39. What kind of childhood did you have, Boss?
After a short two-week stay in Korea, I returned to the United States.
Before I left, I was careful to make sure that that douchebag son of a hemp construction worker wouldn’t do anything to our Somi, but he told me that he was embarrassed after he got sober and didn’t show up at school for a while.
Still, she didn’t know, so she had Ki-dong and Shin’s phone numbers put into her smartphone as speed dials, so they could always track her location without her knowledge.
If she found out, she would freak out.
I don’t know what kind of brother would say this is overkill, but my relationship with Somi was much different than a typical sibling relationship.
We’re 13 years apart in age, so when she was a baby, I picked her up, changed her diapers, and fed her formula.
So my feelings for her were a bit exaggerated, and she was a bit like my daughter.
Somi was also aware that I was the one who made the family wealthy, so she followed and liked me, sometimes to the chagrin of her father.
Does this keep me from being overbearing?
Besides, Somi went to college this time, and I realized that her beauty was not normal.
I didn’t realize it when she was just wearing her school uniform, but with the right makeup and decorations, she was almost a celebrity, a goddess with a pretty face and a slim figure that would turn any celebrity into a squid.
Somi said that when she was bored, people would walk by and give her their business cards, claiming to be an entertainment agent.
Even what?
When he showed me his business card, saying that he had received business cards from Parkgun Entertainment and SN Enter, two of Korea’s leading agencies, I tore it to shreds on the spot.
How dare you cross someone?
It was a headache even if she was too pretty.
She should be moderately pretty.
That’s why I’m so worried.
I thought about hiring a bodyguard, but Somi was so vehemently opposed to the idea that I was afraid to mention it.
Instead, we compromised on the condition that she would call Mr. Kidou or Mr. Signal if she saw anything out of the ordinary, and that she would always be home before 12:00 at night.
He said no, but if he kept his promise, he would get a car when he moved up to the third grade, and he would be allowed to stay at my house in the U.S. for two weeks during summer vacation.
Hah, it’s hard to have a little sister.
I can actually understand how my parents felt.
“Everything okay? John?”
“hahahaha! How could anything be wrong?”
“hahahahaha! I guess so.”
Tuesday, June 13, 2017.
After arriving on Sunday and spending Monday at Aegis Company in San Joaquin, where they tore down an old CQB (Close Quarters Battle) training range and refurbished it, I sat down with John for the first time in a while today.
“Just to give you a quick report,” he said, “AMD went from being in the low $10s in May to recovering $12 late last week, and I expect it to continue to trade sideways in a range for a while.”
“You had a little fun when it dropped to the $10s, didn’t you?”
“hahahaha, yeah, I increased my stake a little bit and made some money.”
“Good job, and?”
“The Scientific rise is scary, what I bought for an average of $14.45 is already over $25 and it looks like it’s going to keep going up.”
“It’s going to keep going up, so leave it alone.”
“And Tesla is up a lot – $71.8 at yesterday’s close.”
The average purchase price of Tesla is $38.95.
It’s almost $72, so that’s a lot.
However, my feeling and my vision is that Tesla hasn’t even started yet.
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John agreed.
We decided to keep an eye on it and be flexible, buying and selling for the time being.
“Next up is Boeing. It closed yesterday at $190.”
That’s $800 million worth of Boeing at $150.
You can’t make a go of this.
“Okay, great job. Oh, and did you find an office building?”
In the spring, the Danta team complained about the workload, so we hired four more people, and the support team hired three, so I couldn’t work from my house anymore.
We were going to have to keep hiring anyway, so we decided to buy a proper office building.
“Yeah, there’s a nice four-story building about a 10-minute drive from here towards downtown.”
“Hmm, so it’s close enough?”
“Yes, I purposely looked for something close by. Why don’t you come look at it with me later?”
“Sure. Let’s go.”
After a quick lunch, John and I went to see the office building, which I liked because it wasn’t too old and was spacious.
Best of all, it was close to my house.
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John had said it was a 10 minute drive, but it was more like 7 or 8 minutes.
Maybe he was referring to rush hour traffic.
“How much do they want?”
“Uh, $16 million, but I think I can nail it down to $15 million.”
“Okay, let’s go with that. Well, until we get to about 100 people, I guess.”
“hahahaha, I think that day will come sooner than I thought.”
“That would be great, hahahahaha!”
We signed the lease that day and decided to move in after about a month of decorating.
Now I’m a landlord in the United States of America.
Doesn’t that feel good?
“Boss”
“Uh, let’s talk.”
The day after I happily signed the lease, John came to me with a coy look on his face.
When John gives me that look, it’s always when he wants to do something.
Or not.
“Why don’t we invest a little more?”
“Huh? In what?”
“There are some stocks I’ve been eyeing for a couple months now. I think they’re going to go up sooner or later, and it’s a bit wasteful, don’t you think?”
“Long term?”
“No. I’m looking at a year to a year and a half, and then it’s hit or miss.”
“Where?”
“Netflix, Aviomed, WWE, and Fortinet.”
“Hmm? I don’t recognize any of those except for Netflix?”
I’m familiar with Netflix because it’s now a huge OTT provider in Korea, but what’s Aviomed, and what’s Fortinet?
And WWE?
