The Overly Competent Junior Employee

“Sigh…”

Oh Seok-hoon, a PB at Yuseong Investment Securities’ Seongnam Branch, exhaled deeply as he returned to his room and set down his file folder.

‘Even if the clients wanted it, it’s our job to find the reasons behind what clients want.’

‘If it’s wrong, we should be able to tell them it’s wrong, and if it’s the right choice, we need to find the reason for that choice and scratch the client’s itch.’

‘And that reason should be found through your own study. Not by just looking at news headlines.’

Recalling his recent one-on-one with the branch manager, Oh Seok-hoon gulped down cold water.

‘Our company issued a downgrade report today, did you read that?’

‘…I didn’t read it.’

‘You’re not expected to keep up with every report, but did you make such assurances without having a convincing reason, Assistant Manager Oh Seok-hoon?’

Though he understood the branch manager’s words, they seemed too harsh.

All the money in the market was pouring into the game sector, and he thought it was time to quickly take positions, so he had helped clients position themselves.

He wasn’t expecting praise, but he didn’t think it warranted such a scolding either.

Oh Seok-hoon loosened his tie and sat down, feeling an inexplicable sense of frustration.

“Our company issued a downgrade report?”

Oh Seok-hoon began searching for the report the branch manager had mentioned.

Analysts issued reports on the companies they covered, providing buy recommendations and target prices.

[Take Games – Good for now… but a future full of dark clouds]

[Opinion: Neutral / Target price 38,500 won]

[Yuseong Investment Securities Analyst Lee Yeon-ji]

“What? 38,500 won?”

The previous target price for Take Games was 46,000 won. The drop in the target price was quite significant, and more importantly…

“It’s lower than the current stock price.”

Based on the previous day’s closing price, Take Games’ stock price was 39,500 won.

And given the characteristics of Korean securities firms that don’t issue sell opinions, a neutral opinion essentially meant it was time to sell the stock.

“Taesan issued a buy signal.”

Coincidentally, reports from two companies on Take Games were published on the same day.

One was a report issued by Taesan, Korea’s top securities firm, which gave a buy recommendation with a target price of 44,000 won.

Since target prices were usually set quite conservatively, it was a report suggesting the price would likely go above 50,000 won at least.

“Today’s stock price…”

Looking at the current market situation, it seemed the market had sided with Taesan’s report. Oh Seok-hoon leaned back in his chair with a sigh of relief.

In the end, everything could only be explained by performance.

“Since game stocks are doing so well now, it should be fine to suggest selling underperforming stocks and moving into game stocks, right?”

And as always, the best performance came from rapidly turning over clients’ stocks.

Although the branch manager was saying this method didn’t seem right, Oh Seok-hoon believed this was the only way to go for his own sake and for the company’s.

“Then who should I call first…”

Oh Seok-hoon was looking through his client list, searching for phone numbers.

Having found a suitable client, he picked up the phone.

“Hello, President. This is Oh Seok-hoon from the Seongnam Branch.”

-…

“Yes, President. I’m calling because your recent portfolio performance has been quite poor, and I was wondering if we should consider restructuring it.”

-…

“No, no. Game stocks have good investor sentiment these days. If we take a position now, we could see short-term profits… What?”

Oh Seok-hoon was momentarily struck speechless at the client’s words coming through the receiver, wondering if he had heard correctly.

“What do you mean you’re liquidating? President, didn’t you make quite a profit last year? The stock market is…”

-Ah, I’m not saying I’m leaving the stock market.

“Then…”

-It seems that you and I don’t quite match, Assistant Manager Oh. Our styles and all…

Oh Seok-hoon couldn’t help but let out a bitter laugh at the client’s words. He couldn’t understand why a client who had entrusted his assets to him for the past year would say such things now.

“President, is there something I’ve done wrong…”

-You didn’t call often last year, Assistant Manager Oh. I liked that. It meant there were no problems, and indeed, the returns were good.

“…”

-But lately, you’ve been calling almost every day, recommending buys and sells. Even though I told you I wanted to look at things long-term.

“Uh… President. The market is so difficult these days…”

-A friend of mine is also receiving PB services through the Seongnam Branch, and it seems excellent. I’m thinking of switching to that person’s service.

Oh Seok-hoon’s face began to flush.

In this industry, clients switching PBs was common, and he had experienced it once or twice before, but…

A PB from the same branch…

“If it’s from our branch, may I know who you’re referring to?”

-It’s PB Yoon Dokyung.

“Y-Yoon Dokyung?”

-Yes, the returns are good, and from what I hear, his philosophy seems to align with mine.

