Business Trip (1)
Startled by my sudden self-praise, Sara stared at my face.
“Are you bragging?”
At this point, didn’t I have every right to?
Still, there were plenty of people in the market who had achieved this kind of success. Compared to them, I was still just a fledgling.
“It’s not just the returns. The important thing is that I’ve never failed even once, isn’t it?”
Sara gave a faint shake of her head.
“Just because you haven’t failed so far doesn’t mean you won’t fail in the future.”
“That’s true.”
That was the flaw in induction.
Just because every swan I’d seen so far was white didn’t mean there were no black swans.
But...
“Wasn’t the reason you offered me investment advice in the first place because you trusted my abilities?”
“……”
Sara couldn’t deny it.
I smiled confidently, and she let out a soft sigh.
“If it became known that the sovereign wealth fund had invested in that way, the royal family would be criticized too.”
“First, it doesn’t have to become known. Second, we just have to make enough profit to outweigh everything else.”
Problems only arise when things go wrong. If everything goes well, there’s no issue at all.
If money is made, who’s going to complain?
“I can promise you this: we’ll earn returns beyond anything you’re imagining.”
“How much capital are you thinking of?”
“The more, the better. At the very least, I’d like it to be $10 billion.”
“So you’re asking to borrow $5 billion of that.”
“Yes.”
In truth, for most foreign sovereign wealth funds, an investment on those terms would be impossible from the outset.
PIF probably couldn’t do it under its own investment principles either, but surely Prince Rashid could handle something like that without much trouble.
I knew better than anyone how absurd what I was saying was.
“Let me tell you something amusing so you can make your decision a little more easily.”
“What is it?”
I searched through my memories.
What events were going to happen around this time?
I couldn’t exactly talk about some natural disaster or other and make it sound credible; it had to seem as though I’d figured it out through analysis.
Fortunately, one event came to mind.
“Before long, the U.S. will impose economic sanctions on Turkey.”
Sara looked at me with wide eyes.
“What do you mean?”
“As you know, the Iran nuclear deal has collapsed, and the United States is sanctioning Iran. That includes secondary sanctions as well.”
She understood immediately.
“You’re saying Turkey will keep trading with Iran?”
“Yes.”
Turkey had one foot in Europe as well, so it generally leaned pro-American. It had even cooperated during the Iraq War, allowing U.S. aircraft to use its airspace.
But after President Sahin came to power, Turkey had repeatedly clashed with the United States and the EU.
The most recent example was its purchase of Russian surface-to-air missiles.
The United States had tried to talk Turkey out of it, worried that secrets about American fighter jets in Turkish possession would leak. NATO had also feared that critical military information would be passed to Russia. President Sahin, however, didn’t care in the slightest.
“They’ll keep their dealings with Iran going under the excuse that they’ve already signed long-term contracts, and that will give the U.S. its pretext for sanctions.”
Ordinary politicians generally made rational decisions based on political advantage or disadvantage. Dictators, on the other hand, tended to act however they felt like.
“Turkey has a high amount of euro-denominated debt. They won’t be able to weather American sanctions for long.”
“Exactly. Before long, they’ll declare a moratorium.”
Sara’s expression changed.
“Really?”
Turkey and Iran were both Islamic countries, so from Saudi Arabia’s perspective, it was only natural to keep a close eye on their movements.
And on top of that, Saudi Arabia was Sunni while Iran was Shia. They were bitter enemies.
“That’s what my analysis says.”
“How can you be so sure?”
I gave a small snort.
“I’m sure of my analysis. Whether anyone else believes it is another matter.”
Anyone could do analysis. Whether it was right or not was an entirely different question.
“In any case, once the sanctions begin, the lira will drop by more than twenty percent, so if you have any related assets, it’d be best to unload them in advance.”
That alone wouldn’t make her dump everything. If the sovereign wealth fund had invested in it, she’d have to take national relations into account as well.
Still, she could at least hedge the risk ahead of time.
Sara looked as if she was debating whether to believe me or not.
In the end, time would make her believe.
“If you have the money, making money is easy. I can promise you that if PIF joins hands with me, it’ll earn returns beyond anything you can imagine.”
That put my revenge on the chicken place to bed, at least. Now it was time for the next job.
I told Continue Capital’s Korean branch manager and deputy manager, “We’re leaving for the U.S. the day after tomorrow.”
Dongho senior looked surprised.
“The U.S.? What for?”
“A business trip. We’re going to headquarters.”
“For how long?”
“At least a month. Depending on how things go, it might be longer.”
“Hmm. You’ll be gone for a whole month? What are we supposed to do in the meantime?”
“What do you mean, what are you supposed to do? You’re coming with me, so start packing.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”
Dongho senior threw both hands up and cheered.
“Oh, yeah!”
Then he turned to the friend beside him with a look that said, And what are you doing?
Kim Bum-seok raised both hands as well.
“Oh, yeah!”
We boarded a flight to New York from Incheon International Airport.
Dongho senior and Kim Bum-seok’s jaws dropped.
“Whoa! First class!”
“So this is the legendary first class.”
With the money we’d just made, this was nothing.
Each seat had its own partition, and they even provided pajamas. Lie down, sleep for a while, and you’d arrive in New York.
If you had money, your body got to rest. That was just how it worked.
Dongho senior looked like he might start crying.
“A business trip in first class... I’m going to die at Continue Capital.”
Loyalty was shooting through the roof.
While I organized what we needed to do in the United States, the plane flew for about fourteen hours and landed at JFK Airport in New York.
Because of the time difference, we’d departed in daylight and arrived in daylight.
After leaving the airport, we headed first to Central Park.
Dongho senior spread his arms wide and shouted, “Oh! New York!”
