12 Hours After
A very ordinary white collar worker, Han Sang Hoon.
One day, he came late to work and there he finds a strange destiny called [12 Hours After]
Read 12 Hours After - Chapter 1 - A Strange Fate online free - Light Novel Full
Translator: Khan
Editor: RED
"This stop is Yeoksam, Yeoksam, the door to get off is on your right."
The subway door opened, and I, who was standing by the door, started running forward like lightning.
"Beep!"
Climbing up the stairs, I swiped the transportation card and began to climb again.
I did not exercise much at all, so my breath quickly ran out. The sky seemed to turn yellow, but I could not stop moving. While running, I looked at my cell phone in a hurry. The clock was pointing at 8:50 a.m. It was up to me whether I would be late or not. I kept running without stopping.
The company was right next to the subway exit. If I left the exit, I would see a crosswalk. I only needed to cross one road. I ran up the subway escalator like lightning. The blue sky came into sight, and now being late was up to the traffic lights of the crosswalk. After leaving the subway station, I immediately looked at the traffic lights of the crosswalk. The traffic light flashed green, and there were only three seconds left.
"Ah…"
If I wasn't Usain Bolt running at full speed, I wouldn't be able to cross on time. I looked at my cell phone clock. It was 8:52 a.m. I had eight minutes. Thinking about the waiting time for the signal, the game was already over. I was late. I seemed to hear the voice of the section chief, Heo.
"You lazy bastard, that's all you can do?"
I stood there, balancing on one leg and then the other, dropped my head, and touched my forehead.
"Oh, I…"
I noticed a small yellow and red card right in front of my shoes, which would usually be a flyer saying, "A beauty is on standby for 24 hours'" or "100% Instant Loan." I would have passed without seeing it, if it had been the same as usual. But the strange words written there caught my attention.
[Pick this up and look at the back.]
[You won't get in trouble even if you are late today.]
'What is this?'
I lifted it. It looked like an ordinary card flyer. But it was written in yellow on the red background, 'Pick this up and look at the back. You won't get in trouble even if you are late today.' I giggled with it in my hand.
'Whoever thought it up… it is clever marketing. Are they targeting people who are late, like me?'
I turned the card around and looked at the back. It said, [Send me your main email address at 919-31413-11721]
'This is funny…'
The only content was a funny phone number. It did not start with 010, nor did it have four digits at the end.
'Is it some kind of fun, or a fraud?'
I was thinking of that, and a lot of people beside me started to cross the crosswalk with a quick pace. The light was blue. Without realizing, I put it in my pocket and started running across the crosswalk. It wasn't to avoid being late, I was already late. It was just because I felt like had to show them that I had run, only to be less late than a minute.
I ran again with my poor stamina. I stood at the door of the company again and looked at my watch.
[9:02]
Two minutes late, breathing hard, this might be excused a little, a little less. I opened the door and went in. I quickly looked for section chief Heo. But I could not see my superior who nagged me every day. Just in time, an employee, Kim, who had joined the company at the same time, was passing by.
"Hey, Han Sang-hoon. You are late, aren't you?"
I asked him, "What about section chief Heo?"
"Ah… he was hospitalized last night for his appendix."
I was surprised. "What?"
When he saw me, Kim smiled and said, "You are lucky. If section chief Heo had come to work, you would have been severely told off."
Kim left and went back to his seat. I naturally put my hand in my pocket. I look at the card and murmured the phrase there.
"You won't get in trouble even if you are late today…"
'Coincidence?'
It was a strange thing to call it a coincidence. I turned the card over.
[919-31413-11721.]
Still, that funny phone number was written there. If it had been an ordinary day, I would have laughed at it and passed, but strangely, I was attracted to it.
'A business email, not a frequent email address… Should I send one that I don't use much…'
Remembering the old email address I had made during my school days, I wrote it down and texted it.'
Bring!
However, as soon as I sent a text message, I got a reply right away.
[Thank you. Free subscription has begun.]
'Free subscription? Are they sending me some kind of erotic photos?'
Maybe the flyer was a promotion for an adult site. I recalled adult sites I used to access while avoiding my parents' eyes when I was a kid.
'It is old-fashioned… Who would pay to see some kind of erotic photo lately? Well, if anyone is caught in something like this, they may pay for it…'
I turned on the Internet window and opened the mailbox I had left behind without using much. There were 999 emails in the left-over mailbox. I clicked on it. There were plenty of familiar spam emails.
[This is team leader Kim Mi-young. You can borrow up to 40 thousand dollars.]
[Car insurance in the news. Check it out now.]
'These are not going to be…'
But there was an email at the top of the list, with a prominent title. Under the title was written 12 Hours After. It was a simple email.
12 Hours After? Isn't that an erotic photo?'
I tried to click on it. But I noticed something strange. The sender address was completely empty.
'What is this?'
There was no sender. I had never received this kind of email before. It reminded me of what I had seen in newspapers.
'Awareness of emails from hackers.'
'Virus transmission via email'
'Clicking one moment starts data hacking'
It seemed that I had seen such an article in the recent social section.
'What do I do?'
I was worried for a moment and checked the window in the lower right corner. My virus protection's real-time surveillance was on.
'There's nothing to lose.'
I decided to open it with a left-click. Soon the message was open on the monitor. Seeing it, I shouted inside, 'What is this?'
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Translator: Khan
Editor: RED
There were only two lines in the email.
[Politics Economy Society Life/Culture World IT/Science Entertainment Sports]
[You can subscribe to only one news item a day.]
The eight categories above were, in a way, categories of a newspaper. The category was a dark blue color, which seemed to be a moving link when I clicked it. I unintentionally moved my cursor over 'Politics, which was at the top, but the phrase below it bothered me.
[You can subscribe to only one news item a day.]
'Only one news item a day?'
Just one line of explanation, there was nothing else. I moved the cursor left and right with my chin in one hand.
'If I have to see one…'
I clicked on 'Entertainment' without thinking about it. Soon, a linked article appeared on the window.
[The cause of death of the king of pop, Roger 'Knight' Jackson was assumed to be a drug overdose.]
[The king of pop, Roger Jackson was found dead around 8 p.m. Korean time today. According to the U.S. coroner's autopsy…]
'What? Roger Jackson is dead?'
I was surprised. Roger Jackson, the king of pop, better known as his stage name, Knight, was one of the most influential artists in the world. As a fan of his, I, had never missed putting "Blue Rain", one of his hit songs, in my music player's playlist since college, when I had learned about him.
'… really?'
I looked for the media that had sent out the article, because sometimes the tabloids that were targeting celebrities, especially in the United States, often posted ridiculous fake articles. However, it was strange. In the news, there was nothing about it, such as the name of the press, the time of the upload, and so on.
'What…?'
I looked down at the bottom of the article.
[… there is a wave of memorials of fans who honor him all over the world.]
There was no name or email address of the reporter who wrote the article at the end of it. It was absurd.
'An article is basically written based on trusting the reporter. Even tabloid news that writes stories about UFOs or 911 conspiracy theories as facts, also states where the article was published or who wrote it.'
Nevertheless, this article did not have any such thing at all.
'What is this?'
I left the news on, clicked on the new window, and pulled out another window. Then I hit 'Roger Jackson' on the search engine. Soon an article about him popped out.
[The concert tickets of Roger Knight Jackson in Korea were sold out in three hours. -Union News]
[The old man is not dead. Roger Jackson earned $40 million during his World Tour. -Today's Media]
[The pop star Roger Jackson, who is about to visit Korea, will release a new song a week from now. -Koryo Daily News]
Most of the articles were filled with stories about his concert in Korea, and his new songs. There was not a single line of articles about his death. I returned to the original article via Alt Tab. The article was clearly reporting Roger Jackson's death. It was in great detail.
[The direct cause of the death of Roger Jackson was an overdose of Fentanyl, an opioid…]
'It's strange…'
I read the article again. But it was a fake news, no matter how I looked at it. It was a very well-made fake news article.
'If it's a fake news, they don't need to make it this well…'
I thought so, and suddenly I panicked.
'Oh, my God! A Virus!'
At the thought, I hastily turned the page off. As soon as I turned the window off, I launched the vaccine program.
'This is definitely a spam email, given the fact that they made the fake news so sophisticated. At the same time as clicking, a strange program such as a virus is installed to destroy the computer.'
'What do I have to do? If I lose my work documents…'
I first unplugged the Internet line, plugged a work USB into my computer, and moved important documents to it. Then, my feet shivering, I waited for the virus protection program to run through the computer. Using three different vaccine programs, I had it virus tested, and I looked at a message on the monitor an hour later.
[No viruses detected.]
"Hoo-oo…" I breathed a sigh of relief.
'This is enough… there may be no virus.'
After this much work, even the most difficult virus would have been caught in the net. Then a question came to my mind.
'If it weren't for delivering a virus… then what was that article?'
I was thinking of it and someone called me.
"Hey, Han Sang-hoon."
As expected, it was the employee Kim who joined the company at the same time, and who told me about the hospitalization of the section chief Heo.
"Yes, what?"
"Section chief Heo is going to be out of the hospital this evening, and we don't need to visit him, so let's go have a drink with the guys who joined the company at the same time."
I had not had a good drink in a while since I was afraid of Heo. I readily agreed. "Okay."I woke up from sleep and grabbed my head in the way.
"Ouch, headache!"
The sound of pain came out of itself. I sat on the bed and looked back on yesterday, the first round at the beer pub, the second round at the nearby Tripe restaurant, taking an hour off at the karaoke, and a third round at the folk tavern. I could not remember much after then. I looked around in a hurry. Around the bed, were my cell phone, my wallet, and my briefcase for work. I could relax then. I must have come home safely after drinking too much yesterday.
'Hoo-oo… yesterday I had beer, Soju, Makgeolli… I drank too much mixed liquor."
I got up, grabbing my head with a splitting headache, but my stomach hurt. I came to the kitchen, holding my stomach, and put water in a yellow brass pot. It had been eight years living apart from my family. Now I could cook ramen even with my eyes closed. I laid on the sofa, but at the sound of the water boiling, I put in the staple fiber and noodles and waited for it to be cooked. Ramen was soon completed. I took it and put it on the table and drank a spoonful of soup.
"Keuheu…"
Finally, I felt better. I took my phone out of my pocket and started to use chopsticks. I picked up the hard-boiled noodles with my right hand, and turning on my cell phone with my left hand, I opened the Internet window. Then, at the exact moment I brought the noodles to my mouth and started to chew, I spat out them out, because the front page of the portal site was covered with the news that I had seen yesterday.
[Pop star Roger Knight Jackson was found dead in his house…]
[The cause of death of Roger Jackson was Fentanyl…]
[An undying wave of mourning of the world through Blue Rain…]
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Translator: Khan
Editor: RED
As I wiped my mouth, I read the article carefully.
[American singer Roger Jackson, more famous for his nickname "Knight," was found dead around 10 a.m. local time in the United States today. According to the coroner, the cause of death is drug abuse…]
There were only a few words different from the article I read yesterday, but they were almost identical. I read a few more articles. As such, they were written in a similar way, only in different expressions. I listed the articles in chronological order.
Roger Jackson died around 8 p.m. Korean time. The first article in the breaking news was exactly 8:12 p.m. I got up from my seat. Heartburn was not important now. I took the laptop lying in a corner of the room, turned on Internet Explorer and went straight into my mailbox. But the email that I had seen yesterday was gone.
'What? I did not delete it.'
I searched my mailbox more, back and forth, and even the trash can, just in case. But I couldn't find the email I had seen yesterday. I scratched my forehead. At this point, I thought I was possessed by a ghost.
'Did I… drink too much yesterday?'
No. It had nothing to do with alcohol. Yesterday, I saw the email at work. Drinking was after work. I stopped for a while on the spot.
'What the hell is this?'
It was like being possessed by a ghost or a goblin. But then the cell phone in my hand beeped once more.
This was the second time. If I did not get ready now, I would be late. The monstrous Heo would return a day after being hospitalized with appendicitis. Once I put aside the weird email, I started getting ready for work."It was good without me yesterday, wasn't it?" Heo stared at me with his mouth flexing. I had no choice but to stand silent. "Hmm? You wanted me to stay in the hospital forever, didn't you?"
I wanted to tell him exactly what I had in my mind. 'Yes, you son of a bitch.'
But that would make me even harder to work at the company. I said with my head down, "No… No."
"Is that so? Who else writes the report like this?" Heo tapped me on the head with the report I had written yesterday.
"What's wrong with you? If you don't have sweat for a day, don't you get to work properly? Huh?"
Heo was stuck in the position of section chief for 10 million years without promotion, while his colleagues were promoted one by one, but then turned around and became our section chief. When we thought about his age, he was practically demoted. But he released his stress on his subordinates. I had to bear his nagging all over.
'Cause you're so incompetent that if you do that to me, what will be changed?'
As I listened to him, I thought of something else, but on the surface, I had to answer helplessly with my head down, "…yes"
Heo looked at me with my head down and said, "Return to your seat."
I returned to my seat with my head down. It had been a year and a half since I had joined the company. In the youth unemployment era of one million unemployed people, I entered the company after barely passing through the job crisis, but the good time was only for the first month or two. I worked overtime every day without being paid, and my salary was small. Every day, I was squeezed by my boss and worked. I had to suffer from severe stress every day.
'Damn it, I really want to quit.'
I used to talk to myself several times a day, but I couldn't do it, as I was born with a plastic spoon in my mouth. I had spent four years attending a private university with a tuition fee of over five thousand dollars a semester, and I had to work for several years without income after graduating, just looking for a job.
Far from having saved money, I still had ten thousand dollars left in the student loans that I had not paid back. If I quit my job, I had to worry about the monthly rent right away. So no matter how bad things went, no matter how evil my boss was and if the company was hell, I could not quit.
'Shit, I'm going to lose my eyes.'
After watching the monitor all day, I blinked and leaned back in the chair. Naturally, the office clock came into my eyes. It was Friday evening at eight. It was Friday night, so-called TGIF, but I couldn't get out of the office because today our team was working overtime. It was not that special because the nature of our company called us to work on weekends.
Heo said, "Let's get it over with today. It's the only way to rest on holidays."
"Yes~"
"Yes."
It was like a threat that if we did not do it properly today, he would call us in on the weekend. On TV, people said that the Labor Standards Act had been reinforced, but our company ignored such a thing lightly and pushed employees too hard. However, we could not express complaints. If we did such a thing, we would be labeled as whistleblowers and would be disadvantaged not just by our company, but also by other companies.
'The law is far away, and the boss is close… It's not much different than a real gangster…'
I stretched out, thinking this.
Then, I could feel the look of someone staring at me, from the seat Heo was in. Like a spring, I put my hands right back on the keyboard and mouse.
'Damn it.'
In the company, there was only work, work, work. While this overtime work would not necessarily increase productivity, this company seemed to think that the result would be good, since it pushed employees so hard.
'If I had a beer at home and watched TV… I'm sure I'd do a better job tomorrow.'
I looked at the monitor with a blank look, thinking of it. But suddenly, in my head, the email I had seen this morning came to mind.
'The email'
I was overworked all day, and I forgot it, but it was a strange email. It was like someone had seen the future and told me in advance.
'However… it was gone. What happened? I'm sure I did not erase it.'
If I did not take my eyes off the monitor, Heo would think I was working. I entered my email account. Once again, that email was there.
[12 Hours After]
'What is it? … Was it an error?'
However, the email was not marked as read. I saw the time they had sent it.
[July 25th, 8:55 p.m.] This was not the email I had seen yesterday, but this morning.
'It's a new email, isn't it?'
I put my cursor over the email and hesitated whether to press the left button for a moment. I could run a virus test, but I was afraid.
[Politics Economy Society Life/Culture World IT/Science Entertainment Sports]
[You can subscribe to only one news item a day.]
My eyes once again went to the phrase "You can subscribe to only one news item a day." Last time I read it, I concentrated on the words, 'only one news item a day.' In other words, it meant "At least one per day" would be sent.
'Well… it was certainly not a virus. So… what shall I look at this time…'
Rather than hard news such as Politics and Economy on the left, I wanted to touch the news of Entertainment and Sports on the right side. I circled my mouse cursor, and this time I touched the Sports category. Soon a window opened.
[Lotte escaped two consecutive losses with a dramatic come-from-behind victory over Hanwha]
Lotte, Hanwha, they were baseball teams.
'Is this baseball news?'
I clicked on the window.
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Translator: Khan
Editor: RED
There was an article in my mail window, which was about the size of a sheet of A4 paper. I began to read it with my chin in my hand.
[The Lotte Giants won a dramatic drama in a match with the Hanwha Eagles. The Lotte Giants, who led 2-0 after a series of mistakes in the early part of the game, chased the Hanwha Eagles down to the wire with a single by the fourth batter Jung Sung-hoon and a double by the fifth batter Kang Yong-jin. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Hanwha pitcher Choi Yong-wook, who had runners on the second and third base, threw two balls and couldn't withstand the pressure, making a careless pitch, and giving the finishing homer to the sixth batter, Kwon Hyuk-joon…]
After reading the article, I quickly summed up the result.
'…well, to sum up, Lotte was behind 0 to 2 and then won 3 to 2 at the end. But when is this game?'
I stopped by the sports broadcasting site on the portal site with the mail window left behind. It wasn't difficult to find a baseball game schedule and the result. There were a lot of baseball games going on tonight, as usual. Among the many baseball teams, including Nexen, SK, LG, and Samsung, I found the schedule of Lotte and Hanwha.
'The game of Lotte and Hanwha is there…'
There was a red light on it, saying 'in the middle of the game'. Now, it was at the beginning of the ninth inning. And the score was…
'Hanhwa 2 vs. Lotte 0.'
I doubted my eyes. It was exactly as it was written in the article.
'As long as this article goes… Now the turnaround…'
I went back to the sports site and brought in the text broadcasting.
[One-out situation, the fourth batter Jung Sung-hoon comes to the batter's box.]
I compared it to the current situation while doing an Alt-Tab. It was exactly as it was written in the article. I was a little nervous.
'Is this really happening?'
– The first pitch is a ball that falls outside. It's a ball. The second pitch is a fast-faller. It's also a ball. Jung Sung-hoon is good at picking the ball. The third pitch is a hit. It's a single. The fourth batter Jung Sung-hoon did a good job in a crisis situation.-
It was just as it was written in the article. I swallowed.
– The fifth batter Kang Yong-jin comes into the batter's box. Will he be able to save the spark of the last chase? The first pitch is a hit. It's big, big. Will it go over the fence? Does it pass over?-
'It's not going over the fence.'
– The ball is bouncing inside after hitting the fence. The outfielder is hurrying up to catch and throw it. Jung Sung-hoon stops at the third base. It's a double.-
Runners were on the second base and the third base. I got a little goosebumps. Now, when the fifth batter hit a home run, this article, this prophecy would come true. I muttered unknowingly.
"It's… it's real…"
But then a voice came from behind.
"What are you doing? I cannot bear you anymore."
I was so surprised that I closed the window I was looking at. Behind me was Heo staring at me as if he was going to eat me up.After leaving the company, I grabbed hold of my head.
'Since you do such things at the company, your work results are awful, aren't they? Huh?'
Heo's voice seemed to be ringing in my ears. Of course, I was blamed so much because I was watching a baseball game while I was at work. Heo was the superior who was bothering me by catching the mistakes that I did not usually have, and with this one, I would be harassed for a month.
"Hoo—" I sighed.
'Do I have to do this until I get to old enough to retire? Getting a little bit of a salary, do I have to do this stupid, unceasing, endless work with such a fucking boss?'
This was slavery, slavery! Who would call the Republic of Korea a liberal democracy? Without money, we had to be slaves of our own free will.
'I want to quit even if I have no debt…' I was thinking about it.
"Look at the highlights of the day!"
A bald man was watching today's highlights with his smartphone at the crosswalk in front of the company. As I saw it, I remembered the results of the baseball game.
'Oh, yes, what happened to the baseball game?'
I picked up my cell phone and skillfully entered the sports page. I looked up the result of the match between Hanwha and Lotte today.
'The game ends with Lotte 3: Hanhwa 2.'
I murmured once more, "It's… it's real?"
I read the details of the game, after the spot in the ninth inning I had seen earlier.
– The sixth batter Kwon Hyuk-joon comes into the batter's box. The first pitch is a ball that goes far outside. The pitcher Choi Yong-wook is out of control. Is the second pitch a strike close to the inside? Ah, it's a ball. The referee declares it a ball. The third pitch is a hit. It goes straight out! It's a home run, a home run! It's Kwon Hyuk-joon's finishing home run!-
It was exactly as it had been in the article.
'What the hell is this?'
I was confused. I went to the mailbox I hadn't used, and I tried to read it again. But the email had disappeared from the mailbox again this time.
[Click now and you get a 70% discount.]
[Lasik? LASEK? Don't worry!]
Only unnecessary advertisements were filling up the mailbox.
'What the hell is this?'
Last time, I thought I had a hangover, and I just passed it, but this time it definitely was not. Apparently, the email was telling me what would happen twelve hours later in the future.
'What was that flyer then?'
At the sudden thought, I rummaged in my pocket. Dammit! I wore the same pants yesterday, but I could not remember where I had left the card.
'Did I throw it away?'
At that moment, a blue light came on the crosswalk in front of the company.
'Tiriri, Tiriri.'
I crossed the street. If I crossed the street, I was right in front of the subway station. It was just the spot where I had picked up the card flyer, stamping my feet as I was late. Across the street, I looked for the card flyer I had seen the other day. But there were only the same flyers as the other ones I had seen.
[100% Instant Loan]
[A beauty is on standby for 24 hours.]
I could not find a flyer saying, 'You won't get in trouble even if you are late today.'
'What was it? It's…'
I did not know what it was. Was this really a strange fate, like that appearing in the martial arts novels?
'And tomorrow… Is that email coming too? At 8:55?'
I tried to get into the subway station with that thought. But then, the signboard of the street stall in front of the subway station came into my eyes for some reason. It was a shop that I had been through hundreds of times while commuting to and from work, but it was the first time I ever acknowledged it was there.
'The ideal spot for Lotto, the second place winner. Toto, Proto Sales.'
I looked at the sparkling light for a moment, then muttered.
"Maybe… slave life… Maybe I can end it…"
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Translator: Khan
Editor: RED
"Tiriri ~ Tiriri~" The alarm rang.
"Ha—"
I rubbed my eyes, got up from the bed and looked at my smartphone.
'Saturday morning, 8:30.'
I used to sleep until the sun was up on Saturday, but I had set the alarm early today, because that email was coming soon. I got up, went into the bathroom and started to take a shower. I felt stiff in my back and my neck, as I had been working late last night.
'They said you would only get a turtle's neck and a herniated cervical disc from company life…'
I relieved the pain by putting the hot-water shower on it.
'Sang-hoon, let's just endure a little bit. Maybe you will change your life today.'
I finished showering and sat down in front of my laptop reverently, as if I were going to work. After the shower, it was 8:50 a.m. I had five minutes before the email arrived. I went to the news section of the portal site for a while.
[Politics Economy Society Life/Culture World IT/Science Entertainment Sports]
The news was exactly the same as the categories of the mail.
'I'd like to go after the Lotto if I could…'
Yesterday when I had left work, I found that the winning number of the Lotto was in the Life/Culture category. However, there was a problem here, so even if I would choose a Life/Culture category, I would have a very low probability of getting a Lotto winning number.
If I chose the Life/Culture category, something weird might come out, like 'Today's Living Point – add salt when the food is bland.'
When an article like that came up, I would get nothing.
'No matter how much it shows me the future, is this too unkind?'
I waited for the email to arrive very impatiently.
'It's 8:55.' And when the time came, I opened my old mailbox.
[12 Hours After]
It was here. I clicked on it and the contents of the email were the same.
[Politics Economy Society Life/Culture World IT/Science Entertainment Sports]
[You can subscribe to only one news item a day.]
'It looks like… What is realistic is sports. Toto, Proto! It's possible!'
I gulped down once and clicked on the Sports category.
'What's coming out of it?'
The title of the article was Spanish football news.
[Shocking Defeat of Real Madrid by Deportivo!]
'Real? Real Madrid?'
[Real Madrid suffered a shocking defeat today. On the second round of La Liga, Real Madrid, where they met the visiting team Deportivo at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, strongly pressured Deportivo in the early part of the game, as if proving an overwhelming power difference, but the mood turned sharply when defender Pepe left the game at fourteen minutes in the first half, receiving a red card and giving Deportivo a penalty kick. As a penalty kicker…]
I scoured the article quickly. Whenever I went to and from work on the subway, I often read articles like these or web novels, so I read the article quickly without realizing it. To sum up, Real Madrid, the strong team, met the weak team Deportivo and was expecting an easy victory, but the game turned around early in the game as the main defender handed out a penalty kick with a red card. With one more goal in the second half, the game was over 2:0.
'Okay, let's go get some Toto.'
I began to dress up for my outing. I had heard that I could buy Toto on the Internet, but I decided to look for an offline store. As I had never bought this Toto, Proto, I thought it would be better to ask this and that at the store with the information I had, and then make the best bet. Wearing a short-sleeved shirt, I left the house.
I lived in a studio near Nakseong University Station. When asked why I lived here, the answer was simple: the low rent. In any case, this world was about all the money. Anyway, there was a Lotto store near my studio. I reached the Lotto store with a few steps. When I opened the door, I found a black-faced, scrawny old man guarding the counter.
"Welcome."
He greeted me roughly with his eyes glued to his smartphone. I thought he was that unkind. I first stood alone in the Lotto Proto. There was a complicated OMR card and a game timetable in front.
'What the hell is all this?'
I don't understand anything from my first visit. I called the owner.
"Mister!"
"Yes?" After I called him, he took his eyes off his smartphone and showed interest in me.
"Here… what do I do to bet on the Real Madrid match?"
"Ah…" He came up to me and said, "What do you want to buy? Real Madrid… La Liga doesn't have Toto, and you have to buy Proto."
