Money Likes Me Too - Chapter 84



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Episode 84.

Time passed and spring came. It became April.

“It is today.”

It’s the deadline for A2’s bids.

They spent 1.6 trillion won. To be honest, it was clear that there was no place that spent more than 1 trillion won, let alone more. I wasn’t really worried.

CEO Han Jang-soo seemed very worried, but it was evident from the fact that he couldn’t even take a sip of the tea in front of him.

“Until what time?”

I asked.

“Until 4 p.m.”

“Team Leader Choi decided to go?”

“Yes, that’s right. Everything is perfectly prepared. Just go and register. But Mr. Chairman······.”

I spoke firmly to him, who was trailing off.

“I’ve already decided.”

“At least the amount······.”

No, it won’t work.

“No matter how fast our Cocoa is in making decisions at shareholder meetings and board meetings, it is not easy to overturn decisions that have already been made, Mr. Han.”

What? An organization that makes quick decisions?

In the end, isn’t the nominal board of directors and general shareholders’ meeting ultimately controlled by the will of one chairman? Even without saying a word, I could sense this criticism on his face. I turned away from his face.

It’s just as he thought.

I’m still trying to figure it out. But there’s nothing I can do. In times like this, it’s best not to answer.

“Do you have a schedule today?”

I made excuses.

“You can come out in a little while. It’s the opening ceremony of the Tesla showroom in Hwaridan-gil.”

A lot has changed in a little less than two months.

Tesla Korea Corporation was established. Instead of moving to Seoul, it moved into A1.

I also came to the Cocoa forum.

Today is the historic day when we finally open our first store for domestic customers. It is the forum members’ anniversary. It is only natural to go and congratulate them.

“The store was really nice.”

Lee Jong-suk took a sip of tea and intervened.

“Have you been there already?”

“No, that’s not it. I just happened to see the building. It’s kind of funky, and it looks exactly like Musk. The logo is like that too.”

“But strangely, you seem to be in a very happy mood?”

Lee Jong-seok quickly hid his smile at my sharp observation.

“No way.”

“You invested in Tesla last time without my confirmation. It had already gone up a lot, so I told you to sell it before it went up any further.”

“I sold everything as you instructed. I apologize for any inconvenience caused.”

That was just talk. It wasn’t an apologetic expression. It was a smile.

SpaceX wasn’t the only one launching a rocket. Tesla did too. Tesla’s stock, which was well below $200 at the start of the year, has already broken the $300 mark.

The Dow Jones also achieved over 20,000.

I felt bitter.

If I had known that I had bought so much before, I would have told them to sell it earlier. It’s too late now. It has gone up as much as it could.

‘Doing something I wasn’t even asked to do······.’

Of course, they were punished with bonuses equivalent to the amount of money they earned. But that wasn’t enough. A more effective penalty was needed.

“Let’s go down.”

It seemed like it was time. Han Jang-su shouted.

Lee Jong-suk thought as he went down.

‘5% is pretty salty, isn’t it?’

It’s a bonus from Tesla stocks. It’s time to change my car. I was planning to go to the Tesla store and look at the cars.

‘You have a good fortune.’

‘If you’re going to say that, then follow me.’

‘No, that won’t work. I find it more convenient to buy directly.’

I followed Kang Si-hyeon, recalling my past conversation with Lim Gyeong-jun.

“oh.”

When I went outside, the spring sun was warm. After walking for a while, a Tesla store appeared. It was different from what I had seen from inside the car. It was more impressive and bigger.

“welcome.”

It’s before the opening. President Ben Kim, who was running around inside and out checking the preparations for the opening ceremony, came running out when he saw this.

“Chairman Kang, thank you very much for coming such a long way.”

It’s a 10-minute walk.

“First, the car······.”

“I’m fine. I’ve already had a lot to drink.”

A general cut him off. Ben chuckled.

“Oh, I misspoke. I was talking about cars, not drinks.”

Except for those two, it was the first time we had met. Laughter eased the awkward atmosphere.

“Come this way.”

The store was spacious. Ben Kim explained each car as he pointed at it.

“······ This model is the SP (Performance) model that will be the main seller in Korea. It’s a large car. It’s four-wheel drive. It goes from zero to 100 in 2.5 seconds. Its sales this year are amazing. And this is the Model X. It’s scheduled to be released next year, so it’s difficult to ride it yet. However, reservations are possible.”

“······ Both cars are equipped with Autopilot. Autopilot is a self-driving function developed by Tesla, and the current autonomous driving level of this model is Level 2. It assists driving. Autonomous driving beyond that is a paid option.”

Paid? My ears perked up.

