As the Kospi plunged by more than 10% during intraday trading today (the 28th), panic among retail investors has reached its peak.

Lee, a 37-year-old office worker in Seoul who holds 50 million won worth of domestic semiconductor stocks, confessed, "It's hot outside, but even my account has melted. I don't even dare to guess where the bottom is anymore," adding that his loss rate has exceeded 20%.

Lee said, "Fearing FOMO and lacking a lump sum, I even terminated my Youth Leap Account—which I had been paying into for over a year—in mid-May to put it into stocks, and now I'm in trouble," adding, "At first, I thought about taking out a loan using my account as collateral and decided against it, which is the only small relief. I didn't expect it to drop this sharply."

Today, the Kospi plummeted by as much as 10.97% during intraday trading, dropping about 28% this month alone.

Kim, a 20-something office worker in Gyeonggi Province, stated, "I only hold semiconductor stocks, and they dropped way too much today," adding, "I put all my funds in with the 9,000 or 10,000 marks in mind, so I don't even have money left to buy the dip."

In particular, as both the Kospi and Kosdaq plummeted during trading, a circuit breaker was triggered, suspending trading for all stocks in the stock market, including exchange-traded funds, for 20 minutes.

The simultaneous activation of circuit breakers in both markets in a single day is the third of this year, following March 4 and June 8.

Amidst such volatile markets, anxiety among investors is also growing.

Kim, a 30-something office worker living in Seoul, asked, "It seems like a sharp drop happens right after every milestone like 4,000 or 5,000 points are hit," adding, "Shouldn't there be institutional safeguards to guarantee a minimum level of stability?"

On online communities, complaints from investors poured in, such as, "Why is the stock market like this today? I genuinely can't breathe," "The constant ups and downs are exhausting. I wish it would at least trade sideways," and "I guess I'll have to close my account for a while. The time to cut losses has already passed."

There are also quite a few investors who plan to leave their funds untouched for now without selling immediately, but say their hearts have already checked out.

Lee, a 50-something office worker, explained, "It's even more frustrating because I don't know why it's dropping even though corporate earnings are good," adding, "I plan to hold onto them without selling for now. The loss rate is so huge that I can't even cut my losses."

A housewife in her 40s living in Seoul shared, "I endured even when my account went negative, but it doesn't feel good to see inexplicable sharp drops repeating only in Korea," adding, "From now on, I plan to slowly look into US stocks and study overseas investing."

Amid the recent plunge, among newly emerged 'JOMO' (Joy Of Missing Out) investors who are glad they didn't buy, some reactions suggest that now might be the time to aim for a short-term rebound.

Na (38), an office worker living in Gyeonggi Province, hinted, "SK Hynix has dropped about 50% from its peak," and "Since it has reached the 120-day moving average, buying pressure seems likely to flow in," adding that she is contemplating whether to jump into short-term investing.