“President, Yoon Dokyung has only been a PB for a year. Even if he did well last year, it might have been beginner’s luck…”

Oh Seok-hoon continued speaking, as if unwilling to let the client go, but a sigh could be heard from the other end of the line.

-Assistant Manager Oh.

“And I also know your investment style well…”

-Assistant Manager Oh!

As Oh Seok-hoon kept insisting on having his say, the client spoke up in a loud voice, as if unable to bear it any longer.

-Lately, when I look at you, Assistant Manager Oh, you seem to lack composure. You said you knew me well, but do you know how many times you’ve called me this past month?

Oh Seok-hoon kept his mouth shut at the client’s words, which indirectly suggested he seemed to be afflicted with impatience.

-I don’t think my mind will change easily. Thank you for everything until now.

“P-President.”

Though he called out urgently, the call ended with a click, and Oh Seok-hoon threw down the phone.

“Argh!”

After shouting loudly, Oh Seok-hoon sat back down, breathing heavily.

“Just you wait… I’ll show you that I can achieve my performance goals while also taking care of the client’s profits.”

Suppressing his anger, Oh Seok-hoon took out his mobile phone.

“Hey, it’s me.”

-Oh, Seok-hoon. Long time no hear.

“I need a favor. I’m looking for some intel.”

-Intel?

“Taesan issued a report on Take Games today.”

-Ah…

The person on the other end of the line was a college friend who now worked as a PB at Taesan Securities.

-I heard Yuseong told you to dump it? Got any inside info?

“We don’t have any intel, but the analyst is only in her first year.”

-So they’re just telling you to dump it… Anyway, we do have some intel on our side…

“What is it? I’ll buy you a drink later.”

-Forget the drink, just pass along any info floating around Yuseong when I need it later.

“Of course.”

-Don’t tell anyone else about this.

The friend on the other end of the line began to share some information with Oh Seok-hoon, and Oh Seok-hoon’s face brightened.

⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱

Meanwhile, Dokyung had checked the morning market conditions, and once things had stabilized somewhat, he headed to Yeouido where Yuseong Investment Securities’ headquarters was located.

Lunchtime in Yeouido started 30 minutes earlier than at other companies.

The financial markets continued to flow even during lunch hours, so this landscape had developed as people typically ate in two shifts.

Entering the cafe, Dokyung looked around and spotted Lee Lee Yeon-ji, his appointment. He smirked and headed towards her.

“Haah…”

Lee Lee Yeon-ji was sitting with her head on the table, sighing as if the earth might swallow her up. Dokyung wiped the smile off his face and spoke.

“Assistant Manager Yeon-ji.”

At Dokyung’s call, Lee Yeon-ji slowly raised her head.

“Oh, Dokyung-ssi, you’re here?”

“You don’t look well.”

“Don’t even mention it. I’ve been summoned here and there since this morning.”

“Would you like some coffee?”

“I’d prefer something sweet…”

Dokyung set down his bag and went to buy coffee, the drink Lee Yeon-ji had ordered, and some sandwiches for a snack. He approached her with the tray.

“Have some.”

As Dokyung set the tray on the table, Lee Yeon-ji drank her beverage and took a deep breath.

“Now I feel a bit more alive. Thanks.”

“You must be having a tough day. Thank you for meeting me despite that.”

“Oh, Dokyung-ssi, you always have that way of making people feel good.”

Lee Yeon-ji smiled as she looked at Dokyung, but soon sighed again.

“You have no idea. As soon as the report was published this morning, the calls started pouring in…”

As if she had needed someone to vent to, Lee Yeon-ji began pouring out words to Dokyung.

“Starting with ‘Who do you think you are to lower the target price?’ and ‘Are you trying to smear a rising stock?'”

“From clients?”

“Yes, phone calls and emails from individual investors started flooding in.”

Dokyung nodded. It seemed complaints had come in since the published reports usually included the company phone number and email address.

“And to make matters worse, Taesan Securities’ report was published on the same day.”

“Ah, I read that on my way here. Taesan raised their target price with a buy recommendation.”

“Yes, I just came from meeting with the director because of that.”

Dokyung looked at Lee Yeon-ji with a puzzled expression.

“Don’t you have internal meetings at the research center before publishing reports?”

“Yes, everyone at the center praised it, saying it was well-written, but the problem is that it got buried under the Taesan report…”

The issue had grown bigger than expected.

It had turned into a situation that looked like Taesan Securities and Yuseong Investment Securities were going head-to-head.

It was only natural, as Taesan was predicting a rise for Take Games while Yuseong was predicting a fall.

