Chapter 33
In 2017, Google’s interview questions were similar to the following game, also known as One Million Won.
「1. You are alone in the room with a stranger.
2. You guys receive one million won and are ordered to divide it with the stranger.
3. You can freely determine the amount you, but the stranger is aware that the total is one million won.
4. You cannot talk directly to the stranger.
* If the other party agrees with the proposed amount, negotiations will be established. Both can return with the money.
* If the other party disagrees with the proposed amount, negotiations will not be established. The entire amount will be confiscated.
* How much will you propose in this situation?」
Each interviewer provided various proposals including seventy to thirty, fifty to fifty, thirty to seventy and one to ninety-nine, but in fact, there was no fixed answer. Google just wanted to see the interviewer’s thinking process, not an exact answer. The question itself actually dealt with behavioral economics, and it was about human greed.
However, what if the unit was ten billion won, not a million? What if the currency was in dollars, not won? Even with a one percent distribution rate, it meant one hundred million dollars.
***
The phrase that human greed was endless seemed to be incorrect in the face of billions of dollars. Jonathan must have played that imaginary game with the sixty-five billion dollars we earned. He didn’t care about our agreed shares, and he had decided his share was ten billion dollars.
He was passionately explaining his ten billion dollar portfolio to me. Since the amount was massive, he emphasized that we should prioritize stability over aggressive investment. So, he suggested the idea of directly investing in companies currently incorporated in the Global DOW. In other words, his plan was to invest in the thirty popular conglomerates in the U.S. that everyone knew just by their names.
His proposition was not bad since the DOW was an undefeated legend. It had recorded an average of five percent profit, and the current eight thousand points of profitability would surpass twenty thousand points until the Day of Advent. Even if we just let the investment sit, the profit would exceed the interest rates.
The problem was that it was not particularly good. The companies in the manufacturing and energy sectors led the twentieth century, but IT companies dominated the twenty-first century. However, Jonathan had aimed at only five IT firms out of the thirty companies he listed.
I waited for him to finish, then said, “Isn’t it too early to divide our shares? I’ll give you enough time to do that later, but not now.”
“Sun, it’s sixty-five billion dollars. Sixty-five billion dollars! Even though we stop here, the money will continue to increase no matter how,” he said.
“Say that to the Roc…” I realized I made a mistake as soon as I started mentioning a family name that can only exist in history. Although I hurriedly stopped myself from finishing the sentence, Jonathan seemed to have heard enough in that short moment. I looked at him with concern, and he was mumbling with his eyes wide open.
“What did you just say?” He asked.
For financiers, that family’s name was a divine word. Jonathan stared at me as if he was very interested in my words. Although the name still existed in this period as the name of large global banks, it was like a fantasy to be dealt with in legends. They were estimated at five trillion dollars, and their power in their prime was evident. They basically built a country and changed the direction of a World War.
“Oh…” Jonathan looked at me blankly as if he had lost what he wanted to say.
However, he started nodding. On the other hand, I kept my mouth shut with a rigid face. Why did I choose to return to the day I was born instead of the day I entered the Trial Tests! Because of the trait ‘The Man Who Overcomes Adversity?’ Because of the stats, I could develop? If I only considered the Eight Evils and the Eight Virtues, I would have chosen the day of the trial Tests because there were opportunities to rebuild myself at the test site.
I decided to live in this time again because of what happened before the Eight Evils and the Eight Virtues appeared.
***
Humanity certainly had time to rebuild, and there had been several opportunities to deal with the monsters while preserving our civilization. If we had taken those chances, human civilization would not have collapsed. We would have been able to survive under the System. In other words, the internet and electronic devices would not have become the Awakened’s privileges.
However, the entire humankind was terrified in front of supernatural beings and events. They missed those chances and aggravated the situation, which destroyed humanity in the end. After that, the Eight Evils and the Eight Virtues popped out, and the world turned into hell.
I explained, “What I mean is that I’m still hungry.”
“...Hungry. That’s a good expression,” Jonathan smiled faintly.
Come to think of it, there were four years left until the best moment in my life. The 2002 World Cup was not just a sports tournament but a joy itself. There was a jubilant passion that couldn’t have been bought with all of my money in the Gwanghwamun streets. However, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy it as much as then because I already knew the result.
“Then don’t bring up retirement again. Do you understand?” I told Jonathan clearly after coming back to reality.
Jonathan’s face was filled with mortification because he had never directly mentioned retirement. However, his investment direction basically suggested his thoughts, as portfolios acted as mirrors to the financier’s mind.
Jonathan became silent as he looked down at the portfolio he brought. He then began to nod quietly.
I suggested, “Keep it well and use it for clients.”
“Clients?” He questioned.
“How is merging small investment companies going?” I asked.
