A Hundred Million in the Blink of an Eye
Watching the green candles surge with absolute certainty and my money multiply along with them, a rush of pleasure unlike anything I had ever felt in my life washed over me. Money. Was it really okay to make it this easily? When my parents sent me to Seoul, they told me that sweating over farm work for a whole year was what gave money its true value.
But compared to that... the amount of money I had spent the last six months sweating and struggling to earn was pouring in within a single instant.
"Focus." My heart hammered. Putting my sentimentality aside, I decided to focus on the signs of my great luck.
If I got distracted even for a second and failed to notice my luck slipping away, missing the timing, all of my current profits could vanish in a flash. After watching intently, I could draw at least one conclusion. It seemed this wave of luck would continue for quite some time.
"So the signals can come like this too..." This was a first for me. Perhaps because I had only ever used it for gacha draws before, I was only now realizing that I could roughly sense when my luck would end and how much of it was left.
Relieved of some of my anxiety, I turned my attention back to the online community. Since I had accidentally proven myself, it was time to enjoy the show.
It was fun. Beyond fun, it was exhilarating. A laugh escaped my lips naturally. This was the very reason I had been so hooked on games for a while. Whenever I pulled the best card from a gacha and bragged about it on the forums, I felt like the protagonist of the world, like I owned everything. I felt a very similar sensation right now.
Actually, it was even stronger. No matter how seriously people took games on those forums, they couldn't possibly be as intense as this community, where real-world money was on the line.
As I kept playing around in the comments, I took note of the frequently appearing terms. I just needed to focus my studying on these words. Whales, market makers, Futures Trading, Leverage, overseas exchanges, and so on. They were mostly the same recurring terms. And through my studying, I learned why people stayed in the crypto market instead of stocks.
"So Futures Trading is where the real action is."
They said that if you trade crypto on an overseas futures exchange, you can use up to 100x Leverage. If so... since I was currently up over 2x... at 100x leverage, that would have been over 200x returns...
"Y-yeah. That's just insane."
While one could target absurd profits comparable to that, they said making a profit with 100x leverage wasn't easy. Apparently, the exchanges knew exactly where your Liquidation price was, so they would hunt your position down and trigger a Liquidation before moving on.
Even so.
Gulp.
"If only it had been ten times..."
I couldn't shake the feeling of regret. Ah... I should have studied this earlier. Why? I was sitting on over 10 million won in profit... so why did it feel like I had lost money?
This wouldn't do. My ultimate goal for today was to set up an account on an overseas futures exchange. I dove into it headfirst.
After watching videos, scouring forums, and trying this and that, I finally managed to open an account on an overseas exchange. And then I found out.
"They really made this unnecessarily complicated."
There was a transfer holding period when transferring funds from a domestic exchange to an overseas one. Complaining wouldn't solve anything, so I decided to wait. Besides, Apple Coin was still rising nicely. Instead, I deposited an additional 10 million won from my bank account.
This hadn't been part of the plan... but now that I knew how to utilize my ability, there was no reason to hold back. "He who seeks to die shall live, and he who seeks to live shall die," or whatever. I didn't know if that saying fit this situation, but...
Shouldn't I be prepared to go completely broke to achieve even greater success? It was a bet worth making. Losing all 20 million won versus becoming incredibly rich. And the odds were heavily in favor of the latter. Who wouldn't take that bet?
The young, wealthy elites of Seoul that my brother mentioned—the ones who seemed to exist only in our imaginations. A sweet fantasy that I could become one of them took over my mind.
"Let's do this..."
I bought another 10 million won worth. Apple Coin continued to climb after that. Of course, there were a few dips along the way. At first, I panicked and worried if I should pull my money out immediately, but now I knew better. I just had to trust the signals my ability sent me. When I held through, an even bigger surge was waiting for me.
Still, I realized this wasn't as easy as it looked. If even I, with absolute confidence in my ability, felt this terrified, how terrified must others be at a single dip? As if to prove my point, the community was in an uproar.
The forum users, who had initially cheered on Apple Coin's rise, panicked after a few sharp dips and had now stepped back to become mere bystanders. I watched for a long time. Evening passed, and it was getting close to bedtime.
"Ah..." I suddenly realized my eyes were on the verge of becoming bloodshot.
Wow... this is better than any game... I couldn't understand why just staring at a screen was so incredibly fun. And when did the time fly by like this? Then again, there was no way it wouldn't be fun. In less than a single day, my money had surpassed 50 million won. Who on earth wouldn't be thrilled looking at that?
These Seoul bastards... you guys were keeping this honey pot all to yourselves.
No wonder. It never made sense to me how apartments in Seoul cost billions of won, with tens of thousands of families living in them. It was impossible to earn that kind of money even if you farmed for a lifetime, and I had always wondered how people in Seoul could afford to live in such places... It turned out they were all making money this easily. Furthermore.
"By the time this luck runs out, I might actually hit a hundred million...?"
The current surge showed no signs of stopping, and hitting the nine-figure mark didn't seem impossible at all by the time my luck ran dry. Since I didn't know when I'd pass out, I got ready for bed, lay down, and looked at the chart again. I must have fallen asleep at some point.
The next day.
"Wow..."
I checked and saw that overnight, my money had crossed the 100 million won mark. Sleep vanished in an instant. At the same time, my heart pounded wildly—not just because of my current profits, but because of the sheer excitement of what lay ahead. If I did this on an overseas futures exchange... I could multiply this thrill several times over.
While I was waiting for the transfer holding period to end, I heard Narae's voice calling me from outside the room. I opened the door and answered.
"What is it...?"
"You didn't just move up to Seoul only to spend the whole day cooped up in your room, did you?"
Hmm... Until yesterday, I had no intention of doing that. But now that I had discovered crypto, going outside felt like a waste of time.
"I don't know...?"
"What on earth are you doing in there? Why did you even come to Seoul if you're just going to do that?"
"Well... I need to adjust first. I'll buy you coffee and dessert tomorrow or the day after, so I don't think I can go out today."
"...Is this what it feels like to get dumped before you even confess?"
"...Huh?"
"Who said anything about hanging out?! I just asked if you were going to stay in your room all day!"
"..."
"You're totally getting ahead of yourself!"
"S-sorry."
C-come to think of it, she hadn't actually asked to hang out. But still.
"Why do something you have to apologize for? Well, you'd better keep your word. You said you'd buy me coffee and dessert, right? I'm going to look up a really famous cafe."
"...I'll buy you the most delicious things."
"...W-whatever. Coffee and dessert are plenty."
Things seemed to have worked out. How much could coffee and dessert possibly cost anyway? Although Seoul's prices were a bit intimidating... with 100 million won in my pocket, I had no reason to be scared. It wasn't like we were going abroad, and it wouldn't cost ten or a hundred times more. Well... looking at things now, even ten or a hundred times more would be perfectly fine. Though that was just a figure of speech.
Two days later.
S-stop! My eyes feel like they're going to pop out.
After transferring my funds to the overseas exchange, I used Leverage to buy a coin that radiated a strong sense of luck. And then.
In no time, it became 500 million won.
Part of me wanted to stop eating and sleeping just to keep trading crypto, but I felt like I might actually die if I did. Moreover, I was now absolutely certain.
"This isn't my only chance..."
As long as I had my ability, opportunities would be there for the rest of my life.