ICBWT 4

Chapter 4

First Crypto Investment

Today, I opened my eyes listening to the birds chirping outside the window instead of the alarm sound. Greeting a refreshing morning, today was a weekend as sweet as honey for office workers.

“Heading out early?”

Stretching and walking out into the living room, I saw my wife preparing to go out. Lately, my wife had been working at a acquaintance’s cafe every weekend, during which time I had to take care of Hye-rin. In effect, it was the start of a shift system.

“One of the weekend part-timers is sick today and can’t come, so I have to go out a bit early to help. I’ll be coming back late, too.”

“What time will you be back?”

“If I help until closing, around 8 PM? So eat lunch and dinner with Hye-rin. I made chili pepper paste stew (Gochujang-jjigae), so just heat that up, and take out whatever side dishes are in the fridge.”

“Got it.”

“Don’t order food out because you’re feeling lazy like last time. Got it?”

I had once been severely scolded by my wife for ordering delivery food on the weekend. She chewed me out for spending expensive money to order delivery food that wasn’t even healthy. My stingy wife didn’t even allow a 15,000 won braised spicy chicken (Dak-bokkeum-tang).

“Yeah. Got it. Don’t worry, and take care.”

After seeing my wife off, only Hye-rin and I were left at home. We decided to play at home in the morning and go to a kids’ cafe in the afternoon. Hye-rin, bursting with excitement, bravely brushed her teeth, washed her face, and changed her clothes all by herself. It felt like just a couple of days ago she was a newborn baby the size of my palm, but she was already 6 years old—time really flew fast.

Hye-rin played well on her own, playing with dolls and drawing pictures. I briefly wondered if she would be less bored if she had a younger sibling, then shook my head vigorously. Raising one child was already this tiring; I didn’t think I could handle two.

Come to think of it, how did my mom and dad raise their kids? I had one older sister above me and one younger brother below me. Recalling my childhood, we were always fighting, running around, and shouting; looking back now, I felt sorry, but the downstairs neighbors often came up to complain. Thinking about my parents who handled all of that, they were truly amazing. I’ll have to practice filial piety from now on. Filial piety…

“Daddy. Daddy, wake up.”

“Gasp!”

Hye-rin was shaking my body to wake me up.

“Why? What’s wrong?”

“You said we were going to the kids’ cafe!”

“We have to go. Huh?”

Blinking my eyes, I looked at the wall clock.

What? The clock hands were pointing at 12 o’clock.

No way. I had only closed my eyes for a brief moment, but time had already passed like this? I let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.

“Ughhh.”

A groan came out naturally as I pushed my body up from the sofa. If it hadn’t been for Hye-rin, I would have spent the entire day fused as one with the sofa.

I took the bus with Hye-rin and headed to the kids’ cafe.

“There are a lot of kids.”

The place was already packed with children and parents who came to play. Kids running around without a care in the world, and parents looking a bit exhausted. I sat on a chair and watched Hye-rin play with a satisfied face.

“Woah. Daddy. Look at that slide over there.”

Hye-rin pointed at a huge, colorful slide. Then, with a bright smile, she repeatedly rode down the slide. Seeing how much fun it was, she moved without resting.

“Is it that fun?”

“Yeah. I want to come every single day!”

“Haha. Daddy needs to make a lot of money, huh?”

Seeing my daughter so happy made my fatigue vanish completely. I always wanted to show, feed, and clothe her with the best things. As a parent, I felt like doing anything for my child as long as she could be happy.

However, this feeling of happiness was brief.

‘Kids really don’t get tired.’

Gradually, my lower back started to hurt, and a stiffness washed over my shoulders. Why was I tired when I was just sitting and watching? It felt like I was too old to handle the infinite energy emitted by the child. I felt like I understood why people said to have children early.

The potbellied mister next to me was in a similar situation. Seeing him alone, it seemed he had brought his child by himself just like me. Parents who were initially talking and laughing with their kids clearly showed fatigue as time went on.

‘Crypto?’

I didn’t mean to look, but I accidentally caught a glimpse of the smartphone screen of the man next to me. His eyes alternated between his son and the smartphone; seeing the crypto app turned on, it seemed he was trading crypto.

Lately, wherever I went, it was easy to see people doing crypto around me. Since news of people making big money through crypto was heard so frequently, I wondered if people were getting swept up in the atmosphere. They do say investments start from madness, after all.

“Hye-rin, let’s go home now.”

“Already?”

“We have to go home and eat. And it’s almost time for Mommy to come.”

“Hmph. I want to play more.”

“Let me take you again next time. Next time, we’ll come together with Mommy.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Promise.”

Before I knew it, dinnertime was approaching. Hye-rin was still overflowing with energy and felt regretful, but I wanted to quickly go home and rest.

“Woah. It’s a Heartping doll!”

On the way out of the kids’ cafe, something made Hye-rin stop in her tracks. It was a toy shop right next to the kids’ cafe. Hye-rin, spellbound by the toys on display beside the shop, shook off her dad’s hand and headed there.

Wow, a toy shop right next to a kids’ cafe? This was practically a trap to catch children.

“Hye-rin. We have to go home. Mommy will be waiting.”

“…”

She didn’t even answer when her dad asked.

“Daddy. Buy this for me.”

“What?”

“Heartping House! This.”

Words that shouldn’t come out of my daughter’s mouth ended up coming out. Where Hye-rin’s fingertips pointed was a huge toy box. It was a toy set containing a large house along with various characters from the popular animation Heartping.

The moment I saw the price tag, I flinched in shock.

