Chapter 62
***
Standing in front of Hajin’s room, I cracked the door open slightly and peeked my face in. Hajin, who had changed into comfortable clothes, was sitting on the bed, tapping his knee with his finger. It was a habit I often noticed when he was thinking about something, so it wasn’t easy to start a conversation.
“Um… Hajin-ssi?”
Hajin slowly raised his head. He usually smiled kindly whenever our eyes met, but today he maintained a serious expression.
“I don’t need dinner.”
“No, that’s not why I came. I have something to ask you.”
Actually, I didn’t, but I was just trying to break the ice. Hajin gestured with his chin for me to come in. As I stepped inside, Hahyun followed right behind me like he’d been waiting.
“Why are you both coming in if you just have something to ask?”
Instead of me hesitating, Hahyun answered, “If you didn’t like that, you shouldn’t have given us that look when you came in. We came because your expression was strange and we were worried.”
“Why?”
“Are you seriously asking? It’s because we’re in a precarious situation. What if the police or Secretary Kim caught onto something? We’re always on edge.”
“You think I would get caught by someone like Secretary Kim?”
“That’s not what I’m saying. Why are you twisting my words?”
Hahyun was definitely right.
I’m currently a wanted person, and Secretary Kim is constantly looking for Hajin’s weakness, which happens to be me.
“Ha…”
Hajin’s sigh was deep. He must be overwhelmed since he’s always been the one to take responsibility and solve everything by himself.
Seeing his tired face and slightly disheveled hair, I felt more of a desire to support him than curiosity about what happened today.
I slowly approached and placed my hand on his shoulder. Hajin then placed his hand over mine.
“Right, you both need to know too.”
“I’m curious about what’s happening, but I also really want to share your burden. How difficult must it be to handle all these complicated matters alone?”
Hajin silently looked at me.
“Since you said you don’t want dinner, shall we have some tea?”
“Let’s do that.”
***
“I need to sell some real estate.”
“All of a sudden?”
The words Hajin uttered as soon as Hahyun brought the tea were unexpected. It was a relief that it wasn’t about the police noticing something or Secretary Kim pulling some trick, but his sudden mention of selling buildings bothered me.
“Hmm… where should I start?”
While Hajin was choosing his words, Hahyun and I held our breath and focused on what he was saying.
“To put it simply, Secretary Kim has started bribing the board members and buying stocks to push me out of my position. I don’t know where he got the money, but I’m worried because they say he’s acquired a substantial amount.”
As Hajin calmly explained what had happened at the company, I felt an inexplicable sense of discomfort.
Hajin isn’t the type to explain everything in such detail… He must be really worried.
As Hajin touched his forehead, Hahyun spoke up, “If the situation is difficult, you can sell my building to raise cash. You know that old man among Chairman Seo’s friends who’s greedy for buildings? If you contact him, he’ll buy it right away.”
Selling real estate because of stocks? A chilling feeling ran down my spine. What was it? I felt like there was definitely something…
I abruptly asked Hajin a question to try to recall my memory, “Hajin-ssi, the real estate you’re planning to sell now—which area is it in?”
“The outskirts, District A. I’m planning to sell a place with low development potential in the near future.”
As soon as I heard “District A,” news I had heard in my previous life flashed through my mind.
A few months before I came to this world, it had been confirmed as a development district, greatly increasing the value of land and buildings not only in that area but also in the surrounding areas. Since Kim Hyunju’s fictional world was identical to reality, if I knew exactly when Hahyun was going to try to kill Juwon in the original story, I could predict when land prices would rise.
If that point wasn’t far off, Hajin would suffer a huge loss. In my urgency, I blurted out anything to Hajin.
“Hajin-ssi, please hold off on selling the building for now.”
“Huh?”
“I’ll sleep alone tonight.”
Hajin looked at me with a puzzled face, and Hahyun jumped up.
“How is that fair? If we shift one day, I won’t get my turn until the day after tomorrow!”
“Hahyun, how did you feel when I kept my distance from you?”
At my words, Hahyun shut his mouth, and then Hajin complained, “I’m saying this because I don’t understand why you’re suddenly acting this way… Shouldn’t you at least give a minimal explanation? Yoon Juwon?”
