The Trading Floor Is a Jungle
"Son. Did you say you're becoming a full-time employee next month?"
"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah... Didn't you ask me the same thing yesterday?"
"Hoho. Our son is just so impressive, so impressive."
"......"
Mom patted me on the back.
"Another hard day at work today. Watching you work so hard, I don't know whether to feel sorry for you or proud of you. You really seem like a grown man now. It makes me proud."
Hearing that warmed my heart, and at the same time made it feel heavier.
"You're not worrying about something, are you? Your color looks off. Is something going on at the company? Is someone giving you a hard time...?"
"No, Mom. Everyone there is wonderful. I'm just tired, that's all."
"Aigoo. That place is great except for one thing — the work hours start way too early. It's like they don't let anyone sleep."
"You work harder than I do, Mom. I'm fine, so don't worry about me."
"All right. Fighting out there today too, my son."
Just then, my sister popped up out of nowhere and cut in.
"Mom, what about me!"
"Our daughter too~."
"Hmm. I feel like there's a serious temperature difference between Suho and me."
"You say that every single day. You have a good day too, sweetie."
"Yes, ma'am~. Oh, right. Actually, I'm not heading to work right now, am I? Hey, you. Hurry up and find yourself a place. You keep making ME wake up early too."
"If anyone should move out, it should be you, noona......"
"Nope. I'm staying with Mom. And shouldn't you be getting a girlfriend by now?"
"......"
Way to stab a man right in his sore spot on his way out the door in a good mood.
I finished getting ready and hurried out of the house.
Today, somehow, felt like my very first day at work.
And no wonder.
After all, I wasn't reporting to the Research Center anymore — I was heading to the Trading Division.
"Whew. Please, just let me keep this job."
Praying I wouldn't suddenly lose the chance to become a full-time employee, I clasped my hands together toward the pre-dawn sky.
The Trading Division was a place where men locked eyes across a colossal gambling table, waging a bloodless war. The euphoria that came from walking away after stripping someone else's money down to the bone was a dopamine hit you couldn't find anywhere else on earth.
That was why people said it, wasn't it?
Give traders a choice, and they'd have been rolling dice at some back-room table instead of touching stocks.
"Team Leader. I hear we're getting a rookie today. Is it true?"
Oh Yeon-seok, Team Leader of Trading Team 7, let out a short sigh.
"Supposedly some intern is coming in."
"An intern? Then why are they setting up a whole formal workstation for him? Looked like the engineering team fitted out a full trader setup and everything."
Ordinarily, an intern or a junior associate didn't get trading equipment. That stage was for running errands and learning the ropes, not actually placing trades. But the intern arriving today was being treated differently from the very start.
They were already giving him a full setup that even the junior associates on the trading teams didn't have.
"Beats me. Word is he's famous from the Research Center. You know — the semiconductor and gaming stocks. Apparently the intern coming in is the guy who called those calls for the Research Center."
"I heard that rumor too, but it was actually real?"
"Honestly, that rumor sounded way too good to be true. How could an intern pull something like that off?"
Oh Yeon-seok thought the story was absurd too. But seeing them set up a workstation like this for a mere intern — maybe there really was something to it?
"Even if he does have that kind of talent, it's a whole different game from live trading. How do you compare someone who just writes reports and clicks 'upload' at the Research Center to us traders executing in real time?"
That was a fair point. Some people claimed the heart of a securities firm was its research, but Oh Yeon-seok didn't see it that way. Trading was everything this firm was. No matter how brilliant the research was, at the end of the day a securities firm lived and died by its trading. And everyone shouting about how important research was? Analysts, every last one of them.
Cowards hiding in the back because they were afraid of the real thing.
"Team Leader. The intern's here."
"Right."
The intern in question stood there, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot.
"Good morning, sir! Intern Kang Suho reporting in!"
The booming voice made him frown before he could help it. If this had been a rookie who'd come up through the normal route, he might have found it endearing.
