The Truth of This World
Stock education.
Honestly, from my position there wasn't much to gain from it.
This must be what they call being a secret friend.
There were still some small pleasures to be had. While teaching, physical contact came naturally. Even iron-walled Sora dropped her guard completely the moment the conversation turned to stocks. It was a daily routine I'd been enjoying lately.
Hmm?
Someone stepped out of the economics building. Too familiar a face to dismiss as a random passerby.
Suhyun.
She was walking straight toward me. Our eyes met and she gave a light upward wave of her hand.
Well.
Aside from the club kids who'd been captivated by free food, she was the only person in the department I had any real acquaintance with—ever since the group project, that is. Her face was pretty enough. One of the few A-rank beauties in the department. But we could hardly be called close.
"Have you eaten?"
"……."
"Right."
She nodded lightly. At first I'd thought she was snubbing me—the familiar treatment inside the department. Turns out that was just her personality. Except for her close friends Hye-ri and Sora, she kept even her fellow department students at a cool distance.
She's got a boyfriend too.
How did someone with that personality manage to land a boyfriend? Not that I was idle enough to start prying into other people's private lives.
"What? Got something to say?"
"……."
"Should Oppa buy you a coffee?"
"……."
"You don't like that?"
This was the kind of personality she had. Just because there's a goalkeeper doesn't mean you never score—I'd tried, but the results had been meager.
She's pretty, though.
Different type. If Hye-ri was the cute junior type, Suhyun felt more like someone who belonged as a senior. Taller, more slender. In pure looks it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call her the more beautiful of the two.
"No, why? Want me to get lost?"
"……."
"I've got nowhere to be. If you've got something to say, sit here."
But a woman isn't all about looks. When it comes to relationships, the reactions and the feel have to be good.
Hye-ri's great in that regard.
Her baby fat hadn't fully melted away yet. When she got hot and worked up it was like holding a marshmallow. That small body. The sense of conquest when I held her tight was something else. The feel was killer. Slender girls left something to be desired in the hugging department—but girls with that body type often had extraordinary sex drives.
Hmm…….
"Why. Something on your mind?"
"Aren't you going to touch me?"
"Touch what?"
"You were touching Sora."
"……."
She was sharp. Maybe she'd found out something she wasn't supposed to know.
"I have no idea what you're talking about~."
"Over there."
"Huh?"
"I could see everything from the window."
"……."
The fun I'd been having. Apparently there had been a spectator.
First time dealing with a female audience.
I was thoroughly flustered. Still, the person involved hadn't shown any rejection.
"You touched her bra, right?"
"No, I was just worried it might be heavy……."
"Her flesh is super soft, though. Your fingers just sink right in."
"You've touched them?!"
Everything in the world is fine as long as you don't get caught. Korean securities firms commit financial crimes the way other people eat meals, and not a single article ever appears.
It's not like I did anything that serious.
Give and take. Something went out, so something came back in. It felt a little forced because she hadn't been giving willingly, but still.
"The bra's hard so you can't feel anything, but the inside is sensitive."
"Oh."
"Just a little touch and she lets out lewd moans……."
"And?"
"So you did touch her."
"Ahem!"
It wasn't something to feel that guilty about. Sora knew she was being sexually harassed and still kept getting involved.
I thought her huge tits made her dull to sensation.
Actually putting hands on them was out of bounds, that much was true. So I'd been doing it only to the point of not getting caught.
"Hmm……."
"Why? Don't tell me you're going to report me?"
"No no, just."
"Just?"
"It felt like a scam."
"……."
If she found out she'd complain and get annoyed. And her guard would go up.
It'd make it harder to have fun.
Not a situation I wanted. Suhyun didn't particularly have snitching as her goal either.
"You're not just teaching her fake stuff to seduce her, right?"
"Hey!"
"?"
"I don't know about other things, but my skills are the real deal."
"Why so honest."
Stocks. Plenty of people are interested. Surprisingly, quite a few among students too.
There are kids who think of it as unearned income.
I get it. The younger generation is one that can't buy a house by working normally. In other words, they need income + α. There's no more realistic solution than investment.
Thinking that far is a bit of a leap, though.
Is there a twenty-year-old who thinks that deeply? Suhyun might. She had a more mature side than her peers. That must be why she struck up the conversation.
"Seems like a scam."
"I said it's not!"
"Where are there experts who sexually harass?"
"There are! You just don't know this industry."
No common ground. She had zero interest in stocks. No—I couldn't even tell what she was thinking. A bit of a mysterious vibe. If I could get closer to a Suhyun like that, I'd welcome it.
It's an important part in reality. There's a reason Wall Street legend Ken Fisher emphasizes it.
"Why is that?"
"It's kind of like a custom. While you're explaining, the experience just naturally comes out."
"From what you're saying it sounds like a crazy industry……."
"That's you misunderstanding with the wrong preconceptions."