“Haah…”
I couldn’t tell him I was trying to recover my distorted sense of dates to protect his money, so I just sighed heavily.
“Can’t you just leave me alone? I’m a person too, so I might want to be by myself for a day. I’m just asking for one day… what’s so wrong with that?”
“But…”
In response to Hahyun’s words, I glared at him with the scariest expression I could muster, then stomped upstairs with heavy footsteps. Sensing that my attitude was unusual, neither brother followed me.
***
That night, I racked my brain. The first time I realized that the time in this world was different from my original world was when I went to buy a laptop with the brothers. Based on the release date of the laptop I was using, this world’s time was earlier. So while the dates were the same, major events seemed to be delayed. It seemed like it was because real events happened first, and then it took time to write about those events as background.
That meant that if I played my cards right, I could use information as if I had come from the future.
However, there was a problem. In my previous life, I was so busy struggling with deadlines and interest payments that I couldn’t remember exactly when certain things happened. All I could recall was information heard at company dinners, like how real estate prices in some area had multiplied, or how some coin or stock had hit it big.
The District A that Hajin mentioned was designated as a development zone five months after A Tech’s stock hit 70,000 won. If I knew when the stock reached 70,000 won, I could determine how much and when building prices would rise.
“Wait a minute… I shouldn’t be thinking about this alone?”
If I wanted information, I could just ask.
***
As soon as the sun rose, I rushed to Hajin’s room. I hadn’t slept a wink because of all my worrying. Despite the early hour, Hajin was already showered and seated at his desk.
He turned around when he sensed me enter the room.
“What brings you here so early in the morning?”
“Um… Hajin-ssi, can I ask you just one thing? How long has it been since A Tech’s stock broke through the 70,000 won mark?”
“Why are you asking that?”
“Can’t you just tell me? If you sell the building now, you might suffer a huge loss later. Just trust me on this one for now. I’ll explain the specifics later.”
“Two months ago.”
Just as I had suspected. The time difference between the stock rise and building price increase was about five months. The conclusion was that selling now would result in an enormous loss due to a three-month gap.
“But did you really wake up at dawn and come all the way to my room just to ask that?”
“What do you mean ‘just that’? You’ll be grateful to me later when you know what’s going to happen.”
As I glared at Hajin, who was speaking carelessly without knowing anything, he giggled.
“Juwon, I bought you a phone, right? And a laptop too?”
“So what?”
“…Is the internet just for decoration on those?”
Having lived without internet, I was so fixated on the idea that he shouldn’t sell the land that I hadn’t even thought to search online.
It’s fine now that I know. I rationalized that this was all because I had been in captivity for too long.
“Well, that could be the case. This is all because you cut off the internet in the beginning, Hajin-ssi.”
Hajin frowned.
“So what Yoon Juwon wants is for me to sell the building later?”
“Yes.”
“Not asking for the building, just selling it later?”
“Why are you making me repeat myself? That’s right!”
“…”
Hajin narrowed his eyes and looked at me. His expression was suspicious.
Yeah, I get it. It would be hard to believe that someone like me, who had never shown interest in economics, was suddenly interfering in his business. But I couldn’t just stand by when I could clearly see the outcome.
Hajin reached out and cupped my cheek. I looked back at him calmly without avoiding his gaze. He slowly opened his mouth.
“Just trust me a little…”
Hajin’s eyes moved slowly as if he was contemplating. His gaze seemed to hold suspicion, or calculation.
“I trust you completely too.”
“So I should trust you because of that?”
Hajin’s eyes gleamed sharply. It was a bit frightening, but I held back and refrained from speaking further. Since I couldn’t tell him the truth, I felt that saying more would only raise suspicion.
“I’ll trust you because I’m a sucker, but…”
“Thank you.”
“If you knew what I had to give up to trust you, you wouldn’t have asked so easily.”
The risk Hajin was talking about must be his anxiety about not being able to protect his position if he couldn’t raise funds. And the reason he was clinging to his position in the first place was to protect Hahyun and me…
Newly grateful for his feelings, I rested my forehead against his chest.
“I meant it when I said I wanted to share your burden. Thank you for trusting me.”
“…Sure, you can play with it as you like, just don’t throw it away.”
I laughed softly at his joke that contained a hint of truth.
