12 Hours After

Translator: Khan

Editor: Aelryinth

I looked blankly at the monitor.

[Hyun Young Pharmaceutical +4%.]

Hyun Young Pharmaceutical rose today as well. Since the passing of new drug's clinical trials, there were far more positive days than negative days. The share price, which used to be a billion dollars when I bought it, was currently above two billion dollars and rising. As I went into the stock bulletin board, there were generally good comments.

- You know it's hard to get recognized by the FDA, right? This comes from Hyun Young Pharmaceutical's forty years of experience.-

- Third-phase pass isn't the end, but the beginning. If you hold onto it for three years, you'll be rich.-

- It's going to be easy to reach a market capital of four billion dollars. I recommend active buying.-

My name was also among them.

-Does Han Sang-hoon have a golden hand? Whenever he buys, he earns two or three times more than the original money.-

-I think he has made over $500,000,000 from Hyun Young Pharmaceutical. That's amazing.-

-He's a real genius. He did a good job at Kai Games, and I'm going to buy anything else he buys again.-

And there were comments like this:

- If you're going to buy after Han Sang-hoon, shouldn't you just buy Invictus Investment?-

- Invictus Investment is not a listed company. They don't receive any funds from individual investors.-

-Then, we can just hold it until Han Sang-hoon sells Hyun Young Pharmaceutical.-

- I see. Let's just buy it and stay with Han Sang-hoon until he sells.-

I looked at it and thought, 'I am going to sell it in a little while...'

I was concerned about the fallout of the big event next year. There was a high chance that the stock market would not be good next year, regardless of the categories of the stock. Hyun Young Pharmaceutical, which had been piling up a bubble due to the development of new drugs, would be equally affected. The company itself was not bad, but the money that arrived in a hurry would go out the same way.

'I wish I could sell it at the highest possible point, but... Let's find out where to sell it... If I look for the best time to sell with the future news... The selection of buyers is next.'

As I thought of it, the phone rang. I picked up the phone and answered, "Yes?"

"Boss, here comes Vice President Jang." Secretary Park's voice was much lower than Seo's. It was a little awkward at first, but I was getting used to it.

"Yes, let him come in."

"Yes, boss."

Soon the door opened and Jang and his secretary came in.

"Boss, these are the reports I mentioned before." Jang was empty-handed, but his secretary held up some A4 papers that looked quite heavy.

"Ah, put them down there," I said, pointing to one side of the desk.

Vice President Jang's secretary put it down on the edge of my desk. Thump! The desk was shaking a little.

"Thanks. I'll review them and talk to you again when I have done so," I nodded to them.

"Yes, boss."

The two bent down their heads a little and left my office. I opened out the reports in a fan shape on the desk. The names of the companies were on the covers. I looked them over.

'CoA Infrastructure, Songjin Brewing, Roha Game, Taejin Gas, Changhae Food...'

There were about a dozen files. These economically defensive stocks. Defensive stocks meant ones that consistently post steady sales, whether the economy is good or bad. Largely, that meant companies that produced living necessities, such as alcohol, tobacco, food, electricity, gas, and cell phones, which are essential to life, and did not decrease or increase sales sharply.

I chose these because I was worried about the repercussions of the big incident next year. Even if the stock market would be fluctuating, these stocks would not fall much. This was not buying to make money, but to keep five listed companies I had to own. I would buy these to maintain my Master Class, since if I sold Hyung Young Pharmaceutical, I would also lose ownership of its subsidiary, Hyun Young Bio.

It was a bit fortunate was that my other three companies - OH Entertainment, Jiwoo Entertainment, and Blue E&M - were also defensive stocks. The entertainment industry stocks, like Kai Games, had seen a steady rise in domestic demand, despite the poor global economy. So, I didn't have to sell them. They were just less than $200,000,000 in total market capital.

I made a document to share from the reports I had received for the companies and their CEO's: CoA Infrastructure and Kim Sang-kwan; Song Jin Brewing and Kam Jinseong; and Roha Game and Lee Kang-hyun.

In this way, they would all go in the People Search once. There was nothing to worry about the stock prices going up and down. I would be taking a look at what the CEO's future looked like, and then I would put in an offer for all the good companies. Then I would buy the stocks if they would accept my offer on the best terms. If anyone bought a stock following me, thinking it would be another Kai Games or Hyun Young Pharmaceutical, this time it would be a disaster for them. I was not buying them because I thought the stocks would go up.

'No... but at least I'll avoid the sensitive stocks in the economy. Isn't that a disaster? Maybe if they are a little smart, they will realize that the market might be in danger in the future.'

That was what Vice President Jang said as soon as he heard my instructions. In any case, this was how I would disperse my money. The same was true of FutureSync, which had recently been on the news. Originally, I had intended to raise the price by gently teasing them and refusing the offer of Amazon, but I would do it only once or twice and then sell it right away in dollars. Then, if I could hold on to safe assets like dollars and U.S. government bonds, gold and silver at the moment of the showdown, I might have a big chance to multiply my wealth many times more than now.

