Round Two Wants to Monopolize Episode 2
“To think I’d be using the results of the World Cup from twenty years ago like this.”
The customers who came to the store always asked about the results, whether they were drunk or not. If he gave a good answer, 10,000-won tips would fly in by the handful, so he had made sure to memorize them by rote. The people who lived drowned in toto or gambling yammered on every day about how much they’d won or lost, so there was no way he couldn’t know the system. Using just this information, he could earn dozens or hundreds of times more than he did now, lugging bottles around a bar until his wrists hurt.
More importantly—
“The World Cup is merely the beginning.”
What he had gone through wasn’t simply waiting tables or life as an athlete. If it made money, he had done everything from handling dirty work for chaebol families to illegal gambling, private loans, and real estate speculation. Even if he walked that same path again, eliminating the missteps he had made along the way, he was confident he could rise higher than his past self.
“Even if my body has grown young again, my mind hasn’t become immature.”
Uhyeok, whose eyes had been gleaming, soon shook his head.
“But I can’t do that. My past life ended when I died pathetically, betrayed by my younger brothers and stabbed. I have been reborn.”
He wanted to live a life he wouldn’t be ashamed of when he stood before Huiyeon again. He remembered those he had made shed tears of blood because of him.
“I will right my wrongs.”
No, more precisely, it was about preventing those wrongs from happening at all.
He opened a notebook lying in the corner of the room and wrote down what he knew by year. Things that would happen in the future, things he needed to remember, and things he mustn’t forget. They ranged from personal matters to societal ones.
“I need to move quickly.”
From the dirty tasks the chaebol families had entrusted him with, to corporate mergers, to major incidents. Things like the Bitcoin craze and COVID-19 were things people couldn’t understand yet.
Uhyeok wrote without noticing the passage of time, all the way up to the day before he died.
[…Meeting with National Assembly member Jo Gwangyeol.]
If he had been the king of the night, National Assembly member Jo Gwangyeol was a hypocrite cloaked in light. He was a man who did not fear getting others’ blood on his hands and who justified it. Beneath him existed countless Uhyeoks.
[I died from being stabbed.]
And on the very next line, he wrote without hesitation upon the blank white paper:
[And I was reborn.]
Uhyeok closed the notebook with a snap.
For what was written here to all become fact, he needed proof. Fortunately, the way to verify it was right before his eyes.
“If I look at the World Cup qualifier results just a day from now, I’ll know for sure.”
The soonest World Cup qualifiers from now were three matches on June 1st.
Group E
[Ireland Cameroon]
[Germany Saudi Arabia]
Group A
[Uruguay Denmark]
“If I get all these matches right, it confirms I’ve returned to the past. Conversely, if I’m wrong, it means I’ve gone crazy living in this filthy, cramped semi-basement room.”
The corners of Uhyeok’s mouth curved up in a crescent.
“Then shall I start by lightly earning some pocket money?”
* * *
As soon as morning came, Uhyeok threw on a hoodie and slung on his bag. The chill of dawn hadn’t faded yet, so the air was extremely cold.
“Phew. To think I got through winter with just a shabby hoodie.”
He moved his body busily, trying to shake off the cold.
First thing, he withdrew all 5 million won from his account in cash. 50,000-won bills weren’t issued until 2009, so they were all 10,000-won bills. Five bundles of 1 million won each—it was quite heavy.
“Carrying money around is work too.”
The place he visited afterward was a lottery shop near his house. There were already many people from early morning. Uhyeok settled into a corner and pulled out a paper slip. There were various matches, but he was only looking for the World Cup games.
Group E
Ireland Cameroon
[Win 3.33 Draw 2.95 Loss 2.30]
Germany Saudi Arabia
[Win 1.29 Draw 4.82 Loss 9.05]
Group A
Uruguay Denmark
[Win 2.63 Draw 2.73 Loss 3.03]
Below the matches were the odds for winning, drawing, or losing.
“Ireland and Cameroon draw 1-1, Germany scores 8 goals against Saudi Arabia for a crushing victory, and Uruguay loses to Denmark 1-2.”
It was only three matches, but if he got them all right, it was 11.5 times the principal. Moreover, if the winnings were under 2 million won and the odds were under 100x, he didn’t even have to pay taxes.
Uhyeok marked the slip according to his memory and handed 100,000 won to the part-timer.
“Three matches for 100,000 won, right?”
The part-timer glanced at Uhyeok, processed the payment, and handed back the slip. Uhyeok ducked his head slightly and left the shop.
“It’s frustrating that I can only buy 100,000 won at a time.”
