12 Hours After

Translator: Khan

Editor: Aelryinth

I looked up the time when the third piece of news happened. The third news event would take place on the twenty-first of August, 2020. It was just four weeks from now. The two preceding news were in nine and twelve months respectively, but this one was in just four weeks.

‘No, I mean, it doesn’t make any sense.’

I saw Ah-young once. She had been walking on the beach for a while, so she was asleep without knowing what happened. I read the title of the article once again.

[Top star Oh Hyun-joo’s secret early morning date. The other person is Han Sang-hoon, president of Invictus Investment?]

Then I read the article.

[Top star Oh Hyun-joo has been found to be in love with Han Sang-hoon, the president of Invictus Investment. He is a young CEO who earned four million dollars in his early thirties, and the Invictus Investment is also a major shareholder of OH Entertainment, which Oh Hyun-joo belongs to. The two are known to have met frequently at official events of Invictus Investment and OH Entertainment, and such ties appear to have led to their recent romantic relationship.]

In the middle of the article, there was a picture of the blue Bentley and Oh Hyun-joo in the passenger seat. The license plate was not listed, but the blue Bentley was my second car. It was a car that was usually used to show the CEO’s presence, as it was a large SUV.

‘Is this… real? Or is it… a rumor?’ As I thinking about that, Ah-young tossed and turned in bed for a while. “Uh…”

I closed my cell phone in a hurry. Then Ah-young leaned her head against my shoulder. I looked out the other window for a moment. I looked at the scenery and thought again, ‘This is ridiculous.’

I liked Ah-young and she liked me, too. This trip made me feel that way more and more. But after four weeks, I would have a love affair. Unless there was some magic in four weeks, it would not be possible. I thought for a moment about the time on the news. ‘August twenty-first… if it is…’

It was the second anniversary of our company. There would be a gathering of all our company and our subsidiary CEOs. Although I did not know the details of the event, there was a high possibility that celebrities of OH Entertainment would attend it.

‘So… something would happen then?’ While I was thinking about it, the taxi arrived at our hotel. I took some cash out of my wallet and handed it to him.

“Gracias,” I appreciated it.

“Muchas gracias,” he also thanked me.

Ah-young, who was sleeping on my shoulder, heard his voice and woke up.

“Uh… I fell asleep.” Rubbing her sleepy eyes with her hands was so cute. It was the time to show my affectionate expression as usual. But I didn’t, because the article I just saw bothered me. I just came up to the hotel suite on the elevator with her arms crossed. On the way, I glanced at her. Still, she still seemed sleepy.

So, as soon as I entered the hotel room, I told her, “Are you tired? Sleep first. I’ll go to the cafe and get some work done.”

“Work?”

“Yes, it’s an important thing for the company.”

She didn’t like me thinking about work when I traveled, but she didn’t argue when I said it was important company work.

“Well, I see, oppa…”

I got my laptop and took the elevator back down to the hotel lobby. I then took a seat in the corner of the cafe, opened an email and called Customer Service right away.

– Welcome, customer Han Sang-hoon.-

There was no need to show the formal greeting to the AI anyway. I asked the question right away. – Not all the news from the future news is true, is it?-

All the news in 12 Hours After was not correct. 12 Hours After sent news which would release or might come out in twelve hours. A prime example was the weather forecast. [It will be windy and gusty on Tuesday, the twenty-fifth.]

Even so, there was a perfect sunny day. The answer from the Customer Service came back, – Of course. Truth is different for all viewers.-

It was too obscure and I changed the question. – Sometimes the weather forecast is wrong, and everything is not true, is it?-

– Yes, we just deliver the news that might happen in the future.-

What I thought was true.

‘Yeah, well, maybe the news I saw today is just a rumor…’ But now that I thought about it, I had a question. ‘Well, shouldn’t I have received the correction news automatically?’

Wrong weather forecasts didn’t mean that the correction news would come. I wrote it right in. – Why didn’t you give me the correctional news?-

– We only correct changes made by the intervention of the subscriber.-

‘Yes… there is one more thing to know.’

There were detailed rules in the correction news: news would come out only once, and the correction news would come for the news I had read for a month.

‘Only the news that I intervened in and changed comes gets correction news.’ I remembered that fact firmly. Then, I closed the Customer Service window and thought for a moment. ‘It is true that there will be news about a love affair between Oh Hyun-joo and me, anyway. It’s also true that she gets in my Bentley… or a month later, I will change my mind and have an affair with Oh Hyun-joo. Or… it’s not true… but it’s just a rumor.’

