-You little bastard!
Beijing Capital International Airport.
While I was waiting for my night flight, I got a call from Chief Oh.
As expected, his voice was brimming with rage.
-I trusted you and left it to you, and you charged twenty million won to the corporate card?! At a jewelry store, no less?!
“Chief, please calm down. I can explain everything.”
-Explain, my ass! Go back there right now and get a refund! I’ve seen plenty of embezzlement in my time, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen someone buy gold with a corporate card!
“I don’t have it on me right now. I made a little investment in a future business…”
-What?!
“I’ll explain in detail when I get back to Korea. I can explain everything.”
-Goddamn it!
I fiddled with the business card Zhang Yifeng had given me and answered vaguely.
In truth, I didn’t have an explanation prepared for the twenty million won. All I could think about was how to come up with the money that old tiger had demanded.
After berating me for about thirty minutes, Chief Oh finally said, panting for breath,
-Hoo… Forget it. Listen carefully to what I’m about to say. If the Investment Management Team asks why you spent that money, tell them I told you to.
“…Pardon?”
-From now on, that money is something I agreed to pay a broker when I met him in Chongqing. Payment for the real estate information he gave us. In other words, you stayed behind to settle the under-the-table money.
“Chief. I really can explain everything…”
-Whatever it is, do you think buying gold with a corporate card can be explained? I already told the Management Team that’s what happened, so do as I say!
I laughed bitterly.
“Thank you… I’ll tell them that.”
-But once you’re back in Korea, you explain it to me properly. I’m not that soft. From what I’ve seen in life, there’s no such thing as a man who’s sharp about money and clean to boot.
“…Pardon?”
-If you do your job well, a little self-issued incentive? I can understand that much. But you have to be honest with me, at least. I can trust you, right?
Chief Oh asked in a tone that sounded like he trusted me less than anyone. I gave a bitter smile and said he could.
If I’d had a little more time, I wouldn’t have done this either… I could only resent the heavens.
In roughly three months, Russia would invade Ukraine.
Every military expert in the world predicted that Ukraine would be occupied within a week. Since Russia had annexed Crimea without shedding a single drop of blood, it was only natural.
But that war overturned everyone’s expectations and became a long war of attrition, announcing to humanity the opening act of drone warfare. Everyone came to realize what kind of future war would unfold if AI code were simply applied to those drones.
From that point on, China, which had been managing things loosely, began controlling components, and every nation’s eyes turned toward China, which had seized 95% of the drone market through a planned economy.
“…”
There was none… There was no time, and I had no confidence.
It was an era that rapidly shifted from manned warfare to unmanned warfare, and in response, each country would invest enormous sums into military spending and the defense industry.
But a world where Germany declared rearmament and Poland applauded it… I had no way to explain that.
-Damn it. This isn’t why I called. Tsk.
Chief Oh, who had been nagging me to his heart’s content, clicked his tongue.
-I’ve got good news and bad news. Which do you want to hear first?
Damn it, there was still bad news left?
“…I’ll hear the bad news first.”
-For the time being, you’ll be working on the Domestic Team instead of the Overseas Team. When you come to the office, your desk won’t be there. I had all your things moved.
“What? No, the Overseas Team suits me perfectly.”
-How many of our employees do you think are suited perfectly to the KOSPI? It won’t be long, about six months. Think of it as going on a rotational assignment.
“No, why all of a sudden…”
-Because you got promoted. To Principal.
I shot to my feet.
“Pri… Principal?”
-That’s right. There’s no open Principal position on the Overseas Team right now, you see? As soon as a spot opens, you’ll rejoin us.
“Chief, aren’t you mistaken? I’m due to become a Senior Associate this time, but Principal out of nowhere?”
-That’s how it turned out. Congratulations, Principal Lee. I’ll see you in Korea.
The call was cut off one-sidedly, but I couldn’t put my phone down for a long while. In my third year at the company, I was indeed in the cohort due to pin on first lieutenant—Senior Associate.
But why on earth were they suddenly promoting a second lieutenant to major?
*
Three days earlier.
“Are you sure about this?”
The Division Head asked while looking through the personnel records.
“Yes. I’m saying this after a great deal of thought. There won’t be any problem.”
“Even so, Principal is a position reserved for people with at least seven years of experience. We can’t simply ignore seniority within the company, either.”
“Seniority won’t be an issue if we send him on a brief rotational assignment. Handling domestic equities will be a good experience for Associate Lee as well. I can mediate those issues properly from the middle.”
He expressed his concerns several times, but Chief Oh showed no sign of backing down.
“Fascinating. This is the first time I’ve seen you recommend someone so actively.”
“That’s because there’s never been anyone who recorded returns this high. If there had been, I would have recommended him long ago. Haha…”
“Still, aren’t you putting too much faith in him? There have been plenty of people in this field who had good investment performance for a few years thanks to luck. But I’ve never seen anyone stay on top forever.”
“Division Head… are you really that unwilling?”
The Division Head set the personnel file down and said,
“A Principal portfolio manager handles trillions of won. There are even matters he can decide on his own. That’s far too heavy a responsibility for someone in his third year at the company, a man who’s only just turned thirty.”
