Chapter 9. We Found an Incredible Talent

When the market opened,

There was no way I would buy tens of billions of won worth of stocks all at once.

No one would trade that recklessly.

Especially when the total capital was only 5 billion won, not hundreds of billions or even trillions.

Of course, I wasn’t acting based on those basic rules or conventional methods.

Because there was something much more accurate than my own judgment.

My sixth sense.

So I followed it.

I repeatedly bought and sold in portions.

It precisely told me how much to buy at market price depending on how thick the order book was.

People usually talked about things like watching supply and demand, following leading stocks, pair trading, following institutional investors, analyzing charts, and so on.

None of that mattered to me.

My sixth sense automatically sent me the signal that was right for each moment.

After repeating this several times,

The amount of invested capital had already reached 3 billion won.

“Haha… He’s really going at it without hesitation…”

“I was going to give him some advice from the side… but his entry points aren’t bad at all. The only thing lacking is some consistency. But that’s something we can talk about if the results turn bad.”

“Hmm… Assistant Manager, I think Do-jin is better at trading than I am…”

“Employee Yoon, you weren’t hired onto our team to trade in the first place, so be proud of yourself. And by the way, our youngest member got a perfect score on the CSAT.”

“…What!?”

While I was trading,

I could hear various reactions from beside me, but I wasn’t really paying attention to them.

I could tell they were mostly expressions of admiration.

By the time lunch was approaching,

Their admiration had turned into shock.

I’d only been trading during the morning.

Yet my return had already exceeded 10 percent.

This 10 percent return wasn’t simply the result of luck.

It wasn’t like the so-called beginner’s luck where someone rides a low-market-cap stock that suddenly shoots up and makes a 10 percent profit.

I had been trading large-cap stocks that could handle trades worth hundreds of millions of won.

repeatedly buying and selling in portions.

This was a 10 percent return based on actual skill.

That made it completely different from the 10 percent returns people usually talked about.

And it was 10 percent of 3 billion won.

“I’m going crazy…”

“I think we need to completely revise our plan… He’s not a beginner at all. He’s a top-class trader.”

“I-Is this really that amazing?”

“It’s still too early to say for certain. We can’t completely rule out beginner’s luck. Besides, investments don’t produce the same returns every time. But… I can definitely say that he’s not ordinary.”

They had been watching me trade from beside me all morning.

So they all knew this couldn’t simply be explained by luck.

But they couldn’t completely rule out luck either.

The results were too difficult to accept immediately.

They couldn’t think of any other explanation.

People say that when human beings encounter results they can’t understand, they come up with their own explanations so they can somehow make sense of them.

It seemed like everyone here simply lacked the words to explain what they were seeing.

So they kept arriving at the same conclusion.

Luck.

Well, they don’t know my sixth sense exists, so that’s understandable.

Actually, this reaction was somewhat familiar to me.

Back when I was a student,

I barely studied, and to my friends, I didn’t seem any different from them.

Yet I kept getting perfect scores.

They explained it as either a miracle or genius.

Now they’d simply replaced those explanations with luck.

“Even professional traders are struggling because the market has been behaving differently from before…”

“Haha…”

I was confident in myself.

But seeing that confidence turn into actual results felt good.

Of course—

It’s still only morning.

I had no intention of letting my guard down.

When people become complacent, they gradually stop studying and start acting arrogantly.

I couldn’t afford to show that kind of behavior at my brother’s company.

Lunch Break

Among the employees of Changseong Investment & Securities,

People were still talking about the shocking incident that had happened during the morning commute.

“The managing director definitely had his arm around him, right…?”

“He doesn’t even seem that close to the president…”

“Is he really some kind of third-generation chaebol heir? Or maybe the chairman’s illegitimate son?”

“I don’t think so. If that were the case, why would they send him specifically to the financial affiliate where the managing director already works?”

“Hmm. But even if he’s a third-generation chaebol heir, why Changseong Investment & Securities instead of another financial company…?”

No one could understand what was happening.

