Woojin Securities’ eighth-floor trading room was a frontline trench where gunfire flew every day.
The place that kept them all beneath its feet was the twelfth floor.
It was nothing less than a Pentagon where the commanders gathered.
A forbidden zone where an ordinary employee’s badge would not even press the elevator button.
A sanctuary open only to the head traders who moved the company’s capital in the trillions, and to the quant team made up of genius mathematicians.
Before that sanctuary’s heavy glass door stood Department Head Park Geonil of Trading Team 3.
Thoroughly tense, he straightened his tie and brushed the dust from his suit jacket.
Beads of cold sweat stood on his forehead.
“Hoo......”
Department Head Park exhaled deeply.
This morning there had been a sudden summons.
The one summoning him was none other than Executive Director ‘Han Jonggwon’.
A legendary figure whose name alone made the Yeouido financial district tremble.
He had made astronomical profits as a prop trader at a leading Wall Street investment bank, and Woojin Securities had scouted him after three rounds of courting — the head of the twelfth floor.
He had only just passed forty, but the money he brought the company rivaled a mid-sized firm’s revenue.
‘There’s a rumor he took home close to 10 billion won in incentives last year alone. Could that be true?’
Department Head Park swallowed dryly.
Ordinarily a trader’s incentive is paid 60% up front for risk-management purposes, with the remainder deferred across three years.
If the money he received that year was 10 billion, it meant the total performance pay he had actually earned comfortably exceeded 15 billion.
Why would a heavyweight among heavyweights summon him, a mere department head?
Was Trading Team 3’s performance this month so good that he wanted to praise him? Or a promotion?
“Go in, please. The Executive Director is waiting.”
A cold-faced secretary opened the door.
Department Head Park stepped inside timidly.
A vast office.
One wall was floor-to-ceiling glass, taking in the entire Yeouido skyline at a glance.
And another wall was packed full with some twenty large monitors, like the control center at NASA.
In the middle of that sea of monitors sat Executive Director Han Jonggwon.
“D’accord. Vendez tout maintenant. Oui. (Understood. Sell the entire position now. Yes.)”
Executive Director Han was wearing a headset and speaking fluent French on a call.
The charts on his monitors flashed in real time, and his hands worked the keyboard as gracefully as a pianist’s.
A head trader’s elegant office — a world away from Department Head Park bellowing his way through trades on the eighth floor.
Department Head Park watched the scene without daring to breathe.
Ending the call, Executive Director Han removed the headset and slowly turned his chair.
A sharp jawline, an intelligent gaze behind cold rimless glasses.
Without so much as glancing at Department Head Park, he turned the pages of a file his secretary had handed him.
“Sit.”
A dry voice.
Department Head Park perched himself on the edge of the sofa.
The secretary poured him the finest coffee, but he had no room to enjoy the aroma.
Silence flowed.
For over five minutes, Executive Director Han only looked at the documents.
About the time cold sweat had run down Department Head Park’s back and soaked his shirt, Executive Director Han finally spoke.
“Department Head Park Geonil, Investment Team 3.”
“Yes! That’s me, sir.”
“Assistant Manager Kim Taeseong.”
The name that came out of Executive Director Han’s mouth missed Department Head Park’s expectations entirely.
“I hear he’s under you?”
“Ah...... yes, that’s right. He’s a fifth-year senior trader on our team.”
Executive Director Han closed the file and looked squarely at Department Head Park.
That gaze seemed to pass through him like an X-ray.
“An interesting fellow. Rainbow Robotics, Victek, Heungbu Petroleum, and lately the shipping names. I looked at the portfolio, and the entry points are extraordinary. As if he goes in having seen the answer key in advance.”
“Ah, yes. Well...... luck has been running with him lately. He may have developed a bit of a feel for it too.”
Department Head Park made an effort to minimize Taeseong’s results.
Because he was afraid that a subordinate standing out too much would expose his own incompetence.
“Luck, is it......”
Executive Director Han let out a short laugh.
Unable to read what that laugh meant, Department Head Park fidgeted.
“In this business, once or twice can be luck. But getting ahead of the market four and five times in a row is not luck. It’s skill. And a highly unusual kind.”
Executive Director Han tapped the desk with a finger.
“As his department head, how do you see him? That fellow.”
“To be honest with you......”
Department Head Park read the room and chose his words.
“It’s true he’s been producing remarkable results recently, but until then he was a man whose return didn’t reach 2% a year for five years. He was rated as too conservative, lacking a trader’s wild streak. So I think we need to watch a while longer to see whether these results are genuinely his own ability or a temporary fluke.”
Before Department Head Park had even finished, Executive Director Han’s brow tightened.
He cut him off in a cold voice.
“Watch?”
Executive Director Han pulled out a sheet of paper and slid it in front of Department Head Park.
It was Assistant Manager Kim Taeseong’s personnel record card and a copy of his incentive contract.
“So you set an incentive of a mere 7% for a fifth-year senior showing performance this outstanding?”
“Th-that’s...... his results had been so poor that......”
“Department Head Park. You have less of an eye for talent than I expected.”
