Translator: Dreamscribe
“Ugh!”
I jolted awake like I was having a seizure.
“Wh-what ti is it?”
I hurried to check the ti first.
And then I let out a boiling scream.
“Aaah.”
Ten minutes before the alarm.
I could have slept ten more minutes.
It was a feeling I hadn’t experienced since my senior year in high school.
Should I just sleep more?
Even if it’s just ten minutes?
“Ugh. What’s the point of sleeping more.”
The mont I closed my eyes here, I would obviously end up missing the alarm that rings ten minutes later and be knocked out straight until lunchti.
“Ugh.”
I barely managed to get up from bed.
“Ugh. I really shouldn’t have played gas yesterday.”
I heard that office workers play gas after work.
I have no idea how they live like that.
“Office workers really are amazing.”
Even our Guild hyungs, returning from work at their age and still having the energy to boot up a ga, it's nothing but admirable.
“At this rate, I’m going to be late.”
While I was distracted by other thoughts, ten minutes had already passed.
I quickly washed my hair to get ready for work.
I just turned on the cold water in the shower and splashed it over my head while applying shampoo with one hand, done.
This way, it wakes you up properly, too.
I miss it.
Back then, I would’ve played gas until now and then fallen into a sweet sleep.
Ah, those were the days.
After washing at super speed, I went out into the living room and saw Dad and Mom sitting at the dining table.
Wait. Why are people who should still be sleeping already awake?
Was I making too much fuss while washing up?
“Jung Jin-ho. Sit down here.”
“Huh?”
“Why do you keep going out at dawn these days? Are you really going to interviews? This early in the morning?”
It finally ca.
“Well... actually, I got a job.”
“What? I thought you were going to interviews?”
“Yeah. I was getting ready to go to work now.”
It was my third day at Kwangwoon Securities.
On the first and second day, I didn’t know what would happen, so I didn’t tell them I was working.
But now I could say it.
Because.
“What? Kwangwoon Securities?”
“Wait a minute. Did you say Kwangwoon Securities?”
This ca out yesterday.
“What- this is a real business card?”
“Oh my. It really is a Kwangwoon Securities employee ID and even a business card? What is all this......”
Mom and Dad looked completely unconvinced.
Then Mom grabbed my hand tightly.
“Jin-ho. I’m sorry.”
“Huh? All of a sudden?”
“We pressured you too much about getting a job, didn’t we? But still, you shouldn’t lie like this. I saw it on the news, too. Kids lying to their parents that they got a job, then secretly taking out a loan pretending it’s their salary and disappearing without a trace......”
“No, what are you talking about, Mom.”
“I know what kind of company Kwangwoon Securities is! How could you possibly get into such a big company!?”
Tsk.
I had no counterargunt.
It was indeed a company I had no business dreaming of entering.
But I wasn’t lying.
Because I really was working there.
“I don’t even know where to start explaining this, but I really do work there. And I need to get going soon, Mom. The market opens at 8:30, and I’ve got a lot to prepare before that.”
That’s what being the youngest ans.
Doing the grunt work so our senior traders can make a lot of money again today. That’s why I couldn’t be late.
“Wait. Are you really-”
“Honey. Don’t you know our Jin-ho? He may not be talented at studying and always lazy, even though he played gas like crazy, but he’s never been a liar.”
“Dad. That’s supposed to be a complint, right.”
“So, son. This is really true?”
I nodded firmly.
“Yeah.”
“Dad believes in you, son. If you got into that place, it ans they saw sothing in you and picked you for a reason.”
Dad looked over the business card I got from Kwangwoon Securities like it was the most important thing in the world.
“I always believed our son would do well. Hahaha.”
“Thanks. But seriously, I can’t be late, okay? I’m going to go finish getting ready.”
“Alright. Go on and get ready. Don’t be late for no reason.”
I finished getting ready quickly and headed out the door.
Then Mom popped a piece of toast into my mouth.
“Don’t skip your als.”
Sohow, it felt like it had been a long ti since I last ate toast made by Mom.
“And we should buy a few suits. You can’t go out wearing the sa suit every day. Let’s go buy so new ones this weekend.”
Then she gave a warm hug.
It had also been a long ti since I hugged my mom.
Dad, who had been standing behind, hurried over and hugged too.
“Take care, son.”
“If things get tough, talk to us right away. Don’t bottle it up. Got it?”
“Yeah.”
So this is what it feels like to be acknowledged.
My heart ward up for no reason.
“Ah, I’m really going to be late. I’ll be back!”
