12 Hours After

Translator: Khan

Editor: Aelryinth

"Hoo..." I took a deep breath and sat down in front of the computer. As usual, I read the future news. In 12 Months After, there was good news in the Economy section.

'All right, the price of soybeans is plummeting, and the stock prices of manufacturers of cooking oil are soaring. The related stocks…'

I put some stocks in the calendar application and turned on the HTS. My account still contained $20,000,000 worth of shares: shares with a 35% return. I put them into the sell order at a moderate price, and I moved my gaze.

[Bisang Construction +1.8%]

[Jinyang Development +2.5%]

Both stocks rose steadily, rising nearly twenty percent from their low point. Now was the time for the theme stocks to move. Only alert institutional investors with fast information and quick-sighted ants were attached. The timing of the information which I had heard was fast enough. The media hadn't even announced that there were five candidates selected yet. Newsmaker Kang Joo-hyuk gave me a good bait, 'Try this one. If you come in now, you'll be able to take 10% profit easily.'

'The Old City Regeneration Project is a project worth hundreds of million dollars, and once selected as a business operator, people selling for several years will be negligible. In other words, even if stock prices more than double, it is not strange at all. Whether it is selected as a final business operator or not, just the expectation is enough to rise thirty to forty percent. Ten percent is an easy-to-take if the spider doesn't do anything strange...

'In this situation, these two stocks must be considered to have terrible spiders already camped out. It's easy for them to kill one or two people during the operation. They may lose money if they try to eat it at ten percent. In the case of such stock manipulators, they monitor who buys stocks and how they buy them, so they also have a system to lower the stock price if ants buy them and raise them if ants sell them.

'Basically, it's right not to go in. That's common sense. It's true that ants or anyone else should not buy them. If they can earn money by any means, they will lose in the long run. This is like a designed poker game. A fool plays an honest game, while a hoodwinker plays seeing all the cards. Once or twice, even if they are lucky enough to win, they are forced to lose all after all.

'But I'm different. I have a hidden Joker card which came from the last People Search, and even if they see my cards, they'll be damned if I take it suddenly. If only one condition is met… Once the 'one condition' has been confirmed, I can give these guys the big shit right away, though I don't know when right now.'

I continued thinking, twirling my mouse cursor.

'So, shall I go to war or not? All I have left is my decision. I don't have to do it for money. I'm making good money anyway.

'If I think about Director Tak Joon-gi who said, "Dog pigs, I'm not with those vulgar people..." and when I think about Lee Ah-young saying, "These men are my parents' enemies," I should go to war, not for money, but for justice.'

I pondered this and that scenario.

'Yeah, well, even if I'm not satisfied with that condition... There's no chance I'll lose money. If I can do justice without risk, it's right to join the war. Yes, no matter how much I have traded with future value, it's true that I've brought in the money of countless institutional, foreign investors and ants. Then, at least, at the level of reward, I need to correct the market order.'

Having made up my mind, I put just two accounts on my multi-monitor. Usually, I ran my eight accounts and used the undercover technique so that big hands would not know if I came in, but this time I decided to reveal my presence on purpose.

To let them know that I was in battle, I started buying both Bisang Construction and Jinyang Development with two accounts. Due to the recent surge, there was quite a lot of waiting to be sold, but I bought them all. '+3%, +5%, +8%'

The two stocks, which used to run in the +2% range, jumped to 10% because I bought them like crazy. I stopped buying there and watched the trend for a while.

- Wow, today is the day to surge.-

As stock prices soared, ants stuck closer at +11%, +12%, +13%. But the stock prices didn't go up anymore, because I didn't buy them any more. The stock prices were back on track of +12%,+11%, +10%. No one bought more, and no one sold more. But I was sure there was someone out there watching me over the monitor, watching my account.

'Well, they can't move with this?'

I stopped buying and called Vice President Jang. When the call-waits were about to come out three times, he answered my phone, "Yes, boss. Is there anything you want?"

"Vice President, how much money do we have available?"

"We don't have much money because we spent too much money on buying a stake in Kai Games..."

"Oh, then I'll give you a capital increase tomorrow. Please prepare a team for large short-stock-selling with the money. I want a few fast-paced traders."

