Surging Stocks

What met my eyes on the chart was a pillar of red fire, shooting upward as if it had lost its mind.

Huh? Wait—wait, wait—

And at the sight of it I bought again, before I knew what I was doing, like a man under a spell. But I was so tense that I made one fatal mistake.

Damn it. I didn't buy five million won—I bought fifty million!

I'd only meant to get the order in fast, and in that rush my entire fortune went in with it. A moment later, the figure that stamped itself in red—the color this market used for a gain—left me with nothing to say.

Fifty-three... million...

Three million won!!!

What was three million won? Someone's monthly salary. The kind of money a person came ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠by only after studying until their bones ached, working, honing whatever talent they had, getting into a company, and earning a reputation among the people around them as reasonably solid—saving a little, buying the things they wanted to eat, and, if they were careful, even traveling now and then.

That kind of money. A month's income someone out there might be desperate for. I had just made it with a single click, in a single minute.

But that was the moment.

A chill.

My body moved before my thoughts did. The instant that cold prickle raced through me, I hit sell.

Am I... am I out of my mind?

Apple's share price, as if to mock the six percent it had just climbed, plunged seven percent the second I was out.

Why... why was the swing this violent? And on the largest company in the world by market cap?

Heart hammering, I searched the internet for Apple.

The Apple Car...? A stock thrashes like this over a single sentence from the CEO?

A seven percent plunge sounded enormous, but the truth was milder. It had been down one percent, climbed six, then fallen seven, which left it, in the end, down two. And yet inside that violence, I had made three million won.

"Ha... hahaha..."

A sharp thrill climbed my spine. I looked at the chart again, and it was still a brawl between a mad pillar of fire and a mad waterfall. To slip out at the very top of a thing like that—who else could have managed it but me?

I dragged both hands, slick with sweat, down my face, and thought.

This ability of mine... this is a complete cheat, isn't it?

It was the first time my knack for sensing when something felt wrong—my danger sense—had ever been of any real use. I even caught myself wondering how I had lived so properly, so earnestly, all this time with a gift like that. And just like that, I had gone and found the right way to use it.

...For now, I should stop here for today.

I closed the app and let myself fall asleep. I was due at work in three hours.

It had been a hard day, the same as always, and I had gone to bed far later than usual. Even so, as I drifted off, a grin I couldn't suppress kept tugging at my mouth.

5:00 a.m.

Beep-beep-beep-beep-beep!

The alarm went off, and a day exactly like every other day began.

No. Not like every other day.

As of last night, I was young and rich. Three million won richer.

My steps on the way to work had never been so light. The laborers who, same as always, skipped the safety calisthenics to smoke in a corner looked beautiful to me. Even the creased face of the electrical team lead—who, as he always did out by the TBM, casually offloaded his work onto the facilities team—looked strangely distinguished today. The department head's face, the first thing waiting for me the moment I stepped into the office, looked beautiful to—

No. No, it did not.

"Assistant Manager Chae."

"Yes, sir!"

"...Something good happen? I need those documents I asked for this morning finished before three."

Even under the department head's usual waterfall of work—

"Yes! Understood!!!"

—I was simply, helplessly happy. Everything was.

My head stayed clear while I worked. Ideas kept surging up, my fingers dancing over the keys as if they were a typewriter, and the morning was gone before I noticed.

Then it was lunch.

"Chae, good work this morning."

"You too, Assistant Manager Kim. Jjamppong? Spicy seafood noodles?"

"Yeah. Come on. We'll take my car."

I needed to be a little careful with my face in front of Assistant Manager Kim. Hadn't he lost money on Samsung Electronics just yesterday?

"So, the reason Samsung Electronics dumped at the close yesterday was..."

His usual stock analysis, picking up right where it always did, no longer sounded purely boring. It was interesting. Fun, even. He seemed to feel that I was actually listening, and the two of us talked the whole way to the Chinese restaurant.

"And an order of the crispy garlic chicken, please!"

"...Chae. Just because I'm paying, you're ordering whatever you want without even asking?"

A joke, but with a bone in it. I hurried to follow it up.

