The Overly Competent Junior Employee

[Recommended stock: Yuseong Semiconductor]

[Stock to watch out for: Hanseong Shipbuilding]

‘Hanseong Shipbuilding?’

As always, the message was terse and unhelpful.

It didn’t explain how his membership level had been upgraded, and whereas it usually mentioned one stock at a time, this time it included an additional one.

Moreover, it flagged Hanseong Shipbuilding, which was in Dokyung’s portfolio, as a stock to watch out for.

‘Is Hanseong Shipbuilding going to fall?’

Dokyung set down his phone and logged into the trading system on his computer.

Until now, the only stock the message had warned about was J-On System.

And J-On System certainly had issues. Due to illegal activities by the CEO and executives, as well as poor business performance, its stock price had plummeted and still hadn’t recovered.

‘Really, aren’t you going to tell me when it’s going to fall?’

The timing was also unclear. It was just a warning that the stock was one to watch out for.

Naturally, Dokyung had to find the answer himself this time as well.

‘Is Hanseong Shipbuilding also involved in some illegal activity?’

Since J-On System was the only previous case of a stock being warned about, Dokyung couldn’t help but draw comparisons to that example.

‘That can’t be…’

However, Hanseong Shipbuilding was a shipbuilding company under the management of the Korea Development Bank.

Although the previous owners had gone bankrupt after committing illegal and unlawful acts, it was such a crucial national infrastructure industry that the Korea Development Bank was now operating it.

To recover the tax money invested by the government, they needed to normalize the company and sell it to the private sector, which meant that audits related to the business were likely being conducted more rigorously than for other companies.

‘That means there must be some bad news coming…’

Thinking this, Dokyung searched for Hanseong Shipbuilding on the trading system and began his investigation.

‘The supply and demand look too good.’

Of course, as befitting a shipbuilding stock leading the recent stock market, the supply and demand situation was excellent. With everyone wanting the stock, naturally, the price could only go up.

‘Even the National Pension Service is buying…’

The National Pension Service invested the pension contributions from citizens in the stock market through its fund management division. It was the biggest player in the Korean stock market.

Recently, it had been selling stocks to reduce its influence on the Korean market, making it almost an enemy to market participants, but it was still incredibly good at picking stocks.

This National Pension Service was continuously buying Hanseong Shipbuilding stocks.

‘The trend is very good for now. That means an external variable is about to hit.’

Dokyung searched for Hanseong Shipbuilding on a portal site and looked through various news articles.

There were numerous articles with rosy forecasts about Hanseong Shipbuilding.

Rising oil prices naturally led to a boom in the oil refining business, and consequently, contracts for ships to transport products increased.

Recently, domestic shipbuilders were winning ship orders from various companies with their overwhelming technology. Hanseong Shipbuilding was no exception.

‘I can’t find any pessimistic outlook.’

Giving up on domestic portal sites, Dokyung accessed Google and started searching for English articles.

Among the articles about Hanseong Shipbuilding’s ship contracts, one caught his eye.

[Ship prices rise for 17 consecutive months… Dark clouds over Korean shipbuilding industry?]

It was an article written by a renowned global shipbuilding and maritime analysis media outlet.

Dokyung began reading the article, almost as if he were being sucked into the screen.

The article explained that due to inflation, steel prices were rising, causing the ship order prices of Korean shipyards to continually increase.

It went on to say that this could lead to a windfall for the Chinese shipbuilding industry, which had relatively lower prices.

‘Could it be…’

Normally, this would be an article he’d scoff at and move on, but with the message’s warning, he couldn’t ignore it now.

Dokyung had seen in the past how things that seemed insignificant at first turned out to be significant warnings in hindsight.

“Is it too late to start studying now?”

As Dokyung was deep in his investigation of Hanseong Shipbuilding, a mocking voice came from somewhere, and everyone’s attention turned to him.

Dokyung looked up to see Lee Chang-jae standing there, his face twisted with an indecipherable expression as usual.

“I’m talking about Hanseong Shipbuilding. Are you studying it belatedly?”

Dokyung silently stared at Lee Chang-jae.

“Do you think a counter staff will find answers by poring over it? I told you, just keep holding onto it.”

“Lee Chang-jae-ssi.”

Dokyung stood up, unable to contain himself any longer in the face of Lee Chang-jae’s continued mockery.

“It seems you don’t study stocks after buying them.”

“What?”

“I analyze all the stocks in my portfolio every day. And dozens of times a day, I worry about whether my choices were wrong.”

Dokyung looked at Lee Chang-jae with a stern expression.

“By doubting my choices and studying the stocks, I come to trust the stocks in my portfolio.”

“Hey, Yoon Dokyung…”

“I told you, didn’t I? That excessive self-consciousness isn’t good when investing in stocks. It’s not too late, so instead of coming here to mock others or meddling with other people’s stocks…”

Dokyung’s words were sharp, but his voice and expression seemed calmer than ever.

“Why don’t you study your stocks more?”

As Dokyung finished speaking, Lee Chang-jae’s eyes trembled for a moment before he regained his characteristic relaxed smile.

“Right, so the stock you bought after all that doubt and study is Yuseong Semiconductor. I understand now. Well, keep studying hard.”

Lee Chang-jae patted Dokyung’s shoulder and returned to his seat, while Dokyung sighed and sat down.

“What’s this? If you can speak so well, why have you been holding back all this time?”

As Dokyung sat down, Lee Yeon-ji, sitting next to him, asked.

“I thought he wasn’t worth engaging with, but today he crossed a line.”

