Liliana smiled sweetly and handed a Post-it note.
"Since it's your first day, I figured you might not know where your departnt is yet. I ca to let you know."
"Five tasks?"
"I need to talk with Mr. Ha Si-heon for a mont. Would you mind stepping out for a bit?"
"Oh, yes! Yes!"
Phuong, who had peeked at the Post-it note, scrunched up her face in displeasure, but with one smile from Liliana, her expression softened, and she turned into a bashful erkat.
Wall Street jungle or not, a beautiful woman's smile can disarm anyone.
"Phew…"
Liliana took to a secluded spot and sighed for a while.
It seed hard for her to start the conversation, so I spoke first.
"Is it common to have five staffing tasks on your first day?"
"No, it's a very unusual situation."
"I thought so."
"This has never happened before. Requests have been pouring in since this morning, and I've already sent over 30 rejection emails!"
"Are they all MD requests?"
"…!"
Liliana's eyes widened in surprise.
That was enough of an answer.
"How did you know?"
"They said HR manages my schedule. It's Monday."
"What?"
Every Monday, all departnts have a weekly eting.
Most of the etings start at 9 a.m. and end around 10 a.m.
"The staffing tasks were completed before 10. That ans HR coordinated my schedule during the eting ti, and there's only one position capable of doing that."
Soone who can issue a directive to secure the new recruit even during a eting.
The highest-ranking MD in the departnt.
"So, I ended up with a schedule that pushes to my limits, right? It's hard to refuse an MD's request."
"Well…"
"I'm not complaining. I would have done the sa."
"Phew… You're very quick with calculations."
"Anyone could deduce this much."
In fact, there's sothing else one can deduce from this situation.
The MDs looking for now are all Pierce’s rivals.
How do I know that?
Because humans don’t prioritize etings for the sake of friendship.
This speed indicates competition, no doubt.
"Is that all you wanted to say? I have a eting soon."
Having confird everything, I started heading back, but—
"Mr. Ha Si-heon."
Liliana, with a determined expression, stopped .
"How about we cancel this bet?"
What is she talking about now?
"Why don't you seriously talk to Mr. Pierce about it?"
"Oh, co on. If I annoy him, I'll be the one who suffers."
"You don't get it, Mr. Ha Si-heon. This bet, it's not good for you at all."
"For whom?"
…
Yeah, you must find it botherso.
You're stuck in the middle, trying to manage everything.
Liliana surprisingly admitted it quickly.
"Yes, that's true. It's hard for . Getting pushed around by MDs every day ans I can't get my work done. But it's really not good for you either, Mr. Ha Si-heon."
Then she continued with her persuasion.
"This morning, a healthcare MD called and was furious. At this rate, Mr. Ha Si-heon, you may never get to your desired departnt."
"Let's be honest, the attention you're getting right now isn't purely because of your skills, right? If expectations rise too high, you'll inevitably disappoint."
"They see this as re entertainnt, and to them, you're just a racehorse. Everyone's betting on your failure, Mr. Ha Si-heon. You don’t want to be humiliated, do you?"
It's kind of cute that she’s trying to threaten as a senior in Wall Street.
"I have no intention of canceling the bet."
"Why not?"
"If I’m the racehorse, then the racetrack is already filled with excited spectators. They've even placed their bets. If the race is canceled at this point, and the reason is the horse?"
"…."
Right, I’d be the boring guy who ruined the fun.
Backing out of the bet now would be the worst possible choice.
"Since it's already started, I need to see it through to the end, whatever that end may be."
"Phew… Okay."
Liliana slumped her shoulders and let out a long, exasperated sigh.
I suddenly felt a little guilty.
"Cheer up."
I offered genuine encouragent, but Liliana narrowed her eyes at and lifted her head.
"What’s your angle?"
"My angle?"
"Then why are you smiling?"
"It's just a hollow laugh. I was just thinking about how hard I'll be worked going forward…"
"…"
"Don't look at like that. I’m just a poor analyst caught up in all this chaos."
"Alright, I really should go now. I have a eting."
Saying I had a eting was a lie.
I still had 30 minutes left.
I just needed so ti to review my strategy.
‘I don’t feel like going back to the departnt.'
For so reason, I had a feeling Liliana would co back and try to persuade again.
So I went to the 14th floor, where the eting was, and killed so ti in the restroom.
Looking at my face in the mirror, I could see why Liliana was glaring at like that.
The corners of my mouth were up, making look like soone with ulterior motives.
‘But ulterior motives…? That’s going too far. I didn’t set up this situation. I just found sothing useful in it.'
I opened my notepad.
[Goal]
Establish a hedge fund of at least $10 billion within 2 years.
[Status of Investor Recruitnt]
Current MDs paying attention to : 30
This is why I smiled.
A typical new hire gets assigned to one departnt and might et three or four MDs at most.
But I’m on ‘dynamic assignnt.’
I’m being dispatched to various departnts, and thanks to Pierce, all the MDs are interested in .
If I play this right, I could make an impression on dozens, even hundreds of MDs.
Not that I’m trying to impress them for the sake of climbing the corporate ladder.
MDs frequently et with clients.
Their clients are CEOs, executives, institutional investors, billionaires, politicians, etc.
If an amazing story cos out of this bet, what then?
I could spread my reputation among the elite through the MDs.
