Chapter 8

Father-in-Law’s Pyramid Scheme (2)

My father-in-law cupped his hand to his ear, as if he couldn’t believe what he had just heard.

“What? 500 KRW? It’s worth over 500 KRW for just one?”

“Yes. Look at this. The current market price is 550 KRW.”

When I showed him Repol’s price on my smartphone, my father-in-law’s eyes went wide with disbelief.

“You can buy and sell Repol coin now?”

“It’s not just Bitcoin. Look here, there are plenty of other altcoins too.”

“Altcoins?”

“Yeah, coins other than Bitcoin are called altcoins.”

My father-in-law only had a vague idea of Bitcoin and was practically illiterate when it came to crypto. How much could a man in his seventies really know about crypto anyway? Hell, even I, working in the finance team, was considered a novice among crypto traders.

“Weren’t these ruined and gone? When I bought them, they couldn’t even be traded.”

“Right. They probably weren’t listed on domestic exchanges back then.”

As I found out, Repol’s first listing on a domestic exchange happened in 2017, and five years ago, it could only be traded through overseas exchanges. Even now, overseas exchanges were only somewhat accessible, so back then, the barrier to entry was high, and it must have been tough for an older person to pull off.

“Whoa. So those guys weren’t scammers after all?”

“You said they sold you 5 KRW coins for 20 KRW. They were definitely scammers. You just bought them and got lucky. Those scammers probably had no idea it would turn out like this either.”

Sometimes, ironic things happened in the world. It was similar to a story where someone got scammed into buying expensive unlisted over-the-counter stocks in an illegal leading room, only for the company to accidentally skyrocket and make them rich. My father-in-law was both a victim of a multi-level marketing scam and a very lucky man.

“What are you guys talking about so seriously?”

Just then, my wife walked over and asked.

As she did, the golden glow emitting from my father-in-law’s smartphone vanished instantly. True to the fortune teller’s words, my wife’s ominous malefic star was clearly blocking the flow of wealth.

“Dayeon, you see, your son-in-law…”

Just as my father-in-law was about to answer, I grabbed his arm and sent him a silent signal. If my wife’s malefic star touched this, things might go sideways.

Please, stop right there!

Fortunately, my quick-witted father-in-law forced an awkward smile and changed the subject.

“Ah, nothing really. I was just listening to how hard our son-in-law has been working. Haha.”

“Yeah. Exactly. He asked me how work has been lately, so I was just filling him in.”

I chimed in to deceive my wife as well.

“Father-in-law, why don’t we step outside and grab a drink? You like makgeolli, right? Since you haven’t been up in Seoul in a while, you should have some authentic Seoul makgeolli before you head back.”

It seemed impossible to have a deep conversation inside this house. I needed to get away from my wife first, so I signaled my father-in-law.

“Makgeolli? Sounds great. Shall we share a drink with my son-in-law after such a long time and pour our hearts out?”

Catching on to my intention immediately, my father-in-law played along.

However, my penny-pinching wife frowned, clearly unhappy with this turn of events.

“You’re going out to drink? Is there any need to go out and spend money? Don’t do that, just drink at home. I’ll buy some makgeolli and snacks.”

“No way. Father-in-law came all this way after a long time, we should go out and enjoy ourselves a bit. Plus, there are some things only men can talk about.”

“What kind of talk do men need to have? That’s weird. You’re not acting like your usual self…”

“I’m just speaking generally. We haven’t had a chance to have a deep one-on-one conversation with Father-in-law very often. On a day like this, it’d be nice to share what’s on our minds.”

I threw out every excuse in the book to shake my wife off. Lying wasn’t easy. Having lived as a timid person all my life, falsehoods didn’t roll off my tongue naturally.

“Fine. Just don’t stay out too late drinking. Don’t go to any expensive places just to host my dad.”

“Yeah. We’re just going out to catch some fresh air, so don’t worry.”

I barely managed to persuade my wife. Even though she hated eating out like it was the plague, she seemed to give permission for the sake of the father-and-son-in-law relationship.

“Mom, are Dad and honey usually this close? Whenever they were together before, they always looked so awkward.”

“Must be that Son-in-law Kang is trying to score some points with your dad today. Heh heh.”

