Money Keeps Piling Up No Matter How Much I Spend

Chapter 82

Translator: Dreamscribe“It seems that Lusk, which suffered the most damage from the recent WannaCry hacking incident, will have a hard time recovering.”

At an executive's report, Chairman Hwang's eyes twitched slightly.

“No, but still, isn’t Lusk a pretty big player? Wasn’t it once the largest shipping company in the world? Didn’t they operate over 450 vessels?”

“Yes. But they don’t actually own the ships. That number includes vessels leased from chartering companies, so the actual number is likely lower.”

“Even so, it’s Lusk. Even if they were hit hard by the ransomware incident, would it be enough to shut down the company?”

“You could say the ransomware incident was the final blow. Their credibility was completely shattered, and that led to more work flowing into our Kwangwoon Shipping.”

Once the shipping industry collapsed in a big way, only companies that had built a solid internal structure managed to survive.

And among them, the largest was Lusk.

However, they suffered losses in the trillions of won due to the ransomware incident and eventually raised the white flag.

“So now, even the Danish government is debating whether they should bail them out or dismantle Lusk and sell it off piece by piece.”

Which meant that even the last remaining competitor to Kwangwoon Shipping would disappear.

“What does CEO Kim want to do?”

“It would be best to acquire them if possible. Even now, we already have so much work that it’s hard to handle all the volume. If we can take over Lusk as well, Kwangwoon would be handling over 70% of the global shipping business.”

Over 70% of the global market.

That meant the company could bring in hundreds of trillions of won worth of business.

“But if we go beyond 70% and reach 80~90%, that’s when things get risky. We could run into monopoly laws, which many countries are wary of. We plan to control it just enough to stay below that threshold.”

“Alright. I’ll leave that to you, CEO Kim. Let me know anytime if additional expenditure is needed.”

“Yes, Chairman.”

As Chairman Hwang wrapped up the agenda, his gaze shifted to Vice President Kang Ji-hwan, who was sitting across the room.

Although Jung Jin-ho held the title of CEO of the securities company, it was typically Vice President Kang Ji-hwan who attended executive meetings.

That was because Jung Jin-ho focused solely on investments, while the minor tasks were handled by Vice President Kang Ji-hwan.

“Vice President Kang. I didn’t ask CEO Jung on purpose, but I’m still a bit curious. Recently, Kwangwoon Securities suddenly opened a new account and pulled out our group’s funds, right?”

“Ah, yes.”

“But there’s no legal issue with that, is there?”

“No. We made sure to handle that part carefully, so there’s no issue.”

“Right. I figured you all took care of it properly. But... do you know what CEO Jung invested in? I told myself I wouldn’t interfere with his investments, but I’m just asking out of an abundance of caution.”

It was probably something every executive at today’s meeting was curious about.

After all, didn’t Jung Jin-ho completely reject the portfolio that the executives had poured their hearts into just the other day?

According to Chairman Hwang, the portfolio was so poor that CEO Jung simply threw it aside.

And then, that same Jung Jin-ho suddenly opened an account and withdrew 1 trillion won of group funds.

The stocks recommended by the executives were currently the easiest ways to make money in the stock market.

So how could he make money in the current U.S. market, where the VIX index was so low, after rejecting all of those options?

More than a week had passed with no word, so the executives were naturally curious.

“Did he buy any stocks?”

“As soon as he opened the account, he established a position. He invested all the available funds. From what I know, he shorted various derivatives and blue chips with over 1.8 billion dollars.”

“Wait. Short? Is he expecting a crash in the U.S. market?”

“Yes. He even gave me a brief heads-up. He said that once the real bear market begins, he plans to make aggressive gains through day trading.”

“D-day trading?”

“Hold on. Are you saying that CEO Jung is planning to do day trading with 2 trillion won? In the U.S. market, at that!?”

“No. I mean... is that even possible?”

Even Kang Ji-hwan doesn’t know.

Because there’s no one in this world who does day trading with 2 trillion won.

Even the executives had that much basic common sense.

That’s why they were all so shocked.

“If there’s even the slightest mistake, hundreds of billions, even trillions, could be lost.”

“No matter how much of a genius CEO Jung is in investment, isn’t day trading with 2 trillion won too reckless?”

While the executives were voicing their concerns.

Chairman Hwang was not thinking about profit or loss.

“Vice President. If it’s the Jin-ho I know, then without a doubt, he’s going to come out of this with gains again.”

“Yes.”

“Then what will the U.S. SEC think about this?”

“...They probably won’t let it slide. Even if we didn’t do any insider trading, if a foreigner wields 2 trillion won for short-term trades, the SEC will try to make an issue of it one way or another.”

“So those bastards might send us an investigation notice?”

