12 Hours After

Translator: Khan

Editor: RED

“Come on, let’s have lunch.”

It was the lunchtime that I had been waiting for. I got up in a hurry. To be honest with myself, I could not focus on my work this morning. I immediately picked up my cell phone and saw the current price.

‘Jiwoo Entertainment $3.90 (+30%)’

At around 9:10 a.m. this morning, the stock price of Jiwoo Entertainment, which was at its upper limit price, remained flat. I went over to the account balance.

[Holding Stock

Jiwoo Entertainment

Shares: 19,141

Purchase Price: $3.30

Purchase Amount: $57,997

Current Price: $3.90

Current Value: $74,649

Profit and Loss: +$16.652

Today’s profits alone were sixteen thousand dollars. But it was not over here. That was because the shares to buy at the upper limit price had piled up to more than one million, to more than four million dollars. The accumulation of this amount of the stock in the market value of thirty million dollars was no different from saying that today’s price would be at the upper limit price, and that it was going to be the upper limit price for a few more days. I had a rough idea of arithmetic in my mind.

‘The Current Value is $74,000. If it goes to the upper limit price once more, it will be $97,000, and if it goes one more time, it will be $120,000, and with one more, it will be $160,000.’

‘If this successively goes to the upper limit price, it will be compounded hugely later. Einstein said that too.’

‘The greatest invention of mankind is compounding math. Compounding math is the most powerful force in the universe.’

I did not know why the best scientist in the world said that about compounding math, but it was clear that the compounding math had a strong power anyway.

‘If I do this right, it could double in a few days, or even more.’ I grinned at MTS.

Today, my lunch friend, Choi came to me and said, “What’s the matter with you, Han?”

I shook my head while putting in my cell phone. “No, no.”

“No, no? You look like you’re so happy and you’ll die.”

I tried to control my face, but I couldn’t hide the corners of my mouth.

Choi looked at me for a moment, then suddenly stiffened his face, and talked nonsense. “You didn’t tell me. You’ve got a real girl.”

“What are you talking about?”

I tried to shake my head, but he said, “You should have told me, and I told you to eat lunch together all the time, I’m slow-witted. Then go ahead. Just call me when you need me, and introduce me later, okay?”

As he said such a silly thing, I let him do it. I needed my own time alone. I couldn’t do stock trading openly while I was working at the company. I wanted to analyze the stock once again, even for an hour at lunchtime.

“Then I’m going. Good luck. Don’t break up like last time.” Choi left the remark and joined another group. “Hey, let’s eat together!”

He was taken care of.

I left him alone and got out of the company. ‘Where would be good? A place where I can eat alone, without encountering company people.’

I thought of a fast food restaurant two blocks from the company. I would not meet anyone I knew there. There was a fast food restaurant nearby. I walked towards that place and looked at my cell phone.

‘Is the M&A news up yet?’

I searched for Jiwoo Entertainment.

[A girl group, Nine Tails of Jiwoo Entertainment, put off their single album again.]

[Ha Yeon-seo opened the pictures of Boutillian magazine to the public. She showed off the beauty of a goddess. -Jiwoo Entertainment.]

[The concern and expectation of seeing Jiwoo Entertainment]

The stock was at the upper limit price, but there was no article on the merger and acquisition yet.

[Jiwoo Entertainment is currently trading at the upper limit price of $3.90 (+30%).]

Although there had been an article like that, it simply conveyed the fact that the stock was at the upper limit price, but there was no mention of why. I went to the stock bulletin board and looked at the reaction. Just as the stock bulletin board which went to the upper limit price, it was crowded with people.

[Wow, what is this? Why the upper limit price?]

[Without any good news, it went up to the upper limit price. Don’t buy anything like this. You will be in trouble with the wrong purchase.]

[Don’t you know there are a million shares to buy at the upper limit price? It’s because there’s good news. Have you only been in the stock market for a day?]

