Chapter 8
Chapter 8
Translation: Godtl
"It seems some people have had their mental state shattered by this incident. A few seniors have submitted their resignations."
"Well, that kind of thing happens more than once or twice. We predict stock prices based on data, but honestly, accurately forecasting stock prices is the realm of the divine. If someone gets so shaken by that that they can't even trade anymore, it's better for them to leave quickly."
Investing is a battle of mentality.
Someone once said it, didn't they?
That the stock market is a vast reflection of human psychology.
At times, it's swept up in frenzy; at others, it's gripped by fear.
Even when a company's financials look utterly shaky, its stock price often hits peaks, and even when a company's financials are solid, its stock price can stay low.
This means people tend to buy stocks based more on psychological factors than the company's fundamental strength.
If you can't keep your mentality steady in a stock market as fickle as a reed, you have no business being a trader.
Especially not as a prop trader, where every single minute and second counts.
"Did the battery sector get resolved smoothly?"
"Yes. We managed to cut our losses somehow. The battery sector overheated briefly, and above all, there was a prevailing sentiment that electric vehicles were still premature, wasn't there? So the bubble burst relatively quickly. Still, we did take some losses."
"We should consider ourselves lucky it ended at that. Look at the U.S. There's no limit to how much stocks can rise or fall there."
Like Gwangun Securities and many other domestic securities firms, U.S. brokerages also frequently take short positions.
But if they misstep just once, even the biggest firms can collapse in an instant.
That's because, unlike Korea, there's no lower limit on how much a stock can fall in a single day.
"And we were also lucky. The Korea Exchange has been preparing to raise the daily limit from 15% to 30% in a trial run for the past year, and this incident happened right before the change."
That was an absolute stroke of luck.
If the limit had been lifted just a little sooner, there's no telling how much bigger the losses could have been.
"Was that supposed to happen next month?"
"Yes. They've already put all the institutional safeguards in place and plan to implement it next month."
"We'll have to make the most of it then. The domestic market is going to get incredibly heated."
"Foreign investors will be more excited than us, though. They've already been pulling out all their money, planning to pour it back in when the time comes, haven't they?"
The upper limit was being raised from 15% to a whopping 30%.
With the 15% restriction in place, Korea hadn't been a particularly attractive investment destination for foreign investors.
But with this relaxation, expectations were high that foreign capital inflows would increase significantly. The problem was, it was hard to tell whether this would ultimately be a boon or a bane.
"Especially those Westerners—once they charge in, they often keep going until they've swept everything clean. I'm worried our stocks might end up as collateral damage for no reason. Anyway, let's prepare well."
"Yes, CEO."
"Everyone, get back to work. If you put in a lot of work today, you can rest tomorrow. Oh, right. Did we clear out the shipbuilding sector?"
"Yes. As you said, it seems there's no hope for that sector in the near future."
"Right. There's no reason to keep holding onto stocks that have been halved in value. International oil prices have been acting up lately, so keep an eye on them."
"Got it."
After wrapping up the meeting with the executives, CEO Hwang Dae-un leaned back in his chair and stared blankly at the ceiling.
Gwangun Securities was on track, growing steadily into a major securities firm.
But the more it grew, the more it felt like walking on thin ice.
That was just how the stock market was.
In this world—no less volatile than a rollercoaster—one wrong move could topple the tower they'd worked so hard to build.
"I'll play some games later."
When drowning in this kind of unease, blowing off steam with games was the best remedy.
That was exactly why he played games.
"I wonder how Jin-ho's doing, though."
He didn't want to play favorites, but since he'd openly parachuted him in, he couldn't help but pay attention.
So he'd told his secretary to keep an eye out for any unusual developments and report back, but...
Knock knock.
"CEO, may I come in for a moment?"
Speak of the devil.
The secretary knocked on the door.
"Come in. So, what is it?"
"Ah, you told me to keep an eye on employee Jeong Jin-ho and report if anything unusual happened, right?"
"I did. Did something happen?"
"Yes. I believe there's a peculiar development just as you mentioned, so I've brought the details."
Did our Jin-ho cause some trouble?
Or did he get into a fight with a superior?
He's such a smooth talker that it's hard to imagine him clashing with anyone above him.
But then again, there's no reason for a junior to stir up trouble either.
"...Hmm?"
However, the document handed to him unfolded an entirely different scenario.
"Wait. What is this? A promotion to senior?"
"Yes. Several seniors are leaving this time, and they plan to promote a few juniors to fill those vacancies. Jeong Jin-ho is among them."
"Good grief. Have you ever seen such madness?"
Promoting someone who just joined to senior?
Hwang Dae-un was about to summon the responsible party immediately to reprimand them severely.
"...No."
But he quickly changed his mind.
"They must have had their reasons."
Anyone at the team leader level or above would know Jin-ho was a parachute appointment directly placed by the CEO's office.
Especially the team leader who received Jin-ho—he probably couldn't even see straight from the stress.
He must have agonized over whether to leave the parachute alone or blatantly favor him.
After wrestling with the dilemma, it seems he eventually made this decision. The department head who approved it must have had knots in his stomach too.
"If they didn't know what to do, they should've just asked me directly."
Though it would've been absurd for a department head to suddenly show up asking what to do with this parachute.
"What should we do, CEO?"
"Leave it be."
"Huh? So you're saying to let the senior promotion go through...?"
"What else can I do? It's my fault. I should've given clear instructions instead of just dropping him in without a word. No wonder they were confused."
If anything, this might be for the best.
It wouldn't hurt for Jin-ho to have this experience—to truly understand what investment is, down to his bones.
