Show Me That Again

Below the post, a screenshot of the gift certificate confirmation had been attached. Even on verification posts from other people, comments cried viral marketing, and the ones who claimed they'd actually received the money swarmed in to fight about it.

Lee-hyun, meanwhile, had been asleep.

When he opened his eyes in the morning, the first thing he did was pull up his banking app.

The balance was full again — even the money he'd given away for meals the day before. After checking the total, Lee-hyun opened a different banking app. There was one account he'd set up long ago and almost never touched.

If I moved money over there every day, maybe it would pile up.

He sent 1 million won first. A system window appeared over the completed transfer screen.

"So that won't work."

Lee-hyun read the last line again. Simply moving money around wouldn't do it — he had to actually buy something, like the house or the car, for it to stick.

But he couldn't exactly go house-hunting every day either. As for cars, what he had now was more than enough. He might want a different one someday, but he had no intention of filling up a parking garage just to bank money away.

Lee-hyun sent the 1 million won back where it came from and began seriously researching how to put the surplus to work.

Once he was ready to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠go out, Lee-hyun called his main bank. The moment he mentioned wanting investment and asset-management consultation, an employee asked for a rough figure.

"I've got about 10 billion won in my account right now."

The sound of typing on the other end of the line stopped dead.

"Could you please hold the line for a moment?"

After identity verification, he was transferred to a specialist. The new voice on ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the phone asked what he wanted to discuss and when he might be able to visit.

"Would today work?"

The moment he arrived at the bank, a man in a suit came up to meet him.

"You're Mr. Shin Lee-hyun, correct? I'm Park Jun-young, section chief — we spoke on the phone."

Lee-hyun accepted the business card and followed the man past the ticket-dispensing machine entirely. As soon as he sat down in a private consultation room, he was offered a drink.

"Coffee, please."

Lee-hyun eyed the refreshments set out on the table, then turned his attention to Section Chief Park as the man settled into the seat across from him.

"I'd suggest we start by separating your immediate spending money from the funds you'd like to invest. Do you have any investment destinations already in mind?"

"No. That's why I'm here — I don't really know this stuff. I want to keep some aside for spending, and gather up the rest somewhere."

"Then may I first ask about the scale of the investment? Roughly how much were you considering?"

"At least 5 billion won or so."

"Right, so with 5 billion as the baseline——"

"Per day."

Park's pen stopped moving. He looked up.

"You mean 5 billion won per day?"

"Yes, if we're being conservative."

Even on the day he'd bought the house and the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠car together, nearly half the money had been left over. He didn't have the confidence to shop that hard every single day going forward. So 5 billion was a safe floor — on days he spent less, he could just hand over more.

Section Chief Park stared down at the notes he'd been scribbling for a moment.

"So you're not dividing up your current funds for investment — you're saying additional capital will keep coming in on an ongoing basis?"

"That's right."

"Thirty days would put that above 150 billion won."

"Yep."

Lee-hyun took a sip of his coffee. Park set a calculator down beside his pen, then pushed it away again.

"Sir, would you mind if we took a little more time? At the scale you're describing, I think it would be best to bring in our head office specialist for this consultation."

"Of course. I'll wait."

Once Park left the room, Lee-hyun took out his phone and opened the Parut app. A few new posts had appeared on his channel's board. Between photos of yesterday's food and messages of thanks, he spotted a question asking whether he was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠streaming today too.

He was still reading when the door opened and he looked up.

Two men came in this time. The man standing beside Section Chief Park introduced himself as the branch manager and handed over his card. A laptop was placed on the table, and a few minutes later, a team leader from the head office — the man in charge of ultra-high-net-worth clients — appeared on the screen.

Which meant he had to explain everything from the beginning all over again.

"I'll set aside money for living expenses and spending. With the rest, I'd like to buy assets — and I want the option to sell them later if I ever need a large sum."

The team leader suggested splitting things into holdings meant for the long term and those that could be converted to cash relatively quickly. Lee-hyun listened to the explanation and asked questions whenever an unfamiliar term came up.

"Hold on. What does that mean?"

The team leader pointed to a section of the materials and explained it again. Only after Lee-hyun was sure he understood did he move on to his next question.

"So if I sell in the middle of it, I could actually lose money."

"That's correct. The outcome can vary depending on when you sell."

"And the proceeds — can I use them right away?"

"That differs from product to product. Depending on when you'll need the funds, we can——"

Section Chief Park slid his handwritten notes across the table to Lee-hyun. There was a separate line for each product noting how long it took to withdraw money.

"Oh, so it varies like this."

Lee-hyun pulled the paper closer. Before he cared about how high the returns were, he needed to understand this first. It would be a disaster to sign a contract on a house and then be unable to get his hands on the money.

