4
ch ## 4
A lukewarm can of beer sat alone on the desk.
The bluish glow of the monitor illuminated the dark room. Woojin had Excel opened across the laptop screen as he tapped
away at the keyboard.
Tap, tap-tap.
The cheerful sound of typing filled the quiet studio apartment. On the screen was a carefully organized list of Woojin’s
living expenses that he had been entering for some time.
“Let’s see how much money I spend just to stay alive.”
Woojin muttered to himself as he dragged the cells with the mouse.
The first item was, of course, housing expenses.
Rent: 600,000 won.
He generously estimated another 200,000 won for maintenance fees, electricity, gas, water, and other utilities.
“Food, one million won a month. If I spend a million eating alone, that’s enough to order delivery every day and even
grill some beef once in a while.”
Woojin smiled and moved on to the next item.
Health insurance. After quitting his job, he would switch from being covered as an employee to being a regional
subscriber. Since he was also planning to buy a car, he allocated a generous 300,000 won.
“Fifty thousand won for my parents every month. 200,000 for phone and transportation expenses. And another 500,000 for
little hobbies and miscellaneous things.”
He hit the Enter key firmly, and the total appeared in the bottom cell.
[Estimated Total Expenses: 3.3 Million Won]
Woojin leaned back deeply into his chair.
3.3 million won.
It was more than his current after-tax monthly salary. Under normal circumstances, spending that much would have been
unimaginable extravagance.
But a relaxed smile was now hanging on Woojin’s lips.
“The after-tax pension lottery payout is 5.46 million won every month.”
Woojin moved the mouse and added another formula.
He subtracted 3.3 million won in expenses from the 5.46 million won income.
[Balance: 2.16 Million Won]
“Haha.”
A breathy laugh escaped Woojin.
Even after giving his parents an allowance, eating whatever he wanted, and regularly enjoying his hobbies, he would
still have two million won left every month. It was like money would accumulate in his bank account simply because he
was breathing.
And all of that was possible with just the pension lottery winnings.
“Then I don’t even need to touch the lottery winnings.”
Woojin minimized the Excel window and opened an internet browser.
He searched for the interest rates on fixed-term deposits offered by major commercial banks.
The first-prize lottery winnings were approximately 1.4 billion won.
Woojin had absolutely no intention of putting that money into stocks, cryptocurrency, or reckless real-estate
investments.
‘How many people have ruined themselves chasing high returns? I’m guaranteeing the principal no matter what.’
If he had to rack his brain and deal with stress just to make more money, there would be no point in achieving financial
freedom. Woojin’s goal was not to become rich and show off to others.
He simply wanted a life where he would never have to force himself to do something he hated because of money.
That was all.
“First-tier banks are offering around 3.5 percent interest. If I put the whole 1.4 billion won in, that’s 49 million won
in interest before tax every year, right?”
Woojin shook his head.
He could use the pension lottery money for his living expenses, and use the interest from the lottery winnings to run a
car or travel with his parents.
It was perfect.
In fact, the problem might be that he would have too much money left over.
“Since the deposit protection limit is 50 million won, it’d be safer to split it between several banks. It’ll be
annoying, but that’s the right thing to do.”
Woojin neatly organized the amount he would deposit into each bank in Excel and saved the file.
When he closed the laptop, it was already past one in the morning.
He lightly tapped the thick textbook sitting in the corner of the desk. His future was sealed between the pages of that
book.
“Just have to get through tomorrow.”
Woojin finished the remaining beer in one gulp before diving onto his bed.
It was a perfectly peaceful night, one in which even the thought of having to go to work tomorrow no longer felt
dreadful.
7:00 a.m.
Woojin stared at his face in the bathroom mirror after washing it.
His skin seemed to be glowing. His dark circles had faded, and the corners of his mouth kept twitching upward.
“No. Jung Woojin. Get a grip.”
He slapped both cheeks with his palms.
