While the Japanese stock market was gripped by fear and panic from the shock of the Big 4 securities firms, the atmosphere at Daehung Investment's Asset Management Department was the exact opposite — cheers erupted as stock prices nosedived.
[Nomura Securities: 967.2 (−171.6)]
[Daiwa Securities: 491.6 (−76.3)]
[Nikko Securities: 479.8 (−98.1)]
[Yamaichi Securities: 384.9 (−98.4)]
"Woohoo!"
"Yes! This is it!"
"Awesome!"
Choi Ho-geun, the department head, who had stayed cool and collected throughout the short-selling operation, clenched his fist tightly and sprang to his feet when he saw how sharply the prices were falling.
"All four stocks have been cut in half from the prices we shorted at! This is incredible, isn't it?"
Jung Hwan-yeop, beaming from ear to ear, came up beside Choi and said,
"Since the boss was behind this bet, I trusted we'd win, but I never expected the profits to be this massive."
Yoo Seok-hyun, his face flushed with excitement, also added,
"When the prices bounced back a bit with that last-minute buying, I was worried they might start climbing again. I never expected such a dramatic turnaround."
"Hey now, thinking like that means you didn't trust the boss enough!"
"You're one to talk! You were the most anxious one, running around saying we should cover our positions immediately."
"Ahem. When did I ever say that?"
Jung Hwan-yeop awkwardly cleared his throat and averted his eyes when Hong Jae-hee teased him.
Seeing this, Choi Ho-geun let out a soft chuckle.
"You even called me late at night, whining that you had a bad feeling and begged me to cover the shorts immediately. Turns out you were panicking to everyone, huh?"
"Ah, Manager!"
"Short covering" refers to buying back stocks that were previously sold short to close out a position.
As the team members snickered, Jung Hwan-yeop's face turned red as he protested,
"Whining? Come on, I was just sincerely sharing my concerns. You're making it sound bad!"
"That's exactly what whining is."
Jung, feeling indignant, snapped back,
"And what about you, Manager? Even after knowing that the Big 4 securities firms had taken massive losses on options, you kept your mouth shut? I'm honestly hurt!"
"Well, that's because…"
Choi Ho-geun scratched the back of his head and looked around at his team members.
"I trust you all, but the CEO specifically ordered me to stay quiet until the article was released, so I had no choice. Sorry about that."
However, contrary to his worries, the team members looked cheerful.
"It's fine. Honestly, in these situations, the fewer people who know, the better,"
Hong Jae-hee said, shrugging casually. Yoo Seok-hyun quickly agreed.
"Exactly. If someone accidentally let it slip outside, that would have been a disaster."
It seemed everyone shared the same opinion, as Noh Hee-won, who was standing among them holding a stack of documents, also nodded.
The only one still sulking was Jung Hwan-yeop.
"Well, I'm still a little upset, you know."
Seeing Jung acting like a sulky child, Choi Ho-geun finally sighed and patted him on the shoulder.
"Alright, alright. Once all this wraps up, I'll treat you to some grilled pork cartilage and drinks — your favorite. How about that?"
"Ahem. Well, if you put it that way, I guess I can let it slide this time."
"Yeah, yeah. Thanks so much."
At that moment, the phone on the desk rang, and Choi Ho-geun immediately picked up the receiver.
"Hello, this is Choi Ho-geun."
[It's me. You're still keeping an eye on the shorted stocks, right?]
It was Seok-won's voice. Choi adjusted his grip on the receiver and replied right away.
"Of course."
[For today, just leave things as they are and monitor the market. You handle the position adjustments as you see fit.]
"Understood."
Looking at the Nikkei index displayed on the large electronic board in front of him, Choi continued,
"What about the futures we bet on — the Nikkei and the Malaysian KLCI index?"
[Both are going to drop further. Leave them as is for now and just keep watching.]
When it came to the Nikkei, that made sense, but the Malaysian KLCI index had already fallen by more than half. Choi thought it might be nearing the bottom.
Still, since it was Seok-won giving the instructions, he didn't question it.
"Got it. I'll hold onto the futures positions as you said."
[If anything changes, contact me immediately.]
"Yes, sir."
