12 Hours After

Translator: Khan

Editor: RED

‘Tadak, Tadak, Tadak.’

I typed more violently and faster than ever. I gave the written document to associate manager Jung.

“Oh, Han Sang-hoon, you’re really fast today. Why did you get so motivated?”

I smiled handsomely and bowed my head. But inwardly, I thought so, ‘Now that you know, stop working.’

Jung looked at the document I had brought for a moment, and he said with a grin, “Good job. Thank you.”

I finished my work quickly. No one would call me for a while, I had enough time to relax. I quickly returned to my seat and saw what I had been searching for.

[Lee Hee-chul visits Gwanghwamun.]

I had a photograph searched for. Among the many photos, there was a photo that Lee Hee-chul, a candidate for mayor, visited Gwanghwamun. The picture, which came out in 12 Hours After, had been posted on the Internet as it was. The netizen “Yeonwoo Dad” also found that connection after seeing this photo. With a mouse cursor, I drew a picture around Kim Soo-hyang standing near a close aide to Lee Hee-chul.

‘Did she really make a deal with Lee Hee-chul?’

‘Political circles are where lies and betrayal are common in the first place.’

She could have made a deal with Lee Hee-chul’s camp on the pretext of her career as a secretary to Mayor Joo Sung-won. I went on to search for ‘Joo Sung-won, accusation.’ There was news coming up soon.

[Mayor Joo Sung-won’s election camp is planning to sue Kim Soo-hyang for defamation and violation of the Public Official Election Act, which is expected to reveal the truth through an upcoming prosecution investigation.]

‘If this was a well-made scheme, Kim Soo-hyang would have expected the prosecution’s investigation. This Me Too is very difficult to refute. It is hard to remember what the average person had for lunch a week ago. Seven years ago, from the perspective of Joo, is virtually impossible to verify his innocence.

‘For the camps of Kim Soo-hyang and Lee Hee-chul, Mayor Joo’s approval rating will plummet even if they last for a month. It is the fulfillment of their intended purpose. However, if they dig into the connection between Kim Soo-hyang and Lee Hee-chul dig before sexual harassment, something may get caught. If such circumstantial evidence is available, the prosecution will also be comfortable investigating.

‘Moreover, netizens cannot ignore it. Joo Sung-won’s supporters are pretty much there in the first place. It is highly likely that Yeonwoo’s Dad is one of the supporters of Mayor Joo Sung-won. As Mayor Joo, who he supports, is under suspicion, there is a good chance that he will actively help.

‘I don’t know if this connection is real or not, but most of all, it is important that Mayor Joo Sung-won has prepared a counterattack. The mere discovery of this connection is likely to keep stock prices from falling further.

My heart leaned toward buying Dongbo Construction. ‘There is no 100% on the stock market anyway. A stock is a game of predicting the future, so they can’t make 100 percent profit without God.’

But I had some information that I got first through 12 Hours After. It was like playing poker with one more ace card than others.

‘Yes, if you hold another ace and don’t bet, you are a fool.’

I saw the stock price of Dongbo Construction.

[Dongbo Construction $2.57 (-21.1%)]

Dongbo Construction was still in a slump. It fell more than 20% to $2.57. I saw Dongbo Construction Chart this time. About half a year ago, Dongbo Construction was walking around at $2.20 to $2.40. It was about that much before it got caught up in the political theme.

‘Then let’s hold the stop loss at –10%.’

‘It would have been worth $2.40 even if it hadn’t tied up as a themed stock in the first place. So even if Mayor Joo Sung-won fails to win the election, the price should be kept at 10% lower than now. If it is cheaper than $2.40, there is an essential problem about the stock itself. Then, from there, it becomes a dark bet without any information. I have to get out before that.’

And, for now, I decided not to use margin. It was too risky to use margin on stocks that went to the low limit price, even if I had an ace. Only a day after trading on margin, the amount of deposit money had not yet reached 100 percent. Like a wizard who was out of mana, who needed a break to use magic again, I had to wait until Tuesday, to get full margin again.

‘Let’s buy Dongbo Construction with cash that I have for now. If I get anything more certain, watching the news until Tuesday, let’s play full margin swing then.’

