【Episode 2 – 2012, New York】
Ring, ring—
-Hello?
“Father!”
-Oh, yeah, is that Heon?
“Father!”
-Oh, yeah, is that Heon!
“Father!”
-Oh, yeah. What? Am I not coming through well?
“No! I can hear you too well!”
-Then why are you shouting like that, you rascal?
“Father, could we do a quick video call…”
I had checked dozens of times while running out of Jake’s room to the carrier store, but hearing Father’s healthy voice made me forget everything.
Video calls weren’t yet common in 2012, and Father, who used a basic flip phone, couldn’t use such a feature.
-Video call? Why a video call?
“No… Father, I’ll tell you later, but you must remember what I’m about to say.”
-Why? What’s going on? Did something happen?
“You always have to be careful of cars.”
-Ah, is it because of what happened earlier? If it’s that, don’t worry. Like you said, I canceled the appointment and came straight home.
He had prevented the traffic accident that happened on August 22, 2012.
“Still, you have to be careful.”
-Alright. I will.
“You must!”
-I said I got it, you rascal. How many times are you going to say it?
*Because no matter how many times I say it, it’s not enough.*
I wanted to convey it more clearly. That this was a precious opportunity not just for me, but for Father as well.
“Father, on the way here, a very gifted shaman sat next to me on the plane. She said Father has to be careful of a traffic accident.”
-You met a shaman on the plane?
“Yes. She told me about today, so I’m calling. She said if you had an accident today, Father would be severely injured—enough to be in life-threatening danger—and because of that, our family would be ruined.”
He would be injured so badly that he would need to receive his son’s liver.
-Really? The shaman said that?
“Yes!”
-I’m grateful, but it’s a bit eerie. She’s not a ghost; no matter how gifted she is, how could she pinpoint that exact moment?
“Father, she is truly a gifted person. She knows all about our family’s past and tells us what we need to do in the future.”
-That person guessed all our family’s past correctly?
“I’m telling you, she did. She even knew about how Father was scammed three years ago and almost went bankrupt.”
-Even that? She really is a gifted person.
“And she said if we get through this crisis well, we’ll achieve great success.”
-Really? She really said that?
People are all similar.
They are reluctant to believe misfortune, but excited by good fortune.
At the words *great success*, Father’s voice changed.
“Yes! That person said if we just follow the advice she gave us, only good things will happen to our family from now on.”
-Is that so? Hearing that, she sounds like a good person. But, Heon.
“Yes, Father.”
-Why did the shaman go to New York?
“What?”
-I’m asking why such a gifted shaman went to New York. Surely she didn’t go to read fortunes for foreigners.
“Ah, that’s… she said someone she knew is entering law school this time.”
-Really? What a coincidence.
It had been years since I’d heard Father’s voice without him treating me like a criminal.
*A gift from God?*
Having returned as if it were the next day, I had been able to prevent the greatest misfortune that had befallen our family.
Though I wanted to go back and see Father’s face immediately, I had things to do here.
A second chance that came like magic.
This time, I wanted to do well.
I wanted to try living perfectly.
“Father, I’ll call you again then.”
-Yeah, then go on in. You too, always be careful of cars, be careful of people.
“Father!”
-What?
“I love you.”
-What’s with you today, you rascal. I love you too, son.
“Be careful of cars! *I mean it!*”
-I got it, you brat.
Click.
At a T-Mobile store on West 32nd Street, at the edge of Koreatown in Manhattan, after finishing the call with Father on a newly activated Galaxy S2, I stood blankly for a while.
It wasn’t easy to digest all of this chaotic and strange situation in just a few hours.
Still, after talking with Father, I felt better.
I felt like everything would work out somehow.
Like I could make it that way.
Taking another breath of the August 2012 air, I headed straight to 40 Washington Square South.
---*---
One week later.
The NYU Law School campus is attached to Washington Square Park, situated between Greenwich Village and NoHo.
It uses buildings facing the southwest corner of the park, and among them, the building primarily used by 1L students—that is, first-year law students—was Vanderwilt Hall at 40 Washington Square South.
“Hey, is this Vanderwilt Hall?”
*Eleanor?*
NYU Law School does not publish or rank students’ grades. Grades are known only to the individual, and even if a law firm or company requests them, the school will not confirm individual students’ grades.
It is a school with that much pride. They are saying, *The mere fact that you graduated from our school is proof enough.*
That doesn’t mean the school doesn’t manage student grades at all. Unofficially, it compiles grades for purposes such as selecting *summa cum laude* graduates and various scholarship recipients.
The “Pomeroy Scholarship” was an honor started in 1999, given only to ten freshmen with excellent grades that year.
Among the new students who enrolled in 2012, there would be no one who didn’t know Eleanor Young. It wasn’t just because she was one of those ten, but because she was beautiful enough to work as a model.
“Have we met somewhere before?”
We have. In the future.
“If we had, I think I’d remember.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, right.”
“What is?”
“This is Vanderwilt Hall.”
