Heading to the Capital
I boarded the train to Seoul. Looking out the window, I could see my hometown fading away. I was finally heading to the capital. Even though I was leaving my hometown behind, I didn't feel a single shred of regret. Honestly, my only regret was that I hadn't left sooner. Seriously, in a place like Buyeo, there wasn't a single damn thing for a twenty-one-year-old in the prime of his youth to enjoy. No wonder all my friends and everyone my age had already packed up and moved to the city. I just lacked any talent for studying, which delayed my escape by a year.
"Finally..." Persuading my parents to let me escape this countryside hadn't been easy. The moment I turned twenty and officially became an adult, I went to them. I was dead set on it. But to them, it was hard to accept their unstudious son moving to the capital with absolutely no preparation. So, they gave me a condition: help with the farming for a year to prove my diligence, and only then would they let me go. From that day on, I worked tirelessly in the fields to prove myself. I even got paid a monthly wage. And the more money I made, the stronger my resolve grew. After all, what was the point of earning money here? In this rural wasteland, there was nowhere to spend it, nothing to enjoy, and absolutely no girls to date. But I suppose I had that to thank. Even after spending whatever I wanted without holding back, a year of saving left me with a whopping twenty million won.
They say Seoul is a dog-eat-dog world where they'll cut your nose off while your eyes are wide open, a playground for the rich. Still, surely twenty million won would be enough to find a decent room and get by, right? That was a delusion. When I actually looked into it, even a semi-basement apartment required a deposit of several million won, and the monthly rent was astronomically higher than I'd expected. It felt like surviving there would be an uphill battle. Yet, my passion for the capital remained unbroken. Finally, after a full year had passed, at twenty-one, I went back to my parents and declared my unwavering intention to move.
"How are you even going to make a living?"
"Whatever I do, it'll be less exhausting than farming."
"Hmm..." My dad couldn't argue with that.
"I'm only twenty-one. Even if things don't work out and I have to come back, I'll only be in my mid-twenties. It won't be too late to farm then, right? If anything, experiencing the real world first will make me work even harder when I return."
I pleaded with absolute sincerity. Still, their worried gazes didn't waver. To make matters worse, my annoying younger sister kept chiming in, whispering that I'd get up to all sorts of trouble in the city, only fueling our parents' anxiety. I wanted nothing more than to give her a good smack, but I couldn't.
One day, driven by my raging male hormones, I had put on an adult video and was vigorously shaking my little friend. That absolute wench of a sister had barged into my room without knocking. The door happened to be slightly unlocked, and my sacred act was caught red-handed. Ever since that day, she had used it as blackmail to torment me. Desperate to keep my parents from finding out about my sacred ritual, I had no choice but to be at her beck and call.
An immediate answer didn't come. However, my parents couldn't outright refuse either, given the promise they had made a year ago. That was when my mother proposed a compromise.
"You know my friend, Aunt Miyeon, right? She runs a boarding house. If you stay there as a boarder, I'll feel safe letting you go."
"Oh... right. Didn't you say your friend inherited a boarding house? That sounds like a good idea," my dad agreed.
I knew Aunt Miyeon well enough, as our families had visited each other a few times. Like my mother, Aunt Miyeon was on the younger side for her generation at forty-three, though unfortunately, she had gone through a divorce early on. Whenever I saw her, I couldn't help but wonder: She's so beautiful, so why hasn't she remarried? But looking at her three children, I could understand. There was Jisu, who was two years older than me; Doun, who was one year older; and Narae, who was my age. It probably would have been hard to find a step-father willing to take on all three of them.
"Deal!" I nodded readily.
I also preferred staying with Aunt Miyeon's family, whom I already knew, rather than being thrown completely alone into the middle of a massive city full of strangers. Besides... sorry to Doun, but he was beside the point. Those two girls were the very reason I had yearned to go to Seoul in the first place. They were the first Seoul women I had ever laid eyes on, and they were breathtakingly beautiful. Of course, back then, I was just a country bumpkin who didn't dare to even approach them.
In the end, I secured permission to move to the capital on the condition that I stay at the boarding house. Looking out the train window, my heart fluttered with pure excitement. I wonder if I can use my ability in Seoul?
At the same time, I was curious to see if the special power I possessed would work in the big city. I didn't know when I had acquired this ability. It might have been something I was born with. I had only fully realized its existence less than a year ago. After earning some money, I had absolutely nothing to do in Buyeo, so I ended up getting hooked on a mobile game for a while. Eventually, I crossed the forbidden line into pay-to-win territory and started doing gacha card pulls.
