Chapter 13: The Eve of the Storm
Chapter 13: The Eve of the Storm
Trying to save money never worked out well.
One million won, two million won, three million won.
There was a joy in reaching ten million won by hitting these small goals one step at a time.
- Ethereum: 76,386,419
- Ripple: $81,837,171
“Money can grow this fast?”
The fun of watching his wealth grow.
But the price of Ripple, which had climbed to 599 won on the domestic exchanges, dropped by 100 won by the time he left work.
‘If only I had sold before leaving work!’
Wouldn't he have been able to earn another 17 million dollars?
He felt the same regret as countless other investors.
A sum close to 20 billion won.
It was a shame, as it was enough money to acquire a decent-sized small or medium-sized enterprise.
‘With such a large investment, the amount that moves at once is no joke.’
But he could endure it, since the amount it had risen in just one day was far greater than that.
Ka-talk!
The notification sound from the company's group chat.
They usually didn't chat in the group after work.
- Team Leader Seo Jong-gi: Ripple dropped ㅠㅠ
- Kim Sang-gi: The exchange was down, so I couldn't even sell.
- Lee Sang-hyun: What kind of incompetent management is this? For all we know, those bastards shut it down on purpose.
Apparently, domestic crypto exchanges had experienced a surge in trading volume that day, causing their websites to crash frequently.
Thanks to that, the outcry from people who couldn't sell at the higher price was immense.
- Won Hyo-sang: Assistant Manager Kim. Ripple's down, what's your position going to be?
- Team Leader An Myeong-guk: I'm curious too. Should I liquidate everything at this point?
His colleagues were curious about his decision.
It wasn't like they had received formal investment advice from him, but it seemed they were using him as a reference anyway.
‘What should I do?’
When he invested the 100 million dollars, he hadn't set a target price.
He had anticipated people's greed, but he believed that predicting the exact price was in the realm of the gods.
His plan was to watch the results day by day and adapt to changes in the news or the situation.
An investment of 100 million dollars had yielded 57 million dollars in a short period.
A return of over fifty percent was a significant achievement, but...
‘Should I sell now and wait for the next opportunity?’
He looked up some articles, examined the price fluctuation charts on the crypto exchanges, and came to a decision.
- Kim Shin: I'm not selling. I think it will go up more. I don't know if this is the right decision. Please make your own judgments.
And the replies came back.
- Kim Sang-gi: Sir, yes sir! I'm holding too. To the moon! Let's double it!
- Team Leader An Myeong-guk: Honestly, I don't get the crypto world no matter how much I look at it. I'll just trust Assistant Manager Kim's luck, haha.
- Team Leader Seo Jong-gi: For real, I have this last emergency fund I've been saving since my bachelor days. I'll trust Assistant Manager Kim and go all in with this, lol.
* * *
The past few days had been cold, but today was warm for a change.
Since he had moved, the distance to his office was shorter, so he rode the 230,000-won bicycle he had kept in the room with the Han River view.
He arrived at the office, riding slowly against the cool breeze.
“Good morning.”
“Yeah. Good morning, Assistant Manager Kim.”
He worked through the morning, then had lunch with his colleagues at a nearby restaurant, eating spicy stir-fried pork over rice and a stew in an earthenware pot.
It was a day with no outside appointments, so he was working the afternoon as usual when...
Team Leader An's hand urgently tapped his shoulder.
“Can we talk for a minute?”
“Yes, Team Leader.”
He stood up from his desk.
It wasn't just Team Leader An; several other employees were also looking at him.
The situation felt like déjà vu, reminding him of yesterday when the coin had soared.
As soon as he followed Team Leader An and the others to the rooftop, Kim Sang-gi spoke, full of excitement.
“Kim Shin. You haven't sold your Ripple yet, right? Please tell me you haven't.”
“I haven't. Why?”
“It's insane. It went up another 60% today. This is huge. Ripple has gone completely crazy!”
His disappointment from last night, after confirming the 100-won drop, seemed pointless now. Ripple had skyrocketed since the morning.
“Really?”
“Yeah. It was quiet until this morning. I listened to you and held on. But it shot up a whopping 60%. It's seriously insane. Completely.”
“I listened to you and bought Ripple last night with my emergency fund. Bwahahaha.”
With the coin's price rising, a festive mood spread among his colleagues.
‘I never thought Ripple would do this.’
He thought that even if it rose, Ethereum's gains would be larger.
Wasn't Ripple originally created to make inter-bank transactions faster and with lower fees?
It wasn't mined; 100 billion coins were issued from the start.
Given its nature, the price shouldn't fluctuate so wildly. This just showed how much greed was sweeping through the crypto market.
‘There's no need for a clear reason or logic. It's just going up.’
In any case, it felt good that the people around him were making money.
Although the best part was that his own assets had increased.
‘It's hard to calculate exactly how much. What's 60%? Is it around 50 million dollars?’
If so, his total assets had surpassed 200 million dollars.
100 million dollars was a lot of money, but 200 million felt different.
100 million had the image of something that would dwindle, albeit slowly, if you spent it, but 200 million felt much more comfortable.
Kim Sang-gi asked.
“Ripple is up 60%. Are you going to sell now?”
Crypto wasn't predictable like stocks, and he was using only people's greed as his criterion for judgment.
Perhaps looking only at greed, above all other factors, was the right way to go.
When there was money to be made.
When everyone flocks to make money, things like government regulations don't have much of an effect.
