No Walks Allowed
"What do you mean?"
At Siyoon's question, Assistant Manager Min let out a soft laugh. "Yesterday's meeting ran on forever. We'd cleared over a hundred percent returns on Jain Tech in just four days, but nobody could bring themselves to be the first to suggest selling. As you know, we're people who live and die by our numbers."
"To cut to the conclusion—yes. Everyone on the team made serious money off this trade, but the truth is, we were all cautious about selling. It was greed, if you look at it one way. If we'd held out until Monday, every one of us stood to earn hundreds of millions more."
"The meeting seemed like it would never end. I was so frustrated that I called you, and only after hearing your answer did my tangled thoughts finally settle. Times like those are exactly when you have to simplify. Your answer was the right one."
"There's no right answer in our line of work."
"Pardon?"
"Still, we're professionals, so I suppose we work harder than most. Checking the US markets before the bell, analyzing conditions, judging the trend, managing risk with indicators. And even after all that effort, traders still can't escape losses."
"People take profit for granted, but treat a loss like a catastrophe. In truth, the two were one and the same body right up until they split apart. Anyway, I'm glad it helped."
"You really do think differently, don't you? On a completely unrelated note—thanks to you, my bonus came in nice and fat. So when are you making good on that promise to have a drink with me? This round's on me, and I mean big."
"No, really, meeting up separately is..."
"Why? Does it look like I'm flirting? I'm not, so don't feel pressured. It's honestly just gratitude."
"Then... fine. Let's meet sometime soon."
"Sounds good. Sometime soon."
It wasn't that he thought she was flirting.
He simply found meeting people uncomfortable.
Before quitting time, Siyoon sat in front of his computer with a grave expression. Spread across the monitor were his stock account, his bank account, and his crypto account.
When he added up every asset he owned, the total came to 14.88 billion won.
He let the figure roll slowly off his tongue. "Fourteen point eight eight billion..."
Even confirming it with his own two eyes, the number refused to feel real. His assets had more than doubled since the day he'd first inherited that Bitcoin.
Should I buy a house?
With this much, he could easily buy a place and still have plenty left over for investing. It had barely been any time since he'd moved into the officetel, though, and the thought of relocating again gave him a moment's pause.
He opened a browser and pulled up a real estate site. The first thing he searched was detached houses.
Of course, Yeouido didn't have any. He widened the search to nearby Mapo and found nothing but crumbling old homes—nothing worth buying.
He'd bounced between goshiwon rooms and studio apartments since he was young, so he'd always harbored a romantic notion of a home of his own. Not the apartment most people dreamed of, but a two-story house with a spacious garden. That had always been the wish.
To manage that, he'd have to move out to Gyeonggi Province.
But he had no desire to put distance between himself and work right now. Brand-name apartments held no appeal for him either, and as he browsed, his eyes drifted to a mixed-use residential complex he'd stumbled across.
"Right on the Han River, huh."
A twenty-story mixed-use complex on the Yeouido side. Across the river, he could even make out the 63 Building.
His current officetel technically advertised a Han River view, but the river was far off and the sightline was mediocre at best.
"So this is what a real Han River view looks like."
If he did move, this complex seemed like the right choice. Around 240 square meters of exclusive floor space, listed in the four-billion-won range. The building was showing its age, but a partial remodel would take care of that.
While he whiled away a good stretch of time window-shopping for houses, Choi Tae-wook, who had been organizing the warehouse, came in.
"Sir, someone's here to see you."
"Who is it?"
"His look is, well... fierce as a bandit, and he's built like a mountain... I think he might be a gangster, sir."
Team Leader Oh?
Sure enough, Oh appeared behind them before long. "So this is the new part-timer, I take it?"
"Ah—yes. A pleasure, sir."
Seeing the frightened look on Tae-wook's face, Siyoon spoke up. "It's all right. He doesn't look the part, but he's the team leader of the trading team I used to work on."
"Ah..."
"What was that? How exactly do I look?"
Tae-wook hurried off to fetch coffee, and Siyoon and Team Leader Oh took seats across from each other on the sofa. Ordinarily the man would glower for no reason at all, but today his face seemed almost benign. The moment Tae-wook stepped out, he asked without preamble:
"You had a phone call with Assistant Manager Min yesterday?"
