Be Happy
Beyond the existing thirty million dollars, it meant he had also pocketed as much as one hundred fifty million dollars in profit.
“James. I may not know much about investing, but isn’t that exaggeration a little too much?”
“Haha. You think I’m inflating the numbers?”
“Aren’t you?”
No matter how he looked at it, the figure was absurd; he couldn’t quite believe it was real.
No matter how violently a stock’s value swings, there’s no way it could hit 100 percent. But 500 percent? With thirty million dollars moving around, no less?
Colt decided James was just messing with him for fun.
“Even if you’d invested only three hundred dollars, five hundred percent would still be an insane amount.”
“Three hundred dollars? You’re making me sound way too frugal. The bottle we’re drinking now probably cost five thousand dollars each.”
“…….”
Colt lifted the bottle, gave it a quick look, and topped off his glass.
“If what you’re saying is true, then I’ll buy this round.”
“Oh. I drank well, Colt.”
As Colt raised his glass toward his mouth, he glared at James, clearly telling him to come clean already.
“…….”
At that look, James spoke again.
“Col-Col. Since you don’t know much about investing, I’ll explain.”
James pulled a napkin from the table and laid it down.
“This is my investment.”
“Right. One napkin.”
“Heh. With this as collateral….”
He pulled out nine more napkins and lined them up across the table.
“I can turn it into ten times as much.”
“Just like that? For free?”
“Of course not. The investment company charges a fee on the amount borrowed on credit, and if losses exceed ten percent on the ten-times magnified investment, it automatically gets pulled out. They never lose a cent. The loss always belongs to the investor.”
“...So in the end, you took your own money and the company’s money and turned it into ten times the size?”
“Exactly. Now there are ten napkins. You know what that means, right?”
“…….”
Since thirty million dollars had been multiplied by ten, James’s investment capital had become three hundred million dollars.
He turned thirty million dollars into three hundred million and invested it?
Gulp.
Colt emptied his glass and began paying close attention.
“Heh. Colt. And then?”
“Then I do options trading. I said I borrowed the investment money, but what I really borrowed were shares. I borrowed a huge chunk of one company’s stock. Then I sold it right away. I was effectively indebted only to the quantity of stock, not its value.”
“...Quantity, not amount. Okay. Go on.”
“Then, once enough time passes and the stock drops hard? I only have to bear the value of the fallen shares and buy back the stock I borrowed to repay it. That means after paying back everything I borrowed, I can still walk away with a massive profit.”
“...That’s called short selling.”
“Oh. You knew? That makes this easier.”
James pushed most of the napkins aside and left only three on the table.
“The stock of the company I invested in plunged before long. Compared to the price when I sold, it fell to nearly thirty percent.”
At thirty percent of three hundred million dollars, nine hundred million would cover the quantity... then the rest would be...
He had made over two hundred million dollars in profit, and the remainder had gone to fees; what was left was a return exceeding five hundred percent. Only then did Colt finally grasp the secret behind that astronomical gain.
“Damn... my stomach suddenly hurts.”
“Heh-heh. You get it now? I’ll drink well. Col-Col.”
When James reached for the bottle, Colt quickly snatched it away.
“Don’t drink my liquor!”
“Puh-haha.”
That didn’t mean he was telling him not to drink at all.
“...A celebratory drink should be poured by someone else.”
“Oh.”
Glug, glug, glug.
Clear amber liquor filled the small glass. Colt’s complaint about having stomach pain had been a joke, and James knew it. The two of them were not the kind to let money break the bond between them.
“Ah. Too bad. I should’ve invested with you.”
“I’ll let you in next time. Once the meteor auction’s over, you’ll have money to invest too, Colt.”
But Colt didn’t think luck like this would come around again.
“You think there’ll be another deal like that? You just got lucky somehow.”
“If there’s no deal, I’ll just make one.”
Colt tilted his head at James’s words.
“...Wait. Make one?”
Short selling makes money when stock value drops...
James was a magician, and if he used magic, it seemed like he could make stock prices fall whenever he wanted.
“This investment... was it tied to what happened before?”
What happened before referred to what had taken place right here in Las Vegas.
“Something like that.”
“Damn it! That’s really a shame.”
If James had used magic, the investment carried no risk at all. It meant he had started from a position where success was all but guaranteed.
“Colt. Let me say it again: I’m not the kind of man who wastes money carelessly.”
“...Right. You’re the guy who never loses.”
Unless he deliberately decided to lose, it was impossible to beat James at his own money. That was the kind of magician he was.
“Jimmy, seriously, don’t tell Suji. If Hojung hears about this, she’ll probably chew me out for not getting in on it.”
Even if the profit had been modest, he would’ve caught hell for it. This was an investment that had returned an absurd 500 percent.
“Col, I wasn’t planning to tell anyone anyway.”
To explain all of it would mean admitting he had blown up TY Telecom’s various base stations, data centers, and headquarters servers. He could have dressed it up with a lie, but instead of fabricating something that never happened, it was easier simply not to say anything at all.
And my feud with TY Telecom still isn’t something I should bring out into the open.
“How am I supposed to talk about an investment I forced to succeed?”
