Chapter 25
Chapter 25
Translation: Godtl
For the first time in a while, sweat was pouring down my back.
It felt like heading into a new raid with my guildmates.
"That was fun..."
It was enjoyable, but there was one problem.
"My head hurts so much."
Just think about it.
When bone-chilling thrills keep hitting you every few seconds, eventually you reach a point where you can't even feel your own hands gripping a cup when you try to drink water.
You can't even sense the water going down your throat.
And that's not all.
My temples were throbbing like an overheated engine spewing smoke.
So I stopped.
There was still time before the market closed, but I had to call it quits—it felt like something bad would happen if I kept going.
"Team Leader, you worked hard today."
"Ah. Assistant Manager. You're still here?"
I'd told my team members—who'd charged into the market like they were running a raid under my command—that they could leave and organize the data later since they were completely drained.
"How could I leave when you're still here, Team Leader? The others haven't left either."
"You didn't have to do that."
"Oh, and Team Leader. Here."
Assistant Manager Lee Hye-rin handed me two pills along with some water.
"Painkillers. I always keep some at the office just in case. I noticed you've been pressing your temples all day today."
"Ah. Thank you."
No one else would've noticed but her.
I'm not usually one to take medication, but today seemed like an exception.
"And Team Leader, you do take vitamins regularly, right?"
"...No, I don't."
"What?! Really? Sigh. That won't do. I'll order some and stock up for you, so make sure to take them daily."
"There's really no need—"
"Headaches, lack of focus, eye strain—they're all caused by nutrient deficiencies. Office workers take supplements for a reason. I'll pick ones suited for men, so you have to take them."
I've heard countless times that you need to take more supplements as you age.
Especially someone like me, who spent years as a NEET—apparently, lack of sunlight makes vitamin deficiencies worse.
But actually keeping up with them always felt like too much hassle, so I never bothered.
Still, if the Assistant Manager was going to handle it for me...
"I'll take them gratefully."
"Yep~ I'll prepare a well-balanced set for you. I'm actually really good at this stuff. Oh! By the way, Team Leader, do you exercise?"
"..."
I slowly shook my head.
"Team Leader, stamina is everything for office workers. I know you're tired after work, but you have to exercise."
"Do... you exercise, Assistant Manager?"
"I work out almost every day."
Beauty might be innate, but maintaining it clearly takes effort.
"Our company has a really well-equipped gym. That's where I go every day."
So that's where she always rushed off to after work.
The gym.
"Perfect timing. Team Leader, why don't we go to the gym together today?"
"Huh?"
Go to the gym with the Assistant Manager?
Not that I'd complain, but—
"I don't have any workout clothes with me right now."
"That's fine! The gym counter lends out workout gear in your size. Even indoor shoes! Our company takes fitness seriously, so the system is well set up."
Truly, employee benefits are the mark of a top-tier company.
The Guild Leader really pays attention to these details.
'But... it's been ages since I last exercised.'
At most, I'd walk up subway stairs.
Lately, I'd been taking taxis so often that I didn't even do that much.
"Then let's go together when we leave, Team Leader."
"Ah... Sure. Let's do that."
I felt oddly giddy for some reason.
But just how much exercise was he planning to do?
I have no clue about things like weightlifting or any of that stuff.
Honestly, working out sounds like a hassle.
Exercising after work?!
Are you out of your mind!?
If it weren't for going with the Assistant Manager, I wouldn't have even considered it.
But today's raid—no, diving into the market and executing those intense day trades made me realize one thing.
If I want to keep trading for a long time, stamina is absolutely essential.
This throbbing pressure in my temples, this overwhelming fatigue—isn't it all ultimately a matter of physical endurance?
"Health comes first."
Even if it's tedious and exhausting, I have to work out.
That way, I can keep playing in the market longer!
"Whoa. There are way more people here than I expected...?"
"These days, so many people are into fitness. You start noticing it when you work at a company. You realize, 'If I don't start, I'm gonna die...'"
Is that so?
Isn't it the other way around—dying from exercise?
This was my first time realizing how spacious a gym could be.
And my first time seeing office workers this diligent.
But the most eye-catching thing of all was that spot.
Thud! Thud!
A monstrous rhythm of breathing and the clanging of iron echoed from that corner.
Like a king asserting his dominance over this domain, one man lifted weights with muscles so pumped they looked ready to burst.
"Hm?"
"Ah, hello, Team Leader."
It was Team Leader Park Hong-seo—a man seemingly born for the gym.
"What's this? Team Leader Jeong? First time seeing you here."
"He decided to start working out with me from today."
"Oh? Any prior experience?"
"None at all. I'm a complete beginner."
