The Cheap Choice
At two in the afternoon, Kim Hyeoncheol sat in the executive office of Seongsam Electronics’ Seocho headquarters, the office of the head of the Future Innovation Office.
He exhaled a long stream of cigarette smoke into the air.
On his desk lay an ashtray, a cup of cooling coffee, and the proposal for Crazy Bird that Another Technology had sent over.
"······."
Kim Hyeoncheol picked the proposal up again out of habit.
He had already read it dozens of times.
A red bird, a yellow bird, and a green pig.
At first glance, they had seemed like childish little characters.
And yet, something about them was strange.
The more I look at it, the more… peculiar it feels.
The longer he stared, the more it seemed like it might actually be fun.
That game called Crazy Bird.
Marketing Vice President Seo wasn’t wrong. A toy-like game like this doesn’t fit a premium phone strategy worth a million won.
That had been the conclusion of the long meeting that had dragged on all day yesterday.
Still, after sending Another Technology a hold notice, which was effectively a rejection, Kim Hyeoncheol had felt a strange pressure in his chest that had not gone away since.
Wuuung, wuuung.
Then the desk phone rang.
It was Secretary Anna-hui.
"Yes, Secretary An."
> Secretary, Another Technology’s office has contacted us.
Kim Hyeoncheol’s brows twitched.
From Another Technology?
He had already made their refusal clear, and yet they were calling back so soon.
Why?
Usually, in situations like this, they take a few days for internal discussion, then send over a formal request for revision or reconsideration...
For now, he had no choice but to answer.
"Put them through."
"Yes."
Kim Hyeoncheol stubbed out his cigarette and adjusted the receiver.
A moment later, a calm female voice came through the line, familiar to his ear.
It was the voice of the woman from Another Technology’s office.
"This is Another Technology’s office."
"Yes, this is Kim Hyeoncheol."
He greeted her, then asked immediately, "Are you calling because of the matter we relayed this morning? After some fierce internal discussion, we reached our decision, so... or are you planning to propose a different application? We do feel badly about this. The concept just didn’t fit this time, but if you send a better proposal next time..."
He spoke politely.
But then:
> No, Director. The representative’s position is firm. There will be no reconsideration or revision proposal for this offer.
"...Pardon?"
They were saying they would let it go.
Normally, the proper response would be, "We’ll revise it and try again."
But Another Technology was, as always, different.
"Th-that..."
As Kim Hyeoncheol floundered, the voice on the other end spoke again.
> And please tell him that the representative is a little, no, very, disappointed.
"Disappointed...?"
> Yes. He said Seongsam Electronics really has no eye for things like this.
To criticize Seongsam Electronics’ taste.
How many companies or people in the world could possibly say something like that?
It was the attitude of a teacher scolding a student, or a master looking down on a novice.
...No company has ever spoken to me like this before.
And yet, for some reason, Kim Hyeoncheol could not get angry.
"Th-that’s a misunderstanding. We did think the game itself was interesting, but brand strategy is..."
> There is no need for that excuse.
The other side drew a line, as if the conversation had already ceased to be worth hearing.
> In any case, development is almost complete, so we’ll be launching the game on Apple’s App Store.
For an instant, Kim Hyeoncheol’s mind stopped working.
"...You’re launching it with Apple?"
> Yes. We can’t just throw away a game we worked hard to make.
"...I see."
> Then I’ll leave you to it.
Click.
Tuuut... tuuut.
The call ended.
Kim Hyeoncheol stared into space, the receiver still pressed to his ear.
...They’re going to launch it on Apple’s App Store?
Which meant, in effect, that they were selling it to Apple.
The application that had been intended for Seongsam Electronics.
"N-no... wait a second."
A chill ran down his spine.
Could it be... that game is actually going to blow up?
Kim Hyeoncheol tried desperately to deny it.
But the harder he tried to deny it, the more...
─ ······!!
─ ······!!
─ ······!!
─ ······!!
The birds in the Crazy Bird proposal.
Just a moment ago they had seemed to glare at him, but now they looked as if they were mocking him.
...Am I just under too much stress?
Kim Hyeoncheol hurriedly hit the desk phone’s redial button.
But:
> The call was not answered...
Another Technology’s office did not pick up.
They were clearly ignoring him on purpose.
"...?"
Something... something is wrong.
Kim Hyeoncheol had a bad feeling about this.
Vwoom.
I was riding a taxi from my rented room back to my parents’ house.
I leaned back and let my thoughts drift as I looked out at the passing scenery.
I’ve already submitted Crazy Bird to the App Store review... so how long will the review take?
Normally, Apple’s App Store review could take as little as a week, and if an app was rejected once, two or three weeks could pass without surprise.
But that was the story of ordinary developers.
I’m different.
I had already made a deal with Steve Jobson.