“Please understand that fully autonomous driving is impossible under domestic traffic laws, Mr. Kang.”

Ben followed up with a supplementary explanation after noticing that. Amazing. It seemed like he had studied a lot for today.

Han Jang-soo intervened.

“How was the interview?”

It was a surprise question. It was revenge for earlier. Ben answered cheerfully.

“Oh, you met Elon? It was really nice. I was a little nervous, but he really puts people at ease.”

A question mark appeared in the eyes of those who knew him. Is Elon a comfortable person?

That’s ridiculous.

“Haha, I guess I got extra points for going with the cocoa introduction.”

“Well, then,” Ben added hastily, “then so be it,” he continued suddenly.

“Oh, by the way, I forgot something. Elon said he would give me a fun gift to coincide with the opening of the first Korean store. It should be around now.”

A fun gift?

Dingdong,

It was a Twitter mention notification sound. Lee Jong-suk took his phone out of his pocket.

“I think I got a gift?”

It was a timing that seemed planned. This time, too, Elon Musk was no slouch. Lee Jong-seok began reading the content.

——

Elon.musk ··· 1 minute ago

Bankrupt.

(bankruptcy.)

——

“bankruptcy?”

Tesla is bankrupt?

* * *

“Bankruptcy?”

Shouts of horror echoed through the store one after another. Ben Kim quickly calmed us down. The staff could hear.

I was different.

‘Has he finally reached his destination?’

I was the only one who was calm.

As expected, it’s Elon Musk. He doesn’t disappoint. I was so envious. I was proud of my decision to follow in his footsteps.

“Where is that? Are you seeing it wrong?”

“Look at Twitter.”

Everyone picked up their cell phones.

[ April 1 ]

The first thing that appears on the screen is the date.

What day is April 1st? When you panic, it’s easy to forget even common sense things.

“April Fool’s Joke?”

A sound of air escaping came from Han Jang-soo’s mouth.

“No way.”

“Even if it was just a joke, would you do something like that? Even if Musk is a mischievous boy.”

Each one said a word.

After hearing that, Lee Jong-suk hurriedly opened MTS.

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‘Now is not the time to be looking at Twitter.’

Stock prices react sensitively to even a stone thrown in jest. It’s not even a pebble. It’s like a rock rolled in.

It was as expected.

The deep blue candlestick was already falling down like a cliff inside the trading window. It felt like I could hear the screams of those ants.

As expected, it is as expected.

‘Thank goodness I sold them all.’

I heard relief from Ando.

This time, Kang Si-hyeon’s magic was unrivaled. It was amazing. If I hadn’t sold it earlier, I might have suffered a huge loss.

He looked at Kang Si-hyeon’s expression.

“By the way, so Model X is available for order?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Manager Kim, how many Teslas do we have in our garage?”

“So, if I remember correctly, Mr. Chairman, there are already three cars, including the two roadsters you purchased directly and the Model S that Vice Chairman Jin Yong-jeong of Shinsegi used to drive.”

“Was there that much?”

“I reported it to you, but I guess you forgot.”

“It’s okay. It doesn’t matter whether I spend it this way or that way, I’ll still be spending the same amount of money. Anyway, the number 4 isn’t that great, so should I just order two Model Xs while I’m at it?”

Thank goodness I was so absorbed in shopping that I didn’t notice.

‘It’s okay. It’s fine.’

There was no need to talk about it yet unless asked. That was it.

“Hey, Mr. Representative Lee?”

“yes?”

Suddenly, Kang Si-hyeon looked for Lee Jong-suk.

“Isn’t it time you changed your car?”

“That’s true, but why all of a sudden······.”

“I deserve to get paid for playing around with my portfolio. How about Tesla? Mr. Lim Kyung-jun, you need one too, right? Let’s pick two here.”

A look of satisfaction appeared on Kang Si-hyeon’s face. The same was true for Lee Jong-suk, who had a new car.

* * *

After the event, I returned to the chairman’s office.

‘All domestic Teslas from No. 1 to No. 4 have been pre-ordered. Thank you, Mr. Kang.’

Even before opening, the results were achieved. Ben Kim’s face lit up.

That wasn’t all.

To run four electric vehicles, a charging facility was needed. So they took care of that while they were at it. They decided to install a Tesla-only charging facility called a ‘Supercharger’ in the basement of the A1 and Cocoa Towers.

There are always things to spend money on. I feel grateful to Elon Musk all over again.

Now that I think about it, I remembered the tweet from earlier.

“What happened to Tesla’s stock price?”

“I will check.”

When Lee Jong-suk tried to evade the question and asked again, he finally confessed that it had fallen by about 5%.

I knew this would happen.

