When Taek-gyu saw the amount in OTK Company’s account, he was stunned.
“685 billion won!”
Even as he checked the balance with his own eyes, he couldn’t believe it.
Today, he realized for the first time that he could earn this much money.
Taek-gyu said, sounding regretful, “It would have been a real jackpot if the expiration date had been further down.”
If it had dropped further, the profits would have exceeded 1 trillion won.
Despite showing a passive stance during trading hours, institutional investors and pension funds concentrated on buying a whopping 3 trillion won in the closing auction with just over 2 minutes left until the market closed.
It was truly a buying explosion.
There was also counter-buying due to overselling, but it was a desperate measure to raise stock prices in line with the options expiration date to reduce losses.
It was almost like stock manipulation.
However, if the decline had continued until today, the financial companies that issued the options would have gone bankrupt one after another. The government and financial institutions would have had no choice.
As the stock price rose on the options expiration date, our rate of return decreased significantly.
Nonetheless, it was an extraordinary rate of return. Just looking at the numbers in the account might make your head spin.
“Why are there so many zeros?”
“Don’t they need to do a redenomination or something?”
Taek-gyu asked me.
“How much should I give you?”
“Huh?”
“We agreed to split the profits evenly.”
Out of the 685 billion won, 130 billion was the initial investment, and the profit was 672 billion. Half of that is mine…
Taek-gyu finished his calculation and said, “It’s 336 billion won, right?”
“······.”
If you stack enough bundles of money, would it reach the height of a building?
Until not so long ago, I was a penniless worrywart who had to think about the future only until discharge. But now, it seems that 336 billion has come into my possession.
Can I really accept such a tremendous amount of money?
Investments come with both profits and losses.
Since I’ve only invested 800 million of my own capital, if there were to be any losses, Taekgyu would have had to bear most of it. In fact, just a few days ago, we were facing losses of tens of billions.
Thinking back on everything I’ve been through, it feels a bit guilty to take half of the profits.
Taekgyu seemed to understand my words and nodded as if in agreement.
“So you won’t take it? Well, I’m grateful then.”
I shook my head firmly.
“No, that’s not it.”
Taekgyu chuckled softly.
“Well, if it weren’t for you, 13 billion would’ve gone down the drain. You wouldn’t have been able to turn that 13 billion into 685 billion anyway.”
I provided the information, and Taekgyu invested the capital.
Depending on the perspective, opinions on who played a bigger role may differ. But generally, most people tend to think their contribution is greater.
However, Taekgyu promised right from the start to give me half without hesitation, and he intends to keep that promise.
How rare is such a person in this world?
But suddenly, a sinister feeling crept in.
“If this is the extent of precognition…”
I only foresaw the discontinuation of a single cellphone model. Yet, I earned billions.
What if I had foreseen 9/11, the financial crisis? What if I predicted wars or natural disasters?
It felt like electricity running through my spine.
As if sharing my thoughts, Taekgyu spoke.
“Perhaps it’s best not to tell anyone about the Oracle Eye.”
“I agree.”
Our expressions were serious and grave, unlike before. We both realized how remarkable the ability of foresight truly was.
“What do you think would happen if this gets out?”
Would they drag us to some government agency?
“But there are many people who boast about having foresight abilities.”
Among them are fortune-tellers, palm readers, tarot card readers, psychics, prophets, and even day traders (probably the most abundant group).
The reason there are so many purported individuals with foresight abilities in the world is that there is no way to validate their claims.
Physical abilities like telekinesis can be objectively verified. However, foresight, since it is seen only by the individual possessing it, cannot be validated.
But they predict the future as if either it will happen or not.
“Those people may be fake, but you’re different.”
If you truly had the gift of foresight, why would you bother reading palms or tarot cards on the streets?
You could easily make money by flipping cards in a casino or just by trading stocks.
“You make a good point.”
Only Taek-gyu and I know about this ability.
He is the only person, besides my mother, whom I can truly trust. I will not tell anyone about the potential of this being beneficial to me.
After the serious conversation ended, Taek-gyu chuckled again.
“By the way, we really made a fortune.”
Upon hearing those words, I felt a bit uneasy.
While the financial market had barely regained stability, the future outlook was dim. The operating profit consensus for Seosung Electronics kept dropping, and with smartphone exports faltering, it was anticipated that the trade balance would worsen from next month onwards.
On the other hand, the stock prices of NPL and Chinese companies, expected to gain from the situation, surged.
“Is it morally right for us to profit like this in such a national crisis?”
Taek-gyu seemed to agree with what I said without hesitation.
“What does it matter? It’s not like we manipulated anything.”
“True.”
Even if we hadn’t done anything, L6 would have collapsed, Seosung Electronics would have hit its bottom limit, and the KOSPI and KOSDAQ would have plummeted.
And amidst everyone losing money, someone must have made a profit. Right now, we’re the ones reaping that profit.
