Chapter 77
He woke up around 4 PM .
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Gun-Ho ran to the bathroom and washed his face . He looked at his eyes in the mirror .
"I still have red eyes, but the pain is almost gone . "
After sleeping for long hours, he didn't feel any pain in his eyes anymore . Once he started feeling relaxed, he felt hungry .
"I haven't had anything since yesterday . "
Gun-Ho went to a Japanese restaurant near the Yeongdeungpo traditional market and ordered sushi . He ordered a bottle of liquor as well . It had been a while since he had liquor .
"19 . 8 billion won! My 19 . 8 billion won . " He chuckled .
"You never know what would happen in your life . I always felt small because of money and now I have 19 . 8 billion won . Who would expect this kind of thing would happen to me . "
Gun-Ho poured liquor in his glass .
"How much is 19 . 8 billion won? Say, I spend 10 million won every month for my living expenses, then I need 120 million won per year . That means I can go on like that for the next 165 years . "
Gun-Ho decided to buy liquor to people he felt grateful to . And he wanted to buy a condo for his parents .
"My dearest friend, Jong-Suk . He hung out with me when I had no friends at all . I will buy him liquor big time . Suk-Ho from Gyeongridan Street . I didn't like that guy, but I was able to open a Vietnamese noodle soup restaurant in Noryangjin and made money from China because of him . I will buy him liquor too . Let's see… who else… Sh*t! I do have such a small social network . "
Gun-Ho ordered one more bottle of Cheongha* . A chef in a white chef uniform handed Cheongha to Gun-Ho; he looked concerned when he saw Gun-Ho's eyes and asked him,
"Are you okay, sir? Your left eye is swollen . "
"Would you like to join me?"
Gun-Ho poured the clear-liquid Cheongha in a glass and handed it to the chef .
"Thank you . "
The chef served a piece of tuna sushi to Gun-Ho in return after drinking the glass of Cheongha Gun-Ho handed to him .
Gun-Ho tried to think of anyone else who he felt grateful to while having his second bottle of Cheongha .
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"That's right . Chairman Lee from Cheongdam Town . I guess he is the one I should feel grateful the most . I don't think I should buy him liquor though considering his age . What about Master Park from Gangnam? Should I meet with him so I can thank him? He said I would become rich at the age of 35 . I guess I should say he was right . I am 35 years old now and will stay 35 until December 31 which is around the corner . Yeah, I think I want to thank him for it . "
Gun-Ho drank one more glass of Cheongha . He felt like he could drink more than the usual .
"It's not a good time to buy a condo for my parents since it's winter . I will tell them to get ready by the Lunar New Year's Day . The moving season starts right after it . "
Gun-Ho decided to take enough time to think about what he wanted to do with his life .
"Since I am rich now, I should run a big company . I have work experience with factories; should I run a factory?"
Gun-Ho walked around the street in Yeongdeungpo District after leaving the Japanese restaurant . The neon lights were shining on the street and Gun-Ho felt like they were blessing him .
The year changed .
The Small and Big Winter went by and the weather was getting warmer . Gun-Ho went to his parents' home . His eyes were fully recovered already by then .
"Huh? I thought you were coming for the Lunar New Year's Day . "
Gun-Ho's mother welcomed his son . Her left eye was swollen and red like a strawberry . The condition of her eye looked more serious than Gun-Ho's when he had his blood vessels burst in his eyes . She seemed to have a hard time keeping her eye open .
"What's wrong with your eye, mom?"
"Oh, this? It's nothing . "
Gun-Ho's father was in the bedroom, and he opened the door slightly to see Gun-Ho . Gun-Ho's niece was there having a meal .
"Gun-Ho? I can't get up to see you, son, because of the pain I have in my waist . Someone hit your mom's eye . "
"Somebody hit her?"
"Yeah, while she was working at the nursing home, an old man with dementia hit her . "
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"Don't go there anymore, mom!"
"You can't blame an old man with dementia . He didn't know what he was doing . "
"What about sister? Why is Jeong-Ah here without her mom?"
"Your sister is working these days, so she left Jeong-Ah here . "
"Where is she working?"