“No one knows I’m rich. I’m still a slave. Put on a worn-out expression.”
He slightly furrowed his brow and forced the corners of his mouth downward.
The aggrieved, exhausted expression he normally wore whenever the team leader called him over.
Once he had perfected his expression in the mirror, Woojin nodded in satisfaction.
The process of leaving his apartment and taking the subway was exactly the same as yesterday.
Even inside the subway packed with people, Woojin’s mind was as vast as the Pacific Ocean. He did not get angry even
when someone bumped hard into his shoulder.
‘Sure, you’re busy. I’m going to the bank tomorrow.’
The company headquarters, seventh floor, Sales Management Team.
As soon as Woojin put his bag down and turned on his computer, familiar footsteps came from behind him.
“Assistant Manager Jung. You’re in early.”
It was his junior, Choi Minseok, whom he had treated to lunch yesterday.
Minseok approached him holding a paper cup of instant coffee and began whining.
“Assistant Manager, that special sushi set yesterday was seriously too much. My already-thin wallet was completely
destroyed.”
After returning from the warehouse inspection yesterday, Woojin had dragged Minseok to the most expensive sushi
restaurant near the company. Then he had confidently ordered the most expensive menu.
Woojin chuckled as he turned on his monitor.
“You were the one bragging about having a great time with your girlfriend over the weekend. You should pay that much.”
“Ah... even so. My hands were shaking when I paid yesterday.”
“If you had gone to the warehouse instead of me and breathed in all that dust, I would’ve just bought you jjajangmyeon.”
The moment the word warehouse came up, Minseok flinched and took a step back.
“Oh, come on. Do you know how hard I worked yesterday following the team leader to the client meeting? The warehouse
would’ve been better.”
“Then you go to the warehouse next time.”
“Come on. That’s Assistant Manager’s specialty.”
Minseok slipped away like a slippery eel, and for some reason he looked rather cute to Woojin today. Woojin decided not
to scold him any further and simply waved his hand.
Just then, the office door opened and the team leader arrived.
The team leader dropped his bag at his desk and immediately called Woojin.
“Assistant Manager Jung.”
“Yes, Team Leader.”
“What happened to the order volume after you went around B District yesterday?”
“I organized everything into a table and sent it by email before leaving yesterday. I increased the target by about 15
percent.”
The team leader turned on his monitor and checked his inbox, then looked surprised. B District was filled with stubborn
store owners who were difficult to deal with, so even increasing the volume by 10 percent was difficult.
“Huh? How did you manage this? Mr. Kim actually signed off without a fuss?”
“I just stood there for a while. I guess he got annoyed and eventually agreed.”
In reality, Woojin had simply stood beside the store owner with a smile regardless of whether the man got annoyed. He
had been so busy calculating deposit interest rates in his head that he barely heard the store owner yelling. The owner
had looked at Woojin’s clear, completely unfazed eyes and, seemingly exhausted, finally signed the agreement.
The team leader cleared his throat and clicked the mouse.
“Hmm. Good work. But our performance this month is generally a little tight, so go around C District this afternoon as
well.”
“Yes, understood. I’ll go.”
The team leader abruptly looked up at Woojin.
The answer had been far too willing. Normally, when told to cover C District as well, Woojin would sigh or ask to send
Minseok with him.
“Assistant Manager Jung. You’ve been a little strange lately.”
“Me? No, I haven’t.”
“No. Something feels slightly off. It’s like you’re saying yes, yes to everything without really meaning it.”
Woojin felt a jolt of guilt inside, but maintained a calm expression on the outside.
“If it’s something you’ve instructed me to do, of course I should do it.”
“Forget it. Just go do your work. Cover all of C District this afternoon and submit the report.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Back at his desk, Woojin pulled his chair closer.
There was one important task left.
Requesting leave to go to the bank tomorrow.
He opened the company groupware system to submit his leave request.
4:30 p.m.
