Sprouting Money

"Suho~!"

I turned at the fresh, bright voice calling from behind me. It had been exactly one day since I left the Research Center, and yet seeing Juim Han felt like running into an old friend after years apart.

"How's trader life? Hanging in there? It's a whole different universe from research, right? Dopamine just comes gushing out."

"Honestly, I don't even know how the day went by."

"That's how much fun you're having!"

"……."

If only she knew just how spectacular my first day of trader life had actually been.

"Still, I'm sure they wouldn't hand money to an intern and put him on trades right away. You're still in the learning stage, so give it your best."

How exactly would she look at me if I told her that yesterday I'd been handed 1 billion won and gone all-in on a single stock?

"Suho, what coffee do you want?"

"Oh no, please—let me get it. What are you having, Juim?"

"Goodness, no. You'll be a full employee soon enough, but where would you find someone mooching coffee off an intern?"

It had always bothered me that she was the one paying. Every single time, I'd sworn to myself that with my first paycheck as a regular employee, I would treat her to a proper meal.

"Hehe. I'll hold you to that. I'm going to ask for expensive beef~"

Of course, that was assuming I didn't get fired first for torching all the money.

"These are the materials I compiled myself at the Research Center."

"Whoa. This many?"

"I couldn't have you cowering over there, could I? I figured if you looked through them ahead of time, they might help even a little."

"Juim……."

A tsunami of emotion was crashing over me.

"Thanks to you, I'm getting an incentive for the first time in ages, so this much is only natural. Now go show them what you've got at the Trading Division. The honor of our Research Center rests on you, Suho."

"Yes, ma'am. I'll make it happen."

My motivation blazed for a moment—then cooled just as quickly. That was how massive this problem was.

'The steel stock…… what am I going to do about it?'

But the moment I returned to my desk, I could only stare, stunned.

'……Why is it green?'

The money I'd assumed had flown away was busy having babies.

"……."

Did a number like this even make sense? Team Leader Oh's jaw hung open at the returns spread across his screen.

Han-seong Steel, once the pride of South Korea, had cratered to the very bottom under China's dumping assault. And yet, by a twist of irony, that same China was now driving its rebound. The market had been in an uproar even before the opening bell, and the moment trading began, the price shot upward until it tripped a VI—the Volatility Interruption, the market's safety valve that briefly halts trading and switches to single-price auctions when a price moves too violently, all in the name of stability.

While traders everywhere were tooting their horns over monthly gains of one to five percent, this young master had booked several months' worth in a single day.

"……It was luck, right?"

It had to be. Team Leader Oh had a rough idea why the young master had landed at the securities firm instead of Daesung Group headquarters.

"Something must be wrong with him, right?"

Useless as an actual human being, so the family had deliberately shipped him off to the lowest rung to knock some sense into him. The same tired setup that showed up in every drama.

"But a 25 percent return in one day…"

They did say beginner's luck was the scariest thing of all. This was exactly that.

Anyone with genuine instinct and real skill at investing never goes all-in on a single stock. No investor on earth, however brilliant, can know the future.

In other words, this young master had simply thrown a tantrum and dumped his money into one place, come what may. A rebellion against the family elders who'd thrown him into this prison—or so it looked through Team Leader Oh's eyes.

Which left exactly one question.

"Should I tell him to sell, even now?"

No. No point in poking the bear and rattling him for nothing. Though he was curious what the kid would do with the money.

Team Leader Oh drifted casually toward Kang Suho's desk. The intern was reading a thick stack of documents. Oddly mismatched, that.

"Wow, Intern Kang! What is this? Did you see Han-seong Steel? Twenty-five percent, twenty-five!"

He clapped Kang Suho's shoulder in a friendly way—and then froze. Intern or not, there was an unbridgeable gulf between the two of them.

"Ahem. So, when were you thinking of closing the position? As you know, we prop traders rarely hold ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a stock past two days. Some teams ban overnight positions entirely."

Overnight. In other words, never carrying a position past the close.

