Golden Spoon Investor

"Here's your order—two bowls of banquet noodles!"

A middle-aged waitress, wearing an apron, placed two steaming bowls of banquet noodles on the table, generously topped with beef, egg, carrots, zucchini, and seaweed garnish, along with a few side dishes.

"This is what you call a hearty meal?"

Team leader Choi Ho-geun grumbled as he stirred the noodles with his chopsticks.

Sitting across from him, Song Jong-geun, who had come along for lunch, casually added an extra spoonful of seasoning sauce to his bowl and responded.

"A hot bowl of banquet noodles is perfect on a cold day like this."

"Yeah, it tastes good. But I only had some bread for breakfast, so I was hoping for something a bit heavier."

"Then why'd you eat bread when you don't even like it?"

At that, Choi Ho-geun glanced to the side, avoiding eye contact.

"It just… happened."

Seeing his vague answer, Song Jong-geun smirked knowingly.

"Let me guess. You had a fight with your wife, didn't you?"

"What am I, a kid? We didn't fight. And stop calling her 'your wife'—I told you to call her 'sister-in-law.'"

Seeing his defensive reaction, Song Jong-geun chuckled.

"Whatever it was, just apologize first. They say married couples fight like cutting water with a knife—it never lasts. No point dragging it out."

"Tch. I didn't even do anything wrong. A man's gotta have his pride. This time, I'm not backing down."

"Pride? You can't even get a proper meal right now. Keep this up, and you'll be sleeping outside soon."

Choi Ho-geun scoffed, puffing out his chest.

"You think I'm whipped like you?"

"Says the guy who got kicked out last time and had to sleep in the office."

At the unexpected mention of his past humiliation, Choi Ho-geun quickly tried to explain himself.

"That wasn't because I got kicked out! I told you—I was just working late and decided to crash at the office!"

"Yeah, yeah. If you say so."

"I'm serious!"

"Whatever. Just eat your noodles."

Having failed miserably at saving face, Choi Ho-geun let out a long sigh.

"She was so sweet and innocent when we were dating. But after we got married, she became so strong-willed. I feel like I got scammed into marriage."

"You're not the only one. Every married man in the world feels that way."

Slurping up his noodles, Song Jong-geun responded nonchalantly.

"Taking care of the kids, managing the household—of course, she's changed. You think she enjoys it?"

"Yeah… I guess raising kids is tough."

Choi Ho-geun chuckled bitterly before straightening his shoulders, as if bracing himself.

"Alright. I'll buy her favorite chocolate cake on my way home after work."

"Good thinking."

With renewed energy, Choi Ho-geun took a bite of the noodles, chewing and savoring the taste.

"It's pretty good."

The hot broth blended well with the toppings, making it quite enjoyable.

As he slurped down more noodles, he glanced at Song Jong-geun sitting across from him and asked,

"But what's up with your face?"

"What about my face?"

"You look worn out and gloomy. Is something bothering you? The yen you kept checking so anxiously plummeted, so you made a nice profit, didn't you?"

"Ugh..."

Song Jong-geun let out a groan, absentmindedly poking at the cubed radish kimchi on his plate.

"Don't even get me started. The earthquake helped us make a dramatic profit."

"Then isn't that a good thing?"

"Ugh, do people not finish their sentences in Korea anymore?"

"Why? What happened now?"

Letting out a deep sigh, Song Jong-geun finally continued.

"After closing my position yesterday... I went long again."

"What?"

At the unexpected news, Choi Ho-geun's eyes widened in shock.

"You bought yen in this mess?"

"Yeah..."

"An earthquake just hit, and everyone is dumping yen like crazy! Are you out of your mind?"

Choi Ho-geun was so stunned he momentarily forgot about his noodles, raising his voice.

Seeing this reaction, Song Jong-geun sighed, his eyebrows drooping in defeat.

"That's exactly what I want to say."

Still trying to make sense of it all, Choi Ho-geun suddenly gasped as a thought struck him.

