3
# Chapter 3
The second hand of the old wall clock ticked rhythmically through the room.
More than two hours had already passed since Woojin closed his eyes.
There was no way he could fall asleep.
After tossing and turning from side to side, Woojin eventually sat up.
His throat was dry.
He walked to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. Taking out a bottle of water, he gulped it down. The cold water slid down his throat, cooling some of the heat inside him.
“Haa.”
In the pitch-black room, Woojin’s gaze once again turned toward the bed.
More precisely, toward the old wallet he had tossed onto the floor beside it.
Pension Lottery.
Even after closing his eyes and counting more than a hundred sheep, those four words continued floating around inside his head.
Rather than calming down, the excitement of winning first prize in the Lotto had made things worse.
That single piece of paper sleeping inside his wallet was driving him crazy.
“It’ll be a losing ticket anyway.”
Muttering to himself, Woojin tossed the empty water bottle into the sink.
He trudged over and picked up his wallet.
He pulled out the long Pension Lottery ticket he had tucked into the corner of the card compartment.
He had picked it up absentmindedly because he had some change left when he bought the Lotto ticket.
Woojin dropped into the chair in front of his desk again.
He turned on his smartphone and searched for this week’s Pension Lottery winning numbers on the portal site.
“Let’s see.”
This week’s winning numbers appeared on the screen.
[First Prize Winning Number: Group 4 1 2 5 7 8 9]
Woojin looked down at the lottery ticket in his hand.
The very top line.
[Group 4]
“Oh, the group matches.”
Woojin chuckled.
With the Pension Lottery, the group had to match in order to have a chance at first or second prize.
At least the beginning wasn’t bad.
Then came the six-digit number.
[1]
“1.”
[2]
“2. Huh?”
[5]
“5?”
Woojin’s voice gradually became quieter.
His fingertips began tingling.
His eyes moved faster and faster between the smartphone screen and the lottery ticket in his hand.
[7]
“7......”
[8]
“8......”
There was only one number left.
Woojin swallowed hard.
The final number was 9.
The number printed at the very end of his lottery ticket was also...
[9]
“......”
Woojin froze as though he had forgotten how to breathe.
It was an exact match.
Group 4, 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”
A breathless curse slipped from his mouth.
It was impossible to believe.
He traced each number with his finger one by one.
He rubbed his eyes again and again, wondering if he had mistaken a 6 for a 9.
Nothing changed.
First prize.
After winning first prize in the Lotto, he had now won first prize in the Pension Lottery as well.
Woojin placed the hand holding his smartphone on his thigh and trembled.
The shock was different from when he had discovered his Lotto first-prize win moments earlier.
“How much was the Pension Lottery first prize again?”
He hurriedly scrolled down.
A prize information table appeared.
[First Prize: 7 million won per month × 20 years]
He searched to find out how much he would actually receive after taxes.
After approximately 22 percent in taxes, 5.46 million won would be deposited into his account every month.
For a full twenty years.
Woojin’s mind began racing.
His current monthly salary was only around 2.5 million won after taxes.
If he received 5.46 million won every month, that was more than twice his current salary.
It meant that even without working, simply by breathing, more than five million won would enter his account every month.
“This...... feels completely different.”
The 1.4 billion won from winning first prize in the Lotto was an enormous lump sum.
But once you started spending a lump sum, there was always the anxiety that it would eventually run out.
Wasn’t it common to see news about people who won first prize in the Lotto making reckless investments or starting businesses and eventually losing everything?
But the Pension Lottery was different.
This was guaranteed money coming in every month.
“Wait. Then couldn’t I just leave the Lotto winnings untouched, live off the Pension Lottery every month, and use only the interest from the original money?”
The moment Woojin realized that, he got goosebumps.
5.46 million won every month.
It was more than enough to cover his rent, food, and utilities, with plenty left over.
And if he placed the 1.4 billion won into a safe deposit account, the interest coming in every month would be substantial as well.
It was complete financial freedom.
He had achieved a life where he no longer had to endure a job he hated just because he needed money.
Woojin covered his face with both hands.
His shoulders shook.
“Ha. Haha. This is fucking crazy.”
His laughter escaped into the quiet room.
And so, the night passed without him sleeping at all.
6:30 a.m.
The alarm on his smartphone rang noisily.
Woojin’s eyes flew open.
Normally, this was the time when he would curse loudly, turn off the alarm, and struggle to sleep for just five more minutes.
