Tuesday lunchtime.
Seoyeon came over to Doyoon's desk.
She was holding a USB drive.
"Here."
"What is it?"
"Something I put together. Revenue trends by industry."
Doyoon took the USB drive.
It was light.
But Doyoon knew the weight of what it contained.
"I'll look at it after lunch."
"Sure. But don't get your hopes up."
Seoyeon smiled faintly.
"I only made it because I was curious."
"Curious about what?"
"Why the revenues of our clients all move together around the same time."
Doyoon's hand stopped.
Revenues moving together at the same time.
That was the cycle of the entire industry.
Seoyeon had read it from nothing but client data.
He ate lunch quickly.
The conference room was empty.
Doyoon plugged the USB drive into his laptop.
A single file opened.
It was an Excel sheet.
The horizontal axis showed quarters.
The vertical axis showed clients.
Each cell displayed the percentage change in revenue through color.
Red meant a decline.
Blue meant an increase.
Doyoon stared at the screen.
A pattern emerged.
Starting in the third quarter of 2014, the revenues of clients connected to the semiconductor sector had all begun rising at once.
They peaked in the first quarter of 2015.
Then they began falling again in the third quarter of 2015.
And in the first quarter of 2016.
Now.
They were starting to rise again.
Doyoon exhaled.
Seoyeon had made this without knowing what it meant.
That the semiconductor cycle was turning.
Why Taeseong Electronics was moving now.
Using numbers alone, Seoyeon had captured the outline of that trend.
‘This person is incredible.’
Doyoon understood now why Seoyeon had become the person who checked his investment decisions in his first life.
Seoyeon didn't know the future.
But she had the ability to read trends in the numbers right in front of her.
That was something Doyoon lacked.
The conference-room door opened.
Seoyeon poked her head in.
"What do you think?"
"Seoyeon."
"Yes?"
"This isn't pointless."
Seoyeon blinked.
"Really?"
"There's something in this data."
"What?"
Doyoon hesitated for a moment.
How much could he say?
"The revenues of clients connected to the semiconductor sector are moving in the same pattern."
"I saw that too."
"But have you thought about why?"
Seoyeon entered the conference room and sat down beside Doyoon.
"Could it be because the industry itself moves in cycles?"
Doyoon looked at Seoyeon.
Exactly right.
"That's right."
"Then where are we now? In the cycle."
"We're in the rising phase."
Seoyeon's eyes lit up.
"Can you tell that from this data?"
"From the data you made."
Seoyeon looked at the screen again.
She was looking at the table she had created with fresh eyes.
"Doyoon."
"Yes."
"Can I keep looking at this with you?"
Doyoon nodded.
"That's why I set that condition."
Seoyeon smiled.
"Find what the numbers are hiding, together?"
"Yes."
"Okay. But can I ask you one more thing?"
"What is it?"
"How do you know all this?"
Doyoon couldn't answer.
Seoyeon didn't wait for one.
"It's okay. You don't have to tell me."
She stood and said,
"But tell me later. When you're ready."
Wednesday afternoon.
Doyoon was working at his desk.
Minseok approached.
He was carrying two cups of coffee.
"Want one?"
"Thanks."
Doyoon took the coffee.
Minseok sat down in the chair beside him.
"Doyoon."
"Yeah?"
"Do you know Aitek?"
Doyoon's hand stopped.
Aitek.
A semiconductor back-end equipment company.
In the future he remembered, Aitek was a stock that soared alongside Taeseong Electronics' expanding orders.
When Taeseong Electronics bought equipment, Aitek supplied the key components for it.
It was the next stock Doyoon planned to buy after Taeseong Electronics.
"Aitek?"
Doyoon answered as calmly as he could.
"Yeah. They're in semiconductor back-end equipment."
"Why?"
"You saw Taeseong Electronics' order contract. One hundred twenty billion won."
Minseok took a sip of coffee and said,
"Do you think Taeseong Electronics makes all that equipment itself?"
"Probably not."
"Then where do the components come from?"
Doyoon couldn't say anything.
Minseok continued.
"I looked into it. Taeseong Electronics' supply chain."
"Aitek supplies two of the three key components."
Doyoon set down his coffee.
His heart began to race.
Minseok had found Aitek.
Through instinct alone.
Doyoon knew Aitek from his memories of the future.
Minseok had traced the supply chain backward from a single order announcement by Taeseong Electronics and found Aitek.
The same conclusion.
A completely different path.
"What do you think?"
Minseok asked.
"Aitek. Do you think it's going to move?"
Doyoon looked into Minseok's eyes.
