episode_0010

If you did the exact opposite of Cha Doyeon, you could become incredibly rich.

Such a saying circulated on the internet for fun.

It wasn’t entirely wrong.

He was born with a golden spoon, heir to Korea’s top company, yet before even inheriting any assets, he rampaged around like a mudskipper, tarnishing the company’s image and, despite being an only son, became the most distant from the line of succession—a truly idiotic human.

He was such a hopeless piece of trash that he could break the jinx that “even if a rich man falls, his wealth lasts for three generations.”

Well, strictly speaking, just doing the opposite wouldn’t make one rich.

If I had to correct it, it would be more like, ‘You can prevent squandering your assets and bringing utter disgrace upon yourself.’

In any case, this is how Cha Doyeon’s image is summarized in the public eye.

My personal assessment of Cha Doyeon doesn’t differ much from the public’s perception.

Just as his sisters treated him like dirt, I too covertly badmouthed him. Even while pretending to be loyal by his side, I inwardly cursed him for not even being able to hold his own and for ruining the company.

Because from a position where he could have had everything, his behavior of constantly chasing after girls was pathetic.

…No, it *had* been pathetic.

It hadn’t been long.

It had only been a few weeks since Cha Doyeon caught me and I stopped my espionage activities.

‘Unbelievable….’

But every day, as I watched the news, a chill ran down my spine.

Is this actually possible? Is this reality? When I pinched my cheek to check, my cheek just felt numb.

An unprecedented bull market.

Even the ‘old-fashioned’ coin that Cha Doyeon had been focusing on the most was skyrocketing madly.

In addition, all the stocks presumed to have been bought by Cha Doyeon were hitting unbelievable historical highs.

*Vibration! Vibration!*

While reviewing the news in the company office, my master urgently sought me out.

Having served under her for several years, she was someone I could rightfully call my master.

It was obvious why someone who enjoyed giving direct orders and would criticize you for days if you approached them directly was calling me directly.

After bracing myself sufficiently, I answered the call─

『Get your ass to the meeting room right now!』

If I hadn’t already pulled the phone away from my ear, my eardrum would have burst.

After that unilateral command, laden with raw emotion, the call was immediately disconnected.

“Hoo….”

I sighed, left the office, and took the executive elevator.

As I rode the elevator that could go straight to the CEO’s office on the top floor, a group of middle-aged men in suits were gathered, waiting to take the elevator.

-…….

Every single one of them had faces like they were coming out of a funeral home.

The expressions of at least the senior managing directors and above, who had entered the meeting room earlier, were dark, showing how much they had been scolded.

A passage that allowed me to guess how significant a loss they must have suffered due to this incident.

I passed them by.

Though everyone might have a passing awareness of our relationship, I waited until no one was looking before I alone opened the meeting room door and entered.

*CRASH!*

The moment I entered, a glass flew past and shattered beside my feet.

Shards flew, but since I was wearing stockings, I wasn’t hurt at all.

“You! You bitch!”

“…….”

Foul, vulgar curses out of nowhere.

Low-class wording that showed just how enraged she was at that moment.

Cha Hwaryeon had one of her dumpling-shaped hair buns, which she usually kept neatly coiled like a rice cake, undone.

This woman, who always valued her individuality and chaebol-like elegance, showed through her entire body that it was an emergency.

“Hwaryeon-nim, please calm down for now.”

“Ca, calm…?!”

*CRASH!*

When I tried to calm her, another crystal glass shattered by my other foot.

Cha Hwaryeon would normally be surrounded by only luxurious items, but this was no time to regret such petty cash.

Because a tremendous loss was already occurring in real-time.

“Haven’t you seen the news?!

Bi, Bitcoin is rising… We shorted Hwaryeong Card, but because Bitcoin is rising, do you know what has happened to the amount we have to pay back…?”

“…….”

It must have been an unspeakable loss.

The company had deliberately set out to strike but failed spectacularly; this loss-making amount must have been astronomical.

The more money that was put in, the more it became a crippling loss that could drag you down to your ankles.

The stock that Cha Doyeon held had been crawling on the floor until recently.

Regardless of its performance, because it was a company where ‘Cha Doyeon’ was the owner, and especially due to the ominous news that he had recently gone “all-in” on Bitcoin, investors had been rushing out.

The one behind spreading this issue was none other than Cha Hwaryeon.

She had planned to intentionally worsen the company’s already tarnished image to send Cha Doyeon to rock bottom and seize everything effortlessly.

And this, immediately, became the biggest problem.

Cha Doyeon had purchased a large amount of Bitcoin, and as the price of Bitcoin rose, the stock market also surged.

The impact was far greater because our side had released articles as if to make sure everyone in the neighborhood heard.

A dying stock, soaring by 30% daily.

Even if one had just held onto it, it would have risen by 119.7% through simple calculation.

