After the Divorce, a Treasure Map Made Me a 1,000-Trillionaire Chapter 15
Ji-hwan grabbed both of my hands tightly. “Thank you. Really… thank you. I will never, ever forget this favor for as long as I live. Thank you so much, Chan.”
“Cut it out… What’s with the thank yous? We’ve known each other for years, so don’t talk like that. And besides, Ha-young may be your daughter, but she’s my niece too, you idiot.”
Tears kept streaming down Ji-hwan’s face. “Thank you… really, thank you…”
“Enough. Go get the payment settled first. The sooner you do it, the sooner they can schedule the surgery.”
“Oh—right! I’ll be back quickly!”
About twenty minutes later, Ji-hwan returned. His face looked noticeably calmer now, as if the weight on his chest had lightened a little.
“Your face looks a bit better now. This is more like the Ji-hwan I know.”
“Chan… seriously, you saved me. But, I know I’m in no position to say this since I’m the one asking to borrow money, but… you got fired from your company, right? Are you sure it’s okay to lend me this much?”
What a good guy. Even in this situation, he was worrying about me.
I reassured him without hesitation. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve been making a lot of money lately through business.”
“Business? You’re running a business? What kind of business?”
“Eh… let’s just call it investment and development.”
“Investment and… development?”
He looked completely lost. Well, who could believe that someone who’d been in an office administration team until recently suddenly started an investment and development company and was making big money?
“Hey, you done eating? Come with me for a sec.”
I took him to the parking lot and showed him the BMW 530i I’d picked up today. “See this? Got it today. I think you get the idea now.”
His jaw dropped. “Whoa, this is a 530i. This is really yours?”
“Yeah. Paid in full today.”
He examined the car in awe, but then asked with a hint of concern, “Chan… did you hit it big with some kind of cryptocurrency or something?”
“Crypto? What crypto? I’ve traded stocks before, but I’ve never touched coins in my life.”
It was true. Even before WhiteSoft, I had some stock experience from my university days. But I’d never once gone near crypto.
“Really? It’s just… a lot of people these days are making a fortune with crypto, so I thought maybe you had too. Anyway, you’ve made it, man. Congratulations!”
There was a tinge of envy in his voice, but it was genuine happiness for me.
“Alright, I’ll get going now.”
“Yeah, it’s late. Get home safe.”
I got into my car, then before closing the door, handed him another envelope — this one with five million won inside.
“And this… is a gift for Ha-young’s kindergarten entrance.”
He’d probably have trouble working for a while. He needed at least a couple of months of living expenses to avoid having to borrow again from somewhere else.
Ji-hwan stared at the envelope in surprise. “Hey, you already lent me twenty million won earlier. Why this too…?”
“This isn’t for you. It’s for Ha-young. Take good care of her. I’m off.”
After hesitating, he slipped the envelope into his pocket. And as I left, he kept thanking me over and over.
“Really, thank you, Chan! I swear I’ll repay this kindness for the rest of my life! Thank you, my friend!”
When I returned to the goshiwon, it was already past 10 p.m.
I hope everything goes well…
From here on, all I could do was pray for Ha-young’s surgery to be a success. Fortunately, from what Ji-hwan had told me, it wasn’t an extremely risky operation. I was sure it would go well.
Not long ago, I wouldn’t have been able to lend this money…
Before my divorce, I couldn’t have helped Ji-hwan — I didn’t even have two million won in spare funds, let alone twenty. But after the divorce… and after finding this treasure map, lending this amount had become easy.
Once again, I silently thanked my grandfather for leaving me the map. Grandpa, because of you, my niece will live. Thank you.
And through this, I’d relearned an important truth in life: The more money you have, the better. And money… sets you free.
“Alright… now, what’s my next move?”
I pulled out the treasure map again.
[Hint: It’s not money, but it is money. April 2nd — check the comments faster than anyone else.]
