12 Hours After

Translator: Khan

Editor: Aelryinth

As always, there were four emails today. I clicked the one, D. 12 Hours After, on the top of the list.

[Politics Economy Society Life/Culture…]

Under the following news, there were two People Search slots.

[Personal search – please write a name.]

[Personal search – please write a name.]

I searched for Lee Won-jun first.

[Lee Won-jun, director of the Daewon Daily News, denied involvement in stock price manipulation.]

There was an article like that. It would come out within twelve hours from now. It was supposed to be an article that would come up tonight or tomorrow morning.

‘His name was in the will… but he denied it. However, can he deny it in the prosecution’s investigation, if it starts?’

I followed up with a search for Tak Joon-gi.

‘No news is found.’ It was said that there was no news, which meant that there was no news of the same name.

‘I don’t know the search result for the name Joon-gi, but Tak is not that common a surname.’

I did the same search for Lee Won-jun on 12 Days After.

[Lee Won-jun, executive director of the Daewon Daily News, was arrested without bail.]

Lee Won-jun was finally put behind bars. I followed up with the name Tak Joon-gi.

[Director Tak Joon-gi of Suyeon Travel supports the travels of children of multicultural families.]

But oh my! On the other hand, good news came on the side of Tak Joon-gi.

‘Has he… escaped from this?’

I searched for the news 12 Weeks After.

[Lee Won-jun, the third generation of Daewon Group, was sentenced to five years in prison and five million dollars in fines.]

Director Lee Won-joon was eventually sentenced to prison. On the other side, Tak Joon-gi was in the news for going abroad.

[Director Tak Joon-gi, visiting Chengdu, China, leading the travel business for China.]

I entered the last email, 12 Months After, drumming the chair with my finger.

[Lee Won-joon, the head of the Nam-gu office in Incheon, visits a restaurant for senior citizens.]

Lee Won-jun was completely replaced by other people’s news. It was a common name, so it was appropriate.

[Director Tak Joon-gi visits his grandfather’s grave.]

There was news that Tak Joon-gi had visited his grandfather’s grave. I clicked on it. There was a picture of Tak Joon-gi getting out of the car.

‘If it’s his grandfather… the chairman of Suyeon Group, Tak Jin-woon…’ This day seemed to be a memorial day for Chairman Tak Jin-woon. There was a row of black luxury cars around the so-called ‘Chairman Car,’ as if it proved the power of Suyeon Group. I looked at it for a long time and then closed the email.

‘All right, That’s it.’ I didn’t know what was going on in the details, but in any case, the true secret seemed to have ended without being revealed.

‘However, more than 90%, it is Tak Joon-gi… or 99% sure, if I think of what Lee Ah-young said.’ The black secret was not revealed and it seemed to have ended in a state of indeterminacy. Although Lee Won-jun of Daewon Group, one of the heirs of the media conglomerate, was arrested and sent to prison, Tak Joon-gi was not mentioned at all.

‘Is this the power of the Suyeon Group?’ I didn’t know how far they were connected to the prosecution, the police, and the media. I was angry right now, but I couldn’t do anything about it.

“That bastard needs to be fully destroyed… but he is protected by the Suyeon Group. Is there any proof that he can’t get out of?”

I had a sudden idea: an active skill worth seven points, “An Investigating Correspondent” which could be obtained when I attained the Master Class. Last time, I’d put it off to get the news of 12 Weeks After and 12 Months After, but if I had that skill, I might be able to dig up the dark side of something.

‘Our investigator is very competent’, the Customer Service said, and so it must be…

‘So… let’s take over two more companies as soon as possible. If I get that skill… something might unravel.’

There had been many things going on, but I’d been trading, writing down the good news on my calendar. Even I paid ten million dollars for the monthly subscription fee, I earned at least twenty million, or as much as forty million, every month. My cash was nearly two hundred million dollars at this point. In addition, Invictus Investment, which had a sprawling sixty percent stake in Kai Games, had nearly three hundred million dollars in assets.

‘Vice President Jang said there were no proper sales, but…’ It would be done if I could buy one business, whether there was a proper sale or not. Now was the time to assess efficiency; I’d have to raise the class at the cost of more money.

‘That’s what I am going to do later… and all I can do now is…’ I could squeeze out the money he had tied up in Bisang Construction, and the short stock sale in Jinyang Development. Even if he was a third-generation chaebol, tens of millions of dollars was not small money.

‘Bah! Even if the law was avoided, the money lost could not be avoided as long as it entered the market.’ I closed my email window, thinking about that.

————————————-

The next morning. Bisang Construction began the day at -27%. I got a feeling that someone was trying to prop up the starter with money. Soon, however, the bomb of a short stock sale fell on top of the asking price, because our company, Invictus Investment, and other companies didn’t let it go up. Therefore, Bisang Construction went directly to the lower limit price within one minute.

‘This will hit the lower limit price from now, until it’s cut in half.’