“So I spent all morning briefing at the director’s office, and then fund managers kept calling for explanations, and now I’m here. If it weren’t for you, Dokyung-ssi, I wouldn’t have had a moment to breathe.”

In fact, Dokyung had also come to ask about the report, but seeing Lee Yeon-ji’s state, he couldn’t bring himself to ask.

So he kept his mouth shut and just nodded.

“Well then, now it’s time to pay for listening to my complaints.”

Watching this, Lee Yeon-ji smiled and took out some documents from her bag.

It was the Take Games report she had published today.

“Assistant Manager Yeon-ji, it’s fine.”

“I want to talk about it. What did you come here curious about?”

At Lee Yeon-ji’s question, Dokyung hesitated for a moment before nodding and speaking.

“I’ve seen Taesan’s report too, but it seems you two have different views based on the same data.”

Dokyung had read Taesan’s Take Games report on his way here. Yuseong and Taesan had presented different opinions based on the same data.

This was essentially the analyst’s opinion.

“Take Games was the first company I started covering when I became an analyst a year ago.”

Although Dokyung and Lee Yeon-ji didn’t interact much, they still exchanged greetings via messenger and shared good and bad news.

Lee Yeon-ji had taken the exam and become a full-fledged analyst from her RA position.

They had met during the mock investment competition, but they were maintaining a good relationship as colleagues.

“Of course, I’ve been watching them for over a year as I covered them, and I went on site visits too.”

Analysts often went on site visits to the companies they were in charge of.

“A year ago, even though game releases were delayed due to COVID, there was still energy in the company, you know?”

Dokyung focused intently on Lee Yeon-ji’s story.

“I went on about four site visits, and every time I wrote a report after a visit, the stock price went up, so even the employees welcomed me.”

“I see.”

“But when I went on a site visit a month ago, the company atmosphere was terrible.”

“Couldn’t it be because it’s right before the game launch?”

“That’s what I thought at first too. That it was just a sensitive period…”

Lee Yeon-ji leaned in close to Dokyung and spoke in a low voice.

“But that wasn’t it. Most of the development team had received recommended resignation notices for after the game launch.”

“What?”

“Telling them to leave because development is finished, that doesn’t make sense, right?”

“Yes, they need to keep developing and updating.”

Dokyung chimed in with Lee Yeon-ji’s words.

Game development doesn’t end just because development is finished. Especially for the mobile game that Take Games was launching, it needed rapid new content updates due to its online nature.

So for a game company to recommend resignation for most of its development team…

“The development team leader secretly told me about this, and when I asked if he was going to another company, he said the situation would be the same at other companies too.”

Dokyung nodded as if he finally understood what was going on.

“It’s the effect of interest rate hikes.”

“That’s right. And…”

“Developer salaries skyrocketed last year.”

The game and IT industries were truly businesses that looked to the future.

Because revenue wasn’t steady until something was produced, most relied on venture capital or loans to survive for years.

But with the global economic recession causing interest rates to rise, naturally, the interest they had to repay would have increased.

Lee Yeon-ji nodded at Dokyung’s words.

“Last year, even big companies were poaching developers saying they’d do their own software development, and a salary competition broke out. You know about that, right?”

“Yes, the average salary for development positions rose by 30-40% last year.”

“The easiest way to cut expenses…”

“Is to reduce workforce.”

Dokyung began to think that Lee Yeon-ji’s view was correct.

Take Games’ new release, with no guarantee of future updates, might see initial sales rise due to what’s called “launch hype,” but given the characteristics of Korean gamers who consume content very quickly, they would leave when there was nothing left to do.

Bzzt-

At that moment, Dokyung’s phone started vibrating, and he checked the screen.

[This is the VIP service that always cheers for you, our member.]

[Sometimes the market becomes prey to the most vile, causing irreversible damage due to the ignorance of the many.]

[It is the job of experts like Yoon Dokyung-ssi to correct this.]

Dokyung furrowed his brow at the message that was different from usual, and continued reading.

[Recommended stock: Future Communications]

[Stock to watch out for: Take Games]

[And we believe that Yoon Dokyung-ssi is more than capable of doing this. We will always cheer for you by your side.]

“…Dokyung-ssi.”

As Dokyung was checking the message, he heard Lee Yeon-ji calling him and looked at her.

“Yes, yes?”

“That focused expression is still the same. So what do you think will happen? You’re skilled… If my judgment is wrong, I should take my beating in advance…”

“No, Assistant Manager Yeon-ji.”

Dokyung looked at her and nodded.

“I don’t think your judgment is wrong.”