Not money, but… money? No matter how I looked at it, I didn’t get it. If it’s money, it’s money. If it’s not, it’s not. What the hell does “money but not money” mean?
It’s probably some kind of investment… which means it’s likely stocks…
I started thinking of a few stock tickers that came to mind when I thought of money: Poongsan, bank stocks, securities stocks. But none of them fit.
From my brief experience with stocks, I knew those didn’t move much. They weren’t likely to have a sudden meaningful spike.
I set aside the first part of the hint for now and thought about the second part. April 2nd.
That was straightforward enough.
“Check the comments faster than anyone else”... Did this mean I was supposed to post or reply to a comment on some online community that day?
No matter how much I racked my brain, nothing came to mind.
I grabbed my jacket and stepped outside. It was still a little chilly, but fine for walking.
As I strolled, sorting through my thoughts, my stomach suddenly growled. Grrr…
I thought about going to Gahojeong, but instead headed toward Kimbap Heaven.
I’ve gone there too often lately…
It wasn’t about the money — I was just getting tired of it. I’d thought I’d never get sick of good beef, but eating it all day, every day, had proved me wrong. Besides, Gahojeong would have closed long ago at this hour.
The Kimbap Heaven next to my goshiwon was, as always, open — even past 11 p.m.
Inside, the familiar ajummas greeted me — one rolling kimbap, another cooking in the kitchen.
They handed me water and a wet towel.
“What would you like?”
I already knew before I walked in. “One special set meal, and a ramen, please.”
“Special set and one ramen!”
While I waited, the old TV in the corner played the news.
Boring political talk. An elderly man slurping ramen muttered, “Those damn politicians should all be fired. All they ever do is fight.”
Ah… that’s the Kimbap Heaven vibe I know.
Then, the next news item came on.
“Starting next year, the government will begin taxing cryptocurrency profits. This will apply to individuals earning over 100 million won…”
Crypto? So they haven’t taxed that yet?
That reminded me of how Ji-hwan had mentioned crypto yesterday.
I guess a lot of people are making money with it these days…
Still, it wasn’t my thing. Cryptocurrency? Please. Even online game gold felt more like real money to me.
Calling that “currency” — the world’s gone mad…
At that moment, the hint from the treasure map flashed in my mind.
[It’s not money, but it is money.]
“Right… they call it currency, but it’s not real money…”
At least in my world, there wasn’t anywhere I could directly buy something with Bitcoin. Still, there was no denying that crypto was being traded actively everywhere.
Just then, my special set and ramen arrived.
“Here you go — one special set and one ramen.”
I devoured them quickly, eager to get back and dig into the rest of the hint.
Delicious. Maybe it was because I’d figured out part of the hint, but the food tasted even better tonight.
Back at the goshiwon, I reviewed the hint again.
If the first part is referring to crypto, then the second part must be the coin’s name.
[Check the comments faster than anyone else.]
I knew almost nothing about crypto. If the second part referred to a coin’s name, I couldn’t figure it out by guesswork.
I looked up coins related to “comments” or “community.”
Steem — rewarded for community activity on Steemit. Splinterlands — rewarded DEC coins for playing and participating in its game community.
A few others popped up, but most were obscure coins with negligible market caps.
Even without knowing much about crypto, I could tell these wouldn’t have a significant price surge soon. And their market caps were way too small for me to invest big money in.
I tried searching differently.
[April 2nd. Comment coin.] [Comment coin.] [Reply coin.]
Nothing useful came up.
I switched “reply” into Korean phonetics and English variations.
Suddenly, dozens of results flooded in — including charts and stats.
Ripple (XRP) — 3,170 won, market cap 182 trillion won.
Its official spelling was different, but in Korean, “ripple” and “reply” sounded the same.
And in the coin’s description: “The innovator of ultra-fast international remittances — Ripple (XRP).”
It matched the “faster than anyone else” part of the hint perfectly.