If the price of paper goes up, wouldn't the demand for printers, its complementary good, decrease...?
The professor's lecture.
It wasn't even entering my ears.
Not worth listening to in the first place.
'People who teach in any field are those who washed out of the real world.'
They can't even compete with dropouts.
Walking corpses stuffed with dead knowledge.
Hey, you there!
"..."
Hey, you! Wake up the one next to you.
"Should I... do it?"
Repeating tepid, watered-down stories like a broken radio.
If this were my company, I'd fire him on the spot.
'Ah, smells nice.'
Something warm and soft brushed against me.
And my cheek tingled, like a strand of hair had grazed it.
"Hey."
"Huh?"
"Wake up. Hurry."
Haa.
A shallow sigh.
And a gaze I could inexplicably feel.
'It's been forever.'
This was how it felt dozing off in class back in the day.
A nostalgic yet unwelcome situation.
"Sorry."
No need to apologize...
"Your lecture was so stale I fell asleep. If it'd been fresh, I wouldn't have."
That's what I wanted to say.
If it bugs you, make your lectures fun.
'Koreans are way too nosy about others sleeping or not.'
A society obsessed with everyone else's business.
Not even good teaching on a macro level.
Responsibility.
They need to realize that falling asleep in class screws your own life.
...One more time and it'll count as an absence. Got it?
"Yes~."
I don't care if I get screwed.
If Korea University kicks me out, Wall Street will take me.
"What a jerk."
"Seriously."
"Psycho for real. Total psycho."
Why are they so obsessed with other people's business?
Whispers criticizing me from all around.
"He was always a psycho, right?"
"That's a totally normal reaction, isn't it? Even the prof didn't say anything."
"Probably too stunned."
"Don't talk during lecture."
"..."
Sleeping during lecture? Fine.
Talking? No.
'Kids these days lack common sense.'
The education system's broken.
That's why it churns out smart idiots.
'Kids these days... their bodies sure grow well.'
Can't sleep anymore.
Decide to scope out my classmates instead.
Can't remember names.
[Economics Department Classmates]
S-grade —
A-grade — 2
B-grade — 5
Others — Pass
I definitely clock faces and figures.
I'm the affectionate type, believe it or not.
'Amateur porn with regular girls hits different.'
Pretty girls.
Young girls.
Money buys hotter ones.
But untainted purity? Hard even with cash.
Don't wanna leave regrets this life.
"Quit staring~."
"Just looking."
"Seriously! I'll poke you too."
'Damn, she has a boyfriend.'
A-grade down to 1.
The guy next to her is all over her.
Poking with a pen.
Thinks I won't notice? I see everything.
Others must sense it too.
They've gone past flirting straight to banging.
'Fresh college girls I can't have!'
B-grades dwindling.
Even if they pair off, they don't eat every bite.
Haa~
Sigh deeply, breathe in, and a faint nice scent wafts over.
No, right next to me.
Scratch, scratch!
Taking notes.
In this day and age, handwriting the prof's words with a pencil in a notebook.
Total blockhead move.
But her looks make it painterly.
"Taking notes hard, huh."
"...Mind your own business."
"I used to study that diligently once."
"Doubt it."
Did I?
Well, living life's a grind too.
'Ah, smells nice.'
Good girls give off pheromones.
Seductively alluring, beyond any perfume.
S-grade looks too. Wanna get close.
"No laptop? Why write by hand?"
"I memorize better handwriting."
"Wasting brain cells on useless crap."
"Use... less?"
Gonna be a securities trader, right?
Fine for Pokémon trainer, but not stocks.
'You're not aiming for econ PhD.'
Theory knowledge like that.
Obsess too much, blinds your vision.
No top students excel at stocks.
"All talk."
"Hear that a lot."
"Yeah~ don't talk to me."
"Nah."
'Everything in life needs experience first.'
Armchair theories.
Cram knowledge first, get biases.
Why Korea lacks finance talent.
Consumer income rises, demand curve shifts from P1 to P2. That's change in quantity demanded.
Living proof.
Look at that prof.
