Live Righteously
It was that very moment. That was the instant I finally understood everything — the instant I mastered my ability. Heart trembling, I stared at the screen.
That was the motto of Hyun Jisu, a twenty-five-year-old who scraped by on a string of part-time jobs. People said that in this day and age, living kindly just made you a fool — but even so, Jisu couldn't stand to see tears well up in anyone else's eyes.
"Ma'am, please take this seat."
"Hmm? Aigoo, you didn't have to do all that. Thank you. Yes, thank you."
Today, too, he gave up his seat on the bus to an elderly passenger. Catching even a catnap in that seat was no small thing for Jisu, who juggled multiple part-time jobs just to keep himself afloat. Still, a concession of this size was fine, he figured — the kind that didn't wreck his body, and left his heart at ease.
I didn't get to sleep on the bus, so I'll just eat a little less at lunch and catch some sleep then.
Never thought I'd be spending my lunch break like this.
Jisu jammed a triangle kimbap into his mouth and felt a faint pang of regret over the good deed he'd done that morning. The place he was standing was a construction site baking under the blazing sun. Hard hat on, he was stuffing food into himself like fuel, without even a moment to wipe the sweat.
"Hurry up and eat! Even with overtime we won't have enough hours to wrap everything up today!"
Ugh. I thought I'd been coasting lately, taking the easier jobs...
That was when the voices of the men working beside him drifted over.
"Hey, Kim. You hear the news? That Jeong Minsu guy hasn't been showing up to work lately."
"Now that you mention it, yeah. What's the deal? Just a while back he was going on about how he lost everything at some chart-gambling thing and had to grind even harder. Last time he was whining about how there weren't any full work days, throwing every kind of fit..."
"No, listen. Word is he doesn't need to work anymore."
"Huh? What kind of nonsense is that? Doesn't need to work?"
"He hit it big. I mean really big!"
At that, Mr. Kim's eyes went wide.
"Hit it big? What, he actually nailed the sports betting?"
"Nah. You know. That thing that's all the rage these days. Bitcoin, or whatever it's called."
"Bitcoin? Isn't that all a scam?"
The man doing the explaining let out a sigh.
"You're hopeless, you know that? That's why you're still stuck as a foreman on this site. I heard he ran his principal up over three hundred times."
"For real?"
"For real."
"Yeah? Maybe I should try that bit— Bitcoin whatever myself."
...
Jisu clicked his tongue inwardly at the two of them.
Throwing away money you worked so hard to earn on speculation... You'll never get off this job site living like that.
He found himself recalling the last words his father had left behind before he died.
After losing a fortune in the bubble collapse, Jisu's household — never wealthy, but comfortable enough in its own way — had fallen completely apart. He'd been in the military at the time, so he couldn't even be there at his father's deathbed. They'd managed to hold a funeral, but that fact itself had settled on him as a weight he still carried. In the aftermath he'd taken a leave from university, been discharged from the army, and had been bouncing between construction sites and part-time jobs ever since, all the way to this age.
Jisu didn't know much about cryptocurrency, Bitcoin included — but one thing he understood perfectly well. It was no different from the stock market. A gambling den where you put money down to eat money. A pyramid scheme in all but name. You never, ever set foot in a place like that.
No matter how much the times change, a savings account is still the way to go. Sweat never betrays you. And money — well, it has to be earned with dignity if it's going to be spent with dignity. Yeah.
"What are you lot still eating for?! Get over here!"
Crap.
Jisu finished what barely counted as a meal and hurried back to the job.
On the way home, Jisu's gaze was locked on a small smartphone — the latest model, three years ago.
What is it with these babies who are so desperate to spend cash? This is just someone who got wrecked on the gacha and is trying to pull a fast one.
Jisu started moving his fingers to post a reply.
That should do it.
What Jisu was doing was managing the suggestion board of a popular mobile game — a gig introduced to him by Woo Jihan, an old friend who was like an older brother to him.
I can do it on the way to and from my other jobs, and it's not that hard, so it's a pretty cushy gig. I should treat Jihan hyung to a meal sometime.
Of course, he knew that if he offered to buy, Jihan would tell him not to be ridiculous and insist on treating him instead. So he didn't bother reaching out.
He already hooked me up with a part-time job. No need to sponge a meal on top of that.
Jisu was spending even his commute home diligently at work. A little farther up the hill, and his house came into view — a rusty slate roof, a roughly piled stone wall. A house so dilapidated it wouldn't have been strange if they announced redevelopment any day now.
"I'm home."
He opened the door and stepped inside. A faint smell of ramen greeted his return. The first thing Jisu did upon entering the room was check on his mother.
"Mom. I'm back."
"...Jisu. You're home."
