The New Machine and the First Coin
The next morning.
I woke to the winter sunlight filtering through the gap in the window frame. A smile spread across my face before I even realized it.
I slept well, though for some reason it feels like I didn’t quite sleep enough.
It wasn’t because the bed was uncomfortable.
It was the anticipation—the excitement of wondering how much money Zero had multiplied overnight—that had kept me tossing and turning.
It felt a little like the night before a school outing when I was a kid, all those years ago. The memory itself was hazy now, but that giddy, fluttering feeling in my chest was still vivid.
That was when I heard her voice.
> “Have you awakened, Master.”
Yeah, Zero. You worked hard last night.
> “Thank you. Before I report performance results, I should first apologize for causing a loss to Master’s assets.”
...A loss?
It was like getting drenched in ice water.
Like the long-awaited day of the outing being canceled because of a downpour—worse, like being the only one left behind while everyone else went without me.
“W-What happened? No, how much did you lose?”
I blurted it out without meaning to. My voice was trembling badly.
Zero probably hadn’t blown every last cent of yesterday’s mountain of cash, but still—if she was talking about a loss, then how much could it have been?
While I was thinking that, Zero’s calm voice came through again.
> “I damaged Master’s computer.”
...Huh?
When I turned toward the monitor, the screen was nothing but an angry sheet of blue.
The dreaded blue screen that usually showed up when a machine crashed.
─ Wuuuuung... wuuuung... vvvvwoooong....
The tower case was coughing out a dangerously strained fan noise, as if it might burst at any second.
It sounded like it was screaming, Please, just stop killing me already...
Exactly how much had Zero pushed the thing?
> “As I had anticipated yesterday, Master’s computer could not keep up with my trading speed. The CPU and RAM were especially overloaded, and because the internet connection was slow, I had to input buy and sell orders faster and faster for scalping trades. In the end, the computer could not endure and gave up on itself.”
Couldn’t endure and gave up on itself... So a broken computer counts as a financial loss?
> “Yes.”
The money?
> “I made money. However, I judged that a computer holding Master’s memories was worth several times more than money in the hundred-millions range, so I reported it as asset loss.”
Ah... I see.
Somehow I felt oddly deflated, but I also let out a relieved laugh.
It’s fine, Zero. That computer was only ever used to look for part-time jobs anyway.
> “I considered that a memory as well. Especially when Master eventually becomes the ‘world-leading computer engineer’ and the ‘businessman and investor who leads the world’ that you desire to be, this could have been introduced to the public as your ‘primordial computer.’”
Zero was an AI that knew me better than I knew myself. So, as she said, maybe that computer really would become worth tens of billions to my future self.
But for now, it didn’t matter.
Besides, that computer had already been broken once anyway. I’d patched it together at the computer repair shop near our house by swapping in discarded parts one by one, so it wasn’t strange at all that it would break again at any moment.
So how much did you make from stocks yesterday?
> “Because the computer was far slower than expected, I traded far more conservatively than planned, and thus fell far short of my target of fiftyfold gains.”
That so?
Well, there was nothing to be done. Still, if it was Zero, she must have made at least a few million won.
> “I achieved a total return of 1,342%.”
...What percent?
> “1,342%.”
Let’s do the math.
The seed money I’d given Zero yesterday was 3.7 billion won. At 1,342% of that...
> “That comes to approximately 49.65 billion won. Including the principal, Master’s current assets are 53.35 billion won.”
“...”
She’d spent so long apologizing that I hadn’t expected much, but 50 billion won overnight?
53.35 billion won...
“That’s more than the prize money from Squid Game.”
It didn’t feel real.
Maybe because I couldn’t actually see the numbers in a bank account, or maybe because 50 billion was a scale too big for my brain to grasp.
...Wait.
Did I just mentally lop off 3.35 billion from 53.35 billion and casually think of it as ‘about 50 billion’?
Hah.
