"Ahem."
Loraine, who had barely managed to calm her emotions, cleared her throat and spoke.
"What happened, you ask? If you're that curious, I don't mind telling you. If you're really so curious that you have to ask me, I can understand that."
"Never mind. It's probably nothing important anyway."
While normally Loraine would have gotten worked up at this point, this time she was clearly different.
"Huh. Well, someone who doesn't recognize its value might find it trivial. I understand."
Loraine's raised shoulders and high nose made me want to give her a flick on the forehead.
But even more than that, I was curious about what made her maintain such a confident attitude.
'To be this full of joy, did something really good happen? She's definitely different from usual.'
However, even though I wanted to ask Loraine, I still didn't like her expression or the look in her eyes.Wasn't she looking at me like I was a mouse she was certain would fall into her trap?
Just as Osian was seriously considering how to handle this, Ena came out of the kitchen wiping her hands with a dishcloth.
"Sigh. Stop bragging already. What's so great about making money from stocks?"
"Stocks?"
Loraine snapped at Ena's words.
"What's so good about it, you ask! I made money from stocks!"
"So you're happy because you succeeded in stock investment?"
Osian felt somehow deflated. So it was just stocks, not like she'd won the lottery or something.
But Loraine clearly didn't like the nuance behind those words.
"You seem to be looking down on stocks, but do you know how much I've made?!"
Loraine pulled out a stack of papers and slammed them on the table.
In this era, electronic securities hadn't developed yet, so when buying and selling stocks, they used physical certificates officially issued by institutions.
The physical certificates Loraine pulled out were clearly not ordinary. One could tell she had invested a considerable amount of money, if not her entire fortune.
"Which stock did you invest in to be so happy?"
"What, are you interested in stocks too? From the way you talk, you don't seem completely ignorant about stocks?"
"Well..."
Osian wasn't completely unfamiliar with stocks.
In his previous life, he had been an office worker, and although his hobby was gaming, he had also been interested in investment to maintain the value of his assets.
When bank deposits and savings weren't enough, the next thing he chose was stocks.
Osian was what people commonly called an 'ant' (small retail investor).
'But I only lost money in stocks.'
It wasn't exactly a good memory. Even if it wasn't a huge amount, losing money was unpleasant in itself.
If it had been because he lacked judgment, that would have been one thing, but modern stocks were nothing more than a playground for the wealthy.
Especially in what was called the stock market, Osian learned the hard way that he shouldn't step foot in there anymore after losing money.
'But stocks in this world?'
It felt like meeting an old nemesis - nostalgic yet unpleasant.
There was nothing particularly surprising about it. After all, stocks had appeared very early in actual history.
"So which stock did you invest in to be like this?"
Osian was purely curious about that.
Given how Loraine was boasting, it seemed she had actually made money.
"Heh. Don't be shocked when you hear this. This is information only known to those in the know, it's the Saint Tree company stock."
"Saint Tree?"
"Well, it's natural you don't know. This information is still spreading in utmost secrecy."
How could he not know? He had just read about it in the newspaper this morning.
They had developed some new technology, hadn't they? That seemed to be why the company's stock price was soaring.
'For something spreading in utmost secrecy, everyone who needs to know already knows about it since it's even in the news.'
While he still didn't know everything about this world, he could be certain about one thing.
When something makes the newspapers like this, it's already at its end.
'No, maybe it's too early to call it the end when only the new technology development has been announced. But it might come soon.'
This was something he learned from the stock market.
By the time news reaches the small investors, those who were going to profit have already taken everything and left nothing but bones.
Osian considered giving advice as a stock market senior but decided against it.
He didn't have enough experience to act like a senior. Besides, he didn't want to rain on Loraine's parade when she was so happy.
While her attitude really made him want to give her a flick on the forehead, hadn't she been going through tough times lately?
She deserved to have something good like this happen.
"So what's your return rate?"
"Don't be shocked when you hear this. From the day I bought it until this morning... it's gone up by 230%!"
Osian and Ena's eyes widened at hearing the 230% figure.
No matter how you looked at it, the return rate didn't make sense.
Just looking at the amount of physical certificates Loraine was holding, you could tell she hadn't invested a small amount.
How much would that be if converted to cash right now?
He could understand why Loraine couldn't contain her joy.
It was truly a jackpot-level return.
"So are you going to sell it?"
"What? Sell? That's what someone who knows nothing would say! Saint Tree's stock price will keep going up. Selling here would be what cowards do!"
Loraine hugged her stock certificates to her chest as if they were precious items, showing a manic gleam in her eyes.
Well, considering their value, they were beyond merely precious.
'Making money has really driven her crazy.'
More than that, a 230% return rate? There's no way Loraine had invested in this stock for a long time like one or two years.
Even if she bought it a while ago, one week would be the maximum.
'But can a stock rise that much in just one week? It's not like it's crypto currency.'
Of course, it could actually rise that much. Looking at stock market history, there were stocks that had risen even more dramatically.
But as usual, such stocks weren't healthy.
"Hehehe. If this stock hits big, I can move to a bigger house now. I'll build a penthouse in District 20."