“Ah… thanks.”
After a brief greeting, she hesitated for a moment before entering the building.
She didn’t know, but I was actually heading to the same classroom.
First Criminal Law class for 1L.
***
“Heon, over here!”
Entering Room 210 of Vanderwilt Hall, Sein waved her hand.
“Yeah.”
She’s a good friend.
I had known her for over ten years, so I knew well that she was a kind person, but from her perspective, she had first seen me during orientation last week, yet she had been kind to me from the start.
“Professor Rachel Lindberg is running about fifteen minutes late due to some matter.”
“Is that so?”
“So did you find a place?”
“No. Not yet.”
“Really? Hmm… then among my friends…”
Before she could finish speaking, Professor James Madison, who taught Constitutional Law, came in.
She whispered that she would tell me later and focused on class.
I knew what she was trying to say.
But I had no intention of moving into the place of the guy she was going to introduce.
*
“What do you think is the most important clause in the Constitution?”
When substitute Professor James Madison asked, passionate students presented their opinions.
“Wouldn’t it be ‘We the People’ in the Preamble?”
“It’s the First Amendment guaranteeing freedom of expression.”
“I also agree that it’s the First Amendment, but I think the reason is not ‘freedom of expression,’ but rather Article I, Section 8, Clause 18, the ‘Necessary and Proper Clause.’”
When the discussion subsided somewhat, Professor Madison pointed at me.
“The student in the very back? What’s your name?”
I found out later. He pointed at me because I was wearing a University of Toronto cap. It was because he had graduated from the University of Toronto as well.
“It’s Heon.”
“Did you say your name is Honey?”
Chuckle— Hahaha—
Laughter burst out even in my second time through this.
“Okay, Heon. Which clause do you think is the most important in the Constitution?”
“I think the most important clause in the U.S. Constitution is Article VI, Clause 2.”
Called the “Supremacy Clause,” Article VI, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution states that the Constitution and federal laws enacted in accordance with it take precedence over any state constitution or law.
“Oh— why do you think so?”
As the atmosphere changed at my answer, the students’ gazes turned toward me all at once.
“The United States is a union. After the outbreak of the Revolutionary War in 1775, the politicians who led the independence wanted a strong central government to resist Britain, but many power holders remained skeptical of the federal system. In that situation, to persuade the leaders of each state, the drafters included clauses in the Constitution that recognized state governments’ authority to the greatest extent possible. And based on those very clauses, the present state governments of the United States possess a powerful independence unseen in any other union system. Had Article VI, Clause 2 not existed, I predict total chaos would have ensued. The politicians of each state, already preoccupied with how to gain more authority, would have sought to enact various laws to break away from the federal government’s influence, and the federal government might have collapsed long ago.”
When the answer ended, Professor Madison looked at me as if I had peered inside his head.
It was natural. Because this was the content he would lecture on in Constitutional Law during the spring semester a few months later.
In fact, there is no correct answer to the question of which clause is the most important in the U.S. Constitution.
As the students had just discussed, some might say the Preamble, and others might say the First Amendment.
However, Professor Madison held the view that it was Article VI, Clause 2.
“Ha. Fascinating. I think this is the first time in nearly ten years I’ve seen a student with the same opinion as mine. Did you say your name is Honey?”
“There are people who can call me that, but unfortunately, I don’t think you are one of them, Professor.”
“Hahaha. Understood. I’ll remember. I will definitely call you ‘Heon.’”
Just then, Professor Rachel Lindberg entered, and my first meeting with Professor Madison ended there.
Though it was a brief fifteen minutes, it was enough to leave a proper impression.
On Professor Madison, and on the students who were in the classroom that day.
***
“What the heck? I didn’t know you were that type.”
After class, Sein asked.
“What type?”
“A total bookworm.”
“You’re the bookworm.”
She had attended school in Korea.
The nickname “bookworm” suited her better, with her LSAT 178 and GPA 4.0.
The one thing she lacked was exactly what most Korean students lacked: “guts.”
If grades were determined solely by tests, she probably would have beaten all the freshmen who enrolled that year.
“No, what I mean is…”
Because someone approached us, she stopped talking.
“Honey, is it okay if I call you that?”
It was Eleanor Young.
**Memory of the future**
*One year before regression,*
*2021, a day in October.*
The owner of the academy had changed, and a company dinner was held at a Hanwoo restaurant near the academy by the new director.
It was an ordinary, obvious day with obvious talk only…
“Why doesn’t Teacher Je drink?”
“This friend has to be careful with his liver.”
“His liver? Why would a young person…?”
“A few years ago, this friend’s father was severely injured in an accident, and this friend donated his liver to him.”
“Ah— is that so? A rare friend to see in this day and age.”
In response to the new director’s question, the head teacher kindly explained on his behalf.
The new director asked the teachers this and that, and thinking he had roughly satisfied his curiosity by the time the drinking party ended, he gathered the young male teachers and started talking about his interests.
“Teacher Je, do you invest in stocks?”
