Chapter 23
Chapter 23
Seeing his younger sister fuming with anger, Kim Yuseong’s shoulders instinctively shrank.
Memories of teasing and bullying her in the past only to be beaten back twice as hard flashed through his mind like a slideshow—memories he had long buried because he didn’t want to recall them.
The most memorable incident was when he had smacked her on the head and received a perfectly executed hectopascal flying side kick in return.
They didn’t fight physically anymore, but whenever Yuri got angry, the intensity of those memories still made his shoulders curl inward.
"Team Leader Kim, did you come because of the rejected investment proposal?"
"Yes. What’s the reason?"
"The reason? Obviously because the risk is too high. Startups can go bankrupt anytime, and burning twenty billion won on something like that isn’t right. Considering the financial stability of Mirae Securities, I can’t approve it."
"Financial stability? Ha, seriously. When you were the head of Asset Management Team 1, you lost at least ten billion."
"Ahem. That was because the investment environment was extremely bad at the time."
"Not because you failed to read the market?"
"That has nothing to do with this issue."
"Kim Deoksu made hundreds of billions in profit through the convertible bond investment. Shouldn’t this one be approved too?"
"That was just luck. Who could have predicted that the Japanese export restriction on semiconductor materials would suddenly become good news for Samjin Semichem, which was struggling with funding? ...Sigh."
At that moment, Yuri noticed a hint of regret on her brother’s face.
Look at that. There’s definitely something here.
For Kim Yuri, reading the expression of her second brother—who had long been her easy target—was effortless.
Unlike their eldest brother, whose thoughts were impossible to read, Yuseong was the type whose emotions were written all over his face.
Yuri became convinced there was something between him and Samjin Semichem.
"Wait, why do you look like that? That’s the face of someone who missed out. The face of someone who let the prey in front of him escape. Didn’t you get any? I followed Deoksu and made a full one hundred percent. One billion."
In reality she hadn’t followed him. She had bought a large amount because Deoksu’s returns were about to drop past negative ten percent, and then it skyrocketed.
"O-one hundred percent? One billion? ...Damn it. I’m in the negative."
"Negative? Oppa, seriously? How did that happen? You didn’t lose too much, did you?"
Yuri blinked with a genuinely concerned expression.
Seeing her appear worried about him strangely comforted Yuseong. Maybe this was what family felt like.
"Luckily it wasn’t a large amount."
"But how did you get into that trade? You didn’t have any information."
"Well, of course, Kim Deoksu was buying—"
Yuseong hurriedly swallowed the rest of his words.
Did I relax too much?
He had said something he absolutely shouldn’t have.
A chilling sensation ran through him.
When he raised his head, Yuri was staring at him with one corner of her mouth lifted in a cold smile.
That expression…
Yuseong instantly knew something had gone wrong.
"So the head of Risk Management secretly checked employee trading records and used that information for personal investments?"
"N-no, that’s not it."
"I thought the Risk Team wasn’t allowed to trade. Isn’t that a violation of company regulations?"
"R-really? There’s such a rule? That’s news to me."
He pretended ignorance.
But that wasn’t a good solution.
"So you did make a personal investment. Right?"
"W-what? No, Yuri, that’s not—"
Yuri pulled out her phone.
She immediately pressed the call button.
"Dad, have you eaten?"
Yuri’s action felt like a massive tsunami crashing into Yuseong.
If their father found out about his personal trading, he would be in serious trouble.
"What do you mean suddenly? I call you often. Anyway, I have something to tell you. It’s about— Ah, hold on."
Yuseong grabbed Yuri’s wrist.
Yuri was startled.
Fortunately, his expression showed complete surrender.
"I’ll call you later."
Yuri hung up and spoke with a cold smile.
"Deoksu’s report."
"I’ll approve it."
"And from now on?"
"I won’t interfere."
Satisfied with the answer, Yuri grinned.
"Oppa, you shouldn’t trade stocks. I’m saying this for your own good. And whatever Deoksu does, just believe in it. You have to believe to receive blessings. Look at you. Because you lacked faith, you lost money."
Being looked down on by both his father and now his younger sister made Yuseong feel bitter.
He swore to crush Yuri’s pride one day with an astonishing profit.
The next morning, while I was organizing the stocks to watch today, Team Leader spoke to me.