"Proto?"
On my primal question, he first checked the dividend.
"There is a game tonight… Real Madrid vs. Deportivo. 1.08 times to win, 3.01 times to draw, 10.4 times to lose."
I looked at it and said, "Well… do I have to buy this?"
"Yes, but I don't recommend it."
"Why?"
"You only get 1.08 times if you win. You can earn only 80 dollars for a hundred dollars purchase."
I said, pointing to 10.4 times next to it instead of 1.08 times. "Instead, it's 10.4 times as long as they lose."
"Well, that's because there is a low possibility. Deportivo is either in the bottom, or in the second place from the bottom. Real Madrid can't lose."
I recognized it was a good bet. There was a low probability of Real Madrid's defeat. It meant a high dividend. At the words of the mister, I smiled and said, "I'll buy this: ten times on the loss of Real Madrid."
"Are you sure? Really?"
"Yes, I want a big hit."
"Okay, well… But for the Proto, you have to buy two games tied up. Choose another one."
I opened my eyes wide to the words.
"Yes? Do I have to buy another game tied up?"
"That's how the law of our country for the Proto works. You can't bet on just one game. You have to tie up the Real Madrid game and another."
I had to think a lot. All I knew for sure was that Real Madrid would lose tonight.
"Ah… I don't want to bet on another…"
When I hesitated, the mister said, "Well… how about this one? Barcelona vs. Las Palmas. If you buy this in a bundle, you can just skip it."
Barcelona was also a strong team that was comparable to Real Madrid.
"1.06 times to the Barcelona win. If you pick this one, well… It's a forced binding, but… Those who play the Proto try to bet on these certain matches when they don't have anything to choose."
The dividend of 1.06 times was lower than that of 1.08 times for the victory of Real Madrid. This meant that the winning chance was even higher. I thought for a while.
'Real Madrid certainly loses… But I don't know about Barcelona… No matter how strong Barcelona is… It's possible that anything could happen. But… is the unexpected result going to happen twice a day? What if Real Madrid and Barcelona can't win at the same time?'
I thought it would be worth a bet. I decided to listen to the man.
"All right, then, I'll bet on the loss of Real Madrid and the win of Barcelona."
"Then, on this OMR card—"
With the help of the owner, I bet that Barcelona would win tonight and Real Madrid would lose. The final dividend rate was 11.024 times with 10.4 times multiplied by 1.06 times.
'Okay, if Barcelona plays the match properly, I will win 11 times my money.' I thought about it and handed him the ticket.
He asked me when he got the ticket. "How much do you want to buy?"
"One thousand dollars."
One thousand dollars was half the money in my account.
At my words, he glanced at me and then asked again, "One thousand dollars?"
"Yes."
He looked at me strangely for a moment. "Okay, I'll give you a betting ticket for one thousand dollars."
He picked up the betting ticket for one thousand dollars and gave it to me.
As I accepted it, I thought. 'What's the matter…?'
It was later that I learned that the legal bet for Proto for one person was only up to a hundred dollars. In these offline stores, it was an implicit act that happened publicly.
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Ding~ Dong~
The bell rang once, I heard a happy voice. "Chicken delivery!"
I went out the front door with the cash I had prepared.
"Here are boneless chicken and a draft beer of 600cc."
"It's twenty-two dollars, right?"
"Yes, it is."
I handed the cash to the deliveryman.
"Have a good meal!" he told me.
After the deliveryman left, I sat in front of my computer with chicken and beer. Being a little nervous, I felt thirsty. I opened the cap on the plastic bottle of beer before the chicken.
Chi…
The carbonic acid came out and made a refreshing sound. I tilted the bottle and poured it into the mug. The golden beer flowed out with that wonderful sound. As soon as the foam was about to overflow the glass, I put my mouth on it and inhaled. I drank one shot at a time.
"Kha-" It was nice and cool. After the glass of beer, I felt a little relaxed. I looked at the monitor, slowly pouring beer into the glass this time. The monitor had two windows. One was a window broadcasting Real Madrid vs. Deportivo, and the other was a window broadcasting Barcelona vs. Las Palmas. I opened the chicken box, licking my lips. And I thought about ten thousand dollars.
'If it works as expected… I'll make ten thousand dollars today.'
I felt happy with my imagination. My salary was about thirty thousand dollars a year. I got paid more than my peers, but it was not easy to save twenty thousand dollars a year after paying taxes and living expenses for rent. If I could earn ten thousand dollars in ninety minutes of a soccer game, it would be like being hit by a money rush.
'I'll be able to pay back my remaining student loans immediately, if it's ten thousand dollars.'
No, but when I thought of it, it might be better not to pay back my debts. If I would continue to make such a profit, ten thousand dollars would be a hundred thousand dollars, a hundred thousand dollars would be one million dollars, and one million dollars would be ten million dollars. It would not take long. If you knew the future, even ten million dollars was not that difficult. Then I could pay back the remaining debt with a few months' interest. I did the math in my mind.
'If I have ten million dollars… I can get two hundred thousand dollars even if the annual interest rate is 2 percent. Even if it's divided into 12 months… it's sixteen thousand dollars per month. Or I'm sure it'll come to seventeen thousand dollars.'
It would not take months. If I held ten million dollars, I would be able to pay back ten thousand dollars in student loans with one month's interest. I was happy to imagine such a thing. I was half drunk with beer, half drunk with such imagination and began to watch the game. Kick off. As they were in the same La Liga, the two games were played simultaneously with only a minute's difference. I watched Real Madrid play first.
'Well… in the article, it must have to be… At the first half, they lead the game, but Pepe will be sent off at the fourteenth minute…'
Just like the article, Real Madrid was pressing the other team with a high possession rate of the ball. But this was natural. If they asked anyone in their twenties walking down the street, they would say that Real Madrid would prevail in this game.
Perhaps the turning point was Pepe's red card and a penalty kick tribute. Real Madrid was a team that could not lose easily, especially at home, Santiago Bernabeu. It was less than ten minutes since the game had started.
I shifted my gaze to Barcelona. Barcelona was also pressing hard on its opponent. Though the old Tiki-taka days were gone, they were still barely giving any possession of the ball to the opponent with accurate passes and teamwork.
'Real Madrid will be as prophesied… Barcelona, you have to win.'
I prayed inward, holding the chicken leg. And a few minutes later, it was the fated time. The present time was twelve minutes. Only two minutes were left to the exit. I watched the Real Madrid game with a slight strain. There was also the Barcelona game, but right now, I was more concerned about this side.
'Will the prophecy come true again…'
Whenever I was nervous, I gulped down the beer. Twelfth minute, thirteenth minute, fourteenth minute… At last, it was the fourteenth minute of fate. I put aside the Barcelona game and set the Real Madrid game at full screen. A striker of Deportivo, who had just received the pass, began dribbling toward Real Madrid.
'It's here.'
I clenched a mug of beer. Real Madrid defender Pepe was on the run to the fast-paced striker. I thought he would have a rough foul right away, but the striker shot before reaching Pepe.
'A mid-range shot? If it is, this is out of the scenario.'
The flying shot flew precisely towards the goalpost. At that moment, I rather wanted the goal not to go in. If it did, my bet would fit in, but the article I had seen would be a lie.
'No! My ten million dollars!'
It was a relief. The goalkeeper managed to push it out. Corner kick. I sighed.
'All right. The goal… no, the foul is alive!'
I watched the game with my legs shaking. The players took their positions for the corner kick and prepared for it. The problem was that the game time was still passing in the middle of it. I watched nervously as the game time passed. Fourteen minutes forty-eight seconds, forty-nine seconds, fifty seconds…
"Hurry up and kick it!" I shouted as if I were the coach of the game. After a long pause, the kicker finally took a corner kick. And after a while, at exactly fourteen minutes and fifty-eight seconds, a long whistle rang out.
To be honest, I did not know what was going on. Only, the color of the card the referee approached and gave to Pepe was clearly visible. It was a red card. I shouted loud enough to make the studio shake. "That's it! That's it!"
At first, Pepe complained to the referee, but when it didn't work, he grabbed his head and left the area. The audience of Santiago Bernabeu's home team also looked frustrated. A Deportivo player was coming in to the penalty kick line.
To be honest, I now had complete confidence in the accuracy of the article. When Roger Jackson died, I was so busy that I could not realize it, and during the last baseball game, I didn't see it properly due to Heo's interference at work, but I couldn't help but believe it when I saw the article coming true with my eyes.
"It goes in. I'm sure!" Just as my cry rang out, the ball left the kicker's foot and stuck in the left lower part of the goalpost. I clenched my fist tightly.
"Yes!" Now the game was practically complete. It would be 2-0 in the second half, but I wasn't interested in it now.
'Barcelona… What about Barcelona?'
I now had the Barcelona game on the main screen. The game there was still 0:0. It was only fifteen minutes since the game had started, so it was understandable. But I wanted to have a fast result.
'Just in case…'
I hoped it would relieve my worries. I watched the game, tearing apart the chicken and drinking beer.
'Please! Cheer for Barcelona!'
I was sorry for our country, but it was worth ten thousand dollars. I cheered for Barcelona more than when I had cheered for the World Cup by shouting "Dae~han~min~guk!" And soon I was rewarded. At twenty-three minutes into the first half, Messi, who had received Iniesta's pass, scored a goal with an elaborate shot.
"That's good, Messi! As expected, Messi! Thank you, Messi!" I put my hands together and thanked him. If my thanks were working, Messi made a hat trick, scoring two more goals in the first half. I became his fanatic now.
"Yes, Messi is a god of soccer. God Messi, thank you, thank you!"I turned off the light and lay down on the bed. I was full of chicken, and I felt a little tipsy from the beer. I saw the results of today's game on my smartphone one last time before I fell asleep.
[Final Scores]
[Real Madrid vs. Deportivo 0:2]
[Barcelona vs. Las Palmas 6:0]
I now had a ten thousand dollars' Proto receipt in my hand.
'Yes! I was born with a plastic spoon in my mouth, but I'm done with slavery today. With this money, with this information, what should I do now? Stocks? Real estate? coin?'
Whatever I did, I could do anything. Twelve hours before others, I could get all kinds of information in politics, economy, society, culture and so on.
'With this, I can be rich. I can be a great rich man!'
The idea filled me with joy. I imagined myself this way while drunk, and fell asleep.
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I opened my wallet. There was a ten-dollar bill and a few one-dollar coins in it. I moved the bill and coins to one side and put the Proto receipt in the rest of the empty space. Then I put my wallet in my sweat pants, zipped it up, and left the house. There were more than ten thousand dollars in my pocket. It made me a little nervous to think about.
'Hoo… I've never carried a thousand dollars before…'
Before going to sleep yesterday, I looked on the Internet and it said that I could get the Proto winnings in two places: a lottery store where lottery tickets were bought and Shinhan Bank. But today was Sunday. The bank was not open. I thought I would go to the bank tomorrow, but I decided to go to the lottery store and get the winnings today because I wanted to get money as soon as possible. Ten thousand dollars was not a small amount of money for me.
'Isn't it too much? Han Sang-hoon, it's just ten thousand dollars. I'm sure others act like this when they have at least a few hundred thousand dollars. The lottery store is just a minute away from my house.'
I came out of the house that way, deceiving myself. I looked around like a thief who had robbed my house. Fortunately, there were few people in the neighborhood on Sunday morning.
'Let's go quickly, though.'
I began to walk as fast as I could. I arrived at the lottery store a minute away in thirty seconds. I opened the door and entered the store, and today there was a man there who looked like a customer. The owner, who didn't even care about me yesterday, reacted right away after looking at me today.
"Oh! Are you here?"
I nodded in a daze.
"I watched the game yesterday, too! You have a great feeling, don't you?"
"Ah, yes… well…"
The customer, who had picked up a ball-point pen in front of the OMR card and scratched his head, looked at me at the sound and said to the owner. "What's up, Mr. Jung? Did this guy earn some?"
He seemed quite a regular customer, as he called the owner Mr. Jung.
"Yes, he did Proto for the first time yesterday, but he won eleven times as much."
"Oh… really? He earned eleven times?"
I was slightly offended.
'Can he say that to someone else?'
Not knowing I was thinking that, the customer told me. "Oh, did the young friend see some football games?"
I looked at the two people. To be honest, I didn't really want to get along with these guys. The owner looked a little bit unreliable as his impression seemed a bit shabby, and as the customer's beard was a little thick, he looked like a gambling addict.
'… let's get out of here with the winnings. I will not come back here.'
In the first place, I was thinking of buying Proto by going around to different lottery stores, even if I made money this way. There might be a strange misunderstanding if I won a lot of money each time in one place. I took out the receipt straight up and handed it to him and said, "Please give me my winnings."
"Okay. Winnings, yes."
He took the receipt I gave him, and put it in the machine.
"I made sure Real Madrid lost and Barcelona won. It's been confirmed ten times." He said that, then suddenly pointed to the back of the store and said, "Come with me."
I followed him in. There was a small safe inside the store.
'Now that I think about it, it's kind of weird. The gambling wins from the country… Can he give it out like this?'
When the owner, who was fiddling with the door of the safe, opened the safe, I stealthily saw what was inside and forgot the idea. There were huge bundles of cash in the safe.
'How much is that? What the hell?'
Whether I was thinking about it or not, he muttered to himself and pulled a bundle of bills out of the safe.
"Eleven times a thousand dollars… eleven thousand dollars…" He pulled out two bundles of yellow fifty-dollar bills.
"It's a hundred-page bundle of fifty-dollars. It's ten thousand dollars for two, right?"
I nodded and got a bundle of the bills. Though they were paper bills, they were quite heavy. I threw them a couple of times into the air. Naturally, I thought so. 'But are these two hundred?
As if he felt my thoughts, the owner said, as he was closing the safe, "You can count if you want to count. There's no one here who'll see it."
I examined the bundle of bills. The band, on which was written the Bank of Korea, was not peeled off yet. I decided to trust the owner. His appearance was not so good, but the cash in the vault was real.
Inside was a cash bundle larger than the bundle I was holding. If he did business by pulling a few fifty-dollar bills, he would not be able to do business with that much money. I put five thousand dollars in my left and right pocket each. He gave me twenty fifty-dollar bills for the remaining one thousand dollars, counting them out.
"One, two, three, four…"
I got it and came right back to the counter.
The customer asked me, "What are you going to bet on today? Let me know, let me share your luck. I lost yesterday."
At the words, I shook my head.
"No… No. I'm not going to bet today."
The owner was a little surprised because I was not betting. "Really? Aren't you going to bet any more today? There's Europa League this weekend."
I was afraid I would be more tempted to stay here.
"I'll try again later."
After saying that, I opened the door and left. Right next to the lottery store was a bank with an ATM. It was not a bank that I usually used, but it did not matter if I just used to ATM to deposit. I went inside. Fortunately, there was no one else there to notice.
I put my card in and pressed the deposit button. The deposit bar opened, and I put in the hundred bundle of fifty-dollar bills from my left pocket. After I heard the sound of counting the money, a question was raised.
[Would you like to deposit five thousand dollars?]
[Your deposit is complete.]
I took the second bundle out of my right pocket once more and repeated the task. Then, after depositing twenty fifty-dollar bills, I checked the balance.
[Twelve thousand dollars]
My account, which had only two thousand dollars as of yesterday, had instantly increased by ten thousand dollars.
"All right!"
Whoever saw me or not, I fist-pumped the air. After work, I picked up my cell phone and checked the time. Time was just passing 8:58 a.m.
'Ah, today's news must already have arrived.'
I walked home, fiddling with my smartphone at a very slow pace, unlike when I had come here.
In my mailbox, an email had arrived today, too.
[12 Hours After]
I took my finger again to the Sports category without hesitation. Right now, I was going to make more money from Proto.
'What's the news coming in today?… I hope there's more big news like Real Madrid's defeat…'
I clicked on it in anticipation. But, contrary to my expectation, I could not help but stand there and stare, looking at the screen.
"… what?"
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The reason for my surprise was that when I clicked on the Sports category of my email, something else appeared instead of the familiar article.[The free subscription period for the Bronze Class is over. To extend your subscription, sign up for the monthly subscription.
Monthly Subscription Method:
If you deposit ten thousand dollars to N bank account 777-777-777-777-777 and receiver 777, You will be subscribed to the monthly subscription service immediately and you will receive a Silver Class Membership Service.
Silver Class Benefits:
You can pick three categories a day, click on the titles. You can click on the article you want. In addition, you can apply for a Gold Class Membership Service.]'What? Bronze? Silver? Class?'
It was like a concept from a game.
'I don't see the article which came out. What's this… Are these guys playing with me now…'
I tried to press the back button. By the way, I was worried that this email might disappear, too.
'Oh… no. If I go back and never get this email again…'
Then all my dreams and hopes would disappear. I swallowed and read it over again.
'Free subscription is over… Now, read the article… Do I have to pay ten thousand dollars?'
Ten thousand dollars was just what I made today. But were they asking me to pay it all away? In addition, the account which would receive the pay was also strange. Although N Bank was the well-known bank that everyone in Korea knew, the account number that listed 777 was quite unusual. If I acknowledged the account number, the name of the receiver was even more ridiculous than that. It was 777. That was absolutely ridiculous!
I mumbled, frowning, "What's this? Is it a kid's joke?"
But when I looked back at how I had got this email in the first place, there had been countless similar things, including the unknown flyer, the funny phone number, and an email without a sender.
'…let's read more.'
I read down further. The term "monthly payment" stood out.
'The monthly payment is… If I pay them ten thousand dollars, they'll show it to me for a month. Ten thousand dollars a month… Then… it's very cheap.'
Of course, there was no guarantee that articles that I received would generate money every time. In the case of the first article of Roger Jackson's death I had ever received, there was no way to get the money. However, if only one such article as "the shocking defeat of Real Madrid" appeared like yesterday, it would take only one day to get back ten thousand dollars. I put my brain to work.
'Even if I was lucky yesterday… Wouldn't two or three of those articles come if I received articles for a month?'
In addition, knowing the result of a game such as Hanhwa vs. Lotte that I had received two days ago, would still make me double or triple the money.
'Yes, considering that… It's not very cheap, either. It's a price that I have to pay anyway.'
I went down the article with that thought. The next thing I saw was the Silver Class Service.
'I can pick three categories, then I can select a news item after seeing the titles… Then…'
In that case, the expected price was even higher. The Lotto winning number which would appear in the "Life/Culture" was a very low probability, and I had never clicked on it. However, if I had an extra chance, it would be worth taking. In addition, there would be an opportunity for the Economy category that was considered the final boss. I tried to start looking at it later when I had more money, but it wouldn't be bad to experience it here in advance.
'All right, let's make a deposit.'
When I was firmly determined in my mind, I found a way to transfer ten thousand dollars.
'To transfer ten thousand dollars… I need a certificate for OTP at home.'
I walked faster toward the house. In the meantime, I noticed the last phrase.
'You can apply for a Gold Class Membership Service.'
I thought, scratching my forehead.
'What… is it Silver after Bronze, then Gold after Silver?'
If I used common sense, there would be more benefits in the Gold Class.
'Then how do I apply for the Gold Class? Is there a higher class than the Gold?'
Questions lingered, but right now there was no more information to learn. Since applying for the Gold Class was one of the benefits of the Silver Class, I thought I should sign up for the monthly payment first.
When I got home, I turned on the computer and pulled up the bank certificate for OTP from the desk drawer. I went to an Internet banking site that I usually used, signed in and applied for an account transfer service.
'The transfer amount is ten thousand dollars, and the account number to receive it is…'
When I hit the numbers 7777 in a row, I questioned myself. 'By the way… Does this stupid account number exist?'
It was a pretty natural thought.
'I don't care. Anyway, I am Alice who came into a strange country after a rabbit. Even if the hat seller leads me to a strange place, I have to follow him.'
I wrote out all sevens with that thought. The receiver '777' appeared in the small window of the "Receiver." Even though I had prepared myself in my mind, I muttered unknowingly, "Oh, my God… is this something that can even exist in Korea?"
But even if I said so, I was already getting a password through OTP.
[741503]
After inserting the 6-digit OTP password, the message 'Certified' appeared. Now, If I just pressed the transfer button, I would get the monthly service as a Silver Class Member. I took the mouse cursor to the transfer button. But at the last minute, I wondered. 'Is this some kind of fraud or trickery? Some kind of devil makes people make money and gets it back?'
That was what I thought. On reflection, the process was smooth. Even I made ten thousand dollars for three articles received.
'If I press a cancel button here and take ten thousand dollars…'
Then I could return to reality neatly and pay off the remaining student loans. That was not a bad choice either.
But then my cell phone rang once. "Yiing~"
A text message came in. The sender was the section chief Heo.
[Hey, Han, we suddenly scheduled a seminar tomorrow. I sent you an email, so check it out and prepare a portfolio. Do it right. If you don't, I'll take it into the personal performance assessment. You know your salary is raised according to the assessment, right? You've already watched a baseball game during business hours, and it has already been considered in the assessment. So, at least to make up for it, do it right, okay?]
The email roused my anger. I threw my cell phone at my computer desk and turned the mouse cursor around.
'Yes, it's not fraud. It was an article telling the future. It was a strange fate. It's a chance God gave me. This is the only way I can get away from him.'
I made a left-click without hesitation.
[You have transferred ten thousand dollars to 777.]
Then, at the same time, the cell phone that I had thrown rang once more. "Yiing~"
I picked up my cell phone. One more message was posted over Heo's message.
[Congratulations, Han Sang Hoon. You are subscribed to the Silver Class Service. Now you can selectively receive an email at 8:55 a.m. daily for a month. You can now apply for the Gold Class Service.]
Seeing the text message which seemed natural in some ways and quite strange in others, I leaned back into the chair and relaxed. I did not know what was going to happen in the future, but there was only one now. I could tell by my sixth sense that my life would be quite different from before.
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I walked up the subway stairs and came back to the crosswalk in front of the company. If I came here, I would look over the ground like I had dropped something.
[Loans for up to twenty thousand dollars on the very next day.]
[A beauty is on standby 24 hours.]
[Call now, 8282 Chauffeur Service!]
But again, there was no more of the flyers that I had seen.
'And that's… It must be a chance for only a few of the chosen ones to receive.'
I crossed the crosswalk with that idea. When I took a good rest over the weekend and crossed this road on Monday morning, I thought I would die, like I was crossing the Styx into Hell.
'Huh, there isn't much left.'
I felt light on my feet today when I thought about it. I was going to work for one more month and then resign.
'Beep.'
I swiped an employee ID, came into the company and found the office quiet. I looked at my watch and it was 8:30. Today, I came to work ten or twenty minutes earlier than usual. It was not because I was suddenly fond of the company. It was because something more important happened to me than work at the company.
It was because of the email coming in at 8:55 a.m. I sat in my seat and turned on the computer. Although it was not a work hour, I opened a work screen and turned on another window to enter my email account. The mailbox still contained 999 spam emails.
"Hoo…"
I took a deep breath, stretching my hands out like an athlete before I entered the game.
'Whatever information comes in, I will quickly analyze it and then find the best way to make money.'
That was my idea. I wiggled my feet slightly and waited for the email to come. Over time, Kim, who had joined the company at the same time, came in, and Heo the loathsome, also came in to work.
"Hey, Han Sang-hoon, you came early today."
"Hmm."
It was finally 8:55. It was time for fate. I refreshed my mailbox, somewhat nervous. And after a while, the email came.
[S. 12 Hours After]
But there was something a little different. S. was on the front.
'What is this?'
I thought about it and clicked on the email. My curiosity was soon solved.
[Silver Class Member Mail]
Ah, it was Silver's S. I looked down the email.[Silver Class Member Mail, Subscription Period left: 30 days.]
[Politics Economy Society Life/Culture World IT/Science Entertainment Sports']
[You can pick three categories a day, click on the titles. You can subscribe to only one news item a day. Please select three categories. You can apply for a Gold Class Membership. Open the guide.]The above was as directed. If there was a slight difference, there was a place to check in a square next to the category. It looked like I clicked on them and chose three. But before I could choose, I was curious about the Gold Class guide.
'What's better with the Gold Class?'
I clicked on 'Open' at the thought of doing it. The closed contents opened, and the guide came out.[If you deposit one million dollars at N bank account 777-777-777-777-777 and the receiver 777, the monthly service is updated immediately, and you will receive an upgrade to Gold Class Membership Service. We'll repay you with a service that you won't regret.]'Eh?'
I counted from the zero number of the amount written once.
'One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand…'
It was one million dollars.
'One million dollars?'
It was a big, choking amount. It was an amount I could not imagine right now, with two thousand dollars in my account. It would be worth applying for after a few months of saving money diligently in the Silver Class.
'By the way… What's the Gold Class benefit? Why aren't they telling me? They don't even say what they are going to do if I give them one million dollars… Do they want me to send one million dollars without asking or questioning?'
I wondered such questions, but the phrase in the back, 'We'll repay you with a service that you won't regret', came into my eyes. In fact, such a remark was a formal one, whether to invite Internet subscribers or to sell mobile phone services, so it was one that I passed by even when I saw it or heard it… but it was written in this email and gave me a strong sense of trust. For some reason, if I sent them one million dollars, it would have a ten million or a hundred million dollar effect.
'All right, well, I'll be right there collecting one million dollars in the Silver Class.'
Thinking of that, I closed the Gold Class guide and returned to the article above.
'I can see the titles of the three categories first, right?'
I first clicked on the box next to the Economy. Then, a line of headings came up below it.
[Economy – President Mario Draghi considers quantitative reduction in case of recession.]
It was definitely huge in size.
'Isn't Mario Draghi the president of the European Central Bank?'
He was one of the world's economic leaders. As he was the EU's economic leader, the global economy was moving back and forth on a word of his. The quantitative reduction would be a very important bit of news. But I thought I did not need to read this article now, because I only had two thousand dollars in my bank account right now. I then clicked on Life/Culture.
