Chapter 17: American Dream
Chapter 17: American Dream
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Until we arrived at San Francisco International Airport.
A royal family.
It was a time to appreciate the greatness of a capable woman.
“Japan’s car culture is really diverse. The problem is that their auto companies have become conservative and stopped taking risks.”
“…”
“It was when I was driving a Mini in England. For the first time, I fell completely in love with the charm of a small car. The tight ride, the refreshing performance. The design was perfect, with nothing to add or take away.”
“…”
“American cars. You can’t let your guard down with them. Just twenty years ago, they were incomparable to us in terms of company size. They got caught up in making easy cars with high margins, which weakened their competitiveness. But I believe the technology they’ve accumulated could allow them to leap forward at any time. Have you driven the new Lincoln that just came out?”
“…”
“While attending college in California, I went car camping with friends in the Mojave Desert. In the quiet desert… we spent a night in the middle of a place that felt just like Mars.”
“…”
Jin Yoo-kyung talked nonstop.
Those from royal families have many experiences from a young age, learn a great deal.
And they are lonely.
Loneliness was a very familiar emotion to me. Listening to her story earnestly had led to this.
‘She really talks a lot.’
Just listening to her felt like I was gaining new experiences.
- In a few moments, our aircraft will be arriving at San Francisco International Airport. We ask all passengers to…
Hearing the plane’s announcement, I gathered my things.
She said she was heading to the hotel with her employees from business class.
She had business meetings with a few companies in San Francisco before leaving for a commercial shoot location.
“Mr. Kim Shin. I hope to see you again.”
“Yes. Good luck with your work.”
“Call me when you come to Korea.”
“I’ll be sure to contact you later.”
I felt like I had finally escaped.
* * *
I arrived at San Francisco International Airport.
Even though I had a comfortable flight in first class, I couldn’t help but feel intimidated seeing people of all races at the airport and going through immigration.
After all, I had a pauper’s mentality down to my bones and was secretly a bit of a coward.
I did like the cops and investigators in American dramas, though.
“What is the purpose of your visit to the United States?”
A large, white immigration officer asked in an indifferent tone.
“Tourism.”
“Your return flight is three weeks from now.”
“There’s a lot I want to see here and there, so I booked it with plenty of time.”
Many Korean tourists came through here.
There were no particularly tricky questions, so I was able to pass through immigration without any trouble.
“Kim Shin! Over here!”
“Myeong-woo. It’s been a while.”
As I passed through the arrivals gate, my friend Oh Myeong-woo greeted me warmly.
The friend I used to cook ramen with in a semi-basement apartment.
The friend I hadn’t seen in over a year, since my wedding, was now in a tracksuit and had gained enough weight to be around 90 kilograms.
“Why’d you get so fat?”
“Hey, a man’s gotta eat, right? Is this all your luggage?”
“Yeah. Just this carrier and my backpack.”
“Let’s go get something good to eat.”
“Did you make reservations at a restaurant?”
“Reservations? What are you talking about? You’re in America, you have to start with a hamburger. Heh heh.”
He still loves hamburgers.
We left in Oh Myeong-woo’s car, parked at the airport.
A Tesla Model 3 electric car.
Teslas had been released in Korea, but this was my first time actually riding in one.
The large monitor on the center console, the instantaneous acceleration that overwhelmed a sports car.
“Nice car.”
“Right? I’m really happy with it.”
I thought of Jin Yoo-kyung from Mirae Motors, whom I’d met on the plane.
‘Competition isn’t going to be easy for them.’
I’d done a quick search on the plane’s Wi-Fi, and Mirae Motors’ stock was quite cheap.
It had a lot of assets and consistently turned a profit, but there must be a reason its market cap was so low.
As an added bonus, my stomach churned when I confirmed that the price of Ripple had gone up.
‘How can it keep rising even after I sold?’
The mood in the group chat, too.
- Na Sang-guk: Ripple is pumping!!!!!
- Na Sang-guk: Let’s gooooo!
- Na Sang-guk: Everyone, just trust me.
- Kim Sang-gi: Push, push, push.
- Jeong Min-kyung: We trust you, Assistant Managers!
- Park So-jin: Push! Push!
The female employees were also joining in, talking about crypto.
If you looked away for just an hour, there would be over 300 new messages, making it impossible to read them all.
‘They must be happy with a 5% gain.’
I had sold my crypto, but investing was a personal decision, so I didn’t have any regrets.
It was a decision I had made after careful consideration, and I had made a tremendous profit.
‘There will always be opportunities. I just have to find them.’
Thanks to coming to America, I got to experience riding in a Tesla.
In Korea, Tesla had opened a store in Hanam Starfield last year, in 2017, and started sales.
They were still only selling the Model S, and last year’s sales were only around 300 units.
The orders were there, but production couldn’t keep up.
Since the American market was their priority, Teslas were still a rare sight in Korea.
Crypto, American stocks.
Or even other possibilities.
The more you know, the more options you have.
“Here we are.”
We arrived at the hamburger joint Oh Myeong-woo recommended as the most delicious in San Francisco.
I ordered and took a bite; the taste of the thick patty was alive and well.
“This is delicious. It’s a whole meal.”
“It’s killer, right? Your flight must have cost a lot. Don’t worry about money while you’re staying at my place.”
“You’re going to feed and house your friend just because I showed up?”
“Of course. I’ll take care of everything.”
They say your real friends are the ones you had when you were broke and poor.
He had come to my wedding, so he must have been curious about why I’d suddenly shown up in America, but he didn’t ask a single question.
