The Greatest Conglomerate Ever With the American Lottery

33. My hands are scary big, aren’t they?

I was supposed to be in Korea for three weeks, but one thing led to another and I ended up spending almost a month there.

George met me at the airport, said hello, and we headed to my house.

It’s funny how after living here for a year, I already feel more at home here than I did in Seoul.

“John, did you have a good vacation?”

“hahahahaha! Boss, yes, did you have a good one, too? Oh, and how did the airplane incident go?”

“Hmm? How do you know that? Did Jeffrey tell you?”

“Well, I’m sure all of Boss’s friends in the States know, and how often has he been on the news? Just because you’re a Corian tough guy, right?”

“…”

What a turn of events.

“I’ve been on the phone with Steve, too, and he’s been ranting and raving about how the boss can’t stop using his fists.”

“No, he’s an asshole—.”

“hahahahaha, Steve was just joking, so don’t be too hard on him.”

I don’t think he was joking.

Still, if everyone else in the world can call me names, my Steve can’t do it to me, right?

Who was he to bail me out of getting beaten up in middle school for being such a jerk?

“But that didn’t happen, did it?”

“Yeah, well, as you may have seen, both AMD and Nvidia are trading sideways right now, but sooner or later they’re going to start moving up again. As of today’s close on Friday, September 23, AMD closed at $6.55, down a dollar from a month ago, but that’s temporary. Nvidia closed at $16.2, up from $15.5 a month ago. In the aggregate, there’s a lot more Nvidia stock, so we’re up a little bit.”

“Okay, well, there’s no point in sweating the small fluctuations, so why don’t we all grab a beer?”

It was after 6pm on a Friday, and Jennifer and Roy had both left work.

I decided to grab a beer with John to catch up.

“Hey, boss, there’s something I need to tell you.”

“Um, why? What’s going on?”

“hahahaha, here’s what happened to me.”

As he’s talking, John shows me his left hand, and there’s a ring on his ring finger that I hadn’t seen before.

Hmm? What is this?

“John? Is that you?”

“Yeah, that’s right. Amy and I got back together.”

“Ohhh! Congratulations, hahahahaha!”

“Yeah, thanks. This is all thanks to you, boss. I really appreciate it.”

“Eh, what do you mean, what did you do about the house?”

“I got a nice house nearby. Jane and Amy moved in yesterday, too.”

“Well, why don’t you tell them?”

I thought I would have gotten you a nicer place since you have kids.

“hahahaha, no, it’s a nice enough house as it is.”

“Are you sure you don’t mind?”

“Yeah, never mind. With the money my boss has been giving me for the past year, I was able to get a good house.”

“Okay, then. But the next time you move, I’ll take care of it, okay?”

“Hmm? I guess you’ll have to get me a very nice house then, hahahaha!”

“hahahahaha, sure.”

Is it a matter of getting it?

Shouldn’t we just buy her one?

“Also, Amy wants to say hello to the boss, is that okay?”

“Sure. Tell her to come over tomorrow. Oh, and bring Jane along. I think she’ll love the pool.”

“hahahaha! Okay, even if she doesn’t, I told her we have a great pool, and she really wanted to come.”

“Tell her she can come and play anytime.”

“Thanks.”

The next day, John’s wife, Amy, and their daughter, Jane, came to our house.

“We’ve heard so much about you, and we really appreciate you giving our boy a chance to get back on his feet.”

“hahahaha! He just happened to be the person I needed. Don’t be so hard on him.”

From nob le mt l. co m

John’s wife, Amy.

She was a stunning beauty.

She’s a bit of an age difference from John, now in her mid-30s, but she’s a model, a model.

I asked her if she’d snagged John when he was in his prime.

“No, he’s very grateful and so am I. No other company would give a former drug addict such an important position. Thank you again for bringing our family back together.”

“Now live happily ever after. John won’t pull any stunts again, because if he does, I’ll bury him.”

“Ho ho ho, please do.”

“…”

I trailed off.

“You must be Jane, huh? You look so much like your mom?”

I’m not exaggerating, John’s daughter was very pretty, just like her mom.

She said she was in middle school, and she looked like she was already over 170.

“How are you, Mr. John?”

“Call me Alex. You’re in middle school?”

“No, I’m in high school now.”

“Oh! Already?”

“hahahaha! Boss, in New York and California, high school is four years long.”

“Ah, so in the US, school years vary from state to state?”

“Yes, usually it’s 5 years of elementary school, 3 years of middle school, and 4 years of high school, but there are many states that don’t, so it’s the same 12 years total anyway. Jane is in 9th grade starting in September.”

“I see.”

“Uncle Alex!”

“Yeah? Why?”

“Can I go swimming?”

“Sure. Just pretend it’s our house and make yourself at home.”

“Thanks, Alex!”

Awww! How cute.

Seeing John’s family back together again made me feel good and a little envious.

