CH43 - 3.3%

"I'm home," Seok-won announced as he entered the house.

Waiting for him in the foyer were Mrs. Jo and the family's housekeeper, Ms. Kunsandae.

Mrs. Jo greeted him with a warm smile.

"Welcome back! How was your day?" she asked.

"It was fine, thanks," Seok-won replied.

"Have you eaten dinner yet?" Mrs. Jo inquired.

"Not yet," Seok-won responded.

"Oh dear, it's already past six! You must be starving," Mrs. Jo exclaimed, turning to the housekeeper. "Could you go ahead and heat the soup? It's still chilly in the evenings, so a warm meal will do him good."

"Yes, ma'am," Kunsandae replied before heading to the kitchen.

As Seok-won took off his shoes and stepped into the living room, he glanced around. "Where's Father?" he asked.

"He hasn't come home yet," Mrs. Jo answered.

"In that case, I'll wait for him so we can eat together," Seok-won said.

"I got a call from his secretary earlier. He has a dinner appointment with Assemblyman Joo Seon-ho, so he'll be late. He'll probably eat out," Mrs. Jo explained.

"Ah, I see," Seok-won nodded. "I'll go upstairs to freshen up, then."

"Alright, go ahead," Mrs. Jo replied.

Seok-won headed upstairs, took a shower, and changed into comfortable loungewear. By the time he came back down, the delicious aroma of dinner was already wafting through the air.

"What smells so good?" he asked as he entered the kitchen.

"Oh, you're back. Come, sit down," Mrs. Jo called, turning to face him.

As Seok-won sat at the table, he saw that it was laden with his favorite dishes—sesame leaf salad, seasoned bracken, savory zucchini pancakes, glistening LA-style galbi, and seaweed salad.

"Be careful; it's hot," Ms. Kunsandae said as she brought over a steaming bowl and placed it in front of Seok-won.

"Chueotang (loach soup)?" he remarked.

"Yes. Since summer is approaching and you're busy with work, Madam prepared it herself to help you regain your strength," Ms. Kunsandae explained.

"Is that so?" Seok-won glanced at his mother, who was still busy bringing more dishes to the table, including a bowl of soy sauce-marinated crab.

Mrs. Jo might have been a wealthy housewife who could have lived without lifting a finger, but she always helped prepare meals whenever her son was home. It was clear how much she cherished these moments.

"The soup is made with fresh loaches, bean sprouts, chives, and scallions, all simmered with soybean paste and red pepper paste to make it spicy and rich. It's good for you, so make sure to finish the whole bowl," Mrs. Jo said.

"Of course," Seok-won replied. He took a spoonful of the soup and gave a thumbs up. "It's really delicious. You could sell this for money, you know."

"Isn't it? Try some of the side dishes too," Mrs. Jo urged, smiling widely at her son's praise as she pushed the dishes closer to him.

"You should sit down and take a break, Mother," Seok-won suggested.

"Alright, I will," she replied, taking off the apron she had been wearing and handing it to Ms. Kunsandae before sitting down at the table with a curious expression.

"How was your first day at work?" she asked.

"It was fine," Seok-won answered casually.

"Was it uncomfortable with everyone knowing you're the chairman's son?"

"Not really," Seok-won shrugged. "I don't pay much attention to that sort of thing."

Relieved by his nonchalant attitude, Mrs. Jo felt the tension leave her shoulders. Although she was still worried about him, especially after his accident, she was glad to see that he had become more active and confident.

"Even so, with so many eyes on you, it might be difficult. Maybe we should have kept your identity a secret," she said.

"It wouldn't have made much difference. A guy my age suddenly parachuting into a team leader position isn't something that happens often. My connection to Father would have been discovered sooner or later," Seok-won pointed out.

"That's true," Mrs. Jo admitted, still looking concerned.

Seeing his mother's worry, Seok-won reassured her with a confident voice. "Don't worry, Mom. I'm not doing anything wrong, and I won't bring any disgrace to Father. I'll handle it just fine."

Hearing her son speak so bravely, Mrs. Jo couldn't help but smile with pride. They continued to chat as they ate dinner, and once they were finished, Seok-won finally made his way back upstairs to his room.

"Did I overeat tonight?" he muttered, rubbing his stomach.

Even though Ms. Kunsandae had helped with the cooking, knowing that his mother had prepared the meal, especially for him made it impossible for him to leave any food uneaten.

"The food was delicious, though," he thought.

Still, next time he would have to ask her to make fewer dishes. He didn't want to gain weight too quickly. Feeling a bit bloated, Seok-won took a digestive pill from his desk drawer.

Knock, knock.

"Come in," he called out.

Ms. Kunsandae entered with a tray in her hands. "Young master, here's your coffee. I also brought the newspaper you requested."

"Thank you."

"It's nothing. Is there anything else you need?"

"No, that'll be all. You can go rest now," he replied.

Bowing slightly, Ms. Kunsandae left the room, leaving Seok-won to settle into his armchair with the latest edition of The Wall Street Journal.

Unfortunately, this wasn't an era where you could just pull out your smartphone and get real-time updates on global news whenever you wanted. Although Landon kept him informed about major developments, it wasn't feasible to rely on him for every minor detail.