[Life – Tomorrow, rain all over the country. Take your umbrella.]
'Oh, this is…'
I could get all the news out of the title without having to read the full text. I was hoping to get a lottery number to win, and I was not satisfied with it.
'No, thinking of it, if the news comes… should we draw lots first?'
Lotto draws took place on Saturday night. So, if I wanted to aim for it, I should choose the Life/Culture only on Saturday afternoon.
'I had to think more and choose…'
But I learned the lesson this time and it was enough. I clicked on the Sports for the last time.
'Please, this should be on…'
[Sports – Utah Jazz beats Los Angeles Lakers to clinch third place in the league.]
'Yes, I got it.'
I almost screamed in the office. As expected, this Sports category was a possible shot. Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Lakers. Following baseball and soccer, it was basketball this time. I remembered seeing it on the Proto OMR card. It remained to see how much power difference of the two they were.
'Anyway, with this one thing, I can earn quite a bit.'
With that thought, I uttered yells of delight inward. But then, Heo called me. "Ah, Han, regarding the portfolio you sent me yesterday, come here."
"Ah, yes." I wondered what the matter was. I approached him, thinking about it.
He pointed to his monitor and said, "Look at this, the letters are too small."
He was not pointing out the contents, but he was nagging about a little thing.
'If the letters are small, you can raise their size. Don't you do it alone?'
But he scolded me with it. "Lately, director Zhang has needed reading glasses. I said you should be writing big, didn't I? Huh?"
This guy seemed to think I was a stress reliever, and he was trying to feel superior when he saw me panicking about "Yes." However, unfortunately, I was not the same person I was last week. I said with a straight face. "Oh, really? I'll do better next time."
"What?" He was rather surprised by my dignified reaction. He must have been surprised since I had never been rebellious.
He said, embarrassed, "Hey you… if you keep doing this, it will be reflected in the personal performance assessment."
That came up again. He seemed to think it was a leash that bound me. Well, it was not very wrong. If it went wrong, my yearly salary would be reduced, and my promotion would be affected.
But when I heard him, I rather grinned and said, "Well… then, I can't help it."
"What?" Having been fucked twice, Heo could not say anything if he was speechless. He probably did not know that I was no longer so obsessed with my little salary, with this damn promotion within the company.
'Huh, I'm no longer a dog with a neckline, but a lion. A lion with wings,' I thought, and I told Heo, "I'll go back to my seat then. Call me if you need anything else."
When I said it with dignity, he looked at me blankly and said nothing. I laughed at him and left.
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'Tiriri.'
The alarm went off. While looking at the monitor, I looked at the office clock. 12 a.m. It was time to have lunch.
"Let's eat, everyone. Eat your food," Heo said first.
When I was at work, there was free time given to eat: lunch time.
"Uggggh…" I got up from my seat and did a long stretch.
Choi, who ate lunch together with, came up and said, "What do you want to eat today?"
I said with a wave of my hand, "Oh… I'll eat by myself today. I have an appointment."
"Appointment?"
"I'm sorry. I'll go out first."
I got out of the company first, leaving him who had a hurt look. It was to buy a Proto for tonight's game.
'Well… Utah Jazz won the LA Lakers by a score of 103 to 95…'
I only remembered the key information, then walked toward the Proto store, just a little distance away from the company. Although it was the company that I would resign soon, I didn't want such a story to spread around. 'He bought Lotto tickets and then he left all of a sudden.'
On the way, I stopped by the toast restaurant first.
"I'd like some vegetables, cheese, and ham. I'd like coffee instead of coke. How much?"
After buying toast and coffee, I walked down the street, munching on it. It was inconvenient to buy a Proto because I was stuck at the company.
'I'll have to leave the company soon.'
In my mind, I wanted to leave the company as soon as possible, but there were three reasons why I could not. The first was money. Even if I were to be rich soon, it was in the future. I only had two thousand dollars in my hand right now, but if I could not make money for thirty days of subscription due to something such as a road accident or an accident, I would be a beggar. I was planning to leave the company after earning at least ten thousand dollars to extend the subscription period.
The second reason was because of my parents. My parents were very proud of me for getting a job during this difficult time. However, if I suddenly quit, they would have been devastated. So it seemed good that I would tell the truth to my parents only if I had some convincing arguments.
Lastly, I was afraid I would need a loan. I might want to make a loan when I got a big hit of information. I found out on the Internet that workers could easily borrow up to sixty to seventy percent of their annual salary. My salary was about thirty thousand dollars. They said that I could borrow up to twenty thousand dollars, independent of the student loans.
'If there is a clear winner, I will take out a loan and put everything into it.'
That was my plan. So… In order to maintain my credit, I should be working at the company. Right now yet. I crossed the street chewing toast. Just in front of me, a low-body Lamborghini passed through the broad daylight Teheran Road.
"Bi~ing~."
I envied him, probably the son of a rich family. I thought, putting all the remaining toast in my mouth. 'Wait, Lamborghini, Ferrari, or Bentley. I am on my way.'
I went into the Proto store with that thought.
"Welcome."
The new place was a brightly lit shop where the owner welcomed me. It was much better than that dark shop in the studio near my house.
'Hmm, yeah. This is what it's like to do business.'
I went straight to Proto, thinking about it.
'Let's see… Utah Jazz vs. L.A. Lakers…'
But the dividend rate was not very good. According to the ranking chart, both the Utah Jazz and the LA Lakers were in the upper-middle class. As their power was near the same, the dividend was not high.
'I can't help it.'
I wet my lips. However, I could not help it. Actually, there were not many dramatic games like Real Madrid.
'Well, I'll just have to fund the money until something like that comes out, slowly from day to day.'
I first put on a Utah Jazz victory, then found another one, a sure game of nearly one times.
'Hmm… there is. Jeonbuk Hyundai vs. Jeonnam Dragons… It's 1.2 times to Jeonbuk Hyundai win…'
It was 1.2 times, low dividend, but not as low as Real Madrid or Barcelona. In other words, there was a chance that Jeonnam Dragons would win. I looked at the ranking table. Jeonbuk Hyundai was the first rank in the K-League, and Jeonnam Dragons was the second in the back. Korean teams did not seem to be as far apart as other countries'.
'It's 1.2 times… Let's bet. I'll get 1.8 times as much anyway. The first team will not lose to the second team from behind. I can get a loan if I miss it.'
With that in mind, I marked Jeonbuk Hyundai and approached the owner. The owner of the store had a slight smile on his smooth appearance. It was quite a contrast to the man near my house.
"Do you want this way, sir?"
"Yes."
"How much do you want?"
I said the same amount as before. "One thousand dollars."
But an unexpected answer came back. "Oh, sir, one thousand dollars is not permitted."
I asked, opening my eyes in a circle. "Why?"
"Proto has a betting limit of up to one hundred dollars. Sir, it's illegal beyond that."
"Yes?" I almost said, 'They did it for me somewhere else.'
But before that, the owner said, pointing to the OMR card that I had marked. "Look here."
On the bottom of the OMR card, it was clearly written, 'You can bet up to one hundred dollars at a time.'
'What's that, then… there… Ah…'
Now that I thought about it, everything was strange. A mean-looking man, cash in an unbecoming safe, even a regular customer who seemed to be hooked on gambling… I had thought it was suspicious. It was something quite illegal there.
"What would you like me to do, then? Do you want one hundred dollars' bet?"
In a daze, I replied, "Oh… yes, please."
Soon the owner drew out a receipt for one hundred dollars. I walked out of there with it."Ha… It's real."
That night, I surfed the Internet at home, looking for everything about the Proto. The conclusion I had come to was like that.
'More than one hundred dollars is illegal, but there is a place where more is implicitly allowed.'
In other words, they did not accept bets for more than one hundred dollars. It was illegal to do more than that.
When I hit, 'I want to bet more than one hundred dollars. What should I do?' in the search engine, the advertisements of illegal gambling sites sprang up one after another.
[We will pay fifty dollars in cash as soon as you sign up.]
[Sure payment, no fraud]
[Compare the dividend rate with the other sites.]
Last time I didn't know much and crossed the line of the law, but I did not want to make money by committing crimes. I might be caught by the police before making money.
'Ha, what should I do? I was going to bet tens of thousand dollars through Proto…'
Of course, I didn't even think about solving everything with Proto. I was just trying to raise funds. The way cash came in immediately was easy and convenient. But as long as it was like this, I should move on to the next level.
'Well… there's nothing I can do about it… just like a warm-up… let's get started now…'
I started looking for an icon in one of the program lists by pressing the Window button.
'Let's see… Did I erase it?'
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"Let's see… There it is. Still."
I found the icon of the Home Trading System (HTS) for stocks in the corner of the computer. I clicked it twice. Then a message came out.
[This is the old version. Please download the new program.]
So it was. It was natural since it had not been used for many years. I followed the message's instructions, downloaded the new program, and looked back for a while.
'It's been… three years or four years since I turned on the HTS?'
The first time I became interested in stocks was when I was a sergeant after my short discharge. I took a book from the unit library, one of which was stock-related. Ordinary people described stocks as "a shortcut to ruin oneself," but the author who had written the book had a different view, though it would be natural to sell books.
'… stocks are a game of predicting the future, after all. In the future, as a company increases sales and expands its business, stock prices are naturally expected to rise… Some say it's a gamble to test luck, but that's not true. Stocks contain gambling elements, but that's not a big part. In the long run, stocks are a game in which the wise win.'
And when I had seen it, I had been thinking about doing it. 'The game of predicting the future… It's a game where the wise win… Shall I try it?'
After leaving the army, until I went back to school, I took advantage of that time to earn money in a part-time job. Then, I saved one thousand dollars until returning to school. I jumped into the stock market with it. And I soon realized, the person who led me down the path of the stock market said the stock was not gambling, but it was gambling. It was a nationally-run legal gambling.
'No wise man can predict the future perfectly… It's a gamble. It's a gamble where the nation is the casino owner… It's only different that instead of a dealer, the nation is taxing it.'
'The key to gambling is fun. Is there anything else in the world as interesting as gambling?'
The days when I lost hundreds of dollars were so depressing that I could not taste anything, but on the days when I earned, I was so happy. I used to enjoy other games, but since I started stock trading, I did not look at other games.
After that, I went to school and had a hard time in stocks. I bought a stock that was skyrocketing, and I hit the upper limit price. Without analyzing, I bought a stock and I hit the low limit price. I bought some scamming stocks and rode roller coasters; I bought some blue-chip stocks and held them for a while.
Like that, a year had passed. Only eleven thousand dollars was left in my account. I made a profit of ten percent. It was not a bad grade for a beginner, but it was not even good enough. It was because the KOSPI and KOSDAQ market yield was only about ten percent that year.
'I worked hard, but… It was like having a monkey pick out any kind of stock…'
The results were a little disappointing, but there was still something to be gained. It was because I came to understand what capitalism was, and I could taste people's desires, fears, hopes, and despair. Above all, stocks were interesting. Having enjoyed playing games and tasted ten percent profits, it was a very successful game.
'I would like to do more…'
But just for a year, I cut off my stock trading there. Because I had to go through my senior year in the university, and I had to start preparing for a job.
"That was already… four years ago… Time flies fast…"
While I was reminiscing about the past, the new HTS installation was completed on the computer. I double-clicked it and got into it. As HTS was a new version, its interface changed a lot. Nevertheless, there was something that didn't change, and the setting I had touched myself, like a list of "Watchlist," remained the same.
'Let's see… How are they?'
I looked around the list.Watchlist
LC Electronics $106
Comtubile $172
Andromeda Games
PJY Entertainment $21
Samsung Products $114
Kamgkeum Steel $4
Europhian TV $29The stocks in the watchlist were the ones I had traded. I searched my memory one by one from the top.
First of all, LC Electronics was one of South Korea's two major home appliance companies. I bought it on the recommendation of a stock company, but it was not good. The home appliances such as washing machines, TVs and air conditioners were world-class, but the recent intrusion by Chinese companies seemed to have reflected a little bit in the stock price.
The second stock was Comtubile. It was an unforgettable stock for me. Comtubile was a mobile game maker, and its share price skyrocketed with the game "Summoners Battle," which was released at that time. I was interested in games, and I also tried the game and invested in the stock because it was fun. I remembered making twice as much money on an investment of three hundred dollars. Actually, it was an ace of the stocks I had bought.
The third stock was Andromeda Games, whose stock price also rose by releasing mobile games. In synergy with the big gains of Comtubile, I bought it in anticipation of a rise in stock price like Comtubile. I remembered that I had lost a bit of money when the game went out. Worse yet, Andromeda Games did not have the stock price anymore.
'What is it? Is it a bug?'
Even if I double-clicked, nothing came out.
'What's wrong with the new HTS? Maybe…'
It wasn't until I searched the search box for Andromeda Games that I found out why.
[Andromeda Games has accumulated losses for four consecutive years. Audit – adverse opinion.]
[Andromeda Games' delisting results… They are going to delist it from the KOSDAQ.]
[Andromeda, a mid-size game company, disappeared into the mists of history.]
"Huh."
Andromeda Games was delisted after making losses four years in a row.
'After four years, there's something special going on.'
What was even more surprising was the next stock, PJY Entertainment.
'Wow, $21? This is, then… I think it cost about $5.'
I looked up the chart. I remembered it correctly. PJY Entertainment's stock price, which was around $5 four years ago, rose every day for nearly two years and hit $21.
'What's going on? What happened?'
I looked for the article.
[Double-up Girls also had a big hit on this single album.]
[With the crucial roles of Japanese members, Double-up Girls is ranked first on the Oricon Chart.]
[Collaboration with PJY and the Double-up Girls.]
Double-up Girls was a girl group I knew.
'Oh, Double-Up Girls is a girl group of PJY Entertainment.'
It had been around three years since its debut. The Double-up Girls, a multinational girl group made up of members from Korea, Japan and Taiwan, recently made inroads into Japan and was enjoying a good share price.
'Ah, if I had known Double-Up Girls was part of this company, I would have bought it, too…'
I touched my appetite by moving my mouse cursor. But suddenly, I remembered the phrase that was written in the stock book that I had first read. 'Stock is a game of predicting the future, after all.'
That thought made me smile.
'The future, there is no need to predict. The future is in my hands.'
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"Um…"
I sat tilted and circled the cursor around on the monitor. The email was posted again in front of the monitor.[Silver Class Member Mail, Subscription Period left: 29 days.]
[Politics Economy Society Life/Culture World IT/Science Entertainment Sports]
[You can pick three categories a day, click on the titles. You can subscribe to only one news item a day. Please select three categories. ]My worry was one thing.
'Economy, Sports… What shall I choose?'
If I selected Economy that gave a source for the stocks, and Sports, I could aim for the small or middle class hit.
'Politics… is not going to be worth money right now. Life/Culture… I can pick it up for the weekend when they draw the Lotto. World? That's too far. I don't know later, but right now… Then I should select either IT/Science or Entertainment… Let's select IT/Science because it may make a lot of money.'
When I came to the conclusion, I chose the three categories Economy, IT/Science, and Sports. First of all, the Economy news was: [Daehyun Motor Union continues their strike. The worst situation continues.]
Daehyun Motor was the nation's leading automaker. One of the characteristics of this company was a strong union. It was known that strikes were frequent. I turned on the search window right away.
'Well… that's bad news. How long has the strike been going on?
'What is important is whether the news will act as bad news for the stock. Good news is good, but bad news is also worth money. In Korea, individual investors cannot do the short stock selling for individual stocks, but through futures and options trading, they can similarly bet on the fall of the stock price.'
But this news was not very good news.
[Daehyun Motor has failed to negotiate wages. A full-scale prolonged strike is expected.]
Two weeks ago the strike took place. I saw the stock price on the day of the strike news. The share price that day was just –2%. It was a bad one, but it did not have much effect. It seemed that investors thought it was how the strikes would go every year.
'It's a bummer.'
I could not buy or sell stocks on this news. I had to look for another chance. I went on to click on IT/Science.
[Does Space Y open the space-travel age?]
Ah, this was a bummer, too. Needless to click, it would be a science fiction of something which would be ten or twenty years from now. It would be a good article for space scientists and science fiction fans.
'Next.'
What was left was Sports. I put my last hope on it, but even the last news bit me.
[Alistar Jones tested positive on a drug test.]
It was a UFC news unrelated to Proto. It was about an athlete who took a banned drug. Of course, there was no place to make a penny.
'Dirty druggies! You're fucking me, too.'
I drew a total blank today. I had expected this day to come, but now that I came across it, I felt a little flustered. I felt like I did not do today's job. I comforted myself by closing the email.
'Let's not be impatient. If I wait a little longer, I'm sure good luck will come.'"Hey, Han Sang-hoon, are you going to eat with me today?"
"Oh, sorry. I also have an appointment today." I pushed out my lunch partner, Choi.
"What, do you have a girlfriend near the company?" he asked with a tilt of his head.
"No."
I gave him a slap on the shoulder and got out of the building. The next step was the main bank, S Bank. As soon as I got there, I pulled out the number ticket for the loan. There were two people left. I thought I could get a loan within lunch time. I sat down and waited for my turn to come.
As I sat and waited, such a thought came to me. 'I can't believe I am borrowing money for stock trading. Am I doing well…'
After spending all night fiddling with HTS last night, I finally decided to get a worker's credit loan because stock was a percentage game. If I would earn ten percent with one thousand dollars, it would be just one hundred dollars, but if I would earn five percent with twenty thousand dollars, it would be one thousand dollars. So, if I was sure I was going to win, I should do the full betting, even I got the credit loan.
'It's convenient to gather in the Proto, but…'
For a moment, I thought I would go to that illegal Lotto store near my house, but I would rather stick to the law and take out a loan. Later I would be a millionaire, and I did not want to make it illegal, although I could not help it if I did not know it last time. It was not wise to take out a loan and invest in stocks, but at least it was not illegal.
'Ding dong~' The notice rang and it was my turn. I stood in front of the loan counter, slightly nervous with the number tag.
'What if the loan doesn't happen?'
But my worry was useless. It had been ten minutes since the loan screening. The loan was processed easier than I thought.
"… you'll get a text during the day when it's done."
"During the day?"
"Yes. Probably, you'll have it in an hour."
The Internet article said household debts were a problem, but the bank offered loans in just one day if we showed our working certificate and year-end settlement record.
'The bank originally earns money on an interest basis. A bank's refusal to lend is like a merchant opening a store and not doing business.'
"The name of the loan is a worker's credit loan…"
'Especially, people like me at work are good prey. The employees, the company's slaves, are less likely not to pay back, and their debts keep them going without thinking about retiring. They will pay a blood interest.'
The idea made a woman with neatly bobbed hair look like a female devil with a sweet temptation. She pointed her finger from place to place with a red manicured nail.
"Here's your minus account. The balance is zero, but the amount of the withdrawal is twenty thousand dollars. Make sure. The interest rate is 4.5%…"
As I listened to the explanation, I quickly blinked and grabbed myself.
'I'm just borrowing for a few days, just a day or two to play a quick kill. There'll be almost no interest.'
I checked the time after I received the minus account issued. There was still about ten minutes left for lunch.
'I can eat toast.'
I got out of the bank with that idea, with twenty-four thousand dollars in my arms.Since then, I checked my email at 8:55 every day. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, however, not only the Economy, but also the IT/Science or the Sports news expected did not appear.
'Am I unlucky?'
[AAA Investment Fund lowers commission.]
[The same level as humans in the Stone Age, high-intelligence monkey group found.]
[Yoo Jin-hyun sighs as he can't win even if he throws a good pitch. If the batters help him a little bit…]
Only articles with no connection with money appeared one after another. At this point, I felt cheated.
'What's wrong with it now? In the past, there appeared a series of good news that had a connection with money. I took out twenty-four thousand dollars on loan!"
However, there was nowhere to express my discontent. I couldn't tell if this sender was Heaven's Garden or Hell's Pit. Then it was finally Friday.
[Silver Class Member Mail, Subscription Period left: 25 days.]
I bit my lips as I saw the message at the top.
'It's been five days, and I've earned nothing… Isn't this just going to cost me ten thousand dollars?'
I shivered slightly and clicked on the Economy category.
[Wrong dividend distribution by Yuhwan Securities: $1 is entered as 1,000 shares. The stock price temporarily hit the low limit price.]
I looked at it with a blank stare for a while. This was definitely a money-smelling article!
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I clicked on the article without hesitation. Soon the text of the article came up.[Today, there was an incident where the stock price of Yuhwan Securities fell to the low limit price and returned. At 9 a.m. this morning, Yuhwan Securities, which had been trading steadily, plummeted around 9:30 a.m., plunging to the low limit price of –30%, and then returned to its normal price with the low price purchase, ending the rebound at –3%.
Today's sharp fall was considered a mistake of order by someone at the time, but the report said it happened due to the mistake of dividends. In the process of distributing dividends to employees, the bank paid 1,000 shares per share by mistake, instead of $1 per share.
The employees of Yuhwan Securities received thirty-five hundred dollars worth of stocks, not $1 per share. The low limit price today came about as a result of selling stocks by several employees who received tens of million dollars worth of shares in the market. The Financial Supervisory Service is investigating this case…]I read the article and put it together.
'Well… it's a ridiculous accident. It was a mistake that the employees sold shares which were accidentally given to them in large quantities. But I don't think a stockbroker wouldn't have known this was a mistake… Once he got tens of million dollars in his account, he was selling them like crazy over it…'
But whoever did it wrong or who did it right, it was up to the Financial Supervisory Service or the police. I only had to make money on this case.
'If I look at the fact, the volume is high at 9:30 and it hits the low limit price. And then it goes back and ends up at about -3%…'
Just thinking about it, I could get a 27% return. I looked at my watch. It was 8:58 a.m., two minutes before the stock market opened, and thirty-two minutes before the incident.
'I'll have to get ready soon.'
I manipulated my cell phone and transferred the twenty-four thousand dollars I had lent to my stock account. I also transferred two thousand dollars from my bank account to the stock account. Now, the amount of money I could use was twenty-six thousand dollars.
When I finished loading, I turned on the mobile tracking system (MTS) of my mobile phone. It was a system that carried the computer's HTS on its mobile phone. It was not like that four years ago, but because it was so simple, people who used MTS were more likely to use it than HTS these days.
Anyway, I put the current price of Yuhwan Securities on my cell phone. 9:00 a.m. came around and the market started. Yuhwan Securities started the sale at a –0.8%. It was an ordinary beginning. But I knew that the stock would hit the low limit price in half an hour.
'In a moment, hell is unfolding. It will be hell for a man who has shares, but heaven for him who wants to buy it. A stock is that game by nature, a cruel game that separates a person from his or her joy.'
I first checked to see if there were individual Futures of Yuhwan Securities. Unfortunately, it was not listed on the Futures market.
'Well… I can't sell it. Instead, the low limit price is aimed at buying.'
Having put my thoughts in order, I pressed the buy button. Oh, there was one more thing I needed to check on before then. I checked the article one more time. At the bottom of the article, the transaction price was written.
'Today's trading volume is estimated to be twenty million shares, worth eight hundred million dollars.'
'Eight hundred million dollars!' It was much bigger than I thought. The amount I would buy was less than one hundred thousand dollars, so it was like piss in the sea. It meant my order had no effect on the market at all. I put the order in without hesitation. After clicking "buying on margin," I bought it for twenty-eight dollars per share, which was the lowest price. It was widely-known that stock investors should not invest all the money they had in a stock.
'Buying on margin is an act of buying more shares on credit with the money I have. If my account has twenty-six thousand dollars, I can buy more stocks on margin. Usually, the smaller the fluctuation, the greater the margin is.'
As Yuhwan Securities was one of the nation's most successful brokerages, they allowed me to use 30% margin. That meant I could buy stocks equal to 3.33 times what I had. In fact, twenty-four thousand out of twenty-six thousand dollars was borrowed from a bank, so it was like making a debt out of debt. The brokerage lent me three times as much money as I had without paying any attention to whether I borrowed money, saved my salary, or sold my house to raise it.
'As can be seen in this incident, securities don't care a bit about the loss of ants, people, in the first place. Or rather, they hope people will lose their money and continue to pour it in. That way, they'll be profitable. If a bank is a devil who makes a gesture of temptation, a securities company is like a devil who takes away their souls. So, usually, margin trading is a short way to Hell.'
I had a knack for getting out of the devil's grasp, so I jumped into a fireplace.
'It's worth almost eighty-six thousand dollars… Buying.'
I put the maximum amount I could afford at the low limit price.
At that time, Heo called us together. "Hey, everybody, pay attention. We're going to have a meeting in five minutes about this month's performance improvement, so, everybody, get your ideas ready, okay?"
'Oh, that bastard… Will we get an idea just because we're having a meeting?'
Heo was a typical boss who thought that sitting at a desk for a long time would give him a good idea. It was awful to work for and to have worked for such a boss. I checked the last order I put in and then returned to work. I was still tied to the company, so I could not help feeling uncomfortable. But it did not matter. Soon I would be free.
"Our performance has deteriorated due to other companies' combined products…"
"It's a bit difficult because it's an industrial structural problem, but the more it is…"
In the course of the meeting, I felt a very short vibration in my pocket. 'Yiing~'
As I was in a meeting, I could not pick up my cell phone. I looked instead at the circular clock in the conference room. The clock struck at nine thirty. I laughed in secret. The vibration that just happened meant I was making a lot of money.At lunchtime, I was free again, and I turned on the MTS to check my cell phone. The stock price of Yuhwan Securities was surging after a sharp fall, trading in the –4% range.
'If it was bought at the low limit price…'
I searched for my stock balance.
[Shares: 3092
Buy Price: $28 (-30%)
Purchase Amount: $86,576
Current Price: $38.40 (-4%)
Valuation Amount: $118,732
Profit and Loss: $32,156]
It went off properly. I earned thirty-two thousand dollars in one day. Considering that my money was only two thousand dollars, it was sixteen times more profitable than my cash alone. After applying for ten thousand dollars' Silver Class Subscription, I spent five days thinking about it, and I now had more than enough money to make up for it in a day.
