Congratulations on Your Magical Girl Duties

45 – Open Your Eyes

“How does one actually *make* money with stocks?”

It was a question that anyone with even a passing interest in the stock market would have pondered, and undoubtedly, attempted to answer.

Of course, the answer was always the same, wasn’t it?

“Naturally, you buy low and sell high.”

A simple answer, but absolutely *not* simple in practice.

One couldn’t know which stocks would rise, or how they’d rise. And even if you bought a stock, there was no guarantee it would rise *at all*.

But fear not.

Such worries would end this very day.

Because I, the Warrior of the Moon, and stock market master, was here.

“Today, I will show you, through various case studies, *how* and *what* strategies you should employ when buying stocks.”

Naturally, if you were to ask which stocks to buy, the answer would unequivocally be Top□ and No□pia.

The reigning titans of South Korea.

Their graphs, still painting a furiously upward trajectory.

There was no reason *not* to buy.

However, I couldn’t simply *tell* them that. The purpose of a lecture wasn’t to hand out fish, but to teach them how to fish for themselves.

“First, with *what* kind of money should we be playing the stock market?”

At my words, one of the magical girls raised her hand.

“Money you can afford to lose.”

I immediately shot her down.

“Wrong.”

“But… why? Shouldn’t one at least be in a financially stable position?”

Using money you could afford to lose to buy stocks? What kind of ludicrous notion was that? That flimsy thinking was precisely what prevented people from making money in the stock market.

“There’s not a *scintilla* of desperation in that. It robs a person of their vital, driving force!”

There was a very particular reason why great literature poured forth from Russia.

Simply put, it was because they were staring death in the face.

Russian authors were truly on the verge of oblivion, and thus wrote with every ounce of strength they possessed.

Dying for love, freedom, and honor?

No, Russian authors were genuinely going to *die.*

The stock market is the same. You must stake your entire fortune, ensuring you’ll see the end, and buy each and every share with utter sincerity.

Like the symbiotic relationship between pain and creation, pain invariably interacts with the stock market as well.

But to do it with money you can afford to lose?

Half-heartedness is worse than not doing it at all.

Does money you can *actually* afford to lose even exist in the first place?

“If it’s money you can lose, just give it to *me*!”

“Ah… well, I was inconsiderate.”

Still, I let it slide with leniency. They can act like that if they don’t know any better. Half of them are nutjobs anyway.

In any case, I opened my mouth again.

“The stocks you all should be investing in are domestic.”

Sure enough. Yet another magical girl raised her hand, expressing her doubts.

“Shouldn’t we usually invest in the U.S. market?”

Well, it’s not an incomprehensible reaction.

Compared to the domestic market, the U.S. market is relatively safer. The longer you leave it, the more it trends upward, generally.

“I think it’s better to aim for certain gains with a magical long-term investment, holding it for as long as possible.”

But, it has a fatal flaw.

“So, you’re saying that while you make ten percent in a year, other people can keep earning twenty percent every single day?”

“Th-that won’t work!”

It takes too long to see the light.

“Besides, even with long-term investments, the graph isn’t smooth, and it plummets at the slightest thing, doesn’t it? Can you endure that?”

“Um… that’s difficult, yes.”

Even if it trends upward, there are countless ups and downs in the middle due to various factors.

Earnings announcements, for one.

Natural disasters, for another.

The election of the planetary president, let’s say.

Or some piece of shit talking about going to Mars.

If you bet on the wrong thing, you’ll just be stuck in a neverending wait. There’s no guarantee that the long wait will be rewarded, and even if you make money, you have to cough up taxes.

But the domestic market is a different story.

“That’s why I’m recommending the domestic market.”

Even if you only play the market for a day, you can earn far more than you would with a long-term investment in the U.S. market. And, of course, you’re free from taxes.

And that’s not all. If it looks like you’re going to take a loss, you can sell it off that very day and immediately invest in something new.

“B-but isn’t it too risky?”

“I won’t deny it.”

Of course, it’s dangerous.

Danger always lurks, after all.

Especially the Director. November is an exceptionally perilous time. Other risky months include March, August, July, December, February, May, October, January, April, June, and September.

But.

“Even so, we can seize returns far outweighing the risk.”

This means the opportunities are equally abundant.

Risk and reward are always proportionate, as the saying goes.

“Besides, I am here, am I not?”

If my lectures are added to the equation, even the risks can be minimized.

“There is no need to worry.”

Therefore, there’s no reason *not* to do the Director’s.

But even with my explanation, the magical girl clung stubbornly, unable to let go of her long-term investment obsession.

“Just a moment. Then, would it be alright to invest in the Director’s dividend stocks for the long term? The dividends are quite decent, aren’t they?”

Certainly, the dividends don’t seem bad on the surface.

If you simply hold the stocks, you can secure a certain amount of money, even if the exact amount varies depending on the fluctuations.

However, no.

“No, the Director’s is strictly for short-term trades only.”

This is the trap of the Director’s dividend stocks.

“You mustn’t trust dividend stocks in the Director’s.”

“Why? Whether the dividend is large or small, it goes into the account, so it’s my money, right?”

“Why is that your money?”

You little *shit*.

For a moment, the unspoken words nearly escaped my lips. I seemed to have become emotional without even realizing it.

Calming myself, I offered a faint smile.

“They could take back the dividends at any time, you know.”