Under the system, no matter how large the gain, it benefited traders to liquidate quickly and chase fresh profits elsewhere rather than sit on a position. That was how you maximized your incentive—and since every team's returns were reported upstairs daily, management didn't let money sit idle except in special circumstances.

"Sure, steel's climbing right now, but who knows when a wall of sell orders comes pouring out of nowhere and it drops. It could pull back at any moment. How about skimming a little off the top?"

As far as Team Leader Oh could see, Han-seong Steel didn't look like it had much further to go. China might be culling its zombie factories wholesale, but that didn't mean it was abandoning steel entirely.

But Kang Suho, staring at his monitor, suddenly scowled.

"……Do I have to sell it today?"

That murderous expression made Team Leader Oh flinch and wave his hands in rapid retreat.

"N-no, no, you don't have to. Sell whenever you feel like it, Intern Kang. Haha."

Desperate to change the subject, his eyes darted around—and landed on the stack of papers Kang Suho had been reading.

"So, what were you reading there?"

"Ah, yes. Someone I know gave them to me."

"Really? Must be boring, all your money tied up. Well, sell nicely when the moment feels right. That's how you earn a fat incentive."

Not that an incentive of that size would even register for a member of the Royal Family.

"……Hah. After all these years, now I have to tiptoe around an intern."

The moment he was clear of Kang Suho, Team Leader Oh let out a sigh. He had genuinely broken into a cold sweat back there. Those eyes—as if to say, who do you think you are, meddling in my work? A moment that chilled him straight to the spine.

"Would've been better if he'd just blown it all cleanly. Why does steel have to get lucky and climb…"

He was halfway back to his desk, wallowing in self-pity, when—

"Hold on."

A thought struck him.

"Was it really luck?"

Of course trading required luck. But didn't they say heaven helps those who help themselves?

"A Daesung Group Royal Family would have information power that's no joke."

This was the young master personally planted here by Director Geum Gaho—the man who, back in his prime, was said to knock birds right out of the sky. Who knew what the relationship between the two was, but it was entirely possible the Director had passed along special information for the kid's sake.

"That stack of documents from before!"

No wonder he'd been handling it like something precious.

"It was a treasure trove of intel all along…!"

Maybe the young master had known in advance that Han-seong Steel was about to skyrocket—through Director Geum Gaho's information network, no less.

"And what if this wasn't rebellion at all, but purely a play to make a name for himself?"

Maybe the genius reputation from the Research Center hadn't been a fabricated show after all. If the quality of the intel flowing in behind him was different, it was entirely plausible.

Team Leader Oh stared at Kang Suho's account, now sitting empty, and turned it over in his mind. If the young master really had a secret pipeline, this could be the perfect chance to send the team's performance this month soaring.

Click.

He promptly loaded another 2 billion won into Kang Suho's account.

The whole day had felt half like a dream. One moment I was certain I'd lost every last won and my job along with it—and then, of all things, this.

Han-seong Steel, riding a wave of major good news, had blasted through 25 percent today alone. Our deputy threw a fit over it, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and the Team Leader even came all the way to my desk to advise me to sell right away.

"Even I can see this is the perfect time to sell, but……"

The problem was that this nose of mine refused to allow it. The moment my hand moved toward the sell button, a savage stench tormented me, as if it had been lying in wait.

"The Team Leader must think I'm a clueless idiot."

The man had come out of concern for me, and I'd scowled and turned him down. The stench had me shuddering from head to toe—there was no way I could have smiled through it.

"But it did go up in the end, didn't it?"

The nose that had sniffed out money with uncanny precision at the Research Center was working exactly the same here at the Trading Division. And what did it mean that a stench hit me whenever I reached for the sell button? That the Han-seong Steel I was holding had further to climb from here.

"Then when am I supposed to sell?"

Sell when the stench finally stopped?

Ding~.

An alert chimed out of nowhere. With seven monitors at my workstation, I wandered for a good while, unsure where to look.

"Money came into my account?"

Sure enough—the Team Leader had deposited additional funds into my account.

