NOVEL NEXT WORLD 53
“Dokyung-ssi!”
Two days later, Dokyung, who had left work a bit early today, entered a restaurant in front of Yuseong Investment Securities in Yeouido.
His appointment partner, who had spotted Dokyung entering, waved, and Dokyung approached with a smile.
“Assistant Manager Yeon-ji.”
The appointment partner was Lee Yeon-ji, an analyst at Yuseong Investment Securities. Dokyung gave a slight bow in greeting and then looked at the person sitting next to her.
“Hello, I’m Yoon Dokyung, a PB from the Seongnam branch. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Dokyung politely greeted the other person and handed over his business card.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Lee Hyunjong. You’re not unfamiliar to me either, Yoon Dokyung-ssi. I saw the company’s mock investment competition.”
The other person also greeted Dokyung and handed over his business card.
[Lee Hyunjong, Analyst, Yuseong Investment Securities, CFA]
Dokyung looked at the business card with admiring eyes.
CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) was once Dokyung’s dream, an international qualification.
The qualification to apply was strict, and the exam was very difficult, resulting in few successful candidates. Only those who passed could append CFA to their names, and it was practically a free pass for employment in securities firms.
“Why do you look so impressed?”
At Lee Yeon-ji’s voice, Dokyung looked up at the two.
“Since I was an individual investor, Lee Hyunjong…”
“My position is team leader.”
“Ah, Team Leader, I always made sure to read your reports.”
“Hahaha, is that so?”
“Yes! Especially in the pharmaceutical sector, which requires a lot of study, Team Leader Lee Hyunjong-nim explained things in a way that’s easy for report readers to understand.”
“Thank you. Though I didn’t come here to be praised…”
Lee Hyunjong looked at Dokyung with a smile, seeming flustered but not displeased.
“Shall we order food first?”
As Dokyung said this, Lee Yeon-ji looked at Lee Hyunjong.
“Team Leader, shall we eat first?”
“I’d like to hear why Yoon Dokyung-ssi wanted to see me first. I came out because Lee Yeon-ji, my junior, asked me, but I’m curious.”
Lee Hyunjong looked at the PB sitting in front of him.
Lately, his name had been heard often within the company. Moreover, when meeting employees from other securities firms, there were many questions about Yoon Dokyung from the Seongnam branch.
“I was wondering why the protagonist of the name coming out of everyone’s mouths in this fast-rumor Yeouido wanted to see me.”
So he had looked into who this person was, and his background was impressive.
Winning the company’s mock investment competition by beating employees from formidable trading departments as a business team employee seemed like a minor achievement compared to making significant gains in the fat finger incident, catching the peak exit timing when corporate raiders targeted DU, and even winning the unofficial battle against Jo Hyunseok, who had been a thorn in the market’s side.
For a PB who had just passed his first year, the rumors were spectacular.
“Since you ask, Team Leader, I’ll get straight to the point. I’m curious about the next-generation diabetes drug that M-Biogen announced.”
Lee Hyunjong was a veteran pharmaceutical stock specialist analyst in the industry.
For pharmaceutical sectors, because the technologies themselves are so difficult, to explain them easily to investors, one had to thoroughly understand the technology oneself.
Dokyung thought Lee Hyunjong was unrivaled in this aspect.
“Curious… in what way?”
“I believe this drug candidate is just an announcement in name only.”
At Dokyung’s words, Lee Hyunjong furrowed his brow.
“Why?”
“I read the full report that M-Biogen presented at the conference. Some key parts seem to be missing.”
Lee Hyunjong focused on Dokyung’s words as if telling him to continue.
“From what I know about new drug development, preclinical trials should first be conducted, administering the new drug candidate to animals to test safety and efficacy. The results are used to estimate the dosage range for human administration.”
“That’s correct.”
As Dokyung said, new drug candidates are first tested in preclinical trials, often on lab mice. This is to identify side effects and toxicity.
“However, looking at this report, while they said they conducted animal experiments and announced that weight loss effects were observed when administering the drug to obese mice, the report on glycated hemoglobin progress is very briefly handled.”
The higher the blood glucose level, the more glycated hemoglobin is produced. In other words, diabetes patients have more glycated hemoglobin than normal people.
M-Biogen seemed to gloss over the most important part while announcing a new drug for diabetes treatment.
