episode_0095

Time passed even after Chuseok ended.

Another testing period.

Another Christmas.

Another winter break ceremony.

Until the new year of 2009.

This year, 2009, was the year I turned 15, the year of the ox, and the year the long-awaited Bitcoin software was released.

Two months ago, a paper on a P2P electronic currency system was already published under the name of Sakashi Nakamoto.

Now was the time to start preparing for mining, in anticipation of the mining open source being released within a few days.

The first years were the most important, as it was said that 50 coins could be mined per 10 minutes for several years after the first Bitcoin mining source was released.

At 50 coins per block, that would mean 7,200 coins would be produced per day, and if you took just a tenth of that, you would get 720 coins, so the early part, when there wasn’t much competition, was the most important.

I thought that the graphics card, or GPU, which is the core of computing power, was the most important, but when I actually looked at the paper, I found that the central processing unit, or CPU, was the key to mining.

Just in case, three high-spec computers should be enough for mining.

I searched where to go to buy a computer and found that the best place to buy a computer these days is Yongsan Electronics Market.

Clothes are from Dongdaemun, and computers are from the Yongsan Electronics Market, so it’s natural that there are a lot of cheap deals. It was natural to do some research beforehand, because you never know where or how you might get hit in the back of the head.

I searched for the options for the highest spec computer, wrote down the options and expected prices on a piece of paper, and headed to the Yongsan Electronics Market.

When I arrived at the electronics mall, paid the taxi fare, and got out, I saw that there were this many people looking to buy computers.

The road is narrow, but why are there so many people?

“Hey kid, what are you here to buy?”

“Padding student~ Come to the heat~”

“What are you looking for, handsome guy?”

I could still hear the hustling men trying to stop me from the entrance, but I ignored them and walked inside.

Those guys, second to none, have always said that when buying something, you shouldn’t buy it near the entrance.

If the location is good, they will try to make a lot of money by saving up the high monthly rent.

Of course, this is my prejudice, but to watch the entire assembly process, I had to go into a deserted store.

As I continued to walk inward, the crowd began to thin out and I headed toward a store that seemed slightly larger than the others.

“Boss.”

“Uh. Student. Are you looking for the game CD?”

“No. Could you give me a quote for this?”

When I handed a piece of paper with the specifications written on it to a young employee who felt more like an employee than a boss, he started to laugh as he looked at the paper.

“Puhhh. You can’t afford this, right? Do you know how much this is?”

“How much is it? Please give me a quote first.”

“At least seven or eight hundred? Don’t joke around. Do you need any CDs?”

“I’ll come next time.”

“Are you going to look at this game CD?”

I started walking again, leaving the playful shop behind from the beginning to the end.

Among them, one store caught my eye.

A store appeared that was neat and tidy and somehow gave off a good vibe.

As I entered the store, I saw the owner, a polite looking man in his 40s.

“Hello, boss.”

“Huh? What are you looking for?”

“Can I get a quote for this please?”

The president, who received the paper I handed him, looked at it for a long time and thought about it.

“Student. Are you sure you want to buy this?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Can you wait a minute?”

“Yes.”

The owner, who had entered the store’s cash register, began to spread out various pieces of paper and then started tapping away on the calculator.

“Student. If you’re going to assemble this, you’ll have to pay 7 million won including labor costs, right?”

“Would you like to buy three?”

“Can you do it up to two thousand and fifty? But you’re not joking, are you?”

“Yes. No. If I buy this, can I watch you assemble it?”

“Of course. There are already many people checking because of the dealers who switch things up in the middle.”

“I’ll calculate it for you three generations.”

The manager was dumbfounded as if he didn’t know I would actually buy the card.

The president, who had been dumbfounded for three seconds, seemed to come to his senses, took the card, and continued speaking.

“But I’m sorry I didn’t tell you in advance. The card is separate from the VAT, right?”

“How much percent?”

“Ten percent.”

“Yes, please do so.”

I was satisfied with the price, which was not much different from the price I had originally checked, and the owner paid by card.

“Is this it?”

“Huh?”

“No. The payment is accepted.”

It seems like they were wondering whether it was real or not until the very end.

The manager, who received the grandfather’s card after the calculation was completed and put it in his pocket along with the receipt, checked the items with a bright smile.

“Student. Some of these parts are out of stock at the store, so if you order them, they’ll be here soon. I’ll assemble them right away when they arrive. Can you wait a little bit?”

“Yes. There’s no rush. Just assemble it properly.”

“Okay! Sit here and wait comfortably.”

Thanks to the kind gesture of providing a chair, I was able to sit down and wait comfortably.

Then, the cell phone rings in my pocket.

[Sae-ah♥]

As soon as I saw the name on my phone, I felt guilty even though I didn’t do anything wrong.

