bdsm-fiction Chapter 32 | The Plan
Chapter 32 | The Plan
After Mike hung up the phone, the room became unusually quiet.
The Excel spreadsheet on the table was still open, and the number 1.5 billion Korean won lay on the screen like a heavy stone, an eyesore no matter how you looked at it.
Cao Yisen stared at the table for a few seconds, minimized it, and reopened the browser.
First, I checked the brokerage's back-end system to confirm the account opening process was in progress; then I switched to the Rebbit homepage, where the red and blue logo popped up, and the words "r/wallstreetbets" were displayed there, exactly the same as in my previous life, like a couple who are always arguing.
Cao Yisen seemed to have not looked at this forum with the eyes of a "hunter" for a long time, and he subconsciously took a deep breath.
Then my phone vibrated again; it was a message from Mike.
[Mike]: Bro, I've made up my mind.
[Mike]: Don't stand in front this time.
[Mike]: You give me the ideas and the rhythm, and I'll be that "foolish investment banker copying trades".
[Mike]: Anyway, nobody's keeping too much control over my personal account.
Cao Yisen looked at these lines and smiled.
【Ethan】：OKK
[Ethan]: You're the one charging ahead with real gold and silver.
[Ethan]: I was watching the charts, calculating the structure, and setting the pace from the back.
[Ethan]: Remember this: Only use money you can afford to lose.
[Mike]: You can rest assured.
[Mike]: I'm counting on you to help me live a few more years!
The roles were decided just like that.
Mike is the "openly visible operator" in the United States, responsible for placing actual orders in the market;
Cao Yisen, on the other hand, was the "strategist and head of the online army" for the night shift in Seoul, responsible for analyzing the market structure, writing analyses, and stirring up retail investors' emotions by posting on forums.
Cao Yisen thought about it and found it quite interesting. In his previous life, he stood on the side of the institutions and watched the retail investors. In this life, he wanted to personally organize the retail investors and pull off a big heist against the institutions.
Next, he made his first real "public statement" since his rebirth.
Cao Yisen first deleted all his old, messy accounts, then opened the account he had previously used to post. That account had accumulated quite a few followers; if he appealed on the forum, some people should respond. Suddenly, he thought of something, opened his profile page, and changed his signature:
"Just another idiot who likes numbers.
Just a number-obsessed idiot.
The meaning of nicknames is actually quite simple: Seoul is the starting point of this body; Quant is a label etched into the bones of the previous life.
After setting up his account, he didn't rush to post. Instead, he first searched for "Gamestart" on r/wallstreetbets.
Sure enough, people are already talking about this company in bits and pieces:
Some people say, "This lousy company should have died long ago."
Someone posted a screenshot of a short-selling report;
A few more astute commenters muttered something in the comments section:
"Isn't this short-selling ratio a bit exaggerated?"
But no one has systematically connected these things yet; no one has written the word "opportunity" clearly for them in a language they understand.
"Then I'll do it."
Cao Yisen quickly opened the new post page. The title field was empty. Cao Yisen's fingertips twitched slightly, and he quickly typed:
[DD] Gamestart isn't garbage, it's a ticking time bomb hanging over the heads of short sellers.
Another line was added below:
TL;DR:
This company's fundamentals are indeed terrible.
But what's worse is that the short sellers have gotten themselves into a dead end.
As is customary, he began the main text with a disclaimer:
This is not investment advice; I'm just a fool spouting nonsense online.
PS: If you want to follow along, do your homework first.
Then start typing it out in segments.
He didn't use the cold, impersonal style of internal fund reports, but deliberately used a tone that the WSB people could understand, half-joking and half-serious.
(1) To state the conclusion first: Gamestart's fundamentals are indeed very bad.
Selling game cartridges and used consoles offline is an outdated and stagnant business model.
Its revenue has been steadily declining due to attacks from digital games and e-commerce platforms.
Coupled with the flu, offline store traffic plummeted.
He went on to write:
"So, the short sellers are right about this—"
Judging from its financial statements, it is indeed a textbook example of a short-selling target.
(2) The problem is that stock prices are never just about fundamentals.
He started pulling data at this point.
Currently verifiable short positions have approached, or even exceeded, 100% of the outstanding shares.
This means that each share of stock in circulation on the market may have been lent out and sold more than once;
If the stock price rises instead of falling, short sellers will need to cover their positions, but they simply won't be able to buy enough shares.
He wrote a very straightforward analogy:
"You can imagine a musical chairs game: there are only 10 chairs on the ground, but 15 people are lining up to grab them."
If the music stops, hum... the screams will be quite something. Now the short sellers are just those extra 5 people.
(3) Sentiment + options + market makers are the real explosive for short sellers.
Next, he also pulled out the option chain and analyzed it.
In recent weeks, Gamestart's open interest in out-of-the-money (OTM) call options has increased abnormally.
Retail investors are buying call options like they're playing the lottery, while market makers are forced to buy physical shares to hedge their risks.
With more buying pressure, the stock price was pushed up, and the short sellers began to panic, forcing them to buy back to close their positions.
"This is a typical short squeeze spiral."
He wrote:
"To put it simply: retail investors are buying options, market makers are forced to buy physical shares, and short sellers are forced to buy back at high prices. The entire market instantly becomes a meat grinder."
(4) Why Gamestart instead of other junk stocks?
This part he wrote was a bit sentimental:
For many people born in the 1980s and 1990s, their first genuine game cartridge was bought from Gamestart.