To stay on top of what was happening on Wall Street and in the global economy, he had opted to receive the English edition of The Wall Street Journal. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than nothing.

"It's fortunate I can at least get this," he thought.

As the scion of a conglomerate family, getting his hands on an English-language newspaper on the same day it was published was a privilege, but for others, it would have been nearly impossible.

Sipping his coffee, Seok-won began reading through the articles when suddenly his phone rang.

He set down the mug and got up, pulling his phone from his briefcase to answer the call.

"Hello."

[Boss, it's me.]

Hearing Landon's voice on the other end, Seok-won checked his watch and said, "It must be early morning in New York. What's going on?"

[I just wanted to let you know that we've finished acquiring the Cisco shares you instructed us to buy.]

"This wasn't urgent. You could have called me in the morning."

[I thought you might still be asleep then, so I decided to call now.]

Given the 14-hour time difference between Seoul and New York, it would have been early morning in New York when it was late at night in Seoul. Realizing that Landon had gone out of his way to accommodate him, Seok-won felt a twinge of guilt.

"I appreciate it."

[No problem at all. After all, we received hefty bonuses, so this much is expected.]

After successfully selling off their NCR shares to AT&T, Seok-won rewarded everyone at Eldorado Fund with generous bonuses. Landon and Andrew had each received a cool million dollars.

"Seems like the acquisition wrapped up faster than expected."

[We bought a million shares on the open market, and the rest through block deals with institutions that already held large positions.]

"A block deal, huh?" Seok-won remarked.

[Yes, that's correct.]

A block deal is a large-scale transaction where buyers and sellers agree on a price beforehand to prevent drastic price swings. Such deals are typically conducted either before the market opens or after it closes to minimize market impact.

[Andrew suggested doing block deals to avoid driving up the average purchase price due to the large volume we needed to acquire.]

Seok-won nodded as he listened.

"That was a smart move. It saved time and kept the price manageable. How did you find sellers willing to part with such a large amount of stock?"

Block deals could be tricky; if word got out that someone was looking to buy a large volume of shares, sellers might withdraw their shares and demand higher prices, potentially ruining the deal.

[Andrew found out that Harvard Management Company was looking to offload its entire stake in Cisco. We struck a deal with them and acquired the shares.]

Harvard Management Company (HMC) was an asset management firm responsible for managing the endowment funds and other assets of Harvard University. Established in 1974, HMC managed a portfolio worth nearly $10 billion.

'That's not information you can easily come by. Hiring Andrew, with his deep connections on Wall Street, was definitely worth the high salary.'

Although he felt a bit uneasy about taking shares that were originally held by his alma mater, Harvard University, he quickly brushed the thought aside.

'They were going to sell them off anyway, so it's better that I bought them than someone else.'

Landon's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

[In total, we acquired 7,142,789 shares at an average price of $14 per share. That gives us a 3.3% stake in Cisco.]

As he calculated the future value of Cisco's shares—knowing they would eventually soar to $80 per share—Seok-won couldn't help but smile.

'With stock splits and buybacks factored in, the final profit will be even higher.'

It was a guaranteed jackpot, a money-printing machine.

"Great job."

[It was nothing. It wasn't even that difficult.]

Landon hesitated for a moment before speaking again.

[But do you really believe Cisco's stock will rise as you predict?]

"Absolutely. It will be the most successful investment we've ever made."

Seok-won answered without a trace of doubt.

Landon still had his reservations, but seeing how confident Seok-won was, he held his tongue.

[I see…]

Landon couldn't shake the feeling that the investment was risky, but they had already sunk a significant sum—$100 million—into it. There was no turning back now.

All they could do was hope that Seok-won's instincts were right.

'I just hope we don't end up taking a huge loss,' Landon thought, keeping his concerns to himself as he steered the conversation in a different direction.

[By the way, just as you predicted, hedge funds like Mondale Partners have caught wind of the opportunity and are scooping up Spanish and Italian bonds in droves.]

As expected, Seok-won was unfazed by the news. "There are golden opportunities everywhere. It's only natural that the money-hungry folks on Wall Street would jump in."

[You're right.]

"But with so many players involved, competition will drive down the profits."

[In fact, bond prices have already risen by over 10% compared to last month.]

"That's unfortunate," Seok-won said, clicking his tongue in disappointment.

[Still, thanks to your foresight, we were quick to secure a significant portion of the bonds. We've already amassed a considerable amount.]

"How much have we accumulated so far?"

[About $74 billion worth of bonds.]

A staggering sum, nearly 90 trillion won in Korean currency, and far beyond what Eldorado Fund could have managed on its own.

But by leveraging their capital tenfold and repeatedly using the bonds they purchased as collateral to buy even more bonds, they had pulled off this financial wizardry.

'Banks have to reserve 10% of deposits in case customers withdraw their money, but hedge funds don't have those restrictions.'

The ability to use bonds as collateral, requiring only about 1% in reserve, allowed them to keep converting bonds into cash and buying more bonds.

'It's the ultimate money-making scheme.'

With a satisfied grin, Seok-won adjusted his grip on the phone.

"Let's not get greedy, though. We should leave the rest for the others."

Landon chuckled at the idea of leaving scraps for other hedge funds, as if it were an act of generosity.

[Understood.]