Chapter 2

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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“.Crazy.”

I looked up at the tall, imposing building and gulped.

Gwangwoon Securities.

One of South Korea’s top 10 securities firms.

It was the kind of company someone who barely made it into a Seoul university couldn’t even dare to look at.

But now I was about to set foot in that place.

“I still haven’t told my parents.”

I couldn’t believe I was going to work at such a big, good company, and I worried I might just cause trouble and get fired, so I left home just saying I had an interview.

“The suit’s a bit tight.”

Still, since I’d been living on crumbs at home, I hadn’t eaten any late-night snacks or touched any snacks, so I didn’t gain much weight.

But now I should start exercising.

Taking the subway and climbing stairs, why am I so out of breath?

“But is it right to go to work this early?”

I received a text telling me to arrive by 6 AM, so I hurried and took the first subway.

I worried that I might arrive alone to find the company still closed, but it seemed like needless worry.

When I left home, the neighborhood streets were empty, but here in Yeouido, it was packed with office workers in suits.

‘Everyone’s busily heading to work.’

Securities firms typically have employees arrive at 6 AM.

This is necessary because the stock market opens at 9 AM.

To prepare beforehand, they have no choice but to arrive early.

Bzzt bzzt.

Who’s calling at this hour?

When I checked the number, sure enough.

It was the guild master who got me this job.

“Ah. Hyung-nim. I mean, P-President?”

[Hahaha. Hearing you call me President. Feels weird. When it’s just the two of us talking, call me hyung-nim like usual.]

Cool as a winter chill.

[So, did you go to work?]

“Yes. I’m in front of the company right now. But. Is this really okay? I feel like I’ll just cause trouble.”

[Hey. If the company goes under because of one person causing trouble, it’s better to fold anyway. It’s fine. And I checked, the HR team seems to have placed you in the trading department. Since you’ll be a junior trader, you probably won’t have much to do.]

“That’s completely a salary thief position.”

[Still, work hard. Like you did in the guild, be good to your superiors. You know what I mean, right?]

Even though there’s not much to do, at least show that I’m working hard.

“Yes, hyung-nim. I’ll give my utmost loyalty.”

[Good. Welcome to the company. Our company doesn’t hold OTs gathering new employees. Don’t expect that. In that time, we need to do even one more data analysis.]

“Yes. I’ll work hard.”

[Good. I sent a joining gift separately to your character’s mailbox.]

“Huh? Could it be. The item I said I wanted last time?”

[Quick-witted guy. Hurry and go in. Oh! If people ask how you got in, don’t say anything else. I mean don’t talk about games. Got it? Just say you don’t know.]

“Ah, yes. Hyung-nim.”

[Then I’m really hanging up.]

After hanging up, I felt dazed.

The guild master I’d been gaming with for a long time, laughing and chatting, was actually a financial sector CEO.

And that person hired me.

Just because we played games together.

If I told others, it would be a story they’d never believe.

I shuddered remembering how he’d scolded me during raids for not being able to dodge even simple patterns.

“What should I do once I go in? Should I bow deeply and greet first?”

I remember seeing in dramas where they shout very loudly, “I’m so-and-so!”

“No. Let’s just not make a scene.”

Try not to stand out, work quietly at the company.

Don’t cause any trouble!

————————————————————————————————————————

It varies by securities firm, but trading departments are divided into several areas.

The prop trading department that pursues high returns through short-term trading using stocks, bonds, derivatives, etc., and takes risks by leveraging market volatility.

The quant trading department that establishes trading strategies based on algorithms and data analysis, and uses high-frequency trading to execute thousands of transactions at once with AI.

Besides those, market making, foreign exchange trading, bond trading, etc.

Various teams existed.

People might think they gather from dawn and work frantically, but actually they could have short tea times.

Usually, the truly hectic time starts from 8:30 AM when simultaneous bidding begins.

Then it’s straight through crazily busy until 4 PM without even time to go to the bathroom.

“Did you hear about the new employee coming?”

“Well, how many times have new employees come? Some can’t handle the performance pressure and leave, and many leave drunk on their own success.”

The stock market is a giant casino allowed by the state.

Employees there face performance pressure.

While some can’t endure that burden and eventually leave, others have a few strokes of luck and perform well, then thinking it’s their own ability, leave the company to become individual traders.

That’s why securities firms, especially trading departments, hire new employees more frequently than other departments.

But this new employee seemed unusual.

“I heard from the HR team that someone was inserted from above.”

