15
### Chapter 15
Ding.
A pleasant vibration.
I picked up the phone from the bedside table.
[Deposit: ₩300,000,000 (Ace Entertainment)]
The first settlement payment from my commercial modeling fee and drama contract had arrived.
The number of digits in my bank balance had changed.
I got out of bed and stretched.
Most people would have used this money to buy a new car or a luxury watch.
But I had no intention of doing that.
'Labor income has limits.'
Acting is a profession where you earn money with your body.
If I got sick or my popularity declined, I wouldn't be able to handle incoming work, and my income would drop dramatically.
The truly wealthy do not rely solely on labor income.
They simply own systems where capital generates more capital.
I launched the app installed on my phone.
[W Investment Securities]
The financial platform I was currently modeling for.
Without hesitation, I transferred the funds into my investment account.
[Available Funds: ₩300,000,000]
The seed money was fully loaded.
Now I just needed the skill to pull the trigger.
#
Inside the van on the way to a schedule.
I casually spoke to Kim Hyuntae, who was sitting in the passenger seat.
"Hyuntae."
"Yes, Hyungnim! Do you need something?"
"Can you get me the script of an old drama?"
"A script? Which one?"
"The Quant. I think it aired about five years ago."
Kim Hyuntae tilted his head.
"Ah, the drama about the stock market genius? I remember it. But why all of a sudden? Are you preparing for your next project?"
"No."
I answered absentmindedly while looking out the window.
"I'm the model for a financial platform now. It'd be embarrassing if I didn't know basic terminology. Thought I'd do a little image training."
"Ah...!"
Kim Hyuntae let out an impressed exclamation.
"Wow, Hyungnim. You're seriously obsessed with details. You're not just filming the advertisement and calling it a day—you actually study the industry too. Successful people really think differently."
"I'm just going to skim through it."
"Understood! I'll get it immediately. I'll use every broadcasting station contact I have and even get it professionally bound!"
Excited, Kim Hyuntae immediately started making phone calls.
A faint smile tugged at my lips.
This wasn't studying.
I was downloading software.
My brain was the hardware.
Depending on what data I loaded into it, I could become a doctor.
Or a serial killer.
Then—
What would happen if I loaded the data of a genius investor?
The eyes that could see through the market.
The intuition to read what lay behind the charts.
It was time to find out how much it could increase my bank balance.
#
That night.
My officetel.
A thick script collection that Kim Hyuntae had obtained sat on my desk.
[Drama The Quant Episodes 1–4]
The protagonist, Jang Taeju.
A legendary fund manager from Wall Street.
A cold-blooded man who eliminated emotions and trusted only numbers and probability.
The manager of a 100-trillion-won hedge fund.
A figure known as the Invisible Hand.
I liked the character setup.
"Hoo..."
I took a deep breath.
Beside me sat a tablet running the W Investment Securities app.
11:30 PM.
The U.S. stock market had just opened.
Red and blue numbers danced chaotically across the screen.
To me, they looked like meaningless clutter.
I opened the script.
My eyes moved through the text.
Jang Taeju's way of thinking.
His standards for judgment.
His perspective on the market.
The data flowed into my brain.
Preparation was complete.
I closed my eyes.
Click.
[Switch: ON]
[Loading data for role 'Jang Taeju'.]
Flash.
I opened my eyes.
The world had changed.
The charts on the tablet screen no longer looked like pictures.
The tails of candlesticks.
Trading volume trends.
The slope of moving averages.
Everything was interpreted as one massive signal.
I opened the news feed.
English articles poured in.
Federal Reserve interest-rate comments.
Middle Eastern oil price movements.
Nasdaq futures fluctuations.
Scattered pieces of information began connecting inside my head like a spiderweb.
'Remove the noise.'
Jang Taeju's instincts whispered.
Most news is garbage.
Fake signals designed to lure retail investors or terrify them.
The real information hides between the lines.
My fingers rapidly scrolled across the screen.
Then I stopped at a particular stock.
[Bio Q Pharm (Ticker: BQP)]
A mid-sized biotech company with a market capitalization of 500 billion won.
Its stock price was down 3% today.
The message boards were filled with panic over rumors of a failed clinical trial.
But—
'No.'
My eyes saw something different.
Trading volume over the past three days.
The stock price was falling, but signs of accumulation were visible.
Someone was quietly buying up shares at the bottom.
And then there was an FDA-related article posted two hours earlier.
[FDA Signals Easing of Review Guidelines for Rare Disease Treatments]
A news article no one was paying attention to.
But when connected to BQP's pipeline, the story changed.
This was...
An obvious trigger.
Tonight.
Or at the latest, early tomorrow morning.
A major announcement would break.
The U.S. market had no upper limit.
A positive catalyst could easily push returns above 30% in a single day.
Yet my heart didn't race.
If anything, it grew colder.
Certainty.
This wasn't gambling.
It was a mathematically calculated formula for victory.
I opened the purchase window.
[Available Funds: ₩300,000,000]
[Order Type: Market Price]
[Quantity: Full Position]
There was no hesitation.
Click.
[Buy Order Executed]
Three hundred million won instantly transformed into BQP stock.
I closed the tablet.
There was no need to look further.
The result was already decided.
"...Ugh."
The moment I tried to turn off the switch, a wave of intense dizziness hit me.
