Chapter 26
Translator: Dreamscribe
[With a dramatic agreement between the Greek Syriza government and the EU, the third bailout has been approved. The bailout amount has been set at 86 billion euros, and as a result, Greece is once again expected to implement austerity measures. However, in response to this decision, the Greek public is currently voicing their opposition.......]
The Greek default crisis was the first case in which a developed country failed to repay its debt.
As a result, the European stock market was shaken, and our country was also affected.
Still, our country did not suffer significant impact from the Greek crisis.
However, the China shock was a major event that affected the global economy, so it seems the IMF was also conscious of that.
So, even though the IMF had said there would be no third bailout, it was forced to reach an agreement with the Greek government in order to stabilize the global stock market.
It was unfortunate to provide the bailout, but it at least prevented the collapse of the market economy like a domino effect.
“It normalized faster than I thought.”
After the default hit, the IMF moved as quickly as possible to minimize the shock.
That day when we made day trades with 250 billion was exactly the right day to make money.
“Wow. Oppa. You’re watching economic news even on the weekend now? And from this early in the morning? The guy who used to start his mornings with gaming has really changed.”
“You should sleep more since it’s the weekend. Why are you up?”
“Ugh. Don’t even ask. I was going to sleep more, but I suddenly got a call from another department. They said something was wrong with the file I sent on Friday. But aren’t you going to work? Didn’t you say your company makes you work on weekends?”
“Ah. These days, I don’t have to.”
The busy life of modern people.
My younger sister was still suffering from work even on the weekend.
I usually have to go to work on weekends too, but I didn’t because there was nothing I really had to do.
Even when I tried to go, my team members stopped me.
“Argh. This shitty computer. The loading is taking forever.”
Already annoyed from receiving a work call early on a pleasant weekend morning, my sister was venting her frustration on her laptop.
But even to me, it did look incredibly slow.
“It’s still not loaded?”
“Yeah. I’ve been using it since I was in school. It’s old.”
My sister had always been frugal.
She had a habit of not spending money recklessly and always being thrifty.
So she was good at saving money, was interested in financial planning, and rarely changed her electronic devices.
“Hmm.”
I felt a bit sorry for my sister, sitting in front of a computer that was loading all day, staring at the screen.
“Is this urgent?”
“Huh? Oh. As long as I get it done by this afternoon, it’s fine. But I thought it’d be better to just get it over with quickly rather than dragging it out.”
“Really? Then let’s go out.”
“Huh? All of a sudden? Where are we going?”
“To buy you a new laptop.”
“What?”
I went outside with my sister and headed to an electronics store.
“No, oppa. You don’t have to buy me one. Are you rich or something? Oh right, you said your last paycheck was 700 million won. It still makes no sense when I think about it. How does someone get a 700 million won paycheck?”
“It’s because a prop trader’s income is performance-based.”
"Just how well did you invest and how much! Anyway, half of that will go to the National Tax Service, right? And it’s not like you’ll make profit every day. What if you end up sucking your fingers next month? You should save and invest for your future!”
“This much is fine.”
Still, my sister kept repeating, “You really don’t have to buy it for me......”
But she couldn’t hide the slight smile creeping up as she felt happy about getting a new laptop.
“You say that, but I know you’re happy.”
“O-of course I’m happy! But I just feel like I’m burdening you, like I’m being a bother, that’s all.”
“It’s okay. This is what I earn money for.”
I entered the electronics store and browsed the laptops.
Since I’m a gamer too, I was quite good at checking computer specs.
“Oppa. This one’s good enough for me.”
My younger sister picked the cheapest laptop among those displayed at the electronics store.
I shook my head at the absurd specs.
“No way. This one can’t even run basic modern games.”
“I mean, I’m not buying it to play games. I just need it for simple office work……”
“High-spec machines last longer and handle document processing faster. Besides, you might play a few games as a hobby too. Didn’t you use to like gaming?”
“I don’t have time to play games after work. It just feels like a waste of time.”
If the hyungs in our guild heard that, they’d grab the back of their necks.
I picked the model with the best specs currently available and bought it.
“You really don’t have to buy something this expensive!”
“It’s fine. Just say thank you.”
My sister, who kept trying to stop me, saying something this pricey wasn’t necessary, shyly scratched her head.
“Th-thanks. Hehe. I’ve never used anything this nice before. I’ll take good care of it, dear brother.”
She even bowed at a 90-degree angle to thank me.
Seeing her hugging the laptop so preciously made me feel oddly proud.
Like I was finally doing my duty as an oppa.
I even felt like I was walking with my shoulders held high for no reason.
