NOVEL NEXT WORLD 45
Sometimes the market becomes prey to the most vile individuals.
These despicable characters ruthlessly exploit the human tendency to act on emotion rather than logic when most vulnerable.
Even amid the ongoing bear market, market participants were desperately struggling to generate profits.
At such times, people were prone to act on emotion rather than following their beliefs and logic, and this was precisely when the vile individuals thrived.
“Oh, Woojin-ssi isn’t here today?”
Five days later, Dokyung was preparing for the meeting early in the morning as usual when he heard a voice and turned his head.
“Good morning.”
“Oh, did you have a good weekend?”
The one who entered the office was Oh Seok-hoon, greeting Dokyung warmly.
“Assistant Manager Woojin isn’t here?”
“Assistant Manager Woojin said he was going straight to a field visit today.”
“I see…”
Oh Seok-hoon nodded and sat down.
He kept glancing at Dokyung as if he had something to say, and although Dokyung noticed these glances, he pretended not to and continued preparing for the meeting.
“Um, Dokyung-ssi.”
“Yes, Assistant Manager Seok-hoon.”
“Did you attract a new client last week?”
“Yes. I was actually wondering how to tell you about that.”
A few days ago, Dokyung had started managing a new client’s assets. Although he wasn’t taking on new clients, when he was called to the branch manager’s office, that client was there.
The client had originally been under Oh Seok-hoon’s management at their branch but had requested a PB change and specifically asked for Dokyung.
At first, he was flustered and unsure how to handle it, but with Branch Manager Ryu Tae-hwa’s assurance that it would be fine, he agreed to work with the client.
“To me?”
“Yes, it seems the client was previously under your management…”
“Hahaha, it’s fine. If that’s what the client wanted. There were some game stocks in that portfolio, how’s the performance?”
“Ah, I liquidated the game stocks last week.”
“What?”
Oh Seok-hoon stood up with a loud shout, seemingly surprised.
“Why did you liquidate them? If you had left them, they’d be up about 5% by now.”
“The outlook didn’t seem good…”
“Huh! Come on, Dokyung-ssi.”
Oh Seok-hoon spoke to Dokyung as if he found it absurd.
“The game stocks you liquidated because the outlook didn’t seem good are up over 5% now, you know? Money is still pouring into game stocks.”
“…”
Dokyung stopped what he was doing and silently looked at Oh Seok-hoon.
“Isn’t that outlook just your personal hunch? When everyone is pointing at the moon, aren’t you the only one pretending not to see it and asking where the moon is?”
“Assistant Manager Seok-hoon.”
“I’ve been in this business for six years and seen many people like you, Dokyung-ssi. Beginner’s luck might work once or twice, but soon you’ll reach a point where it stops working. It’d be better to fix that habit now.”
Oh Seok-hoon spewed harsh words at Dokyung as if he had some pent-up resentment.
“Did you say everyone is pointing at the moon?”
“Yes. Everyone is pointing at the moon with their fingers…”
“Who made them point at that moon?”
Dokyung looked at Oh Seok-hoon with a stern expression, and Oh Seok-hoon’s eyes trembled rapidly, not having expected Dokyung to counter.
“If someone made everyone recognize that the moon is there…”
“W-what are you saying? Of course, it’s the sales. The two major stores…”
“Ah, you mean those rankings that don’t tell us how many users there are or what the actual sales figures are?”
The number of users and sales figures for the top-grossing apps on the two major mobile platforms were not publicly disclosed. Only the ranking number was displayed.
Of course, there were companies that provided estimated values, and each securities firm put out their own estimates, but these were just guesses.
“You know well, Assistant Manager Seok-hoon, that even if one person makes 10 billion won in in-app purchases, it can become the top-ranked app on the platform, right?”
“What does that matter? In the end, what’s important is that 10 billion won in sales were generated…”
“Will that person spend another 10 billion won next month? In a game that’s just for one person?”
Some game companies obsessed with sales and people like Oh Seok-hoon only cared about the “whales.”
