Chapter 18
Chapter 18
Translation: Godtl
Gulp—
Ah. It's been so long since I've had a moment to relax.
Even though the market was in full swing, Manager Kim Sang-geon was leisurely enjoying a cup of coffee.
Just a few days ago, the Risk Management Team had been swamped without a moment's rest.
The market had been so volatile that they had to keep issuing trading suspensions and sending warning messages every time traders made reckless investments, constantly monitoring them.
But today, there was no need for that.
Because right now, all the traders had jumped into the Chinese market.
When the market was this stable and hitting limit-up prices, the Risk Management Team had nothing to do.
That's why he was enjoying his coffee like this.
At least, until just a moment ago.
"Section Chief, about the newly established team..."
Newly established team?
Ah, the one where that outsider became the team leader.
"What about them?"
"Their trades are looking strange right now."
"Strange trades? Are they going all-in on a single stock again?"
"No, it's not that. They're concentrating their funds into a sector no one else is touching right now. I even sent a warning message just in case, but they seem to be ignoring it."
"Hmm. Wait a second."
Jeong Jin-ho.
Even the department head couldn't touch this guy.
In fact, aside from the CEO, there might not be anyone in the company who could interfere with him.
That's why Manager Kim Sang-geon had been turning a blind eye.
"But... what the hell is this?"
Kim Sang-geon couldn't believe his eyes.
Team 7's investment flow was completely going against the current trend.
Didn't he just get promoted to team leader? Was he already starting his eccentric moves again?
"The Chinese ETFs, the short positions on steel stocks, and now they're even buying put options?"
"Yes. Right now, China's in an unprecedented boom, so everyone's riding the upward trend. But they're doing the exact opposite."
Kim Sang-geon was well aware of how the market was moving.
It wasn't just the traders who understood the trend.
Risk managers also needed to clearly know what the current meta was—whether to halt trades or let them proceed.
"So they're pouring money into where no one else is investing..."
They must be betting on the Chinese bubble bursting!
"Are they insane?"
If you opened any financial newspaper right now, you wouldn't find a single article predicting the collapse of the Chinese bubble. On the contrary, they were all filled with rosy optimism that the Chinese market would double from its current levels.
Forget domestic or U.S. markets—everyone was rushing into Chinese stocks!
That was the trend right now.
'Is it the pressure to prove himself? Or just arrogance?'
Since he had been promoted to team leader at an unprecedented speed, maybe he felt the pressure to show off investments different from everyone else.
Or maybe he was just deluding himself and making flawed judgments.
"What should we do? Should we force a trade suspension and halt everything now?"
The Risk Management Team had more power than one might think.
Even if the other party outranked them, once the management team blocked a trade, there was nothing they could do.
But if the person they needed to stop stood higher than their superiors, that was a different story.
"..."
Kim glanced at Team Leader Seong Il-gu in the distance.
He couldn't tell whether the team leader knew about this or was pretending not to.
Seong Il-gu deliberately avoided Kim's gaze.
"Sigh. Just leave it."
"Huh? What if they lose all their money? Team 7's already the only one in the red."
"Assistant Manager Yu. In corporate life, there are times when you have to pretend you didn't see something and let it go. This is one of those times."
He never thought he'd be the one saying this.
But what else could he do?
No matter how much authority the Risk Management Team had, there were lines they couldn't cross.
'Still... 50 billion won is a bit much, isn't it?'
A team that had just been formed was about to blow up right out of the gate.
＊＊＊
'This is the first time I've seen it this quiet.'
The moment the market opened, the securities firm usually turned into a battlefield. Back when he was a junior, he used to dart around that warzone delivering documents, coffee, snacks, and whatever else was needed.
He had learned so much.
But right now, it felt more like watching an ordinary office.
'So everyone's putting money into China and not pulling out.'
Most prop traders are day traders, living hand-to-mouth.
But there are times when they hold stocks for over a week.
Like now, when the market is showing rapid short-term growth.
Knock knock.
"Ah, yes."
"Team Leader. I brought coffee and some light snacks. Please have some while you work."
"You didn't have to bring them for me..."
"Hoho. It's not like I have anything else to do right now anyway. Oh! And these cookies—I made them myself!"
"I'll savor them...!"
"Then, enjoy~."
I could feel Assistant Manager Lee Hye-rin watching my reaction.
And it wasn't just Assistant Manager Lee.
The entire team was keeping an eye on me.
'Can't blame them.'
Two days ago, our team collectively bet on the collapse of the Chinese bubble.
But while all the other teams were holding long positions, not selling and just raking in profits, we were stuck with nothing but red lights.
They weren't openly showing it, but sitting in this Team Leader seat made their gazes all the more apparent.
Eyes filled with doubt, questioning whether we should cut our losses now and ride the bull market.
'But that feeling was real.'
Even now, I could still faintly sense that intense thrill.
And when I picked stocks in front of Section Chief Seo, based on the research team's data, I only chose the ones that gave me that strong gut feeling.
If there was even the slightest uncertainty, I didn't even glance at them.
But the Chinese bubble still showed no signs of bursting—if anything, it was climbing even higher—so, being human, I was starting to get nervous.
'What if the bubble bursts six months from now?'
The downside of this ability is that it relies entirely on my intuition.
Well, it would've been nice if it came with a status window like in novels, or something visible to the eye.
Or if it showed me the future vividly.
Given the situation, all sorts of thoughts were running through my head.
"Maybe I should just cut my losses now before it's too late... No."
I steadied my wavering resolve.
