Bright sunlight poured in through the large glass window on one side, illuminating the spacious CEO's/President office.
Sitting at an L-shaped desk, Seok-won stared intently at several monitors displaying a variety of charts, carefully analyzing the movements of global financial markets.
Just then, there was a knock at the door, and his secretary, Na Seong-mi, entered.
"Sir, I've organized the fax we received from Japan."
Seok-won glanced at the rather thick bundle of papers in her arms and nodded.
"Put it over here."
"Yes, sir."
Na Seong-mi set the documents down on the side of the desk, then bowed slightly and asked
politely,
"Would you like a cup of tea?"
"Coffee, please."
"Right away."
As she stepped out, Seok-won straightened his posture and reached for the stack of papers.
The documents were neatly organized with company names and figures—it was the bond
portfolio of Japan's Long-Term Credit Bank, which had recently gone bankrupt, just as Landon had predicted.
Being one of Japan's largest banks, the volume of bonds it held was massive.
Even this initial selection, sent by Eldorado Fund's Tokyo branch, was quite a substantial stack.
"Let's see how many hidden treasures are buried in here."
Seok-won's eyes lit up as he began reviewing the list of companies one by one.
As a bank that had specialized in providing long-term credit to Japanese corporations, the variety of companies listed was quite diverse.
However, as expected, this bulk sale—bundling numerous bad debts and selling them off at a
discount—contained no well-known, financially solid companies. All the high-quality assets had clearly been filtered out.
"No matter how chaotic things are, Japanese bankers aren't stupid enough to dump prime bonds at fire-sale prices."
Still, time pressure meant mistakes could have happened. Or there might be cases where a bond overlooked by everyone else could turn into gold down the road.
Seok-won's job was to dig through this trash heap and find those hidden gems that could bring in big money.
Eyes gleaming with anticipation, he focused on the list.
A moment later, Na Seong-mi quietly returned with his coffee, placed it gently on the desk, and exited without a word after seeing how immersed he was.
"Hm?"
As he flipped a page, Seok-won's eyes narrowed in surprise when he spotted an unexpected name on the list.
"The Rockefeller Center? Why is that on here?"
In 1939, oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller purchased a massive 22-acre plot in Midtown Manhattan, between 48th and 51st Streets.
The 19 buildings he erected on that land collectively became known as the Rockefeller Center.
By 1987, it was even listed on the National Register of Historic Places—one of the most iconic landmarks in New York.
During Japan's bubble economy, a Japanese company had bought it, making it a symbol of
Japan's aggressive investment wave in the U.S. known as the "Japan Money Invasion."
"I think it was Mitsubishi that acquired it back then."
But when the bubble burst and the U.S. real estate market crashed, the Rockefeller Center deal ended up as a massive financial loss.
"Normally, the losses would've led the operating company into bankruptcy and the property
would've been sold off to another developer. But if the collateral bond is still here, that means the sale didn't happen."
It was clear now—somehow, his actions after returning to the past had altered the course of
events.
"Wait a minute… If that's the case, then this is a golden opportunity."
Seok-won's eyes sparkled.
Though the economy was still sluggish and the asset in question was considered a burdensome white elephant, things would change drastically once the dot-com bubble kicked in and real estate prices began to skyrocket.
"Especially a landmark as iconic as Rockefeller Center—no matter how much money you have, properties like this don't come up for sale just anywhere."
The valuation listed was only $800 million, which meant its value had been slashed in half from the $1.5 billion Mitsubishi had paid to acquire it.
Feeling as if he had just discovered a rare item in a treasure chest while playing a game, Seok-won couldn't help but grin with delight.
He marked it with his Montblanc fountain pen and muttered with a smile,
"This is a great start. Feels like today's going to be lucky."
As he continued flipping through the pages, scanning the list, his brow furrowed again upon
spotting a familiar company name.
"Fast Retailing… That sounds familiar."
He lightly tapped the desk with his fingertips, trying to jog his memory—until suddenly his eyes widened in realization.
"That's right! It's Uniqlo's parent company."
Uniqlo was such a well-known Japanese SPA (specialty store retailer of private label apparel)
brand that it hardly needed any introduction.
"Come to think of it, Uniqlo hadn't become a global clothing giant yet at this point in time."
If his memory was correct, the company was still a relatively small regional clothing business in the Kansai area. But the following year, they'd launch their fleece line, which would become a massive hit and catapult them into nationwide success.
Unlike the loan associated with Rockefeller Center, which had been weighed down by losses, Fast Retailing was still small in scale—but was steadily growing into a solid, reliable business.
"Still, no one would've imagined that this little local clothing company would become a global fashion powerhouse worth over 10 trillion yen in less than a decade."
Which meant someone had likely tossed the bond for Fast Retailing into the bulk-sale pile
without a second thought.