“One more thing, the data for the new drug candidate is similar to the control group.”
“……”
“The control group used a widely used diabetes treatment already on the market, but the weight loss effect doesn’t show a dramatic difference.”
Dokyung looked at Lee Hyunjong, who was focusing on his words.
“I felt that M-Biogen’s conference presentation seemed to highlight only the necessary parts. I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was as if they wanted someone on the other side of the world to see it.”
Dokyung had studied the report that M-Biogen had presented over the past two days, wondering if his judgment might be wrong, if the hint sent by the message might be incorrect.
He searched the internet for things he was curious about and studied related specialized books, but with his limited knowledge, he couldn’t clearly come to a conclusion.
So he confided his concerns to Lee Yeon-ji, who told him that Lee Hyunjong was her senior.
“That’s why I asked Assistant Manager Yeon-ji for a favor. I thought Team Leader Lee Hyunjong was the only one who could tell me if my feeling was wrong.”
After pondering for a moment at Dokyung’s words, Lee Hyunjong slowly began to speak.
“Let’s be clear that this is just my opinion, and you won’t mention my name anywhere.”
“Yes, I understand.”
“I agree with Yoon Dokyung-ssi’s opinion.”
At Lee Hyunjong’s words, Dokyung let out a small sigh.
“Weight loss can be found in common weight loss drugs. And it wasn’t such a dramatic decrease. What’s certain is that they glossed over how much the glycated hemoglobin decreased, as Yoon Dokyung-ssi mentioned.”
“What I’m curious about is why the conference allowed the presentation…”
“Yoon Dokyung-ssi.”
Lee Hyunjong looked at Dokyung with a stern expression.
“Have you seen the number of reports presented at this conference?”
“…I haven’t.”
“Roughly 100. Just in three days of the conference, 100 reports were presented, and there are even more reports submitted to the conference.”
Dokyung had only thought about domestic conferences. The American conference was a presentation forum for research teams from universities and pharmaceutical companies worldwide.
The scale would inevitably be different.
“As Yoon Dokyung-ssi said, the people who participated in that conference will know the problems. Anyone can easily see them. But the domestic media is different. They need headlines to make news.”
Lee Hyunjong nodded and looked at Dokyung.
“I agree with your expression that it’s a report hoping for someone on the other side of the world to see it.”
“Thank you. I’ve gained confidence in my thoughts.”
“I’m surprised. It’s only been two days since the announcement, but you’ve already been able to study this much. Perhaps… you have a background in chemistry…”
“I have a liberal arts background.”
“Then how do you know so much?”
“When I was an individual investor, I saw a 200-page report called ‘Understanding Pharmaceutical Stocks Correctly’.”
“That’s…”
“And when analyzing M-Biogen’s report this time, I compared it with securities firm reports that summarized other companies’ new drug announcement reports in an easy-to-understand way.”
Dokyung smiled and looked at Lee Hyunjong.
“And the person who wrote that report is sitting in front of me right now.”
“Wow, Team Leader. It looks like Dokyung-ssi is really your fan.”
Lee Yeon-ji, sitting next to them, opened her mouth and spoke to Lee Hyunjong.
“Did you write a report called ‘Understanding Pharmaceutical Stocks Correctly’?”
“Huh? Uh… about 8 years ago.”
“Dokyung-ssi, we really need to buy you dinner today.”
At Lee Yeon-ji’s words, Dokyung nodded.
“Of course. I was wondering when I’d have to pay for this expensive lesson, and it seems today is that day. I’ll order the food.”
As Dokyung said this and picked up the menu to discuss with Lee Yeon-ji, Lee Hyunjong looked at Dokyung with a dazed expression.
It was a different feeling from the praise he usually received from clients saying they had read his reports well.
“…Leader.”
Lost in thought while staring at Dokyung, Lee Hyunjong was startled by a voice and turned his head.
“Team Leader!”
“Huh, what?”
“I asked what you want to eat.”
“Well, what did Lee Yeon-ji and Dokyung-ssi order?”
“We were planning to order the same as you, Team Leader.”
“Then I guess I should charge Dokyung-ssi an expensive tuition fee.”
Lee Hyunjong smiled and began to choose the menu with the two of them.
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“Nice shot.”
Clap clap clap-
At a country club owned by Yuseong Group on the outskirts of Seoul.