I connected the names of various companies and CEOs, then saved and sent them to my cell phone. I would look into the future of these people tonight.

'All right, let's do this.'

Apart from future preparations, there was something that kept bothering me. The second anniversary of the foundation was just two weeks away. The second-anniversary event was scheduled to be held by renting out a nearby hotel for one day. And Oh Hyun-joo was also supposed to attend that day. Not long ago, I personally called President Kwon Oh-hyuk and asked him about that.

"President Kwon, are there any celebrities coming to the event?"

"Yes, Vice President Jang asked me to invite some. The two top actors of our company, Oh Hyun-joo and Kim Jun-hyung, will host the show. There will be a Nine-Tails' performance, which has recently become part of our company."

Oh Hyun-joo was even one of the main MCs for the event. When I had been abroad, Vice President Jang must have handled it like that. Now I couldn't tell her not to come.

"Oh, I see. Okay. See you then."

"Yes, boss."

I thought about that, recalling the conversation with President Kwon Oh-hyuk. 'No, whether she comes or she doesn't... That I have an affair with her... doesn't make any sense.'

I still liked Ah-young. I had been wary of a big fight with Ah-young before and after traveling abroad, but it didn't happen. After the trip abroad, Ah-young had been studying hard at her alma mater's library again to be an announcer, and I had been busy preparing for the future, so we didn't have much time to see each other. I thought of another possibility.

'Is Ah-young cheating on me? If I can change my mind, there's only one. No matter how much I like her, I can't forgive a woman who is cheating on me because of another man.'

But since last year, she had almost tried to play the role of a wife, going beyond loving me as a lover, taking care of my health and my schedule to the extent of being a little burdensome.

'No, that's impossible. I might cheat on her, but she would not. No, that's not it.'

I crossed my mind over there, 'If Oh Hyun-joo is actively seducing me, it may be.' It had happened a lot since my fortune was revealed recently in Forbes. Starting with Shin Min-sun, the single-haired announcer, scattered women were running at me, and it was very hard to resist temptation every time.

Oh Hyun-joo was proud of herself as an actor, but perhaps there might be a strong desire for a high-class life there. She had the life of a celebrity who didn't know when or what would happen to her. She might try to grab on to me and keep a splendid lifestyle for the rest of her life. I didn't trust myself, either, when I thought about it.

'What if Oh Hyun-joo tries to seduce me? What if she hands me her room key at the hotel where the foundation ceremony is being held?'

I thought of Ah-young first, but I was not sure if I could resist that. Oh Hyun-joo had a truly attractive original beauty. But I soon firmed up my will. 'No, no. No matter how lovely a beauty who seduces me is... I can't do that. I'd rather break up with Ah-young first and then meet another woman.'

I didn't want to do anything that would hurt Ah-young right now.

-----------------------------

A week was left before the foundation ceremony. I occasionally put my name and Oh Hyun-joo's in three slots for People Search as well, along with the CEOs of the companies to be acquired.

[CEO Han Sang-hoon's Invictus Investment sold overseas stocks. What's their intention?]

Such news came out, but from Oh Hyun-joo, on the contrary, .the scandal news came out.

[Top star Oh Hyun-joo had a secret early morning date, and her partner is Han Sang-hoon, president of Invictus Investment?]

It was the same title as the news I'd seen before. I grabbed my forehead. 'What the hell is wrong with me?'

The content of the article was the same. Oh Hyun-joo was seen riding in the blue Bentley. I looked at it and thought. 'Wait a minute, this picture came out... it means the paparazzi was in the hotel parking lot.'

Oh Hyun-joo had become more popular with fans of the drama and was becoming a target of paparazzi. They would have known that she would come as an MC at our company's second anniversary. I picked up the phone right away.

"Secretary Park."

"Yes, boss."

"The hotel that will hold the second-anniversary ceremony a week later."

"Yes."

"Tell them to tighten up security for paparazzi, to the level of warding them off. Make sure that if a paparazzi is caught, they won't ever have a relationship with our company and its affiliates."

"Yes, sir."

About half an hour after the call, the correction news came.

[The correction news - 'Top star Oh Hyun-joo has a secret early morning date, and the partner is Han Sang-hoon, president of Invictus Investment?' has been modified by the reader's intervention. The modifications are as follows:]

I read it. However, all the changes were taken out of the picture, and only two more lines were added to it.

[We were able to identify Oh Hyun-joo, who was moving in a blue Bentley owned by CEO Han Sang-hoon. The car carrying her arrived at Oh Hyun-joo's office located in Samseong-dong and did not move until the following afternoon.]

Perhaps, it was more stimulating than photography.

'No... what the hell is this?'

Now it was even more ambiguous that I had an affair with her. It had become even more unknowable.

----------------

A week later, I went to attend the second anniversary of the Invictus Investment, still without knowing what was going to happen.