Jonathan laughed helplessly. Of course, he put it on hold. I couldn’t blame him for that since he had been too busy lately. Like the way Korean politicians and financiers bothered Jamie, everyone was tormenting Jonathan who had quickly risen to stardom. I had seen his face more than ten times in different media.
I said, “Reject all the interviews and events. Since you are not focusing on work, your thoughts are getting overloaded and scattered all over the place.”
“You’re telling me to work harder and expand the company’s scale, right? I can, but…” he hesitated.
“Everyone’s looking at you, Jonathan. As soon as you open, clients will come in flocks,” I said.
“What about the constituency? It’s not easy to run a property management company,” Jonathan responded.
I replied, “Right, so we have to choose carefully the investment firm we will buy.”
“Focusing on the capabilities of the manager rather than their funds? The company will be full of investors better than me. That was quite stressful and not pleasant at all,” Jonathan said.
“You mean Jeffrey K, right?” I asked.
He was a professional corporate hunter we hired for the New York company the other day.
He smiled in self-mockery, “Yes, I’m avoiding as much as I can and I never open my mouth when I bump into him. I’m afraid everything will be revealed to him.”
“...You would have achieved a huge success even if you hadn’t met me, Jonathan,” I said.
“As much as now?” Jonathan firmly shook his head as I was about to say something.
He didn’t want me to console him as he believed that he didn’t contribute much to our achievements, and that was true. The trading that Jonathan helped me with was a basic procedure that any Wall Street financiers graduated from “junior” could perform.
However, I decided not to care about Jonathan’s feelings anymore because he would realize the hungry beast inside him when expanding the investment firm. That kind of primal instinct didn’t come with only the loss of loved ones. When a person reached their limits, a new side of themselves appeared.
Expansion of investment companies would create such an opportunity for Jonathan. I would request an aggressive expansion. He was going into a war with money instead of guns or swords.
I continued speaking about the merger of investment companies.
“I’ve been interested in the Bluestone Group.”
It was the world’s largest private equity company, so anyone on Wall Street would have known the name. However, there was something more in Jonathan’s expression, and he confessed that he had been constantly approached by the Bluestone Group before coming to Korea.
“However, they gave up after realizing that a significant portion of the company’s stake belonged to me,” Jonathan said.
Jonathan was richer than the founder of Bluestone Group at the moment. He looked more relaxed after remembering the encounter, and he asked me back.
“You’re not going to take over Bluestone, are you?”
“Is it possible?” I questioned.
“It would have been if Bluestone had jumped at the Asian financial crisis since they would have been beaten by you. But it’s not. Their original funds are going well, and they have succeeded in raising an additional four billion dollars this year,” Jonathan replied in a lethargic voice.
I stated, “Bluestone Capital Partners Fund III.”
Jonathan’s face grew a bit rigid.
“Wow…You do know everything. That’s right. Bluestone is paying enormous attention to their third product. Why are you trying to hide in the shadows with that talent? Because of the potential interest from your country? Because you’re young? Come to America. It’s right for you to step up to the public rather than using me as a front,” Jonathan poured out the words he was holding back. Then, he became dissatisfied with something and started scratching his nose.
“Sorry, man. I’m under so much stress. You know why,” he said.
I responded, “So you should work out. Your belly pokes out more now. Also, I’ve already explained why I can’t come out in public.”
“Because of the tax audit, right?” He questioned.
“Yes. And on the side, I meant what I said earlier,” I said.
“What?” He asked.
“That you would have achieved a massive success if you hadn’t met me,” I replied.
“Oh, that,” he didn’t take it seriously, but it was true.
“If you’re stressed, show your abilities this time. It’s not about the investment, though,” I said.
“What is it?” he questioned.
I answered, “The management of the Bluestone is in Korea now.”
Korea was a battlefield for corporate hunters these days. Bluestone also had a hunting team even though their business cards identified them as ‘special repayment fund management team’. Their task was to buy companies and real estate, then split and sell them to increase their client’s returns.
“Beat the corporate hunter team and add them to the New York firm,” I said.
“Are you serious?” He looked at me as if he couldn’t believe what I said.
I suggested, “Of course. Shake things from the ground first. Bluestone’s new fund product would be useless without them. Let’s start from there.”
I wanted Blue Rock the most among the property management firms. While Bluestone Group itself had built a great reputation as a global investment company generations ago, Blue Rock was a dragon lying in wait and would start to rise from 1995 after becoming an independent firm.
After two decades, they would become the greatest global investment firm along with Kim Cheong-Soo, Gillian and Jessica. At that time, they managed four trillion dollars, and it was about five thousand trillion won. When counting the funds that followed the investments, the amount they influenced actually would jump to quintillions.
However, the Blue Rock I wanted was in the future, not right now. They were pressured by the Bluestone Group and had barely entered the list of top twenty in the field. Their heyday would only be in my memories anyway.
「The presidents of shadow banks dominate the global economy behind the curtain」
The title would belong to someone else with an even better designation.
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