The Senior Managing Director's Blessing
Ahn Hyeoksu's profits had swollen in an instant.
+352 million won from selling KN Ocean Tech.
Added to his existing 160 million in gains, his total profit came to 512 million won.
With that, all three employees had passed the mission. Go Guhyeon had fallen just short of the 500 million target, but he had produced a result that was more than meaningful.
While Go Guhyeon threw his arms around Ahn Hyeoksu in celebration, Yang Miyoung bowed her head and quietly wiped away her tears. It was the heart of someone thinking of her colleagues — nothing more, nothing less.
"Ms. Miyoung."
— ...Yes.
She dried her eyes and looked into the camera.
"You delivered the most stable trading of anyone over these three days. Your eye for picking stocks was exceptional, and you never hesitated or let greed take the wheel. A fourteen percent return in three days. It was an outstanding performance worthy of the name Special Team."
— Thank you.
Go Guhyeon was still hanging off Ahn Hyeoksu.
"Mr. Guhyeon."
— Ah! Yes, sir!
Only then did he scramble back into his seat.
"Mr. Guhyeon, you too were lacking in nothing as a member of this team. An 8.4 percent return. That's not something just anyone can pull off. You didn't hit the 500 million target, but you made real progress."
— Thank you.
Ahn Hyeoksu had not moved an inch.
Siyoon watched him in silence for a moment, then asked, "Mr. Hyeoksu. Are you all right?"
The man slowly raised his head.
Then, in a trembling voice, he began to speak.
— I don't know if I belong on this team. I predicted KN Ocean Tech would rise and committed serious capital to it, but the timing of my prediction was completely wrong. And the whole time, I couldn't even sell — I just paced around wringing my hands. I couldn't lead my trades the way Ms. Miyoung or Mr. Guhyeon did. For all three days, I was nothing but dragged along by the market.
A brief silence fell.
Siyoon thought he understood the taste of defeat the man was swallowing. He had hit the 500 million target, yet there was nothing simple about celebrating it. Without that last-minute surge in KN Ocean Tech before the closing bell, he might very well have been leaving the team.
"I was watching KN Ocean Tech too. The news that their new product had passed stability verification was a tremendous catalyst. Even I would have bought that stock."
— ...
"The problem was the timing of the rally — and if anyone could predict that with precision, they wouldn't be human, they'd be a god. But your window of time was limited, Mr. Hyeoksu. That's what you overlooked."
At Siyoon's pointed remark, the man nodded slowly.
"If you could turn the clock back two days, would you have chosen KN Ocean Tech again?"
— I... probably would have bought it all the same. But I wouldn't respond the way I did this time. If the move doesn't come, I'd rotate into a different stock fast.
It was exactly the answer Siyoon had been looking for.
The moment a trader admits his mistake, that admission becomes the springboard for his next leap.
"Your stock selection was superb. If the mission had run longer, you probably would have out-earned even Ms. Miyoung. But what I want is a teammate who can play multiple positions — someone who can generate returns no matter the situation, no matter the market. If you'd rather give up now, I won't stop you."
His deliberation didn't take long.
— I want to stay. Even if I have to change who I am... I want to stay on this team. Please.
There was no mistaking the resolve in Ahn Hyeoksu's eyes.
Siyoon studied his face for a moment, then spoke.
"Good. Then SST stays exactly as it is."
At those words, Go Guhyeon promptly flung his arms around Ahn Hyeoksu again.
— Hyungnim!
Before he knew it, Yang Miyoung was on her feet too, patting Ahn Hyeoksu on the shoulder.
That evening.
Siyoon spread open his laptop on the terrace of his mixed-use residential tower. A few days earlier, Bitcoin had touched 180 million won and begun to slide.
"I thought it'd run to at least 200 million."
Disappointing, but he'd decided it was time to liquidate his remaining coin position and cash out.
His holdings: 25.5 coins.
He connected straight to the exchange site and placed his sell order.
[Sell order executed!]
While he was at it, he pulled up the full picture of his assets to date. Every account he owned spread across the laptop screen.
Cash on hand from the start: 24 billion won.
4.47 billion from liquidating the coins.
8.1 billion won in cumulative profits from the SST team's trading — of which fifty percent was Siyoon's cut, putting his net share at 4.05 billion.
Which brought the total to 32.52 billion won.
Tack on his real estate — the 4.2-billion-won residential tower unit — and he was sitting on roughly 36.7 billion.
He had started this investment life with 6.6 billion.
Somewhere along the way, he'd turned it into 30 billion.
While he was checking his accounts, Jeombak-i, who had been gazing out at the distant Han River, trotted over.
Tap-tap. Tap-tap.
Woof!
"What?"
Woof!
Siyoon scooped him up and set him on the table. The robot dog immediately leaned in and, with apparent concentration, scanned Siyoon's accounts.
"And what exactly do you think you understand, looking at that?"
A heart popped up on Jeombak-i's LED face.
His tail wagged back and forth.
Well, everyone in the world knew money was lovable — robots included, apparently.
"How does a robot even know to like money?"
Grrrrr.
Siyoon scratched his head, and Jeombak-i's gaze drifted back toward the Han River. Whatever it was he thought he was looking at, he stared at the river's calm, unhurried flow for a long while.
Siyoon's own gaze followed out over the water.
Then, eyeing the 63 Building far in the distance, he murmured,
"I wonder what a building like that would cost?"
A few days later.
He commuted in to the warehouse office and stepped into his booth. He had given the mission-worn employees a day of rest, and today he had something special to tell them.
— Good morning, Team Leader!
"Yes. Good morning. You're all brimming with energy. Good to see."
The SST staff smiled brightly. He had wired 50 million won to Yang Miyoung yesterday; by the looks of it, they'd had themselves quite the celebration dinner.