After hanging up the phone with a short response, Choi Ho-geun lightly clapped his hands to gather the attention of the somewhat restless team members.
"Alright, enough chit-chat! Jung, keep monitoring the price movements of the shorted stocks. Hong and Samsung Yoo, you two watch the futures market."
Then, Choi Ho-geun turned his gaze to Noh Hee-won, who was standing to the side.
"We'll need the power of caffeine to stay sharp until the market closes. Miss Noh, brew some strong coffee and hand it out to everyone."
"Yes, sir!"
Noh Hee-won nodded briskly and answered with energy.
Though still new and lacking experience, her eagerness to be helpful to the team earned her approving looks from the others.
"Got it."
"Understood."
As each team member responded and returned to their stations, Choi Ho-geun placed his hands on his hips and stared at the monitors.
Seeing the stock prices of the four major Japanese securities firms plunging even deeper, a wide smile formed on his lips.
"Judging by how much they're falling, it looks like investors are taking this much harder than expected."
With a relaxed expression, Seok-won sipped from a teacup as he watched the monitor displaying the stocks of Japan's four major securities firms, then set the cup down.
"This way, even after we close out our short positions later, the stocks won't rebound much."
If the prices didn't rise sharply during short covering, the profits would be that much greater — a definite advantage.
Just then, after a quick knock, Na Seong-mi entered, wearing a neat navy skirt suit.
"Executive Director Yoon has arrived."
"Send him in."
"Yes, sir."
Shortly after Na Seong-mi left, Executive Director Yoon Gi-hoon entered along with CEO Ahn Byung-seok of Digital Wave.
Smiling, Seok-won stood up and walked around his desk, extending his hand first.
"It's been a long time, President Ahn."
CEO Ahn quickly bowed his head before shaking Seok-won's hand.
"I believe it's been about four months since we last met, at the end of last year."
"Already that long, huh? Sorry for making you come all the way here."
"Not at all. You're busy enough — it's only right that I come to you."
Watching Ahn's polite demeanor, Seok-won smiled faintly and gestured toward the sofa.
"Please, have a seat."
"Thank you."
Seok-won took the center seat, with President Ahn and Executive Director Yoon sitting on the sofas across from each other.
"Would you like something to drink?"
At Na Seong-mi's words, Seok-won looked at the two men as if suddenly remembering something.
"Oh, right. I recently received some ginseng tea made from six-year-old ginseng — it's great for fatigue recovery. You should give it a try."
At Seok-won's suggestion, CEO Ahn Byung-seok quickly nodded.
"Yes, that sounds good."
"If it's a tea recommended by you, I definitely have to try it," Executive Director Yoon Gi-hoon added, prompting Seok-won to chuckle lightly.
"Haha, it's not something to get that excited about. Na, please bring us three cups of ginseng tea."
"Understood."
Na Seong-mi replied briefly, turned around, and left the room. Meanwhile, Seok-won looked at Ahn Byung-seok with an expectant expression.
"I heard the mass-production model of the MP3 player is ready."
"Yes, it is."
"Let's take a look then."
Ahn Byung-seok took out a book-sized paper box from the briefcase he had placed beside him.
Opening the box, he carefully unwrapped an MP3 player sample protected by bubble wrap and placed it in front of Seok-won.
"Here it is."
The mass-production sample he revealed was small enough to fit in the palm of a hand, featuring a two-line black-and-white LCD display at the top and six physical buttons neatly aligned in the center.
As Seok-won picked up the device and inspected it thoroughly, Ahn Byung-seok provided a brief explanation of the product specifications.
"It's equipped with 64 megabytes of flash memory, allowing storage for about 12 songs, and can play music at CD-quality sound. Besides MP3 files, users can also store various computer files, making it usable like a floppy disk."
"The capacity isn't huge, but being able to store other files too is definitely a good selling point," Seok-won said, nodding with interest.
Encouraged by the positive reaction, Ahn Byung-seok's eyes lit up as he continued.
"Exactly. With an MP3 player like this, people can easily carry or transfer document files too."
On the other hand, Executive Director Yoon Gi-hoon, while intrigued, still had lingering doubts about whether such a small device was worth the substantial investment and attention that Seok-won was giving it.
