Future Dream (2)
Future Dream (2)
Anyway, Future Aspirations? Mang, huh...
I'd vaguely thought about becoming a social worker, but right now I honestly didn't know anymore.
Could I even work as a social worker now...
What welfare center would hire someone whose face was plastered everywhere?
And honestly, the same went for any other job.
"Haaah..."
"Why all the heavy sighs?"
"I'm thinking about my Future Aspirations? Mang."
The place I'd come to, hoping for a good idea, was the agency.
And not just any agency — our Director, seated at the very top of the company.
As a recently successful businesswoman, Director was incredibly famous in the Republic of Korea.
On community sites, people called her a star lecturer and raved about her talks — she was that popular.
"Future Aspirations? Mang? You don't really need something like that, Seong-hwan-ssi."
Director dismissed it far too simply.
She tilted her head, as if to say — you already have a job, what's this Future Aspirations? Mang business.
"That's because you're already successful, Director."
"Hey, the way you're talking, you'd think you haven't succeeded yet. Wasn't marrying A-ra success enough?"
"Well, that's..."
True enough. The moment I married A-ra, you could say without exaggeration that I became the most successful man among men.
But that didn't really have much to do with Future Aspirations? Mang, did it?
"Besides, Seong-hwan-ssi, with your Qtube subscriber count and monthly views, what's this talk about Future Aspirations? Mang?"
"Umm... I get several hundred million views a month..."
"If you spent time like this shooting one more video, you'd make money in the hundreds of millions."
"Well, it's not exactly—"
Wait... was it, though?
Come to think of it, I didn't really have a reason to earn money anyway.
"If you're that worried, why not try investing?"
"Mm... like coins?"
"Not that! Stocks, buildings — that kind of thing?"
The money I'd saved up was all gone because I was using it to rebuild the orphanage.
But I wasn't completely broke, so stocks seemed worth a try.
"But I don't know how to invest in stocks."
"These days you can easily find basic lectures on Qtube, so look them up. The actual stock part isn't that hard."
"Then what is the hard part..."
"Making money, obviously. Figuring out which stocks are doing well, judging a company's growth potential by looking at financial statements — that's the hard part."
"Stocks are surprisingly profound."
It seemed like it would be tough for me to handle.
Honestly, wouldn't it be faster to just get a job at a mart checkout counter than to make money in stocks?
***
[Just go full-time Qtuber lol]
[Why is Yoo Seong-hwan even going to college?]
[The future of social welfare.jpg]
I'd posted on a community forum to see what people thought about the Future Aspirations? Mang thing, but they'd started a fire about completely unrelated stuff.
These people apparently had less to do than I thought.
"Mm... so social worker is a profession with at least some future hope, I guess."
It was reportedly expected to see increased demand due to the accelerating aging population.
But...
"A profession with high suicide rates due to work intensity..."
Reading things like this left me feeling somber.
People who dedicated themselves to helping others, unable to endure the intensity of the work, ending their own lives with their own hands.
There was no tragedy in the world worse than that.
"Well... I'm only in my second year, so I can take my time thinking about it."
Even if I was married, it wasn't like I was short on money.
I could do whatever I wanted, hang out with A-ra, maybe start a business...
"Ah... a business."
Now that I thought about it, A-ra had told me to make a card-selling shop on the top floor of the building she'd bought.
When A-ra and I brainstormed it, we'd ended up envisioning something on par with a Japanese-level card shop, and I remembered how excited we'd gotten about it together.
What if I ran that myself?
It sounded fun.
"Umm..."
"What're you doing?"
"Huh? You're here for work?"
"Yeah.. I'm crazy behind on editing today."
Jeong Hwan-yi came to work after school at 4 and worked until 9.
After going home like that, he still had to do assignments — wasn't that just hellish?
If it were me, I'd have quit either school or the job by now.
"But why are you here?"
"I was consulting with Director."
"About what? Don't tell me it's about that Future Aspirations? Mang thing you mentioned at school earlier?"
"Yeah."
"You're probably the only person who'd privately corner a major corporation CEO over something like that."
He didn't even find it funny anymore — just gave a bitter smile and took a seat.
Then he grabbed one of the orange juice bottles sitting in the middle, popped the cap, and poured it into his mouth.
"That one was from Director to me."
"Wow, look at the favoritism. She gave you the glass-bottle drinks? The break room only has carton drinks."
"What's the difference..."
Bottled drinks felt slightly colder, but other than that, weren't they the same?
