I told my mother what happened yesterday.
When my mother heard the story, her eyes widened.
"What on earth is a Bantcoin? "Where are you selling it?"
"It is a virtual currency issued only on the Internet."
"So is it like game money?"
"Well, it would be easier if you understood it that way."
Anyway, the 100,000 won Bantcoin I received when I was in middle school became 13.6 billion won. And of that, 1.24 billion won is my share.
In terms of return, it is a whopping 100,000 times more, but it is only 1/10th of the money Taekgyu earned.
The reason there is a difference is because the character Taekgyu sold was at a high level, while my character was at a low level.
If I had known it would turn out like this, would I have worked harder to raise it?
* * *
Now that I had money, the first thing to do was to find a place to live.
We can't continue to live in a semi-basement with poor ventilation. Aside from being narrow and dirty, it is not good for your health. That might be why my mother coughs frequently.
I tried to find the best home possible, but my mother was against it.
"You can't spend carelessly just because you suddenly have a lot of money."
In the end, I visited several real estate agencies and signed a contract for a two-room villa with a deposit of 120 million won. It has been a while since it was built, but the wallpaper and flooring were recently renovated, so the interior was clean.
Moving day.
Since we had so little property, there was no need to call a moving center. One quick hit was enough. The move was completed quickly.
After the driver left after moving all the luggage, I packed up the luggage with my mother.
"Do you like the house?"
Mother said with a smile.
There are two rooms and lots of sunlight. "It's so good."
If I had spent more money, I could have found a better house...
Still, I'm glad you like it.
My mother's hands, which had been diligently organizing the luggage as she opened the box, suddenly stopped. Inside the small box were picture frames, albums, and old notebooks.
Every time we moved, the size of our house got smaller. As space was reduced, we had no choice but to throw away unused items.
Most of my father's things were thrown away.
What's in the box is what my mother kept until the very end, unable to throw them away. It is a keepsake of my father.
Mother carefully picked up the picture frame.
It contained a photo we took in the yard of our house when I was in elementary school. My mother and father stood on either side of me with me in the middle, and behind me I could see a small two-story single-family house.
My mother's dream was to live in a single-family home. To make that dream come true, my father purchased that land and built the house himself.
The house was built before I was born, and I had lived in that house since I was born. Most of my family's memories are there.
My mother looked at the photo in silence for a long time.
"Do you think about my father sometimes?"
When I asked, my mother nodded with a bitter expression.
"then he went through so much hardship. "If he was still alive, he would have seen good days like now."
I turned my attention back to the photo. My father was there when he was young. It felt a bit awkward, perhaps because it had been a long time since we had seen each other.
After a while, my mother got up and spoke cheerfully.
"I need to clean one more time. "Jinhu, you go into your room and clean up."
"all right."
Since there was no luggage, the cleanup was completed quickly, and since the house was small, the cleaning was also completed quickly.
Hmm, should I say this is also an advantage?
As I sat in the living room and looked around, the house seemed quite spacious. So, this is an optical illusion caused by the absence of anything.
I will have to buy a new washing machine, refrigerator, dining table, bed, etc. right away.
"Take a break from work for a while."
"I'm fine, how can I play at home?"
This is not a mother who will listen to you to stop her.
"Then just take a break for three months. "Okay?"
After urging her a few times, my mother nodded as if there was nothing she could do.
"Okay, son. "I will do that."
I spent a lot of money to buy a house, but I still had 375 million won left in my bank account (although I had to pay about 100 million won in taxes because it was before tax reporting).
And there is still 740 million won more money to be received from Taek-gyu.
If this is the case, wouldn't there be no worries for a few decades?
I feel happy, but at the same time, empty. Was money really that easy to make?
I gave my mother a bank card containing 100 million won.
"This money is for your mother to use. If you need anything, buy it from here."
"No, it's okay. "I've had some money saved up over the years."
"It's not okay, so please take it."
As I finished cleaning up and taking a breather, Taek-gyu burst into the house with toilet paper and detergent in his hands.
"I'm here, mother!"
My mother was pleased.
"Oh my, Taek-gyu is here."
Since he came to our house so often, my mother treated Taek-gyu like her son. While I was in the military, Taek-gyu came to visit my mother on holidays and birthdays.
"did you eat?"
"I haven't eaten yet. Jajangmyeon on moving day. "I'll order it later."
Taekgyu looked around the house and said.
"Is there anything I can help you with?"
I grumbled for no reason.
"If you want to help, why don't you come early?"
Did you come to eat black bean noodles?
In fact, even if he came early, there wasn't much he could do to help.
I went into my room with Taekgyu. There was no desk or chair, so we sat on the floor.
"Eat fruit."
Mother put down the fruit plate and left the room.
I said while eating an apple with a fork.
"Looking at the article, Mountain Hill was completely ruined."
