Chapter 01
This work is a fictional story. Any real company names, organizations, or individuals mentioned are used fictitiously and bear no relation to their real-life counterparts.
I swear, I’d worked pretty hard all my life.
So why the hell did I have to sit here listening to this nonsense?
“Only ₩100 million by the time you’re thirty? Come on~ That’s ancient history. You’re behind the times. These days you need at least ₩300 million for seed money. If you’re already in your thirties, you should’ve saved around ₩300 million. Even apartments out in the provinces cost ₩300 million, ₩500 million these days.”
“Ahem! Assistant Manager Kim…”
“Oh, right! Wait! Chief Seo, you said you finally hit ₩100 million recently, didn’t you? We even had a celebration dinner. Look at me, my memory’s terrible. I wasn’t talking about you at all. Sorry. It’s my fault. My bad~ We’re cool, right?”
Like hell we are.
A while ago, when our section chief mentioned people going broke over car loans, this jerk practically had a panic attack asking if it was directed at him.
But when he’s the one running his mouth, suddenly it’s “It’s my fault”?
I wish Kim would just disappear…
If that guy hadn’t existed, I wouldn’t still be a Senior Staff member after six years.
And maybe I wouldn’t have made the biggest mistake of my career—getting so excited about finally saving ₩100 million that I bragged about it to my coworkers.
Yura / HR Team
He’s 100% taking a shot at you.
I know.
Yura / HR Team
Ignore him. He’s not worth it.
That pathetic loser is going to get destroyed for workplace harassment someday. I’d bet ₩100 million there are already people waiting for it.
Stop saying ₩100 million. You’re giving me PTSD.
Do you know how hard it is to save ₩100 million???
Yura / HR Team
…Sorry.
Honestly, wasn’t saving ₩100 million after getting dumped by my fiancé and getting scammed out of my housing deposit practically a miracle?
Or was I the only one who thought so?
“You’re going to set your keyboard on fire, Chief Seo. Take it easy.”
“Ah! Sorry…”
I forced an awkward smile, and Assistant Manager Jang leaned over to whisper.
“People have been talking behind Kim’s back because he got promoted before Singa. That’s why he’s acting like this. He’s feeling threatened. Pathetic, isn’t it?”
“…Weren’t you two close?”
“Oh my. Why would you imagine something so horrifying?”
“I heard you graduated from the same university, so I thought you were in the same clique…”
“You’ve been watching too many dramas. What kind of cliques do you think exist in a place like this?”
True enough.
Everyone in this company was too busy figuring out their escape plan to worry about office factions.
I was the idiot for believing it, even for a second.
As if she’d read my mind, Jang muttered to herself,
“What good is graduating from a top university? Work somewhere like this long enough, and everyone sinks to the same level.”
…Assistant Manager Jang.
How many people did you just roast with one sentence?
I suddenly remembered how proudly I’d worn my university jacket everywhere back in college.
How was I supposed to know I’d end up like this?
The thought stung enough to bring tears to my eyes, but after six years in the workforce, I’d become resilient.
The sadness passed over me like a scratch.
Still…
The starting line for seed money is ₩300 million now?
Since when?
I’d nearly coughed up blood saving ₩100 million, and now it was basically worthless?
Was he serious?
Did he calculate the average after excluding people like BLACKPINK and IU?
As obnoxious as Kim was, he belonged to every cryptocurrency group and real estate chatroom in existence. He was annoyingly well-informed.
Sure enough, when I hurriedly checked, apartment prices outside Seoul really had exploded.
“…You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Was owning my own home impossible in this lifetime?
…Should I just cancel my housing savings account?
♧
“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, I complained over the phone.
My childhood friend, Seok Eun-chu, immediately started screaming through the receiver.
“Forget it. Crypto is crypto.”
“You seriously need to let go of that outdated idea that crypto is gambling. Do you know what era we’re living in?”
“I believe in the dignity of honest labor and the noble value of hard work…”
“What are you, from the Stone Age? Humanoid robots are about to replace everyone! Haven’t you heard of the AI revolution, you caveman?”
…
Actually, I knew all about it.
The AI revolution.
OpenAI.
NVIDIA.
Tesla.
Gemini.
Perplexity.
How could I not?
