The Design Behind the Intern
"Wow... did you see that? Suho called it again."
"Unbelievable. The man's actually insane."
"What is he, some kind of man who sees the future?"
"Or maybe an alien?"
I stared blankly at my teammates, who were whispering about me in broad daylight, not even ten feet from my desk.
"The traders must have made a killing this time, huh?"
"Probably made less than you'd think. They didn't invest according to the report our Intern Kang gave them."
"Wow. So they actually dared to doubt Intern Kang? We practically force-fed it to them, and they spat it out without even chewing?"
"Right. Fools, the lot of them."
"Wait, didn't you say Redhole seemed like a stretch, Section Chief?"
"Khehehem! I-I never said any such thing! Who in this office would dare doubt Intern Kang!"
At the Section Chief's bellow, the whole team burst out laughing.
"Intern Kang, what's your secret, really? You don't happen to have a master shaman somewhere in the family, do you? Or maybe the spirits came down on you personally?"
"Not at all."
"Then it's pure, honest skill. Come on, there has to be some know-how."
"..."
Know-how, huh... Something like "I happen to be impossibly good at smelling things"?
"Honestly, everyone — no matter how low Intern Kang's rank is in this office, there's a line you do not cross. Who asks a man that kind of question straight to his face?"
"Ah... you're right, Section Chief. It's just that he's so fascinating, I couldn't help—"
"And honestly, what secrets or know-how could there even be in research? Results come from exactly as much effort as you put in — from how hard you dig and how much time you pour in. Somewhere none of us could see, Intern Kang was toiling away, sweating on his own. Isn't that right, Intern Kang?"
"...That's right."
Blood and sweat, maybe not — but I had dripped plenty of cold sweat holding down those nauseating stenches, so close enough.
"Alright, alright, everyone — time to prep for the meeting, hm?"
Music to my ears. I sprang up from my seat, ready to start on the materials—
—and the Associate slammed down hard on my shoulder.
"Intern Kang stays seated."
"Sorry?"
"We'll handle the meeting prep ourselves."
"No, really. It's my job."
At that, the Section Chief dropped a hand on my other shoulder.
"That's right. We told you to stay seated."
"..."
Both of them had grips that were no joke. It wasn't that I wouldn't stand — I genuinely couldn't. Maybe I should work out.
"I simply cannot wait to see what fortune Intern Kang blesses us with today."
"Isn't this basically a divine oracle? Hehe."
"..."
What exactly were they planning to do if I got even one call wrong at this rate?
"Don't feel pressured. Anyone can be wrong once."
"Exactly. Even monkeys fall out of trees, as they say."
"One miss won't shake our faith in you one bit, Intern Kang."
"..."
They seemed to be trying to lift the weight off my shoulders. Instead, it felt a hundred times heavier.
"Team Leader Cheon. Do you know how many years I've put in on Yeouido? Thirty. Thirty years. Never once went near the trading floor — steady and true, you understand? I dug one well, and that well was research."
It didn't sound like the Center Director was bragging about his career.
His voice was trembling far too much for that.
"And I have never seen anything like this."
Sincerity soaked through every word.
"The semiconductor matter, twice. And now this gaming stock business, once... no, wait. Twice, you said? Because of what happened recently?"
"Yes. The first report predicted the rise, and a few days ago he picked a new one predicting the fall — and then China announced its sweeping regulations on our gaming industry and the sector collapsed. Exactly as forecast."
Thanks to the divinity called Redhole, and to the major game studios' earnings blowing past every estimate, gaming stocks had soared on that run of good news.
But the celebration was brief.
When China announced its harsh regulations on Korean games, the stocks keeled over like a log under a saw.
Exactly as that intern had predicted.
"Trading will have to buy dinner tonight. They made a fortune off us."
"Tsk. I'd love that, but fewer of them profited than you'd think."
"What? We handed them that brilliant report!"
