If I Don’t Earn 1 Trillion Won, My Regression Ends - Chapter 1

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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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Episode 1

This work is a fictional story, and any real company names, organization names, or personal names mentioned in the work are unrelated to reality and are fictitious.

I swear I’ve lived quite diligently.

So why do I have to listen to this bullshit?

“100 million won at thirty? Hey~ That’s old news. You don’t know anything. These days the seed money starts at 300 million. If you’re in your thirties, you should have saved up at least 300 million. Even regional apartments are going for 300 million, 500 million in this world.”

“Ahem! Daerim…”

“Oh, right! Our Seo Jumnim saved up 100 million recently! We even had a congratulatory dinner and look at my brain. I absolutely wasn’t talking about you, Jumnim. Sorry. It’s my fault. Sorry~ We’re good, right?”

Are we, you bastard?

When the manager was talking about car poor people recently, he was trembling asking if he was talking about him, but when he’s showing off, he uses that terrible pronunciation saying “it’s my fault”? This shit?

‘If only Kim Daerim would die…’

If I weren’t an INFP, I would have charged at you.

If that bastard wasn’t here, I wouldn’t be stuck as a supervisor in my 6th year.

Then the dark history of getting excited about saving 100 million and bragging to my coworkers wouldn’t have happened either…

Yura/HR Team

That’s 100% targeting you

I know;

Yura/HR Team

Don’t mind him, he’s not worth it

That loser will spectacularly fail for workplace bullying someday, I bet 100 million on it. There’s more than one or two people plotting against him

Stop saying 100 million 100 million, I’m getting PTSD

Is 100 million easy? Is 100 million nothing???

Yura/HR Team

Sorry..

Honestly, isn’t it a human victory for a jeonse scam victim who got their engagement broken off to save 100 million? Am I the only one who thinks so?

“Your keyboard’s going to catch fire, Seo Jumnim. Hold back a bit.”

“Ah, sorry…”

When I smiled awkwardly, Jang Daerim whispered.

“There’s a lot of talk behind the scenes about Kim Daerim getting promoted to assistant manager instead of Sing-a. That’s why he’s acting like that. He’s being competitive. So petty, right?”

“…Weren’t you two close?”

“Oh my. Why such an unpleasant delusion?”

“I heard you were alumni, same line…”

“You watch too many dramas. What kind of lines exist in a place like this?”

True… In a company where everyone’s busy planning their escape, what lines are there?

I’m an idiot for believing it even for a moment~.

As if reading my mind, Jang Daerim muttered to himself.

“What’s the point of graduating from a good university? Working in a place like this, everyone gets leveled down as if by agreement.”

…Jang Daerim. How many people are you hitting right now?

The image of myself proudly wearing my department jacket throughout college flashed before my eyes.

Would that me have known I’d end up living like this?

I felt tearfully sad, but with the resilience of a 6th-year employee who endures most things, the sadness passed by like a scratch.

But anyway…

‘Now the seed money starting line is 300 million?’

Since when exactly?

I barely managed to save 100 million while shitting blood, and now what kind of thunderbolt bullshit is this? Are you sure? Did you average it out excluding BLACKPINK and IU?

Kim Daerim may be annoying, but he’s in all kinds of coin and real estate chat rooms, so he’s well-informed.

Sure enough, when I frantically checked, regional apartment prices were really blazing up.

“This is driving me crazy…”

Does this really mean owning my own home in this lifetime is just a fantasy?

‘…Should I just cancel my subscription savings account now.’

♧

[“That’s why I told you to get into coins with me! If you had gotten in then, how much would it be now~!”]

On the way home from work.

At my story told like a complaint, Seok Eunchoo (relationship: childhood friend) screamed from the other end of the phone.

“Forget it. What coins? And they’re crashing these days anyway.”

[“Tsk! That’s just temporary. Anyway, you need to break free from that stuffy notion that coins are gambling. Does that kind of mindset make sense in today’s world?”]

“I hold labor sacred and regard the value of work as noble…”

[“Are you from the Stone Age? Humanoids are on standby for deployment, what value of labor? Don’t you know about the AI revolution, primitive person!”]

“…”

Actually, I know well. The AI revolution, I know.

OpenAI, NVIDIA, Tesla, Gemini, Perplexity, etc… Why wouldn’t I know? I follow them in the news and have been steadily doing installment investments.

