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CH238 | GSI
🕑 Added 2025-03-21 03:49:09 +0000 UTCFebruary 24, 1996.
It was a Saturday, but since the stock market's Saturday closure policy wouldn't take effect until December of the following year, the employees of Daeheung Venture Capital’s Asset Management Department remained in the office through the afternoon.
“Ugh, finally done.”
Jung Hwan-yeop loosened his tie and leaned back, letting out a sigh of exhaustion. Having just finished sorting through transaction slips, he grabbed the mug sitting on the corner of his desk.
Bringing it absentmindedly to his lips, he realized it was empty and set it down with a grumble.
“Everyone else gets to leave after the morning shift, but we’re stuck here. No wonder I can’t get married.”
A sharp tsk came from behind him.
“What does working on a Saturday have to do with you being single?”
“Ah—Manager!”
Startled, Hwan-yeop spun around in his chair. Standing behind him was Manager Choi Ho-geun, who had briefly stepped out earlier.
“No, but hear me out! How am I supposed to date if I never have time?”
“And what exactly do you do on Sundays?”
“I sleep, of course! I need at least one day to rest if I want to survive Monday.”
“Then why do you still show up on Mondays looking like a half-dead chicken?”
Leaning against the desk with a smirk, Choi shot him a teasing remark. Hwan-yeop let out an awkward chuckle, avoiding his gaze.
“If you really wanted to date, you’d find a way—even if it meant pulling an all-nighter at work and still making time to see your girlfriend, even just for a few minutes. Excuses, excuses.”
“You’re always giving me a hard time! The least you could do is introduce me to someone.”
Choi gave him a long, unimpressed look.
“Why would I set you up just to get cursed at later?”
“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?!”
Hwan-yeop protested, looking deeply offended.
Choi let out a deep sigh, placing his hands on his hips.
“Haa… Hwan-yeop, do you know the famous words of Socrates?”
“What, ‘Know thyself’?”
“Oh, so you do know.”
Pouting, Hwan-yeop began listing his own merits.
“Okay, I’ve put on a little weight lately because I haven’t been working out, but my face isn’t bad, and I make decent money. I’d say that makes me a top-tier husband material.”
“What in the world makes you so confident?”
Choi shook his head in disbelief. From across the office, their colleagues Yoo Seok-hyun and Hong Jae-hee chuckled at the exchange.
Hwan-yeop had meant what he said at least somewhat seriously, so when everyone started laughing, he sulked.
“I’m a department manager now. You guys should take me seriously.”
Choi crossed his arms.
“Speaking of which—now that you’re a manager, don’t you think you should start setting an example? Instead, you’re always late. Is this how you’re going to lead?”
“…I’m sorry.”
Guilty as charged, Hwan-yeop scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
“Jeez. You’re going to give me gray hair at this rate. Just try to get it together, alright?”
“Hehe, got it, Manager.”
“Don’t smile at me. It’s annoying.”
Choi shot him a sharp glare, but the warmth in his voice betrayed his amusement.
“If you’re done with the transaction slips, hand them over to Hong and go home already. Go on a date, drink, do whatever you want—just don’t be late on Monday. Please.”
By now, Hong Jae-hee and Yoo Seok-hyun had also risen through the ranks to assistant manager since joining Daeheung Venture Capital.
“Yessir.”
“Say it properly.”
"Yes, understood!"
Jung Hwan-yeop answered in a booming voice before quickly gathering the sorted transaction slips and handing them over to Hong Jae-hee, who was seated at his desk.
As Choi Ho-geun let out yet another deep sigh, the phone suddenly rang.
“Yes, this is Assistant Manager Yoo Seok-hyun from the Asset Management Department.”
Seok-hyun picked up the receiver with a slight smirk, but the next moment, his expression changed, and he practically shouted into the phone.
“What?! Are you serious?”
His outburst made everyone in the office turn their heads in surprise.
“…I see. Got it. Thanks.”
