The Greatest Conglomerate Ever With the American Lottery

7. Do you know why I’m an expensive lawyer?

The plane was almost like a private room.

And the constant stream of overpriced food.

I don’t know why I keep asking what I can do for you.

Later, I just told them I was flying first class for the first time and I’ll take care of it, and the pretty flight attendant smiled at me.

Then she hands me my pajamas and asks me to change.

This is, like, home. Home.

No, it’s much better than home, isn’t it?

After I changed into my pajamas, they straightened my seat into a bed and put a sheet on it.

I lay down and tried to sleep, but the unfamiliarity made it hard to fall asleep.

I was going to America for the first time in my life.

A strange place where I don’t know anyone.

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous.

What if the US Lotto company has impure thoughts and does something weird?

It’s a billion dollars, even after everything else.

As a human being, there was no guarantee that greed would not arise.

I did prepare myself.

I had a pre-written email scheduled to go out within 24 hours of my arrival in the US, unless I canceled it.

In the email, I included everything that had happened, the scans of the lottery tickets from US Lotto, the certificate of entitlement, and the audio files of all my calls with them, and I asked them to call the police as soon as they received the email.

The recipients were my father, my friend Jung-hoon, and Young-sik, who never called my fortune but is really doing well in the US.

And finally, Mr. Lee Jae-ha.

I fell asleep, and when I woke up, nine hours had passed.

The flight attendant told me to take a shower, so I went into the shower.

Oh my God!

A shower on an airplane!

Is this really worth it?

If I’d been in economy, I’d be dead by now.

It’s about 11:30 and we’re over LAX, but we’re still circling.

The in-flight announcement said it was congested and we were being held up.

I asked the flight attendant, and she said it’s not uncommon at LAX.

Three to 40 minutes is standard.

Finally, the A380 taxied down the tarmac with an airplane that didn’t look like an airplane.

Here we go!

The most powerful country in the world! America! America! The Land of the Rising Sun!

Wait! I’m here!

“What the hell?”

The moment I stepped onto the tarmac at Los Angeles International Airport as a first-class passenger.

I was speechless in disbelief.

“What is this, Jeju Airport?”

No, Jeju Airport is small, but it’s much better than this.

Dotegi Market!

I couldn’t think of a better way to describe it.

It’s crowded, noisy, dirty, and—.

“My America is not like this—.”

I was hooked from the first sentence.

I regained my composure and somehow made it to the immigration line, but when I looked behind me, I realized that I was being interrogated, not screened.

I wondered why the immigration officers were making faces.

It seemed a bit excessive, even considering that there are a lot of illegal entries into the country, and I was a bit nervous.

If I answer this wrong, I’ll be taken to a secondary room or something, but that won’t happen, will it?

The nervousness culminated when a middle-aged Chinese-looking man in front of me was dragged away by his mother.

“Korea?”

“Yes, Korea.”

“Why are you in America?”

“Tour!”

I answered as succinctly as I could, based on what I’d seen on the internet beforehand.

“Is your hotel the Ritz-Carlton?”

“Yes, voucher here.”

“You’re sleeping in a nice place, welcome to America!”

“Is that it?”

“Yes.”

“…”

Contrary to my fears, it only took 15 seconds.

I looked at the hotel and the round-trip plane ticket, and gave it a pass.

An expensive flight, an expensive hotel, and I was convinced I was a tourist in the United States to spend money.

After all, money is good.

When the departure gate opened, I was greeted by a crucible of chaos ten times the size of a cattle market.

“Is this really America? The world’s only superpower?”

Unbelievable.

Then I saw the people holding up my name.

That’s them.

“Are you Mr. Lee Man-hoon?”

“Oh, Mr. Kang Cheol-sik?”

“Yes, I’m Kang Cheol-sik.”

“hahahahaha! I finally see you, the world’s luckiest man, nice to meet you!”

“Nice to meet you too.”

“This is my business partner, Jimmy Choi.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“hahahaha, nice to meet you.”

I said hello and hurried to the car they had brought.

It’s a limousine with a black chauffeur.

“How is it, did you enjoy the flight?”

“Honestly, it was better than my home.”

“hahahaha, that’s because you’re in first class.”

“By the way, why does the LAX airport look like that?”

“Phew! I knew you’d say that. Everyone has a mental panic attack when they first come to LAX because it’s so unexpected. It’s a huge airport in the middle of a huge city, Los Angeles, and it’s where all the planes from Asia and the Pacific come in, and it’s so small and crowded. They say they’re going to build it soon, but I don’t know how long that’s going to take, because here in the U.S. it takes a long time to do one big construction project, right?”

“I see.”

Well, it’s nothing to do with me.

It’s not like I live at the airport.

“How do you eat?”

“I’m still a little jet-lagged from the plane ride, so I’d like to stay in the hotel today.”

“hahahaha, sure, let’s talk about it tomorrow, I’ll go straight to the hotel.”

“Okay.”

“I don’t know if you’ll like the hotel, but since you’re young, I purposely chose the Ritz-Carlton downtown.”

“Ouch, I don’t care.”

“hahahaha, the hotel will be fine, it has a great view and Hyung Jin Joo of the LA Dodgers lives in the residence above?”

“Oh! Really?”

“Yeah, he’s here for a long time, so hopefully you’ll run into him once or twice.”

Whether Hyung-jin Joo or Chan-ho Park lives there is irrelevant.

Also, Joo Hyung Jin is rumored to be a bit of a fanboy.