'This is great!' I fist-pumped the air.
At that time, my lunch friend Choi came and said, "Hey, Han Sang-hoon. What about today? Will you go out and eat alone today?"
I shook my head. "No… No. Let's go. I'll buy for you today."
"You're buying? What for?"
"No reason. I will just buy for you. What do you want to eat?"
"Oh… really? Can I really eat anything?"
The money I earned today was thirty-two thousand dollars. It was larger than my yearly salary.
I said with a grin, "Today, this brother will buy for you. Let's get something delicious to eat."
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"I ate well, thanks to you. I'll buy for you next time. Bang-bang!" Choi made a gun with his finger and shot me a couple of times.
"That's okay. Did you ever buy for me after you said you were going to buy?" I laughed at him.
"Hey, what do you think who I am? I'm going to buy for you next payday."
Next payday. I was not sure if I would stay at this company until then, but I said I knew for once,
"All right. Go in first. I'm going to go to the bathroom and return."
Choi leaned in and said to me. "Ah, do your business, chairman."
He made a fuss since I bought a meal once. He was a funny guy. Somehow, I stopped by the company lobby bathroom after sending him up first. I settled in the toilet and took out my cell phone. Then, I turned on the MTS. The stock price of Yuhwan Securities was fluctuating between –3% and -4%.
'The article said it ended at -3%… Then don't be greedy and let's sell it now and get out of here. Even if it's a dividend accident, even if it's a day's happening… It's bad news for the company. It may fall for the next few days.'
'Don't bet your game where you're not sure. It is a famous gambling maxim. In particular, it is dangerous to be greedy for a day or two when you have a full bet at the margin…'
'Then I will sell it without hesitation.'
I sold all my shares at a reasonable price. My account, which had only twenty-six thousand dollars in the morning, had increased by thirty-two thousand to fifty-eight thousand dollars.
'That's it.'
This would pay off all my debts and secure a monthly subscription of ten thousand dollars. This meant that I stood on a lever to raise money at a single queue.
'If this is the way it is, it will be quick to raise ten million dollars… What do I do when it is done?… I'll move to a nice house… A foreign car, I'll have to pick one of the best. No, no, no. Do I need to pick just one? I have to have two or three. Those famous hip-hop stars live like that, right? And… oh, yes, I should raise the grade to the Gold Class.'
The Silver Class I was getting was not bad, but if I went up to the Gold, there might be something else where I could earn more money. After I sold the stock, I looked at my watch. There was still about ten minutes left for lunch.
'I don't have to go back to work early, breathing the same air as Heo.'
I got out of the bathroom and bought coffee from a nearby vending machine. Then I touched my mobile phone and went to the Yuhwan Securities community on the portal site. There were countless postings in the community. They deserved it, as eight hundred million dollars worth of shares were sold in just one day.
[Wow, what was that? Order mistake? Which rich man put in the wrong number?]
[As if someone accidentally sold it to the low limit price. Only the one who bought at that time might get rich.]
[Who are you? The fool who sold $40 for $28?]
So far, people did not seem to know that it was an accident due to a mistake in dividends. I looked up the news, and even they were on the wrong foot.
[Shares of Yuhwan Securities are trading near the low limit price. Hidden bad news?]
[A sharp fall in Yuhwan Securities is found to be due to a mistake in ordering.]
They were generally aware that someone simply clicked the wrong price or misplaced the sale price. It was not common, but it happened sometimes. In Japan, a securities company sold 610,000 yen worth of stocks to the market, selling 610,000 shares for 1 yen, causing a huge loss. I'd read more.
[I should've bought it when it went down the low limit price. That was the best chance of my life. I didn't get it. Damn it.]
[Hehe, I – I bought some when it was -15%.]
[I, –7%… I should've seen it earlier.]
Some people were saying they liked it because they bought it cheap. To be honest, it was a bit of a laugh.
'Ha-ha. I picked it up at the low limit price and sold it already. You bastards.'
I read more comments. There were some people who were calm in this mess.
[It's usually hard to pick it up at the low limit price. If not for the strong of heart, it might be because of some bad news.]
[That's right, if you pick the wrong one, not only will it hit the low limit price on the day, but also the next. I heard that they are going to close the list, but the person who bought will eventually be the winner.]
[Why don't you just buy now? It's -3%… If you earn 3%, it's honey.]
[It is too much. We don't know yet what kind of hidden bad news it is.]
People talked about what happened today, but no one knew exactly why it happened as a whole. It was like touching an elephant's leg with their eyes closed and calling it a pillar, touching the waist and calling it a wall, touching the tail and calling it a rope. They would have to wait a few more hours to learn the whole story out of this case.
'This is… that's why they are ants… Just looking right in front of their nose… they can't see the sky.'
Actually, they could not help it. Ants were just ants. Few ants could look up at the sky like I did now. It would have been impossible for me, too, if it were not for the strange fate.
'Looking at this stuff, I did not see anything when I was a university student… It was so reckless…'
Lunchtime ended while I was eyeing the stock community. I threw an empty coffee can into the wastebasket, turned off the MTS, put my cell phone in my pocket and tried to go up to work. But the cell phone rang once more.
'What is it?' I picked my cell phone. There was a text on it. The sender was my mom.
"Tomorrow is Sun-young's first birthday party. I will go up to Seoul with your dad and stop by your house first."
Here, Sun-young was the daughter of my cousin. It had been a while since I went to my cousin's wedding, but she already had her first birthday.
'It's been a while. Since I'll see my mom tomorrow… That's great. If I'm going to leave the company anyway, I'm going to tell my mom and dad… I'll have to give them a hint tomorrow.'
I came back to work with that idea.The next morning…
"Ugggggh." I woke up early in the morning without an alarm. Usually, sleeping late on Saturday was my basic setting, but strangely today I woke up early.
'What's wrong with me?'
Coming to think of it, it had been from last week to receive an email.
'Oh, I see.'
For some reason, I was not tense today. Thinking of it, I used to be. The stock market was not open on Saturday and Sunday, so I couldn't have fun there.
'… People who bet on the horse races have fun only on the weekend of the game and not on weekdays… Why don't I race on the weekend? Well, if I think about it, the results of the race will be in the article… Where can I get tickets for the horse races? Culture? Life? Sports?'
Now that I was thinking about this side, I felt like I was only thinking about gambling.
'Hoo… Am I going to get into trouble like this?'
But if I thought about it, that was right. My life had to be a big deal. Otherwise, I would be kicked at work until I died at the company.
It was not just me. It was the case for all the people who were born with a plastic spoon in their mouths in Korea. Without this kind of life, they could not get out of a lower-class life by paying off a student loan, mortgage loan, and interest on those loans. In a capitalist society, they could not live as a master of their lives and had to die doing other people's work.
I decided to change my mind.
'Yes, I'd love a big deal. Besides, I received a strange fate. I'm going to change my life with this. From working as someone's slave, to being a person who manages someone else.'
Thinking of that, I sat down in front of the computer.
'Today, the stock market does not open, so what should I look at?… I'll give a click on the Lotto in Life/Culture…'
When I was thinking about that, the studio doorbell rang. I remembered then that my parents were supposed to come today.
'Ah, just about when I'm about to do business.' I dressed quickly in a sweat suit and headed to the door.
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"Are you here?" I bowed my head and greeted them.
"Yes, my son. How are you?" My dad nodded and hugged me.
"What in the world is this about?" My mom put down all her things with her eyes on me and started cleaning up the house.
I dissuaded my mom. "Oh, mom, leave it alone. I'll take care of it."
But my mom gave me a big slap on my back, and she collected bags of snacks on my desk and underwear hanging on my chair. "Are you on your own? Is this what you're supposed to do?"
"Why did you hit your son after a long time?" I said, touching my hot back. My mom's palm marks would be red on my back.
There, even my sister who closed the door said a word. "Why don't you grow up, you're almost thirty?"
I saw my sister, Su-Jeong, and asked flatly, "What, are you here, too?"
"Yes, I'm going to do some shopping and go down."
I didn't notice it when I was living alone, but it looked a little narrow with all my family in my little studio. I was sorry for my mom, who was hurrying back and forth and cleaning the house, and I joined in the cleaning."So, you're not going to Sun-young's birthday party?"
"Yes, I'm so tired. I worked late yesterday, too. Tell my aunt I'm sorry."
"But it's a family event… You should go." My mom recommended it again, but my dad held back.
"That's okay. Sang-hoon is having a hard time at work. Let him rest for the day. And if he goes to the first birthday party, will your sisters and nephews stay still?"
My dad glanced at me. As expected, my dad was the only one who knew my mind. I went on to say what my dad wanted me to say.
"When I go to the birthday party, my aunts and cousins will all get together and ask me if I'm not getting married, or when."
That was actually a bigger reason than being tired. I knew it was not because relatives were malicious, but that kind of question was uncomfortable for me, anyway. I would like to congratulate Sun-young and my cousin, but I did not want to congratulate them by listening to such stories.
My mom looked at me for a moment, then took out her words. "Yes. Speaking of which… don't you have any girlfriend these days?"
"No." I shook my head.
"What about that pretty nurse you met then…" my dad said clumsily.
At the words, my mom, my sister and I stared at my dad. Only then did my dad, who had an inkling, scratched his head and said, "Ah… did you break up? I'm sorry."
My dad didn't seem to have any malice, but I had to think about her for a moment. 'Bad bitch.'
My mom was on my side when it was like this. "That's okay. She wasn't good enough for you. She looked like a fox. Sang-hoon, forget about her and meet a new girl. Didn't you have a blind date lately?"
"I haven't had time for a blind date lately."
"Why don't you have time? You can meet on the weekend."
"I'm tired on the weekend and need to rest. If I work late two or three nights a week, it piles up… I can't get rid of my fatigue even if I rest until Saturday night."
I sneaked out a story about my job. I was determined to cut in on the subject of resignation.
On the way, my younger sister intervened. "It is because you don't have a girl you really like yet, brother. If you really like her, even if you feel tired, you will run to her."
I shook my head and told my sister. "It's because you haven't worked overtime at work."
"I am working overtime, too. Do you know how much I was attached to school at the athletic meeting a while ago?"
I retorted to my sister, "It's not working, it's playing, compared to working overtime. You'll have to be nagged by your boss and then you will know…"
My sister had never lost an argument to me since the old days. "I'm nagged, too. These days, students' parents are my boss, and I have dozens of bosses asking me to do this and that to their kids."
"Parents… parents still use honorific words for you, but my boss just swears and talks down to me."
"Stop it. Everyone has the hardest job they are doing." My dad, who had heard us quarrel forever, stepped forward to mediate. My sister and I shut our mouths.
In the meantime, my mom slipped in a word. "You may then marry after your sister."
I looked at my sister. "Are you still dating? The… doctor?"
"What is "the"? Maybe he will be your sister's husband."
"How long have you been dating? Two years? Three years?"
"It's four years now. Why aren't you so interested in your sister?"
"Are you interested in me?"
I did not know why a doctor who made good money liked my sister, but they had been dating for a while. It did not seem to be nonsense to say that he might end up her husband. I told my parents. "I'm fine. If she goes first… It's not an era to argue about that, but it's a time people who can marry first can go do so."
At that remark, my dad cut in. "You can marry, too. You have a good university certificate and a decent job."
Work. Eventually, the story came out. I drove the story toward the money this time.
"I have a job, but I don't have any money. I don't have much money saved, but I have debts…"
"It doesn't matter what the money is. It's all about the people," my mom said.
"These days, women think rich men are good people." When I said it, I suddenly thought, 'I'm going to be popular, too.'
My dad clicked his tongue. "These days, young men just say money, money… We used to start empty-handed and finish the apartment…"
"That was dad's time. It's been a while. We have to work for almost ten years so we can buy an apartment."
I took a hint and brought up a story I had prepared, in the name of retirement.
"So… I want to start a business if I have a chance while working at a company. As a salaryman… far from getting married, even dating is hard. I have to have my own business…"
My mom's eyes grew bigger when I talked about starting a business. "Setting up a business? Will you try that again? Don't you remember it took you a year to get your job?"
That was true. When I was a senior in university, I was preparing to get a job, but after starting a business, I abandoned trying to find one. At that time, my parents supported me, but I failed. As a result, I managed to get into the company because I was late in finding a job.
My mom said, reminiscing about the time. "You told yourself that in this country, they can start a business when they have money. That's why it's hard."
I said a word quietly. "I know, but… Maybe… I will hit the Lotto winnings. If I happen to get a lump sum… I want to try start-up again."
"Bah, you can't do well with Lotto. Don't think about it. Just go to work. There are a few hundred thousand unemployed young people these days. You're talking high and mighty.""See you soon!"
"We will come again."
"Don't forget to clean up."
"Yes, that's right. That's why you don't have a girl."
"Don't talk nonsense and go…"
I sent my family off like that. There had been arguments like this and that, but I had achieved my purpose. Though I didn't talk about it in public, I'd let out, 'If I have money, I can start a business.' I thought I should talk to my parents after a few more chances like this, along with having hundreds of thousand dollars in a bank account.
'If that happens… I'm sure my parents will be surprised. What else do I have to say, then? As it is now… I think I cannot live with the usual life…'
But it won't be too late to worry about it, then. Being rich is the first thing.
'Ah, I was going to see if there was a Lotto article today…'
I sat down in front of the computer again with a sudden thought.
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Sitting in front of the computer, after I turned on the computer with my toes and opened Explorer, I typed the email address which would receive 12 Hours After.
It didn't take long. In my company life, if I was just a little late, I was blamed much, and so I had brilliant hands that were comparable to a professional gamer.
'It was a lousy company life, but I still got what I got.'
Soon the email opened up before my eyes. I glanced at it first and checked the remaining subscription period. 'Twenty-four days left.'
Then, I perused the categories again.
[Politics Economy Society Life/Culture World IT/Science Entertainment Sports]
Today there was nothing to see except Life/Culture with Lotto winning numbers on it. Even if I knew the Economy news twelve hours in advance, I could not play stocks today. The same went for IT/Science and Entertainment. I decided to play cards in Life/Culture. Just by checking the title, I would know if this was a Lotto article or not.
'Now, let's check the title. Tadah Tadah Tadah.'
I was riding the rhythm, and I clicked on Life/Culture. The title said: [You can do it, too. How to manage the timing of a cat's fur.]
It was a bummer.
"Oops… Dammit…"
I could not help it. Hundreds or thousands of articles were posted every day, and the chance of picking out a single category and winning a lottery was a low fraction of that. It was a lot more likely than buying a Lotto and hoping to win, but it was a very low probability. I comforted myself.
'Let's just think of a free lottery scratch every weekend. It's good if I get the winning numbers, or if not, I can't help it.'
Now there were two opportunities left. But I did not have anything to choose from. I unconsciously shifted the cursor to Sports. Recently, searching the lottery sites, I found that there was a "Winner List" in which I could predict the correct scores, and a "Long List" in which I could select the outcomes of a match like win/draw/loss, in the Proto, so I could win a bet if I knew the final results.
For example, Winner List Proto for soccer was a game in which I could predict the final scores such as 1-0 or 3-2. Sometimes, when strange scores such as 5-3 or 6-2 were released, I could get a big hit of 500 or 900 times. If I bet with just one hundred dollars, I could make fifty or ninety thousand dollars. It was not a bad sum at this time, when my money was not big.
"Hmm…" I gathered my inner power for a moment, then left-clicked.
[Hongdu Stars founded a professional team for the Battle Survival game.]
It was a bummer, too. The article was about the creation of a pro-gamer team.
'Ah, these days, e-sports are also included in the sports news… By the way, do the e-sports have any Proto? I seemed to see a match-fixing story before…'
I opened another window to look for the news. There was no such thing as a Proto in e-sports.
[Programmer Ma Sung-seung admitted match-fixing. The e-sports industry is in turmoil.]
There had been match-fixing, but it seemed to have been in a private Proto. Okay. I would pay the stock-trading tax, but I would not like to go to jail for breaking the law.
'That's enough.'
I finally moved my cursor to Economy. I thought this was the real thing.
'Now my main field is stock… Even if I don't have any information available for money-making today, let's look at the information and think about how to use it to make money. In the future, I'll receive this article every day.'
I clicked on Economy with that idea. The title of today's Economy was coin.
[Another coin plunge. It'll break $10,000.]
'Ah, coin!'
In retrospect, coin was available for 24 hours, not only during the week but also on the weekends. I didn't pay much attention to when coin went up or down. However, I should take this opportunity to find it out a little.
'How can I buy it in my country? I heard that it's hard to buy it these days because the sanctions are too heavy.'
I searched for more.
[The real-name financial system for virtual currency transactions, the creation of a new account is blocked.]
[The Ministry of Justice still considering to exclude and close the coin exchange market.]
[Overseas transactions are blocked. If the annual remittance exceeds $10,000, the National Tax Service will be notified of the transaction.]
coin, which was in full swing, was almost dead because of various government regulations. The market was steadily declining in Korea, and overseas as well. There was no rebound.
'I'm going to let me know, but… I will not expect too much… There are so many regulations…'
It would have been nice if the time to receive an email had been a little earlier, but I decided to study more about coin just in case. Maybe there would be a good chance later. No, if I thought about it, it was not a matter of just coin. Although this 12 Hours After email was appreciated, there was definitely an unkind side.
'Even if I can see three titles as I became a Silver Class Member, I do not know what news will pop up. So, I have to have a sense of earning money and a sense of action to keep up with the news, like a sprinter in position. Only then will I be able to run out like a bullet when the gunshot goes off.'
'Well… I'll have to study more about stocks, coin… Today… let's go to the library and borrow some related books and read them.'
I thought that way, a big sound came out of my stomach.
I woke up in the morning, welcomed my family, and could not eat anything while reading the articles, like a student who always put off studying.
'I have to eat well to study.'
With that thought, I got up from the computer's seat and walked toward the kitchen. The kitchen was cleaner than ever. That was because my mom cleaned, wiped, and washed the dishes.
'Even if it's true… I feel sorry…'
By the way, a pot was sitting on the gas stove in a well-arranged kitchen with a bowl of rice and a plate.
'What is this?'
I approached the pot and opened the lid. Inside, there was a beef leg bone soup with a savory smell.
'When did she do this?'
I thought of my mom who had just been here. I sometimes fought with my mom in disagreement, but I knew there was no one in the world who would take care of me better than my mom.A few days passed like that. More time went by. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday… I checked my email every morning at 8:55 a.m. But there was no such thing as a large number of money-making cases. If I looked at the news, there was only a string of unprofitable news.
[House prices rise or fall? Where are they going?]
[Interstellar, the Science Story is seen in the movies.]
[Lee Yeon-kyung, the volleyball player, is MOM of Women's League in China.]
It was not as urgent as before, because there were already fifty-eight thousand dollars in my account. I had earned thirty-two thousand dollars, but I wanted to make more money as soon as possible. At least, when I earned some big money, I would have the power to retire and the justification to do so.
'I hope something comes up soon. Come on… If I have a big hit, I will do whatever I have to do.'
I spent every day thinking about it. Fortunately, the wait was not long, just a week after the last incident of Yuhwan Securities. Friday, twenty days left for the subscription, another chance came."Ho-hum…"
I yawned and looked at the monitor. It was 8:45 a.m. I had never been late, or near late, these days. It became a habit for me to arrive early and get the email after I got my mind together.
'It's a little funny, because I come to work early so I can quit.'
I wiped away the tears in my eyes at the yawn with such a thought. Over time, the company began to get crowded with people coming to work. 8:55 a.m. The email came just around this time, with other procrastinating office workers. As soon as I received the email, I opened it up swiftly, used to this email program after ten days. I moved the mouse cursor to Economy.
'Today… it's time to come up.'
Click. However, again, there was an article on real estate that was useless right now.
[Real Estate of Sejong City is the top at the growth rate for this month.]
'Haah… is there nothing today, too? This week… I'm empty-handed…'
I quickly moved my mouse cursor and clicked on the other two articles. It was because I thought that if the Economy news was not good, others would not be different, too.
"Eh?" I found an absolute opportunity in an article I clicked on without much thought.
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The category that gave me a golden opportunity was Entertainment. Having received useless real-estate news from Economy, I clicked on Entertainment and IT/Science one after another, and my eyes were wide open when I saw the title of the article in Entertainment.
[Jiwoo Entertainment is acquired by China's BEU Group.]
'In the stock industry, an acquisition is a very important event. If one company becomes a takeover bid for another, a huge amount of money will be brought in by a new parent company. In addition, the parent company usually presents a new revenue-generating model to its subsidiary to increase the size of its original business or link it up when it acquires the subsidiary.'
'Therefore, the acquisition will not only dramatically improve the financial situation of the subsidiary with the parent company's funds, but also increase sales, resulting in a sharp increase in the financial statements. The replacement of the parent company is an event in which cheap stocks are transformed into gold stocks.'
I clicked on the article without hesitation.[South Korean entertainment company Jiwoo Entertainment has been acquired by China's BEU Group. Kim Dong-il, a founder and the largest shareholder of Jiwoo Entertainment, announced today that he has signed a contract to sell 32.67 percent of his stake to China's BEU Group. This changed the largest shareholder of Jiwoo Entertainment to BEU Group, while Jiwoo Entertainment cooperates with BEU Group's various Chinese subsidiaries (BPU, Shinhwa Film Company) to secure domestic artists to enter the entertainment business in China.]I had definitely heard of Jiwoo Entertainment. I turned on MTS and searched for Jiwoo Entertainment. However, a phrase stood out at the top of the stock market, rather than the price of the stock. The words "Issues of Administration" were written in red.
'Issues of Administration?'
'Issues of Administration is a ticket to a company that had been deficit for several years or when it is on the verge of collapse. It is a kind of stigma attached to stocks that lose money for more than a year or when their financial statements have not improved, they are in the process of delisting. It is literally a stock that has received special care.'
'In general, it is better not to trade stocks attached to such Issues of Administration. This is because they do not know when or how they will be delisted. If the stock is delisted, the stock will be either destroyed or sold out of the market, allowing only a small number of people to trade. In that case, they are traded at a slightly higher price than normal waste paper. There is no guarantee of the future.'
I was troubled for a moment. '… this is a dangerous stock.'
I looked up the chart for Jiwoo Entertainment.
"Huh…"
The stock chart had a clear downward curve. Although there were occasional spikes or declines, they eventually had a graph of a linear function with a negative slope, which seemed to be hand-drawn from either the weekly or monthly candlestick chart.
It was $18 three years ago… It's only $3 right now… a sixth of it… There must be a lot of people who killed themselves.
'There are usual times when any stock is good or bad.'
However, this stock had steadily been negative over what had happened. I looked up the financial statements. However, they were also very unusual.
'Huh? But sales are good, right?'
Sales were steady. Or rather, they were growing slightly.
'Who are the singers and celebrities that belong here?'
I opened a search window and searched for Jiwoo Entertainment. At the top of the list, I could see a girl group, Nine Tails.
'Oh… Nine Tales belongs to this company.'
A girl group, Nine Tales was the third or fourth popular girl group in Korea. Ha Yeon-seo, the leader, had a remarkable beauty that rarely fell out when they considered the top visuals of the Korean girl groups, so there were few Korean men in their twenties or thirties who did not know about them.
'Nine Tales are pretty popular, but… what happened to the company with Ha Yeon-seo?'
I found a stockholder notice board of the general portal. There was no better place than this to judge the situation of the company.[Oh, it's down again today… I'm going to the Han River today. I'll have to go drink some Soju.]
[You idiot, are you holding this stock? Sell it quickly. The winner is the one who sells it first.]
[This stock is finished. Look at the chairman of the company. He is gambling with company money.]
[Oh, poor Nine Tails… They can't even release a new album because of Dong-il, son of a bitch!]
[I'm a fan of Nine Tails' Jung So-yeon. I'll pick up the knife and go to Jiwoo Entertainment. Wait for me, Dong-il, you son of a bitch!]Looking at the bulletin board, I had a question.
'Who's Dong-il?'
I seemed to see the name somewhere, and when I read the article again, I found that he was the founder and major shareholder of Jiwoo Entertainment. He was being criticized by unnamed shareholders because he did not operate the company well.
'Well, it is normal in the stock market. If anyone is down to a sixth of his wealth, he will want to swear even if he holds onto the chairmanship. Nevertheless, he has to blame his fingers for buying stocks before that, but it is hard for the average person to blame himself.'
Somehow I found a good source here.
'Chairman Kim Dong-il was gambling with company money?'
'CEO Risk. It happens often.'
Recently, a director of Peanut Airlines returned on a flight for the U.S. to Korea, as a stewardess made a mistake. At that time, the company saw its market capitalization evaporate by as much as one billion dollars, with a decline of –10% for a week.
'What the hell did he do?'
I wanted to find out more about the story, but I didn't have time. It was 8:58 a.m. now. Only two minutes were left until the beginning of the market. It was not enough time to further analyze why Jiwoo Entertainment, which had Nine Tales and Ha Yeon-seo, was doing this. What mattered to me was whether this stock would go up or down.
If there was a rumor of acquisition spreading in the market, the stock price might soar as soon as the market opened, so a decision should be made quickly. I put aside all those specifics and searched for just one more key factor that would affect stock prices right away.
[BEU's market capitalization.]
'What's most important when news of acquisition comes out like this is how powerful the parent company is. An acquisition is a situation similar to when an orphan at an orphanage goes through the adoption process into a family. In some cases, he or she is adopted by an ordinary family, or by a Chaebol family. The former is not bad, but the latter is a sharp improvement in the company.'
I watched the search result. Because BEU was not a Korean company, there was no information about it. Instead, I could look it up on the news.
[… BEU, which organizes the Hallyu (Korean Wave) concert, is a Beijing-based general entertainment company, with a market capitalization of about twenty billion dollars.]
