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Chapter 1
This work is a fictional story. Any real company names, organizations, or people mentioned in the story are unrelated to reality and are purely fictional.
I swear, I’ve worked pretty hard all my life.
So why do I have to listen to this kind of nonsense?
“One hundred million won by thirty? Come on~ That’s ancient history. You don’t know anything. These days, your starting capital needs to be at least three hundred million. Once you’re in your thirties, you should have saved around three hundred million won. Even apartments in the provinces cost three hundred to five hundred million now.”
“Ahem! Assistant Manager Kim…”
“Oh, right! Chief Seo said she just saved her first hundred million recently! We even had a celebration dinner, and I completely forgot. I wasn’t talking about you at all, Chief. Sorry. It’s my fault. Sorry~ We’re cool, right?”
Like hell we are.
When the manager talked about “car-poor” people a while ago, this guy practically trembled in outrage, asking if it was aimed at him.
But when he’s the one running his mouth, suddenly it’s “It’s my fault” in terrible English?
If only Kim died…
If that bastard hadn’t existed, I wouldn’t still be stuck with the title of Senior Staff after six years.
And maybe I wouldn’t have created the blackest chapter of my life by proudly bragging to my coworkers that I’d finally saved 100 million won.
Yura / HR Team
That’s 100% aimed at you.
I know;
Yura / HR Team
Ignore him. He’s not worth it.
That loser is going to crash and burn for workplace harassment someday. Plenty of people are waiting for it.
Stop saying “100 million.” It’s giving me PTSD.
Do you know how hard 100 million is?!
Do you think 100 million grows on trees???
Yura / HR Team
Sorry…
Honestly, isn’t a victim of a rental deposit scam who also got dumped by her fiancé saving 100 million won basically a triumph of the human spirit?
Or am I the only one who thinks that?
“Your keyboard’s about to catch fire, Chief Seo. Calm down.”
“Ah, sorry…”
As I forced an awkward smile, Assistant Manager Jang whispered,
“It’s because Kim got promoted instead of you. People talk about it behind the scenes. That’s why he’s acting like that. Trying to keep you in check. So pathetic, right?”
“…Weren’t you two close?”
“Oh my. Why would you imagine something so unpleasant?”
“I heard you were alumni from the same university… in the same faction…”
“You’ve watched too many dramas. What faction? This company isn’t that important.”
Well…
She wasn’t wrong.
In a company where everyone was busy planning their escape, what “factions” could there possibly be?
I was stupid for believing it for even a second.
As if reading my mind, Assistant Manager Jang muttered,
“What’s the point of graduating from a good university? Work somewhere like this and everyone gets dragged down to the same level.”
…Assistant Manager Jang.
How many people did you just roast at once?
A vision of my college self proudly walking around campus in my university jacket flashed before my eyes.
How was I supposed to know I’d end up living like this?
It was enough to make me cry.
But after six years in the workforce, I’d become resilient enough that sadness passed by like a scratch on the skin.
Still…
The starting line for seed money is 300 million now?
Since when?
I’d practically bled myself dry to save 100 million, and now I was hearing this?
Was this for real?
Were they averaging things out after excluding BLACKPINK and IU or something?
Kim might be obnoxious, but he lurked in every crypto chatroom and real-estate group imaginable.
He was usually right about these things.
Sure enough, after frantically checking online, I found that apartment prices in provincial cities really were skyrocketing.
“Unbelievable…”
Was home ownership really impossible in this lifetime?
Should I just cancel my housing savings account?
♧
[“See? I told you to buy crypto with me! If you’d listened back then, do you know how rich you’d be now?!”]
On my way home from work.
As I vented my frustrations over the phone, my childhood friend, Seok Eun-chu, screamed from the other end.
“Forget it. Crypto is crypto.”
[“You seriously need to get over this outdated belief that crypto is gambling. Does that mindset even make sense anymore?”]
“I believe labor is sacred and that the value of human work is noble…”
[“What are you, from the Stone Age? Humanoid robots are about to take over, and you’re talking about labor? Have you not heard of the AI revolution, you caveman?!”]
“…”
Actually, I knew perfectly well.
The AI revolution.
Of course I knew.