Seok-won's mind raced, and a slow, satisfied grin formed on his lips.
"If I play this right, I might be able to pick up shares of Uniqlo practically for free."
He put a check mark next to Fast Retailing as well.
Then he flipped through the pages even more thoroughly, double-checking each item on the list.
After a long while, Seok-won finally reached the end of the bulk-sale list—and his face was filled with awe.
"This is practically a gold mine."
Among the more than 50 loan bonds listed, Seok-won had expected to find maybe four or five that could actually generate profit—and even that would've been considered a huge success.
But over half of them looked likely to recover their principal given some time, and on top of that, there were jackpot-grade finds like Rockefeller Center and Fast Retailing. It truly felt like a treasure trove.
It was suspicious, actually, just how many quality bonds were included—even if this was Japan's first time conducting a bulk sale of non-performing loans.
"There are a few that look completely unrecoverable, but even so, this seems almost too good to be true."
Seok-won folded his arms and thought for a moment, then picked up his phone and called John Porter, the head of the Japan branch.
[もしもし.]
"It's me."
"Ah, Boss," Porter said, switching to English with clear familiarity and enthusiasm.
[I sent over the bulk sale list—did you get a chance to review it?]
"That's actually why I'm calling."
[Is there a problem?]
"No, nothing like that. Just… something feels off."
[I see. Please, go ahead.]
Holding the phone to his ear, Seok-won glanced down at the document spread out in front of him and said, "A lot of these loans are supposedly bad, but I see quite a few where the principal should be recoverable. I'm wondering if there was some kind of mistake."
"I thought the same thing after looking over the loans," Porter replied with a chuckle, easing
Seok-won's mind.
"So I guess it's not a trap or anything."
[No, not a trap. But there is a hidden agenda.]
Seok-won's eyes sharpened.
"What kind of agenda?"
[My guess is that this bulk sale is being used by the banks to quietly offload politically sensitive or outright dirty loans that would cause problems if they became public.]
A thought flashed through Seok-won's mind. Gripping the phone more tightly, he asked,
"You mean illegal loans involving politicians or the yakuza?"
[Knew you'd catch on right away.]
Porter lowered his voice slightly and spoke with serious intent.
[By definition, non-performing loans are the kind of debt that banks don't want the world to
know about. During the bubble era, there were more than a few shady deals—loans handed out recklessly with politicians or criminal groups involved.]
"So they're using this chance to just throw all that garbage into the bin and be done with it."
[Exactly. To receive bailout funds from the government, the banks have to undergo thorough audits. That means all their skeletons could be exposed. This bulk sale is a preemptive clean-up operation.]
[And since both sides sign NDAs in bulk sale deals, they can bury the dirty loans without leaving a trace.]
The parts that had bothered Seok-won now fell neatly into place.
"Once it's all out of sight, they can present themselves for audit squeaky clean. And by dumping the toxic loans quickly, they can also make it look like they've been working hard to normalize operations."
[Exactly.]
"But if they only included suspicious and unrecoverable junk loans, no one would touch the sale. That's why they padded the lot with bonds that do have value."
With all the mystery cleared up, Seok-won gave a dry, knowing smile.
"They slipped in a bunch of profitable loans to sweeten the deal—bribery by over-delivery, in
case the buyer gets suspicious down the line."
[That's right.]
Porter added, "It'd be infuriating for the Japanese public to find out about this, but from our end, it's a windfall. Since it's a bulk sale, we'll be able to push the price way down—this is a huge opportunity."
"It's definitely a golden chance. But the real question is—can we actually win the bid and acquire these non-performing loans?"
"There's no need to worry about that," Porter replied.
"Oh? Why not?"
"Since it's the very first bulk sale, it seems that no one else is showing much interest. We're
essentially the only bidder," Porter said.
"Oh? Is that so?"
That was exactly what Seok-won wanted to hear.
[Most people think that loans issued during the height of the bubble are all worthless now.
They're not even giving it a second look. Honestly, if it weren't for you, Boss, we wouldn't have touched it either.]
"No competition—what a relief," Seok-won said with a smirk.
[But once word gets out that this package includes valuable bonds, the next round will be far more competitive.]
"Of course. So let's scoop up as many bonds as we can before that happens."
[Understood.]
"And during this bid, push the price down as much as possible. They've tucked away some shady loans in there, so they'll want to close the deal quickly without a second auction."
"Hahaha. Got it. I'll handle it," Porter answered with confidence.
"Oh, and I noticed there's a bond related to Rockefeller Center in New York. After we acquire the bond, open negotiations with Mitsubishi and move to take over the property entirely."
[Understood.]
After giving a few more instructions, Seok-won ended the call. He leaned back in his chair and smiled broadly, satisfaction radiating from his face.
"This has gone way better than I expected."
TL/n -
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