“What? Really?”

“Yes. They told us not to make a fuss. It’ll be troublesome if everyone in the department finds out.”

“Wait. If they were inserted from above. The CEO’s family?”

“Probably.”

It was like a tactical nuke dropped on the quiet trading department.

A securities firm where performance is everything.

But this is still a company, so you have to navigate office life.

And inevitably, companies have parachutes.

It would’ve been stranger if there hadn’t been any until now.

“Did the team leader know too?”

“I found out yesterday too.”

Team Leader Park Hong-seo answered briefly and was pouring a lot of coffee into his cup.

It was the first time seeing someone who doesn’t usually drink coffee fill a cup like that.

Feeling they shouldn’t touch him, the employees in the break room kept silent until Team Leader Park left.

“Whew. Why does Team Leader Park look so irritable today?”

“The trading department is already crazily busy, and now we’re getting a parachute, so he must feel like shit. First time I’ve seen that guy drink so much coffee.”

Isn’t he someone who likes exercise, doesn’t smoke or drink, doesn’t drink soft drinks, and doesn’t drink coffee either?

But today something must have really hit him.

“What if that parachute acts like a prince and causes chaos as soon as they arrive?”

“What can we do? We’ll have to just accept it. Or are you going to confront them? Only Team Leader Park will suffer inwardly.”

That’s what’s scary about parachutes.

If they act arrogant trusting their backing, you can only endure and watch.

“I wonder what they look like. If they’re good-looking, should I try to seduce them?”

“Keke. Go ahead and try.”

As they were leaving the break room, curious about the parachute’s identity.

“Hm?”

They saw a man near the office entrance, restless and wandering around.

————————————————————————————————————————

“..”

Team Leader Park Hong-seo glanced at Jeong Jin-ho standing with his hands neatly clasped together.

He should’ve been analyzing data and checking overseas news and changes that happened during dawn, but he had to deal with this suddenly dropped new employee first.

He didn’t like the situation.

Because everyone has their routine.

“Is this your first time in finance work?”

“Ah, yes. That’s right.”

“You’ve done mock investment and such, right? Do you have investment experience?”

“No. But if you teach me, I’ll work hard!”

“..”

A complete beginner who needs to be taught everything from one to ten has arrived.

But he understood why the HR team inserted this parachute here.

Although there’s really a lot to do from dawn, junior traders don’t really have much to do.

Isn’t it a position where you just run errands, practice with mock investments, and slowly learn from senior traders?

So they dumped him here.

Telling them to keep him and raise him slowly however they want.

‘Then once he’s somewhat familiar, they’ll try to send him to another department.’

Gaining a bit of experience as an employee, then suddenly moving him to team leader level.

A typical parachute route.

In other words, he wasn’t someone who would be in this department for long.

“Assistant Manager Lee.”

“Yes, Team Leader.”

“Employee Jeong Jin-ho who just came will be a junior trader from now on, so Assistant Manager Lee, please teach him well.”

“Yes, understood.”

Assistant Manager Lee Hye-rin, who didn’t yet know the new employee’s terrifying identity, was smiling brightly. Probably from the joy of finally graduating from being the youngest.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Assistant Manager Lee Hye-rin. If you have questions from now on, you can ask me.”

“Yes. I’m Jeong Jin-ho. Please take care of me.”

This wasn’t actually Lee Hye-rin’s first time receiving a new employee.

New employees had come in several times before, but they all couldn’t endure long and ran away.

Understandably so.

They have to arrive before 5:30 AM at the latest to prepare briefings and set up all the meeting preparations.

Plus, the work intensity gets extremely high as time passes.

Because this is a place that does trading by the second, they have to quickly bring whatever materials seniors want, and if they act sluggishly, they might get all kinds of curses saying they lost money because of them.

Because this was truly a large casino where hundreds of billions come and go daily.

Is that all?

After enduring junior years a bit, then they face performance pressure, so they can’t endure it with a clear mind.

“We start with coffee. Traders all live on coffee. We have to set it up for them right before meetings. Oh! Team Leader Park doesn’t drink coffee, so except for Team Leader Park!”

“Yes, yes.”

Fortunately, this new employee was enthusiastic.

Wasn’t he writing down everything Lee Hye-rin said in a small notebook?

At least the first impression was good.

“Also, we have to prepare materials. They don’t give orders to analyze and create them yourself from the start. Junior traders are more in a learning position than doing something. So you have to read and study all the briefing materials that come out daily.”

“Yes!”