I followed the news religiously and invested steadily through dollar-cost averaging.
The only reason I pretended to be some detached scholar in front of Eun-chu…
was because—
I was insanely jealous.
My childhood friend—the boy next door I’d grown up with—had become one of those legendary FIRE success stories.
Back when cryptocurrency was still completely obscure, he’d thrown in ₩10 million out of curiosity.
It had eventually turned into ₩10 billion.
A once-in-a-generation stroke of luck.
Watching someone like that from up close made me so bitter that I wanted nothing to do with crypto.
This was the same little brat I’d bossed around since elementary school!
Still…
He really has no loyalty.
Back when he ranked dead last in school, I used Photoshop to fake his report cards for him.
If he’d encouraged me to invest with even half the sincerity I’d shown helping him…
When he once declared he was going to tattoo his girlfriend’s face across his back, I packed lunches and followed him around just to stop him.
If he’d tried convincing me with even a quarter of that effort…
Eun-chu.
Can we really call ourselves friends?
“I canceled my housing savings account.”
“…What?!”
“I’m just… really not in a good mood today.”
“…Then let’s meet. It’s raining anyway. How about a drink? My treat.”
If you really wanted to comfort me, cash would’ve been better.
“…Or a present? Is there anything you want?”
Yes.
Your entire net worth.
“…Ugh.”
“What?! I offer to buy you a gift and that’s your reaction?”
“No, not you. Me.”
Seo Singa.
I’m the pathetic one.
Singa…
When did you become someone who only cared about money?
You used to have dreams.
Goals.
So many things you wanted to do.
When did you become this person?
When did you become so… small?
“I’m so disappointed in you…”
“…Me? Wait—you mean yourself, right?”
The thirty-year-old I’d dreamed of becoming wasn’t like this.
The adult I’d imagined myself growing into was so much…
so much better—
“AAAH! OH MY GOD!”
What the—
“Sir, what are you doing?!”
I was finally having an emotional moment!
Why now?!
The bus stop sat in the middle of a rainy night.
Someone was crouched beneath what looked like a burlap sack, sobbing.
For a split second I’d thought it was a ghost.
“You scared me to death!”
“What happened?! Singa! Are you okay? Send me your location right now!”
“I’m fine! I’ll call you back later!”
“Hey! Don’t hang up! Hey!”
I cautiously stepped closer.
“Um… excuse me?”
It was dark.
I knew I should be careful.
But…
How many days has this man gone without eating?
Even a cold-hearted Seoul resident couldn’t ignore someone who looked like that.
His face was deathly pale.
His ragged clothes barely covered him.
And the way he kept crying…
it was heartbreaking.
“Are you okay? You really shouldn’t stay out here like this…”
“Singa!”
“Mom!”
I jumped and spun around.
A young man stood there with an umbrella, leaning on one leg.
Dragging his slippers across the pavement, he stepped into the streetlight.
It was my younger brother, Seo Cheongsong.
A police officer with an intimidating face.
“What are you doing over there?”
His sleepy voice was laced with irritation.
He must’ve just woken up.
Because of shift work, his schedule was always upside down.
And ever since a serial murder case had started in the neighborhood last month, he’d insisted on escorting me home whenever possible.
“Do you know how many times I called you? Who were you talking to? Don’t tell me you’ve got a boyfriend.”
“It was Eun-chu— No, forget that. Please check on this man.”
Only then did Cheongsong notice the homeless man.
He raised an eyebrow, walked over, naturally handed me the umbrella, and placed a hand on the man’s shoulder.
“Sir? I’m a police officer. Are you feeling ill?”
Now that the police had arrived, it seemed my job was done.
Cheongsong gave me a look.
“Go home first.”
“Are you taking him to the station?”
“If I leave him here, he’ll die. Not in weather like this.”
“…You’re right.”
It was already late thanks to another miserable overtime shift.
A patrol car arrived shortly afterward.
Leaving the homeless man and the busy officers behind, I headed home.
♧
I thought…
that would be the end of it.
I glanced at my watch.
5:00 a.m.
Hardly anyone was even awake yet.
Unless they were weirdos like me, inspired by Kim’s “₩300 million seed money” lecture to start a miracle morning routine.
Why is that man still here?