"Welcome. I'm Oh Yeon-seok, team leader here on Team 7. Do you have any experience with trading, by any chance?"
"......No, sir."
No matter how he looked at him, the kid was a total greenhorn. So they'd set up this whole station for someone who'd have to be taught everything from scratch? What on earth were the higher-ups thinking, pulling a stunt like this?
"Deputy Yoo."
"Yes, Team Leader."
"Take the intern and walk him through the basics. Roughly is fine."
"Sorry? We have Associate Hwang here, and you want ME to do it?"
"Hwang hasn't even made full trader yet, has he? So that means it's on you, Deputy Yoo."
"Ah... yes, sir. Understood."
Deputy Yoo led the intern away, looking distinctly flustered. Oh Yeon-seok watched them go with a sour expression. Even the kid's retreating back was fidgety — he didn't look sharp at all.
"Team Leader. The division head is asking for you."
"Perfect timing."
Oh Yeon-seok nodded, relieved to have somewhere to go.
They'd flung the kid straight onto a trading team because he'd gotten lucky with a few calls at the Research Center? That wasn't a hire — that was an unexploded bomb. And if they handed this amateur real money and he lost a fortune, it would blow a hole in the whole team's bonus.
Any ordinary office might have let it slide. But here, money was on the line this very minute, and he couldn't afford not to react. He'd have to talk to the division head and get this sorted out, fast.
"You called for me, sir."
"Sit. You look like an angry toad, you know that?"
"If it's your order, sir, I'll follow it, whatever it is. But this intern... you're really opening an account for him? Our youngest associate hasn't even placed a single trade yet."
Something was off, though. Oh Yeon-seok had come ready to raise hell — but it was the division head whose face looked worse.
"Oh Yeon-seok. You keep this to yourself."
"Sir?"
"That young man is Daesung Group."
"......I'm sorry?"
"A young master, raised in the very best of care."
The color drained from Oh Yeon-seok's face.
So THAT was what had been bugging him!
"Whatever our young master chooses to do, you leave him be. There'll be around a billion won in his account. If he burns it all or sets it on fire, you don't say a word — it's his toy, his to play with alone."
"......"
"Don't go pretending you know anything, and keep playing dumb all the way through. Just look after him quietly. If you understand, get out."
Oh Yeon-seok stumbled out of the division head's office, blinking.
What did I just hear?
Lose as much as you like, doesn't matter?
So — a member of the Royal Family had dropped by the Trading Division to play, and they were telling him to let the chips fly where they may?
You have got to be kidding me.
This was no longer a question of team incentives. The very survival of his team now hung on how he treated that young master.
If I'd known this was coming, I'd have rolled out the red carpet in advance!
He'd been cold as ice to the man from the very first meeting, all because he hadn't known his exalted identity.
"Ah, Intern Kang!"
He hurried back to the office, breathless, and made a beeline for Kang Suho.
"I was in quite a rush earlier, so I didn't give you a proper welcome. Let's do great work together, all right? If anything comes up, you come straight to me. Got it? Haha."
"Ah, yes, sir. Thank you."
"Aigoo, none of that. Deputy Yoo, make sure you teach him well and be nice about it. Understood?"
"......"
Thankfully, the intern's expression was good. He'd take that as the apology being accepted.
Oh Yeon-seok sat down at his own desk, his mind a tangle.
"...Still, he's not really going to torch a whole billion won, is he?"
For a member of the Royal Family that led all of Daesung Group, a billion won was, frankly, pocket change.
"But if he blows it all, then our team's incentives..."
They wouldn't pin that on us, surely? The man was a Royal Family member, after all.
It had been so chilly earlier that all I'd wanted was to crawl back to the Research Center. Team Leader Cheon Doa's sharp voice and cutting glare, the ones that had shot daggers at me — today, of all days, I actually missed them.
"My door's always open if you ever want to talk something through. Haha."
But it seemed I'd misjudged Team Leader Oh. Who knew he was such a kind man?
"...Huh? What's gotten into the Team Leader?"