“Yes. It’s very likely they’ll cooperate with Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service and initiate an investigation.”

Chairman Hwang leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for a moment.

Sensing the tense atmosphere, the chattering executives fell silent.

Soon, Chairman Hwang opened his eyes again.

“When I was offered this chairman position that didn’t even suit me, and when I personally hired each of you as executives, I had only one purpose in mind.”

“...?”

“Work hard to grow the group? That’s not it. It was so that when something like this happened, we would do everything in our power to ensure that CEO Jung doesn’t suffer any damage. That one goal is what this group was built for.”

With that, Chairman Hwang glanced around at the executives gathered in the meeting room.

“One of you said this the other day. That it feels like you don’t have much to do, since CEO Jung handles all the business planning and execution. But now, you’ve got work to do, don’t you?”

“!?”

“Our goal is one thing. CEO Jung must not suffer any damage from this. If he gets hurt, it’s no different from our entire group collapsing. You all understand what I mean, right?”

At Chairman Hwang’s solemn expression, the faces of the executives changed as well.

“Now let’s all go earn our keep.”

***

“.......”

There was still about an hour left until the market closed, but I stopped there.

It wasn’t just that my instincts were no longer firing, after doing nothing but constant short-term trades for the first time in a while, it felt like my temples were burning.

The smell of something like a burned-out engine stung my nose, and I grabbed my dizzy head.

Two days.

For exactly two days, I pushed my instincts to the limit and kept trading nonstop during market hours.

This time, I handled more stocks than ever before, so I really couldn’t lose focus for even a second.

Maybe that’s why the aftereffects felt even stronger than before.

After calming down a bit, I stepped outside.

“Ah......”

“Ugh......”

Everyone was slumped down in their chairs, completely knocked out.

I approached the exhausted team members and gave them a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

“You all worked hard.”

“N-No, not at all. You must have had it much harder, CEO-nim......”

“Then can you gather all the recovered funds and tell me how much total profit we made?”

“Ah, yes.”

Not long after, Department Head Seo stood before everyone and announced the profit we made over the past two days.

“The initial investment amount was 1.8 billion dollars. And after all the transactions over the two days, after deducting all fees, the net profit comes to approximately...”

He swallowed dryly and continued.

“3.7 billion dollars.”

“!?”

“Th-Three point seven billion dollars?!”

That meant we turned 2 trillion won into over 4 trillion won.

“In just two days!”

"Th, that's impossible."

“We were so busy buying and selling nonstop that we never even had time to check how much we were making.”

Yesterday was the same.

Just yesterday, as soon as the market closed, didn’t most of us feel so exhausted that even going home felt difficult?

But it seemed that labor had not gone to waste.

“Turning 2 trillion won into 4 trillion won in just two days. Who’s going to believe this?”

“No matter how much of a crash we saw over those two days, and even if the VIX index shot up to 50, still, this is just...”

Yes, the fact that we made money was partly due to the U.S. market experiencing a sharp downturn, but to be honest, it wasn’t a financial crisis-level crash.

Rather, the real issue lay with the VIX.

Until now, people had expected the VIX index to drop even further, so they had poured all their money into XIV.

Their expectations were, in fact, rational.

The problem was, none of them imagined that this much money would flood in.

When a massive amount of capital is concentrated, even minor fluctuations start triggering forced liquidations of positions everywhere.

And the spark that lit that fuse, ironically, was the U.S. government.

By suddenly releasing employment figures and wage growth data, they prompted fears of accelerated interest rate hikes, and that unease swept over the financial markets, causing the VIX index to soar.

XIV products, which were designed for automatic rebalancing, began liquidating positions, and in an instant, trillions of won evaporated.

“That created a domino effect, bringing down the stock market with it. Apparently, over 1,000 trillion won vanished in just two days.”

But in truth, the crash wasn’t over yet.

If we kept doing short-term trades a bit longer, we could’ve made even more money.

But then my instincts suddenly came to a halt.

Whether it was because I’d been pushing too hard and the engine had blown, or it was a warning telling me not to go in any further, I didn’t know.

But in a way, maybe it was for the best.

Even I had a headache and didn’t feel capable of continuing anymore.

“But... I mean, it’s great that we made a lot of money... but the U.S. SEC must’ve been watching all of this, right?”

“They probably are... right?”

“It’s not like we did anything illegal.”

“Still, turning 2 trillion won into 4 trillion in just two days, logically, that doesn’t make sense. I’m sure they’ll try to take some kind of action.”

The employees who had just moments ago been jumping with joy over earning 4 trillion won now had dark shadows on their faces. I clapped my hands and broke the suddenly heavy atmosphere.

“Let’s think about that later. For now, everyone go rest. Get some real sleep and I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

“Ah, yes!”

