Coin Boom!
Coin Boom.
A full-blown craze was sweeping the campus.
It had started because of the massive surge that hit in November.
"Is this the crypto club?"
"Please let me meet the cult leader!"
"Form a line. Form a line."
And with that, the crypto club's status soared. A long line of students waiting to join stretched out endlessly.
They're finally recognizing the value of crypto!
The place was packed to the rafters. A second golden age had arrived. Club president Joo Do-kyung wore a grin that stretched from ear to ear.
"Have the believers gathered?"
"Yes!"
"How do you even trade crypto?"
"Teach us already!"
"Haha, some of our believers seem a little impatient."
Hopeful converts filled an empty lecture hall. There were simply too many for the club room. All those years of preaching crypto had finally paid off. A little regrettable for the latecomers, of course.
"Um."
A female student raised her hand. He already knew what she was about to ask before she even opened her mouth.
"Crypto's gone up a ton lately, right?"
"Yes, go ahead, believer."
"I got in back in September, got stuck holding the bag, and cut my losses... I'm worried the same thing'll happen again this time."
A sudden murmur swelled through the room. Plenty of people shared the same anxiety. Fair enough. Getting trapped at the peak was terrifying. There was only one thing he could tell them.
"There's no such thing as too late or too early for crypto. Only the difference between doing it and not doing it."
""Ohh!!""
"If you're really anxious, I recommend starting small with tiny amounts. In the end you'll reach the same conclusion anyway."
Running the club had taught him something. Faith doesn't sprout overnight. No matter how hard he explained, they never listened. They had to experience their own miracle firsthand.
Was this how the twelve apostles following Jesus felt?
There was only one way not to lose money on crypto. Just don't become the traitor Judas. Bitcoin was destined to rise no matter what—because the supply was capped at eight million coins. Knowing just that one rule made crypto investing the easiest thing in the world. People who still refused to do it looked like complete idiots.
""Waaaaah~!!""
The students erupted in cheers at Joo Do-kyung's lecture. They had learned the secret of crypto. Information you could find with a single internet search. But the atmosphere in the room made it feel like gospel truth.
"Hmm... same as last time."
"I don't get it. I'll just buy stocks that haven't run up as much."
"Right. It's way too overheated."
Some economics majors remained skeptical. Nothing had really changed since the chaos back in September. They had already discovered more reliable ways to invest. No reason to touch crypto.
Do it or don't. Whatever.
The crypto club itself had changed too. Believers were no longer limited to economics students. A boom was sweeping all of Hankuk University. No—by now, not doing crypto was the stupid thing.
The craze was spreading far beyond campus into ordinary communities. And this time the reactions were far more favorable than before.
I'll cut straight to the conclusion: it's because of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
What kind of crypto-bro nonsense is that?
The Fourth Industrial Revolution boils down to four key words: artificial intelligence, robots, electronic payments, and IoT.
Some of you have already figured it out—
For robots to handle those jobs, they need to be plugged into a financial system.
I believe they'll rely on blockchain-based coins.
Of course it might not be Bitcoin. A brand-new coin could appear.
But just as currency used to be issued against gold, a central anchor is necessary—and Bitcoin will fill that role.
Therefore Bitcoin's value rises with every halving cycle.
Crypto no longer felt alien. People were accepting it as a product of the new era.
"Um... senior?"
Someone who actually knew about it. Looking around, there was no one else. They even sought him out privately, asking him to teach them crypto.
Is this the girl who raised her hand during the lecture?
He had been watching her even then. He hadn't given her the floor for nothing.
"Economics major?"
"No, but... you're a senior from the same school."
"Ahem! Right."
"Could I ask you some crypto questions? I don't know much... KakaoTalk might be easier."
Her name was Ye-na. English Literature sophomore, cute face, and she seemed to have a playful side.
Never thought I'd live to see the day a girl asked for my number.
He was deeply moved. Still, he kept things strictly businesslike as they exchanged contacts.
There were plenty of girls like that. At first they approached saying they wanted to learn about crypto.
Somehow it always drifted into a mutual crush. At first Do-kyung found the atmosphere awkward.