"Come on, do I look like that kind of person? Of course I'm paying."

"What's this? Suddenly generous? You make money in the market?"

"Ah, well... I actually started trading, and I made a little yesterday."

"That's all it was? Please. How much could you even have made... And you shouldn't walk around showing it off when you do. It can come back on you, Chae. I know you're excited because you're up right now, but stocks can plunge again any time..."

I flinched at that.

He's right. There's nothing to gain from going around bragging that I made money.

Even while my mind was elsewhere, he kept talking for a long while.

"Yeah. On beginner's luck you can easily pick up a few tens ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of thousands of won. But people can't help getting jealous. That's just how relationships work..."

Mm. Solid advice. Worth remembering.

While we talked, the crispy garlic chicken and the jjamppong arrived, and we kept gossiping over the food.

"So how'd you make it? I won't ask how much."

"Ah... the stock I bought yesterday jumped all of a sudden, so I sold and got out."

"...Huh. I didn't think you had it in you, but you've got a bold streak, don't you? You day-traded a surging stock?"

Something I couldn't ignore had just come out of Assistant Manager Kim's mouth.

"...A surging stock... a day trade?"

"Yeah. You got in and out of one of those theme stocks that keep spiking and crashing, right? I tried it once. Got lucky and made a hundred thousand won at the start, then lost two hundred thousand trying to do it again. Figures you'd have the feel for it—you took your profit and got out clean."

"Well... I did take profit and get out, yes..."

"Then I'll eat this garlic chicken with a clear conscience. Thanks, Chae."

He said it while neatly popping three pieces of the chicken into his mouth, one after another. The chicken was not the point.

Surging stocks...?

After the meal I went to pay—not just for the chicken, but for the noodles too.

"He's already paid for all of it and left."

At the clerk's words I hurried over to Assistant Manager Kim, who was already smoking.

"Assistant Manager Kim, the noodles were great. If I could get your account—"

"Haa... No, Chae. Today's on me."

I stared, startled, at the man exhaling smoke, and asked again.

"Sorry? But I ordered the chicken meaning to pay for it..."

"Don't. A rookie's first profit ought to be spent on himself if he wants his luck to keep running. I'm the one who dragged you into the market, so this much I can buy."

"I... even so, that's..."

My conscience jabbed at me. But he only smiled, gave my shoulder a couple of pats, and went on as he climbed into the car.

"Yeah, Chae. If you're really that grateful, next time you've got something that feels off—or a good stock—share it with me, yeah? Get in. I'm going back to sleep."

"...Thank you, Assistant Manager Kim. That was a great meal."

After that conversation, my thoughts wouldn't settle.

The ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠truth was, making three million won in the market hadn't changed anything that mattered. I was still nothing but a worker-ant assistant manager, grinding so the work wouldn't fall behind. I was still the one catching the bombs of extra work dropped by the department head and the other teams.

"Chae, on your way to the facilities check, could you look this over for the architecture team too?"

Manager Kim from the architecture team—a bear of a man who shamelessly dumped his work on other people every single time, too lazy to go out to the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠site—was the same as ever. And in fact the work hit so hard, pawned off on me from every side, that at some point I didn't even have room to think about surging stocks.

Even so, right up to the moment I thanked Assistant Manager Kim for driving me all the way home and stepped into my one-room apartment, a corner of my mind was still full of them.

Like a man possessed, I finished every bit of housework, sat down at the computer again, and pulled up the surging-stocks screen in my brokerage program.

Then the market opened. I watched for a little while, and I couldn't stand the pounding in my chest. A surging stock was a place that swung between heaven and hell. What I had gone through yesterday on Apple—a six percent spike, then a seven percent crash—was happening here every single minute.

The back of my head buzzed. All day I had been turning over a single scenario, and now, right in front of my eyes, it was showing me it could be real.

This was not, in any real sense, a sound market where you invested after looking at what a company was worth. This was speculation. It was closer to betting odd or even.

And when it came to odd and even, I could look at the answer sheet and know which was which.

So, without quite meaning to, I guided the mouse once more to the red buy button.

Once more.

Click.