Investment Advisor
It wasn't something he'd set his sights on from the beginning.
"He's also active as Sonik-jwa."
"And?"
"Apparently he exclusively designed the bar menu as well."
A capable talent.
And generating buzz.
In truth, the real goal was the latter.
No way. A student.
Because at the end of the day, he was still just a student. That thought underpinned everything.
Humiliating Gyo-iku-sang was impressive. He'd done it last year and again this year, so it wasn't coincidence. But age. In Korean society, it was extremely important—sometimes more so than ability or experience.
"Source?"
"They say they interviewed students from the club. It's not an official investigation, so we can't fully trust it, but…"
"That's enough."
The seniority system was deeply rooted. Older people didn't even realize it was there.
If it's Sonik-jwa, that makes sense.
Even Hwa-seon had to concede that much.
Sonik-jwa. A rising star in the securities industry lately. At first he hadn't believed it. After all, how much could a young punk really know?
"Proceed."
"Shall we offer full-time employment after graduation as a condition?"
"No. Make a formal request."
"Pardon?"
The thirsty dig the well. Hwa-seon knew exactly what kind of ability the kid possessed. He was a company president—and before that, he had a private life. Funds he was rolling behind his wife's back.
Good thing I dumped Osung Electronics back then.
He'd almost taken a massive loss. Even with a high-level information network as a company president. The company's own securities team hadn't detected a thing, yet Sonik-jwa had known.
Osung Electronics can't go up due to its governance structure.
A chill had run straight down his spine. As the CEO of a company, there was a lot he could relate to.
"Do everything you can. Report it as top priority first."
"Understood. I'll proceed right away."
Corporate structure. There was definitely a problem. Even he wouldn't want to push Osung Electronics' stock price higher. Realizing that, he'd sold. Thanks to that, he'd preserved his precious emergency funds.
That Sonik-jwa…
It was enough to make his thoughts turn serious. In matters where money moved, there was no room for pride. He wasn't just some student. Hwa-seon had no choice but to admit the kid possessed ability and potential far beyond that.
Through his secretary, Baek Hwa-seon attempted contact.
Corporations. They really had been primitive back in the day.
Isn't something wrong with this?
The KOSPI is already rebounding? Does that make any sense? Huh?!
Over three thousand people died in a terrorist attack right in the middle of New York. So why, why, why!!
Like actors on TV. Company presidents had been a bunch of uneducated fools.
Only three thousand people died, that's why. Are their brains broken?
To ordinary people it might look like a lot. Enough to make them scream like that. Because they didn't know. South Korea's annual suicide count alone easily cleared ten thousand. Hell worse than 9/11. And yet nothing special happened. That was reality.
Small-scale wars are statistically proven buying opportunities.
Look at the world emotionally and you freeze in terror. Investors saw it differently. An investment opportunity. That was all it looked like. Corporate value hadn't changed—only the stock price had dropped.
"What were you talking about just now?"
Is it noisy around you? Seems like my words aren't getting through?
"It's a good part of the drama."
A drama…?
During the call, muttering voices leaked through. The other party had no idea how important the scene was.
People doing the same dumb shit as that CEO keep multiplying.
Shipbuilders were a classic example. Korea's shipbuilding industry hadn't collapsed simply because the business cycle turned sour.
Derivatives. Shipbuilders took losses when the exchange rate fell. To hedge that, they signed up for a currency product called KIKO.
Roughly: profit if the rate stayed between 900 and 1,050 won, contract void below 900, losses above 1,050—something like that?
In normal times it barely mattered. But the structure was fatally vulnerable the moment a financial crisis hit. The 2008 subprime mortgage meltdown. The won shot to 1,500 and mid-sized shipbuilders were wiped out en masse. The big ones barely survived, only for their stock prices to get chopped to one-twentieth. Hundreds of trillions in market cap evaporated. Shipbuilding had been a national pillar industry alongside semiconductors.
After that, CEOs finally woke the hell up.
Finance was insanely important! Trust the banks and buy the wrong derivatives and your company gets shredded.
"If you join Hales Food after graduation, we can promise you assistant-manager treatment right away."
"Oh~ assistant manager?"
Yes. Normally it takes about five years in the field to reach that rank.
"Assistant managers only know how to call for drinks."
Haha, such a joker…
Mid-sized yards massacred. The majors limped on, but their stocks got quartered twenty times over. After that, CEOs finally understood.
The Fed's rate cuts pumped liquidity into the market. That's the big reason.
A bull run like this is an unpredictable black swan!