What international organization?
“No, Aviomed and Fortinet are fine, but how can you not know WWE? What kind of childhood did you have, boss? This is ridiculous!”
“…”
What are you talking about?
He says he doesn’t know WWE, so what’s with all the excitement of getting ready to punch him in the face?
“Yeah, I don’t know, did I do anything to you John because I don’t know WWE?”
“Humph, I’m sorry. It’s just that it’s too real to happen in the real world.”
“Oh, really! What is it?”
“World Wrestling Entertainment! World Wrestling Entertainment! Do you get it now, hahahaha!”
“I don’t get it, what wrestling?”
“Bo, boss!”
What wrestling, for crying out loud?
“Aah! I’m stuffy!”
“I don’t know who’s stuffy.”
An exasperated John hurriedly fiddles with my computer and pulls up YouTube.
“You don’t know this!”
“Ah!”
“…”
I finally get it.
In layman’s terms, it’s American professional wrestling.
I’ve never even seen it because it’s childish.
“But what is this? I’ve never even seen it because it’s so childish.”
“No, it doesn’t make sense!”
“Because it makes sense? In Korea, only a few enthusiasts watch it, and then it’s a flash in the pan because they think it’s childish and crap.”
“No way! That’s the only way Koreans feel?”
Hagan Ober exclaimed.
“Forget it, what does this have to do with stocks?”
“Of course it does, isn’t it? It’s a promising public company.”
“What? Do they list these things?”
“Why not? It’s all money.”
“Huh—.”
In Korean, that means something like the Korean Professional Wrestling Federation went public, right?
Way to go, America!
“It’s a really promising business, not only for stadium tickets and wrestler merchandise, but also as a broadcast content company, and it’s really going to explode, especially once OTT services become commonplace.”
“Really?”
“Really?”
I honestly wasn’t sure, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to get John to bite the bullet.
“By how much?”
“It’s a small market cap, so not a lot. I’d say $300 million is the limit, and even that would take a couple months to buy.”
“$300 million? Where’s the money coming from?”
“We have a loan, we have a loan!”
“…”
sh*t, I thought they were eating cows with debt.
“Hah, that’s a story for another time, what about Abiomed?”
“It’s a unique company in the field of heart-related medical products and devices. A few years ago, they bought a German company and cleaned up the patents, and now it’s time to see the fruits of their labor. The stock is around $140 right now, and this one’s going to go to $400 in a year, no questions asked!”
“Okay. And finally, Fortinet?”
“It’s a computer security solutions company that makes firewalls, antiviruses, etc. It’s hanging out in the $7 range right now, and I think it’s going to go up by a tiny bit.”
Clearly, Aviomed and Fortinet are companies I don’t know anything about.
“Okay, so let’s talk about your investments, Netflix, it’s a huge stock, so I don’t think you’re going to get a dime or two out of it, and the rest of it is going to be easy, right?”
“Well, we can get another $2 billion because our holdings are doing well. We don’t have to take it all at once, we can spread it out over a few months.”
“…”
My hands are getting bigger.
“So $2 billion?”
“And then we can subtract a billion dollars by running the returns of our short-term investment team. It doesn’t all fit in one room, so I’ll create and manage $3 billion by the end of this year.”
“And the allocation per stock?”
“I’ll invest $1.5 billion in Netflix, $300 million in WWE, and the rest in Aviomed and Fortinet as I see fit.”
“Ha, okay, I’ll think about it and let you know.”
“When?”
“Give me an hour!”
“Yep!”
I can’t just take John’s word for it and invest $3 billion.
I popped them into the window of my computer screen, one by one, and received the validation of a prayer.
“Oooooh!”
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John’s got the power after all.
Every single one of them sparkles.
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Judging by the way it faded at the end, it’s definitely not something I’m in it for the long haul, as he said.
I call out to John again.
“Let’s run!”
“hahahaha! Okay!”
August 7th.
Today is the day Somi is coming to the US for a two-week visit.
I made a promise, I’ll keep it.
She’s flying on Korean Air, and at first I thought about putting her in business to save her the trouble, but then they just put her in economy.
It’s Somi’s first overseas flight, and I don’t want her to get into the habit of flying business from the start.
Maybe later.
Plus, she’s bringing her best friend with her, so I can’t really cut them both off from business.
“mmm! I love it! I love it!”
“Awww! Awww! Somiya, this is awesome!”
“Haaah—.”
When Somi and her friend Ji-Eun saw our house, they just lost it.
I kind of expected it.
From that day on, I was busy taking them to San Francisco, playing tour guide to Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, and all sorts of other places in the western United States.
Well, I was new at it, so George actually did it.
Still, Somi loved it, so it was okay.
Next year, I’ll bring my parents along.
It wasn’t until I put Somi on a plane to South Korea for one more week that I was able to find some peace again.
Then, on the last day of August.
My tranquility was interrupted by a phone call from Korea.
Ttiriiri! Tiririri!
“What? Jaeha?”
It was my brother Jaeha.
“Hey, bro! Long time no see! How are you? hahahahaha!”
– Hey! What happened to the one year wait?
“Uh, huh?”
– You asshole! You forgot, didn’t you?
“…”
Damn it!
You really forgot about Jae-ha!