"Is that so?"
For some reason, Team Leader Park Hong-seo, who was usually so reserved, suddenly began to grin.
"Then... any interest in learning the ropes?"
"Well, if I'm going to do it, might as well learn properly, right?"
"Is thaaat so?"
This time, his smile stretched so wide it nearly reached his ears.
A sinking feeling told me I'd stepped into something I shouldn't have—but it was already too late.
＊＊＊
First the China Shock, now the Greek Default crisis.
The market didn't let a single day pass quietly.
"People trading stocks must feel like the world's rigged against them."
That's why the Financial Supervisory Service had to keep an even closer eye on the market during times like these.
When everyone's struggling, it's only natural for bad intentions to surface.
The kind of reckless stock manipulation rampant in the early 2000s had disappeared under tighter financial surveillance—but that didn't mean it was impossible.
It was just a matter of guts.
The problem was, those guts often crossed into recklessness.
In the early 2000s, the annual average for stock manipulation cases was around 500.
But as regulations tightened, that number dropped to roughly 100.
And even those 100 cases weren't particularly large in scale.
Most ended up dismissed as mere suspicions.
"But this... how am I supposed to take it?"
Team Leader Yoo Sang-gu was reviewing trading records from just a few hours.
A staggering 250 billion won moved by a certain team at Gwangun Securities.
At first, he thought they were just parking funds—but then they started day trading with that amount.
At this scale, it was market disruption.
But was it really market disruption?
Judging purely by the sum, it looked like manipulation—but their actual trading patterns made it hard to say for sure.
In the end, Team Leader Yoo decided this was beyond his pay grade and headed for the director's office.
"Oh, Team Leader Yoo. What brings you here?"
"I came to report something."
He explained what had happened in the domestic stock market during the Greek Default crisis.
"What? 900 billion?!"
"Yes."
"Wait. Could the data be wrong? Even if they day traded with 250 billion, how does that turn into 900 billion? Huh? They didn't just inflate order volumes right before market close to manipulate prices, did they?"
"I checked multiple times. The records confirm it's 900 billion. They made a 35% return. And they didn't even trade near market close—probably to avoid influencing prices."
Lee Heung-won, Director of the Financial Supervisory Service's Domestic Market Division, examined the transaction records handed by Team Leader Yoo over and over.
"You know about the DH Securities manipulation case from before, right?"
"Yes."
"There are still some bastards we haven't caught from that. Those fuckers prepared for a full two years before executing it. They threw in 2 trillion won right at market close. Do you know how much those scumbags made off with?"
"About 50 billion won, wasn't it?"
"Right. 50 billion. But those bastards barely scraped together 50 billion after running around for two years—now they're either wanted or rotting in jail. Meanwhile, this team made off with 90 billion in just a few hours. Does that sound plausible to you?"
"That's exactly why I came to you for help, Director. This seems far beyond my jurisdiction."
The Director checked the transaction records once more.
"These guys were already positioned before the Greek crisis hit, you said."
"Yes. Then the moment the incident occurred, they repeatedly pulled out and reinvested funds to capitalize on day trading profits."
"Tch. This is really ambiguous. And these are the same guys from the China Shock incident too? The ones we turned Yeouido upside down searching for?"
"Yes. It's the same team."
There was a reason Team Leader Yoo had agonized over this before coming to the Director.
So-called "market manipulators" typically start from what's colloquially called "leading rooms"—operating like multi-level schemes to pool funds, then repeatedly trading through nominee accounts to manipulate stock prices.
The more advanced version of this is overseas funds. These bastards blatantly attempt market manipulation despite having official name tags dangling right on them.
But this was Gwangun Securities.
An actual team belonging to a securities firm.
While there have been cases of internal employees participating in manipulation, never before had an entire team moved hundreds of billions in such operations.
"But can we even call this manipulation? Anyone would say these were legitimate trades."
"True, they're legitimate. The problem is the weight class. Everyone else is lightweight, but this one's a super heavyweight alone."
"So tell me—could you generate returns like this in the same weight class? Purely through day trading alone?"
"...No."
"Exactly. That's the problem. No—who the hell designed this? Honestly, does this profit margin make any sense?"
Both men knew it well.
That Gwangun Securities had done nothing wrong.
They'd simply ridden the same wave as everyone else and come out ahead alone.
The problem was the profit margin.
The fact that they'd swept up 90 billion alone in such a short time.
It was what you'd call the "crime of being displeasing."
Not that the Financial Supervisory Service thought so, but public sentiment might.
Nothing stings quite like someone else making money, after all.
"It might not be a problem immediately, but what if these bastards pull this shit with 250 trillion next time instead of 250 billion?"
