Na Seong-mi placed a cup of coffee in front of each person, bowed slightly to Seok-won, who was seated at the head of the table, and quietly exited the room.
With one leg crossed over the other, Seok-won slowly scanned the PI departnt team leaders seated on either side of the table before speaking.
"I'm sure you've all seen that the composite stock index has surpassed 1,000 points today."
Kim Jeong-sik, the leader of Team 1, imdiately responded with a smile.
"Of course! Just a few months ago, the market seed hopeless as it crumbled. But just as you predicted, it started rebounding in July, and now we've reentered the four-digit range. It's truly remarkable!"
"That's right. Thanks to your guidance, we positioned ourselves ahead of ti and were able to reap all the benefits of the index rally."
"With such significant profits, I think we can look forward to strong Q3 earnings."
"It's all thanks to your foresight, Director."
The team leaders, including Choi Ho-geun, were quick to shower Seok-won with praise.
In reality, it wasn't just empty flattery—his sharp insight had indeed allowed them to maximize their profits.
Seok-won, who had been listening silently with his hands clasped over his knee, spoke in a calm, steady voice.
"Starting tomorrow, each team will begin offloading its holdings in stages. Everything should be sold off by the first week of October."
"...!"
Everyone's eyes widened in shock at the unexpected directive.
'I had a bad feeling when he suddenly called us in. I knew sothing was up.'
Choi Ho-geun, who prided himself on knowing Seok-won better than the other team leaders, muttered inwardly.
'What has he seen this ti that no one else has?'
He looked at Seok-won with a mix of curiosity and anticipation.
However, unlike him, the other team leaders struggled to hide their confusion.
Kim Jeong-sik, in particular, seed unsure if he had heard correctly and carefully asked again.
"Did you say we should sell all our holdings?"
"Yes."
Seok-won nodded without the slightest hesitation.
For a mont, Kim Jeong-sik was at a loss for words. Then, leaning forward, he hurriedly spoke.
"But as you ntioned before, with the expansion of the foreign investnt cap, a flood of money is pouring into the market. On top of that, the semiconductor boom is fueling expectations of a long-term bull run. Shouldn't we be buying more, not selling?"
The other two team leaders, except for Choi Ho-geun, nodded in agreent.
Seeing their reactions, Seok-won maintained a serious expression as he replied.
"If that were truly the case, then we should indeed be increasing our bets."
Ahn Soon-hwan, the leader of Investnt Team 2, adjusted his horn-rimd glasses with his finger and asked,
"Director, are you saying this isn't actually a bull market?"
At that, all eyes—including Choi Ho-geun's—turned to Seok-won, filled with anticipation for his response.
Seok-won picked up the teacup in front of him, took a sip, and set it back down before speaking in a confident tone.
"This rally is nothing more than a temporary rebound caused by the sudden influx of foreign capital that had been blocked until now due to investnt limits."
At Seok-won's rather pessimistic stance, Ahn Soon-hwan, the leader of Team 2, hesitated for a mont before offering a counterargunt.
"It's undeniable that foreign capital inflows have played a crucial role in the stock rebound. But fundantally, aren't corporate fundantals improving? Exports have risen significantly compared to last year."
Kim Jeong-sik, the leader of Team 1, nodded in agreent and added to the argunt in favor of continued stock growth.
"I think the sa way. In particular, take mory semiconductors, which are erging as a new key export product. With the release of Windows 95, demand is expected to surge, and many predict that semiconductor prices will remain strong for quite so ti. Looking at that alone, the market seems to have more room to rise rather than fall."
To run Microsoft's newly released operating system, Windows 95, users needed at least 16MB of RAM—far more than what was commonly used at the ti.
Naturally, this led to widespread expectations of an explosive increase in demand for mory semiconductors.
'At this point, no one had any idea that this would turn into a dreadful trap.'
Seok-won let out a faintly bitter smile and looked at the gathered team leaders before asking,
"But what if all those expectations are based on a flawed assumption?"
At his words, the team leaders blinked in confusion, as if they had no idea what he was talking about.
Even Choi Ho-geun couldn't hide his bewildernt as Seok-won continued.
"What do you think has been the biggest driver of the semiconductor boom so far?"
"The increase in mory semiconductor demand due to the global boom in personal computers, both dostically and internationally."
Choi Ho-geun, the leader of Team 4, answered promptly.
"That's right. But what if, contrary to expectations, demand for personal computers starts to decline?"
At that, not just Choi Ho-geun but everyone in the room exchanged baffled looks, as if wondering what kind of nonsense he was talking about.
With the internet craze and the launch of Windows 95, the general consensus was that PC demand would skyrocket—so their reaction was understandable.
"Do you know how much a computer costs these days?"
The unexpected question left everyone montarily speechless.
As if anticipating their silence, Seok-won opened a file folder on the table.
"This is a price estimate for a custom-built PC that I personally obtained yesterday from Sewoon Electronics Market."
The team leaders, wearing puzzled expressions, craned their necks to look at the estimate.
CPU: Pentium-60 (586)
HDD: 560MB
FDD: 5.25
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