Chapter 8
The real cold had begun.
Now, wearing just a rice cake coat wouldn’t be enough to overcome the chill.
I put on thermal underwear and even pulled out my padding before heading to S University library.
Even though the library had heating.
I checked the stock market first without even having time to take off my padding.
“How are the prices going?”
“There’s no big change yet. But are you very cold? Your hands are shaking too severely.”
Is it because of the cold?
Or is it because of the anxiety that I might fail again? My hands won’t calm down.
“Brother, are you cold too? Your legs can’t stay still.”
“It’s not that my body is cold, but my heart is cold.”
“Let’s have a cup of coffee first.”
“Is it okay for a middle school student to drink coffee?”
“It’s not like it’s prohibited by law or anything.”
I put a 100-won coin into the vending machine.
When I pressed the milk coffee button, steam rose from the vending machine.
The coffee was still coming out of the vending machine, but I put my hand in early to grab the coffee cup.
<Coffee for 100 won per cup, that’s a very cheap price.>
‘It’s cheap vending machine coffee. Just changing the selling location makes a cup of coffee cost dozens of times more.’
While having a conversation with Gartin, the warmth of the coffee spread out.
I held two cups of coffee in both hands and approached Hwang Yeonwoo.
“Let’s drink first and then do it.”
“Wait a minute! The graph is falling! It’s already dropped 30 won.”
“Let’s watch a little more. It might go up again after a slight decline.”
HUREUREUK-!
I gulped down the hot coffee in one go.
Even during that time, the stock graph continued to draw a steady downward curve.
“The downward trend is no joke. It seems like institutions or foreign investors have dumped it.”
“How much has it fallen?”
“It fell 100 won. We recovered 10 million won. But we’re still at a loss of over 100 million won.”
Now the trembling in my hands had completely stopped.
The memory of the future wasn’t wrong!
From now on, Yeongbo Steel’s stock will continue to fall.
Before this year ends, it will be cut nearly in half.
Thursday, December 12th.
A week had passed.
Today I met Hwang Yeonwoo in the stock club room instead of the library.
“Wow! It’s falling frighteningly.”
The stock club president said while looking at the Yeongbo Steel stock chart.
Hwang Yeonwoo chimed in next to him.
“The 10,000 won range was broken in just a week. Is it possible for it to crash this much?”
“When we sold the stock, I told you. It seems like institutions or organizations are playing around. For stocks to fall at this fast speed, there must be organizational intervention.”
I squeezed in between them and looked at the graph.
It’s been drawing a steady downward curve since December 5th.
“We’re still far from it. You know how much we sold our stock for, right?”
“We sold at an average of 9,730 won. We’re still at a loss of about 27 million won.”
“We’re far from breaking even.”
“But the timing when we sold was almost near the peak.”
“It’ll probably fall to 5,000 won.”
The stock club president pointed at the graph.
“If we estimate that organizations intervened around November, the price for returning to the origin would be about 5,000 won. Even if it rides the downward trend severely, defense at the 4,000 won line should be possible.”
“You’re saying it’ll fall to 4,000 won?”
Hwang Yeonwoo smiles.
He silently tapped on a calculator from his bag and whispered to me.
“If it falls to 4,000 won, we’ll easily make 500 million.”
Only 500 million?
I have no intention of stopping there.
The last day of December.
I arranged a modest company dinner for Hwang Yeonwoo who had worked hard.
“Brother, I’ll treat you generously today, so eat to your heart’s content.”
“No, having a company dinner is good, but why are we having it here of all places?”
“What’s wrong with here?”
“This is your maternal grandmother’s restaurant! Every time I come here, I think of the squat toilet and feel nauseous.”
“I’ll tell Grandmother exactly what you said.”
“No! I’ll eat diligently. When did I ever say I didn’t like it? I was just worried that your grandmother might have a hard time.”
Grandmother’s restaurant was always full of customers.