So of the wealthy might take an interest in as a potential future investnt.
‘It won’t be easy.'
It’s unlikely that MDs would gossip about in front of their high-profile clients.
The bet with Pierce is just a small spark.
A spark that’ll flicker for a while and then disappear in the confines of Goldman.
But what if I artificially nurture that spark?
What if I keep feeding it logs and even pour oil on it to turn it into a blazing fire?
The odds are slim, but it’s not impossible.
***
I need to create a rumor that spreads beyond Goldman, reaching Wall Street and the elite.
[Improvents]
Main character: I can’t be overshadowed by Pierce. I need to make sure I’m the focus.
Story/Attention: It has to be intriguing enough to catch the interest of people outside Goldman. (Increase the scale, add dramatic elents, sprinkle in so flair, etc.)
Continuity: Make sure the story stays alive and keeps getting talked about, even as ti passes.
As I carefully planned out each step—
Beep beep beep—
My alarm went off.
It was ti for the first eting.
My first assignnt was with the Industrial Group.
This departnt deals with large-scale industries like aviation, security, automobiles, construction, capital goods, chemicals, and transportation.
I arrived at the main conference room 15 minutes early, as stated in the email.
‘What’s this?'
There were more than ten people inside.
A staffing eting usually has only four attendees:
MD, VP, associate, and analyst.
If a new hire joins, they might add another analyst, but that’s the max—five people.
‘Did I co to the wrong place?'
I started backing out, double-checking the room number, when a young man inside pointed at and shouted.
"Oh, there he is!"
"You're that Asian guy, right? Welco party!"
"Co in, co in!"
‘So I’m in the right place.'
It looks like the seniors who missed the welco party were waiting to et .
They sward like a pack of zombies and quickly surrounded .
"So, why did Pierce pick you?"
"You t him last year, right? What was your internship rotation?"
"Do your families know each other?"
Everyone's attention was focused on Pierce.
‘Shall I try to change that first?'
The main character of this rumor is .
And I have to be "the exceptional new hire Ha Si-heon, discovered by Pierce," not just so "Asian" or "newbie" caught up with Pierce.
"I'm eting Mr. Pierce for the first ti. It’s probably because of sothing I said…"
"Hey, hey! Quiet, quiet! What did you say?"
"I said that 80% of the biotech stocks I picked tend to have good news."
"Pfft! 80% success rate?"
"Well, I did go to d school. I think there are patterns only I can see."
"Yeah, yeah, rookies are always confident at first."
As expected, they don’t believe .
Well, that's only natural.
If every d school graduate were a biotech stock oracle, what doctor would stay in a hospital?
"So, are you trying to compete with Brent?"
"Oh boy, you’re in for a rough initiation."
"It's too late to back out now. What are you going to do?"
Everyone is certain of Brent’s victory.
That’s fine by .
"Isn't there a chance I might win?"
"Pfft! You don’t know this yet, but the actual field is much tougher. Reality is different from your ideals."
"Then why don't we bet on it?"
"What?"
"A bet?"
"Seriously?"
The tone of the seniors' gazes changed.
Of course, Wall Street folks love a good bet.
"I didn’t get to participate in yesterday’s bet. I feel like I’ll try harder if my own money is on the line."
"Haha, this guy’s confident, isn’t he?"
"Of course! The whole of Goldman is watching. You’ve got to have at least that level of resolve!"
"Alright, I'll put 200 on Brent!"
"400 on Brent for !"
"500 on Brent!"
In no ti, ten seniors had placed their bets.
Every single one of them picked Brent.
With the scales tipped so much, they started bickering among themselves.
"Hey, soone has to bet on the rookie too! Otherwise, there’s nothing to gain!"
"At least we’ll cover coffee money!"
"Looks like even that might not happen…
…Wait a minute, the rookie hasn’t said how much he’s betting, has he?"
"True."
"How much?"
At that mont, all eyes turned to .
I waited for the noise to settle, then spread my fingers wide.
"Five thousand dollars."
"?"
"?"
"?"
A brief silence fell.
While everyone had question marks over their heads, one senior barely managed to speak.
"Are you serious?"
"Yes, I am. But let’s make the paynt due on payday since I’m betting my first paycheck."
‘As expected, this works well.'
What’s the most important thing in a bet?
Money.
The higher the stakes, the greater the prestige.
If a re rookie bets five tis the amount Pierce did, I’ll seem pretty impressive, right?
But I’m not stopping here.
I need to spread the rumor even more.
"Really?"
"Yes, I’m serious. I have to be prepared at this level."
"But still, that’s quite a hefty amount for a newbie…"
"It’s fine. It’s not like it’s my life savings, just one month’s salary. If I lose, I’ll consider it a learning fee."
So seniors began to try and dissuade .
Throwing in a few bills is one thing, but betting an entire month’s salary is another level of risk.
Of course, they’re not really worried about .
They're afraid of what cos next.
"This is what makes it exciting."
When I flashed a provocative smile, the seniors' pupils wavered even more.
I could read emotions like ‘No way…' and ‘Please don’t…' in their eyes.
Smiling sweetly, I finally uttered the words they feared most.
"Are you seniors sticking with your current bets?"
A rookie is betting his salary, and you're just going to sit there as seniors?
You’ve got to bet your salaries too.
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