He said “forced” because there were other people around, but Colt understood the implication well enough to think of magic.
“Heh. Fair enough.”
While the two of them were sharing drinks, a woman approached. Colt’s chiseled face had drawn another one in.
“May I join?”
“Of cour...”
About to agree as if it were the most natural thing in the world, Colt slowly turned his head toward James.
“...I shouldn’t, right?”
“What do you think?”
Instead of Colt, James smiled at the woman and politely declined.
“Unfortunately, we were having an important business conversation.”
“Oh, I see. Then maybe another time.”
“…….”
There was deep regret in Colt’s eyes as he watched her walk away.
Click.
At that moment, James’s phone captured the expression.
“Why are you taking a picture of me? If you’re going to take one, take it of her over there.”
Colt pointed to the woman disappearing into the distance.
“That look you just made was basically you thrashing around and begging to be castrated on the spot.”
“Jimmy. Can’t I even look with my own eyes?”
“Of course you can.”
“Right?”
“After you’re castrated.”
James’s fingers moved nimbly, and Colt promptly grabbed the bottle again.
“J-just take the drink. What the hell are you doing in a crowded place...?”
“...Hojung probably allowed you to travel because I’d be here beside you. Right?”
“…….”
It was true. Hojung had agreed to let Colt travel abroad because she trusted James would be there to watch out for him.
“So behave yourself. If I have to, I’ll let you experience the mystery of castration during this trip.”
“You bastard. You’re supposed to be on my side. Why are you siding with Hojung...?”
“Because Suji said she doesn’t want her friend Hojung to be sad.”
“...Women are the problem, then.”
“That’s my line. It’s Colt’s weakness with women that’s the problem, so why are you pinning it on Suji?”
“...Damn it.”
He said that, but James himself was also wondering why he was siding with Hojung in his head.
What’s the harm if Colt flirts a little?
Hojung was not someone James cherished the way he did Suji, and Colt occupied a huge place in James’s life. If he weighed Hojung against Colt, Colt was obviously more important.
How would Hojung even know if I let it slide a little?
James brushed off the thought he couldn’t quite explain to himself and lifted his glass.
“Drink. Drink and sleep well.”
“...How boring of you, man to man.”
“Why? Want me to turn you into a woman instead?”
“N-no!”
“Colt would probably be pretty if he changed into a woman. Hmm. This actually seems like a good idea...”
“I said no! I hate it!”
“Men hitting on you every day asking for dates... and at night...”
“Stop saying horrifying things!”
James was just about to add that Colt would become his best friend with Hojung when he raised both hands and surrendered. Colt, gripping the neck of the bottle, looked ready to hurl it at him any second.
“I’m joking. Joking. Put that down. We came all the way back to Las Vegas after so long. Do you want to get arrested and hauled off to the police station?”
“Huff. Huff.”
The place they had come to was Las Vegas. It was also where this Sotheby’s international auction was being held.
“Jimmy. But is it really okay for us to come back here?”
“You really are a worrier...”
Since they had once robbed a Las Vegas casino blind, Colt was still feeling anxious.
“...Even so, it still feels weird.”
“Enough. Shall we go now? You said you were heading home after all this time, right?”
James planned to use the hotel Sotheby’s had arranged, but Colt said he would stop by home for the first time in a while.
“I’m going home, yeah, but I’m thinking about it.”
“About what?”
“Whether I should just sell the house.”
“Thinking of settling down in Korea for good?”
Lately Colt had been in a serious relationship with Hojung, and it had lasted longer than any relationship he’d ever had before. Because they had broken up and then found each other again, the tenderness between them had grown deeper, and since he’d resolved to make the life change James had once mentioned, he hadn’t been seeing other women.
“...I think it’ll be hard to keep going on stage here now.”
“…….”
As Colt said, the James-and-Colt duo would have a hard time getting back on the Las Vegas magic show circuit. Of course, one casino or another might still be willing to take them, but regaining the kind of popularity they’d once had would not be easy.
“Weren’t you thinking about settling in Korea too?”
“As for me...”
James was a little different from Colt. He had Suji, the woman he loved, and there was also his biological father, whom he had decided to take revenge on without telling anyone yet. Since he had already made plans to go after TY Telecom, he would have to stay in Korea for a while.
“Not exactly settling down.”
He did intend to stay in Korea. That did not mean the same thing as settling there permanently. His feelings for Suji were deep, but he wasn’t dreaming of marriage yet.
“...You said you were buying a house, right? Didn’t Suji welcome that?”
“What does that have to do with anything? What’s Suji got to do with me buying a house in Korea? How long have Suji and I even been together?”
It had only been a few months since they started seeing each other. James still couldn’t say with certainty that he and Suji would spend their entire lives together.
“…….”
Colt fell into thought at James’s words. They had broken up and gotten back together, but Colt and Hojung had started seeing each other around the same time James had.
“Colt, do you remember what I told you?”
“That I’d already enjoyed my youth enough?”
Colt had understood James’s words simply.
Since I’ve enjoyed it enough, does that mean it’s time to settle down?
But James shook his head.
“No. That wasn’t the heart of what I was saying.”
“...Then what was it?”
“Be happier. You, Colt, and no one else.”
“Ah...”