Chapter 20: A Home in America
Chapter 20: A Home in America
The greatest physicist, Albert Einstein, also lost his Nobel Prize money on stocks.
[I can calculate the motion of heavenly bodies, but not the madness of people.]
A famous quote left by Newton.
Why is it that financial experts and economists who study so hard can't make money?
What's the point of economists droning on in media interviews that the value of crypto is garbage?
If you show them the thrill of Ripple, which was climbing tenfold in a month, wouldn't they toss aside their economics textbooks and jump into investing?
As I studied stocks, I learned not to trust my intellect.
‘Money isn't about theory. It might be better understood through the lens of greed.’
The basic common sense about stocks.
Learning about companies is necessary.
But to make money, I believed that understanding the fundamental greed, fear, and madness of human beings was more important than anything else.
- Ripple is tanking so hard, shaking.
- Ripple broke through the 28th floor.
- I’m getting into Ripple now.
- Currently on the 42nd floor of Ripple, shaking;;
- Bithumb about to break 2300.
- I live on the 45th floor, why is it so noisy down there? T_T
Countless desires converge on crypto.
An surge that defied all expectations.
Once it changed direction and began to plummet, it was falling just as rapidly as it had risen.
‘It feels like just yesterday I was making tens of millions of dollars every time Ripple went up by 100 or 200 won.’
With each passing day, the price of Ripple fell.
‘If I had held on, I would have lost nearly half my assets.’
It almost felt like I had made money.
My assets hadn't actually increased, but just avoiding that colossal risk was a relief in itself.
Just as Ripple's surge had been unpredictable, the speed and scale of its decline were difficult to fathom.
- Na Sang-guk: Not yet. It’s only down by half. Let’s keep our spirits up. Hwaiting!
- Park Hwa-young: Assistant Manager Na, I trusted you. I lost 20 million won in a week.
- Na Sang-guk: It went up 10x last month, right? Even if it's halved, you have to hold on. That's how you make money when it goes back up.
- Lee Eun-young: So when is it going to go back up?
- Na Sang-guk: It’s dropped a lot, but this is a good sign. It means it has nowhere to go but up from here.
- Go Bo-kyung: I heard Assistant Manager Kim sold everything? He was the one who invested smartly!
- Park Hwa-young: Assistant Manager Kim bought low and sold high. That’s how we should have invested. We just foolishly trusted Assistant Manager Na. I’m never touching crypto again. What am I going to do about my wedding funds? Seriously!
- Lee Min-young: Assistant Manager Kim. When are you coming back?
The number of people in the group chat had dwindled to 34.
It seemed a few employees had left.
And...
‘This has the feel of a human indicator.’
* * *
My San Francisco life, crashing at a friend's place.
On Oh Myeong-woo's recommendation, I signed up for a tour with a travel agency.
“Would it be okay if one more person joins you?”
“Hmm?”
“Layla’s younger sister. She’s visiting from New York. I wanted to show her around San Francisco, too.”
I thought Layla was from California, but it turned out she was born and raised in New York.
Her younger sister had graduated from SUNY with a degree in Economics and Finance and was currently job hunting.
“She’s 23 now?”
“Yeah. I saw a picture. She’s gorgeous.”
“How can a divorced man eight years older than her hang out with her? And did you tell Layla I’m divorced?”
Family is important, so if she knew I was divorced, wouldn't it make Layla, who commuted with him every morning and evening, uncomfortable?
I was worried about causing trouble for Oh Myeong-woo.
“I didn’t tell her. But what does it matter? You think a girl that pretty and smart would actually be interested in you?”
“Ah. True.”
I was instantly convinced.
We were even different races; there was a limit to how close you could get just by spending a day on a tour together.
“Hello. I’m Kim Shin.”
“My name is Ellie.”
She was a blonde beauty who resembled Layla.
A woman so pretty it was hard to look her straight in the face appeared, dressed in a white t-shirt and jeans.
“Have a good trip.”
“Yeah. Thanks.”
After Oh Myeong-woo and Layla left for work, Ellie and I drove to the travel agency.
It was my first time driving in downtown San Francisco, so I took several wrong turns.
“Do you have a job back in Korea?”
“Yes.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, what kind of company is it?”
“A pharmaceutical company.”
“Like Merck?”
“It’s in the ophthalmology sector. Vision correction, contact lenses. Cameras, glasses. We sell a variety of things.”
I answered Ellie’s questions nonchalantly from the driver's seat as I navigated the unfamiliar roads.
In downtown San Francisco, we boarded a Big Bus.
It was a tour course where you rode a double-decker bus, listened to the guide's explanations, and visited tourist spots one by one.
Chinatown, North Beach, the de Young Museum, the Golden Gate Bridge.
You could get off at any of the tourist spots to look around and then hop on the next Big Bus.
Woof! Woof!
Dogs and cats roamed the streets.
When I held out my hand, they would approach and lick it, the good-natured creatures.
“Do you like animals?”
“I do. Maybe even more than people.”
Ever since I was young, animals had a peculiar way of taking to me.
I think I was six.
It was a dangerous thing to do, looking back now, but I once reached out my hand to a large dog wandering the street.
Grrrr.
The dog would growl menacingly, but if I just watched it quietly, it would come over and lick my hand.
How is it that I connect better with animals?
Ellie was busy taking pictures with her phone.