Various theories continued to emerge.

Maybe he was a member of a chaebol family like Managing Director Jin Tae-kyung.

Maybe he was a hidden child of Changseong Group.

Or maybe…

Nobody knew.

What exactly is their relationship?

The employees wanted someone to come forward and explain everything clearly.

It was impossible to describe their relationship as merely being acquaintances.

The managing director had never openly shown that kind of closeness to anyone else in the company.

The mystery remained unresolved.

So they moved on to another topic.

“One thing is certain. They have a close relationship…”

“Then… the Special Strategy Team isn’t simply a disposable team.”

“There must be a high chance that the managing director is directly involved with that team.”

“Honestly… isn’t the managing director going a little too far? This time, it’s kind of excessive.”

Until now, the Special Strategy Team had been viewed with pity.

But a single scene that morning had begun to change everyone’s opinion.

“Even if he’s part of the royal family, he can’t completely ignore the board’s influence…”

“Especially since our company isn’t even privately held…”

“If they give the Special Strategy Team too much power… isn’t this basically a third-generation chaebol heir going wild?”

“Hmm… It might be.”

Until now, Managing Director Jin Tae-kyung had operated without causing major problems.

So there hadn’t been much reason for people to complain.

In fact, most employees had a favorable opinion of him because, unlike some other third-generation chaebol heirs, he hadn’t recklessly done things that caused losses for the company.

But—

This time was different.

The Special Strategy Team.

If the only issue were some young man who happened to have a relationship with the managing director, that would be one thing.

But the three employees assigned to that team

were each people who could potentially threaten the positions of existing employees.

One was connected to the department-manager level.

One was at the assistant-manager level.

And one was at the employee level.

They were all involved in different competitive structures throughout the company.

So the employees naturally became more alert.

People could laugh off someone else’s problem.

But each of them had their own rivals.

They couldn’t simply dismiss this as someone else’s business.

“B-but… they only received 5 billion won. Can they really do anything? Even if they produce results, it would be nothing compared to other departments…”

“That may be true for now. But if they keep finding reasons to give the team more money… then things could be different.”

“When that happens, we should probably band together. Wouldn’t the board have to express its dissatisfaction too?”

“There’s probably too much cross-ownership involving other chaebol families for them to act that recklessly.”

For now, it was simply caution.

They didn’t think it was time to genuinely treat the team as a threat.

After all, the Special Strategy Team only had 5 billion won.

Even if they did something with it, they couldn’t produce results large enough to threaten the other departments.

For Managing Director Jin Tae-kyung to have a proper justification for promoting all three team members,

They would need to produce results worth at least hundreds of billions or even trillions of won.

The possibility of that happening was less than one percent.

And if they actually had that kind of ability,

There would be no reason for them to stay at this company anyway.

After following one thought after another,

Everyone reached the same conclusion.

It’s worth keeping an eye on them, but they aren’t a real threat.

“Hmm… Besides, if the Special Strategy Team needs our help later, we can talk about it then.”

“Everyone’s busy with their own departments. What kind of help could we even give them?”

“And since Assistant Manager Choi is in that team, he definitely won’t help us, right? Everyone was so relieved when he was sent to the Special Strategy Team because he had the highest chance of being promoted…”

“Manager Oh is the same. He hasn’t been very aggressive compared to the other managers, so no one bothered competing against him until now… But if the situation reaches the point where the managers are threatened, even Manager Oh won’t be able to hold out…”

Everyone reassured one another in their own way.

They formed an unspoken alliance with each other.

Afternoon

President Kim Deok-hwan of Changseong Investment & Securities was talking with Managing Director Jin Tae-kyung.

“Managing Director, it seems people are talking about what happened this morning. Naturally, it’s affecting how people view the Special Strategy Team, and those opinions are also being directed toward you…”

“President.”

“Yes, Managing Director.”

“Do you really think I would act without thinking that far ahead?”

“…”

Kim Deok-hwan nodded.