Another Technology’s apps would be reviewed within sixty hours.
But Jobson wasn’t taking sixty hours. He was getting my app approved within twenty-four hours at the latest.
If it gets processed within business hours on Friday in U.S. time...
then by Saturday night or Sunday morning in Korea, Crazy Bird should be live in the App Store.
Then Zero’s voice came to me.
Master. Kim Hyeoncheol, the director, keeps trying to contact you.
I snorted.
I had expected a reaction the moment I said Crazy Bird would be launched on Apple’s App Store, but that was faster than I thought.
Kim Hyeoncheol must have sensed it instinctively too.
That something was going badly wrong.
Don’t answer. Ignore him.
Should I continue ignoring him?
Yeah. Talking now won’t change anything. We’ve already submitted it to Apple anyway.
I leaned back comfortably against the seat.
Once Crazy Bird launches and blows up this weekend, and Seongsam Electronics starts regretting it next week, then we can call him back.
By then, the initiative in the conversation would belong entirely to me.
And then I’ll tell them plainly. From now on, they’d better stop arguing and just take what I give them.
Of course, I wouldn’t say, "Don’t get cocky," out loud.
I was still a businessman.
But I did plan to crush them with polite words.
I can’t just abandon Seongsam Electronics over something like this.
Leaving aside the fact that Seongsam Electronics had to grow if it was going to keep Apple in check, I was Korean.
Of course I didn’t want Seongsam Electronics to stumble.
Still, keeping Seongsam Electronics in line was another matter.
Let’s just call it a loving correction.
"Driver, could you let me off at the intersection up ahead?"
"Yes, of course."
Before I knew it, the taxi had reached the entrance to the apartment complex where my parents lived.
I slung my bag with the laptop inside over my shoulder, got out, and headed home.
At five-thirty in the evening, Kim Dohyun’s parents’ home.
"I’m home!"
As the front door opened, Kim Seohee’s bright voice rang through the house.
She kicked off her shoes more than she took them off and tossed them by the entryway before darting straight into the living room.
On a usual day, this would have been the time for Kim Seohee to eat dinner before starting evening self-study at school.
But this Friday was different.
Her older brother, Kim Dohyun, was coming home.
The transfer school’s rules for skipping night study were strict, but Kim Seohee had a way around them.
It was called home tutoring.
She used the rule that allowed students to skip evening study if their parents submitted confirmation that they were receiving private lessons or tutoring at home.
Of course, since her older brother really was teaching her, it wasn’t a lie.
"Oh, Seohee, you’re here?"
"You’re home?"
Kim Dohyun, who had been sitting on the sofa watching TV with their mother, turned his head.
"Yep, I’m back! Oppa’s here too!"
After greeting him, Seohee grabbed Dohyun by the arm and pulled.
"Oppa, come to my room. I’ve got something to show you!"
At the sound of her overexcited voice, their mother let out a laugh.
There was equal parts pride and teasing in her tone when she spoke of her daughter.
"That girl’s been waiting for you to come all this time. Ever since Wednesday, she’s been singing about how well she did on her mock exam."
"Mom! I’m going to show him my test sheet!"
Seohee tugged at Dohyun’s arm again.
"Oppa, oppa. Come to my room for a second. Hurry!"
"All right, all right."
Kim Dohyun got up as if he had no choice.
Seohee led him into her room.
Inside Kim Seohee’s room.
Since I had come in here every weekend to help my younger sister study, it felt perfectly natural to step inside.
"Look at this!"
The moment Seohee entered the room, she held out the stack of exam papers that had been on her desk.
It was the paper from the March nationwide mock exam she had taken this past Wednesday.
"The score report isn’t out yet, but I checked the grade cutoffs online. Korean is level 2, English is level 3, and math is level 1! Ninety-two points!"
Just last year, during her first year of high school, Seohee’s report card had been miserable.
Math hovered around level 6 or 7, and her other subjects scraped along at the bottom too.
And now, in just a few months, she had hit level 1.
It was nothing short of a miracle.
"I’m only level 4 in social studies because I haven’t studied it enough yet... but still, my Korean, English, and math all went way up!"
Seohee’s eyes sparkled as she looked up at me.
She was clearly begging for praise.
I snorted and ruffled her hair.
"Well done. You really worked hard."
"Hehe... it’s all thanks to you, Oppa. If you hadn’t taught me, there’s no way I’d have gotten this score."
Seohee wasn’t just being modest.
The class in school was so hard to understand that she couldn’t tell what the teachers were talking about, but the tricks I taught her stuck right in her head.
"So this is what it feels like to study under a full scorer on the CSAT, huh? It really is different!"
"You’re the one who worked hard."
Then my gaze drifted to one side.
It was a school notice on Seohee’s desk.
Survey for Participation in the Second-Year School Trip at XX Girls’ High School
A home notice sitting on Seohee’s desk.