What’s that saying about family harmony?

When a family is harmonious, all things come together.

From nob le mt l. co m

John looked so happy, not a shadow of his former self.

Boom, boom, boom!

“Uncle Alex, let’s play!”

The house had a pool, but it hadn’t been used in a year, and suddenly John, along with his wife Amy, were having fun in the pool with Jane.

Why am I in there?

Without hesitation?

Have fun. Jane.

November 11, 2016.

Nvidia’s stock price, which had been trading sideways, jumped a whopping 29.81% from $16.94 the day before to $21.99 on November 11.

It seemed to be slowly starting to rise again.

Also, AMD, which had been hovering around the $6 to $7 range, started to rise on November 16.

Nvidia continued to climb, hovering around $23.

“Yay!”

With all the good deeds that Yoongi has done, such as creating a welfare corporation in Korea and earning 20 billion won, it seemed to brighten up a lot, and the stock price seemed to have a more long-term trend than before.

By the way, the problem is Tesla, and I was worried.

Tesla’s current stock price had been trading sideways in the $30s since late October, and my sixth sense, my cautionary tale, and John’s opinion were all telling me it was time to invest.

On top of that, John’s short-term recommendation of Scientific Games Corporation was also sparkling on the prayer beads, urging me to jump in.

The funny one was Boeing.

It was literally sparkling, and it looked like it was going to skyrocket in the short term.

I’m embarrassed to say all kinds of bad things about it, but embarrassment is fleeting, and money is money.

But I don’t have the money to invest.

What should I do?

I think this is an opportunity.

“Why don’t you borrow some more money?”

“What else? Isn’t that too risky?”

“Yes, it would be risky, but the time to invest is too good to pass up. The stock market, which was so dismal in 2015, is now moving sideways and gradually rising.”

“How much can I get?”

“I could easily pull in another $1.5 billion. At an interest rate of 2%, inward.”

“What about the $2.2 billion we borrowed last time? Even at 2%, that’s a lot of interest, isn’t it?”

“We can choose the interest rate on that one. We can pay it back all at once, as long as the valuation of our stock doesn’t fall below your line, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

The annualized interest on $2.2 billion is $44 million, but when John says it like that, it doesn’t seem like a big deal.

This has gotten out of hand, hasn’t it?

If I borrow another $1.5 billion, that’s $3.7 billion.

Four trillion dollars in debt!

That’s a lot of steel, huh?

My worries didn’t last long.

We’ve come this far, let’s go as far as we can.

“Okay, let’s see how far we can go!”

“hahahahaha, boss! Okay, so how do we allocate our investments?”

“How much do you think we can put into John’s new recommendation, Scientific Games?”

“Not much there, it’s got a market cap of between $1.1 and $1.2 billion right now, but if I pull my punches, I think I can get it up to $300 million by early January of next year.”

“And you’re only here for one year, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right, and, to be honest, I don’t really want to be here that much longer because the business is really about making casino gambling products.”

“Okay. So let’s just do $300 million for one year.”

“Okay.”

I’m just as annoyed that Scientific Games is a company that makes casino gambling machines and things like that, but I’m like, “Okay, I’ll take the money and spend it like a champ.

“And Tesla is only doing $400 million for now, right?”

“Why don’t you do more, where else can you invest?”

“Well, Tesla is going to be a long-term focus, but I don’t think it’s going to be that big yet, so let’s make more money elsewhere and do it later.”

“Okay, so where would you invest the other $800 million?”

“Well, you know—.”

Man, that was a mouthful.

I overreacted.

“Hey, can you stop smiling?”

“What? Where do you think you’re going with this?”

“Humph, we’re going to invest in Boeing.”

“What? Burling?”

“No, not Burling, Boeing!”

“Boeing? The Boeing that makes the airplanes? Poohahahahaha!”

“Oh, I meant don’t laugh—.”

“hahahahaha! Oh, I’m sorry. What’s up with Boeing all of a sudden, you said you’d never do it, and then you said it was some kind of wheat porridge? hahahahaha!”

“…”

Ha, he’s got a big mouth.

I nudge John and he stops laughing.

“Humph, ah! Boeing’s not bad, it’s currently trading sideways in the $140s, and like you said, I don’t know about the long term, but I think I’ll be okay in the short term. You know what, boss?”

“Why?”

“What made you invest in Boeing, the company you said you hated so much?”

“It just came to me, so don’t ask me any more, just do it.”

“hahahahaha, I’ll take your word for it, boss. Okay, I’ll match you at $150.”

“Sure.”

From nob le mt l. co m

John immediately borrowed $1.5 billion and got a 1.9% interest rate with a 0.1% discount for being a good customer.

Man, John is good at his job.

He got the $1.5 billion as fast as a credit card cash advance.

From nob le mt l. co m

John took the $1.5 billion and immediately invested it.

And just like that, Karma Investments was busy again.