After hanging up, Choi Ho-geun narrowed his eyes at him.
“Yoo, what’s going on?”
With both Hwan-yeop and Jae-hee also staring at him curiously, Seok-hyun quickly responded.
“The Ministry of Finance and Economy just announced that starting April 1st, the foreign ownership limit for domestic stocks will be raised from 15% to 18%, and domestic individual investors will be completely free to invest in overseas securities.”
The sudden bombshell from the ministry made Hwan-yeop and Jae-hee’s eyes widen in shock.
“Wait, seriously?!”
“Whoa, they just dropped that out of nowhere?”
Watching their stunned reactions, Seok-hyun nodded.
“A journalist friend of mine just called me about it, so it’s solid information.”
“…Damn, this is huge news.”
Hwan-yeop leaned on his desk, resting his chin on one hand as he muttered to himself.
Moments ago, he had been slacking off and joking around, but now his expression had turned completely serious as he calculated the impact this news would have on the stock market.
Then, something dawned on him.
‘Wait a second… Why is the manager so calm?’
Realizing this, Hwan-yeop turned to look at Choi Ho-geun.
Unlike the others, who were visibly shocked, Choi stood with his arms crossed, wearing an expression of quiet composure.
Finding this odd, Hwan-yeop hesitated for a moment before asking,
“Manager… Did you already know this was coming?”
“Huh? No way.”
“Even my journalist friend just found out a moment ago…”
Jae-hee and Seok-hyun also turned to look at Choi, their faces full of doubt.
Then, to their surprise, Choi let out a small sigh of admiration and nodded.
“Yeah.”
“Wait, what?!”
“What?!”
It had been a half-joking question, but hearing that he actually knew in advance left the entire team stunned.
As everyone gaped at him, Choi gave a wry smile and explained,
“Not me. The Director… No, the President predicted this would happen.”
“Are you serious?”
Jung Hwan-yeop let out a gasp, startled, and asked again.
“The Blue House and the ruling party were bound to introduce a strong stock market stimulus ahead of the general election.”
At those words, a realization flashed through Hwan-yeop’s mind, and he blurted out,
“So that’s why we were told to aggressively buy up Saechang Communications and those other two stocks within the week.”
“Exactly. The general election is in April, and if they want to avoid criticism that it's just a campaign ploy, they have to roll out the stimulus package this month.”
“I knew it! If it’s the President, it makes perfect sense. He really thought this far ahead… It amazes me every time.”
Hwan-yeop clicked his tongue in admiration.
“Seriously. That’s why he’s the boss.”
“How does he even come up with these things? I still have a long way to go.”
Hong Jae-hee and Yoo Seok-hyun chimed in, equally impressed.
Choi Ho-geun, who had been nodding along in agreement, suddenly raised an eyebrow and turned his gaze toward Hwan-yeop.
“Hey, Jung. Your reaction seems a little strange.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“A minute ago, you looked all suspicious. But the moment I said the President predicted this, you just accepted it outright.”
“Oh, come on. That’s what you’re talking about?”
Hwan-yeop waved a hand dismissively.
“You and I, Manager, we’re the careful, play-it-safe types. We’re not like the President, who makes trades anticipating moves several steps ahead.”
Ho-geun frowned, rolling up his shirt sleeves.
“What did you just say? Play-it-safe? You little punk, that’s it. You’re done today.”
“Whoa, whoa, why are you like this again? I’m just stating facts!”
Even as he instinctively started backing away, Hwan-yeop kept smirking and dodging the issue. A vein bulged on Ho-geun’s forehead.
“You brat… Fine. Sometimes, you need to learn that the truth isn’t always meant to be spoken.”
“Ahh! Can we discuss this without the fists, please?!”
“You, stay right there!”
“Why would I stay put when you’re looking at me like you’re about to kill me?!”
Hwan-yeop bolted for the office door, sprinting into the hallway, with Ho-geun’s furious shouts echoing behind him.