"Wait… don't tell me the director ordered this?"

"Of course. Do you think I'd make a trade that big on my own?"

"...This is unbelievable."

Choi Ho-geun glanced back and forth between his gloomy colleague and the bowl of banquet noodles before nodding in understanding.

"Ah, so the reason you insisted on eating banquet noodles was because you wanted to finish lunch quickly and get back to check the market, right?"

"Yeah... I used even more leverage this time, so every tiny movement in the exchange rate is making my heart race. At this rate, I won't live to see old age."

With a face that now looked ten years older, Song Jong-geun sighed in frustration.

Choi Ho-geun smacked his lips and tried to console his friend.

"I'm sure the director has a plan."

"I really hope so…"

Choi Ho-geun had been about to say something else to reassure him, but judging by his expression, it was clear nothing would sink in right now. So instead, he simply focused on finishing his noodles in silence.

After hurriedly finishing their meal, the two returned to the office with plenty of time left in their lunch break. But as soon as they stepped into the 5th-floor trading center, they sensed something was off. Unlike the usual midday lull, the room was buzzing with an unusual level of activity and noise.

"Huh? Did something happen?"

"Not sure."

Just then, Choi Kang-wook, the deputy manager from Investment Team 1, spotted them and rushed over.

"Manager!"

"Oh, Kang-wook. Why is the office so hectic?"

With an excited but anxious expression, Choi Kang-wook blurted out,

"The yen!"

"What about the yen?"

"It's surging!"

"...What?!"

At the shocking news, Song Jong-geun, momentarily stunned, bolted toward his desk.

Choi Ho-geun hurriedly followed behind him.

As soon as Song Jong-geun checked the USD/JPY exchange rate on his computer, his eyes widened in disbelief.

Before they had gone to lunch, the rate had been 104.12 JPY per USD—but now, in a matter of moments, it had skyrocketed to 97 JPY per USD.

"What the hell is going on?!"

Rubbing his eyes as if to clear his vision, Song Jong-geun stared at the screen again.

But no, it wasn't a mistake.

The yen, which had been in freefall alongside the Japanese stock market, had suddenly hit rock bottom and was now soaring.

Standing behind him, Choi Ho-geun also saw the numbers and his eyes widened in shock.

"This... this isn't some kind of error, right?"

Then, Choi Kang-wook, his voice tinged with excitement, quickly explained the situation.

"Starting ten minutes ago, buy orders suddenly surged, causing the yen to spike."

Still in disbelief, Song Jong-geun stared blankly at his monitor.

"The selling pressure was overwhelming… To reverse that, an insane amount of buy orders must have come in..."

At that moment, a thought flashed through his mind.

"Could it be… the Japanese government intervened?"

"I'm not sure," Choi Kang-wook admitted. "But judging by the way the yen is skyrocketing, there's no doubt that at least several hundred million dollars' worth of buy orders are flooding in!"

For the yen to halt its panic-driven sell-off so abruptly and surge by more than 7 yen, a massive financial injection had to be at play.

It was only natural to suspect intervention from the Japanese government, or more precisely, the Bank of Japan.

"Whether it was the government or not, doesn't this mean we just made a killing?"

Choi Ho-geun interjected suddenly.

Still looking as if he'd seen a ghost, Song Jong-geun fixated on the ever-rising yen exchange rate and murmured absentmindedly,

"Y-yeah… I guess so."

Just moments ago, he had felt like he was in hell, but now, it was as if he had shot straight up to heaven.

Yet, at the same time, a creeping fear gnawed at him—what if the exchange rate plummeted just as suddenly?

Sensing his unease, Choi Ho-geun slung an arm around Song Jong-geun's shoulders and teased,

"See? What did I tell you? Just follow the director's lead, and money practically falls into your lap! When that fat bonus comes in, don't even think about weaseling out—you're treating us to drinks, big time!"

"We haven't even locked in profits yet, and you're already counting your chickens."