She didn't know the deep meaning. It was an act of ignoring the Wall Street people who, even at this very moment, were working hard for the stabilization of global finance.
As a securities professional myself, I always whip myself to do better—to have better investment skills and to be able to sexually harass, that is. Getting closer to the opposite sex. From the industry's common sense, it's an extremely everyday part of the job.
It's complete bullshit, though.
Even I think it's ridiculous saying it, but a certain part is true. That's how inseparable women and stocks are.
A tense atmosphere. Would a pure college girl just turning twenty understand?
"Hahaha!"
"As an investment expert, I simply did my best in client service."
"What the hell is that for real."
She burst into laughter, clapping her hands. Suhyun's laughing face. Come to think of it, I don't think I'd ever even seen her smile.
She's got the blunt passive.
She laughed for a long while. My improvisation hadn't been entirely in vain.
"It was fun, so I'll let it slide."
"Really?"
"One condition."
"Huh?"
"If you teach me what stocks are."
Separate from persuasion. Since it involved her best friend, she could have held strict standards. It wasn't that kind of thing. It was closer to pure curiosity.
Curiosity that can easily arise.
Suhyun is close with Sora. But she'd never affirmed Sora's dream. Trader. No—stocks. She just couldn't understand what the hell it was.
"Stocks, that."
"Yeah?"
"Essentially just gambling, right?"
"……."
An extremely correct statement. Economists go on about economic theory this and that, but looking at how they're all broke…
What's the point, right?
A rational conclusion. It's not unreasonable to think that way. But it's wrong.
"I don't even know why people do stocks, or what's so fun about it."
"Hmm……."
"Isn't it?"
"It does have a gambling element, sure. But I can't agree that it's not fun."
The fun of stocks. There are various kinds. In my case, the most fun part is…
Being able to shout Yes when everyone else is saying No.
If it were any other job, that alone would certify you as trash. You can disrupt the group's movement. In LoL terms, a teamfight. You shouldn't fight now? No matter how right that is, if the other four initiate, you have to. In stocks, it's actually good. The more the majority bets with conviction, the bigger the reverse bet pays off. The pleasure then is hard to describe. Dopamine beyond drugs thrills the brain.
And the fun of screwing over experts who only talk big is pretty sweet too.
In LoL terms, the Wadi× and Jop× types. They analyze this, predict that, but I've never seen them get it right. This team can't because of this, that team can't because of that. Every season they just cause controversy with no substance.
So were you right? Can you bet a finger every time you're wrong?
If you're an expert, you should shoulder that kind of risk. There's a reason the one-eared make a name for themselves in the gambling world. In securities too, it's common. A representative bottom signal is when an analyst gets shot and dies. Not a joke—the reliability is really high. At every bottom of a bear market rally, one of them dies off.
Even if they don't die, they lose their reputation. One wrong prediction and they eat all the insults they'll ever get in their life. But other industries have leeway and forgive experts when they're wrong. Cltem's whole thing is the Clpelle concept, after all.
Securities have no mercy.
The fun of becoming famous by toppling legends like that. The fun Suhyun is talking about is neither of those.
"Because you make money?"
"If you make money it's fun, but you don't necessarily have to make it with stocks."
"True. Labor is sacred too."
"And you can lose as well."
If TV programs are variety and documentaries. Variety is purely enjoyable even if you turn your brain off. Documentaries you have to understand as you watch. Stocks, which are difficult, abstruse, and carry the possibility of loss…
Aren't a necessary element of life.
It's not like stocks are the only fun thing in the world either. But again, wrong.
"If it's for money, I get it."
"That's not it. There are plenty of ways to make money in the world."
"Then?"
"But the only thing that lets you understand the world is stocks."
It became a bit of a serious conversation. Then as a matter of course, I should play along.
As an industry person, that makes me happier.
If you approach stocks only as money, you get more stress and it's harder to learn. Same as academics. Those who try hard can't beat those who enjoy. Stocks themselves have to seep into daily life. Like how I thought of feed stocks because of swine fever. If you enjoy the stories of how the world turns…
"Before you know it, you get good at stocks too."
"Then?"
"That's right."
"Isn't it boring watching news and newspapers all day?"
"……."
It doesn't necessarily mean you have to take interest in headache-inducing current affairs. No need to go far.
Just walking the streets, that's the world right there.
The most fun part of stocks. Your perspective on looking at the world changes. In the world a psychic sees, there are ghosts. In a stock investor's eyes, the truth of this world is visible.
"Still a scam……."
"I said it's real? Wanna bet?"
"Call."
"Alright. I'll show you the truth of this world."
A fact without a shred of exaggeration. Once you become a stock investor, you can spend every day without getting bored. Suhyun, who had always been so blunt. For the first time, it felt like she was taking interest in my story.
"Where can I see that?"
"You'll see it if we go outside."
"Outside Earth?"
"……No, downtown."
Perception. With just that one thing, many things change. Looking at the world from an investor's viewpoint, not a regular person's.