Chapter 13:Money and Talent Pour In

                  Chapter 13: Gift (1)

Ryu Seong focused and read the text that had appeared.

It was shocking.

He never imagined that the number of people influenced would be as high as **3,781**.

It had truly become an issue in a very short time and attracted a huge amount of attention. That said, unless someone had actually bought Liar Coin, there was no real reason for them to react to this content. Yet the fact that so many retail investors (ants) responded meant that the number of individual investors participating in cryptocurrency was enormous.

“Wow… that’s insane.”

He couldn’t even imagine that a single altcoin would have this many retail traders jumping in for short-term scalping. And even this figure was probably only a portion of the total. There must have been many who either ignored his warning or deliberately did the opposite.

Anyway, thanks to that, he gained **19 foresight points**, which naturally brought a smile to his face.

Adding the 1 point he already had, that made a total of **20 points**.

That was enough to do random draws twice. But he didn’t believe the same kind of insane luck would strike again.

What if both pulls were complete garbage?

Just thinking about it made him shudder.

He decided to hold off this time.

If a few more quests came up, he should be able to gather 30 points easily. Buying solid, confirmed information at that point would be far safer.

“That’s the right move, right, Lucky?”

*Nyaaa?*

“Hehe, yeah, yeah.”

Satisfied with his own plan, he opened the shop system.

1. **Cash 1,000,000 KRW**

   Required foresight points: 1

2. **Random stock & coin information**

   - Can acquire information related to domestic or overseas companies, as well as coins; however, the quality/level of information is random.

   Required foresight points: 30

3. **Fatigue Recovery Potion (Low-grade)**

   - Instantly recovers a certain level of fatigue.

   Required foresight points: 20

4. **Treatment Medicine (Low-grade)**

   - Can provide near-instant healing for conditions requiring minor surgical or internal medical treatment. For severe illnesses, only a very slight effect can be expected.

   Required foresight points: 100

5. **Random Draw (Low-grade)**

   - Anything can appear, from completely useless trash to some items unobtainable in the regular shop. There is a very low chance of acquiring rare, special products that cannot be obtained through the normal shop.

 Required foresight points: 20

[Current foresight points: 20]

Nothing had changed…?

For a moment his brow furrowed.

Wait…?

The last paragraph of item 5, the Random Draw, had changed. More precisely, the required points had increased from 10 to 20.

“Mmm…!”

A suppressed groan escaped him.

A short silence followed.

Eventually he let out a sigh and shrugged his shoulders. It seemed that after purchasing a certain number of items, the required points increased. It was a bit disconcerting, but not impossible to understand.

He had no choice but to accept it.

In the future he would likely obtain much larger amounts of points, so if the costs stayed fixed forever, the balance would collapse.

“Yeah, fair enough.”

Since nothing else had changed, he nodded and closed the shop system.

Well… maybe this was actually better.

Spending 20 points on a random draw right now would have been extremely inefficient anyway. The fact that the dilemma was gone could be considered a positive.

That was enough of that.

After finishing his thoughts about quests and the shop, his mind returned to the topic of his profession.

**Full-time investor**.

He went into his room, opened his laptop, and searched for information about being a full-time investor.

[Being a full-time investor is absolutely not easy.]

[I make consistent daily profits from scalping, yet I’m still hungry.]

[You must trust companies with solid performance and maintain a long-term mindset if you want stable returns.]

[Because it’s full-time, you actually need an even more disciplined daily routine. Otherwise you can’t improve your quality of life.]

[If you treat it as investing rather than gambling, your future will surely be bright.]

There were many different opinions.

While he was deeply absorbed in reading them, the laptop suddenly froze.

“Ah, it froze again.”

Since it was already over seven years old, the laptop was clearly on its last legs.

Should he buy a new one?

He had plenty of money.

Even after paying back the money he borrowed from Lee Shin-woo and clearing the emergency loan, he still had about **250 million KRW** left.

250 million.

It really was an enormous amount.

The moment he once again realized he was holding such an astronomical sum of money, all the purchasing desires he had suppressed due to lack of funds exploded in an instant. The various items he had wanted for so long flashed before his eyes like a slideshow.

“I finally made my first real profit, so I should at least buy something to commemorate it, right, Lucky?”

*Nyaaa.*

First, flex for himself.

Next, gifts for the family.

After roughly sorting his priorities like that, he typed into the search bar.

As soon as he hit enter, products poured onto the screen.

Sleek, powerful, cutting-edge spec laptops proudly displayed their gorgeous designs.

Wow…!

His eyes were already spinning.

*

Lying in bed and enjoying online shopping turned out to be far sweeter than he had imagined.

Should I get this one? Or that one?

With the burden of price completely gone, shopping felt incredibly enjoyable.

“This is the one.”

