NOVEL NEXT Ch. 10
Chapter 10: It Was Nothing More Than the Minimum Admission Ticket for the Next Round
Finally, D-Day.
The stock exchange opened, and people flooded in from the morning.
They shouted as they bumped into each other, trying to place orders at slightly better prices, while the sharp sounds of the trading floor echoed endlessly.
Kang Cheol-min stood in an inconspicuous corner of the second-floor railing, watching the pandemonium unfolding below.
Most of the trades were concentrated on Daegung stock.
Checking his wristwatch, Kang Cheol-min glanced at the scattered people on the first floor and gave a small nod.
It was at that very moment.
“KEPCO stock! Fifty thousand! Ten shares, sell!”
“Over here too, KEPCO stock, forty-nine thousand five hundred, twenty shares, sell!”
“KEPCO stock, sell! Forty-nine thousand! Ten shares!”
As if waiting for it, sell orders for KEPCO stock suddenly poured out from all over the trading floor like a waterfall.
The exchange employees kept scribbling down the sell orders on the chalkboards.
Those shouting the orders were brokers and errand boys that Kang Cheol-min had hastily recruited or brought to his side, men who seemed completely unrelated to each other.
Just as Baek Min-woo had instructed, the attack was thoroughly dispersed so that no one could trace back who was dumping this massive volume.
“W-what the? What’s wrong with KEPCO stock?”
“Fifty thousand hwan! Forty-eight thousand hwan!”
“Who’s selling? At a time like this?”
The people at the stock exchange reacted immediately to the sudden large-scale sell-off.
Representatives from each securities company clutched their telephones, busy relaying the situation to their headquarters.
The gazes that had been fixated on Daegung stock just moments ago now turned in shock toward the KEPCO stock price board.
“Forty-seven thousand! No one’s buying! Yesterday you couldn’t get it even if you wanted to!”
“But wait, there are still rumors about U.S. aid funds, right? Then why are they selling?”
“Wh-what? They’re even selling at forty-five thousand?”
In just a few minutes, tens of thousands of hwan evaporated, and fear spread rapidly.
The moment the seemingly eternal upward trend was broken, human greed was bound to transform into fear.
‘Drop the price down to forty-five thousand hwan.
Five hundred shares will be enough.’
‘But wasn’t our target price fifty thousand hwan?’
‘That’s right. With five hundred shares as bait, we’ll trigger panic, forcing those who had been clutching onto KEPCO stock without letting go to throw theirs into the market.’
‘Then the price will crash.’
‘No. Park Jeong-ho’s side will buy it all and raise the price again. At that point, sell the remaining fifteen hundred shares in full at fifty thousand hwan.’
Looking down below, Kang Cheol-min was filled with countless thoughts as he saw the trading floor moving exactly as Baek Min-woo had said.
“No! My money!”
“Sell first! Whatever the price of KEPCO stock, just sell!”
Investors holding KEPCO stock all rushed to shout out sell orders one after another.
The panic didn’t stop there.
‘Once the selling spree of KEPCO stock continues, sell orders for Daegung stock will flood in as well.’
“……Wait, Daegung stock too?”
“I-I’m uneasy……. Maybe it’s better to sell Daegung stock for now too?”
The fear sparked by the massive sell-off of KEPCO stock spread throughout the entire stock exchange.
“Daegung stock! I want to sell too! One hwan, twenty jeon!”
“Daegung stock, sell! Right now!”
“No, this won’t do. I need to convert to cash first!”
Once the floodgates opened, there was no stopping it.
The sell-off of KEPCO stock became the trigger that unleashed a wave of sell orders for Daegung stock as well.
Of course, there was still some buying force left for Daegung stock, but it was nothing like the frenzied rush of yesterday.
The trading floor was truly pandemonium.
On one side, desperate screams of despair at the sudden crash; on another, loud voices insisting things would still be fine; and elsewhere, frantic shouts of orders to dump their shares however possible—everything mixed together until it was nearly impossible to hear any single sound clearly.
Paper documents lay scattered across the floor, people shouted at each other, some almost grabbing each other by the collar.
From above, Kang Cheol-min looked down coldly at the chaotic scene.
A bitter smile tugged at his lips.
The irony of collapsing the stock price he had dragged up to fifty thousand hwan in just ten days with his own hands.
But at the same time, a thrilling chill ran down his entire body.
This was exactly how the invisible hand moved the market.
And now, he felt he could vaguely understand why Baek Min-woo, that young man, had given such reckless instructions.
Inside the suite room of the Merit Hotel overlooking the Myeong-dong stock exchange.
Amid the mess of scattered papers and thick cigarette smoke, a heavy silence hung in stark contrast to the frenzy outside the window.
