The Priority Seat
At that moment, I turned my head and looked at the seat ahead.
Anyone could see it was a priority seat for the elderly.
Yet sitting there perfectly at ease was a woman who looked to be in her late twenties. Earphones in, legs crossed, she was watching a video on her smartphone and giggling away.
I glanced around. There were quite a few people, and no empty seats. The priority seats on the opposite side already had elders sitting in them.
The woman right in front of me was still bouncing her crossed leg and laughing.
I fell silent for a moment, thinking.
Should I just leave this alone?
It was none of my business.
But watching the grandmother standing anxiously beside me only made me more irritated and angry. Everyone around was buried in their smartphones; not a single person paid her any attention.
The world really is cold.
In the end, I decided to step in myself.
“Excuse me.”
I stood in front of her and called out, but with the earphones in her ears she clearly couldn’t hear. I had no choice but to wave my hand back and forth in front of the smartphone she was staring at.
The woman frowned, then lifted her head and glared at me. I pointed to my own ear, gesturing for her to take the earphones out. She yanked them off irritably.
“This is a priority seat for the elderly. The grandmother almost fell just now. Could you please give up your seat?”
She glanced around once, then spat the words out in an annoyed tone.
“Ah, I’m tired. And something hurts, too.”
“Where does it hurt?”
“Yeah. My leg.”
She pointed at the leg she still had crossed. It was an obvious lie to anyone looking.
“Listen. Put yourself in her place. Would you want your grandmother standing like this?”
“That’s hilarious. My grandmother’s dead, you know? There’s no place to put myself in. Mind your own business.”
She snapped back, bold and loud. To talk about her own grandmother’s death like that…
The grandmother tapped my hand, shaking her head and saying she was fine, but anyone could see she was barely managing to stay on her feet.
I decided I no longer needed to hold back. If she was going to come at me like that, I’d give it right back.
“You’re Korean, right? Can’t you read the writing right next to you? It clearly says ‘Priority Seat for the Elderly.’ Don’t you know Hangul? Are you Chinese?”
“What did you just say? Are you kidding me right now!?”
The woman flared up and shot to her feet. Instantly the surrounding gazes locked onto her. People who would normally have looked the other way were now lifting their heads one by one to stare.
I added one more line, calm and even.
“Then that makes it even more shameful. An elderly person was swaying on her feet, and instead of yielding you didn’t so much as blink while watching videos with your legs crossed.”
She opened her mouth to retort, then flinched at the voice of a middle-aged woman behind her.
“Young lady, why are you living like that at your age? You ought to know shame.”
“That’s right. It’s too much, honestly.”
“Can’t even give up one seat for an elder and you’re acting so righteous?”
A few passengers chimed in from various places. Her face flushed red with embarrassment. She must have felt the stinging stares as she looked around.
“Ah, fine! I’ll give it up then!”
She spat the words in an irritated voice, snatched up her bag, and strode off into the next car.
“Please sit.”
I bowed my head and helped the grandmother into the seat.
“No, I’m fine, really……”
“Yes. You’re fine, so please sit.”
“Thank you, young man.”
Even after she sat, the grandmother kept expressing her gratitude over and over.
And just like that, the little incident ended anticlimactically.
It might seem like nothing, but if you pass by situations like this without saying a word, society as a whole grows more and more numb. And that numbness eventually comes back around to us.
The subway kept rolling, and there was nothing left to make anyone frown.
I spent most of the afternoon at the bookstore.
Today I mainly browsed science books, and they certainly took far longer to understand than books in other fields. My foundational science knowledge was so shallow that I had to rebuild the basic concepts from the ground up, one by one.
Yet strangely, my concentration held. The new concepts pouring into my head didn’t simply wash past; they felt like they were interlocking and organizing themselves.
The efficiency of learning has definitely improved.
In the past my head would have started throbbing halfway through, or I would have lost focus and reached for my phone. Now it was progressing smoothly, almost like a computer.
Of course I was still human, so time was limited. As evening approached and hunger set in, I bought more than twenty books and asked the bookstore owner to ship them for me.
“Science this time?”
The owner asked as he scanned the titles. After all the wildly different fields I’d bought from before, he was nonchalant by now.
“Ah, yes. I suddenly got interested. Please pack them carefully and send them.”
“Of course. Don’t worry.”
“Then.”
I gave a small smile and said goodbye.
On the subway ride home I selected the coin positions I would invest in today. After a light dinner outside, I returned to the house.
I greeted Junseok briefly, handed him the coin picks, then carried the books that had arrived by quick delivery into my room. Late into the night I read or searched online, steadily stacking up scientific knowledge.
And then I began absorbing the flood of specialized information like a sponge. How to put it? It felt as if a hard drive had been added inside my skull. Information didn’t stop at mere memorization; it automatically linked, analyzed, and organized itself.
It feels even faster than before.
