37
Chapter 37
Jonathan was excited as he talked, and he had prepared his presentation while negotiating with Bluestone’s management for Blue Rock. He had a stack of documents filled with facts and figures, and Jonathan kept consulting them despite being the one who had prepared them.
“Here it is. I think we can negotiate with ANC on this point. They are badly managing twenty billion dollars worth of deposits, and adding Blue Rock’s thirty billion worth of deposits will make it fifty billion.”
Jonathan was not talking about ANC and Blue Rock’s money, they were client funds deposits that their customers had entrusted with them with the expectation of a profitable return. What was of note was that some of the client funds that ANC had gathered were from the USA government’s pension fund. I looked over the evidence, and of course we both knew that even tens of billions of dollars was petty compared to the entire USA pension fund. However, the fact that the money was there meant something, and I felt like I had unexpectedly received a box. It may be a bronze but may unexpectedly turn into a challenger box.
Jonathan smiled as he looked at the document I was holding.
“I thought you would notice that.”
“Where’s the rest?”
Jonathan took out some more documents from his inside pocket, and I needed to confirm the specifics out of the several hundred kinds of pensions the USA government managed.
“What is this?”
My voice was tense, and Jonathan’s eyes widened in surprise as if this had been a test for me. Looks like I passed, I knew at least this much.
“Why is ANC so careless with this fund? Don’t they know who this is?”
“They would have taken more care if they knew.”
“The client funds management team should be fired.”
The pension fund was for retired teachers in Connecticut, and that was at least a diamond box.
The Education Association in Connecticut was very influential in American politics, as US Presidents almost always campaigned on education reform, and American citizens paid close attention to their schools. The Connecticut Education Association had been a strong voice in USA politics as the icon of education reform.
“This fund will trumpet our name. We have to bring it in.”
My voice held greed to the extent even I could hear it.
“If we manage this well, Jonathan…”
Jonathan’s smile was meaningful.
“The New York firm will be dealing with the US pension funds.”
“Yes, we’ll be killing two birds with one stone.”
As Jonathan had said, this was the opportunity to attack the Bluestone group with an increase in size and be favorably noticed by the US government. Our stone will be profitable returns for our customers.
“What’s the estimated price?”
“About 1.2 to 1.8 billion dollars.”
That meant we could buy control of fifty billion dollars worth of client funds deposits with One point Eight Billion, and Blue Rock and ANC will sell if the price is right, since they would be confident that they could get people to invest in them again. The problem was getting approved by the Financial Supervisory Commission…
I worked out the details of the plan, and Jonathan suddenly asked a question.
“You’ve never lived in America, right?”
“Yes.”
“How do you know so much? I’m not talking about your age. You’re like…”
“As if I’m a professional?”
“More so than that Bluestone team.”
“My father works in finance.”
“New York? Washington? Wouldn’t I know his name if he managed to raise a son like you?”
Jonathan’s eyes shone as he thought he had stepped closer to my mystery.
“He’s in Seoul and not famous. He’s a good father, though. Now, I’ll leave the rest up to you.”
“Me alone?”
“I’m stuck in Seoul, and you forget that I’m underage.”
“Yeah, right.”
“All right, let’s wrap this up and move on to the next.”
“Next?”
“Why are you surprised? Aren’t we going to move the offshore funds lying dormant?”
***
I showed my parents a Bible School poster that had been taped up near our house. The length was quite extensive as the church had made the program with spring vacation in mind, and while my parents were naturally surprised, they had given their approval.
They seemed to think that it was an opportunity for me to make some friends, and I managed to get on a plane to New York the next day. I had prepared my passport in advance, and I had bought the first-class seat using cash from Jeonil’s funds. Only three passengers were riding first class, an Indian man and a pair of foreigners of indeterminate nationality.
They all seemed to know each other and chatted on their performance after greeting each other. However, their Buy Korea projects had little relevance to Jeonil, and I took out my laptop since their conversation was becoming boring.
The manuscript I had been writing over the past two weeks was nearly finished, and the efficient stewardess did her best not to interrupt me.
The plane shook quite severely once, and it was enough to make the strong-looking Indian man scream. I only realized that it was due to turbulence when the cockpit explained the situation to us. It was only afterwards that I realized I didn’t immediately think of flying monsters.
I had spent half a year(subjective) in infanthood and another half-year as a teenager, which was only a year in total. I was becoming used to this world too fast, and my senses were growing dull. Not the senses listed in my status, but the survival instincts carved onto my soul…
***
The market worked anonymously, and our identities should have remained secret after Thailand and Hong Kong. However, we had been exposed, and that was because we did not have enough manpower for the money we had. Two men simply cannot manage billions of dollars.
No matter how careful we were, we had habits when we made orders, and some firms made it their business to investigate these habits in the back alleys of the financial world.
Therefore, Jonathan Investments had been discovered as the firm that had harvested almost all of the profits from the Asian financial crisis. We could not go on with just the two of us, and we needed Knights for our financial empire.
While I did not care to say it, his ability as a trader was a C class. He was exceptional as my proxy or managing Jonathan Investments as CEO but was below my standards as a trader. Jonathan of course, was a capable and experienced trader, however it took a special skill set to efficiently and effectively manage billions of dollars. (EN: A trader is a person or entity, in finance, who buys and sells financial instruments such as stocks, bonds, commodities, derivatives, and mutual funds in the capacity of agent, hedger, arbitrageur, or speculator.)
Some managers could make an amazing profit with just a million, but not many would be able to get a profit rate of more than ten percent with a hundred million dollars.
Then, what about managers who could manage billions? Gillian and Cheongsoo Kim were the only two I knew capable of that, in my opinion, and the results of them following my plans would be quite astonishing.
However, I did not know where Cheongsoo Kim was at this point in the past, so I decided to search for Gillian first. I had met him as a student when he had taught as an instructor in a master’s course in a London university. I’m not sure why he accepted an offer like that after gaining international renown by managing a massive hedge fund.
Whatever the reason was, those few months were a golden time for me and helped me build the foundation to change my career path from London to Wall Street.
If he had not died young, Gillian would have made his name in financial history. I arrived at Wall Street, and I went to 245 Park Avenue, where the Morgan Group’s property management team was located. It was true that I was a bit worried until I found Gillian’s name in the building lobby.
“Do you have an appointment?”
Of course, I did not. This was not a place where a young Asian man could come in with confidence, and Gillian did not belong in a team that met with customers. He would be managing the Freeman Group account about now.
“Can you tell him that I’m from England?”
While the receptionist did not look happy, she did what I asked. The answer immediately came back as negative. I asked her to hand Gillian a memo and waited for him from the café across the street. I remembered my first days in Wall Street looking at the view from the window, and old memories became clearer.
I remembered quietly going back to Korea like a fugitive and the Day of Advent a few days later. As I was reminiscing about the past, I realized that it was near dinnertime from how the building shadows darkened.
Gillian came inside the café, and while he was younger and had a different hairstyle, I instantly recognized him. However, his face was as dark as a raincloud. I waved, and his face became even darker.
He looked around and confirmed that I was the only one who was looking for him. Gillian sat in front of me and asked me in a suspicious voice, which was only natural.
“I heard that you came from England.”
I said the words that I had been preparing.
“I think I have been misunderstood. I’m not from England but came to take you back to England. I’m Ethan.”
Gillian stared at me with vacant eyes and shook my hand. I could feel that he wanted to return to his home country, England, very badly.
Edited by Userunfriendly