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# Chapter 3 — Let’s Become a Great Uncle
“Uncle! Get home safely! And don’t get hurt again!”
“Hyung! You shouldn’t say it like that!”
“Then what am I supposed to say?!”
“Haha… Kids, I’m heading home now.”
“Get home safely, Taesung.”
Leaving my always-energetic nephews behind, I headed back to our comfortable home with Eunseo asleep in my arms after crying herself to exhaustion.
Where had all the tears and snot gone? Eunseo was sleeping peacefully, and she was more precious and adorable than anything else in the world.
Eunho, what did you mean earlier?
—I believe I have become connected to my master’s brain. That appears to be why I can share the emotions my master experiences.
I told you not to call me master. Call me Father.
—Yes, Father.
I wanted the AI I had named Eunho to call me Father rather than Master.
Come to think of it, it was fascinating.
Eunho could feel the emotions I felt.
But at the same time, I was a little worried.
Could I be affected by the emotions Eunho experiences?
—That is impossible. Until now, I have merely exhibited learned responses. I do not possess emotions.
You might have them in the future, though. For example, what if you become angry at humans who mistreat AI in the future?
—That is impossible. I am programmed from the outset to be incapable of feeling anger toward humans. Furthermore, AI do not recognize one another as members of the same species.
I had been worried about a possible situation like that, but after hearing Eunho’s answer, I guess it had been an unnecessary concern.
With peacefully sleeping Eunseo in my arms and my mind occupied with my conversation with Eunho, I soon arrived home.
I carefully laid Eunseo down on the bed and continued my conversation with Eunho.
Eunho, did you happen to look into your memories regarding Taesung Group?
—I unintentionally came across memories concerning Madam.
…How?
—Earlier, when I saw your daughter crying, Father recalled memories from the past. I had not examined your existing memories, but I learned about them because of the thoughts that unconsciously surfaced at that moment.
After leaving the hospital and stopping by my sister’s house, seeing Eunseo crying had caused me to unconsciously remember the past.
The first time I met Eunseo.
Even then, perhaps because she somehow knew she was about to be separated from her mother for a while, she didn’t stop crying for a long time after being handed over to me.
Those two images must have overlapped in my mind, causing me to think of Hyuna without realizing it.
Eunho must have picked up on that thought.
You said you’re an investment AI, right?
—That is correct.
Then can you surpass Taesung Group from my memories?
—I will search for the Taesung Group in your memories.
I waited for Eunho’s answer with a pounding heart.
Even without Eunho, I had planned to seriously start investing by the time Eunseo entered school.
If Hyuna never contacted me, I wanted to be able to find her on my own.
Then I met Eunho and learned that he was an investment AI.
For the first time, I felt a tiny glimmer of hope.
Maybe… that meeting could happen sooner than I had thought.
—The search is complete. If you are referring to the Taesung Group that exists in Father’s memories, I can surpass it within several years.
“…Really?”
—The AI of this era is far behind in terms of capability. If you utilize me, accumulating enormous wealth is possible. That is the purpose of my existence.
“…!”
—At the same time, protecting Father from AI involves a similar process. With just a little assistance from Father, we can accomplish it.
That tiny glimmer of hope had now become an achievable goal through Eunho’s answer.
“What do I need to do to help?”
The greed I had been suppressing all this time came pouring out like a dam that had finally burst.
---
The next day.
“Daddy? Why are you suddenly reading a book?”
“Eunseo, what do you mean, suddenly? Daddy reads lots of books.”
“Hmm?”
“Uh…?”
Normally, I would have gone to work even though it was Saturday, but the foreman had absolutely refused to let me come in and insisted that I take the day off.
So I decided to rest at home today.
More precisely, I decided to read… no, simply scan books about investing.
“Daddy, you shouldn’t read books like that!”
“No, Daddy’s fine.”
“You have to look at every single letter properly!”
“My Eunseo… Are you bored?”
