Sora's Affair
The study group.
"Think the bull market's going to keep running?"
"KOSPI's at an all-time high right now!"
"Yeah, but the Nasdaq's still climbing too, so…"
"What do you think, Sora?"
"Me?"
This was already her third session. They met twice a week, so nearly ten days had passed.
The Nasdaq has to be connected somehow.
Stock prices had been climbing day after day. Today they seemed to be debating the reasons why. Sora had her own ideas on the matter. The United States was Korea's number-one export destination. A strong American economy was good for Korea's as well.
"There was that news about the U.S. freezing interest rates, right?"
"Oh, was there?"
"So I figure the rally should keep going for a while. Trump cares a lot about the economy, too."
Before, her thinking would have stopped right there. Now she knew how to look at other angles as well.
Focus on the process, not just the result that already happened.
The reason the Nasdaq was rising. America had stopped hiking rates. That meant they were going to pour more money into the market. It also lined up with the current U.S. president's personality. Donald Trump intervened in the markets a little too aggressively.
"That's how I see it, anyway."
"Whoa… you sounded like an analyst just now."
"Doesn't even sound like a student talking. Guess there's a reason Director Yeom recommended you."
"You're too kind."
You had to weigh a lot of factors. The principles that moved markets were never one-dimensional.
Being recognized feels good, though.
It felt like all her effort was finally paying off. But she hadn't joined the study group just to collect compliments. She had expected something special. She claimed she was aiming for a job at a securities firm, yet she still didn't really understand the market.
"But you know…"
"Yes?"
"You don't have to overthink it that hard. We're not gods, for fuck's sake."
It didn't take long to learn why. A working professional struck up conversation. A different person from last time. They were busy with actual work, so they took turns coming in to give lectures.
"Really? Still, better than not knowing…"
"That's because you kids haven't done real work yet."
"What do you mean?"
"Tell us about the actual job!"
"Ahem. Lately I've been helping out the Gangnam madams with their trades."
Most of them were PBs—private bankers. Their main job was helping individuals manage their assets.
Client consulting is the core of it…
The methods varied a little, but in the end the people they dealt with were ordinary civilians.
"No point explaining this and that. They don't get it anyway."
"I suppose so."
"So what do you do then?"
"We just respond however the clients want, according to market conditions."
Deep knowledge wasn't necessary. In fact, it could make the clients feel pressured.
And if you're wrong, it all goes up in smoke anyway.
Predicting the economy was hard. Sometimes it was so meaningless you might as well not bother. So they simply gave up. They only guided clients with information already out in the market.
"Say a client wants to invest in a bear market—are you going to stop them?"
"We're not supposed to?"
"If you stop them, your performance numbers drop that much. All we have to do is help the clients invest as much as possible."
Even that alone was a mountain of work. Fresh information updated every single day. It was a job that lived in the present, not the future. Securities work was a little different from what Sora had imagined. So was the mindset the employees carried.
Feels like a sales job.
She understood. She had learned it firsthand by investing herself. You could lose money just as easily as make it. Securities employees were still just office workers. They would rather collect a stable paycheck than go on an adventure every day.
"Starting to get what our job is like?"
"Yes…"
"The stuff you're fretting over, you'll figure out once you've got some years under your belt. No need to rush. Honestly, when you're still a student you should be having some fun."
"Ohhh!"
"You buying, hyung Hyun-jin?"
What they learned in the study group followed the same logic. It was meant to help them adapt to the job a little faster. There was no actual studying of the market. Instead, they did a lot of pointless things.
Sizzle…
Company dinner. The working senior announced he was treating and dragged them along. As the newbie, Sora was in no position to refuse.
"Eat as much as you want!"
"Whoa—gopchang."
"Senior, aren't you overdoing it?"
"Gotta treat at least this much. Hyung just got his performance bonus."
They had come to a gopchang restaurant. On the grill, intestines and membrane were frying in their own fat.
Looks delicious.
Sora liked the food too. Nutty, chewy, the juices that leaked out the more you chewed—just thinking about it made her mouth water. The potatoes and bean sprouts cooking alongside were a delicacy in their own right. If it had only been about the food, Sora would have had no complaints.
"You okay with gopchang?"
"Yes, I like it."
"Really? I like girls who like gopchang."
"…"
Trivial topics always came along for the ride. The working senior buying the gopchang kept spouting things that made her feel anything but grateful.
"Senior, I like gopchang too!"
"Aw, Da-eun likes it as well."
