Chapter 183: Seo ji woo began to get scared of Hayoon

“Ugh…”

Seo Ji-woo stared blankly at her phone.

She was dumbfounded.

[Deposit: BGG Company Inc.]
[₩24,515,982]

Seo Ji-woo wasn’t just a Vtuber earning ₩10 million a month anymore; she was earning ₩20 million. After taxes and her 60/40 split with BGG Company, she had effectively achieved a monthly revenue of ₩50 million.

This had happened just two years, or three years by Korean counting, after she started streaming at the 22nd AGC.

“This is… ugh…”

Seo Ji-woo, who had recently moved to a new studio apartment in Seoul after two years, slid down from her bed.

She melted like slime or a cat, a testament to the shock she was feeling.

“Is it okay to earn money this easily? Is the value of labor this light…? I just sang and played games every day…”

Seo Ji-woo’s world had been confined to the small island of Ulleungdo.

But in the past few years, her world had expanded rapidly.

In the real world, Seo Ji-woo had met numerous music industry professionals and sung many original songs.

In the online world, she had connected with countless internet broadcasting personalities.

Recently, she had even been invited to a wedding and occasionally participated in platform competitions.

She had even won first place in a League of Legends tournament.

But these things weren’t important.

They were secondary.

More important than this was:

[Assets: ₩700,119,539]
[Investment Profit/Loss: ₩585,978,964]
[Rate of Return: 613%]

“Huh? What?”

It was Seo Ji-woo’s stock account.

Seo Ji-woo had created a stock account as soon as she became an adult.

It had been exactly two years since she opened it.

This was the state of her stock account after her 24th deposit.

“This is… huh?”

Following Hayoon’s instructions, she had set up automatic purchases, transferring a portion of her monthly salary to the stock account to buy shares of a graphics card company Hayoon had recommended.

After that, Hayoon had strictly forbidden her from looking at it, telling her to trust her and wait exactly two years.

She had often been tempted to look, but Seo Ji-woo trusted Hayoon.

Thanks to Hayoon, she had achieved monthly earnings of ₩10 million, then ₩20 million.

Considering her gross revenue was ₩50 million, Seo Ji-woo had blindly trusted Hayoon and ignored her stock account.

“Ah?”

Seo Ji-woo completely malfunctioned.

January 2025.

Seo Ji-woo was 22 this year, but faced with such a large sum of money, she became dumber than an 11-year-old.

“Hayoon? Huh?”

So, she blankly called out Hayoon’s name.

Hayoon had sent her a DM today, saying it was okay to check her rate of return.

So she had checked, and the rate of return was 600%.

Her initial investment was a little over ₩100 million, her profit was a little under ₩600 million, and the total amount exceeded ₩700 million.

“Heok!”

And so, Seo Ji-woo, staring blankly at her phone, dropped it.

Hayoon, the one who had brought her stock account to this state, was calling her.

“H-Hayoon…?”

Seo Ji-woo fumbled for her phone and answered the call.

“What is this…? Me, why, the money…”

– Um… surprise?

Hayoon didn’t have much to say either.

She knew of only one stock that was guaranteed to rise sharply during this period…

She felt awkward keeping it to herself, so she had told all the BGG Company members.

That was in January 2023, and now, 24 months later, it was about time for the stock to dip slightly from its peak, so she was going to tell them to cash out.

“Hayoon.”

– Yeah? Why?

“Are you… part of a stock manipulation ring, or something…? I only did what you told me to with the stocks, but I know the memes. Are you… what was it… Wall Street? Do you have connections on Wall Street? Is America in the palm of your hand…”

Are you kidding me, you
?

“No, ah…?”

Seo Ji-woo, who had trusted Hayoon implicitly and hadn’t even checked her stocks, instead streaming 7 days a week, couldn’t escape her shock.

Besides this, Seo Ji-woo had a housing subscription account, a savings account, a parking account, and various other accounts that Hayoon had told her to open.

And if she added up all the amounts in those accounts…

“Do I have a net worth of over 1 billion won? Is this… right?”

– It’ll probably be halved after taxes. It’s about time to pull it out. You can’t use the ₩2.5 million deduction, so you have to pull everything out, hold onto it until the dollar rises a bit more, and then exchange it for won. You need to offset the exchange fees and taxes, so put it in a fixed deposit at a bank later.

“How do you know when it’s time to pull it out, you crazy! What are you, seriously!”

Hayoon calmly explained the next investment plan, but Seo Ji-woo was going crazy.

When the friend she had known for over three years seemed like a member of a stock manipulation ring that controlled the US stock market from a distant land in the East, what was she supposed to do?

She had only heard that stock manipulation was bad, but she had earned ₩600 million through that manipulation.

Did that make her an accomplice? Or not? If she reported Hayoon, would she be okay? But Hayoon was her friend.

Did she really have to report her?

