The new year's first day of trading opened amid a great deal of noise.

[Ilhyeon Securities Extraordinary Shareholders' Meeting Confirmed]

[Agenda for the Extraordinary Meeting: Adjustment of Investment Ratios and Dismissal of President Seong-ho Kim]

[With Ilhyeon Securities folded into Ilhyeon Card as a subsidiary, management control of Ilhyeon Securities is understood to have passed to Ilhyeon Card President Jeong-eun Lee]

[Ilhyeon Securities and the Buy Korea fund it manages both fall into President Jeong-eun Lee's hands…]

The crowd gathered at the Ilhyeon Securities Myeongdong branch was too absorbed in the newspaper articles to bother with the status board.

"So what's this mean, then? Is President Kim getting fired?"

"Come on, Mr. Kim, can't you read Hangul?"

Mr. Choi, seated beside Mr. Kim in the chairs set before the status board, rapped the newspaper with his finger.

"Look here. It says right there that dismissal is an official item on the agenda. He's getting cut, no question."

"Then what happens to the Buy Korea fund?"

"What do you mean, what happens? It's obvious."

But Mr. Kim only stared back at him, still baffled.

Mr. Choi looked at him a moment and shook his head.

"Honestly. The way I see it, no matter how I look at it, you're just not a man who should be playing the market, Mr. Kim."

"Where'd stocks suddenly come into this?"

"Where'd they come into it?"

Mr. Choi rapped the newspaper again.

"Stocks are a war of information, and if you're this in the dark, how are you ever going to do well? Am I wrong?"

Mr. Kim found himself with nothing to say.

Just as Mr. Choi said, the market was a contest of who could get information faster than everyone else. And Mr. Kim was hardly gifted with better information — or better analysis — than the next man.

After staring wordlessly at the newspaper for a while, Mr. Kim waved a hand broadly and said,

"Ah, forget it. Whether I'm cut out for stocks we can settle later — so? What's it all mean?"

At that, Mr. Choi looked at him a…