“Keep shooting back like that from now on. People who live off their own conceit are just distasteful.”

Lee Yeon-ji said this and then looked at the camera on one side of the room.

“Make sure to include this! What that jerk did!”

Lee Yeon-ji spoke loudly as if wanting everyone to hear, and Dokyung couldn’t help but chuckle at the sight.

⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱

“Dokyung-ssi, you didn’t watch episode 2 either, right?”

A week later, as soon as Lee Yeon-ji arrived at work and sat down, she asked Dokyung.

“Good morning, Lee Yeon-ji-sunbae.”

“Good morning to you too… What’s wrong with your face?”

“Ah, I just had some things to think about…”

“What were you thinking about so much that your eyes are all sunken?”

Lee Yeon-ji spoke with a worried expression.

“How about some coffee…”

“Here it is.”

As Dokyung waved the coffee cup on his desk, Lee Yeon-ji shook her head as if admitting defeat.

“You didn’t watch episode 2 that was uploaded the day before yesterday, right?”

“No, of course not.”

“How did you endure Vice President Sim Ju-won’s gaze during your MMI scene? I mean, I was intimidated just watching it.”

Dokyung smiled gently at Lee Yeon-ji’s words.

“I avoided his gaze and looked at the badge on Vice President Sim’s lapel.”

“Ah, that’s a good tip! Anyway, the comments were pretty good. Yuseong Semiconductor holders came to praise you, you know?”

“Really?”

“Of course. Those people are holding onto semiconductor stocks while everyone else is wailing about how bad they are. They needed someone to say what you said.”

“I’m glad the response was good.”

At Dokyung’s words, Lee Yeon-ji smiled, seeming pleased as well.

“Still on shipbuilding today?”

“I’m not sure. It’s risen too much over the past three days.”

As Dokyung said this, both of their gazes turned to the large screen in the center of the room.

[1st place Lee Chang-jae +18.20%]

[2nd place Yoon Dokyung +11.64%]

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.

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[7th place Lee Yeon-ji -2.91%]

The market had been particularly bad over the past few days.

Money was flowing out of the stock market, a risky asset, due to fears of a global economic crisis.

However, Dokyung, who had filled his portfolio with old economy stocks, was recording decent returns and had risen to second place in the competition.

“Ugh, I wish we could remove that name in first place.”

Lee Yeon-ji said this while looking at Dokyung.

“Still, the two people with shipbuilding stocks in their portfolios are in first and second place.”

Dokyung nodded at Lee Yeon-ji’s words. Dokyung and Lee Chang-jae, who both had Hanseong Shipbuilding in their portfolios, were making profits even in this difficult market.

“How long do you think it will last?”

“Pardon?”

“I’m asking how long you think my stocks will keep falling.”

“Haha, well… You know better than anyone.”

Dokyung knew Lee Yeon-ji’s question was a joke. She wasn’t asking seriously.

“Then how long do you think shipbuilding will last?”

This time, it was a serious question.

“Hmm… Well, I’m planning to sell today.”

“What?”

Lee Yeon-ji exclaimed loudly in genuine surprise, then quickly lowered her voice and leaned towards Dokyung.

“Don’t you think it will rise more? I joined this competition to take a break, but I’ve been analyzing companies for four years. It seems the market still thinks shipbuilding stocks should rise more.”

“Shipbuilding stocks might have more room to rise.”

“If shipbuilding stocks are rising, but Hanseong… Could it be?”

“I’m not certain. It’s just that something’s bothering me.”

Dokyung logged into the trading system using his computer. His portfolio was the first thing he saw.

‘Hanseong Shipbuilding has risen as much as it could.’

Dokyung thought yesterday’s closing price was Hanseong Shipbuilding’s peak.

After the message warned about Hanseong Shipbuilding, he had spent nights digging into it. And his conclusion was that he should sell today.

‘Institutional buying has stopped too.’

The institutional buying that had been gathering volume for the past few days had also stopped.

Sell signals were coming from foreign investor windows, and individual investors were absorbing all that volume.

Dokyung sighed and nodded.

‘Various unsettling signals keep coming out.’

Dokyung thought he shouldn’t take lightly the signals from the message and the unsettling signs from market participants.

If bad news were to ignite the accumulating anxiety, Hanseong Shipbuilding’s stock price, which had risen over the past few days, could plummet overnight.

“Good morning, everyone.”

As Dokyung was deep in thought, the office door opened and Lee Seong-hyun, the PR team manager running the competition, entered the room.

“Lee Yeon-ji-ssi.”

“Yes!”

“I’ll make sure to include it.”

As Lee Seong-hyun spoke as if confirming what Lee Yeon-ji had shouted three days ago, Lee Yeon-ji scratched the back of her head, looking embarrassed.

“Today marks the 10th business day, halfway through the competition.”

Lee Seong-hyun continued, looking at the participants.

“Please remember that everything is being recorded on video and act accordingly. Of course, we’ll edit, but it’s hard on us too.”

Lee Seong-hyun cracked a joke, seemingly trying to lighten the tense atmosphere.

“Now then, if anyone wants to sell stocks from their portfolio today, please write it down on paper and submit it now.”

As if on cue, several participants wrote down the stocks they wanted to sell and handed them in.

“All submitted… Yoon Dokyung-ssi?”

As Dokyung approached him, Lee Seong-hyun looked surprised.

“Are you selling?”

“Yes.”

As Dokyung handed over the paper, Lee Seong-hyun unfolded it on the spot and looked at Dokyung again with a surprised expression.

“Really?”

“Yes, I’m selling all of my Hanseong Shipbuilding stock.”