The Greatest Conglomerate Ever With the American Lottery

10. Do you want to be my friend?

“Huh! Huh!”

“Hey! Brother! A little more!”

“Aja!”

Once the physical ticket had been officially submitted to the California State Lottery and the process of paying out the first prize had begun, I no longer had to worry about US Lotto stealing my ticket.

I took it easy and worked out at the hotel gym during the day with George as my trainer, and enjoyed a night out on the town with him at night.

The press conference was held the day after the lottery tickets were submitted, in the name of the Clover Company, with an undisclosed percentage of ownership, and James stepped in front of reporters wearing dark sunglasses, apparently concerned about his face being sold.

Now it was just a matter of waiting.

A month later, by May, his weight had dropped from 95 kilograms to 88 kilograms, giving him a more contoured face and almost no belly fat.

“Now you’re looking a little better.”

“How much did you weigh when you were in the army?”

“About 82 kilos then?”

“Then you still need to lose another ten pounds?”

“Are you crazy, I’m older now, I’m not in the army, how can I lose that much, and I’m 6’3″?”

“Well, you’re a big guy, so that’s one thing, but I’d say you’d be better off losing another three or four pounds.”

“Yeah, 84 should be about right, any more than that and you’ll have trouble with your muscles, but you still feel light.”

“Okay, how about we find a good watering hole today?”

“Do you know of any?”

“Sure! I’m a native here, I know a place that’s half water, half meat! Shall we go?”

“Gazza!”

I’m thirty-one, which is the age when people in Korea start to listen to uncles, but I’m still a young man.

He’s broken up with his bandmate and has been living in a hotel for over a month.

I missed her scent terribly.

In the meantime, I’ve gotten to know Jeffrey a lot better.

“Alex.”

“Why? Jeffrey?”

Jeffrey called out to me while we were having a drink at the hotel bar.

“So, what are you going to do when you win the lottery?”

“I don’t know, I haven’t really thought about it yet because I’m just thinking about winning the money.”

For now, I’ll buy a house for the family, right?

Somi needs to go to school, so I’m thinking of buying a spacious, new apartment in the neighborhood.

Depending on the neighborhood, I’m looking at Gajaeul New Town, which has just moved in or is about to start, because it looks good.

Also, I need to buy a house.

I’m done with my 6-pyeong studio.

I’m also going to buy a car.

I’m tired of the company cars, Morning and Ray.

I once went on a business trip to Busan with Morning in tow, and when a big car passed by me on the highway, I had to squeeze the steering wheel so tightly that my shoulders hurt after the business trip.

In addition, all of them were dirty and smelled like cigarettes.

I’m thinking of buying a Genesis for the exterior and a Porsche 911 for my dream car.

I’ve also thought about a Ferrari, but we’ll see.

I don’t want to draw too much attention to myself.

And then?

What do I do?

“At the risk of sounding like a nag, think about it. What are you going to do, and how is it wise to live your life. Do you want me to stop if you don’t want to hear it?”

“No, no. Feel free to keep talking. You’re just trying to wish me well, right?”

Over the years, I’ve come to realize that Jeffrey is a very wise man, not to mention smart.

I’d pay to hear his advice.

To be honest, I had no idea what I was going to do with the first prize.

“Okay, so let’s think about it, you’re rich now, astronomically rich. A billion dollars, a billion dollars. You’re probably on the list of the richest people in America, plus Korea, of course.”

“Probably.”

I don’t know about the U.S., but in Korea, I saw an article the other day about the 50 richest people in Korea, and I think $1 trillion would put you in the top 40.

Of course, it’s calculated by the value of his stock holdings, excluding real estate and other financial assets, so he’ll be far behind in reality.

Lee Jung-in, chairman of Sasung, was ranked first with 14 trillion won, and the second place was surprisingly taken by the chairman of a cosmetics company with 9 trillion won.

“The problem is that you’re not a self-made man, and you didn’t inherit it from your parents. Self-made rich man? You’ve been in society long enough to know how bad it is.”

“Hmph, I know because the president of my old company was like that.”

Our Mr. Hong was a self-made man from a village, and he showed me that even dogs don’t eat the sh*t of self-made men.

Not only was he stingy with others, he was also stingy with himself and his family, ordering 6,000 won chrysalis hot pot and drinking several bottles of soju when he went out drinking with his executives.

And if he wasn’t drunk enough to wobble, he would take the subway home without taking a taxi.

This is a true story.

“Yeah, they’re tough, especially the ones who started from nothing. And they’re so determined and unwavering in their goals, right or wrong, they’re the richest people you’ll ever have to worry about.”

“That’s certainly true.”

“Then there are the gold diggers who inherit their fortunes from their parents. You think they’re just going to stand there? You’re right. They’re thoroughly indoctrinated from an early age, taught to take advantage of people and to take it for granted that they’re above everyone else. As a result, they’re generally not cheap, and they get into a lot of trouble when they’re young, but by the end of the day, most of them are second-generation executives. I mean, there’s always a few that get f*cked up on drugs or something.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. I mean, you can see that in the U.S. when you have a family that’s been in business for generations. I don’t think there’s a lot of people who get completely screwed over because the system is so well established.”

“I see.”

As Geoffrey said, I’m not cheap, and I can be a bit of an asshole.

Like the girl who made a scene with her peanuts last year.

