Chapter 21
Chapter 21
Translation: Godtl
"Ugh. They really can't catch a break. Just can't catch a break."
The aftermath of the storm.
Those who barely survived had no time to rest.
They were barely clinging to life, gasping for breath.
Because to return to past glories, they had to start all over again.
"What else can we do? We all have to scramble to pick up scraps. Somehow, we have to turn a profit."
"Last month was already in the red because of nickel, and now this happens. There's no choice."
"Sigh. I wanted to join a prop trading team too. Good thing I didn't. At least we get a steady paycheck every month."
"Right. Didn't I tell you? Wake up from the fantasy. Everyone thinks prop traders rake in money, but in the end, only the winners win."
"But at least those guys have one consolation—they're not the only ones hit by the China shock."
That guy, that one over there, and even the one way over there—
They were all in the red.
They say misery loves company.
And so, the traders found solace in that.
"But what about Team 7? Are they still not making any moves?"
"Yeah. Still zero trading volume. They're frozen solid."
Right now, everyone was diving into the market with the desperation of scavengers.
Conventional wisdom says it's better not to trade in a bear market, but if they stayed like this, they wouldn't get their performance bonuses next month either.
Prop traders don't live off salaries—they live off performance bonuses, don't they?
They couldn't just sit still, sucking their thumbs and starving to death, so they traded with desperate urgency.
Just looking at each team's trading screens showed how frantic they were.
Amidst all this, Team 7 was the only one at ease.
They were in the same department, but it felt like they were in a completely different world.
Like they were lounging on some treasure island, enjoying a vacation.
"How long are they planning to hold onto that?"
Trading teams could never know other teams' profit margins, trading volumes, or positions.
But the Risk Management Team knew everything.
Because they were the surveillance system.
So they knew exactly what stocks Team 7 was holding.
"It's been over a week, and they still haven't sold. If it were me, I'd have sold the moment it doubled."
"That's why you're sitting where you are. That guy... I'm telling you, he's not human. The fact that he bet on the bear market in the first place makes him a straight-up beast."
The team the Risk Management Team was watching most closely was Team 7.
From the moment they inexplicably bet on the bear market, to now—still holding onto their shares even after the bubble burst—the Risk Management Team was more nervous than the traders themselves.
"Ugh. I'm getting secondhand chills."
"But they probably won't sell for a while, right?"
"Yeah. The Chinese stock market isn't showing any signs of recovery. They'll probably keep holding."
They were supposed to be monitoring traders making reckless investments, but the Risk Management Team's eyes were glued to Team 7's trading screen.
"Are none of you working?"
Manager Kim Sang-geon snapped at them.
"The traders are going wild right now, throwing everything they've got. We have to stop them before they lose even more. Team 7 isn't moving anyway, so get back to work. Close all Team 7 screens."
"Yes, sir..."
Just as the employees reluctantly moved to close the screens—
"Huh? Wha—?"
"What now?"
"S-Section Chief! Th-They're moving! They're moving!"
"What?"
"Team 7 is dumping all their shares!"
"!?"
Manager Kim Sang-geon sprinted to his desk, his eyebrows practically flying off his face.
He wasn't about to miss a single second of the moment he'd been waiting for.
＊＊＊
Tap tap tap—!
Click! Click!
For the first time in a while, the furious clatter of keyboards and mouse clicks filled the air.
At Team Leader Jeong Jin-ho's sudden sell order, the team members were liquidating everything they held.
Of course, they didn't dump everything at once like amateurs.
Doing that could send prices crashing straight to the bottom.
So they split the shares and executed staggered sell orders.
"But... is this really the right call?"
"I was thinking the same thing. If we just held out one more day, the price might go even higher."
Today, the team leader's orders were absolute.
Sell everything.
They weren't told to sell half and observe the trend—they were literally ordered to sell everything.
Following those instructions was one thing, but it was impossible not to wonder—Was this really the right call?
"Sigh."
But every time such doubts arose, a bitter voice cut through from Section Chief Seo.
"I told you. Don't you dare question it."
"B-but, Section Chief. Just looking at the current trend, it's only going to keep rising—there's no way it'll drop, right?"
"So what? Can you pull off returns like Team Leader Jeong? When everyone was betting on a bull market, he was the only one betting on a bear. Can you do that?"
"N-no..."
That was something even someone with two hearts couldn't pull off.
Which was why Team Leader Jeong Jin-ho didn't seem human in their eyes.
An ordinary person would have agonized over whether to sell now after holding for days, only to cave under the pressure and dump everything before the bubble burst.
"Honestly, I don't fully understand Team Leader's judgment either. But his vision is different from ours. When we see 1, he sees 10 and makes his decisions."
They say true investment masters have a different eye for things.
But there's one uncomfortable truth you learn once you've done prop trading for a while.
No matter how much people babble about vision and insight, at the end of the day, investing is all about luck.
"But our Team Leader isn't relying on luck, is he?"
That was what terrified them the most.
Team Leader Jeong Jin-ho's decisions were never based on luck—they stemmed from some unfathomable algorithm no ordinary person could comprehend.
"Still, what a relief. I was seriously sweating bullets over how long we'd have to hold onto this."
"Wow. I've never seen profits this huge in my entire life. And in just a week!"
For prop traders, the average monthly return was 5%.
Earning just 1% a day would earn you the title of "ace."
But look at these returns now.
"Unbelievable."
That was the only word that came to mind.
The initial 50 billion had ballooned into hundreds of billions.
In such a short time.
"Everyone, gather the reports. I'll personally deliver them to Team Leader."
"Yes, sir!"
