After the Divorce, I Found a Thousand Bitcoins - Chapter 59

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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I Got Divorced and Found a Thousand Bitcoins Episode 059

Kang Chan-wook had been troubled by many worries lately.

‘I don’t have enough money.’

The bank account balance showing on his smartphone.

[Balance: 1,320,530 won]

1.32 million won.

If 400,000 won went to monthly rent from this, what remained was 920,000 won.

Even that wouldn’t remain entirely.

‘After sending money to Older Sister…’

Three years ago.

When Father’s health deteriorated, Kang Chan-wook started sending money home.

Today too, as soon as he made the transfer, Older Sister called him right away.

“Hello.”

-You worked hard for a month.

“What hard work. How’s Father?”

-He’s gotten better. Though briefly, he goes out for walks and eats well too. How about you? You said you started cutting weight?

“Yeah. I need to gradually cut weight to make it in time for the competition. I’m doing it smoothly.”

Even though she must be having a hard time herself, Older Sister always prioritized worrying about him.

“If I win this competition, things will get easier. So just hang in there a little longer.”

-Don’t overdo it. Not getting injured comes first.

“Yeah. Got it. I’ll go work out now.”

-Alright, stay strong.

After hanging up, Kang Chan-wook took a deep breath.

“Whew!! Let’s do this!”

He steadied his wavering heart and headed back to training.

* * *

Kang Hyeon gathered information.

‘These fighters receive glamorous spotlights, but the environment itself is more barren than I thought. Unlike boxing, even reaching the very top doesn’t earn much money.’

The sport that makes the most money in combat sports is undoubtedly professional boxing.

Floyd Mayweather Jr., who retired with a 51-0 record, was famous for receiving 100 million dollars per fight.

Besides him, star-level players’ fight purses were beyond imagination.

Of course, not everyone was like that.

In the case of the domestic professional boxing scene, it was almost completely decimated.

It boasted such poor conditions that fight purses didn’t even reach a million won.

‘Professional boxing has tremendous popularity in the United States, but proper matches are rarely held domestically.’

This gap arose for various reasons, but what mattered was that mixed martial arts was even more impoverished.

‘Even champion-level fighters in small to medium organizations have fight purses limited to ten to twenty million won. You have to go to EFC to even think about hundred-million-won annual salaries.’

Starting from EFC, the world’s top organization, treatment becomes different.

Even fighters having their first match are guaranteed fight purses of tens of thousands of dollars.

On top of that, bonuses are given to fighters who put on exciting matches.

Since these bonuses also amount to tens of thousands of dollars, at the current exchange rate, they can receive fight purses of over 100 million won per match.

Moreover, if you become a star-level player, the treatment becomes markedly different.

[EFC heavyweight champion Oliver received one million dollars in fight purse after successfully defending his title for the third time.]

The article confirmed EFC star players’ fight purses.

One million dollars was certainly big money, but he wondered if that was really all in the world’s largest organization.

“Hmm, there seems to be something more.”

While gathering information, a phone call came in.

-Mr. Choi, did you arrive safely in South Korea?

It was Richard Blake from JP Morgan.

“Yes, thanks to you, the travel was convenient. Thank you for lending me the private jet.”

-Haha! Not at all. We owe you from this time, and for a company VIP like you, we’ll provide private jet service anytime.

“Thank you.”

He continued various conversations with Richard.

He felt the distance between them had grown much closer.

It seemed helping with Nereid’s deal had become the decisive opportunity to narrow the distance with him.

-Regarding the Nereid bond purchase, I will definitely repay you soon.

“Not at all. I also purchased them expecting that company to grow. You don’t need to worry about it like that.”

-Do you think immersion cooling will succeed, Mr. Choi?

“With Nathan’s abilities, it should be sufficiently possible. I think the reason it was delayed was because there wasn’t proper support.”

-Certainly, without proper research funding, there couldn’t have been progress. By the way, have you heard about Tom Heedle?

“Yes. I heard he was arrested. Will he serve actual prison time?”

