ICBWT 3

Chapter 3

A Lie

“Did a bad mister hit Daddy?”

First thing in the morning, my daughter stared intently at my face and asked.

In a house where you’re raising a child, you always had to be careful with your words. Hye-rin must have overheard the conversation my wife and I had about yesterday’s incident.

“No. Who hit whom?”

“Then what’s this?”

Hye-rin pointed at my lip. The corner of my lip was slightly torn, so I had applied some ointment, and Hye-rin had spotted it with uncanny precision.

“Daddy just tripped and got an ouchie.”

“Daddy, you should have been more careful.”

A child is a mirror of their parents, and Hye-rin was mimicking her mother’s tone. I let out a soft chuckle and stroked Hye-rin’s hair.

“Got it. Daddy will be careful.”

In front of my child, if nowhere else, I wanted to show the image of a strong father. The parents were the only ones a young child could rely on, so I couldn’t show a weak side here.

“I’m heading out.”

“Okay. Have a good day.”

“Hye-rin, give Daddy a kiss.”

Receiving greetings from my wife and daughter, I stepped outside the house. No matter how tired I was, thinking about my family made my body move on its own. Responsibility was my driving force.

I rode the subway for about an hour and arrived at the office. It was a familiar, routine commute, but lately, just looking at the company building made my heart pound. I was particularly terrified of the path going from the lobby up to the office, worrying that I might run into General Manager Kim Hyun-shik by chance. Lately, my heart beat painfully fast just seeing his face. Perhaps it was because I was a born coward.

Fortunately, I didn’t run into Manager Kim. Unless Manager Kim came to the Finance Team office like last time, there was no reason to face him. Breathing a sigh of relief, I went into the pantry, made a cup of coffee, and sat at my desk to flip through and review documents.

‘Women’s shoes? A 5-star hotel? They bought this with a corporate card?’

While verifying corporate card supporting documents, I discovered an unusual transaction.

Asking to expense women’s shoes bought at a department store and a hotel bill? Unless someone was completely out of their mind, they wouldn’t use a corporate card for personal use. It was a spend that would make an external audit accountant faint if they saw it.

Normally, it was something that should be rejected and filtered out at the Finance Team level. But I couldn’t do that. Because the person who used this corporate card was none other than Assistant Manager Lee Sang-wook of the Planning Office, who had dropped down via a super parachute.

He was, in fact, the CEO’s son.

Assistant Manager Lee Sang-wook didn’t graduate from a good university, nor did he have outstanding practical work experience. The only reason he was able to reach the rank of assistant manager at the mere age of 28 was thanks to his father. He wasn’t diligent, nor was he particularly polite. It felt as if he was dragged into the company against his will by his father’s hand, looking like a spoiled brat who just liked to play around. His reputation among employees wasn’t great either.

“Mmm… What should I do about this?”

A conflict arrived.

Should I report it to the team leader? I was worried that doing so might make a mountain out of a molehill again. I already had no appetite for coming to work because of Manager Kim; I didn’t want to make an enemy out of the CEO’s son too. I didn’t have the temperament of a fighter; I had the timid temperament of a bystander.

Though far from pleased, I had no choice but to forcefully shove the money he spent into entertainment expenses and employee welfare expenses on the financial books. As I felt throughout my social work life, when you make something an issue, it becomes an issue; otherwise, it often passes quietly. I hoped this matter would pass quietly.

However, if a real problem arose, the person who looked easiest to target might be made to take the blame and be the scapegoat. That person was very likely to be me.

Stepping on crap was the same either way. It was better to step on the slightly less dirty crap.

Time passed, and at 7 o’clock, clocking-out time arrived. Originally, work ended at 6 o’clock, but because I was handling the tax invoice closing process, I had no choice but to be delayed by an hour. Staying long in the office only created more work, so I quickly packed my things and left the building.

Office workers heading home poured out onto the streets. They were people of the same kind as me. The workers, clearly showing exhaustion on their faces, boarded the crowded subway and headed home.

Unluckily today, there were no seats available. Wedged into a corner of the subway, I stared blankly into space.

Bzzzt—

Just then, the phone vibrated in my pocket. A chill ran down my spine. I almost wished it were my wife, but my intuition was spot on.

The caller was an employee from the Production Team.

“Hello. What’s up?”

—Assistant Manager Kang. We need to issue a tax invoice to a client right now. Is that possible?

“Pardon? Right now?”

—Today is the invoice closing deadline, isn’t it? I forgot about the revenue that was booked and only just realized it now.

When the company supplied goods or services, it had to issue tax invoices, and the 10th of every month was the closing deadline. I had told the employees to request them well within the 8th, but nothing ever went according to plan.

“I’m on the subway right now because I left work and am on my way home.”

—I’m really sorry.

“Alright. Please wait a little bit. It’ll take about 30 minutes to get back to the office.”

—Yes. I’ll wait. Thank you, Assistant Manager.

I should have cut them off firmly and refused, or raised my voice, but my personality wouldn’t allow it. Because I didn’t want to cause friction at the company for no reason. I was already suffering from being on Manager Kim’s hit list, so there was no need to make more enemies.

Thinking about riding this bean-sprout-can subway again gave me a splitting headache. All I could think about was quickly getting home and stretching my legs to lie down. I briefly considered taking a taxi, but in the end, I crossed over to the opposite platform and entrusted my body to the subway.

“What? Didn’t you clock out earlier?”

On my way up to the office, I ran into my friend Seong-jun from the HR department.

“I left and came back. The Production Team suddenly requested a tax invoice issue.”

“Man, life really isn’t easy for you either.”

“Tell me about it. Earning money isn’t easy.”

“Hang in there.”