Taekkyu nodded.
"There's alot of fuss right now because of that."
Mountain Hill is the world's largest Bantcoin exchange.
The amount of damage caused by hacking was estimated at as low as hundreds of billions or as high as KRW 1 trillion. According to principle, Mountain Hill should compensate users for the amount of damage.
But what kind of money does one exchange have to compensate that much?
Eventually, Mountain Hill entered bankruptcy proceedings.
"Then what happens to the users?"
"What happens? "It's just a waste of money and it's over."
If a similar incident had occurred at a bank, the government would have stepped in and taken measures to compensate for the damage or punish those involved.
However, since there was no management entity for Bantcoin, there was no organization to take measures and no way to receive compensation for damages.
This was a fundamental problem with virtual currencies, including Bantcoin.
According to Taekgyu, exchange hacking has occurred several times in the past. Because it was a small amount compared to the total transaction size, it did not become a major issue.
But this case was different.
In terms of the scale of damage, this hack was the largest incident in Bantcoin history.
Several days passed, but nothing was revealed about who committed this incident.
There were only rumors that it was a hacker group affiliated with IS or the international hacker organization Anonymous.
Bantcoin, which was trading at around $1,120 per BNT, fell below $1,000 as soon as news of Mountain Hill's closure became known.
And in just one day, it plummeted by more than 20 percent again, falling to $800 per BNT.
Even Korean media published articles worrying about the safety of virtual currencies.
-What is the fate of the virtual currency Bantcoin?
-Problems with Bantcoin revealed by Mountain Hill hacking
-Future currency Bantcoin. stands at a crossroads
-Bantcoin's reliability is on the chopping block again
-Increasing skepticism about virtual currencies
Some financial experts say, as if fanning the flames of a house on fire, 'the value that the public was attaching to Bantcoin has disappeared. They said, "Within a few months, Bantcoin will be treated like Monopoly dollars (board game currency)."
"It's going to be cut in half soon."
Anyway, for Taek-gyu, it's someone else's problem now. Because he sold everything before that.
"No matter how much I think about it, this doesn't make sense."
"Bankruptcy?"
"no. "That You guessed it right."
"It's just a coincidence."
"Nothing in this world just happens. In my opinion······."
Taekgyu's expression suddenly became serious. Did you find out something?
I listened.
"Jinhu, you originally had superpowers. When a crisis arose, that ability bloomed. "That's how superheroes are born."
"······i thought he was serious?"
I'm a fool for expecting that.
But Taekgyu was still serious.
"Think about it carefully. That's definitely... Ah! "I think I have a good idea now."
"What?"
"Why don't we call that ability Oracle Eye? "Isn't it okay?"
"huh. "It's not okay."
Unlike me, who shook his head resolutely, Taekgyu nodded as if he was convinced.
"Oracle eye is nice. "I'll have to call it that from now on."
"······Please don't do that."
At that moment, Taekyu's phone rang.
Tiriring!
"Is there anyone else calling you besides me?"
"there is. "The delivery drivers who are always working hard and all kinds of spam."
Taekkyu was surprised when he looked at his phone.
"omg!"
Taek-gyu's face turned white as he answered the phone.
"Uh, when did you come to Korea? huh? now? "I'm busy... Ah, no, it's not like that... Ah, I understand... Yes!"
The expression on his face when he hangs up the phone is unusual.
Did something happen?
I asked Taekgyu.
"who is this?"
Taek-gyu said with tears in his eyes.
"My sister."
"Hyeonju?"
Taek-gyu had an older sister who was 10 years older than him.
The name is Oh Hyeon-ju.
Unlike Taek-gyu, who is by all accounts a great otaku, Hyeon-joo was afinancial consultant working at an American IB called Golden Gate.
It was thanks to the help of Hyeonju that Taekgyu was able to create a corporation in a tax haven called Dela Island before selling Bantcoin.
"But why do you look like that?"
"She said she came to Korea.and I should come right now."
Hyeonju was working at the Asian branch in Hong Kong. So she spent most of her time in Hong Kong, and rarely came to Korea.
Perhaps because of the large age difference, Taek-gyu has been afraid of his older sister since he was young.
Taekkyu said, holding my shoulder.
"You come too."
"Why me?"
"To me, she is just a real older sister, but to you, she is a heavenly senior."
Hyeonju graduated from the Department of Economics at Korea University.
"Hasn't it been a while since you saw my sister?"
Now that I think about it, the last time we had a meal together was before I went to the military.
I nodded.
"okay.I'llgo with you."
Taekgyu was pleased with my words.
"Good idea."
I roughly put on some clothing and got up from my seat.
"I'm going out with Taek-gyu for a bit."
Then my mother asked.
"When are you coming in? "What about dinner?"
"I may come in late, so eat first."