Without thinking, I picked it up.
"Huh? Oppa, that..."
Seohee panicked and tried to snatch it back, but my hand was faster.
I slowly read the contents.
"You’re going on a school trip? Where to...?"
There were three destinations in total, with estimated costs listed beside each option.
Overseas cultural tour (Singapore / Bali, Indonesia) - 9 days, 10 nights [2.8 to 3.1 million won, depending on exchange rates]
Jeju Nature Heritage Tour - 5 days, 6 nights [470,000 won]
Gangwon Province - 2 days, 3 nights [160,000 won]
"They even have an overseas option for a school trip?"
I tilted my head.
For a high school trip, wasn’t Gyeongju or Seoraksan basically the default?
As I looked puzzled, Zero’s voice sounded in my head.
This is not a typical case, Master.
Right?
However, the XX Girls’ High School your younger sister transferred to is located near the Gangnam 8 school district. It is a school where students from families with relatively high incomes mostly enroll. Three years ago, they created an overseas trip course under the name of cultivating “global leadership.”
Oh...
I knew Seohee’s transfer school was a good one, but I hadn’t realized it was that good.
They were giving high schoolers overseas travel experiences like that.
As expected, a good school really was different.
So, let’s see where Seohee said she was going...
3. Gangwon Province (V)
Gangwon Province?
I shook the paper and asked Seohee, "Seohee, are you going to Gangwon Province?"
"Huh? Ah, well..."
"Don’t you want to go to Singapore or Bali? Where are your friends mostly going?"
"Most of them are saying they’re going to Southeast Asia..."
At my words, Seohee’s eyes wavered.
She avoided my gaze and fidgeted with her fingers.
"...I don’t really want to go overseas. I’m kind of scared of flying too."
"...?"
"And looking at the Gangwon course, they do rafting and stuff, so it seemed fun! A lot of my friends are going to Gangwon too. Really!"
Seohee spoke brightly, smiling as she did.
But I could see it.
She was lying for some reason.
"Really? You really don’t want to go abroad?"
"..."
When I asked again, Seohee hesitated and lowered her head.
Then, in a tiny voice, she answered, "Gangwon Province is the cheapest."
Thud.
It felt as if a heavy stone had struck some hidden part of my chest.
"...You picked Gangwon because it was the cheapest?"
"Yeah. The overseas trip costs more than three million won. I can’t just spend that much money to go play around..."
Seohee kept her head down and picked at her nails.
Of course, for an ordinary working-class family, three million won was a fairly heavy burden to carry just for a few days’ outing.
But for me, that wasn’t true anymore.
It was pocket change. Real pocket change.
...She gave up the trip she wanted because of the price and chose the cheapest option?
It wasn’t that a trip to Gangwon Province was bad.
I like Gangwon Province too. The air is good, the water is good.
The problem was that my little sister was giving up the trip she actually wanted because of money.
...What the hell have I been doing until now?
So what if my app exploded, Seongsam Electronics came crawling to me, and Jobson offered me a billion dollars?
My one and only younger sister was choosing Gangwon Province and giving up the overseas trip she wanted just because of a mere three million won.
Ever since my regression, I had been sprinting toward success without stopping.
To escape poverty, to take revenge on the people who looked down on my family, to climb higher.
Along the way, I had thought I was doing pretty well.
I had paid off our debts, given my parents spending money, raised my sister’s grades, moved us into a better house, gotten into a good university, and my app was doing great.
But I had missed the most important thing.
The fact that my family was still living inside the trauma of poverty.
"Did you ask Father or Mother if you could go somewhere else?"
"Yeah, I mentioned it casually..."
Seohee trailed off.
"They said I could go if I wanted to, but they also said the school trip was a little expensive."
"When did you ask them?"
"Yesterday. ...But really, Mom and Dad did say I could go! I just decided to go to Gangwon Province myself!"
I had already given my parents hundreds of millions of won in allowance before.
But it seemed that not only Seohee, but my mother and father too, still carried that poverty trauma.
Maybe they were thinking, we don’t know when that money might be needed, we should save it for the future...
Or maybe, since it was money I gave them, they felt too guilty to spend it.
...What’s the point of making billions outside if the mood inside the house is still like this?
I felt that I could not leave it like this any longer.
Rustle.
I picked up the red pen on the desk.
"Huh? Oppa, what are you doing?"
"Hold on."
Rip!
Without hesitation, I crossed out the check next to Gangwon Province.
Then I raised the marker and put a big, bold check next to the top choice.
1. Overseas cultural tour (Singapore / Bali, Indonesia) (V)
"I’ll pay for this. So you’re going here."
"...You’re going to pay? No, but still... Mom and Dad said it was too expensive..."
I looked into Seohee’s eyes and asked again.
"Forget the other worries. You do want to go to Singapore and Bali, right?"