The secretary on TV making excuses. Today's CEOs weren't so incompetent that they'd sit quietly and listen. They at least built their own securities teams.
Predicting the entire market flow was still impossible. But narrow the scope? Limit it to the company's own business field. Because they were in the industry, information arrived fast. A department that responded on that basis—minimizing losses or even turning a profit.
"Still watching that drama?"
"Yeah."
Not 'yeah'…
"The drama's too good. I'm hanging up."
W-what? W-wait a second!
That was the modern corporation. Completely different from the early-2000s drama era when they were still launching water rockets.
How important is this, really?
After Delicious TV aired, companies somehow found out and started calling. That part was fine. It was what he'd wanted. The problem was the complete lack of proper offers.
They still can't let go of the water-rocket era mindset.
Understandable. The F&B sector wasn't huge. Even the biggest players couldn't stand next to Korea's true conglomerates. Their own securities teams, if they even had them, would be tiny. Compensation wouldn't be much better than a regular office worker's.
Whirrr~!
The real offers needed to come from the big boys. Only people who understood value gave proper treatment. That was currently impossible. He still hadn't made a name for himself in the industry.
"Am I speaking with Lee Chanuk?"
"Ah, yes."
Pardon the intrusion. This is Food Market, a specialized F&B corporation. Our representative is very eager to meet you, Chanuk-ssi.
Another call. Even after his curt replies, the tone never shifted. Until now it had only been people acting like lords, talking as if they were doing him a favor by offering a job.
If this is our misunderstanding we apologize, but there's talk online that you're the same person as Sonik-jwa.
"And?"
Our representative is a devoted follower. He said if you also understand industry conditions, conversation should flow well…
A little different, it seemed. At least they had the attitude for an actual conversation.
Food Market. A company that operated multiple F&B franchises, apparently.
"So the work we'd like you to handle, sir, is…"
He'd come to meet the representative. A man in his late forties whose hair hadn't thinned yet—though it might soon. The business he was currently running had hit a wall.
"You expanded too aggressively?"
"Embarrassingly… No, I never expected the downturn to hit this steeply."
Common story. Business plans usually got drawn up during boom times. Things looked like they'd sell, so you scaled up. Then when everything was finally ready—
The timing often doesn't line up.
Baek Hwa-seon's venture had been the same. Consumer spending power was rising, interest in fine dining was growing. Why not open a premium franchise? He'd thought that and launched high-end izakayas.
"The early response was good, you know."
"People are locking their wallets these days."
"Ah, exactly as you say! As expected, you already knew, sir!"
At that critical moment the KOSPI was getting hammered. Stock prices led the real economy. Things were only going to get worse from here. As a corporate CEO, he couldn't help feeling the crisis.
"One of our employees visited your bar and came back raving! We'd like to request consulting for the izakayas, and also have you weed out the underperforming branches that are dragging down the finances."
"Easy enough."
"And reflecting the economic outlook you foresee for this year, sir…"
The fact that he was paying attention to that meant he had the basics down. Not some idiot CEO who just bulldozed forward on confidence alone.
And he clearly has a real objective.
What he wanted from Chanuk. Probably the latter, not the former. Consulting and branch audits—they could handle those themselves. A company of that size wouldn't be short-handed enough to need to hire him for that.
"My outlook for this year's economy?"
"Yes… I've heard a great deal about Sonik-jwa's reputation."
"Then you'll have to shut down everything you've started."
"What?!"
Sonik-jwa. Apparently a fan who even hunted down the broadcasts Chanuk appeared on. That was also why Bom-i had been on the show. Investment advisory was a business built on trust.
Using the recognition I've built so far.
He would construct a relationship of trust. It would only grow as his name spread through the industry.
"But if you leave it to me, I can solve everything. No need to close the underperforming branches either."
"Uh… I understand what you're saying, but."
"You don't trust me?"
"Pardon?"
His first client. A little extra service wouldn't hurt. Sure enough, the man looked awkward. In F&B he was the expert. No matter how successful a university bar had been, Chanuk would still look like an amateur.
"You know what happened to the people who didn't trust me, right?"
"Ah… yes. I've seen it several times."
"Want to end up like them, Representative?"
"…"
That was the image now. Starting from this place, he would change everything.
If it doesn't work out I can always do it somewhere else.
Time was plentiful anyway. What he'd said earlier wasn't exaggeration. Companies crying about dying would only multiply by the day.
A cautious expression. Both hands clasped tightly together as he deliberated. There was no need to complicate it.
"There's only one thing you need to decide, Representative."
"Yes, what…"
"Whether you trust me or you don't. Just tell me that."
Simple as that.