Executive Director Mun-guk Oh reported to Seong-ho with a flushed expression.

"A craze for signing up to the Buy Korea fund is sweeping every corner of the country. The wind that blew after the first ad seems to have evolved into a typhoon with the second."

Listening to Mun-guk Oh, Seong-ho looked at the newspaper before him.

[The Buy Korea Fund Shakes the Republic of Korea]

The front page carried a large piece about the Buy Korea fund. And an article analyzing in detail the reasons for the fund's craze was printed on a back page.

"At this rate, it looks as though we'll sell out clear through the tenth sales tranche."

"Good. Keep the coordination with Silla Future Asset tight, so customers don't have to agonize over where to go."

"Understood. We'll minimize any confusion that might arise for customers."

Before a craze like the present one blew up, opinion inside had been split over whether coordinating with Silla Future Asset was the right call. There'd been those who argued they weren't sure that flourishing together within a competitive system was the path that served Ilhyeon Securities. It was odd, they held, to be handing off customers they'd drawn in, when they should be taking the other side's customers and still coming up short. That was their argument.

But that argument didn't last long. Once customers began flooding in — enough to overflow even after splitting them with Silla Future Asset — there wasn't even time to spare for such worries. And so Ilhyeon Securities actively steered customers off to Silla Future Asset. And as places watched this unfold, calls began coming in, one after another.

"Sir. Other brokerages have submitted requests for business talks as well."

"Did they say they want to sell the Buy Korea fund too?"

"Yes. How shall we handle it?"

Mun-guk Oh asked Seong-ho carefully.

It was a different situation from Silla Future Asset. Silla Future Asset had taken part in Ilhyeon Securities' rights offering and thereby forged a deep relationship with the firm. And because the Ilhyeon Securities people, the top brass included,…