Hadn’t the police taken him away yesterday?
In daylight, the homeless man who’d looked like Jean Valjean yesterday now resembled Gollum moments before death.
…Sigh. I’m usually not this kind of person.
Fine.
Let’s call it earning good karma.
A beautiful woman with rotten luck like me needed to collect a few good deeds every now and then.
“Excuse me… Here.”
“You look like you’ve been starving. Eating regular food on an empty stomach could upset your stomach, so… I thought this might be better.”
I lifted the lid.
Steam drifted upward, carrying the warm aroma of rice.
It was a thin porridge made with white rice, egg, and oatmeal.
Farewell, my lunch…
Just as I turned to leave—
“You were the young lady who helped me last night, weren’t you?”
“Huh? Oh… I wouldn’t really call it helping.”
“You left your umbrella for me.”
“You walked home in the rain.”
He’d been crying the whole time.
When had he even noticed?
As I hesitated, the homeless man rummaged through his tattered clothes and put on a pair of cracked glasses.
His entire impression changed.
From dying Gollum…
to intellectual dying Gollum.
“The police officer too.”
“I think he was your older brother.”
“I owe both of you.”
“Actually, he’s my younger brother. Seo Cheongsong is twenty-six. I’m thirty. We’re four years apart.”
“Oh? My apologies.”
“I’m terrible at telling those things.”
“I’ve grown old without learning much.”
“Yeah… it kind of shows.”
“…?”
“No! That came out wrong! I mean—you seem… socially withdrawn! No—that’s not it either! I meant you look like someone who’s highly educated. A researcher or something.”
“…How did you know?”
…
Wait.
Seriously?
“I just… had a feeling.”
“It practically says it on your face.”
“‘I’ve got a lot of education.'”
“I see…”
“So it really shows.”
He looked strangely dejected.
Several painfully awkward minutes passed.
Just as the arrival chime of the bus—my salvation as an introvert—rang in the distance…
the homeless man spoke again.
“Do you happen to know a company called Quera?”
What?
Did my face somehow scream, ‘Primitive woman with no interest in AI or future industries’?
“Who doesn’t know Quera?”
“Seongja, Nix, Quera.”
“I may not own the stocks, but that doesn’t mean I’m ignorant.”
“And being pretty doesn’t make someone stupid.”
“Who doesn’t know the three giants of the KOSPI?”
I’d somehow gotten offended over something ridiculous.
The man simply stared into the sky.
“My name…”
“is Park Min-su.”
“Oh. Nice to meet you. I’m Seo Singa.”
“Park Min-su.”
“Doesn’t that name mean anything to you?”
“Uh…”
“It’s a nice name.”
“A little common, though.”
“…You really don’t know?”
“What exactly am I supposed to know?”
“I see.”
“Of course.”
“Even if you heard my name, you wouldn’t understand.”
“So…”
“You really don’t know.”
Apparently he answered his own question.
Then he quietly said,
“I’m the founder of Quera.”
…
Ah.
He was mentally ill.
“I know.”
“The founder the world recognizes is someone else.”
“But that bastard…”
“That con artist…”
“He wasn’t even my co-founder.”
“Just a despicable traitor.”
…He was really mentally ill.
While I was wondering how to create a safe distance between us, his muttering grew darker.
“Quera’s limits were never meant to be this low.”
“What does that fool know about quantum technology?”
“If I could just go back…”
“I’d never let them get away with it.”
“Never again…”
“…Those bastards…”
What the heck?
This is terrifying.
Where is my bus?!
Then—
A blue shape appeared at the end of the road.
Finally!
Overjoyed, I hurried forward toward what I thought was the approaching bus.
“Huh?”
Wait.
That’s not a bus.
A familiar blue one-ton delivery truck came roaring down the road.
“If I could only return to that time…”
“The fate of this country…”
“No…”
“The fate of the whole world would have changed…”
“Huh?”
“W-Wait…”
Something was wrong.
The homeless man’s rambling behind me no longer mattered.
“Sir?”
“Sir!”
“D-Don’t tell me that truck is…!”
“Mr. Park!”
“Look!”
“This isn’t the time to be talking nonsense!”
If my eyes weren’t deceiving me…
that truck was charging straight at us—
HOOOOONK!!