“Get back here, you little—!”
“Help! Somebody save me!”
As the loud footsteps and shouting faded down the hall, Hong Jae-hee muttered nonchalantly,
“They’re a year older, but nothing’s changed.”
“Haha.”
Yoo Seok-hyun chuckled, nodding in agreement.
* * *
A large Mercedes sedan cruised past the Gangnam Station intersection.
Seok-won leaned back comfortably in the rear seat, speaking on the phone with Landon in New York.
[We completed the liquidation of all Nikkei futures positions as of yesterday.]
“What’s the final return?”
[As you predicted, the Nikkei surged past 20,000, allowing us to lock in an impressive return of 43.65%.]
Landon’s voice was brimming with excitement—understandably so, given the massive profits they had just secured.
[After deducting expenses, our final earnings amount to $3.412 billion.]
Hearing the figure, Seok-won held his phone with a satisfied smile.
“That’s a pretty solid result.”
Landon let out a hearty laugh.
[I’d bet that right now, Nomura, Daiwa, and the other major Japanese securities firms are in complete chaos because of us.]
For every long position Seok-won had taken in the futures market, there had to be a counterparty betting on the opposite side—selling futures short.
Ironically, it was the Japanese securities firms, including Nomura and Daiwa, that had dumped futures in a panic amid the volatile exchange rate and plunging stock market.
Desperate to recover some of their losses, they aggressively sold off futures. But instead of mitigating their damage, they ended up suffering even greater losses.
‘They never could have anticipated that the yen would suddenly weaken and the Nikkei would rebound so sharply.’
By the time they realized the shift and scrambled to adjust their positions, it was too late. No one was willing to sell futures anymore, and their positions were effectively trapped.
Seok-won, who had inadvertently drained the coffers of these Japanese firms, smirked and remarked,
“At least no one collapsed like Barings Bank.”
[I wouldn’t be so sure about that.]
“What do you mean?”
Seok-won’s expression turned curious.
[You’ve heard of Yamaichi Securities, haven’t you?]
“Of course.”
Founded 99 years ago, Yamaichi Securities was one of Japan’s "Big Four" securities firms, alongside Nomura, Daiwa, and Nikko.
[They took a massive hit this time—not quite bankruptcy, but the damage is significant.]
“How much did they lose?”
[The exact number isn’t clear, but it’s likely over $900 million.]
At that hefty figure, Seok-won raised an eyebrow.
“That’s quite a sum.”
[Their upcoming quarterly earnings report is going to be brutal.]
“Still, they’re Japan’s second-largest brokerage. Surely this won’t be enough to shut them down?”
[Haha, that’s true, but the aftermath won’t be minor.]
“Yeah, writing off all those losses won’t be easy.”
Seok-won replied as he adjusted his grip on his phone.
“With the Nikkei futures position settled, let’s shift our focus to the CDS contracts we discussed earlier.”
[Understood.]
CDS, short for Credit Default Swap, is a financial derivative that allows investors to trade the risk of a country, corporation, or specific asset defaulting on its obligations.
With an impending financial crisis set to sweep across Asia, the plan was to buy up CDS contracts for countries expected to suffer severe losses—South Korea, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. Once the premiums skyrocketed, they would cash out in U.S. dollars.
As Seok-won wrapped up his call with Landon and gathered his thoughts, his phone rang again.
When he answered, his mother, Jo Deok-rye, spoke on the other end.
[Where are you now?]
“I just passed Seocho Station.”
He glanced out the car window as he replied.
[Then you’re almost here. I’ve already informed security, so you can come straight in.]
“Alright, I’ll see you soon.”
[Okay.]
After ending the call, Seok-won muttered to himself.
“Why does she want to meet outside the house?”
He was curious but didn’t dwell on it.
“Well, I’ll find out when I get there.”
Leaning back against the plush seat, Seok-won gazed out at the cityscape passing by.
