The sharper the knife-edged wind grew in Yeouido, the colder the air in Woojin Securities’ Investment Team 3 froze — colder than the Siberian plain.
“Haa......”
9:30 a.m.
Thirty minutes into the session, a sigh deep enough to sink the ground burst out of Manager Jeong Hanjun.
The chart for ‘EcoFree Materials’ was still up on his monitor.
The problem was that the chart had burrowed three floors underground relative to the 100,500 won peak at which he had bought with his personal account.
“Sir, would you stop sighing? It drains the people sitting next to you.”
Assistant Manager Seong Gihyeon snapped at him in an irritated voice.
Assistant Manager Seong’s situation was no better. He had gone in late on the company account hoping for a rebound, gotten the so-called ‘dishwashing’ treatment, locked in a -15% loss, and was writing an explanation letter.
“Hey, Assistant Manager Seong. Do you know how I feel right now? Huh? I feel like checking the water temperature at Mapo Bridge.”
“And whose idea was it to go full size at the peak? Assistant Manager Kim tried so hard to stop you.”
“Why you little—!”
Manager Jeong flared up and got out of his chair, but could not bring himself to say more and dropped back down.
Because there was not a single thing wrong with what Assistant Manager Seong had said.
A corner of the office, the seat by the window.
In the middle of that pandemonium, there was one place where a serene current flowed.
Assistant Manager Kim Taeseong’s desk.
‘Cold. I should turn on the heater.’
Taeseong sipped warm sword-bean tea from his tumbler at his leisure and studied his monitor.
On his screen was not a stock chart but the ‘real-time management performance status’ page of Woojin Securities’ internal intranet.
[Investment Team 3, Assistant Manager Kim Taeseong]
[Total assets under management (AUM): 7,742,000,000 won]
[Cumulative net P&L this quarter: +5,242,000,000 won]
[Return achieved: +210.5%]
7,742,000,000 won.
The company’s money that Taeseong was running.
And beneath it, printed clearly, a net profit of 5,240,000,000 won.
Taeseong worked the calculator in his head.
The renegotiated incentive rate of 15%.
Fifteen percent of 5,240,000,000 won came to......
‘786,000,000 won. After deductions and the portion deferred to next year, maybe around 400 million.’
He repeated the numbers under his breath.
Even accounting for taxes and roughly 30 to 40% being deferred, close to 400 million won in cash would land in one payment.
A fortune an ordinary office worker would have to save for a decade, breathing and nothing else, to touch.
This was the world of the proprietary trader.
Financial warriors who run the company’s vast capital, make a profit, and take a massive share of it as performance pay.
A cold place where, of course, losing gets you thrown out just as mercilessly.
And right now Taeseong stood at the very front of that line.
‘No need to walk on eggshells for Department Head Park anymore.’
Taeseong turned his head slightly and looked at Department Head Park and Manager Jeong.
Watching their funeral faces delivered as much dopamine as looking at his projected bonus.
For five years these were the men who had dismissed him for having no results and mocked him for being fat.
But the situation had reversed.
Investment Team 3’s lifeline now hung entirely on Kim Taeseong alone.
Because Taeseong’s profit more than covered every loss the other team members had racked up.
Which is to say, without Kim Taeseong, Department Head Park’s performance review this year was a guaranteed D.
“Assistant Manager Kim.”
Just then, a low voice came from behind him.
Department Head Park Geonil.
He looked ten years older than he had a few days ago.
He too had gotten the company’s money stuck at EcoFree Materials’ peak and had been hauled before Risk Management until he barely had his wits about him.
“Yes, sir.”
“You...... look like you’ve got plenty of time on your hands lately.”
Even drained as he was, people do not change easily, and Department Head Park managed to get a complaint out.
Evidently it rankled that while everyone else was wailing over losses, this one man sat leisurely drinking tea.
But he could not get openly angry. He knew by instinct there was nothing to gain from provoking Taeseong right now.
“Not at all, sir. I’m analyzing the next place to invest. I have to defend the return for the rest of the month too.”
“Analyzing? Hmph. A few lucky hits and you’re thoroughly full of yourself. The month’s performance close isn’t far off. Keep your head on straight. One slip and you eat into the profits, and there goes your incentive too. You know that?”
Department Head Park put on a stern act, trying to work at Taeseong’s anxiety.
But Taeseong was unmoved.
“Don’t worry, sir. I’m covering everything, including your losses.”
“Ahem! Wh-what?”
Department Head Park’s face went red and purple by turns.
He had been struck squarely in his sorest spot.
“R-right! These things happen, of course they do! Isn’t that what teamwork is? Ha. Anyway...... good work.”
Department Head Park cleared his throat and hurried off.
The sight of his retreating back was pitiful.
Taeseong snorted and turned his eyes back to the monitor.
‘Teamwork, my foot. Parasites trying to eat into my incentive.’
Just then, someone poked their head over the partition beside him.
Associate Kang Hyeona.
“Assistant Manager.”
Her voice was as fresh as a spring breeze.
Hyeona checked their surroundings, then quietly set a cup of coffee on Taeseong’s desk.
Coffee from the famous café near the office, known for being delicious and for a brutal queue.