It’s just that in front of this Seok Eunchoo, I maintain the attitude of a scholarly girl indifferent to worldly matters.

Why?

‘Actually, I was so, so envious…!’

My childhood friend Seok Eunchoo was a member of the famous FIRE community who achieved self-made success at an early age through excellent investment strategies, not those social evil coins.

The protagonist of a 21st-century luck myth where 10 million won invested out of curiosity when coins were unheard of returned as 10 billion won.

Having this guy right next to me made my stomach hurt and my pride wounded, so I didn’t want to go anywhere near coins.

This is the snotty neighbor kid I’ve been bossing around since elementary school!

But…

‘This guy really has no loyalty.’

When this guy was last in the entire school, if he had recommended it with even half the sincerity I showed when I photoshopped his report card?

When he said he’d tattoo his girlfriend’s face on his back, if he had recommended it with even half of half the sincerity I showed when I packed lunch boxes to stop him?

Would I really not have bought it?

Eunchoo, are we really friends after this?

“I just canceled my subscription savings account.”

[“Gasp!”]

“Seok Eunchoo, I’m really feeling terrible today. Sigh…”

[“This won’t do. Where are you now? Want to meet? How about a consolation drink since it’s raining?”]

If you’re going to console me, give me money…

[“Or a gift? Isn’t there anything you want?”]

There is. Your entire fortune…

“Ugh… I suck.”

[“What! You’re making a fuss even when I offer to give you a gift?!”]

“Not you, me. Seosing-a. I’m saying I suck.”

Sing-a, Seosing-a.

When did you become such a money-grubber?

You definitely had dreams, goals, and so many things you wanted to do. When exactly did you start chasing only money?

When did you become so pathetic.

“I’m so disappointed in you…”

[“…Me? No way, right?”]

The me in my thirties that I dreamed of wasn’t like this. The adult me I imagined was much, much more-

“Ahhh, shit✕! Mom!!!!”

What is that?!

“Mister, what are you doing?!”

I was finally getting sentimental and setting the mood! What are you doing here, seriously?!

The bus stop in the rain as the day had grown completely dark.

Some homeless man was crouched there, sobbing.

He was wearing something like a sack over himself, so for a moment I thought he was a ghost and nearly fainted for real.

[“What the! Seosing-a! Are you okay? Send me your location right now!”]

“I’m fine. I’ll call you back later!”

[“Hey, don’t hang up! Hey!”]

I cautiously took a step closer.

“Um, excuse me…?”

It was a dark, rainy night.

I knew I should be cautious, but…

‘How many days has this person been starving?’

It was a sight that could move even the cold heart of a Seoul person. From his sickly pale face to his shabby, tattered clothes that barely covered his body…

Whatever his story was, the crying that wouldn’t stop even at this moment was the finishing touch.

“Are you alright? You can’t stay like this…”

“—Seosing-a!”

Oh my! I jumped in surprise and turned around.

A young man holding an umbrella while limping on one leg. As he approached, dragging his slippers with a scraping sound, his silhouette became visible under the streetlight.

It was my younger brother, Seo Cheong-song, with his fierce expression.

“What are you doing there?”

His subdued tone was quite irritating.

He looked like he had just woken up.

Due to his job as a police officer, his day and night shifts changed constantly, and since last month he’d been busy with a serial murder case in the area, having to take responsibility for my safe return home as well.

“Do you know how many calls I made? Who were you talking to for so long? Did you get a boyfriend?”

“It was Eunchu— No, look at this person first. Quickly.”

Only then did Seo Cheong-song look in front of me, raising one eyebrow as he approached. He naturally handed me the umbrella and grasped the homeless man’s shoulder.

“Sir? I’m a police officer. Are you feeling unwell anywhere?”

…Now that the people’s guardian had arrived, was it time for me to get lost? Seo Cheong-song seemed to have the same thought as he gestured with his eyes.

“Go ahead first.”

“You’re taking him to the police station?”

“He’ll die if we leave him like this. In this weather.”

“True. Got it.”

It was already late due to the damn overtime work.

Soon a patrol car arrived, and leaving behind the homeless man in the rain and the busy police officers, I went home first.

♧

Right.

I thought my encounter with that homeless man who seemed to have many stories ended there…

I glanced at my wristwatch.

5 AM.

It was dawn when even commuters were extremely rare.