The kid doesn't even know the first thing about investing.
There's no way that team leader actually promoted him to senior to let him handle real investments.
This must be a show of sincerity, a performance staged to impress the higher-ups.
"That team must have their reasons. They won't entrust him with much capital anyway. It's just a superficial promotion, isn't it? Let him get a taste before transferring him elsewhere. Keep monitoring."
"Yes, CEO."
Our Jin-ho, clueless as ever, will probably jump out of his skin when he suddenly gets promoted to senior.
When he makes his first real stock investment as a trader, he'll likely be utterly lost about where to even begin.
And when he loses money, he'll blame himself for causing losses to the company and the Guild Leader.
That's when I'll have to pat his back magnanimously and tell him it's alright.
Because that's exactly the kind of Guild Leader Jin-ho looks up to.
＊＊＊
There was no news at all.
'I thought by now, the higher-ups would've summoned all the responsible parties to the CEO's office with a roar.'
If there was going to be backlash, it should have come by yesterday at the latest.
Promoting a new hire who just joined to senior out of the blue?
The CEO must have heard about it by now, yet there was complete silence.
Not a word yesterday, and nothing today either.
Just because it's the weekend doesn't mean the securities firm takes a break.
Even the CEO doesn't rest on weekends—he comes to work.
The employees under him are no different.
Market analysis, report drafting, and data collection make Saturday shifts unavoidable.
'And yet, no word means... as expected.'
The CEO must have known all along.
About Jeong Jin-ho's investment skills.
Just as Team Leader Park had suspected, this wasn't an ordinary parachute appointment.
A mysterious rookie with inexplicable investment prowess.
And the CEO himself, who personally placed him here.
There's definitely some connection.
Not familial—something else, something unknown...!
"Team Leader, is our team understaffed? Why are they suddenly setting up new workstations on our side?"
Team members tilted their heads in confusion as the equipment team came down to arrange two new seats.
"Some seniors just submitted their resignations. Someone's got to fill those empty seats."
"And it's our team? Looks like new seniors are coming in?"
"That's right."
The team members had no idea that one of those new seniors was Jeong Jin-ho.
Team Leader Park hadn't told them yet either.
Just in case the CEO's office called at the last minute to cancel everything.
But given that there'd been no word so far, hadn't the CEO known things would turn out this way?
＊＊＊
"Working on weekends? That's brutal."
The only saving grace was that weekend shifts started at 9 AM and ended early.
Since they had to compile and organize weekday market data over the weekend, weekend work was unavoidable.
"Right. Who am I to complain? They even pay extra for weekend shifts."
Just be grateful to have work.
Still, the physical exhaustion was unavoidable.
All he wanted was to go home and collapse.
At least they only worked Saturdays and had Sundays off?
"I'm home."
Nobody here?
Had his parents gone out to work today too?
They usually rested on weekends.
"Mom and Dad went grocery shopping."
At the sound of the voice, he startled and looked toward the couch.
His younger sister was lying there scrolling through her phone.
"You scared me. How long have you been lying there without making a sound?"
"I even waved when you came in. You just didn't notice."
"Since when do you come home on weekends? You're never here."
His sister had been living alone while working.
"Dunno. Mom kept calling saying she wanted to see my face."
"Sigh. Be good to Mom and Dad. You know how much they adore you."
"And what about you? Lazing around playing games all day like some jobless—huh?"
His sister blinked rapidly as she took in his attire.
"Why are you wearing a suit?"
"Why do you think? I just came from work. Didn't Mom tell you?"
"Wait. You got a job?!"
"Heh. Not unemployed anymore."
"What? Why didn't anyone tell me? Congrats. Never thought I'd see the day you'd get hired."
"Yeah. Like you said, I couldn't stay jobless forever."
Though if his hyung hadn't given him this chance, he'd probably still be rotting away in that tiny room.
"But wait. You worked on a weekend? A company that makes you work weekends... People call those black companies, you know."
"No, it's the opposite. It's actually a really good company."
"Oh~ Really? Business card?"
"Of course I have one."
He proudly pulled out a business card.
"Try not to be too shocked."
"As if I'd be shocked. What kind of big company could you possibly—Gasp!"
His sister's eyes grew round as saucers.
"W-what? Is this for real?!"
"Of course it's real. You think I'd fake it?"
"N-no way. How did you get into Gwangun Securities?! That makes no sense!"
"Like mother, like daughter. You sound just like Mom."
Still unable to believe it, his sister examined the card minutely as if authenticating a counterfeit bill.
"This can't be real. My brother working at a conglomerate..."
"They said it's not quite conglomerate level yet—"
"Gwangun totally counts as a conglomerate!"
Seeing his little sister so happy for him lifted his spirits more than he expected.
Enough to wash away all the fatigue from working the weekend shift.
"No way. We can't just let this slide."
"Huh?"
"You're treating us to a proper feast today."
"...I haven't even gotten my first paycheck yet."
"So you're just going to ignore this milestone?"
"Ugh."
With tears in his eyes, he pulled out his emergency fund.
The money he'd been carefully saving for gacha pulls...
"Fine. A celebratory meal is in order. At least for our family."
"Yesss~ Beef?"
"Go easy on me."
"Hehe. Actually I prefer pork belly more. I should call Mom and Dad. Tell them you're treating."
Watching his sister excitedly dial their mom, countless thoughts flooded his mind.
How long had it been since their whole family went out to eat together?
Seeing their family returning to how things used to be made his heart ache unexpectedly.
Right. I'll work even harder.
Next time, I'll treat them to beef until they're stuffed—not just pork belly!