"Deoksu, resubmit the rejected investment proposal."
"Do I need to revise it?"
"No. I spoke with the head of Risk Management. It should go through immediately."
She spoke confidently.
Manager Choi looked curious.
"But how did you manage that? I heard the Risk Management Director is extremely stubborn. Once he’s set against something, even logical arguments won’t work."
"If logic doesn’t work, you use force."
"What? Force?"
Manager Choi looked shocked.
"I’m joking. I just explained things nicely and he understood."
"Really? That’s surprising."
"Sometimes people surprise you. And Director Kim may be stubborn and a bit twisted, but he’s not a bad person. Anyway, Deoksu, submit it quickly."
"Yes, Team Leader. Thank you for helping it pass."
"No need to thank me. Your proposal was good. And you need to succeed so our team can get a bigger bonus."
"That’s true."
Manager Choi nodded in agreement.
I logged into the electronic approval system and resubmitted the rejected document.
Team Leader approved it immediately.
Less than five minutes later, the Risk Management Director approved it.
Then the president approved it as well.
The entire process finished in under an hour.
It felt like today was going to be a lucky day.
Ten minutes before the market opened, I reviewed charts of my watchlist and planned my strategy, then searched the news.
A familiar company name caught my eye.
Samjin Semichem to supply EUV photoresist to KS Semiconductor.
Since I sold the convertible bonds, Samjin Semichem’s stock price had not risen much further.
But its revenue kept increasing.
"They’re supplying a lot to KS Semiconductor."
KS Semiconductor was the second-largest semiconductor company in Korea and the fourth largest in the world, focusing mainly on DRAM and NAND flash memory.
During the IMF crisis, conglomerates were forced to restructure overlapping investments. Daehyun Group acquired GL Group’s semiconductor division and created the company.
But after suffering huge losses due to Daehyun Group’s liquidity crisis and the semiconductor downturn, the company fell into creditor control until it was recently acquired by KS Group.
KS Group, whose main businesses were telecommunications and oil refining, had been investing aggressively since acquiring it.
But the technological gap with Samhyeon Electronics—the absolute leader in DRAM—was still large.
But recently, companies like Sammi Semiconductor and Samjin Semichem had been increasing equipment and material supplies to KS Semiconductor.
That meant KS Semiconductor’s revenue would increase.
Which meant the semiconductor downturn might finally be ending.
"Will semiconductor stocks start rising?"
If so, which would rise first—the leader Samhyeon Electronics or second-place KS Semiconductor?
The leader.
That was why people always said to invest in the number one company.
I clicked Samhyeon Electronics and imagined buying it.
There was no reaction.
Next I imagined KS Semiconductor.
The moment the word buy formed in my mind, fragrance burst through my senses.
The scent entered my nose and spread through my entire body.
It felt like walking through a forest.
I had definitely smelled this scent before.
When was it?
As I thought about it, a name appeared in my mind.
GameHub.
The stock that had given me enormous profits.
The GameHub short squeeze.
The event where retail investors united and crushed the greed of hedge funds.
Back then the scent also felt refreshing.
And now it felt equally cool and invigorating.
Wait, I knew the name of this scent too.
It was an herbal fragrance extracted from herbs.
Right.
This was eucalyptus.
A cool, refreshing scent that also carried a sense of exhilaration.
Suddenly the feeling of the scent seemed to match the situation.
GameHub had been a thrilling rebellion by retail investors against hedge funds that treated them like toys.
Then would KS Semiconductor also rebel against Samhyeon Electronics?
Could the eternal second place overthrow the fortress-like dominance of Samhyeon Electronics?
Their competition was about to become very interesting.
For now, buying KS Semiconductor stock would benefit me.
So how much should I buy?
I checked my account.
There were ninety billion won available.
Twenty billion had to go to Jalnolja, so I set that aside.
How much should I buy?
I imagined investing ten billion.
Nothing changed.
Then when I imagined fifty billion, the fragrance suddenly became clearer and purer.
This was it.
After confirming the amount, I began placing buy orders.
Putting in seventy billion at once would be foolish.
KS Semiconductor current price 25,100 won.
I placed orders in batches of one hundred thousand shares.
After each order filled, I watched the chart and order book before placing another.
I continued buying throughout the day.
Because the amount was so large, even just buying required careful strategy.
