Chapter 23:Money and Talent Pour In

 Chapter 23: The Eye That Sees Scenarios (1)

[This thing is going upper limit tomorrow too.]

[Yeah, lower limit tomorrow ^^]

[Yeah, lower limit the day after tomorrow ^^]

[Yeah, keeps hitting lower limit lololol]

[Why are so many people swarming just because someone said one word about upper limit ]

[But wait… that information broker? I feel like I’ve seen this person somewhere…]

[Typical attention seeker?]

[Nicknames like that are everywhere]

[Ah, is that so? ]

[Anyway, lower limit ^^]

For now, no one was paying any serious attention to Ryu Seong’s words. It seemed that just the one Liar Coin incident wasn’t enough to make him a recognized name yet. Back then he wasn’t even streaming, so it made even more sense.

Above all, that had been crypto—and this was stocks.

Slightly different markets.

But as incidents piled up and results accumulated, people’s reactions to the nickname (Information Broker) would definitely change. Rather than loudly proclaiming himself what he had done, he wanted to create a situation where others would become curious and look it up on their own. Eventually, the day would come when even the Liar Coin incident would get mentioned.

He was confident he could make that happen.

“Really entertaining bunch of people.”

Ryu Seong savored the sight of people tearing apart, analyzing, tasting, and enjoying his post for a while longer, then felt tired and closed the internet.

“Right, Lucky?”

He picked up Lucky, who had been purring alone in the corner of the bed, and placed her on his stomach. Warmth slowly spread through him, and distracting thoughts melted away. Quiet time passed, and before he knew it, he had fallen into a pleasant sleep.

So this is what it feels like when time gets deleted.

*Flash.*

When he opened his eyes, it was already morning.

“Haaaahhh…”

Maybe because he was trading stocks, he seemed to have been forcibly turned into a morning person.

8:00 a.m.

If he ate breakfast and prepared for the stream, that should be fine. When he stepped into the living room, it was quiet except for the sound of his mother washing dishes alone.

“You’re up?”

“Yeah.”

“Wait a bit, I’ll set the table for you.”

“I could do it myself…”

“No need. I made something delicious.”

After waiting a short while, a splendid breakfast was laid out.

“Here, eat.”

Braised short ribs, various side dishes, and a refreshing beef radish soup. Even though he hadn’t had much appetite in the morning, it went down incredibly well.

“Thank you for the meal! But… is today some special day?”

“Special day, my foot.”

Even as she said that, his mother’s expression was bright.

What’s going on? Is something happening?

Then a single remark that solved the mystery.

“Lately your dad has been full of energy.”

“Ah… ahhh…?”

“When he’s like this, we need to feed him lots of good food to maintain it.”

“Right. Health is the most important.”

“Exactly.”

It seemed the stamina enhancement potion was working really well.

Suddenly he felt a gaze.

“Speaking of which.”

“Hm? What?”

“When I gave him the barley tea last time, he said he felt a surge of energy.”

For a moment he flinched inwardly, but he kept a nonchalant face and asked back.

“Did he?”

“Yeah. Pretty strange, right?”

“Really.”

He quietly lowered his head and shoveled rice into his mouth.

In no time the rice bowl was empty.

“Finished! Thank you for the meal!”

He hurriedly went back to his room and started preparing for the broadcast.

8:55 a.m.

He put on the mask and started the stream. Viewers began entering. While chatting with them, it became 9:00, and once again the price began to rise. Without any proper intraday correction, it steadily climbed higher.

13,250 won

13,300 won

13,350 won

Slowly, but surely.

Step by step, it kept climbing higher, and sell orders started pouring in.

The retail investors who boarded yesterday.

Those who entered at today’s opening.

Every single one of them.

Satisfied with a small profit, they began dumping the shares they had bought.

But there was one enormous hand devouring all of it.

13,200 won.

13,450 won.

13,600 won.

The relentless charge continued.

Finally, the information written in the quest became reality.

+29.7%.

The moment it reached the upper limit of 15,500 won, achieving its second consecutive limit-up.

**Stock Name: Power Edison**

**Purchase Amount:** 260,000,000 KRW

**Return Rate:** 67.96%

**Unrealized Profit/Loss:** 176,696,000 KRW

**Total Valuation:** 436,696,000 KRW

It was a truly unbelievable profit.

176.696 million won.