On top of that, she looked genuinely excited, hopping around with joy.
She's the type that makes me want to open my wallet more.
“Phew. That’s it. Haven’t you been using your phone for a long time too? Let’s change that as well.”
“Wait. Even my phone?”
"Hurry up."
Phone, wireless earbuds, tablet, and so on.
We replaced every electronic device we could.
I did hesitate for a second when I saw that the keyboard that goes well with the tablet cost several hundred thousand won, but I bought it without a fuss.
“Is it Christmas today? Or is it my birthday and I didn’t even know?”
My sister looked like she was in a daze.
“Let’s just say it is. If anything breaks, tell me. I’ll get you a new one.”
“Oppa. You’re not recklessly spending because of me, right? You have taxes to pay, and what if your performance drops?”
“Hmm-. Don’t worry about that.”
“Why? Do you think this month will be fine too? I heard financial firms are struggling because of the China shock and the Greek default.”
That’s true, but ironically, I made money thanks to that crisis.
If things continue the way they are, this month’s performance bonus…… will be an amount my sister can’t even imagine.
“I’m doing fine.”
“Wow. That’s cool. You never know with people. I really didn’t think you’d end up working in finance. And on top of that, being talented at investing?”
I feel the same way.
“.......”
After finishing shopping, I got back into my sister’s car.
She was in the driver’s seat, and I was in the passenger seat.
“But oppa, don’t you drive?”
“I have a license but it’s as good as useless. I’m a danger on the road.”
I got the license, but I’ve barely ever driven.
“You can always learn again. Want me to give you lessons?”
The Guild Master had already given me a clear word on this issue.
He told me it’s fine to relearn driving, but I shouldn’t actually drive around.
Once the new department is set up, they plan to get a corporate car and assign a dedicated driver. He said it’d be a big problem if I got into an accident driving myself.
‘The car frame’s really thin.’
I never paid much attention before, but now that I looked, my sister’s car worried me.
If she gets into an accident, it could be serious.
Looks like I’ll have to get her a new car next time.
Wait. While I’m at it, I should replace our parents’ car too?
***
With the China shock and Greek default blowing up one after another, there wasn’t a peaceful day at the securities firms.
Some people couldn’t handle the mental strain from the turmoil and ended up quitting, while others were stubbornly waiting for a bull market to return.
Usually in times like these, firms that took heavy losses go through bloody purges, but thankfully, Kwangwoon Securities didn’t.
On the contrary, they were taking a step further and preparing another project.
“A new Prime Grade Department?”
“Wait a minute. Prime Grade? Isn’t that the grade above Elite? That’s the top tier!”
An announcement posted by the company after the weekend.
It was a Prime Grade.
That means the highest tier in the securities firm ranking system.
Normally, when it comes to a department of this level, the higher-ups handpick only the top aces from each team to fill it.
But this time, unusually, they were accepting applications.
“I mean, isn’t this something we absolutely have to go for?”
“If it’s a Prime grade, that means the operating funds are at least several hundred billion, right?”
Because of that, it turned into a situation where everyone and their dog was submitting applications.
“Wow. I expected it, but there really are a ton of applicants.”
“At this rate, isn’t it basically everyone below Team Leader level who applied?”
The members of Team 7 clicked their tongues as they received the materials forwarded from the HR Team.
“But Team Leader, he just got promoted recently, and now he is being promoted to Department Head already?”
"Look at the return rate. It’d be strange if he wasn’t. Besides, securities firms are more sensitive to performance than other companies. They evaluate based on results, not on school background or anything else. Anyway, let’s organize everything we got from HR and give it to the Team Leader.”
“Got it.”
Since the team members didn’t have anything else to do, they organized the materials sent by the HR Team.
The Greek default crisis also wrapped up faster than expected.
More importantly, the Team Leader had not shown any intention of withdrawing all the funds.
It made sense, after the China shock and now the Greek crisis, investor sentiment had completely shrunk, and the overall trading volume was very low.
That meant there were neither buyers nor sellers.
At times like this, withdrawing the funds and simply watching was the best approach.
“I wonder how many they plan to pick from this. There’ll probably be interviews too, right?”
“You can’t really judge a person by their profile alone. If someone passes the document screening, I’m sure there’ll be interviews.”
“True.”
Looks like it’s going to get pretty crowded with people coming in for interviews for a while.
***
The stock markets froze.
It wasn’t just Korea’s KOSPI, markets all around the world were affected.
After two major incidents exploded in a row, everyone was scrambling to pull out their money and just watch from the sidelines.
But I had no intention of taking a break.
With this much capital to manage, why would I rest?