Unlike illegal gambling, toto had various restrictions. First was the purchase limit: 50,000 won online and 100,000 won offline. But since they didn’t check ID every time, he could buy as much as he was willing to pound the pavement for, as long as he went to different shops.
“Phew. To spend all 5 million won, do I have 49 slips left?”
Uhyeok rode buses around, but all he had bought by noon was 30 slips. He went into a convenience store, roughly filled his stomach with bread and milk, and massaged his tired legs. His stamina was the worst for having walked around for just half a day.
“How is my stamina worse than it was twenty years later? I need to start exercising.”
While thinking that, his phone rang. Uhyeok’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the name on the screen.
[Gang Jihun]
He was the manager of the store Zeus where Uhyeok worked, and Gang Min’s older brother. He had definitely called about yesterday, when Uhyeok had left the store without permission and hit him.
“This is Uhyeok.”
“You’re coming to work today, right?”
“Yes.”
“Good. See you at the store later.”
With those words, the call ended. It was obvious what he would say.
“He’s trying to coax and cajole a naive kid so he can use him for cheap labor.”
Until Uhyeok usurped Gang Jihun’s position, he had always operated that way. He had fallen for it in his naive past, but not now.
Uhyeok shoved the remaining bread into his mouth and stood up. He had to move busily in the afternoon as well to buy the remaining 20 slips.
“Phew. Shall I try the Gangbuk area in the afternoon?”
It wasn’t until the sun had set that day that he succeeded in buying 5 million won worth. The bag that had been heavy with money was now filled with 50 bundles of receipt slips, yet it somehow felt more reassuring.
Uhyeok returned home with light steps. And in front of his house, he ran into someone waiting for him.
“Uhyeok!”
“Seonghwan Hyung?”
It was his close hyung who had died in an accident around this time. Bae Seonghwan. He had shaggy hair and a puppy-like face.
“He was the hyung who took particularly good care of me…”
He had wandered from construction site to construction site, doing any work he could find. But that hyung, who had lived so diligently, committed suicide before 2002 passed. It was quite a shocking event for the young Uhyeok.
“You moved and didn’t contact your hyung even once?”
At Bae Seonghwan’s question, Uhyeok snapped out of his thoughts.
“Just… been busy.”
“Oh-ho. So you’re working now, huh?”
Plastic bags full of side dishes hung from both of Bae Seonghwan’s hands.
“What did you buy all this for?”
“You punk. If not your hyung, who would take care of you? Stop nagging and grab the rice and toilet paper. I thought I was going to die carrying that stuff all the way here.”
Uhyeok picked up the sack of rice and headed down to his place. Seonghwan, who had gone in first, flinched at the mold covering the walls. He quickly averted his face and spoke.
“…It’s always tough when you first live alone. But don’t starve yourself.”
He put the side dishes he’d brought into the frost-covered refrigerator. Uhyeok watched Seonghwan’s back and recalled forgotten memories. He had acted like Uhyeok’s father, but in reality, he was only two years older.
“I didn’t know that back then.”
Even so, whenever he earned money, he always came over with meat or alcohol. Then, always while drunk, he would persuade Uhyeok to go to college, saying he’d pay the tuition. When he was young, Uhyeok had thought his hyung really made a lot of money.
“It was all my misunderstanding.”
When Uhyeok went to clean up his remains after he made that extreme choice, he was shocked. In a shabby gosiwon barely one pyeong in size, there was only a single set of clothes for summer and winter, one notebook that looked like a diary, and a worn bankbook. In the bankbook, faded letters spelled out “college tuition.”
[60,000,000]
[Hana Life]
[-60,000,000]
[-8,280,000]
[Woosung Private Loan]
The entire amount in the bankbook had been transferred to a private loan company. They said he had lost all his money to gambling, but Uhyeok had never believed it. The notebook contained records of how fiercely he had lived every day.
[Gosiwon fee 130,000]
[Monthly transportation 47,000]
…
[Side dishes for Uhyeok 89,000]
Uhyeok had once asked him: why do you take such good care of me? They had no connection other than growing up together in an orphanage. Back then, Bae Seonghwan had said:
“I may not have strength, but I have hope.”
He had entered society two years before Uhyeok. In doing so, he had crumbled against the world’s prejudice and walls. Bae Seonghwan was smart, but lacked ruthlessness. Uhyeok, on the other hand, had it.
“I was his hope.”
He was a far more trustworthy person than the twins who had plunged a knife into him. Upon returning to the past, things he hadn’t realized back then became freshly visible. Uhyeok’s gaze grew warm.
