Chapter 44:Money and Talent Pour In
Chapter 44: A Man at the Gym (1)
His subscriber count had reached a staggering 5,816.
He was genuinely surprised.
His average live viewers were only around 1,200, yet the number of subscribers was far higher.
“Is someone promoting me or something?”
He tilted his head and refreshed the page. In just a few seconds, it jumped by three more people to 5,819. It seemed to be rising faster than expected, so he waited a bit and refreshed again. This time, two more were added.
*Huh, it went up again.*
Now it was 5,823.
Of course, he didn’t stream often, and he mostly did long-term investments rather than day trading, so there was a good chance the subscriber count would drop over time. Still, he couldn’t deny that it felt good right now.
“Hehe.”
After watching the subscriber count climb for a while, he switched back to checking the stocks. The price had risen compared to earlier. Selling pressure was weak, and buying pressure was strong, so it looked like it would keep climbing steadily.
He also visited the stock forum for the first time in a while.
Since it was rising, why not?
He figured everyone there must be in a good mood. With that thought, he entered the forum—only to be greeted by a battlefield already on fire.
[What are you doing here? Hurry up and come to the biotech leader!]
[It’s about to drop soon!]
[Here we go with the bullshit again lol]
[Let’s all get rich with the leader, JinSang Scienceㅎ]
[It’s not the leader though]
[The real leader is Arang Life. This is 2nd tier? Arang Life is getting 3rd approval soon^^]
[Arang Life let’s go]
[JinSang Science always runs out of steam in the second half!]
[Are you throwing a tantrum at JinSang Science? What are you doing?]
[JinSang JinSang lol]
[Waiting at the lower limitㅎㅎ]
Even with such a good atmosphere, they were still fighting.
He couldn’t help but think they were truly something else.
In the middle of all this, a new post popped up.
[Breaking news, Arang Life 3rd approval!]
Since Ryu Seong also held Arang Life, his interest was immediately piqued.
*Everything’s breaking news with these guys.*
It was probably fake, but he decided to check anyway.
Pure curiosity.
He wondered what kind of weird article they had dragged up to make such a claim.
But…
It wasn’t fake. It was real breaking news.
“Huh? This is actually true…?”
Articles started pouring in one after another.
[Arang Life, 3rd approval!]
[FDA 3rd approval completed for Arang Life!]
[Arang Life’s expected future sales…!]
He hurriedly opened his brokerage app.
With a massive burst of fireworks, Arang Life had already hit its first Volatility Interruption (VI).
And it didn’t stop there.
The moment the first VI was lifted, it triggered a second VI and then locked straight into the upper limit.
It had shot up 30% in one go.
The volume piling up at that price level was enormous.
100,000 shares. 300,000 shares. 700,000 shares.
It finally reached 1 million shares.
The Arang Life forum exploded from the overwhelming buying pressure.
[Wow, I was going to buy today but hesitatedㅠㅠ]
[I believed in it! Time to go eat some beef, let’s gooooo!]
[So jealous…ㄷㄷ]
[Yeah, this is what a leader looks like!]
[Let’s gooooooo!]
It seemed the “tailwind” mentioned in the news was much stronger than he had anticipated.
*
He didn’t pay much attention to the overall flow of biotech stocks. Since he had already decided to sell by the end of the month, there was no need to monitor them closely.
Instead, he increased his walking time.
Today as well, he walked for over three hours.
“It didn’t appear again today.”
With a disappointed heart that the quest hadn’t shown up, he headed back home. After washing away the sweat with a shower, he sat down at his desk and continued studying the market.
Investment firms.
Lately, his interest had been completely stolen by them.
Goldman Sachs.
BlackRock.
Vanguard.
BlackRock.
Vanguard.
There were so many investment firms that ruled the world.
It really was a wonderful era.
You could watch the paths these giants had walked, so vividly, right on YouTube.
“Amazing. Truly amazing.”
Warren Buffett, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, had become interested in stocks at the age of nine and worked part-time at a brokerage firm writing down stock prices on the board. He had awakened to investing that early. The video explained how the magic of compound interest, born from that beginning, had made him the billionaire he is today.
[So, we too must start investing as early as possible.]
The video ended on that note.
“Whew…!”
Only after finishing did he realize how stiff his back had become. He stood up, did some light stretching, and lay down on the bed. As he naturally reached for his phone, a message had arrived.
[Manager Choi Yeon-soo: Writer-nim! I’m letting you know that August sales are going smoothly too. Congratulations! I think I’ll have some good news for you soon. I’ll call you then!]
It was from the emoji manager.
*Going smoothly, huh.*
He decided to check the emoji sales while he was at it. He logged into the site he had bookmarked before, and the sales dashboard popped up.
“Whoa…!”
Thanks to the event, July sales had hit 20 million won. Because of that, around 10 million won was scheduled to be deposited at the end of August. But what surprised him even more was this month’s sales.
It seemed the event’s effect had carried over into August. Current sales were already around 35 million won. At this pace, it looked like they would easily break 45 million won by the end of the month.
Hmm.
If it really reached that…
“Even after tax withholding…”
His net profit would be around 22 million won.
He never imagined he could make this much money from a single set of emojis.
It was completely unexpected income.
The biotech mood was good, and everything he was doing seemed to be going smoothly.
Was there anything else?
After checking the settlement statement, he opened his phone calendar. He had noted down a few important things and wanted to make sure he wasn’t missing anything.
“Ah, regular donations.”
He found something important.
It was already time to send the monthly regular donations. He had promised to send them every month but hadn’t set a specific date. He had roughly marked the end of the month, and that time had already come.
He had already finished sponsoring the orphanage this month, so he decided to send money to the remaining four places. He opened the banking app and transferred the amounts one by one.
