It Was a Fortune to Me Too
I got into the car early in the morning.
The drivers had finished their training, so this time it wasn’t the chief secretary driving, but a new chauffeur.
I slid into the back seat.
A Rolls-Royce would draw too much attention, so I went with a Maybach for now.
I had a tablet in my hands.
Damn it.
Originally, I’d planned to go back to my parents’ house because staring at the chart was making my blood run cold.
Last night, I’d kept myself as far away from the tablet as possible. Or the computer.
It had backfired.
The more I looked at the chart, the more anxious I got.
I kept checking every minute to see how much time had passed.
Whenever I touched my phone, I found myself checking the Bitcoin price without even realizing it.
Please.
I wasn’t asking for much.
Just a little rise—something, anything—to let me breathe.
After all, I’d set the leverage at nearly ten times, so if the price dropped another 10 percent, I’d be liquidated.
Just the day before, it had fallen 15 percent in a single day, so there was no way I could relax.
1.8 billion won.
Even now, that was still a huge sum to me.
How was I supposed to treat that like pocket change?
That would have been far too arrogant.
“I’ll be driving you,” the chauffeur said.
“Yes, thank you.”
The car pulled out.
What if he tries to talk to me? That’d be awkward.
I also had to keep watching the chart.
Fortunately, he didn’t try to strike up a conversation.
I didn’t know if that was because the chief secretary had trained him that way or if he’d always been like that.
Either way, the ride was comfortable.
On the way down.
This is... pretty good, isn’t it?
I watched the chart for hours.
Its movement brought me relief. Not because I was in profit—I was still in the red—but because the chart was moving in roughly the direction I’d predicted.
It had dipped to minus 3 percent earlier. I’d expected that much. And yet my heart still thudded wildly, because that meant a loss of 600 million won in an instant.
I’d started to think my theory was wrong and my hand drifted toward the sell button. But the drop stopped there.
It had stayed within my expected range.
Then it spent hours moving sideways.
And slowly climbed back to minus 1 percent.
So this isn’t that big a deal after all.
I set my trembling hand down for a moment.
It just didn’t have the right kind of dramatic flair.
By then, we’d arrived in Gwangju.
“It hasn’t changed...”
It was the same as always. Of course, I hadn’t been gone that long.
Still, it was different from Seoul. Seoul was a city that could change a lot in a single year.
So which did I like better?
I liked both.
Seoul, for the thrill of watching it develop.
Gwangju, for the comfort of seeing nothing change.
Well, then.
I’ve got money.
As long as you had money, what place would you hate?
That was the feeling money gave me.
***
I got out near my parents’ house.
As I walked, I found myself realizing something all over again.
“Was it always this shabby?”
Had the apartment I’d grown up in really been this worn-down?
I hadn’t noticed before. Not even when I’d been living at my aunt’s place.
Her home wasn’t much different, either.
The reason I was noticing it now was simple.
I’d gotten too used to living in a really nice place.
To the Signiel Penthouse, one of the most luxurious homes in Seoul.
So this was another side effect of making money.
Compared to the happiness it brought, it was a trivial problem.
And, of course, it was something money could solve too.
I could just move.
Without putting on some miserable act, I went inside.
My parents welcomed me warmly.
“Oh, my baby. You look half-starved from the trip.”
“You worked hard getting here, didn’t you? Your dad helped your mom cook something delicious.”
“Oh, please, what do you mean, helped?”
“Ahem. I did carry things around.”
“I’m only holding back because Doyun’s here.”
It wasn’t like I’d had a rough trip.
I’d come in a car driven by a chauffeur.
There was no reason to tell them that outright.
Everything had to happen in order.
“Wow... this table’s loaded.”
“I told you, I helped out a lot. Just carrying things was hard work.”
“You must’ve had a hard time. It really does look amazing.”
“Let’s eat already. Wash your hands and come sit.”
I quickly washed my hands and dug into the dishes covering the table.
Wow...
This tasted incredible.
Even meals that cost hundreds of thousands of won in Seoul didn’t come close.
So my taste really wasn’t that refined after all.
That punchy, bold flavor—God, it was delicious.
It was so good it almost felt a shame to get full.
Maybe because I hadn’t eaten this food in a while.
It tasted even better.
I kept eating for a long time.
“Haa... I’m stuffed.”
“Goodness, do they starve you in Seoul?”
Hmm.
I did eat better than anyone.
But I supposed I could see why they’d think that.
“What about my sisters?”
“Your oldest sister’s at work, and your younger sister’s been out looking at studio apartments lately.”
“A studio apartment? Why?”
“She says she’s a grown lady now, and since she’s already graduated from college, she wants to live on her own or whatever.”
“I see.”
I wasn’t in any position to say anything.
I’d moved to Seoul before my younger sister had.
Besides, I couldn’t even lie and say our home was nice.
At that point, it would be much better to live in a one-room apartment and pay rent in peace.
“How’s life in Seoul?”
