced results in obstruction of business charges.”

 

“Accounting manipulation charges plus business interference charges on top of that.”

 

Kim Do-yoon exposed both the business interference and accounting manipulation facts.

 

Now it was the turn of the partner accountant who led the accounting manipulation.

 

“That person is David Duncan, Kim Do-yoon’s direct superior. He’s also a key figure in this incident.”

 

“He seems to have a lot of resentment built up toward accountant Kim Do-yoon. He keeps staring only at the witness stand.”

 

“Wouldn’t that be natural? He exposed his dirty secrets, so of course only bad feelings would remain.”

 

But when the hearing began, David Duncan had no choice but to look away.

 

The congressmen began taking turns criticizing him, and soon he was opening innocent eyes like a calf.

 

[Do you admit to the accounting manipulation?]

 

[….]

 

[Are you exercising your right to remain silent? Isn’t there such clear evidence remaining! Didn’t you deliberately inflate operating profits by using Starwell Investment as a ghost company!]

 

[I’m sorry.]

 

[Not an apology, admit it! Do you admit to the accounting manipulation!]

 

[…I admit it.]

 

That was the end of it.

 

There was no longer any need to watch the hearing.

 

“Now that the partner accountant has confessed, there’s no turning back.”

 

“You can tell how public opinion is reacting just by looking at the stock price window.”

 

The stock price window was fluctuating wildly.

 

Enron’s stocks had fallen more than 30%, and the decline was accelerating.

 

“The decline is quite serious.”

 

“Actually, you could say it’s over. Since they even confessed at the hearing, Enron could even go bankrupt.”

 

“In that case, a 99% stock price decline would be possible.”

 

“Theoretically yes, but we’ll have to liquidate our short selling positions at the 80-90% level at worst. If we can’t liquidate before bankruptcy, trading itself becomes impossible.”

 

Short selling had a structure where you had to buy back and repay.

 

But if delisting occurs, trading itself becomes impossible so you can’t buy back.

 

So we had to proceed with liquidation work when liquidity remained before bankruptcy.

 

“If we get too greedy and it goes bankrupt, we might end up holding the bag.”

 

“That will absolutely never happen. We’ve already established a complete liquidation plan, and we plan to start short covering when Enron’s stock price falls below 1 dollar.”

 

“In that case, what would the return rate be?”

 

“Even a rough estimate would easily exceed 1 billion dollars.”

 

It was like earning over 1 trillion won from short selling in one shot.

 

Being able to achieve such profits in just one month seemed to be why short selling forces kept emerging endlessly.

 

While I was lost in thought for a moment.

 

One of the employees came running over urgently.

 

“There’s a call from the General Manager. He’s looking for Deputy Manager Lee Jung-hoo.”

 

I quickly picked up the phone.

 

I could hear the General Manager’s slightly excited voice.

 

[Did you watch the hearing?]

 

“I watched the hearing and also checked Enron’s stock price situation. Congratulations.”

 

[I should be the one expressing gratitude. Thanks to Employee Lee, we were able to achieve huge profits.]

 

“It’s thanks to all the Fund employees’ hard work. Especially the Branch Manager worked very hard.”

 

[Since you’ve worked hard, please work a little harder. Has the next target been confirmed?]

 

The General Manager wanted the next target.

 

I pulled out the materials I had prepared for him.

 

“WorldCom and Tyco are also suspected of accounting manipulation. The employees and I have secured some evidence of accounting manipulation.”

 

[Please send it by today. I’ll blow it up right away.]

 

“Don’t you need other evidence? Wouldn’t we need insider recruitment or events like hearings to move stock prices?”

 

[There’s no need for that. The first time is difficult, but from the second time onwards, the market is designed to react with just a little evidence.]

 

Now I understood.

 

Why he was so obsessed with Enron’s accounting manipulation materials.

 

In fact, the materials we had secured were sufficient for short selling.

 

Nevertheless, the General Manager prepared everything from insider recruitment to the hearing.

 

“You’re seeing it as falling down like dominoes on their own.”

 

[Now that Enron has fallen, other companies will collapse one after another even with just minor accounting manipulation suspicions. Of course, if we misfire at a company that hasn’t done accounting manipulation, we’ll receive that karma.]

 

“If we misfire, we might get it right back.”

 

Accounting manipulation wasn’t a simple incident.

 

It was sufficient to bankrupt a company, and serious enough that even Congress would hold emergency hearings.

 

[If we make false attacks, the SEC will attack Tiger Fund. So we must only attack companies with definite suspicions.]

 

“WorldCom and Tyco are certain. Especially WorldCom – while its market cap is only half of Enron’s, the scale of accounting manipulation seems much larger.”

 

I nearly damaged my eardrums while searching for WorldCom materials.

 

Every time I turned a page of materials, discordant sounds burst out, and since the scale of accounting manipulation was so large, finding evidence wasn’t too difficult either.

 

[Can you briefly explain how they manipulated their accounting?]

 

“They were treating expenses as assets. They classified transmission network lease fees not as expenses but rather as long-term assets to inflate their operating profit and net income.”