“That… cannot…”

The magical girl trailed off, her spirit deflating. Even if she didn’t fully understand, at least she wouldn’t question me any further.

A good development.

Now, I should continue the lecture.

Nonetheless, with no further objections raised, I looked upon them all and slowly began to speak.

“The most crucial aspect of a Bureau is its theme.”

If you’re running a Bureau, you must grasp what’s currently the talk of the town, and seize the opportunity with alacrity.

“Shall we consider an example? Let’s say Won-gang, the author, were to win the Nobel Prize in Literature once more.”

I paused, catching my breath, then spoke again.

“In that case, whose stock would rise?”

My question spurred the magical girls to voice their opinions, one by one.

“Most likely, stocks related to books would go up.”

“Paper companies that supply white paper might also see a potential increase.”

Certainly, they weren’t wrong.

Stocks connected to books would primarily be affected. It’s an unavoidable structure, destined to benefit.

But it wasn’t the definitive answer.

“Not a great choice.”

I shook my head.

A magical girl let out a questioning sound.

“Why? It’s practically guaranteed to rise.”

“Indeed, it will rise.”

But, I continued.

“If it hits the price ceiling, trading will be halted, and even if you wanted to buy, you couldn’t. By the time the ceiling lifts, it will have already risen too high, posing a significant risk of decline.”

“Ah, I see.”

Anyone engaging with the Bureau in earnest can’t simply perceive things in such a one-dimensional way. Committing such errors is reserved for the utterly hapless and mediocre.

“Therefore, we must purchase stocks that rise moderately, yet guarantee we can trade them reliably.”

To run a Bureau, you must see with the Bureau’s eyes.

A little further out.

Unconventionally.

Far more intricately.

“First off, the author’s name is Won-gang, correct?”

A name that might hold no significance whatsoever in the stock market at large.

However, viewed through the Bureau’s lens, it carries meaning.

“Thus, themes that come to mind include the following…”

One. One in English.

One shortened becomes, Han.

“Precisely, Han River.”

Seeing the faces of those magical girls who couldn’t even grasp such simple logic, I smirked ever so slightly.

“Everyone, when you think of Han River, what comes to mind?”

This time, there seemed to be some degree of recognition, and the magical girls spewed forth a flurry of answers.

Picnic spot, a metaphor for South Korea’s miracle, the reason for rising land prices, a famous magical suicide spot, and so on.

But, that keyword didn’t emerge.

As expected, none of them had yet developed the eye of the Director.

I looked upon them all with a hint of pity, and softly uttered the keyword that still remained unspoken.

“Monster.”

Monster.

Truly, the very byword for the Han River. It was even made into a movie, one couldn’t say it wasn’t famous.

So, with the two themes of the Han River and monster, we can predict which stock will rise.

Through the eyes of the Director, that is.

“Then surely, Sam□ Publishing, which distributes books on the Han River Monster, will see its stock rise!”

Like this, you select suitable stocks to buy and sell based on themes related to the Han River.

At that moment, one of the magical girls opened her mouth.

“Is there nothing else besides Sam□ Publishing?”

“If there’s truly nothing else to buy, then buy shares of Ka□ao.”

Ka□ao stock, and the Han River.

A surprisingly unrelated combination, or so it seems, but unlike what one might think, the two share a deep connection.

Because Ka□ao is a stock that makes shareholders want to jump into the Han River.

Truly, it can be said to be a Han River themed stock.

However, the magical girls seemed to find it painful to accept this, and they were all clutching their heads.

“Being a Director is this difficult…?”

“The level of thought is just so different… my head feels like it’s splitting… even when I got hit by that weirdo, it wasn’t this bad…”

“You’re not judging based on performance or valuation?”

It pains my heart, but there’s no helping it.

Just as one must endure the pain of killing a loved one to obtain the Mangekyo Sharingan, one must endure the pain of killing common sense to obtain the eye of the Director.

And so, I continued the lecture.

“Alright, let’s move on to the next example.”

Someday, I firmly believed, they would overcome these growing pains and everyone would awaken the Director’s Eye.

I believe in everyone.

Isn’t that the very essence of a hero?

“Another oil-related news story broke recently, right?”

Something that was mentioned every year even before I was dragged into this other world, yet it’s still the same old WWE match.

But the Director’s Eye holds true here as well.

“Does everyone know the names of the oil fields?”

Having heard it so many times, the magical girls quickly got the answer right this time.

Red Crab, Vermilion Bird, Amberjack, Whale.

“In this case, which stock will likely rise?”

“Oil-related stocks or marine-related stocks will go up!”

One of the magical girls answered confidently.

I confidently shook my head.

“That’s correct, but it’s not the *answer*.”

“Huh?”

Because that wasn’t the answer seen through the Director’s Eye.

“Pulmu[Blank]’s stock will rise.”

“No, but… *why*!?”

The magical girl clutched her head, as if she couldn’t understand at all.

“Pulmu[Blank] has their ambitious new Red Crab Ramen, you see.”

“Ah.”

Well, she figured it out quickly enough.

Still, this time it feels like there’s been some progress. I saw a few of the magical girls nodding their heads at my words.

Just a little more prodding and we’ll be there soon.

Soon, they’ll see the world through the Director’s Eye.

Filled with a sense of accomplishment, I opened my mouth.

“Alright, then, let’s move on to the next example.”

Hoping that everyone would awaken the Director’s Eye.