The Greatest Conglomerate Ever With the American Lottery

34. This is how people get along.

Tesla’s stock price was in the $36 range as of November 21, 2016, a significant drop from the $50s it reached in the spring.

“I’ll buy inside $40 if I can.”

John began tapping away at his computer keyboard, barking instructions to Jennifer and Roy.

At times like this, I’m afraid to talk to him because of how focused he is.

He’s skillfully scanning the market, predicting a ghostly dip, and starts screaming, which sends shivers down my spine just watching.

Even though I’m the one who picks the stocks and sets the guidelines, I couldn’t have done it without John, a self-proclaimed Wall Street legend.

Especially with Scientific Games, which doesn’t have a huge market capitalization ($1 billion), it’s almost an art form to nibble away at a stock that only takes a few tens of millions of dollars to make it fluctuate.

Boeing, well, it’s a large-cap stock, so you could throw money at it and it wouldn’t even notice.

Before 2016 was out, the team had successfully invested all $1.5 billion of the loan in three new stocks.

“We closed all three investments,” he said.

“It was a lot of work, and this is December 30, and I didn’t even get a day off.”

This year, December 30 falls on a Friday, and the U.S. stock market is open and closed until today.

“hahahaha, no, boss, next year the market opens on a Tuesday, January 3, so you can take three days off.”

“You didn’t even get to enjoy the Christmas holiday, did you? Neither did John, so let’s just take next week off. We’re done with the purchase, so we can take a week off, right?”

“Okay, let’s do that, then, and I’ll give you a quick debrief.”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“Tesla finished buying a couple days ago with an average buy price of $38.95. It looks like it’s going to go up at the end of the month, so I’m glad I hurried.”

“That’s right.”

“The boss says dear Boeing is—.”

“…”

Really, let me be a dick again.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Ha ha!”

“Just report.”

“Yeah, we bought Boeing at an average of $150.3. I got away with it because I bought it in late November when it was in the low $140s. It closed today at $155.68.”

“And Scientific Games?”

“It’s at $14.45. It’s down to $14 today, but the sentiment isn’t bad, so I think it’ll be back up by the first of the year.”

Easier said than done, but that’s $1.5 billion in 40 days.

John and his staff have done such a great job that they’ve been given a modest vacation allowance, though not quite a summer vacation.

“You guys did a great job, so don’t think about it until next week and have fun.”

“Boss, I love you!”

Jennifer exclaimed, narrowly avoiding another hug.

“Ai, why?”

“Because I think you’re going to take Jennifer to bed with you.”

“Ho-ho, is that okay?”

“Go away. Don’t tempt her.”

“Chit!”

I really didn’t think I could handle another deep kissing attack from a beauty like Jennifer.

I didn’t hate Jennifer, but I didn’t want to go out with her.

After Jennifer and Roy left the office to say goodnight, John asked to talk for a while longer.

“Jane and Amy will be waiting for you, so why don’t you go to bed?”

“You can go to sleep.”

“Okay, go ahead.”

“I’d like you to hire a few more employees.”

“Employees?”

“Yes, boss.”

“Why? I don’t think I’ll be too busy for a while.”

“That’s true, but it would be a waste to sit on all this stock.”

“Hmm? Well?”

“Well, if you could just replenish the three of us, we can make a short move and realize some profits.”

“Huh? You’re going to short?”

Dude, are you suggesting we go for the danta now?

“What? Danta?”

“Oh, it’s a Korean word, and in English it means scalping or day trading, right?”

“hahahahaha, that’s basically right, but it’s a little different.”

“How so?”

“Well, we own a ton of stocks. Some of them, like AMD, are almost 50% up, so we can create some small flows in a short period of time without disrupting the big flows.”

“Huh?”

“Well, in layman’s terms, we’re buying a bunch of stocks to create an uptrend, and then we get out. It’s a little bit longer than day trading.”

“Hmmm. So there’s nothing illegal about that?”

“How could it be? I mean, you invest, you get your money, and then you get out.”

“What about the risks?”

“That depends on how much faith my boss has in my abilities.”

In short, believe in yourself.

How do I do that?

Honestly, I’m tempted to put all my money in stocks, because I need the money.

“What do you need?”

“I need four employees and an additional $300 million in seed money. I’ll sell my existing stock and buy it, but I just want a clean, fresh infusion of seed money.”

By the end of the year, AMD stock went from $7 to $11, and Nvidia went from $17 to $27, so it looked like they had plenty of room to borrow.

I shouldn’t be having so much fun borrowing money.

We have $3.7 billion in loans now.

Another $300 million and we’re at $4 billion.

“Do you know anyone?”

“I’ve already contacted some old friends. As long as my boss gives me the green light, I can start as soon as my vacation is over.”

“Do I have to be good?”

“Hmph, don’t worry about it.”

“Okay!”

“Thank you, boss! I, and—.”

