Street 14
Ongoing
Street 14
While Si-heon was stirring up trouble, the healthcare division was walking on thin ice.
This was all because one of the MDs was upset.
He was an MD with the nickname "Rhino."
"What's that bastard scheming?"
Rhino, along with Pierce, was one of the candidates for the next executive position.
In terms of performance rankings, Pierce was number one, and Rhino was number two, but the gap was so big that unless a natural disaster occurred, it was widely expected that Pierce would win.
Then, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity presented itself.
The biopharmaceutical market was suddenly booming.
A market that had been lifeless since the financial crisis was now showing signs of life.
Though it was the beginning of what would become a 10-year biotech boom, Rhino was not yet aware of that.
Still, he could sense the strange energy in the market.
If he could ride this wave properly…
Maybe… just maybe… he could beat Pierce.
Right at that moment, Pierce declared that he was going to jump into the healthcare business under the guise of a game.
The timing was too perfect to be a coincidence.
"That sneaky bastard, he figured it out."
He was using the bet as an excuse to encroach on his territory.
This had to be stopped, somehow.
Rhino's nerves were on edge when a bothersome figure came into his view.
It was Brent, the one who had given Pierce the excuse.
"You bastard! Do you think you look cool bullying a newbie? Are you so idle that you have time for this? Should I pull you out of the IPO right now?"
"No. I want to work on my project."
"Then go and tell Pierce that, you idiot!"
"I did tell him. But…"
Brent, as just an MD, couldn't defy Pierce's orders.
This was an issue that had to be settled between people of the same rank.
Rhino understood this too.
He was just blowing off steam because the person he wanted to confront was out of the office on a business trip for days.
With every surge of anger, his foul language poured out, casting a tense atmosphere over the entire department.
Then, "Pierce! He's back!"
A staff member trying to change the mood shouted, and Rhino immediately stormed toward the M&A department.
"What's this about…"
"Wait, hold on…"
Though the staff rushed after him, Rhino ignored them and barged into Pierce's office.
Pierce, who had been loosening his tie, took in the situation and gave his subordinates a look that told them to leave.
As the door closed,
Bam!
Rhino slammed his fist on the desk, glaring fiercely.
"Cancel the bet."
As Pierce calmly finished taking off his tie, Rhino growled, tightening the glare in his eyes.
"I can't pull Brent out. We're not that idle on this end."
"Well, there's no helping it. That's unfortunate."
The response was unexpectedly compliant.
However, just as Rhino was about to step back, Pierce, now seated in his chair, arrogantly leaned back and placed his feet on the desk.
Right next to Rhino's fist.
"So, is this going to be a solo race?"
He was saying he'd continue even without Brent. Just with the newbie.
Rhino's mouth twisted.
"So the bet was just an excuse after all."
"The newbie made a claim, and it has to be verified, right?"
Rhino quickly recalled the details of the bet.
He remembered that the newbie had boasted an 80% success rate.
Verify or not, it was ridiculous.
"Are you really going to withdraw?"
At Pierce's follow-up question, Rhino was momentarily lost for words.
Pierce would continue anyway.
If he pulled Brent out, he wouldn't be able to figure out what Pierce was up to.
'It might be better to leave him in…'
As the silence stretched on, Pierce let out a small chuckle.
"It's just pitching, after all."
Pitching had a low success rate.
It was a sales technique where you throw everything at customers who have zero interest, hoping something sticks.
In some ways, it was like selling goods on a subway.
"So, why are you so anxious?"
"Because an outsider is roaming around in my territory. Wouldn't I be an idiot to just sit back and do nothing?"
"When the homeowner runs out just because someone's wandering around, it usually means there's something to hide."
"Think about your reputation! Isn't it obvious you'll end up stirring up my clients for no reason?"
"If they run away from something like that, they aren't real clients."
The two locked eyes in mid-air.
It was Pierce who spoke first.
"Then how about this? If I succeed, I'll hand over the live deal to you."
A live deal refers to a real transaction.
It meant that if a customer genuinely wanted to make a deal amidst all the pitches, Pierce would pass it on to Rhino.
I'll do the work, and you'll get the credit.
It was a generous offer, which made it all the more suspicious.
"So what do you gain from this?"
"I'll just have fun and then leave."
"If you want to play, do it in your own territory with your subordinates."
"Well, what can I say…"
Pierce quietly murmured as he made his decision.
"I'm not the type to quit midway."
Pierce lowered his legs from the desk and raised his hand.
The smile disappeared from his face, and a fierce look gleamed in his eyes.
"I have no intention of canceling the bet. So you've got three choices. One, tuck your tail and run. Two, defend. Three, attack."
Whoosh.
Three raised fingers.
This time, it was a clear declaration of war.
Rhino saw this and snorted several times before slamming the door as he left.
Shortly after, as if passing a baton, a man walked in with a deep sigh.