OpenAI, NVIDIA, Tesla, Gemini, Perplexity…
Why wouldn’t I?
I followed the news constantly and invested regularly through index funds.
But whenever I talked to Eun-chu, I maintained the image of an aloof scholar detached from worldly affairs.
Why?
Because I was insanely jealous!
My childhood friend Seok Eun-chu wasn’t just another crypto investor.
He was one of those legendary FIRE retirees.
Back when crypto was still obscure, he’d thrown in ten million won on a whim.
That investment eventually became ten billion won.
A living miracle of luck in the twenty-first century.
Watching someone like that up close was painful.
It hurt my pride.
I’d rather stay as far away from crypto as possible.
This guy used to be the neighborhood brat I bossed around when we were kids!
But…
He really has no loyalty.
When he’d been dead last in school, I was the one who photoshopped his report cards.
If he’d recommended crypto with even half that level of sincerity…
When he wanted to tattoo his girlfriend’s face across his back, I was the one who packed lunchboxes and followed him around trying to stop him.
If he’d pushed crypto with even a quarter of that effort…
Eun-chu.
Can we really still call ourselves friends?
“I canceled my housing savings account.”
[“What?!”]
“I’m in a terrible mood today. Sigh…”
[“This won’t do. Where are you? Want to meet up? It’s raining. Let’s grab a drink.”]
If you’re comforting me, just give me money…
[“Or a gift? Is there anything you want?”]
Yes.
Your entire net worth.
“Ugh… I’m pathetic.”
[“What?! I’m offering you a gift and you’re still complaining?!”]
“Not you. Me. Seo Sing-a. I’m pathetic.”
Sing-a.
Seo Sing-a.
When did you become someone obsessed with money?
You used to have dreams.
Goals.
Things you genuinely wanted to do.
When did you start chasing money and nothing else?
When did you become this lame?
“I’m so disappointed in you…”
[“…Me? Not me, right?”]
The thirty-year-old version of myself I’d dreamed about wasn’t supposed to look like this.
The adult I imagined would be so much—
“AAAAAH! MOM!!!”
What the hell was that?!
“Mister, what are you doing?!”
A person finally gets sentimental for once and—
Seriously, what are you doing here?
At a bus stop in the rain, after dark.
A homeless man was crouched there, sobbing.
He was wrapped in something like a sackcloth.
For a second I thought he was a ghost and nearly had a heart attack.
[“What happened?! Sing-a! Are you okay? Send me your location right now!”]
“I’m fine. I’ll call you later!”
[“Hey! Don’t hang up! Hey!”]
I cautiously stepped closer.
“Um… excuse me?”
It was a dark, rainy night.
I knew I should be careful.
But…
How many days has this person gone without eating?
Even my cold Seoulite heart couldn’t ignore the sight.
His sickly complexion.
His tattered clothes exposing most of his body.
And the constant sobbing that never stopped.
It completed the picture.
“Are you okay? I don’t think you should stay here…”
“—Seo Sing-a!”
Mom!
I jumped in surprise and turned around.
A young man approached while holding an umbrella and standing with one hip cocked.
As he dragged his slippers across the pavement, the streetlight illuminated his face.
My intimidating younger brother.
Seo Cheongsong.
“What are you doing over there?”
His sleepy voice sounded irritated.
He looked like he’d just woken up.
As a police officer, his schedule constantly flipped between day and night shifts.
Lately, a serial murder case in the area had also made him responsible for escorting me home.
He’d been busy.
“Do you know how many times I called? Who were you talking to? Got a boyfriend?”
“It was Eun-chu— no, look at this guy first. Hurry.”
Only then did Cheongsong notice the homeless man.
Raising an eyebrow, he walked over, naturally handed me the umbrella, and grabbed the man’s shoulder.
“Sir? I’m a police officer. Are you feeling unwell?”
Since the people’s guardian had arrived, I figured it was time for me to leave.
Cheongsong seemed to agree.
“Go home first.”
“Are you taking him to the station?”
“He’ll die if we leave him here. Not in this weather.”
“Fair enough.”
It was already late thanks to another miserable overtime shift.
Soon a patrol car arrived.