"……2 billion!?"

Startled, I checked it again and again from my seat.

"W-why would he give me this?"

Every thought under the sun flashed through my head at once.

Was it because my expression had been so foul earlier? Because I hadn't followed the order to sell? Or was he handing me even more money so I'd lose it all and then be shown the door?

Of course, maybe he'd seen possibility in me after watching Han-seong Steel jump 25 percent. But I hadn't even realized a profit yet—so why add not 200 million but 2 billion won?

"……."

It would have been a lie to say I wasn't rattled. This was a unit of money I'd never laid eyes on in my life. And they were telling me to trade with it, just like that. Of course I was scared.

But at the same time, another emotion was raising its head.

The hunger to prove myself.

It was true that I'd delivered results again and again since arriving here. And yet there were still people who eyed me with suspicion. Just lucky, they said. They must think it was a fluke.

So what if, in this very situation, I delivered again with 2 billion won?

Wouldn't they have to acknowledge my ability—beyond just making me a full employee?

Gulp.

At the thought, strength gathered in my hands.

'……All right.'

It was true I'd gotten in as an intern on luck. But I had no intention of being dragged around in a daze forever. My ability might be chance—my will was never allowed to be.

The moment I made up my mind—

"!?"

What was this intense fragrance?

A refreshing scent of lime swept past, and at the same instant a heavy scent of iron mingled with it in an uncanny harmony.

I strained every nerve and drew a deep breath, hunting for the source.

"Could it be?"

To check, I rested a finger on the sell button. As if to say, not here, you fool, a vicious stench slapped the bridge of my nose.

"Then where on earth is it?"

I followed the fading trail slowly, carefully. And where it led was none other than the documents Juim Han had left with me.

"There was no signal when I looked at them earlier."

But ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the moment I turned a few pages, the compressed fragrance burst out like an explosion.

"……!"

Soon the words fixed at the top of the document bored into my eyes.

The intern had cost him some time, but Team Leader Oh was a trader too. He refocused and threw himself back into the market.

"Tsk. Those foreign bastards. Dumping the cash equities while defending ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the index with futures. Absolute punks."

Wag the dog. The tail wagging the dog.

A deception tactic: dump the underlying cash equities while propping the index up with futures. The scheme was to fool retail investors with a healthy-looking index and unload the shares on them.

"Team Leader Oh. Sorry to bother you when you're busy."

Right in the middle of his grumbling market-watch, an unwelcome visitor appeared. The risk manager—the man traders called a Grim Reaper.

"Section Chief Park. What is it? You nearly stopped my heart."

The risk team normally delivered notices by phone. Coming all the way here in person meant this was anything but a small matter.

"Team Leader. That intern who just had the new account opened."

"Ah."

So it was about that after all.

"Because the intern torched all his money on one stock? Started something with zero risk management? Except he's making money, isn't he? You didn't see Han-seong Steel? Twenty-five percent. It could hit thirty before the market closes."

The risk team, it seemed, had no idea where the intern had come from.

"That's a problem too, but I trusted you'd handle the training. One successful score doesn't guarantee a second. No—that's not why I'm here today."

"What?"

"Team Leader. Does Team 7 here happen to see shipbuilding stocks as promising?"

Team Leader Oh frowned.

"What kind of nonsense is that? Who in all of Yeouido thinks shipbuilding is promising right now?"

"Then I take it this has nothing to do with you?"

"With what?"

"The intern. With the 2 billion you added today, he bought nothing but shipbuilding stocks. Same as with Han-seong Steel—no risk management, everything in a single stock."

"Wh-what!?"

Team Leader Oh hurriedly pulled up the account activity. And sure enough, the young master had buried every last won of the additional funds in shipbuilding stocks.

"Wh-what is this!"

I'd lost my mind. Treasure documents, my foot.

There had never been any such thing. There was only a clueless chaebol brat sulking at his elders, throwing money around wherever he pleased.

"Ah."

Team Leader Oh clutched the back of his neck. This month's team bonus, it seemed, had just gone up in smoke.