If he'd made bank in stocks, would he yap like this?
"What's your name?"
"Not telling you."
"On your eraser."
"..."
"Yoon Sora? Pretty name. Loved the actress with the same name."
Aoi Sora exists.
Japan's legendary actress.
'Big fanbase in Korea too.'
Talent incarnate.
Pick the right path, life's smooth sailing.
Yawn~
Yawns pour out.
Prime youth wasting away instead of gambling. Shame.
Yawn~
Yawn~
Yawns spread contagiously.
Classroom full of kids failing the boring lecture.
Tired, everyone?
""Yes~!""
Then let's do something fun. Lots of you into stocks lately, I hear...
Fun by prof standards.
Means bullshit, so distractions okay. Fine.
How does today's lesson apply to real markets? You, face down there!
Eyes closing again.
Warm softness wakes me once more.
'Me?'
Look around.
Only free spirit in Korea U econ is me.
No choice, answer.
Bald prof homes in like he planned it.
Remember today's lesson?
"Of course, prof."
Simple question. If U.S. per capita income surges, what happens to our auto export firms' stocks? Tie to today's lesson.
Giggles from around.
Think I can't answer.
'Piece of cake.'
What do they take me for.
Quick sim.
Common in industry. Easy answer.
"They tank."
Right. Price... what?
"Firms like JP Morgan short a million shares. Lunatics might pile more."
Perfect short setup.
Fast-info foreign funds won't miss.
Thought it textbook.
"Why down? Shouldn't it rise?"
"Yeah."
"Right, up!"
Dumb murmurs around.
Acting like I'm wrong.
'Huh?'
Feel like the weirdo.
Students and prof stare puzzled.
Ahem. Stocks rise. More income, more buying power, demand up for non-essentials like cars.
Utter nonsense.
Students okay, but prof too?
'This is why I hate Korean profs!'
Uni profs theory-deep, sure.
Even that's shallow.
1+1=2 simpleton thinking.
If markets worked that way, who'd lose in stocks.
"Prof."
So no more sleeping, listen...
"You're from the water rocket generation, thinking too simplistically. Markets now are complex systems, not linear."
Getting mad.
Hold back.
No good standing out.
Recall freshman welcome lesson.
Thought polite enough.
"Water rocket?"
"What's that?"
'...'
Word doesn't exist yet.
다음화 보기 -> remove
Water rocket.
Neologism: past feats hold little value now.
'Sports has controversies.'
Can't compare simply.
Like Pelé.
Era's play might look weak today.
But pioneers' credit undeniable; no egg, no chicken.
Sports settled that way.
"Water rocket?"
"What does it mean?"
"Like science day rockets?"
Industry views it valid.
Especially old guard with easy rides.
'Back then, success was too easy.'
Korea rocketed up.
50 years ago, worse than African backwater.
That gen? Life on easy mode.
Breathe, auto-promote like escalator.
"Not that. Means logic from prof's era doesn't fly now."
...Explain.
"If not rude, can I come up?"
To hold Korea U prof chair, breathed hard enough.
Still.
'Didn't study half as hard as kids now.'
Incompetent.
Yet high position.
Young finance folks disdain openly.
"U.S. per capita GDP rise happens late cycle, post-peak."
These folks reborn now? Korea U? No, not even Seoul unis.
Level gap obvious.
Escalator society.
What do lukewarm lifers know.
"Late cycle means prior money pump, now tighten. Means rate hikes. Americans love installments, so housing, auto demand drops. Compound rates: 1% up = 10% price effect."
Hmm...
"Right? No counter?"
Most slack off hard.
Didn't update on complex modern econ.
Missed installments.
"Prof!"
Yes?
"Why installments? Just pay cash."
Americans value FICO scores. Pay more for credit-building.
'Yeah, that much he knows.'
Even rotten herring's fish.
Korea U prof? Likely U.S. study abroad.
Or age-won knowledge.
Class gazes shift my way.
Sounded good, maybe.
Interesting view. But no basis for drop...
"No, that's background."
What?
"Factor politics too."
What I do is pure real-world.
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