Twenty billion dollars was huge money. If we combined Korea's leading entertainment companies, ZM, YC and PJY, the total amounts would be less two billion dollars, and its size was ten times larger than those.
'This is… I have to buy it.'
Of course, I was a little uncomfortable with the Issues of Administration, but it was August now. March, the period when a lot of delisted companies were put out, had passed, and it was not a dangerous time. Although there was something wrong with the company, if the parent company would change this evening, the problem would disappear.
If the money problem was 80% in life, the money problem was 99.9% in the company. I decided to turn on MTS. The time was 8:59 a.m. It was a minute before the market opened. I entered the password and moved my hand to the buy button.
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Before the purchase of Jiwoo Entertainment, there was one thing I was worried about.
'What if the initial price is too high?'
'Someone may have acquired this merger and acquisition information. Brokers and institutional investors who are looking for stock information are sensitive to this information, because it is big money. Prior to that, the major shareholder, his acquaintances, and senior executives also use internal information to trade stocks.
'Of course, in this case, it is illegal, and if they get caught by the Fair Trade Commission, they will be handcuffed immediately, but that is not so much because they use a nickname account such as a distant relative or acquaintance. The use of a nickname account is not only open to KOSDAQ, but also to the KOSPI.'
Thirty seconds before the opening, I checked how much the initial price was.
'Isn't the price running from the start?'
I feel uneasy. Until yesterday, there was no movement, but if the merger and acquisition information were to spread, the stock price could begin at the upper limit price of the market, around 30%. And then, I would not buy a stock, and I could not help but look at the stock at the upper limit price, like a dog chasing a chicken.
'Please, let it not go up more than ten percent at the start…'
My concern was complete, baseless anxiety. The initial price was $2.94. The deal was about to start at the -2% level.
'What is this?'
As a result, I was in a situation where I was afraid of getting off and could not buy, rather than worrying about getting up.
'No, it surely said that the acquisition would take place today…'
Like the incident of Yuhwan Securities, which went down to -30%, and then was over at -3%, there was no clear information. I had no choice but to look at the stock price in a state of anxiety. I checked the article of 12 Hours After again. I scrolled down and quickly scanned the lower part, not the part I read earlier.[Jiwoo Entertainment has been a stock under Issues of Administration due to a sudden deterioration in financial statements and the recent unreasonable investment failure. It has solved the current financial problems by receiving the funds of the BEU group. According to an official in the company, this MA was conducted as a secret matter known only to Kim Dong-il and several board members, and employees of the company, including the famous girl group Nine Tails' members, were also embarrassed to hear this news in the afternoon.
But as if predicting this confusion, Wang Wei, CEO of the BEU Group, who became the major shareholder through the merger, held a press conference at around 6 pm today and said, "We will make generous investments and support for Jiwoo Entertainment to enter China. I expect that the combination of Jiwoo Entertainment's excellent human resources and BEU Group's network in China will create a great synergy." He reassured Jiwoo Entertainment shareholders, Jiwoo Entertainment artists, and artists' fans.]'This MA was conducted as a secret matter…'
I was somewhat convinced that people in the company did not know, and it was very likely that this would not have been revealed to institutional investors yet.
'Institutional investors and foreigners in the first place have little interest in stocks selected as Issues of Administration. If stocks bought with customer's money are delisted, they will write an apology and explanation.'
'So… is it just a simple adjustment to go down today? If it is falling as a stock of Issues of Administration… it's not strange to lose two percent a day… If so, it's a great opportunity.'
The moment I concluded, the stock market started at 9:00, and the initial price was -2%, $2.94. Unfortunately, the color of the chart was red. In other words, some people were selling their stocks while crying. If they stayed one more day, they might make a profit, but ants could not see a day ahead of them.
I started to buy from there, sharing a little bit of my money, fifty-eight thousand dollars.
'Yiing. Yiing. Yiing.' My cell phone was starting to vibrate.
[Buy order is completed.]
[Buy order is completed.]
[Buy order is completed.]
It was the very sound of money-making vibrations that took place at the last meeting. What was a little disappointing was that as it was a stock in Issues of Administration, I could not use a margin account like I did last time. The securities companies implemented the policy in the name of protecting investors, but it was clear that they were afraid of not being able to receive money back if they were delisted, after they lent investors money at margin.
'Anyway, it doesn't help a lot…'
I grumbled and continued to put in the buy orders. It was a bit of a pain to do so and I glanced at the other office workers. Everyone was busy with their work. Heo, who was a hindrance in everything, did not bother me today. I put up my work screen and kept buying stocks.
Jiwoo Entertainment's market capitalization was about thirty million dollars. As it was a very small company in the KOSDAQ, which was crowded with small and medium-sized companies, the stock price edged up 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent with my fifty-eight thousand dollars. But I didn't care, and I kept buying little by little. But then, by 9:10, suddenly someone else's buying came in, and the stock price suddenly popped up.
Until just now, it was at -3%, $2.91, but the share prices playing under the negative line turned fast into a plus, at 2%, $3.06. I was a little embarrassed.
'Who is this all of a sudden?'
The stock that I bought so far was only forty thousand dollars worth, just over two-thirds of the fifty-eight thousand dollars. I still had to buy eighteen thousand dollars more, but the price had gone up because someone else had bought the stock. I swiped through the trading by trade agents.
[The Upper Trading Agents
Duri Finance 168,500
Jinsung Securities 13,100
Merritt 4,000
Jooin Securities 2,000
Kiwi Securities 500]
My account was Jinsung Securities. In a word, I was the second person on that table. But someone was buying stocks at random with a Duri Finance account. I had no choice but to suspect.
'Someone's using a borrowed account?'
But there was nothing I could do about it, even if I doubted it. I started buying without looking at the price like before. However, the stock price increased more and more at 3%, 4%, and 5%. I saw every trade volume by trade agents as if a racing player was looking at a rival ahead of him.
Duri Finance 215,500
Hanshin Securities 137,000
Merritt 64,100
PJ Securities 40,000
Jinsung Securities 15,100
Other securities accounts are now scrambling to buy the shares. Now I was sure. Information on merger and acquisition was open on the market. It was just that they didn't buy it because they were afraid of someone. Then there was only one choice I could make: I would buy shares at market price with all the rest of the money. It was like a customer taking all the money out of his wallet and giving it to a merchant, saying "Give me everything you got."
But I did not have time to think. I had to buy it cheaper than others.
[Buy order at the market price, full.]
[Buy order is completed.]
My cell phone rang again from my hand. After the buying, I saw my account balance.
Holding Stock
Jiwoo Entertainment
Shares: 19,141
Purchase Price: $3.03(1%)
Purchase Amount: $57,997
Current Price: $3.21(7%)
Current Value: $61,442
Profit and Loss: $3,445
I barely bought the shares at $3.03. I started to buy it when it was at -2%, but it became 1% as I bought it with the price increase.
'Huh… There was someone who had the information…'
But then, the moment I thought about it, the price of Jiwoo Entertainment skyrocketed, triggering VI, the Volatility Interruption. The current price was $3.33(11%). The Volatility Interruption was a system that temporarily stopped transactions when the volume of purchases or sales was too high.
'What is it?' I saw a trading window. Now it had stopped at the current price of 11%. By the way, the remaining purchase amount was at 30%. It was hung at the upper limit price. I clenched my fist. 'I hit the jackpot!'
After a while, as VI was released, a little deal took place at the upper limit price of 30%, and after that, the volume of people trying to buy any more stocks was scrambling up to the upper limit price. It was like they seemed to cry out, "Please! Please! Please sell it to me!"
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"Come on, let's have lunch."
It was the lunchtime that I had been waiting for. I got up in a hurry. To be honest with myself, I could not focus on my work this morning. I immediately picked up my cell phone and saw the current price.
'Jiwoo Entertainment $3.90 (30%)'
At around 9:10 a.m. this morning, the stock price of Jiwoo Entertainment, which was at its upper limit price, remained flat. I went over to the account balance.
[Holding Stock
Jiwoo Entertainment
Shares: 19,141
Purchase Price: $3.30
Purchase Amount: $57,997
Current Price: $3.90
Current Value: $74,649
Profit and Loss: $16.652
Today's profits alone were sixteen thousand dollars. But it was not over here. That was because the shares to buy at the upper limit price had piled up to more than one million, to more than four million dollars. The accumulation of this amount of the stock in the market value of thirty million dollars was no different from saying that today's price would be at the upper limit price, and that it was going to be the upper limit price for a few more days. I had a rough idea of arithmetic in my mind.
'The Current Value is $74,000. If it goes to the upper limit price once more, it will be $97,000, and if it goes one more time, it will be $120,000, and with one more, it will be $160,000.'
'If this successively goes to the upper limit price, it will be compounded hugely later. Einstein said that too.'
'The greatest invention of mankind is compounding math. Compounding math is the most powerful force in the universe.'
I did not know why the best scientist in the world said that about compounding math, but it was clear that the compounding math had a strong power anyway.
'If I do this right, it could double in a few days, or even more.' I grinned at MTS.
Today, my lunch friend, Choi came to me and said, "What's the matter with you, Han?"
I shook my head while putting in my cell phone. "No, no."
"No, no? You look like you're so happy and you'll die."
I tried to control my face, but I couldn't hide the corners of my mouth.
Choi looked at me for a moment, then suddenly stiffened his face, and talked nonsense. "You didn't tell me. You've got a real girl."
"What are you talking about?"
I tried to shake my head, but he said, "You should have told me, and I told you to eat lunch together all the time, I'm slow-witted. Then go ahead. Just call me when you need me, and introduce me later, okay?"
As he said such a silly thing, I let him do it. I needed my own time alone. I couldn't do stock trading openly while I was working at the company. I wanted to analyze the stock once again, even for an hour at lunchtime.
"Then I'm going. Good luck. Don't break up like last time." Choi left the remark and joined another group. "Hey, let's eat together!"
He was taken care of.
I left him alone and got out of the company. 'Where would be good? A place where I can eat alone, without encountering company people.'
I thought of a fast food restaurant two blocks from the company. I would not meet anyone I knew there. There was a fast food restaurant nearby. I walked towards that place and looked at my cell phone.
'Is the MA news up yet?'
I searched for Jiwoo Entertainment.
[A girl group, Nine Tails of Jiwoo Entertainment, put off their single album again.]
[Ha Yeon-seo opened the pictures of Boutillian magazine to the public. She showed off the beauty of a goddess. -Jiwoo Entertainment.]
[The concern and expectation of seeing Jiwoo Entertainment]
The stock was at the upper limit price, but there was no article on the merger and acquisition yet.
[Jiwoo Entertainment is currently trading at the upper limit price of $3.90 (30%).]
Although there had been an article like that, it simply conveyed the fact that the stock was at the upper limit price, but there was no mention of why. I went to the stock bulletin board and looked at the reaction. Just as the stock bulletin board which went to the upper limit price, it was crowded with people.
[Wow, what is this? Why the upper limit price?]
[Without any good news, it went up to the upper limit price. Don't buy anything like this. You will be in trouble with the wrong purchase.]
[Don't you know there are a million shares to buy at the upper limit price? It's because there's good news. Have you only been in the stock market for a day?]
[Good news? What good news? Are Nine Tails going to AV? I don't think there's any good news besides that.]
[What are you talking about? Why is So-young filming AV? Where do you live? I'm going to kill you.]
People speculated about the upper limit price, but they had no access to the real information. They deserved it, too. According to 12 Hours After, the staff members, singers, celebrities of Jiwoo Entertainment didn't find out until the afternoon. It was inevitable.
'You poor ants!'
But the more unfortunate ones were those who had sold their shares this morning. It was at the upper price in a few minutes, but they couldn't wait for it. I looked down a little more to see the comments before the opening today. Going back to that time, what happened today was written in real time.
[Ah, you're coming down today, you little dog. Get yourself down.]
[This stock is over, and frankly, there's nothing more to come out of it.]
It was when I bought a few shares little by little, when poor ants were giving me stocks at a low price, not knowing what was going to happen today. There were also some comments written by such people when I saw the bulletin board.
[The bastard Dong-il is going to eat my mid-size car. Have a good fight.]
[I sold it with a loss. I bought it out of the rent. I just have tears.]
'These are the real poor people, but if I think coldly, I don't have to pity them. No one can hear them complaining that their pockets were stolen, as they came to eat money from others. A stock market is a zero-sum game in the first place. It's a game where people rush to eat other people's money.
'Therefore, Kim Yong's martial arts novels say, "Those who do not draw swords will be saved, but those who draw swords will have to be cut down."
'The stock market is a modern Murim, and if they wear a sword in Murim, they have nothing to say about being stabbed in the back by an assassin. If they are not ready to be stabbed, they should have a deposit or savings.'
I looked at my cell phone and I arrived at the fast food restaurant I was going to.
"Would you like to order?"
"Give me a big burger set."
"Is it okay for you to have a French fry with a coke?"
I changed only one thing. "I'd like a cider instead of a coke."
"I'll call you up soon."
I sat down after I had paid. I continued to look at people's reactions. The mood on the bulletin board was reversed as the stock price rose.
[Why is it suddenly rising?]
[What's Duri Finance doing? They're sweeping 60,000 shares at a time.]
[And then Merrit comes in. Whoa. What the hell is this?]
[Someone is going to sweep. It's 5% right now. Can I buy it?]
[Huh, VI? What the hell is going on? What's wrong with you today?]
[That's the upper limit price. Ah, shit. I just sold it.]
[Huh, the upper limit price. What is it? Are the forces all in?]
This was the time when I had finished buying the stock. It was fun to see the reactions of people who did not know anything. At that time, the clerk called for me, "The client who ordered a Big Burger Set!"
Fast food came out shortly after a few seconds of ordering, fitting the name. I went up to the stand, took my hamburger set and sat down. Chewing a French fry in my mouth, the saltiness and crispiness wonderful. I chewed up many French fries and looked up again. It was only in the recent comments that the MA story was coming out.
[It's a rumor, an MA came in from China.]
[Where in China?]
[The Rumor says BEU. Where is it? Is it a company never seen or heard?]
[It's a fucking big company worth twenty billion dollars. BEU is China's leading entertainment company.]
Now the information seemed to be coming out. I read the comments a little more. Finally, the comments I wanted began to appear.
[Oh, that's why it went up to the upper limit price today.]
[It's not a matter of the upper limit price today. Now it's a matter of how many times the upper limit price goes.]
[If it's BEU, I think it's going to be at least three times.]
[Three? It will go five times.]
It was only then that I read the comments, and I put down my cell phone and began to eat with both hands.
'OK, it's done.'
I took a big bite of the burger with the cheese and lettuce on the rice patties, and took a cider with it while chewing. I put the straw in my mouth and sucked it in. Cool cider passed through the straw to my mouth. I gave a soft, long exclamation, feeling the coolness of the carbonation.
"Keu! It's cool."
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"Uggggh."
On the weekend, I got up early in the morning and received the email. To be honest, I didn't expect much today as the stock market did not open, but before that, all the money I had was in Jiwoo Entertainment.
If there was a first law of investment, it was money that made money. There was nothing I could do with no cash and full of stocks. To find the Lotto article in Life/Culture was the best I could do. I could buy it for only $1. But the expected Lotto article didn't come out.
[Today's Living Point: wash your hair with vinegar when dandruff increases.]
The probability seemed to be a thousandth or a ten-thousandth.
"Ah, okay. If there's more dandruff, I'll use it."
I checked the email quickly and dropped it. What was important now was how many times higher prices were going to be for Jiwoo Entertainment. I turned on the search window and searched for "Jiwoo Entertainment."
[Jiwoo Entertainment is acquired by China BEU Group.]
[Now a Chinese girl group? Nine Tails' agency, Jiwoo Entertainment, is acquired by a Chinese company.]
A day later, each media outlet was reporting an enormous amount of news about the merger and acquisition. It was so secretive that the shock seemed even greater. I read the following comments.
[Wow, BEU. Is this a true story?]
[A child breadwinner Nine Tales, let's just walk along the flower path.]
[Now, Ha Yeon-seo is going to make a lot of money in China. I envy her.]
Such comments were the first I read. Looking at the mood of the comments alone, this was definitely not the end of just a one-time upper limit price.
'I have to earn as much as I can.'
I closed the Internet window with that thought.Days passed again. Monday came after Sunday. Having come to work early today, I only checked the current price once in the morning. Jiwoo Entertainment was full of people trying to buy stocks even before the market started. It was 30% as soon as the market started at 9:00. It peaked at the upper limit price on the chart.
[Current Price: $5.07 (30%)
Current Value: $97,044]
I just checked the stock balance for a moment and then got back to work. I was so nervous on the first day that I couldn't work, but today I was happy and excited about everything I did.
Tuesday, likewise, it was at the upper limit price.
[Current price: $6.59 (30%)
Current Value: $126,139]
For three consecutive days, it was at the upper limit price. If I were a little shaken, I'd sell it. However, stubbornly, not even a share went for under the upper limit price. If I were to sell it, I would be a fool. I decided to put off selling the shares, looking at my account balance of $126,139.
The following Wednesday morning, it was also at the upper limit price.
[Current Price: $8.56 (30%)
Current Value: $163,942]
Today, Jiwoo Entertainment's share price began at the upper limit price, too. It had been four days. My account balance, which was worth fifty-seven thousand dollars, had nearly tripled to one hundred sixty thousand dollars. The stock bulletin board was in turmoil.
[Wow, it's been at the upper limit price for four days. I love China.]
[How much longer do you think it can go? Five days? Six days?]
[We have to go at least 10 days!]
However, seeing such articles made me nervous. 'There is a proverb in the stock market that says, "The most dangerous time is when the market is at its best".'
This time, the money was temporarily poured at the favor of a rich Chinese company. 'The bubble bursts in a flash, but when it falls out, the bubble will also sink in a flash.'
How great was the recent coin bubble? But the majority didn't think of getting out of the bubble and selling it.
'When everyone is drunk on the high price, when they are imagining getting rich, a real professional thinks about getting out and taking a cool profit. The next step for such a skyrocketing stock is a series of collapses with similar slopes.
'What should I do?'
I was in agony. On Monday and Tuesday, I had not been worried about that much, but as of today, I couldn't concentrate on my work because of all the worries I had.
Choi talked to me like this. "Hey, Han Sang-hoon. What's wrong with you today? Did you hear some bad things from your girlfriend?"
However, I had to listen to it since my money was now $163,942. There would be some difference of tens of thousand dollars depending on when and how I sold it. By the way, around 1 p.m., for a moment, the upper limit price was broken by someone's mass selling. Although other ants rushed in and filled the upper limit price, the fact that the upper limit price was broken for a while was a sign that a collapse could occur anytime. I came to a conclusion.
'The current price is a bubble. No matter what the Chinese company took over, there's no reason why the stock value should triple all of a sudden. That's twice as good. Then, shall I sell it?'
But there was still a huge pile of residuals at the upper limit price. That was because the late-running ants were supporting the price with blind money. I was thinking about it and decided to sell it tomorrow.
'Yes, beer is the best with a little bubbles on it. I don't think it's going to be much of a problem today. Let's sell it tomorrow. If the upper limit price goes tomorrow, sell it if it comes near the upper limit price.'
I watched the market end with such thoughts. Jiwoo Entertainment had successfully completed four days' upper limit price.In the end, it was the Thursday of fate. I took a deep breath and watched the market open. But today, it wasn't at the upper limit price.
[Current Price: $9.76 (14%)]
Stocks were about to begin trading at 14 percent, half the upper limit price. This meant that the ants had come up at a price that they felt burdened by.
'All right, let's sell it here.'
I split the shares into three orders and put them in a sell order. My shares were not much in comparison with the money being traded, so they were quickly sold.
'Yiing, Yiing, Yiing.' The sound of the sales rang three times, and I checked my balance.
[Account Balance: $187,156]
$187,156. My account, which had only $58,000 last Friday, had more than tripled in an instant.
'That's enough.'
I put my cell phone back in my pocket. After selling the shares like this, I'd be better off not looking back, because I'd be upset if I sold it and it went up more. I worked at the company all day, worked overtime as usual, and got out of there. On my way home, I saw the closing price of Jiwoo Entertainment on the subway leaving work. But it was far below the price I had sold.
[$7.70 (-10.1%)]
'What is this?'
I looked at the stock price chart today. Starting from the 14% I sold, the share price was 30% in the morning. Perhaps if I had turned on MTS at that time, I might have hit the ground and regretted it. I sold it at 14 percent, but the stock price went to 30 percent. If I had sold it at the upper limit price, the profit would have been more than $20,000. But it was not too bad.
Around 11 a.m. Jiwoo Entertainment's stock price suddenly went down, and it began to collapse. Although the rare ants rushed in and helped a rebound in stock prices, they were not enough to keep the tide from falling. Stock prices, which had been burning only in the morning, cooled coldly at –10% and ended.
'The man who bought on the upper limit price this morning… It's been over -30% today.'
I did not want to go to the stock bulletin board today. There were probably a lot of ants boiling in the sulfur of hell. To be honest, this selling was lucky for me, too. No matter how good a stock trader was, it was impossible to predict all of this. I had no choice but to say that I was lucky.
'All right, I was not greedy at that time, and I got out of there. It's like I have been drinking a cold beer with a little bubbles.'
I laughed and put my cell phone back in my pocket. I suddenly wanted a cold beer when I thought of that.
[This stop is Gyodae, Gyodae. The door to get off is on your right.] I just heard the announcer's voice.
If I was in Gyodae, and if I called a chicken restaurant right now, I would get the chicken by the time I got home. I made a phone call in advance in the subway. "I would like to order. Do you have boneless chicken and a draft beer of 1000cc? Yes, I'd like to have one."In front of my studio, I sat on the bench for a moment and waited for the chicken to come.
'Boo-woong!' Sure enough, a man with a red helmet came on his motorcycle.
"Here's a boneless chicken and a draft beer of 1000cc. Have a good meal!" The deliveryman took the money from me, handed me the chicken, and left.
I entered my studio with the chicken and beer in both hands. I was very happy, thinking of eating the chicken at home. $187,156. If I ate the chicken with my bank account as a dish, the fatigue of the overtime working would disappear in one blow. But there was something in the mailbox, not only on the room 301, but everywhere else.
'What is this?'
I picked it up. The sender was the Central Election Commission. On it was the face of a big smiling man.
'Ah, is the local election soon?'
I was not very interested in politics, but I came home with it for once.
"Whoever the mayor of Seoul is…"
I threw the mail away somewhere and then started setting up the chicken and beer in front of the TV, not thinking that the mail I had just thrown away would bring me a lot of money.
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Friday morning. I finished washing and was ready to go to work as usual. I put my shoes on and went out the door.
'Oh, wait a minute.' I picked up my cell phone as if I had forgotten something. What I did was automatic after I picked it up. I turned on the MTS to check my account balance.
[Account Balance: $187,156]
$187,156. My yearly salary was $ 30,000 now. Considering my yearly salary was gradually increasing, I had to collect money without eating or wearing anything for six to seven years to match it. In reality, it was a large sum of money I would normally have to collect for ten years. I made it in just two weeks. It did not make much sense, but the numbers in my account were real. I put my cell phone in my pocket and left the door. I felt good.I went into the company. It was 8:30 a.m. I had thirty minutes until the regular rush hour, but the company was well off. It was because everyone came in time. I understood because I did, too. Who would want to come to this company early, which only wanted to make profits by squeezing all the last drops of human strength and mental strength? But on the other hand, I'd rather deserve to work in a company these days.
When I thought, "I should be here," every day tasted like death. Thinking, "It's okay to leave anytime," I felt like a company job was a game quest for time. I also enjoyed the gaze of Heo, who was always staring at me, as if he could eat me.
'What are you complaining about, man? Tell me if you have any complaints. You're the slave of the company, not me.'
My account was full, so I thought I was a little generous.
'Yes, Heo has been rolling here like a dog for over ten years, so he's got to be like a dog.'
But I thought about it for a while.
"No, if he thinks about the other way around, the better he can be for his juniors, right?'
Park, who joined Manchester United through the teams of a domestic secondary school and a university in Korea, and grew up to be a world-class soccer player, was beaten when he played soccer in school, and promised himself that he would never beat his juniors.
Heo could have done it by saying, "I will stop the bad habit of a boss squeezing his juniors." However, he did not. As soon as he was stressed out by his superiors, an executive director or a board member, he passed it to his successors. In the end, that was how much a man's bowl was worth.
'Bah, he is probably doing it as a ten-thousand-year-old manager. As expected, one should do well to others, whether it is good or bad.'
If he had been good and played the role of mentor; if he at least liked me; even if he respected me, but told me, "Han, cheer up, even if it's a little hard. You are young and have a future. If you work hard now, I'm sure you'll see the bright future later," I might have given him a good piece of information before leaving. 'Sir, this is Jiwoo Entertainment. Buy some before 9:10 today.'
Heo came to work around the time I thought about it. He looked at me. 'Why is he coming to work so early these days?' He looked at me with a glance and went off to his seat. He kicked off his chance today as well, with an eruption of Mt. Fuji. Bye! It was 8:54 while I was thinking about it, almost time to get the email. I locked my fingers together and then stretched a little. I made money yesterday, but I had to earn more money today. The email came in at fifty-five minutes and I checked it out.
[Silver Class Member Mail, Subscription Period left: 11 days.]
The first thing that stood out was the remaining subscription period. 11 days. I had to extend it in a little while, paying ten thousand dollars. It was not a big deal now, but it was still expensive at the price. Ten thousand would be one hundred thousand, one million, and ten million.
'I'm going to have to increase my money as soon as possible. I don't want to feel that ten thousand is expensive. I have to get to Gold Class quickly, too.'
'Gold Class has a subscription rate of one million dollars. If I pay one million dollars, I need at least three million dollars or more to think about the subscription. If I have the information to know the future and I don't have the capital, I'll have to suck my fingers.'
