God of Money

Jang Gwangchul grinned widely and teased Woosung, “I heard you were voted the most eligible bachelor in Korea!”

Woosung grinned. “Haha, too bad you’re only in the 7th place.”

“W… what?”

“I told you to strive to be number one! I mean, I realize it will be hard to beat me, but you could have at least been number two.”

Jang Gwangchul closed his eyes and shook his head.

Woosung continued, “Haha, I’m still in my 20’s but you are so old! When will you get married?”

“Hey!”

“Your parents even told me how worried they are!”

Jang Gwangchul started to sweat. “Gosh, that’s none of your business. I will get married when I’m ready.”

“Whatever.”

“…”

Jang Gwangchul knew he couldn’t win an argument against Woosung, so he changed the subject.

“I heard you will be interviewed by the Times magazine.”

“Yes. They also want to use me on the cover page. I have been selected as the young business leader of the year.”

“How do you feel about that? Times!!!”

“I don’t feel anything. What I am actually interested in is perhaps taking over the Times magazine company.”

“You want to buy EVERYTHING in the world… Is that it?”

“Haha, don’t you think I could do it?”

“Hmm?”

“Don’t worry. I won’t. I don’t have the time anyway.”

Jang Gwangchul shook his head. Sometimes, he couldn’t understand Woosung’s jokes.

Jang Gwangchul changed the subject again.

“We are making hundreds of millions of dollars every day, so what’s next?” Jang Gwangchul was curious about Woosung’s plan.

Woosung replied, “I think it’s time to focus on Sungyong Auto.”

“How?”

“Grow it into an electric and self-driving car specialty company. To do this, I am thinking about hiring many more AI experts.”

“And?”

“I don’t have the specifics, but I want to buy a few more companies and introduce Bitmain at the Times interview.”

Jang Gwangchul asked doubtfully, “Will Bitmain really become a profitable company?”

“It will be bigger than you can ever imagine.”

Bitcoin.

Woosung planned on popularizing this cryptocurrency soon.

When appropriate, he would get Choi Gichul involved.

“Then what?”

“The end of dollars.”

“W… what?”

Woosung didn’t answer. He just looked out the window. He wasn’t ready to talk about it yet.

***

Korean Business Agency office.

Choi Gichul frowned as he looked at the Times magazine.

“Why does everyone think he is so great?”

“The man that will lead 2011.”

“The god of money.”

“Kang Woosung.”

It was the nickname Times gave to Woosung. God of money.

Choi Gichul stared at it unhappily.

Suddenly, his landline beeped. When he answered, it was Woosung, “Please come to my office.”

Choi Gichul frowned nervously.

Woosung’s office was on the 10th floor. Choi Gichul sat down anxiously.

Woosung read the report in front of him and glanced at Choi Gichul.

“Hmm…” Woosung sighed deeply.

Choi Gichul’s stress level was soaring. His position was precarious. If he got on Woosung’s bad side, it could have a bad reflection on Daeyang.

Woosung finally said to him, “This report is better. Why couldn’t you do this before?”

Compliment.

This was the first compliment he got from Woosung. It didn’t feel bad. Choi Gichul almost smiled.

“Good work. The introduction and the main parts are all very concise yet detailed. I can’t find anything to correct.”

Choi Gichul had to stop himself from smiling widely.

He calmly replied, “Yes, sir.”

“Keep up the good work.”

“Yes.”

Woosung was most likely the richest man in the world now. He was by far the fastest growing businessman. Choi Gichul couldn’t help but feel ecstatic at the compliment from such a great man.

Woosung laughed after Choi Gichul left. “What an idiot.”

This was the technique he learned from Choi Gichul in his previous life. Criticize and punish until they hit bottom. Then compliment them a few times. They will feel grateful for these rare praises.

Woosung felt great. Sweet revenge.

“This is just the beginning. I will get him to invest in bitcoins and then destroy him.” Woosung started to laugh hysterically. “Hahaha, it’s going to be so fun.”

***

After getting back to his seat, Choi Gichul looked at the magazine again. Woosung didn’t look as bad on the cover now. He even smiled a little.

Choi Gichul turned the pages to Woosung’s interview.

“What did he say to the Times?”

As expected, it was mostly about his business and his future plans. One word caught Choi Gichul’s attention.

“Bitcoin?”

He remembered Woosung mentioning this word in the past. It was also one of the cryptocurrencies dealt at Bitmain.

“AI, self-driving car, and blockchain are the future.”

“Through the currency called Bitcoin, blockchain will continue to improve. Bitcoin will someday destroy the current monetary system and will become the most popular digital currency in the world.”

“It will happen sooner than you expect.”

“Please remember the two words. Blockchain and Bitcoin.”

Choi Gichul quickly searched these terms on the internet. They were already the most searched terms online in Korea. He called Jung Jinsup for more information, but he didn’t answer.

“Bitcoin… Bitcoin…”

***

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After the popup, another server was created within only a few minutes.

“Frontend 3, backend 5. Completed.”

“Connection delay has been fixed.”

“We will upload the announcement right now.”

“The call center is going crazy with all the inquiries.”

The Bitmain office was busy. The employees stared at the monitors worriedly.

“Sir, this isn’t enough. We need more servers. If this continues, the servers will shut down again.” Park Jonghyun glared at Jung Jinsup, who continued nervously. “This is a structural problem. It needs to be fixed if we want things to improve.”

“Do you know how much it costs to maintain a new server? 400 dollars per month. 400 dollars!”

Jung Jinsup replied, “I’m sorry.”

“We have a sudden increase in the number of users because of the Times magazine. We will eventually get to more servers, but right now, what we need is program improvement. Got it?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Let’s get going then.”

Woosung watched the scene secretly from his office.

When Park Jonghyun walked into his office, Woosung praised him, “Friend, I’m impressed. You are so good at dealing with the employees.”

“But things are becoming awkward now. As you know, we hired a lot of people for Bitmain.” When Woosung nodded, Park Jonghyun continued, “People are feeling sympathetic towards Jung Jinsup.”

“Hmm…”

“People hate me.”

“But you don’t treat other people like you do Jung Jinsup.”

“People see how I treat him. They talk behind my back. Is it really okay for me to continue like this?”

“Well, I think you’ve done enough. The only thing you need to monitor now is to make sure the employees don’t trade bitcoins on the side. If they are ever caught doing it, they will either lose their salary or get fired.”

“Don’t worry about that. I have made it into an official office rule.”

“Haha, good.”

Woosung grinned evilly and glanced at Jung Jinsup.

‘But Jung Jinsup will get involved. He has to.’

Park Jonghyun saw Woosung’s expression and flinched.