Kang Doyoon fidgeted with his phone all the way to work.
He opened and closed the news app over and over.
The article he had seen last night wouldn’t leave his mind.
[Taeseong Electronics Announces Unexpected New Investment]
A piece of news he didn’t remember.
That single line shook Doyoon’s confidence.
Taeseong Electronics would rise to 67,000 won in three years.
That much was certain.
At least, it had been in his first life.
But he didn’t remember any news like this happening along the way.
Was it something I didn’t know about?
Or did something change when I came back?
He arrived at the office.
The moment he sat down, he turned on his computer.
He hid the stock-trading app behind his work screen.
Taeseong Electronics.
Current price: 3,480 won.
It had edged up from yesterday.
Perhaps because of the new investment announcement, trading volume was higher than usual too.
Doyoon stared at the numbers and thought.
It is definitely good news.
But it’s good news I don’t know about.
That difference made him uneasy.
“Doyoon.”
A voice came from behind him.
It was Choi Minseok.
“Did you see the news yesterday?”
Doyoon quickly switched screens.
“What news?”
“Taeseong Electronics.”
Minseok perched on the edge of the desk beside Doyoon.
“The new investment announcement. It’s pretty big.”
Doyoon kept his expression under control.
“Really?”
“It’s in the semiconductor sector. They’re expanding their next-generation process line.”
Minseok pulled out his phone and showed him the article.
“The market’s still lukewarm, though.”
“I see it a little differently.”
Doyoon looked into Minseok’s eyes.
They were the same eyes he remembered from his first life.
That spark that appeared whenever Minseok became certain of something.
“Why?”
“Expanding a process line at this point means they read the demand ahead of time, right?”
Minseok said as he scrolled through the article.
“When a company makes a decision like this, it usually means the orders have already come in.”
“They just announce it later.”
Doyoon listened quietly.
Minseok’s analysis was accurate.
It had been the same in his first life.
Minseok was someone who read the trend rather than the numbers.
“Are you interested too?”
Minseok asked.
Doyoon paused.
How he answered here mattered.
If he said he was interested, Minseok would dig deeper.
If he said he wasn’t, it would be a lie.
“I am interested.”
Doyoon answered calmly.
“But I’m not sure yet.”
“About what?”
“Whether this is a real opportunity.”
Minseok smiled.
“That’s something someone who’s already bought it would say.”
Doyoon’s hand stiffened slightly.
“I’m kidding.”
Minseok gave him a light smack on the shoulder and returned to his desk.
But Doyoon knew.
Minseok’s joke hadn’t been a joke.
At lunchtime.
Doyoon went up to the rooftop alone.
The wind was cold.
He took out his phone and called Han Taesik.
It rang three times before the call connected.
“Kang Doyoon.”
Han Taesik called him by name.
“Yes.”
“What is it?”
Doyoon hesitated for a moment.
He couldn’t ask directly.
He couldn’t let anyone find out that he knew the future.
“Did you see Taeseong Electronics’ new investment announcement?”
“I did.”
“What do you think?”
A brief silence followed.
“What do you think?”
“I…”
Doyoon chose his words carefully.
“I think it’s a good sign. But the timing is strange.”
“What’s strange about it?”
“There’s no reason to make an announcement like this at this point.”
Han Taesik laughed.
“Why not?”
“Because the market hasn’t started paying attention to the semiconductor sector yet.”
“How do you know that?”
Doyoon fell silent.
A mistake.
Saying that the market hadn’t started paying attention to the semiconductor sector yet.
It was the kind of judgment only someone who knew the future could make.
“Interesting.”
Han Taesik spoke.
“You sound like you’ve already drawn a picture of the market’s future.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
“No. It is.”
Han Taesik’s voice was firm.
“You’re not looking at the market as it is.”
“You’re comparing reality against the market you’ve already drawn.”
Doyoon couldn’t say anything.
“That’s not necessarily a bad thing.”
Han Taesik continued.
“But it’s dangerous.”
“Why?”
“Because almost no one can admit they’re wrong when the picture they drew turns out to be false.”
After ending the call, Doyoon stood leaning against the rooftop railing for a long time.
Han Taesik’s words had pinpointed his situation exactly.
He remembered the future.
But that memory had begun to differ from reality.
Taeseong Electronics’ new investment announcement.
An event missing from his memories.
If that was the case, things he didn’t remember could happen in the future too.
There are two choices.
One.
Trust his memories and keep moving forward as planned.
Taeseong Electronics would rise. That wouldn’t change.
Even if the process was a little different, the result could be the same.
Two.
Doubt his memories and verify them.
Add evidence beyond his memories to every investment decision.
It would take more time, but he could prepare for variables.
If he were the person he had been in his first life, he would have chosen the first option.
Because he was certain.
Because he knew the future.
But Doyoon knew.
He knew that his certainty had once nearly killed him.
Doyoon took out his notebook.
He opened the Future Records page.
Under Taeseong Electronics, he added a new line.
Verification checklist.
1. Confirm the specific details of the new investment announcement. 2. Track the company’s order backlog. 3. Compare developments among its competitors.
Just as he was about to set down his pen, he wrote one more thing.
4. Choi Minseok’s movements.
Doyoon closed the notebook.
The afternoon sunlight stretched across the rooftop floor.
The wind blew.
It was cold, but his mind had grown clearer instead.
After work.
Doyoon stopped by a convenience store on his way home.
He bought a can of coffee and sat down at the desk in his studio apartment.
He turned on his laptop.
He read every article related to Taeseong Electronics’ new investment announcement.
He searched for the IR materials.
He checked the regulatory disclosures.
It was something he had never done in his first life.
Back then, he only looked at the chart.
He only looked at the numbers.
He was happy when they rose and anxious when they fell.
But now, things were different.
He was searching for the reasons behind the numbers.
11:00 p.m.
Doyoon added another line to his notebook.
The new investment announcement isn’t in my memories, but the direction is the same.
Taeseong Electronics is betting on increased demand for semiconductors.
The same direction as the future in his memories.
But the pace could be different.
Doyoon set down his pen and looked up at the ceiling.
For the first time, he had reached a conclusion based on his own judgment rather than memories of the future.
And at that same moment.
Choi Minseok was looking at his laptop in his own room.
On the screen was Taeseong Electronics’ chart.
Beside it, a notepad was open.
Stock of interest: Taeseong Electronics. Basis: Next-generation process line expansion → preemptive investment in response to demand. Note: Kang Doyoon. He’s seeing the same thing.
Minseok closed the screen.
Then he muttered to himself.
“What an interesting guy.”
“But what do you know, Doyoon?”