“It’s all thanks to Oracle Eye.”
But that wasn’t the only reason. No matter how good the information is, it’s useless if you don’t have money to invest.
If Taek-gyu hadn’t believed in my words and invested, we would have missed the opportunity and been left sucking our thumbs.
Even if people hear the same story, how many would actually go as far as to invest?
I’m not sure if he’s intuitive or thoughtless.
“But listen.”
“Yeah?”
“How are you going to receive the money? If it goes into your account, you’ll have to pay taxes.”
Transferring money from an overseas corporation to a domestic one incurs taxes. With an amount in the tens of billions, the tax rate reaches up to 50 percent.
The tax alone exceeds 1.6 trillion. Moreover, there arises the issue of proving the source of the money.
“Do you want to receive it in cash?”
“3.36 billion?”
How many 50,000 won bills can fit in an apple box? Even if we assume 6 billion can fit in one box, it’s still over 500 boxes.
Wait, can you even withdraw 3.36 billion in cash? That’s 6.72 million bills of 50,000 won each.
I never imagined I would be troubled by such a problem.
I wonder what the best course of action would be. Should I also create a corporate entity for tax avoidance purposes?
While I was deeply contemplating this, Taek-gyu asked.
“what are you thinking of doing with this money?”
I asked Taekgyu.
“Me?”
“Well, I don’t have anything specific in mind. But doesn’t it feel too unsatisfying to just end it like this?”
Taekgyu replied as he looked at me.
“You invested 13 billion and made 67 billion. If you reinvest this money, can’t you make even more?”
Let’s think realistically.
The reason you were able to make 50 times your initial amount of 13 billion was because the size of the capital was small. Once the capital grows to hundreds of billions, making such a profit at once becomes impossible.
However, with such a large capital, if you can consistently generate profit, you can earn a tremendous sum.
I remembered the discussion on doubling.
Folding a newspaper 20 times makes it over 100 meters long. If you fold it 10 more times, it’s over 100 kilometers.
By betting 1 billion at a casino and continuously betting the winnings for 20 rounds, you can earn 104 trillion 8576 billion. If you add just 10 more rounds, it’s over 1 quadrillion.
Money moves the world in today’s highly developed capitalist society. With money, you can even save lives.
This is not a metaphor.
In some countries in Africa, children are dying from malaria and malnutrition. Lives that could be saved with just a $1 pill and food are being neglected due to lack of money.
With just one investment, you earned more money than you could spend in a lifetime. It’s enough to live extravagantly without doing anything more.
But…
Is this enough?
Is it right to be satisfied at this level and call it quits?
I remembered the prophecy I saw on a drunken night.
A CEO is the Chief Executive Officer.
The CEO doesn’t necessarily have to be the largest shareholder.
Perhaps that means I will be teaming up with Taekgyu to run OTK Company together in the future?
I reached out my hand to Taekgyu.
“Take my hand.”
“If I do?”
“We’ll go all the way together.”
Taekgyu looked back and forth between my face and my hand.
“What if I don’t?”
“Then I’ll go all the way alone.”
After a moment of thought, Taekgyu firmly grabbed my hand.
“We may not know how far we’ll go, but let’s go together just this once.”
“Haha!”
“Hahaha!”
We looked at each other and burst into laughter.
***
We found a simple solution to the issue of dividing money.
“Let’s transfer the investment capital to Korea for now. And let’s revise the corporate name. We’ll split the current 100% ownership of OTK Company equally between us.”
In this case, since the money is still in the overseas corporation, there is no need to pay taxes in Korea. Dividing the corporate ownership is considered a gift, but Ireland is also tax-exempt for gifts.
“What do you think?”
“… ”
For some reason, there was no response.
Taekgyu seemed to be deeply contemplating something, and after a while, he spoke up.
“Do you still have the contract I gave you before?”
“I put it in my wallet.”
“Let me see it for a moment.”
Without much thought, I took out the contract and handed it over. Taekgyu unfolded the contract, then suddenly grabbed it with both hands and began tearing it apart.
Rip, rip!
In an instant, the contract turned into dozens of torn pieces scattered around.
Perplexed by the unexpected situation, I asked, “What are you doing, man?”
Taekgyu replied with a stern expression, “Upon further consideration, splitting it evenly doesn’t make sense.”
“What?”
“How about an 80-20 split?”
I was at a loss for words.
Judging by his expression, it didn’t seem like he was joking. Is he suggesting that only I get 20% and he takes the rest? Is he planning to stab me in the back at this point?
In a world where money can even lead people to kill, it wouldn’t be surprising for someone to change their mind when faced with billions.
Yet, this doesn’t seem like his usual character…
Seeing my disbelief, Taekgyu continued speaking.
“You take 80, I’ll take 20.”
“…”
What is he talking about now?
(TL/n: That’s one hell of a best friend)