'Yeah, with at least two to three million dollars, Gold Class is possible. I don't know what's good for the Gold Class.'
I clicked on the Economy, thinking about it. An article came out, with an economic analysis.
[The National Tax Service says that half the employees are paid less than $2,000 a month, but top 1% are paid $20,000 a month.]
'Oh, really? Are Half of them paid less than $2,000 a month?'
I almost clicked on it. It was because, despite its lack of money, it was quite an interesting article. However, I only saw the title.
'Such an article will be read in twelve hours, if it is written by another media. In this email, I can only read articles that are of future value.'
I then clicked on IT/Science.
[In a few days, the giant Super Moon will rise. People in the global community are interested.]
I looked at the article in slight disappointment. IT/Science. I thought something was going to come up, something like Jiwoo Entertainment's acquisition, but nothing came out.
'I've been clicking for over two weeks, but I can't keep track of what I want. If I fail to produce results like this, I will have to consider different categories. There might be something in Politics, in Society, in the World, etc.'
I last clicked on the Entertainment article. It was a natural choice for me, having tasted it with the Jiwoo Entertainment case. This time, the entertainment article caught my eye again.
[The actress was stabbed by an unidentified person in front of Choo Hospital in Gangnam, southern Seoul.]
'Hmm?'
It was not a money-making article. But the name that came out there, Oh Hyun-joo, caught my eye.
'Was Oh Hyun-joo stabbed?'
Oh Hyun-joo was an actress who competed for the top spot as my favorite female celebrity. With her egg-shaped face, neat eyes, a sharp nose and slightly thin, long lips, she had not risen in years since her debut, despite her dazzling beauty. She showed excellent acting skills in the recent drama "Me and Your Uncle," which had seen a surge in her profile.
Since then, she was rediscovered with her colorful beauty, which had recently taken up several CFs and started to raise her value. But she was stabbed at a time like this. It was like a flower that had just begun to bloom was broken.
'What the hell…?'
There was no article to make money today anyway. I clicked on it.
[About 8:50 p.m. today, actress Oh Hyun-joo was attacked by a man in front of Choo Hospital in Gangnam. Oh Hyun-joo, who visited Choo Hospital on the same day, was reportedly assaulted by an unidentified man while on the street in Nonhyeon-ro, where her manager's car was waiting for her.
The suspect, wearing a mask, approached Oh Hyun-joo, stabbed her upper abdomen a couple of times with a sharp knife, and ran away. The police, who checked the CCTV, are investigating him, citing the fact that he was standing near Unju Station before the crime, and that he was involved in the crime when he saw the manager's car arrive by the roadside in Nonhyeon-ro. They believe it was a deliberate crime by her acquaintances.]
'She was stabbed in the upper abdomen a couple of times. Is she all right?'
The story was in the article below.
[She was taken to the emergency room of Choo Hospital, with the help of the manager who was waiting for her and the citizens who were passing by the near street, but her life was reported to be in critical condition because of severe bleeding and fatal wounds.]
"Huh." I groaned, unknowingly. It was quite a shocking article for me, a long-time fan of Oh Hyun-joo, that the nation's actress was attacked by an unidentified man, and her life was in danger there. I read the article two or three more times from top to bottom.
'Huh, what kind of a crazy bastard he is!'
I wanted to deny the contents of the article, but all the articles sent by 12 Hours After were real. The writer and the sender were anonymous, but it was clear enough that they had never published an article that was not true.
'Ha, how did it happen?'
But that was the time. As I was reading the article with a sigh, a strange idea came to my mind.
'Wait a minute, what will happen if I stop this crime?'
The crime did not happen yet. The crime was simply what was going to happen in twelve hours. But if I was involved in it, maybe the future would be different.
'Would it change anything if I call 112 before the crime?
'If it's Choo Hospital in Gangnam, it's just in front of Unju Station. It's a block away from my company near Yeoksam Station. It's very close. It takes five minutes to get there.'
It was then that somebody in the company shouted, "Let's cheer up again today!"
"Fighting!"
"Fighting!"
It was the beginning of work. I could not keep looking at the email anymore. I checked again the timing of the crime in the article.
'At 8:50 in the evening.'
I checked it once more and then closed the email.
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I handed over the prepared report to Heo. He scribbled on the report with me. I mumbled my lips a little.
'If you say something bad, I will beat you and quit the company. Be quiet in a month or two, I want to walk out on my own, so just say okay.'
Heo said, nodding his head as if he had telepathically read my thoughts, "Yes. Return to your seat."
I looked at the clock. 7:50 pm. It wasn't official overtime today, but I had a little extra work to do. It was almost three hours after the closing time, 5:00 pm. It was a common occurrence while working for a company.
Getting ready to come back to my seat, Choi came to me and said, "Hey, Han, it's a TGIF, so let's go for a drink."
To be honest, his proposal was very attractive. Since I had not had dinner yet, drinks and side dishes such as Soju, pork belly, Makgeolli and pancake, beer, spicy sea snails with thin noodles, flashed through my head. But I turned down the offer. "Oh, sorry. I have an appointment today."
Choi frowned for a moment, then suddenly gathered his lips and told me. "Oh, yeah. Sorry, I'm sorry. You have to go, so go!"
I guess he still misunderstood that I was meeting someone. I left him like that. It was more comfortable for me. After leaving the company today, I walked toward Choo Hospital in front of Unju Station, where the crime would take place today.
At first, I thought I would call 112 and check on TV or the Internet at night, but I changed my mind. It was because I felt like I had to check with my own eyes whether what was going on in 12 Hours After was a definite fact, or something could be changed by other variables.
This was a matter of great importance, I thought. It was clear, if not right now, that my assets would swell enormously in the future. In a world where money was a force, a lot of money would bring great power, and in the future, my decisions would have a big impact on the world.
'What I do, what I say, might be on the news.'
'There are still "people who make news" in reality: big names in the political arena, such as the president, chief secretaries and the head of the ruling party, and people at the top of the business pyramid, such as the chairman of the group and the board of directors. Each one of their own decisions is on the news and is publicized.'
If I grew up likewise, I would end up in that position. If so, I had to make sure the news from 12 Hours After could be changed by someone's intervention.
And, apart from such rational thoughts, I also wanted to protect Oh Hyun-joo as a fan. I had known her beauty and liked her since her days of anonymity, when nobody noticed and liked her. It was too bad that such an accident was happening, as she was about to become popular. Even if today's happening was inevitable, I wanted to resist that fate a little bit.
As expected, it didn't take long to reach Choo Hospital from the company. After about ten minutes, I walked to the front of Choo Hospital in Gangnam, but I was hungry. I hadn't eaten dinner and worked overtime.
I looked at my watch; it was eight o'clock. It was about an hour before the crime took place. There was still room. I stopped by the visible 'Highway Sandwich' nearby. Perhaps because it was evening, the store was quiet. I approached the clerk and placed an order quickly.
"Please add bacon and cheese to honey oats and some jalapenos to the vegetables, mainly lettuce. I'll have the sweet onion sauce and the mayonnaise, and the side menu with cookies."
I took the sandwich I ordered, and sat by the window, where I could see Choo Hospital outside. I sat there for a moment and looked around Choo Hospital. There were people coming and going at Exit 6 of Unju Station, and countless cars were moving up and down on Nonhyeon Road. It was a plain view of Gangnam.
'Is that what really happens there?'
It was a little hard to imagine there was a crime an hour from now, that someone would stab someone. But the article that 12 Hours After sent me was very clear.
'Yes, I have to stop that.'
I pressed the call button and dialed the number. The numbers 112 were very easy and simple. However, coming to think of it, the problem was afterward. I hesitated for a moment with the call number 112 on the screen.
'What should I say to the police? An hour from now, an unidentified man appears and tries to stab Oh Hyun-joo with a knife?'
'I can't do that. It's too specific. How can I make such a report without knowing in advance what's going to happen in the future? If the police receive such a report, they will first doubt it is a false report, and secondly, even if they think the report is real, they will think that the reporter is someone who knows the crime plan, or at least knows the criminal.'
'If I call 112, they'll have my phone records, right? That will make me so tired. Even I am a caller, they may think I'm a weirdo. In the worst scenario, I may be treated an accomplice.'
That was not very good. I erased the 112 that I had written on my cell phone, and I thought of another way.
'Shall I go find a public phone booth and call them?'
But that was difficult, too. These days there were CCTVs and car black boxes everywhere, so calling from a pay phone booth located on the side of the boulevard was no different from calling with my phone.
I kept on agonizing over the sandwich. When I finished eating, I looked at my watch and it was just about to pass 8:10. The remaining time was forty minutes. I had to do something now to stop the crime.
'What shall I do?'
Right then, while I was in agony, someone passed in front of the sandwich shop where I was sitting. He was 180 centimeters tall and wore a hat and a black mask. When I saw him, I knew instinctively, 'That's him.'
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The big man paused to smoke. I watched the man from inside the sandwich shop. A closer look found one more fishy thing. Right now, it was mid-August. It was still a time where the last heat of summer was left, but he was wearing a dark windbreaker.
'He is suspicious.'
I looked carefully at the windbreaker. Something like a stick was creating shading in the windbreaker. Something long made a specific angle. If I had been as usual, I would have thought about a small booklet or a large smartphone.
But this morning, as I saw the article, I understood something as one hundred percent weapon.
[The criminal, wearing a mask, was a 180-centimeter-tall man; he approached Oh Hyun-joo and stabbed her upper abdomen a couple of times with a sharp weapon before running away.]
I suddenly remembered the conversation my dad, a Judo coach, had with me and my younger sister when we were in middle school."Sang Hoon, Su-jeong."
"Yes, Father."
"Yes, dad."
"How many years have you been training in our training center?"
My sister and I had been training in our dad's training center since we were very young. We used to live in the countryside, but everyone went to piano lessons or the Taekwondo center.
For my parents, who were not well off, sending their own children to their own Judo training center would have been a natural choice, rather than sending them to other private education centers.
"Seven years."
"Five years."
My dad scratched his head for a moment when he heard it. He made a face as if the years had passed so fast and said to us, "Well, as I always say, Judo is meant to train one's own mind and body. You are not learning to beat a person."
At the remark, I glanced at Su-jeong. At that time, Su-jeong, a sixth grader in elementary school, was tall and shoulder threw boys who teased her with the skills she learned in the training center. It seemed as if my dad had called us to talk about it.
'I am involved with this because of Su-jeong.'
I grumbled inwardly. I had been learning Judo for seven years, and I had never shoulder thrown anyone except for sparring.
"You really should use Judo techniques only in situations when you can't help it. You should not use them when someone is making fun of you or just taunting you. Do you understand?"
"Yes."
"Yes."
"That's because I'm worried about you guys. As you know from learning, Judo skills work for the right weight class. No matter how good your skills are, it's hard to beat a guy who weighs twenty to thirty kilos more then you."
I glanced at Su-jeong.
'That's what he is telling you to listen to. The boys you beat right now will be ten or twenty centimeters taller than you.'
Su-jeong said, feeling a little down when she knew she was the target, "Yes…"
"And now that you know it, that's enough." My dad tried to get up from the place, but he said one more thing, as if it had suddenly come to his mind.
"Ah, and when you see someone with a weapon, run away without fail, whatever your weight class is. Even any fighter of martial arts meets a robber with a weapon, the best thing is to run away. No matter how clumsily he wields a weapon, you could get a fatal wound. Okay?"
As I listened to my dad, I asked him a question that suddenly came to my mind. "What about when I meet a robber without a weapon?"
"Then…"
At that time, my mom saw the scene from behind and intervened. "You have to run away then, too. You're getting caught up in something weird."
My dad shook his head. "That's not the spirit of a martial artist."
But then my mom hit my dad's back loudly. "The spirit of a martial artist is a mess. It is nothing for the family budget."
My dad, who was hit in the back, could not say a word.
My mom told me, looking at my dad. "That's enough. Sang-hoon, you are not going to do the training anymore. As you are in a high school now, you have to study."The man was smoking one cigarette after another, nervously. Whenever he moved slightly, I clearly saw the shade in the windbreaker. The long object drew to a concave end as it went up.
'That's 100% a weapon. It's very reckless to confront someone with a weapon with the bare body. I have to call the police, anyway.'
I looked at the clock. 8:20. There was now thirty minutes left until the crime. I had to do something to prevent the crime. But all of a sudden, the man ran for somewhere.
'What is it?'
Half an hour was still left, and I chased him with my eyes. The man suddenly headed for the subway station.
'What is it? Why is it so?'
I took the sandwich and went out of the sandwich restaurant. Right then, in front of me, a big van with a triangle star that was taller than most people, stopped.
A moment later, the van's door opened, I heard a woman's high and clear voice. "I'll be back soon. It'll take about half an hour."
It was familiar. I thought for a moment where I had heard this voice. 'TV.'
The moment I had the answer, the time stopped. No, I felt that time had stopped, as a woman with great beauty got off the van. She was tall, but she had a small face. From the neck to the forehead, her skin glowed like a white jade, not to mention her beauty. I was overwhelmed by her beauty and had no choice but to stand there for a while.
In the meantime, she brushed past me, trailing a light perfume. At that moment, I turned my head after her unknowingly, like holding a hot pot and pulling my hands away, or closing my eyes when I saw a pointed object approaching. There could have been no more primitive instinct. I did it for about three seconds as I watched her go into Choo Hospital.
The funny thing was that it wasn't just me. The people who were around me, men and women, regardless of gender, were out of control looking at her. When she finally opened the hospital door and went inside, the rest of the people started to move again, as if they had finished a task.
"Did you see that? Oh Hyun-joo! She is a total goddess!"
"I've seen it. I've really lost my mind. I almost drooled."
"I thought I was really out of time, too."
"Me, too. She is not a human being!"
So, her beauty was a huge presence, as if she were stopping time for people around her. After a brief pause, I shook my head a couple of times to wake up. In the meantime, the van that had picked her up ran to somewhere with a low exhaust sound. I didn't come to my senses until I looked at the van.
[After seeing the manager's car arrive on the side of Nonhyeon road, he went to the crime, and the police started the investigation because they thought it was a deliberate crime by her acquaintances.]
The van had also appeared in the article.
'That's the manager's car. It will be back in half an hour. So, who is the suspect?'
I looked towards the subway. The suspect apparently sneaked into the subway station after seeing the manager's car. That meant he knew the manager's car.
'Who is it? How does he know the manager's car? Is he a stalker?'
At that time, he appeared from the subway station. I glanced at him. He looked at the front door of Choo Hospital where Oh Hyun-joo had entered, without paying attention to me. He was fidgeting with something in his arms.
'He's a 100% criminal.'
Now I was perfectly sure. I picked up my cell phone after falling off the subway station where he was. I was afraid I had no choice but to report it.
'Let's just say a man with a knife is standing in front of the hospital. I didn't see the knife in person, but I saw it in the article. That'll do me no harm in identifying and reporting.'
When I thought about it, I got 112 on my cell phone again.
'I might get into trouble for this. However, a woman is about to die, so that's not the problem.' With the thought, I pressed the phone button.
"A police officer of 112."
"There's a man standing in front of Choo Hospital with a weapon. Can you come over and investigate?"
"A weapon? What weapon?"
"I don't know well, but the flashing thing looks like a knife."
Frankly speaking, I didn't see the flashing thing, but I made up my words entirely on the article in 12 Hours After.
"He has his hat pressed, and he is wearing a black mask and a windbreaker. I'm afraid he is going to stab someone, so please come quickly."
"Yes, I see."
I checked the time of the call. 8:30 It was twenty minutes before the crime took place. I watched him on the side of the subway. He was standing near the subway station watching the hospital. In the meanwhile, a police car approached from the side.
It had been less than five minutes since I had called 112. Standing in front of the hospital, the big man looked at the police car and hurried inside the subway when he saw it coming towards him. The two policemen who got out of the police car seemed to see the big man who ran away. The two looked at one another and said something, and one of them followed him into the subway.
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I hid myself for a moment and watched how things turned out. The remaining police officer was guarding the entrance to the subway after the other officer chased him down it. I cheered for them in the distance.
'Come on, Korean police!'
If the big man ran away or was caught, it would not happen that Oh Hyun-joo was stabbed. At the same time, the article from 12 Hours After would be nullified for the first time. I watched there with a slight strain. Well, that was when it had been like that for about ten minutes. The big man was being brought up by the hands of the police officer from the subway station. I clenched my fist.
'He was caught.'
I watched the scene, still distancing myself from them. I did not want to get in trouble for getting close. The two police officers were talking with the big man in the middle. I watched the scene closely. My eyesight was about 0.7. Because I chose not to wear glasses, I could only view the scene well from a distance.
The big man was about a head taller than the two policemen, but he was stumped in front of them. No matter how reckless he was, he seemed powerless in the face of public power. I looked at him and thought.
'Good for you, criminal. Be judged by the law."
But I was on my way. One of the policemen picked up a cell phone while the two policemen and the big man were arguing.
'Is he calling headquarters?'
My cell phone was ringing. I answered it, staying hidden. "Yes, hello?"
"Sir. This is the 112 police. We've got the suspect you reported."
"Oh, yes, thank God. What was he doing?"
"I think he was a kind of stalker. I can't tell you in detail. I ran a background check, and he followed a celebrity before. He has a record of being arrested."
As expected, the big man must have been a stalker of Oh Hyun-joo. I had heard a similar story, in the U.S. or in Japan. A stoker was with a delusion that a celebrity confessed that she loved him who she had never had a hand with, but she ignored him or cheated him while dating with someone else, and then he brutally murdered her with a knife.
'Urgh, a scary stalker.'
I shuddered a little. But then, the police made a bit of a strange noise.
"Well, fortunately, he wasn't as dangerous as you thought."
"Yes? He wasn't a dangerous man?"
He did not such a long weapon, and he was not dangerous. I pulled my head up with my cell phone and looked at the policeman on the phone. He went on talking without even imagining I was watching him.
"Yes, I don't think he's such a bad guy to stab someone like that."
"No, he had a weapon." When I said that, the policeman took something long out of the arms of the big man with one hand holding a cell phone that was talking to me.
"Ah, yeah, the weapon."
But the scene was very strange. It was because the policeman was holding the middle part of the silver-colored object. In my distant eyes, it seemed that he was holding the blade in his hands.
'Wouldn't he get blood on his hands?'
I opened my eyes to get a better look at the hands of the policeman. His voice came over the phone.
"What you saw wasn't a weapon. It was a tripod."
"Tripod"? Then, when I asked in surprise, the long weapon in the hands of the policeman split into three parts. I was flattened at the moment.
"Yes. This guy didn't carry a weapon, but he was just carrying a compact camera and a tripod. I think he was going to take a picture of his favorite celebrity."
'What? That wasn't a weapon?'
While I was standing there blankly, the policeman thanked me. "Thank you for reporting it anyway. He wasn't a felon as you thought, but he was a stalker with a criminal record."
"Ah, yes."
Having said so far, the police officer cut off the phone. I put my cell phone in my pocket and approached them. The big man was still at loggerheads with the police.
"What's wrong with taking pictures of someone I like?"
"Because she doesn't like you."
I looked around for a moment, as if I had nothing to do with the scene, like many passers-by around me. I could see a simple tripod in the hands of the policeman who had just spoken to me on the phone. A pink compact camera was also in the hands of the policeman who had followed the stalker.
"I looked inside the camera. There are a lot of photos of Oh Hyun-joo that you took secretly. Let's go to the police station and say it."
Judging from the circumstances, this man seemed to be Oh Hyun-joo's stalker.
'But then, what about Oh Hyun-joo, who was stabbed in the article? What happened?'
It was a time when I had such a question. Suddenly, the eyes of the big man and the two policemen turned to me.
'Hmm?'
I was standing by like a bystander who had nothing to do with the incident, but how did they know that I had reported it? Then, the policeman opened his mouth and blurted out, "Wow."
Now it seemed the same for the other person. "Wow."
I last saw the big man's face. He was not wearing a mask, but he was smiling with a very innocent look. "Hehe!"
They were like people whose time had stopped. I felt a strong sense of deja vu.
'I've felt this before.'
I soon realized these people weren't looking at me, but they had seen Oh Hyun-joo, who left the hospital right behind me, coming. I unconsciously tried to turn around to join them.
But then, there was something in my eyes. Behind the big man who was smiling innocently, a skinny man of the same height with long hair was running. When I saw him, I looked down a little at him. The long-haired man was clearly holding a gleaming weapon in his hands.
I shouted loudly. "That man!"
However, the two police officers were slow to react, probably because of Oh's magic. The two looked back, but in the meantime, the long-haired man went past the two policemen and ran over to me, towards Oh Hyun-joo behind me. For a moment, my mind went off like a burst.
One thought, 'I'm the only one who can stop it' and my dad's voice, 'Don't ever confront a man with a weapon' crossed.
'What do I do?' I was stuck in the spot.
But at that time, there was someone who responded before me and before the police. "No!" It was the first big stalker to be arrested. When he saw the long-haired man that passed him by, he rushed at him in a superhuman move, grabbed his shirt and hung on.
The long-haired man, interrupted while running toward Oh Hyun-joo, shouted nervously and stabbed with his weapon. "You pig!"
The weapon thrust itself into the side of the big man. He was stabbed so deeply that I couldn't see the silver glare.
"Yaaah!" At that moment, someone's screams rang out, and the surrounding area became a mess in a flash. But then, as soon as the shiny blade disappeared into the body of the big man, my dad's voice, 'Don't ever confront a man with a weapon' went away and my tensed body was free.
The control system disappeared, and I jumped at the long-haired man like a ghost. While he pulled the weapon from the waist of the big man, I grabbed his shirt, lifted one leg, and flung him down on the ground with the rebound.
Bang!
The impact reverberated through the ground.
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I opened my hands, stretched them out, and squeezed them a couple of times. I still had a vivid sense of the long-haired lunatic when I shoulder threw him.
'It still works.'
It had been several years since I had taken off my uniform, but I still had the basic skills that I had practiced thousands of times when I was a kid, while getting scolded by my dad.
A policeman handed me a paper cup containing a green tea bag. "Don't be nervous, sir, you're just here as a witness."
A middle-aged police officer in the back added a word. "Not just that, but if you're good at it, you might be honored with a good citizenship award."
"Ah, yes." I blinked a couple of times. I was still dumbfounded.
"Then, first, about how you reported it…"
I answered the policeman's question sincerely. The police officer basically regarded me as a righteous man who had defeated the attacker instead of the police. I didn't supply the particle to my answer.
"Yes, it was an unusual situation anyway. The stalker and the murderer were in one place."
I nodded. "That's true."
The 180-centimeter-tall man in 12 Hours After was not the big man, but a skinny man with long hair. After the chaotic situation, police said the long-haired man was a hair designer for OH Entertainment, which Oh Hyun-joo belonged to.
Having seen Oh Hyun-joo, he fell in love with her at first look. He had met her several times, but every time her manager hit him with a curling iron. He had a grudge and prepared a weapon from long scissors that were cut in half, bringing something familiar to his hands.
The middle-aged policeman seated behind said, clicking his tongue, "What a crazy guy he is! Is a woman that important?"
A young policeman who was listening to the words piped up, "But she's really pretty."
He was one of two policemen on the scene. He handcuffed the criminal after I shoulder threw him. When he said that, a middle-aged policeman said, "Huh, it's all about being a young man."
"It's because Assistant Inspector, you didn't see her yourself. I saw her in person. I know what a woman of matchless beauty is. In the old days, if a king saw her, he was going to cut a mountain to build a palace and dig a lake because of her."
The remark irritated the middle-aged police officer.
"Stop talking nonsense. Mr. Han came all the way here because you didn't do your job well. Huh? How can a policeman be slower than a normal person? Huh? If you're going to ask me, I'm going to cut your salary this month. Do you understand?"
It was the same here for a boss to scold his juniors with "a written apology" and "a reduction in salary." The scolded policeman came out in a hurry and apologized to the middle-aged senior officer, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
I dissuaded him as I thought of myself in the old days. "Ah, that's all right. But thanks to your quick response, I caught the criminal."
At my mediation, the middle-aged policeman said, with a false cough. "Hum, No. Your courage was great. It's not normal for an ordinary person to catch a criminal with a weapon like that. That young policeman did just clean up after you."
I asked the police officer, thinking suddenly, "By the way, what happened to him?"
"Who?
"The stalker."
"Ah, the stalker. I got a call from the hospital earlier. He got stabbed in the side by the weapon, but he had a lot of extra fat on his back, so he didn't take any damage to his organs."
Indeed, it seemed that he was not seriously injured because he was overweight.
The old policeman said a word, "It was a lucky break. Apart from that, as he was caught of stalking for the second time, he will be sent to prison."
"Prison?"
"Yes, he was arrested while secretly taking pictures the other day, just like this. He was released with a warning, last time, but this is the second time. However, the agency requested a favorable arrangement. He got an intellectual disability. We don't know what's going to happen to him. We'd like to make the most of this."
I asked, with one eye wide open. "Does he have an intellectual disability?"
"Yes, it's not too bad, it's a little short. Of all the strange things that you pointed out, there is the windbreaker."
"Yes?"
The policeman grinned, his teeth slightly exposed. "He wears the windbreaker even in the middle of the scorching summer."
I put my hands on the forehead. There were a couple of such people in the old town. A little short, but not bad. It might have been because of such stupidity that he was able to rush straight in at the sight of the weapon.
'Somehow, that look was too good when he saw Oh Hyun-joo.'
For now, this seemed to have put an end to all this. I felt sudden fatigue. "Hoo, can I go now?"
At my words, a middle-aged policeman stood up and said, "Oh, yes, of course. Where do you live?"
I answered him, wondering why. "Oh, it's near Nakseongdae Station."
He beckoned at my words. "That's close enough. Hey, policeman Kim. Take him home."
"Yes, assistant inspector."
That was great. I was wondering how I would get a taxi in Gangnam late at night, and it was good to be able to get a ride in a police car.