The real estate market, which had soared despite strong regulations, was a prime example.
Even if it had a long-term impact, in the short term, there was no stronger motivation than greed.
“Let me think for a moment.”
He stood on the rooftop of the office building and looked out at the forest of skyscrapers in Seoul.
Countless expensive buildings.
He used to wonder who owned them and feel envious, but now, couldn't he make buildings like those his own?
A capitalist society.
A world built by countless people living diligently to earn money.
‘It has risen a lot. I could sell now, but... isn't a two-day surge a sign of something to come?’
A subtle feeling lingered.
Even if his prediction was wrong and it dropped again, it wouldn't fall as much as it had risen in the past two days.
He felt that he had grown.
He didn't feel anxious or impatient as he made his decision.
“I'm going to hold for a few more days and see.”
“Really? Aren't you getting too greedy?”
“Everyone is being greedy. So I'm going to wait just a little longer.”
* * *
The rumor that Kim Shin had struck it rich with crypto spread quickly throughout the company.
While the prevailing rumor was that he'd made 2 billion won, a new one began to circulate.
“I heard his assets doubled just yesterday and today.”
“Really? How is that possible?”
“Crypto. I heard it went up a ton.”
“But it might not be the coin Assistant Manager Kim bought.”
“They say he recommended the coin he bought to the team leaders. And that one doubled.”
“If it doubled just yesterday and today, he could have over 4 billion won now.”
“Yeah. Assistant Manager Kim totally hit the jackpot.”
The talk spread among the female employees, not on the rooftop, but in the office and break room.
“You know, Assistant Manager Kim seems like a pretty decent guy.”
“Huh?”
“He's good husband material. He's rich, and he's young.”
“But he's a divorcé.”
“So what if he's divorced? And since he's been through it once, it means even someone like me has a shot.”
“Rich at thirty. He really is a great catch.”
“Yeah. He's amazing.”
* * *
Han Chae-won ground her teeth as she heard the rumors about Kim Shin.
It's one thing to be jealous when a cousin strikes it rich, but she couldn't believe her ex-husband had made a fortune.
‘He was practically a beggar when we were married. I hope he goes bankrupt. I hope he fails and disappears from my life completely!’
Her hatred and anger toward Kim Shin mounted.
She felt wronged, her anger flared, and then a thought suddenly occurred to her.
‘Should I just get back together with him?’
A significant reason for their divorce had been his financial situation.
It hadn't been long since they'd finalized the divorce.
If Kim Shin had 4 billion won, she felt she could treat him much better and they could build a good family.
* * *
Lee Jong-yeop was visiting ophthalmology clinics with Jo Soo-ah near Gangnam Station.
Gangnam Station was an area where many eye clinics were clustered.
“Damn, she's pretty.”
“Is she a model? An actress? Wow.”
When he walked around with Jo Soo-ah, people's eyes were drawn to them.
“Soo-ah.”
“Yes? Oh, yes.”
Lately, Jo Soo-ah often seemed lost in thought, her mind apparently preoccupied.
“Want to grab a cup of coffee?”
“I'm okay.”
“I wanted to talk about Assistant Manager Kim.”
“Oh. Then let's have some coffee.”
No matter how you looked at it, it was a clear green light.
Lee Jong-yeop and Jo Soo-ah entered a nearly empty café.
“Two iced Americanos, please.”
They ordered their coffee and sat down in a quiet spot.
Lee Jong-yeop subtly brought up the topic.
“Soo-ah, what do you think of Assistant Manager Kim?”
“Well…”
“I know there are rumors about him being divorced, or about him hitting Chae-won.”
“Those rumors are all lies.”
Lee Jong-yeop grinned.
It seemed he could get straight to the point without beating around the bush.
“Jo Soo-ah. I'll just be blunt. You don't have much dating experience, do you? It seems like you like Assistant Manager Kim, but you don't express it.”
“Me? Like Assistant Manager Kim?”
“I'm trying to help, so you don't have to pretend.”
“...”
“Think of me as your counselor. You can listen and decide for yourself if I'm right or wrong. I bet you had a lot of guys hitting on you since middle and high school. But you probably didn't date much. Am I right?”
“That's true.”
Lee Jong-yeop took a sip of his coffee.
He preferred sweet coffee, but he hadn't added any syrup, so it was a bit bitter.
“Most guys probably liked you. You're very pretty, and once they get to know you, your personality is great too. It's only natural you'd be popular with men. So if you wanted to date or if there was someone you liked, you could just wait. Because you could get anything you wanted just by waiting. But that won't work with Assistant Manager Kim.”
“Why do you think so?”
“Because I know him well. He's not the type of person to easily confess his feelings, even if he likes someone.”
She was used to waiting, but the person she wanted wasn't making a move.
“I don't just wait around all the time. In Busan, I was very brave…”
Jo Soo-ah rambled on about what happened in Busan.
How she introduced him to her parents as her boyfriend, and how they ate grilled eel in Haeundae.
It was a place near her home that she had visited with her parents, but after hearing that guys liked it, she had resolved to bring her boyfriend there one day.
“You were very brave in Busan.”
“Yes. I was.”
“It would have been great if you had shown that courage a year ago.”
“...”
“I'm not blaming you. But working with Assistant Manager Kim, I saw how much stress and pain he was in for that year of his marriage. It was hard to watch from the sidelines.”
Lee Jong-yeop decided it was time to deliver his conclusion.
“Go to Assistant Manager Kim. And be the first one to tell him you like him.”