Plus, his stock skyrocketed last year when he won 14 games, and then he went on the disabled list to start this year, so who knows?

I was a little nervous and didn’t take the recommended drinks until I got to the hotel, but I arrived at the Ritz-Carlton safely.

Why do I say safe?

Because I didn’t want them to drag me out to the desert at gunpoint and bury me.

How much money do I have?

So, I put the trident in my checked luggage and took it out as soon as I found my luggage and stuck it in my waist belt.

Hoping I’d never have to use it.

“Oooh!”

“What about your room?”

How is it?

Frighteningly good?

I live in a six-square-foot studio?

As I walked into my 22nd floor hotel room, the view of LA was amazing.

Of course, the room was amazing.

“This is great! The view is amazing!”

“hahahaha! LA doesn’t have a lot of tall buildings, so the view must be good. They say it’s even better at night. I was going to get a better room, but it was hard to book.”

“This is good enough for me. I thought this was a suite?”

“Yes, it’s a junior suite.”

“How much does a place like this cost, per night?”

“It’s about 1.6 million won per night, but they discounted it to 1 million won when I booked for a longer period.”

“30 million won a month?”

“Yes.”

Huh, that’s about my salary for a month’s room?

“This is a lot of money.”

“You should be used to it by now. You should realize that you’re a rich man who gets 20 billion a year even if you only get 2% interest on a trillion, right?”

“…”

I’m at a loss for words.

“Now, get some rest, we’re paying for it all, and don’t skimp on the room service.”

“Okay.”

“Then we’ll see you tomorrow at 10:00 am.”

“Good night. Oh, and can I see the actual lottery ticket when you come?”

“Of course.”

Ten minutes before 10:00 the next day, my smartphone rang.

“Ah! Mr. Lee.”

– Yes, it’s me. Did you sleep well?

“Yes, I had a really good rest.”

– I’m in the lobby, can you come up?

“Sure.”

Boom!

I opened the door and in walked Jimmy, Manhoon Lee, and two middle-aged guys who looked Korean.

A quick glance at the door told me they were security guys, given the size of the men.

“This is Jeffrey Chang, a California attorney. He’s 1.5 years old, and he’s one of the best lawyers in LA.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“And this is Eric Kim, a CPA.”

Before we could take our seats and get down to business, Jimmy placed the steel bag on the table.

“This is the actual lottery ticket that was kept in the bank’s safe deposit box. Check it out.”

There was no way I could verify that this was an actual Powerball ticket.

So I thought, I’ll call room service after they left yesterday and pay them $100 to bring me a Powerball ticket.

Since $2 is the price of a Powerball ticket, I guess $98 is the tip?

I took the ticket out of my wallet and compared the two sides.

I even felt it in my hand to check the material.

“Huh? When did you play the lottery?”

“I ordered room service yesterday. I’m sorry, but don’t you think it’s better to be thorough?”

“hahahaha, that’s right, I don’t know where you’ve been working, but you’ve learned your lesson, haven’t you?”

“…”

“Yeah, I learned it from Mr. Hong while eating dog douche.

I printed out the excel and uploaded it, and more importantly, he tapped on his calculator and tried to figure it out.

“Yes, that’s right, it’s a Powerball 1st prize ticket, right down to the frequency, number, and material.”

“So I’m going to put it back in the bank and keep it, is that okay?”

“That’s great, but next time you take it out, can you make it so that I have to go with you to get it out?”

“Sure, I’ll come with you the next time I go to the bank.”

“Thank you.”

Let’s never let our guard down until there’s money in my bank account.

Check, check, check.

“Okay, next up is Jeffrey.”

“It’s a matter of keeping Mr. Kang’s requested identity a secret, and I’ve already spoken to the chief of the state lottery directly about it.”

“Oh, really, and the conclusion?”

“He was reluctant at first, but I came up with a compromise.”

“How?”

“When you submit a physical lottery ticket, you’ll have to go with Mr. Robber to get it certified by the Lottery.”

“And?”

“And when you release it to the press, US Lotto will take a 5% stake and receive it on behalf of US Lotto, with one representative, Manhoon Lee, and so on. Oh, and US Lotto is the name of the site, and the company name is Clover Company.”

“That’s great, but won’t the lottery leak secrets later on?”

I thought American reporters were notoriously polarizing?

“Never, never, never.”

“How can you be so sure? Could it be that the reporters are just trying to get a few hundred or a few thousand dollars out of you?”

“The chief of the Lottery has signed me to a memorandum of confidentiality. If it gets out, I’ll skin him to the bone.”

“What? Why would the lottery chief write that? I thought the rule in California was openness?”

“Do you know why I’m an expensive lawyer?”

“I don’t know?”

“Because I’m good at greasing the right wheels when things like this happen.”

“Grease? Anything illegal?”

“No, no, no, I’m just a competent lawyer who loves the law too much.”

“Well?”

“Well, I just happened to find out, by accident, that the daughter of the Lottery Commissioner goes to a very expensive private school?”

“Huh?”

“Well, it just so happens that, starting next year, the Clover Company is going to be offering a scholarship to repay the community for the support it has received over the years, and, well, it just so happens that the private school that the Lottery Bureau chief’s daughter attends just happens to be the one we are offering the scholarship to?”

“Oh!”

“Isn’t this great, 100% legitimate profits going back into the community, confidentiality, I get to dig ditches, catch crawfish, sweep yards, pick up money, see forests, pick mulberries? Kahahahahaha!”

This is ridiculous.

“Are you sure you’re really 1.5 years old?”

“…”