Smooth Sailing After Divorce: Episode 4
Episode 4: Last Chance, A New Beginning (1)
[Clatter, clatter.]
I was doing the dishes. Lathering up dish soap and scrubbing hard, stacking them as I went, and before I knew it, it was time to rinse. I turned the tap to a trickle of lukewarm water and scoured them one by one until they squeaked, by which time the clean plates had finished preparing themselves to be dirtied again.
The mountain of dishes began to disappear, one by one.
My lower back ached. Stretching, I turned my head.
[January 14, 2017.]
A full four years ago.
To be exact, I had returned to four years and seven months in the past.
That summer day when I had met a miserable death in some valley in northern Gyeonggi Province. I recalled the mysterious girl I had met right after dying.
A week had already passed, but even now I could hardly tell whether this was a dream or reality.
Everything was so natural. As if nothing had ever happened. Everyone treated me as the Kim Bong-jin of four years ago.
In reality, I was the Kim Bong-jin of four years and seven months ago. A young man just turning thirty by international age? Kim Bong-jin.
“What are you doing?”
Min-joo suddenly poked her face in.
For a moment I sucked in a sharp breath and took a defensive posture. Perhaps because of my stiff expression, suspicion filled Min-joo’s face.
“Why are you so startled? Are you hiding something?”
“No... You just came out of nowhere... You surprised me, that’s all.”
“Doing the dishes all of a sudden—you’ve gotten so much nicer? You’re not hiding anything from me, are you? Hee hee.”
I did my best to get a grip and forced a nonchalant smile. Only then did Min-joo withdraw her suspicious gaze.
The side profile of her rummaging through the refrigerator with an innocent face overlapped with the Min-joo from before my regression.
I held back my unconsciously moving hand. My barely stopped hand rested an inch behind the kitchen knife.
My marrow froze, and cold sweat ran. It had happened unconsciously.
It was undeniably a face I had grown sick of seeing over the past week, yet I simply could not adapt to it. Because it was the her from four years ago.
The world hadn’t changed as much as I’d thought.
Similar phones, cars, house, workplace. It was a daily life no different in any significant way.
The problem was Min-joo.
Every time I saw the face of the vibrant Go Min-joo, an inexplicable bloodlust surged in my chest. Uncontrolled rage and hatred seized and shook me whenever they got the chance.
“Why has my darling been like this lately? Hee hee, sit down when you’re done. I’ll peel you an apple.”
Min-joo took two apples from the refrigerator and headed to the living room.
My gaze naturally went to her bulging belly.
There were still a few months left until birth. The timing of the pregnancy subtly overlapped with the honeymoon. It was an early pregnancy that made everything ambiguous.
Above all, I clearly remembered that it hadn’t been a very enjoyable trip. And that getting pregnant had supposedly not been so easy.
I had harbored similar thoughts back then, too. But now there was no need to worry.
After all, it was a cuckoo’s egg without a single drop of my blood.
Was she in a good mood? She was doing things she normally never did, especially today.
Even as I ate the apple Min-joo gave me, I fiddled with the USB in my pocket.
It was a hidden voice recorder disguised as something needed for company business. The scheme to track my wife had begun from the very day I returned.
Min-joo and Yang Geum-tae had known each other for a long time.
She had only avoided my eyes using swimming as an excuse, but perhaps they had continued even after her bachelorette party—no, perhaps since we were dating.
I stole a glance at Min-joo’s giggling face.
Covering her mouth at the scenes on TV and laughing—the sight was no different from back then.
Leaving aside whether she treated me well or not, looking back now, the balance of power had collapsed. I hadn’t realized it then, but now I knew for sure. She was taming me, doling out carrots and whips according to her mood, like handling a pet.
Disgusting.
The hatred that rose unbidden conjured horrifying imaginings.
It was possible even now. Without an ounce of guilt.
Even if I ended up in prison, since my pre-regression revenge would be fulfilled, I’d be satisfied.
However, what I wanted wasn’t simply Min-joo’s death alone.
Yang Geum-tae, the one who had driven me to my death. Beating that bastard to death alongside her was the number one goal of this life.
Killing Min-joo alone would never be enough. To do that, I had to catch her tail as soon as possible. If I made the first move before she noticed and kept her under control, the initiative would fall to me, no matter when.
And something just as important as that—indeed, the second most important thing to me—was none other than money.
It was a daydream I’d always had. If only I could go back one year, two years, three years, four years—I’d dump everything into cryptocurrency! Funny, but that opportunity was now right before my eyes.
* * *
“Oh my, what brings you here? Aren’t you newlyweds?”
“Yeah, company business. Mom, where’s your passbook?”
The place I had come to after secretly using my annual leave was my mother’s house. Surprised by the sudden visit, Mom looked at me with wide eyes.
In my previous life, Mom had fallen ill over the paternity incident.
How great must the pain and regret have been? If she learned on top of that that I had died...
Compared to then, emotion suddenly welled up at her vibrant face.
“Give me your ID, too.”
“What’s going on all of a sudden?”
“The company is giving stocks as an incentive, so I’m going to invest through your account. It’s a secret from Min-joo, Mom.”
“Well, well. What’s gotten into you? A guy who only ever knew Min-joo.”
