Tae-kyu Spoke Up
"Ah! I just had a great idea. How about this?"
Usually, when he starts a sentence like this, it's the prelude to some nonsense.
This time felt no different.
"What is it?"
His proposal was simple.
"I'll provide the capital, and you provide the superpower. We invest together and split the profits 50-50. How about it?"
"Seriously…?"
A 50-50 split, leveraging my foresight?
It was a tempting offer. But the reality of investing is that losses are almost inevitable at some point.
No one invests with the intention of losing money, yet more people lose than profit in the market.
"And if we lose? Do I cover half the loss too?"
"Do you even have money to cover losses? If we lose, it can't be helped."
He had a point.
Practically speaking, if we lost a significant amount, I wouldn't have the means to repay it. That would mean splitting profits equally but having Tae-kyu shoulder the full brunt of the losses.
Could we really make such an agreement?
"This is basically playing 'money makes money.'"
If possible, I'd love to try it.
But there was a serious issue. Even if this foresight were a superpower, as Tae-kyu claimed, there was no guarantee that it was 100% accurate. What if it just showed a randomly high-probability outcome?
Could I really trust these holograms I saw and base investments on them?
Investment decisions require reliable sources and concrete reasoning. Without that, information is practically worthless.
Even if the predictions have been correct so far, what happens if they're wrong next time?
Even if you've only ever seen white swans, there's no rule that says black swans don't exist.
If my foresight failed, leading to tens of billions lost, could we handle the aftermath?
But on the flip side—what if the superpower is real?
As Tae-kyu said, this could be an incredible opportunity. I had foresight, and he had 13 billion won.
Couldn't we make a fortune just by combining these assets?
While I hesitated, Tae-kyu dramatically extended his hand toward me.
"Come on, my friend, take my hand. If you do, we'll invest together."
"And if I don't?"
"Then we part ways forever."
I looked back and forth between his face and his outstretched hand.
While I was debating, my phone suddenly rang.
Ring!
It was Min-young, one of my college classmates. I answered the call.
"Hello?"
[We're meeting Gi-hong sunbae at Hongdae. Wanna come? He heard you finished your military service and wants to see you.]
Gi-hong sunbae was the president of the business school student council when I first enrolled. He was popular and well-liked by everyone, regardless of gender.
We got pretty close through club activities.
I hadn't seen him since I enlisted, but I'd heard he graduated and landed a job at KYB Investment Securities.
"When should I be there?"
[We're meeting at the bar near campus in an hour.]
"Got it."
I turned to Tae-kyu.
"I have plans now, so let's talk more about this later."
As I backed away, Tae-kyu panicked and yelled, "Hey, wait! Don't go, man!"
***
At the Bar
When I entered the underground pub, Min-young and Kyung-il were already seated.
Min-young waved. "Hey! Sergeant Kang!"
"I'm a reservist now."
Kyung-il grinned and asked, "How long has it been? How was the army?"
I answered honestly, "Avoid it if you can."
It had been almost two years since I last saw my classmates.
Thanks to frequent messages from Min-young, I had some idea of what had been going on in the department while I was away.
Across the table, two unfamiliar female students sat.
"Who are they…?" I asked.
Kyung-il replied, "Oh! Let me introduce them. They're first-years who joined this year. This is Kang Jin-hoo, one of our classmates who recently finished his military service."
The girls stood and bowed politely.
"Hello, sunbae-nim."
"We've heard a lot about you from Min-young sunbae."
One was tall and had dyed blonde hair—her name was Shin Yu-ri. The other was shorter with a bob haircut—her name was Hwang Ji-hye.
Even accounting for my now-lowered standards post-military, they were both quite pretty.
The business school was notoriously male-dominated. Even though there had been a gradual increase in female students over the years, the ratio was still about 7:3.
As a result, female freshmen were always warmly welcomed.
While Min-young had dressed casually, Kyung-il had gone the extra mile, styling his hair with wax.
He spoke to Yu-ri in an oddly low voice. "Take your time with the drinks, Yu-ri."
"Yes, sunbae-nim."
"When you take Professor Kim Myung-jun's class in your second year, let me give you a few tips on his teaching style…"
For someone who flunked most of his courses, Kyung-il was surprisingly eager to help a younger student with academics. I couldn't have been prouder of him.
"Where's Gi-hong sunbae?"
"He said he'd be a bit late because of work. Let's start without him."
Kyung-il poured soju into my glass.
"Are you coming back to school next year?"
"I'm thinking about it."
With family and tuition issues resolved, there was nothing stopping me from returning.
The sooner I returned and graduated, the better, right?
We clinked glasses and caught up. As I poured more drinks, someone else reached for the soju bottle.
"Let me pour for you."
Yu-ri filled my glass.
"Oh, thanks."
"Pour me one, too."
I filled her glass in return.
"You can really hold your liquor."