"Everyone piled in while the gaming stocks were still climbing, apparently — had to get aboard before it was too late. After that, the Research Center suddenly put out a report saying gaming stocks would fall."
"So everyone was too drunk on limit-up fever to heed our report this time either?"
"With the price rocketing right before their eyes, what trader on earth is going to stop? Besides, the bearish report the Center put out was pretty thin on substance."
"Who cares about substance? It predicted the drop, and the drop came. Since when do you care about process and content?"
Under the Center Director's scolding, the Head of Trading consoled himself with liquor.
"But is it true?"
"What is?"
"From the semiconductor play to this Redhole business. All of it picked and handed over by some intern. Really?"
"It's true."
"Unbelievable. What on earth possessed you to pull a stunt like that? You set aside every veteran and ran with an intern's picks?!"
"And the results proved it in the end, didn't they? Isn't results everything on Yeouido? You know this."
"Still — there are limits!"
It was an understandable reaction.
Every other rank aside, how could an intern — the lowest of the low — wield that kind of influence?
"I had my doubts at first too. Then Team Leader Cheon here spotted the kid's ability early and made the call, bold as you like."
"Really? Does he have some National Intelligence Service informant on speed dial? How did he know all that well enough to predict it?"
"I assumed he had some outside source at first, but looking back, it all seems to be analysis built entirely on publicly available information. He finds the subtle differences buried between them — the tiny discrepancies — and derives future values from them."
"That's... what you'd call a genius, isn't it?"
"A hardworking genius, I'd say. He's an extraordinarily diligent person."
A hardworking genius, no less. And luck followed him, on top of everything.
"But he's still an intern, isn't he? Push someone who isn't even a full employee, no matter how talented, and people will talk."
"Oh, come now, Division Head. That's nothing to worry about."
Then Team Leader Im, who had been quietly pouring drinks at the side, chimed in.
"No one in the Research Center holds a single grudge against Intern Kang. He's lifted the standing of Daeseong's Research Center — never anything to write home about — clean off the floor."
"And the bonuses on top of that?"
"Frankly... that's the best part. Who on this earth hates the man filling his own pockets?"
"Sounds like a walking lucky charm moved into the Research Center."
"Hehe. You could say that. First genuinely talented hire in ages."
Shooting them a look that said, Jealous?, the Center Director drained his glass in high spirits.
"Though, about that."
Perhaps that was exactly what didn't sit well with him.
The Division Head set his glass down with a crack and spoke in a grave voice.
"By company principle, interns don't stay parked in one place — they rotate through other departments for a few weeks to build experience, don't they?"
"...Huh?"
"Isn't that so? No one knows where an intern's talents fit. Sure, he applied to Research, but Trading might suit him better. That's why interns rotate."
"..."
"And you were planning to hoard an employee that capable, coddled in research alone? What if his real talent is for Trading, not research? That's a serious loss for the company."
"Wh-what exactly are you trying to say?"
"I'm saying, send the boy over to Trading for a stretch."
"What?!"
Whether the Center Director shouted or not, the Division Head didn't so much as blink.
"I'm simply proposing we follow the rules. The company regulations say so — what can you do?"
"Since when have you ever cared about principle!"
"If it wasn't honored until now, then it should be honored starting today. The water downstream runs clear only when the water upstream is clear, no? What kind of example do we set if we don't keep our own rules?"
It was galling, but the man wasn't wrong, so there was no arguing back.
"Division Head. Intern Kang will be made a full employee soon, thanks to these results."
"Well, he's not a full employee right now, is he? He's still an intern, isn't he?"
There was blood in the Division Head's eyes as he said it.
Only then did the Center Director truly grasp it.
Oh no.
He'd thought it was a joke.
This man is serious.
"Do you even know who that intern is, talking like this?"
"An intern is an intern. What else would he be?"
So he really didn't know.
Well, of course. HR would have to be insane to spread that around.