“It dropped all the way to forty-five thousand hwan? What the hell is this…….”
Grinding his cigarette harshly into a luxury crystal ashtray, Park Jeong-ho growled.
His forehead was drenched in cold sweat, and Kim Jin-ho, standing before him, nervously swallowed his dry throat.
Only Chief Choi, standing by the window, stared motionlessly at the chaos below.
“Reporting! The forty-five-thousand-hwan line has collapsed! The buying force has nearly vanished, and at this rate, it’s impossible to predict how far it will fall!”
The subordinate’s urgent report was like pouring oil on a fire.
“Damn it! Just who the hell is doing this!”
The veins in Park Jeong-ho’s neck bulged, his face flushed red as if he would explode any second as he shouted.
“Master Yang?”
“No, sir! Master Yang has no interest in securities whatsoever……”
“Then who was it? What was his name? Didn’t you send that young brat to take a look? That bastard mentioned KEPCO stock, didn’t he!”
“That young man definitely went to buy Daegung stock! I saw it with my own eyes! And since that day, he hasn’t visited the stock exchange even once.”
Kim Jin-ho protested, as if it was unfair.
“We mobilized every available hand, but it’s difficult to identify the seller.”
Turning from the window, Chief Choi finally spoke.
His voice was as cold as ice.
“From dozens of accounts, simultaneously, in an extremely organized manner, the volume is pouring in. Someone is deliberately shaking the board.”
“Shaking the board? Then what do we do now, President Park! At this rate, our plan……”
Kim Jin-ho stammered, nearly in tears.
Far from reaching their goal of sixty thousand hwan, everything was on the verge of turning into smoke.
If they even lost Yang Sobo’s funds on top of it……
It was certain that Master Yang would tear them apart.
The very thought was terrifying, and Kim Jin-ho trembled uncontrollably.
“It’s not over yet.”
Park Jeong-ho ground his teeth.
Then, with a crunch, he spat out his words.
“Even better. We’ll just swallow up the shares dumped by those scared fools.”
He looked back and forth between Chief Choi and Kim Jin-ho, giving his orders firmly.
“President Kim! Put in every bit of money we have right now. Buy up every KEPCO share that hits the market! No matter what, restore and defend the fifty-thousand-hwan line! We need to show the market we’re still standing strong!”
“What? B-but the funds……”
“We have Master Yang’s money! Borrow it for a while!”
“What? T-that’s far too dangerous! If Master Yang finds out, it will be disastrous!”
Kim Jin-ho was horrified.
The amount Master Yang had instructed them to invest here and there was considerable.
But if they used that money for this operation, the repercussions would be inevitable.
“Just for a while, a while! As long as we don’t get caught, it’s fine!”
Park Jeong-ho snapped, his eyes glinting strangely.
Kim Jin-ho looked at Chief Choi as if begging for help.
“Follow President Park’s orders.”
Chief Choi spoke coldly.
“If a problem arises, our side will take responsibility.”
At the assurance that the KCIA had their backs, Park Jeong-ho barked again at Kim Jin-ho.
“You heard him! No time! Move! Fifty thousand hwan! Get it back above that line before today ends!”
At Park Jeong-ho’s shout, Kim Jin-ho bolted out of the room in a hurry.
Only Park Jeong-ho and Chief Choi remained inside.
Letting out a sigh, Park Jeong-ho lit a new cigarette and forced himself to act composed, but his eyes flickered uneasily.
Chief Choi’s icy voice stabbed into his back.
“Remember this. If we fail here, President Park…… you will not come out unscathed.”
Cold sweat trickled down Park Jeong-ho’s back.
“It’s done! All shares sold! The average selling price was forty-eight thousand seven hundred hwan!”
Kang Cheol-min’s report rang through the operations room.
Next to him, Yoon Ji-seong let out a quiet sigh of relief.
I turned my gaze to Ma Dong-jin.
Only the final confirmation remained.
“Please provide the final settlement.”
All eyes turned toward Ma Dong-jin.
Flipping through the thick ledger, he began his report.
“Through deferred trades, we purchased a total of forty million hwan worth. As of today, the full liquidation brought in ninety-seven million four hundred thousand hwan.”
Just shy of one hundred million.
Not bad.
“After subtracting the forty million hwan spent on purchases, the recorded profit is fifty-seven million four hundred thousand.”
I noticed Kang Cheol-min and Yoon Ji-seong’s eyes widen instantly at the numbers.
Like amateurs.
To be surprised by this much.
“But.”
Ma Dong-jin’s calm voice continued.
I nodded inwardly.
The real calculation began now.
“The operational expenses over the past fifteen days were immense. As you know, this morning before the operation began, the funds we had available amounted to only nine hundred twenty thousand hwan.”