Seong-jun patted my shoulder and went on his way. Seeing his quick footsteps, it seemed he wanted to clock out quickly too.

Conversely, I walked back into the office. Turning on the computer, I quickly issued the tax invoice requested by the Production Team.

No one else is going to hold me back, right?

Now I was truly off work. I pledged that if another call came, I wouldn’t return for any reason.

Vrooong—

Finishing my work and stepping out of the building, I saw a flashy sports car pulling in. A vehicle parked carelessly in front of the company building, not in the parking lot.

The person stepping out of the red Ferrari was Assistant Manager Lee Sang-wook.

“Hey, Assistant Manager Kang.”

Assistant Manager Lee Sang-wook approached and initiated a conversation. Even though he was ten years younger than me, he didn’t hesitate to speak casually just because his position was higher.

“Hello, Assistant Manager Lee. Are you heading into the company?”

“Yeah. My dad called me. I don’t know why he calls people at a time like this. So annoying.”

“The CEO called you.”

Lee Sang-wook was someone who couldn’t separate public and private matters. He called the CEO “Dad” at the company and treated me like a friend. It seemed he practically regarded the company as a playground.

“Assistant Manager Kang. Don’t workers like us deserve guaranteed on-time clock-outs? Don’t you think so?”

“Ah, well…”

It felt a bit like a trap question, so I gave a vague answer with an awkward smile.

“Keep up the hard work, sir. I’ll be taking my leave first.”

As fatigue washed over me, I didn’t want to carry on a long conversation. I quickly bowed in greeting and left the spot.

Just as I let out a sigh at the thought of riding the subway again, my gaze naturally drifted toward the Ferrari.

It was a bright red, beautiful car. Rather than just a means of transportation, it looked like a piece of art. I didn’t know how much it cost since I had never ridden in a car like that, but I guessed it would easily cost around five or six hundred million won.

Money equivalent to ten years of my annual salary was packed inside that car.

‘As expected, is life all about luck?’

In this company, there were people from conglomerates, and elite graduates with master’s and doctoral degrees from prestigious universities. But even those people couldn’t beat that man who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth.

A figure who got super-fast promotions as soon as he joined, reached the rank of assistant manager, and was set to become the future CEO. It really seemed like being born into it was the best.

It was a world different from mine.

I dragged my exhausted steps toward the subway. The subway was still crowded with people commuting home from work. Everyone was really living hard.

Having seen the Ferrari moments ago and now thinking about riding the subway, a feeling of relative deprivation washed over me.

“What kind of financial luck could a nobody like me have…”

Suddenly, the words the street fortuneteller had spoken yesterday crossed my mind.

It seemed that fortuneteller was a quack after all.

The price of a single slap on the cheek was 3 million won.

Just a moment ago, a call came from the parents of the assault perpetrator, asking to settle for 3 million won. They said he seemed to have lost his mind because he was drunk—did they think alcohol was some all-powerful shield?

Part of me wanted not to settle and let him serve prison time. I had never given my cheek to anyone in my life, so it was humiliating that my first slap came from a 20-year-old kid.

However, I chose the money.

We were people who would never see each other again anyway, so money was better than holding onto useless pride. Once the 3 million won was deposited into my account, my mood completely cleared up. If one slap was 3 million won, I felt like I could take 10, or even 100 slaps.

Besides me, Assistant Manager Jang Seong-jun from the HR team, whom I met in the breakroom, was also grinning silly as if he was in a great mood.

“Look at this. It went up again.”

Seong-jun, looking obviously happy, held out his smartphone as soon as he saw me. The screen was running a coin exchange app called “Bigcoin.”

The moment I checked the investment details on the screen, my eyes widened as big as lantern cups.

Just a few days ago, it was a 100% yield rate with +30 million won, but now it was a 118% yield rate with +35 million won. In the meantime, he had made another 5 million won.

“What did I tell you? I said it wasn’t too late even now, didn’t I?”

“Woah… How long is it going to keep rising?”

Suddenly, I remembered what a certain politician said about Bitcoin being a scam. If I had bought Bitcoin when I heard those words, I would have made a return six times my principal.

While it was regretful, I was equally anxious. Because even in my eyes, I couldn’t understand the value of crypto at all. It had no actual use anywhere—wasn’t it just a digital scrap?

“Do you know about the halving?”

“Halving? What’s that?”

“It’s when the mining amount of Bitcoin is cut in half. And this year happens to be that crucial halving year.”

“If mining decreases, isn’t that bad?”

“No. You know the law of supply and demand, right? Imagine demand stays the same or increases, but supply decreases. The price of crypto shoots straight up.”

“So that’s why it’s going up?”

“It’s not just because of that. Lately, because of COVID, governments around the world are lowering interest rates and printing money like crazy. That’s part of the reason, plus institutions are taking an interest too.”

“Mmm. Should I try it too?”

“Try it just for fun. These days, every tom, dick, and harry around here is doing crypto.”

I agreed with Seong-jun’s words. Lately, when going into the breakroom or restroom, it wasn’t uncommon to see employees fiddling with their smartphones and trading crypto. Crypto investors these days must have been having happy days.

I was also deliberating and hesitating. But being someone who always thought of the worst, my wife’s face crossed my mind. What if I invested incorrectly and lost money? I didn’t even want to imagine it.

Vrooong—

Right on cue, a call came from my wife. It was as if she had installed a CCTV inside my head.

—Oppa. Are you at the company right now?

“Yeah. Why, is something wrong?”

—The police station called earlier. Did you happen to receive the settlement money?

“Settlement money?”

—Yeah. They said the perpetrator’s side contacted you regarding the settlement?

“Ah! I haven’t received it yet.”

Why did I do it?

I lied to my wife.