Preparation (2)
On his way up to Cheonan, Gaon, who had turned on his watchcom for the first time in a while, confirmed that 5 million won had come in from Jangho.
Perhaps wanting to make himself look good, Jangho had called dozens of times, but since Gaon had his watchcom turned off, he had eventually given up, and there had been no trace of further calls in the past few days.
‘Fortunately, the guy paid back the money, so now I need to find a room to bring the capsule and the capsule into.’
He had been thinking the entire way home, but there was no proper way to raise the money he needed to spend.
At least he had the 5 million won Jangho had returned and the 1 million won he had received from his father, so he felt somewhat secure, but when he thought about the amount required, it was stifling.
If it were really urgent, he could crash at Seonghyeon’s place, who lived alone in an officetel, but considering the capsule’s size and the space it took up, it would be extremely difficult.
‘For now, let’s talk to Dad.’
Gaon, who had arrived in Cheonan, checked the time.
‘It’s not even 2 o’clock yet.’
Gaon called his father.
—Son!
His father’s voice was bright.
“Where are you?”
—Where else? At the office, of course.
At his father’s natural-sounding answer, Gaon momentarily doubted his prophetic dream. In the prophetic dream, he had clearly been forced into honorary retirement in December.
—Where are you, then?
“I just arrived in Cheonan.”
—Really? You came up faster than I thought. I should call Dongseo and thank him.
“I don’t think I caused him much trouble, but I’d appreciate it if you did. It’s thanks to both of you that I did well.”
In just half a month, he had changed greatly—so much so that even he found it amazing. To the point where he himself could hardly believe it.
Since he couldn’t know the reason, as if having had a prophetic dream, perhaps it was because he had received the spiritual energy of Wolchulsan.
—For now, go home and rest.
“Yes.”
—On-ah, I think I’ll get off work early today. Want to have a drink together? Mom will probably be late.
“Sure, I’d love to.”
—Hahaha. It’s been a while since I could enjoy a drink in a good mood.
Seeing him brighten up like that, it seemed he hadn’t been drinking lately.
“But what’s going on at your company? Wasn’t it a company that couldn’t run properly without you?”
—W-well, I’ve got a position now, so I can manage that much.
The answer was somewhat strange, but it wasn’t exactly wrong. As a department head who knew all the company’s operations except for accounting, it shouldn’t be too difficult to leave work early if he put his mind to it.
“Then what time should we meet?”
—I think I can get there by 5…….
“Then I’ll come down by 5. Let’s meet at the eel restaurant in front of the house.”
—Eel? You’re buying?
“Yes. I finally got the part-time wages I hadn’t received.”
It wasn’t part-time wages but money returned from Jangho, but he could treat his father, who had raised him all this time, to eel.
—Hahaha. Looks like I’ll be treated by my son. I raised you for a reason. I look forward to it.
“Yes, Dad.”
Perhaps because he was someone who liked alcohol, Gajingu was very pleased at the prospect of drinking with his son.
After hanging up, Gaon was waiting for the bus home when he suddenly recalled something strange.
‘It’s strange.’
The Gajingu that Gaon knew was someone who barely used annual or monthly leave. He was the type to go to work on days off if there was work to be done.
‘And that kind of man is leaving early?’
Even if he could leave early, he was someone who wouldn’t because he was afraid something would go wrong on the production line.
Thinking that made him feel somewhat bitter.
‘Has he already been forced into honorary retirement?’
If the contents of the prophetic dream were correct, he had already been forced into honorary retirement or was on the verge of it. Therefore, his state of mind would naturally be very complicated right now.
‘How should I comfort him?’
Gaon’s steps as he boarded the bus home were somewhat heavy.
After resting at home and arriving at the meeting place, his father was already there waiting.
“You’re here.”
“Yes, Dad.”
“But why has our son changed so much? Anyone would think you’re a celebrity. It’s like you’re glowing, you.”
Gajingu said, looking at Gaon with strange eyes.
“Hahaha. I guess it only looks that way through your eyes, Dad. But it’s a bit strange eating dinner at this time on a weekday.”
“Hahaha. Is it? Honestly, Dad isn’t quite used to coming to a neighborhood restaurant at this time on a weekday either.”
“What about Mom?”
He asked thinking that if Mom got off work early, they could eat simply here.