2 million won to Happy Gangnyang-i TV.
1 million won each to individuals.
2 million won to Sky and Earth Abandoned Dog Shelter.
[Linked Quest ‘Welcome, Is This Your First Regular Donation?’ has been updated.]
[Total Regular Donation Amount: 9 million won]
After sending all the money, the total was quite large.
Still…
It wasn’t a burdensome amount.
He had earned plenty from day trading, and his biotech stocks were rising nicely. On top of that, with the emoji sales doing so well, the donation amount actually felt rather small.
*Should I increase it…?*
He was starting to think that way.
“I’ll need to think about this carefully.”
He decided to take his time and consider it properly.
*
At the same time, the PD of the TV program ‘Even Ants Can Make Profit!’ looked at the writer and asked,
“So, did you manage to contact him?”
“No… not yet…”
“Why the hell isn’t he responding?!”
“I sent him an email too, but it doesn’t look like he’s even read it. I left comments as well…”
“Ugh, this is driving me crazy.”
The PD checked the video again.
“Look at this. Does this even make sense? This day-trading skill!”
“Exactly.”
“If he would just come on the show once and trade like this, it would be an absolute jackpot…”
“…I’ll send another email.”
“Yeah, please do.”
“Yes…”
The writer answered weakly and walked away.
“Getting in touch with one person is so damn hard.”
He grumbled quietly.
*
He woke up early in the morning and headed straight to the gym. After some light stretching, he got on the treadmill and started walking at a slow pace.
Feeling tense.
He gradually increased the speed.
“Hup… Hoo…!”
Before long, he was running at a considerable speed.
“Huuup! Hoooo!”
Sweat poured down, soaking his workout clothes, and every muscle in his body screamed for him to stop. Yet he didn’t stop—because he still had plenty of strength left.
It was probably thanks to the Stamina Enhancement Potion.
He ran at that pace for about 10 minutes.
Ugh. Any more than this…!
His exercise experience was still short, so this was his current limit.
“Haaaa…”
He slowly decreased the speed. Once the treadmill came to a complete stop, he stepped off and drank the ion drink he had prepared.
Gulp—
After replenishing fluids and doing a short stretch, he moved on to strength training.
He started with lat pulldowns.
Lightly, for now.
He pulled down the bar with a moderate weight. He held it at lip level, just brushing his forehead, maintaining muscle contraction.
It felt satisfying.
He was in the middle of completing a set when—
Thud.
A very skinny man lay down on the bench press right in front of Ryu Seong. He made it blatantly obvious to the entire gym that he was a complete beginner as he tried to lift the barbell. No matter how you looked at it, it looked dangerous.
*Wait, if he does that… Hmm!*
His ominous prediction was spot on.
“Uuuuugh!”
The man let out a strange groan as the barbell lost balance. The heavily loaded barbell fell straight onto his chest.
“Kyeeeeeek!”
Honestly, it wasn’t *that* heavy.
Still…
The guy who got crushed looked like he was in real pain.
“Are you okay…?”
The moment Ryu Seong stepped forward with the intention to help, a quest window appeared.
[Quest Activated!]
[Everyone Was a Beginner Once…?]
[A beginner gym rat is right in front of you. Help the struggling man who cannot handle the weight of the barbell escape his dangerous situation.]
[Time Remaining: 1 minute.]
[Success Reward: Random Card, Good Deed Points.]
[Quest Failure Penalty: Calf cramp.]
Ryu Seong barely finished his sentence.
“…you?”
With those words, he lifted the barbell off the man.
“Huk, huuk… Th-thank you.”
“Yes. Please be careful. Try starting with lighter machines first. Bench press can be quite difficult.”
“Ah, yes.”
Thankfully, the man didn’t seem seriously hurt.
[Quest Cleared!]
[You have acquired a Low-grade Random Card.]
[You have gained 1 Good Deed Point.]
It felt almost embarrassing to receive a reward for such a small act of help.
Still, that one point was precious.
Even if no other quests appeared for a while, he would easily collect 30 points once the regular donation quest cleared at the end of August.
“Have a good workout.”
“Ah, yes!”
Promising to see him again someday, Ryu Seong returned to his own training.
*
A short while later.
After finishing his shower and leaving the gym, he used the random card he received as a reward on the way out. It turned out to be a small lottery win—practically a dud. He stuffed the ticket into his pocket and continued walking.
“Ugh… uuugh…”
The man who had been crushed under the barbell earlier was walking ahead of him. It was clear he had pushed himself too hard; even from a distance, Ryu Seong could see his legs shaking uncontrollably.
He looked like he would be suffering from a cold or body aches for at least the next few days.
*This is…*
Feeling a bit sorry for him, Ryu Seong was about to walk past when the man suddenly staggered.
“Whoa…!”
Ryu Seong quickly caught him before he fell. The man bowed his head.
“Ah, thank… Oh, you’re the person who helped me earlier.”
“Yes. Are you okay?”
“I overdid it… haha.”
The man smiled bitterly, then suddenly reached into his pocket.
“Thank you for helping me twice. It’s been a long time since I’ve received help like this. If you ever need anything from me, please contact me anytime.”
Before he knew it, Ryu Seong was handed a business card. The man started walking again.
He was still staggering, but there was clear determination in his eyes to make it on his own.
Ryu Seong lowered his gaze and checked the card.
[Kim Il-Young, Director, Ministry of Health and Welfare.]
He was a government official.
*Ministry of Health and Welfare…*
After a quick mental search, Ryu Seong recalled that establishing a non-profit organization or donation foundation required approval from the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
“Hmm.”
He probably wouldn’t have any reason to contact the man, but you never know. Ryu Seong glanced once more in the direction the man had disappeared, then slipped the business card into his card wallet.
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