Chapter 36: Gangnam
Chapter 36: Gangnam
There had certainly been people who achieved results like this before, but they were so rare that ordinary people could not even dream of reaching such a realm. Insu felt a thrilling sensation at the thought that he might have carved even the smallest mark into history.
Good. If you’re a reincarnator, you should at least accomplish this much, right?
But he was not satisfied with this alone.
This was only the beginning.
Intense emotions were fleeting. Insu quickly calmed down and shifted his focus toward the money. The first thought that came to mind was leaving Korea.
Things were fine for now because it was vacation, but just imagining returning to school once classes resumed made his vision go dark.
But I did promise to finish at least this project. We already made the prototype too...
Still, with this amount of money, it felt possible to finally talk to his father about it. And even if they were to move overseas, they would not be able to leave immediately. There would be all sorts of preparations required. Especially in this era.
It really is an older time period, after all.
But even if the money was meant to fund moving abroad and establishing a development company there, it was too much money to simply leave sitting idle when there was no immediate need for it.
At moments like this, it was frustrating that this was not the world he once knew. There were no explosive opportunities like cryptocurrency or stocks where one hit could instantly make a fortune.
Isn’t there anything?
After thinking for a moment and failing to come up with an answer, Insu turned to his mother and asked, “Mom, what should we do with this money?”
“Hm? Good question.”
As the company’s representative director, Hyein handled the operation of the development office and employee salaries in Insu’s place. Because of that, she understood very well that this amount was far too large to simply tie up as operating funds.
Of course, taxes had to be paid, and Eunha’s share also needed to be distributed, so a significant amount would be deducted, but it would still remain a massive sum.
There should still be around five to six hundred million won left.
The first thing that came to Hyein’s mind was stocks. This was an era of explosive economic growth, so even people with little interest in investing constantly heard stories about the stock market from all directions.
But stocks are still too risky.
And among those stories were plenty about sudden crashes that ruined people overnight. More importantly, this money was her son’s business capital.
He was a son who had already succeeded in entering both the Japanese and American markets, someone with tremendous ambition. Even if he had no immediate plans for the money, she believed he would certainly use it for something important.
Still, it feels wasteful to just leave it sitting in the bank.
In truth, this was an era of rapid growth, so bank interest rates reaching the double digits were not even a terrible choice. But because other investments yielded even higher returns, it still felt somewhat disappointing.
“...Mom thinks it’d be best to put some into savings and use the rest to buy real estate.”
Hyein hesitated for a moment before speaking about money and investments after looking at her son’s tiny figure. But her son was special despite his age. More importantly, he was the one who earned this money.
“Real estate?”
Even in his previous life, he only drifted between monthly rent and jeonse housing, so the idea had never really crossed his mind.
But after hearing it, he realized it really did seem both safer and reasonably profitable. Since this was another world, he could not predict which companies would succeed, but land still looked the same, and even the administrative districts seemed mostly unchanged. Real estate probably would not differ too drastically.
Of course, North Korea still existed here, but it was not especially different from other provinces. In fact, people avoided it because it was cold and bordered Russia and China. Just like before, everything still concentrated around Seoul.
“But wouldn’t it be difficult to sell real estate later if we suddenly needed money?”
One reason Insu thought of stocks first was not just profitability, but liquidity. But that had been an overly simplistic way of thinking.
Hyein smiled as though she found him adorable.
“That doesn’t matter. Real estate is excellent collateral. You can leave it with the bank and borrow money against it.”
“Ahh.”
Insu’s eyes widened as he nodded. He vaguely remembered hearing something similar in his previous life, but because he spent all his time buried in development work, he seemed to have become rather simple-minded about things like this.
Hyein found Insu both amazing and endearing. Honestly, this was knowledge she herself only learned recently, yet her young son immediately understood and nodded along.
That evening, after his father joined them, they continued the discussion.
“I don’t know real estate all that well either, but I hear people constantly saying to invest in places like Gangnam, Dongdaemun-gu, or Yongsan-gu.”
Seongcheol was still only in his twenties, so he neither had much interest in this field nor knew very much about it. Still, because he had work experience, he naturally heard things from time to time.
At the word “Gangnam,” Insu unconsciously nodded.
Even though he lived a poor life, he still knew at least this much.
I’ve heard the phrase ‘Gangnam never fails’ enough times to get sick of it.
In reality, Gangnam had already begun development long ago and became one of Seoul’s core areas by the 1980s. Because of that, many people during this period already thought prices had risen too much.
But the true explosive growth had only started alongside Korea’s economic boom, and that moment was right now.
“Where do you think would be best, Insu?”
Neither Seongcheol nor Hyein knew much about real estate, and since they both understood their son was extraordinary, Seongcheol asked for the opinion of his seven-year-old son.
In response, Insu gave the only answer he knew.
“Gangnam!”
“Gangnam? Alright. Mom and Dad will look into it.”
“Yes! Please do.”
Insu was curious too, but since he knew nothing about the subject and could not directly handle transactions anyway, he decided to trust his parents and focus on development again.
