Get Ready
When Kang Siyoon stepped into the conference room, he found his name already written on the card at the center of the table.
Interviewer: Kang Siyoon
"Just take that seat, son."
At the division head's words, Siyoon sat down.
He'd come because he was told to, but inwardly he was flustered beyond words.
They want me to conduct an interview?
In some ways he was still a rookie barely out of the gate. Even if he did have an eye for people, how much of one could he possibly have? And with a life spent as an outsider since high school, there was no way he was qualified to sit on the interviewer's side of the table.
Besides the division head, three more interviewers had been brought in from outside and were seated to his left and right.
Siyoon understood the man's reasoning. Though his title was investment adviser, he would in practice be acting as a team leader, and since he'd have to work hand in glove with his new team members, the division head had called him into the hiring interview itself.
But where are the candidates?
At that moment, a light flicked on behind the curtain facing him, revealing a row of silhouettes. Ten applicants were already waiting.
A blind interview, then.
They'd been numbered one through ten. Siyoon had once made a suggestion to the division head — that he wanted to keep his distance from the people he worked with — and this was apparently the result. That suited him just fine. He probably wouldn't be laying eyes on any of them in the future, either.
"Candidate number one, please introduce yourself. Then we'll proceed in order."
The moment the division head finished speaking, the hushed silence of the interview room broke.
"I'm Woo Tae-hoon, candidate number one! I graduated second in my class from Seohoon University's Department of Economics, and I built hands-on market experience by completing a professional trading program while running my own personal trades. Becoming a trader at Hansan Securities has been my dream since I was a child!"
The voice boomed through the room.
Next came candidate number two.
"My name is Yang Miyeong. I majored in psychology at Suan University. Though I'm not from a finance background, I've developed my trading skills through direct experience in not only the domestic market but overseas assets and the cryptocurrency market as well."
Her voice was calm and measured.
Each time a candidate finished their introduction, Siyoon marked a score on the interview sheet laid out on the table. Unable to see their faces, he could actually evaluate them objectively. Strip away the bonus points that looks and impressions tend to confer, and a person's real ability came into view.
Of course, it was hard to tell whether the confidence in their voices was genuine.
Once every candidate had spoken, the three interviewers exchanged opinions among themselves before one of them — a middle-aged man with thinning hair — slid his evaluation sheet toward Siyoon.
"Here's our take. Candidate one has excellent credentials and an outstanding academic record. He'd be starting on a contract basis, but converting him to a full-time position later wouldn't be a problem at all. Same goes for candidates six and nine."
The interviewers the division head had recruited weren't Hansan Securities employees, but they were seasoned securities men with real careers behind them in the industry.
Three positions were open. In their minds, the winners had already been chosen. The division head leaned in and asked, "What's your read, Director Kang?"
"I'd like to verify a few things first."
"Fair enough. Then let's begin the Q&A."
Siyoon soon spoke up.
"Candidate number one."
"Yes, sir!"
"You mentioned personal trading, but there's nothing about it on the résumé you submitted. When did you trade, and how much did you make?"
"Ah, that... I do have trading experience, but not at a level where I've made significant profits yet. If I join Hansan Securities, I'll study hard and become an outstanding asset to the company!"
Siyoon scratched his chin and asked another question.
"If a superior ordered you to buy a stock that looked poised to fall, what would you do?"
"That would be... something I'd have to think about."
"Even if it's a situation where waiting would mean missing the entry point entirely?"
"If it's a decision that could hurt the company, I believe it should be made carefully, after due deliberation."
He was firm in his answer.
Siyoon took out his phone and opened a stock app, then had candidate one open the same app on his end.
"Please pull up a stock called Seho Industries."
"Yes, sir."
Seho Industries was currently in decline, carving out a long red candle. After watching the chart for about a minute, Siyoon asked, "If you received an order right now to enter a long position, what would you do?"
"Th-that long seems way too risky right now. It's been falling since yesterday, and the afternoon session looks like it'll close down too, so... huh...?!"
At that very moment, the falling Seho Industries stock bottomed out and began to climb. Candidate one, caught completely off guard, shut his mouth.
"While you were deliberating, the opportunity disappeared."
"H-how is that even possible..."
The man who had handed Siyoon the evaluation sheet quietly slid the paper back off the table. The division head beside him smirked and said, "This is exactly why I called you in."
Back at the warehouse office, the workday was already winding toward quitting time. The interview itself hadn't taken long, but narrowing the field to three final hires had eaten up the rest of the afternoon.
The criteria for the final picks were execution and composure. Which university a candidate had attended, or how stellar their grades were, simply didn't matter. What Siyoon evaluated was how quickly they placed an order when given a trade instruction, and how well they kept their equilibrium when the chart turned against them.
Candidate one, who had impressed the other interviewers, was cut, while candidate two — comparatively modest on paper — passed. What Siyoon wanted wasn't a clever head. It was a fast, precise pair of hands.
While he sat on the sofa, Kim Ju-im and Choi Tae-wook opened the office door and came in.
"Director, were you out on business?"
Choi Tae-wook asked. With their boss gone for hours on end, the two men hadn't been able to contain their curiosity.
Siyoon would have preferred to be honest, but the existence of a covertly operated team wasn't something he could breathe a word about.
"Just some things that came up. Nothing you need to worry about."
"Nothing's wrong, is it?"
"Not exactly... Want to have a seat, you two, for a minute?"
Once Kim Ju-im and Choi Tae-wook had gathered onto the sofa, Siyoon spoke carefully.
"From now on, I'm going to be spending more and more time at that station."
He gestured toward the transparent booth — the one fitted out with trading monitors and equipment.
