Chapter 9

“Are you really sure it’s okay to go through with this?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

For some reason, the team leader seemed even less worried than I was, despite the fact that I was the one who had chosen the report.

She wasn’t just calm.

She was so cool that it sent chills down my spine.

I did choose the report because that foul smell eventually appeared again.

But the report wasn’t even a finished version. It was merely a rough draft—practically nothing more than a scrap of paper.

Even now, I was still wondering whether choosing it had really been the right decision.

The problem was that the team leader had approved it without the slightest hesitation.

“Aren’t you worried?”

“Of course I am.”

“Then why…?”

“Because of everything Intern Kang has shown us so far. I trust that.”

But wouldn’t anyone be curious?

They would want to know exactly why I had chosen such a ridiculous report and what evidence I had based my decision on.

“Then let me ask you. If I asked why you chose it, would you answer me?”

“What?”

“I mean, what information did you have, and what kind of analysis did you conduct to arrive at that conclusion? If I asked you, could you explain it? Everything, from the hotel case to this semiconductor case.”

I hesitated.

There was no way I could answer, I chose it because it smelled bad.

“……”

When I remained silent, the team leader let out a small laugh.

“See? You can’t answer.”

“……I suppose you’re right.”

“I don’t ask because I know you won’t tell me. Everyone has their own way of doing things. There are things that can’t be explained with words… things like intuition. Don’t you think?”

I gave an awkward smile and nodded.

Even if I died and came back to life, there was no way I could tell that serious-looking woman that I had chosen the reports because they smelled bad.

“Here in Yeouido, no one cares about the process or the method. They only care about the results. I’m the same. I’m very curious about where Intern Kang gets information faster than we do and how he analyzes it, but as long as the results are good, I don’t care how you do it.”

Then the team leader asked me in a slightly cautious voice.

“But about semiconductors. Are you really saying they’ll fall instead of rise?”

“That……”

“Ah. Sorry. I’m asking something unnecessary again. I trust Intern Kang’s decision.”

“What if you’re wrong?”

“Hmm~ I won’t answer that either.”

Was she leaving it to my imagination?

The smile on the team leader’s face suddenly began to look like something out of a horror movie.

Traders simply need to trade well with the company’s money and make profits, which then become their incentives.

The Research Center, however, had to win contracts.

Pension funds, banks, insurance companies, funds, and so on.

They presented good reports and investment strategies to these institutions, persuaded them to entrust their money to the securities firm, and earned fees in return.

“……”

That’s why this particular situation was such a big deal.

News of the semiconductor boom was already beginning to circulate, and securities firms everywhere were getting excited.

“But how are we supposed to win contracts with this?”

Interest had been pouring into Daesung Securities because of a single report that had originally been uploaded merely to fill out the required volume.

Who knew whether some ancestral spirit had appeared in someone’s dream or what, but the Operations Team had uploaded the report exactly as it was, and it had unexpectedly attracted enormous attention.

Naturally, institutions would now want investment strategies that took advantage of rising semiconductor stocks.

But what Team Leader Cheon and that intern had left behind was a report that went in exactly the opposite direction.

“What should we do, Team Leader? Are we really supposed to revise this and submit it?”

“Team Leader Cheon told us to do it.”

“Ha, but prices are already slowly climbing. They look like they’re about to skyrocket. Telling institutions to invest based on this report under these circumstances is…”

Insane.

It was like kicking away a pumpkin that had rolled straight into your lap.

“Wouldn’t it be better to just ignore the Operations Team and proceed according to your judgment, Team Leader?”

Proceed according to my judgment?

Team Leader Lim let out a hollow laugh.

“Hey. If we did that, that intern……”

“Huh?”

Oops.

His subordinates didn’t know.

They didn’t know that the intern was someone who had descended from the heavens.

“Sigh. Forget it. Anyway, stop complaining and do as Team Leader Cheon said. Rewrite it with the focus on semiconductor stocks all falling together. It has to be finished before lunch. We need to show it to the institutions this afternoon.”

