Chapter 34: Seed Money Soaked With Tears (3)

Gun-Ho invested 500 million won in the InsunENT stock out of the B2B payment of 515 million received from Mulpasaneop Corp. by the company. This was obviously an illegal act. Gun-Ho was suffering severe financial difficulties, and it was an act of deviation driven by his deep despair.

“I will pay right back to the company once I make money out of this investment.”

Gun-Ho withdrew the remaining 15 million won of the Mulpasaneop’s B2B payment in cash.

“It won’t make any difference whether I take 500 million won or 515 million won.”

Gun-Ho sent 4.5 million won from the 15 million cash withdrawal to his sister so she could pay for the father’s surgery and also for the outstanding dues of his medical insurance. Once Gun-Ho sent a text message to his sister to let her know about the money he just sent, she called him right away.

“You, where did you get that money?”

“I stole it.”

“What? Tell me the truth.”

“You are the one who told me that I should even steal money from somewhere to pay for dad’s surgery.”

“It just came out of anger. Did you borrow from your company? Well, thank you, brother. I will let the hospital know so dad can have his surgery as scheduled.”

“Okay. I gotta go; I am busy.”

Gun-Ho used another 500,000 won from that cash withdrawal to fill in the company’s petty cash; he used some of the petty cash to repair his car earlier.

“I have 10 million won left. I will invest all in the InsunENT stock.”

All he could think of was real-time stock quotes. Gun-Ho stayed logged in the online stock trading website to see the current volumes of bid size and ask size of stocks. He kept the one-minute bar chart open on his computer.

“Mr. Goo, let me borrow the company credit card; I have to buy paint.”

The maintenance team leader came to Gun-Ho to ask for the business credit card. Even then Gun-Ho couldn’t take his eyes off the chart.

“Mr. Gun-Ho Goo! What are you looking at? Are you looking at the bar chart?”

“No, no. What did you just say? Did you say you needed the company credit card? What do you need it for?”

“Wake up. I just told you that I needed to buy paint.”

“Oh, that’s right. Paint. If the amount to spend is more than 100,000 won, you need to get the president’s signature first.”

Gun-Ho’s face was telling that when his mind was somewhere else.

Stocks don’t move in the direction investors wish to move. If you buy a stock, its price goes down. If you sell it, the price goes up. That’s the way stocks work.

“Sh*t, it’s down again 3% today. That makes my net account value 15 million won less. It must be the market manipulators behind the decrease of this stock’s price. They are trying to make small investors sell their stocks.”

InsunENT stock didn’t send a lucky smile to Gun-Ho. Instead, its stock didn’t plunge at least. The stock price moved up and down repeatedly within the -2% frame.

“It looks like the stock is confined in a box.”

Gun-Ho became anxious as time went by. Gun-Ho could manage to empty his mind and relax in the beginning. However, as time went by, he was beginning to feel antsy and have a panic attack. He couldn’t sleep at night and his lips became swollen consequently.

“Mr. Gun-Ho Goo! What happened to your lips? Did someone bite you?”

The general affairs manager made a joke out of Gun-Ho’s swollen lips. The new female employee in the general affairs team also laughed along while covering her mouth. The president hired this female employee as a general affairs team member after Manager Kim in the accounting team went on maternity leave. The president thought there had to be someone who could serve tea when he had a guest in the company.

It has been five days since Gun-Ho invested in InsunENT stock.

“I’ve invested in this company because Chairman Lee spoke highly of their business. Did I overreact to what he said by investing in this company? Maybe he just said it without meaning anything.”

Gun-Ho was continuously feeling antsy even after he went back to his room after work. He sometimes stayed up all night because he couldn’t sleep. He even took sleeping pills.

“If I have to go to prison, at least my dad could survive because he had undergone surgery… Me, I will probably rot in prison for two years? Once I get out of prison, I will be 34 years old and wouldn’t be able to find a job because of my criminal record. I will probably have to get a day worker job and eventually die as such.”

Gun-Ho thought life was unfair. If there was God, he wanted to ask him why unfortunate things happened to him way more than others.

“What’s done is done. I will empty my mind calmly and wait to see what happens.”

Gun-Ho decided to stop checking stock prices daily.

The president usually read an economic newspaper in his office in the morning and he read two additional daily newspapers. After he finished reading the newspapers, the workers in the office read them in the afternoon. Gun-Ho was reading the economic newspaper that day when he found an article about construction waste.

“Construction waste should be handled by an authorized waste management company.”

The article talked about construction waste and proper handling of the waste due to their adverse impacts on the environment. It said the construction waste should be disposed of by an authorized waste disposal company.

