NOVEL WEB Chapter 13: I Quit (1)
While riding the bus back home, Ryu Min peered into his VIP bank account which he recently opened at Nonhyup Bank.
The account balance read: [15,052,102,983 won] – a whopping 150 billion won!
Despite the staggering amount, Ryu Min remained unfazed, showing no signs of surprise; truly lottery is his only way to become rich.
“But I can’t be satisfied with this. I must keep investing this money,” he thought to himself.
He even rejected the financial products suggested by the bank since he had no intention of leaving his money idly in the bank.
“I’ll leave about 10 billion won and invest the rest in Bitcoin.”
The cryptocurrency had been booming since the previous year and next month, Bitcoin was expected to surge fourfold.
However, Ryu Min knew that the cryptocurrency market could become volatile as the population started to decrease rapidly.
Regardless, he believed that Bitcoin was a safe bet for next month since it was set to surge four times.
“Now that I’m an adult, I can even open a stock account.”
He planned to invest in stocks after Bitcoin since he was confident that he could predict which stock would skyrocket in the future.
“Of course, I’ll still have to continue playing the lottery.”
Winners are announced every week, and Ryu Min had already memorized the numbers for the next five weeks.
“I don’t need to remember anything after that. The lottery market will collapse just like cryptocurrency.”
He could accumulate his fortune four more times by winning the lottery and planned to go all-in on a single number to maximize his winnings.
“Of course, I might raise suspicions if I keep winning the lottery. But who cares? People will just say I’m lucky.”
As a lottery winner, the bank has no choice but to pay out the winnings.
After getting off the bus, Ryu Min walked into his small home consisting of a narrow kitchen and a small room. However, it didn’t bother him much, he knew that he wouldn’t be living there for long, as he planned to move to a much better place.
“Hey, Hyung!”
His younger brother greeted him eagerly as he waited for him at home.
“Did you come back with your lottery winnings?”
Instead of answering, Ryu Min pulled out his bank book from his pocket.
“Whoa! How much is all this? 1,2,3…?”
Counting the digits, Ryu Won looked up with widened eyes.
“150… billion?”
He expected to win a substantial amount since they won 100 tickets, but he never thought it would be this much.
“It’s originally 192 billion, but after taxes, it’s only about this much.”
“How can you be so calm, Hyung? How can you joke in this situation? It’s a whopping 150 billion! Not 1.5 million won, but 150 billion!”
“Shh, someone might hear us from the next house. Well, it doesn’t matter anymore since we’re moving out anyway.”
“Moving out? Are we moving to a better house?”
Ryu Min nodded and smiled, and Ryu Won’s face lit up with joy.
“Haha! We’re moving out! Moving out!”
“Are you this happy about it?”
“Of course! This place has bugs and the house is small. Plus, it’s expensive.”
“You’re right, it is considered expensive with a monthly rent of 500,000 won, even if it’s Seoul.”
Despite the high rent compared to the house size, they chose to live on their own in Seoul for one reason.
“It’s the house where we used to live with Mom and Dad.”
Three years ago, their parents passed away in a car accident.
Thinking about his younger brother crying in sorrow at that time still made Ryu Min’s heart heavy.
“It felt like being suddenly thrown into the forest alone with my brother.”
When parents suddenly pass away, it is the obligation of relatives to take care of their children until they become adults. However…
“They all turned their back on us and left.”
At the time, Ryu Min was a freshman in high school and Ryu Won was in sixth grade.
They had no choice but to live on their own at a young age.
“That’s when I started working part-time jobs.”
Since Ryu Won was still in elementary school, Ryu Min had to earn enough money for their living expenses.
Fortunately, there was a kind restaurant owner who was willing to hire Ryu Min as a high school student, but…
“I can’t say he was that kind.”
The boss, who lowered Ryu Min’s pay and bullied him as a high school student, was another form of violence to Ryu Min.
“Expensive rent, the boss’s abuse, and the bullies at high school. I endured them all and lived on stubbornly, but…”
Not anymore.
He’s now an adult and he has money, so he doesn’t have to endure it anymore.
“I tried not to move out of the house where we lived with our parents, but…”
Now they can finally let go of their parents.
After experiencing countless regressions and spending so much time in that house, there is no longer any regret.
“Little brother.”
“Yeah?”
“We need to look for a new house to move into. Do you want to come with me?”
“Yeah! Let’s go together, Hyung!”
They had already decided on where to move, but there were still a lot of things to do. They had to let the landlord know that they were leaving, and they also needed to contact the real estate agency.
They also had to stop by the local government office to get some paperwork done and open a stock account.
“After we find the house, can we eat something, hyung?”
“Of course, what do you want to eat?”
Ryu Won raised the corners of his mouth.
“Meat.”
****
7 pm.
It was peak hour, and the restaurant should have been full of customers. But this one here wasn’t.
“Damn it, we have to do something about this business. What kind of restaurant has flies buzzing around?”
The owner’s face was filled with dissatisfaction because not a single customer had walked in yet.
“That’s why I don’t hire part-time employees on weekdays. There are no customers, sigh.”
It was useless to complain, but it was the harsh reality. In such a narrow alley, it was tough for a small restaurant like theirs to survive.
“Just because the rent is cheap, it doesn’t mean we can slack off. Fuck, I never knew it was going to be this bad.”
It was too late to regret it now. They had to operate the restaurant in some way to make ends meet.