It was Pierce's right-hand man, Senior VP Jeff.
"Are you planning to start a war?"
"It's strange, isn't it, for someone to make such a fuss over a simple bet from a night out."
"Sigh… So you haven't heard the rumors at all."
Pierce had been in external meetings and was unaware of the internal situation at Goldman.
Jeff sighed and began to explain.
"That newbie… he's causing quite a stir."
"A stir?"
"He bet a month's salary, claiming he would win."
As Pierce paused in surprise, Jeff continued.
"Fifteen people stepped up to match that bet, and it just so happens they're all quite well-known, which has led to a lot of talk. There are even conspiracy theories floating around."
"Since no mere newbie would have the guts to do that, there's a rumor that you, Mr. Pierce, are secretly pulling the strings to invade the healthcare territory. It's no wonder they're getting sensitive."
"Hahaha! As expected!"
Jeff furrowed his brow.
"Don't tell me you actually instigated it."
"Of course not. It was just a small test."
"A test…?"
Fatigue crept into Jeff's face.
Pierce was known for running frequent tests.
This time, he had intentionally dropped Si-heon right into the center of the chaos.
A timid person would shrink.
Someone with potential would maintain their composure.
And if he were truly exceptional… perhaps he would even use this bet to his advantage and move into the healthcare division.
'Who would have thought he'd fan the flames even more.'
But this outcome was beyond anything Pierce had imagined.
Instead of upending the game Pierce had laid out, the newbie had expanded it and absorbed it.
A mere rookie with nothing to his name.
He truly was a monster in the making.
Jeff's face briefly went blank as he watched Pierce barely suppress his laughter, twisting his lips into a crooked smile.
But soon, Jeff spoke with a resigned expression.
"Should we approve the department transfer?"
"No, leave him be."
"What? Didn't he catch your interest?"
"Aren't you curious how this ends?"
Pierce wanted to see it.
He wanted to know what conclusion Si-heon had in mind.
How would he put out the fire he had started?
If he was a true monster, he would shatter all expectations again.
It wouldn't be too late to bring him over after that.
"Oh, and make sure to get rid of the pests trying to recruit him."
It was an order to remove the MDs who were eyeing Si-heon.
Wrinkles formed on Jeff's brow.
In exchange for pulling back their interest, he would have to offer them something else.
"That'll be expensive."
"And look into healthcare."
"Why…?"
"I offered to hand over the live deal, but he turned it down."
"That's probably because he was angry."
"Even when he's angry, he's the type to grab whatever he can."
That earlier offer had also been a test.
Pierce had intentionally dangled an easy success, but Rhino had been too focused on chasing Pierce out to accept it.
The problem was the time it took him to make a decision.
Rhino had spent a long time deliberating whether to pull Brent out or not, but he instantly rejected the free success.
"Biopharmaceuticals, huh…"
Pierce had no real interest in healthcare.
There was plenty to feed on in his own territory, so there was no need to invade someone else's.
This was all done to bring Si-heon over, even at the cost of these annoying conflicts.
But.
'There's something here.'
Perhaps it's worth enduring the hassle.
***
Ding!
As soon as the notification sound went off, I checked, and the same email had arrived.
Staffing rarely gets canceled.
But this was already the third email.
"What? Why was it canceled? I don't know either."
When I went to ask Liliana, she almost sang her reply.
There wasn't a hint of stress on her.
This meant it was handled without Liliana getting involved at all.
"Looks like next week will be pretty free!"
This means no MDs are looking for me next week either.
This is a disadvantage for me, as I was trying to rotate through as many departments as possible to gather MDs.
There's no need to ask who's behind this.
There's only one remaining Staffing.
The M&A group under Pierce's control.
'Why can't he just grow old gracefully?'
I don't know why he keeps interfering and getting in the way.
After gathering the information I needed and returning to the department, someone was already yelling.
"Hey, Sean! Where the hell have you been wandering around?"
It was a senior who had been assigned to the same project as me.
He was standing next to Rachel's desk, which told me all I needed to know about the situation.
Tomorrow is the client meeting.
There's a task that absolutely needs to be done around this time, but Rachel isn't very good at it.
And you can't really push around a princess under the protection of an MD.
So naturally, I'm the one who gets hassled when I come back.
"Rachel, close the file. Sean! Pull up the product page. Market data section."
"Yes."
The main products of the acquisition target are silica, high-performance plastics, and high-pressure plywood.
The Excel page neatly listed the regional growth rates for each product group.
"What's the global growth rate?"
"4.7%."
This is the problem.
We need to tell the client the marketability is good, but the number is lacking.
But it's not like there's no solution.
"Should we exclude Africa?"
At my suggestion, the senior's face brightened.
"Yeah, what does that make it?"
"6.2%."
"Calculate the weighted average for the top four regions."
"What percentage should we assign to the first?"
"60%. Second, 20%, and 10% for the rest. What's the result?"