The employees quickly began preparing to leave.

I acted as if I was unfazed and saw them off, but on the inside, I was starting to get nervous.

I hadn’t expected to turn 2 trillion won into 4 trillion either, and soaked in dopamine, I had simply followed my instincts, buying and selling stocks without thinking about the consequences.

“Seriously, they’re not just going to barge in, are they?”

In serious cases like this, they say the FBI usually gets involved.

Suddenly, a scene from a movie flashed through my mind, someone yelling “FBI!” and storming in.

***

“Am... am I seeing this right?”

“Yes. This is the data we collected without missing a single second over the past two days.”

“So you’re telling me they turned 1.8 billion dollars into 3.7 billion in just two days?”

“Yes.”

“All through short-term trades only?”

“...Yes, Director.”

Volmageddon.

That’s what people are calling this incident now.

A portmanteau of 'VIX' and 'Armageddon', referring to how the XIV fund, where money had been pouring in, plummeted by over 90%, effectively reducing all invested capital to zero.

Tens of trillions of won locked inside were completely wiped out, like smoke.

But if someone lost that much money, that also means someone else made that same amount.

And in this chaos, there was a group that made an absolute killing.

“Would this qualify as insider trading?”

“They had established positions a week in advance and made a huge profit, so there’s some grounds for suspicion. But the real issue is what came after. The vast majority of their profits were made purely from short-term trades.”

It was enough to make someone go insane.

The fact that the position was taken in advance clearly made it highly likely to be insider trading.

But after that, they proceeded with short-term trades at the second level, earning an enormous amount of money.

“That’s why I’m saying this. There’s no way a human did this manually. At this level, isn’t it safe to assume it was AI high-frequency trading?”

“It would be a stretch to call it AI... Typically, AI trading follows patterns and executes hundreds of trades per second.”

“Then you’re saying all of this was done manually by a person?”

“Yes. And it’s highly likely it was done by a single individual.”

“Ha...”

That meant someone had led this crazy day trading operation, possibly directing it as a one-man team.

To be honest, there were signs of insider trading, but without hard evidence, they couldn’t just arrest them.

Still, when you investigate something thoroughly, something always turns up.

On any other day, they would’ve immediately requested cooperation from Korea and stormed into that company to tear the place apart, but there was one major obstacle.

“The other big winner this time wasn’t just that Korean group... it was Gold Reagan too, right?”

“Yes. Gold Reagan had positions set at least two months in advance.”

Gold Reagan.

A financial firm closely tied to President Trump.

Weren’t a large number of Trump administration officials already former executives from Gold Reagan?

“So you’re saying those bastards had positions in place since two months ago...”

“It’s clear they orchestrated it for a clean sweep.”

Money had been pouring into XIV for several months.

But coincidentally, the inflow frequency spiked noticeably starting two months ago.

“No matter how you look at it, this was an inside job.”

There’s a saying.

Whenever a new administration takes office, or when a re-election is secured, a major financial event always happens.

The dot-com bubble, terrorism, the housing bubble, subprime crisis, astronomical bailouts, and now this incident. Not to mention all the minor events too tedious to list.

Especially this time, the entire plan was executed with great precision.

The government deliberately released employment and wage growth figures to send a strong signal that interest rates would soon rise.

As a result, panic swept through the market and triggered this chaos.

Some might call it a ridiculous conspiracy theory, but in this world, few brush it off as mere speculation.

Because whether in America or any other country.

The moment someone grabs power, the first thing they do is fill their own pockets.

It’s unfortunate, but there’s no way to stop it.

And more importantly, the opponent here is the President of the United States.

There is no investigative agency anywhere in the world that can probe a nation's leader.

Some people will raise serious suspicions about this incident, but that’s as far as it’ll go.

It’ll be dismissed as a conspiracy theory and buried.

Just like always.

“Then what if we leave Gold Reagan alone and go after this Korean group?”

“Did you even look at the data properly?”

"Yes?"

“The exact moment the Gold Reagan group cashed out is identical to when the Korean group cashed out. What do you think that means?”

“Ah...”

It was a silent warning.

It was a deliberate message showing that Gold Reagan and the Korean group, which used them as their prime broker, were part of the same team.

If anyone tried to investigate that Korean group, the White House’s name would inevitably come up.

Why else would that group use Gold Reagan as their prime broker?

They were openly declaring that they were connected from the start.

A message: Don’t touch us.

“Just make it a token investigation.”

“What if someone tries to make an issue out of this?”

“Then we’ll brush it off like we always do.”

Before long, the media would be plastered with articles.

[This Volmageddon incident was caused by the foolish decisions of investors who failed to understand the risks of the market!]

Like that.