Besides, it wasn’t like they manipulated the Korean stock market, right?

She felt dizzy with these thoughts.

In Seo Ji-woo’s mind, Hayoon was already a master fraudster capable of manipulating even the US stock market.

– What ability do I have to manipulate the US stock market? Anyway, it’s about time for it to fall, so make sure you sell everything and prepare to exchange it for won, okay? You understand me, right?

“Haaa…”

– Ji-woo? Ji-woo…?

Yeah, if she had only recommended buying, and it went up, she could at least understand it as having good stock-picking skills…

But instructing on the selling timing as well? Wasn’t that clearly the behavior of a stock manipulation ring?

Seo Ji-woo fainted from the shock of realizing her trusted friend was a global criminal…

– Ji-woo? Uh oh… Ji-woo? Are you sleeping? Huh? Should I call 119? What’s wrong, Ji-woo, should I come over? Huh?

Hayoon, unable to hang up the phone, frantically called out to the unconscious Seo Ji-woo, then got ready and headed to Seo Ji-woo’s studio apartment.

She knew Seo Ji-woo had an eccentric side, but it seemed she had seriously misunderstood something.

Hayoon expertly entered the password to Seo Ji-woo’s studio apartment and opened the door.

Hayoon had found this studio for her in the first place, and Seo Ji-woo’s only connections in Seoul were Hayoon and the BGG Company members.

Hayoon often visited, bringing side dishes.

That’s why she had been able to get here today after just a few bus stops…

“…”

“C-criminal…”

Seo Ji-woo, wrapped in a blanket with only her face peeking out, was trembling.

Seo Ji-woo was genuinely serious.

Perhaps because she had recently watched a movie about stock manipulation, Hayoon seemed particularly frightening to her.

However…

“Stop messing around and tell me honestly why you’re acting like this.”

“The rate of return is 600%! 600%! Not 6% or 60%, but 600%! What the hell are you, Min Hayoon!”

“Ah… that…”

Seo Ji-woo’s suspicion of Hayoon wasn’t entirely unreasonable.

Until 2023, the prevailing perception among the general public was that stocks were a shortcut to financial ruin.

But Hayoon, who had lived a bit further into the future before becoming a woman, had read the general stock market trends and multiplied her money.

It wasn’t strange to achieve stock-manipulation-level profits, but because she did, to a financial illiterate like Seo Ji-woo, who viewed the stock market as a battlefield of black money and bloodless warfare, Hayoon couldn’t help but seem terrifying.

‘Ah,… Am I the only one investing then? Even though I know there are stocks that will clearly multiply several times over.’

However, from Hayoon’s perspective, it was a little disappointing.

In fact, Hayoon had initially planned to invest only in US stock market index funds.

But, as she managed the company, she felt the lack of money keenly…

‘It’s not like I told her to leverage and she lost money. I helped her make money, so why is she scared? Seriously.’

She had boarded the forbidden train of Nvidia 3x leverage and multiplied BGG Company’s assets by several billion won in the past two years.

She didn’t want to be stressed about money, and since she was doing it anyway, she had taken care of her company family too…

This kind of reaction was disappointing for Hayoon.

“Seo Ji-woo, you dimwit!”

“Huh, what…?”

So, Hayoon didn’t hold back and lashed out.

In a little while, it would be five years since she had known Seo Ji-woo.

She could push her this much.

“Isn’t it enough that I made you money? What more do you want? Huh? Even when I help you make money, you have an attitude! Do you even know how many more years you’d have to stream to earn 600 million won?”

“Um…”

This month was Seo Ji-woo’s birthday month.

That’s why donations had been pouring in, causing her income to momentarily spike to the ₩20 million range.

So, conservatively estimating her monthly income at around ₩10 million and considering taxes and other factors…

“Eight years…?”

“Haven’t I saved you eight years? Why are you angry at me? Ah, seriously, Ji-woo, I’m so sad I feel like crying. Sob…”

After informing Seo Ji-woo of the weight of ₩600 million, Hayoon slumped to the floor and started crying.

“Uh, huh? H-Hayoon… I-I wasn’t trying to blame you, I was just so surprised… Because the money became so much, I was flustered because of that…”

At this, Seo Ji-woo couldn’t help but be flustered too.

She had planned to confront Hayoon, thinking she had become a scary criminal, and was even considering turning themselves in together if necessary…

But the hurt Hayoon had started crying.

“Hwaaaang.”

“Ah, s-sorry. Hayoon…”

Seo Ji-woo paced back and forth, unsure what to do.

‘Haa, resolved…’

Hayoon sighed inwardly while continuing to feign crying.

Anyway, this solved the problem.

No matter how much Seo Ji-woo, she wouldn’t make a fuss about the stock issue anymore.

‘It was a good idea to learn acting to handle offline events without getting nervous.’

Seo Ji-woo was in the palm of Hayoon’s hand.