The Greatest Conglomerate Ever With the American Lottery

18. isn’t that the point?

No matter how many times I thought about it, this couldn’t be right, so I ran my hand over the file again.

But the result was the same.

Beads always favor the junkie.

“What’s wrong with this? Am I taking the wrong prayer beads?”

This isn’t right, is it?

A junkie?

I don’t know much about drugs, but I do know this.

Once a junkie, always a junkie.

I know that drug addiction is an addiction that can only be cured by death, and that’s probably true.

But to trust a junkie with a billion dollars of my money?

Are you crazy?

“Ugh! What do you want me to do?”

Despite my reservations, I couldn’t ignore the power of the beads.

After all, winning the $2.5 billion Powerball was a scam.

I resigned myself to the inevitable, and continued to hold out some hope, running my left hand up and down the six files in a half-hearted, half-angry chant.

And then.

“Hmm? This is weird.”

As I was mindlessly stringing the beads, I suddenly realized that the luminosity of the beads was gradually decreasing.

“What, is the battery going out? Phew!”

I laughed at the absurdity of it all, but then I realized it wasn’t funny.

Does this mean that if I just continue to salt the beads, they will eventually stop glowing?

Is it the discharge angle?

The problem was so serious that I immediately sat down and thought about it.

By the way, the luminescence of the first beads was definitely much brighter than when I took the Powerball.

The first time I played Powerball, it was barely visible.

So, does this mean that something happened between then and now to cause the beads to glow brighter?

The passage of time?

I don’t think so.

So, sunlight?

What kind of solar power?

That’s not it either.

After thinking about it all, there was only one reasonable inference.

I was earning good karma by working at the nursery!

That was it.

And, what does that mean?

If I neglected to accumulate good karma, I wouldn’t be able to use the powers of a beacon someday?

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, this is crazy, I mean, good karma is the point?”

In short, if you want to keep using your lord’s abilities, you need to be diligent about earning them.

Don’t run out of karma points.

Now I understand what the Purification Monk said to me at the end.

– If you keep this in mind and continue to accumulate good deeds as you are now, you will see better results.

“I thought you were just saying that, but now I realize it was both an instruction and a warning—.”

hehehe! Nothing is free in this world.

It’s almost like you’re obligated to do good deeds.

Furthermore, I thought that if I accumulated bad karma, my good karma points would be deducted and I wouldn’t be able to use the prayer beads, or worse, I would be cursed.

No, that’s probably not true.

Where there is yang, there is also yin, and where the mountains are high, the valleys are deep.

And, what?

The purification monk clearly said that if you are diligent and build up your good deeds, you will see ‘better’ results.

“What, you’re telling me to level up or something? Puh-hahahahaha!”

This must be delusional.

It must be delusional.

I thought about it for a while longer, but I came to the same conclusion.

The monk said, “Just like now.

I am me.

I don’t think it’s going to count for anything if I’m doing good deeds as an augury.

It’s always been in my nature to feel sorry for the poor.

I got it from my dad.

Let’s enjoy what we have, and if we see people in need, let’s help them as much as we can.

It will work.

Or maybe not.

At least I wasn’t going to go around doing bad things.

The next day, I went straight to Young-Sik.

There was no time to waste.

“I’ve decided.”

“Already? Why don’t you think about it for a few more days?”

“Don’t you know the saying about sh*tting on the end of a pole?”

“I don’t want to know that dirty word.”

“Anyway, you’re not going to change your mind by stalling, so what are you going to do, waste a few more days?”

“It’s you, it’s you. So who did you decide on, Honor Harrington or David Webber?”

“Neither.”

“Okay, then who is it?”

“John Smith.”

“…”

Young-Sik said nothing for a moment.

It seemed to take him a while to understand.

Or maybe it was different.

“Hey—. This—. You’re crazy! What if I choose the real John!”

“What the f*ck is wrong with you, you recommended him?”

“That’s the thing, man! I’m the crazy one! I was crazy!”

“You’re finally saying the right thing, aren’t you?”

“Ha! Why, I’ve been restless all night—.”

“I mean, why did you do something restless?”

This is my real question.

Why did I stick a file in there and make the beads pick it up?

“Hey! I was crazy for a second. What the hell was that?”

“What the f*ck is the matter with you?”

“A few days before I met you, John came to me and begged me to let him work because he was off his meds. You asked me to save him, and as you know, I’m not the kind of guy who does this in his right mind, but I must have lost it for a moment.”

I got goosebumps.

Like Young-sik’s confession, Young-sik would never let his heart get involved in something like this.

He’s not the kind of person to fall like this, and he’s saying things like he wants to see him shine again?

I thought it was weird, but he’s out of his mind.

Wasn’t this a prank by the beads beforehand?

“Anyway, I’m going to admit I was wrong, and you’re going to pick Harrington or Webber, they’re both trustworthy, and they’re both good. Do you understand?”

“No!”

“Hey, Cheol-Sik!”

“Shut up, dude, or don’t recommend them!”

“You said I made a mistake, right?”

“Forget it! I’ve already made up my mind, tell him to come. I’ll still interview him.”

If this is something that Yin Zhu has created by influencing the spirit world, what am I supposed to do?

Surely there must be a reason to make me choose a junkie?

“Are you sure you won’t regret it?”