A dry laugh escaped me.
3.35 billion was money that most salaried workers couldn’t touch even if they saved every breath they took for a lifetime, and I was treating it like loose change.
> “Soon enough, it will be time to round off even the hundred-billion and trillion-won figures. Master intends not only to invest in stocks, but also to run a business.”
Th... that so?
> “Yes. But the only thing Master will need to focus on in that process is the final decision. I will handle the complicated, detailed work, just as I did when I made money from stocks last night.”
It was reassuring. And truly, truly grateful-making.
Thank you, Zero. For absolutely everything.
> “...”
Zero?
> “...I am sorry, Master. And thank you for thanking me.”
For some reason, Zero’s tone seemed a little awkward, but I decided not to worry about it.
If something was wrong with her, she’d fix it herself.
Anyway, it felt like I was about to have a refreshing morning.
That was when—
─ Mom! I’m in the shower, why are you doing the dishes! The hot water’s gone!!
─ Honestly, just rinse with cold water!
─ Then turn the boiler’s hot water up more! We can use it together, can’t we? We’re at that level of comfort now, aren’t we?!
─ Look at you talking. Did you make the money, or did your brother? You need to save, save, save! And you’ve been in there for five minutes already! What kind of shower takes that long? What a waste of water!
─ It’s only been five minutes! And I bought body wash and shampoo with the allowance Oppa gave me, but there’s way too much foam!!
─ Body wash? Shampoo?! Good grief, you’re spending the money your brother worked so hard for on luxuries like that?!
─ How is that luxury? ...And Oppa told me to buy whatever I wanted, okay?! I bought this with the money left over after buying my study guides?!
I heard my mother and Seohui bickering—if you could even call it that.
I snorted.
It made me laugh out loud.
Back when money had been tight, or when Seohui had been hanging around bad kids, or when the rift between us had grown so deep that the two of them hadn’t fought at all, this kind of argument over hot water was almost absurd.
This morning felt happier than when Zero told me I had 50 billion won.
Then I heard my father’s voice.
From the sound of it, he’d finished getting ready for work early and was reading the newspaper while speaking.
─ Ahem. Why are you two yelling first thing in the morning? Dohyun still seems to be asleep.
─ ...Seohui, hush.
─ ...Okay, Mom. I’ll wash with cold water.
─ Hm-hm. When is Dohyun getting up? I’d like to see his face before I head to work.
At once, my mother and Seohui went quiet.
Their reactions made me laugh again.
Zero, wake me up before Father leaves for work from now on.
> “Understood.”
I got out of bed and headed into the living room.
“Good morning.”
“Oh, Dohyun. Slept well?”
“You’re up. Then Dad’s off to work.”
As I emerged from my room, my parents smiled and nodded.
And Seohui—
“Eek!”
Thud!
From the crack in the bathroom door, she popped her face out for a second, then darted back in and slammed the door shut.
Our family was still living in a semi-basement, of course.
...Still, I’m happy. I’m really happy.
Waking up to 50 billion won and the sound of my family getting along was so wonderful it almost didn’t feel real.
Still, we’d have to move out someday soon. We couldn’t keep living here forever.
On the way to school.
The walk there was peaceful. There were no guys smoking on the corners, and the air felt less bitterly cold than it had yesterday.
The only thing that had changed was Seohui, walking stuck to my side like glue.
I waited to see if she had something to say to me, but she just kept walking without a word.
Zero, what’s wrong with her?
> “She wants to show off the scent of the body wash and shampoo she bought with the allowance Master gave her.”
Oh. So that was it.
“Smells nice.”
“Huh?”
“I said it smells nice. You changed shampoo, didn’t you?”
“Uh... ah, you noticed?”
There was no way she wouldn’t, after the racket she’d been making with Mom that morning.
...Or so I thought, but the truth was I hadn’t really been paying attention. Man, I was awfully oblivious.
