NOVEL NEXT 20
“I’m selling all of my Hanseong Shipbuilding stock.”
At Dokyung’s words, everyone turned to look at him in surprise.
The shipbuilding industry, including Hanseong Shipbuilding, was currently leading the market. And it was Hanseong Shipbuilding that had risen in yesterday’s market, pushing Dokyung up to second place.
“Hahaha!”
A loud laugh broke the silence, and all eyes turned toward its source.
“You told me not to be overly self-conscious, but it seems my words have wounded your pride, Yoon Dokyung-ssi?”
Dokyung looked at Lee Chang-jae with an expression of genuine bewilderment.
“Did my advice to keep holding Hanseong Shipbuilding because it will continue to rise hurt your pride that much?”
“What are you talking about?”
Dokyung retorted with a look of utter disbelief and returned to his seat.
Lee Chang-jae, seemingly angered by Dokyung’s dismissive attitude, stood at his spot for a while, staring at Dokyung before sitting down.
“Dokyung-ssi, you’re really funny.”
Lee Yeon-ji, sitting next to Dokyung, spoke while cackling as if she had just witnessed an entertaining spectacle.
“What are you talking about?”
Lee Yeon-ji mimicked Dokyung’s expression and tone from earlier.
“Did I really do that?”
“You did, I tell you. Your face was completely sour.”
“It’s ridiculous, isn’t it?”
“He’s someone who thinks the world revolves around him. You should understand, Dokyung-ssi.”
The roles between the two had suddenly reversed. Now it was Dokyung getting angry at Lee Chang-jae, with Lee Yeon-ji trying to calm him down.
“By the way, Dokyung-ssi, your decisiveness is no joke. What are you going to do if it rises today?”
“If it rises, it means I analyzed the stock incorrectly.”
“But won’t that hurt?”
“We’ve made profits so far. It’s better to be satisfied with this much.”
Dokyung knew that even if he tried to explain his reasoning for the stock, Lee Yeon-ji would remain skeptical.
The results would speak for themselves.
“Alright. The stocks you’ve sold today will be applied immediately, and your return rate will be frozen at yesterday’s closing price. I hope everyone holds up well today.”
Lee Seong-hyun sincerely greeted the participants.
With the recent poor market conditions, the participants’ portfolio performances were not good, and their expressions and behaviors had become so gloomy that he felt almost sorry to broadcast it.
Ding ding-
As the clock struck 8:30, the sound signaling the start of single-price trading rang out, and Dokyung pulled up Hanseong Shipbuilding on his monitor.
“Sell orders are coming in, right?”
Lee Yeon-ji, sitting next to him, seemed more interested in Hanseong Shipbuilding than her own stocks as she asked Dokyung, who nodded in response.
From 8:30 to 8:40 AM, single-price trading and simultaneous call auction trading began, using the previous day’s final stock price.
During the simultaneous call auction, buy and sell orders were received for 30 minutes, and when the market opened at 9 AM, trades were executed at a single price.
The importance of this time was that the single price determined during this period became the opening price for the day.
“There’s a lot of manipulation during the simultaneous call auction.”
Typically, from 8:30 to 8:59 AM, there was a lot of manipulation during the simultaneous call auction.
In fact, there was a stock manipulation method where one would set high buy prices to make it look like there was a large volume, causing retail investors to think something was happening and rush in, allowing the manipulator to offload their own shares.
“That’s true, but… isn’t the sell volume abnormally high right now?”
“We’ll keep watching until 8:59.”
Dokyung replied to Lee Yeon-ji’s question, then rested his chin on his arms on the desk.
As Lee Yeon-ji had pointed out, sell orders were pouring in.
Ding ding-
As the one-minute warning before market open sounded, the accumulated sell orders for Hanseong Shipbuilding began to rapidly decrease.
“This is another attempt to fleece retail investors…”
Though Lee Yeon-ji’s voice could be heard beside him, Dokyung’s attention was entirely focused on the monitor.
Ding ding ding-
As the regular market opening bell rang, Hanseong Shipbuilding’s order book began to fluctuate wildly.
It was a battle between sell orders and the buying pressure absorbing that volume.
Which side would prevail would soon be determined.
“Oh, it’s falling.”
Lee Yeon-ji exclaimed loudly in surprise and looked at Dokyung, but he was focused on the monitor screen, moving his mouse back and forth.