“No, I don’t regret it, but maybe you will?”

“Dude!”

“C’mon, I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Seriously, I had a choice and I made it, so call me. Can I see you this afternoon?”

“Why are you in such a hurry?”

“My money’s on the line, so why not hurry?”

Eventually, the interview with John Smith was scheduled for later in the afternoon, and I grabbed some breakfast and lunch, then went on a tour of New York with George, and came back just in time for the interview at 6:00.

“Good evening, I’m John Smith.”

He’s white, about my height and fairly thin.

However, judging by the bagginess of his suit, I’m guessing he used to be fitter.

Perhaps he lost weight during his junkie days.

Also, he looks like he’s in his late 40s, even though he’s 41 in US years.

It must be the after-effects of drugs.

However, his eyes were surprisingly clear, which was a relief.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Alex Kang.”

“Yes, I heard about you from Steve.”

“Steve?”

“My American name. Never mind.”

The kid’s a prick.

Also, why Steve, of all names?

Young-sik’s last name is Mr. Yu.

Gangneung Yoo.

“Come on, let’s not talk about this and that, let’s be honest. I need a man. You’ve made a lot of money, and you want to make it even bigger?”

“Three hundred million dollars is a lot of money.”

“But that’s not what greed is, is it?”

“Well, it is, but—.”

You know better.

You said you had over $700 million in assets at your peak.

“Anyway, I need people. Someone to put together a team and call my shots, and as you’ve heard me say, I’ll be the final judge of investments.”

“Well, I’ve heard that you’re not normally in the investment world, is that okay with you?”

“I have my sources, and I’d rather not talk about it.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Here’s how we’re going to work: first, John will recommend a promising stock or financial instrument or whatever he wants me to invest in, and I’ll take it from there, okay?”

“Yes, sir, I understand.”

“I know you were quite a tycoon in your day, but are you sure you’re comfortable with this approach?”

“That’s all in the past. All I need now is a job to pay the rent and put food on the table.”

John replied with a look of regret.

“And I need someone I can trust more than my skills. Skills, Young-sik, I mean, Steve Yoo—.”

“When you call me by my English name, you drop the last name, right?”

“Okay, asshole, don’t interrupt me!”

“Got it.”

“Anyway, Steve vouched for his skills, so that’s that. And frankly, I’m not capable of verifying it. But trust is a different matter, Mr. Smith, do you think I can trust you?”

“Hah—. You’ve heard about my past, haven’t you?”

“Yes, I heard you were a junkie.”

“Yes, I was a junkie. How would you trust me if I told you that?”

He’s saying that no matter what you tell him, he won’t believe you.

I mean, the guy who believes the junkie is crazy.

Honestly, I’d believe the beads, but not John Smith, the junkie.

“Then let me ask you something else: How did you get off the drugs, I hear you were quite addicted?”

“I have a daughter, and when my life fell apart and I became a drug addict, I got divorced from my wife, and I don’t even get to see her anymore, because there’s a restraining order against me. Well, I don’t blame her, because I was hardly ever sober back then.”

“Hmmm—.”

“So, while I was rolling in the dirt, my daughter ran away and caused a scene. She was in the fifth grade at the time, and she just walked out of the house because she wanted to see her dad.”

“That—.”

“Even then, I was high on drugs – cheap synthetic drugs, because I didn’t have any money – and I was passed out in a back alley, and my daughter found me, passed out, and I don’t know how she found me, but she told me later that she splashed water on my face and tried to get me to wake up somehow.”

“You and your daughter must have been very close?”

“We were best friends before it happened, and my daughter is a lovely child.”

John’s eyes welled up with regret.

“Anyway, it must have worked, because I woke up, and when I opened my eyes, holy sh*t, my daughter was crying herself to sleep in my dirty arms, the one I missed so much.”

“…”

“I can’t tell you how much I cried as we cuddled together, and I realized what a bad father I was, and I decided that I couldn’t do this to her, because I knew that I had already given up my life, and it would really hurt her.”

“Yeah, I’m sure it would have been devastating for her if John had been drugged and killed like that.”

“That’s right, and that’s when the police came to pick him up with his mom, and I pleaded with the police and his mom, saying, “If not rehab, then jail, please lock him up so he can get off the drugs,” and that’s how he got off the drugs.”

Self-admittedly, he’s had quite a life.

“So, are you completely clean now?”

“Yeah, I haven’t had a single one since then, and I had Steve check me out.”

“Great, so can you swear to me that you will never do drugs again?”

“I swear, if you’ll just hire me, I’ll devote the rest of my life to you.”

“Can you swear by your daughter’s name?”

“What?”

“I’m asking you to swear on the name of the daughter you love so much, why don’t you want to?”

“Oh, no, it’s not that I don’t want to, but—.”

“Yes?”

“No. I will. I, John Smith, do solemnly swear on the name of my beloved daughter, Jane, that I will not do drugs and that I will be loyal to my boss!”

“Huh. Your daughter’s name is Jane?”

“Yes—.”

“…”

Jane Smith.

If a man has a John Smith, a woman has a Jane Smith.

The most common anonymous or pseudonymous name.

In short, a woman’s Hong Gil-dong.

When I asked her to swear by her daughter’s name, she hesitated.

Please don’t play with my children’s names.

I have nothing to say.