Trickle-Down Effect

Bom-i's stream.

"Chicken gets copied, and pig's feet get copied too. There's no goldmine like this in the whole wide world~."

Bom-i was over the moon.

The stock she'd bought not long ago was climbing every single day.

It was a miracle she had never experienced in her life.

I can put off today's pig's feet until tomorrow is what it is!

She had discovered the joy of investing.

She still had no idea what investing actually was — but she knew pig's feet were multiplying.

"Hehe, it's so exciting is what it is. Today pig's feet, tomorrow chicken, and the day after that tteokbokki is what it is."

She had every right to bounce around dancing.

But this was not a situation that would end at mere high spirits.

.

.

.

Because this was the part that connected to the actual stock price.

For some people, that mattered more than their own lives.

With a million won, the best you could do was stuff yourself sick on pig's feet.

But what if that became ten million, a hundred million, a billion?

Returns exceeding labor income became possible.

And among the full-time traders hunting exactly that—

There were people worshipped as gods.

People who made money in a stock market that only ever fell.

And they did it when everyone else was screaming no.

The identity of that Sonik-jwa had been revealed.

Along with the stock he had recently bought.

It spread through the communities at lightning speed.

Of course, none of it could be trusted in silence.

This was about money.

Plenty of people had trusted someone else's word, invested, and ruined themselves completely.

.

.

.

Ironically, the people who hadn't listened were the ones taking losses.

The stocks Sonik-jwa recommended always ended up rising.

A situation that made no common sense.

But the moment they heard Sonik-jwa had bought it, they believed.

The rumors floating around the market, too.

Humans are creatures that believe what they want to believe.

Articles poured out in lockstep.

Content that looked like the goddess of fortune herself was smiling down.

Bullish articles.

Sitting right on the main page of the search portal.

Investment sentiment piled in, and the stock price smashed through its 52-week high.

For investors, it was pure euphoria.

If the deal actually went through, the stock could run even higher.

There was never going to be a path without obstacles.

The North Korea issue was extremely sensitive.

Even next door in Japan, it was the biggest political flashpoint.

Japan was a US ally and the world's third-largest economy.

It also wanted a seat at the table on inter-Korean issues.

Political interests.

Japan pressed the United States, and storm clouds gathered over the North Korea–US summit.

.

.

.

It hit the stock price too.

A stock that rises on expectation collapses hard the moment that expectation breaks.

That fear.

It was not something you could endure with a clear head.

That was why the idea of selling stocks at the top was pure idealism.

A great many shareholders cut their losses with tears in their eyes.

Even the steadiest hearts couldn't help but shake — and yet.

Right on cue, a new article surfaced.

This time the response had come from the Korean side.

What mattered was an unbroken will!

As if to prove the point, the president shoved forward with absolute force.

The stock that had been riding a roller coaster found its direction again.

Carrying expectation, soaring sky-high.

It flew toward the peak.

Sector rotation.

One stage in the process of price manipulation.

Honestly, it doesn't mean much.

Retail investors watched the news and the stock price.

Illicit Stock Manipulators watched the flow of money.

Until recently it had been a bear market.

Now, as if none of that had ever happened, people were buying stocks without the slightest fear.

"I think so."

"So?"

"I'm just… kind of hesitant to buy stocks……."

Sora's place.

Sitting in front of the monitor, Sora wore a dazed expression.

For what it was worth, she had been putting in the work.

Over the past year she had learned a great many things.

Not all of them good, though.

Beginner's Luck existed for a reason.

Whether it turned out to be stew or garbage, you tried it first.

That was how you got results.

But the more she came to understand the fear of the stock market—

"There's been a lot of bad news lately."

"Mm."

"Foreigners keep selling the cash market too……."

—her hand wouldn't rise to the buy button.

Like someone burned once who couldn't go near fire again.

A transitional phase every investor has to go through.

Fear was natural.

Simply recognizing it already counted as growth.

And at the same time, a mountain that had to be climbed.

Inside that fear, a treasure chest of opportunity was also hidden.

"You said you wanted to make money trading."

"Ugh……."

"It's about time you got some experience."

"?"

Fire was definitely scary.

That didn't mean it was fatal enough to burn you the instant you touched it.

It's not like you're putting on a fire-eating show.

Same principle.

Momentum stocks and bear markets were clearly dangerous, but they didn't collapse in a single instant.

If you could read the market's flow—

Anyone with that foundation was ready for the next stage.

"You take the profits the market allows."

"Allows?"

"Yeah."

That was how full-time traders made money.

Do it half-assed and it was a straight road to ruin.

Do it right, and you can grow your principal steadily.

Stocks, steady?

Making that contradiction hold was the measure of an investor's skill.

"So I buy stocks that haven't risen as much?"

"Fifty percent."

"Or buy when the price is correcting……."

"Seventy percent."

Sector rotation was a market where one sector ran hot.

And inside that single sector—

There are countless individual stocks.

A defining feature of the Korean stock market.

Namely, that it was packed with junk stocks.

You had to know how to use that characteristic.

Water flows from high to low.