Yass

Yass.

A rest area where students came to catch their breath.

"Haa…"

Sora sat on the bench and let out a long, heavy sigh. With looks like hers, she almost managed to pull off the tragic air of some poor soul who'd just gotten chewed out by a little punk.

Looks were just looks, though. He knew perfectly well she wasn't thinking about anything in particular. Still, it felt wrong to ignore her completely. As a decent senior, he put on a show of concern.

"Where'd you get bitten this time?"

"I did not!"

"So you didn't get bitten?"

"That… has nothing to do with it."

She'd gotten bitten. Somewhere out there, she was still indulging in value investing at some sketchy company.

Honestly, when is this girl ever going to grow legs and arms?

She still hadn't left the tadpole stage. Even so, Sora had recently scored a win on one stock.

"It's because of you, sunbae."

"Me?"

"Ever since I got mixed up with you, nothing goes right."

"Nothing? After how much you enjoyed that Yass?"

"@#$%@#%!"

Her first Yass in her life. Not long ago she'd made a memory she would never forget.

It's no exaggeration to say I opened her up for both her first time and her first Yass.

She might have grown up a little. She herself, however, seemed less than thrilled.

"Yass, Yass! Stop saying that word, okay?"

"Then what am I supposed to call Yass if not Yass? What is this, the Joseon Dynasty? Can't even call a thing by its proper name?"

"Ah, just stop it!!"

She glared daggers at him, brows knitted tight. No matter how he looked at it, he had nothing to feel guilty about.

Anyone watching would think she and I actually did Yass.

It was a stock conversation. The company was named Yass. He'd simply bought Yass and taken a profit.

"Do you even know what people are saying?"

"Should I?"

"Haa… You don't have any friends, do you, sunbae?"

"Making friends lowers your humanity rating."

To ordinary people, that might have sounded repulsive. When he and Sora had gone at Yass good and hard in the lecture hall—

Looks like some students got the wrong idea.

Classic Korean specialty: endless interest in other people's business. What did it matter whether someone else was buying Yass or doing something else?

"Want me to go clear things up for you?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know, so why are you mad?"

"Even if you explained, it'd only make everything more complicated!"

Fair enough—for someone like Sora, people would be curious. Exactly what kind of man had she gone at Yass with so thoroughly?

Just looking at me, I do kind of scream sex machine.

The guy was the one getting wrung dry. One glance at how gaunt he was would settle the truth of the rumors.

"Just sit still for once."

"Why the sigh again?"

"Because I'm tired."

"Heavy?"

She walked around with two big bottles of Samdasoo hanging off her chest. He would have found them heavy too. But the part that was really weighing on Sora was somewhere else.

She sighed again.

"I think Grandma's having a really hard time."

"Don't tell me Grandma also… ah, never mind."

Genetic diversity was always a possibility. Something had gone wrong on that front.

"Grandma raises pigs out in the countryside."

"Sows?"

"There are sows, yeah. Some kind of disease is going around, and a lot of the pigs are sick. When I talked to her on the phone she sounded so upset…"

The sight of a busty college girl talking about sows. He couldn't help swallowing. But her expression was completely serious. This wasn't idle chatter—every sentence ended in a little sigh.

Then the decent thing is to take it seriously myself.

Disease was spreading among the livestock. Even from a quick listen, this was no small matter.

"Are you listening?"

"I'm listening. Spit it out."

"Whenever I visit Grandma's place I always play with the pigs, and now I won't get to see them, and Grandma's health is already not great, so I'm worried it'll get worse."

"So!"

"Huh?"

"Where and how are they sick?"

"Grandma?"

"No—the pigs!!"

What exactly had happened? Something flashed through his mind like a lightning strike.

Swine fever?!

Just as Sora said, this was serious. He needed a razor-sharp response, right now.

"Sunbae, what did you just do?"

"Huh? Just a second…"

"Did you buy stocks while talking to me?"

"Ah—no. That's not—"

She scowled again and glared at him. He would have to judge by her reaction.

Is this for real?

Of course he believed her. He wasn't so twisted that he'd doubt a junior he cared about. But money was on the line. He had to calculate exactly how much trust he could afford.

"If it's swine fever, that's a huge deal."

"That's why I'm talking about it seriously right now."

"Once an epidemic hits, beneficiary stocks pop up…"

"What did you just say?"

She stared at him like she couldn't believe her ears. Contempt in her eyes. The full-body chill of genuine disgust told him she was dead serious.

He had to accept Sora's sincerity. He increased the buy quantity on the relevant stock one more time.

"Sunbae, are you actually a crazy bastard?!"

"Hey, don't get the wrong idea."

"What part of this is a misunderstanding?"

"I can make this call because I trust you."

He wasn't buying with cash. He already had stocks locked up.

You have to be careful with margin buys.

He was putting up stock as collateral. If it hadn't been Sora, he never would have gone as far as margin.

"So… you heard the pigs were sick and bought stocks?"

"Yeah."

"Someone is talking about something serious and you're thinking about stocks? Why aren't you in a psych ward already?"

"Are you being serious right now?"

"Does this look like a joke to you?"

Anything involving family made people sensitive. If it wasn't speculation but an actual situation, even more so.

Sora was usually so rational. If she was losing it this hard, he could afford to bet a little more.

"Hey."

"Your trust rating just went up."

"You really are a psycho, aren't you? You're doing this on purpose."

"Haa…"

Margin went up to 2.5x. That didn't mean you could use all of it. He used margin often enough, but only after days of grinding the probabilities higher. Right now, on the spot? No time to check charts or the order book. Everything rode on the reliability of the information source.