I should have kept it instead of selling it. It was a shame, but there was nothing I could do. He consoled me.

“It’s just a temporary shakeup anyway. Electric vehicles are somewhat trendy, but they have fundamentals, so they won’t continue to fall like this.”

That’s not wrong.

Yeah. I thought to myself, the stocks I couldn’t sell should go up again.

By the way, I learned a lot from Elon this time too.

As expected, global leaders are different. Using April Fool’s Day to lower the company’s stock price. This is not something that just anyone can do.

Now there was nothing to do until 4 o’clock.

The bidding will end soon. As expected, the media is heating up the A2 bidding competition.

After some time, the phone rang.

– Mr. Chairman.

It was a call from Team Leader Choi Dong-hoon, who had gone out to bid.

“Yes, go ahead.”

– All work is done. I will return to headquarters right away. Since Mr. Han did not answer the phone, I called the chairman.

“Okay. Come in quickly. Thank you for your hard work.”

It’s 1.6 trillion.

– Should I prepare the deposit in advance?

If you win the bid and become the preferred negotiating party, you must pay a deposit of at least 5%. 5% of 1.6 trillion won is 80 billion won.

Is this what they call a welcome gift?

It’s a very small amount of money compared to the entire value of cocoa, but I will achieve my goal by April Fool’s Day next year. Elon was lying, but I am not. It’s a serious goal.

“Yes, please come in and make sure to prepare well.”

Instead of Han Jang-soo, I emphasized it strongly.

* * *

At that time in the United States,

“Warren, are you busy?”

The Kiwi Plaza Building in Omaha, Nebraska.

An old man of similar age to Buffett visited the office on the top floor of the office of Berkshire Hathaway, the world’s best investment firm.

“Charlie, come in.”

Vice Chairman Charles Munger. Warren called him Charlie.

“What were you doing?”

“It’s nothing. There’s a shareholders’ meeting coming up soon. I was just writing a letter.”

“It’s important.”

“It’s important. It’s just a hobby. But there are a lot of people waiting, so I have to write it with all my heart.”

He offered me a seat.

“There was a bit of a hitch, but it worked out well.”

Charlie chuckled. It was Warren’s usual expression when he asked for advice.

This time, he said something like this and approached closer. One unusual word caught my eye.

[ ······ Kokoa ······ ]

“cocoa?”

He was also quick to hear the news. It was a name I had heard before.

“Are you talking about that Korean guy who won the bet with that bull Elon Musk?”

“That’s right. That’s the guy.”

“There must be something. You’re going all the way to Davos, the place you hate so much, to meet it.”

Warren turned his gaze back to the paper.

“It was really great.”

He then said that the reason he did not properly evaluate Elon Musk was because, unlike himself who is not prone to taking risks, Musk always takes an ‘all or nothing’ strategy, and that cocoa is a bit different from that.

“How is it different?”

Charlie asked.

“How is it different?”

“okay.”

“Everything is different.”

“All of them?”

Even as he answered, Warren Buffett kept laughing.

“Yes, that’s right. While working in the IT business, he dabbled in movies and real estate, and now he’s even peeking into the automobile industry. At first glance, it seems like he’s taking an ‘all or nothing’ strategy like Musk. But that’s not the case. There’s no risk at all in Kang Si-hyeon’s choices. In his 10 years of business, there’s not a single line of failure in his track record. It’s like a direct denial of my values.”

He said his last words with a sigh.

“In the end, I had no choice but to draw a line.”

The paper he handed me was full of investments from airline stocks like Delta Airlines and Southwest Airlines, as well as global brands like Apple and Coca-Cola.

Stocks are no different from safe assets.

However, in front of Charlie, he firmly wrote the five letters KOKOA on it.

“I’ve always thought that even if there’s a 99% chance of success, if there’s a 1% chance of failure, you have to choose carefully.”

That was it, Charlie nodded. It was a strategy he agreed with.

“But my thoughts have changed a little. I think there may be people in this world with 0% risk.”

Warren recalled.

“If watching Musk make a bet on the success of SpaceX’s relaunch has you fired up in your old heart, you understand? I’m going to try something new this time. That’s what this company is all about. Cocoa.”

Charlie nodded.

“If that’s what you chose, then that’s the answer.”

“Is that so?”

“Warren.”

“Tell me.”

“Didn’t you say you were asking for advice earlier? From me. Then try doing as I say.”

Warren looked at him intently. It was a deep friendship that only comrades who had fought on the battlefield for decades could share.

“Loft Bank Son Byeong-hwa.”

Charlie’s mouth opened.

“Go meet him. He’s coming to the Sun Valley conference this time. I think he’ll be helpful to you.”

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