My wife and mother-in-law looked at our relationship with unfamiliar eyes. Naturally, since we couldn’t treat each other casually like friends, an awkwardness had always lingered between my father-in-law and me. Moreover, because I was clumsy at expressing emotions, showing intimacy was always difficult for me. So it was only natural that our current behavior looked strange to them.

With that, my father-in-law and I headed to a pub near the house.

We had just eaten, and alcohol wasn’t even the point. Our real objective lay elsewhere.

As soon as we stepped into the pub, I checked my father-in-law’s smartphone.

“It’s really there.”

Inside was a crypto wallet. An old UI wallet app created five years ago. And inside that wallet sat a staggering 1,000,000 Repol coins.

“Can I sell these right away?”

“Of course. If you sell all of them, you’ll get over 500 million KRW.”

“F-Five hundred million?!?”

My father-in-law gasped, his entire body trembling. It was the first time I had ever seen him look this shocked.

“Yes. It’s gone up 27 times compared to what you paid.”

“And here I was, not knowing a thing, almost about to throw the whole thing away?”

“Well, if you had changed or thrown away this smartphone, you might have.”

“Really? I guess I survived thanks to my old lady.”

“Because of Mother-in-law?”

“My phone was getting old so I wanted to switch it, but your mother nagged me, saying, ‘It still works fine, why change it?’ So I kept using it, and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise.”

My father-in-law let out a sigh of relief and clutched his smartphone tightly against his chest.

“I’ll sell the coins for you. Once you create an exchange account and transfer the coins over, it’s not too difficult.”

“I don’t know how to do any of this stuff. So Son-in-law, you take care of it.”

“And Father-in-law, I think it’s best if only the two of us know about this.”

“Why?”

“Even among family, when a large sum of money suddenly appears, friction can happen. So it’s best to keep it quiet and let people know as late as possible.”

I explained it as tactfully as possible. I couldn’t possibly tell him that Dayeon possessed a malefic star blocking wealth. What parents would ever be happy hearing their own daughter had a bad destiny regarding money?

“Alright. If that’s what you want, we’ll do that. By the way, this feels just like winning the first-place lottery. If it weren’t for you, I would have lived the rest of my life completely clueless, right?”

My father-in-law couldn’t easily calm his excitement. His voice was trembling, and his face was beaming with a wide smile.

“Yeah. It’s truly a relief.”

“Son-in-law Kang. Take half of it. If it weren’t for you, this money wouldn’t have existed in the first place, so I have to give you half.”

“Pardon? No, absolutely not. How could I ever take money from you, Father-in-law? If anything, I should be the one giving you allowance money.”

“Hey, when I tell you to take it, take it. No matter how much we’re father-in-law and son-in-law, there’s a sense of decency and duty.”

I fell into deep thought.

Should I take it?

After resting my chin in my hand and pondering for a moment, I gave my answer.

“Father-in-law. No matter how I think about it, taking it outright feels wrong. If you really want to give it to me, how about lending me that money instead?”

“Lend it to you?”

“Yes. There’s somewhere I need to use some funds temporarily.”

I believed my financial luck was far from over.

I helped my father-in-law sell off his 1,000,000 Repol coins. As a result, 550 million KRW was deposited into his exchange account. Both my father-in-law and I were so stunned we couldn’t even sleep properly.

It would have taken me six or seven years of saving after stripping living expenses from my salary to gather 100 million KRW, so 550 million KRW represented decades’ worth of labor value.

When my father-in-law offered to give me half, I was slightly tempted, but I refused to the end. Instead, I borrowed 300 million KRW from him. I was the one who proposed it, and this money was going to serve as my precious seed money moving forward.

Of course, my wife back home remained utterly clueless about this secret.

Though I wanted to share the joy with her, I couldn’t bring myself to tell her for fear of blocking my wealth luck. Instead, I intended to celebrate quietly and in secret.

“I’m heading out.”

My footsteps on my way to work felt light.

Today, instead of the packed sardine-can subway, I took a taxi and arrived at work in relaxed comfort. Just as I got out in front of the building and stepped into the lobby—

‘Ah!’

I ended up running into Development Team Manager Kim Hyun-shik on his way to work.

He was the very face I least wanted to see at this company. That vicious expression he always wore whenever he laid eyes on me.

“Good morning, Manager.”

Even though I greeted him loudly and clearly, Manager Kim acted as though he barely heard me and didn’t even cast a glance my way. There were other people around us, but he openly ignored me.