“Oh? This is......”
“It’s from the heart. Please accept it.”
Hyeona’s face had gone slightly pink.
On the day EcoFree Materials listed, she had trusted Taeseong’s advice and gone full size within her allocation limit.
Thanks to that she posted an overwhelming first place in returns among the junior traders, and a tidy special bonus had been confirmed.
“Come on, my evaluation was fantastic because of you. I bought my parents a massage chair with the incentive and bonus coming in. You should have seen how happy my mother was...... Really, thank you.”
“A devoted daughter. I’m glad your parents were pleased.”
“So, when you have time, I absolutely must buy you dinner.”
“That’s all right. Besides, I’m the senior here — how could I let you treat me?”
“No. I’m definitely paying, so we’re having dinner together soon, agreed? Promise!”
Before he knew what he was doing, Taeseong found himself hooking his little finger around the one she held out, as if under a spell.
Hyeona’s eyes curved into half-moons.
It was a look of pure gratitude.
Taeseong felt his own mood lift with hers.
In a merciless money game about growing a company’s capital, the fact that he had genuinely helped someone gave off a curious warmth.
“Heh heh. But aren’t you buying yourself anything, Assistant Manager? With the incentive coming in...... wow, you could pick up a whole house.”
Hyeona lowered her voice to a whisper.
She had picked up on the fact that the performance pay Taeseong was about to receive was one for the record books.
“Who knows. I don’t particularly want to buy a house right now.”
“Come on, liar! Why not change your car instead? I hear you’ve had yours a long time. Treat yourself while you’re at it.”
Taeseong’s car was a ten-year-old mid-size sedan he had bought used when he joined the company.
The bumper was scratched, and when you ran the air conditioner it made a noise like a cultivator. A junker.
Considering the nearly 800 million won incentive coming his way, swapping out a car was obviously nothing.
But Taeseong shook his head.
“A car only has to roll. Right now I’m tuning something more important than a car.”
“Something more important?”
“Yes. My body.”
Taeseong tapped his chest.
“If the body becomes a luxury item, then whatever I wear and whatever I drive will look good, won’t it? A guy in shape stepping out of a junker looks better than a fat pig stepping out of a Porsche.”
“Pff!”
Hyeona burst out laughing.
But her gaze stayed on Taeseong’s face.
Kim Taeseong really had changed lately.
Part of it was that more than 25kg had come off, so his jawline had emerged and his features had sharpened, but the greater change was in his aura.
Conviction about what he was doing, and the ease that comes from overwhelming results.
That high self-regard was making him look like a man.
“You’re right. What you said is right. But even now...... you look plenty good.”
At her words, Taeseong’s heart dropped with a thud.
Did he need to take an angina pill?
Embarrassed, Taeseong cleared his throat and turned his eyes back to his monitor.
“Ahem. Thank you. I’ll enjoy the coffee.”
When Hyeona went back to her desk, Taeseong took a sip.
It was not bitter.
It was sweet.
***
December 1, 2023.
The last page of the calendar turned.
Carols were already ringing out on the streets, and the Salvation Army kettles had appeared.
And a Wopora alert arrived on Taeseong’s phone right on cue.
Ding!
[A new mission has arrived!]
Taeseong opened the message with a tense heart.
[December monthly mission: Santa’s Gift]
[Content: Lose a further 5kg of body weight by Christmas Eve.]
[Current weight: 132.5kg -> Target weight: 127.5kg or below]
[Period: December 1 – December 21 (3 weeks)]
‘5kg?’
Taeseong tilted his head.
Compared to losing 10kg last month, 5kg looked easy.
“Is it easing the difficulty because it’s a Christmas present? More considerate than I expected. Heh.”
Of course, it was true that the pace of loss slowed as his weight came down, but 5kg over three weeks was well worth attempting.
The problem was what came after.
[Mission reward: The 300%-profit sell timing for ‘DS Danseok’, the last big IPO of 2023.]
[Information class: Semi-S-grade]
‘DS Danseok!’
Taeseong’s eyes flew open.
DS Danseok.
A company operating eco-friendly businesses such as biodiesel and battery recycling, and counted as the last big fish of the 2023 IPO market.
The trading room was already buzzing over how high the subscription ratio would come in.
But what startled Taeseong was not simply the name of the stock.
It was the phrase ‘300% profit’.
‘Hold on, 300%?’
Taeseong recalled the listing-day price limit rules that had changed in June 2023.
Four times the offering price — the so-called ‘quadruple’ (400%) — had become possible, but almost no stock had actually recorded that legendary return.
And Wopora was foretelling exactly that.
‘This one...... I absolutely have to take.’
If he bet company funds using this information?
He could add billions more in profit in one stroke.
Then Taeseong’s year-end incentive might break into the billions.
It was not simply about the money.
If he caught DS Danseok’s quadruple, Taeseong would carve out a place of his own in Woojin Securities’ trading history.
“Huh? What’s this. There’s one more line?”
But there was no chance Wopora would simply hand out a gift.
Taeseong’s eyes went to the last line.
[Penalty on mission failure: yo-yo effect triggered (weight +5kg).]
“There’s a penalty?!”