In other words, over ninety percent of the initial capital of ten million hwan had already vanished like smoke.
Even though they had heard this just yesterday, Kang Cheol-min and Yoon Ji-seong’s faces stiffened again.
Just imagining that a delay of only a few more days would have resulted in complete default on the ten million hwan must have been dizzying.
“To push the price to fifty thousand hwan through matched trades, the enormous deferred trading fees, the costs of maintaining brokers…… Over the last fifteen days, the operating expenses totaled nine million eighty thousand hwan.”
Ma Dong-jin’s voice, recounting our situation, echoed through the operations room.
“And now, the selling commission just incurred. At 0.3% of the total sales of ninety-seven million four hundred thousand hwan, that adds up to two hundred ninety-two thousand two hundred hwan.”
Closing the final ledger, Ma Dong-jin gave his conclusion.
“Therefore, total expenses amount to nine million three hundred seventy-two thousand two hundred hwan. The final net profit is forty-eight million twenty-seven thousand eight hundred hwan.”
“Forty-eight…… million……”
Kang Cheol-min muttered with a half-laugh.
Even Yoon Ji-seong, as if he couldn’t believe it, blinked rapidly behind his glasses while repeating the figures in his head.
“Approximately 4.8 times return on the initial capital…… This is the result of taking on extreme risk……”
I let a faint, mocking smile touch my lips.
It fell short of the fifty million hwan I had aimed for, but that was due to the unplanned expenses from the self-trades.
‘This is only the beginning.’
Stock manipulation hadn’t even started yet.
KEPCO stock had merely been the preliminary battle to raise the funds needed to launch Daegung stock.
What mattered wasn’t this money, but what this operation’s success would bring.
By now, Park Jeong-ho must have been buying KEPCO stock like a madman, draining his funds.
He must have been weeping blood as he absorbed the shares people were throwing away.
“Good work, everyone.”
I looked around at the three of them as I spoke.
“But, it’s still too soon to raise our glasses.”
This had been about proving my ability to Yang Sobo and securing the first live ammunition for a much larger game.
“Take tomorrow off, and we’ll start again two days from now.”
I granted them a single day of rest.
The final settlement ledger handed over by Ma Dong-jin was weighty.
The result of fifteen days of nerve-wracking trades, meticulously recorded.
With it in hand, I sought out Yang Sobo.
Standing before the study in his mansion, I could faintly catch the fragrance of tea wafting out from within.
“Come in.”
At the low voice, I opened the door and stepped inside.
Yang Sobo was still standing by the window, gazing out at the garden as darkness began to fall.
Even after I entered, he didn’t turn around for quite some time.
How long did I wait? At last, he slowly turned his body.
His face was mask-like, expressionless, revealing nothing of his true thoughts.
“You’ve come.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’ve received a rough report from Zhang Wei. I hear you succeeded.”
I bowed politely and took the ledger from my chest, placing it on his desk.
“This is the interim result.”
Yang Sobo didn’t bother opening it, as if he already knew the contents.
Instead, he fixed his gaze on me, as though piercing straight through.
“I hear you turned ten million hwan into nearly fifty million in just half a month.
And while striking the back of Park Jeong-ho and the KCIA at that.”
His tone sounded less like admiration and more like confirmation.
I calmly corrected him.
“Precisely forty-eight million twenty-seven thousand eight hundred hwan. The costs were higher than expected.”
“Costs, eh…… I hear you burned through the entire ten million I gave you. A business where the bellybutton turned out bigger than the belly.”
His gaze sharpened.
He seemed to value the process more than the outcome of simply making money.
“Because I burned through it all, I was able to earn this much. And besides……”
I paused briefly, then met his eyes squarely.
“I intend to shoulder all of those costs myself, not treat them as part of your investment. The initial ten million hwan remains untouched.”
At my words, Yang Sobo’s eyebrows twitched faintly.
“So then, with this nearly fifty million, what do you plan to do next?”
“I cannot say yet.”
“Another secret?”
“If I were to reveal all my cards in advance, where would the fun of watching be?”
As I smiled confidently, Yang Sobo lifted a brow.
“The profits from this time are nothing more than the minimum admission ticket for the next round.”
Yang Sobo studied me for a while longer before finally letting out a low laugh.
It wasn’t mockery or suspicion, but rather a complex mix of recognition and anticipation.
“Good. I’ll be looking forward to it.”
My steps leaving his study were far lighter than the first time I had come here.
‘Yang Sobo……. You will come to see me not as a mere beneficiary of your support, but as your partner. All of your power will be used for my sake. Wait for me, Jeong Tae-soo. Until the day I stand shoulder to shoulder with you.’
A cold thirst for vengeance burned together with a fiery ambition inside me.