[Good news? What good news? Are Nine Tails going to AV? I don’t think there’s any good news besides that.]

[What are you talking about? Why is So-young filming AV? Where do you live? I’m going to kill you.]

People speculated about the upper limit price, but they had no access to the real information. They deserved it, too. According to 12 Hours After, the staff members, singers, celebrities of Jiwoo Entertainment didn’t find out until the afternoon. It was inevitable.

‘You poor ants!’

But the more unfortunate ones were those who had sold their shares this morning. It was at the upper price in a few minutes, but they couldn’t wait for it. I looked down a little more to see the comments before the opening today. Going back to that time, what happened today was written in real time.

[Ah, you’re coming down today, you little dog. Get yourself down.]

[This stock is over, and frankly, there’s nothing more to come out of it.]

It was when I bought a few shares little by little, when poor ants were giving me stocks at a low price, not knowing what was going to happen today. There were also some comments written by such people when I saw the bulletin board.

[The bastard Dong-il is going to eat my mid-size car. Have a good fight.]

[I sold it with a loss. I bought it out of the rent. I just have tears.]

‘These are the real poor people, but if I think coldly, I don’t have to pity them. No one can hear them complaining that their pockets were stolen, as they came to eat money from others. A stock market is a zero-sum game in the first place. It’s a game where people rush to eat other people’s money.

‘Therefore, Kim Yong’s martial arts novels say, “Those who do not draw swords will be saved, but those who draw swords will have to be cut down.”

‘The stock market is a modern Murim, and if they wear a sword in Murim, they have nothing to say about being stabbed in the back by an assassin. If they are not ready to be stabbed, they should have a deposit or savings.’

I looked at my cell phone and I arrived at the fast food restaurant I was going to.

“Would you like to order?”

“Give me a big burger set.”

“Is it okay for you to have a French fry with a coke?”

I changed only one thing. “I’d like a cider instead of a coke.”

“I’ll call you up soon.”

I sat down after I had paid. I continued to look at people’s reactions. The mood on the bulletin board was reversed as the stock price rose.

[Why is it suddenly rising?]

[What’s Duri Finance doing? They’re sweeping 60,000 shares at a time.]

[And then Merrit comes in. Whoa. What the hell is this?]

[Someone is going to sweep. It’s +5% right now. Can I buy it?]

[Huh, VI? What the hell is going on? What’s wrong with you today?]

[That’s the upper limit price. Ah, shit. I just sold it.]

[Huh, the upper limit price. What is it? Are the forces all in?]

This was the time when I had finished buying the stock. It was fun to see the reactions of people who did not know anything. At that time, the clerk called for me, “The client who ordered a Big Burger Set!”

Fast food came out shortly after a few seconds of ordering, fitting the name. I went up to the stand, took my hamburger set and sat down. Chewing a French fry in my mouth, the saltiness and crispiness wonderful. I chewed up many French fries and looked up again. It was only in the recent comments that the M&A story was coming out.

[It’s a rumor, an M&A came in from China.]

[Where in China?]

[The Rumor says BEU. Where is it? Is it a company never seen or heard?]

[It’s a fucking big company worth twenty billion dollars. BEU is China’s leading entertainment company.]

Now the information seemed to be coming out. I read the comments a little more. Finally, the comments I wanted began to appear.

[Oh, that’s why it went up to the upper limit price today.]

[It’s not a matter of the upper limit price today. Now it’s a matter of how many times the upper limit price goes.]

[If it’s BEU, I think it’s going to be at least three times.]

[Three? It will go five times.]

It was only then that I read the comments, and I put down my cell phone and began to eat with both hands.

‘OK, it’s done.’

I took a big bite of the burger with the cheese and lettuce on the rice patties, and took a cider with it while chewing. I put the straw in my mouth and sucked it in. Cool cider passed through the straw to my mouth. I gave a soft, long exclamation, feeling the coolness of the carbonation.

“Keu! It’s cool.”