-There’s a high possibility. All the wealth he accumulated was also confiscated, and since he didn’t have much original wealth, it will be difficult for him to receive a reduced sentence.

Tom Heedle would ultimately pay for his crimes.

After that, they continued various conversations, and naturally the topic of Vegas came up.

-Next time you come to the United States, you should visit places like Vegas too.

“I’m not particularly interested in gambling.”

-Vegas is famous for gambling, but there’s a lot to see. The large concert venue Sphere is worth seeing, and there are many activities. EFC is also held there.

“You know about EFC too, Richard?”

-Of course. It’s one of the sports I enjoy watching.

He thought this was perfect timing.

Unlike himself who only looked up articles, Richard, who had great interest and lived in the United States working in the investment industry, might be able to see things from a different perspective.

“Do you happen to know what EFC fighters’ earnings are like?”

-Earnings? You can quickly find fight purses by searching on Google. However, that’s only part of their income.

Richard seemed very interested in EFC and was well-informed.

“So you’re saying that rather than fight purses, the actual earnings from PPV bonuses are higher?”

-That’s right. And the more star power a fighter has, the higher their pay-per-view percentage. There’s data that isn’t publicly available, but I’ll send it to you if you need it.

“Then please do.”

-Yes, and if you’re going to invest in EFC, you must attend the event in six months. It’s the 300th numbered event, and President Goldwin is going to hold the fights at the White House.

“EFC at the White House?”

What kind of place was the White House?

In Korean terms, it was like the Blue House.

To hold mixed martial arts matches at the place where the president conducts official business?

It was unprecedented, but the fact that the person proceeding with it was President Goldwin made it understandable.

‘That man wouldn’t be strange even if he started a war right now.’

Thinking that, he wrapped up the call with Richard.

* * *

Team Baekho.

This was the name of the mixed martial arts gym that Kang Chan-wook belonged to.

While it was also a place where amateurs came to learn as a hobby, Team Baekho’s main focus was training professional fighters.

The head of this place was Kim Hyeon-su, a former fighter who had risen to 4th in the EFC welterweight rankings.

“Hmm…”

His worries had been deepening lately.

The reason was Kang Chan-wook’s EFC debut fight.

“Director, what’s wrong?”

Just then, Kang Chan-wook entered the office.

At his appearance, Kim Hyeon-su tapped the empty chair next to him.

“Chan-wook, have a seat.”

“Yes.”

“Chan-wook. About this training camp. How about going to Thailand instead of the United States?”

“Thailand?”

“Oh, originally I was planning to go to the United States a month early for training camp. But we can’t secure a main sponsor.”

Usually for EFC fighters, it was best to move to the competition venue a month early for training camp.

There were various reasons, but the biggest reason was jet lag.

“Master, but if that happens, it might be difficult to adjust to the time difference. You struggled with jet lag in previous fights too…”

“I know. I’m someone who suffered from that too, how could I not know? But what can we do? You know very well how much money it costs to live in the United States for a month, right?”

Training camps require a lot of money.

If a fighter goes alone, expenses can be reduced, but then proper training can’t be conducted.

So colleagues who can act as managers and training partners must be included and move together.

Even if they book an Airbnb, sufficient funds were needed to handle the murderous cost of living in the United States.

“The money we can currently invest is only ten million won in total. With this, we can only train for about two weeks. But if we go to Thailand, we can train for a month and build up our condition.”

One month or two weeks.

That was the choice to be made.

One might ask why not train in South Korea, but the problem was that temperatures had dropped as winter began.

“Training in South Korea’s current weather increases the risk of injury. If you get injured during high-intensity training, you’ll miss this opportunity.”

Being out from the first fight due to injury could leave a bad impression on EFC.

A situation where choices had to be made in various ways.

Kang Chan-wook’s expression darkened.

“Please give me a little time to think.”

“Alright. But you need to make a decision within a week. I’ll try to find more main sponsors too.”

“Yes.”