Kyung-il, who had been drinking at the same pace, was already tipsy and muttering nonsense. Ji-hye, too, looked drunk, her eyes half-closed.
But Yu-ri, aside from her slightly flushed cheeks, seemed perfectly fine.
She smiled and said, "I can handle up to three bottles of soju."
Wow, kids these days really can drink.
After drinking on an empty stomach, I started to feel the buzz.
About 30 minutes later, the bar door opened, and a man in his late 20s wearing a suit and tie walked in.
Min-young waved him over. "Over here, sunbae-nim!"
"How've you all been?"
Seeing Gi-hong sunbae in a suit, after only ever seeing him in casual campus jackets, was a strange feeling. It made him seem more professional—or older, depending on how you looked at it.
Gi-hong sunbae sat down and said, "It's been a while, Jin-hoo. How was the army?"
"Not bad."
"You should've reached out during your leave, you punk."
I smiled. "You were busy with your new job. How's life been?"
"Same old, same old."
Min-young poured soju into Gi-hong sunbae's glass.
"At least you've got a stable job, unlike some of our other seniors. Isn't it tough to get hired in finance these days?"
Gi-hong sunbae downed his drink in one go, looking exhausted.
"It's rough. Commercial banking might be okay, but investment banking? Hiring is down this year and will drop even more next year."
He explained how commercial banks (CB) generate profits through deposits and loans, while investment banks (IB) raise capital and profit through investments.
KYB Securities, where he worked, fell into the latter category.
"Right now, the company's in chaos because of restructuring and reallocations."
"What? Restructuring? But KYB is doing well, isn't it?" Kyung-il asked in surprise.
"What does it matter? This time, KYB Securities and Duri Securities are merging. The second and fourth largest securities firms in terms of capital size are merging, so once the merger is complete, they'll rise to the number one spot in the industry. The creation of a large IB (investment bank) is a good thing, but from an employee's perspective, it's not exactly great news. After the merger, it's almost certain that layoffs will follow. Employees whose roles overlap will either be reassigned to other tasks or will have to leave on their own."
"Won't you be fine since you're a new hire?"
"Even junior employees are being offered voluntary retirement packages. I'm weighing my options. The work isn't as exciting as I thought it'd be."
"What would you do if you quit?"
"I'm looking into private equity. I've always been interested in M&A."
He explained that private equity funds (PEF) differed from public funds, focusing on corporate acquisitions funded by a few wealthy investors.
Min-young sighed. "I thought landing a job was the hard part. Guess not."
"Exactly."
With that, Gi-hong knocked back another drink.
The conversation took a darker turn, dampening the mood as Min-young and Kyung-il grew visibly concerned about their own futures.
The golden days of guaranteed jobs for business graduates were long gone. Youth unemployment loomed over every industry, including finance, as automation and digital platforms replaced human workers.
For someone like Gi-hong to land a job at KYB Securities was already a stroke of luck. Many seniors either took unrelated jobs or delayed graduation altogether.
By the time we'd switched from soju to beer and started mixing the two, Gi-hong, now visibly drunk, grew even more talkative.
"Manufacturing boomed for decades after the Korean War. Companies like Seoseong Electronics and Eunseong Motors are household names. But tell me, do we have a single bank, securities firm, or fund that's internationally recognized?"
"No."
"Meanwhile, firms like Fitch, Moody's, JP Morgan, and Morgan Stanley dominate our market. What's Korea's flagship company?"
"Seoseong Electronics," Min-young answered.
"Exactly. But is it really a Korean company?"
"The chairman is Korean, and it's listed on the KOSPI."
"What about Alibaba, a Chinese trading company? The CEO is Chinese, but the company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange. How about Rite Group? Many of its affiliates are listed on the exchange, and most of its sales come from Korea, but the chairman is a Korean-Japanese, and the holding company is in Japan."
"That's…"
Gi-hong sunbae smirked.
"Foreigners own 53% of Seoseong Electronics' shares. Half of its market capitalization is owned by foreign IBs, sovereign wealth funds, private equity funds, and pension funds. It's not just Seoseong Electronics. One-third of the stocks on the exchange are owned by foreigners. Despite this, every year during earnings season, the media keeps talking about it. They talk about how much dividends foreigners are pocketing or how much capital gains they've made."
"Isn't it natural that they take profits because they've invested?"
At my words, Gi-hong sunbae nodded.
"That's exactly what I'm saying. Who owns those large multi-story buildings in Yeouido? Who owns the hotels along the Han River? Who owns franchises like Heungbu's Stew, Lydia Coffee, Master Pizza, which are found in every neighborhood? They're all owned by foreign capital. Even this QB beer we're drinking right now!"
Kyung-il, who had been drinking a soju-beer mix, hiccupped and spoke.
"Isn't QB beer a Korean product?"
"Just because it tastes bad, does that mean it's Korean beer? The Jusan Group sold it to the UK-based PEF KRR, and KRR sold it to the TM Consortium five years later. They made five times the profit."