Chapter 7

A cool-headed middle-aged man entered the restaurant.

As soon as he saw my maternal grandmother, he bowed deeply first.

“It’s an honor that Yu Jigwan elder has called for me.”

“You’ll end up bowing twice at this rate. Stop that and come here. My grandson says he wants to do some kind of short selling with you, so I called you.”

The middle-aged man handed out his business card.

He even bowed his head to me, who was much younger.

A department head at a securities company has quite a high social status.

How much dirt does grandmother have on him to get this kind of reaction?

“Please feel free to call me Manager Hong. Since you’re Jigwan’s grandson, you can even speak down to me.”

“I’m Jo Dogyeom.”

“Jo Dogyeom? By any chance, from Sewoon Group?”

“Yes, that’s right. I’m the youngest of Sewoon Group.”

I didn’t hide my identity.

Trust was needed for future transactions.

And being called the youngest of Sewoon Group was also a magic word that created trust.

“What business did you call me for? I’ll help you as much as possible.”

“I want to do short selling. Would that be possible?”

“In principle, it’s only possible for asset management companies or investment specialists.”

“So it’s not possible?”

“No. If we forge one or two documents, short selling transactions are not difficult. But which stock are you planning to short sell?”

Manager Hong’s eyes changed.

From eyes that had been almost servile to the eyes of a professional.

“I want to short sell Yeongbo Steel stocks.”

“Yeongbo Steel stocks can be short sold. But how much capital do you have?”

“About 1.1 million dollars.”

“That would be about 1 billion won in Korean currency. But you know that borrowing fees are incurred for short selling, right?”

“Of course. What percentage will you set? I know the maximum is 5%, but you’re not going to charge 5%, are you?”

Manager Hong’s eyes changed once again.

He seemed to realize that his conversation partner wasn’t just some naive kid.

Well, even though I look like a child on the outside, I’ve been through all kinds of hardships.

“The borrowing fee should be lowered as much as possible, even if just for Yu Jigwan’s sake. I’ll charge 2% monthly.”

I turned my head to look at Hwang Yeonwoo.

He was the person I brought to use his brain instead at times like this.

“We have to pay 20 million won monthly as borrowing fees.”

“That’s not bad.”

I turned my head back to Manager Hong.

He was already taking out a contract and preparing to write it up.

“The repayment period is set at 60 days. Would that be acceptable?”

“What’s today’s date?”

“November 30th. I’ll lend you Yeongbo Steel stocks at the stock price when the market closes today.”

“60 days is enough. Let’s do that.”

“The market will close soon, so please stamp the contract then.”

We all waited in the room together until market closing time.

When the time came, Manager Hong called his office to check the stock price.

“Yeongbo Steel stock was finalized at 9,717 won. I’ll lend it to you at this price.”

“Please do that. How many shares would that be?”

“Let me see. It’s 102,912 shares.”

“Then I’ll stamp the contract.”

KWOOK! 

I stamped the contract boldly.

After all contracts were finished, I became curious about something.

“But don’t you need to verify the amount I’m holding? What if I run off with it?”

“You’re Yu Jigwan’s grandson and a member of Sewoon Group, so we should trust and do business.”

“Manager Hong, if Yeongbo Steel goes bankrupt, wouldn’t you get fired from the securities company?”

“I only have a few years left until retirement. Rather than getting fired from the company, it’s more profitable to have even a slightly better relationship with Yu Jigwan.”

Since he’s from a securities company, his calculations are quick.

I would also bet my retirement on grandmother rather than the securities company.

Two days later.

December 2nd, Monday dawned.

Early in the morning, I met Hwang Yeonwoo at the main gate of S University.

“Brother, you’ve arranged everything, right?”

“Of course. To make the arrangements, I generously treated them to chicken, beer, and even dried squid yesterday.”

Who did we arrange with?

Since we bought stocks through short selling.

Naturally, we had to quickly sell the stocks first.

I entered the club building with Hwang Yeonwoo, passing through the main gate.

A flyer attached to the entrance of the club room.

[S University Stock Research Club]

KKEEIIK! 

I opened the door and entered.

Thick cigarette smoke and several computers.

It looked like an internet cafe.

“Hey! Yeonwoo’s here? I drank too much yesterday and my head feels like it’s splitting.”

“Seniors, peers, and juniors! Please take good care of us today. If today’s work goes well, I’ll treat you to another round generously. And I’ll even promise a small token of appreciation.”

“Just leave it to us. But why did you bring your little brother? There’s nothing good about learning stocks at such a young age. There’s even a saying that cigarettes and stocks should be learned as late as possible.”

I found myself agreeing with those words.

If they’re university students, they should be in their early to mid-twenties.

But they looked so worn out that they appeared to be well over thirty.

Their faces were full of eye crust.

Their hair looked like it hadn’t been washed for days, as if sesame oil had been applied to it.

“Alright! It’s 8:20 now! Everyone please get ready.”

“Shall we warm up our hands?”

Ten stock club students took their seats at their computers.

I had already distributed over 100,000 Yeongbo Steel stocks to them.

“As you all know, you can’t just sell them. You need to push and pull as much as possible to sell at high prices.”

“We know better than you. We’ve been looking at stock charts for years. And Yeongbo Steel is in an upward trend these days, so it’s not that difficult.”

The confident stock club president.

He took out a new pack of cigarettes and opened it.