“San Francisco is an interesting place. It’s pleasant.”
“Is this city a tourist destination even for people who live in America?”
“Don’t people in Korea visit other cities for tourism?”
“Ah.”
That made sense.
Koreans also visited tourist destinations like Busan or Gangneung a lot.
“What do you want to have for lunch?”
“I’d like to have Korean food.”
We ate bulgogi at a restaurant I found through a search.
We shared a few personal stories.
“When are you planning to go back to Korea?”
“I’m not sure. I was supposed to go back in a few days.”
It hadn't been long, but I was seeing and learning so much.
I had reconnected with an old friend, and I found myself wanting to stay in America a little longer.
“When are you going back to New York, Ellie?”
“Hmm. I don’t know either.”
“You don’t?”
“I need to find a job. It’s not that hard to get one. But I want to travel a bit before that.”
She was a beautiful woman who had graduated with honors from a prestigious university.
Her goal was to work for a Wall Street financial firm, and she said she had already secured several letters of recommendation from professors and famous figures.
“I see.”
Working on Wall Street meant she would be handling big-money business.
Everyone would want a job like that, myself included.
Except, I didn't need to get hired; doing it with my own money was enough.
* * *
Ten days had passed since I started staying at Oh Myeong-woo's place.
‘He’s given me too much.’
The help he’d gone out of his way to provide, even if the startup investment failed later on.
His connections, his influence, all the knowledge he possessed—he’d let me use it all. That was something only a true friend would do.
‘I should at least get him a better place.’
I went to a nearby real estate agency and looked at available apartments for sale in the same building.
“There’s a three-bedroom, two-bathroom unit. What do you think?”
“Sounds good.”
I toured a larger unit on a higher floor and signed the contract.
It would have been nice if there was a *jeonse* option, but that system didn't exist in the US, so I just chose to buy it.
It would be good for me, too, to have a comfortable place to stay whenever I was in the States.
The problem was convincing Oh Myeong-woo to move.
He was a conservative and particular guy when it came to these things.
‘He’ll probably get angry and say something like, ‘What’s this between friends?’’
He was the kind of friend who liked to give but hated to receive.
Especially when it came to money.
“Myeong-woo. There’s something I want to show you.”
So when I took him to the three-bedroom apartment on the 15th floor, Oh Myeong-woo's expression was extremely sour.
“I like my place. I earned it myself, and I have no intention of depending on you.”
“Yeah. I know.”
A semi-basement apartment.
Even when he lived in that shabby place, he hated being indebted to anyone and insisted on paying his half of the rent every month.
Persuading him would require a bit of skill.
“I think I’ll be coming to the US often from now on. If you want to go on dates with Layla while I’m staying here, wouldn’t it be better to have more rooms?”
“Hmm.”
Oh Myeong-woo thought for about three seconds in the living room, then shook his head.
“We can have dates outside. And while I’m trying, there’s no guarantee things will work out with Layla.”
Plan A had failed.
So, how about Plan B?
“Let’s turn one of the rooms into a gaming room.”
“Huh?”
“We can set up multiple computers in the room. And we can play games together in there anytime.”
Back in college, our only hobby was gaming.
We used to take turns playing on a single computer, and on our phones, we only played free games.
This plan was designed to evoke those memories.
“That sounds awesome.”
Oh Myeong-woo immediately decided to move.
* * *
We moved the boxes using the elevator and then went to a computer store to buy parts to build high-performance PCs.
Being in America, there was no Yongsan Electronics Market, but I planned to buy the parts and assemble the computers ourselves.
Oh Myeong-woo asked cautiously.
“Which graphics card should we get?”
“I hear the 1080 is pretty decent and good.”
“Really?”
A grin spread across Oh Myeong-woo's face, threatening to split it.
Such a smile, filled with pure happiness.
It gave off a strong geek vibe, but I was also of the opinion that computers should have high specs.
Even for web browsing, if a page loads 0.1 seconds faster, it feels incredibly smooth.
After getting rid of the old junker computer from the semi-basement and using a new one, the satisfaction was immense.
“I heard graphics cards have gotten really expensive because of crypto mining.”
“It’s fine. Just buy it.”
“What about the CPU?”
“What’s good?”
“Ryzen is out. It’s actually better than Intel in many ways.”
“Then let’s get the highest-tier Ryzen.”
We matched the CPU, motherboard, and graphics card, and included a 34-inch high-resolution monitor used by graphic designers, along with expensive speakers. We even set up an excellent sound system.
It cost a pretty penny, but… I had enough wealth to not even bat an eye at the expense.
“We need to buy furniture, too.”
“Yeah. Okay.”
After looking around the computer store, we headed to a furniture store.
We needed beds, chairs, and desks, and I planned to get a four-seater sofa for the living room.
Something I learned after getting married is that the comfort of a sofa is more important than anything else.
“Myeong-woo. What do you think of this sofa?”
“Hmm. Looks good.”
At the furniture store, Oh Myeong-woo suddenly looked bored.
He seemed only interested in the computers he was going to assemble back home.
We bought some decent furniture without much fuss, and next up was the electronics store.
“Let’s get a television, a cordless vacuum, an air purifier, a washing machine, and a refrigerator.”
“Okay.”
He showed a lot of interest in the television and the cordless vacuum, but for the air purifier, washing machine, and refrigerator, we just picked large-capacity models without much thought.