“Ahh! You can’t just suddenly press the buy button like that!”
“Oh.”
Crap. I screwed up on the very first day.
I’d been swept up by that impulsive feeling, like I was playing a game, and ended up hitting the buy button.
“You even placed it as a market order, so it executed immediately. And look, see this color? What does it look like to you?”
“Blue.”
“Exactly. Blue! That means it hit the lower limit.”
“Then what should I do?”
“Well, what can you do? It’s not like it was real money. This is just mock trading, remember?”
Thank god.
With the way she yelled, I thought I’d just blown through actual company funds.
“But there’s still a problem. Remember what I said? The reason junior traders do mock trading is to be evaluated by the seniors. You need good results in mock trading to move up. But now that you went all-in on this…”
She mumbled “what do we do” under her breath, genuinely worried.
“But it’s okay. The mock trading funds can always be replenished. And who knows? That stock showing a blue light might turn red eventually. If it does, you can just sell it off quickly. Though, honestly, it’s probably going to take a while to bounce back… You heard it earlier, right? About the U.S. rate hikes. That’s why all the insurance stocks are plummeting right now.”
“Yes. I’m really sorry.”
“No, don’t be. New employees make mistakes when they’re nervous. I was the same way when I started. Sure, the seniors might not give you the best evaluation because of this, but you’re just getting started, right? Keep your head up.”
Lee Hye-rin.
Is this woman an angel? How could someone be this kind?
It felt like there was a halo glowing around her. And with her gentle beauty, being next to her made me feel like I was sitting in a blooming flower field…
Ah, no. Get it together. I’m here to work.
Normally, I wouldn’t have even dreamed of talking one on one with a woman like this.
And now I’ve even made a mistake on my first day.
‘But that feeling was really intense.’
That same sensation I’d get while playing games as if some special power of mine had been activated.
It was that very feeling that drove me to hit the buy button.
‘In games, you get instant feedback—success or failure.’
But the stock market? No clue how it works.
Looking at the board now, it’s still glowing blue, so I must’ve felt it wrong.
Maybe that “power” had nothing to do with stocks in the first place.
Maybe I didn’t have any special ability at all and it was just few lucky moments in the past.
“Um, Jinho? I’m trying my best to teach you… you’re not zoning out on me, are you?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Hmm. Just from your face, you look like you totally were.”
“……”
Focus. I need to focus.
This place is a jungle of things I don’t understand.
But… learning from such a gorgeous woman makes it really hard to concentrate.
The stock market opens at 9:00 a.m., but thanks to pre-market orders, the real start is 8:30 a.m.
And while the market closes at 3:30 p.m., the final closing price isn’t set until 3:40 due to after-close matching orders.
7 hours and 10 minutes.
That’s how long this war without guns rages each day.
And the proprietary trading (prop trading) department is by far the busiest.
Scalping is the ultra short term trading, measured in seconds or minutes, chasing sharp price fluctuations to extract profit.
Here, holding a stock for more than a week is already considered long-term.
Usually, everything is sold off before the market closes to free up capital.
If you’re interested in long term investments or holding positions for more than a few days, this isn’t the department for you.
That’s the role of asset management or research teams: they specialize in value and growth investing, which usually earns admiration
But Park Hong-seo, the team leader, had no interest in those boring places.
A place where red bars and blue bars clashed every minute and second, where mind games sucked money from each other in real time.
This massive casino floor was his life source.
If the stock market didn’t exist, he probably would’ve ended up in an actual casino.
Or worse, glued to his phone doing illegal gambling every day.
That’s why social media, shorts, or dopamine loaded distractions didn’t appeal to him. This was the ultimate dopamine rush.
That’s why he stayed with the company.
Couldn’t he just trade with his own money?
Nope.
Using other people’s money made you think more rationally.
But once it becomes your own money, judgment gets clouded.
That’s why so many successful traders collapse the moment they go solo.
“Team leader, great work today.”
“The real work starts now. Get the staff to summarize today’s trading results and calculate P&L. And Deputy Kim, prepare the position report. Did you flag any unusual activity?”
“Yes, I was planning to include that in the report.”