“Hmm? What else?”

“Where are you spending your New Year’s Eve tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow?”

It’s December 31st.

The day you send off the year.

You ask me what I’m doing, and I have nothing to say.

“I’m just going to stay home?”

“Well, then why don’t you come over to my place, so you don’t have to go out drinking with George. Oh, and he’s not here either, is he?”

“Huh? Where’s George?”

“He left a while ago, his new girlfriend is waiting for him—.”

“…”

Son of a b*tch!

He was my last bastion.

Still, it didn’t sound like he was going to John’s house, where they hadn’t been together in a while.

“No, I’m just going to get some rest. Tell Jane and Amy to wish me a happy new year.”

“Okay.”

The next day, with no staff, George crawled in the morning and left, saying he was going to be with his girlfriend for the holidays.

“What about me?”

“You what?”

“It’s December 31, and you’re ditching me, brother?”

“That’s what brothers do. In Korea, do all grown-up brothers spend New Year’s together?”

“…”

Bastard.

With that, George left, and Jenny left early, saying she’d made all the food.

The only people left were the two bodyguards.

I tried to get a drink with him, but he said no way, not on the clock.

This is terribly lonely.

It’s times like this that I really miss Korea.

In Korea, I would have invited a friend over for soju.

I made a quick dinner of Jenny’s food, drank a beer, and started reading a web novel on my smartphone.

It’s a story about the protagonist who gets electrocuted and regresses, and then regresses and becomes a rich man, but when I looked at it, the text was going to the mountains.

Why is he raising his girlfriend’s daughter who left him?

Isn’t he supposed to be an asshole?

What the hell, web novels these days have no plots, no plots.

Is it okay to call it a fantasy novel and get away with anything?

On the last day of the year, I threw my smartphone away because I felt sorry for myself for reading such low-content junk.

I thought, “I’m going to get some whiskey and get some sleep.

At that moment, I heard a loud bang from the living room,

“Surprise!”

“What, what? John? Jane? Amy?”

To my surprise, John’s entire family was in the living room.

“hahahahaha! Are you surprised?”

“What is it, at this hour?”

“Jane and Amy keep asking us to go, saying it’s pitiful for you to be alone on a day like this.”

“No, not pitiful—.”

“Uncle Alex, don’t you want me to come?”

“I don’t want you to come, my dear Jane.”

I was feeling more lonely than I thought.

I was grateful to the point of tears.

“Ho ho ho! Alex, we’re going to have a year-end party together!”

“Uh, will she? Amy?”

And so the party with John’s family began.

Jane put a top hat on me and we giggled over champagne, and the loneliness from earlier melted away.

Yes, this is how people live, mingling.

“Ho ho ho!”

“hahahahaha!”

We laughed and talked for a while, but suddenly there was another knock at the door.

“What is it, this atmosphere?”

“George, who are you?”

“What do you mean, I keep getting the feeling that you’re going to be alone on a day like this, so I brought my girlfriend.”

Next to George, a beautiful woman of South American descent was smiling.

“Hi, Alex! I’m Aryna. Ah! Nice place, huh?”

“Oh, hi—.”

Just like that, the number of people at the year-end party increased.

George, you still have a problem with me.

He’s my brother after all.

“Five, four, three, two, one! Happy New Year!”

“Happy New Year!”

Side! Side!

Jane and Amy kissed me on the cheek.

Isn’t that what they do when the year changes?

Even in America, I wasn’t lonely.

Because I have friends.

January 9, 2017.

Four new employees arrived at work, introduced themselves, and got to work.

With four more people, the small living room that we use as an office seemed a bit cramped, and I realized that sooner or later we would have to get our own office.

Before I knew it, it was the last day of February.

AMD is up to a whopping $15, while Nvidia is trading sideways.

Tesla went from an average of $39 to $50, and Boeing went from $155 to $180.

Even Scientific Games went from a $14 buy to a $20 buy.

Yeah, it just keeps going up.

The big surprise was John’s newly hired short-term investment team.

They had $300 million in seed money, but they were actually using a subset of our six holdings, so it was over a billion dollars, and they were making over $200 million in two months.

“This is huge?”

“hahahaha! And that’s just the beginning. I’m sure we can make even bigger gains if we start using our holdings more aggressively, so do you mind if I start using them?”

With a track record like that, there was no reason for me to say no.

“Sure, let’s do that! Oh, and tell the employees to expect a bonus.”

“hahahahaha! Got it.”

I’ll reward them for performing.

“Hey, Alex.”

I walked into my room happily, and George followed and called out to me.

“Yeah, George, what’s up?”

“I was wondering if you could spare a few minutes this evening?”

“I have time, why?”

“If nothing else, Mr. Henry from the Aegis Company asked me if you could arrange a meeting with him.”

“Aegis representative?”

Why would an Aegis representative want to see me?