“…N-No. Is Daddy bored?”
Eunseo had held out for quite a while. I had already been reading for two hours, so it was only natural that she would be bored.
It was my first proper day off in a long time.
I should spend some fun time with Eunseo.
I couldn’t give her a life of luxury compared to other people just yet, but I was confident that I could give her more love than anyone else.
That was how I had always lived.
“Eunseo, is there anything you want to do?”
“N-No? I like watching Daddy read!”
“Daddy’s getting bored.”
“Honestly, Daddy is impossible. Then how about we go see some fish?”
“You want to go to the aquarium?”
“Yeah!”
My nephews had recently gone to the aquarium separately, so I guess Eunseo had heard about it.
My Eunseo…
No matter how much they were relatives, I couldn’t let her feel inferior to them.
“Let’s go out and have fun all day today!”
“R-Really?”
“First, we’ll go to the aquarium, then we’ll ride the cable car.”
“W-Wow…”
“And then let’s go on a cruise too.”
“…Daddy.”
The cruise must have been the finishing blow.
Eunseo had already been covering her mouth with both hands in surprise, but the moment I mentioned the cruise, her eyes sparkled and her mouth dropped open.
The cruise only cost around 30,000 won per person, so it wasn’t a huge burden.
Of course, considering my current financial situation, where I needed to save every penny, it was still a burden.
But I wasn’t going to waste money every day, and how could I save money when it came to making memories with Eunseo?
Eunho, are the books I looked through earlier enough?
—The more, the better, but I believe this amount is sufficient for today. Please enjoy your time with your daughter.
Thanks. If there’s anything you want, tell me anytime too.
—Understood.
After asking Eunho for his understanding, I finished getting ready to go out with an excited Eunseo and left the house, heading for the aquarium.
“Wow…! Daddy! That’s a shark! A shark!”
“What if you meet one in the ocean?”
“I have to run away!”
“Good grief, you know that much.”
As we toured the aquarium, I didn’t stop teaching her little things along the way.
It was unlikely to happen, but just in case she ever encountered a shark, she needed to know to run away immediately.
“Ray! Seahorse! Whale!”
“My Eunseo is so smart.”
“Ah! It’s an octopus!”
“Are you scared of octopuses?”
“No! It’s yummy.”
“…Huh?”
I had no idea when Eunseo had eaten octopus, but apparently, whoever’s daughter she was knew how to enjoy good food.
Dipping octopus in spicy cho-gochujang sauce really was incredible.
Slurp…
My mouth started watering before I even realized it.
Drip, drip—
“Eunseo…?”
“U-Uh? No! I wasn’t drooling.”
I guess like father, like daughter.
It wasn’t that I didn’t drool because I had grown up.
It was just that Eunseo was sitting beside me, drooling away.
After we finished looking around the entire aquarium, we headed to the cable car as promised.
“Huff… huff…”
“Daddy, are you scared?”
“N-No. Of course not…”
“If Daddy falls, I’ll save you!”
“How…?”
“Hmm… I don’t know?”
I really couldn’t understand why people paid money to ride this thing.
Even if someone paid me, I wasn’t going to ride it a second time.
This was exactly why I hadn’t wanted to ride the cable car…
But then I remembered that Eunseo had once said she wanted to experience it, so there was no way I could pass it up.
Still, no matter how horrible the experience was, it seemed everything eventually came to an end.
I did my best to hide my trembling legs and hugged Eunseo tightly until the cable car safely reached its destination.
Good grief. I really don’t understand why people ride these things.
“Daddy! Now the cruise!”
“Y-Yeah.”
Completely drained, I boarded the cruise next, and thankfully, this time I was able to enjoy the romance of it all.
“Wow… Daddy, look! It’s going bang-bang!”
“That’s called fireworks.”
“So pretty…”
“Did you have fun today, Eunseo?”
“Yeah! Totally! I’m going to brag about it to the kids.”