Money was holding him back.

* * *

PT day.

Kang Hyeon could read Kang Chan-wook’s expression, which was darker than usual.

‘Something must be going on?’

But they weren’t close enough for him to ask what was wrong.

Even though they met three times a week, it was ultimately a business relationship.

‘Still, I can’t drag this out any longer.’

Knowing that Kang Chan-wook had a fight coming up, he couldn’t delay any further.

Kang Hyeon made his decision and brought up the topic.

“Teacher, how are your fight preparations going?”

“Ah, yes. I’m now planning to go overseas for full-scale training.”

“Where are you going?”

“Probably Thailand, I think.”

“Thailand? Since the fight is in the United States, wouldn’t it be better to have training camp in the United States? Hawaii or Florida would be warm and good.”

Kang Chan-wook made a bitter expression.

“That’s true, but it costs a lot. You might not know, but professional fighters may look glamorous on the outside, but it’s quite tough unless you reach the very top level.”

It was the answer he expected.

Since he already knew this, Kang Hyeon didn’t drag it out further and spoke.

“Haven’t you been able to secure a main sponsor for this upcoming tournament?”

“Yes, probably because I don’t have a record in EFC, it’s not working out well. Korean fighters haven’t been performing well lately either.”

“Then I’ll be your main sponsor.”

“Excuse me?”

“Let’s discuss the details at the office. Please come to this address tomorrow at 3 PM. The gym master you’re affiliated with can come too.”

Kang Chan-wook, who received the business card Kang Hyeon handed him, stared at him intently before checking the card.

[KH Capital]

[CEO]

[Choi Kang-hyeon]

Simple, but it contained all the necessary information.

* * *

The next day.

Kang Chan-wook rode in Kim Hyeon-su’s car heading to KH Capital.

“Capital? What kind of loan company is it?”

To ordinary people, the image that capital gave was reminiscent of third-tier financial institutions or loan companies.

But Kang Chan-wook had already searched for information online to some extent.

“When I searched online, it said it’s an investment company. And this person named Choi Kang-hyeon who gave me the business card. He’s incredibly famous. He even shook hands with the Indian Prime Minister and such.”

“With the Indian Prime Minister?”

“Yes. Someone like that probably wouldn’t say something meaningless.”

If it was someone like that, it certainly seemed trustworthy.

“Hey hey, even so, you never know about people. Do you know how many strange people I’ve met while broadcasting? Plus, with AI being so advanced these days, such photos can be synthesized too.”

“That’s true, but…”

“Anyway, the contract is what’s important. I’ll take one look and judge it accurately for you!”

Kim Hyeon-su cared for Kang Chan-wook very much.

He was an EFC fighter who came out of the gym after a long time, and above all, Kim Hyeon-su liked Kang Chan-wook.

Though he was younger, he was someone worthy of respect for having excellent character as a person.

‘If there’s one flaw, it’s that he trusts people too easily.’

That’s why he had to protect him from the side.

With such resolve, the two people arrived at the KH Capital office and were presented with a contract.

“These are the conditions we’re proposing.”

The contract was concise and contained only the necessary content.

There were no problematic parts in the content.

‘The most important thing is the conditions.’

How much support they would provide could be said to be the core of a sponsorship contract.

Kim Hyeon-su turned the page to check the conditions written on the next page.

[KH Capital proposes the following conditions in exchange for main sponsorship.]

[1. Full financial support for training camp expenses.]

[2. Victory bonus will be paid for KO wins in EFC fights. The amount will be the same as EFC’s fight money.]

[3. If bonus money is received in EFC fights, the same amount of bonus will be paid.]

[4. The above contract applies until 5 fights are completed.]

Kim Hyeon-su’s eyes widened as he saw the conditions.

Seeing this, Kang Chan-wook asked.

“Hyung, why? Are the conditions good?”

“Chan-wook…”

“Yes?”

“Let’s definitely do this!”

At Kim Hyeon-su’s words, Kang Hyeon smiled.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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