Chapter 6: Billionaire
Chapter 6: Billionaire
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‘To think my assets are worth 50 billion.’
I was captivated by the sheer fun of watching the numbers on the monitor.
Even when I closed my eyes and pulled the covers over me, sleep wouldn't come.
‘Sigh. I didn't get any sleep after all.’
I was worried about getting through the workday after being up all night, but a warm cup of coffee sharpened my senses.
I had never before considered what it would feel like to have 50 billion won.
I'd lived my whole life never imagining something like this would happen.
The feeling of being liberated from the weight of money that had crushed me my entire life.
If I'm hungry, I eat. If I need something, I buy it.
How wonderful it was not to have to worry about the monthly rent.
I rode my bike to work.
I was tired from staying up all night, but my mood was excellent.
"Good morning."
"Assistant Manager Kim. You're coming in?"
"Yeah. You're in early too, Soo-ah."
I'd come in earlier than usual since I'd been up all night, and I ran into Jo Soo-ah in the parking garage.
I was there to park my bicycle, she was there to park her luxury car.
In the past, my deep-seated poverty mindset and inferiority complex might have made me shrink away.
But now, I confidently parked my 230,000-won entry-level bike. Still, I meticulously fastened the lock, connecting the wheel and the frame.
Even with 50 billion in assets, a well-used, cherished possession is still precious.
"I had some business in Myeong-dong this morning. I'll be back at the office this afternoon."
"Ah, I see. You must be tired after driving all the way to Busan and back. How are your parents?"
"They're delighted. Now that I've introduced them to my boyfriend, they're treating me like I'm about to get married off any day now."
I made my way up to the office, sharing some light conversation with Jo Soo-ah.
"Well, I'll see you later."
"Yeah. Take care."
One of the benefits of office life was that while I was working, I could momentarily forget about crypto.
The inertia from years of hard work remained, and talking on the phone with hospital nurses and doctors kept my mind off of coins.
At home, it was exhausting to constantly watch the coin prices rise and fall.
"Yes. Yes. We'll send someone from our side. Right away. We'll take care of it today."
To be honest, the content of my work hadn't changed much from when I was a new employee.
In the morning, my colleagues gathered on the rooftop.
"I followed Team Leader An and put 3 million into EOS last night. It was up 4% this morning. Isn't that ridiculous?"
"Analysis of asset value? You don't need any of that. You just have to get in fast. It's a total money-making machine."
"Making money is so easy. If only I'd started crypto a little earlier."
"If I'd started at the beginning of the year, I would've quit my job by now."
Following Team Leader An's lead, my colleagues had started investing in crypto.
It wasn't just our company; the crypto craze was spreading rapidly among office workers.
With endless articles about crypto on TV and in the news, it would be hard for anyone to just sit still.
"Sang-gi. How much did you put in?"
"I scraped together my emergency funds and maxed out my overdraft account to put in 50 million."
At Kim Sang-gi's words, everyone sipping their coffee or drinks looked stunned.
For an office worker, it was an enormous sum. An amount that required incredible resolve.
Team Leader An shook his head back and forth.
"You've got some nerve. You put in more than your annual salary? What are you going to do if you lose it all at once?"
"When an opportunity comes, you have to seize it, don't you think?"
"You always say investing is all about the trend, and you've certainly lived up to it."
"That's right. You have to ride the upward trend. No matter how blue-chip a stock is, if it's not moving, it's not moving. The investment game is all about riding the ones that are going up, even if they're junk stocks, isn't it?"
Kim Sang-gi continued, a confident look on his face.
"If it were just our country, it could crash at any moment. Korea has a lot of rich people, but if you exclude real estate, the amount invested in financial products isn't that large. But the Bitcoin craze is a global phenomenon."
"I did hear that people in the US and China are buying a lot."
"Yes. That's exactly it. The Americans, the Chinese. How many rich people do they have? All over the world, people are rushing in to grab this easy money. So for the time being, it's going to keep breaking through the ceiling."
"I put in 7 million won, and it's already at 9 million. Should I have put in more?"
"You should. I'm going to borrow from my sister and put in another 20 million."
"Really?"
"Investing is all about the trend. You have to row when the tide comes in. Let's go!"
"We have to! Let's goooooo!"
They all looked as if they had already struck gold.
Meanwhile, I, who had bought in at less than two dollars, was agonizing every minute over whether to sell because of how much it had risen.
‘Should I sell?’
‘If I just wait for it to go up a little more...’
‘Even if I sell now, it's 50 billion.’
‘Wait. It's going to go up more.’
‘I need to secure the cash.’
‘Leave it. You might regret this moment, you know?’
I have no idea how much I agonized all night, feeling both ecstatic and anxious.
Kim Sang-gi, noticing my silence, asked me.
"Shin. You're not doing crypto?"
"Hey, leave Shin alone. He's the cautious type when it comes to investing."
My image among my colleagues was beyond that of a mere miser or cheapskate.
I'd happened to share a bit about my past, and I suppose it was because I grew up in poverty far beyond what they could imagine.
They would naturally assume I wouldn't invest in something like this. For some reason, I wanted to shatter that expectation.
"I'm in it too."
"Really? How much do you have in?"
"It's probably around 520 right now."
It was the truth. I just hadn't added the word "billion" at the end.