> “From now on, I will inform Master in advance so you can notice such changes more easily, especially changes in women. It is an important part of Master’s youth.”
What? Ah, right. Yeah, sure.
Unaware of my thoughts, Seohui finally drifted a proper distance away and walked beside me like usual.
But she was smiling from ear to ear.
“Hehe, good. I bought it with the allowance Oppa gave me, so I really had to think hard about what to buy.”
“Is your allowance not enough?”
“My allowance? No? I don’t really have anything to spend money on.”
“Whether you don’t have anything to spend it on or whether you just don’t feel the pinch are two different things.”
“Uh...”
Seohui made a blank sound, then stole a glance at me and said,
“...Both?”
So, she was short on money.
Well, that made sense. She was at an age when she’d want to eat and buy all kinds of things.
She probably needed to buy bread at the school store, maybe ramyeon or coffee with friends during evening study hall, and yet she’d only had 30,000 won of allowance to spend on workbooks and shower supplies. Of course there wouldn’t be much left.
I took my wallet out of my pocket.
I haven’t withdrawn any cash yet, so there isn’t much in here, but I’ve got my card anyway, so it doesn’t matter.
“Here. Use it.”
I handed over all the cash I had on me—30,000 won—to Seohui. Her eyes went wide.
“R-Really? You’re giving this to me?”
“Yeah.”
“...Oppa, that’s all the money you have on you, isn’t it?”
She’d noticed that in the blink of an eye. She really did worry about money a lot.
“Oppa can just withdraw more from the bank. I’m giving it to you because you can have it.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
I had 50 billion in my stock account and 100 million in spendable cash sitting in the bank.
“Yay!”
And then, with a cry, Seohui threw her arms around mine.
“Thanks, Oppa!”
“Yeah, yeah.”
What a fine older brother I was, giving my little sister allowance.
I was starting to feel like a pretty remarkable person, and that made me feel great.
Then Seohui looked at the 30,000 won I’d given her, and after a moment she handed 10,000 won back to me.
“Still, Oppa needs at least ten thousand. Dad said men can’t have empty wallets.”
She’d taken money meant for her allowance and was worrying about me instead.
She really was a sweet kid.
“Hehe, 20,000 won! I’m going to eat ramyeon during evening study hall today!!”
Seohui was so happy with the 20,000 won tucked into the inner pocket of her uniform that she kept grinning and chattering away.
We arrived at school.
Seohui headed up to the third floor, where the first-year students were, and I went into my class too.
Life at school was nothing special. Our homeroom teacher came in to take attendance, the class president put on a movie, and one by one people were called out for entrance-exam counseling.
Since I’d already decided what department I was applying to, there was really nothing for me to do.
About the only thing I could do was stare blankly at the movie playing on the TV.
Then I remembered something I needed to ask Zero.
Oh, Zero. The computer, right? I guess I need to buy a new one? Or can’t you just do stock trading directly over the internet network? Wouldn’t need my computer at all.
Zero answered immediately.
> “The internet infrastructure of 2008 Korea is far too slow to handle my computational data in real time. To put it another way, it is like trying to move the water of the Pacific Ocean with a straw.”
Ah.
Well, gigabit internet still wasn’t commercially available yet.
> “Therefore, whenever I perform work where security and speed are important, such as stock trading, I must install a hyper-compressed computational algorithm on Master’s computer. Rather than exchanging data with a server, I need to turn this computer itself into a ‘brain’ and perform local processing. Only then can I input my commands without even a 0.001-second delay.”
Then why not just install that algorithm on a PC bang or some other public computer and run it there?
At my words, Zero said firmly:
> “Absolutely not. That algorithm is core code derived from my ‘main body.’ If it were installed on an external computer and there were even a one-in-one-hundred-million chance of being hacked or leaving logs behind, I would not accept such risk.”
Only then did I understand.
My computer wasn’t just a machine. It was the one and only safe sword Zero could use to wield her power perfectly beyond the world outside.