His subordinates looked like they couldn’t understand what was happening, but what could they do?

The person who had chosen this report was a member of the royal family, after all.

So that’s why Cheon Do-ah brought the intern with her.

Cheon Do-ah was a woman who never paid much attention to the feelings of her superiors.

If even she was treating the intern like this, it was obvious that his position was anything but ordinary.

Then she should have given me some warning beforehand.

If he had known earlier, he never would have spoken to the intern like that!

But he couldn’t exactly go running over now, bow his head to the floor, and apologize either.

“Phew…”

It was a day that made him miss the cigarettes he had quit.

To Geum Ga-ho, Kang Suho was like a son.

He had met countless young people throughout his life, but Suho was the only one who reminded him of his deceased son.

If my son were still alive, he would probably have smiled that brightly.

He probably would have approached me warmly and chatted with me.

Receiving that kind of comfort had made Geum Ga-ho participate in his hiking club for much longer and with much more enthusiasm than he had expected.

Perhaps that was why he had wanted to keep Suho close to him somehow.

Even the company he had once intended never to set foot in again, he had recently begun visiting from time to time because of Suho.

“……Who did what?”

“As I understand it, the Operations Team Leader was the one who first recommended that Intern Kang Suho be hired as a full-time employee. The Research Center Director accepted the recommendation and passed it along to the Human Resources Department.”

But the moment Geum Ga-ho arrived at work that morning, he heard some astonishing news.

“He hasn’t even been an intern for a month yet, and already? Why?”

“I assume it’s because of you, Director. The center director knows that Intern Kang was assigned by you personally, so he seems to be paying special attention to him.”

“My goodness. Taking care of someone whose connections have already run dry.”

Maybe this is actually a good thing.

Geum Ga-ho had intended to have Suho promoted to a full-time employee at an appropriate time anyway.

“The problem is that they’ve also assigned Intern Kang Suho a separate incentive percentage.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“It hasn’t been finalized yet, but several institutions are currently discussing contracts related to the semiconductor supercycle. Apparently, Intern Kang Suho will receive incentives based on the performance generated from those contracts.”

Geum Ga-ho slapped his forehead.

He could roughly see what had happened.

Since Geum Ga-ho had unexpectedly placed an intern there, the people on that side must have mistaken Suho for a member of the royal family and decided to support him.

“What basis did they have for doing that? They wouldn’t just assign an incentive percentage without any reason.”

“According to what I’ve heard, the report Intern Kang selected happened to be accurate this time, so they’re saying he deserves the most credit.”

“Does that make any sense?”

“Of course it’s just a justification they came up with.”

Suho was a kind and diligent young man, but at the end of the day, he was still a newcomer to society.

How could someone in an intern position possibly analyze a report entirely on his own and confidently insist that one particular prediction was correct?

It was obvious that the team leaders had deliberately decided to recognize his contribution and coordinated the story with the center director.

They were probably trying to boost Suho’s achievements in that way.

“Everyone seems to be under some huge misunderstanding. How am I supposed to straighten this out?”

But it would be ridiculous to rush over and announce:

Our Suho isn’t a member of the royal family!

He’s just an intern!

“Wouldn’t doing that only create an even bigger misunderstanding? They might think you’re warning them never to reveal the royal family’s identity.”

“This is driving me crazy. So we just sit back and watch?”

“Yes. But perhaps give them a little warning to keep things within reason.”

It seemed impossible to undo what had already happened.

Instead, they would have to make sure things didn’t go too far.

“Then who should I meet? The Research Center Director?”

“The center director is about to retire, so I think it would be better to speak with one of the team leaders.”

“Which team leader?”

“Ugh.”

I had lost count of how many times I had sighed today.

I had considered going up to the rooftop to get some fresh air, but I was afraid that seeing people smoking would make me reach for a cigarette again.

So instead, I was sitting in the break room, brooding.

“Hey, Team Leader Lim. What are you doing here?”

Another team leader and several employees entered the break room.

“Hmm? Just taking a break.”