"Whew."
The market closed.
Maybe it was because I had been thinking so hard while buying, but my head felt hot.
This would be the perfect time for a cold iced Americano.
"Here. Coffee. Iced Americano, extra shot."
Team Leader handed me a cup.
"Oh? I was just craving coffee. How did you know?"
"How could I not know? It’s obvious just by looking at your face."
Team Leader knew me better than I thought.
"Thanks."
I sipped the coffee through the straw.
The cold drink cooled my overheated mind, and as caffeine began circulating through my veins—
A notification appeared at the bottom of my monitor.
"Oh. The Jalnolja investment. It’s approved."
I picked up my phone.
Jalnolja CEO Yang Jinsu was pacing anxiously around the room.
Miraculously, they had signed a two-billion-won investment contract with Mirae Securities. Only internal approval remained, and they had said there should be no problems.
But the money had not arrived yet.
It was supposed to come today.
A terrible thought crossed his mind.
Just like last time?
Sweat began forming in his hands.
The first investor had also signed the contract but later claimed the internal approval had not gone through.
At the time he believed that explanation.
But people around him later told him some investment firms deliberately did that.
It was a tactic to squeeze desperate startups into giving up more equity.
Could Mirae Securities also…
Suspicion grew in his mind.
"CEO."
The finance director entered hesitantly.
Yang Jinsu already knew what he was going to say.
Today was payday.
"How short are we?"
"About one hundred million won."
One hundred million.
That wasn’t the real problem.
Employee salaries could be delayed with an apology.
They had worked together for years.
The real problem was the construction payment due in three days.
Server expansion, office equipment, moving costs—everything added up to nearly three billion won.
They had only paid a ten percent deposit.
Now they had to pay the remaining ninety percent.
That was the real crisis.
Yang Jinsu cursed his own greed for expanding the business too aggressively.
Just then his phone rang.
"This is Yang Jinsu."
"CEO, this is Kim Deoksu. I’m sorry for the delay. The final approval just came through. We’ll transfer the funds immediately."
"Really? Thank you. Thank you so much."
Before Yang Jinsu even hung up, a notification sound came from the finance director’s phone.
"CEO, the twenty billion just arrived. Everything is solved now."
All of Yang Jinsu’s worries melted away instantly.
He felt grateful to Mirae Securities for giving him this opportunity.
While resting on the sofa in his office, his phone rang again.
When he saw the number, a wrinkle formed on his forehead.
This number…
It was Executive Director Kim Yugeon from Soft Investment.
Soft Investment was the globally famous investment company founded by Masayoshi Sung, a Korean-Japanese businessman.
Receiving investment from them alone was considered proof of a company’s viability.
And they were the very company that had signed a contract to invest in Jalnolja before canceling it under the excuse of internal approval.
Yang Jinsu answered the call.
"I didn’t expect to hear from you again."
"I heard your financial situation wasn’t good. I wondered if it might be because of us. So I decided to give you one more opportunity."
"Opportunity?"
"If you double the equity share, we can transfer the funds today. I had to personally persuade the chairman to get this condition. I know it’s uncomfortable, but this opportunity was difficult to obtain. Don’t miss your last chance."
At that moment Yang Jinsu realized their true intention.
Ah. So that’s what it was.
People who would abandon promises and trust just to grab more equity.
Even if their chairman was ethnically Korean, he was no longer Korean in spirit.
Just another Japanese businessman with two faces.
"That’s fine. We decline Soft Investment’s offer. You’ve wasted your effort."
"Wasted?"
His voice sounded irritated.
"We’ve already received investment elsewhere on better terms."
"What? Hahaha, CEO Yang, you don’t need to lie."
"I’m not lying. Mirae Securities invested. So you don’t need to worry anymore. Goodbye."
Yang Jinsu hung up.
He was angry at their shameless behavior, but he suppressed it.
They weren’t even worth getting angry over.
"Why would Mirae Securities invest in that?"
Kim Yugeon of Soft Investment was furious.
Trying to get a cheaper deal had caused them to lose it entirely.
Mirae Securities rarely made investments like this.
He couldn’t understand it.
Who led that investment?
Curious, Kim Yugeon pulled out his phone and made a call.
"This is Risk Management Director Kim Yuseong."
"It’s me."