Kang Doyoon was staring at his stock-trading app.
The number on the screen was almost impossible to believe.
-83.7%
That number wasn't just a loss.
It was the confidence he'd built over ten years.
“Why am I always late?”
Some people seized their opportunities.
Some people got rich.
Some people made money on the same stock.
But he was always the opposite.
He bought on the way up.
He sold on the way down.
After he sold, it went up.
After he bought, it fell.
The same thing was always posted on the stock message board.
“Retail investors can never win.”
Doyoon let out a quiet laugh.
It was true.
At least in his first life.
That night.
Doyoon returned home drunk.
A run-down studio apartment.
A light that wouldn't turn on.
A single bottle of water in the refrigerator.
There was a message from his mother on his phone.
“Did you eat?”
Doyoon couldn't bring himself to reply for a long time.
He wanted to tell her he was fine.
But he wasn't.
He closed his eyes.
Then opened them again.
“Hey, Kang Doyoon!”
Someone shouted.
“Late again?”
That familiar voice.
Doyoon slowly raised his head.
A familiar office.
An old computer.
The employee sitting beside him.
And the calendar on his desk.
March 2016.
Doyoon stopped breathing.
“What is this…?”
Was it a dream?
A hallucination?
Then the man beside him spoke.
“Hey, did you seriously drink again last night?”
Doyoon looked at the man's face.
Choi Minseok.
The man who had completely changed his life in his first life.
And he still had the face of someone who knew nothing.
“Doyoon.”
A woman's voice came from behind him.
It was Yoon Seoyeon.
“You seem weird today.”
Doyoon couldn't say a word.
There was only one thought in his mind.
2016.
Ten years ago.
A future no one knew about yet.
A company no one cared about yet.
An industry no one believed in yet.
And…
A chart only he knew.
After work.
Doyoon bought a notebook.
On the first page, he wrote:
Future Records
And on the first line:
“Taeseong Electronics.”
Current price: 3,200 won.
Three years later.
67,000 won.
Doyoon set his pen down.
But his hand was trembling.
Knowing the future didn't make things easy.
What if he was wrong?
What if his memories were even slightly different?
What if the future changed?
In that moment, Doyoon realized something.
Time regression wasn't a gift.
Even for someone who knew the future…
The responsibility of choice followed him just the same.
The next day.
Doyoon headed to a brokerage firm to make his first investment.
But the person he meets there.
Han Taesik.
And he says to Doyoon:
“Young man.”
“Is this your first time trading stocks?”
Doyoon answered.
“Yes.”
Han Taesik smiled.
“Don't lie.”
“Your eyes aren't those of someone putting money in for the first time.”