After roughly finishing his rounds of the C District clients and returning to the office, Woojin glanced toward the team
leader’s desk.
The team leader was staring at his monitor with a frown, aggressively rolling the mouse wheel. The timing wasn’t bad.
Woojin picked up the leave request form he had printed beforehand and stood up.
He approached the team leader’s desk and politely clasped his hands together.
“Team Leader.”
“Yeah, did you finish going around?”
“Yes. I just submitted the report. And...”
Woojin carefully held out the approval form.
“I’d like to take tomorrow off.”
The team leader’s hand, which had been moving the mouse, suddenly stopped.
He looked back and forth between Woojin and the approval form, then twitched his eyebrows.
“Tomorrow? Wednesday? All of a sudden?”
“Yes. Something personal came up.”
“What kind of personal matter makes you take tomorrow off at the last minute? Don’t you know we have a mountain of
paperwork that needs to be finished this week?”
It was exactly the reaction Woojin had expected. He naturally brought out the excuse he had prepared in advance.
“It’s because of my rental loan extension.”
“Rental loan?”
“Yes. The maturity date happens to be approaching, and the bank says I absolutely have to come in person and sign the
documents. They’re being extremely strict about it and say they absolutely won’t accept mail or fax.”
Woojin had calculated that if it was about money, especially a loan that could squeeze an ordinary person dry, the team
leader wouldn’t be able to object too much.
As expected, the team leader’s furrowed brow relaxed slightly.
“Oh. A rental loan. Those things are a pain. I hear interest rates have gone up a lot these days.”
The team leader clicked his tongue.
“I told you before, didn’t I? Instead of renting a place, you should just stretch yourself and buy a house. Look at me.
Do you know how much the apartment I bought back then with a huge loan has gone up?”
“Yes, Team Leader. I envy your foresight. I should save up and buy a house too.”
Woojin gave a soulless reaction.
The apartment the team leader had bought after stretching himself financially was worth less than half of the lottery
winnings Woojin had checked last night.
“Fine. You can’t avoid going to the bank. Go.”
The team leader quickly signed the document and pushed the approval form back toward him.
“Thank you. I’ll take care of everything tomorrow and come in on Thursday.”
Woojin bowed politely and returned to his desk.
As he turned around, a faint smile that he could not possibly hide spread across his lips.
‘It’s not a rental loan extension. I’m going to put 1.4 billion won into a fixed-term deposit, Team Leader.’
Woojin barely remembered how the rest of the afternoon passed.
Time flowed like water, and before he knew it, it was 6:00 p.m.
A cheerful alarm announcing the end of the workday rang throughout the office.
“I’m heading out first. Good work, everyone.”
Normally, Woojin would have hesitated and looked around nervously before leaving. Today, however, he said his farewell
with refreshing confidence and walked out of the office.
On his way home, he stopped by a convenience store and bought a premium lunchbox and a can of beer.
The moment he opened the door to his rented studio apartment, Woojin tossed his bag aside and walked straight to the
desk.
He sat down and opened the textbook.
The transparent zipper bag was carefully tucked between the middle pages.
Inside were the lottery ticket and pension lottery ticket lying side by side.
Woojin took out the zipper bag and held it up to the light. It was in perfect condition, without even a single crease.
He took his identification card out of his wallet.
Then he carefully placed the zipper bag and ID into the inner compartment of his backpack and firmly closed the zipper.
“First the Nonghyup headquarters, then the Donghaeng Lottery headquarters.”
He already had the route perfectly mapped out in his head.
Woojin spun his chair around and looked out the window.
One by one, the streetlights were turning on along the dark alley.
The scenery of the studio apartment neighborhood, which had always looked cramped and suffocating, somehow felt
strangely cozy tonight.
“All right, then. Time to enjoy my last commoner’s feast.”
Woojin casually muttered as he tore open the plastic wrapping on his convenience-store meal.
When morning came, his life would move onto an entirely different track.