“But...”
Once the discussion about the money ended, Insu inserted a small lead-in before bringing up the next topic. When both parents turned their attention toward him, he carefully spoke.
“Do I really have to keep going to school?”
“What are you talking about?”
“...”
His mother responded as though she had already forgotten how Insu previously tried to find a way not to attend school before entering, while his father met his gaze with a thoughtful expression.
“Well... everything at school is too easy and boring. And I want to focus more on development.”
Honestly, even as he said it, Insu worried about how his parents would react. He feared he might get scolded.
But Insu had already practically quit kindergarten once before, and despite continuing game development throughout the semester, he maintained nearly perfect grades. More importantly, his enormous success in the Japanese market went beyond merely proving his talent. He had already demonstrated that he was world-class on an international level.
Schools certainly served many purposes, but ultimately, their role was to help a person function properly within society.
Yet Insu had already proven far beyond that. Not only could he function as a member of society, but he also earned more wealth than most people could accumulate in an entire lifetime, proving the very thing most tied to a person’s ability to sustain their life.
...He’s right. Does he really need to keep attending school? His personality doesn’t seem problematic either.
Unlike the somewhat flustered Hyein, Seongcheol seriously considered Insu’s words.
“Still, quitting school entirely is...”
“I won’t completely abandon studying. I’m planning to take the GED later too. Mom, please.”
(Translator’s Note: GED / General Educational Development — American high school equivalency exam)
Hyein was not completely adamant about forcing him to attend, so seeing Insu plead like this complicated her feelings. In truth, she shared some thoughts similar to Seongcheol’s.
Money isn’t everything, but...
Hyein wanted her son to attend school and experience the same things everyone else did. But if school was hindering a son who had already achieved such remarkable success, then the situation became different.
Still, there was a practical issue involved.
“But like we talked about before, elementary school is compulsory education in our country. You can’t just quit whenever you want.”
Seongcheol already knew this because he looked into it previously, and even otherwise, as a parent, he understood that compulsory education could not easily be abandoned and that refusing attendance could result in punishment.
“Yes. I heard that too. Dad, you said before that even the GED couldn’t be taken until I’m at least eleven.”
At Insu’s response, both Seongcheol and Hyein suddenly felt pity. They wondered just how difficult school must have been for him if he still remembered something from over half a year ago so clearly.
By now, they already considered Insu a genius, so hearing him talk like an adult and know such things no longer felt strange at all.
“So I heard the best solution is going overseas.”
“Overseas?”
“Yes.”
Seongcheol felt somewhat flustered. He heard of fathers living apart from their families for work, but he had absolutely no desire to separate from his family. This was because he never even considered quitting his own company.
At that moment, Insu continued.
“I want Dad to keep helping me.”
“Ah.”
He did not say much, but Seongcheol understood what he meant. Still, he could not make a decision immediately.
It was not that he had deep affection for his current company or anything like that. He was simply an ordinary office worker. He had only entered a company where he could use his abilities and receive a good salary.
And honestly, Insu’s proposal was tempting.
He himself had done some coding, but directly developing games was difficult. Still, since he had always loved computers and games, the idea of becoming part of such a company was appealing. And considering the achievements Insu already showed, the company’s future looked bright as well.
I already even went on a business trip to America.
Still, there was a slight discomfort in feeling like he might end up clinging to his son’s abilities.
In reality, considering Seongcheol’s own abilities and everything he already did for Insu, such as establishing the corporation and negotiating contracts with overseas distributors, he was not clinging to him at all. If anything, he was more than Insu deserved.
“I’ll think about it first.”
Bridging the gap between their differing perspectives would require conversation and time. Though Insu could not read Seongcheol’s inner thoughts, he added sincerely, “I really need you, Dad. I can’t do anything besides development on my own.”
“...”
Looking at their son’s small body, Seongcheol and Hyein were once again reminded of how the world perceived and restricted someone his age.
“But anyway, I can’t leave immediately because I still have development work going on.”
“Ah. That game. When do you think it’ll be finished?”
“No matter how fast we go, I don’t think we can finish within this year. Maybe around the middle of next year?”
The real target was March, but developers always gave deadlines with extra buffer.
In any case, after finally telling his parents what he had been worrying about, all that remained was waiting for the outcome.
Feeling lighter afterward, Insu immersed himself in development again. Time continued to pass, summer vacation ended, and he once again suffered through reading children’s moral stories and fairy tales alongside tiny little kids.
Then September arrived.
Velocity Entertainment, the American game distributor.
“There’s no untranslated text left anywhere, right?”
“Yes! We dug through the code line by line to make sure no Korean remained.”
Every game underwent final inspections before release, but this time, the process was even stricter. That alone showed how highly The Land Of Fantasy was regarded within the company.
Part of it was probably fueled by competitiveness toward the recent success of JRPGs imported by Japanese distributors.
As a result, The Land Of Fantasy, which Velocity usually shortened to Fantasy Land or simply TLF, underwent extremely thorough testing and received high-quality localization before release.