I had never met anyone as lucky as me in my entire life, and this experience only hammered that fact home. I was insanely, ridiculously lucky. What's more, I even got a premonition whenever my luck was about to strike. Whenever I felt a sudden hunch that I'd be lucky during a pull, I would invariably draw the absolute best card in the game. Even when I felt my luck was at its worst, I still ended up with results in the top ten percent. Surely... this was enough to be called an ability, right?
"Well, even if it isn't, who cares?"
Even if it wasn't a real power and just a delusion, so what? I already had a small fortune of twenty million won in my pocket, and I was finally on my way to the capital. That alone was enough to keep my heart racing. I was so excited that time flew by in a blur, and before I knew it, the train pulled into Seoul Station.
"Doun!"
"Look at you. What's so great about Seoul anyway...?"
Doun had driven Aunt Miyeon's car to pick me up. What was so great about Seoul? The vibe was already completely different. I had to tilt my head all the way back just to see the tops of the buildings. There was nothing like this in Buyeo. All I had ever seen there were rice paddies and fields. And why were there so many people? The women, too... *Gulp.* Whew. Coming to Seoul was definitely the best decision I had ever made in my life.
I got into Doun's car, and we soon arrived at the boarding house. When I saw Aunt Miyeon for the first time in ages, she greeted me warmly.
"You're here! You must be tired. Doun, why don't you help him unpack and show him around?"
I couldn't believe she was forty-three, the exact same age as my mother. She was stunningly beautiful. Were all Seoul women like this? Unfortunately, I was told that Jisu and Narae were currently out. Get a grip, Jinseok. It's not like you're some sex-crazed maniac. Following Doun's lead, I stepped into my new room.
"I prepared an especially nice room for you. I even let you have the computer I used to use."
"Doun..."
"Don't get emotional. I've been wanting a younger brother to grab a beer with anyway, so this worked out perfectly."
"I'll buy the beer."
"With what money?"
"I have twenty million won."
"Doun."
"...Bro?"
As expected, twenty million won was a massive sum even in Seoul, right? But Doun quickly set me straight, explaining that while it was a lot for someone our age or in this neighborhood, it was practically pocket change compared to what other guys in Seoul had.
"And don't tell anyone else besides me. If people here find out you have that much money, they'll only approach you for your cash."
"...That's terrifying."
"That's just how Seoul is. Hardly anyone is actually born and raised here. Most relationships are built on utility... and what people need most is money."
It was a scary thought, and I engraved his words deep into my heart. Absolutely not. No matter how much money I have, I will never tell anyone. If I did, they would only love my money, not me. Of course, I still fully intended to use it to buy drinks or meals whenever I wanted.
"In Buyeo, you could probably scream as loud as you wanted, but not here. Also, there are three other boarders besides you: an older girl studying for the bar exam, a guy preparing for the civil service exam, and a girl in college."
"Whoa..."
"Be careful not to fall head over heels for the college girl. *Tsk.* Since you're a country boy, I bet you'll fall in love at first sight..."
"Is... is she really that pretty?"
"Don't even get me started. She could easily pass for an influencer. Actually, I think she's trying to become one..."
"An... influencer? What's that?"
"..."
Doun explained it to me. Apparently, they were the modern-day equivalent of celebrities.
"To... to date a girl like that, you'd need to be loaded, right?"
Doun nodded without a moment's hesitation.
"I gave up on her immediately. The guys who date girls like that probably have tens of billions of won."
The confidence I had built up with my twenty million won instantly deflated at his words.
"Is that kind of money even real...?"
"Seoul is crawling with people like that."
"..."
"A decent apartment in Seoul costs billions of won. And how many of those apartments do you think there are?"
"..."
"When people strike it rich in business, investments, or crypto, where do you think they all end up? Seoul."
Sigh... Did I make a mistake coming here?
"Seriously... I'm most jealous of the guys your age who hit the jackpot with crypto."
"Crypto...?"
"Ah, if I tell you about this, I feel like you'll go down a dark path. Should I still tell you?"
"Doun... you know I love you, right?"
"Just promise me you won't touch futures."
"Whose future?"
"..."
On that day, I learned what crypto futures trading was. And I finally found it. The perfect way to utilize my ability.