He wasn't testing him.
He genuinely wanted Doyoon's opinion.
"I don't know."
Doyoon spoke.
"You don't know?"
"It'll take time for Taeseong Electronics' orders to show up in Aitek's results."
"I know that."
"The market might react first during that time. Or it might not."
Minseok nodded.
"That's why I haven't bought it yet."
"Me neither."
It was a lie.
Doyoon hadn't bought Aitek yet, but he planned to.
Minseok hadn't bought it yet either, but he had already found it.
Minseok stood and said,
"Interesting."
"What is?"
"Whenever I ask you something, you always answer half a beat late."
Doyoon smiled.
"I think before I speak."
"No."
Minseok looked at Doyoon.
"You already know the answer. You're just deciding how much to say."
Doyoon's smile stopped.
Minseok turned away and waved a hand.
"I'm kidding."
He wasn't kidding.
Doyoon knew it.
Minseok had an instinct for reading people.
He had been that way in his first life too.
Minseok read people before numbers.
Then he bet his money on the direction people were moving.
That instinct was what made Minseok a successful investor.
After work.
Doyoon sat at the desk in his studio apartment.
He opened his notebook.
Aitek.
Current price: 2,150 won.
Market cap: 80 billion won.
In the future he remembered, Aitek would climb past 8,000 won within a year as Taeseong Electronics expanded its orders.
Three years later, it would reach 25,000 won.
But that was a memory.
Memory was only reference material, not the answer.
Doyoon wrote down the items to verify.
1. Taeseong Electronics' orders → Confirm its supply relationship with Aitek. 2. Aitek's recent results → Check its revenue trend. 3. Competitors → Determine whether there were other suppliers of the same components. 4. Aitek's financial condition → Debt ratio and cash flow.
He checked them one by one.
Taeseong Electronics accounted for 40 percent of Aitek's revenue.
Revenue had grown for three consecutive quarters.
There were two suppliers of similar components, but the gap in technical capabilities was substantial.
The debt ratio was 35 percent. Cash flow was healthy.
Doyoon put down his pen.
The results of his verification pointed in the same direction as his memory.
But one thing was different.
Minseok had already found Aitek.
Doyoon called Han Taesik.
"I'm looking at a stock called Aitek."
"Semiconductor back-end?"
"Yes. It's part of Taeseong Electronics' supply chain."
"Your basis?"
Doyoon explained each item he had verified.
Han Taesik listened quietly before speaking.
"The logic checks out."
"Thank you."
"But let me ask you one thing."
"Yes."
"Is anyone besides you looking at this stock?"
Doyoon paused.
"Why do you ask?"
"Because there's no room in your voice."
Doyoon was silent for a moment.
"A coworker found Aitek."
"How?"
"By tracing Taeseong Electronics' supply chain backward."
Han Taesik laughed.
"That friend has good instincts."
"Yes."
"Is that what worries you?"
Doyoon couldn't answer.
Han Taesik said,
"You don't need to worry."
"Why not?"
"The fact that someone else is looking at the same stock means your judgment is in line with the market."
"But if he moves first—"
"Moving first isn't what makes you win."
Han Taesik's voice was calm.
"The person who holds on longer wins."
After hanging up, Doyoon stared at his notebook.
The person who holds on longer wins.
In his first life, Doyoon hadn't been able to hold on.
He sold when prices rose, then panicked and sold when they fell.
Minseok was different.
Once Minseok got hold of something, he never let go.
That difference was the difference in their results.
Doyoon wrote in his notebook.
Aitek purchase plan. Timing: By the end of this week. Amount: 50 percent of his Taeseong Electronics profits. Basis: Verification complete. Memory and market logic align.
Then he added one more line.
Choi Minseok is also watching Aitek. Buying first isn't what matters. Holding on longer is what matters.
At the same time.
Choi Minseok was staring at Aitek's chart in his room.
2,150 won.
A price the market still hadn't noticed.
Minseok opened his notepad.
Aitek. Key components for semiconductor back-end equipment. 40 percent of revenue comes from Taeseong Electronics. 1.2 billion won order → Aitek expected to benefit.
Note: Kang Doyoon. Asked about Aitek today. Said, "I don't know." Not knowing means he already knows. A habit of answering half a beat late. He already knows the answer and is deciding how much to say.
Minseok closed the notepad.
Then he opened his brokerage app.
Aitek.
He placed his finger over the buy button.
But he didn't press it.
‘Not yet.’
Minseok thought.
‘I’ll move when Doyoon does.’
Minseok wasn't testing Doyoon.
He was using Doyoon as a compass.