Whales referred to users who made much larger in-app purchases than average users.
But Dokyung didn’t think that way.
The reason “whales” spent money was because “shrimp” existed.
It was the nature of “whales” to want to dominate among the majority of low-spending or non-paying users.
“What do you mean just for one person?”
Oh Seok-hoon furrowed his brow and asked, as if Dokyung knew something.
“What do you mean just for one person! The number of users right now is…”
“What’s going on?”
Oh Seok-hoon, who had been speaking to Dokyung, shut his mouth and sat down as other employees entered.
“Let’s talk later.”
Oh Seok-hoon glared at Dokyung, breathing heavily, and Dokyung looked back at him before sitting down as Branch Manager Ryu Tae-hwa entered.
Thus, the branch meeting began, and Ryu Tae-hwa could sense an uncomfortable atmosphere.
Oh Seok-hoon was staring intently at Dokyung.
“Oh Assistant Manager Seok-hoon.”
“…”
“Oh Assistant Manager Seok-hoon.”
“Yes, yes? Branch Manager.”
“We’re in a meeting. Let’s focus on the meeting.”
“I’m sorry.”
As Oh Seok-hoon bowed his head in apology, Ryu Tae-hwa looked at Dokyung.
“Dokyung-ssi, let’s start your presentation.”
At Ryu Tae-hwa’s words, Dokyung displayed his materials on the screen. It was the controversial report published by Lee Yeon-ji.
“I advised the clients I’m managing that it would be good to liquidate game stocks, and the clients who agreed with my opinion liquidated all game stock positions last Friday.”
At Dokyung’s words, everyone in the meeting room looked at him quizzically.
Anyone could see that game stocks were expected to lead the market now and in the future.
“Overall, I’ve repositioned the portfolios into economy-insensitive stocks and sin stocks.”
“Sin stocks… Shouldn’t games be considered sin stocks too?”
Sin stocks referred to stocks of companies that generated revenue from sectors believed to harm human body and mind, such as alcohol, tobacco, and gambling.
It wasn’t an official term, but one that came from the mouths of market participants.
While leisure activities like golf, tennis, exhibitions, or concerts required a lot of money to enjoy…
Alcohol, tobacco, and gambling could be enjoyed with relatively less money compared to the above, so their sales sometimes increased when the economy was tough.
Recently, there were views that games should also be considered sin stocks.
“I don’t want to categorize games as sin stocks, but if I had to, I think games are a good sector in times like these. Of course, that’s if the price is normal.”
“So you’re saying the current price isn’t normal?”
At Ryu Tae-hwa’s question, Dokyung nodded and pointed at the screen.
“This is the report published by our company’s analyst.”
At Dokyung’s words, everyone looked at the screen, and it was an unmistakable report.
It had been a hot issue in the stock market for the past few days.
Taesan and Yuseong were at odds, and so far, it looked like Taesan was winning the fight.
“I met with the analyst who wrote this report. I heard that Take Games is currently reducing their workforce.”
“Workforce reduction?”
“Yes, not just ordinary workforce reduction, but they’ve notified most of the ‘King of the Empire’ development team of recommended resignations.”
At Dokyung’s words, the meeting room began to buzz, and Ryu Tae-hwa furrowed his brow.
“Is this information reliable?”
“Analyst Lee Yeon-ji has been covering Take Games for over a year and has gone on four site visits during that time. She said a development team leader she’s acquainted with told her this.”
“N-no. That doesn’t make sense.”
At that moment, Oh Seok-hoon, who had been watching the conversation between Dokyung and Ryu Tae-hwa, spoke up.
“‘King of the Empire’ released a new paid package yesterday, and they also uploaded a video teasing a large-scale update coming next week. To say they’ve recommended resignation to the entire development team…”
“That must be an update they had already prepared.”
Dokyung continued speaking, looking at Oh Seok-hoon.
“And they’ll keep introducing payment models while postponing updates. Because they don’t have a development team. They’ll try to recover their investment somehow.”