Loraine was muttering to herself in a low voice, completely consumed by mania.
Watching her, Osian wondered about something.
"But is it okay? With the stock price rising so much, managing the certificates must be difficult."
The papers Loraine held were no longer ordinary papers.
While he didn't know exactly how much each certificate was worth, it certainly wasn't a small amount.
If someone else found out about this while she was holding bundles of them, they might go crazy.
While there probably weren't such people within this office, rumors don't always stay inside.
It wouldn't be strange if armed robbers came from outside.
"Hah. Of course I'll manage it myself. I don't care who comes. I'll definitely protect it."
"If that's the case, would you please leave the office? As someone who would be anxious about our office being suddenly attacked, it's not exactly welcome."
Just then, Ronan was coming down from the second floor.
"What? Did you know about Loraine doing stocks too?"
"Who do you think would be the first to hear about this?"
"That's true."
No doubt Loraine had sought out Ronan as soon as she arrived to brag.
While Ronan probably listened with a smile, it must have been quite difficult for him to endure her smug expression and tone.
"Tch. Should you guys be nagging me like this? Just wait and see. Let's see if you can still talk like that when I become a billionaire!"
"Talk about it after it happens."
"Ugh. This will keep going up if you just leave it alone! Don't you understand yet? Money is being copied, copied!"
While Osian wanted to argue with Loraine's words, he gave up since the value of the stocks she held was actually increasing.
More than anything, he didn't want to waste energy arguing with Loraine.
"Now is the age of unearned income. You can look forward to it. All those who looked down on me until now will see me living luxuriously."
Ena stared at Loraine with half-open eyes, and Osian shook his head with a sigh.
Only Ronan maintained his usual smile.
*
Several days passed.
Checking the newspaper in the morning, Osian raised an eyebrow.
'Another story about Saint Tree company.
It was about the Saint Tree company receiving some patent, and developing yet another technology.
Naturally, the stock price continued to reach new highs. Now even street vendors knew about Saint Tree.
Sure enough, when he arrived at the office, Loraine was already there.
And her condition was even worse than before.
"Wahaha! Bring wine and food! It's time for heroes!"
"......"
Whether it was because the stock had risen several times more than a few days ago, Loraine was completely out of her mind.
It seemed her brain had been damaged from too much dopamine.
It was hard for Osian to understand.
If it had been his old self, he would have been more anxious about making this much from stocks.
Rather than holding onto it like Loraine, he would have thought 'this should be enough' and pulled out when it rose a bit.
For him, who had been an ordinary citizen, watching a stock graph rise insanely was torture.
It wasn't just about the monetary figures, it felt like watching some kind of indicator of madness.
And now he was watching with his own eyes the result of that madness indicator.
"Just buy some already! Don't you understand? Saint Tree is copying money!"
"...I have more than enough money without doing such things."
"Ah. That may be so. But how long do you think you can hold out with just labor income? You should make one big score now and graduate!"
It was quite ironic hearing those words from Loraine, who would never quit this job even if she made a lot of money.
Well, it was proof that she was so happy now that she had lost her mind.
"It's a festival! Today is for alcohol and meat!"
"That's what we always eat."
While Ena made a snide comment from the side, it didn't reach Loraine's ears.
Right now, Loraine was probably experiencing one of the happiest days of her life.
Several more days passed.
Talk of Saint Tree was on everyone's lips, and the investment fever gradually overheated.
By this point, even someone completely unfamiliar with stocks would start to feel something was off.
Isn't this going too well?
The media kept talking about how Saint Tree had acquired some authority or secured patents.
People were caught up in the frenzy, and on days when the stock exchange opened, they would get into fistfights at the entrance over who would buy Saint Tree stocks first.
Human greed wanting to make more money.
The stock market was truly the embodiment of that, nothing less than a den of demons.
Osian found it suspicious and told Loraine to sell now while she could.
"Heh. Sell? Are you saying that because you're jealous of me making money?"
The moment he heard those words, Osian had to give up trying to persuade her.
Having already made more than 10 times her initial investment in stocks, she had gone mad with that overheated frenzy.
She even went as far as selling other stocks she had and using the remaining money to buy more.
'Is this really okay?'
That's what Osian thought.
By this point, he suspected this overheated investment fever might have been created by someone.
*
And then the incident happened.
The next morning Loraine was staring blankly into space like someone whose soul had left their body.
Occasionally, she would anxiously chew on her fingernails.
"Ah, Mr. Osian. You're here?"
Osian asked Ena, who welcomed him.
"What's wrong with Loraine?"
"Ah, that..."
Just then, Ronan came down from the second floor.
"She got caught in the stocks. Ah, do you know what getting caught means?"
"...?"
To the puzzled Osian, Ronan handed over a newspaper.
The front page had a major headline about this incident.
[I Accuse. The Lies of Saint Tree.]
The title was quite intense.
To summarize the article's content: Saint Tree had raised investment funds based on biotechnology agreements with elves, but in reality, these activities were not taking place.
Because of this, the shareholders who had invested in Saint Tree were now causing an uproar.