Chapter 142: <Competition>

Alex grinned widely.

Julia asked, “What just happened?”

Alex laughed, “Hahahaha. It’s nothing important.”

Julia became even more curious. The Alex whom Julia knew was always quiet with, showing emotions rarely. Woosung was reacting the same way. He was smiling mysteriously.

Julia asked again, “Could you please tell me what is going on?”

Woosung answered firmly, “It’s nothing you need to know.”

She turned to Alex, but he looked away. If Woosung wanted to keep this event quiet, Alex had to do the same. Julia smiled at Woosung charmingly, but it was no use. Woosung wasn’t looking at her. He was staring at his phone.

“OPEC decides to reduce oil production.”

“Per Venezuela’s request, OPEC has decided to reduce crude oil production. The price is expected to increase, which will negatively impact the economy.”

It was exactly how Woosung remembered it happening in his past life.

‘It’s done.’

With 4 billion dollars, he earned 14 billion dollars. With the Coconut stocks, he had over 20 billion dollars at his disposal. There was nothing he couldn’t do now.

Julia approached Woosung and asked flirtatiously, “You must have accomplished something big just now. The OPEC news came out, which means the oil price will go up…I assume you betted on it?”

Woosung picked up his glass.

“You are very curious.”

“And will you answer my question?”

“If I give it to you, what kind of information will you give me in return?”

“JP wants to have a good relationship with Coconut. Isn’t that enough?”

Woosung pointed at Alex. “I share important information only with my people. Technically, this is considered a business secret. Besides, I don’t understand why you are so curious. Do famous hedge fund managers often go around bragging about their wins?”

Julia couldn’t answer.

After taking another sip, Alex nodded and turned to Julia. “Julia, how’s working at JP?”

“It’s not bad.”

“What was your definition of a good job?”

“A job that makes me a lot of money.”

“Hahaha, that’s right. Do you still feel the same way?”

“Of course. Wall Street is a cruelly competitive place. I accept it with open arms.”

At Julia’s boldness, Woosung grinned.

Julia turned to Woosung and continued, “Of course, I’m not saying money is everything. It is also not the most important thing about my career, but it is for my job.”

Woosung continued to drink slowly.

Alex pointed at Julia and asked Woosung, “Boss, didn’t you say you were looking for a financial expert? How about her? She may not look it, but she is one of the tops in JP. As she just said, if you pay her enough, she is willing to work for you.”

Julia pointed at herself. “Me?”

“As you know, Coconut Bank started as an internet bank exclusively in Korea, but Woosung has a bigger plan for it. He wants to reach the world. I think this will be a good job for you.”

Woosung turned to Julia and asked, “If Alex recommends you, that is enough for me. I will give you 1.5 times your current salary plus incentives.”

“…pardon?”

“I don’t know how much you are getting paid right now, but I will pay you more. You will learn quickly that I am not stingy when it comes to incentives.”

“I don’t understand what is happening.”

Alex added. “You will be shocked if you know how much incentives I received.”

Woosung felt himself getting drunk. He had to work tomorrow, so he stood up.

“Stay as long as you want and chat. I will see you later.”

Alex nodded. “Alright.”

Julia looked at Woosung in confusion, but he was already walking away.

***

9:30 am, New York.

The market was about to open.

Liam stared at the screen anxiously. He didn’t want to come to work after reading last night’s news.

He was afraid.

However, as usual, he had to finish his job.

He felt thirsty. WTI crude oil was already reaching 81 dollars. It was due to the announcement from OPEC last night.

‘How could he know about it before it was announced? Does he have a connection in OPEC?’

He had heard of a rumor about the infamous Rothchild family. It was rumored that this family secretly ruled the world. If anyone could, this family was the one that probably could get information from OPEC before it was announced to the public.

‘Dammit.’

He was going crazy. He tried to shake it off, but it was useless.

As soon as the market opened, he settled everything. It meant that he was settling his short position.

Yesterday, he followed Woosung’s initial bet on the crude oil price going down.

However, the price went up.

Woosung changed his position at the last minute.

Liam clicked a few more times to settle everything. The crude oil price continued to soar. He started to pant.

“Minus 380 million dollars.”

It was over for Liam.

***

“13.331 billion dollars.”

It was Woosung’s final account balance.

All in cash.

Woosung quickly transferred 10 million dollars to Alex’s account as a bonus.

Alex swallowed hard and murmured, “So this project is finally over.”

Woosung nodded. “I expect to have a few more opportunities like this in the future. Let’s make sure to work well like this again.”

“Of course.”

“What did Julia say last night?”

“She said she needs to think about it. She said our company is a bit too small for her liking, and Coconut hasn’t been approved by SEC yet.”

Woosung applied to have Coconut to be listed in the market. All the required paperwork was done. It just had to be approved by SEC (U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission) for it to be listed on Nasdaq.

“Are you sure about her?”

Alex nodded. “She was the best in school. There was a rumor that she got her grades by sleeping with the profs, but it was never proven.”

“Hmm…”

Woosung remembered her being flirtatious. She was gorgeous. He could see why there would have been such a rumor.

“Other than those rumors, her record was perfect. She got her job at JP with great references from the professors and she is currently a director at the company.”

Director.

She was only 27. Woosung was surprised she reached such a high position at a young age.

“Arrange a dinner meeting tomorrow with her. I have to go to the SEC interview now.”

“Alright.”

***

To be listed on Nasdaq, the final step was to attend an interview conducted by the SEC officials.

When Woosung sat down, one of the judges, Charles Brown, asked, “We read your report. You did a good job growing your company. I think it is comparable to Facebook and Twitter.”

“Thank you.”

“But you have set your share price to be 40 dollars, which make your company worth 80 billion dollars.” It was a huge number. Charles Brown asked curiously, “Don’t you think you’ve overestimated your company?”

“If you look at the rate of user number increase, you will see that it is faster than that of Facebook. In addition, MAU and DAU are comparable to Facebook.”

“But the sales are only half of that of Facebook.”

“The number of users is much less than Facebook, but the sales have reached already half that of Facebook. My company’s profit rate is actually better.”

Woosung had good answers for every question.