I Really Was a Pervert
I was a pervert. A goddamn pervert.
One hundred billion won. To be exact, 105 billion.
I sat there, thinking about how to use it.
If I were being honest, I wanted to go out and buy a supercar and a luxury apartment right on the banks of the Han River this very instant.
But I decided to put that desire off for a while.
Because what I wanted more than anything was to stay here a little longer.
And why could I stay here in the first place? Because I still needed to save up enough for a proper studio deposit.
If it got out that I had 100 billion won, then of course I’d have to leave this house too.
“It’s better being with my aunt than being alone in Seoul. I’d like to get closer to Seolhyun noona and Sihyun too.”
My aunt alone was already the kind of beauty you almost never saw in real life.
And on top of that, she had a warm heart too. For someone like me, who’d come up from Gwangju to Seoul with no one I knew, it was only natural that I wanted to stay here.
The same went for Noona and Sihyun.
They were the kind of women whose looks made it hard to even strike up a conversation outside, so I wanted to get a little closer to them.
Up until now, I’d been too focused on my part-time job to really get to know them, but now that I was rich enough not to worry about money anymore, I planned to approach the people in this house with a little more ease.
One hundred billion won. Even at just 3 percent annual interest, that was 3 billion won a year.
Even after taxes, almost 1.5 billion would still be coming in as interest.
I could spend a hundred million a month and the principal wouldn’t even take a scratch.
Even in Seoul, that was enough to call yourself rich.
“Let’s see…”
I looked into Bitcoin a little more.
There was no need to search hard.
The internet was already full of talk about Bitcoin.
“That’s a shame.”
Even today, it had gone up another 1 percent.
If I’d waited just one more day, I would’ve made an extra 1 billion won.
Still, I put that regret aside.
While studying investing, I’d learned this: the moment when everyone was cheering in delight was the most dangerous one.
Looking at the chart, it somehow felt dangerous.
“Fifty billion is just spare change anyway…”
For some reason, I didn’t want to ignore this gut feeling.
In any case, even 100 billion alone was enough money to call yourself wealthy.
I deposited 5 billion into a domestic exchange and bought Ripple.
Then I sent it straight to the overseas exchange I’d recently set up.
Only the overseas exchange allowed you to bet on a drop.
…It’s money I can afford to lose.
I got greedy.
With 20x leverage, I placed a 5 billion won short bet.
It was basically the same as investing 100 billion in total.
If it rose another 5 percent from here, I’d get liquidated.
But the moment it fell harder than that, I could make tens of billions.
Maybe even hundreds.
It was an investment worth trying.
***
After finishing my trades, I went out to the living room.
“Where’d she go?”
Today was my aunt’s day off.
Usually on days like this, she’d be cleaning the living room.
I was about to assume she’d gone out and get ready to leave for my part-time job when I heard a voice coming from her room.
Being rich had given me a kind of boldness I never had before.
Curious about who she was talking to, I crept up to her door.
I could hear her speaking on the phone.
“It’s not like I’m asking for much. Please, just help until Sihyun graduates from college. I can barely cover her tuition with what I earn.”
Lately, my aunt had been sighing more often than usual.
It seemed like this call had something to do with that.
“From what I found out, even if a child becomes an adult, if they go to college, the parent is still obligated to send child support. Please… I’m begging you. She’s your daughter.”
Sihyun had just become an adult, and now that she was in college, her expenses had probably gone up a lot.
At the same time, it sounded like they’d stopped the child support because she’d turned eighteen.
When it rained, it poured.
This isn’t the time.
I wanted to help right away, but if I did, my aunt would definitely notice something was off.
Besides, even if I tried to help all at once, there was a good chance she’d feel awkward and turn me down.
I’d have to help her slowly, little by little.
“Ha… I’m not saying you have to stand in court, okay? You know I don’t know anything about that sort of thing. I can’t even afford a lawyer, so what am I supposed to do…”
Ugh.
My chest felt like it was being torn apart.
And at the same time, I realized something new about myself.
Pervert.
I didn’t want to admit it, but maybe I really was a pervert.
Watching my aunt struggle, I should’ve felt nothing but pity. Instead, the thought that I’d be able to help her later, and that she’d come to rely on me, filled me with a strange, intoxicating thrill.
I didn’t want to deny it.
This feeling wasn’t hurting anyone.
My aunt would get help from me, and I’d get to feel that delicious rush.
Wasn’t that good for both of us?
Leaving that future to later, I headed out to the shop at the usual time.
“You’re here? You look like you’re in a good mood.”
“Do I?”
Before, I’d hated coming to my part-time job so much, but now it felt almost fun.
Only one thing had changed.
My balance.
Just that one thing made the same job feel unbelievably enjoyable.
It felt like I was in on some private game.
“We’re having a staff dinner today. You’re not coming, right?”
“Staff dinner?”
“You know, trying to get a drink with Jihyun somehow.”
“Hmm… I’ll come too, I guess.”
“Huh? Really? What’s gotten into you? You’ve never once shown up for one of these.”
“I’m going to start enjoying life a little now.”
“Yeah, kid. You’re too young to be living like an old man, always working your ass off. It’s depressing to look at.”
“Huh?”
“Cough. What, do I sound too immature or something? Don’t make me compare myself to you.”
Well, that was debatable.
The old me had only worked hard because I had to, not because I was especially mature or anything.