The moment he put the cigarette in his mouth was 8:30.

“Market start! Everyone concentrate.”

TADADADAK! 

The sound of typing filled the club room.

Only occasional conversations confirming quantities with each other continued.

I quietly had a conversation with Hwang Yeonwoo behind them who were in complete concentration.

“How about ordering lunch for them?”

“No need. During market hours, they don’t eat, let alone drink water.”

“How do you know so well?”

“Why do you think I lost money on stocks? I spent 6 months in club activities here and lost everything.”

“Brother Yeonwoo, never do stocks again. You don’t have the face for stocks.”

“I plan to. I’m going to learn real estate following your grandmother.”

The conversation didn’t continue further.

We had work to do.

“Here, please empty the ashtray!”

“Yes, coming!”

While Hwang Yeonwoo emptied ashtrays.

Four hours passed while bringing water and coffee.

The club president stretched and looked at us.

“This is easier than I thought? Look at this chart. The chart is actually drawing an upward curve.”

“Didn’t we sell too few stocks?”

“No. We sold nearly 20,000 shares just in the morning. Somehow they’re buying up everything we sell.”

“It’s a bit strange.”

A female student sitting nearby said while adjusting her glasses.

“What’s strange?”

“For retail investors to be picking them up, the amount we’re releasing is too much. It seems like someone is systematically buying them up.”

“Do you think institutions or organizations are involved in this stock?”

“It seems like it. Honestly, the stock market is in a downward trend, but only Yeongbo Steel is in an upward trend, which is strange. There’s no particular positive news about Yeongbo Steel either.”

“Isn’t stock originally about flow? Since it’s drawing an upward curve, everyone’s following along.”

Hwang Yeonwoo, who was listening to their conversation, looked at me.

He whispered his concerns to me.

“Aren’t we selling at the wrong time? The stock price keeps rising. If the stock continues to rise for 60 days like this, we could lose the entire 1 billion won.”

“Don’t worry. Just urge them to sell all 100,000 shares today.”

“Are you sure that’s okay? If the stock doubles, we’ll be screwed, and if it triples, we’ll be buried in debt.”

“Even if we’re buried in debt, I’ll be buried alone. And I’ll still pay your salary.”

Hwang Yeonwoo served coffee to all seats.

Then the typing speed became a bit faster.

The amount of stocks being sold also increased accordingly.

Then market closing time came.

“Done! We sold all 100,000 shares.”

“Exactly 102,912 shares. The stock sales profit is 1 billion and 1.3 million won, and the average selling price is 9,730 won.”

Thanks to the stock rising, a profit of 1.3 million won occurred.

But from tomorrow, if the stock rises, it all turns into losses.

That’s tomorrow’s problem, let’s take care of today first.

“Everyone worked hard. I prepared something small as a development fund for the club.”

“What? Wasn’t he Yeonwoo’s little brother?”

“The relationship is a bit complicated. He’s my employer.”

“Even being generous, he looks like a high school student? What does age matter? As long as we earn drinking money, that’s enough. We’ll gladly accept it.”

The club president received the envelope.

He immediately checked the contents of the envelope.

“Oh! You put in 4 million won. Young in age but big in generosity. But you’re preparing drinking money separately, right?”

“I told Brother Yeonwoo, so drink to your heart’s content today.”

“Nice! I really like you. If there’s work like this again, please ask anytime. We’ll handle it very cleanly.”

“You worked hard. You must be very hungry since you didn’t even eat a meal, so eat first.”

“We usually fill our stomachs with snacks! Everyone, let’s go drinking!”

BEOLKEOK! 

After 7 hours, the club room door opened.

The thick cigarette smoke escaped through the door like fog.

December 3rd arrived.

Today I met Hwang Yeonwoo at S University library.

He was connecting a LAN cable to his laptop and staring at the stock market endlessly.

“Dogyeom! I think we’re in big trouble? The stock is rising like crazy.”

“How much did it rise?”

“The stock that was 9,700 won yesterday broke through 10,000 won.”

“It rose 300 won in one day?”

“That’s right. The loss amount is…”

Hwang Yeonwoo took out a scientific calculator.

After frantically pressing the calculator, he showed me the screen.

“We lost 30 million won!”

“That’s not much. Let’s watch a bit more.”

“30 million won is not much? Are you crazy?”

“Because you have no patience like this. You lose all your tuition money on stocks. And you even take out private loans to do stocks.”

Since I have memories of the future, I’m not anxious.

I took the trembling Hwang Yeonwoo to a restaurant, fed him, and then parted ways.

The upward trend continued the next day as well.

December 4th, 8:30 AM.

At the same place, I watched the Yeongbo Steel stock chart again today.

“The upward curve shows no signs of breaking? It broke through 11,000 won. At this rate, won’t it really jump to double?”

“Is it still rising?”

“Yes, the loss exceeded 100 million won!”

I’m starting to get anxious.

Although I have memories of the future.

My memory could have errors.

‘Surely not, right?’

I continued to watch the stock chart.

The upward curve still didn’t break.

The stock that was 11,000 won now…

“It rose to 11,500 won! The loss amount is 150 million won! We’ve blown 15% of our capital.”

“There are still over 50 days left. Let’s not be so emotional about gains and losses.”

I said this, but.

DEOLDEOLDEOOOL! 

My hands are trembling without me knowing it.