Translator: Khan

  Editor: RED

  [The candidates for the next mayor of Seoul are reduced to three.]

  I read the article. The content was mediocre. It was what I already knew from a report from the established media just now. But I smiled at it. My five senses carried a deep, strong feeling. This was the article to make money. If the Seoul mayoral election was the biggest one in the election, there were real stakes in it. It was a stock, of a political kind.

  ‘If you ride the waves of a political stock, you could make a lot of money. There’s an upper and low limit price here every day.’


  The problem was that I had never touched a political stock before. It was an informal investment in the first place, but when I was in stocks, there was no election. I started thinking, closing the email window.

  ‘I need to study more.’


  ——————-

  “Welcome.”


  I entered the store to a greeting: Waffle, a famous electronics retail store located in Garosu-gil, Sinsa-dong.

  “Do you have anything you’re looking for?”


  To the waiting staff, I asked, “Is there a tablet PC that works with a pen?”


  “Do you mean an iPad?”


  “Yes, I’m going to buy it.”


  “Oh, there are two main types, common edition and professional one. Would you like to come and see?”


  The clerk showed me two kinds of models. They were a little different in size, but I did not know what was good for me now.

  “What’s the difference between the two?”


  “No matter what, the professional version has a bigger screen and better performance. It’s more expensive.”


  “Then give me a professional version.”


  “The pen is a separate sale.”


  I waved my hands out like a nuisance.

  “Then please give me a pen too.”


  “Then, would you like a Wi-Fi version? Or do you want to use the LTE version? Every version has a different capacity.”


  This was too complicated, and I didn’t want to hear more explanation.

  “Just the best one, and the most expensive one, please.”


  The clerk grinned at my words, as the best customer was just like this.

  “It’s $1,241.”


  When I heard the price, I handed over my credit card.

  ‘$1,241? Is that much for a tablet?’


  In former times, I would have opened my eyes in circles, but since I recently started stock trading, I had not paid much attention to the price. In the first place, this tablet was being bought so I could do better. It was a kind of reinvestment. I was going to make tens of million dollars off this tablet PC!

  I took my new tablet and settled down at a nearby scenic cafe. The screen was big and bright. When I drew on the screen with a pen, it was like writing in a notebook with a real pencil.

  ‘All right, well, I’m looking forward to it.’ I greeted the machine and immediately began to write my first notes. What I spent all day studying was political stock. The first words I wrote in my virtual notebook were ‘Politics is basically fraud.’


  I put another line next to it, ‘It’s a fraud with a poor story, which is not probable.

  ‘The basic structure of political stock is like this: politician A who is in the election has ties with company B. The relationship is a thin relationship that is like, ‘A is a high school classmate with the CEO of company B,’ ‘A worked there,’ or ‘A’s brother has been a director at the company.’ Therefore, if A is elected and has political influence, B will improve its performance.

  ‘But a little thought makes it easy to see that this is a ridiculous story, because the story itself is a reason for collusion between politics and business. It is the nation’s people who voted down the president last year for corruption. The president, who is the most powerful person in the country, also lost control of her family, school or whatever, and when it is found that the mayor of Seoul has given favors to a certain company or intervened in his interests, he should go into forced retirement.

  ‘It worked in the days when money was flowing in and out without knowing, and the days when people below took care of themselves before the superiors told them to do something. However, these days, government workers who do such a thing will be cut out. So, they are reluctant to deal with where his personal connections are.

  ‘But nevertheless, the story still worked on the stock market. The stock market fluctuates during the presidential election and also in the local elections. If we find out why a number of stocks have gone to the ceiling, a relative of a leading politician is working for company B.

  I put another line on my tablet.

  ‘But as it is a fraud, I don’t need to deny it. Because stocks are a kind of game to play with prices. It’s crazy. So everyone says, “don’t do it.” But that works in the stock market, because the price of a stock is basically made from a person’s imagination. If they make a deal for $1,000 with toilet paper in the market, it will be $1,000, and if they trade a shell with pearls for $1, it will be $1.

  ‘If Fireball and Ice Lance meet, Fireball wins, since Fireball is a six-circle magic, and Ice Lance is a four-circle magic. If there’s such a setting in the fantasy world, it’s like the fantasy world is going to roll like that.

  ‘If politician A is elected, company B’s stock price will rise. There is such a setting in the stock market, and so the world rolls. It’s amazing, but it’s true, and it’s repeated every year.’


  I followed up with another line. ‘The political stocks: I only have to trade the leading stock.

  ‘Here, the leading stock in the market is the most sensitive to good news, simply climbing up and falling down the most. However, the political stock has an argument over the setting of falsehood. If they’re going to play with the political stocks, you’d better play with the leading stock. There are several reasons.

  ‘First, the forces that manipulate stock prices intensively throw their bullets at the leading stock. Even for fraudsters and stock-manipulating forces, there is a limit to money. Most of them also manipulate stock prices with other people’s money, taking high interest from the private bond market. Therefore, if the manipulation fails, their lives will be in danger. When they climb, they will raise it as well, so the theme will not die.’


  ‘Second, stocks other than the leading stock can be eliminated during the rally, as the links between politician A and company B are usually weak. In some cases, company B says it is not directly related, and in that case, it drops as quickly as the rising stock that has been classified as a themed stock. They say the market could end before the election is even over.

  ‘Finally, the simplest, most important reason is that the leading stock is the most popular. In other words, if they’re going to gamble, it’s better to do it at a casino bigger than a local swindler. Fraud is essentially the same.’


  I found some of the hottest stocks at the moment, classed as the leading stocks in the political theme, and turned it on my tablet in the form of ‘politician A – company B’ with a short background story.

  [Joo Sung-won – Dongbo Construction]

  ‘Mayor Joo Sung-won once served as an outside director of Dongbo Industry. His New Town Construction Policy is expected to be a good source for Dongbo Construction.’


  [Lee Hee-chul – Endo Biologics]

  ‘Many board members from MaxMedic, where Lee Hee-chul was CEO, are located in this company. Since Lee Hee-chul is a pharmacist and CEO of a pharmaceutical company, Endo Biologics is likely to benefit from it.’


  [Jung Kwan-soo – Yurim Industries]

  ‘Park Myung-won, CEO of Yurim Industries, is a friend of Chung Kwan-soo and a graduate of Seun University. Chung Kwan-soo is often seen with Park Myung-won, president of the National Assembly.’


  ‘The share prices of Dongbo Construction, Endo Vironix, and Yulim Industries are already shaking. The current approval ratings of the three are: The highest, at 50%, is the current Mayor Joo Sung-won. Lee Hee-chul’s approval rating is 35 percent. And finally, the approval rating of Jung Kwan-soo is 15%, and if there are some variables that will turn this ranking upside down, each representative theme would go up and down violently.’


  I wrote another line on my tablet. ‘I will be the best cheater in the world after I go into that fraud.’


  I had been clicking on Politics every day since this day, peeking at opportunities, and that opportunity had come faster than I thought!