Section Chief Seo organized the reports handed to him by the team and headed for the team leader's office.
He had never walked so lightly to deliver a report before.
＊＊＊
I skimmed through the documents Section Chief Seo handed me, his face beaming.
Was he always this cheerful?
"The ETFs were a bit disappointing. As you know, there aren't many China ETF options to begin with. We could only profit as much as the market fell. But the shorts we took and the put options we placed hit the jackpot."
The put options we held surged twentyfold, and we sold them all at peak. Honestly, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say most of our profits came from there.
"That's also a bit of a shame. The steel sector we mainly targeted had liquidity limits."
Still, we squeezed out every last drop and made one big play.
After liquidating all our ETF and short positions and pooling everything back together—
"A staggering 250 billion, Team Leader."
Section Chief Seo's voice trembled.
"In all my years as a prop trader, I've only hit a 30% monthly return once. But 500%...?"
Even when I first received the 50 billion from the company, I had thought just breaking even—not losing a single won—would be a miracle.
"You've worked hard, Section Chief."
"Oh, no, no. I just followed your orders, Team Leader. If anything, you're the one who worked the hardest. Thank you, Team Leader. Please call me if there's anything else you need."
After the section chief left, I blankly stared at the screen.
Investing 50 billion had already felt surreal—now that it had multiplied into hundreds of billions, all I could do was let out a hollow laugh.
'The team leader gets 30% of the profits.'
And if the team hit peak performance, there was an additional percentage bonus.
Just how much was coming my way?
I still couldn't believe the 700 million from last month's paycheck—and now, it was going to be so much more.
'Maybe I should've held on just a little longer...?'
But as they say, human greed knows no bounds.
Even after making such insane profits, I couldn't help but wonder—If I'd held out a bit more, couldn't I have made even more?
'Looking at the indicators, this really doesn't seem like the time to sell...'
Even though I've been diligently studying investing, my eyes were still inexperienced—yet even I could tell this wasn't the right time to sell.
'In fact, the price is still rising. I really should've held on a little longer...'
I cut off that creeping thought and turned off the monitor.
It was already done. I'd sold everything.
No regrets.
"..."
Ah. But seriously, I should've held on just a little more.
＊＊＊
Like every other securities firm out there, they were still struggling to recover from the China Shock.
Among them, the options department employees were trembling nonstop, hands and feet shaking like leaves.
"It's not going to rebound today either, right?"
"Are you insane? You wanna sell now?"
"If we just leave it, the price will keep climbing on its own. What kind of lunatic would dump their holdings like this?"
"Seriously, who the hell is it? Who's holding onto this?"
There wasn't even a drop of blood left to squeeze.
Whoever was holding onto the supply seemed to be enjoying watching the Chinese stock market get obliterated.
And why wouldn't they?
The longer this dragged on, the further the Chinese market plummeted.
So everyone had given up.
"Ugh. Nothing to do but smoke at this point—"
"I-It's up!"
"What?"
"Supply's flooding in right now! Everyone, grab it! Hurry!!"
The employees, who had been slumped over their desks in despair, all sprang up and frantically hammered the buy button.
The seller wasn't dumping everything at once—they were trickling it out, adjusting the price as they went—so they couldn't relax for even a second.
If they screwed up, they risked losing the supply to another firm.
"Hah—"
"Done? Did we get it all?"
"Not everything, but we managed to recover most of it."
The employees let out sighs of relief.
They'd already taken a massive hit, but things could've been much worse.
But as if showing them mercy, the ruthless whale that had been tormenting them suddenly released their holdings.
"Why the hell would they do that?"
Now that the tension had eased, question marks floated above everyone's heads.
"Right? If they'd just held on, it would've kept rising. Look—the price is still inching up."
This was the kind of market where money practically printed itself if you just waited.
But they'd just dumped this golden goose?
"No idea. Maybe they needed liquidity fast."
"Could there be something else going on? Before the China Shock hit, they swept up all the supply on this side."
"What else could there be? The Chinese government's been silent. That's why their market's getting wrecked even harder."
"Dunno. Don't even wanna know. I'm just glad it's over. I thought my eyeballs were gonna fall out from staring at the supply charts these past few days."
Yeah. They should just be grateful it ended here.
If things had gotten worse... the aftermath didn't bear thinking about.
"Good work, everyone. Let's just be glad it's over. Now, how about that cig—"
"T-Team Leader! Wait!"
But rest was still not an option.
The team leader, who'd been about to take a quick smoke break, whipped around irritably.
"Now what? Did the Chinese government pull some other bullshit?"
"Yes!"
"What?!"
The team leader's eyes bulged as he sprinted to the monitor.
The financial news anchor was delivering a breaking update.
[The Chinese government has issued a ban on stock sales. Major shareholders holding over 5% stakes are prohibited from all sell transactions, and IPOs have been suspended. Additionally, state funds are being injected to stabilize the market, with announcements of interest rate cuts and increased loan reserve ratios...]
"A sales ban? Are these people actually insane? What the hell are they doing now?!"
An extreme regulatory measure—halting sales by major shareholders—coupled with interest rate cuts and state fund injections.
The Chinese government had finally stepped in to normalize the situation.
This meant the Chinese market now had the potential to rebound.
The problem was the options.
"If this happens... we really bought at the peak, didn't we?"
"Yes..."
The price had already halved since that news broke.
There was no telling how much further it would drop.
"If we'd just held on for ten more minutes..."
They could've recovered at a much lower price.
No—they might not have needed to recover at all.
"Who the hell is this?"
At this point, they couldn't help but wonder.
"Just who was the bastard that skinned us alive?!"