“That’s nonsense…”
“I don’t believe this rise in game stocks is a stock price increase based on everyone’s rational judgment. It’s not right for a company with annual sales of just 40 billion won and an operating loss of over 8 billion won to have its stock price break 40,000 won.”
Of course, KOSDAQ was a market that bet on companies’ futures.
But even the future should only be predicted when there’s some level of performance.
“The U.S., Europe, and Asia including our market. The market always acts like an impatient patient.”
Dokyung continued speaking, looking at everyone in turn.
“Sometimes it gets overly excited and offers high prices, and other times it becomes excessively pessimistic and offers prices lower than value.”
There was no middle ground in the stock market.
And when this impatience was at its peak in the market, it was time for the vile individuals to make their move.
Market participants move emotionally to recover their losses when they occur.
They listen to absurd information and can’t withstand the losses of good stocks that would rise if left alone.
The vile individuals who grew by feeding on this ignorance began to eat away at the entire market.
“After the release of ‘King of the Empire,’ when reviews among gamers weren’t good, the stock price began to fall.”
Dokyung displayed a chart on the screen. Indeed, after the release, Take Games’ stock price had fallen more than 3%.
“At this point, foreign institutions began accumulating Take Games stock.”
It was foreign institutions that started it. They began to boost Take Games’ stock price.
“At this time, as if trying to cover up the bad reviews, Take Games released a press statement saying that simultaneous users exceeded 200,000 and new users were coming in.”
Of course, the foreign institutions and Take Games hadn’t planned this together, but what each did for their own benefit happened to fit together perfectly.
“And foreign institutions began to boost Take Games’ stock price more aggressively, and as soon as news broke that ‘King of the Empire’ ranked first in both major markets, the stock price went crazy.”
Everyone was listening to Dokyung with serious expressions.
“But it seems everyone is thinking differently.”
Dokyung switched screens to show Take Games’ trading status from last Friday.
“As individual investors’ money started flowing in, foreign institutions stopped accumulating shares and started selling little by little. Domestic institutions are doing the same.”
This was a common pattern in the stock market.
Of course, when one side dumps, there are naturally people to receive that volume, but in the domestic market, it was unusually common to see individual investors picking up what institutional investors dumped.
“And internally, Take Games notified the ‘King of the Empire’ development team of recommended resignations.”
Dokyung took a deep breath and looked at Oh Seok-hoon.
“I want to say that the current rise is due to people who don’t know the hidden truth, or a situation intended by someone. Not a proper valuation of game stocks.”
“…”
“As I mentioned earlier, the market becomes excessively pessimistic and offers prices lower than value. I believe we’re at the beginning of that phase now.”
“So that’s why you moved your clients’ positions.”
Dokyung nodded at Ryu Tae-hwa’s question.
“Good. I’ll respect your opinion since it contains materials you’ve personally researched and studied.”
Ryu Tae-hwa nodded and continued presiding over the meeting, while Oh Seok-hoon gritted his teeth, looking at Dokyung as if he couldn’t accept it.
As the meeting ended and everyone left the room, Oh Seok-hoon, who was about to leave last, looked at Dokyung.
“From my perspective, it seems like you’re the one acting like an impatient patient.”
“Assistant Manager Seok-hoon, I’m uncomfortable with us having this kind of relationship.”
“Well. Don’t you remember talking about game stocks as if you were targeting me?”
“That was about the market situation…”
“Do you and the branch manager think I’m someone who just mindlessly repeats what others say?”
Dokyung couldn’t understand.
He didn’t understand how saying something wrong was wrong made him an enemy, and if his forecast was wrong, Oh Seok-hoon should have stated his own opinion rather than getting angry.
Even now, he was speaking as if he had inside information.
If Dokyung heard that information and found his own thoughts were wrong, he was certainly willing to admit it.
He didn’t want to engage in this emotional fight.
“We’ll see. The market will soon tell us whether I’m right or you’re right.”
Oh Seok-hoon spoke coldly and left the meeting room, and Dokyung watched his retreating figure.