“No.”
“Is there anyone who doesn’t do stocks these days? Then what do you do for asset management? Don’t tell me you do crypto? You’re not doing crypto, right?”
“I don’t.”
Even with a hundred million won salary, after taxes, paying off loans, father’s hospital bills, parents’ allowance, younger sibling’s tuition, and various other deductions, not much remained.
Of course, I should do financial investments with spare money to make a lump sum, but I hadn’t been able to yet.
“Yeah, you’d better not do crypto.”
“Why? Among my friends, there are some who made money from crypto.”
Head teacher I Junik, who had answered on my behalf a moment ago, asked. He had good social skills and seemed to have become quite close to the new director in that short time.
“Those are all stories of people who did it before the 2017 crypto price surge. They were lucky. But not now.”
“Isn’t it though? Isn’t Bitcoin price almost 80 million won now? Some say it’ll hit 100 million.”
“That’s because Teacher Je doesn’t know something. In 2017, what was worth one million won at the beginning of the year rose to 25 million won by the end of the year. And then it completely crashed, to less than half of half. This recent rise is a rebound after hitting bottom for three years.”
“But it has risen a lot, hasn’t it? If something that was 25 million won rose to 80 million won in three years, isn’t that a successful investment regardless of what happened in between?”
“Of course it’s successful. If your investment quadrupled in three years, that’s a true expert. But human psychology isn’t like that. ‘Holding on’? That’s not something just anyone can do. You bought at 25 million, and it hovered around 10 million for three years before starting to rise? Then most people sell as soon as they recover their principal. And even those with guts sell when it rises 50%, no, 20–30%. That’s investor psychology. Crypto fluctuates so wildly that even so-called experts can’t predict it. Just this year alone, it halved in May before rebounding. But if ordinary people like us jump in? It’s basically like scratching a lottery ticket.”
“Isn’t that the case with stocks?”
“Not stocks. There are indicators. Credible data showing how well a company is doing comes out every quarter. Of course you can’t invest based solely on those, but it’s still far better than crypto.”
“Then what stocks do you recommend, Director?”
“Tesla. Netflix. Apple.”
“They’re all American stocks?”
“American stocks are the answer. Ah, of course you can make a lot of money with domestic stocks too. But personally, I think American stocks are much safer. Didn’t I say Bitcoin quadrupled in three years? Teacher, do you know how much Netflix was in 2017?”
“How much?”
“$150 per share. Do you know how much it is now? $630 per share.”
“Did you buy it then?”
“Of course.”
“Wow— jackpot.”
“Do you know how much Tesla was? $25 per share. Now it’s $250 per share.”
“Wow— ten times! That’s insane. Do you have Tesla too?”
“I bought some of that too.”
“Director, you’re amazing. A true expert—no, a real-deal expert.”
“So I’m telling you to do stocks, not crypto. Crypto newbies always say, ‘If I had bought Bitcoin ten years ago and held until now, how much would it be worth, how many times over,’ but well-performing stocks have similar returns. On top of that, there’s stability. Teacher, do you know what Netflix stock price was ten years ago?”
“No.”
“In 2012, it wasn’t even $10 per share. That stock is now going for $630 per share. That’s 6,300%. Do you know how much Tesla was? It wasn’t even $2 per share. But how much is Tesla stock now?”
$400 per share.
20,000%.
Who would have thought this obvious and tedious conversation among office workers would help.
I didn’t know then.
---*---
Ring, ring—
“Yes, Father.”
-Oh, yeah. It’s Dad. Nothing wrong?
“Nothing wrong.”
“Have you had dinner?”
-Yes.
-It’s not anything else. I came to the securities company here and opened a stock account like you said, but they keep telling me to double-check if buying the stocks you mentioned is correct. Tesla and Netflix, right? T-S-L-A and N-F-L-X. Companies listed on NASDAQ.
In 2012, not many people knew about Tesla and Netflix stocks.
Wondering if I had crossed over to a different dimension rather than the past, I investigated and found that both companies existed and were operating the businesses I knew.
I could also find financial reports that positively evaluated the two companies, though not many.
It was an analysis I could fully sympathize with as someone who knew the future, though I was no expert.
Therefore, if my memory was correct, and if that financial report was accurate, Netflix stock would increase tenfold within a year, and Tesla would also rise about five times.
“Yes, that’s right. For now, please purchase Netflix stock with a high weight of about 80%.”
-Alright. But I’m not sure if this is right. Buying stocks based on a shaman’s words…
“Father, please believe me just this once. It’s not like you’re borrowing money to do this. Just leave it in for one year—no, just watch it for the next half year, and if you still think it’s not right then, you can pull out.”
-You rascal, this is the money I was supposed to send you for rent and living expenses. What are you going to do?
“You don’t need to worry about me.”
-How? Does the school give you a scholarship for living expenses too?
That’s not it, but there is a way.
“Yes.”
If the reason I was sent back here again was not to give me hardship, then money would no longer be a problem.