Should I go all in? Then again, what if it's just a cold and she's being dramatic about her period?

Not enough time to assess the situation. No report—just verbal intel. Playing it safe, he only dumped fifty million won. He was still wondering whether to buy more when—

The stock price shot ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠up at terrifying speed. Sure enough, articles started dropping one after another.

"Holy shit, it's real!!"

"What?"

"You should've grabbed me by the collar. Slapped me even! Then I would've gone full buy!"

"You absolute psycho…"

"Look!"

Socially, it was a major problem. On the stock market, it was classified as a kind of "event."

There were related beneficiary stocks. Feed stocks, most notably, were surging.

"Thanks to you, I just made five million won."

"Ugh, for fuck's…"

"If I'd gone full margin and unsettled trades, I could've made over a hundred million!"

"Do you even care how I feel?"

"What does your mood have to do with anything!!"

His true feelings slipped out before he could stop them. But that was the nature of the economy—no blood, no tears.

You think bullets and blades on a battlefield carefully dodge civilians?

Same principle. Economic events hit everyday life just the same.

"So when swine fever hits… feed sells better?"

"No."

"Huh?"

"I don't know."

Maybe not. The reason feed stocks rose was that leftover food scraps fed to animals had been fingered as a cause of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the outbreak.

So the expectation is that farms will have to switch from scraps to commercial feed, demand will rise, and the stock goes up.

In reality, feed sales had never actually climbed. Most farms already used commercial feed. The ones using scraps were a tiny minority. Even if they switched, the sales bump would be negligible.

"Then why is it going up?"

"I told you, I don't know."

"What?"

"Because that's just how the deal works!"

Valentine's Day, White Day, Pepero Day. Everyone knew they were pure marketing gimmicks.

But the fact that they sell is certain.

Swine fever worked the same way. When swine fever hit, feed stocks went up. It was an unwritten law of the Korean stock market. Every event had its designated risers.

"…"

"You doing a K-stock market one-two? Why are you shocked by something this basic?"

"The KOSPI is surprising, and so is a sunbae who thinks about stocks while someone's talking about something serious."

"Haa~ seriously."

"What now?"

"When are you ever going ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to leave the tadpole stage?"

Stocks were stocks. Reality was reality. If you got soft and sentimental, you wouldn't make a single damn won.

The only thing allowed to get wet is between the legs.

She still didn't know that. No experience, no idea how the market actually worked.

He taught that Sora a lesson. Money—capitalism—wasn't only a bad thing.

"Wh-what is this?"

"Your grandma's struggling. Put it toward that."

"I can't take this much money…"

"I made it thanks to your grandma. Doing at least this much is basic human decency."

"Can I really accept this?"

"Are you trying to turn your sunbae into a money-crazed scumbag?"

"…Oh. So you weren't."

In truth, he was. Plenty of people shouted about how everyone should donate. The ones who actually put in real money were mostly people in business.

I donated a lot back in the day too.

There had been various interests tangled up in it, but the fact remained that he had done it. Especially the Buddhist circles—it wasn't an exaggeration to say he'd been keeping them fed.

"I want to buy too."

"What?"

"I said I want to buy. I'll make money and help Grandma."

"What a devoted granddaughter."

Sora was sulking. She spoke without meeting his eyes. After how angry she'd been a moment ago, the embarrassment was understandable.

There's a bit of that fire-attribute filial piety vibe going on.

In this world, if the result was good, everything was okay. You could even say Grandma had put on a kind of hedge.

"But the feed stocks… they've already gone up too much."

"Then you buy something else."

"Another weird one."

"This one's normal."

Hedge fund products were linked the same way. Take a loss on swine fever on one side—

and lock in gains on the other to preserve principal.

Pigs got culled. Pork prices rose. That created winners among the competing suppliers.

"Alternative meat stocks catch the benefit."

"Ah… specifically?"

"Chicken, beef—there's plenty."

In this case, it actually hit the sales numbers. When pork got expensive, consumers bought chicken instead.

Harim, Maniker, Woori Son F&G, and so on.

He'd bought them before as Son Heung-min related stocks, but they were meat companies first. He taught her real-world investing.

"Why is only mine not going up? Everything else is rising."

"You don't trust Son ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Heung-min?"

"I do trust him, but the stock has to go up!"

Behind the Korea Economic Hall, a man and a woman sat in a space of thick trees and a quiet lake—charming enough to look like a painting. That was mostly thanks to the full visual buffs on the woman's side. The conversation between them, however—

"Wah, wah! It's going up! It's going up! What do I do?"

"What do you do? You yell!"

"Yell what?"

"WooriSon!!"

A sitcom. They were the only ones who didn't realize how loud they were being. Passersby snickered as they walked by.

Crying one second, laughing the next—she's a mess…

Suhyun was one of those watching. She had been observing for quite a while now, looking down from a window in a nearby building. At some point the lecture had become less interesting than the two of them talking.

Stock talk? It looked boring and dry on the surface. Sora's reactions were the complete opposite.

"WooriSon~~!!!"

Whatever had her so happy, she was cheering for Son Heung-min like a fan. It was a funny sight in its own way.

Your hand is parked right on her ass, though.

The pedestrians wouldn't see it. Suhyun's eyes from above the building couldn't miss it. The waist he was casually holding—and the soft curve above it he was slowly kneading. They were huge. Being a woman herself, she knew. The thick bra was probably the only reason Sora wasn't feeling it.

Hmm~ Should I snitch? Or…

Suhyun found herself getting interested in the stocks Chanuk was teaching about.