Story of a Big Player from Gangnam

One week passed by. Dyeon Korea’s stock price had been increasing until it hit 7,200 won that day.

Gun-Ho was doing his math with his calculator while sitting in his office in GH Building, Sinsa Town, by himself.

“I’ve purchased 3 million Dyeon Korea’s stock at the average price of 5,600 won per share. The unit share price today is 7,200 won, so the price has increased by 28.5% from my purchase price.”

Gun-Ho received a call from SH Investment Partners’ President Geun-Soo Son later that day.

“Sir, the stock price seems to be stabilized today. Would you like to sell some of our stock today?”

“I’m not sure about it yet.”

“If the price starts moving again, and by the time when we see another price stabilization again, the price could be lower than this. 7,200 won is not bad at all. We paid 5,600 won per share on average, and if we sell them at 7,200 won, we will make 1,600 won per share.”

“That’s correct.”

“We have purchased 3 million shares so far, so if I multiply 3 million by 1,600 won, it will be 4.8 billion won. The stock trading volume seems to be on a downturn. Maybe those people, who have kept buying the stock, probably reached their goal and no longer purchase the stock. If we wait to make more money, we could miss the opportunity to make 4.8 billion won, sir. I do recommend to start selling the stock that we are holding.”

Gun-Ho smiled and thought,

‘Mr. President Son, do you think I’ve done this just to make 4.8 billion won? Once Candidate Jin-Woo Lee is elected as the leader of his political party, and if he shows his intention to run for President, Dyeon Korea’s stock price will start fluctuating. I can’t tell all of this to you, but we should wait. Stop whining, please.’

Gun-Ho said to President Son with a smile, “President Son, you have played Go-Stop (Korean card game), haven’t you?”

“Huh? Umm, yes, I have, sir.”

“When we play Go-Stop, we sometimes say that ‘Even though we can’t eat, we just Go.’ I’m pretty sure that it is okay to wait until December to sell our stock. Let’s wait until then.”

President Son seemed to feel a bit uneasy about waiting since the stock price was good. He believed that it was time to sell the stock to make money. But Gun-Ho didn’t seem to be convinced at all, and he was insisting to wait more.

President Son thought, ‘Well, it is his money anyway. He is the one who wants to wait, against my professional advice. Nothing much I can do about it. Even if we see the stock price going down later, he wouldn’t be able to blame me for it anyway.’

President Son replied, “Yes, sir,” before hanging up the phone.

Gun-Ho received a call from Dyeon Korea’s Director Hyeong-Woo Lee.

“It’s Hyeong-Woo Lee, sir.”

“Yes, Director Lee.”

“Sir, I’m leaving for Guangzhou City, Guangdong Province, China tomorrow. I’m reporting it to you before I leave, sir.”

“Where in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province are you heading to?”

“I have a friend in the area, who used to study with me when I was in the U.S. He is working in an investment bank there. I’m heading to Dongguan City next to Guangzhou City. According to my friend, there is an industrial park called Ping Qian.”

“I’ve heard that there are a lot of manufacturing factories in Dongguan City. You are going to have hard days for a while.”

“I will be fine, sir. It’s my job.”

The next day after Director Hyeong-Woo Lee left for Guangdong Province, China, the election for the leader of Gongmyeong Party took place. And, as expected, Candidate Jin-Woo Lee was elected as the party’s leader. Only 50% of the entire votes were from the party’s representatives and members with rights, and Mr. Jin-Woo Lee won the election by gaining 40% votes over other candidates. He had been elected as a congressman four times before, and he had worked as a minister with the government. His extensive experience and contribution to the country must have been highly recognized by the voters.

Gun-Ho sent him a text message only, to congratulate him on his election.

[My sincere congratulations on your election to the leader of Gongmyeong Party. I expect your further contribution and efforts to work for the people and the country.]

Gun-Ho received his brief reply right away.

[Thank you.]

It occurred to Gun-Ho that it was the right decision to send Party Leader Jin-Woo Lee’s little brother to Guangdong Province in China.

“Since he is not in Korea, but China for work, people won’t talk about Dyeon Korea where he is working now.”

The following day, Gun-Ho checked the stock price of A Group’s A Electronics. The price had already increased by 10%. Its market capitalization was tens of trillion won. For a company with that much market capitalization, a 10% increase in its stock price was huge. An economic newspaper already covered the fact.

[As Candidate Jin-Woo Lee is elected as the leader of Gongmyeong Party, A Electronics’ stock price skyrocketed by 10%. A Electronics’ chairman was known to be Party Leader Jin-Woo Lee’s father-in-law. However, it is told that A Electronics’ chairman was not very thrilled by his son-in-law’s decision in getting into politics.]

The company that received the most benefits from Mr. Jin-Woo Lee’s election at the moment seemed to be his friend’s apparel company called Gdano. They graduated from the same college, and Mr. Jin-Woo Lee was junior to the company’s owner president. This company hit the upper limit in its stock price that day. It was not a large company, with a market capitalization of only around 300 billion won. Gun-Ho opened the stock discussion forum for Gdano to see what people were saying about it.

“That greedy Jin-Woo Lee will definitely run for President. Let’s buy as many Gdano’s shares as possible while we can. Its stock price will go up even higher. This is just a start.”

“Gdano’s president went to the college three years before Jin-Woo Lee got in there. They went to the same college and studied the same major. I was told that they even participated in the same extracurricular activity.”

“I’m sure that the stock price will decrease tomorrow. You all should sell your stock now. You’d better listen to me on this.”

“Hey, Jin-Woo Lee’s cousin is working for Songmal Construction. Their stock price is about to increase as well.”

“I heard that A Electronics’ chairman doesn’t even want to see his son-in-law’s face now. I don’t think their stock price will go up continuously. I will bet on Gdano.”

Theme stocks around Jin-Woo Lee seemed to be in the process of being shaped. It was true that Gdano’s president went to the same college as Party Leader Jin-Woo Lee, and he was three years senior to him. However, they barely met each other after college, and Gdano’s president had no reason to get help from Party Leader Jin-Woo Lee in running his business. But, his company’s stock price hit the upper limit that day. The investors were shaping the trends with some stocks that could benefit from Jin-Woo Lee’s election. Dongmal Construction was one of those companies that were included in the trends.

Gun-Ho grinned.

‘This phenomenon will explode once Party Leader Jin-Woo Lee plausibly mentions his intention about running for President. When Ki-Moon Ban, who was at that time the Secretary-General of the United Nations, indicated that he might run for President, the stock manipulators made tons of money by making a trend with so-called Ki-Moon Ban’s theme stocks. His theme stocks included Bosung Power Technology, Seongmoon Electronics, Hanchang, and YBMNET. Their stock price at that time fluctuated enormously. Bosung Power Technology’s stock was the noisiest one just because Ki-Moon Ban’s little brother worked there.

People are probably searching for Jin-Woo Lee’s theme stocks desperately. If they eventually found out that Jin-Woo Lee presided over my wedding before, Dyeon Korea’s stock price would skyrocket. Further, if they find out Party Leader Jin-Woo Lee’s little brother is working in Dyeon Korea, its stock price will keep jumping up without a break. Well, it’s not the time to give them a hint about it yet. I will wait and see for a while.’

Gun-Ho had no doubt about Dyeon Korea’s stock being the major stock among Jin-Woo Lee’s theme stocks.