Then, conversely, what would happen if one had placed a short sell with a put option?

*SLAM!*

“The option we placed instantly turned into a debt we have to repay… A significant amount of money is quickly turning from mere scraps of paper into a terrible anchor…!”

“I understand.”

I consoled her indifferently, as if understanding her feelings.

And then carefully continued my next words.

“But reprimanding me now won’t change anything.”

“Won’t change anything?!

All the information came from you! Don’t try to deny it!”

As expected, Cha Hwaryeon blamed me.

I had merely conveyed what I heard through my information channels, but she made me a punching bag for her arrows.

It was a petty attempt to cut off a tail, but I responded calmly until the end.

“As I mentioned before, I did not recommend short selling.”

“…….”

“I advised that even without resorting to such drastic measures, given the difference in company scale, we could simply use media manipulation to swallow up young master Cha Doyeon when he tripped over himself.”

“Isn’t that exactly what we did?!”

“No, Bitcoin… it was more an unknown territory than a weakness.

Most of all, going as far as short selling was excessive greed. It would have been a better strategy to instead pick up the lowered stock prices through media play, secure shares, and then instigate shareholders to exert pressure.”

No matter how much she might grasp and reprimand me, who brought her information as a spy, the fact that it was a huge misstep chosen by Cha Hwaryeon herself remains unchanged.

From Cha Hwaryeon’s perspective, having lived as a second-generation chaebol, she would gain nothing from grilling me, who am merely a salaried employee.

“Damn it, damn it…!”

Cha Hwaryeon wasn’t so foolish as to not know this, so she bit her fingernails.

No matter how much she vented her anger, she frantically messed up her hair, as if she couldn’t stop this ruined situation.

“Begging your pardon, but no matter how much was invested, it would be better to cut losses even now….”

“Are you crazy?!”

To my sharp-eyed master, I calmly repeated,

“No, in my opinion, it’s better to cut it off even now while there’s still a chance.

Because the crypto market is on a continuous upward trend, and Young Master Cha Doyeon… he boldly used leverage.”

“……!”

“If it truly continues to skyrocket like this, if we misstep, the company could end up with enormous debt.”

Cha Hwaryeon didn’t know where to look.

She spun around wildly in figure-eights on the carpet of the chaotic meeting room.

“You must take action before it’s too late.”

“……Get out.”

“But─”

“Get the fuck out! I need to think!”

“……Understood.”

I bowed my head in greeting and left.

I walked backward so as not to show my back, then gently closed the door and left.

“Huuuuu….”

The moment I stepped out, I leaned against the door and exhaled, as if my breath was dying out.

It was awful.

I was fucking furious, having been senselessly grilled due to stray sparks.

I had grown accustomed to the dirty clean-up work of the chaebol family thanks to the third good-for-nothing, but no matter how much loyalty I showed, my mental state was most shattered when I received unnecessary suspicion or distrust.

Although I was somewhat messed up by the blow, Cha Hwaryeon was not a bad ship to sail.

If you exclude her arrogance and excessive self-consciousness about others’ opinions, she was at least the most reasonable among the chaebol siblings.

Therefore, I judged her to be a person who, even if she couldn’t rank first in the family, could stably cruise in the mid-tier.

This incident was also like that.

The strategy of gradually cornering Cha Doyeon’s affiliate company, who was the most painful finger in the family, was good.

Only the hasty final blow to cut off his breath was premature; it wasn’t a bad judgment.

Simply that the enemy’s ‘all-in’ strategy worked perfectly.

‘Could it be… intentional?’

I’d recently reviewed it, and the information I’d extracted until now had been sporadic.

The news that came from Cha Doyeon’s mouth sometimes contained honey-filled information, but there was also a lot of completely bogus information.

Excluding stocks that showed no movement, he had consistently spouted recommendations only for stocks with strong fluctuations.

He had mixed lies within truths, strongly confusing our intelligence.

‘Has Cha Doyeon really changed that much?’

I’d been by Cha Doyeon’s side for a considerably long time.

In just a few days, I had dismissed any hope, deeming him an irredeemable good-for-nothing.

Because it seemed impossible for him to ever be rehabilitated.

‘But what if that trash really did change…?’

Perhaps due to preconceived notions, I didn’t want to admit it.

However, looking at it coldly, he delivered a proper counterpunch to a company much larger than his own.

Furthermore, if Bitcoin truly skyrockets to the heavens like this, he stands to gain enormous profits from this opportunity.

He had, in a sense, created for himself the powerful weapon of ‘capital’ that he couldn’t receive from his father.

“…….”

Unconsciously, I found myself looking at in my phone’s contact list.

I bit my lip, agonizing over it multiple times.

『After time passes, there aren’t many T.O.s, you know? Think carefully.』

『Do you think noona will be kind to a bitch who failed her mission?』

The advice he had given me before.