"I can't give you the details, but I've been assigned securities-related work. I'm sorry, but materials management will have to be handled by the two of you for the time being."
"That's no problem at all, sir. I've gotten the hang of it by now, and Tae-wook and I can manage just fine on our own."
Kim Ju-im answered warmly.
"Good. I appreciate you understanding. And don't worry — as director, I'll look after my staff here to the very end. That much I promise."
"Thank you, sir..."
Siyoon checked the clock. "It's already quitting time. Let's head home."
Evening, back at his apartment. Siyoon had just finished dinner and was spending time with Jeombak-i when the video intercom in the living room chimed.
Ding-dong!
He stepped closer and saw two familiar faces on the screen: Bang Yo-han and Koo Hye-young.
A whole week of radio silence, and now this?
The two of them had grown distant from him after the housewarming incident, yet for some reason, here they were at his door today. He pressed the button and spoke.
"What's up? Without even a text?"
On the screen, Bang Yo-han fidgeted before answering.
"I've been thinking it over, and we came on way too strong back then. You moved to a nice place — we should've just congratulated you. Instead we grilled you. I'm sorry, man. We brought chicken and beer. Can we come in for a drink?"
Then Koo Hye-young's voice followed.
"I'm sorry too. I jumped to conclusions about you without knowing a single thing. If I were in your shoes, I'd have been offended. Even if it's late, I wanted to apologize."
Koo Hye-young looked like a penitent on trial, her face pulled into a guilty grimace.
Truthfully, Siyoon hadn't been offended that day. He'd only blamed himself — for being unable to express his feelings the way other people could. He spoke into the intercom.
"You two have plenty to be sorry for, I guess. Come on in before the chicken gets cold."
A moment later the front door opened and the two of them filed into the living room — two whole chickens and ten cans of beer in tow. They arranged the chicken on the low table in front of the sofa, popped the beer cans, and Siyoon spoke like a man at confession.
"I grew up never having to meet people, so somewhere along the way I forgot how to talk to them. I never know whether I should say something this way or that way. So the words in my head just come straight out of my mouth as they are. I'm not trying to hurt anyone, but sometimes the words cut anyway."
His gaze turned to Koo Hye-young.
"Whatever you think of me, I don't mind. I just wanted to be honest with you too. Because you matter to Yo-han. I'm not a genius, and the way I kept people at arm's length back in college — that wasn't by choice, either. That's what I wanted you to know."
Koo Hye-young nodded slowly. Not completely, but little by little, she was starting to understand him.
Once the beer began to flow, the quiet atmosphere gave way to easy, boisterous laughter. Sensing the mood, Jeombak-i came bounding over.
Pad-dak! Pad-dak! Pad-dak!
"Oh my goodness, a robot dog?"
Jeombak-i trotted up to Koo Hye-young and launched into aegyo — the head-tilting, paw-raising puppy charm offensive.
Whine?
"Wow, look at it turning on the charm! That's adorable!"
It was a mode Siyoon had never seen before. He hadn't known Jeombak-i even had such a function.
Sensing his moment, Bang Yo-han leaned in.
"Yours truly bought that for Siyoon as a gift. Right?"
"That's right."
Koo Hye-young's eyes lit up at once.
"Really?! Where can I get one?"
"They're only sold in Japan, and they're sold out — nearly impossible to find."
"Oh... I see."
"But who am I? Bang Yo-han, robot otaku extraordinaire! I've got connections nobody else has. Want me to get one for you too, Hye-young?"
"Seriously? You mean it?"
"Of course. Hahaha!"
With Jeombak-i sitting between them, the two of dissolved into laughter. While Koo Hye-young was in the bathroom, Siyoon asked Bang Yo-han, "So — did it help?"
Bang Yo-han nodded hard enough to rattle his neck.
"Thank you, Kang Siyoon!"
A week later. Siyoon arrived at the warehouse office, took his seat behind the glass partition, and logged into the messenger.
It was a proprietary secure messenger developed in-house by Hansan Securities, and this was the first time anyone had actually put it to real use. He logged in with the ID the division head had issued him, and an English-language logo bloomed at the center of the monitor.
SST System
Short for Secret Special Trading System. The team had naturally been christened SST as well.
And the leader of this team was none other than me — Kang Siyoon.
Ring-!
At eight thirty sharp, three employees appeared on his monitor. They were the traders who'd passed last week's interview — an elite squad assembled to execute Siyoon's every trade.
"Can you hear my voice?"
"Yes! Loud and clear."
The employees answered in unison. They couldn't see Siyoon — but Siyoon could see their faces.
He hadn't planned on going this far, but the division head, invoking the need for ironclad security, had kept Siyoon's very existence a secret from his own team.
Siyoon spoke again.
"I've already briefed you on how the work will be divided. Everyone remembers?"
"Yes!"
"Then let's each walk through your assigned duties."
On the screen split three ways, the woman at the far left spoke first.
"I'm Yang Miyeong. I'm responsible for trade execution. When you give a trade order, Team Leader, I place the order immediately and report back the results. That's my primary duty."
"I'm Go Guhyeon. I monitor our open positions in real time, and if a loss limit is breached, I contact you immediately on your personal cell."
"I'm Ahn Hyeoksu. My role is providing supplementary analysis before and during the market session, and reporting my findings if any additional trades are needed."
Siyoon nodded. They had a firm grasp of the division of labor. The final call on buying and selling would rest with Siyoon, but at intervals the SST staff would feed him their analysis.
"Good. Looking forward to working with you all."
"Yes, sir! Team Leader!"
With the introductions roughly out of the way, it was eight fifty — ten minutes before the market opened. Siyoon checked the time and spoke.
"There's a stock I've been watching. Everyone, get ready."
All three SST employees swallowed at once.