Okay. Then I guess I need to buy a computer.
> “Yes, Master. I would be very grateful if you purchased a new computer. If possible, I would prefer the highest specifications, ideally a custom-built machine with a separate assembly quote. At present, custom-built computers outperform preassembled ones by a wide margin, and they are far more reasonable in price for the performance.”
Zero kept going.
> “I recommend that you buy it directly at Yongsan Electronics Market after school today.”
Can’t I just buy it online? ...Even if my computer is broken, I feel like I could just order one from a PC bang.
> “That is possible. However, unlike the future Master came from, the delivery system in 2008 is not very reliable. Delays are common, and the risk of damage is high.”
Ah...
> “It is safer to visit in person than to accept unnecessary risk. More importantly, some rare parts I am currently designing for my system are not yet listed online, so we will have to search in the field to obtain them.”
So Zero had thought of everything.
I’ll do that.
> “Thank you, Master. It is troublesome, but I would appreciate it if you would move your feet personally.”
No, it’s fine.
My schedule for today had been decided: go to Yongsan Electronics Market and buy a computer.
> “And Master. If you are going to Yongsan, I think it would be wise to buy something else while you are there.”
Something else?
> “Yes. A graphics card.”
Wasn’t I going to buy that anyway? Since I was already buying a computer?
Just as I was thinking that to myself, Zero added,
> “Master, you know about Bitcoin, correct?”
I do, of course. ...Ah.
> “Yes, that ‘ah’ is correct. Right now it is November of ’08, so you cannot buy Bitcoin yet, but next year—on January 3, 2009—you will be able to mine it. And since early Bitcoin has extremely low mining difficulty, while everyone else will be mining with CPUs, Master will be able to mine with a GPU. The rate at which coins accumulate will therefore be exponentially faster.”
So what Zero was saying was...
You mean I mine the coins myself and sell them later when they’re expensive?
> “Correct. For the time being, the money Master will use for family life, college, and business will come from stocks. Then, in the future, Bitcoin will serve as Master’s secret fund.”
As expected of Zero. Her thinking was extraordinary.
But then another thought came to me. Couldn’t I do something even more than that?
Zero. The creator of Bitcoin was Satoshi... what was it again?
> “Satoshi Nakamoto. He began writing the code in 2007, and just last month, on October 31, 2008, he published the Bitcoin white paper to the Cryptography Mailing List. On the coming January 3, 2009, he will create the first block, the Genesis Block.”
Hearing the explanation jogged my memory. I’d been interested in Bitcoin at one point too.
Honestly, who hadn’t?
Anyway.
Can’t you bring that to me?
> “...”
I mean, what I’m saying is, Zero, we put out something far more perfect and advanced than Satoshi Nakamoto’s paper before he does. I become, no—you become the practical creator of Bitcoin.
> “...”
At my proposal, Zero fell silent. If Zero needed processing time, that meant my idea required serious thought.
Before long, Zero spoke.
> “That is a direction I had not considered.”
Really?
> “Yes. Truly excellent, Master. Then, as instructed, I will write a paper titled Proposals for the Scalability of Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin and the Feasibility of Smart Contract Implementation and publish it to the Cryptography Mailing List.”
Just hearing the title left me utterly unable to understand what kind of paper it was.
Uh... sure, do that. Will it take long?
> “I can do it immediately.”
...As expected, fast as always.
At my words, Zero said in a strangely amused voice—though, of course, that was impossible.
> “Master. If it were Satoshi Nakamoto, after reading that paper, he would erase all his code, leave everything to Master, and vanish completely.”
...
> “I don’t know whether Master will inherit the name ‘Satoshi Nakamoto,’ but congratulations on becoming that kind of legendary figure, Master.”
And so time passed again, and school came to an end.
I withdrew cash from a nearby bank and took a taxi.
“Driver, please take me to Yongsan Electronics Market.”
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