Golden Spoon Investor

It was an evening with the faint glow of the setting sun.

A black Mercedes-Benz luxury sedan entered the residential area of Hannam-dong.

When the sedan came to a stop in front of a mansion surrounded by tall walls and trees, Chief Secretary Chu Se-young got out of the passenger seat and quickly opened the back door.

As Chairman Park Tae-hong stepped out of the car, he felt the lukewarm breeze and muttered softly.

"Seeing the weather like this already, this summer will be really hot."

He then turned his head and glanced at Secretary Chu Se-young, standing beside him.

"You can head home now."

"Yes, sir. Please have a restful evening, Chairman."

Leaving behind Chu Se-young's bowing farewell, Chairman Park entered through the mansion's gate.

The spacious garden was filled with the fresh smell of grass and the tender green shoots of spring.

Walking along the path, Chairman Park stopped when he saw three cats, including a mother calico, lounging leisurely on a patio table under a parasol.

"Meow."

A tabby cat with its ears perked up lifted its head slightly and, seeing Chairman Park Tae-hong, meowed as if inviting him over.

Seeing this, Chairman Park chuckled softly.

"At least you're not completely ungrateful, I see."

After gazing tenderly at the cats for a moment, he hardened his expression again and resumed walking toward the main house.

As he entered the foyer, his wife, Madam Jo Deok-rye, along with their second son, Seok-won, and the housekeeper, Mrs. Gunsan, were waiting to greet him.

"Welcome home, Father," said Seok-won with a smile.

Chairman Park gave his son a stern look, scanning him from head to toe, before curtly remarking, "So you've finally decided to come home."

The displeasure on his face was evident to anyone, and Seok-won scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"My business trip took a bit longer than expected."

"As a team leader, you've left your position unattended for so long. What do you expect your subordinates to think of you?"

Chairman Park wasted no time delivering his reprimand the moment he saw his son.

In the past, Seok-won would have bowed his head without making eye contact. However, with the seasoned composure of someone who had weathered life's storms, he replied smoothly, "The team members seem fine with it. And it wasn't just an absence—I went to the U.S. with proper approval."

"What?"

Chairman Park, visibly stunned, furrowed his brows, about to say something, when Madam Jo quickly intervened.

"Oh, come on now. Why are you bickering in the foyer? Let's put this aside and get you freshened up for dinner."

"I already ate with Assemblyman Joo."

Chairman Park brushed her off with a short reply before turning his attention back to Seok-won.

"There's something I need to discuss. Come to the study in a bit."

Without waiting for an answer, he strode off toward the master bedroom.

Madam Jo, watching her husband's retreating, shook her head in exasperation before turning to Seok-won with a concerned expression.

"Don't provoke him unnecessarily. Just say 'I'm sorry' if he scolds you."

"Yes, I will."

***

After waiting upstairs for a while, Seok-won timed his entrance and came downstairs holding hand. He lightly knocked on the study door before entering.

Chairman Park, now in comfortable clothes and seated on the sofa, gestured toward the empty seat with a curt nod.

"Have a seat."

After Seok-won settled on the sofa, Chairman Park fixed him with a displeased gaze and asked in a reprimanding tone, "What kept you in the U.S. for so long?"

"I was handling work for my private investment firm. You did permit me to balance that with my duties at the company."

Preemptively bringing up their previous agreement left Chairman Park momentarily at a loss for words, his brows tightening slightly.

But as a seasoned corporate magnate, Chairman Park wasn't one to back down so easily.

"Even so, I never said you could leave your post for months at a time."

"For that, I apologize. But as you know, the U.S. bond market has been in turmoil lately, and I had no choice."

Since interest rates were one of the most important factors in running a business, Chairman Park Tae-hong, who was aware of the massive bond massacre in the U.S., furrowed his brows and asked with a serious expression.

"Please don't tell me you invested in bonds?"

"Yes, but I didn't suffer any losses, so there's no need to worry."

Recalling the news article he'd read a few days ago about a major U.S. insurance company investing in bonds and losing hundreds of millions of dollars, Chairman Park Tae-hong looked at his second son with concern.

"Are you absolutely sure?"

"I trust my instincts, and I pulled out before the interest rate hike was announced."

While he had actually made an enormous profit by shorting bonds, Seok-won decided there was no need to elaborate on that point.

"Well, that's a relief."

Chairman Park Tae-hong let out a slight sigh of relief, then immediately became serious again and gave a piece of advice.

"This time, you were lucky to avoid a crisis, but you should've realized by now that in investing, you never know when an unexpected disaster will strike."

"Yes."

"So, just like with the pound crisis, don't recklessly dive in. Always approach with caution, testing the waters before you cross the bridge."

"I'll do that."

Seok-won's calm responses made Chairman Park Tae-hong narrow his eyes suspiciously.

"Don't just answer quickly. Remember, even monkeys can fall from trees."

"I'm not stupid enough to blindly invest based only on a hunch, so don't worry."

"Hmph. And yet, you used a huge lottery prize to gamble everything on the pound's collapse?"

"Well, I knew the pound was overvalued."

Despite the mild rebuke, Seok-won responded coolly and without concern.

"If I could clearly see the fall coming, then it would've been foolish not to act."

Chairman Park Tae-hong was momentarily taken aback by Seok-won's confident reply. In the end, though, it had been the right decision, so he let out a frustrated sigh.

"I send you to study abroad, and instead of focusing on your studies, you come back with a silver tongue."

"Rhetoric is one of the important qualities a manager should have, according to what I was taught."

"You're the type who'll drown while your mouth keeps above water."