“This is good. Let’s check the InsunENT stock.”

Its stock price went up to 3.5%.

“I’ve recovered from the early losses and I am now back to my original price!”

Gun-Ho’s face was flushed with excitement. Since he came back to his initial price, he felt a bit emotionally stable. On the following day, Gun-Ho could see information and opinions about InsunENT on an online stock-trading community.

“InsunENT stocks are undervalued despite their good business performance. The stocks for investors to pay attention.”

Opinions like this started appearing on the online stock community.

“It seems that rumors from Yeouido stock street began to spread.”

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The stock price started going up; 6% up already. 12% up on the following day, and it went down a bit and closed at 8%. Gun-Ho initially purchased the stocks for 510 million won. Now it was worth 580 million won.

“Nice! I made 70 million won. ”

Gun-Ho was excited.

“Let’s place the order to sell the stock!”

Gun-Ho’s hands were shaking.

“No, no, I still have more than ten days until the payday. I have to take big risks in order to win big. Let’s wait for a few more days.”

Bottom-priced stock can bounce hard and once the momentum gets behind the stock, its price goes up rapidly. This time, the InsunENT released an official news announcement.

“InsunENT signed a 15 billion won contract with A Corp. for construction waste disposal.”

The next day, its stock price increased 4% more. Gun-Ho’s net account value also increased to 600 million won.

“I have to sell now. If the stock plunges I could be stuck!”

Gun-Ho was about to place an order to sell the stock when the president called him in.

“Mr. Gun-Ho Goo, the branch manager from the Industrial Bank of Korea is requesting a copy of our financial statements. Will you take it to them now?”

“Right now?”

It spoiled his excitement. Gun-Ho had to go to the Industrial Bank of Korea without being able to place the stock selling order. When he returned to the office, the stock market closed already.

“Whew, I really wanted to sell them today.”

The following day, the stock price dropped by 6%; it was strange. Gun-Ho’s net account value also went down to 560 million won.

“I should have sold them yesterday.”

“I thought I would make 90 million won. Well, I should be happy with this 50 million earnings.”

When Gun-Ho opened the stock trading website to place the selling order, he was stunned by the real-time stock quotes. As the trading volume dramatically increased, the price of the stock moved from -6% to 10%.

Gun-Ho opened tick charts. The size of the bar was growing, penetrating the ceiling.

“Let’s wait until the market closes!”

Gun-Ho stopped doing his accounting work and kept staring at the computer screen until 3 PM. As Gun-Ho didn’t even budge while sitting at his desk, the new female worker from the general affairs team talked to him.

“You are so into your work.”

Gun-Ho still didn’t take his eyes off the computer screen.

“The market closed with the HOD (High of Day)! The closing price is the highest price. There is still a high volume of buyers stacked up with this closing price!”

“My net account value is now 780 million won!”

Gun-Ho initially invested 510 million won and now the stock value was worth 780 million won. He gained 270 million won at a breath.

“I’m going to have an extravagant dinner tonight.”

That day, Gun-Ho had a very expensive dinner in a very expensive Japanese restaurant in Dujeong Town.

The increase in the stock price continued the next day. Gun-Ho’s net account value reached 1 billion won already.

“I heard there was an earthquake in Pohang City today. Will it impact on the stock market?”

Gun-Ho opened the stock discussion forum.

“The earthquake produced more construction waste. It will raise the stock price! Well, the stock is blowing up! Fasten your seatbelt!”

Opinions and comments of forum members were pouring into the forum.

Gun-Ho sold all of his stocks in InsunENT the next morning when there was a red light. It was five days before the payday.

“My net account value is now 1,045 million won. After I return 515 million won to the company, I will still have 530 million won.”

Tears were flowing from Gun-Ho’s eyes.

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* About Insun Ent Co., Ltd.

InsunENT is a construction waste disposal company. It was KOSDAQ registered in 2002.

Its gross sales were 135.5 billion won, and its headquarter is located in Goyang City in Ilsan District. (The company can be searched on the Internet)

The founder of InsunENT is Jong-Taek Oh. He graduated from Gimje High School in Jeollabuk Province. After graduating high school, he moved to Seoul and worked for a subcontracting company of a construction equipment company. When he was retired, he purchased a heavy equipment with 6 million won and opened the InsunENT.

The price of InsunENT stock actually increased significantly in 2007 from 3,000 won to 9,000 won.

The story of our main character, Gun-Ho Goo buying the InsunENT stock is not based on the true story. It is fiction.

The reason I used the real company, InsunENT in this novel is because of its founder who is a high school graduate, but a very successful man. It was just to add fun to the novel. Thank you.