"7.6%."
"Good, let's go with that."
"Understood. I'll mark it in the footnotes."
And just like that, in two minutes, the 4.7% growth rate magically became 7.6%.
Is it manipulation?
Nope.
I wrote it in small print at the bottom of the page.
This is the real meaning behind the MD's words during meetings: 'put in all the footnotes you can.'
Is it fraud?
Absolutely not.
If you don't believe me, let me give you another example.
I'm not the most handsome person in the world.
But among first-generation Korean-American analysts working at investment banks in New York?
I can confidently say I'd be in the top ranks.
So I can proudly list myself in the
If anyone questions it?
Hey, we didn't lie. Didn't you read the footnote?
This is how investment banking works.
It's a form of reverse engineering.
And for the record, it's all perfectly legal.
We never falsify numbers.
This requires a certain level of creativity as well.
Anyone can input numbers into a pre-existing formula and get a result, but it takes real ingenuity to reverse-engineer a formula to legally fit the result you want.
"Work together to adjust the rest to 7-8% too."
The senior looked at me with pride, as if he couldn't be happier.
It's rare for a rookie to be this good at reverse engineering on their first try.
And without any psychological resistance, too.
On the other hand, Rachel's face revealed her complicated state of mind.
It was like she just realized, 'So this is why the financial crisis happened!' and now she was wrestling with, 'Do I have to do this too?'
'She'll come around by tonight.'
Rachel and I hadn't progressed in our relationship yet.
We were just coworkers who exchanged words occasionally, never crossing that line.
But by the end of tonight, that would change.
10 p.m.
"Respond immediately when you get an email!"
Our direct senior had already left, and now it was just me and Rachel in the office.
Now is the busiest time for an Excel grunt.
Ding!
It was an email from the VP.
Page 2, million -> MM
Page 23. Graph color: Blue -> Green
Page 26. 'Leading company' -> 'Number one in the industry'
All minor revisions.
Nothing major, but I had to immediately incorporate them and send the updated version.
Ding!
This time, it was an email from the MD.
Page 2, MM -> million
Page 12, Pie chart -> Bar chart
Page 26. 'Number one in the industry' -> 'Most prestigious'
The MD was ordering changes that reverted what the VP had just corrected, but this kind of thing happens often.
For the MD, it's "A," and for the VP, it's "B."
For Rachel and me, the lowest-ranking members, our job is to get flustered and scramble between them.
"Sean, how should we handle the 'million' notation?"
"Let's follow the MD's instructions for now. Ah, but don't delete the pie chart yet, as there's a high chance they'll want to switch back to it."
"Huh? Why…?"
"The visual effect might not be as good as they think."
At moments like this, Rachel actively relies on me.
A few hours passed in a flurry, and finally, the messages started to slow down.
Normally, this would continue until 3 a.m., but it seemed to have ended early.
A gesture of consideration for the princess, no doubt.
'Not that it really helped much.'
Rachel was completely spaced out.
Her usual composed and elegant demeanor was nowhere to be seen.
Well, I expected this.
Rachel is a Harvard graduate.
A classic overachiever who has worked hard her whole life to grab hold of the top 1% of achievements.
Now, what happens when you lock such a high-achiever inside a building and force them to change 'A' to 'B' and 'B' to 'A'?
They start feeling a sense of self-loathing, and their mind begins to collapse.
And after a month, their brain softens, leaving them ripe for reprogramming.
From then on, the newbies eagerly speak the language of Wall Street and take pride in reverse engineering.
Right now, Rachel's brain is loosening up for the first time.
When the brain loosens, so does one's guard.
That's what I've been waiting for.
I need to take advantage of the princess's vulnerable moment to build some rapport.
'It does feel a bit scummy, though.'
But this is no time to worry about that.
[Time of Death: March 11, 2023]
[Time Remaining: 3,464 days]
[Survival Rate: 0%]
As you can see, given this situation, I'm not in a position to die young because I'm too busy keeping my conscience intact.
"Is it really okay for us to be doing this?"
I knew it. I caught the right moment.
For the proud princess to speak to me first like this.
"This is deceiving the client, isn't it?"
So, it's not just about the grunt work.
She's still reeling from the shock of the footnotes and reverse engineering.
"But we can't exactly reveal everything to the client either…"
Rachel looked at me with desperate eyes.
It was the kind of look you'd expect from someone adrift in the open sea who's just spotted a lifeboat.
She's in desperate need of someone to sympathize with her.
'I'm sorry but…'
I can't give the princess what she wants.
I need to build rapport, yes, but I'm not trying to become Rachel's friend.
What I want is to become her fund manager.
Not just for her, but to pull in her father and his friends, too, and have them entrust all their money to me.
So sympathizing with her here would be a mistake.
I need to shake her up a bit more.
"Rachel."
Don't look at me like that.
It's not like I feel great about this either.
But I have to survive first, don't I?
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