12 Hours After

Translator: Khan

Editor: Aelryinth

I sat in the chair and clicked my mouse. At the top of the portal site, there was such news.

[The big change in the next presidential race: who can stop the lead of Mayor Joo Sung-won?]

The presidential election was a year away, but other media outlets had already begun to predict the victory of Joo Sung-won. It was not very difficult at this point. They might not know if lawmakers Han Sang-hoon or Lee Soo-won still active, but they were removed by me.

Joo Sung-won, who would originally win the election with a seven percent difference from Rep. Han Sang-hoon, would meet an easier opponent in the changed future, widening the gap to nearly twenty percent, and would be elected president.

I thought, spinning the handsome middle-aged face of Mayor Joo Sung-won on the Internet site, ‘Do well and give me a favor in the future.’ After thinking about that, I came back to the main portal site and wrote in “Han Sang-hoon” this time. There was news in a row about Rep. Han Sang-hoon.

[Former lawmaker Han Sang-hoon was convicted of bribery and perjury in the first trial and sentenced to five years in prison.]

[Perfect witnesses and evidence came out; can former lawmaker Han Sang-hoon really appeal?]

‘I think the story of Han Sang-hoon will continue for a month or two. Since he was a big politician in his own way, he can’t just disappear. However, this may be the last time he is the talk of the town. Five years in prison, or three to four years in prison, is while Mayor Joo Sung-won becomes president. No matter how nice Mayor Joo Sung-won is, he can’t just leave his political opponent an out. He won’t make a comeback.’

That meant the ‘Han Sang-hoon’ news would be mine completely. I went into the four news of 12 Hours After, 12 Days After, 12 Weeks After, and 12 Months After, and typed my name on them. All the news of 12 Hours After, 12 Days After, and 12 Weeks After had news about Rep. Han Sang-hoon.

[Rep. Han Sang-hoon decided to give up his appeal and accept his prison sentence.]

[How will the opposition party handle the absence of Rep. Han Sang-hoon?]

But in the news of 12 Months After, my name came out. [CEO Han Sang-hoon bets two billion dollars to take over FutureSync once again after Kai Games.]

‘Politicians are similar to celebrities. When they are up, the public eye is focused on them, but when they are forgotten, they are easily forgotten. Now, for at least a few years, Han Sang-hoon, who is more famous than me, will find it difficult to be heard.

‘All right, now… one of the three slots of the People Search in all the news is fixed for Han Sang-hoon. It’s mine…’ I thought so. Now my every move would be recorded in the future news and it would come to me.

[CEO Han Sang-hoon is entering the overseas market]

[CEO Han Sang-hoon once again has a great success.]

I would leave the good news as it was, and would make a change to the bad news until the correction news was made.

[In the crash at Kangnam Station, Han Sang-hoon, CEO of Invictus Investment, got involved.]

[A big loss in the transaction of the Invictus Investment.]

This had effectively made me invincible. Although I had some harm coming, I would be able to avoid it.

[CEO Han Sang-hoon died in a raw bolt from the clear sky while walking down the street.]

Then, I would just have to watch a movie at home that day. I was now the man who held my destiny in my own hands.

——————————–

At the end of June 2020, when the political matters were ended, Secretary Seo, who had been by my side for a long time, left the company as announced.

“Thank you for everything you have done for me, Mr. President.”

“Yes. You have had a good job.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. President. If I think everything you’ve done for me, I should stay beside you for my whole life, but…”

“No. It’s not that I don’t know you, and don’t worry about things. Secretary Park is better than you.” I said, pointing to Secretary Park standing next to Secretary Seo.

“Yes. That’s a relief. Mr. President, I’ll go now.”

“Yes. If you find yourself in trouble, tell me as soon as possible.”

“Yes, boss.”

I said good-bye to Secretary Seo in the president’s office. I felt relieved, but sorry that he left, but I thought one day he would help me greatly outside the company.

After Secretary Seo left, I asked Secretary Park, “Now, what will you do? It will be a little boring for you out there alone.”

Secretary Park answered me, “I don’t work for fun.”

“Hmm. You are right, but as you can see, you will have 99% of the time to wait when you are in your secretary’s office. Decide what to do, whether you will watch a movie on your tablet, watch a drama, read a web novel, or just read a book. I won’t say anything about that if you do it waiting. Just be quick when you work. That’s all I want.”

Secretary Park bowed to me and said, “Yes, boss.”

“Then it’s starting today. Shall I give you a test? What’s my schedule today, Secretary Park?”

“Just one. You are scheduled to do a contract with Tencent. You have a meeting with a few executives of Tencent’s investment division today at 11 a.m., and our Vice Presidents Jang, Director Jung Hyung-suk, and Director Kim Hoon-il will be with you.”

“Ah, yes. Okay. Return to your work.”

I sent him to his seat and sat down in my chair. Countless numbers were coming and going on the three monitors in front of my seat.