My chest felt heavy at Mom’s expression, as if asking why I was acting this way all of a sudden.
Had I been like that? Well, I suppose I had. Because the Kim Bong-jin of four years ago was a stupid, trashy pushover.
While Mom went to the kitchen, I hurriedly created a cryptocurrency wallet and exchange accounts.
The market was slowly heating up, but it was still one only those in the know were jumping into. As if proving that, the servers of both accounts I created were humming along briskly.
“BitNumberOne used to go down at every critical moment. These bastards are a cut from the start. Stupid app.”
Though it wasn’t noticeable yet, I excluded from the start any exchange whose servers crashed during every surge or plunge. I heard later that if you didn’t log in for six months, they’d cash out as they pleased. What kind of stupid exchange did that?
To maximize profit, I had to be able to sell when I wanted. What I chose were the other two, BitKorea and CoinEleven.
“Eat this while you work.”
Right as the text confirming account completion arrived, Mom approached with fruit.
I picked up a slice of pear, ate it, and closed my eyes briefly.
What should I do now? In any case, as long as I traded through Mom’s account, the possibility of property division disappeared. Whether I hit it big or hit it huge, it became a matter completely separate from Min-joo. That alone was a great gain.
My eyes inexplicably reddened with pride. It had been such an easy thing—so why hadn’t I done it back then?
“Come to think of it, the money I can invest...”
When my plans reached the investment funds, I suddenly had a terrible realization. Checking my account through the app, my worries became reality.
The money I could use right now was at most one million won.
Absurd, but it was the truth. Since my wife managed the accounts, the only money I could spend without her notice was the three hundred thousand won I received once a month. This money was barely enough to buy a cup of coffee.
“Mom, how much is in your account? Besides this?”
“I don’t have any more money after buying your house. Don’t you get any funny ideas.”
The numbers didn’t work out like this. I had to earn at least a hundred billion won for my regression to be worth it. Only then could I kill those who needed killing, save those who needed saving, buy a yacht, travel the world, and enjoy life.
Of course, to do that I needed capital of at least several hundred million.
“Haah... blocking my path regardless of time, Go Min-joo.”
If anything was even slightly suspicious, she’d rush in like a tiger. She had no interest or talent for investing, but she was a woman overflowing with greed and suspicion. Whether it seemed like it would work or not, she would spout her usual bullshit logic with that disgusting voice of hers.
In any case, the die had been cast long ago. The immediate bank accounts and house were already in Min-joo’s hands. It was safe to say there was no money I could take from home, whether cash or valuables.
* * *
“You’re looking into taking out a loan?”
“Yes.”
It was a situation that made me sigh. I had racked my brain for a long time, but there was no sharp solution other than a loan.
Inside the crowded bank, there were many others in similar situations. The pleading type, the yelling type, the rational type, the discouraged type—all people who needed money right now.
Was the difference between them and me the fact that if they just lent to me, I could yield a hundred times or more?
“In customer Kim Bong-jin’s case, you already have five hundred million won tied up in a mortgage, so... if you’ll excuse me, may I ask the purpose of the loan?”
“Purpose? Investment.”
“Ah... investment? Hmm, just a moment.”
The bank clerk slightly furrowed his brows.
Silence fell, and only the clamor of typing could be heard. How much time had passed? After several more bursts of typing and a few phone calls, the clerk cautiously opened his mouth.
“By the way, how much were you thinking, and at what interest rate? We have several products suitable for you, but generally in these cases the interest can be high. On the one hand, you have high income and solid financial records, but on the other, given the anticipated excessive debt, the conditions will inevitably be quite unfavorable.”
“Then roughly how much would be possible? I need as much as I can get.”
“It varies widely depending on conditions, but in your case, I think you can consider about one hundred million won to be the maximum. However, since that would be the limit, you must bear the corresponding rise in interest rates.”
“Sigh... do you have any affiliated non-bank lenders?”
“You already have extensive loan history, so other financial sectors won’t be much different. Interest rates will go up and amounts will go down. Savings banks will evaluate you similarly to us.”
Only a hundred million?
No matter how loan-ridden my life had been, was my position really only this much?
If so, even scraping together money from second-tier and third-tier lenders would yield similar results. Two hundred million would be the limit if I scraped together my very soul.
All the money I could roll, even betting my life, was two hundred million won. Big company or not, in a situation where my bank accounts and house were in my wife’s hands, this was the most an individual like me could use.
With two hundred million, even if I flipped fifteen times in Bitcoin and fifteen times in Ripple, it would only be forty-five billion. At this point it was unimaginable money to anyone, but not to me. Now that I had come back, I couldn’t wrap up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a mere several hundred billion. Since it was all debt investing anyway, I might as well squeeze out the maximum return.
I had to think of something. At least another hundred million—no, as much as possible! Whether one billion or ten billion, I had to gather everything I could. I couldn’t miss this golden opportunity to flip a hundred times. If possible, even private loans with thirty percent interest...
“Wait, private loans?”
Borrowing from an individual was a private loan either way, wasn’t it? Anyone could lend as long as they had money and wrote a promissory note.
Then anyone who personally trusted me? If I excluded my wife’s people...
Only one person came to mind at this point.
“Choi Dong-ho.”