Chapter 15: From Glory to Grit

Fortunately, I immediately thought of someone who could help.

"Is Hyun-joo still in Korea?"

If she worked at Golden Gate, she'd be an expert on derivatives.

"She went back to Hong Kong a few days ago."

"Oh..."

Hyun-joo had come to Korea for the BuyMart inspection. Since her work was done, it made sense she'd return.

"Should I try calling or emailing her?"

I almost nodded but hesitated.

"What if she asks what makes us think we can handle options trading?"

Tae-gyu confidently replied, "We'll just say we trust the Oracle's foresight."

"..."

I'd be lucky if she didn't fly back to pack our bags and pull us out of this.

After thinking for a moment, I came up with another person to ask.

"I know someone else I can ask."

I called a number I had, but it turned out to be disconnected. I remembered he'd changed his number after taking a leave of absence, but I hadn't kept in touch since then.

There were ways to find out, though.

I called a senior who had been the vice president of our club.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Ho-young? This is Jin-hoo from the business department."

"Oh, Jin-hoo! It's been a while. How have you been? Finished your military service?"

"Yes, I wanted to ask you something."

"What is it?"

"Do you know Sang-yeop's contact information?"

"I'm not sure... Oh, but Woo-hyun might have it. Try calling him."

"Got it, thanks."

"When are you coming back to school? We should catch up."

"I'll let you know when I'm back."

After calling a few more people from the club, I finally got Sang-yeop's contact info.

I dialed his number.

Ring, ring... Click!

"Hello?"

Thankfully, the call connected.

I quickly introduced myself.

"This is Sang-yeop, right?"

"Yeah, who's this?"

"This is Kang Jin-hoo from the business department."

Sang-yeop sounded happy to hear from me.

"Oh, Jin-hoo! Long time no see."

"How have you been?"

"Getting by. What's up?"

"Could we meet up to talk? Are you free?"

"I'm in Suwon these days. Can you come here?"

"I can head over now if that's okay."

"Not right now, but anytime after 10 p.m. works."

"Okay, I'll be there."

After the call ended, Tae-gyu asked, "Who was that?"

"Park Sang-yeop, he was the president of the real-world investment club back in the day."

"What kind of guy is he?"

I smirked.

"An absolute nutcase."

Then I added, "And a genius too."

There are two types of geniuses in this world. Some excel in multiple areas, while others are brilliant in only one. Sang-yeop was the latter.

Real-World Investment Club

Also known as the Siltoari.

Sang-yeop was the president when I joined.

He had won several international math competitions growing up and used that experience to get into Korea University's math department.

Although he was fairly fluent in English, having grown up in Australia, his grades in subjects other than math and English were pretty terrible.

He used to joke that if it weren't for his special admissions, based on his competition wins, he wouldn't have even gotten into a regional university, let alone Korea University.

His grades in non-math courses were just barely passing, but when it came to math, no one could beat him.

There was even a famous story on campus: as a freshman, he snuck into a senior class, got hooked on a problem the professor gave, and spent three days and nights solving it without eating or sleeping.

Then, by chance, he joined the investment club and quickly became fascinated by the stock market.

He started mock investing, and soon he became interested in a small KOSDAQ-listed company called MK Tech.

For some reason, he was convinced the stock would rise more than tenfold. But there was one problem—he had no money to invest.

Knowing he couldn't afford to miss this opportunity, Sang-yeop immediately vacated his rented room to get back his 5 million won deposit, which he used to buy as many MK Tech shares as possible.

Homeless, he crashed at friends' places and at the club room, anxiously waiting for the stock to rise.

Amazingly, within a fortnight, MK Tech got caught up in the popular investment theme of the time, and its stock started hitting the upper limit day after day. It took less than two months for the stock, which had been languishing at rock bottom, to rise tenfold.

Just as he predicted, the stock rose tenfold, and Sang-yeop sold his shares without hesitation.

In less than a month, his 5 million won turned into 50 million.

That was just the beginning. Riding the high from his first successful investment, Sang-yeop threw himself into analyzing companies, abandoning his classes and grades entirely.

Sometimes he suffered losses, but he was quick to cut his losses and switch to other stocks.

By the time I joined the club, Sang-yeop had amassed over 300 million won in investment capital.

300 million won is a fortune for most college students, and an ordinary person might have been content with that.

But not Sang-yeop. What frustrated him the most was his initial investment.

Had he started with just 100 million instead of 5 million, he could have made 6 billion.

But since his initial capital was only 5 million, he only made 300 million.

So, he turned his eyes toward options, hoping for even greater returns.

He stacked dozens of books on options trading and spent countless hours studying and practicing with mock investments.

Confident in his knowledge, he eventually zeroed in on a stock.

CL Chemical, a subsidiary of the CL Group, was a major player in basic materials and battery technology.

Sang-yeop believed CL Chemical was severely undervalued and predicted its stock price would more than double.

He cashed out all his stocks and bought call options on CL Chemical.

At the time of his purchase, CL Chemical's stock was around 200,000 won. But not long after he bought in, an unexpected disaster struck.

An employee had fallen for an email phishing scam and mistakenly transferred funds to a fraudulent account. The company lost 27 million dollars.