Now he was enjoying it. Flash the account and the girls came on to him themselves.
Capable guy. Total capable guy.
Everything he had ever wanted. Succeed with crypto, become rich. Money, fame, women—all in his hands. The one thing he truly wanted still eluded him, though.
He swallowed hard.
Meeting all these girls had taught him something. None of them matched his taste the way Sora did. Face and body both absolute strikes. And more than that—
"Choi Ye-na, right?"
"Just call me Ye-na, senior."
"Any investment experience?"
"Experience? Not really..."
Girls never paid much attention to the actual investments. As long as the money came in, that was enough. That was why they peppered him with questions. They only wanted the sweet fruit.
If I'm thinking about marriage...
They needed to be able to talk. If she could help with work too, that would be icing on the cake. Only Sora fit the bill. Do-kyung was waiting for the day he could confess to her.
To be the kind of man who deserves her, I need at least ten billion. Obviously.
The goal he had set the moment he started crypto. Now it was finally within reach. He would claim the flower on the cliff's edge. If crypto kept surging, it wasn't impossible at all.
"Cult leader!"
"Where have you been all this time?"
"Ahem! Just looking after a believer. Anything urgent, talk to the vice-leader..."
"The vice-leader hasn't been around lately."
"I saw him with Sora earlier."
"With Sora?!"
A rival had appeared.
The crypto surge.
Exactly as I remembered from history.
The rally started in November and peaked around mid-December.
It had already been climbing hard, but from November the angle steepened even more. What had been a thirty-degree slope suddenly jumped to seventy.
In truth, that was a common sight on garbage-stock charts. Any stock in a sustained uptrend that suddenly bends to seventy degrees is usually near its peak.
"Really?"
"Yeah. Once you've traded enough stocks you'll start seeing it."
"Seventy degrees... I'll be careful."
Greed and desire pumped the price higher. Charts weren't a 100% reliable indicator, but—
At least they help filter out landmines.
Of course a stock could still break through. There was just no reason to bet on that tiny possibility. The right way to invest was to put money on the highest-probability assets among countless options. The wider the defensive range, the better.
"Then shouldn't you stop doing crypto too, oppa?"
"Not yet."
"?"
I already knew the top. It would fail to break twenty thousand dollars, drop, fake another climb into a double top, then collapse. No—the entire trend would reverse and crash hard. Classic Hyman Minsky model. Easy to remember.
Until then, I milk every drop of honey.
What made a parabolic rally terrifying was never knowing when it would snap. Knowing exactly when turned it into a pure gold mine.
"Oppa, but..."
"Hm?"
"We're not doing it today either? I'm starting to feel a little neglected."
I was spending quiet time with Hye-ri. An empty lecture hall, a dizzying little date.
*Smack.*
I claimed Hye-ri's tiny lips. They were so small that just slipping my tongue in filled them completely. I pinched and kneaded her plump thighs too. I worked her up thoroughly without ever putting it in.
"If you take the pill it wears you out, Hye-ri."
"But..."
"I'll wreck you properly this weekend, so hold out until then."
"I'll hold out♡"
Such a good girl. She really seemed determined to wait, rubbing her thighs together restlessly. I felt a little bad for Hye-ri, but she was just the warm-up. Once I had her thoroughly worked up and dripping—
Call Sora for round two and get a handjob. Perfect.
The excitement doubled. The look on Sora's face when I unloaded a massive load into her hand was always the highlight.
Fun school days. Crypto was going great and every day was entertaining, but—
"Come to think of it."
"Hm?"
"The crypto club president's been getting some bad rumors lately. Same as you, oppa."
"..."
From the outside it could look pretty ugly, that was true. I was just blowing off a little steam in moderation.
But people who succeed too suddenly...
They lose all control. The various misdeeds of the crypto bros were about to start coming to light. And that would only whip up the public's FOMO even more. That was exactly why the crypto boom hit Korea so hard.
"I never get caught, though."
"Doesn't that just make you worse?"
"Ahem! Anyway, crypto bros are everywhere now, so just buy PaprikaTV stock."
"Yes♡"
Their ending would be miserable.