At Executive Director Han’s blunt venom, Department Head Park’s face burned.
Shame and fear rushed him at once.
“Just as past data does not guarantee the future, past underperformance must not obscure present genius. If Assistant Manager Kim’s trading portfolio so much as got out as a rumor, it would not be strange for a scouting offer to arrive from a rival firm today. And 7%? If it were me, I’d write my resignation this minute and walk.”
“I-I’ll correct it.”
“Fifteen percent.”
Executive Director Han named the number.
“Raise Assistant Manager Kim Taeseong’s incentive rate to 15% starting with this month’s settlement. And send the approval up. I’ll sign it.”
“Yes...... understood. I’ll handle it immediately.”
“And one more thing.”
Executive Director Han rose from his seat and looked out the window.
“From now on, share any investment report or trading plan Assistant Manager Kim Taeseong writes with me as well. Directly.”
“Sorry?”
“I want to check for myself how far this fellow’s so-called instinct actually goes. You may go.”
Department Head Park fled the Executive Director’s office.
The moment he got into the elevator his legs nearly gave out under him.
His back was damp with sweat.
But at the same time, his head began to turn quickly.
‘Executive Director Han has marked him as talent.’
Han Jonggwon, famously prickly and arrogant, had acknowledged this guy.
In that case Kim Taeseong was no longer the ‘fat Assistant Manager Kim’ he could treat however he liked.
He was a golden goose who might become Park’s own lifeline.
Department Head Park’s eyes glinted cunningly.
‘Right. Before Assistant Manager Kim rises any further, I’d better package him as the man I raised.’
***
The eighth-floor kitchenette.
Department Head Park was doing something he would ordinarily never do.
He was pulling espresso at the coffee machine himself, packing it with ice, making an iced americano.
And with premium beans gifted by his mother-in-law, no less — two cups of it.
“Assistant Manager Kim, come here a moment.”
At Department Head Park’s call, Taeseong came into the kitchenette.
Seeing Department Head Park making coffee with his own hands, Taeseong wore a puzzled expression.
Had the man eaten something bad?
“Here, drink up. I’m making this specially for you. Did I mention my mother-in-law runs a café? These are very expensive beans she set aside for me.”
Department Head Park handed over the coffee with a genial smile.
Taeseong felt uneasy about it but accepted it for now.
“Thank you.”
“Ah, and Assistant Manager Kim. I’ve brought you some good news.”
Department Head Park shrugged and made a show of it.
“Your incentive. I fought tooth and nail with the higher-ups and got it raised to 15%. It applies from this month. How about that? Your Department Head is good, isn’t he?”
Taeseong snorted inwardly.
‘I heard he was called up to the twelfth floor. Is this the fallout?’
Far from fighting tooth and nail, he had the face of a man who had been torn apart somewhere.
But there was no need to let on that he knew.
In the end he had gotten the 15% he wanted.
“Really? Thank you, sir. There’s nobody like you.”
“Naturally. Think how much I care about you. Hahaha!”
Department Head Park clapped Taeseong on the shoulder and laughed heartily.
Then he slid into the real subject.
“So about that...... Assistant Manager Kim. Anything you’re watching this week? Executive Director Han — I mean, upstairs seems rather curious about that animal instinct of yours.”
Taeseong sipped his coffee for a moment.
So here it was.
They were coveting his information.
He had no intention of hiding it anyway.
On this hand, the bigger the mass and the fiercer the madness, the better.
“I’m looking at EcoFree Materials.”
“Hm? EcoFree...... what?”
Department Head Park’s eyebrow twitched.
An unexpected name.
“You mean that IPO listing tomorrow?”
“Yes. That’s the one.”
“Huh, unbelievable.”
Department Head Park’s expression twisted in an instant.
The goodwill of a moment ago vanished, and the old dismissive look returned.
“Assistant Manager Kim. Don’t you watch the news? Don’t you know the market’s treating that thing like a game of pass-the-bomb? The ratio is 17 to 1. It’s dead.”
“I’m aware.”
“You’re aware and you’re going in? On what grounds? A report? Or did some tip go around?”
Department Head Park pressed him.
But Taeseong answered evenly.
“Just...... instinct.”
“Instinct?”
“Yes. This time it’s less a matter of grounds than...... it simply feels that way. Like the market’s madness is going to pile in there.”
Department Head Park burst out laughing in disbelief.
Just as he thought. Executive Director Han had misjudged the man.
He had gotten lucky a few times and mistaken it for skill.
However good your instincts are, betting on secondary batteries — dying on their feet — and an IPO with a catastrophic subscription ratio at that?
This was not investing, it was suicide.
“Listen, Assistant Manager Kim. I say this because I care about you.”
Department Head Park slipped back into lecture mode.
“Get a grip. Luck doesn’t last forever. Seventeen to one, of all things. These days the fish-cake stand on the corner has a longer queue than that. The offering price is 36,200 won? The way I see it, it opens at the daily lower limit. Don’t even look at it.”
“......”
“The secondary-battery bubble has completely deflated — who’s going to buy? Anyone going into that has no brain. Understood? If you want to protect this month’s profit, sit still.”