The loss amounted to 20% of CL Chemical's quarterly operating profit.

The stock, which had been at 200,000 won, dropped to 170,000, and the value of his call options plummeted.

Instead of cutting his losses, Sang-yeop made a daring choice—he doubled down, buying more options.

He took out a loan from a lending company at the highest legal interest rate and used the money to buy even more call options.

But by the options' expiration date, CL Chemical's stock hadn't recovered, and his 300 million won investment was wiped out.

When he failed to repay the loan, the lending company started sending debt collectors.

When he failed to repay the loan, the lending company started sending debt collectors.

Men in black suits began showing up at the club room regularly. Though their tactics bordered on illegal harassment, there wasn't much we could do.

In the end, Senior Sang-yeop dropped out of school and disappeared.

Around that time, my family's financial situation worsened, and I enlisted in the military, so we naturally lost contact. After that, I didn't hear from him.

"Eventually, CL Chemical started gaining attention in the battery sector, and its stock price rose to over 500,000 won... but that was much later."

If he had bought regular stocks instead of options, his 300 million won would have become 700 million won. However, because he dabbled in options, he didn't make a penny.

After hearing the whole story, Taek-gyu clicked his tongue.

"So he started with 5 million won, made it to 300 million, and ended up in debt? That guy's life sure is dramatic."

"Yeah, no kidding."

I wondered how he was living now.

---

I bowed my head to a man with a bear-like physique.

"It's been a while, senior."

The Sang-yeop I met again looked healthier than I expected.

However, he looked at least ten years older than before. His tanned face had wrinkles, and though his hair was already thinning, now it was almost half gone.

To others, he probably looked like a man with two kids, not a university student.

It seemed like he had been through a lot over the past two years.

Senior Sang-yeop greeted me warmly.

"You must have had a hard time coming here."

"Have you eaten yet?"

Sang-yeop nodded.

"This place is a busy area, so there are lots of restaurants. What do you want to eat?"

"What would you like, senior?"

"How about some samgyeopsal (pork belly)?"

Senior Sang-yeop preferred beef over pork. He especially liked sirloin.

When he was making good money from stocks, he used to treat the club to sirloin meals almost daily. Of course, Senior Sang-yeop, as the club president, footed the bill.

I suggested, "Seeing you makes me crave sirloin. Let's go have some."

Sang-yeop gave a sheepish smile.

"Sorry, but my situation these days is..."

I pointed to Taek-gyu and said, "He's paying."

----

We sat around the grill.

Taek-gyu looked at the menu and gaped.

"Wow! 40,000 won for one serving..."

This guy has plenty of money, but he gets surprised over the smallest things.

"I'll order."

I took the menu and ordered three servings of sirloin.

Sang-yeop scratched his head and asked, "Is it really okay for me to accept this?"

"You've always treated us, senior."

Sang-yeop turned his attention to Taek-gyu.

"Who is this?"

Come to think of it, I hadn't introduced them.

"He's my friend, Oh Taek-gyu."

Senior Sang-yeop's eyes widened in surprise.

"The one who bought that BanterCoin in middle school?"

"Yeah, that's him."

I had mentioned Taek-gyu once during a drinking session in the past.

Senior Sang-yeop clicked his tongue in sympathy.

"That's too bad. If you'd just found the crypto key, you could've hit the jackpot."

Taek-gyu only found the USB with the crypto key recently, so of course, Senior Sang-yeop wouldn't know the rest of the story.

"Do you want a drink?"

At my question, Senior Sang-yeop shook his head.

"I have to go back to work, so cola is fine."

Since Taek-gyu couldn't drink due to driving, and it felt awkward drinking alone, I ordered two bottles of cola.

Sizzle!

The beef on the grill gave off a savory aroma as it cooked.

Senior Sang-yeop picked up a piece of barely seared sirloin and ate it.

"Wow! I can't remember the last time I had beef."

I felt the same.

After eating mostly flour-based food at home, having good meat made me feel like I could live again. It made me realize, once again, that humans evolved by consuming meat through hunting.

"What have you been up to since you took a break from school?"

"I did whatever work I could find. I worked construction, did some driving. Now, I live at an acquaintance's academy, teaching students."

"Math?"

Senior Sang-yeop chuckled.

"As you know, I'm not good enough to teach other subjects. After sweating it out to earn money, I realized how precious even a 100-won coin is."

"You've changed a lot, senior."

When his stocks were doing well, earning hundreds in a day was nothing. Because he earned so much, he spent lavishly, throwing money around like it was water.

"I've got about 20 million won left to pay off. A few more months of hard work, and I'll be debt-free."

He was doing great, making billions at one point, but ended up in debt overnight. Most people would have given up in despair.

But ever since I first met him, I knew he was no ordinary person.

The beef was quickly devoured. I ordered two more servings. Beef always tastes best when someone else is paying.

After we had our fill, Senior Sang-yeop asked, "So, why did you want to meet?"

"I wanted to see you and ask you a few things."

"Like what?"

"I wanted to know more about options trading."

"If you want to open an options trading account, you'll need to complete some education and put up margin money."

"That's not an issue."

The OTK Company has a corporate account.

All types of trading are already permitted.