Leaving the homeless man and the busy police officers behind, I headed home.
♧
Right.
I thought that would be the end of my connection with that homeless man.
But…
I glanced at my watch.
5:00 AM.
An hour when hardly anyone was awake, let alone commuting.
After hearing Kim’s comment about needing 300 million won, I’d started a “miracle morning” routine.
Most people were probably just waking up.
But…
Why is this guy still here?
Hadn’t the police taken him away?
Yesterday’s homeless man had looked like a starving Jean Valjean.
In daylight, he looked more like Gollum moments before death.
Sigh. I’m not usually this kind of person…
Whatever.
Let’s think of it as doing a good deed.
A beautiful woman with terrible luck like me needed to build up some karma every now and then.
“Excuse me. Here… You look like you’ve gone a long time without eating. Eating random food on an empty stomach isn’t good. This might be better.”
When I opened the lid, fragrant steam drifted upward.
A thin porridge made from white rice, egg, and oatmeal.
Farewell, my lunch…
Just as I was about to drag myself away—
“You were the young lady who helped me last night, weren’t you?”
“Huh? Ah, I wouldn’t call it helping…”
“You left your umbrella behind. For me. You walked home in the rain.”
He’d been crying the whole time.
When had he even noticed that?
While I hesitated, the homeless man rummaged through his ragged clothing and put on a pair of cracked glasses.
Instantly, his appearance changed.
From:
A ruined Gollum on his deathbed
to
A ruined intellectual Gollum on his deathbed.
“The police officer too. He looked like your older brother. I owe him thanks.”
“Not older. Younger. Seo Cheongsong is twenty-six. I’m thirty. We’re four years apart.”
“Oh? My apologies. I’m bad at judging those things.”
“It shows.”
“…?”
“I mean! That came out wrong. Empty stomach. What I meant was… you seem a bit detached from society— no, I mean educated. Like a researcher or something.”
“H-how did you know?!”
Wait.
Seriously?
I’d only guessed because he kept pushing his glasses up dramatically.
“Uh… it just says it on your face. Like, ‘I spent a long time in school.'”
“I see. So it’s that obvious…”
The homeless man looked strangely dejected.
After several painfully awkward minutes, salvation finally arrived in the form of a bus arrival notification.
Then he spoke again.
“Do you know a company called Quera?”
What?
Do I look like some primitive caveman who knows nothing about AI and future industries?
“Who doesn’t know Quera? Seongja, Nix, Quera. I may not own the stocks, but I know things. Assuming pretty women are ignorant is prejudice, you know. Who doesn’t know the top three companies on the KOSPI?”
Even after I snapped defensively, the man barely reacted.
He simply stared into the distance.
“My name is Park Min-soo.”
“Huh? Oh. I’m Seo Sing-a.”
“Park Min-soo… Doesn’t that name mean anything to you?”
“Um… It’s a nice name? A little common, maybe…”
“You really don’t know?”
What was I supposed to say?
“I see. Of course you don’t. Even hearing the name, you’d have no idea what I’m talking about.”
At least he knew that.
“The truth is…”
He paused.
“I’m the founder of Quera.”
Ah.
He was mentally ill.
“The founder known to the public is someone else. But that bastard… that fraud wasn’t even a co-founder. He’s nothing but a treacherous betrayer.”
Very mentally ill.
While I wondered how to increase the distance between us, his muttering grew darker.
“Quera’s limits were never supposed to be this low. What does that fool know about quantum technology? If I could go back then, I would never let them get away with it. Never again…”
This is scary.
Please save me.
Where is the bus?
Then—
A blue shape appeared at the end of the road.
Finally!
My beloved bus had arrived.
I hurried forward.
But—
“Huh?”
That’s not a bus.
A bright blue delivery truck, familiar to every Korean, was barreling down the road through the dawn mist.
“If history had changed, perhaps the fate of the entire world would have changed! If only I could return to that time…!”
Wait.
Hold on.
Something’s wrong.
The homeless man’s rambling no longer mattered.
“Mister? Mister! D-don’t tell me that’s—!”
Park Min-soo!
Look!
This isn’t the time for nonsense!
Unless my eyes were deceiving me—
That truck was charging straight at us—