"Yes. She called, so I answered."
Even after hearing the answer, Oh sat lost in thought over his coffee. He set the cup down and finally opened his mouth.
"It's a strange thing, truly. I've worked at Hansan Securities for over ten years, and our team is packed with veterans of veterans—yet even we hesitated to close that position. So how does someone with zero track record come out with an opinion like yours? 'Times like those are when you have to simplify.' Right. Fair words. But in the middle of yesterday's panic, that kind of decision doesn't come easy. Only a certain kind of person can make it."
"......"
"Someone with no stake in it. Whether the stock rose or fell, that person had no money riding on the outcome."
He delivered the answer with crystalline clarity.
It had never once crossed the man's mind that Siyoon had been holding a stake in Jain Tech. Nor that the amount he'd put in ran into the billions of won.
"That sounds like your roundabout way of saying thank you. I'll take it as thanks."
"Hahahaha!"
He laughed until the office rang with it.
Once he'd composed himself a little, he spoke again. "Our Siyoon has grown up, hasn't he. Yes, it's true I've been on the receiving end of your help a few times now. Grateful? Of course I'm grateful. But I can't say how long that luck of yours will hold. As far as I can see, it's still beginner's luck."
Team Leader Oh's rhetoric was always like this—seemingly on your side, and seemingly not. It left Siyoon confused every single time. He glanced at his watch.
"Thank you for the advice. It's about time I clocked out, so..."
Oh rose to his feet at once. "A portion of these profits will be deposited into your account."
"No, I don't really need—"
"I cleared it with the head of the division personally, so consider it settled."
With those parting words, Team Leader Oh left the office. Siyoon had already pocketed plenty of profit on his own; he had no need of the extra.
Watching the man's retreating back, Siyoon murmured quietly.
"I have more money than he does, though..."
A weekend afternoon.
He lounged on the sofa, idly checking his phone.
Why hasn't he called?
By now Bang Yo-han would be out enjoying a drive with Koo Hye-young. He was curious how it had gone, but phoning in would have been awkward—it would only get in the way of the date.
While he sat there, the television switched on.
He glanced over to see what was going on—Jeombak-i had pressed the remote.
"What... did you just press that yourself?"
Woof!
He couldn't make out what it meant, but it certainly felt deliberate. On the TV screen, a drama scene was playing.
A woman walking her dog.
The moment Jeombak-i saw it, the robot began fidgeting restlessly, like it was malfunctioning.
Woof! Woof woof!
"Don't tell me you want to go for a walk."
Woof!
"You're a robot. Since when do robots go on walks?"
Grrrrrrr.
Come to think of it, Jeombak-i was an AI robot—self-learning, programmed to deliver service optimized for its owner. It appeared to have filed the owner-and-dog stroll on television under the category of "happiness." Which was the last thing Siyoon wanted.
"I'm tired."
Grrrrrrr.
There was no breaking that stubbornness, apparently.
Left with no choice, he took Jeombak-i out to Hangang Park. Sitting on a bench watching the river and the sky, he had to admit the mood wasn't bad. Maybe it had been worth coming out after all.
As he sat there, an ajumma with an enormous dog was approaching from down the path.
"Oh my. Does my baby need to do his business?"
Before he knew it, a German shepherd was standing at the bench with one hind leg raised. Siyoon shot them an uncomfortable look, and the woman said, by way of excuse:
"Don't worry. My dog doesn't bite."
At that, Siyoon reached over and stroked the head of Jeombak-i sitting beside him. Then he looked up at the woman and said:
"Well, mine does bite."
In that instant—
Jeombak-i erupted with a bark like rolling thunder.
WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF WOOF!!!
The shepherd, hind leg still raised mid-puddle, fled in absolute terror, its soul half out of its body.
Yipe-e-e-e-e!
"Oh my! The man's gone mad, I swear!"
Watching the ajumma retreat into the distance, Siyoon gave Jeombak-i's head an approving stroke.
"Good job. Though I'm starting to think walks just aren't for us."
Jeombak-i looked like it concurred.
They do say dogs come to resemble their owners.
And so, on the way back to the officetel—
Someone called out from behind him, voice raised.
"Mr. Siyoon!"
He turned to find Assistant Manager Min So-hee. What was she doing in Yeouido on a weekend?