In the ten years I’d known Oh Myeong-woo, we had only argued once.
Back when we were broke and living in the semi-basement, we went to the supermarket to buy ramen.
We got into an argument because I’d bought a brand that was 20 won more expensive than the other.
‘We were so serious about it back then. Looking back, we were both pretty pathetic.’
We were friends who knew each other’s embarrassing stories and pathetic moments from before we entered the working world.
They say men mature as they get older.
But meeting Oh Myeong-woo, who shared memories of our early twenties, made me feel young again, just like back then.
“Myeong-woo. Do you still like idols?”
“Of course. I don’t go to Korea often, but I never miss the music shows.”
“You had so many idol posters plastered all over that semi-basement.”
“They were the treasures of my college days. Phew. Brings back memories.”
As I was eating a hamburger and reminiscing with Oh Myeong-woo, a group of young men in jeans and T-shirts walked into the shop.
They looked like American college students.
“Khan!”
They saw Oh Myeong-woo and waved, smiling as they approached.
“Eating here again today, I see.”
“Hey, Chris. This is my best friend from Korea.”
“Nice to meet you. Any friend of Khan’s is a friend of mine.”
They ordered their hamburgers and sat at the table next to us.
“Khan. The dynamic control model you fixed up for us. It was absolutely perfect.”
“Haha. That’s because your design was solid to begin with.”
While eating his hamburger, Oh Myeong-woo explained who they were.
“They’re founders. I met Chris when I was working at Google, and what they’re developing now is autonomous driving.”
“Autonomous driving?”
“Yeah. Focused on trucks, not passenger cars. They started the company last year.”
A startup developing autonomous vehicles.
Was this what it was like in America, meeting startup people in a hamburger joint?
“Khan!”
“Helena. Welcome.”
This time, a group of women, ranging from their twenties to their forties, approached the table.
“This is my best friend from Korea.”
“Nice to meet you.”
“Helena runs a clothing startup in the US. Eco-friendly materials. Specifically, she makes clothes and shoes out of mushrooms.”
Oh Myeong-woo knew some incredible startup founders.
Just four or five years ago.
Before he came to the US for work, he wasn’t this much of a social butterfly.
‘Will he be able to make a living in America?’
My worries seemed misplaced; he had completely blended into American life.
He hadn’t even changed much from the Oh Myeong-woo of the past, yet it was novel to see how warmly people around him treated him.
Chris shrugged and said.
“Khan is a valuable talent that every startup wants.”
“Talent?”
“There are plenty of creative ideas in Silicon Valley. But ideas by themselves are useless. Khan has exceptional programming skills. He gets the work done quickly, and there are almost no bugs. A skilled person is valued everywhere.”
“Ahem. Well, I am that good.”
Oh Myeong-woo said he had struggled with the completely different culture when he first came to America.
The language, the food. The only thing he found palatable was hamburgers.
At work, he figured programming was his only path to survival, so he threw himself into it day and night. In the end, he had practically reached the max level in programming.
It was the result of a workaholic’s success story.
Silicon Valley, the cradle of advanced technology and venture startups.
‘He really worked hard. And most of these people Myeong-woo knows must be geniuses.’
An ex-Google employee.
Founders from Stanford University.
I never expected to experience this culture on my first day.
Just seeing this lively scene in person made the trip to America worthwhile.
* * *
Han Chae-won was furious that Kim Shin had ignored her messages, despite her sending several.
“How dare he read my text and not even reply?”
She was on the verge of exploding with anger.
At work, she heard the news that Kim Shin had invested in crypto, and rumors were spreading like wildfire that he had made an enormous amount of money.
“How much money did Assistant Manager Kim make?”
“We won’t know unless he says so himself. But from what the guys are saying, he could have made over ten billion won.”
“Ten billion won?”
“Yeah. He’s a true chaebol now.”
“I haven’t seen him around the office lately.”
“I heard he took a sabbatical. He probably made a ton of money and went traveling abroad.”
She ground her teeth as she overheard the female employees’ conversation in the restroom.
If Kim Shin had become that wealthy, she was willing to live as a devoted wife.
Designer bags, designer clothes, expensive cars.
She had seen the Ferrari Kim Shin drove in the parking lot; if they got back together, that car would be hers.
“I can be patient. Does he think I’ll give up over something like this?”
She sent a long text message.
- Han Chae-won: I heard you went on vacation. I’m happy for you that you made a lot of money. You worked hard, invested hard. You must have been busy, so you deserve a break. I’m a little hurt you’re not replying, but I think I was in the wrong, too. Contact me when you’re feeling better.
She sent the text, planning for the future. Then, she logged into the crypto exchange site.
- Estimated Assets: 130,378,153 Won
She had no savings or installment savings accounts.
The villa in Gangbuk they had gotten as their marital home had been bought with Kim Shin’s money.
She had sold the villa she received in the divorce and bought Ripple with the 100 million won.
‘I’ve already made 30 million won.’
She had made money, but she felt regretful and angry.
‘If only I had known about this sooner.’
If she had known first, she could have been the one with assets worth tens of billions.
‘This is no time to be standing around. Time is money.’
Han Chae-won met with her younger brother.
The same younger brother who had once cursed at and hit Kim Shin.
“So, you’re saying you want me to lend you 30 million won?”
“How many times do I have to tell you?”
“Where would I get that kind of money?”
“If you scrape everything together, you should have that much. I’ll just use it for two months and pay you back 50 million.”
“For real?”
“You’re so greedy. Don’t you trust your big sister?”
She took the money she borrowed from her younger brother, Han Sang-chae, and deposited it into the exchange as well.