Lee Yeon-ji marveled at Dokyung’s incredible concentration while also looking at the screen he was watching.
[-3.9%……]
[-4.4%……]
[-5%……]
As sell orders poured out as soon as the market opened, the buying pressure gradually weakened, and the stock price rapidly fell more than 5%.
“Dokyung-ssi.”
After a while of intense focus, Dokyung turned his head at the sound of a voice.
“Yes, Lee Yeon-ji-sunbae?”
“I didn’t interrupt your concentration, did I?”
“It’s fine.”
As Dokyung smiled gently, Lee Yeon-ji, who had been asking with a worried expression, seemed to relax.
“Dokyung-ssi, your expression when you’re concentrating is really intense. By the way, this is the pension fund dumping shares, right?”
Dokyung nodded at Lee Yeon-ji’s question.
“Yes, it looks like the National Pension Service is unloading their position.”
“Do you have any hunches? You sold this morning as if you had anticipated this.”
“Well, a hunch…”
Dokyung thought for a moment before looking at Lee Yeon-ji.
“It wasn’t really a hunch. It just rose too much yesterday.”
“Just that simple?”
“Yes. I just thought it would be good to sell now and lock in the return rate.”
“You’ve got a natural talent too. Really.”
“Pardon?”
“I mean, you analyze and understand the market like that, and you also have an innate sense for timing. Effort and talent… seriously, what are you? I’m starting to find you more annoying than that jerk over there.”
Dokyung laughed brightly at Lee Yeon-ji’s joke.
“Thank you for the compliment.”
Dokyung said this and then started focusing on the monitor again.
Hanseong Shipbuilding’s stock had stopped falling at around -5%. To anyone looking, it appeared to be a chart that could only be interpreted as taking a breather after a three-day long rally.
‘No morning disclosure… If there was a problem, shouldn’t they have disclosed it in the morning?’
Dokyung thought that some groups had already caught wind of problems at Hanseong Shipbuilding.
This was because other shipbuilding stocks were still holding up well.
As Hanseong Shipbuilding’s stock price slid in the early market, cautious market participants were buying other shipbuilding stocks.
Dokyung began collecting information related to Hanseong Shipbuilding again.
“You’ll harm your body if you skip lunch like this.”
“Huh?”
Dokyung turned his head as he heard Lee Yeon-ji’s voice.
She was standing there, pointing at her wristwatch.
Time had already flown to lunchtime.
“Why are you studying Hanseong Shipbuilding so hard? You’ve already sold it.”
“I think this is the best opportunity to learn. While other shipbuilding stocks are rising steadily, only Hanseong Shipbuilding is still forming a bearish candle.”
“Studying is good, but eat first and then study.”
“Should we?”
At Lee Yeon-ji’s words, Dokyung stretched and got up from his seat, grabbing his jacket.
“Let’s go…”
“Hey!”
As Dokyung and Lee Yeon-ji were about to leave the office, a loud voice rang out, and their attention turned in that direction.
“Lee Chang-jae-ssi! Hanseong Shipbuilding is…!”
“Quiet! I’m watching it too!”
Lee Chang-jae barked irritably at the employee calling out to him.
Dokyung reflexively ran to his computer and started moving the mouse.
There was a notification on the trading system that a new article related to Hanseong Shipbuilding had been uploaded.
“[Exclusive] Hanseong Shipbuilding, 20 LNG Carrier Order Contracts Canceled.”
“5.2 trillion won worth of ship order contracts with British company EGC canceled.”
“EGC: ‘Hanseong Shipbuilding ignored design change requests citing rising ship prices. Will cancel order contracts.'”
“2.5 billion won per ship… 5.2 trillion won contract cancellation notice. Hanseong Shipbuilding: ‘No comment yet. Still in discussions.'”
Dokyung, reading the article with a stern expression, looked at Hanseong Shipbuilding’s chart.
[-7%……]
[-8%……]
After the exclusive article broke, Hanseong Shipbuilding’s stock price continued to fall.
Dokyung sighed, rubbed his face, and approached Lee Yeon-ji who was waiting for him.
“Looks like it’s over. Shall we go eat?”
As Dokyung said this and left the room, Lee Yeon-ji watched his retreating back with a dazed expression.
⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱⊰⋆⋅⭑⋅⋆⊱
“I’ll set an edit point and start.”
Two days later, in a small conference room at Yuseong Investment Securities headquarters.
Clap-
With the sound of a hand clap, the camera started filming Dokyung sitting in front.