"Why aren't you asleep? You should rest. It's already past nine."
Jisu's mother, who rose at dawn to take on odd jobs, was currently battling illness. They hadn't been able to afford a hospital stay, but thanks to the money Jisu brought home from work, she was at least managing to take her medication.
"I should make you a meal. You came home after working so hard."
"I already ate. Did you eat, Mom?"
"I ate earlier. I'm fine."
Behind her as she said it sat an empty pot. That, no doubt, was the source of the faint smell.
"You're eating ramen again. You shouldn't have so much salty food."
"It's fine, it's fine. Being able to eat ramen at all is something, isn't it?"
"There you go again. I left rice for you before I went out. You should have eaten that."
"That's for you to eat, after working all day..."
Jisu opened his mouth to argue, then closed it again. He knew perfectly well that no words would get through.
"I eat after work before I come home, so from now on, you eat first, okay?"
"Even so..."
As if he wouldn't understand a mother's heart. Jisu answered with a bright smile.
"It's fine. I'm saying this because I eat well enough when I'm out — so I'd like you to eat well at home too."
"Well, if you say so..."
Jisu picked up the remote lying on the floor and switched off the TV, which had been pouring out meaningless news.
"Now go to sleep, Mom."
"Alright. I've seen you come home, so I can sleep now. Don't you stay up too late either, Jisu."
Jisu nodded, then left the living room and headed for his own cramped bedroom — the only refuge that welcomed him after a day's work. An old desk, a computer, and a bed had been crammed in as close together as they could get. Unpacked boxes were stacked high on both sides of the table, things from when his father was alive and they had lived far better than this. Now they just sat in those boxes rotting, because there was nowhere in the house to put them.
Alright. Let's finish up work first.
Jisu wrapped up the Q&A gig he'd been doing on the way home. By the time he was done, it was already one in the morning. Tomorrow he had to be up at dawn for newspaper delivery and flyer distribution at the same time, which meant that even if he slept now, he'd get barely three hours. In a world where people barely read print media anymore, his neighborhood was run-down enough that a newspaper gig was, ironically, a decent fit.
Let's get even a little sleep. Looks like there's no construction work tomorrow... I can catch up on sleep after the morning jobs.
Jisu closed his eyes. It had been an exhausting day from start to finish, and it didn't even take a minute for him to fall asleep. Ever since the family fortunes had collapsed, this was simply what Jisu's days looked like.
Ugh, I'm gonna freeze to death. It's summer, but the crack of dawn is freezing as a ghost. And then it'll be sweltering once the sun's up.
Jisu was climbing up and down the hill, delivering newspapers and flyers to old houses thrown up any which way. It was a day like any other — until it wasn't.
"Wh— whoa?"
An old man appeared without warning around a turning alley and collided with him.
Crash!
"Aigoo, ow — you're gonna kill me!"
Jisu went sprawling, newspapers and flyers scattering everywhere — but rather than gather his own things, he worried first about the person he'd hit.
"Sir, are you alright?"
"I'm fine... w-wait!"
At the old man's words, Jisu looked around. A few coins were rolling away down the slope of the hill.
"Ah, no!"
Before the old man could get another word out, Jisu threw himself forward and caught the rolling coins. The highest-value coin used in Korea was 500 won at most — but the old man's face had been so desperate that Jisu had hurled his own body after them without a second thought for what they might be worth.
Having caught the rolling coin, Jisu picked it up and checked the denomination.
What is this?
A gold-colored coin. Something like a semiconductor was depicted on it, and a pickaxe was engraved in the center. Flipping it over, a clearly printed English B caught his eye.
They make coins like this?
While he was still turning that over, the old man had already come down the slope and held out a hand.
"Aigoo, young man. I'm sorry. Because of me... You didn't have to go that far."
"Pardon? Oh, it's nothing, sir. More importantly — you're not hurt anywhere, are you?"
"Me? I'm fine."
"I'm really glad to hear that. Ah, here, this..."
Jisu held out the toy-like coin to the old man.
"It's alright. I've already picked up the rest of the coins. You keep that one as a souvenir. It's something you can buy for about three thousand won anyway."
"Something you can buy... so it is a toy coin, then?"
At that, the old man looked genuinely surprised.
"You don't know what Bitcoin is?"
"Bitcoin, you mean? I've heard of it... so this is Bitcoin?"
The old man burst out laughing.
"Haha, you really don't know, do you? It is Bitcoin, yes — just a replica, though. Bitcoin doesn't exist as a physical object. It's encrypted currency, you see."
"I, uh, don't really understand. I'm not interested in that sort of thing..."
"Is that so? I figured most young people these days would know. How unusual. Hmm, but if it's you..."
"......?"