“Uhyeok. Do you have scissors or a knife? Since I’m here, I should clean up the mold.”
“I’ll do it later, so sit down.”
“Punk. There is no later. I have to go to night shift soon.”
“That’s why I’m saying let’s talk for a bit.”
Uhyeok turned the boiler he’d kept off to the highest setting. And instead of tea, he warmed up some water and served it. At the uncharacteristic seriousness, Seonghwan smirked.
“What? You want your hyung to give you some pocket money?”
“Pocket money? I just wanted to see your face after a long time.”
The Seonghwan he was seeing again was nothing but a worn-out young man. He tilted his head at the affectionate gaze.
“Is something wrong? That’s why I told you to quit the bar job and study.”
“You’ll pay for it?”
“Yeah, punk. I can cover that much. Your hyung earns a lot.”
He patted his chest as if to say to trust only him.
“He tried to be my pillar, but he himself probably had nowhere to lean on.”
“Hyung. I’m going to study.”
“Good. That’s the right decision. You were famous as a prodigy at the orphanage too. You’ll catch up in no time.”
Seonghwan sincerely blessed him.
“But why did you suddenly decide to study? It’s not easy out there in society, right?”
“Yeah. So I’m going to try biting into a gold spoon too.”
“Gold spoon?”
“Yeah. Just like you, the spoon we’re born biting down on is pretty lousy, isn’t it?”
At this time, the concepts of dirt spoon and gold spoon didn’t even exist yet. When Uhyeok explained it, Seonghwan listened with curiosity.
“You get three chances to change your spoon in life. The first is the spoon your parents put in your mouth when you’re born.”
“Hmm. That’s right. The spoon the parents have goes straight to the child.”
Uhyeok had already had a clump of dirt spoon shoved in his mouth just by being born.
“The second is the college signboard. Only by getting that can I polish this wretched dirt spoon stuck in my mouth, even a little.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, Uhyeok. No matter how good a college you graduate from, it’s hard to get a job these days.”
“It’s not simply for getting a job.”
Korean society revolves around three great connections: school ties, regional ties, and blood ties. He had no regional or blood ties, so the only thing left for him was school ties.
“For school ties, grades or anything else don’t matter. They only look at whether the signboard stuck to your forehead is H, K, or Y.”
Uhyeok had been the same. Even when assigning work completely unrelated to studying, he had preferred four-year college graduates over middle school dropouts. It was simply the trust felt from that one signboard.
“That may be true, but won’t that kind of society change as time passes?”
“Even the current president appoints ministers based on school ties.”
Quite the opposite. The world isn’t rational. People were not gentle to those who lacked.
“They’re only warmer and kinder to those who have. The tears of the poor and the tears of the wealthy are different.”
“How so?”
“The poor cry because they don’t have, while the wealthy cry because they can’t have more. How could the weight of their sorrow be the same?”
“Hmm. So you’re studying to become rich?”
“Exactly. That’s why I’m trying to change to a gold spoon even now.”
“Then what are you going to do with that fancy signboard?”
Perhaps because his words were too realistic, Seonghwan asked bluntly.
“I just want to become someone high up.”
“Someone high up? Out of nowhere?”
Uhyeok smirked and nodded.
“Hyung, do you remember the happiest day when we lived at the orphanage?”
It wasn’t his birthday, Christmas, or New Year’s Day. On days when National Assembly members visited, delicious food and gifts piled up. Bae Seonghwan laughed loudly.
“That’s right. To us, National Assembly members were our parents and Santa.”
“Back then, with my childish mind, I thought this: if I became a National Assembly member and visited the orphanage every day, the kids would be happy every day too.”
“Childish.”
Bae Seonghwan lifted the cold cup and took a drink.
“But it’s meaningful.”
“Thank you. I knew you’d say that, Hyung.”
“If there’s a bad National Assembly member like Jo Gwangyeol, there should be a good one too.”
Like the warming room, both their faces flushed red. It was because their previously empty hearts were being filled tightly with something.
“Ah. By the way, you said three chances, so why did you only mention two? Don’t tell me the last one is parents’ inheritance or something?”
Uhyeok shook his head.
“The last one is the skill to make luck.”
“Luck is luck. Why does it need skill?”
“Of course it does. To win the lottery, you have to buy a ticket, and to catch falling persimmons, you have to be under the persimmon tree, don’t you?”
Uhyeok intended to sweep up all the luck prepared before him.
“Then I can change not only my fate, but Seonghwan Hyung’s as well.”