NOVEL NEXT 11
“Is that the stock you’re focusing on these days?”
From where he stood at the counter, the elderly man could see the monitor screen at an angle.
The old man seemed to be familiar with Dokyung as he asked, and Dokyung looked at him with a flustered expression.
“Welcome, sir.”
“Why are you so startled?”
The old man was a regular customer of the branch who often placed orders through Dokyung.
“Ah, it’s just that lunch break isn’t over yet.”
“Should I come back later then?”
“No, no. I can help you. Please have a seat.”
Dokyung gestured towards the chair placed in front of the counter, and the old man sat down.
“I’m sorry. I was planning to wait since it’s lunchtime, but I saw you sitting here.”
“It’s alright.”
The Seongnam branch where Dokyung worked was surrounded by many IT companies. Due to the peculiarity of customers from those companies visiting the branch during lunch hours, there was a dedicated lunch hour counter.
One counter staff member would take turns manning that counter each day.
However, the old man didn’t use the dedicated lunch hour counter and insisted on dealing with Dokyung.
“I can’t trust the others.”
“So you trust me?”
“Of course! You’re not desperately trying to sell me funds like the others.”
Dokyung laughed at the old man’s words.
“What brings you here today?”
“I want to sell Future Electronics.”
“Didn’t you say you were going to give it to your grandchild?”
“But it’s so boring.”
Dokyung opened his mouth at the old man’s words.
“Did you bring your account?”
“Of course. Here it is.”
“You bought 2,500 shares at 44,000 won, and the current asking price is 45,500 won.”
“See? I’ve been holding it for over a month, and that’s all it’s done.”
The old man had chosen a blue-chip stock to give to his grandchild, but he seemed impatient with the minimal change in stock price.
Dokyung had seen many people like this old man while working at the counter.
At first, they wanted to hold stocks for the medium to long term, but they would check the stock price almost daily and become anxious if there was no price movement.
“Shall I sell all of it for you?”
“Yes, do that.”
“But if you sell now, you might end up at a loss due to taxes and fees.”
Looking at the stock price, there was a profit of 1,500 won per share, but considering taxes and securities firm counter usage fees, it would result in a loss or barely break even.
“Sell it. I calculated it, and it should just about cover the principal.”
The old man spoke as if he had already thought about it, and Dokyung nodded. It was his job to follow the customer’s request.
“This is why I like you. If I go elsewhere, they won’t even tell me that I might incur a loss and just sell it.”
“Come on, everyone at our branch is kind.”
“Haha, it wasn’t like this when I dealt with other employees before you came. They would rather recommend funds or PB services.”
The old man was a long-time customer of the Seongnam branch.
He had quite a bit of assets, but he preferred to choose stocks and buy them himself rather than use PB services.
“How long has it been since we met?”
“You were my first customer. It’s been two years.”
“Really?”
“Yes. You were the very first person who came when I started counter work here. How could I forget?”
The old man laughed heartily at Dokyung’s words, seeming pleased.
“That’s nice. You’re also the first securities firm employee I’ve come to like.”
“Pardon?”
“I told you. I have no interest in funds, but the others always try to get me to buy funds when they see me. But you’ve never done that even once.”
“Don’t you remember when I recommended a discretionary product last time?”
“Is that how an employee trying to sell something acts? You brought it up yourself, said the returns weren’t great, and then concluded I shouldn’t invest.”
Dokyung sheepishly rubbed his nose and typed busily on the keyboard. Then he looked at the old man.
“I’ve sold 2,500 shares of Future Electronics at 45,500 won for you. Fortunately, there’s no loss of principal. You’ve made a small profit.”
“See? My calculations weren’t wrong.”
“Is there anything else you need?”
“What was that stock you were looking at earlier?”
The old man seemed to be referring to the stock Dokyung had been intently studying earlier.
“How did you see that? It shouldn’t have been very visible.”
“I caught a glimpse. Couldn’t see the stock name though. So what is it?”
“I was just looking at it…”
“Come on, now. I’ll make the judgment.”
There was no rule against counter staff recommending stocks to customers, but Dokyung had just received the message and was only starting to check the stock.
Of course, he was confident this stock would rise. After all, it was recommended by the message.
But finding the reason why this stock might rise was entirely up to Dokyung. He didn’t want to recommend it to customers until he had studied those reasons.
“I’m sorry. Next time you come, I’ll…”
“Buy that for me.”
“Pardon?”
“I’m saying execute an order for the stock you were just looking at.”
The old man was being insistent, and Dokyung was flustered.
“I’ve been trading with you for two years.”
“You haven’t been trading with me personally…”
“This kid!”
The conversations between Dokyung and the old man were always like this. But the old man didn’t seem to mind.
“Anyway, for two years, I’ve only traded through you.”
As the old man corrected his words, Dokyung chuckled.
“Do you know why?”
Dokyung didn’t answer. The old man probably wasn’t expecting an answer anyway.