‘No way. A toy for a kindergartener is 200,000 won?’

It was on par with the price of an adult toy. Since it was a trendy toy these days, the brand price was quite steep.

“Hye-rin, Daddy will buy it for you when it’s your birthday later.”

“I want to have it now.”

“Not now. Daddy didn’t bring his wallet right now.”

I couldn’t bring myself to say it was because I didn’t have money. Talking about money all the time in front of a child wouldn’t be good for her emotional development either.

“Hmph. Liar…”

I shouldn’t look down on a 6-year-old. It was an age where she knew how to read people’s facial expressions and take hints.

She was just about to use her ultimate move. Tears were welling up in her eyes. It seemed like she would burst into tears if I touched her even slightly.

“Hye-rin, then how about this? Daddy didn’t bring his wallet right now, so he doesn’t have much money. Instead, let’s buy this today, and buy a bigger one on your birthday.”

Instead of the Heartping set, I picked a single item containing just one character doll. Of course, even this cost a whopping 50,000 won. Fortunately, Hye-rin was a child who knew how to compromise.

“Okay. Got it.”

It wasn’t the set toy she wanted, but she still had a satisfied expression. Holding Hye-rin’s hand tightly, I headed to the counter with the toy.

Parents were standing in line at the counter, and I saw a few parents I had seen at the kids’ cafe. It turned out the customer in front also had a taste similar to my daughter’s. They were holding as many as two Heartping toy sets. In contrast, a small toy box was held pitifully in Hye-rin’s hand.

It was a tough day. As soon as I returned home, I lay flat on the sofa with my arms and legs stretched out. I wanted to just collapse like this and close my eyes, but I had to take care of dinner again.

[Bitcoin price surpasses 20 million won, reaching an all-time high.]

News related to Bitcoin was being reported on the TV news. Content stating that Bitcoin prices were soaring despite the weakening value of the US dollar.

I clicked my tongue and muttered under my breath.

“No way. How high is the Bitcoin price going to rise?”

If I had bought it when Seong-jun from HR told me to buy, how many percent would I have eaten? Suddenly, I felt regret and curiosity at the same time. It could be said that a kind of FOMO had arrived.

Recently, as Bitcoin prices continued to rise, news of people making money around me was heard every now and then. Every time that happened, my stomach burned with envy, and I had a lot of worries about whether I should hop on the rising train too.

‘Hmm.’

I had the 3 million won I received as settlement money. A situation where I hadn’t told my wife about receiving it yet. I didn’t know why I did that, but it felt like there would definitely be a place to use it.

That was precisely today.

First, I downloaded the app for Bigcoin, a crypto exchange. I completed identity verification and membership registration, and deposited 3 million won. These days, it was an era where anything could be done quickly at home with just a smartphone and an ID card.

‘Why are there so many cryptos?’

Various cryptos were being traded on the exchange. Not only Bitcoin, but various other cryptos existed.

Edhereum, Ripole, Vencoin, Lazos, Yunaswap…

I couldn’t tell what was what. The only one I had heard of was Bitcoin.

Even though I worked in the Finance Team, I was completely blind when it came to practical investing. It was because I had never properly tried investing before.

I bought Bitcoin with the 3 million won. The current market price of Bitcoin was 20 million won. It was 0.15 BIT.

Once I actually bought it, my heart pounded. Because compared to stocks, the price volatility was huge.

As if proving this, a -1% was stamped as soon as I bought it. 30,000 won had flown away.

Although the number -1% didn’t seem like much, to me, it was precious money. 30,000 won was two fried chickens…

I felt like I understood why people checked their crypto apps every chance they got. Because of the crypto prices fluctuating 24 hours a day without rest, I found myself checking repeatedly without realizing it.

Today, Monday. The money that was 3 million won had dropped to 2.85 million won.

“You’ve finally entered my crypto world too!”

Upon learning about my crypto investment, Jang Seong-jun from HR said joyfully. He was, in effect, a master and friend who introduced me to the crypto world.

“But is it originally like this? I bought it on Saturday, and it dropped by 5% today.”

“Crypto is originally like that. If there are times it rises, there are times it falls too. Think of it as a healthy correction and rest easy.”

“It dropped by a whole 5%, and that’s a correction?”

“Tsk tsk. It only dropped 150,000 won. That much is cute. Hold on tight. Then it will rise again.”

150,000 won. To someone, it might be small money, but to me, it was money I cared about in its own way. Above all, since I invested behind my wife’s back, I had no choice but to be cautious.

As time passed, I checked the price every chance I got.

Checking in the middle of working in the office.

Checking in the middle of taking a pee in the restroom.

Checking while eating meals.

But what was this? The price of Bitcoin kept dropping.

‘Ha. Did I buy it for nothing?’

I would rather have bought the toy Hye-rin wanted.

-300,000 won.

It had already fallen by 10%. Intense regret suddenly washed over me.

As expected, what investment? It seemed right that money should be earned honestly.

Although 300,000 won was a waste, it was money received as settlement money anyway. Well, thinking of it as money that didn’t exist from the beginning, I pledged not to touch crypto from now on.

And I sold all the crypto I was holding.

A short two-day life as a crypto trader. I was about to fold that life now.

‘Huh?’

The letters for a crypto called Ripole were flashing and emitting light.

The golden light was as if tempting me, so before I knew it, I ended up pressing the buy button.

The current price of Ripole was 310 won. I bought 8,709 Ripoles.

“Huh?”

That evening, Ripole rose by 10%.

And the next day, it rose by 50%.

“Oh.”

“Long live crypto.”