At that time, I heard the door open from the back, and suddenly all the officers in the station stood up.
'Is a senior officer here?' I looked back at the thought, and I experienced it for the third time today. Time Stop.
While I was firm, Oh Hyun-joo, who had opened the police station door, looked around and said, "I heard the one who saved me earlier here."
Then she came up to me and told me, just as our eyes met. "Thank you. How can I repay you?"
Then she held my hands, the soft touch was beyond description. It was like touching a big baby's hands.
'I thank you more.' I almost said that, but I grabbed the string of reason as much as possible and pretended to be dumb.
"No, it's okay." It was too hard to think. It was a stiff expression. But I couldn't say any other words, as I would look stupid if I untied my tongue.
She held my hands and looked up at me with her limpid eyes.
"Are you hurt anywhere?"
'Now my heart is…' Instead of the crap that came into my mind, I kept my composure as much as possible and uttered plain words. "Yes. No injuries."
"That's a good thing. Really." She bowed to me, unlike a top star, holding my hands and thanking me. "Thank you very much."
Somehow, I thought I should bow my head to greet her. I saw her raise her head, and I lowered my head afterwards.
"No, I did what I'm supposed to do."
"I'm grateful." She bowed her head once more, and we hit each other's heads. "Ouch!"
She smiled widely, holding her head. The police station in the middle of the night was a bit heavy just minutes ago, but her laughter seemed to brighten up the whole station. With her smile, I felt that what happened today was worth it. If I hadn't moved today, she'd have been taken to the emergency room at Choo Hospital instead of smiling here.
'It wasn't that bad today. I chased a stalker, reported to the police, and shoulder threw an attempted murderer, not bad. All of it.'
That smile on her face seemed to make it all worth it. I looked at her smile, and I laughed unknowingly.
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After greeting me, Oh Hyun-joo expressed her thanks to the other policemen one by one.
"The officers who were on the scene earlier…"
"Oh, well, that was me."
The policeman who was with me earlier stuttered up his hand. Oh Hyun-joo tried to approach him, but a middle-aged police officer stood in front of him and reached out his hand first.
"I'm his superior, Assistant Inspection Choi Chul-yong. I'm glad you're okay, Ms. Oh Hyun-joo."
"Oh yes, I see."
Just now he had asked what she was like. Now, the man was shaking her hand with his mouth wide open.
I turned my eyes, shaking my head. But then, a small, bald man came up to me. "Can I, uh, talk to you for a second, please?"
'Who the hell is this guy and what is he trying to say?' When I tilted my head a little, he quietly took a business card out of his arms and gave it to me.
"I'm… I'm like this."
'OH Entertainment President Kwon Oh Hyuk.'
He was the president of OH Entertainment. Considering that the culprit, hairdresser, and Oh Hyun-joo all, belonged to the company, he was in charge of the case. He told me this while Oh Hyun-joo was holding the attention of the police.
"Can we just go out and talk for a minute?"
I nodded, following him out of the station.
He told me, "Nothing much, we want to keep this case quiet. As you know, our entertainment company has an image to maintain and it wouldn't be very good for actress Hyun-joo, too. Do you understand, sir?"
That was right. I nodded silently.
"So, first of all, we're going to do this as quietly as we can. I am sure, reporters may contact you in case. So…"
He suddenly took an envelope out of his arms and handed it to me. "If you'd take this and not let the press know…"
I was a person who received. I peeped right into it. There were two cheques of $10,000; it was $20,000.
'How little! This is the only thing I've ever done.'
In the old days, my eyes would have been wide, but now that I had touched such a large sum of money on the stock market, I was not very excited. Still, I tried to close my eyes with this. It was because I didn't want to make money this way, and I didn't want to be bothered by this kind of work.
But then Kwon looked at me and said, "I, uh, I'd like to ask."
He hurriedly took out another identical check out of his arms and gave it to me. It was a total of $30,000.
'No, I was just going to take $20,000 and not say anything.'
He seemed to have added another one because I had a dull look at the previous $20,000. I did not have to refuse to take more. I nodded. "Yes, well, I see."
Kwon once again said with a nod to me. "Please do me a favor."
At the end of the secret deal, Oh Hyun-joo walked out of the police station. She looked at me and came up to me and said, "You're… you're a lifesaver. I'm sorry to let you go like this, but may I have your number, please?"
My eyes were stiff. 'Is this true? Am I picking up the phone number of Oh Hyun-joo?' But it was a true story.
She rummaged through her bag as if she were trying to get a number from me. But a moment later she spoke in a rather depressed voice. "Now I left my phone in the car…"
"Oh, wait a minute." I hurriedly took out my business card and handed it to her. As I was about to leave the company, I didn't think I would need to give my business card for a while, but Oh Hyun-joo would take it.
But this was the time. The man standing next to her stepped forward and took my card for her. 'What is this?'
I looked at the man, but he avoided my eyes. I remembered seeing him at the spot earlier today. Coming to think of it, he was her manager. He was the manager who drove the Mercedes van. When the manager came forward and took my business card, Oh Hyun-joo stayed still.
I was convinced inwardly. 'Well, that's how celebrities do it.'
Then, Oh Hyun-joo smiled one more time and bowed her head. "Thank you once again."
"Yes."
After the final greetings, Oh Hyun-joo and her manager and the bald president left the police station in the courtesy van. I watched the van leave and then went back into the police station.
Inside, the middle-aged police officer named Chul-yong was praising her beauty, in old words for his age. "Wow, she is a real fairy."
"Yes, sir? It's different after you saw her in person, isn't it?"
The young policeman, who had been scolded earlier, was relieved to say something. This time, however, even the middle-aged policeman failed to refute him.
"Well…"
I watched the scene with a smile.
A moment later, the staring middle-aged policeman looked at me and said, nodding his head. "You have to go home, don't you? Policeman Kim. Take him home."The next day, Saturday morning, I got up around eight o'clock, as always. There was quite a lot going on yesterday, so I was so tired, and yet as I woke up at this time every day, my eyes automatically opened. I was a complete morning person now.
"Ho-hum."
I stretched out, got up, took a shower, and had breakfast. In the meantime, I kept reminding myself of yesterday. Stoker, killer, super beauty, so intense an event in my life that I did not think I would ever forget. I still shook my head two times and thought, 'It's okay. Yesterday was yesterday and now I have to work today.'
I turned on my computer to receive an email from 12 Hours After, which was now my main job. It was 8:50 a.m. It was still five minutes before the email came.
'Today is the weekend. Let's look at the Lotto.'
I logged on to my email account, thinking that way. But there was an email that I hadn't seen.
[12 Hours After, Correction Report]
The email arrived at 8:50 p.m., when the incident took place yesterday. I clicked on it.[Correction Report]
– We're pleased to inform you that the contents of "Actress Oh Hyun-joo, who is stabbed by a man in front of Choo Hospital in Gangnam" have been revised due to the intervention of the readerI looked down at the email. It contained my performance instead of the contents of yesterday's email. 'The 29-year-old citizen, identified only by his surname Han, overpowered the criminal by shoulder throwing him onto his back, and two police officers nearby quickly arrested him, leaving the criminal's plan for naught.'
It was not a newspaper that anyone could see, but I was a little moved to see my story on the news. I read the article through, even though I already knew the contents. The correction report only recorded the starkly changed facts.
'It's definite there's no fixed future, and I can change it with my will. All right. It was a good tip.'
'If I am rolling in more wealth in the future, I may not like the news that comes out in 12 Hours After. When that happens, there will also be a need to actively intervene in the future, as I did yesterday.'
'Hoo, that's good. I can modify the future. I think things are getting bigger.'
I leaned back on the chair for a while and closed my eyes. But when I closed my eyes, I could see only the black eyelids at first, and then suddenly someone's face came to my mind. Oh Hyun-joo's face was cute with a little bump on her head. I opened my eyes and shook my head a couple of times.
'Wow, Han Sang-hoon, wake up.'
It was like I was still dreaming, and not really awake. But it was definitely not a dream that she took my number yesterday.
'Maybe Oh Hyun-joo will call first. She'll buy me a meal in return for saving her life. Then, what should I do?'
I had a delusion, laughing like that. But even then, I had such negative thoughts. 'No. Would a top actress like that want to meet a commoner like me just because I saved her once? That's ridiculous.'
I was like a little girl breaking the petals by herself for a while. 'She likes me. She doesn't like me. She likes me. She doesn't like me.'
After repeating the ideas of affirmation and negation, I came to a third conclusion.
'No. Whatever it is, shouldn't I be a competent man for a top actress?' I turned my head to the monitor with that thought. 'All right, what's the news today?'
But then a loud loudspeaker sounded outside the apartment.
"Who will be the new mayor of Seoul?"
After that, I heard someone shouting, "Lee Hee-chul! Lee Hee-chul! Lee Hee-chul!"
I felt a sudden surge of irritation.
'Ah, they've been making a lot of noise the morning weekends. Lee Hee Chul? I'm not going to vote for you. No, who's the competition? I'll have to choose him.'
I found the mail from the NEC last time, and the booklet I had thrown away randomly to eat my chicken and beer.
It was the point of the local election season.
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I pointed my finger at the middle of my forehead. Eight o'clock in the morning. On my way to work to the subway station in the early morning, the loud music grated on my nerves.
"I like No. 1. Joo Sung-won. I love you~ Please pick #1 Joo Sung-won~ Push me~"
Monday morning. It was a difficult time for anyone in the office, but I had been more nervous today than usual. It was because I couldn't sleep well while watching the cell phone until late last night.
'Why did you ask me the phone number if you weren't going to text me?'
The irritation caused by lack of sleep combined with the high notes grinding my nerves was even more irritating. The source of the sound was in front of the subway station, the ladies in their original clothes were dancing to the rhythm repeatedly to the song, a retelling of the lyrics.
A man wearing white gloves on both hands had a sign reading "Joo Sung-won, No. 1."
"Please give me a pick." He turned left.
"Please push me." He turned to the right.
I bared my teeth at him. There was no bad feeling for the women who were part-timers. Most of them just wanted to pay for their children's tuition while getting paid for part-time jobs. The subject of my teeth was the name written on the T-shirt they were wearing.
'Joo Sung-won, the mayor of Seoul now, is now running for re-election. Last time was Lee Hee-chul. I'm sure I will not select either one.'
Now, however, each entrance to the subway station was occupied with cars with numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4. If I selected them like this, I should not vote at all. I shook my head in a flash.
'Is an election campaign working these days?
'In a dark era when they couldn't get any information about what kind of politician he was, he might have been able to win some votes with such a childish campaign. These days, however, they can find not only a person's career but also his remarks, any incidents, and political activities. Politicians who want to win votes in elections can study policies hard, keep their promises, and clean up their usual behavior.'
"Not that clown thing."
I was not the only one who hated that sound. Many people, office workers, and students were heading to the subway station early in the morning, frowning at the noisy mess, or putting earphones in their ears.
'I'd rather select a person who doesn't do that.' I went into the subway station with that thought.When I arrived at the company, I saw a watch. 8:30. It was almost normal. There were twenty-five minutes left before the email came. I sat in my chair and closed my eyes to sleep. By the way, the melody that I had heard earlier was played automatically in my ears.
'Please pick Joo Sung-won for No. 1. Push him.'
"Uh…" I gritted my teeth once again.
'What's the use of that?' I used to say that.
However, it seemed to work a little. Now, with the song, it was automatically played along to the rhythm of the ladies. Somehow, I was upset that I lost to the childish lyrics, the repeated tune.
'Well, let's see what kind of bastards are out there.'
I gave up sleeping and opened my eyes. Then, I turned on my computer and went to the search site. 'Seoul Mayor Candidates.'
There were countless sites, news, and blogs. It was a matter of course. The Seoul mayoral election was the focus of many local elections, as it was the biggest.
'If the local elections are a casino that opens once every four years, the Seoul mayoral election is the biggest VIP room in the country. And, of course, as high as the stakes are, if he wins, the rewards are great.
'For now, the population of the Seoul City amounts to one-fifth of the total population of Korea. Just by gaining high approval ratings in Seoul, he becomes the nation's most popular politician. In addition, since Seoul is home to those who lead the entire public opinion due to the nature of the capital city, becoming Seoul Mayor means that he will gain a huge network of connections in political and business circles.'
So it was natural in a way that the former and incumbent Seoul Mayors were always up and down as the next presidential candidates. In fact, some people became presidents after serving as mayor of Seoul.
I searched for some news from the past, not from the 12 Hours After news.
"Let's see."
A total of five people were currently in the Seoul Mayor's office. They were representative of each political party. Three of them had a possible approval rating. The first one that stood out was Joo Sung-won, number one. The incumbent Seoul Mayor was seeking re-election. He was at No. 1 in approval ratings thanks to his easy running of the municipal administration when he had been selected last time.
'Is the former officer a wise one? Unless something major comes up, he will be elected again.'
I slowly scrolled down. The next one I saw was number two, Lee Hee-chul, a politician with an unusual background. He had served as a pharmacist and CEO of a pharmaceutical company. He was also in second place in approval ratings as a person who had long been a party leader so far. In fact, he was the greatest antagonist of Zoo Sung-won.
'Well, is there a possibility for this guy?'
I last looked at number three, Jung Kwan-soo, a politician with a four-term parliamentary seat. Of the three, his political career was the longest, but his approval rating was the lowest.
'Well, I think I've seen him before.'
I searched for a little more on the three people. There were no candidates, no pledges that I liked.
'Do I really have to vote this time?'
I hated low-profile campaigns, but I tended to vote hard. There were no political parties or politicians who I just supported, but I voted with the mindset of fulfilling my duties as a democratic citizen. But this time, there was no one I really wanted to pick. I dropped the search window. I didn't even want to know more, because I didn't like the candidates.
But when I lowered the search window, it was 8:55 p.m. Nearby, my co-workers were also preparing to take up positions and work.
'Yeah, well, money's the best.'
I shifted my eyes to the email. The first thing I clicked on was the Economy.
[The big distribution dinosaurs. Is their infiltration into the local businesses okay?]
Pass. Next was Entertainment. I had made money, I had had a unique experience. Somehow, I was attracted to it unknowingly.
[Chang Woo-bin was cast in 'With the Gods,' the work we expected.]
Pass. I felt like I could not make money today. I circled my mouse aimlessly. Well, that was all right. I already knew from experience that someday there would be news that would be worth money. I then tried to click on IT/Science like a habit. However, when I put the cursor over it, I didn't click. What I originally wanted to see when I clicked on IT/Science was something like the following:
[A successful new drug development of XX-pharmaceutical with lung cancer recovery rate of 99%!]
[XX Chem developed next-generation batteries with overwhelming efficiency!]
[XX Games hit the jackpot with a new game!]…
Nevertheless, the articles which didn't make any money came out instead.
[Hidden and pulled out, the principle of cat claws.]
[The world of quantum mechanical geniuses.]
[There's a great possibility of alien existence.]
I pulled my mouse cursor off IT/Science. I turned it a couple of times on the monitor, with no place to go, and then moved it to Sports, a possible shot, with a mind to get at least $1,000.
But somehow, today, the Politics at the front attracted me. I wondered if I had been listening to their stories since morning. I unconsciously shifted my cursor to Politics and clicked right away. However, the title of the news surprised me.
[The candidates for the next mayor of Seoul are reduced to three.]
I took my hand on my lips for a moment, leaving the cursor over the article. It wasn't because it was money-making news. Rather, why did the news about the Seoul Mayor come out?
'Wait a minute, is this…?
I dropped my email and went back to the Politics column in the news window of the portal site. There were thirty days left for the current local elections. Political news was occupied by the local elections.
'In a way, it is a matter of course. In a democratic political system, elections are a process and a result, an alpha and an omega.'
I looked for other news here. The inter-Korean dialogue was talked out and the issue passed, and the constitutional amendment, which had been discussed until recently, had gone awry. All that remained was local news. Most of them were about the Seoul mayoral race, which was arguably the biggest topic. I soon realized…
'If I choose Politics for a month, the only thing that's going to happen is the Seoul mayoral election, right?'
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[The candidates for the next mayor of Seoul are reduced to three.]
I read the article. The content was mediocre. It was what I already knew from a report from the established media just now. But I smiled at it. My five senses carried a deep, strong feeling. This was the article to make money. If the Seoul mayoral election was the biggest one in the election, there were real stakes in it. It was a stock, of a political kind.
'If you ride the waves of a political stock, you could make a lot of money. There's an upper and low limit price here every day.'
The problem was that I had never touched a political stock before. It was an informal investment in the first place, but when I was in stocks, there was no election. I started thinking, closing the email window.
'I need to study more.'"Welcome."
I entered the store to a greeting: Waffle, a famous electronics retail store located in Garosu-gil, Sinsa-dong.
"Do you have anything you're looking for?"
To the waiting staff, I asked, "Is there a tablet PC that works with a pen?"
"Do you mean an iPad?"
"Yes, I'm going to buy it."
"Oh, there are two main types, common edition and professional one. Would you like to come and see?"
The clerk showed me two kinds of models. They were a little different in size, but I did not know what was good for me now.
"What's the difference between the two?"
"No matter what, the professional version has a bigger screen and better performance. It's more expensive."
"Then give me a professional version."
"The pen is a separate sale."
I waved my hands out like a nuisance.
"Then please give me a pen too."
"Then, would you like a Wi-Fi version? Or do you want to use the LTE version? Every version has a different capacity."
This was too complicated, and I didn't want to hear more explanation.
"Just the best one, and the most expensive one, please."
The clerk grinned at my words, as the best customer was just like this.
"It's $1,241."
When I heard the price, I handed over my credit card.
'$1,241? Is that much for a tablet?'
In former times, I would have opened my eyes in circles, but since I recently started stock trading, I had not paid much attention to the price. In the first place, this tablet was being bought so I could do better. It was a kind of reinvestment. I was going to make tens of million dollars off this tablet PC!
I took my new tablet and settled down at a nearby scenic cafe. The screen was big and bright. When I drew on the screen with a pen, it was like writing in a notebook with a real pencil.
'All right, well, I'm looking forward to it.' I greeted the machine and immediately began to write my first notes. What I spent all day studying was political stock. The first words I wrote in my virtual notebook were 'Politics is basically fraud.'
I put another line next to it, 'It's a fraud with a poor story, which is not probable.
'The basic structure of political stock is like this: politician A who is in the election has ties with company B. The relationship is a thin relationship that is like, 'A is a high school classmate with the CEO of company B,' 'A worked there,' or 'A's brother has been a director at the company.' Therefore, if A is elected and has political influence, B will improve its performance.
'But a little thought makes it easy to see that this is a ridiculous story, because the story itself is a reason for collusion between politics and business. It is the nation's people who voted down the president last year for corruption. The president, who is the most powerful person in the country, also lost control of her family, school or whatever, and when it is found that the mayor of Seoul has given favors to a certain company or intervened in his interests, he should go into forced retirement.
'It worked in the days when money was flowing in and out without knowing, and the days when people below took care of themselves before the superiors told them to do something. However, these days, government workers who do such a thing will be cut out. So, they are reluctant to deal with where his personal connections are.
'But nevertheless, the story still worked on the stock market. The stock market fluctuates during the presidential election and also in the local elections. If we find out why a number of stocks have gone to the ceiling, a relative of a leading politician is working for company B.
I put another line on my tablet.
'But as it is a fraud, I don't need to deny it. Because stocks are a kind of game to play with prices. It's crazy. So everyone says, "don't do it." But that works in the stock market, because the price of a stock is basically made from a person's imagination. If they make a deal for $1,000 with toilet paper in the market, it will be $1,000, and if they trade a shell with pearls for $1, it will be $1.
'If Fireball and Ice Lance meet, Fireball wins, since Fireball is a six-circle magic, and Ice Lance is a four-circle magic. If there's such a setting in the fantasy world, it's like the fantasy world is going to roll like that.
'If politician A is elected, company B's stock price will rise. There is such a setting in the stock market, and so the world rolls. It's amazing, but it's true, and it's repeated every year.'
I followed up with another line. 'The political stocks: I only have to trade the leading stock.
'Here, the leading stock in the market is the most sensitive to good news, simply climbing up and falling down the most. However, the political stock has an argument over the setting of falsehood. If they're going to play with the political stocks, you'd better play with the leading stock. There are several reasons.
'First, the forces that manipulate stock prices intensively throw their bullets at the leading stock. Even for fraudsters and stock-manipulating forces, there is a limit to money. Most of them also manipulate stock prices with other people's money, taking high interest from the private bond market. Therefore, if the manipulation fails, their lives will be in danger. When they climb, they will raise it as well, so the theme will not die.'
'Second, stocks other than the leading stock can be eliminated during the rally, as the links between politician A and company B are usually weak. In some cases, company B says it is not directly related, and in that case, it drops as quickly as the rising stock that has been classified as a themed stock. They say the market could end before the election is even over.
'Finally, the simplest, most important reason is that the leading stock is the most popular. In other words, if they're going to gamble, it's better to do it at a casino bigger than a local swindler. Fraud is essentially the same.'
I found some of the hottest stocks at the moment, classed as the leading stocks in the political theme, and turned it on my tablet in the form of 'politician A – company B' with a short background story.
[Joo Sung-won – Dongbo Construction]
'Mayor Joo Sung-won once served as an outside director of Dongbo Industry. His New Town Construction Policy is expected to be a good source for Dongbo Construction.'
[Lee Hee-chul – Endo Biologics]
'Many board members from MaxMedic, where Lee Hee-chul was CEO, are located in this company. Since Lee Hee-chul is a pharmacist and CEO of a pharmaceutical company, Endo Biologics is likely to benefit from it.'
[Jung Kwan-soo – Yurim Industries]
'Park Myung-won, CEO of Yurim Industries, is a friend of Chung Kwan-soo and a graduate of Seun University. Chung Kwan-soo is often seen with Park Myung-won, president of the National Assembly.'
'The share prices of Dongbo Construction, Endo Vironix, and Yulim Industries are already shaking. The current approval ratings of the three are: The highest, at 50%, is the current Mayor Joo Sung-won. Lee Hee-chul's approval rating is 35 percent. And finally, the approval rating of Jung Kwan-soo is 15%, and if there are some variables that will turn this ranking upside down, each representative theme would go up and down violently.'
I wrote another line on my tablet. 'I will be the best cheater in the world after I go into that fraud.'
I had been clicking on Politics every day since this day, peeking at opportunities, and that opportunity had come faster than I thought!
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The next Tuesday, I got an email from 12 Hours After. First, the remaining subscription period was noticeable. Seven days. One week. When this was over, I had to put in another ten thousand dollars.
'I want to increase a lot before then.'
Now, ten thousand would become a hundred thousand, a million, and ten million dollars later. However, it would be a little unfortunate if ten thousand dollars was spent purely on expenses before it was increased a few times. Before the subscription period ended, I hoped something would come out in a week. I first clicked on the Economy and Entertainment categories.
[AlphaGo dominates the stock market.]
[ZM's big new idol GRAY. Debut countdown.]
A bummer and a bummer, back-to-back bummer. Well, I was used to it now. I just checked the title with my eyes and moved the mouse cursor. The highlight of the day was Politics. I took a short breath and clicked on Politics.
[Seoul mayoral election. Distribution chart of approval ratings by region.]
When I saw the title of the news, I was half-disappointed, half-satisfied.
"Well."
What was disappointing was that it was not news that would earn money. What was satisfactory was that the Seoul mayoral election was on the news as predicted. It was not today, but the expectation that money-making news was coming soon made me excited. 9 p.m., when the stock market opened, I then turned on the MTS to search for three stocks: Dongbo Construction, Endo Biologics, and Yurim Industries.
[Dongbo Construction $4.6 (1.2%)
Endo Biologics $64.20 (-0.5%)
Yurim Industries $54.10 (0.2%)]
The political theme stocks of the Seoul mayoral candidates were breathing for a while after soaring around the time they registered their candidacy a month ago. That was because the approval ratings of 50 percent for Joo, 35 percent for Lee and 15 percent for Jung remained unchanged. The current situation would have to be reversed in order for the approval rating to rise and fall, and the stock price to change, but that had yet to come.
I made a category called 'political theme' in the watchlist and put those three stocks in first place.
'If I hide in the bushes like a lion in the savannah and something comes up, I will rush in and bite.'
But the article that followed Wednesday made me a little disappointed.
[Gyeonggi governor candidate Kim Hee-chang's 70% overwhelming approval rating. There's no counter-offensive.]
The news of Gyeonggi governor was understandable. It was the second largest after the Seoul mayoral election. But I was a little nervous. From now on, there six days left in the subscription period and twenty-eight days left for elections.
'There's got to be something going on before that.'
I closed my email with that thought. Fortunately, my wait was not long.Thursday, I was sitting in my seat early in the morning, and Choi approached me.
"Hey, Han Sang-hoon. It's payday today. I'll buy for you once, as promised!"
I blinked. "Oh, has it come to that already?"
"Has it come to that already? Hey, you've been waiting for your payday."
If there was a single day to wait for in a hellish job, if there was a day when the blessing of a saint came down, it was payday. I had never forgotten my payday before. But I forgot that, and I was focusing on receiving an email. I nodded.
"Oh, I see." I was late. I had been going to quit before this payday.
Choi looked at my face and said cautiously. "Uh, you. What is it? Did you fight with your girlfriend?"
He had never seen so calm a look on my face on payday. I waved him off. "It's OK. Go to your seat."
To be honest with me, it was no longer important for me to receive a few pennies. The money in my current stock account was exactly $217,156.
It was the sum of the money I received from OH Entertainment President Kwon and the money I earned from the merger and acquisition of Jiwoo Entertainment. Just because the stock price moved 2% a day, I earned more money than my salary.
'Better than that, something has to be come up.'
I clicked on the Politics as I grumbled inwardly. The news that came out today made me suspicious.
[The former secretary of Mayor Joo Sung-won declared "Me Too." Seven years ago, she was sexually harassed by Mayor Joo Sung-won.]