No study I had ever done had been absorbed so quickly or so effectively. Basic terminology across every field, even the complex algorithm interpretations used in recent papers—none of it gave me any trouble. As I packed natural science, formal science, social science, and applied science into my head, I even felt a tingling thrill in my brain.
It was exhilaration, maybe. If I could really keep studying at this pace, I even wondered whether I could finish an entire domestic graduate curriculum on my own within a year.
But that thought lasted only a moment.
Ping—
Huh?
A ringing filled my ears and my vision swayed slightly. The hand that had been about to turn the page trembled. Strangely, the area around my right eye began to throb.
And then.
……Blood?
Something warm trickled from the tip of my nose. When I wiped it with the back of my hand, bright crimson stained the skin.
A nosebleed.
Damn. Overload?
I immediately set the book down, pressed tissue to my nose, closed my eyes, and slowly regulated my breathing. This volume of learning and concentration was far beyond what an ordinary brain could endure. Of course mine wasn’t ordinary—but the body still needed time to adapt.
I guess exercise really is necessary.
“Whew. That’s enough for today.”
Once the bleeding stopped, I quietly shut down the computer and washed my face. Then I cracked the window open and drew in the cold night air. Outside was strangely silent.
Let’s rest properly today.
I told myself that, turned off the light, and lay down on the bed. Feeling the quiet heat and tension still lingering in one corner of my chest, I stared up at the dark ceiling.
But that, too, lasted only a moment. The instant my head touched the pillow, my brain seemed to declare rest on its own and dropped swiftly into sleep.
The next morning. Sunday.
“Mmm……”
When I opened my eyes, the sun was already high. Checking the time, it was 9:30 a.m. A truly peaceful morning. The headache from the night before had vanished completely.
Out of habit I checked the coins.
Holdings: 560 million.
Ten million had been added overnight. Looking at the transaction times, every trade had been closed late the previous night. A quick glance at the charts showed the waves had gone completely wild afterward.
Did he see it coming and pull out early? Ryu Junseok, you bastard. Your skills keep getting better.
Just then I heard movement from the living room. A faint smell of food told me Beomjin was preparing a meal. When I stepped out, my younger brother was indeed getting lunch ready.
“Day off today?”
“Ah, yeah. Did you sleep late last night? Just waking up now?”
“Something like that.”
I answered as I perched on a chair at the kitchen table.
“What were you doing?”
“Just reading some science books.”
I poured water from the bottle and drank.
“Science? All of a sudden?”
“Yeah, like a hobby, I guess.”
My brother made a face as if the idea were completely random, stopped chopping, and looked at me.
“It’s really something. Suddenly making money with stocks and coins, and now science on top of it? Hyung, are you hiding something from me?”
“Nothing hidden. I just discovered a talent I never knew I had.”
“Sure you did.”
When I answered with a shameless expression, he shook his head. I watched for the right moment and asked casually.
“By the way, where are you working these days?”
“Why the sudden question?”
“Just curious. Almost a month’s gone by and you never said a word.”
He was quiet for a beat, then answered with an awkward smile.
“Just a small restaurant. Building experience.”
“Is it hard?”
“Is there any job in the world that isn’t?”
He kept the conversation steady and composed. Admirable, but there was no need to put on that front even with family.
“If it’s too much to handle, quit. I can help you.”
“It’s fine. This is the kind of work where experience matters more than money.”
He spoke firmly. That was enough for today. As he said, some things money couldn’t solve. Helping him after he’d built enough experience and skill wouldn’t be too late.
“Anyway. If you need help, say so right away.”
I nodded as I spoke, and he smiled back.
“Thanks for saying that, at least.”
Once the conversation ended, the table was set in no time. Grilled mackerel and zucchini soybean-paste stew. The cozy smell of home already had my mouth watering.
“Should I wake Junseok hyung?”
“Leave him. If he’s hungry he’ll come down and eat on his own.”
I quickly picked up my spoon and took a bite of the stew. Not too salty—rich and deep.
“You used to tell me to look after him carefully.”
“Yeah, look after him carefully. If he wants it himself, that is.”
There was no need to force things anymore. Junseok’s condition was clearly improving, and pushing too hard could backfire. Leaving it to his own will was the wiser choice now.
Come to think of it, with the money I’d made, maybe I should just pay off Junseok’s debt. The market hadn’t been great lately anyway, so I wasn’t rolling the entire seed money.
It was a hundred million, wasn’t it?
Right then, faint footsteps came from the stairs leading down from the second floor.
“Can’t even live like a noble.”
Well, the smell of mackerel and stew would have reached the second floor. After starving all night, holding out any longer must have been impossible.
“I’m hungry…… Beomjin. My food too……”
Junseok came down the stairs clutching his stomach.
“Come sit down quick, hyung.”
Beomjin beamed and scooped rice from the electric cooker.