The mood was strange from the very start of the morning.
As soon as Doyoon got to work, he opened his stock-trading app.
Taeseong Electronics.
Current price: 3,280 won.
It had dropped 200 won from yesterday’s closing price of 3,480 won.
Why?
Doyoon searched through the news.
One article caught his eye.
[Taeseong Electronics Reviews Rights Offering to Raise Funds for New Investment]
A rights offering.
It meant the company planned to issue new shares to raise money.
From the perspective of existing shareholders, their ownership would be diluted.
The announcement of new investment, which had been good news, had turned into bad news overnight.
Doyoon’s hands grew cold.
I don’t remember this.
He didn’t remember the announcement of new investment, either.
He didn’t remember the rights offering review.
One thing after another was happening that he had no memory of.
Doyoon stared at the screen and thought.
The result could still be the same.
Taeseong Electronics would rise to 67,000 won three years from now.
That wouldn’t change.
It wouldn’t change.
Doyoon knew that certainty was beginning to waver.
He couldn’t focus on work all morning.
He kept checking the stock-trading app hidden behind his work screen.
3,280 won.
3,250 won.
3,220 won.
The number slipped lower little by little.
Every time it dropped, his stomach tightened.
Should I sell?
The thought flashed through his mind.
Doyoon shook his head.
No. I said I was going to verify it.
The sentence he had written in his notebook the night before came back to him.
I don’t remember the announcement of new investment, but the direction is the same.
The direction is the same.
But he hadn’t anticipated a rights offering.
“Doyoon.”
Minseok walked over.
Doyoon reflexively switched screens.
“What?”
“Did you see Taeseong Electronics?”
Minseok dragged his chair over from his desk.
“They’re reviewing a rights offering.”
“I saw.”
“What do you think?”
Doyoon looked at Minseok’s face.
It was different from yesterday.
Yesterday, his eyes had been full of confidence.
Today, they were testing him.
“They’re still only reviewing it.”
Doyoon spoke calmly.
“It hasn’t been finalized.”
“True. But the market moves before anything’s final.”
Minseok smiled.
“Yesterday, you said, ‘I don’t know if this is a real opportunity.’”
“I did.”
“What about now? Still don’t know?”
Doyoon didn’t answer.
Minseok watched him for a moment, then said,
“I bought it.”
“Bought what?”
“Taeseong Electronics. Right before the market closed yesterday.”
Doyoon’s eyes shifted.
Minseok had bought Taeseong Electronics.
In the future he remembered, Minseok would become a successful investor.
And that Minseok had bought the same stock at the same time.
This wasn’t a coincidence.
Minseok was someone who moved on instinct.
He read the flow rather than the numbers.
That instinct had singled out Taeseong Electronics.
“But the rights offering news today has me a little shaken.”
Minseok was being honest.
“That’s why I’m asking you.”
“Me?”
“You don’t seem shaken.”
Doyoon pressed his lips together.
Not shaken.
That was how Minseok saw him.
But inside, Doyoon was feeling the exact opposite.
At lunchtime, Doyoon didn’t go up to the rooftop.
He stepped into a bathroom stall, locked the door, and called Han Taesik.
It rang twice before the call connected.
“Kang Doyoon.”
“Yes.”
“You don’t sound well.”
Doyoon took a moment to steady his breathing before speaking.
“Taeseong Electronics is dropping.”
“I know.”
“An article came out saying they’re reviewing a rights offering.”
“I know that, too.”
Han Taesik’s voice was calm.
“So?”
“Was I wrong?”
Silence passed between them.
Han Taesik spoke.
“What were you wrong about?”
“The direction. My judgment that Taeseong Electronics would rise.”
“What was the basis for that judgment?”
Doyoon chose his words carefully.
He couldn’t say that he knew the future.
“I judged that demand for semiconductors would increase.”
“Has that judgment changed?”
“No.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“The process is different from what I expected.”
Han Taesik laughed.
“Has the process ever gone the way you expected?”
Doyoon couldn’t say anything.
Han Taesik continued.
“When a stock drops, there are two kinds of people.”
“One doubts their own judgment.”
“The other doubts the market.”
“Which one are you right now?”
Doyoon thought about it.
Right now, he was doubting his own judgment.
He was afraid his memories might be wrong.
He was anxious that the future might have changed.
“I’m doubting my judgment.”
“Good.”
Han Taesik’s answer was brief.
“Doubt is a good thing. But…”
“But?”
“Doubt and fear are different.”
“Doubt makes you look for evidence. Fear makes you run.”
“Which one are you doing right now—doubting or panicking?”
Doyoon couldn’t answer.
Han Taesik said,
“After we hang up, do one thing.”
“What?”
“Write down in your notebook again why you bought Taeseong Electronics.”
“Then write down why it dropped today.”
“Put the two reasons side by side. If the reason you bought it still holds, keep holding.”
“If the reason is dead, sell.”
“That’s doubt.”
They hung up.
Doyoon leaned against the bathroom stall and looked up at the ceiling.
Han Taesik had been exactly right.
What he was doing wasn’t doubting. It was panicking.
He was afraid of watching the number fall.
He was afraid that his memories might be wrong.
It had been the same in his first life.
Whenever a stock dropped, he sold because he was afraid.
After he sold, it rose.
When it rose, he bought again.
Then it dropped again.
That cycle had dragged him down to -83.7%.
Doyoon took the notebook from his pocket.
He picked up his pen.
Why he bought it.
Rising semiconductor demand. Taeseong Electronics’ technological capabilities. The market structure three years from now.
Why it dropped.
The rights offering review. Concern over short-term ownership dilution.
He placed the two lines side by side and looked at them.
The reason he bought it was based on a three-year outlook.
The reason it dropped was based on what happened today.
Doyoon set down his pen.
He decided not to sell.
The fear hadn’t disappeared.
But it was the first night he learned how to separate fear from judgment.
After work, Doyoon sat down at the desk in his studio apartment and turned on his laptop.
He read every article about Taeseong Electronics’ rights offering review.
He checked the disclosure.
The board hadn’t even passed a resolution yet.
It was still only under review.
The market had reacted first.
He added another line to his notebook.
The rights offering hasn’t been finalized yet. Even if it is finalized, raising funds for investment would be positive in the long term. The short-term drop could be an entry opportunity.
Doyoon set down his pen and thought.
An additional purchase.
If the price dropped further, he could buy even more.
It was a judgment he had never been capable of making in his first life.
Buying more of a falling stock.
That required evidence, not confidence.
And at that same moment.
Choi Minseok was staring at the Taeseong Electronics chart in his room.
3,220 won.
It was down 260 won from the price he had bought at yesterday.
Minseok didn’t close the screen.
Instead, he opened his notes app.
Taeseong Electronics. Rights offering review → short-term bad news. But their intention to expand investment hasn’t changed. Conclusion: Hold.
Note: Asked Kang Doyoon. He didn’t seem shaken. No—he was shaken, but he was hiding it. Being able to hide it meant he had a standard to follow.
Minseok closed the notes app.
Then he muttered to himself,
“What’s that standard, Doyoon?”
“What the hell are you seeing?”