His answers were also very crisp, which was also pleasing.

As she continued explaining various things, there was a brief pause.

“By the way, where did Jin-ho go to school?”

“Ah. University?”

“Yes. It must be one of SKY. Are we from the same school?”

“.Jinseon.”

“Jinseon?”

Lee Hye-rin blinked with momentary brain freeze.

First came the question mark of “Where’s that?”

“It’s in Seoul.”

“Ah, I see.”

How did someone from that university get in here?

Does that school have connections with this company?

“The meeting’s starting, so let’s hurry in.”

“Ah, yes.”

————————————————————————————————————————

“This time the US NFP came out greatly exceeding expectations, right? Plus the CPI announcement came out too, so volatility is even higher. How’s the FX side?”

“The dollar index is maintaining strength above the 105 line. It’ll go even higher as the Fed signals interest rate hikes. In contrast, the yen is maintaining an accommodative policy, so yen weakness seems likely.”

“What about foreigners?”

“This time foreign buying flows are concentrating on electronics. It looks like an overbought zone too. For Kangseong Electronics, it exceeded 12 times on a PER basis, so there seems to be short-term valuation burden.”

“If foreign buying keeps flowing in, there’ll be losses on opposite positions. We need to do some risk management. After taking short positions, we should prepare hedges too. Think about ways to cover with ETFs or futures.”

“Yes, Team Leader.”

It’s definitely Korean.

But I don’t understand what they’re talking about at all.

Still, I pretended to listen hard and wrote down all the unfamiliar terms in my notebook.

In the meeting room, team members diligently briefed and reported, and the team leader gave instructions on how to time buying and selling today based on the reports.

How should I put it.

It’s like watching a game.

Like before entering a raid, the raid leader gives instructions and explanations to raid members one by one.

Somehow it feels familiar.

“Good. Then let’s survive today too.”

Everyone scattered quickly.

I tried to follow Assistant Manager Lee Hye-rin tactfully, but the team leader called both of us.

“Assistant Manager Lee. Today, teach Employee Jeong about mock investment. Starting with the basics.”

“Yes. Understood.”

Assistant Manager Lee Hye-rin came to my assigned desk and opened the program together.

“You’ve done a lot of mock investment, right? When I was a student, I once won a mock investment competition held by this company. It became good credentials too. Have you done it, Jin-ho?”

“.No.”

“Aha~. So you’re completely a real trading type. The kind that doesn’t do mock investments.”

“..”

I couldn’t bring myself to say I’d never invested at all. Because if I did, after getting shocked about school earlier, I’d get hit with a second shock here.

“Why do we do mock investment? That’s a very good question. We can’t readily entrust company money to junior traders to invest. So we have them gain experience doing various tasks until they become seniors. And mock investment is one evaluation method.”

Lee Hye-rin was answering questions from start to finish without me saying anything yet.

Still, thanks to that, I learned why they have us do mock investments.

“Do you become a senior if you perform well in mock investment?”

“Yes. In the end, nothing else matters at securities firms. Performance is everything. Whether that person analyzes well, speaks well, or does office life well, ultimately the person who makes the most money is the best.”

It was both the advantage and disadvantage of a performance-based system.

Trrrring~!

Then a strong signal rang throughout the company.

It was an announcement that the market had opened.

“Oh.”

The office that had been quiet until just now became like a pandemonium with everyone moving busily.

Phone calls could be heard from all directions, and it was filled with sounds of mice and keyboards being worked frantically. Also, the monitors placed everywhere seemed to show works of art gathering human madness in one place.

“This is the most awkward time for bottom-feeders like us. We have nothing to do until seniors call us with material requests. So we gain experience by doing mock investment like this. Then I’ll teach you one by one.”

In that frenzied scene, Lee Hye-rin taught me how to use the program from the beginning, one by one.

But at some point, her voice stopped entering my ears.

‘Huh, what?’

A chart I don’t understand.

A list of stocks I’m seeing for the first time.

Endlessly unfolding red and blue lights.

And this thrill spreading through my body as my fingertips heat up.

‘Why is this suddenly happening?’

The ‘feeling’ was disturbing my mind and causing a strong impulse.

Toward one stock showing a blue light that Lee Hye-rin was showing as an example.

If this were a box pulling items, it felt like a good item would definitely come out.

If it were item enhancement, I was gripped by an intense feeling that it would definitely succeed.

‘W-wait.’

In the end, I reached for the mouse as if possessed.

Click.

The buy button was pressed.