The Joseon Prince Went To America And Didn’t Return – 54



< Great Bear (2) >

Jesse Livermore looked at me puzzled.

“History?”

I walked towards him grabbing a leaflet that had fallen on the floor.

“Yeah history. I came out after listening to the briefing at the beginning. You bet on the New York Stock Exchange going down right?”

“Yes yes. That’s right.”

“Imagine if we had made a profit in this great bear market you are predicting. If we had wouldn’t historians surely record our great achievement?”

Jesse Livermore held my hand tightly as if he were a puppy meeting its owner after ten years away.

“That’s right. In fact the reason I distributed thousands of these flyers was to meet a prince. And you really did appear before me like a prince from a fairy tale.”

Oh my.

It’s dripping with honey.

I quickly let go of Jesse Livermore’s hand and found a place to sit.

My thighs started to hurt a little because I kept standing.

‘I did some lower body workouts too hard.’

I sat down on a chair on one side of the lecture hall and massaged my calf with my right hand.

At the same time he looked at Jesse Livermore and asked about his future investment plans.

“Let’s continue with the lecture we had earlier. You predicted that the US market would decline within a month.”

“you’re right.”

“If you want to make a profit in a bear market you will need to short sell but where do you plan to do that?”

Jesse Livermore quickly ran toward the blackboard.

He took a chalk and wrote down a list of companies he wanted to short.

“We plan to short sell shipping mining steel and railroad stocks.”

“These are the areas that suffered great damage from the last earthquake.”

“you’re right.”

Jesse Livermore’s voice rose.

I don’t know if it was because I was in a good mood or because I was the only one around him but my stuttering seemed to have improved a lot as well.

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I tapped my right index finger against my temple as I thought about the areas he had written about.

“Of these four the mining industry suffered the most damage. Perhaps they will focus on this area.”

Then he pointed to the word mine.

Jesse Livermore looked puzzled as if he had guessed it.

“That’s right Prince. The New York stock market is like a jungle. You have to take down the weak first.”

So you’re saying that you’re just going to focus on hitting one guy?

After the earthquake companies in the aforementioned sectors were heavily short-sold.

It is already down more than 20% from its high.

I agreed with Jesse Livermore’s words tapping the leaflet he had distributed with my right hand.

“But when the panic starts shouldn’t we change the target of short selling? The financial sector such as banks securities companies and insurance companies will become more vulnerable. As time goes by.”

“Yes. If stock prices crash and the economy worsens that industry will be hit the hardest. Strangely enough this prince thinks the same way as I do.”

Before becoming a lobbyist Lee worked as a stockbroker in New York for six years.

This is the basics.

But I hid my true feelings and asked him with a very serious expression.

“Roughly how much do you expect it to fall?”

“It’s hard to put a number on it. But what’s certain is that it will end when everyone involved in the stock market is in pain and struggling.”

You even gave specific figures earlier.

Is it because you’re in front of me?

I’ve become quite cautious.

I put on a pleased expression and immediately began discussing the details of the contract.

“I will send you the money to invest in your trust fund within the next week. I will also write up the contract then so we can review it again then.”

“Yes I understand. Oh but what should we name the trust company? It’s currently registered as Livermore Trust Company. I think it would be right to change the name to Lee & Livermore right?”

“….”

When there was no answer he glanced at me and quickly blurted out his name.

“Or you can just change the name to Lee Kang Trust Company without my last name. If you give me enough investment capital I don’t mind if you remove my name.”

I shook my head and declined Jesse Livermore’s offer.

“No. Leave the company name as is.”

I snapped my fingers with a rather generous expression.

“Ah! You will be the CEO as well. You will be in charge of managing the funds. I will only provide the investment funds.”

“Wow you’re hotter than I thought.”

Jesse Livermore looked genuinely surprised.

Usually when a big shot shows up he tries to take everything into his own hands but I gave him full authority without interfering with anything.

“but….”

I slowly turned my head and looked at Giannini’s Italian colleagues who had come with me.

He continued talking like that.

“While you are investing in this crash the interest here will be with you. The auditing will also be done by the people of President Giannini here at Banker.”

We’ll have to keep an eye on it.

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Because you might have harsh thoughts.

“Yes of course. It’s strange that you don’t have any worries when you’re investing a lot of money. Do you have any other instructions?”

“I wish I could withdraw my investment money whenever I want.”

“ah….”

“Why is it not so good?”

“No but my investments may need to be viewed over time. Otherwise I may suffer a huge loss.”

Why do you have such a long investment period when shorting?

But I nodded with an expression that said I could bear it.

“I can accept that much. However the things I mentioned earlier must be added to the contract.”

“Oh I understand.”

I took a business card out of my pocket and gave it to Jesse Livermore.

“Here take my business card. I currently reside at the J&J Hotel. If you have any questions please contact me.”

Jessie accepted my business card with a satisfied expression.

“Yes. If you have any questions I will come to you right away. Then please take a look.”

* * *

After returning to the accommodation everyone dispersed to their respective rooms.

But Max followed me into my room as if he had something to say.