Our funds for a short stock sale were already making more than a thirty percent profit, but I was going to keep the reins on. I would let those who loved money taste Hell here. I went on to look at Jinyang Development.

“Uh?” Jinyang Development was fighting a battle around the upper limit price of +25%. I understood. Even if Bisang Construction was undertaking a great fall, it didn’t mean Jinyang Development would be selected as a business operator. It would take at least a few months to re-select a business operator. Perhaps Jinyang Development might be excluded from the next selection. Their construction capability was excellent, but the impact of the Bisang Construction corruption case had been so great that the new candidate group was likely to be completely new faces.

‘They think that the upper limit price twice is a little bit too much.’

I roughly calculated the amount remaining to the upper limit price. ‘$50,000,000… or about $60,000,000.’

Betting this much wasn’t too lethal. I swapped my accounts and quickly bought the shares. $500,000, $700,000, $1,000,000….

The stir was transmitted to the market right away.

‘Is this going to the upper limit price or not?’

The long-suffering ants were right back on my buying spree. I was just looking for the right timing, and then I put in the buy order of $5,000,000 in the upper limit price. Of course, all the remaining shares were sold out, and Jinyang Development hit the second upper limit price. It was a bit of a forced upper limit price, but it was not nonsense. Ants would understand, a big hand was pushing up.

But the ones who had put a short stock sale here would suffer saying, “No, some bastard pushed the price higher…”

‘If I lose a little bit here, I will still push it to the upper limit price once or twice…’

They must have been excited when they had made a short stock sale, but now it would be quite painful to try to pay the shares back at a price that had more than doubled. The buy orders were piling up on my five million dollars: thirty thousand, sixty thousand, one hundred twenty thousand dollars… These ants were also enough to torment the forces behind the short stock sales.

So, after all, Bisang Construction hit the lower limit price again today. Jinyang Development did not move on the upper limit price. Tak Joon-gi and Lee Won-jun, who had poured money into this stock, must be in great pain.

“Okay, well, that’s enough…” I decided to return to my usual routine and trade other stocks. I thought I would make tens of million dollars this time, but what I usually earned was actually more. I called up my mobile phone calendar app and found a code that was used as an initial consonant. ‘TSJS 120% SC’

‘The total sales of Jangsung Steel were 120% higher compared to last year with the supply contract.’

In the meantime, the doorbell of my apartment rang.

‘What is it?’ The bell rang in broad daylight. I pondered it. I didn’t order a package. My parents came and went last week. I didn’t even call Secretary Seo. Then only one person who came to mind: Lee Ah-young. It seemed to be her.

‘She must have seen this article… because there was some big news yesterday.’ One of her three enemies committed suicide and pointed to the other in a suicide note. She must have felt something strange.

I went up to the front door. When I opened the door, there was Lee Ah-young, of course. She wore blue jeans and a white T-shirt, and looked really pretty. As expected, the completion of fashion was appearance, but it was not the time to indulge in her good looks.

I asked her, “Why are you here this morning?”

She said to me in a direct way, “I saw the article.”

I had a rough guess, but I asked back, “What article?”

“You know what I’m talking about. Don’t have an air of innocence. I’ve looked up all the details of Invictus Investment’s short stock sale for Bisang Construction.”

That was the story, too. She said, standing in front of the front door. “What the hell did you do?”

For a moment, I looked behind her. There was no one in the hallway, but her voice resonated well. I gestured, “Come in.”

She stared at me for a moment, then came into my apartment.

I spoke cliche, “Would you like something to drink?”

“No thanks. Tell me more than that. What’s going on?”

I lowered my eyes and stroked my chin. ‘Do I have to tell her the story?’

There was no possibility of her telling this story to anyone else. They were her enemies, but I was afraid she would do something dangerous after hearing the story. That was what worried me.

I said in an indirect way, “… it’s a long story to talk about…”

She said, standing next to the sofa in the living room, “Tell me the long story. I don’t have class today, anyway.”

“… don’t you think I’m busy?”

“You don’t usually go to work.” She also knew I wasn’t very good at going to work.

‘What, do you watch me commuting?’

I told her, “Traders like me… often work at home even if they don’t go to work.” I pointed to my computers with a look.

She glanced at it and turned back as if ready to leave. “Then next time you’re free…”

I caught her like that, “No, I’ll tell you. Sit down. Instead…”

She gave me a slight glance and said, “Instead?”

“Never talk to others.”

“I can’t talk to anyone, if it’s not Sarah in the U.S. and Sarah can’t speak Korean. You saw that, right?”

Sarah? The white beauty’s name must be Sarah. I approached the refrigerator with a nod. “Do you really want nothing to drink? It’s a long story.”

“Well, I’d like a glass of juice, please.”

I took the grape juice out of the refrigerator, filled a glass and handed it to her. Suddenly, I remembered her getting drunk after drinking two glasses of wine. I wet my throat first with juice and then began to talk. “So this story starts… when I went to Seoul City Hall to accept a prize.”