“Good. I need to set up the strategy for tomorrow’s market, so get it done ASAP.”
“Understood.”
After giving instructions to his team, Park Hong-seo pulled a dumbbell out from under his desk.
Once the market closed, part of his routine was to do some curls to offset muscle loss, then drink a protein shake.
And dinner tonight, as always, would be clean chicken breast and veggies…
“……”
Just then, someone stood nearby, hesitating on whether or not to speak, clearly nervous about interrupting this beastly routine.
“Assistant Lee. You’ve got something to say?”
“Ah, yes, Team Leader. Sorry to interrupt your workout.”
“It’s fine. Just loosening up. What’s up?”
“Well, sir…”
Lee Hye-rin explained what had happened while training the new hire.
“So the new guy ‘accidentally’ went all in on one stock? And at market price, no less?”
“Yes. It seems he pressed it by mistake while I was showing him the interface. The stock hit its lower limit today, so I was just worried he might get too harshly judged…”
“I get what you’re saying. Go prep the briefing. Keep training him.”
“Yes, sir.”
Lee Hye-rin.
There’s a saying that people live according to how they look, and if it were ever true, it was about her.
Angelic appearance, kind heart. She just didn’t seem to belong in this cold, cutthroat world where everything is measured in numbers.
‘But he went all-in?’
Can that really be called a mistake?
He tried not to care, but the parachute hire’s unexpected move kept nagging at him.
“Why’d he buy this stock?”
The one Jung Jinho went all in on was none other than an insurance stock, a company called Jungang Insurance.
But insurance stocks weren’t exactly exciting. And with today’s interest rate hike fears, the whole sector was flashing blue.
“Was that really a mistake?”
It was mock trading with fake money, not real capital. If it had been the company’s funds, that would be a problem. But this? Eh.
Still, something didn’t sit right.
“All in by mistake?”
Even if it was a market order, he still had to click the buy button himself.
These thoughts started circling in Park Hong-seo’s head, until he closed his eyes.
‘Let it go.’
He was just a parachute who would be here for a moment and then gone.
No one was going to entrust a clueless rookie with a senior role, not even the company.
So whatever he did… Just let him be.
Sooner or later, he would leave on his own.
“Ugh. It’s already this late…”
Before I knew it, it was 7 p.m.
I’d been stuck in the office for 14 hours, having come in at 5 a.m.
And yet, the entire day had flown by in a flash.
“It really feels like time moves faster in here. Maybe it’s because this place runs on speed, and we’re always moving so busily.”
At the start of the trading session, there wasn’t much for the two of us to do.
But once things got busy, trades flying in every direction, we were bombarded with errands. Naturally, I didn’t know anything, so I just stuck close to Lee Hye-rin and followed her around, learning.
“Still, Jinho. For your first day, you did really well. I mean, aside from that one tiny mistake.”
“It was tiny, right?”
“Well… you think they’re really going to factor a single mistake in a mock investment into your evaluation on your first day? Though… Team Leader Park might. He’s a pretty strict guy.”
Ah, Team Leader Park.
With muscles that looked like they’d burst out of his shirt, and a face like… well, like one of those textbook military officers you’d see back in the army.
If he had been my supervisor instead of Lee Hye-rin…
‘Ugh. Just thinking about it gives me chills.’
Thank you, dear Hye-rin-nim-nim-nim!
“Well then, see you tomorrow, Jinho.”
“Ah, yes. See you tomorrow.”
I stared blankly at the back of Lee Hye-rin as she walked away.
To be honest, the workload had been far more intense than I expected.
But of course it was.
This was one of the most coveted securities firms among the nation’s brightest and most ambitious.
I had no right to complain that this was tough.
My mom and dad were still working hard outside just to support this unemployed bum of a son.
And besides, the fact that Lee Hye-rin was my mentor gave me even more motivation.
I was walking toward the subway station to head home when…
“Oh.”
A call came in.
It was from my benefactor.
I answered with a voice full of nervous energy.
“Hello, sir! I’m on the line, sir!”
[Tsk. Just call me hyung when it’s just the two of us, I told you.]
“I know, but it’s not easy.”