"That... just the thought is horrifying."
This was the team that had day traded with 250 billion today, shaking up not just the KRX but the entire Financial Supervisory Service. If they came out swinging with trillions next?
It'd be nothing short of a disaster.
"Keep monitoring them for now. Something tells me they won't stop here."
"Yes, sir."
Hadn't someone once said it?
That the Financial Supervisory Service was where blades were sharpened.
So that when swung, they could cleave through their target in a single stroke.
Cleanly. Without complications.
That's why justification was needed. Evidence was needed.
They didn't know who led this team, but they'd clearly done something.
Whether it was manipulation or trading on insider information.
There was no other way returns like this could happen.
"But what if... it really is just pure skill?"
"Then the world's richest rankings would change within a few years."
A heavy silence lingered between the two men.
"What the hell are we even saying?"
"Right. Haha. It's obviously manipulation. Pure skill? That's absurd. We'll keep monitoring until we have evidence."
"Yeah. Report immediately if anything comes up."
"Yes, sir."
The world's richest.
The Director shook his head almost immediately.
"There's no way something like that could come from our country."
＊＊＊
"Hey. What kind of monster are you to keep pulling off those absurd profit rates? Did some spirit really possess you or something?"
"Just got lucky, I guess."
"Lucky? Hah. Our Jin-ho's learned how to lie now. How is that luck? With that kind of luck, you'd have won the lottery ten times over."
The Guild Leader and I were filling our empty stomachs with samgyeopsal at our usual barbecue spot.
Since tomorrow was the weekend, we were also enjoying a drink or two.
"Honestly, this is embarrassing."
"What is?"
"I brought you into the company purely to help you out, you know. But somehow, I'm the one receiving all the help."
"Ah, come on. What are you talking about? Just pulling a shut-in NEET out of his hole is more than enough for me to be grateful."
"No, I mean it. Thank you, Jin-ho. Seeing you like this makes me realize how blessed I am."
"Ugh. There you go again with the embarrassing talk. Here, have another drink."
"Haha. Who's supposed to be pouring for whom here? Well then, I'll gratefully accept. Ah, by the way, how did the latest patch turn out? I heard there were rumors about my class getting nerfed."
"Ah, that. It's an indirect nerf, but it did hit pretty hard."
"Those damn developers are always targeting my class specifically."
"Well, your class was kinda broken, hyung."
"Excuse me?!"
For a while, the boss and I set aside work talk and, true to our gamer roots, chatted only about games.
After nearly two hours of this, the boss was the first to snap out of it.
"Oh dear. We ended up talking only about games again."
"Honestly, it's the most fun topic, isn't it?"
"Heh. True, but I actually called you today because I had something else to discuss."
The Guild Leader showed me a document on his tablet.
[Development of New Prime Grade Department]
"I'm in the process of creating a new department."
"A department?"
"Yeah. Once it's established, you'll be entering as its head."
"Wha—?!"
Wait. I only became a team leader how long ago?
"Is that really okay?"
"Of course. None of our executives oppose it. Like I said before, your profit rates speak for themselves. Plus, this new department will be different in nature. Didn't you apply to open an FX market last time?"
"Ah, yes."
"Normally, each department handles different things—FX, markets, bonds, stocks, derivatives, and so on. The types they deal with vary. But for this department, we're planning to open all accounts so you can handle any of them."
In other words, the new department would be created to allow unrestricted trading across all markets.
"And you'll be the one controlling it all. Of course, it won't have as many staff as other departments. Since you'll be the control tower directing everything, having too many employees might just create chaos. But if you ever need more, just say the word. We'll fill the positions for you."
I gulped dryly.
Even during this market period, the trades were handled by just a handful of people.
And now the scale was going to be much larger?
This was like turning into one of those massive raids in games where you command dozens of players.
"Ah, and it'd be better if you personally select the core members. Though, since you might not know them well or find it bothersome, I've roughly picked some recommended candidates and put them on a list. Take a quick look."
"Ah, yes..."
From employee to team leader, and now jumping straight from team leader to department head.
And in such a short time, too.
On top of that, I was being given the authority to handpick my core team.
He really seemed intent on pushing me forward with full force.
"..."
I skimmed through the list of recommendations.
But how would I even know just by looking at this?
These were all people with better academic backgrounds and far more experience than me...
"!?"
I nearly dropped the tablet.
"What? Already drunk? It's only been three bottles."
"Haha. No way."
I straightened the tablet again.
'I definitely felt it.'
That intense sensation, like sparks shooting through my hands.
'Does that mean...?'
Is this intuition telling me which members would be good for me?