The Chaebol Who Flies From Space - Chapter 24
Only Noblemtl
24. Red Mafia (2)
In his office at The Center, overlooking the illuminated Victoria Harbour, Harry Segal, Goldman’s head of East Asia, was working as usual.
MacDougall, who came up to the headquarters office to report, felt his mouth go dry.
“What happened?”
“I tried, but it doesn’t seem easy.”
His gaze, as cold and sharp as ice, was turned toward MacDougall.
“Why?”
“According to the report from the person in charge of the investigation, they have been reorganizing their positions and changing their investments to focus on large-cap stocks with little risk.”
“···.”
At MacDougall’s report, Harry took off the glasses he was wearing.
The company suffered a loss of over $500 million due to the bankruptcy of Dugeobi Soju.
The first investment loss suffered by Heri since taking office as East Asia headquarters director came in Korea.
Recovering the loss wasn’t easy either.
There had to be a trial, but for some reason lobbying didn’t work.
Those idiots.
I fired the person in charge immediately, but I was still angry.
The mastermind behind the incident was a young boy who had taken over the toad soju.
Now, I’m being treated like this by a newbie who just graduated from graduate school and entered the industry!
If that guy had joined Goldman, he would be getting torn apart 24 hours a day by the performance evaluation system and being torn apart by his superiors.
Goldman’s internship positions alone attract 25,000 applicants from around the world, and 200 are chosen. Most of them are graduates of Ivy League or similar level universities.
Not only is it difficult to get hired, but the workload is also incredibly intense.
If you have to be sharp on the phone at all times, you have to excel in performance evaluations to survive.
Every year, 10,000 people come in, but just as many leave the bank.
Goldman is one of the top five investment banks, competing for first and second place.
Naturally, the employees’ pride is bound to overflow.
This Goldman was hit in the back of the head by the little bastard. Harry muttered to himself.
“Are you a lucky bastard? . . . . Or maybe you’re a monster.”
But that can’t be the case.
I looked through his career, but I didn’t see anything special. He will reveal his weaknesses someday. A young punk is obsessed with one success and dreams of another.
“Tell him to check the position periodically. If anything unusual happens, report it immediately. We must give him a taste of hell. Remember to make it clear to the others that touching Goldman means death.”
***
As usual, I was enjoying my free time after work by pursuing a fun hobby.
The base liquor made by fermenting various grains is distilled several times using a still. The still I made is handmade, so it always shows different results.
I took a sip of the distilled liquor and savored it.
As expected, I could taste something different from the liquor I had made yesterday. I was about to take another sip to savor the taste when Ariel called out to me.
[Master, things have happened as you said]
“What, is it urgent?”
[No, the investment bank accounts have been accessed. I think they have checked the positions.]
A laugh came out of my mouth without me realizing it at Ariel’s words.
“See, I said I was going to make a move. If you took a risky investment position, you would be looking for something to hit.”
[I don’t know how you found the investment bank account.]
He invested by creating over 80 accounts in various investment banks. He used various paper companies, and the other party accurately identified the account of Iriel Investment Company.
“There must have been various methods used to find it. If it’s someone as big as Goldman, there must be a separate expert.”
[Should I close my account and create a new one?]
“Why are you wasting your energy on such a poor thing? Leave it alone. When the opportunity to invest comes, let’s go fishing then.”
[Fishing? What is that?]
Iriel asked back, not understanding what I was saying. Iriel, being a young AI, had no fishing experience.
“You don’t know because you’ve never tried it. When I was a kid, you know, how many times I would catch fish naked on the riverbank with that guy Georges? I’d bring them back to him, and his mom, Carol, would cook them up for me.”
As I was talking, I suddenly missed that taste.
That spicy yet savory taste, and Georges.
My childhood friends probably think I’m dead.
I thoughtlessly tilted the glass I had been holding in my hand for a moment.
Although it had a rough taste because it had not been aged yet, it was a good drink for reminiscing about old times.
[Master US stock market outflows are not trivial. The amount of money that has left so far is over 7 trillion dollars.]
“That’s a huge loss. Where did the money go?”
[Because of the preference for safe assets, a lot of money has flowed out to government bond investments. There is also an expectation of an interest rate cut.]
“The Fed rate is 5.75%?”
[Yes, the economy is not doing well, so it seems the Fed is playing the interest rate cut card to stimulate the economy.]
“The Bush administration must also be concerned about the economy. The war should end in Afghanistan, but they are targeting Iraq.”
[It seems like he’s determined to take care of it properly this time.]