Especially that short-term trade I made when the Greek default hit, with sweat beading on my forehead, it was absolutely thrilling.
‘But how can I feel nothing at all right now.’
However, there was a problem.
Even though I was trying to operate funds, I wasn’t getting any kind of instinctive feeling.
And that gut instinct already knew.
That the global stock market was frozen solid and untradeable.
Just in case, I lowered the funds.
From 250 billion to 100 billion.
Still no reaction, so I dropped it to 50 billion.
Even then it was quiet, but when I lowered it to 5 billion, that’s when I finally felt something.
‘But 5 billion is a bit……’
Had I finally gone crazy?
In the past, even handling 1 billion made my hands tremble, but now 5 billion doesn’t even feel like money.
And no wonder, someone who had been managing 250 billion is now told to only handle 5 billion. Who would be passionate about that?
It was like being told to go fight small mobs after raiding a nightmare-level boss.
That amount just doesn’t trigger any dopamine.
So rather than push through like this, I decided it was better to do like other investors, pull out the funds and hold.
“Team Leader, the HR Team handed this over, and we’ve organized it and saved it on this USB. There were more documents than expected.”
“Oh. There were that many applicants?”
“Yes. Do you want me to help you review them?”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll look them over and let you know.”
“Okay.”
Inside the USB file were the profiles of hundreds of people.
All of them had applied to my department.
“Wow. That’s a lot.”
Originally, I planned to just go with the candidates the Guild Master recommended, but aside from one person, I didn’t feel anything from the rest.
So I decided to open it up for applications.
Just skimming the profiles, there were plenty of applicants with degrees from overseas universities and people holding those notoriously difficult certifications as a baseline.
They were clearly elites by anyone’s standard, but……
“Hm-.”
None of them gave me a feeling.
I just skimmed, and skimmed again.
Was I overlooking something?
There were so many outstanding candidates, yet nothing stood out?
After repeating that dozens of times.
“Ah-.”
One person suddenly hit me with that feeling.
“I’ll mark this one for now.”
And then I continued flipping through the profiles, setting aside only the ones that gave me a strong feeling.
“Ugh. My eyes hurt.”
Looking at the screen and going through profiles wasn’t as easy as I thought.
Still, I didn’t treat it carelessly.
After all, I was selecting precious raid members who would be tackling major raids with me in the future!
***
“He won’t be able to review all of them today, right?”
“Of course not. There are just too many applicants. If he wants to review them thoroughly one by one and make a well-considered decision, it’ll take at least a few days......”
“Manager Seo.”
Manager Seo flinched and turned around in surprise.
“I’ve put together the profiles I selected. Could you organize them and send them over to the HR Team?”
“Ah, yes. I’ll get right on it.”
“Thank you. I’m going to get some fresh air for a bit. I’ve got a headache.”
“Understood. Take your time.”
Manager Seo and the team members tilted their heads.
“He’s already finished?”
“That quickly?”
“Let’s take a look at who he picked, shall we?”
"Ah. We should."
They began to look over the people the Team Leader had chosen to take with him to the new Prime Grade Department.
Surely, he must have picked elites suitable for a Prime Grade team.
“Hmm? But the specs of these people are......”
“I’m not the only one thinking that, right?”
But contrary to their expectations, the people the Team Leader had selected all had average specs.
Here, “specs” didn’t just mean educational background, it also referred to how much profit they had generated in their respective teams.
“Some of them even have negative returns.”
“Huh. But I know this person. They’re really diligent.”
“Really? I know this Kim Tae-sik guy. He’s diligent too. A really decent person. But how should I put it...... he’s not exactly proactive.”
There are passive people and proactive people.
And being a prop trader favors the proactive ones.
Even when setting investment strategies as a team, and after that, each individual must make wise decisions on their own for the investment.
But passive people just do exactly as they’re told.
They don’t deviate to the left or right, they just faithfully carry out the instructions.
If the team performs well, great. If not, oh well.
So typically, proactive people make more money.
Because they have ambition, they know how to make their own decisions to achieve better results.
The only issue is that sometimes they overestimate their own judgment and end up overreaching.
“There’s no one here who looks like the ace of any team.”
“Yeah. Strange. If it’s a Prime Grade, that’s the top tier in a securities firm, so why pick people with these specs......”
While muttering to himself, Manager Seo suddenly clapped his hands as something flashed through his mind.
“I got it......!”
“Huh?”
“I figured out why he picked these people.”
“What is it? Why did he pick them?”
Manager Seo skimmed through the profiles once more, as if to confirm his theory, and then said,
“These people, they have no ego.”
“......!?”
*****
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