Chapter 8

8. Opening an Account (2)

Yuseok shook his head. Of course, he had never considered joining the school's investment club.

Seohana smiled and said, "You haven't, huh? I was very interested in investing when I was in school. But back then, the investment club was in its early stages, so I mainly used small gatherings within my department. By the way, may I ask what your major is?"

"Philosophy."

Seohana's expression showed surprise at his answer, as it was not what she expected.

She muttered with a slightly disappointed look, "Not an economics major, huh?"

"Isn't that strange?"

"No, it was a bit unexpected. It's not common for students who aren't economics majors to be interested in stocks."

"I wanted to go into that field, too."

Yuseok smiled and said.

Seohana nodded and changed the awkward atmosphere.

"Actually, it's not necessarily true that only economics majors excel in stocks. Sometimes, the ability to see through social phenomena and innate intuition can shine more. I think Yuseok will do well, too."

As they exchanged various words, Yuseok received a good impression of her. Her efforts to boost the customer's mood while conducting the consultation were quite impressive. Of course, her beauty contributed to that feeling.

"Frequent trading isn't always bad, but it often turns out to be harmful in the end. Each person has a different trading cycle, but holding for a longer period isn't bad either."

Yuseok felt somewhat puzzled by her advice. Brokerage firms' profits are largely made up of trading fees. In other words, the more customers trade, the fatter the brokerage firms get. The performance of dedicated employees is also primarily evaluated based on these fee incomes. Therefore, most employees want their customers to trade frequently.

Seohana smiled at Yuseok, who looked at her with a somewhat puzzled expression.

"Of course, it's good for me if you trade frequently, but it's not good for the customer to incur losses. Especially, it's better not to trade frequently until you get used to it. The fees and transaction taxes can be a significant burden for the customer."

Yuseok felt a fresh impression from her advice. It felt like she was genuinely giving advice for the customer's benefit.

"Right? I'm still in the learning phase, so I want to try various trades. Do you provide frequent consultations?"

Yuseok asked subtly.

"Of course, I will provide consultations whenever the customer wants. Many customers in the stock market are actually in a lot of pain. We can't give you the right answer, but we do our best for the customer's success."

Seohana's answer was clear.

"Please call me when you want to trade in the future. I can also provide stock recommendations."

"Please help me a lot in the future."

It could have been a formal conversation between a customer and an employee, but Yuseok thanked her.

After a few more exchanges, Yuseok got up from his seat.

Seohana handed him her business card as a closing gesture.

Yuseok took the card and put it in his pocket. It felt like he had the phone number of a beautiful woman. This was a stroke of luck.

**

In South Korea, the stock market became systematized in the 1980s. The KOSPI, South Korea's composite stock price index, was set to 100 based on the stock price index on January 4, 1980. The calculation method of the index varies slightly by country. The KOSPI is calculated based on the market capitalization of stocks.

The stock market entered a bull market in October 1985. The composite stock price index, which closed at 142.46 at the end of 1984, continued a sideways trend until September 1985. The composite stock price index, which recorded 140.89 at the end of October, began to gradually rise and closed the year at 163.37. On an annual basis, it recorded an approximate 15% increase, with most of it happening in the last two months.

The stock price increase, which started this way, did not change even in 1986. 1986 was a period of stock price explosion. Domestically, opposition parties demanding a direct election system and the ruling party trying to maintain the existing constitution were in a tug-of-war, and college students' protests continued, creating instability. However, internationally, it was a period when South Korea showcased its capabilities through the 1986 Asian Games.

The stock prices, which rose almost throughout the year, recorded 272.61 at the end of 1986, a staggering 67% increase from the previous year. As stock prices rose, many newbies entered the market. At this time, people from rural areas were selling their farmland and entering the stock market.

The booming stock market continued until the end of March 1987, with the stock price index reaching 405.13, a 49% increase from the previous year. In fact, the first three months of 1987 were a period of remarkable stock price increases that would go down in history.

People flocked to the stock market with money. A popular joke at the time was that people were selling their cows and even their farmland to enter the stock market. Brokerage firms were so busy that they couldn't keep up. People looking for a quick profit gathered at the brokerage firms.

Yuseok, as seen from the brokerage firm, was one of those people. He seemed like a moth drawn to the flame, entering the stock market recklessly. Young, a student, ignorant of stocks, and making haphazard investments.

In fact, if it weren't for the diary, he would have become one of those people. Indeed, the early college days of Yuseok, as recorded in the diary, were like that.

As the night deepened, silence fell over the dormitory.

Yuseok sat at his desk, staring at the diary, lost in thought.

His roommate, Go In-hyuk, seemed to be fast asleep, his regular breathing the only sound.

With only the small desk lamp on, Yuseok was lost in thought.