He was ridiculously excited.
Last time we’d come, we hadn’t had time to do proper sightseeing, so we took our time looking around New York. After Central Park and Times Square, we even went up to the observation deck of the Empire State Building.
Then we arrived on Wall Street.
Wall Street was the undisputed center of global finance.
The IBs, private equity firms, hedge funds, and pension fund managers everyone had heard of were all gathered here. And the New York Stock Exchange, the backdrop to stock market news everywhere, was here too.
Dongho senior spread his arms wide again.
“Oh! Wall Street!”
That wasn’t the end of it. He struck a bullfighter’s pose in front of the Charging Bull statue, then peeled off his outer jacket and waved it around.
“Olé!”
The tourists passing by snickered at the sight, while the white-collar men in suits wore expressions that clearly said, What is this Asian guy doing?
He was truly an embarrassment wherever you put him.
“Take a picture of me.”
“……”
Ugh. I wanted to pretend I didn’t know him.
When I turned my head, I saw Kim Bum-seok already standing far away, as if he weren’t part of our group.
Wall Street was famous, but once you actually got there, there wasn’t much to see. This wasn’t a tourist district; it was an office town.
Dongho senior said, “Ah! I’m starving. Let’s eat first. I found a good place.”
“What are we having?”
“How about steak? There’s supposed to be one of the world’s top three steakhouses nearby.”
I shook my head.
“Let’s just go get burgers.”
“What, all the way out here, and you want burgers? Don’t tell me steak is too expensive? I’ll pay.”
“Enough talk. Follow me.”
I led the two of them into an alley behind Wall Street.
After coming here a few times, I could find it easily without even opening a map app. The shabby-looking pub on the ground floor was busy preparing to open.
Inside, a middle-aged man was wiping glasses with a dry towel.
He was nearly two meters tall, with a red beard covering his entire face. His exposed arms and neck were covered in tattoos. He was the owner of this place, all right.
When Mr. O'Connor saw me, he looked surprised.
“I heard you’d gone back to Korea. What brings you here?”
“I came to New York today.”
“Ha! It’s good to see you again. Welcome back.”
“Can we order now?”
“Of course. What would you like?”
“Three O'Connor Burgers, please. And fries too.”
“Just a moment.”
He went into the kitchen, and we took our seats.
Dongho senior asked me, “Isn’t this a bar?”
“They sell burgers too.”
“There’s a Five Guys across the street, though. Why bother coming here?”
He didn’t seem to have high expectations.
I told the two of them, “This is the best burger joint in New York.”
Dongho senior objected.
“It wasn’t even on any of the food maps online.”
Well, that was because it was probably categorized as a bar.
A little later, the burgers came out with dark beer.
“Why is there egg in a burger?”
“Don’t come begging me to buy you one again later.”
Dongho senior bit into the burger with an expression that said he expected nothing. But then his eyes widened in surprise.
“Huh? What is this?”
Kim Bum-seok was just as shocked.
“This is incredibly good.”
“It gets even better with dark beer.”
While the two of them wolfed their food down, I spoke with Mr. O'Connor.
“I heard things are going well. My daughter talks about you a lot.”
“Really?”
I had given her quite a few juicy stories to chew on.
“She talks about you almost every day. Said you pulled off something huge in Korea this time, didn’t she?”
“It wasn’t that big a deal.”
I had only, more or less, crushed one of the ten major conglomerates.
“Ah! The man who came with you that time kept coming back to buy burgers. Sometimes he even brought employees with him.”
So after tasting them once, he’d apparently kept coming even while I was away.
If my office had been nearby, I would’ve come here often too.
“Have you ever thought about opening a chain? It seems like it would do well.”
There were plenty of delicious foods in the world. But turning one into a franchise took an entrepreneur’s effort.
Take McDonald’s, the very symbol of capitalism and globalization. The McDonald brothers weren’t all that interested in franchising.
If it hadn’t been for one man, it would’ve ended as just a successful neighborhood burger shop.
That man was Ray Kroc.
He’d started out selling milkshake machines, then later bought all rights to McDonald’s from the McDonald brothers and built a vast franchise empire.
That didn’t mean anything could be franchised and succeed. What mattered was whether this burger had the power to captivate people’s taste buds around the world.
Mr. O'Connor let out a snort of laughter.
“I’m not very interested in chain stores.”
“Why not?”
“A while back, someone came to me saying he wanted to franchise it. He claimed he’d turn O'Connor Burger into a global chain.”
“So what happened?”
“He said registering the recipe patent and securing trademark rights in each country would cost $100,000. He was a con man.”
“Ah...”
Apparently, that sort of scammer was everywhere.
“He almost got me, but luckily I caught on right before it happened. I gave him a thorough beating and kicked him out.”
I glanced at Mr. O'Connor’s arms and fists.
That scammer... had he really made it out alive?
“After that, every bastard who came around proposing franchises or chains got their ass kicked and thrown out. I didn’t even sell burgers to those guys.”
“……Good call.”
Good thing I hadn’t made the pitch.
Mr. O'Connor laughed heartily.
“O'Connor Burger is my pride and joy. How could I trust it to business sharks who only care about money?”
But maybe he could trust it to his son?
For a quick entry into Korea, it would be best if whatever business Sean O'Connor was running right now would fail as soon as possible...
Just as I was thinking that, someone burst into the shop, panting.
She had loosely tied back her curly red hair and wore oversized glasses. Her clothes were jeans, a shirt, and a wrinkled jacket.
A bag was slung over her shoulder, and a camera hung from her hand.
When she saw me, she greeted me brightly.
“Hi! Sorry I’m late. The interview ran a little long.”