Despite being peak season, the golf course was not accepting any customers, reserved for just two people.
“Wow, Hyung. What have you been eating lately to increase your driving distance like that?”
Seo Gihwan, chairman of Gwangjin Group, approached the chairman of Yuseong Group with a sly expression and tone.
“I’ve been feeling stronger these days.”
“Hahaha.”
Seo Gihwan laughed loudly as if he understood the reason.
“Hyung, they say there’s no cure once you get hooked on stocks.”
“That’s right. It seems I’ve discovered the true taste of stocks at this late age. How can a stock rise 36% just days after buying it?”
“It’s not a common opportunity. But among pharmaceutical stocks, this is quite common.”
The chairman nodded at Seo Gihwan’s words. Everyone knew that the stock market was not doing well due to the poor global economic situation.
He had received reports that even Yuseong Group’s stock price had fallen by 20% recently.
He had also received reports that investors were vocal in their complaints about the falling stock prices of affiliates.
“Hyung. Let the people below handle the business now. Why else would we pay CEOs big money?”
“How many years has it been since I took the chairman’s seat? How can I let go of management?”
The previous chairman had held onto the group for a long time, demanding endless competition among his sons.
It had only been a few years since he inherited the chairman’s position after competing under such a father for decades and becoming the winner.
These days, many group chairmen were in their 30s and 40s, but he had inherited the group in his late 50s, so he had no intention of letting go of management yet.
“By the way, is doubling certain?”
“There you go again, Hyung.”
“These days, I’m happy because of stocks, but when I think about money, my head hurts.”
Some might say it’s nonsense for a chaebol group chairman to worry about money, but the chairman had been worrying about money recently.
“For the past 5 years, I’ve been paying inheritance tax in various ways, and this year is the last. As it’s the last year, cash is really tight.”
The inheritance tax installment system allowed for paying inheritance tax over 5 years. The chairman of Yuseong Group was paying over 1 trillion won in inheritance tax in installments.
“Actually, I was going to sell this golf course.”
“This golf course?”
Seo Gihwan looked around the golf course with a surprised expression.
It was a golf course with the most famous course in Korea.
It was such a good place in terms of management and natural environment that he thought he would like to buy it himself if he could.
“Yes. Even if I sell this, the money that comes to me isn’t much, so I’d have to sell group shares to barely meet this year’s inheritance tax.”
“Oh my…”
“So, is doubling certain?”
The chairman asked Seo Gihwan, wiping the smile off his face. Seo Gihwan felt a chill seeing the chairman’s occasional disbelief despite having bought stocks with a large sum of money based on his word.
“O-Of course. When have you ever seen me make guarantees?”
“…Right. That’s true.”
“It seems there are people shaking your resolve, Hyung.”
“Is it visible on my face?”
“Yes, I can see that your heart is full of concern, Hyung.”
The chairman looked at Seo Gihwan in surprise, then spoke as if he had no choice.
“I just heard some bad things about M-Biogen, and it keeps lingering in my mind.”
“Bad things?”
Seo Gihwan asked with a furrowed brow.
It seemed that the Yuseong Group chairman in front of him had indeed not trusted his words and had instructed his subordinates to look into it.
“It seems you didn’t trust me again, Hyung.”
“Oh no, it’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s just that I’m worried because my 50 billion won is invested.”
“Hyung, when it comes to stocks, faith is the most important thing.”
“Faith?”
The chairman looked at Seo Gihwan as if telling him to continue.
“Yes. Faith that it will rise to the price you expect. To have that faith, one way is to remove surrounding noise.”
In fact, some people go on trips or delete stock trading apps and hold on to avoid external influences after buying stocks.
“Is there any need to listen to the noise?”
After pondering for a moment at Seo Gihwan’s words, the chairman smiled and looked at him.
“Having been in business for a long time, I’ve found that sometimes the noise that stirs my mind turns out to be the right answer. There are times when it’s better to treat it as white noise rather than blocking it out completely.”
“Still, it might be better not to listen right now.”
“Then maybe it would be better to distance myself from the noise for a while? Rather than eliminating it, I mean.”
“Then please trust a little more! Just look at the good things.”
“What good things are there?”
“Why wouldn’t there be?”
Seo Gihwan took out his mobile phone, showed the return rate of M-Biogen, and laughed heartily.