Deep-Rooted Evil

A spring being pressed down.

The harder the force, the more violently it rebounds.

Fuck!

Institutions don't crush a stock price without any insurance. They have a hedge for that.

Short selling.

They profit exactly as much as the price falls. At a glance it looks like a scam skill that lets them milk both sides — but in the end, it's a double-edged sword.

If the market moves against their intent, the losses double too. And there's only one way to stop the bleeding.

Buy back everything they sold — including every shorted share.

They have no choice but to scramble and scoop it all back up. And in that process, the stock price explodes — at a speed no one can believe.

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The community was boiling over with excitement. Most investors had taken losses in the renewed bear market — but not these people.

Osung Biologics shareholders were on cloud nine. It felt like compensation for every miserable day they'd endured. That sweet fruit of victory — only a handful of people ever got to taste it.

It had been crushed for so long. The price action had been utterly hopeless — no dreams, no future.

Further declines were even being forecast. No matter which article you read, not a single good word came through. There was no reason for anyone to buy the stock.

Except for one person.

Sonik-jwa. While Osung Biologics was being crushed, he'd heard every insult imaginable. The moment the price rose, the verdict flipped. He was now the messiah who had foreseen it all.

You said it would go up, didn't you?

Anyone can imagine something in their head. Buying with conviction is hard. Saying it out loud in front of the public is harder still.

Holy shit, it's actually going up!

When everyone screams No, he says Yes. Anyone who witnesses that kind of miracle can't help but be captivated — especially when it happens right in front of their face.

And the Gambling King was the one who'd co-streamed with Sonik-jwa.

At first he'd been skeptical. Wait, I heard that stock was trash?

Hoo…

Now it was his only hope. The sole green position in his entire portfolio — and by far the heaviest weight. He was sitting on nearly fifty million won in unrealized gains.

Just need another two hundred million from here.

Two hundred million lost over time. Another fifty million gone in the bear market. Something about the math felt off — but if he stuck with Sonik-jwa…

Please, I just want my principal back…

It felt possible. He hadn't bought for no reason either. His gut was telling him something. Like he'd met a benefactor. He couldn't let this chance slip away.

For his own sake, if nothing else. The viewers would be waiting for it too.

The broadcast everyone had been waiting for began.

Short-term price action. Predicting it is never easy, of course.

"Anyone who talks like they know all of that is a scammer."

"Hey! But you got it right, teacher!"

"I'm a little different."

Even for someone like me. I couldn't be certain Osung Biologics would rise.

But I can see how the money moves.

Osung Electronics' stock falls. And institutions have to buy something else with the proceeds.

"When institutions sell a stock, they have to buy something else for the same amount."

"Oh, really?"

"But there are only a handful of large-caps that can absorb the massive capital freed up from selling Osung Electronics."

Institutional physiology. Because I understood it, I could read the big picture.

"Combine that with the Osung Group ownership structure I talked about last time, and Osung Biologics was basically a lock."

"How do you even know that kind of stuff?"

"Eh, I'm not teaching that."

"Just tell me, you bastard!"

Of course, institutions aren't idiots either. They throw out fakes over weeks, sometimes months — but the volume had been too massive for that.

Osung Electronics. The flagship of the Osung Group. The largest company in Korea. Foreigners watch it constantly. Institutions can't just manipulate it however they please.

"But seriously, nobody was saying Osung Biologics would go up. Weren't you a little nervous?"

"If that kind of thing makes you nervous, you can't do stocks."

"So what's going up next?"

It had only been a matter of time. Of course, even with analysis, conviction is a separate thing.

This is my real job, after all.

The movements of whales are enormous. They always leave traces. Slip in between those traces and take the spread — that's how I've grown my assets. In this life, I'm even bestowing that grace upon the retail investors.

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It's never easy. The moment whales so much as twist their bodies, the shrimp and ants caught inside get crushed flat.

Unless someone tells them.

Retail simply can't do it alone. Keeping a clear head in a market drowning in bad news is nearly impossible.

"I'm not someone who runs a Leading Room. I only did this because the institutions' market distortion was so goddamn disgusting this time."

"Just give us some leads!"

I lead the way. In exchange, I build recognition and trust.

To shatter the institutions' market distortion…

I need influence. Enough that a single word from me moves tens — hundreds of thousands of investors.

Foreign capital had intervened. Gaemi Investment Securities had no choice but to take heavy losses.

"We did respond quickly, but…"

"But?"

"The other institutions moved just as fast."

The institutional alliance had collapsed. Every firm for itself was now the best strategy. The fallout: for a while, running market distortions would be difficult.

All because of one lousy ant.

The plan was coming apart. Lee Tae-ho frowned as he took the report from the Third Trading Team leader.

"Retail is pouring into Osung Biologics in huge numbers. It seems to be fallout from this whole incident."

"Leave it."

"Sir?"

"Proceed as planned."

It had gone exactly as that arrogant bastard said. One single ant had thrown a wrench into everything.

You got lucky this time.

But it couldn't last forever. As long as he kept trading stocks, the positions wouldn't change. Retail is prey. Even if they fatten up a little for now, their fate is still to be eaten.

"Team Leader Jeong — do you trade stocks yourself?"

"Ah, yes. I used to do a bit."

"And now?"

"It's, uh, not that easy, haha."

Jeong Jae-woo, Third Trading Team leader. Even a man with his long career found it overwhelming. Ninety-five percent of retail investors lose money and leave the market — just like a gambling table, where winning once or twice still ends in total loss.

I need to teach him whose reverse scale he touched.

Individual stock moves are nothing more than small waves. The real thing is the tsunami building in the deep ocean. Ants who only watch the surface will never see it coming. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to accelerate the timeline a little.

If we took losses because of retail, we just eat retail again. That's all there is to it.

He would deliver hell to the ants.