Still, Jeong Hwan-yi apparently preferred the glass bottles.
"So? What did Director say?"
"She suggested I try investments — stocks, buildings, stuff like that."
"Mm... Jaesu-ssi could pull that off, but wouldn't it be tough for you?"
"Right?"
So other people saw it the same way.
I had the kind of face that would probably tank any stock investment I touched.
"These days everyone's going on about coins and whatever — just don't even think about it."
"I won't. If I had money for that, I'd buy Mom or A-ra something good to eat."
"Ugh... a guy who only knows his mom and his wife. Well, I guess that's what makes you you, Seong-hwan."
Jeong Hwan-yi let out a little laugh and grabbed one more drink from the center.
Had this guy come here just to drink the beverages?
***
"Maybe I'll just make 'Lil' One's Dad' my Future Aspirations? Mang..."
"Woof."
Whatever happens, happens.
I felt like I could just spend my life being Lil' One's dad and shooting videos at home.
"At this rate, I'll pivot my channel into a dog-parenting papa channel filming Lil' One..."
"What on earth is this guy talking about?"
Just as I was fully gearing up for my corruption arc, A-ra came out, toweling her hair dry.
She'd said she couldn't hold out today because she was too hungry, so she'd eaten dinner first and was only now taking a late shower.
"I was worrying about what I should do in the future to keep food on the table."
"So basically, you've been wasting time on weird stuff again?"
"Weird stuff? It's actually a pretty serious topic, you know."
I stuck out my lower lip and radiated an air of sulking.
A-ra smiled brightly and sat down next to me.
She ruffled my pouty-lipped head, pulled out her phone,
and showed me my channel.
"Do you think you could quit right now?"
"No... honestly, I already knew I couldn't."
With over 15 million subscribers now, what would happen if I tried to quit and say I was done working?
It would probably create a huge uproar, wouldn't it?
"Right? Once you start something, you have to take responsibility."
"Uuugh... still, I never imagined it'd get this big."
I'd thought 100,000 subscribers at most would be amazing.
But 15 million — could I have even imagined that?
"And honestly, if someone brought home a salary of two or three hundred a month in our household, you'd barely notice."
"When you put it that way, it's incredibly depressing."
"Well, your noona's earnings are pretty good, aren't they?"
The apartment maintenance fees alone were over a million won a month.
And just A-ra's car insurance and my car insurance premiums meant our fixed monthly expenses exceeded two million won by a long shot.
If I left Qtube behind and took an ordinary job, it was money I could never manage.
"So it was an impossible fantasy from the start."
"Right! It was an impossible fantasy!"
She raised a finger and nodded, as if checking that I understood.
Even if I tried to escape this Qtuber life, it seemed I was already structurally trapped in a life I couldn't leave.
"Anyway, let's put that nutrition-free talk aside..."
"Uugh..."
A-ra picked up a tablet PC from under the bed, tapped around on it, and showed me something that looked like a contract.
What was this about?
"Seong-hwan-ah, your noona might have to go to France for a few days."
"France? You've got an overseas shoot?"
"No, not that — see this?"
I read through the contract-ish thing A-ra held out to me.
It was written in English so I couldn't read it properly, but seeing Bugatti mentioned here and there,
it seemed to be about the Bugatti Chiron that A-ra had been meaning to buy.
"So, the car is ready for delivery."
"Oh, congratulations."
"Thanks. But to take delivery, they said I have to go to Molsheim in France and receive training?"
"Training? You're buying a car, what's with the training..."
I couldn't understand it, but apparently before purchasing a Bugatti, you went through a rigorous screening process,
and once the car was ready for delivery, they trained the buyer for a set period on an island owned by Bugatti.
And it wasn't even car training — it was about Bugatti's history...
Why on earth would they do that?
"Doesn't that just show how much pride they have?"
"It's mind-boggling in more ways than one."
"So I'll probably have to make a sudden trip next week."
"I've got school so I can't tag along."
"Yeah... so..."
A-ra, who'd been continuously stroking my hair, pressed her lips to mine.
Then she started feeling up my entire body.
"Before I go, I'm going to enjoy Seong-hwan-i to my heart's content."
"En...enjoy...?"
"It's true, right? We promised, didn't we?"
"Wh...what promise... ah... don't undress me yet... de..."
I hadn't even heard the whole story properly, but A-ra, apparently already running hot, had started undressing me.
How many times was I going to get worked over tonight...