[Tch. You’ve only worked one day. So, how was it? Harder than you thought, right? Even as a junior, you must’ve been overwhelmed trying to learn everything.]
“Ha ha. Who am I to complain about dying from a little hard work? Besides, watching everyone work made me feel nothing but respect. You must have been crazy busy too, how did you even manage to play the game?”
[Partly thanks to you. When I was away on business or too busy, you took care of the guild. You even led the raids and gave us orders, so it made things easier.]
“Phew… I don’t think I could do what you do. If I go home now, I’ll probably collapse on the spot.”
[You brat. Are you saying you’re not logging into the game tonight? I’m already logged in and waiting.]
“Gasp. I’m on my way this instant.”
[Everyone’s worried. They say the ghost of the game’s voice chat has vanished.]
“Then I better run faster. Please wait just a moment!”
I dashed toward the subway station.
So busy, so busy. The life of a modern man!
Around 6 or 7 a.m., you start to hear cries and groans all over the place.
A harmony composed of sighs from office workers about to start their day.
But not everyone’s like that.
The traders.
On weekends, when the markets are closed, they’re the ones with trembling hands.
No different from gambling addicts desperate to get back into the casino.
Not everyone, maybe. But from what Team Leader Park Hong-seo had seen, more than half of all traders were like that.
Addicted to dopamine.
“……”
Park Hong-seo arrived early, as always, reviewing documents.
Checking all the things that happened overseas while he slept. He sipped his morning… not coffee, but protein shake.
“Good morning, Team Leader.”
Then, one by one, the team members arrived.
“We’ve got a meeting in 15 minutes, so be ready.”
“Yes, sir!”
They held the morning briefing, adjusted their pre-made strategies based on the latest data, and received new instructions. Then, Park returned to his desk.
“……”
One minute before the markets opened.
Even after all these years, this moment still made him tense.
Would his strategy work today?
Could he win again?
His fingertips tingled. The urge to act was overwhelming.
Brrr-ring!
As the market opening signal rang, Park’s hands shot into motion.
His eyes darted between the monitors, analyzing the market.
His brain kicked into overdrive.
When his strategy worked, there was an indescribable sense of achievement and a surge of dopamine.
When it didn’t, his hand holding the cup would shake from anxiety.
Caught in this world of highs and lows, where you could go from heaven to hell in minutes, before he knew it, the market would be closing.
“Ah…”
It felt like being a child who didn’t want to leave an amusement park at closing time.
“Team Leader. Should I send the report now?”
No time to space out.
Today was over. Time to prepare for tomorrow.
“Yeah. Any noteworthy updates?”
“A few stocks saw significant spikes. I’ve sent a file with the data.”
“Thanks.”
Team Leader Park checked which stocks had surged today, and which had unexpectedly plunged.
Figuring out the cause behind each major fluctuation, that was their job.
As he scrolled through the list with his mouse wheel…
“……?”
One stock caught his eye.
It looked… very familiar.
“Wait. Isn’t this…”
Just to be sure, he checked the rookie’s mock investment results from yesterday.
Sure enough—
[Jungang Insurance +15%]
“Hah.”
Park let out a laugh without realizing it.
Fifteen percent? In one day?
The sudden rise in Jungang Insurance’s price was due to their U.S. bond holdings.
Insurance companies usually hold a significant portion of their assets in foreign bonds, and fears of rate hikes had led to industry-wide drops.
But not Jungang Insurance.
Their holdings in U.S. Treasury bonds were three times higher than their competitors’.
And their share of floating-rate bonds was also high.
That strength helped them soar today, even though they dipped yesterday along with the rest of the sector.
But that stock? That parachute hire kid had it.
He had even gone all-in.
Too bad it was a mock investment but still, it made Park think.
‘Did he actually analyze the meeting yesterday and make that decision himself?’
Yesterday, the team had discussed NFP data, CPI, and the strengthening dollar.
Every trader in the office had likely bet on insurance stocks falling. And they had.
But that kid? He’d seen the gem hidden in the mud.
“He said it was a mistake…”
The more he thought about it, the more it bugged him.
Of all the stocks he could have picked, he just happened to choose Jungang Insurance? At market price? With his entire budget?
“…Was that really a mistake?”