ICTU 03

Chapter 03

I Got 30,000 Coins Through a Secondhand Transaction

Chapter 2. A Rich Younger Brother (1)

Choi Hyeok’s shoulders had been strangely tense since morning.

After finding out that a huge amount of 5 billion won had entered his bank account, he had not been able to sleep comfortably even for a single moment.

Excitement, happiness, and many other emotions were all mixed together.

‘Even if 5 billion won is sitting in my bank account, I feel like this. If I cash out all the money in the coins…’

He was almost afraid of what would happen to him.

It was a lot of money.

But—

“What if I manage it badly and end up back at the bottom again?”

Thoughts that should have meant nothing suddenly felt like real possibilities.

First of all, his parents’ hospital bills.

This was money he absolutely could not lose.

The difficult days he had spent living in a rented room, worrying that his electricity or water might be cut off because he could not pay the bills on time.

He did not want to go through any of those days again.

For that reason alone, it would be better to use his money as efficiently and wisely as possible.

Of course, he had so much money now that he did not really have to worry about efficiency or anything like that.

Still, you never knew what could happen in life.

Choi Hyeok drew up a rough plan in his head.

‘First… let’s divide the things I need to do into simple categories.’

He would pay his overdue rent and return the money he had borrowed from his friends. He would take care of all the things he had not been able to do because he had no money, as well as the things he needed to do.

At the same time, he would use the rest of his money for diversified investments or something similar.

He needed to build his own assets in a stable way.

He wanted to set up a system that could continuously generate income even when he did nothing.

He grabbed his smartphone and searched for a financial consulting platform.

It was a field he had never been interested in before.

‘Wait. There is no reason for me to ask for financial advice on the internet.’

There was someone who could give Choi Hyeok plenty of advice about money right away.

His cousin, Choi Yeonuk.

He had once worked as a financial manager, but now he had started his own financial management company and was running a small business.

Choi Hyeok was not thinking of completely handing his money over to Choi Yeonuk or anything like that.

He simply wanted to learn from him.

He wanted to find out how he could grow his assets and get some general direction.

‘Whatever you do, it’s best to learn from an expert in that field.’

Choi Hyeok called Choi Yeonuk for the first time in a long while.

However—

Click.

“What?”

He called again, but Choi Yeonuk did not answer this time either.

Just in case, Choi Hyeok sent him a text message.

Only then did Choi Yeonuk call him first.

—What? Was this number yours, Hyeok?

“Hyung. You didn’t save my number?”

—I did. I saved it, but the number was different.

“Ah, sorry. I couldn’t pay my phone bill before, so I changed my number once because of that.”

—You punk. I told you to tell me if you didn’t have money. I can’t give you a huge amount, but I can at least pay your phone bill for you. If you want, you can even set up your account so that the payment comes out of my bank account.

Choi Yeonuk knew more than anyone about Choi Hyeok’s difficult family situation.

They were relatives, after all.

So, aside from the close friends Choi Hyeok had told his personal circumstances to, Choi Yeonuk naturally knew more than most of the people around him.

—How are your parents?

“My mother was staying at a nursing home, but she recently came back home. My father finished his hospital treatment and has started going to the hospital as an outpatient.”

—That’s a relief. I never imagined both of them would suddenly get into a traffic accident. You know how shocked I was when I heard about your family from my father.

“I know.”

In fact, the people who had been most shocked were Choi Hyeok and his younger sister.

The accident had been so serious that the surgery and hospital expenses could not be fully covered even by insurance, so the siblings had gone through a lot of hardship trying to pay the bills.

But now, thanks to one huge success with the coins, all of that hardship was over.

“Hyung. Are you free tomorrow?”

—Yeah. Why?

“I want to ask you for some advice.”

—What kind of advice could you possibly ask me for? Isn’t it usually just life advice?

“Your main job isn’t being a life counselor.”

—Don’t tell me you want financial planning?

“Yes.”

—Seriously?

“Yes.”

—You don’t have any money. You just told me you changed your number because you couldn’t even pay your phone bill.

“That was true until last month.”

Choi Hyeok paused for a moment.

Then, with a meaningful smile, he said,

“My situation has changed.”

It had changed far too much.

The next day, he went to the company run by his cousin.

After passing the sign that read Rich & Happy, he saw a small office with a modern atmosphere.

Marble floors, soft lighting, and the subtle smell of coffee.

It was a place he would normally never have set foot in.

Several monitors displayed charts and portfolio management screens, and Choi Yeonuk was standing in front of them with his arms crossed.

“Oh, you’re here. Come in.”

“Hyung. For someone who quit his job and started a place like this, it’s pretty nice. You really look like a CEO now.”

Choi Hyeok said it jokingly, and Choi Yeonuk gave a small laugh.

