Seoha's Leading Room (1)
Seoha studied the documents carefully for a long while.
Jang Youngmin had at least made an effort — the complicated graphs and the breakdown of investments by asset class were summarized as simply as possible.
Even so, it would have been quite a stretch for an ordinary six-year-old to read.
Of course, Seoha was not an ordinary six-year-old, and she understood every bit of it.
Hmm... should I act a little smarter?
Until now, Seoha had pretended to steadily build her general knowledge by reading the newspaper and watching the news whenever she had a spare moment. She'd judged that suddenly being seen as some prodigy girl would wear both her and her parents out, so she'd restrained herself from showing off as much as she could.
Granted, in this era there really was no better medium than newspapers and the news for getting a read on the times... but that didn't make it any less boring. It wasn't a variety show — who could find it fun to watch nothing but the news every single day?
Honestly, the kids' channel Oppa watches was more fun...
Her body was still that of a small child, and Seoha's body couldn't help reacting the instant it caught sight of Transform! Magic Princess and the magic academy kids' drama.
Tch... is it because my brain isn't fully developed yet?
When Seoha lingered on the page with the stock holdings, Jang Youngmin asked, "Are stocks what you're most curious about?"
"...Yes."
In truth, she'd been wondering why Transform! Magic Princess was so fun for her, too...
"Why?"
"Stocks... have high volatility."
"...Volatility?"
Jang Youngmin asked in genuine surprise. Seoha already understood the concept of volatility?
"Do you know what volatility means?"
"Yes. It means the thing that moves the most."
She answered right away. An unmistakable cleverness was spilling out of Seoha's bright, sparkling eyes.
Before he knew it, Jang Youngmin asked again, "Savings accounts, bonds... why is it that stocks have more volatility than those?"
It was a far too difficult question to ask a small child — so difficult that even Jang Youngmin, the moment it left his mouth, thought, oops. Startled as he was, he'd thrown out a question that was obviously beyond her.
And if Seoha couldn't answer it, she'd only feel discouraged...
But his worry was brief.
Ah, whatever. If it's come to this, I'm going straight through the front.
Seoha steeled herself and answered.
"A savings account pays you interest, and with bonds, what you'll get back is fixed. But stocks — if the company does well, they can go up a whole lot more."
"...Or they can drop a whole lot."
"Which is exactly what volatility is."
Jang Youngmin was silent for a moment.
The explanation wasn't especially technical. It untangled the difference between savings, bonds, and stocks at the most basic level — nothing an adult who'd glanced at a financial paper a few times would find remarkable.
The problem was that the person saying it was his six-year-old daughter.
"Where did you learn all that?"
"From the newspaper. It's in your paper every day, Dad."
Seoha answered with perfect composure.
"You read the paper and you understand all of this?"
"If I don't know something, I look it up."
"With what?"
"There are dictionaries. And the internet."
Jang Youngmin's expression grew a little strange.
He had often thought his daughter was smart. She'd learned to read early, understood what adults said, and remembered whatever was explained to her once. She never threw tantrums — remarkably composed, really. She so rarely cried that at first they'd worried she might be developmentally slow.
Still, all of that fit comfortably within the category of "a bright child."
This was different.
As Jang Youngmin saw it, Seoha hadn't simply memorized definitions — she understood that each asset class had its own character.
"Then do you know this, too?" Jang Youngmin tapped the edge of the document. "Why is most of your money in savings and bonds rather than stocks?"
Seoha could have answered immediately.
Principal preservation and liquidity management. It was, after all, a portfolio that fit precisely into the category of safe assets — the very purpose of managing a minor's wealth. She could even have gone further and brought up the trustee's fiduciary duty.
But that's probably going too far...
Even a frontal assault had its limits. Seoha thought for a moment, then softened her answer.
"Because I'm still young."
"What does that have to do with it?"
"I don't need to make a lot of money right now, do I? So there's no reason to take risks. In other words, I'm invested in assets that don't have high volatility."
Jang Youngmin's eyebrows rose again.
Seoha tapped the return figures written on the paper lightly.
"You can make a lot with stocks, but you can also lose a lot. So right now, not losing is more important — isn't that why?"
"...That's right."
Jang Youngmin nodded slowly. This time, she had explained it exactly.
"Who taught you?"
"I told you, the newspaper. And the internet."
"The newspaper doesn't teach things this kindly."
"If you read several of them, you can piece it together."
Seoha said it as if it were nothing at all.
Jang Youngmin gazed at his daughter for a long moment, then chuckled.
"I guess your dad was underestimating you."
I am a child, though.
Seoha didn't bother saying that part out loud.
Until now, she'd deliberately dialed back what she knew, worried about people looking at her strangely. But if she was going to be involved with money going forward, she couldn't keep acting like a six-year-old forever. At the very least, she needed to loosen the reins a little with Jang Youngmin.