“She has a company dinner today. Let’s have a drink, just the two of us, for the first time in a while.”
“Yes.”
Since growing up, he had almost never had a drink alone with his father.
In high school, he had no time for it because of school, academies, and friends, and after getting into university, his father had suggested it a few times, but Gaon had avoided it thinking it would be awkward.
Unlike Gaon, Gajingu, pleased at drinking alone with his grown son, ordered grilled eel and soju with a happy face.
Before the eel came out, the father and son drank soju with side dishes as appetizers, and the mood was better than ever.
So Gaon began to think that the prophetic dream he had might be wrong.
‘If the prophetic dream is right, this shouldn’t be such a happy time…….’
Just in case, he had to ask first.
“Dad, is something going on at the company?”
Gaon asked, filling the empty glass.
“……Why do you ask that all of a sudden?”
Gaon didn’t miss how his father’s face stiffened for a moment before relaxing.
“You said so before. That because it’s a family business, they seemed to find you burdensome even though you’ve been a department head for so long.”
“Did I say that?”
In truth, Gaon hadn’t heard such words. He had only heard that the company seemed to be getting harder and that treatment and welfare levels seemed like they would worsen.
“Yes. Among my friend’s parents, there was a case similar to Dad’s. When the president retired and his son took the seat, he immediately found ridiculous faults and pressured him to retire, and as soon as he retired, he brought in someone he knew.”
Gaon first tried to open his father’s heart with a white lie.
“Actually…….”
Gajingu seemed about to speak, but then his face reddened as if angry, and he downed his drink in one shot.
“Yes! Actually, the same thing—no, exactly the same thing happened to me. As of December 1st, I packed my things from the office!”
Gajingu confessed the fact that he had lost his job, borrowing the courage from alcohol.
“I see. Since autumn, whenever we talked on the phone, I felt something heavy in Dad’s voice.”
“Hahaha. I didn’t know our son was so quick to notice. Honestly, I’ve been harassed all year this year. I held out and held out, and they said they’d give me two years’ salary as a retirement severance, so I submitted my resignation this time.”
“When are you planning to tell Mom?”
“I don’t know. I’m not mentally prepared yet…….”
It wasn’t an easy thing for Dad, who had lived as the head of the household with pride despite the hard life until now. At his current age, finding re-employment in the same industry would be extremely difficult.
“You have ten months of leeway.”
Although it was a small-to-medium-sized enterprise, since he had been a department head, the unemployment benefits would be substantial, so daily life wouldn’t become tight immediately.
“Sigh. That’s true, but what comes next is the problem. Honestly, at Dad’s age, and since the work I’ve done isn’t something that requires specialized skills, re-employment will be difficult no matter how much experience I have. Even if I do get hired, the salary won’t be even half.”
Gajingu wanted to act tough and tell him not to worry, but since his son was already an adult and seemed to know everything, he sighed and revealed his true feelings.
“Then are you planning to start a business?”
“There is a business that a close friend who retired before me is urging me to invest in…….”
“No, absolutely not!”
Gaon raised his voice without realizing it.
In the prophetic dream, Gajingu had accepted his friend’s investment offer and vainly lost all his severance pay. It was unclear whether he had been involved in fraud, but it had been one of the reasons for the divorce.
“On-ah.”
Dad looked around and spoke quietly but firmly.
“I’m sorry. I just remembered that my friend’s father, whom I mentioned, was scammed by a close acquaintance who recommended a business to him, and now he’s living in a rented studio…….”
“Is that so?”
Seeing his serious expression, it seemed Dad had been worried too.
“Wouldn’t it be better to invest in reliable stocks instead? Large listed stocks don’t usually fall easily.”
“It’s not that I haven’t thought about it, but I don’t know much about stocks.”
In fact, retirement wasn’t sudden for Gajingu. Since last year, sensing the pressure to retire, he had looked for new work while seeking re-employment, and one of those possibilities was stock investment.
As the field of artificial intelligence grew rapidly, countless work robots had appeared along with the development of advanced science. And those robots had replaced numerous jobs.
Of course, despite that, there were still many tasks that absolutely required manpower, including in that field, but it was true that the absolute number of jobs had greatly decreased. Naturally, unemployment had risen sharply, and the majority of available jobs were contract positions.