Though Song Jong-geun pushed Choi Ho-geun away in annoyance, his previously lifeless eyes now gleamed with renewed focus as he watched the exchange rate fluctuate.

***

Meanwhile, not only the foreign exchange market but also the Japanese stock market was experiencing a dramatic turnaround—just one day after the massive earthquake.

Dressed in a crisp white dress shirt and a burgundy luxury tie, neatly fastened with a pin, Seok-won perched on the edge of his desk, stroking his chin with one hand as he watched the television in his private office.

[Breaking News: Japanese Government Allocates ¥2 Trillion in Emergency Supplemental Budget for Kobe Earthquake Relief and Reconstruction. Full Commitment to Restoring Affected Areas.]

As the long-awaited announcement of Japan's massive reconstruction budget flashed across the NHK news ticker, Seok-won immediately checked the Bloomberg terminal on his desk.

Sure enough, as expected, the Nikkei index, which had been plummeting since yesterday, had stopped its downward spiral and was now rebounding.

"Yes… this is it."

A surge of excitement ran through him as he clenched his fist, knowing his bet had hit the mark perfectly.

Just then, his phone rang loudly. Picking it up from the desk, he answered.

"Hello?"

[Boss! The Nikkei just stopped crashing and is reversing upward!]

Landon's voice was brimming with excitement, and Seok-won grinned.

"I'm watching it right now."

[I was expecting something to happen after what you said, but I never imagined the market sentiment would flip this fast!]

Just moments ago, investors had been in a panic, dumping stocks at any price—but now, they had completely reversed course, frantically scooping them back up.

Watching the surge in buy orders flooding the market, Seok-won spoke.

"Of course, part of this rally comes from optimism that the Japanese government's reconstruction budget will revive the economy… But the real driver behind this sharp reversal is short-covering by speculators."

[Ah-ha! So the funds that bet against the Japanese market, expecting further collapse, are now panicking and scrambling to close their short positions!]

Pleased with Landon's quick understanding, Seok-won smiled.

"Exactly. Those holding massive yen carry trade positions overseas must have been stunned when the exchange rate suddenly flipped due to the massive capital inflow. And now, with the Japanese government injecting ¥2 trillion, they're in full-blown panic mode."

[Makes sense. I always knew the yen carry trade was big, but seeing its impact firsthand when it's unwound like this is eye-opening.]

The yen carry trade referred to a strategy where investors borrowed low-interest yen to invest in higher-yielding foreign assets—a common practice among Japanese insurance firms looking to boost returns.

[With the earthquake causing chaos in both the yen and the stock market, institutional investors and hedge funds must have gone all-in on shorting Japan. I bet they're in complete turmoil right now!]

Landon burst into a satisfied laugh.

Unlike the short sellers who were now in a state of emergency, Eldorado Fund, having swiftly closed its short positions and switched to long, could leisurely observe the surging yen and rebounding Japanese stock market while toasting to their gains.

"With so many investors having bet on a decline, the more the index surges, the more desperate they'll become to cut their losses—scrambling to close their positions as quickly as possible."

From the other end of the line, Landon let out a low whistle of admiration.

[That means a flood of buy orders will push the index even higher, amplifying short sellers' losses—forcing them to buy back their positions, creating even more buying pressure. Ha! I can almost hear them screaming in agony right now.]

His voice, however, was filled not with sympathy, but with amusement.

After all, every loss suffered by the short sellers was directly being funneled into Eldorado Fund's profits—the natural consequence of having bet on the opposite side.

Still watching the Nikkei index climb sharply on his Bloomberg terminal, Seok-won spoke.

"It'll easily break through its previous peak and keep rising. Hold onto our Nikkei futures and yen positions."

[Understood.]

After issuing a few more instructions and ending the call, Seok-won suddenly thought of a certain trader in Singapore, who—by now—was surely staring blankly at his screens, having just lost an enormous sum of money.

"Fraud always ends in ruin."

For a brief moment, a cold glint flashed in Seok-won's eyes—before he returned to his usual composed demeanor.