He recalled the content he had seen in the diary. Gradually, the complex matters began to take shape.

"Why did the future Go In-hyuk send the diary to the current me? What is Go In-hyuk's plan? What actions does the future me want the current me to take?"

Everything was still a mystery.

What was certain was that there was no longer a need to doubt the content of the diary. The diary entries were indeed the diaries of the corresponding dates. When the day came, the content would become reality.

Over the past few days, Yuseok had read the overall content of the diary.

The only regret was that the fourth diary, containing the content from 2017 to 2027, was missing. If only that record existed, he could have more clearly understood what would happen in the future. It was unknown whether this fourth diary did not exist at all or was not sent to the past.

There was nothing he could do about what was missing. He had to grasp everything with the information he had.

Thanks to this, he could roughly understand what would happen in South Korea until 2016 and how the stock market would move.

"This year, at the end of the year, the direct presidential election will be held with Roh Tae-woo, Kim Young-sam, Kim Dae-jung, and Kim Jong-pil as candidates. The two opposition party leaders, Kim Young-sam and Kim Dae-jung, failed to unite, and the next president will be Roh Tae-woo. The 1988 Seoul Olympics will be successfully held, and from then on, South Korea will begin to rise as an advanced country. Surprisingly, the next president was Kim Young-sam, and the one after that was Kim Dae-jung."

One event that particularly caught his eye was the foreign exchange crisis that erupted at the end of 1997, during the last days of President Kim Young-sam's term.

He recalled the content of the letter from the future, mentioning the second foreign exchange crisis. If so, the events of 2027 would be exactly 30 years after the first foreign exchange crisis in 1997. It was still unknown what connection these two foreign exchange crises had.

After reading about the various events that occurred during the first foreign exchange crisis, he could roughly imagine the disaster that would unfold in 2027. At that time, South Korea would fall into a national emergency due to international speculative capital, experiencing the worst default and unemployment crisis, and a series of suicides by those who had lost hope. He himself might have been part of that group.

When he read the letter enclosed with the diary, it seemed that he had spent his entire life in stock investment. In the end, he was completely ruined when the country collapsed due to the foreign speculative capital, LTCM.

He did not want to live his life like that. The idea of committing suicide at the end was a tragedy he could not accept.

Yuseok wanted to change his life. He wanted to change his future. The tool to do this would be the magical diary from the future.

He synthesized and estimated the information he had learned from the diary. Although there were many things he still did not understand, grasping the big picture was not a problem.

The purpose of the diary being sent, as he estimated, was this: to save South Korea from the second foreign exchange crisis and to save the many people who would suffer from the foreign exchange crisis.

Why was it him? He could guess with a moment's thought. Go In-hyuk, who planned this, was the closest person to him, and he himself was the one who committed suicide in the future. If he could prevent his own suicide, he could also prevent the national foreign exchange crisis. No one could be more dedicated to the task than someone who was ready to die.

Yuseok's task was clear. He had to prevent his own suicide in the future. This would be possible by preventing his bankruptcy. In the process, the national crisis would also be averted.

What should he do then? All the actions he would take over the next 40 years would provide the answer to this goal.

He wrote down his task more specifically. He wrote it at the beginning of the diary, a content he would continue to read and remember for a long time in the future.

*

– Gather the capital to defeat the international speculative capital, LTCM.

– Prevent Oh Do-wook, Shin Seon-young, Park Kang-soo, Song Ye-eun, and Kwon Dae-man from becoming the lackeys of international speculative capital.

– Finally, win the war against LTCM and save this society from the foreign exchange crisis. This will naturally change my life, which ends in suicide.

*

This was everything he wrote. This might be a wrong judgment, but it was not something he could confirm and handle perfectly. At least, if he successfully completed this task, a better future than what he knew would unfold.

The start was clear. He needed to gather even a small amount of capital and lay the foundation to use the content of the diary. No matter how much he knew about the future, he needed initial capital to reap the benefits. For this, he started tutoring and opened an account.

According to the diary, he started trading stocks in early May. The diary briefly noted the stocks he traded and the market movements.

He planned to use this record. It was practically the same as knowing the future. The best way to use the future record of stocks would be to trade stocks.

From May, he would refer to this record to trade, so his success was practically guaranteed. However, it was not the case now, at the end of March. He planned to practice trading until May. If he made a profit, it would be good, and if he lost, he would see how much he could lose. After all, the amount was small.

"Hehe, now it's just a matter of making money."

Yuseok felt proud. He was happy to have a task to do in his life, not only for himself but also for the country.

This was the beginning. The footsteps that would lead to the acquisition of wealth, which would be remembered in stock history, started from this day.

He recorded his total assets in the new diary he bought.

*

March 25, 1987, Assets: 2