“At first, you seemed naive, but you’ve never once lied to me or recommended anything that would cause me a loss.”
“That’s because you always come after doing your own research.”
“Anyway, from what I’ve observed over these two years, you’re not someone who would act recklessly.”
The old man seemed to have been watching Dokyung carefully while trading stocks through him for a long time.
After pondering for a moment, Dokyung looked at the old man.
“Then please come back tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Yes, I haven’t finished analyzing the stock yet. When I’m certain it’s a stock worth recommending, I’ll tell you.”
“Haha, that’s why I like you.”
Pleased with Dokyung’s response, the old man chuckled as he gathered his bankbook and ID, standing up.
“Then I’ll come back tomorrow.”
“Yes, take care on your way home.”
Dokyung stood up and bowed to the old man, who waved goodbye and left the branch.
“Whew… It doesn’t feel bad though.”
After the old man left, Dokyung sat down and sighed. It seemed like the old man he had seen almost every week for two years had acknowledged him.
It meant it took two years to open the old man’s heart. While he was happy to be recognized, it also felt like his burden had increased.
“Let’s prepare thoroughly.”
With that resolution, Dokyung began investigating Misung Technology, the stock recommended by the message.
⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱
“Dokyung-ssi, you’re here early?”
The next day, when the senior colleague sitting next to him arrived at work, Dokyung smiled and bowed his head.
“I had something to prepare.”
Saying this, Dokyung was focusing on the monitor screen, making a final check of the materials he had prepared, working almost through the night.
‘Misung Technology…’
Misung Technology was a company that produced semiconductor back-end process equipment.
‘The stock price is 28,650 won, and it’s risen a lot compared to last year.’
There had been a semiconductor boom recently.
This was because semiconductors were now used in the production of cars, server expansions for IT companies, smart devices, and nearly every industry needed semiconductors.
While the stock prices of semiconductor producers like Future Electronics were taking a breather, the stock prices of companies making materials, parts, and equipment were rising daily.
‘The aggressive facility investments of foundry companies are playing a part.’
With so many places seeking semiconductors, companies producing them were aggressively expanding their production facilities. Consequently, material, parts, and equipment companies were also seeing increased sales.
Misung Technology, recommended by the message, was one such company.
‘The most attractive reason for Misung Technology among semiconductor materials, parts, and equipment companies is that it produces test equipment.’
Misung Technology supplied test products to world-class semiconductor manufacturers like Future Electronics and Yuseong Semiconductor.
It was an emerging company in semiconductor materials, parts, and equipment, supplying not only domestically but also overseas.
‘Looking at the list of shareholders owning more than 5%, there are many global foreign asset management companies.’
Moreover, Misung Technology was a stable dividend stock.
The dividend yield per share was quite good, often appearing in the portfolios of funds managed by world-renowned asset management companies or on their investment recommendation lists.
‘The most important thing is its connection to Future Electronics.’
Dokyung had realized why the message recommended Misung Technology while preparing materials all night yesterday.
Recently, Future Electronics had been competing for market share with other semiconductor companies in the non-memory sector.
Especially as semiconductor processes became more miniaturized, semiconductor companies were struggling, and Future Electronics was no exception.
‘Future Electronics’ yield for new products is too low.
The reason Future Electronics’ stock had been stagnant despite the semiconductor boom was that, unlike competitors in other countries, it kept failing in the miniaturization process.
Articles kept coming out saying that the defect rate was soaring above 70% in the mass production preparation process.
At times like this, the most important thing was the semiconductor test equipment made by Misung Technology.
‘The test equipment recently announced by Misung Technology has overwhelming technology.’
Misung Technology had been investing heavily in equipment research for several years, and the recently released semiconductor test equipment was the result.
Dokyung thought that perhaps this equipment could control Future Electronics’ soaring defect rate and improve process efficiency.
Ding ding-
While he was deep in thought reviewing the materials, the notification sound for the stock market opening rang out.
Dokyung had Misung Technology displayed on his monitor screen, waiting for the old man to arrive.
Ding ding ding-
In the middle of his work, a warning sound started ringing from Dokyung’s computer, and he reflexively looked at the monitor screen.
[Misung Technology -8%]
“What’s going on?”
Not long after the market opened, Misung Technology’s stock price suddenly started falling.
[-9%……]
[-10%……]
[-11%……]
The stock price was rapidly falling, breaking through the buy orders set at low prices in real-time.
Before long, when the stock price reached -11%, the downward VI (Volatility Interruption) was activated, stopping the price change.
VI was activated when there was a change of more than +-10% from the closing price of the previous day’s stock market.
It was literally a mechanism to protect investors from sudden stock price fluctuations.
‘What in the world…’
Dokyung, looking bewildered, started moving his mouse to figure out why the stock price was falling.
“Is something wrong?”
Hearing a voice while he was in the middle of investigating, Dokyung looked up.
The old man from yesterday’s appointment was standing in front of the counter.