"Did you all eat something good last night?"
— Yes, sir! Yesterday I had a full course meal at a hotel for the first time in my life!
Go Guhyeon answered with gusto.
Then Yang Miyoung spoke up.
— The bonus you sent made for a wonderful evening. Thank you.
"Glad to hear it. Trading is just a way to put food on the table like anything else — so on days like this, you should absolutely be eating the expensive stuff."
Siyoon let his gaze drift slowly over their faces before continuing.
"You've all probably guessed already, but from here on out, you'll be trading on your own. That said, I don't intend to drive you the way the mission did. I won't be setting target returns, either."
The employees' faces sharpened with attention, expressions asking where this was going.
"But the competition and reward structure will continue. Once a week, I'll tally your returns, and whoever posts the largest profit will receive four percent of it as a bonus."
— Four percent?!
"Earn 100 million, and that's 4 million won. Earn 1 billion, and it's 40 million. And this prize money comes out of my own pocket — entirely separate from your incentives."
— !!!
All three employees' eyes went wide.
Being a trader didn't mean every employee received the same incentive. The SST staff were all junior grade, and the incentive ratio for ordinary staff was hardly generous. Without meaningful compensation, self-motivation grew difficult — and sooner or later, cynicism could creep in.
"Will that be enough to keep you satisfied?"
— Of— of course! rookies like us don't get many chances to handle money on that scale!
Go Guhyeon answered, flushed with excitement. The other two were already burning with competitive fire.
"Excellent. Full trading begins next week. Until then, dig up candidates and analyze them thoroughly."
— Yes, sir!
He had barely stepped out of the booth when his phone rang.
— SST's returns look pretty solid. Your people must all be exceptionally talented, hm?
"Yes, sir. Every one of them produced good results in the test."
— Haha. Of course they did. You picked them yourself, Director Kang — naturally they'd perform. Anyway, about that drinking promise from before.
"Yes."
— Could you do it tonight?
"Ah..."
— Sooner is better than later, I think.
There was weight behind the Head of Division's voice.
Did he have something to say?
Then again, Siyoon had nothing waiting for him after work anyway.
"Yes. Tonight works."
— Good. Perfect. You know the sashimi place I told you about? Let's say eight o'clock there.
"Understood."
He hung up and stared down at his phone screen, head tilting.
"Huh. Why tonight, of all days?"
Evening, after work.
He arrived at the sashimi restaurant the Head of Division had mentioned. He'd assumed it would be just another sushi joint, but stepping inside, the atmosphere was anything but ordinary.
"Welcome, sir. Do you have a reservation?"
A man who appeared to be the owner asked with impeccable courtesy.
It was 7:30 now.
He'd come rather early.
"I'm not sure about a reservation... but could I wait here for a bit?"
"Might you be with Hansan Securities?"
"Yes, that's right, but..."
"Then please, right this way. A reserved table has been prepared for you."
...Had the Head of Division made a reservation for him?
He followed the owner and was shown into a private room.
"You can wait here. Shall I bring you some water or a drink first?"
"Just water, please."
"Right away, sir."
While the man was gone, Siyoon surveyed the room. Hotel-grade interior and ambiance, no matter how you looked at it. Stranger still was its size — this was a large room built for twenty.
Did the Head of Division book the wrong room?
Just then, the owner slid the door open and entered.
"Here's your water. Forgive me, but might I ask your name? I was told tonight's gathering is of a private nature."
Private?
There were two of them. How private did a dinner for two need to be?
"Kang Siyoon."
"One moment... Ah, Director Kang Siyoon. You're confirmed, sir."
Only after checking the reservation list did the man finally withdraw.
"Ha... even a plate of sashimi is hard to come by these days."
He raised his glass of water.
Wetting his throat while his eyes kept drifting to his phone.
Eight o'clock came and went without a sound.
At 8:20, the call came from the Head of Division.
"Yes, Director."
— Director Kang. Have you arrived?
"Yes. I'm waiting at the reserved table."
— Good. Just a little longer. We'll be right there.
The man cut the call with unusual haste.
Another ten minutes of waiting.
It was 8:30 before footsteps sounded outside the door.
Are they finally here?
He rose from his seat.
The door swung open, and the Head of Division appeared.
"Kept you waiting long?"
But then — behind the Head of Division, a line of familiar faces filed into the room. Siyoon could only stare at them, dumbfounded, until the Head of Division urged him on.
"What are you doing? Greet them."
Even at the man's prompting, Siyoon's mouth refused to open easily. The people streaming in were senior executives — men from that distant world he had no ordinary business with.
"Good evening, Vice President."
Siyoon's head bowed of its own accord.
"Yes. You're Kang Siyoon, are you?"
"Yes. That's right."
"I've heard about you. Running a trading team, I understand?"
"That's correct."
It was hard to hold the man's gaze.
Vice President Jo Sungwoong.
He'd never imagined he would meet him in a private setting like this.
"The company has high expectations for you. Let's do good work together going forward."
The man clapped Siyoon twice on the shoulder and passed by. Behind the Vice President came a flood of Senior Managing Directors, Managing Directors, and Executive Directors — and at the very end of the line, Senior Managing Director Cha Seungjin stopped in front of Siyoon.
"The meeting ran long, so I couldn't keep our appointment time. My apologies."
"Not at all."
"The dinner happened to be arranged right after the meeting wrapped, which is why I called you. Making introductions at a moment like this pays dividends later — when it comes time to grow your business, you'll see."
Grow my business?
He had no idea what the man was talking about.
"No need to be nervous. Think of it as a simple meal."
With that, Senior Managing Director Cha took his seat.
How is any of this a simple meal?
His stomach churned.
He wasn't sure a single bite would go down.