It is true that Hussein in Iraq is running wild without thinking, but the war is a different matter.
What can happen when we can’t catch even one bin Laden who committed 9/11 and our eyes are already turned to Iraq?
Conspiracy theories are slowly emerging.
Rumors were coming out that the hardliners had aided and abetted 9/11 in order to start a war.
The force currently dominating the Bush administration is the neoconservatives.
Given their nature, it was entirely possible.
“It’s not easy to catch guerrillas. The US government is taking it too lightly.”
The Taliban guerrillas have already managed to escape to safe areas in neighboring Pakistan and are regrouping.
If successful, we will fight guerrilla warfare in Afghanistan again at any time.
Numerous tribes and numerous interests.
It is understandable that some people call Afghanistan the graveyard of empires.
It is nearly impossible to occupy a place like this.
It is a place that can only be occupied by tearing it to pieces and burning it from the very beginning.
[Even in my prediction, the Afghanistan war will be prolonged. If they had planned it out and destroyed the central forces from the beginning, there would have been some chance, but since they failed to do that and succeeded in escaping, it seems like the war will be prolonged no matter how hard the US tries.]
“You’re just putting in effort, but you’re not getting any results.”
The situation in which I was about to return was clearly pictured in my mind.
Even if we spend a huge amount of money to rebuild the Afghan government forces, what would it be like?
The powers that America has chosen have always been plagued by corruption and incompetence.
This must be the result of choosing people who seem like they would listen to American well.
[It is a pity that Ahmad Shah Massoud died.]
“So, hope is lost.”
The only decent figure in Afghanistan was Ahmad Shah Massoud, the Lion of Afghanistan. Massoud, who had united the ragtag Northern Alliance and fought against the ruling Taliban, was assassinated by Al Qaeda on September 9, just before the 9/11 attacks.
If I had known in advance, I would have helped him, but the more I learn about his past actions, the more I feel sorry for him.
“Let’s think about the war as a quagmire and come up with an investment strategy.”
[Shouldn’t we maintain our current position for now?]
“Of course. There will be plenty of time ahead. If you watch slowly, there will be changes. The stock prices of the stocks you invested in didn’t go down, right?”
[Although the US stock market is generally weak, the stocks I invested in are continuing to rise in price. The returns on my investments in Amazon and Apple are the highest.]
Both stocks fell to the bottom and barely recovered.
Amazon barely avoided bankruptcy after a harsh restructuring, and Apple was driven to the level of a penny stock before the IT bubble burst just as it was about to recover.
“Is that Steve from Apple, he’s a tough guy?”
[You could say he’s similar to the Master. He’s exactly like that, in terms of temperament and everything. He’d turn things upside down if he didn’t like something, so he’d fire employees he didn’t like. It’s exactly the same as what I’ve heard about the Master’s behavior.]
“What kind of nonsense are you talking about! I’m just like that guy!”
He screamed.
[Don’t deny it. The Master’s past actions are still intact in my memory. Oh! There’s one thing different. Steve is weak and doesn’t throw punches, but the Master just beats him up if he doesn’t like him. It’s not for nothing that they say Ingemar’s bear.]
When I heard the nickname from my youth, my eyes closed involuntarily.
It was a dark history that I had completely forgotten.
It was a time when I was crazy about drinking and partying. It was fortunate that I didn’t do drugs······. No, of course drugs were involved.
Anyway, it was a time when I was crazy about parties for a whole month.
Georges ran the company on my behalf.
I lived a life of hedonism, got divorced, and was even slapped by my mother.
I came to my senses at the sight of my mother’s tears.
My hobby had changed to steering.
I gave my mother a perfume I made as a hobby and she loved it.
Perfume?
“Iriel, what is the most famous perfume company on Earth right now?”
[There are several companies, but the most famous one is Chanel.]
“Chanel? Can we take it over?”
[Have you taken over the takeover?]
“What are you talking about, getting sick? And when did I say I wouldn’t take over a company?”
[Let me tell you something that remains in my memory circuit. Three days ago at 3:27 PM, you told me that you would not be taking over the company for the time being.]
It looks like I did say something, judging by what I said.
“People’s minds can change at any time. Anyway, is a takeover possible?”
[It is impossible. Basically, Chanel is an unlisted company, and the sons of Pierre Wertheimer, who jointly managed the company with Coco Chanel, hold the majority of the shares. There is no reason to sell a company that is a family business and generates huge profits. Last year, sales were 6.2 trillion won and the profit exceeded 1 trillion won.]
Oh, that’s too bad.
I was truly sorry.