Department Head Park clicked his tongue and left the kitchenette.
From behind him came a muttered “Wasted good coffee on him. Tsk, tsk.”
Taeseong slowly sipped the rest of his coffee and savored the aroma.
Untrustworthy as Department Head Park was, his mother-in-law’s café seemed rather good.
‘Then again, the ones with no brain are you lot.’
Seeing Department Head Park’s reaction only sharpened his conviction.
A name the crowd, the experts, and his boss all laughed at.
That was where the real opportunity lay.
***
The next morning. Friday, November 17.
8:40 a.m.
The mood in the trading room was no different from any other day.
Everyone was busy opening their HTS and checking market conditions.
But around Taeseong’s desk alone, a curious stillness hung.
[EcoFree Materials]
[Offering price: 36,200 won]
Taeseong stared hard at the screen.
Wopora’s message was branded into his mind.
[Buy at the opening price and hold.]
2.5 billion won.
Every won of cash in the Woojin Securities corporate account.
Taeseong pulled up the order window and entered the quantity.
His fingertips trembled faintly.
However much he knew the future, the market mood was terribly cold.
Just as Department Head Park said, the perception of a ‘failed IPO’ was dominant.
Was this really going to be all right?
But Taeseong gripped his trembling hand tightly with the other.
Wopora had never once been wrong.
8:45 a.m.
Expected execution prices began to appear.
[Expected execution price: 36,500 won]
Exactly as Department Head Park predicted, it was limping along near the offering price.
Sneers broke out around the office.
“See? What did I say? Who’d buy that.”
“Wow, this is going to end up like Fadu. Won’t it go limit-down?”
Manager Jeong and Assistant Manager Seong chattered and snickered.
But.
Once it passed 8:50, the current shifted.
[Expected execution price: 38,000 won]
[Expected execution price: 40,000 won]
Tick, tick.
Someone was holding it up from below.
Sell volume kept coming and the price would not be pushed down.
If anything it was creeping upward.
“Huh? Huh? What is this?”
Department Head Park frowned at his monitor.
“Is it a system error? Why is it going up?”
But it was not an error.
The bid-side volume was climbing exponentially.
8:55 a.m.
The expected price broke 42,000 won.
More than +15% against the offering price.
“Hey...... there are actually people buying this?”
Manager Jeong’s voice began to shake.
It was a phenomenon that made no rational sense.
The earnings, the industry conditions, the supply and demand were all at their worst, and yet the price was climbing.
This was ‘madness’.
8:59:50.
Taeseong stopped breathing.
There was no going back now.
58 seconds.
59 seconds.
Click.
Taeseong transmitted a buy order for 2.5 billion won.
At the same moment the bell rang, marking nine o’clock exactly.
Ding!
[Order filled.]
Opening price 43,000 won. (+18.7%)
Taeseong’s 2.5 billion won of buying pressure drove into the order book at the instant the market opened.
And one second later.
It exploded.
“Whoa! Insane! Insane!”
Somebody shrieked.
The price began bucking like a mad horse.
Sell volume was devoured before it could even appear, devoured and devoured again.
Red candles shot up as if they did not know the sky had a limit.
44,000 won...... 46,000 won...... 48,000 won!
“Why is this going up! It makes no sense!”
Department Head Park shot to his feet.
Before his eyes, a ‘dead stock’ was transforming into a ‘jackpot stock’.
In less than a minute the price broke 50,000 won.
Ding!
[Volatility Interruption (VI) triggered]
[Current price: 51,600 won (+42.5%)]
Trading halted temporarily.
The office was struck dumb, nothing but silence hanging in the air.
Department Head Park, Manager Jeong, Assistant Manager Seong.
Every one of them stared at their monitors with their mouths open.
Their brains were denying reality.
“Insane...... why is that thing going up......”
Manager Jeong muttered emptily.
In that silence, Taeseong quietly leaned back in his chair.
A thin smile spread across his lips.
[Valuation P&L: +500,000,000 won]
Two minutes after the open, he had made 500 million won.
Taeseong slowly turned his head and looked at Department Head Park, standing there blankly.
“Sir.”
Taeseong’s voice dropped low.
“You called it garbage, didn’t you?”
Department Head Park flinched and looked at him.
Taeseong pointed at his monitor, at 500 million won of profit burning red.
“It looks like a diamond to me.”
Department Head Park’s face turned the color of clay.
He had nothing to say in reply.
With a name he had dismissed as garbage and told Taeseong not to so much as look at, Taeseong had earned several times his annual salary in one stroke.
And right in front of him, no less.
“You advised me to grow a wild streak. I have you to thank.”
“What wild streak! That’s just insanity!”
Department Head Park shouted with effort, but his voice was hollow.
Taeseong did not answer him again.
This was not investing. That much was true.
This was a war of money eating money.
They say the one who works hard cannot beat the one who enjoys it.
And the one who enjoys it cannot beat a madman.
That is simply how the world works.
Ten seconds left until the VI lifted.
The expected execution price was climbing further.
The diamond had begun to shine.