I forgot to tell my sister about my first outing in a long time.

-Yeah, sis.

-where are you?

-Did you come out because you needed to buy something for a little while?

-When are you coming? Jaehoon’s house is here. Jaehoon isn’t here.

-I think it’ll take me a few hours.

-Where?

-I came a little far to buy a computer. If you sleep in your room, I’ll be there soon.

-okay.

I should have called and come with you. I feel like I’m being annoying because you came without saying anything.

“Girlfriend?”

“Yes.”

“You have to be good when you have a girlfriend.”

This is the first time I’ve heard that you have to be nice to your girlfriend.

“Aren’t you good at it when you have the time?”

“That’s right. It’s different than when I was there.”

“What’s different?”

“I don’t know if the student will marry that friend. Anyway, if the girlfriend becomes the wife, all the things she couldn’t do will be retribution.”

“What karma?”

“I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t do that. If I keep hearing the same nagging, I’m scared to go home.”

I was speechless at the sound of my father’s voice, and just then the parts started coming in.

“If I get this quick, will I have a lot of margin left?”

“Consumer pride is different in terms of purchase price, so there is still a lot left.”

“Is it okay to say that?”

“I asked, so you answered. And I already did the math, so what.”

The boss has the kind of personality that would make him friends with his dad if he came with him.

The boss started assembling the product, explaining each part one by one.

After 30 minutes, one computer was assembled, and after a little over an hour, three were finished.

“But how are you going to take this?”

“You can’t deliver it, right?”

“I usually use Yongdal, but since computers are so expensive, I’ll just deliver them to you.”

“Oh, yes. Thank you.”

I bought additional routers, hard drives, mouses, keyboards, etc. from the boss, and put the things on the cart the boss brought and walked.

After walking a bit, a Starex appeared, and except for the driver’s seat and the passenger seat, everything else was a luggage space.

I gave my address to my boss and headed home.

“Do you normally deliver like this?”

“Individuals don’t usually do it.”

“Then who will you be doing it for?”

“There are a lot of companies that deliver to PC rooms.”

“Aha.”

“PC rooms make money.”

“Because there’s a lot of quantity?”

“That’s also because customers break things often. Some PC rooms buy a hundred keyboards a month.”

As I was chatting with the boss, whose conversational skills I surprisingly had a good fit with, I quickly arrived at my house.

He moved the computers to the front door and left coolly, leaving only a business card and telling me to contact him if there were any problems.

I opened the front door and started moving things into the house one by one, and then my mom came out of the bedroom, probably because she heard a sound.”

“Son! What is all this?”

“I bought a computer because I had something to do.”

“This is all computers?”

“There are three computers, so it doesn’t seem like a lot, including monitors and keyboards.”

“What is a kid who doesn’t even play games going to do with this?”

“I have something to do.”

After answering my mother’s question and going into my room, I saw my older sister Saea sleeping on the bed.

I left my older sister, who felt like a cat guarding the safe, to sleep for the time being and started setting up the computer.

The computers are placed on the desk with the main unit, monitor, keyboard, and mouse all placed on top, so they fit perfectly on the desk without any space.

I felt like I wouldn’t be able to study in my room anymore.

My sister woke up while I was installing Windows by inserting the Windows CD into each computer.

“Where have you been?”

“I went to Yongsan Electronics Market.”

“Did you buy those computers?”

“Yeah.”

Sister Saea, staring intently at my face.

“Why?”

“I don’t know what you’re thinking this time.”

“I bought it because I had something to do.”

“What?”

“There are some things you can do by just turning it on for mining.”

While installing Windows, I explained to Saea for a long time about the upcoming Bitcoin, and after finishing the installation, I played with Saea at home and the day ended.

***

A few days passed.

The Bitcoin Core software has finally been released to the internet.

I turned on my computer, went to the site where the program was uploaded, and started downloading the software.

What software is over 100GB?

I turned on the other two computers and performed the same download, then took a nap and when I woke up, the download was complete on that computer.

After creating a wallet, specifying a password as difficult as possible, writing down the wallet address and storing it, I am finally ready to mine.

I ran a mining program on three computers and they all worked magnificently.

As I listened to the loud noise coming from the three computers, I began to feel a little regretful.

‘Ugh. I should have just bought it when it was cheap.’

It was hard work, but it felt like the electric heater in the house was turned on at high speed.

I think it would have been enough to buy Bitcoin with the money I would have spent on buying a computer.

Anyway, I bought it with my grandfather’s card, and I’ll buy more bitcoins later when the exchange opens. Anyway, I’ll laugh about it in a few years.

I lay in bed, thinking that it was fortunate that it was winter.

Only after I got used to the noise could I fall asleep.