When the explanation wrapped up, the team leader opened a different set of materials.

"We could also look at pursuing a higher rate of return, if you're interested——"

"I'll look at that later. I'm not sure I'll even remember everything I've heard today. For now, I'd like to start with what I actually understand."

"Then let me put together a summary of what we covered today."

The consultation ran past lunchtime before it ended. A dedicated head-office manager would be assigned to him going forward, and Section Chief Park helped him open the necessary accounts and handle the day's paperwork.

When Lee-hyun left the bank, the branch manager walked him all the way to the entrance.

"Next time, we'd be happy to arrange an in-home consultation around your schedule. Please don't hesitate to ask."

"Thank you. I appreciate today."

In the car, Lee-hyun set the business cards he'd collected down on the passenger seat. That morning, all he'd worried about was who to ask — now he had to keep track of who he'd asked what.

After a late lunch, he returned home and bought 500 million won worth of the short-term investment products he'd been shown. He opened the completed transaction record and checked the amount and his holdings down to the last detail.

That was it for today. Judging by how the money was still sitting there past midnight, he planned to raise the amount starting tomorrow.

A message had also come in confirming that his head-office manager had been assigned. The documents that came with it could wait until tomorrow. When he closed his laptop, it was already getting dark outside the window.

Lee-hyun turned on his streaming computer.

Barely any time had passed since he started the stream, and his viewer count already read 43.

Lee-hyun paused midway through adjusting his camera and looked at the chat. Yesterday he'd been sipping water while waiting for someone to say the first word; today the messages were flooding in before he could even get a greeting out.

"No free food today. You all already got yours yesterday."

"Then you buy. I didn't get mine either."

"Why are you two fighting? Enough about the food."

Lee-hyun pulled his chair in and sat down. It was nice that people were coming in, but he hadn't decided what to show them today. Unboxing had been his first content, and he'd opened nearly every box yesterday, so that was done. He could keep showing off the car, but he doubted anyone wanted another look at the same driver's seat.

"What do you guys usually watch?"

"Yeah, I could've guessed that one."

"All kinds, back in the day. I'm not very good, though."

"Let's do games another time. Today I want to look around Parut a bit. I don't really know how internet streaming works."

Lee-hyun opened the list of live streams and shared his screen. Game titles and stream names scrolled past in a neat column. He brought his mouse over to a face he recognized from YouTube.

"Do I have to, though?"

Lee-hyun scrolled down the list.

"If I'm going to spend money, I'd rather throw it at a pretty girl."

"Oh, there's a separate one?"

He pressed what they told him to press, and the thumbnails changed. Instead of game screens, the list now filled with people sitting or standing in front of cameras.

Lee-hyun's hand stopped mid-scroll.

"Whoa."

A woman stood there in a short, tight top. The upper half of her face was cropped out of the frame, but the waist and hips on display caught the eye even in the tiny thumbnail. As if in a trance, Lee-hyun clicked into the stream.

The screen expanded along with music. The woman swayed her hips to the beat, then spun around. Her long hair swept back over her shoulders, revealing her face for the first time. She was beautiful, too.

He leaned back into his chair to watch more comfortably, but just then the music ended. The woman made a heart with her hands toward the camera.

"Thank you for the 50,000 won——!"

Then she stepped close to the screen and dropped into her chair with a thud.

"Ahh——."

"Can I ask her to do it again?"

Only then did he notice the stream title.

Lee-hyun typed directly into Kang Na-el's chat from her room.

Kang Na-el, mid-sip of water, looked at her screen.

"The dance just now? Ah, you just missed the timing, sorry."

"The VOD will be up after the stream. But if you want to see it live——you can refer to this here."

Kang Na-el pointed a finger at one side of her screen. It was a list of song titles and prices.

"I've been spending so much on games lately. Gotta earn when I can, you know?"

Kang Na-el smiled and screwed the cap back onto her water bottle.

Lee-hyun read through the list. Most of the names meant nothing to him, so he had no idea which entry was the dance he'd just watched.

If I just write "that one from earlier," she'll get it.

He opened the donation window and tapped the amount field.

Lee-hyun typed in the number and wrote his message. While the payment processed, Kang Na-el read the chat and ran a hand through her hair.

"'If it's too much, just quit'? It's not too much. You all act like I just sit around all day——"

The donation alert rang out.

"A donation from Shin Lee-hyun — thank——?"

Kang Na-el's hand froze mid-hair-grab.

Kang Na-el let go of her hair and leaned toward the screen. She pulled up the donation history, and the mouth that had been smiling until seconds ago fell slightly open.

"Ten million won——?"