"It's a factory producing paper cups . She's often late in coming home . Whew . Your sister and Jeong-Ah are having a hard time these days because of your brother-in-law . "
"What about him?"
"He doesn't get enough work with his business, so he is doing some manual labor job lately . He shouldn't have started his own business . If he continued working at the factory he had used to work, he wouldn't have had to get a loan either . Whew . "
Gun-Ho's mother cooked Doenjang-jjigae for Gun-Ho with her one eye open .
Gun-Ho had his meal with his mother's delicious Doenjang-jjigae, and then he asked his parents to sit with him .
"I have something I want to discuss with you . "
"What is it? Why do you look so serious? Did you get a loan too? My chest feels like it's about to sink every time someone talked about debt . "
"How far are we until the Lunar New Year's Day?"
"Twenty days left . "
"After the Lunar New Year's Day, I will buy a condo for you . You need to put this apartment on the market for the next tenant . "
"What are you talking about?"
Gun-Ho's parents looked at Gun-Ho; they had a skeptical look on their faces .
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"Umm, do you remember I went to China earlier, right? I actually made some money from there . I will buy you a condo, so you don't have to pay the rent every month . "
"We are happy with this place . "
"I want to buy a condo in Seoul . Why don't you move to Seoul?"
"I don't like Seoul . We don't have friends there, and the people there are cold . "
"What about Guweol Town then? Mom, you always said those people living in a condo in Guweol Town are lucky, and that they had probably lived a good life in their previous life . I can get a condo there close to the city hall . I can give you money to cover for your living expenses as well, so stop working in the nursing home . "
"Are you out of your mind? Do you have any idea how much it cost to buy a condo there? It's 300 million won . Your aunt used to live there in a condo 30 pyung large . She now downsized it and moved to Jugong condo in Mansu Town . "
"What about the new condo—Hillstate next to the city hall?"
"Stop being silly . Why don't you sleep here today and go home tomorrow?"
Gun-Ho's parents thought he was joking .
Gun-Ho raised his voice .
"I'm not kidding here . I do have money . "
Gun-Ho's parents looked at Gun-Ho again with still a suspicious look in their eyes . When Gun-Ho looked at his mother's half-opened swollen eye again, his eyes welled up with tears .
"You have had a difficult life . Let me buy a condo for you . "
His parents still looked at Gun-Ho without saying a word .
"I will let you know as soon as I've bought a condo for you . You can then place this apartment on the market . Since Jeong-Ah is here with you, I will get a 45 pyung large condo . "
"Huh?"
Gun-Ho's father looked at Gun-Ho with his mouth open, and his mother came back to her senses and said,
"I can't believe any of this until you show us the title to the condo . Only rich people are living in a 45 pyung condo in Incheon . It will cost well over 400 million won . Moreover, even if you have money to buy a condo like that, we can't live there . You should cut your coat according to your cloth . The maintenance fee of that large condo will cost you a lot . "
"Haha, okay, mom . Just know that I will buy you a condo . I gotta go now . Thanks for the Doenjang-jjigae, mom . "
As Gun-Ho stood up to leave, his mother and father stood up along with him . His father barely stood up though with his painful waist .
"Oh, mom, did you pay off the loan you had from the credit union?"
"Why are you asking? I am still paying the principal and interest . I guess I have about 6 million won left . "
Gun-Ho pulled out an envelope from the inner pocket of his jacket .
"Before you move to a new place, pay off that loan with this . It's 10 million won . Use 6 million won to pay off the debt and use the remaining 4 million won to buy some restorative herbal medicine for you . "
"10 million won?"
Gun-Ho's parents' eyes widened .
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Right before MB got elected in the year 2007, the price of stocks related to the Four Major Rivers Project increased dramatically . The price of EE-HWA Construction went up 30 times more, and the price of Sammok-Jeong Company went up over 15 times more . The stock market was overheated, and they became issues at that time .
If you are doing stocks, you can easily search the records of the history of those stocks on the Internet: EE-HWA Construction and Sammok-Jeong Company (it is now Sammok S-Form) .
The stock's price hike at that time is a fact, but Gun-Ho's investment in those stocks is a fiction .
Note*
Cheongha – one of Korean brand of a clear, refined rice wine .