Either way, the first or the second scenario was not very good for me.

—————————–

In August, I returned home after a long trip with Ah-young. To be honest, I couldn’t enjoy the end of the trip. After reading the third news, I was so restless that I couldn’t play well with Ah-young.

Ah-young also felt it and asked me, “What’s wrong with your company, oppa?”

However, I made up a story and avoided a direct answer. “Just a little something happened to the company.”

It wasn’t just empty words. While the third news was the most shocking, the first and second news was also very important. As soon as I got home, I called in Vice President Jang and checked them out.

“As I mentioned before, did you buy a grade A or higher in government bonds or corporate bonds with most of the funds we got from Kai Games, right?”

“Yes.”

“What about the proportion of domestic or foreign stocks?”

“About fifteen percent.”

“What’s the proportion to foreign stocks by country?”

“50% in the United States, 15% in Shanghai, 15% in Hong Kong, 10% in Japan, and 10% in India and other developing countries.”

“I see… then, in the next half year, reduce the share of domestic and overseas stocks to the 3% level.”

Vice President Jang asked me in amazement, “Three percent?”

“Yes. Invest the remaining funds in defensive stocks in the economy, like communications, or grocery stocks. Please transfer all the money to gold, silver, dollars, and U.S. government bonds. We are going to take an extremely conservative investment position.”

“Yes, sir.”

“And… I’d like to give two orders for Vice President Jang at the same time.”

“Please tell me.”

“First, I’d like to buy two companies that are defensive in the economy by the end of the year.”

Vice President Jang nodded at my words.

“… All right. Two defensive companies in the economy.”

“If their business is stable and they have good cash-generating power, that’s all. The market capital should be less than $300,000,000. It doesn’t matter if it’s a little expensive, so please find something.”

“Yes, boss.”

“And secondly, when the two companies are finished being taking over… I’d like to sell Hyun Young Pharmaceutical.”

Vice President Jang was greatly surprised at what I said. “Hyun Young Pharmaceutical?”

“Yes. Now that our company’s income has exceeded a billion dollars, I think it’s not too bad to sell it now.”

Mostly, Vice President Jang had not argued with me, but he got me this time. “But, Mr. President, they have passed phase three and now they are starting to sell. I don’t think it’ll be difficult to make three or four billion dollars of the market capital if the sales figures start to be recorded.”

To be honest, I thought so too, until I came back from my trip last month.

“Yes, I think so, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to be too greedy. Of course, it would be better to sell for a good price, but… within a year… no, I’d like to find the buyer and sell it within this year.”

Jang, who listened to me, pondered my words and asked me, “Well, Mr. President.”

“Yes?”

“Do you see the global stock market going negatively in the long run?”

I looked at him for a moment and thought, ‘Shall I tell Vice President Jang?’ But it was a year from now. It was so weird to predict that. I hesitated for a moment, then told him, “For the most part, I see it that way, anyway. Please be prepared to execute the two I told you about as soon as possible.”

“… yes, sir.”

I checked him once more, as he was about to say goodbye. “After acquiring two defensive companies in the economy, then we sell Hyun Young Pharmaceutical. We don’t sell them until we take them over.”

I needed to maintain my grade, so this order was important. To maintain the current Master Class, I must have five listed companies. Jiwoo Entertainment came in, but Kai Games went out, so I had five companies. If I sold Hyun Young Pharmaceutical and its subsidiary Hyun Young Bio, there would be only three left. I would have to increase the number of companies to seven and then I would sell two to maintain my grade.

At my words, Vice President Jang once again bowed his head. “I’ll keep it in mind, sir.”

After Jang went out, I sighed. ‘This will get me out of some big trouble.’

I picked up my cell phone, took out a timetable, and wrote some letters on April tenth, 2021, the day the first news would come out. On July second, 2021, the second news would come out, I wrote ‘D-DAY.’

Both days would be an important turning point in the operation of our funds in the future. So far, I had earned two or three million dollars a day with the algorithm program after reading the future news of which companies would go to the upper limit price and which company would be taken over. However, on those two days, I would be playing some billion-dollar games.

‘There’s a big game going on… until then… I need to gather as much money as I can.’ I closed my cell phone at the thought. The company’s fortunes were important, but I did not feel nervous right now, because it was still nine months or a year away.

‘Well, I will get everything ready by then.’

I cared more about the event in the near future than that. The second-anniversary event for our company was scheduled to take place just three weeks from today…