My colleagues were stunned by my answer.
"Whoa. Assistant Manager Kim is doing crypto too?"
"You were so quiet about it. You don't miss an opportunity to make money, huh?"
"You put in a decent amount. Even if it goes up, wait it out. The real bull run hasn't even started yet."
My colleagues offered their unsolicited advice.
During lunch, even in the restaurant crowded with office workers, the topic of conversation was Bitcoin.
As I ate, I could hear people at other tables talking about crypto.
"I heard Hyun-sung made 3 million off Bitcoin."
"Really? What was his principal?"
"3 million. He doubled his money."
"He doubled it?"
There are many people who've made money with Bitcoin.
But no one was seriously discussing what Bitcoin is or what it can do.
Buyers kept pouring in, driven by the belief that if they bought now, they could sell for a higher price later.
‘What's going to happen now?’
I closed my eyes and thought quietly.
Ordinary people. It seemed even those who used to call crypto investing a fool's game had started to invest.
Greed was dominating the market.
* * *
< Bitcoin Surpasses $12,000 >
< Cryptocurrency Prices Soar Endlessly >
< Bitcoin Speculation Frenzy Sweeps the Globe >
< Caution Advised for Cryptocurrency Investments >
Bitcoin broke the $10,000 barrier, and in just two days, it had risen another $2,000.
‘This is literally a money printer.’
I don't know if cryptocurrency is speculation or a legitimate valuation of an asset class.
How many people can accurately predict what the future will hold?
But one thing was certain: no investment asset goes up forever.
‘A bubble is forming. And it will definitely pop at some point. The question is, when?’
In the stock market, there's a saying: "Buy at the knees, sell at the shoulders."
The problem is, no one knows where the knees or the shoulders are.
‘Let's just wait a little longer.’
< Virtual Currency Craze, Including Bitcoin >
< Newsweek: Bitcoin Is Not a Bubble. The Growth Starts Now >
< Bitcoin Breaks $13,000 in the Morning >
< The 21st Century Gold Rush: The Bitcoin Miners >
$13,000.
About 15 million in Korean won.
It felt like just the day before yesterday, and that was no joke, that it had passed $10,000.
Another day passed.
< Mass Emergence of Bitcoin Billionaires >
< Rapid Increase in Stores Accepting Bitcoin for 'Furniture, Computers' >
< Surge in Middle School, High School, and University Students Investing in Bitcoin >
< Young People Invest in Bitcoin to 'Rise From Rags to Riches' >
< The Future of Cryptocurrency: 'Reserve Currency vs. Speculative Bubble' >
< Bitcoin Jumps to $15,000 >
It had risen another $2,000.
It was a reality that felt like a lie.
‘How can my net worth increase by 10 billion won overnight while I sleep?’
The media was churning out articles nonstop, and everyone around me was talking about the money they'd made.
No wonder everyone was going crazy.
‘It's fine to be seized by greed. But you have to know how to overcome that greed.’
I decided not to crumble under my own avarice.
‘For now, the future of crypto is just an unrealized rosy illusion. Technologically, it can't even replace currency. It's just a swarm of people driven by greed, trying to make a quick buck.’
How many people were truly investing with a clear vision of crypto's future?
Wasn't the vast majority, like myself, just in it to make money?
My father, who drove a kindergarten bus to the casino, taking his young son with him.
The father who only ever talked about how he was going to win big today.
He never did anything good for his child his whole life, but he'd say that when he won, he'd buy me new clothes, a new bag, and delicious food.
If he had spent just 10% of the money he took to the casino on his child, he might have been a decent father.
In the end, the image of my father driving back to Seoul after losing everything, even the money for our meal, at the casino came to mind.
‘Everyone is only thinking about how they're going to make money.’
My colleagues were bragging about making a few million, all while regretting not investing more.
That's why I thought the price would keep rising as funds continuously flowed in, but...
‘Just as Sang-gi said, it's not only Korea investing. It's an asset that other countries are investing in too. And in some of those countries, the government has already started implementing regulations.’
There aren't many countries as greedy for money and as quick to change as Korea.
If there are reasons for crypto to go up, there are also reasons for it to go down.
< Bitcoin Hits the 20 Million Won Era >
< Unstoppable Bitcoin Rally, Altcoins Surge as Well >
< Bitcoin Value Skyrockets, $19,000 >
< Bitcoin Surpasses Gold as a Store of Value >
< Bitcoin Up 11%, Positive Outlooks Abound >
The moment Bitcoin hit $19,000, I agonized one last time.
‘I think it's going to go up more.’
‘Sell. The amount it's risen so far is enough to live on for the rest of my life.’
‘What's wrong with having more money? Just wait patiently.’
‘Remember what Kim Sang-gi said. He said to follow the upward trend. I was on that trend. Why am I trying to get off?’
‘Don't be greedy.’
‘There's a time and place to be greedy.’
If this were stocks, I could at least invest based on company value, sector, or financial statements.
But who knows how the price of a coin will change in the future?
An era might come when $19,000 for a Bitcoin feels cheap.
‘Sell.’
Despite everything, I made the decision to overcome my greed.
Bitcoin might rise even more in the future, but I would take my profits here and sell.
And then...
- Balance: $102,937,171
As the price of Bitcoin surpassed $19,161, my assets broke through one hundred million dollars.