But today was different.
His body felt as light as a feather.
He turned off the alarm and walked into the bathroom humming to himself.
Throughout his warm shower, meaningless laughter kept escaping from him.
Had his face ever looked this peaceful when he looked in the mirror?
It wasn’t the face of Jung Woojin, a seventh-year assistant manager whose dark circles usually reached almost to his jaw and whose brow was permanently creased.
“So this is what financial therapy feels like.”
Woojin came out of the bathroom while drying his hair with a towel and pulled out his old suit.
Even the tie that normally felt like it was choking him seemed light today.
Before packing his bag, Woojin approached the desk.
He carefully opened the thick business administration textbook.
He checked with his own eyes that the Lotto ticket and Pension Lottery ticket, sealed side by side inside the zipper bag, were still safe.
Stay there. Big brother is going to make some money.
He closed the book and placed the other books on top of it again.
Until the two pieces of paper had safely gone through the prize-claiming process, he absolutely could not let anyone notice anything.
Woojin opened the front door and stepped outside.
Monday morning commute.
As always, the road toward the subway station was crowded with people and cars.
When he entered the station, the suffocating subway from hell was waiting for him.
Countless office workers squeezed into the train with expressionless faces while staring at their smartphones.
Normally, Woojin would have sweated and grown irritated in the middle of this crowd.
But today, his gaze was completely different.
Even when the backpack of the person beside him repeatedly bumped against him and someone stepped on his foot, he didn’t get angry.
These people are going to work today just to survive another day.
But I’m different.
He had a free-pass ticket that could get him out of this hell whenever he wanted.
That sense of freedom made Woojin’s heart as broad as the Pacific Ocean.
He even gave a small bow to the middle-aged woman who had stepped on his foot.
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s okay. Take your time.”
The woman actually looked at Woojin with an expression of confusion.
Company headquarters, first-floor lobby.
Woojin tapped his employee ID and took the elevator.
He arrived at the Sales Management Team on the seventh floor.
He checked the clock.
8:10 a.m.
He had come in earlier than usual to set up the meeting room as instructed by his team leader.
“Good morning.”
Woojin quietly greeted the empty office and immediately headed toward the large conference room.
He turned on the beam projector and checked the connection.
He displayed the purchase order organization file his team leader had dumped on him over the weekend on the desktop, printed enough copies of the meeting materials for everyone, and laid them out at each seat.
It took fifteen minutes to set up the water cups and coffee as well.
“I won’t be doing this for much longer.”
Woojin dropped into a chair in the conference room.
He crossed his legs while looking at the team leader’s seat at the head of the table.
Just imagining himself freely cursing out his team leader in his head made him laugh.
At 8:40 a.m., the team members began arriving one by one.
“Oh, Assistant Manager. You’re here early?”
It was his junior, Choi Minseok, who had spent the entire weekend whining through KakaoTalk.
Minseok approached Woojin’s desk with a grin, holding an iced Americano in one hand.
“Assistant Manager, thank you so much for taking care of my purchase orders over the weekend. Thanks to you, I got to have a great time with my girlfriend.”
Woojin glanced at the coffee in Minseok’s hand.
It annoyed him that Minseok had only bought one for himself.
Normally, Woojin would have swallowed a string of curses inside and responded like the pushover he was.
Sure. Make sure you take care of it yourself next time.
But today was different.
“If you had such a good time with your girlfriend, you should’ve brought me a coffee too.”
“Ah...... Well, I was in such a hurry on the way here that I just bought one for myself. I’m sorry. I’ll treat you to lunch later!”
The shameless answer came back.
Woojin chuckled.
“Fine, Minseok. You’d better pay for lunch. I’m going to eat something expensive.”
“Ah, yes! Of course.”
Minseok awkwardly returned to his seat.
A short while later, the heavy sound of dress shoes approached, and the team leader entered the office.
“Everyone’s here early.”
The team leader habitually cleared his throat and turned his head toward the conference room.
After seeing the neatly arranged table and the materials already displayed, he looked satisfied.
“Assistant Manager Jung.”
“Yes, Team Leader.”
Woojin stood and answered.
“Did you organize the file I mentioned yesterday?”
“Yes. I checked everything and put it up on the desktop.”
“Good. Nice work. We’ll start the morning meeting right away, so everyone come in.”
The team members streamed into the conference room.