With that thought, I began to buy Dongbo Construction.

‘If evidence comes out during the prosecution investigation on the weekend, or if Kim Soo-hyang confesses, the stock will fly again as it has fallen. If it doesn’t and it keeps falling apart, I will sell without hesitation, when it reaches -10%.’

$60,000 was a lot of money, but if I looked at the article of 12 Hours After continuously, I would be able to recover soon. The cash I had now was $626,320. I divided up only $616,320, subtracting S10,000, to renew the monthly amount here. There were so many people who wanted to sell it that the purchase was quickly completed.

[Dongbo Construction

Shares: 241,694

Purchase Price: $2.55

Purchase Amount: $616,319]

As soon as I bought it, the stock price went to $2.53 and then went up to $2.57, fluctuating very hard. It cost me $5,000 in a flash. I turned off the MTS. All I had to do now was to trust my bet and wait. I went to Dongbo Construction’s stock bulletin board instead.

[Mayor Joo Sung-won is done. The babies who buy this now have no brains. Do you do charity work?]

[An old stock maxim: don’t get a falling blade. I’m just saying this because I’m worried about you.]

[Is there anyone who buys this stock now? When it comes to $2.00, you can buy it.]

[I have special news of Dongbo Construction. I will erase it in ten minutes. Click quickly.]

[Hey, have you set down a guest who came to the mourning house and not given me Yukgaejang yet?]

It was still a mess. There was no such thing as a proper analysis. It was nothing but swearing, advertising, or ridicule. After a while, I saw a comment pointing to me.

[Wow, who just took 240,000 shares? Some asshole wants this stock worth $600,000.]

I looked at it and thought, ‘You’re a dick because you can’t see any further than your nose.’

There seemed to be nothing more to gain here. I turned off all the relevant windows and came back to work. I also refused to see the MTS. Now that I had finished my bet, I would calmly wait for the result.

——————–

On this day, Dongbo Construction closed at $2.51. It ended at forty cents more than my estimation. If I calculated forty cents per share, I would get the total loss in no time, but I didn’t do it on purpose. If I tried, I would only be sick of. I instead entered the political community “Watchers” where “Yeonwoo’s Dad” was active, and waited for the message to be posted. Around 5 p.m. when the stock market ended, the article came up at the end.

[I’ve got circumstantial evidence that Kim Soo-hyang was close to Lee Hee-chul’s camp.]

And this article quickly became a community topic.

[Wow, this is Kim Soo-hyang. It’s the same beauty mark location.]

[The tall guy next to her is Jung Hyung-soo, one of the core members of the Lee Hee-chul camp.]

[Is this smelling? Let’s dig more.]

[I’ve already finished reporting to the press. It’ll be in the news soon.]

And as was known twelve hours later, this one picture pushed the political situation back into the storm. Mayor Joo Sung-won, who was under political attack here and there yesterday, stepped up his battle lines and launched a counterattack.

“This vicious scheme, organized for the Seoul mayoral election, is a challenge to democracy. Soon the truth will be revealed, and justice will prevail.”

——

On the weekend back, I was a little relaxed and took the 12 Hours After email. Since the stock market was not open, there was nothing I could do, even after seeing the 12 Hours After. I scratched a Lotto in Life/Culture, but it was a bummer too.

[Original team performance schedule of Musical Cats in Korea]

‘I should not expect Lotto at all the time.’

I instead went nowhere on the weekend and constantly watched the news about the prosecution’s investigation, and gathered information while wandering around political communities, including Watchers. There wasn’t much new information. What was interesting was people’s reaction to the comments. A few days ago, many people used to call Mayor Joo Sung-won a shameless guy, but now they were not.

[If Joo Sung-won is innocent, isn’t he really pathetic? He is branded as a pervert all over the country, and he blows up all his careers.]

[There’s a politician’s life at stake. If she insists that she’s been sexually molested through Me Too, that’s all.]

[When I met him at Seoul City Hall, he was very kind and nice. He’s not that kind. It will be revealed in the prosecution’s investigation. Let’s wait.]

Reading the article, I could feel the wind blowing against the direction that had been blowing.