“But what about your case? It’s so unique, in fact, that even I don’t know. When you win, you’ll probably spend it all at first, on a nice house, a nice sports car, and maybe a bunch of hotties in a place like Gangnam Tenplo in South Korea. But then, what? What do you do now?”

“…”

Gangnam Tenplo seems a bit over the top—.

“Of course, I’ve only seen you a few times, but I don’t think you’re the kind of guy who’s going to live a life of drugs and gambling, and if you were, I wouldn’t be talking to you like this, right?”

“I’m not going to do that, even if I die.”

“Yeah, well, whatever. Your biggest problem right now is that you don’t have a goal. If you were older, you could just take the money and live comfortably with it, but you’re not even that, and your birthday’s not even over yet, is it?”

“My birthday is in July.”

“So you’re not actually in your twenties yet, like that ridiculous Korean age of thirty-one, where you gain an age as soon as you’re born?”

“Hmph! In terms of age, yes.”

Oh, I’m still in my twenties in the US?

This is good.

“Yeah, I’m only in my twenties, don’t you think life is too short to spend the rest of your life just spending money?”

“I agree, we should do something.”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying. Even if you don’t like the outcome, you’ll still have something to say about it later, won’t you? I’ve been thinking hard about it, haven’t I?”

“You’re right.”

“But don’t take it too seriously, and don’t get caught up in your own flimsy morals. You’re rich now, astronomically rich, in the top 0.001%. You’re worth a trillion dollars, and if someone like you doesn’t splurge, who will? Buy a nice house, buy a Ferrari, a Lamborghini, a supercar, whatever. You don’t care what anyone thinks.”

“Huh?”

“Alcohol? If you drink soju with your pork belly on a fictional day, that’s commoner cosplay and hypocrisy. Of course, you can’t drink whiskey all the time, so you have to drink soju once in a while. Yachts? Good yachts cost $20 million, $30 million, and more, so if you want to buy one of those, go for it. That’s reasonable consumption for you, and it can be a factor in driving the economy, whether in Korea or the U.S. Just don’t cross the line. If you’re carrying around millions of won worth of sh*t or channel bags while eating ramen for lunch, that’s overconsumption, that’s vanity.”

“Hmph!”

“Also, don’t try to be too nice, there is a place for modest and appropriate giving, but there is a limit. It’s a famous story in the diaspora, there was a diaspora lady who won a lottery once, not quite to your level, but quite a bit of money. I think it was over $50 million, if I remember correctly.”

“Really, that happened?”

“Yeah, but it ended very badly.”

“How?”

“Well, the lady herself didn’t spend the money on herself.”

“But?”

“Instead, she solicited donations.”

“What do you mean?”

Do you use the word “splurge” to describe donations?

“Well, it’s one of the reasons I took on this case, but after her identity was revealed, she was asked for a huge donation, and it turns out she’s just the kind of person who likes to help others and can’t say no when someone asks.”

“Oh no!”

Somehow, I could see the ending of the story in front of me.

“So he just gave away whatever he was asked. He even had a library named after him at the local university, didn’t I tell you?”

“How much did he give away?”

“Well, it ended in tragedy, of course. By the end of the decade, he’d filed for bankruptcy and was penniless.”

“…”

I trailed off.

“That was a big deal in American society, too, because American kids in general have a tendency to go on spending sprees, and it’s not uncommon for them to go bankrupt later in life, but it’s not uncommon for them to go bankrupt from donations like this.”

“So Jeffrey’s partly responsible for this?”

“Yeah, not all of it, but the way he talked about it made me wonder if something similar might happen if his identity was made public. Besides, the U.S. is a big country with a lot of land and a lot of people, so if you run away to some far-flung state, you’re practically in a foreign country, whereas here, it’s a five-hour drive.”

“Glitch.”

“So, I said I’d take the job because I figured that if some dirty bastard took it and revealed his identity, the tragedy might happen again. Of course, it’s also a chance to make a lot of money on something that’s easy by my standards, right? hahahahaha!”

“A—.”

I was a little touched.

But still grateful.

“Huh? Seriously, Alex. And James gave you a discount because he’s known you since you were a kid?”

“hahahahaha! Okay, thanks, Jeffrey. For taking on this job, and for the nice words.”

“Damn! Have you been sober long enough to realize you’re being an asshole?”

“Oh, what kind of asshole is this?”

“No, it’s just that sometimes when I’m like this, I feel like I’m 1.5 years old and can’t be a real American no matter what.”

“No, why?”

“Because a real American would never give this kind of advice to a client they’ve met and gotten to know a few times.”

“Really?”

“Well, in times like this, I guess I must be a Korean who likes to smoke a lot of weed. My kids are definitely wrong.”

“Hmph! What’s wrong with being Korean?”

“That’s what I’m saying, and I’m afraid I’m going to get into some more nonsense, so let’s call it a day!”

“Yes, Jeffrey!”

I said, getting to my feet.

“Jeffrey!”

“Huh? Why?”

“I know we’ll be close seniors in Korean, but would you like to be friends in American?”

“Aren’t we already friends?”

“Oh! Really?”

“Well then, a friend with a lot of money like you is always welcome, hahahahaha!”

“hahahahaha!”

“Pai!”

“Be careful what you wish for.”

I shrugged and Jeffrey left the hotel.

It was early June, and it had been more than seven weeks since I’d submitted a payout request to the state lottery.

Bam!

“Yes, James.”

– Alex, they’re finally paying out the winnings tomorrow, hahahahaha!

It’s finally tomorrow.