Seoha looked over the stock holdings again. A handful of large-cap domestic and foreign stocks were mixed in, but their share of her total assets was small. For a wealth-preservation mandate, the structure wasn't bad — but in Seoha's eyes, it was a shame all the same.
It's such a waste to leave it like this.
Not that she could just ask him to hand over all of it. Setting aside the legal issues, Jang Youngmin would never allow it.
Seoha did a quick mental calculation and spoke up.
"Dad."
"Hmm?"
"Can I try it too?"
"Try what?"
"Investing, I mean."
This time, Jang Youngmin couldn't even laugh. Investing? Out of nowhere? From a tiny six-year-old?
"You?"
"Yes."
"With this money?"
"Yes."
"No."
Jang Youngmin answered flatly.
Seoha, as if she'd expected it, only blinked once.
"Why not?"
"Why? Because you're six years old."
"It's my money, isn't it?"
"It being your money and you being free to manage it are two different things."
Seoha knew that, too. Just because property was under a minor's name didn't mean the minor could call up a brokerage and place orders worth billions of won at will. Legally, a minor needed a guardian's approval for everything until coming of age.
Jang Youngmin pushed the documents aside and said, "And no matter how smart you are, stocks aren't something you can handle with just a little studying. When real money is on the line, it's a completely different game."
That was fair. If a little studying were all it took to make money, the richest people in the world would be economics professors.
But Seoha had never intended to ask for everything from the start.
"Then give me just a little."
Jang Youngmin narrowed his eyes at his daughter. What on earth was this adorable little lady thinking?
"A little?"
"Yes. As a test."
"How much are we talking?"
Seoha thought for a moment.
"About 300 million won."
"..."
Jang Youngmin's expression turned odd.
"Seoha."
"Yes?"
"Is 300 million won what you call 'a little'?"
"Out of 3.3 billion, that's about nine percent. It's a portion, isn't it?"
"...Right. It is a portion."
"That much math I can do."
Jang Youngmin ran a hand across his forehead. His daughter was certainly good at arithmetic, but...
300 million won was by no means a small sum. Yet as Seoha had said, it was a small share of her total assets. Even if she lost half of it, her overall wealth wouldn't take a real hit — and above all, if Jang Youngmin himself controlled things from the sidelines, there'd be no chance of losses spiraling out of hand.
The problem, in the end, wasn't the size of the money.
"Why do you want to run it yourself?"
This time, even Seoha grew a little careful. How convenient it would be if she could just say, Because I know the future.
"I want to check whether what I've been thinking is right."
"And what have you been thinking?"
"Which companies will grow from here on out."
Jang Youngmin's gaze shifted, subtly.
"You know that, Seoha?"
"That's why I want to try."
Seoha went on in a level voice.
"I put money into the companies I think are right, and if I'm wrong, I look at why I was wrong. Honestly, with actual money on the line, I think I'd pay much closer attention than I would just reading about them in the paper."
Jang Youngmin considered it for a while.
Her reasoning is sound. At the very least, this isn't some impulsive I-want-to-buy-stocks whim...
Seoha had been born with Haewon Group blood in her veins. When it came to the economy, she ought to know more than ordinary people.
There's no bigger headache than a child who starts treating money lightly at a young age, but...
She had shown up with logic that was, at minimum, persuasive to him.
"Seoha. Do you understand how large an amount 300 million won really is?"
"Yes."
Seoha nodded. Well, she should — she knew enough to understand how frightening money could be.
After all, this was 2006. With a little stretching, 300 million won was enough to hire ten fresh Haewon Group employees for a year.
Jang Youngmin deliberated deeply, and at last he nodded.
"Alright."
"So I can do it?"
"I haven't agreed to anything yet."
Jang Youngmin cut in. "If I let you do it — what would you buy?"
As if she'd been waiting, Seoha closed the folder.
"American stocks."
"Why the US, of all things?"
"Because that's where the tech companies are."
"Tech companies?"
"Computer and internet companies."
Jang Youngmin's face grew more serious than before.
"Specifically."
Seoha organized the candidates in her head.
Knowing the future, her options were practically endless. But that didn't mean she planned to pick the single steepest riser and dump all the money into it.
If her very first investment — a full allocation into some little-known company — promptly multiplied several times over, explaining that might prove more trouble than the profit was worth. More than anything, investing wasn't a game where knowing the future meant piling everything into one stock.
Variables could always arise. Who knew?
Thinking all of this, Seoha said—
"I want to buy the most Apple."
"Apple?"
"Yes."
"You mean the computer company?"
"They make the iPod, too."
And before long, they'll make the iPhone.
Before and after the iPhone, Apple became a completely different company. Right now it was worth only twenty to thirty percent of Microsoft's market cap — but in the future, wasn't it the company that would reach number one in the world?
Even now, considering how the stock had climbed on the feverish iPod boom, its destructive potential was beyond words. Truly, the world before the iPhone and after it were two entirely different worlds.