“Then doesn’t that make it even more impressive?”
“What?”
“He’s young, and his career is meager, yet he has already persuaded us several times with a single report. And his predictions have always been right.”
Chief Oh spoke in a voice full of conviction.
“I’m not recommending this kid simply because of his rate of return. His temperament is outstanding, too.”
“Temperament?”
“That unsold housing report from China—I wasn’t actually the one who analyzed it. In the first place, the reason I went to China was because this kid kept making points I couldn’t ignore.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“When I was floundering around in Chongqing, I got a call from him. He said the most promising plots of land in Beijing were just sitting idle… When I went there, it really was like finding Apgujeong, Seocho, and Cheongdam land lying untouched. If this kid hadn’t shown me that cross-section, I probably couldn’t have made the decision to sell our bonds and stocks so quickly.”
Whenever Chief Oh thought back on the last bankruptcy incident with the Fengda Group, his blood ran cold.
It had truly been a battle of timing down to the finest sense.
If he had gone around every province in China claiming he needed to conduct a complete survey, the three major groups probably would have gone bankrupt before the results even came out.
“He has solid theoretical knowledge and good decisiveness. Didn’t we save one trillion won thanks to selling preemptively just a few days faster?”
“Hmm…”
“To be honest, this personnel record doesn’t contain even half of Associate Lee’s history. From SB to the three major groups… Thanks to this kid, we recovered half of the money we should originally have lost.”
Saying that, Chief Oh handed over a separate document he had prepared.
“Of course, I know. I know what you’re worried about, Division Head. But once you see this, you’ll change your mind.”
“What’s this?”
“It’s the rate of return on commodities, which our pension fund had never touched before.”
On the paper Chief Oh handed over, dizzying numbers were dancing.
“It was exactly as he said. With inflation overlapping the global supply shortage, every commodity, including crude oil, is soaring. Gold in particular had already risen threefold, so everyone opposed it, but this kid insisted to the end. And that gold has now risen by 24%.”
Just how long would the myth of gold as a safe asset last?
Gold, driven sharply upward by the Federal Reserve’s failure to manage prices, had shown the astonishing feat of rising another 3% even after Fengda’s bankruptcy. Of course, 3% itself was not a large number, but considering the fact that the real estate crisis originating in China had sent stock markets around the world into the abyss, it was no exaggeration to call it a 30% rise.
“To be honest, the profits I’ve made over my twenty years at the pension fund don’t match Associate Lee’s performance over the past six months. If anything, he should be the chief, and I should be the principal.”
The Division Head let out a light sigh.
“It’s not that I don’t acknowledge that. The reports that kid wrote were so fascinating even I wanted to read them myself. But if someone in his third year becomes a Principal, there are personnel regulations to consider, and I can’t help worrying about staff morale. Aren’t we practically half civil servants?”
“Forgive me for saying this, Division Head, but perhaps that’s exactly why our pension fund’s turnover rate is so high.”
“…What?”
“In truth, I don’t think our turnover rate is high only because we moved to Jeonju. The fundamental reason is probably market value. Once someone has good investment results for a year or two, they all start submitting résumés to securities firms.”
At Chief Oh’s report, the Division Head smiled bitterly.
The pension fund hired only talent in the top 10%, but its actual salaries were lower than the industry average. Because of that, most recent hires came in aiming to add a single line to their résumés saying they had worked at the pension fund.
“I honestly don’t think Associate Lee’s extraordinary promotion will crush employee morale. On the contrary, I think it will motivate them.”
“Fine. If I keep refusing to listen, you’ll start talking about submitting your resignation. Raise this kid to Principal and give him a separate office. But don’t let him come into direct contact with the other employees. Manage him properly yourself and take him back to the Overseas Team later.”
“Thank you, Division Head!”
Having gotten the answer he wanted, Chief Oh’s mouth stretched from ear to ear.
In his twenty years of work, he had seen every promising earner snatched away by securities firms. He didn’t know about anything else, but he thought an offer of this level would serve as a shackle to firmly keep the kid in place.
“Hold on, Chief Oh.”
Just as he was about to leave, the Division Head called him to a stop.
“I’m asking just in case, but does that kid also have any intention of resigning? Is that why you’ve been so anxious? Did you sense something like that?”
“I’m not sure. Every bastard who secretly wrote résumés behind my back sucked up to me in front of my face. However…”
“However?”
“This one didn’t seem all that interested in salary.”
The Division Head asked as if he found that absurd.
“He’s not interested in salary?”
“Yes. Actually, when we went to China, we had a lot of honest conversations. But somehow, it didn’t seem to be about money.”
“If not money, what is he interested in?”
Chief Oh scratched his head and said,
“He says his first goal is to reform the pension fund’s portfolio.”
“What?”
“And according to that, his second goal is to improve the constitution of Korea’s industrial structure and turn it into a sustainable growth structure. He said the Fourth Industrial Revolution requires plans and strategic responses at the national level.”
“Isn’t that what we always say when we train new employees?”
Chief Oh smiled awkwardly.
“Yes… but with him, it seemed like that really was his goal.”
The Division Head laughed as if dumbfounded.
“We should make him Division Head, not Principal.”