 

[Then there’s nothing more to think about. We can proceed with short selling within this week.]

 

WorldCom was much worse than Enron.

 

If Enron ended in bankruptcy, WorldCom was on a scale where management would have to live in prison.

 

And though smaller in scale, the most malicious was Tyco.

 

“And in Tyco’s case, they carried out embezzlement and breach of trust through accounting manipulation.”

 

[Embezzlement and breach of trust could become a very big problem. Are you certain?]

 

“After investigating the materials, it was certain. They paid large cash bonuses to the CEO and CFO without board approval, and even used 2 million dollars of company money for management family birthday parties.”

 

[That’s quite severe.]

 

“And we also confirmed evidence of slush fund creation. They inflated acquisition costs during merger and acquisition processes.”

 

Actually, the evidence was insufficient.

 

It was closer to speculation based on public accounting data.

 

But while examining the materials, I broke out in hives all over my body, and there were too many abnormal patterns in the accounting data.

 

[We’ll need to hit WorldCom and Tyco simultaneously. That way the fire will spread better, won’t it?]

 

“Won’t we be short on time?”

 

[Compared to Enron, WorldCom and Tyco are smaller in scale, so it’s definitely possible. At most, we just need to take short selling positions of about 2 billion dollars for each company.]

 

There was quite a difference in market capitalization.

 

WorldCom and Tyco’s market capitalizations combined would be similar in scale to Enron.

 

“We need to quickly add fuel before the Enron situation dies down for the fire to grow bigger.”

 

[Just wait 2 weeks. I’ll wrap up the situation and return to Korea within that time.]

 

“You can take your time coming back.”

 

Now I understood why my Nexpin colleagues had said that to me.

 

With the General Manager in the United States, I could live leisurely while maintaining my routine.

 

My Nexpin colleagues could also live leisurely if I didn’t throw work at them, right?

 

Just that thought made displeasure wash over me.

 

I absolutely can’t stand to see that sight.

 

[And for this short selling, we used 30% of the Nexpin Employee Account funds. Since Employee Lee found the investment targets and even gathered evidence, I wanted to increase the ratio, but 30% was the best we could do.]

 

“That’s fine. Since Headquarters moved the SEC, media, and even political circles, it’s right for Headquarters to take more.”

 

[When Employee Lee gets promoted to Branch Manager, we can give you a higher ratio. And you’ll be able to conduct investments independently too. And we’ll start providing stock options from this time.]

 

Stock options?

 

It sounded like he was giving me a portion of Tiger Fund’s equity shares.

 

“Will I be receiving Tiger Fund equity shares through stock options?”

 

[That’s right. We naturally have to provide stock options to employees who achieve this level of performance. If you succeed in a few more short selling operations like this one, you could rise to a major shareholder position.]

 

“You’re giving me that much?”

 

[We give 0.5% for every contribution of 1% or more to the fund’s operating capital. Of course, the maximum limit is 10%. When you become a branch manager, the maximum limit increases to 20%, and with the next promotion, the maximum limit increases again.]

 

There was absolutely nothing bad about receiving Tiger Fund equity shares.

 

Rather, it was a very good condition for me.

 

The more shares I had, the more influence I could exercise over Tiger Fund.

 

If I could control Tiger Fund, which owned Nexpin, all my worries would be solved.

 

“Thank you for the good proposal.”

 

[It will become increasingly difficult to receive stock options from now on. Right now it’s relatively easy to exceed the performance standards because the fund’s operating capital is small, but as Employee Lee continues to succeed, the operating capital will grow along with it. Then the standards for receiving shares will become higher even for the same profits.]

 

My goal wasn’t that high.

 

Even just becoming the Korea Branch Manager would give me the authority to control something like Nexpin.

 

“Will stock options be provided starting from this short selling operation?”

 

[Of course. Employee Lee led this short selling operation, so you naturally should receive them.]

 

“I’ll look for a bit more materials.”

 

[Please send them whenever you find them. For now, let’s start the media play with the materials we’ve secured. Well then, I’ll contact you again next time.]

 

The General Manager hung up the phone.

 

As soon as I put down the handset, I went through the WorldCom and Tyco materials again.

 

To create the perfect routine where I could control everything, I absolutely needed Tiger Fund equity shares.

 

New Employee with 1 Trillion Won Annual Salary Episode 85

 

E-book Publication Date | 2025.11.27

 

Author | Seo Oh

 

Publishers | Heo Heung-beom, Park Geon-won

 

Published by | Poten

 

Address | [04783] 10th Floor, 8 Yeonmujang 11-gil, Seongdong-gu, Seoul

 

Phone | 02-6320-8500

 

Fax | 02-6320-8585

 

ISBN | 9791175305892

 

Price | 100 won

 

ⓒ Seo Oh 2025

 

This e-book is a copyrighted work protected by copyright law.

 

This e-book is published under contract with the author, and unauthorized reproduction, copying, distribution, and sharing are prohibited without written consent from both parties.

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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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