“Okay. I’ll cook sothing tasty, so call when you know what ti you’ll be ho!”
“Okay!”
I hurriedly opened the door and stepped outside.
Today, my steps were lighter than ever.
***
“Jin-ho ssi. You made it with just one minute to spare?”
“Whew. Thank goodness. I should’ve gotten here earlier than you, sunbae. I’m sorry.”
“Hoho. It’s fine. I need to set an example as your ntor, after all.”
The fresh start to the morning began with organizing the briefing files.
"We were legendary busy yesterday, weren't we?"
“Yeah. I thought the first day would be the busiest, but I didn’t expect there would be a day even busier than that.”
“Yesterday was a bit exceptional. The market volatility suddenly surged. It’s not sothing that happens often.”
It's only his third day now.
But this new hire had a knack for the job.
Most new hires take about a month to start moving, albeit slowly, but this guy was already quick and responsive.
How should I put it?
He had a good sense.
Thanks to that, we finished the prep work quickly.
Enough to enjoy a relaxing cup of coffee like this.
“Oh right. We were so busy yesterday that I didn’t even get a chance to check how the mock trading turned out. Did you happen to see it, Jin-ho ssi?”
“No. I was just chasing after you all day yesterday, sunbae.”
Docunts, snacks, drinks, and so on.
I ran around dragging a cart filled with all kinds of stuff.
Most people think a junior trader only belongs to one team, but that’s not true.
If there’s a lack of hands, you have to go around and help other teams too.
Yesterday was especially busy, and I spent the whole day running around delivering stuff from team to team.
“I just thought of sothing, if we keep letting it lose money like that, maybe it’d be better to sell it off now before it gets any worse. With this interest rate issue, all the insurance stocks are on a downtrend. Better to sell before the losses deepen.”
“You think so?”
“Yes. I’ll give you so advice on the side, so let’s try to recover the losses. Let’s see... the stock we bought last ti was JoongAng Insurance, right? What was its closing price yesterday?”
How long had it been since I last had morning coffee in the office?
Just as I was feeling that small happiness while checking JoongAng Insurance’s stock price.
“Pfft-!”
I spit out the coffee I had been drinking.
Startled, Jung Jin-ho, who was sitting in front of , quickly brought so tissues.
“Are you okay?”
“Ji-Jin-ho ssi. Did you see this by any chance?”
JoongAng Insurance had gone up a whopping 15%.
The very stock that had been dropping along with other insurance stocks.
“Uh......”
But the expression on Jung Jin-ho’s face as he looked at the screen was strange.
Should I say he was surprised? Or like he knew this would happen?
“Um, no. I’m seeing it for the first ti today too. Why did it go up......”
Even his tone sounded unnatural.
Maybe it was just my imagination.
‘But how did he pick just this one, out of all the other insurance stocks going down?’
It was an unbelievable coincidence.
“You really didn’t know?”
“Sorry?”
“Honestly, did you already know this would go up?”
“N-No way.”
Yeah, that must be it.
Everyone was yelling to sell insurance stocks, so there’s no way this guy was the only one who knew sothing.
“Jung Jin-ho ssi.”
At that mont, a heavy voice echoed through the office.
It was none other than Team Leader Park.
“Ah, yes. Team Leader nim. Good morning.”
“Let’s have a word. Follow .”
“Yes, sir.”
Maybe it was because of their size difference, but watching Jung Jin-ho follow behind Team Leader Park made him look a bit pitiful.
Surely he wasn’t called to be scolded.
Could it be the Team Leader saw it too?
***
I felt dazed.
When I bought that stock, it had been on a steady downtrend, so I thought my ability didn’t work here.
Besides, I was so swamped yesterday that I didn’t even check the stock price.
And now it had gone up?
“Employee Jung Jin-ho. It’s your third day now. How is it? Manageable?”
“Ah, yes. Everyone’s been treating well.”
“That’s good. I wanted to take it slow and not give you too much work, but the market volatility was unusually high yesterday.”
“It’s fine. I’ll work hard at whatever you give .”
Team Leader Park stared at for a mont.
“In our team, only I know.”
“Sorry?”
“That you ca in through a parachute hire.”
“Ah.”
“Well, the rumor will spread soon enough and everyone will know.”
With that, Team Leader Park took a drink from the cup in his hand.
I heard it was protein.
“I didn’t really want to ask, but since we’re here, I’ll just ask. Are you related to the CEO?”
“No.”
