12 Hours After

Translator: Khan

Editor: RED

"Um..."

I sat tilted and circled the cursor around on the monitor. The email was posted again in front of the monitor.

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[Silver Class Member Mail, Subscription Period left: 29 days.]

[Politics Economy Society Life/Culture World IT/Science Entertainment Sports]

[You can pick three categories a day, click on the titles. You can subscribe to only one news item a day. Please select three categories. ]

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My worry was one thing.

'Economy, Sports... What shall I choose?'

If I selected Economy that gave a source for the stocks, and Sports, I could aim for the small or middle class hit.

'Politics… is not going to be worth money right now. Life/Culture… I can pick it up for the weekend when they draw the Lotto. World? That's too far. I don't know later, but right now... Then I should select either IT/Science or Entertainment... Let's select IT/Science because it may make a lot of money.'

When I came to the conclusion, I chose the three categories Economy, IT/Science, and Sports. First of all, the Economy news was: [Daehyun Motor Union continues their strike. The worst situation continues.]

Daehyun Motor was the nation's leading automaker. One of the characteristics of this company was a strong union. It was known that strikes were frequent. I turned on the search window right away.

'Well... that's bad news. How long has the strike been going on?

'What is important is whether the news will act as bad news for the stock. Good news is good, but bad news is also worth money. In Korea, individual investors cannot do the short stock selling for individual stocks, but through futures and options trading, they can similarly bet on the fall of the stock price.'

But this news was not very good news.

[Daehyun Motor has failed to negotiate wages. A full-scale prolonged strike is expected.]

Two weeks ago the strike took place. I saw the stock price on the day of the strike news. The share price that day was just –2%. It was a bad one, but it did not have much effect. It seemed that investors thought it was how the strikes would go every year.

'It's a bummer.'

I could not buy or sell stocks on this news. I had to look for another chance. I went on to click on IT/Science.

[Does Space Y open the space-travel age?]

Ah, this was a bummer, too. Needless to click, it would be a science fiction of something which would be ten or twenty years from now. It would be a good article for space scientists and science fiction fans.

'Next.'

What was left was Sports. I put my last hope on it, but even the last news bit me.

[Alistar Jones tested positive on a drug test.]

It was a UFC news unrelated to Proto. It was about an athlete who took a banned drug. Of course, there was no place to make a penny.

'Dirty druggies! You're fucking me, too.'

I drew a total blank today. I had expected this day to come, but now that I came across it, I felt a little flustered. I felt like I did not do today's job. I comforted myself by closing the email.

'Let's not be impatient. If I wait a little longer, I'm sure good luck will come.'

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"Hey, Han Sang-hoon, are you going to eat with me today?"

"Oh, sorry. I also have an appointment today." I pushed out my lunch partner, Choi.

"What, do you have a girlfriend near the company?" he asked with a tilt of his head.

"No."

I gave him a slap on the shoulder and got out of the building. The next step was the main bank, S Bank. As soon as I got there, I pulled out the number ticket for the loan. There were two people left. I thought I could get a loan within lunch time. I sat down and waited for my turn to come.

As I sat and waited, such a thought came to me. 'I can't believe I am borrowing money for stock trading. Am I doing well...'

After spending all night fiddling with HTS last night, I finally decided to get a worker's credit loan because stock was a percentage game. If I would earn ten percent with one thousand dollars, it would be just one hundred dollars, but if I would earn five percent with twenty thousand dollars, it would be one thousand dollars. So, if I was sure I was going to win, I should do the full betting, even I got the credit loan.

'It's convenient to gather in the Proto, but...'

For a moment, I thought I would go to that illegal Lotto store near my house, but I would rather stick to the law and take out a loan. Later I would be a millionaire, and I did not want to make it illegal, although I could not help it if I did not know it last time. It was not wise to take out a loan and invest in stocks, but at least it was not illegal.

'Ding dong~' The notice rang and it was my turn. I stood in front of the loan counter, slightly nervous with the number tag.

'What if the loan doesn't happen?'

But my worry was useless. It had been ten minutes since the loan screening. The loan was processed easier than I thought.

"... you'll get a text during the day when it's done."

"During the day?"

"Yes. Probably, you'll have it in an hour."

The Internet article said household debts were a problem, but the bank offered loans in just one day if we showed our working certificate and year-end settlement record.

'The bank originally earns money on an interest basis. A bank's refusal to lend is like a merchant opening a store and not doing business.'

"The name of the loan is a worker's credit loan…"

'Especially, people like me at work are good prey. The employees, the company's slaves, are less likely not to pay back, and their debts keep them going without thinking about retiring. They will pay a blood interest.'

The idea made a woman with neatly bobbed hair look like a female devil with a sweet temptation. She pointed her finger from place to place with a red manicured nail.

"Here's your minus account. The balance is zero, but the amount of the withdrawal is twenty thousand dollars. Make sure. The interest rate is 4.5%..."

As I listened to the explanation, I quickly blinked and grabbed myself.

'I'm just borrowing for a few days, just a day or two to play a quick kill. There'll be almost no interest.'

I checked the time after I received the minus account issued. There was still about ten minutes left for lunch.

'I can eat toast.'

I got out of the bank with that idea, with twenty-four thousand dollars in my arms.

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Since then, I checked my email at 8:55 every day. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, however, not only the Economy, but also the IT/Science or the Sports news expected did not appear.

'Am I unlucky?'

[AAA Investment Fund lowers commission.]

[The same level as humans in the Stone Age, high-intelligence monkey group found.]

[Yoo Jin-hyun sighs as he can't win even if he throws a good pitch. If the batters help him a little bit…]

Only articles with no connection with money appeared one after another. At this point, I felt cheated.

'What's wrong with it now? In the past, there appeared a series of good news that had a connection with money. I took out twenty-four thousand dollars on loan!"

However, there was nowhere to express my discontent. I couldn't tell if this sender was Heaven's Garden or Hell's Pit. Then it was finally Friday.

[Silver Class Member Mail, Subscription Period left: 25 days.]

I bit my lips as I saw the message at the top.

'It's been five days, and I've earned nothing… Isn't this just going to cost me ten thousand dollars?'

I shivered slightly and clicked on the Economy category.

[Wrong dividend distribution by Yuhwan Securities: $1 is entered as 1,000 shares. The stock price temporarily hit the low limit price.]

I looked at it with a blank stare for a while. This was definitely a money-smelling article!