“Already enjoying some leisure time? Well, I suppose you can afford it. The semiconductor sector is blazing hot right now. You guys looked pretty busy for the past few days, so you can probably relax a little now.”

“I heard you’re getting tons of contract inquiries this time. Wow. The semiconductor sector must be nice. We’re stuck here sucking our fingers.”

“……”

Did these bastards come here just to make me miserable?

No.

There was no way they could know how things were actually progressing.

“Yeah. I’m going to eat it all myself, so you guys just keep sucking your fingers. Haha.”

“Then is Team Leader Lim treating us?”

“You guys never paid any attention to us when you were celebrating your performance bonuses. But I’m in a good mood. When the incentives come in next month, I’ll treat you all to some premium Korean beef.”

“Whoa. Did you hear that? That’s our Team Leader Lim!”

“We’ll be looking forward to it, Team Leader!”

The group disappeared while chanting Team Leader Lim’s name.

And then the deep emptiness returned.

“Damn bastards. They have no idea what’s going on.”

It was true that a huge number of institutions had contacted them.

But they hadn’t secured a single contract.

The reason was simple.

“Who the hell would sign a contract after seeing this?!”

Even someone who didn’t know the first thing about stocks would understand that the semiconductor supercycle meant a boom was coming.

After all, wasn’t Daesung Securities the company that had predicted it first?

And yet the report they had newly released predicted not a rise in semiconductor stocks, but a decline.

Who would want to sign a contract after reading that?

It was a miracle that the institutions hadn’t looked him straight in the face and called him crazy.

“But I can’t just choose whichever report I want and release it either.”

If they had released an ordinary report, the institutions would probably have signed contracts without any trouble.

Then he would receive a hefty incentive next month.

But the consequences afterward would fall entirely on Team Leader Lim.

He would have committed the crime of ignoring the opinion of a member of the royal family personally placed there by the group.

And he would have committed the crime of raising his voice and harshly questioning that person without even knowing his identity.

He might be happy because of his incentive for one month.

But would he still be happy the month after that?

By the time he regretted it with a knife at his throat, it would already be too late.

“It’s fucking awful, but I just have to endure it.”

They said that once you reached the team leader level, working at a company became a constant tightrope walk.

He was beginning to think that was exactly right.

“Let’s go back in. Otherwise, someone else is going to come and suck the money right out of us.”

Putting his gloomy thoughts aside, Team Leader Lim stood up.

He wanted to encourage his team members, who were probably just as depressed in the office.

Should I buy them something to drink?

They must be pretty upset too, since their long-awaited opportunity to earn incentives had apparently disappeared.

“Team Leader! Team Leader!”

But when he returned to the office, the expressions on his team members’ faces were completely different from what he had expected.

They were all wearing expressions filled with shock and disbelief.

“What happened? Why is everyone looking like that?”

“Team Leader. We heard there was a major fire at a factory in the Netherlands.”

“So? Why does that matter?”

“They say it’s a huge factory that produces key components for semiconductors. You know the place. The one that produces EUV lithography equipment.”

“Wait. There was a fire there?!”

“Yes. The news of the fire spread shortly after the semiconductor boom story broke. Semiconductor stocks rose slightly at first, but now they’re all falling.”

A fire at a Dutch factory producing key semiconductor components meant that semiconductor production would inevitably suffer a major disruption.

No one knew exactly how severe the damage was yet.

But if the fire had caused extensive damage and news came out that production would be difficult for the time being, then…!

“Team Leader. The institutions that rejected us are contacting us again. They’re saying they’ll sign the contracts immediately without going through complicated negotiations.”

“What, what?! Seriously?”

“Yes. It’s not just one or two institutions. And once again, semiconductor stocks are falling exactly as we predicted. They’ve seen our prediction come true twice already, so they’re willing to sign without asking any questions.”

Team Leader Lim was completely dumbfounded.

If this was true, then the intern’s choice had been correct.

“Th-then how did he know this?”

Had headquarters actually planted a fortune-teller in their team?