"A large short-stock-sale?" Vice President Jang said in surprise. I'd ordered him to buy this and that, and find out which company to take over, but it was the first time I had told him to prepare for a large short-stock-sale.

"Yes, a large short-stock-sale."

"Yes, sir. I'll do as you say."

After the phone call, I looked at the HTS window again, holding my cell phone. The stocks were trading at +8%, slightly lower. It was a typical situation where only ants remained, and caused confusion after big hands came in and let go of them. I touched my cell phone and called up the phone book for Kang Joo-hyuk.

There was a phone number that I had exchanged during the last interview.

'I'm sure he's watching...' After a little thought, I sent a text message.

- Hello, reporter. Thank you for the article. You did a good job on my story. Thank you, and I also appreciate the information about the Old City Regeneration Project. I'm already making quite a profit, but it looks like it's going to go up further. I'm going to buy more watching the situation.-

I wrote it there, but after agonizing, I put in one more line.

- Please let me know if you have any more information. It's likely that the stock price will eventually change depending on who the final business operator is.-

Then I sent the text message.

'What's he going to say?' I looked up at HTS, thinking that. There was no rush to sell.

'Shall I go for lunch, then?'

I got up from my seat, got dressed quickly, and then stepped out the door. I was going to go in front of the elevator, and I was about to press the down button. The elevator just happened to open in front of me. Lee Ah-young who opened the door and showed up. I bowed my head and greeted her, "Hello!"

But at my greeting, she said in a business-like manner, "Yes, hello," and then passed me.

I looked at her back. Normally, a hip line that ran from the waist to the waist would have caught my eyes first. However, today, her drooping shoulders came into my eyes first. Somehow her shoulders looked lonesome.

'She's a single daughter, but her parents are dead.' It seemed to be because I knew such a background.

"Hmm…" I looked at her and turned to the elevator. The elevator door was about to close.

"Oh, my God." I quickly pressed the down button to open the door again and get into it. But then, my cell phone rang. It was a text from Kang Joo-hyuk.

I thought about Lee Ah-young who just passed me by. 'If she knows that I'm texting her enemy... What would she say?'

I checked the text. - Oh, no problem, CEO Han. It was nice to write a good interview. When they saw the CEO's story, everyone gave good comments. I'll let you know as soon as I get more information about the Old City Regeneration Project.-

"Bah! Are you going to let me know right away?" I grinned as I spoke to myself. He would not tell me right away. Or maybe he already held all the information. But it was okay. If it was a deceitful game, I was stronger. Just as they were hiding the real information from me, I would not tell them, 'I'm getting the future news.'

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

Two weeks had passed since then, three weeks before the announcement of the Old City Regeneration Project.

The stock prices of Bisang Construction and Jinyang Development both were fluctuating. This was because the news had started to come out slowly, and all the ants were attached to the policy theme. When they heard there was a strong possibility of Bisang Construction in the market, the stock prices moved like that.

[Bisang Construction +7%]

[Jinyang Development -8%]

If they heard Jinyang Development was ahead, the stock prices were the following.

[Bisang Construction -9%]

[Jinyang Development +6%]

As such, stock prices turned around in just one day. By the way, I bet $10,000,000 each early, and I had a 10% profit in both stocks. It was as expected.

'If I eat here and go out... well, I'm a winner. It's a small win.'

It might be a bit demure, but I didn't sell. I didn't just come in here to make money. I watched it as I bought and sold other items on the calendar. But in the meantime, there was a text message, 'A reporter Kang Joo-hyuk.'

I thought, -Here you are!- I looked at the text;it was quite long.

- How's the CEO doing? I've been covering the Old City Regeneration Project in depth. These days, government officials are sensitive about leaking information. They really don't talk. But since I asked them persistently, one of the members of the selection team quietly said that Jinyang Development is more likely than Bisang Construction.-

I clapped my hands when I saw it. "That's enough."

It was the moment when the Big Fuck that was going to keep these guys in the deep water was loaded. I read more text messages.

- So, if you want to invest, you'd better invest in Jinyang Development. Of course, as you know, it's not 100% sure. CEO Han.-

I muttered on seeing it, "Yes, of course, it's not 100% sure."

'There's no 100% future in the world.' That was true for me and for them.