He decided to pull the trigger on the 2-in-1 laptop he had been wanting for a while. He went to a suitable site, customized it to the highest specs, and the price came out to a whopping **3.5 million KRW**. In the past, his heart would have pounded and his hands would have trembled so much that he could never have pressed the checkout button. But not anymore.

He also decided to replace his chair.

On top of that, he added a mechanical keyboard and an ergonomic mouse.

“You can even choose the delivery date, huh?”

The world really has become amazing.

Well, since he had to buy gifts for the family too, he figured he might as well set them all to arrive on the same day. After roughly estimating a suitable time to carry out the plan, he set the delivery date accordingly.

Okay, done.

He immediately proceeded to payment.

[Payment in progress.]

[Payment completed.]

The purchase process ended ridiculously simply.

“Now, then…”

Next up were gifts for the family.

Starting with his younger siblings.

He thought about it, but honestly, he had no idea what they actually needed. In times like this, the best approach was probably to just ask them straight.

- What are you doing?

He sent a message to Ryu Hwan, and the “1” disappeared as a reply came almost immediately.

- On my way to school, you know that. Why?

- Do you need anything these days?

- Tons.

- Like what?

- Why do you wanna know?

Ha, these kids never make it easy.

Should he just skip it?

Maybe it would be better to only buy gifts for his parents.

- If you don’t need anything, just say so.

- …It’s not like I don’t need anything.

Did he read the mood perfectly through text again? Unlike usual, the quick reply made Ryu Seong let out an involuntary chuckle.

- What is it?

- A tablet…?

What kind of tablet?

- Galaxy Tab S9 Plus, fully optioned…?

- Damn, you're specific, kid.

- But why?

- Just asking.

- Tch, and here I thought…

After lightly brushing off the message, he immediately searched for the tablet.

1.5 million won.

He tossed it into the cart for now.

- Anything you want?

This time he asked Ryu Hyeon-ah.

- Salvatore Ferragamo, the top-handle bag from the new collection?

No hesitation at all—just straight to a luxury bag.

Let’s see how much.

A quick search showed it was around 900,000 won.

“Hmm, not as bad as I thought.”

The brand itself wasn’t exactly ultra-high-end. These days it was more of a mid-to-low luxury brand that was trending. Feeling it was reasonable, he nodded—and right then another string of messages arrived.

- Why are you asking???

- You’re not gonna buy it for me anyway. Did you get a girlfriend or something? lol

- Don’t waste money on useless stuff haha

- You don’t even have money, you beggar lol

- You said you got some cash from an event before—you’re not blowing it all right now, are you??

Those annoying “lol”s and “haha”s tacked on at the end really grated on him.

Replying felt like a hassle.

- Not answering? Pissing me off!!!!

He lightly ignored that one too.

- Aaaah!!!

While ignoring her, he briefly thought about gifts for his parents.

This was easy.

A very simple matter. Every time he saw his father’s worn-out shoes and old wallet, and his mother’s outdated bag, it always tugged at his heart.

“I should get them something really nice.”

Honestly, he wanted to buy a bunch of other things too. But if he suddenly showered them with too many gifts at once, his parents might feel burdened. After thinking it over several times, he concluded that this amount was just right for now.

It would be better to slowly replace things for them one by one.

Decision made.

Looking at the fully loaded cart, he proceeded with the purchase.

[Payment completed.]

He had spent quite a large sum, but strangely the feeling was pleasant. Maybe because this was the first time in his life he was giving them proper gifts. Come to think of it, he realized he had never even given them something small like a pair of socks before.

“…”

For some reason, he felt pathetic about himself.

From now on, he would change.

With that resolve, he smiled contentedly.

Nyaaa.

Lucky’s cry rang out.

Hm?

He glanced over and saw Lucky staring straight up at him from under the bed.

“Aww, what’s wrong, my Lucky?”

Even after carefully picking him up and placing him on the bed, the cat’s plaintive meowing didn’t stop.

“Hmm…?”

Nyaaa…?

“What’s the matter?”

Nyaaaa?

It was almost like he was expecting something.

Was it just his imagination?

In that moment, he realized one thing he had completely overlooked.

“Ah? Wait a second—I didn’t buy anything for Lucky.”

Nyaaaa!

As if that were exactly the right answer, Lucky let out an even louder cry.

“Hah, seriously. Alright, alright, I’ll buy you something. You really seem like you understand words at times like this.”

Feeling guilty, he hurriedly started searching online.

“Would you like something like this?”

Nyaaa!

“You like it? Then into the cart.”

Nya!

“How about this one? Like it? And this? Aww, you do?”

Nyaaaa!

In the end, he bought snacks, various toys, and other goodies for Lucky—only then did a full sense of satisfaction finally wash over him, as if the entire shopping spree was now truly complete.

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