Of course, they weren’t customers who came to eat, but customers who came to get real estate information.
Today was a holiday, so no customers came.
It was a restaurant with only Grandmother and the staff lady.
The staff lady prepared food for us.
“What are you picking at your food like that, boy? You have to eat heartily for good fortune to come in.”
“Grandmother, please sit here too. Let’s eat together.”
“I’m full. I’ll just have a drink.”
JJOREUREUK-!
I poured soju into Grandmother’s glass.
Grandmother, who drank soju with kimchi as a side dish, put down her glass.
“How’s that short selling thing going? Manager Hong said today that Yeongbo Steel stock fell to 6,800 won.”
“As of today, our profit exceeded 300 million. I guess you really can’t hide bloodlines. Since you’re the grandmother with innate real estate talent, it seems Dogyeom also has an excellent sense of smell.”
Hwang Yeonwoo said while rubbing his hands.
It’s the struggle of someone who wants to escape from toilet cleaning.
“Stop the nonsense. So what are you going to do now?”
“We need to find the next target. We’ll liquidate Yeongbo Steel stock in mid-January and move on to the next stock.”
“Do you have a company in mind?”
“There are several companies. And we plan to continue buying dollars.”
“You’re buying dollars again? Haven’t they already risen a lot?”
Hwang Yeonwoo took out a notebook from his pocket.
He opened a page where he recorded the daily changing exchange rates.
“Dollars are rising, but there’s no big change. We bought dollars at 850 won, and although they’ve risen a bit, they haven’t even broken through 900 won yet.”
“The change isn’t big now, but next year the situation will be different.”
“Well, as long as they don’t fall, there’s no loss in exchanging currency. We don’t necessarily need Korean won when short selling.”
We’re short selling using dollars as collateral.
Usually, this kind of short selling isn’t possible, but.
It was possible thanks to Grandmother’s connections.
To trade this way next time too, managing connections was important.
“Grandmother, is Manager Hong doing well? His position isn’t in danger because Yeongbo Steel stock fell, is it?”
“Don’t worry about that guy. He’s amazingly good at finding his way to survive. He’ll be fine until at least next year.”
“That’s a relief. I think I’ll need to meet Manager Hong more often starting next year.”
Fragmentary knowledge of the future.
Still, I remember a few companies that will go bankrupt next year.
Hwang Yeonwoo was lying on the lawn plaza of S University.
It was grass that had become straw in the winter weather.
The cold air was directly transmitted to Hwang Yeonwoo’s back, but.
He was lost in thought with his face covered by a thick textbook.
‘Is this the right way to live?’
His employer is making big money.
In just one month, he made over 500 million won, but.
What falls to him is just a few monthly salary payments and bonuses.
‘Thanks to that, I paid off all my debts, but still…’
His employer is a middle school student.
Although he’s said to be the son of a major corporation chairman, he’s still a middle school student.
From what I hear, the prospects aren’t that good either.
If you can’t make money, you have to grab onto any lifeline.
But Jo Dogyeom looks like a rotten lifeline.
Of course, even if it’s rotten, he’s still the chairman’s son.
His peers probably can’t even see this kind of lifeline, but.
‘Should I just make a quick buck and run away?’
He’s managing the stocks himself.
If he sells off the Yeongbo Steel stocks right now, there will be a profit of 500 million.
It’s too wasteful to throw away his life for just 500 million.
It’s not enough money to live as a fugitive overseas.
It’s not enough money to reverse his life either.
Moreover, Dogyeom had a charisma that wasn’t childish.
It seemed like if he betrayed him, he would be thoroughly punished.
‘Ah, I don’t know!’
Hwang Yeonwoo lies down rolling over while grabbing his head.
Then his textbook fell to the ground, and someone picked up the textbook and gave it to him.
“…Thank you.”
“Brother, why are you acting pathetic here?”
“Huh? Do, Dogyeom, what brings you here?”