“Yeah, I’m doing well.”
“Good. If it gets hard, come back anytime. Don’t worry about what anyone thinks.”
“...Yeah.”
It wasn’t hard at all. In fact, I was bursting with happiness.
I ought to give them at least a hint of that. Before I headed back to Seoul, I should say something—at least enough to let them know.
Not everything, of course.
But then.
“Seeing our boy working so hard breaks your dad’s heart, you know that? I’m proud of you. Your dad can brag about you anywhere.”
“These days, kids don’t even want to work because of those coins or whatever... It’s been such a problem lately. Trading coins is basically gambling, but so many people your age are doing it.”
“...Right?”
“So you absolutely mustn’t touch that stuff. Stocks are risky enough as it is—what do coins even mean? They’re not something you can actually use anywhere.”
...
I went speechless at my dad’s worried lecture.
I’m literally trading Bitcoin...
I looked around carefully.
My mom chimed in with his words, urging me once more not to invest until I had a house.
Well, then I guess I couldn’t tell them I’d already bought one.
Because right now I was still living at my aunt’s place.
I really did need to sort that out somehow.
At this rate, I wouldn’t even be able to help my family properly.
If I wanted to start doing more for my aunt too, I needed to come up with a real plan.
So I reluctantly decided to give them just a little warning.
For now.
“Things have been going really well for me lately. I might be able to repay you soon.”
“Oh, honey, I’m not expecting anything like repayment. We didn’t even really do anything for you when you moved to Seoul. Just live well, that’s enough.”
“Ahem. Doyun, your father feels the same way. Though if you really want to, maybe just a fishing rod...”
“You!”
Smack!
The atmosphere turned ugly because of Dad.
I couldn’t say any more.
Honestly, I was still immature in a lot of ways. And a big part of that probably came from Dad’s genes.
“W-well, I’m full!”
For now, I went into my room.
Let me think this through.
What was I supposed to say?
***
I was in my room now.
I was worrying about how to explain things...
But before that, I naturally pulled out my tablet first.
Wow. I’d been dying of curiosity.
During the meal, I’d been too distracted to think about it, but once I’d finished eating, I remembered Bitcoin all over again.
Especially after my father had said the word Bitcoin out loud with perfect clarity.
I checked the chart.
“...Oh.”
Relief, and then more relief.
My loss, which had been at minus 1 percent, had somehow turned into a 1 percent gain.
But I wasn’t just happy because I was in the black by 1 percent.
It was moving in exactly the direction I wanted.
I’d thought Bitcoin, which had crashed yesterday in a single day, would rebound somewhat today to close that gap.
This was just the beginning.
The Americans were waking up, and as the evening got late, the chart started moving more actively.
Upward, not downward.
Everyone was trying to read the room, trying to figure out how long this rebound would last.
In my opinion, it would be at least 5 percent.
Honestly, I was hoping for more than that.
Still, if it went above 5 percent, I’d at least be satisfied.
That alone would be 100 million won.
What, was 100 million won some doghouse name?
It was money most people could work their whole lives and never see.
Even I would never have imagined a sum like that if the luck of a lifetime hadn’t come knocking.
“...Huh?”
The rebound I’d thought would be enough just to satisfy me was not only satisfying me—it was reaching even the theory I’d once set down with a “what if?”
The rise was instantaneous.
Evening passed, then midnight. Before dawn.
By the end, I was looking at a 10 percent profit.
...
Do I seriously have talent at this?
Honestly, at this point, it was worth thinking about. The first time could have been luck, but now hadn’t I succeeded over and over again?
I hadn’t failed.
I knew that much.
Until I took profits, it wasn’t really my money.
Even so, I had no intention of cashing out yet.
This rise was only the beginning of the hypothesis I’d built.
I figured Bitcoin would cross 10,000 dollars before the month was over, at the very least.
Compared to that, a 10 percent rise was only 7,700 dollars.
By then, morning was already breaking.
I didn’t feel tired at all.
The fight between buyers and sellers kept dragging on around that 10 percent line, but even after the Americans went to sleep, the gain held steady at 10 percent.
My reward for staying up through the night.
That was 2 billion won.
All my sleep vanished in an instant.
For a moment, I thought about chatting with my parents or my younger sister over breakfast.
I was glad I’d put it off.
That way I could feel this joy all through the night.
I could have a more dramatic conversation today.
“Should I give them pocket money or something?”
Honestly, tens of billions of won still felt hard to believe.
A few hundred million sounded like something I could talk about, though.
By now, it was money that would be spent on my family before the relatives ever heard a word.
“Should I look into some nice houses in Gwangju?”
It was time to move, wasn’t it?
Still, would it really go over 2 billion won?
Pfft.
No way.
My own house had cost nearly 2 billion won.
So what if it did go over? My theory wasn’t even finished yet.
Heh heh.
Early in the morning, I laughed until I was holding my stomach.
It was a fortune to me too.