Therefore, stock investment had become more active than before. The number of individual traders had greatly increased, and they traded not only stocks but also commodities and coins.
Naturally, Gajingu, considering the reality that re-employment after retirement wouldn’t be easy, had also taken an interest in stock investment, keeping in mind the idea of receiving his retirement pension as a lump sum and managing it.
He wasn’t confident about ultra-short or short-term trading, but he thought medium-term investment would be possible if he studied to some extent.
However, even after retiring, since the bank loan was substantial, he had to give his wife a certain amount every month, so medium-term stock investment didn’t fit, and he had been leaning toward re-employment by any means when his son suddenly brought it up.
“It’s not that I know much and am telling you this, but actually, I overheard our professors talking. They were discussing promising stocks for the future, and they mentioned a few companies that looked promising.”
At Gaon’s words, Gajingu’s face grew serious. He thought that if business professors had said it, it might be somewhat trustworthy.
“Which company?”
“The company they mentioned as the most certain was called Savior Company. They’re releasing a virtual reality game on January 1st of next year.”
“Hmm. I’ve heard of it. A game company founded with investments from 16 governments, right?”
Interest in Savior Company and the soon-to-be-released Another Mundus was rapidly rising—to the point that even Dad knew of it. However, many people didn’t view its prospects brightly.
“That’s what I heard. The professor said that currently, existing game companies are using the media to keep up negative predictions, so the stock price is lower than the IPO price, but after the game launches and a month or two pass, it will rise greatly.”
“Is that so?”
While his son was talking, Gajingu turned on his watchcom screen and searched the stock price, then nodded. As his son said, the stock price had been maintained at a level slightly lower than the IPO price for some time.
“Yes. They’ve issued coins as well, so I think it would be good to purchase those first before the stocks, check for changes in the valuation, and then decide what to do.”
“Coins? You mean cryptocurrency?”
“Not cryptocurrency. They said it’s a coin to be used in the game that’s being released.”
“Will it be okay?”
“It’s 100,000 won per gold, and since individuals can only purchase up to 5 million won per person anyway, if it’s just to check the stock price trends, I think it’s enough to invest.”
In other words, if the coin’s value rose, the stock would rise too, so they should use it as a reference.
“Shall we try that?”
Gajingu had decided to do something with the lump-sum severance pay he received, but he had been seriously worrying about how to use it.
First, he had seen many acquaintances who retired and started businesses taste the bitter cup of failure, and many had fallen into extreme poverty in an instant.
A friend who came by every day to urge him to invest said it was a sure success, but since Gajingu didn’t know much about that field and knew well what future awaited if he lost his severance pay, he couldn’t help but deliberate deeply.
At such a time, having his son say this made him inevitably intrigued.
But he couldn’t decide right away. Just then, the eel arrived, so he focused on eating.
When two bottles of soju were emptied, Gajingu finally brought up the topic again.
“Alright. For now, let’s do as you say and invest in the coins first, then watch how things go.”
After careful consideration, Gajingu decided so.
“If the coin value goes up, you have to buy stocks right away.”
“Of course. If it goes well, I should look into this instead of re-employment.”
In fact, the reason Gajingu was stressed even after retiring was that he couldn’t decide whether to re-employ even at lower pay or to do something completely different.
Since he had decided like this for now, he planned to rest comfortably until the coin value fluctuated greatly.
“Since this investment is medium or long-term, if you think it’s successful, why don’t you enjoy Another Mundus released by Savior Company from then on? I don’t know the details either, but they say it’s not a game only for people who like combat; there’s a lot for retired elderly to enjoy too.”
“Hmph! Maybe I will. Come, let’s have a drink!”
“Yes, Dad! To a successful investment!”
“Hahaha! Yes! To our success!”
Gajingu, having made a toast, drank soju with a lightened face.
He didn’t know why the soju going down his throat tasted so sweet. It was probably because, unlike until now when he had wandered without knowing which way to go, he had decided what he had to do.
The drinking continued until evening, and the two returned home pleasantly drunk.
Perhaps because his tolerance had weakened with age, Dad washed up and fell asleep right away, and Mom, who came home quite a bit later, had apparently gotten drunk during the company dinner, so she washed up and went straight to bed, meaning they could hardly talk.