Unless you were a loser like me who started a miracle morning routine after being stimulated by Kim Daerim’s 300 million won comment yesterday, everyone would just be waking up now…

‘Why is this man still here?’

Didn’t the police take him away yesterday?

The homeless man who looked like a starving Jean Valjean yesterday now looked like Gollum on his deathbed in the daylight.

‘Sigh. I’m not usually this kind of person…’

Fine. Let’s think of it as doing a good deed.

A beauty with a rough fate like me needs to accumulate good karma like this sometimes.

“Excuse me. Here… You seem to have been starving for a long time, but eating just anything on an empty stomach will upset it. This would be better for you.”

When I opened the lid, a savory smell and white steam spread out.

It was thin porridge made with just a bit of white rice, egg, and oatmeal.

Farewell, my lunch box…

And just as I was about to take my heavy steps away.

“You’re the young lady who helped me last night, aren’t you?”

“Huh? Oh, I wouldn’t say I helped…”

“You left your umbrella behind. For me to use. You went home getting rained on.”

He was just crying the whole time, so when did he see that?

While I hesitated, the homeless man rummaged through his tattered clothes and pulled out a pair of cracked glasses to put on.

Then his appearance changed remarkably.

From a ruined Gollum on his deathbed to a ruined Gollum intellectual on his deathbed!

“That police officer yesterday too. He seemed like your older brother, and I’m indebted to him.”

“He’s not my older brother, he’s my younger brother. Seo Cheong-song is twenty-six, I’m thirty. There’s a whole four-year difference…”

“Oh? I’m sorry. I’m not good at that kind of thing with people. I don’t recognize ages well. I’ve lived all my years carelessly.”

“It shows.”

“…?”

“No! I misspoke. It’s because it’s morning on an empty stomach. That’s not what I meant—you seem like someone who’s fallen behind in society— no, like someone who’s studied a lot. Like you work as a researcher or something.”

“H-how did you know?!”

…Really?

He kept pushing up his thick glasses, so it was just random nonsense I threw out.

“I-it’s just written on your face, sir. ‘I have a long educational background~'”

“I see. It shows, huh…”

The homeless man became dazed. He looked somehow deflated.

How many minutes passed in such awkwardness?

Around the time the bus arrival notification sound—like salvation to an INFP—could be heard, the homeless man spoke again.

“Do you happen to know a company called 【Quera】?”

What’s this.

Does my face say I’m a primitive person with no interest in AI and future industries? Is that it?

“Is there anyone who doesn’t know Quera? Seongja, Nix, Quera. I may not have stocks, but do I lack knowledge? It’s also prejudice to think pretty people are ignorant. Where would you find someone who doesn’t know the KOSPI big three, really.”

Even though I got worked up over something strange, the man showed no particular reaction. He just looked up at the distant sky.

“My name is Park Min-su.”

“Yes? Yes. I’m Seosing-a.”

“Park Min-su… You don’t recognize it?”

“It’s a good name. A bit common though…”

“You really don’t know?”

What am I supposed to do?

“You don’t know. Of course. Even hearing the name, you’d wonder what I’m suddenly talking about.”

He understands…

“Actually, I’m the founder of 【Quera】.”

Ah…!

He was a sick person…!

“I know. The founder known to the world is someone else. But that bastard, that con artist, isn’t even a co-founder. He’s just a despicable traitor.”

He was very sick…

While I was thinking about how to secure a safe distance, the homeless Park Min-su’s muttering began to go beyond the level of complaints and turn dark.

“Quera’s limits are absolutely not at this level. What does that bastard know about quantum? If I could go back to that time, I’d never let it slide. I’d never again, those bastards…”

What is this. It’s scary. Please save me.

‘When is the bus coming?’

That’s when it happened.

A blue shadow wavering at the end of the road.

Finally here! Toward the bus that was especially welcome today, I hurriedly stepped forward. But then.

“Huh?”

A bus… no, that’s not it?

A bright blue pickup truck, familiar to any Korean, was majestically charging through the dawn wind toward us.

“The fate of this country, perhaps even the world’s fate would have changed… if only I could go back to that time…!”

Huh? W-wait a minute.

Something’s strange…?

The homeless man’s dialect rambling behind me was no longer important.

“Mister? Mister! D-don’t tell me that thing is right now-!”

Park Min-su! Look!

This isn’t the time to be spouting nonsense!

If I’m not mistaken, that pickup truck seems to be charging straight at us right now…!

Vroooooooom―!

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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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