The meeting was boring and painful.
It seemed the team leader had spent the entire weekend thinking up new assignments, because he poured out one after another.
Sales defense, client management, inventory clearance.
Every time he opened his mouth, another source of stress came flying out.
“Assistant Manager Jung, I want you to visit every client in Area B this week and somehow increase the order volume, even if you have to force it. Got it?”
The team leader’s arrow landed squarely on Woojin.
Area B was filled with the problematic clients everyone else avoided.
It was a place where you had to go, endure all kinds of abuse, and beg them before they would reluctantly give you any orders.
“Yes, understood. I’ll go.”
Woojin answered calmly.
The team leader seemed almost less interested after Woojin obediently nodded.
Normally, Woojin should have looked somewhat upset or sighed.
But today, his face was strangely peaceful.
“Good. Do it properly. Don’t leave anything out like last time.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
After the meeting ended, Woojin returned to his desk and rested his chin on his hand while staring at the monitor.
The list of clients was displayed on the screen.
What if he went there and took some abuse?
It didn’t matter.
He wasn’t going to spend the rest of his life at this company anyway.
As soon as he confirmed that 1.4 billion won and more than five million won a month were actually entering his account, he would throw down his resignation immediately.
First, I should look into the claiming process.
Woojin glanced around.
Everyone was busy with their own work, staring only at their monitors.
Woojin opened a new window and carefully typed into the search bar.
[Lotto first prize claiming procedure]
He pressed Enter, and information immediately poured onto the screen.
He had to visit the NongHyup main branch banking division.
He needed to bring his identification and the winning lottery ticket.
It was better to use public transportation, and so on.
I should look up how to claim the Pension Lottery too.
[Pension Lottery first prize claiming]
For this one, he had to go to the Donghaeng Lottery headquarters.
Both prizes could only be claimed on weekdays.
Then I’ll have to take a day off and go to both places.
Woojin flipped through the desk calendar.
He calculated when he could take his annual leave at the earliest.
It seemed he could make an excuse and take Wednesday off this week.
“Assistant Manager Jung!”
Suddenly, his team leader’s deep voice came from behind him.
Woojin reflexively minimized the search window and brought up the Excel window.
“Yes, Team Leader.”
“A notice just came down from headquarters. They’re doing an inventory inspection at the warehouse this afternoon. Go down there and help them out.”
“An inventory inspection at the warehouse?”
“Yeah. Minseok is going to a client meeting with me this afternoon, so you go down and help the warehouse manager.”
A warehouse inventory inspection.
It was exhausting work that required moving heavy boxes around in a dusty warehouse while matching the quantities.
Naturally, it was something nobody wanted to do.
Minseok was hiding behind his monitor and letting out a sigh of relief.
Woojin snorted inwardly.
“Yes, I’ll go.”
At his obedient response, the team leader nodded and returned to his desk.
Woojin took a pair of work gloves out of his desk drawer.
So what if he breathed in a little dust and moved a few boxes?
Fourteen hundred million won would soon be entering his bank account.
For the rest of his life, he would never have to bow down to anyone because of money.
He grabbed the gloves and stood up.
His steps toward the warehouse felt as light as though he were going out for a stroll.
Just wait. I’m going on Wednesday.
Woojin pressed the elevator button and casually rolled his neck.
The exhaustion and stress that had weighed him down all weekend had already disappeared as if they had never existed.
“I should pick out the lunch menu in advance. Something really expensive.”
With that light mutter, Woojin opened the door leading to the basement warehouse.
There was no hesitation in his steps as he entered the dark warehouse.
He simply wanted to move his body quickly and then eat.
“Shall I start tearing through some boxes?”
After adjusting his gloves, Woojin pulled an old cart and began walking.
The sound of its wheels rolling echoed cheerfully through the warehouse.
Woojin rolled up his sleeves as he approached the first stack of boxes.
“How much should I make Minseok pay for lunch so people will say I really know how to squeeze money out of him?”
Woojin muttered to himself and effortlessly lifted a box.
It wasn’t heavy at all.
Wednesday off.
NongHyup main branch.
Donghaeng Lottery headquarters.
Just those three words running through his head made Woojin feel as though he could break down hundreds of boxes right then and there.
He slammed the box down onto the cart and raised his chin with satisfaction.
“Good. Let’s do this.”
Woojin’s light footsteps cheerfully disappeared deeper into the warehouse.