"It's definitely much better crafted than the prototype we saw last time."
"You mentioned that a product not only needs good functionality but also has to look appealing to consumers. So we hired a design firm to redesign the casing."
"Good thinking. It certainly looks better than before."
"For mass production, besides the ivory color you're seeing now, we also plan to release red and blue versions."
"That's better than sticking to a single color. Having more options will definitely attract more consumer interest."
Seok-won then inserted the included earphones into both ears and pressed the button to start playing music.
Then a lively song by the famous pop singer Michael Jackson began to play.
Since the device was fundamentally meant for listening to music, sound quality was the most critical factor.
Seok-won closed his eyes and quietly listened to the music while Ahn Byung-seok watched him nervously.
Just then, Na Seong-mi entered the room. Seeing that Seok-won was wearing earphones, she silently placed the ginseng tea on the table and quietly exited.
"Hmm."
"S-So, how is it?"
After listening to the entire song, Seok-won removed the earphones from his ears and spoke.
"The sound quality seems to have improved compared to before."
Seeing Seok-won's seemingly satisfied expression, Ahn Byung-seok let out a quiet sigh of relief.
"I'm glad it meets your expectations."
"What kind of price range are you thinking about?"
"It hasn't been finalized yet, but to secure a profit margin, it would need to be around 300,000 to 350,000 won."
At this, Executive Director Yoon Gi-hoon frowned and interjected.
"If this is supposed to replace the Walkman, the primary buyers will be teenagers and people in their twenties. I think 300,000 won is too expensive for them."
Seok-won tilted his head slightly to the side.
"How much do Walkmans typically sell for these days?"
"Japanese models are a bit pricier, but locally produced cassette tape players are usually in the 100,000-won range."
Considering that the starting salary for a new employee at a major corporation was around 1 million won at the time, it was clear that 300,000 won wasn't a price easily within reach for young consumers.
"However, because of the high cost of components, it's difficult to lower the price below 300,000 won," Ahn Byung-seok said, looking troubled.
Seok-won held the MP3 player sample in his hand, pondering for a moment, then looked back up.
"Would it be possible to bring the price down into the 200,000-won range?"
"We've already minimized the profit margin, but if we lower the price as you suggest, we'll be losing money the more we sell."
Ahn Byung-seok responded skeptically.
"Then, is there absolutely no way to lower the price?"
Ahn Byung-seok groaned, thinking it over, and reluctantly spoke with an unwilling expression.
"If we adjust the product specs, we might be able to lower the cost a little more."
As someone closer to engineering, Ahn Byung-seok didn't like this option. Lowering the quality of the product just to cut costs was something he found unacceptable. However, as the one controlling the money, if Seok-won insisted, he had no choice but to consider it.
"It's a problem that the specs are higher than necessary, but if the product's performance drops too much, we'll lose consumer interest."
"Then, there's no other way."
Ahn Byung-seok wore a troubled expression.
Both of them were at a loss, unable to think of any good solutions, when Seok-won, gently stroking his smoothly shaved chin, spoke up.
"What if we do it this way?"
Ahn Byung-seok and Yoon Gi-hoon both turned to look at him at the same time.
"Even if it's the same components, if the order quantity is large enough, we can get them at a lower price. So, we could place a large order all at once and reduce the production cost."
Ahn Byung-seok's expression darkened slightly as he cautiously replied.
"What you're saying isn't wrong, but to lower the delivery price to a meaningful level, simply increasing the quantity won't be enough."
It wouldn't make sense to ask them to cut the delivery price in half just by increasing the order from 100 units to 130 units.
"What's the initial production quantity you're thinking of?"
Ahn Byung-seok immediately answered.
"We plan to produce around 50,000 units initially, and then adjust for additional production based on the market response."
At a price point of 300,000 won, that was a significant amount—150 billion won, so it was by no means a small quantity.
After hearing this, Seok-won leaned back into the sofa cushions and responded leisurely.
"If you increase the initial production to 300,000 units, wouldn't you be able to lower the production cost to the level you want?"
"!"
At Seok-won's words, both Ahn Byung-seok and Yoon Gi-hoon opened their eyes wide in shock.