Even though he was in the middle of a live broadcast, Ryu Seong closed his eyes for a moment to steady himself.

“Mmm… ugh…”

It seemed that even “Calmness” didn’t activate for emotions of this magnitude. He had no choice but to regulate his feelings on his own—and apparently that sight was quite entertaining. Maybe because the Hahoe mask with its closed eyes kept twitching.

Altang: The Hahoe mask is freaking out aaaah!

Panic: I totally get that feeling

Juurin-ing: Damn, I’m so jealous

Eorapsho: Wow, f*ck. My stomach hurts!

Panda: As a fellow shareholder, huge success lol

Gamulchi: Wow, money is really money

Now the real problem began.

He had absolutely no idea what would happen starting tomorrow.

Would it drop?

But no matter how he looked at it, there still seemed to be far more upside potential.

His heart wavered a little.

“So, like I said yesterday, we’ve hit the second consecutive upper limit, right? From here on is the tricky part. Should we just watch until tomorrow?”

The words slipped out before he even realized.

Altang: Of course! Hold strong go go go!

Panda: You’re not selling this, right? We have to hold together!

Gamulchi: Sell it! Quick!

Eorapsho: Wow, seriously hit two upper limits in a row

Juurin-ing: Sell!!

Jaebeol-nam: Hold, you idiot!

Jjakbal: Don’t you dare pull the undercard on us!

Opinions were split.

To change the mood a bit, he checked the stock discussion board.

[This is it! This!! Upper limitttt!]

[It’s going again tomorrow, you idiots!]

[Going to hell ^^]

[Yeah, it’s going straight to the grave lol]

[Sell right now before you taste the lower limit]

[Oh dear, looks like you missed the boarding huh?]

[Everyone yelling to sell right now is just jealous, right?

[Shut up and buy, you morons!]

[Yeah, life-changing opportunity right in front of you and you can’t grab it tsk tsk]

It was a battlefield between fanatics and those who missed the chance to buy.

This isn’t right.

Seeing their combative attitudes finally snapped him back to reality.

He closed his eyes again.

Recalling the original plan, he nodded to himself.

Yes. Let’s stick to the plan.

Making even more money could wait until the next stock or coin information purchase.

“For now… it feels like protecting what we have is the priority.”

With slightly trembling hands, he gripped the mouse and entered the quantity.

Altang: Huh? Whaaat? Y-you’re selling??

Juurin-ing: Yesss!!

Panda: Ah, this newbie bastard!

Gamulchi: Nice nice

Eorapsho: So jealous lol

Jjakbal: I told you not to pull the undercardddd!!

Ignoring the flood of chat messages, he pressed the sell button.

Of the 28,173 shares he currently held,

he sold 19,500 shares.

“Okay, roughly sold for about 300 million. I’ve recovered the original 260 million principal, plus made around 40 million in profit. The electric vehicle collaboration makes it seem like it could go even higher, but honestly, I’m scared. Still, I left the rest, so I’ll keep watching with what remains for a while.”

He still had 8,673 shares left.

Even that amount was worth over 134 million won.

Crazy. Seriously.

There wasn’t much left to talk about on stream anyway, and wanting to fully savor the joy of the profit, he decided to end it here and promise the next broadcast.

“Then, see you next time.”

After ending the stream,

he stared at the balance in his brokerage account for a long time.

He had ignored it before.

He felt ashamed of himself for having been disappointed thinking it was “just stock info.” Once the capital grew larger, the absolute amount earned was on a completely different level. If he preserved these profits like this, he could make far more on the next piece of information.

“Well… it’ll probably get harder from here.”

The fortunate part was that the price of stock and coin information rights was still only 30 points. He guessed that after buying it one more time, it would jump to 60 points.

The random draws had been the same way.

From then on, gathering points would probably become considerably more difficult.

“For now…”

He organized his thoughts a little.

Since he had taken sufficient profit, he could withdraw the principal in three days and invest that money into the movie.

Ah, right.

He suddenly remembered Lee Shin-woo.

He immediately called him.

(Yeah, what’s up?)

“Just wondering if you sold the stock.”

(Huh? Haven’t checked yet.)

“Okay. Then check and at least pull out the principal first.”

(Yeah yeah, hold on…)

Some busy rustling sounds came through,

then—

(Huuuuhhhhhh—!!)

Lee Shin-woo’s astonished exclamation burst through the phone.