At the time, I was so dumbfounded that I ignored it, but now, as if he had predicted today, it became a dagger strongly piercing my heart.

Seeing Cha Hwaryeon’s raving attitude, this was a major blow that hit hard.

Although I had painstakingly built up trust until now, the greater the loss this time, the more Cha Hwaryeon might suspect me and cease to use me.

*CRUNCH…!*

If so, shouldn’t I also find a way to survive again?

This might be a historical tightrope walk in my life.

If that good-for-nothing truly changed, it would be right to act even now.

Frankly, I want to succeed.

Why else would I have rapidly graduated at the top of my class, only to live bowing like a servant at the feet of a chaebol family?

“Yes, Young Master. This is Woo Miae.

If it’s alright, there’s something I’d like to discuss in person……”

I hate failure.

I don’t want to end my life meaninglessly.

* * *

“Well, long time no see, eh?”

“…….”

My former driver, who had promptly come all the way to my house.

When I smirked mockingly at the prodigal daughter who had left so proudly only to return a few weeks later, she avoided my gaze, looking at the floor.

She lowered her head, as if repenting for her past self.

This was inside my house.

Because I was so busy due to the Bitcoin surge, I told her to come to my house in the evening, and she had been standing and waiting in the underground parking lot all along.

『You’ve arrived… Young Master.』

The moment she saw me, she bent her neck sharply, as if returning to the past.

She showed her sincerity by saying she had come and waited since our call, and as if soliciting something, she even brought a small gift.

She was desperate, as if trying to show even a slight change in herself.

She was like a dog that had suffered after wrongly running away from home.

*Rustle…*

After letting her into the house, I loosened my constricting tie and clothes.

Woo Miae hurriedly picked them up as if collecting the royal robes worn by a king.

‘Phew~ What a breathtaking change of attitude, truly fitting for an opportunist.’

Her transparent true intentions were already visible there.

She was indeed an ambitious type, thirsty for success and quick to calculate profit and loss.

“So, why did you come?”

“Huh…?”

“I mean, the reason you came back after sucking me dry.

Now that the stock price has soared and the company is back on track, does this good-for-nothing look different to you?”

“…….”

Silence, as if I had hit a nerve.

I preferred her honest attitude, devoid of unnecessary pretense.

“May I… ask one thing?”

“Go ahead.”

“How did you know the crypto market would enter a bull run?”

That was certainly the most curious piece of news.

A question even the chattering media would be surprised and want to ask.

“Just luck, I guess.”

I shortened it to ‘luck’ and dismissed it, finding it bothersome to explain.

In truth, if I were to babble on about being a future person who had transmigrated, who would believe me? So I concisely summarized it.

“Is that so….”

“Why? Are you disappointed that it’s not meticulous analysis or some incredible superpower?”

“Ah, no! I was merely impressed by Young Master’s betting audacity….”

“Why are you flattering me artificially when you’ve already taken off your mask?

Are you trying to beat around the bush like that, preparing to switch sides again like a bat?”

Silence.

Woo Miae didn’t deny it even once.

*THUD!*

Instead, using my words as momentum, she gracefully prostrated herself before me as if bowing.

Wearing a skirt, she bowed and desperately crawled to my feet.

“Young Master, I apologize for deceiving you in the past and for making presumptuous criticisms.

I know words cannot be unsaid and time cannot be reversed. However, I will not contradict myself with the same mouth. Please give me one more chance…!”

She honestly laid herself bare.

She had talked so haughtily about loyalty, only to turn around at the mere mention of Bitcoin.

*Smirk.*

I found that reaction amusing.

“Hey, your knees must hurt. Get up.”

“Young Master, please… I didn’t realize you were a person of such great ambition.”

“I said, get up?”

“Please reconsider my value and assessment.”

“Don’t worry about that. I actually rate our Miae quite highly.”

“……!”

At those words, she immediately lifted her head.

She looked up, pinning her hopes on me to please accept her plea.

It wasn’t an empty compliment.

She merely possessed the characteristic of being an ‘opportunist,’ yet even as a young woman, she was the most outstanding among the elites I had.

Furthermore, she also possessed the drive of ambition.

Woo Miae is no mere salaried employee. She is truly an ambitious person who wants to etch her name into this business world, which descends like a dynasty.

This tenacity is Woo Miae’s greatest weapon.

“Still, given how our last interaction went, you’ll have to show me some sincerity and loyalty.”

“……!”

*CLICK.*

I unfastened my belt in one swift motion.

My pants fell due to gravity, and I instantly revealed my slightly stiff object.

In front of the traitorous bitch, I made it stand erect, full of veins.

“Now, properly show me your sincerity that you’ve submitted to this Young Master.”

“…….”

Woo Miae, kneeling, looked up at the erect penis of the man she had so despised.

Seeing the increasingly large phallus rising, her throat bobbed and she swallowed.