As far as he knew, Managing Director Jin Tae-kyung wasn’t someone who acted without thinking.

That was precisely why he was even more curious.

The managing director surely knew what kind of situation this would create.

It would be good if the Special Strategy Team produced results.

But the chances of that happening seemed extremely low.

And if their results were poor, negative opinions would inevitably follow.

No matter how powerful the managing director was,

He couldn’t completely ignore the employees’ opinions.

One thing was certain.

Positive opinions were far more helpful for running a company than negative ones.

“The relationship I have with that new employee is more special than you think.”

“Ah…”

“It would actually be better if the employees openly expressed their dissatisfaction. If they didn’t understand the situation and instead started attacking or criticizing that new employee, or even harassing him through office politics… Hmm. If the new employee couldn’t endure it and left, especially if he left with a negative impression of our company, there would be no greater failure from my perspective.”

“…”

Does the managing director really intend to hand this company over to that new employee someday…?

What kind of relationship do they have?

Even if he were the chairman’s illegitimate son, he wouldn’t receive this kind of treatment.

Everything was a mystery.

“And things will probably quiet down soon. You need to look at the long term. Do you really think the special strategy team will produce noticeable results within this year?”

“…”

“To stand out, they’d have to turn 5 billion won into at least 10 billion won. If they can actually do that, then we should be willing to accept the negative attention. In fact, we would have to reprimand the people who looked down on them.”

“…That’s true.”

“That means it would take at least a year. By then, even the employees who are currently wary of them will gradually change their perspective. I guarantee it won’t even last a month.”

“I suppose I was too narrow-minded because everything was so unexpected.”

Jin Tae-kyung reassured President Kim Deok-hwan

and stood up.

“I’ll go check on the Special Strategy Team.”

“Yes, Managing Director.”

I wonder if they’re doing well.

What he’d told the president earlier wasn’t a lie.

If Do-jin genuinely became exhausted because of the company and started developing negative feelings toward it—

Yura…

Ugh.

Just thinking about it was horrifying.

Besides, now that Do-jin was already part of the family,

Wouldn’t it be better if things went well?

There had been a lot of talk today.

He thought Do-jin might become anxious because of it.

So he wanted to go over and encourage him a little.

He arrived at the Special Strategy Team’s office.

Hmm…

Contrary to what he’d expected,

Everyone was gathered around one desk instead of working separately.

They were so focused that they didn’t even realize he’d arrived.

At the center of them all was—

Do-jin?

It was Do-jin.

From a quick glance, it looked like he was trading stocks.

His curiosity was piqued, so he quietly approached them.

No one noticed him until he was standing directly behind them.

They must have been that absorbed in what they were doing.

“D-Do-jin, isn’t it a waste to sell here? If you sell at this point… Hmm. Ah, never mind. Just keep doing what you’re doing…”

Seriously.

He’d told Assistant Manager Choi to teach him properly.

What is he doing right now?

Then he checked the numbers.

“…”

He was stunned.

Are my eyes playing tricks on me?

He rubbed his eyes.

The numbers hadn’t changed.

His curiosity became impossible to suppress.

“Did Assistant Manager Choi make these trades?”

“…M-Managing Director!”

“Answer the question first.”

“…I couldn’t produce results like this even if I did it myself.”

Jin Tae-kyung nodded instinctively.

He knew Assistant Manager Choi was a fairly capable employee.

But that was only within Changseong Investment & Securities.

If you looked at the broader financial industry,

He wasn’t the kind of talent who could produce results like this.

If he had been,

He would have already left and started his own company.

Or moved to a better financial institution.

“Then… the Special Strategy Team hasn’t even been doing proper work for a full week yet. Who turned 5 billion won into 6 billion won?”

Seriously.

Who is it?

Right now,

Do-jin wasn’t even the most important thing.

It seemed like he’d discovered an incredible talent.

Twenty percent growth in the team’s total assets in just one week.

And that was with tens of billions of won being traded.

There was no way this person wasn’t an extraordinary talent.