The run-down game store near the school gate is a part of many people's childhood;
In the eyes of Flower Street, this is an outdated business model, but in the hearts of ordinary players, it is "the paradise of their childhood".
Cao Yisen continued typing:
"Short sellers think they're shorting a washed-up company, but for many, they're shorting the memories of an entire generation. This time, for the first time, retail investors have a button to fight back."
He then added a sentence, his tone slightly inflammatory:
"You can't expect everyone to be a 'leek' forever. Sometimes, they just want to see the short sellers get wiped out."
(5) If I were you, what would I do? (Playing strategies for retail investors)
Finally, instead of shouting "ALL IN," he wrote very calmly:
"If I were you, the premise would be—using money I can afford to lose, without leverage, without borrowing money, and without mortgaging my house."
The procedure is roughly as follows:
– Buy the underlying stock in batches, as a ticket;
– Buy small positions in far-month, slightly out-of-the-money call options, like playing the lottery;
Accept the possibility that it may fall first and then rebound; don't be scared away by short-term fluctuations.
My expectation is:
–If emotions are ignited
–If the media starts reporting on "retail investors battling Wall Street",
–If one or two short-selling funds really can't hold on...
So what you'll see in the news next isn't Gamestart, but stories of short sellers getting liquidated.
Let me repeat: This is not investment advice. I'm just simply annoyed—that the rules always seem to be on my side.
After typing the last period, he realized his shoulders were a little stiff.
This piece is neither an investment research report for the boss nor a roadshow presentation for clients, but rather more like an open letter to "all the retail investors he looked down on in his previous life".
In his previous life, those who typed orders behind keyboards were just transaction volumes on charts to him.
In his entire life, they were likely his most important front.
He took a deep breath, moved the mouse over "POST", and clicked lightly.
The moment the post was published, the title appeared in the list of new posts. Cao Yisen refreshed the page, but next to the ID [u/SeoulQuant_21], there was still only a pitiful "1 view".
Thirty seconds passed, and there was no movement.
One minute later, there were still 0 comments.
He picked up his half-finished Coke, about to make a self-deprecating remark like "no wonder nobody's watching," when the little red dot in the upper right corner suddenly lit up.
One new notification.
Click on it—the first reply popped up:
【u/YOLO_420】：
TL;DR:
"This stock is garbage, but the short sellers are even worse."
Yes, that's very WSB (wrong logic).
The second one followed quickly:
【u/bagholder1990】：
Is the short position ratio really that exaggerated? Does OP have a chart?
Article :
【u/stonksOnlyGoUp】：
So you're telling me I can use my childhood nostalgia to beat up hedge funds?
Okay, stop talking, I'll buy some first.
The number of likes went from 1 to 5, and then to 15.
Some people posted pictures for him in the comments, some shared photos of themselves in front of the Gamestart store back then, and some even posted pictures of their newly purchased call option orders:
"Alright, let's see if this idiot from Seoul is right. YOLO."
Cao Yisen leaned back in his chair, watching the constantly refreshing comments. His heartbeat gradually calmed down, but it was still noticeably faster than before.
He knew that the first group of people had already been set ablaze.
Cao Yisen checked the time; it was evening in Seoul, but just early morning in New York.
He sent Mike a message:
【Ethan】: Posted
【Ethan】：ID: SeoulQuant_21
[Ethan]: Why don't you go downstairs and pretend to be a passerby, but don't be too obvious?
The reply came almost instantly:
[Mike]: No problem
[Mike]: I've already placed my first small order to test the waters.
[Mike]: Honestly, just reading your post made me want to print out our group's empty report and hang it on the wall as a joke.
Cao Yisen replied:
[Ethan]: Don't rush.
[Ethan]: When the day comes that it actually happens, you can hang it on the wall and show it off.
[Ethan]: This is a souvenir from when I almost got my account wiped out.
The other person sent a laughing emoji, and then added:
[Mike]: Ethan
[Mike]: To be honest
[Mike]: When you first started talking about Gamestart, I thought you were just saying it for show.
[Mike]: I'm starting to feel it now.
[Mike]: It seems you're really ready to come back.
The three words "I'm back" sound light, but they feel heavy in my heart.
In his previous life, he embarked on that path to prove himself to be the "King of Prediction," but ended up going further and further astray.
All he ever wanted in his life was to give that hospital bed in Busan, and the woman across from it, a few more years.
[Ethan]: Not going back to Wall Street.
[Ethan]: Go back to the table and settle the accounts with the market again.
[Ethan]: This time, I'm only willing to risk my own life to let my mom live a few more years.
There was a few seconds of silence on the other end, and finally only one sentence was replied:
[Mike]: Let's do it, bro.
He closed the chat window and took one last look at Rebbit.
The DD post about Gamestart has been featured at the top of the forum, with a prominent little tag next to the title:
HOT
The light from the computer screen illuminated the small living room, while the night view of Seoul outside the window appeared as a patchwork of cool-colored dots.
At that moment, Cao Yisen suddenly had a very strange feeling:
In his previous life, he sided with the institutions, regarding the retail investors in the forum as "noise" and "liquidity."
Throughout his life, he sat in a small two-bedroom apartment in Seoul, using an alias called 【SeoulQuant_21】 to press the "retail investor gathering" button.
The market hasn't opened yet, and the battle hasn't officially begun.
But he knew very well that the first fuse had already been lit.