‘6 shares of MediGenetics were bought at $124.’

‘7 shares of MediGenetics were bought at $125.’

’14 shares of MediGenetics were bought at $126.’

One side was buying shares automatically.

‘4561 shares of NXN Games were sold at $4.75.’

‘1560 shares of NXN Games were sold at $4.74.’

‘2225 shares of NXN Games were sold at $4.73.’

One side was selling shares automatically.

In fact, all I was doing was watching it. ‘How is it going?’

It had been two years since I had started Invictus Investment. Vice President Jang and I had brought in AI sales algorithms used by Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, and Nomura Securities, and modified them for our company. It was the same for my personal account.

Of course, using the news of 12 Weeks After, I decided how much the upper limit price would be and how much I would buy before then. However, the detailed trade was supposed to be automatic. These days, computers were better at this kind of trade than I was, so I had no more work to do.

Even I had said to Secretary Park, “I won’t say anything about that if you do it while waiting,” but in fact, I did the same. Even though I usually went to work, I spent my spare time watching movies and dramas, or playing games, all the while the automatic program was continuously making a few hundred thousand dollars.

Actually, it didn’t matter if I played in the penthouse on the roof. However, I waited in the president’s office, wearing a suit for an important meeting. I was afraid it might look too light for other directors, including Vice President Jang. It was to keep a minimal amount of courtesy.

‘It’s eleven… two hours away. Then what shall I do…’ I picked up my cell phone and entered Google Play without thinking much. But there was a banner standing out.

‘Thank you for winning first place in sales for the new NXN Games, Seven Legend.’

Seven Legend was the very game of NXN Games I had put sell-order to today. NXN Games was a small game company that had been listed not long ago. Twelve weeks ago, I had seen such news, ‘NXN Games’ Seven Legend is the top seller of Google IOS,’ and had put it in the trading algorithm. Perhaps this stock had earned me at least a million dollars. I watched it.

‘Is this so much fun?’

I had two hours left until the meeting. I downloaded it and tried to execute it. “Seven Legend” was a collection of RPG games. I was fed up with such games, but good graphics and well-made characters were interesting. I tried it a little while touching my cell phone. However, an SSS-class character did not come out with the first free ticket.

‘Well, how much do I have to pay to get it?’

I charged about ten thousand dollars right away and tried to pull it out. All SSS-class characters became mine. However, I was ranked around two-hundredth on the server. If I looked at the release date, it had been three days. After spending ten thousand dollars and touching it for thirty minutes, I was two-hundredth place. It was ‘Pay to Win.’ If I spent money, they would raise my rank.

‘Well, let’s do a little more.’ I made an extra charge of five thousand dollars more. This time, I pulled out the equipment along with the character. As I pulled out the equipment without stopping, I found weapons, helmets, armors, bracelets, and shoes. All the equipment was rated as SSS. After spending six thousand dollars, I was in tenth place on the server. It was amazing that there were nine people above me.

‘Well… there’s someone else besides me who spends six thousand dollars on a game. By the way, what makes me tenth place?’

Now that I searched, I needed Runes. I spent about four thousand dollars more and set the SSS rating up to Runes. Come to think of it, I was in second place after I had charged a hundred thousand dollars and played this game for about two hours. These days all games were like this. No man could beat me no matter how much they tried. When I got second place, my eyes naturally went to first place. The ID of first place was ‘The Celestial Dragon.’

‘What is he doing? Is he a BJ of a game?’ While I was thinking about it, the phone rang. Looking at the clock, it was eleven o’clock, the meeting time. I turned off the game I had spent a hundred thousand dollars on for two hours, and I just erased it right away. This kind of game, which I could be strong right away with money, was no longer interesting to me.

‘After this contract, I will take Ah-young on a trip to Europe. I was the only one who couldn’t go to Europe after sending my family there last year.’

I picked up the phone and answered right away, “I’m coming now.”

———————–

Later that month, I eventually signed a contract to transfer the 63% of shares held by Invictus Investment to Tencent. It was the highest deal in the history of Korean game companies, exchanging as much as two billion dollars in cash. The press sent out a stream of news.

[A huge jackpot from Invictus Investment, worth two billion dollars.]

[Han Sang-hoon, who invested a hundred twenty million dollars in the Kai Games, earns two billion dollars.]

[The return rate is sixteen times higher; stock genius Han Sang-hoon stands as a big hand in the investment world.]

[What is the next investment target of CEO Han Sang-hoon, loaded with bullets worth no less than two billion dollars?]

To be honest, there was no place to spend two billion dollars right away. I ordered Vice President Jang to invest only in very conservative, safe bonds. Without a sure card like the Kai Games or FutureSync, I was not going to move.

Warren Buffett, the genius of investment, once said, “There are two principles of investment. First, don’t lose money, and second, keep the first principle.”

If I saved two billion dollars in cash now, chances would come someday. An excellent opportunity would arise to make another big upgrade.