"What does that have to do with gopchang?"
"Some kids get grossed out and won't touch it~ even though it's this good."
That was the usual atmosphere. It was called a study group, but in reality it was nothing more than a social club.
Yeah, that's the vibe.
Networking mattered, of course. Building industry connections would help for a long time to come. She understood it in that context. It just wasn't the self-improvement opportunity Sora had been hoping for.
"Do you seniors trade stocks?"
"Stocks? Sure."
"I do some too…"
"It's not exactly mandatory, though."
"What?"
She wanted to build her own ability. Even if she ended up as a PB, she only planned to use it as a stepping stone. The other study group members thought differently. Their goal was simply landing a job at a securities firm.
"Our job is introducing stocks, not trading them."
"Right, right."
"I'm aiming to be a trader, so…"
"Nah~ not even that!"
"Excuse me?"
All you needed was theory. They believed you just had to know how to play "expert." Fair enough. Not everyone wanted to put in the effort. Even the trader path she had considered her last hope.
"That's just something people try once for the performance bonus."
"But taking losses would still be hard…"
"If that stresses you out, who would even do it? Worst case, you just get shoved into a dead-end post."
"…"
It was a long way from the cutthroat battlefield of real life. There were all sorts of things ordinary people would never know.
So even if you fail, the company doesn't fire you.
The risk was low. At worst you lost company money. Unless you lost a truly massive amount, you didn't even get fired. You could milk the privileges of an institutional investor for all they were worth. Apparently trading wasn't that difficult.
"Even the good ones lose everything when they trade with their own money, I hear."
"Really?"
"Guess stocks really are hard."
"A monk can't shave his own head~ All we have to do is consult the clients well."
He casually spilled the realities of the industry. The more she listened to the working senior's stories…
Getting sexually harassed by the senior would probably be more nutritious.
The air went out of her. Maybe that was reality, but it wasn't what Sora wanted. Everyone except her seemed to accept it. No—they looked relieved, thinking the job might actually be doable.
"Once I get hired I want a pretty girlfriend too."
"Dream on."
"Why~ it could happen! Right, Sora?"
"Huh?"
"Sora's not interested in you, you know?"
The topic switched in an instant. As if they had never cared about the headache-inducing conversation in the first place.
Nothing but boring guys.
They only kept hitting on her. She couldn't tell whether she had come to a study group or a blind date.
She had figured he would show up eventually.
"Why'd you come?"
"I don't know."
"Then get lost."
"What am I, a candle? Gonna snuff me out?"
Sora, visiting after a long while, was snippy as ever. Even when he embarrassed her, she showed no sign of leaving.
Has she grown up a little?
She had come back after all kinds of experiences. The analyst teacher, the study group, and so on. He had personal expectations of his own. Suppressing the thump in his chest, he asked.
"So what did you do while you were gone?"
"I watched how the working people do their jobs, talked with other securities hopefuls at the study group…"
"And?"
"Huh?"
"Was there anything else!"
There was no way nothing had happened. After all, a study group was the kind of place where—
"Nothing special, really."
"Sex?"
"What?"
"I mean, study groups are where you go to have sex."
"The second I show up you start this shit again, you crazy bastard!"
It was a gathering for meeting the opposite sex. There was a reason people called them "sex studies."
You go to a rice cake shop, you buy the rice cakes—obviously.
Young men and women gathered together only ever did one thing. Eyes met. Some guy must have made a move. There was no way she had actually just studied and come back.
"Then what the hell did you do?"
"I studied, obviously."
"Sex?"
"I didn't!"
His bad feeling had been right. She was absurdly earnest.
Fuck, she didn't even get laid?
Those tits ready to burst. That ass that begged for a spanking. Apparently the study group had been full of eunuchs.
"You said you met the working people too."
"Yes, I did."
"No potbellied bald uncles?"
"What?"
"Didn't get the Hitomi treatment?"
"What the hell do you keep talking about!!"
It had been a perfect situation for gaining experience. She claimed she had only stacked work experience.
I genuinely can't believe this.
He had thought she would grow up at least a little. She was still puffing out her cheeks like a damn kid.
"I get mad because you keep saying stuff like that."
"Then go hang out with the ones who don't say stuff like that."
"I don't want to."
"Hm?"
"I'm going to… hang out with you, senior."
She rocked in her chair as she laid out the story. Everything that had happened to her at the study group.
She really didn't get anything done? No way?
A deep sigh was inevitable. Sora, it turned out, had been just as frustrated.