“I came out to take care of employee welfare. You said your parents are in Daegu, right? Tell them to come up next week.”
“Why my parents? They find it bothersome to come to Seoul and haven’t come even once except for the entrance ceremony.”
Hwang Yeonwoo sat up.
Then Jo Dogyeom took out an envelope and held it out.
“They should see Seoul at least once. I booked a hotel. And I put other things in there too, so check it out.”
“You don’t need to do that…”
BUSIREOK, Hwang Yeonwoo looked inside the envelope.
Another piece of paper along with the hotel reservation receipt.
“What’s this? A health checkup reservation?”
“You know we have a general hospital in our company, right?”
“There’s Sewoon General Hospital.”
“I told them there. Take your parents and get a health checkup once. This is pretty good employee welfare, right?”
“Thank you. You don’t need to go this far.”
“I’ll be going now. Then continue being pathetic.”
Jo Dogyeom waved and left.
Left alone, Hwang Yeonwoo looked at the envelope for a moment and then took out his cell phone to call his father.
“Come up to Seoul next week. …No, I know it’s bothersome. Someone I know made hotel and health checkup reservations. Who is it! Just someone I know. You must come up next week. No, please listen to your son!”
Hwang Yeonwoo hung up angrily.
Honestly, it was a bit bothersome.
The fact that his parents were coming up to Seoul itself was burdensome.
No, actually, it was a bit embarrassing that he, who had been a disappointing son, was doing something filial for the first time.
“…Dogyeom really…”
Hotel.
Hwang Yeonwoo was waiting for his parents in the hotel lobby.
“How grand. What are you doing spending money on a place like this?”
“Please be quiet. Everyone’s staring. You didn’t eat anything yesterday, right? Today is the health checkup, so you need to maintain a fasting state.”
“I didn’t eat anything because of you. I’m so hungry I could die. I don’t know why you’re making me fast after coming all the way to Seoul.”
“Let’s go to the hospital quickly. I got a taxi.”
“What are you spending money on a taxi for? We could just take the bus. Is your money rotting away?”
“It’s not my money. Someone I know gave me taxi fare too.”
“What are they giving you money for?”
“I’m tutoring. That family has money rotting away.”
“Really? Then we should use it.”
Hwang Yeonwoo’s father quickly got in the taxi.
The taxi quickly moved to Sewoon General Hospital.
“Are you Mr. Hwang Yeonwoo?”
“Yes, I’m Hwang Yeonwoo.”
“I heard from the young master. I’ll help you get your checkup as first priority.”
Hwang Yeonwoo shrugged his shoulders for no reason.
Still, even a rotten lifeline is a lifeline, so he gets this kind of special treatment.
When the health checkup that continued until afternoon ended, Hwang Yeonwoo’s father came out grumbling.
“Why is it so complicated? I’m dying from being restless.”
“It usually takes 3 hours to finish. I guess they did a more detailed examination.”
A regular health checkup ends in 1 hour.
Even comprehensive checkups end in 3 hours, but.
Hwang Yeonwoo’s parents had their checkup for over 6 hours.
Section Chief Choi Jinki of the security team answered about that.
“The young master specifically asked us to look carefully. It took a long time because they received tests that aren’t included in regular comprehensive checkups.”
“Really? You don’t need to go that far.”
“We’ll make sure you can receive the checkup results quickly too. Usually you have to wait 2 weeks, but you’ll be able to receive them within a week.”
While having a conversation with Section Chief Choi Jinki.
Hwang Yeonwoo’s parents had already finished changing clothes.
“Let’s get out quickly. I’m really dying of hunger.”
“I’ll buy you everything you want to eat during the week you’re staying in Seoul.”
The hotel accommodation fee for a week had already been paid.
Hwang Yeonwoo had no choice but to spend time with his parents for a week.
Hwang Yeonwoo made a sad face thinking about the hardship for a week.
But on the day that became a week, he shed tears instead of making a sad face.