Suddenly becoming Team Leader and handling a much larger pool of funds must've amplified the pressure.
But I got here thanks to this one special ability no one else knew about.
So I couldn't falter now. I had to trust this ability to the end.
Crunch—!
With that resolve, I took a hearty bite of the precious cookies Assistant Manager Lee had made herself.
"Ah..."
Assistant Manager.
You're... not very good at baking, are you?
＊＊＊
"Damn cigarettes. I really need to quit."
Lately, Section Chief Seo had been smoking more and more.
Normally, when the market opened, he'd be too busy trading to even think about smoking.
But now, time was all he had to spare.
"But it's crowded."
Yet, Section Chief Seo wasn't the only one with time to kill.
The smoking area, usually quiet at this hour, was packed with traders.
"Huh? Section Chief Seo. Guess you've got nothing to do either, huh?"
His former teammates were there too.
"Well. Who'd have anything to do right now? Everyone's just holding onto their China ETFs."
"Some teams even got approval from higher-ups to open overseas trading accounts to buy Chinese stocks directly."
"Not to mention commodities and steel are still climbing, right? Heard the futures department's raking it in too."
"..."
Section Chief Seo silently took deep drags of his cigarette.
"How's your team doing, Section Chief?"
"Tch. What's there to say? China's spewing fire like dragons right now. Flames everywhere."
"Heh. They say even a kid could click randomly and print money these days."
Everyone's hyped up.
Of course they would be.
It's a bull market—put in money, get money back.
The fact that they were leisurely smoking during this busy time said it all.
"Section Chief, aren't you going inside?"
"Ah, yeah. I'll stay out a bit longer. You guys go ahead."
"Yes, sir."
With a heavy heart, Section Chief Seo sat blankly on the bench, staring into empty space.
No matter how he looked at it, the Chinese market's upward trend didn't seem like it would end here.
You could gauge the atmosphere just by looking at this smoking area.
A place usually filled with curses was now blooming with laughter, wasn't it?
Everyone was swelling with anticipation about how big this month's performance bonuses would be.
"Are we just supposed to sit here sucking our thumbs then?"
After sitting for a long while, Section Chief Seo sighed deeply and stood up.
Well, he still had to get back to work.
Though he wasn't sure what kind of work awaited him.
"...Huh?"
But when he returned to the department, everyone was running around like madmen with their pants on fire.
Anyone seeing this would think a war had broken out.
"Wh-what's going on? What's happening?"
"Section Chief! Why are you only coming now?!"
"No, Assistant Manager Lee. Why is everyone in such chaos?"
Even the team members' faces had turned pale.
"The CSRC just announced they're regulating margin trading!"
"What?!"
CSRC.
China Securities Regulatory Commission.
In other words, the Chinese government had directly stepped in and declared they would block margin trading.
"That's why everyone's in chaos right now. You know how most of the money flooding into the Chinese stock market is from margin trading, right?"
The reason the Chinese market had grown so rapidly in such a short time was thanks to the Chinese government's stimulus measures.
Namely, margin trading.
Buying stocks with borrowed money.
If you had 10 million won, you could borrow up to 10 times that amount—100 million won—for margin trading.
Thanks to this, Chinese citizens had been buying stocks through tremendous leverage.
The problem was that suddenly regulating the wildly unleashed margin trading would cause the Chinese market to decline in response.
Then everyone who bought stocks through margin trading would get margin calls and have their positions forcibly liquidated due to insufficient collateral.
This would cause even regular stock investors to panic and dump their shares, beginning an endless vicious cycle.
That was precisely what a bubble collapse looked like.
"These crazy bastards were just encouraging people to buy stocks a few days ago."
"And now they stab us in the back like this?! Goddamn it."
"Everyone sell fast! If we miss the timing, it'll all turn into toilet paper!"
Just moments ago, people had been chattering about changing to imported cars with this month's performance bonuses—now they were in full panic, screaming back and forth.
They tried to cut their losses as quickly as possible, but the problem was that only sell orders were pouring in like crazy, with no buyers in sight.
"..."
While every team was turned upside down, only one team was calmly watching the fire from across the river.
To be precise, they were also in shock, dumbfounded.
"H-holy shit, just like Team Leader Jeong said... the bubble really burst?"
"How on earth did Team Leader know this...?"
Among the team members panicking in a different way, Section Chief Seo was the first to regain his composure.
"Now's not the time for this. First, check the stocks we bought! Hurry!"
"Ah, yes sir!"
Section Chief Seo also hurried back to his seat to check the trading screen.
Before he'd stepped out for a smoke, everything had been lit up in blue—now it was all spewing fire.
'This is insane...!'
Section Chief Seo's trembling hands wouldn't steady.
How on earth had he predicted this?
In all of Yeouido, Team Leader Jeong Jin-ho was probably the only one who'd foreseen that the Chinese bubble would burst soon.
Even if there were others who'd predicted it, would they have made the same bet as Team Leader Jeong Jin-ho?
Probably no one.
That wasn't something you could do without nerves of steel.
And it wasn't just pocket change—he'd bet a staggering 50 billion won.
"..."
Gazing at Team Leader Jeong Jin-ho through the glass wall, Section Chief Seo gulped dryly.
Only now did he understand why the former team leader had told him to learn well from Jeong.
Jeong Jin-ho wasn't some parachuted appointment.
He was simply operating on a different level.
How such rapid promotion had been possible, why upper management had remained silent about it—
everything made sense now.
'He's not human...'
That was clearly a monster wearing human skin.