I looked around in amazement because it was such a shocking news.
'No, that decent-looking guy?'
But the more shocking the news, the stronger it was. I clicked on the article.Seoul Mayor Joo Sung-won's former secretary, Kim Soo-hyang, declared "Me Too" through the media. It has caused a huge stir in society. Kim Soo-hyang, who had worked as his secretary, asked the mayor to make an official apology, saying that the mayor had tried to hug and kiss her in the private chambers of the National Assembly when he was serving as a lawmaker.It was an article big enough to drop my jaw.
'No, is this real?'
But I didn't have time to think about it. First of all, I had to buy stocks first. I turned on the MTS quickly. I then confirmed the stock price of Dongbo Construction, the leading stock of Seoul Mayor Joo Sung-won.
[Dongbo Construction: $4.70 (0.2%)]
Dongbo Construction was trying to make a slight rise.
'It is the stock market that is more sensitive to information than anywhere else. When a rumor starts to spread, the stock market first understands and reacts before any media, faster than any Internet site.'
In other words, this information had not yet been released to the market.
'This is a huge opportunity to sweep.'
Confidently, I checked my present time with a glare. It was now 8:57. There were still three minutes left before the market opened. I came back to 12 Hours After and read the news over and over again.Mayor Joo Sung-won held an official press conference and denied the allegations.
'It is true that when I was a lawmaker, Kim Soo-hyang served as a short-term secretary in my office, but I have never done anything to humiliate her.'
Former secretary Kim Soo-hyang's claim and Seoul Mayor Joo Sung-won's claim are in disagreement. The controversy is expected to escalate as Joo is now on the verge of re-election.'He has denied the charges.'
But it wasn't really important. Once one was caught up in a mudslinging controversy, the image of the subject of controversy was bound to plummet. It was inevitable that the approval rating of Mayor Joo would drop.
'It was seven years ago. Besides, there's no witness at all in the private room. Then, this is not something that will come to light in a day or two.'
No matter what the truth may be, this scandal would not easily fade. It was a sure card to shake up Mayor Joo Sung-won. I thought fast.
'Who will benefit most from the collapse of Mayor Joo Sung-won? Lee Hee-chul, who is definitely second in the list, is his strong opponent. No wonder Lee Hee-chul will rise to No. 1 if Mayor Joo Sung-won loses his approval rating due to the controversy. I have to buy Endo Biologics.'
I went into the watchlist and immediately looked for Endo Biologics' current price.
[Endo Biologics $64.00 (0.0%)]
Endo Biologics remained the same. The good news was not out yet. It was the right time to buy. According to a preliminary survey, Endo Biologics was a healthy company that had been increasing in sales, making profits and paying dividends every year. I only used 40 percent of credit because it was a small to medium-sized company, but I did not have much trouble even if I went all-in.
At nine o'clock, the market opened. As always, I started buying Endo Biologics little by little. Unlike in Jiwoo Entertainment, no one was moving to compete. It seemed to reflect that the 'Me Too' incident was something no one expected. Good. The rarer the information, the more valuable it was.
Having gained some room, I took about an hour and slowly purchased the stock without raising the price. Around ten o'clock, an hour after the market opened, the shares in my account at the end of the purchase were as follows:
[Endo Biologics
Shares: 8,840
Purchase Price: $64.30
Purchase Amount: $542,692]
I had about $210,000, but with 40 percent credit, I was able to buy $540,000 worth of stocks, 2.5 times the amount.
'Hoo, $540,000, I've never held this much…'
I took a deep breath for a moment and watched the trading window. At that time, some stupid person sold off the stock at the market price. The stock price fell to $64.00. My account, which held 8,840 shares, lost $2,652 in an instant. I lost more than my salary today.
'Oh, it'll be hard to watch.'
My courage could not keep up with the money I had invested. I turned off the MTS on purpose. I didn't have to spend all my time on it. That was for ants whose entire wealth depended on stocks, who couldn't see ahead. However, I was different. I had seen the future. No matter how much the closing price was, by this time tomorrow I would be laughing!
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"It was a good meal."
I patted Choi on the shoulder as I left the door of the soup bistro. Today's trading was all finished in the morning, so there was no reason to have a separate lunch.
"Well, it's a lot cheaper than the last meal you bought."
"No, it was delicious. I didn't know there was such a restaurant near the company."
Choi kept his promise to buy lunch on the next payday. He was a little light, but he was loyal and a good guy. I had some time left when I came back to work after eating. I turned on the Internet and searched for Mayor Joo Sung-won.
[Seoul Mayor Joo Sung-won visits Namdaemun Market for a tour of the public welfare.]
[Description of the New City Project, a pledge made by Joo Sung-won.]
[Mayor Joo Sung-won's lecture schedule at Yonsei University in the afternoon.]
There was no information on 'Me Too' yet.
'Not yet. This is it.'
I tried to close the window. But before closing, I was so curious about the stock price I had bought this morning. I promised myself not to see it today. In the end, I compromised with myself.
'Don't turn on the MTS. Let's search.'
I searched for 'Endo Biologics ' in the search box. At the top was the current stock price.
[Endo Biologics $63.10 (–1.1%)]
Endo Biologics was bearish in the –1% range.
'How much did I lose? As I bought $540,000, that would be $5,400.'
$5,400 was almost my three-month salary. No matter how much I knew about the future, I felt a little anxious.
'Oh no, this is the stock to buy anyway. Let's just get to work instead of worrying about it. Work.'
After lunchtime, I concentrated on my work as usual. I didn't watch MTS on purpose. I didn't think I'd be in my right mind if I saw my salary coming and going in a second. The stock would be at the upper limit price tomorrow anyway. It would better to concentrate on my work than to be stressed about it.It was about two hours after lunchtime. Choi, who was waiting for documents to be printed out in front of the old printer, said something to me, "There is a funny story."
"What's the story?" I asked him without much thought. He always bragged that it was an interesting story, with nothing really to say.
"Mayor Joo Sung-won is on 'Me Too.'" This time, he said it for real.
"What?" I was frightened. Of course, it was not because it was surprising. I knew that because I had seen it in the morning. It was the time that surprised me. "Where did you hear that?"
"It has been running around like a rumor in my college alumni's 'Katok' room. Mayor Joo Sung-won touched his secretary's butt."
I looked at the clock. It was just past 3 p.m. The rumor was spreading.
"Isn't the news up?" I asked him again.
"The news isn't out yet, but it'll be up in a minute. In one or two hours? The reason I told you this is because the journalist is my classmate, who is working for a media company."
"… really?"
When I gathered my lips and stiffened slightly, Choi asked, "Why, did you like Mayor Joo Sung-won? Really?"
"No, I don't. It's because it's shocking."
"You don't? Me, too. The guy who looked so gentle… They are all the same."
The reporter knew. That meant that all the big names involved in the manipulation of the stock prices of a political theme were aware.
I handed over the printer I was holding to Choi and said, "Uh… Hey, please go and hand this over to Park for me."
"Why do you want someone do your job? Am I an NPC? You give me a quest!" And the rewards to go with it…
"I'm in a hurry to go to the bathroom."
"What?"
"Please.
I left him the job like that, then went into the bathroom like a real urgent person. There seemed to be no one in the bathroom.
"Hoo." I took a deep breath for a while and turned on the MTS.
[Endo Biologics $83,20 (30%)]
The upper limit price. It went off. I went into the stock account.
[Endo Biologics
Shares: 8,840
Purchase Price: $64,30 (0.5%)
Purchase Amount: $542,692
Current Price: $83.20 (30%)
Current Value: $735,488
Profit and Loss: $192,796]
Today's earnings alone were $192,796. I shook my fist a couple of times.
'That's it! That's it!'
And then I couldn't control the excitement, so I hit the tile of the bathroom hard.
"Uggggh!" My fist was hurt, but it was good. I was so happy that I didn't know what to do. I hit the tile a little softer a couple more times. Bang, bang!
'$192,796 in a day! About ninety months in salary? A hundred months? How many years is in a hundred months? 8 years? 9 years?'
I stopped my mental arithmetic. There was no point to calculate with my salary now. What did those pennies matter now? I went to the bathroom sink and cried out silently, looking at my face. 'Han Sang-hoon, you're rich now!'
But then, suddenly, a door opened from one of the bathroom compartments, and Heo, the enemy, walked out of it. "What are you doing?"
For a moment, I imagined hitting Heo on the chin with my fists, saying "Call me for alimony!". But I did not, because I was generous enough to forgive anyone.
He asked me again, "Why were you hitting the wall of the bathroom?"
At the remark, I said with a smile, "I have no idea."
When I reacted like that, Heo's face stiffened. I was sure it should be because I laughed and said, "I have no idea". In his eyes, I looked like a madman. He looked at me again with a pale face, but I didn't care and said, smiling, "Have a good day, section chief!"$409,952.
I looked at the amount in my account. $409,952. A month ago, I split my salary, paid monthly rent, paid communications, cut food cost, and paid back my student loan. However, it now contained $409,952. I couldn't feel it. But this wasn't the end. Because Endo Biologics was ready to go to the upper limit price tomorrow. The Internet was a mess after the media made an announcement at around 5 p.m. today.
[Wow, Joo Sung-won's words are so damn good, and he is such an idiot.]
[That's what politicians usually do. They pretend to be clean in front of the public and sexually harass a girl who is like a daughter in the back.]
[Isn't it funny if it's real? If Mayor Joo Sung-won won re-election, he'd be the president in the next presidential election. He took the secretary's ass one time and blew the president's seat off, right?]
[He should have called a prostitute. I don't understand why he touched a woman who did not like it?]
[It's because he can't be politicized if he's not caught in the act. In any case, living as a politician is not easy.]
In the meantime, some cold comments were seen.
[It hasn't been confirmed yet, so why are you already making a fuss?]
[Mayor Joo Sung-won, he's not that kind of man. The secretary seems a little weird.]
[This is political maneuvering by Lee Hee-chul. It's a dirty ploy to win the Seoul mayoral election.]
[The truth always comes out. We'll see.]
The political parties were also in turmoil. As the facts were still unknown, the other mayoral candidates Lee Hee-chul and Jung Kwan-soo remained calm, but their party spokesmen were not calm and blamed Joo with an official statement.
"Mayor Joo Sung-won will have to answer for his sexual harassment honestly and clearly in front of ten million voters."
"Is it really appropriate for someone who is involved in such a messy scandal to become Seoul Mayor, an international city in the global era? Smart voters…"
Mayor Joo Sung-won hurriedly held a press conference as informed in the advance in 12 Hours After and issued a statement saying, 'I didn't do it,' but it was not enough to settle the issue.
'People are bound to go crazy about the story that a popular person has fallen.'
The situation was a month before the Seoul mayoral election. The sex scandal of Mayor Joo Sung-won, the most likely candidate, was enough to heat up the Internet. The political news section had been painted over with the story of Mayor Joo Sung-won. Even in the Society section, an article like 'A message about the Me Too movement' popped up.
In Life/Culture, articles like 'A woman who is sexually harassed in her daily life. A new novel that tells the story of the socially weak,' came out.
There were many such articles. This was not different from the entire nation being swept away by the Me Too movement. Stock prices also reflected this tendency, especially when it hit the upper limit price, when the fire was set.
'That's enough. We'll have to go to the upper limit price one more time, right?'
I spent the whole day looking around the political news and the Internet community, thinking that way. It might be a hobby for others, but for me, it was all a collection of data to determine the best time for selling.
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I opened the apartment door and went outside. The boulevard there was a city of studio apartments. Garbage bags were stacked under a utility pole with shoddy advertising and vomit on a long, rugged cement road. It was a landscape to offend someone, but I walked out of there with a light step.
"Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm-hmm."
Then, realizing that I was humming, I stopped for a moment.
'Why am I humming?'
Why was it coming out? It was because of a decent account. That's right, was there anything better than this? I didn't have to worry about my debts anymore. I didn't need to be tied up in work anymore. I was no longer a slave. I became a master from a slave. I was so excited about that on the way to work.
As I was walking along the street, I suddenly touched my chest. A thin envelope was in the inside pocket of my suit.
'I brought it, right.'
This was a letter of resignation. I didn't want to use it right now, but I had it ready. I would put it in my desk drawer for a while, and when the time came, I would use it.
After doing that, the resignation letter felt like an amulet that made me excited to go to work. When I thought about, I didn't want to go to high school. However, I enjoyed going to school, around the time of graduation. I also loved the friends I saw every day, and I bowed to my teacher I hated.
It might be because the college entrance exams were decided, and the class relaxed. It was when the hard work was over.
'It's all memories.'
This road to work now would be a memory soon. I walked towards the subway. Perhaps because of the Me Too incident that broke out yesterday, there were no women dancing on the subway today. I used to hate it so much, but now I was humming the song inwardly.
'I love you. I love you.'
In a way, it was all about making money. I got in the subway and stood in line for a long commute. An old gentleman watched the news on his smartphone. On the screen, an announcer with neatly bobbed hair was reporting the news. "The sex scandal involving incumbent Seoul Mayor Joo Sung-won has emerged as a storm of the Seoul mayoral election, and by extension the local elections."
The old gentleman was listening to the news with his arms folded, but he clucked his tongue. "Chut…"
Mayor Joo Sung-won's sex scandal had turned the country upside down. It was a nuclear bomb, erupting about a month before the Seoul mayoral election, and made not only those interested in politics. but also those who were not interested in politics blind. Behind me were young people in their twenties talking.
"Did you see the news yesterday?"
"That? The Seoul Mayor?"
"Oh, that was ridiculous."
"I mean. Life is one shot."
"But it was cool when Joo Sung-won made a splash in the Seoul mayoral race four years ago. This is how it's going…"
"When he goes, he goes artistically."
In this situation, I was sure I would be richer today than yesterday.When I arrived at the company, I went into the stock bulletin board, waiting for 12 Hours After to arrive. First of all, I looked at the comments of the Endo Biologics I had bought. As it went to the upper limit price yesterday, they were all excited to praise Lee Hee-chul.
[The next mayor is Lee Hee-chul. Oh, yes.]
[When will Joo step down? He must get out of here and Endo Biologics will go to the upper limit price in a series.]
[With this situation, it will go to the upper limit price. There is no solution even if he doesn't quit now. I wonder if Jung Kwan-soo will get 20 percent.]
[It is a little ridiculous to see people, who were not interested in politics in the first place, become enthusiastic supporters of Lee Hee-chul after buying this stock.]
'If the stock price drops tomorrow, they're going to swear. If they try to make money anyway, they have to be quiet in the meanwhile.'
I followed up on Dongbo Construction's bulletin board. Dongbo Construction, the leading stock of Joo Sung-won, was at $4.60, but it went to $3.22, just above the lower limit price. Various people were venting their passion on Dongbo Construction's bulletin board. I saw people in despair.
[I lost money worth a mid-size car. Oh, I want to go drink.]
[It is a car, it's okay. I lost my apartment. I don't even have the energy to drink.]
[What am I supposed to do? What should I tell my wife? Will I get divorced?]
There were people who were angry.
[Joo Sung-won, you son of a bitch, why do you touch someone's butt? I'm going to cut off your hands.]
[Why cut his hands? You have to cut his cock.]
[Let's go together. Can I go to Seoul City Hall?]
And there were people who were mocking those two kinds of people.
[I've come to see the mourning house here. Who's the host? Come and get me Yukgaejang, spicy beef soup.]
[You're the fools who bought the stock in the first place. Don't blame anyone.]
[Guys, don't do this here. Get on Endo Biologics right now! The next mayor is Lee Hee-chul!]
Sometimes I read messages to defend Mayor Joo Sung-won.
[Joo Sung-won is not that kind of man. Trust him and try to hold it.]
[Joo Sung-won is still suspicious. It doesn't turn out to be a fact. Shareholders, get your cool back.]
They quickly got a rebuttal.
[What's the coolness? You can find it when you eat the cold soy noodles. It will also go to the low limit price today.]
'It's a mess that's hard to see, and I'm afraid, as I said before, if there's anything going on in the stock market, and if you can't afford it, you shouldn't start stock trading. This is a world where they can cut your nose when you close your eyes.'
I finally looked for Yurim Industries of Jung Kwan-soo, but it was a little different from the two stocks that were clearly divided into the upper and lower limit prices. Yurim Industries also hit the 30% upper limit price when the rumors spread yesterday, but it ended a little ambiguous at the 18% level as the volume of sales tapered out in late trading.
'Why is that?'
When I thought about it a little, the answer came out because it was politically opposed to the support of Mayor Joo Sung-won and the support of candidate Jung Kwan-soo. If Mayor Joo Sung-won resigned, the remaining votes would go to Lee Hee-chul, but they would never go to Jung Kwan-soo. This was good news and bad news for candidate Jung Kwan-soo. This ambiguous rise was a reflection of the political calculation. Stock prices sometimes would represent these ambiguous social situations as prices.
'Well, so it is. The best beneficiary is Lee Hee-chul. I did a good job buying Endo Biologics.'
Now I had only one problem… when would I sell Endo Biologics?' Although the polls had not yet been released, the scandal had likely led to a sharp decline in the approval rating of the mayor.
'It's worth the upper limit price at least once more. Endo Biologics is still less than Dongbo Construction.'
Today I decided to aim for the upper limit price once more, and then, when the market was open today and this scandal turned out to be true, it would be perfect. Mayor Joo Sung-won would resign immediately, and Lee Hee-chul, who inherited the votes, would easily be elected. So, I would not sell Endo Biologics even if it were to go to the upper limit price today.
It was 8:55 a.m., as I was rolling my head. I got the email as always.
[Silver Class Member Mail, Subscription Period left: 4 days.]
I had four days left. I needed to get ten thousand dollars out of the stocks to extend it. I opened my email and clicked 'Politics' without any worries, but with such expectations. 'If Mayor Joo Sung-won admits the charge, if there's any kind of withdrawal from the mayoral race…'
But this time, a much more surprising title popped out than I had thought.
[Kim Soo-hyang, a former secretary of Mayor Joo Sung-won, is known to have secretly contacted a campaign camp member of Lee Hee-chul. More controversy.]
I froze for a moment.
'What is this?'
After a while, the solid ice melted, and I was in a state of mind.
'Yes, it's not yet true that he sexually molested her, is it?'
I thought of the articles I had seen on the bulletin board earlier.
[Joo Sung-won is still suspicious. It doesn't turn out to be a fact. Shareholders, get your cool back.]
Nevertheless, I had ignored it, as everyone had ignored it. I was unconsciously caught up in crowd psychology. It was dangerous to get caught up in crowd psychology in the stock market. There were times when they all fell down the cliff together while following the crowd. I rolled my head quickly.
'If this Me Too movement was really planned, if it turns out, what should I do?
'It doesn't matter whether it's true or not. Rather, it is important how the ants will move, and how I'm trading, keeping up with the situation.'
I clicked on the article in a hurry.
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I shook my head quickly, then struck a couple of blows with my hands. It was a physical therapy to find my senses in shock.
'What happened to this?'
I looked at my watch sideways. It was 8:56, four minutes before the opening. I scanned the article quickly.
[There was a person who became the center of attention from obscurity yesterday. The former secretary Kim Soo-hyang, who declared that she was sexually harassed by the incumbent Seoul Mayor Joo Sung-won, is the main character. She is shocking the political situation once again after circumstantial evidence revealed that she contacted candidate Lee Hee-chul in the past.
It is the netizens who raised the suspicion. One of the members of the 'watchers', one of the largest political communities in Korea, has found a picture of Kim Soo-hyang, who is talking with Lee Hee-chul's aides. This photo was taken at Gwanghwamun Square early last year when the cold weather was in full swing.]
I was surprised because this was the first picture shown in 12 Hours After.
'What… it shows me pictures, too?'
It was a matter of course in the article, but I was not used to it since it was the first time in 12 Hours After. I looked at it as calmly as I could. The main character of the photo was Lee Hee-chul, who was shaking hands with citizens in a parka and earplugs. They could see the image of King Sejong above, the background seemed to be Gwanghwamun Square, as the photograph explained.
It seemed that there was something going on, because many people were wearing red bands on their heads. Candidate Lee Hee-chul, as many politicians did, seemed to have come to visit and show his face and get pictures taken of him. There were so many people in one picture that I could not tell who was who.
'This is not looking for Wally. Where the hell is Kim Soo-hyang?'
The former secretary, Kim Soo-hyang, was basically a beautiful woman, with fine lines and a pretty, glazed face, red around her eyes and long lashes. Usually, such a gorgeous beauty was noticeable among many people, but it was hard to see in this picture because there were too many people. I read more.
[The first netizen who wrote about the suspect, ID 'Yeonwoo Dad', pointed out 'a woman with a black shawl in a beige coat on the upper left side of the picture' as Kim Soo-hyang and claimed that she was talking with Lee Hee-chul's aides.]
I looked at the upper left of the picture, as was written in the article. I found a beautiful woman with a beige coat and a black shawl standing side by side with two men in suits and overcoats. I zoomed in on her face closely, and she looked exactly like Kim Soo-hyang.
Although she was in the corner, her face was clearly visible because of the good picture quality. But it seemed a little hard to be sure it was her. Even that problem was solved in the article.
[The nickname 'Yeonwoo Dad' refuted the rebuke of another netizen disdaining the words 'A person who resembles' with the words 'The beauty mark under the eye is the same.']
'I've never seen a dot under the eye.'
I turned on a separate window and searched for Kim Soo-hyang. I found it was real. She had a sharp beauty mark on the right lower right corner of her eye. I compared the two pictures that came out of the search with the ones that came out in 12 Hours After by pressing the Alt-tab nonstop. Comparing the dots, all the features looked the same. I was sure. The two were the same. At this point, I felt goosebumps.
'At the beginning of last year… It was taken almost 2 years ago. How the hell did he find this?'
But there was no time to be surprised. While I was reading the article, the time came at 8:59. It was only a minute before the market opened. Now I had to respond. I skimmed through the end of the article.
[In this controversy, Lee Hee-chul and Kim Soo-hyang both avoid a definite answer, saying, 'It's not worth responding to,' and 'I don't remember.']
'I don't remember,' and 'to avoid a definite answer,' are the words that I have often seen used by politicians. Although it is just circumstantial evidence that they planned Me Too, with a photo. However, the stock price has no choice, but to react sensitively to such a thing.'
'Let's sell Endo Biologics with a loss first.'
I decided my way to go forward. In order to manage risk, in fact, I was going to sell Endo Biologics anyway. Then I should think about it. I turned on the MTS as I walked to the bathroom. Last time I had been caught hitting the wall by Heo, so I entered a vacant room and closed the door and locked it.
'I don't think the news has spread yet.'
I prayed it was so. If this information had been spread, it would not be strange to vomit up the $200,000 I had earned yesterday. By the way, the Endo Biologics, funny enough, was at the upper limit price from the start.
[Endo Biologics $108.00 (29.8%)]
"Huh."
I stopped for a moment and looked at it, making fun of my fingers as if I had just touched a hot pot. Remaining volumes began to build up at the upper limit price. 10,000, 20,000 and 30,000 shares. One million, two million, and three million dollars. The accumulated amount was five million dollars. If that was the case, I didn't have to sell it in a hurry. I looked over my balance.
[Endo Biologics
Shares: 8,840
Purchase Price: $64.30
Purchase Amount: $542,692
Current Price: $108
Current Value: $954,720
Profit and Loss: $412,028]
I made $192,796 yesterday, but today my profit was $219,232. It was the magic of compounding interest, because a profit made a profit. I grabbed my head, but I didn't hit the bathroom wall as I had done last time. I made more than yesterday, but somehow, I felt strange. I just felt that people's madness was so stupid and so scary.
If I had not seen this article this morning, I would never have sold this stock, which had been at the upper limit price from the morning. Having had a good weekend celebrating $219,232 today, I would have thought of selling it around Monday. It was scary to think like that. As soon as that news came up, this solid five million dollars wall would soon be broken.
I took my finger to the sell button. To be honest, I didn't feel comfortable the moment I entered the price at the upper limit price and sold the whole quantity. Since there were five million dollars to buy at the upper limit price, I seemed to be selling at a loss for some reason. If I hadn't known the future, I would never have sold it today.
'Who made the policy of the upper limit price? With this much money, we could sell it for 50% instead of 30%!' I pushed the sell button while cursing myself like that.
'Please sell some shares to me!' Everyone wanted to buy the stock. Naturally, my shares of $954,720 were sold out in a flash. Selling was completed. My account was stamped with $626,320. It was a little unfortunate, but I still held my fist, didn't hit anywhere and just shook it loudly in the air twice.
'I've scored first and then…' I now thought what to do with this bulging money. In fact, if there were no variables like yesterday, incumbent Mayor Joo Sung-won's re-election was highly likely. The Me Too that broke out yesterday was just too destructive. However, if the failed attempt turned out to be false, there was a possibility that the destructive power would face the opposite direction. It would be a great blowing wind, a backwind.
'What happened to Dongbo Construction?'
Suddenly, I was fiddling with the MTS. 'Dongbo Construction –22.6%' Dongbo Construction was running toward the low limit price, in stark contrast to Endo Biologics, which hit the upper limit price. It was blue hell where ants dried up blood money, a pallid hell of an endless stream of screams and cries of ants. But I looked at it and thought.
'This could be a huge opportunity.'
'People like a heroic story that a popular man goes wrong, but stands up against adversity. If Mayor Joo Sung-won survives this controversy, he'll be flying like a phoenix reborn.'
I looked briefly at Dongbo Construction's stock price, which was trading near the low limit price.
The amount now charged to my account was $626,320. Dongbo Construction also allowed 40 percent of credit transactions, as it was a firm company with a solid interior. If not right now, it meant that I could buy it at a very cheap price, as much as $1,500,000 around Tuesday, when the money sold today was taken as margin. If I got on the right track, this train was the one to heaven. I stood in front of the transfer station and thought for a moment.
'Shall I take a transfer?'
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