Chairman Park Tae-hong shook his head in disbelief as if conceding the point.

Watching his father's reaction with a sly smile, Seok-won's expression soon turned serious, and he said earnestly:

"As you said, from now on, I'll be more cautious and think things through more carefully before making any investments."

"Even if you succeed ten times, one major mistake in judgment can cause you to lose everything. That's the reality of being a manager. Never forget that the pain caused by such mistakes affects the employees even more."

In reality, the owner of a company might not face much immediate consequence from a bad decision, but employees could be threatened with losing their livelihoods.

'In the IMF crisis years later, it wasn't the conglomerate CEOs who suffered the most—it was the ordinary workers who had quietly toiled away who endured the greatest pain and shed the most tears.'

Since the IMF crisis, one of the greatest national disasters in Korea's history, many things had changed, but the most painful of all was the fall of the middle class.

Lost in his thoughts, Seok-won was pulled back to the present by Chairman Park Tae-hong's voice.

"Hmph. This time, I'll accept that there were unavoidable circumstances, but make sure that something like this never happens again, where you're absent for so long."

"But—"

Chairman Park Tae-hong cut him off, raising his hand to stop him, and scolded him in a stern voice.

"I allowed you to manage your personal investment firm alongside your work, but I never said it was okay to neglect your duties at the securities firm. How can I trust someone to manage the company's money if the team leader keeps disappearing?"

"I didn't neglect the work in Korea while I was in the U.S."

Chairman Park Tae-hong snorted in disbelief, his expression showing that he didn't trust him.

"America's not next door. Stop making excuses."

Anticipating this, Seok-won placed the thin file he had brought with him onto the desk in front of his father.

"What's this?"

"It's the performance report for the entrusted funds."

"...?"

Sitting up straighter, Seokwon spoke confidently.

"You'll see the results speak for themselves."

"…"

Chairman Park Tae-hong narrowed his eyes and stared at his second son for a moment before reaching out with one arm to grab the file.

"Let's see how confident you are by checking the results."

Thinking he'd scold Seok-won if the results were unsatisfactory, Chairman Park Tae-hong looked at the numbers on the report and his eyes widened in surprise.

[Investment Principal: 16.33 billion KRW

Total Profit: 58.99 billion KRW (as of April 6, 1994)]

With his head snapping up, Chairman Park Tae-hong looked bewildered and said, "Oh… 58.9 billion? Is this calculation correct?"

It was no wonder he was so shocked. In less than a year, the investment had multiplied several times over.

Chairman Park Tae-hong, who usually maintained a stern expression, couldn't hide his surprise this time.

Seeing his father's reaction, Seok-won couldn't help but smile inwardly, feeling quite pleased with himself.

However, he maintained an entirely composed expression on the outside, answering calmly, "There's a slight margin of error."

"Y-yeah. That number is so out of the ordinary, so there must be some margin of error."

However, Chairman Park Tae-hong froze when he heard Seok-won's next words.

"The stock prices of Ogwang Industries and Chunho Steel went up nearly 5% again today."

"…"

"So, even with a rough estimate, I'm confident we've surpassed 59 billion."

"…!"

At Seok-won's casual remark, Chairman Park Tae-hong stood there, his mouth agape and a stunned expression on his face.

He still seemed unable to believe it and asked again in disbelief.

"Did you just say 59 billion?"

Seok-won met his father's gaze and calmly nodded.

"Yes."

Chairman Park Tae-hong checked the report again, his confused eyes fixed on his second son.

"Is this really possible?"

"I told you, I didn't neglect this side of things and I handled it properly."

Seok-won shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly, and Chairman Park Tae-hong let out a breath of disbelief.

"Over three times the profit, but it's still a stock that's going to keep rising. I'd recommend leaving it as is."

Chairman Park Tae-hong leaned forward unconsciously, asking, "It's going to keep going up from here?"

"Yes. Even at the very least, we could make ten times the profit."

"Ten times…? That's over 160 billion! Isn't that a bit too greedy?"

Worried that his father might forget the profits they had already made, Seok-won said confidently,

"I initially invested with the goal of a tenfold return."

"Hmph. I see…"

Chairman Park Tae-hong rubbed his forehead with a troubled expression.

"When you're at bat, it's better to hit a home run than to get a bunch of little singles."

"This isn't baseball!"

"Well, they say everything is connected."

"You never stop talking, do you?"

Chairman Park Tae-hong hesitated for a moment, then, as if confirming something, asked again,

"Are you really that confident?"

"If you pull out now, you'll regret it later. By the way, I'll be leaving my investment untouched."

"Mmm…"

Chairman Park Tae-hong rubbed his head in thought, then finally nodded.

"Alright. I'll trust you this time."

"Excellent choice."

Seok-won flashed a small smile.

"Such cheeky confidence."

Chairman Park Tae-hong, his face drained of energy, waved his hand lightly.

"Alright, enough. You can go now."

"Yes, sir."

Seok-won replied as if he had been waiting for permission, then stood up and left the study.

Once the door closed and he was alone, Chairman Park Tae-hong realized he had intended to scold his son but had instead been caught off guard. He let out a soft chuckle.

"This kid. He knew this would happen and came prepared."

If it weren't for that, there's no way Seok-won would have presented the investment report so neatly at the perfect moment.

But rather than feeling annoyed, Chairman Park Tae-hong's face broke into a satisfied smile.

The results exceeded his expectations, so it was only natural.

With a pleased expression, Chairman Park Tae-hong slowly flipped through the pages of the report once more, muttering to himself.

"That kid… He really takes after me when it comes to making money."