Yet, why was that?

Unlike before, when I used to tremble with anxiety and dread running into Manager Kim, I felt zero fear right now.

I let out a hollow laugh and walked into the office.

As soon as I sat down at my desk, I organized the previous day’s fund report and borrowings maturity table before handing them over to the section chief.

“Assistant Manager Kang. Anything good happen today? You look like you’re glowing.”

“I’m just feeling unusually great today.”

“Tell me if you ate something good. Getting older makes my body start breaking down one part at a time. There isn’t a single spot on this body that doesn’t ache.”

“The best medicine is not having any stress.”

I replied with a meaningful smile.

In truth, the best medicine for me was money. Thanks to the crypto profits brought by my wealth luck lately, any fatigue seemed to melt away no matter what I did.

When I returned to my desk, a receipt left by the planning department was sitting there.

Even this amount of work could be handled cheerfully…

“What the heck is this again? Women’s underwear, champagne, a hair salon?”

It was a corporate credit card receipt submitted by the planning department requesting expense processing. These were the spending records of Assistant Manager Lee Sang-wook.

Judging by the looks of it, he must have gone on a shopping date with a woman at a department store. Expecting this to be processed under welfare and entertainment expenses was completely absurd.

I wondered if it was okay to keep letting this slide. Surely, sooner or later, it would get caught in an external audit. Accountants weren’t fools; they would notice. They usually just let things slide with a bit of flexibility depending on the mood. However, if the amount grew too large, it could easily turn into an embezzlement charge.

‘No way. If I’m not careful, I might take the fall for this.’

A chill ran down my spine.

No matter if he was the representative director’s son, this was way too excessive. While I didn’t want to blow things out of proportion, a courage unlike my usual self was welling up inside my chest.

In the end, I rejected the expense processing.

“Assistant Manager Kang. Did you reject this?”

A moment later, Assistant Manager Lee Sang-wook from the planning department marched straight up to my desk and protested.

“Yes. Personal expenses cannot be processed as corporate costs. You can either deposit the amount into your personal account, or the used amount will be deducted from your monthly salary.”

“Assistant Manager Kang. Are you playing games with me right now? Or did you forget? I am Lee Sang-wook, the representative’s son!”

“Yes, I’m well aware. Still, I’d appreciate it if you could maintain the boundary between public and private matters. If this gets caught in an audit, things will blow up into a major issue. For the sake of the company as well, I’d like to ask you to exercise some self-control.”

Confidence was surging through me today, and I let my inner thoughts out without holding back.

“Have I ever been caught before? It’s not like I spent a huge amount of money, you’re making a fuss over mere pocket change?”

“I apologize.”

“Assistant Manager Kang. Because I’ve been smiling at you lately, do I look like an easy target? Or are you ignoring me because I’m younger?”

Assistant Manager Lee Sang-wook’s gaze shifted dangerously. He looked ready to chew someone out on the spot.

“No, that’s not it. I rejected it keeping in mind that this could later blow up into an embezzlement issue.”

“What? Are you saying I embezzled company funds?”

“No, that’s not what I… I apologize.”

“Whatever. If that’s how Assistant Manager Kang views me, so be it. I’ll just pay for it out of my own pocket. But watch your back from now on. I’ll be keeping both eyes wide open watching you, Assistant Manager Kang.”

He was thoroughly ticked off.

Wearing a face as sour as if he had chewed on a piece of dung, Assistant Manager Lee Sang-wook stormed out of the office.

The representative must have quite a lot to worry about, having a child this immature.

‘Ah…’

Regardless, a wave of regret washed over me as I felt like I had unnecessarily escalated things. Assistant Manager Lee Sang-wook was destined to become the future head of the company. Being on his bad side meant my days at this company were numbered. Just like with Manager Kim Hyun-shik, I had gone ahead and made yet another enemy.

Shaking my head, I grabbed my smartphone to find some peace of mind.

This was precisely when crypto came to the rescue.

Flash—

The moment I opened the exchange app, a sparkling golden glow welcomed me.

It was a coin called ‘Rumble’, which had been listed a month ago. A seductive golden light was signaling me to buy the coin.

Then, a sudden thought crossed my mind.

‘Since I already know the correct answer, is there any need to stick to spot trading?’

‘This is an opportunity. The opportunity for 100x leverage long.’