"Send that intern to us within days. If you oppose it, I'll take the matter to the President formally and accept whatever comes. Now then — I'll be heading out first?"
"..."
The Center Director stared blankly at the Division Head's retreating back.
Apparently, he had bragged far, far too hard.
"Center Director. It isn't true, is it?"
"What isn't?"
"Intern Kang. You're not actually sending him away?"
At the last company dinner, the Division Head had invoked principle and all but forced them to hand the intern over to the Trading Division.
In truth, Cheon Doa hadn't been particularly worried.
She'd trusted the Center Director to handle it.
"...I agreed to send him."
"What? Center Director!!"
"Hey. He says follow the rules — what can I do?"
"Since when have you ever followed that rule! You could easily have shut it down!"
"Well... that much is true."
The Center Director scratched his head.
"Team Leader Cheon. We talked about this before, remember? Why an intern, of all things?"
"Pardon?"
"Well, with the media watching and all, I first took it as a way to slip the appointment in under the radar as an intern. But the more I turned it over, the less it added up. And then, listening to the Division Head the other night... in that moment, I understood Director Geum's intentions."
"What intentions?"
"The Division Head said it, didn't he? Interns are supposed to rotate through the company's departments to build experience. I looked into it separately, and it's true. They have to move through at least two different departments."
But what did that have to do with Director Geum's intentions?
"In a financial group, the securities firm is a blade. Banks are hobbled by regulation, but a securities firm has room to move — aggressive capital structuring is possible. If our guess is right, and Director Geum placed Intern Kang in the securities firm to serve his own ambitions... then there's a reason he made him an intern."
"For freedom of placement?"
"Exactly. As an intern, he can be sent straight to another department without the mess of going through HR. And you heard it at the dinner, didn't you? No one in the Research Center dislikes Intern Kang. Put the other way — a faction backing Kang Suho has taken root on the research side."
A faction backing Kang Suho. It was certainly true that Kang Suho was well liked in the Research Center.
"I've met Director Geum Gaho several times, and he is an exceedingly meticulous man. If he already knew Intern Kang's abilities, he may well have seen this far. That's why he placed him as an intern — so the boy could take up whatever position he pleased."
"So after Research comes the Trading Division?"
"Precisely. Trading isn't just day trading. Some desks run long-term books; others trade nothing but bonds, futures, or dollars. And above all — thanks to Kang Suho, our Daeseong Securities executed deals with institutions in the hundreds of billions of won. In Trading, he could handle that directly."
"!?"
Of course, that had only ever been proxy investment based on his reports — nothing more than the fees it generated.
Not something to be handled carelessly, and yet the mere existence of Kang Suho could become a weapon in Director Geum Gaho's arsenal.
"So all of this is Director Geum and Intern Kang's design?"
"It could be, or it might not be. But look at how things have unfolded — doesn't it feel awfully contrived? Everything fits together as if someone drew up a grand plan. By the way, did anyone tell Intern Kang he'll be made a full employee soon?"
"Yes."
"How did he react?"
"That's..."
The expression Kang Suho had worn that day flickered through Cheon Doa's mind.
He'd shown hardly any reaction at first, and she'd assumed the sudden news had simply flustered him.
...But what if, in truth, it genuinely hadn't moved him at all?
This was a man who had supposedly come to devour Director Geum Gaho and this very company.
Would he rejoice at becoming a mere full-time employee?
A man with his eyes on a far bigger prize wouldn't react to something so small at all.
"Does the Division Head know about this too? He seemed clueless at the time."
"He may have known and pretended not to. That snake is slick as they come. Or perhaps Director Geum's hand was already at work behind the scenes."
A hollow laugh escaped Cheon Doa.
Now she understood why the Center Director had called Director Geum Gaho a truly terrifying man, time and time again.
But more terrifying than the man who designed it all was the one who carried out that insane plan on nothing but his own ability.
Just who exactly is Kang Suho?