(Wha—what the hell! It hit upper limit again today?)

“Yeah. Sell it quick.”

(Yeah, yeah, I should. Whew… S-selling now?)

“Sell.”

(Ughhh… Pressed! I sold enough to at least get the principal back.)

“Good job.”

(Wow, damn. That gave me chills for real. I never even dreamed it would climb this high. Seriously, thank you. Thanks to you I’m making over 6 million won right now. So… just leave the rest alone for a while, right?)

“Yeah. I’m planning to leave my profits untouched too.”

(Hehe. Okay!)

Seeing how thrilled he was made Ryu Seong feel oddly happy himself.

“Let’s go eat something delicious later. I know a really good place.”

(I’ll treat!)

“Nah, I’ll treat. You use that money to buy something nice for Habin and Hamin. Take care of Min-hee too.”

(Yeah, I should at least get her a bag or something.)

“Ooh.”

(Anyway, really—thank you!)

“Got it, you punk. Oh, and how about we all get together after a long time?”

(For what?)

“Our parents.”

(Oh, nice.)

“When we go eat something good next time, let’s bring our parents along.”

(Deal!)

Since they’d been close since childhood, their parents already knew each other and occasionally had meals together. They decided it was time for another gathering after a long while.

(Then I’ll tell my dad and mom in advance?)

“Yeah. Once we nail down the exact time and date, I’ll let you know. You check your parents’ schedules too.”

(Got it.)

With the plan set, they ended the call.

They’re going to love it.

He still vividly remembered that Korean restaurant he’d gone to last time with the emoticon contract manager—the memory hadn’t faded at all.

“It was seriously delicious.”

He was already looking forward to the day.

*

Power Edison’s momentum was terrifying.

It didn’t hit upper limit again, but it still steadily climbed several percent every day.

Quite a bit of time had passed already.

Thanks to that, he could finally withdraw the locked-up funds.

Stock sales didn’t allow immediate withdrawal; it took three business days, so there was no helping that part.

[Withdrawal completed.]

300 million won landed in his bank account.

“Hmm… U.S. stocks can wait for later.”

First things first—movie investment.

With his mind made up, he accessed the site. A list of investable movies scrolled up one after another.

He skipped anything that was only at the scenario stage.

He filtered for films with release dates within the next two months. Since he could evaluate both the various elements in the scenario and the actual box-office potential of the film itself, short-term investments with quicker results were far more suitable than long-term ones.

A quick search showed about 25 Korean films scheduled to release within the next two months, and among them, seven were currently open to investment.

“This one I’ve actually heard of.”

And among them,

one film stood out as a recently hyped upcoming title.

<Seoul War>

[Starring Seol Yong-gu and Lee Seung-gyun

Release Date: August 25, 2022!]

[The movie ‘Seoul War’ tells the story centered around Seoul’s most prime real estate. It will depict the fierce survival battles and power struggles among the factions vying to claim that district.]

[Seol Yong-gu, known as the true powerhouse of Korea.

Rising new force Lee Seung-gyun.

Having sharpened the blade of revenge, Lee Seung-gyun finally begins to move in earnest to swallow Seol Yong-gu whole. The breathless confrontation between the two is sure to grip audiences.]

Below it was the trailer.

“Looks pretty decent…”

The cinematography seemed solid enough.

He scrolled further down.

There were details on the director, cast, production company, distributor, total budget scale, profit-sharing indicators, and so on.

[Estimated Break-even Point]

The break-even point for the movie ‘Seoul War’ is approximately 2.32 million theater admissions. Break-even revenue includes theater revenue + non-theater revenue (OTT, IPTV, etc.). In other words, even if theater admissions fall short of 2.32 million, sufficient non-theater revenue could still generate profit.

Ryu Seong carefully absorbed all the film’s details.

“Pretty thorough.”

Scrolling further brought a concise summary of the investment highlights.

But ultimately,

the most important thing was still the scenario.

He quickly skimmed the rest of the explanations, paid the required amount, and purchased the scenario.

[Purchase completed.]

He clicked the attached file, and the download began.

It finished almost instantly. With a pounding heart, Ryu Seong activated his talent.

[Activating Talent: ‘The Eye That Sees Scenarios.’]

[Will be maintained for 24 hours.]

Then he opened the file—and the scenario unfolded across the entire screen.

*TOC*Previous