Deputy Yoo tilted his head, watching the man's back as he walked away.
"Anyway, you've got the hang of how to place trades now, right? And I'm probably the older one here, so feel free to talk to me casually."
"Yes, sir. Of course, Deputy."
"Oh? Then let me ask you one thing."
Suddenly dropping his voice, Deputy Yoo leaned in.
"You're not one of those Royal Family types, are you?"
"I— no, sir. Not at all."
"Then that rumor was true? About some monster intern at the Research Center who nailed the semiconductor and gaming stocks and raked in a fortune. That was you?"
Well, this was awkward. Not exactly something I wanted to say out loud myself.
I gave an embarrassed nod.
"Whoa. So THAT'S how something this insane became possible. I thought it was total garbage gossip. But even so — research and trading are two completely different animals, and this crazy company just fires a full billion won straight at you like it's nothing."
"A... billion won?"
"See the money sitting in this account? Starting today, that's the money Intern Kang gets to play with."
"!?"
For a moment, it felt like someone had swung a hammer into the back of my skull.
No. They were really going to hand a complete beginner who knew nothing about trading THIS much money to move around?
"Oh, right. You transferred over from Research today, so you missed the morning meeting. These are the reports that came out today — take a look. I hear this is what you used to show off your chops at the Research Center. Of course, live trading's a completely different beast, so it won't be easy."
Before long, a notification chime rang out across the entire Trading Division.
The market had opened.
"Welcome to the jungle. Heh heh."
Deputy Yoo and everyone else in the office kicked into high gear.
The Research Operations Team had a still, paper-shuffling feel to it, but here the phones rang from every direction, and every so often someone barked something urgent across the room.
A war without gunshots, plain and simple.
And I had been dropped into the middle of it out of nowhere.
"......"
I read through the documents Deputy Yoo had given me, carefully and fast. But nothing leapt off the page like a guide pointing me at what to buy. Every decision would be mine, and every consequence would be mine to carry.
"......"
In the end, I just sat there staring blankly at the screen.
The stock market churned busily in silence. Some stocks surged, some were slammed down — and others moved against the current entirely.
What was I supposed to buy, in a place that was a jungle in the truest sense of the word?
And with a full billion won on the line, no less.
They'd thrown this enormous sum at me out of nowhere and told me to trade. One wrong move here, and money by the hundreds of millions could vanish into thin air.
But I can't just sit here doing nothing either.
Maybe I should have kept my head down at the Research Center and coasted. Handing me this money on my very first day meant they had expectations to match. Doing nothing here would be dereliction of duty, plain and simple.
I went through the list of stocks properly.
Looks like everyone's keeping a close eye on semiconductors and electronics today.
Gwangmyeong Electronics in particular was the hottest stock on the board right now, announcing an earnings surprise on top of a share buyback and cancellation.
If I want to play it safe, I should just buy large caps.
Buy the big, stable names everyone was watching — ones that wouldn't swing wildly — and I wouldn't make a killing, but I wouldn't lose one either. That seemed like the smart play.
All right, so first, Gwangmyeong Electronics—
The moment I made up my mind and started scrolling down the list—
"!?"
A vicious stench crashed over me, so violent my hand froze on the mouse, paralyzed.
Now? Here, of all places?
Forcing strength into my fingers, I barely managed to keep scrolling. But the stench wouldn't fade. It hung on, tormenting me to the very end.
Why? What do you WANT from me?!
And then, half out of my mind, still scrolling—
"......?"
The stench pricking at my nose vanished, and in an instant everything around me went quiet. People were still scurrying about, still shouting over one another — but none of it reached my ears.
There was only the stock my cursor had come to rest on.
"......"
I clicked into it.
And then, as if it had been waiting all along, another fragrance swept over me. But this time it wasn't a foul reek — it was the exact opposite.
A refined, weighty scent — something you'd almost call dignified.
Click—
Drunk on that fragrance, I pressed down hard on the buy button, like a man in a trance.