“My father was really worried at first. But once I started getting regular clients, it became pretty manageable. Though these days, it’s tough. Really tough.”

“Why? Because of the recession?”

“Well, that’s part of it. Small companies like ours always get pushed around by the big corporations. I’ve been going around handing out business cards and doing sales, but attracting clients isn’t easy.”

Then Choi Yeonuk suddenly changed his expression and asked,

“But you said you wanted financial advice.”

He remembered that the reason they had arranged this meeting was not to talk about himself, but to hear about his younger cousin.

“Hyeok, how much money do you have in your bank account right now?”

Choi Hyeok suddenly felt his throat itch for some reason.

He gestured toward Choi Yeonuk.

“I think it would be better to talk somewhere quiet.”

“Why make such a big deal out of it? How much do you have? Two hundred thousand won? Or maybe three hundred thousand?”

“Add a few more zeros to that.”

“…Two million?”

“Hyung. I said ‘a few.’ Not just one.”

“Tw-twenty million?”

“Double it.”

2 billion won.

Compared to the total amount of Korean won value in the coins he possessed, it was only a tiny portion.

But somehow, he felt uncomfortable mentioning an amount in the trillions to a relative he had not seen in a long time.

He had seen quite a few families fall apart because of money.

So, for now, Choi Hyeok decided to mention only the 2 billion won he had cashed out from the 5 billion won and ask him for financial planning advice.

Meanwhile—

When an amount he had never expected came up, Choi Yeonuk suddenly bowed at a 90-degree angle toward him.

“Welcome, valued customer!”

The employees suddenly stood up and bowed along with him, caught completely off guard by their boss’s sudden 180-degree change.

Choi Hyeok gave a bitter smile and lightly tapped Choi Yeonuk.

“That’s enough. Stop it. Where’s your office? Let’s talk there.”

“R-right! Got it! Assistant Manager Choi! Can you make some coffee? You know… the one that client brought recently. The coffee beans he said he bought in Ethiopia. Make that one!”

“Yes, sir!”

Perhaps they had smelled money coming from Choi Hyeok.

The employees also began moving in perfect coordination.

Choi Hyeok went to Choi Yeonuk’s office and sat down on the sofa.

Choi Yeonuk sat across from him and asked, just in case,

“You didn’t steal that money or anything, did you?”

“How could I steal 2 billion won?”

“Then how did you make that money?”

“You know that thing that’s been popular lately.”

“…Don’t tell me.”

“Yep. That thing you’re thinking of.”

Choi Hyeok showed him his account history directly.

[Balance: 2,242,390,000 won]

The moment Choi Yeonuk saw the screen, his face completely froze.

“…That’s insane.”

After being unable to say anything for a moment, he slowly looked at Choi Hyeok.

Until just moments ago, Choi Hyeok had been nothing more than a ‘younger cousin who was like a little brother.’

But at that moment, Choi Yeonuk began seeing him as a potential VIP client.

Choi Hyeok put his smartphone away again and briefly explained where the money had come from.

“I found some coins I had bought a long time ago.”

“Wait. If you mean ‘a long time ago’… do you have more than the 2 billion?”

“Yeah.”

“How much?”

“That is still a secret. For now, I cashed out 5 billion won, and I only put about 2.2 billion won into this account.”

“Why? Is there a reason you divided the money between different accounts?”

“There is.”

Choi Hyeok pointed at Choi Yeonuk and said,

“I want to entrust all of this money to you.”

The moment those words fell—

Choi Yeonuk’s eyes subtly changed.

Choi Hyeok’s intention was very simple.

He needed someone he could trust who could manage his money on his behalf in the future, or introduce him to people connected to investments.

He wanted to entrust the 2 billion won to Choi Yeonuk in the form of AUM, or assets under management, because he wanted to see whether he could really trust him.

Even though they were relatives.

As mentioned earlier, when money becomes involved, there are times when even blood relations become meaningless.

Of course, Choi Hyeok knew well that Choi Yeonuk was not that kind of person.

But—

Knowing something and seeing it with your own eyes were completely different things.

“What if I run away with this 2 billion?”

“I don’t care.”

“…You must have made an unbelievable amount of money with those coins.”

How much money had he actually made if he was willing to use 2 billion won just for a test?

Choi Yeonuk could not even imagine it.

“Alright. If you’re entrusting it to me, we’ll do our best to manage it. I’ll also give you a good rate.”

“Thanks, Hyung.”

“I’m the one who should be thanking you.”

Even though he was being tested, Choi Yeonuk could have felt offended.

But he did not care about it at all.

The customer chose the company.

And it was only natural that the company had to prove that it had enough ability to be chosen by the customer.

Choi Hyeok really liked this attitude of Choi Yeonuk’s—his ability to separate business from personal relationships.