My head throbbed as though my brain had overloaded.
The price of processing such an enormous amount of data in a short time.
Click.
[Switch: OFF]
I collapsed onto the bed.
My head felt as if it were splitting apart.
Yet a smile spread across my lips.
I was looking forward to tomorrow morning.
A thrilling report card would be waiting for me.
#
The next morning.
Brilliant sunlight squeezed through the gaps in the blackout curtains.
The moment I woke up, I instinctively grabbed the tablet from the bedside table.
I unlocked the screen and launched the W Investment Securities app.
The loading screen passed.
Then my account balance appeared.
[Total Assets: ₩457,200,000]
[Unrealized Profit: +₩157,200,000]
[Return: +52.4%]
"...Ha."
A disbelieving laugh escaped me.
52.4%.
An overnight return.
I opened the news tab.
[BQP Soars Following FDA Fast-Track Designation]
[Wall Street Raises Target Price for BQP]
Exactly as expected.
The news had broken before dawn.
The stock price skyrocketed.
And I had been riding the very top of the wave.
Three hundred million had become four hundred fifty-seven million overnight.
Money that would normally require filming an entire drama had been earned while sleeping.
This was Jang Taeju's ability.
No.
My ability.
I spread out on the bed.
"This is insane."
Ding-dong.
The doorbell rang.
It was Kim Hyuntae.
I turned off the tablet and headed to the entrance.
"Hyungnim! Good morning!"
Kim Hyuntae greeted me brightly as he stepped inside.
An iced Americano was in his hand.
"Hyungnim, you're looking good today. Did you sleep well?"
"Yeah."
I accepted the coffee with a smile.
"Slept like a baby."
"You seem to be in a good mood. Something good happen?"
"My investments did pretty well."
"Investments?"
Kim Hyuntae chuckled.
"Come on, Hyungnim. Since when do you invest? You were up all night reading that script again. Looks like your character research went well."
It was obvious he couldn't even imagine that I'd actually invested in stocks.
To him, it was all part of my acting preparation.
"Something like that."
I didn't bother correcting him.
"The research went very well."
I took a sip of coffee.
"The results were quite clear."
"I knew it! You're a genius, Hyungnim. This commercial is going to be a huge hit too."
Kim Hyuntae raised a thumbs-up from behind the steering wheel.
I responded with a faint smile and turned my gaze toward the window.
The sweetness of capitalism.
It had been proven by a 52.4% return.
But the real sweetness lay elsewhere.
Then—
Bzzz. Bzzz.
My phone vibrated in my pocket.
After checking the caller ID, I looked mildly surprised.
[Senior Park Juyeon]
Since Tracking, we hadn't spoken much.
"Hello, Senior. It's been a while."
"Kang Seojun, you're busy these days, aren't you? It's hard to even get through to a superstar like you."
Park Juyeon's voice was bright.
Her usual playful tone remained, but there was also a trace of genuine acknowledgment beneath it.
"A superstar? I just got lucky."
"Luck? Too much humility becomes arrogance. Do you have any idea what's happening outside right now? Everywhere I go—the salon, the gym, the café—people are talking about you."
She wasn't exaggerating.
Doctor Criminal.
After opening with an astonishing 8.4% rating, the drama had surpassed 10% with Episode 2.
Now, with Episode 4 airing, it was approaching the dreaded 15% barrier.
Its momentum was unstoppable.
Competing dramas were falling one after another.
Every broadcast day, real-time search rankings were dominated by "Han Jaei" and "Kang Seojun."
It was a full-blown phenomenon.
The public had fallen in love with the sociopathic doctor.
After years of kind and righteous doctor characters, viewers found Han Jaei refreshing.
A man who discarded emotions and crushed every obstacle through pure competence.
Advertising offers flooded in.
Ace Entertainment's stock price kept reaching new highs.
My market value had soared to a level incomparable to what it had been during Tracking.
"Honestly, I'm jealous to death."
Park Juyeon complained jokingly.
"When we worked together, you started with minor roles and then supporting roles. Then you met writer Kim Heeseon and suddenly shot into the sky."
"I told you, I was lucky. It's thanks to all the guidance you gave me during Tracking, Senior."
"Ugh. Listen to yourself."
She sighed.
"Anyway, congratulations. Sincerely."
Her voice became noticeably calmer.
"But Seojun, that's not the only reason I called today."
"You have another matter?"
"Yes. Actually..."
She hesitated briefly.
"There's someone who really wants to meet you."
I frowned slightly.
"Meet me? Is it an interview request or a casting offer?"
"You could call it a casting-related matter. He's such a big figure that contacting you directly would've been awkward. Since he knows me, he asked me to act as a bridge."
A big figure.
If an actress of Park Juyeon's stature called someone a big figure, it wasn't an ordinary person.
"Who is it?"
I straightened in my seat.
After a brief pause, Park Juyeon finally spoke the name.
"Heo Hoetaek."
For a moment, it felt as though the air inside the van had frozen.
Heo Hoetaek.
The living legend of Chungmuro.
The master director behind City of Beasts and Red Night, films considered textbooks of Korean noir cinema.
A giant who possessed three movies that had surpassed ten million viewers.
The dream director every actor wished to work with at least once.
And now—
He wanted to meet me.