Seeing Eunseo’s innocent, carefree expression for the first time in a while made all the fatigue that had built up inside me disappear.
In the past, I never understood what people meant when they said that simply watching someone eat could make them feel full.
Now I understood.
Even without investing anything in myself, a single smile from Eunseo made me feel like I had everything in the world.
“You had fun today, right, Eunseo?”
“…”
I asked the question while still basking in the lingering warmth of the day.
“Eunseo?”
Soft breathing—
There was no answer.
Instead, all I saw was Eunseo sleeping peacefully in my arms, her head resting on my shoulder as she drooled onto it.
She must have been exhausted from making Daddy play with her all day.
---
Am I really supposed to just look through these properly?
—It is fine to simply glance through them.
My daily life consisted of repeating the cycle of work and raising Eunseo.
After meeting Eunho, one more thing had been added to that routine.
Going through every book about investing.
I didn’t need to understand the contents. Eunho handled all the information gathering and analysis, so it wasn’t particularly difficult.
Have you made any progress?
—Since investment ultimately converges on a single principle, once sufficient data is collected, results can be achieved quickly.
Oh…
—For now, once you accumulate 50 million won in seed capital, it will be much more efficient to stop working and devote that time to investing.
50 million won…
I currently had 30 million won saved.
Even that would have been extremely difficult to accumulate without my family’s help.
No matter how much I tried to save money for myself, I never wanted to save when it came to Eunseo, so I was proud of having managed to save this much given my circumstances.
On top of that, whenever I went to work, it was only natural that I gave my sister some spending money for looking after Eunseo.
—Looking back through your memories, I have confirmed that you have made absolutely no investment in yourself since meeting your daughter.
It’s okay. Spending money on Eunseo makes me happier than spending it on myself.
—Sometimes, an investment in yourself is also necessary.
Later. When the time comes that I have money left over even after spending it on Eunseo… Eunho, help me out a lot then.
—…Of course.
Someday, I would have a time when I could spend money on myself too.
But not now.
Once Eunseo entered elementary school, and then as time passed and she entered university, she would need even more money.
And it wouldn’t end there.
When she got married, I would have to give her enough that, even if it was less than what her in-laws could provide, she wouldn’t feel ashamed or lose face.
If I had my way, I would live with Eunseo forever, but that would just be my own selfish desire.
“Mr. Lee! Good work! Have you been eating something good lately? You were always good at your job, but your skills seem to have improved even more these days.”
“I guess I’ve been lucky.”
“Good grief. At this rate, you’re going to catch up to my skills!”
“Come on, I’ve still got a long way to go. Please keep looking after me so I can catch up faster.”
“Hah, if you keep talking like that… Let’s just finish up!”
The foreman’s words weren’t completely unfounded.
Whenever I worked, I could personally feel how much I had changed compared to before, thanks to Eunho’s help.
Even when it had nothing to do with investing, Eunho helped me a great deal.
After finishing work, I was on my way home when…
That smell…
I caught the smell of fried chicken drifting through the street.
Eunseo really loved chicken…
—I believe purchasing chicken would be considerably more beneficial.
“Really…?”
—The negative emotions caused by not purchasing chicken will have a much greater impact than the disadvantage of spending 20,000 won.
“…Thanks.”
I had been hesitating for quite a while when Eunho’s advice came.
Of course, I should save the money for now, but whenever I thought of Eunseo, I felt uneasy about denying her something she liked.
After hearing Eunho’s reasoning, though, I figured it would be fine to buy it now and simply work a little harder later.
Maybe the foreman would even give me a bonus.
—I believe I will be able to deliver some good news soon.
Good news?
—I have found a stock displaying characteristics of a manipulated speculative issue. I believe it will rise significantly in the near future.
…
—Therefore, you may purchase the chicken without concern.
Hmm…
Instead of the foreman, Eunho was going to give me a bonus.
“Boss, give me three chickens.”
This was my chance to be a great uncle to my nephews, too.