“Boss. I have a question.”

“Tell me.”

His older brother Aaron and Kaplan followed Max into my room.

Everyone had a worried look on their face wondering if Max would do something wrong.

“Why are you giving so much authority to that Livermore guy you’re meeting for the first time today?”

“For example?”

“I don’t know about anything else but I really don’t like the fact that you gave up the company name.”

Americans are really secretly obsessed with mission.

I glanced at Aaron.

It was an unspoken question asking if I agreed with my younger brother Max’s opinion.

“I actually had some doubts about that. In the case of the Wright brothers didn’t they change the corporate name to Wright & Lee when they set up the joint venture because they owned the patent rights? But….”

Aaron couldn’t bear to continue talking and looked at me.

It was a befitting action by a general to see the liver.

“Why are you going straight to Livermore Trust Company?”

Without even including my last name.

“Yes that’s right.”

I quietly crossed my arms and explained to them what I had done today.

“The reason is simple. There is no need to do that.”

I snorted emphasizing the word ‘not at all.’

After that I asked the Irish three brothers.

“Do I really need to stand up and be cursed at? Just answer.”

The Irish three brothers looked at me with expressions like “What is this?”

For those who knew nothing about finance or public opinion I slowly explained the plan I had made in advance.

“Livermore is currently planning a short sale. You must have guessed it after hearing what we talked about today right?”

“I didn’t fully understand it but I understood that short selling was a financial technique that could generate profits in a bear market.”

“Yeah. I guess you can understand it to that extent.”

I looked at them snapping my fingers.

“But let’s say as Livermore said the stock price falls by half. What do you think will happen to this city then?”

The Irish three brothers’ expressions hardened.

Now that I think about it it was a terrible thing to even imagine.

“The whole of New York City would be thrown into chaos. If you had ten thousand dollars and it suddenly went down to five thousand dollars wouldn’t that make you dizzy?”

Aaron and Max nodded in agreement with what I said.

“It must be X.”

“I feel like I’m going to explode with anger.”

“That’s right. A person with a short temper would be so angry that he would harm himself. It would be fortunate if the money I had in my possession simply disappeared but let’s assume that I also ended up in debt to the bank.”

I swallowed hard and said to them.

“Let me ask you a question. If you answer correctly I’ll give you $100 as a prize. Who do you think investors who lose money in a bear market should blame?”

Aaron on the right was the first to answer my question.

“Boss of course you would blame yourself. The responsibility for your investment lies entirely with you.”

“What you said may be correct but people aren’t always so rational. People tend to see their own mistakes as small and others’ mistakes as big.”

Max who was watching from the side answered next.

“Then wouldn’t we blame the government as Livermore said earlier? Haven’t we maintained the backward financial system without changing it?”

“That’s right. The federal government is the cause of this situation. But you know will the government just sit back and admit it’s their fault?”

“….”

“….”

Aaron and Max kept their mouths shut.

They didn’t answer but based on their actions I guess they’re thinking the same thing as I am.

“The people who lead the government are also people. Moreover they are politicians. They are the ones who do not want to admit even the slightest of their mistakes.”

I spoke to them with one corner of my mouth raised in a bitter manner.

“They will find a scapegoat. That scapegoat will be….”

“Uh-uh… Bo-s.”

Kaplan who was a little off-kilter somewhere pointed at me and spoke awkwardly.

“Look- boss.”

“Are you talking about me?”

“Yes.”

I clapped my hands and nodded.

“That’s right. I’ll blame the guy who shorted first. Oh! It’s been a while since Kaplan got it right. Here take a hundred dollars.”

“A hundred dollars is good! Good!”

Unlike Kaplan who was delighted Aaron and Max looked at me with terrified expressions.

“So does that mean we will be the ones responsible for this situation?”

“That’s right.”

“Then isn’t that dangerous?”

All investments involve risk.

High returns always come with high risks.

“It’s dangerous. That’s why you didn’t change the company name didn’t replace the CEO and didn’t you hand over all the operating rights to Livermore?”

However this can be reduced.

If I become the face and lead short selling I will be the only one who gets hit later so I am staying in the back.

You just have to set up a face mask.

That’s Livermore.

‘Well it’s not a bad thing for Jessie either.’

He will gain fame along with a lot of money.

Like a 21st century Doctor Doom.

Although he faced some threats to his life he lived well even after the Great Depression in the history of the original country.

It might not be as serious as you think.

‘I might actually be more at risk.’

I won’t just sit back and let this happen.

We even have a safety device in place for this.

Didn’t you insert a clause that would allow you to withdraw your investment at any time?

If JP Morgan shows up and tries to blame me I’ll immediately put my duck feet out and pretend to cooperate with him.

If I could get the media to report Livermore’s great investment method first I could get out of the financial panic.

“Boss. Please…”

Evil?

Hey don’t say that.

Tell me I’m smart.

I was careful about every word as I wrote the investment contract to hand over to Jesse Livermore.

Because my life depends on one contract.

So I put my heart and soul into writing this and reviewing it again.

< Great Bear (2) > End