Hunting

Paper stocks.

.

.

.

It was the hottest theme in the market right now. Once just another middling value-stock sector, nothing special.

Things were changing. Paper was emerging as an eco-friendly material, and growth potential was drawing real attention. Domestic and foreign policy were both leaning on it. This wasn't pure hopium you could dismiss out of hand.

You could see it in everyday life. Catalysts that could actually move the stock price were sitting right there in plain sight. Of course investors were getting interested. And the more they looked, the more the good side of the story stood out.

The potential paper held. People were starting to believe this was a sector about to get huge.

And that only fanned the flames. Analysts, YouTubers — everyone was losing their minds. Buy now or you'll regret it forever! They were manufacturing FOMO on an industrial scale.

Yeah, right.

Of course it wasn't going to work that way. Even if something like that were true—

"The market's never kind enough to spoon-feed retail investors one by one."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense."

The recent market was no different from before. It was still hard at work fleecing the ants.

Earnings are about to dry up, so they're dumping inventory on the public.

The catalysts themselves were real enough. The paper industry was enjoying its first real boom in a long time.

Staggering operating-profit growth. Future revenue would keep climbing and the companies would grow massively — or so it seemed.

"Hye-ri, do you still use notebooks?"

"That's high school stuff."

"And now?"

"No reason to. I just carry an iPad around."

The fact that it was a sunset industry hadn't changed. Shrinking revenue still outpaced growing revenue.

Korea isn't Japan — we don't live trapped in the past.

Nobody here was obsessed with paper and official seals. Digital conversion only accelerated year after year. College students these days took notes on laptops. Back before he'd enlisted—

"Boomer."

"Shut up."

—paper notes had still been the norm. Conservative professors wouldn't even allow anything else. And laptops had been expensive; not everyone could buy one. Some people used them, some didn't, so mass adoption took time.

In other words: it was only a matter of time. Every time society reached a new consensus, paper would get replaced by digital. That was inevitable.

"In a few years even high school kids will be taking notes on laptops."

"In Korea?"

Prices would drop. Anyone could get one easily. Using electronics would become the default.

That's what a sunset industry is.

Old highs? Meaningless. No matter what happened, you couldn't turn back the clock. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠One-off catalysts stayed one-off catalysts — and then the sector found its way back to where it belonged.

"Like those steel stocks back then?"

"You remember."

"I wasn't exactly a bystander."

Steel is the rice of industry! Dress it up in plausible-sounding slogans and herd people into buying the stock.

The pattern that traps beginner investors more than any other.

Sora had fallen for it in her stock-newbie days. Hye-ri hadn't been completely unconnected to that whole episode either. For him, it had been a good thing — he'd gotten his hands on a good woman at the most delicious point in her life.

"I called you for a consultation, by the way."

"And here I thought you were trying to help me."

Something similar was about to happen again. No — in the stock market, it happened every single year.

It's actually incredibly obvious.

Anyone with a brain didn't get burned twice. A little rational thought was all it took. Experience and reason. At that age, neither one existed yet.

Hye-ri seemed worried about her underclassman.

"Seo-eun's been in deep lately. I think she's about to do something stupid."

"Of course she is."

"You think so?"

"That's what mania looks like."

The process could be enjoyable. No — it was always enjoyable. Anyone looking at the recent market could tell something was off.

Under normal circumstances it should have fizzled out already. Institutions would take profits and exit. Retail would wake up from the fantasy. That was the natural sequence of events — but sometimes the fantasy had a way of lasting longer than it should.

First wave: paper stocks took off. Second wave: new tech was drawing the spotlight. The market was filling up with mania. Stock prices were climbing with no ceiling in sight.

"Sora's case was the lucky version."

"Lucky?"

"In a brainless bull run like this, how do you even lose money?"

She'd think she made it on skill. She'd stay stuck in that delusion for a good long while.

Déjà vu.

Sora had been the same. Mk2 was almost certainly feeling something identical. He'd felt it in the club room too — those stares, sharp enough to sting.

"But if she's already making money, she doesn't need your help, right, oppa?"

"……"

A girl who lived off her own self-regard. He had no idea why Hankuk University had so many of them.

Though sleeping with that type is half the fun.

It wouldn't happen overnight. But the ending was already written. All he had to do was wait it out — and the environment for waiting was excellent.

Creak.

"Did you just shower?"

"I figured we'd end up doing this."

"Good girl."

Hye-ri's room. On a bed that smelled unmistakably of a woman, he ran his hands over her soft skin.

The baby fat's all gone.

There was something a little sad about that. A plump body was fun in its own way. But as a woman, she was complete now — at the most delicious peak of her life.

Thrust.

Two years of training had done their work. What used to be a tight, cautious hole he had to ease into carefully—

"You take it so well."

"Hehe."

"Kiss me?"

"♡"

—now had real use to it. It opened wide when he pushed in and clung sticky-tight when he tried to pull out.

Her cervix's been trained too.

Drive into it hard enough and she came apart. The way she felt pleasure was completely different from the green, inexperienced girl she'd once been.

"Ah! Ahhk! Aaaahn……"

He fucked her hard enough to hurt. Dull impacts — pain or pleasure, hard to tell — stacked up one after another. A body that had flinched at first now clamped down around him, begging for more.

Fuck, she's tight.

It felt like she was demanding his cum. Like the woman herself wanted to get pregnant.

Squirt.

Gulp.

He kissed her and came deep inside. Hye-ri wasn't an investor, so—

She said she's good about taking her birth control.

No real thrill there. But the sense of conquest rose clean and solid — a thoroughly satisfying fuck. Both her upper mouth and her lower one took his fluids without complaint. Worth every bit of the effort of having her since freshman year.

"Doing it with you is insanely good, oppa."

"I like it too."

"I don't think I could… live without you."

She'd grown up delicious. That flushed peach of an ass had found its proper shape.

Her skin used to be so soft and baby-smooth.

You could feel the maturity now. If she were a steak, she'd be rare — perfect.

"Are you going to fuck Seo-eun like this too?"

"……"

Her mind had matured as well. He thought he understood why Hye-ri was worried about Seo-eun. The direction was just a little different. She'd already been looking ahead ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to what came next.

"You've already got plenty of women."

"Do I?"

"If there are more, my share gets smaller."

Hye-ri's breath, mixed with the feminine scent of the room, was deeply seductive. She coaxed him in a near-whisper. You couldn't miss the jealousy threaded through it.

Not getting possessive is one of Hye-ri's best qualities.

She came at it from a different angle. If there had been nothing at all, he would have been disappointed.

"You should just use her as a cock-sleeve, roughly."

"If Hye-ri helps."

"That's easy. I'm the club president, remember? ♡"

A pretty decent deal. He hadn't been taking the whole thing seriously to begin with.

I called it déjà vu, but…

Talent didn't just roll around on the ground like a rock.

Stocks. A place where you could get your talent recognized.

Seo-eun was locked in. No — feeling pleasure was the more accurate description. Because she'd finally grasped the feel of trading. She thought she knew when to buy and when to sell.

"Right? I did good, didn't I?"

And it was actually happening. Her recent win rate was no joke.

At this level I'm about even with Sora unnie… no, maybe better?

Thoughts like that were starting to form. A little more risk, sure, but she was generating better returns — or so she believed. The confidence was more than earned.

Seo-eun was feeling a kind of interest she'd never known before.

Something school never taught. Something more valuable than any career.

If I just get good at stocks…

She could get rich. She could get famous. Thoughts like that circled through her head. Her whole life up to now was starting to feel ridiculous. Watching money copy-paste ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠itself into her account every single day—

—it was clearly working.