“No? Then why did the CEO bring you into the company? You know full well your qualifications aren’t good enough to get in here.”
“That’s...”
Then I rembered what the Guild Master had firmly told .
That I must never say we t through a ga or anything like that.
“I’m sorry, Team Leader nim. I can’t talk about that.”
“......”
Now I understood why he told not to talk.
If people heard I got in because we t through a ga, how would they react?
“Alright. I won’t press further. Just one more thing. What’s going on with JoongAng Insurance?”
So Team Leader had seen it too.
“It was just... pure luck.”
“Pure luck... Do you know what our traders’ target return rates are? Between 0.1 to 1 percent. On volatile days like yesterday, we sotis make 3 to 5 percent, but that also ans taking big losses. That’s why we set modest return goals. Trying too hard to chase profits can lead to bigger losses.”
I had heard from Senior Staff Lee Hye-rin that the team’s monthly target return was usually around 5 to 15 percent.
“But yesterday, you earned the monthly target return for each trader in just one day. Even though it was mock trading, are you saying that was really just luck? It wasn’t a strategy you built based on the things we discussed in our etings?”
“......”
I couldn’t say a word.
I could barely rember what was even said during those etings, and even if I did rember, I wouldn’t have understood any of it.
Of course, I’d been studying hard.
But as a total newbie just three days in, this world of stocks was full of things I didn’t understand.
Still, I couldn’t suddenly say, “Actually, Team Leader nim, I have a special ability...” and start rambling.
“Hmm. So it’s hard to answer that too?”
“Well...”
“Alright, I won’t ask anymore. Everyone has their own tricks, and sharing them is foolish. Especially when personal performance is the priority for a trader. That was my mistake. Sorry.”
“No, not at all.”
“Then keep up the good work today. Even if rumors spread that you’re a parachute hire, I don’t think people will look at you too harshly. If you show them how hard you’re working, their opinions will change.”
“Yes. I’ll work hard.”
“You can go now. Call in Senior Staff Lee for .”
“Yes, sir.”
I wasn’t even getting scolded, but my heart was pounding.
Team Leader Park probably didn’t an to, but he had a presence that overwheld people.
It was probably because of those about-to-burst muscles.
‘But what if this actually works?’
A special ability that only I have, unknown to others.
Maybe I just got ridiculously lucky.
Or maybe this ability I used only in gas actually works here too.
If you think about it, the stock market is one giant probability-based gacha ga.
No matter how good your data analysis is, no one can predict how things will turn out with all the randomness and volatility.
‘Hope today’s a little less busy.’
That way, I can test if this ability really works or not.
***
‘So there really is sothing about him.’
Team Leader Park remained curious.
Hwang Dae-woon, the CEO of Kwangwoon Securities, is soone who hires people based purely on rit and built this small company to its current scale.
It wasn’t because he was an excellent investor himself, but because he had an exceptional eye for people, that’s what had brought him this far.
That’s why Team Leader Park had found it so puzzling.
That such a man would bring in a parachute hire.
He had felt deeply disappointed to think that soone he respected had inserted a family mber into the company like that, but now it turned out those two weren’t even related.
‘And he even said he can’t reveal the reason-’
What a bold kid.
He says he can’t tell the reason why he’s a parachute hire.
And there was one more thing Park picked up from their brief conversation.
‘Jung Jin-ho definitely knew JoongAng Insurance was going to rise.’
He pretended not to know, but Park’s seasoned eyes, trained in this gambling den of a market, couldn’t be fooled.
That would an it was purely his own skill.
The insane boldness to go all-in on a single stock.
The insight to see a different outco when everyone else was predicting a crash in insurance stocks.
Could it be that this kid is...
“You called, Team Leader nim?”
“Ah. Senior Staff Lee. Are all the eting materials prepared?”
“Yes. Everything is ready.”
“Good. Then I’ll let our team mbers and the other departnts know. For today, don’t run around anywhere and just stay at your desk.”
“Sorry?”
“You haven’t had much ti for mock trading because of how busy it's been, right? Take today to sit down and focus on trading practice. With Employee Jung.”
“Ah... Yes. I’ll do that.”
He didn’t know why the CEO had inserted that kid as a parachute hire.
But Jung Jin-ho.
He definitely had sothing.
Whether it was insight, or so insane dopamine addiction disguised as boldness.
From now on, he would find out.
Or maybe, it really was just a single stroke of luck.
Still, there’s a saying that runs deep in the stock market.
[Stock trading is all about luck.]
The lucky one always wins.
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