"Huh? Y-yeah... I, I do want to go, but..."
"Then go. Don’t worry about the money. Three million won? That’s pocket change to me now."
"...Pocket change?"
"Yeah. Real pocket change."
At my firm declaration, Seohee’s eyes went round.
Even so, she was still watching my reaction carefully.
Her goodness was touching, and yet at the same time, guilt rose up in me.
I was planning to hide the fact that I had money, at least for a while, because of all the leeches who’d cling to me if they found out...
Especially our relatives.
If they learned I was rich, they would show up like cockroaches. It was obvious.
So I had been hiding my wealth as much as possible, but because of that, my family was still living while glancing nervously at poverty.
The tail was wagging the dog. That couldn’t go on.
Now that I’ve got power, if the relatives crawl in like cockroaches, I can just step on them.
Still, if I could help it, I wanted to keep relatives and assorted hangers-on from learning that I had money.
Not because I was worried about dealing with them.
It was simply that even facing their ugly little faces and exchanging a few words with them was stressful.
Zero. If I tell my family I’m rich, can you make sure they don’t tell anyone else?
If Master makes a firm request, your family members will never reveal it outside.
So I just have to tell them not to say anything?
Yes. If you say that much, Master’s family will understand your intent.
Then that settled it.
At seven in the evening, our family sat down at the table together for dinner for the first time in a while.
It was the best kind of feast: bubbling doenjang stew, kimchi, rolled omelet, seasoned bean sprouts, and bulgogi laid out on the table.
I wanted to eat the meal my mother had made right away, but before that, there was something I had to say.
Instead of lifting my spoon, I took a sip of water and looked at my parents.
"Father, Mother."
"Hmm?"
"What is it?"
"It’s about Seohee’s school trip. I told her to go abroad."
As soon as the words left my mouth, the atmosphere at the table subtly shifted.
My mother’s brow tightened slightly, and her gaze turned toward Seohee.
"...Seohee, did you beg your brother to let you go?! I told you to go since I’d send you, and now you’re saying you won’t go!"
"No, Mom! I didn’t do that! Really!"
Seohee flailed both hands in alarm.
Seeing her flushed with indignation, I hurriedly spoke up.
"Seohee said she wasn’t going. I’m the one who pushed her to do it. And I’ll pay for the trip too."
"You, Dohyun?"
My father looked at me with concern.
"That sounds pretty expensive... Are you planning to pay for it with the money you made from stocks again? If that’s the case, I’ll send her with my own money. Dohyun, you don’t need to spend any more of your money. You’ve already done enough."
"That’s right, Dohyun. We still haven’t touched any of the money you gave us... Your mom and I can send Seohee on any trip we want."
"Why aren’t you spending that money? I gave it to you to use. Money is for spending."
"Well... it’s a lot of money, so we should keep it safely tucked away."
"...You never know when we might need it. And it’s money you gave us too."
Hearing them say that made me think I really should tell them.
That our house no longer needed to worry about money.
"Father, Mother. I actually made some money while I was at school."
"Money? From stocks again like before? I’ve seen some news lately saying they’re climbing back up little by little."
"I made money from stocks too, but I made it from other things as well."
At my answer, my mother blinked.
"Other things? Did you do tutoring or a part-time job while you were going to school?"
"No. I run a business."
"...A business?"
"I saw on the news that there are college-student pyramid schemes these days... Dohyun, you’re not involved in that, are you?"
"...Huh?"
My parents’ eyes both widened at once.
Seohee also looked at me as if she had no idea what was going on.
It made sense. It would be hard to believe that a normal college student suddenly ran a business.
There was no way they’d believe it if I only explained it with words.
"Just a moment."
I got up and went to my room from the kitchen.
I brought my laptop back and set it on the dining table.
"Look at this."
I opened online banking and clicked the login button.
The screen shifted, and the moment the account balance appeared...
Click.
I turned the laptop around and showed the screen to my family.
"...?"
"W-what kind of money is this?"
"O-oppa, is this really the money in your bank account?"
The eyes of my family, staring at the online banking screen on the laptop, wavered as they struggled to make sense of it.
My mother covered her mouth.
Seohee kept looking back and forth between me and the laptop screen.
[Deposit Balance: 145,356,412,185 won]
It was only a tiny fraction of my money.
Most of it had been swept up by Zero in the stock market, but this included the app revenue that had come in recently too.
"How many zeroes is that...? Ten, hundred... one, fourteen billion?"
My father counted the numbers, then looked at me.
My mother and Seohee had completely lost the ability to speak.
I smiled at my frozen family and said, "If you add my stock accounts and the other accounts, it’s a lot more than this. It’s still growing in real time too. So from now on, you don’t need to worry about three million won."
"...?"
"...?"
"...?"
"I’m pretty rich."