“Dokyung-ssi, hello.”
“Yes, hello.”
Dokyung looked at Lee Seong-hyun from the PR team sitting across from him, with a slight smile on his lips.
“It’s been a while since your last solo interview, right?”
“I think this is my first.”
“Ah, that’s right. Our first meeting felt so much like a solo interview with you.”
Lee Seong-hyun said this while looking at Dokyung.
“I’ll ask you directly. Hanseong Shipbuilding. How did you know?”
Dokyung had known that Lee Seong-hyun would ask this question from the moment this interview was arranged.
Two days ago, when the exclusive article about Hanseong Shipbuilding’s contract cancellation by the shipowner broke during market hours, the stock price fell more than 10%.
Furthermore, after the market closed that afternoon, Hanseong Shipbuilding confirmed the contract cancellation in a public disclosure, leading to a further 6% drop in stock price the next day.
In just two days, it had given up all the gains from the previous three days, and even now during this interview, it was still forming a bearish candle.
“I think I was lucky.”
“It doesn’t seem like mere luck. From what we saw on the office cameras, you were researching Hanseong Shipbuilding for two days before deciding to sell.”
Dokyung sheepishly rubbed his nose and looked at the camera in front of him.
“I always feel uneasy when stock prices are rising.”
Dokyung began speaking in a calm voice.
“How long will this good trend last? I tend to get anxious at the slightest noise. So I start looking. I think about what kind of noise there is about the stocks I hold, and what impact that noise might have.”
Dokyung had been investing in stocks since high school with his allowance and part-time job earnings.
At first, he thought the stocks he picked were perfect.
He believed that stocks he had chosen after days and nights of study wouldn’t fall, and that he deserved to make profits because he had studied more than others.
Embarrassingly, he had been as overconfident as Lee Chang-jae.
“So did you find the epicenter of that noise?”
It had become a habit since then. He tried not to overlook even the smallest noise.
Especially this time, the message he received confirmed that uneasiness. If the message gave a warning, it meant there was definitely a problem with the stock.
“I saw what that noise was trying to say. The article I saw mentioned that steel prices were rising due to increased raw material costs, and that Korea’s shipbuilding industry could be under threat.”
Lee Seong-hyun focused on Dokyung’s words as if encouraging him to continue.
“Korea’s shipbuilding industry is world-class. But it’s true that we lose out to China when it comes to price competition.”
The technology and safety were the best in the world. But shipowners trying to save even a little money were bound to be attracted to the low-price offensive of Chinese shipyards.
They chose lower prices over technology.
“I investigated based on that noise. And I got a hint from an article written by a Korean maritime news outlet. It said that Korean shipyards were struggling with unreasonable design change requests from shipowners.”
“Did that give you certainty?”
“No. The certainty came from Hanseong Shipbuilding’s stock price rising for three days before I sold. I knew I had to get out.”
The message seemed to only tell him the stock, as if saying ‘find the reason and timing for the fall yourself.’
Dokyung had agonized for days trying to find that optimal timing but couldn’t come to a conclusion.
“The answer I came to after much deliberation was that I had ridden this upward rally, so now it was time to get off.”
“But it could have risen more the next day?”
“That would be regrettable, but then I’d have to think that it wasn’t profit meant for me to take. That’s all there is to it.”
What Dokyung had learned from the stock market was humility.
It meant knowing when to sell cleanly and exit when your return rate has reached a certain level.
Of course, it was frustrating when the stock rose after selling, but that didn’t erase the profit he had already made.
“Your skill seems to be accompanied by luck… The bad news broke and the stock price fell on the very day you sold.”
Dokyung nodded with a serious expression at Lee Seong-hyun’s comment.
While he had ultimately made a big profit, there would be viewers of this video who had suffered losses.
He was pleased, but he thought he shouldn’t show it, at least.
“You’re currently leading the mock investment competition. Your return rate is more than 7% ahead of second place, right?”
“I’m already confident in winning, but I won’t let my guard down until the very end.”
“You say you’re confident?”
Lee Seong-hyun asked in surprise when the word ‘confident’ came out of Dokyung’s mouth, who had been modest throughout.
“Yes. Because there’s still one left.”
“Then that means you have a stock that will rise… Could it be?”
Dokyung nodded at Lee Seong-hyun’s question, which seemed to suggest he had a guess.
“Yes. Yuseong Semiconductor is left.”