The reason I’d wanted to get rich in the first place was simple: I wanted to live doing whatever I wanted.
My brother didn’t work hard because he didn’t need to.
It wasn’t because he was immature or anything like that.
There was no reason to explain it.
“Help me out a bit, hyung. I don’t even know how to have fun.”
“That’s my specialty, kid. What do you want to learn first? Gambling? Bars? Want me to recommend some pretty cam girl or something? Just say the word.”
“…Hyung, you gamble?”
“I’m too much of a coward for that. I do Proto. Since coin trading is basically gambling anyway, I just do coins legally.”
“Is coin trading gambling?”
“You don’t know why it goes up, do you? You don’t know why it goes down either. It might be an investment to someone else, but to me, it’s gambling.”
“Really? Bitcoin’s been going up like crazy lately. What do you think will happen next?”
“Oh, so you’re interested too? I think it’ll keep going up a bit more. I can’t imagine it dropping from here.”
He had a different opinion from mine.
Since he was basically a human indicator, my conviction in the bet only grew stronger.
“I think it’ll drop.”
“…Why are you saying that and making me nervous? Tsk. Guess I should cash out first.”
Still, at least he was thinking about profit.
I was looking at 100 billion won in profit, after all.
A smile tugged at my lips without me even noticing.
***
On the way to the staff dinner.
“Why’d you suddenly decide to come to dinner?”
“Well, um… that is…”
“What is it? We said we’d talk casually, remember?”
“So, uh…”
Out of nowhere, Jihyun started talking to me, and I stammered helplessly, unable to give the answer that was in my head.
More accurately, my mind went completely blank.
Because I’d gotten rich, I was so excited I’d forgotten something important.
Damn it…
I was a guy who’d gone through middle school, high school, and the military with barely any ability to talk to women.
And the prettier the woman, the worse it got.
Amused by my reaction, Jihyun smiled and drifted away again.
God, this was insane.
Seeing that, Hyung Jaehoon started teasing me.
“Hey, kid, what was that? The, the, the, th-th-th… pfft. Anyone watching would think your system bugged out.”
“Don’t make fun of me.”
“It’s funny. Why are you shaking like that? You really think Jihyun would ever even talk to us? If you don’t expect that kind of thing, you won’t get all jittery.”
“…She might meet me.”
“Yeah, sure. At the very least, if you don’t have looks or ability, you need ridiculous confidence to make up for it. From the way you’re talking now, you’re already cooked.”
“…”
I couldn’t argue with that.
But there was something Hyung didn’t know: I had ability now.
Facing an unexpected problem, I concentrated on nothing but the dinner.
Then, in the middle of it—
“I’m thinking about opening a second branch.”
“Really? Boss, you’re talking about leaving that to me, right? You said you’d make me manager.”
“…You still need to help out at the shop a bit longer. Actually, I was thinking about giving that to Jihyun instead.”
“What? Jihyun hasn’t even been here a year yet. A year? It hasn’t even been half a year…”
“Hey, why are you arguing every little thing? If you’re unhappy, why don’t you open your own place?”
“…”
The boss brought up opening a second branch, and Hyung, who’d been aiming for a manager position ever since, wore a gloomy look at the answer he hadn’t expected.
That bastard really was the woman-chasing bastard I’d recognized him as.
He was ditching the others and scheming to win Jihyun over instead.
On the other hand, I could understand him.
If I were good with words, I’d want to make that kind of offer too.
“Sorry. I want to focus on college for now.”
“Hmm… really? Think it over carefully. I’m not just saying that. For tonight, let’s focus on being here. Drink till you die!”
Since the plan hadn’t worked, he seemed to have decided to get everyone drunk instead.
“I think I should head out. A friend’s coming to pick me up…”
“Already? Come on, why don’t you sit a little longer and have some fun with us…”
“I came by car.”
“…”
In the end, Jihyun said her farewells as always and disappeared from the table.
“...Let’s just drink a reasonable amount and go.”
So much for “drink till you die.” We ended up drinking for another thirty minutes or so before finally calling it a night.
One way or another, the humiliation from earlier was all that stayed in my head.
What am I supposed to do… if it goes on like this, there’s no way I’ll reach my goal.
“Hyung, how do you talk comfortably to women?”
“You little shit. I thought you were a eunuch, but I guess not. You want to talk to women without feeling awkward?”
“It’d be nice.”
“Lucky for you. Come with me. I was a little disappointed anyway, and I made decent money yesterday. I’ll show you the world of men today.”
“Sports betting?”
“Proto, you bastard. I earned it legally.”
After hearing my question, Hyung seemed to think he was in his element and started giving me advice with confidence.
“If you want to talk well with women, you’ve got to practice.”
The place he took me to was—
“…Here?”
“Kid, this place is expensive. I’m only bringing you here because it’s you.”
An amusement song room nearby.
“You said you were going to succeed, right? If you don’t want to blow all that money on women after you make it, you’ve got to practice in advance.”
“…”
“What’s with that look? Did you expect too much? There’s no second round here, so don’t get your hopes up too high. But we will be drinking with some seriously pretty women. How’s that? You coming? I hardly ever treat people.”
“…I’m in, hyung.”
“Heh… guiding my little brother down the right path is making my heart race. We’ll have fun for exactly two hours. Anything more than that is too much for me too.”
I really was a pervert.
My heart was pounding.