In the end, my plan to distance myself from Soyeon went completely up in smoke.
She happily ate the gukbap even after I'd poured an excessive amount of kkakdugi juice into it, and she even bought coffee for dessert afterward.
Watching her chatter nonstop with a bright smile on her face, I found myself unable to even think about pushing her away anymore. Before I knew it, things had turned into something resembling an awkward date.
It felt strange.
She looked exactly like my ex-girlfriend, yet here she was, smiling so brightly.
Come to think of it, I couldn't remember the last time Sojeong had smiled like that over the past few years.
You could probably call it a slump in the relationship.
Buried under work, I'd forgotten what it even meant to enjoy a date. Dating Sojeong had felt like an extension of my job.
A date done out of obligation could never be enjoyable.
And the same must've been true for Sojeong.
At the time I got dumped, I felt wronged—but looking back now, I could understand why.
Seeing Soyeon smiling so innocently only made that realization hit harder.
"Oppa, where should we go next?"
"Where else? Home."
"Home? Your place, oppa?"
"You go to your place. I go to mine."
"Aw, that's boring."
Boring, my ass.
If you knew it was boring, you shouldn't have come in the first place.
I drove along the familiar route, taking Soyeon back to her home.
It was the same road I'd used countless times to drop off her sister, Sojeong.
Even after breaking up, coming back here felt oddly unsettling.
When we reached the familiar house, I parked the car.
Instead of getting out, Soyeon turned to me and asked,
"Oppa, what are you doing tomorrow? It's the weekend."
"Busy."
"Come on. You're unemployed now, oppa. No girlfriend either. You're probably just going to stay home and play games, right? I can come hang out, can't I?"
Soyeon was clearly expecting something from me.
Her attitude throughout the day made that obvious enough.
More than just an older brother–younger sister relationship.
She might even be trying to fill the space her sister had left.
Park Soyeon—my ex-girlfriend's younger sister.
To me, she was still just a little sister.
I couldn't imagine crossing that line with her.
This was nothing like my situations with Hwang Juyeon or Yoo Eunha, who were former coworkers.
More than anything, whenever I looked at Soyeon, Sojeong's face kept resurfacing.
That wasn't good—for me or for Soyeon.
"No. Today is the last time. Don't come again."
"Eh? You can't be serious."
"Don't call me anymore, and don't come looking for me. Today was just a goodbye."
"Oppa…"
Soyeon might be innocent, but she wasn't stupid.
She must've noticed that I was trying to create distance—and that my decision wouldn't easily change.
"Th-Then… eating together once in a while, or just having coffee… that's okay, right?"
"No."
"This isn't allowed, that isn't allowed either… then what am I supposed to do?"
"You know too, Soyeon. Please don't make this harder than it already is."
She puffed her cheeks and stared straight ahead.
Then suddenly, her eyes widened as if she'd spotted something.
"Oh? Mom!"
"What?"
Her mother—Sojeong's mother as well.
And for me, a very uncomfortable presence.
Being seen together with Soyeon by her mother would've been disastrous.
As I reflexively turned my head forward—
"Gotcha!"
Soyeon suddenly lunged in and tried to kiss me.
Of course, I blocked her with my hand.
I might've fallen for fake tears once, but not twice.
"Park Soyeon. Don't you think that joke was a bit much?"
"Mmff… s-sowwy…"
Her cheeks were squished by my hands, turning her mouth into a fish shape.
She said she was sorry, but her expression looked anything but apologetic.
I let go and opened the passenger door.
"Get out."
But Soyeon stayed seated, the door still open.
Just as I was about to urge her again, she spoke softly.
"If I get out of this car… does that mean I won't be able to see you anymore, oppa?"
This time, the atmosphere was different.
There was loneliness in her voice and expression.
"It's not like we'll never see each other again."
"When is 'someday'?"
For some reason, I couldn't bring myself to be completely cold.
Even though I knew I should push her away.
I didn't want to see the girl who'd smiled so brightly at me wearing a sad expression.
After dating her sister for so long, I'd grown attached to Soyeon too—more than I realized.
I'd broken up with Sojeong.
But was that really a justifiable reason to cut Soyeon off completely?
From her perspective, wasn't that unbearably unfair?
Thinking that way, I couldn't bring myself to say anything harsh.
"…I'll contact you later. Once I sort out my feelings."
In the end, I left the door half open.
Soyeon's gloomy face instantly brightened.
"Really? You're not lying, right?"
"I don't know when that'll be."
"Kyah! I love you, oppa!"
She hugged me from the driver's seat and even tried to kiss me again.
I managed to block her lips with my hand, but in the cramped driver's seat, I couldn't avoid the hug itself.
"Alright, that's enough talking. Get out already. How long are you planning to leave the door open?"
"Yesss, I'm getting out~."
Only then did Soyeon finally step out of the car.
"See you later, oppa! You have to contact me!"
She waved her arms enthusiastically as she saw me off.
I waved back slightly in response.
And then—
"…Ah."
Behind Soyeon, I noticed a dim shadow.
Within it, someone was staring at me with a terrifying gaze.
It was none other than Park Sojeong.
Soyeon's sister.
My ex-girlfriend.
"…Ah."
This was bad.
I'd thought it would be disastrous if her mother saw us—but something far worse had happened.
Of all people, Sojeong had seen us together.
And if she'd been watching the whole time… she might've even seen Soyeon hugging me.
"Well… does it really matter?"
So what?
Sojeong and I had already broken up.
There was no reason for us to meet or talk anymore.
I didn't really have anything to stress over.
If there was a problem, it was Soyeon's.
Who knew what her sister would say to her?
Worst case, it could reach their parents, and Soyeon might be forbidden from seeing me.
But that was fine too.
I'd planned to distance myself from her anyway.
That would just accomplish my original goal.
And Soyeon wouldn't end up resenting me for it.
Was this what they meant by killing two birds with one stone?
I decided not to think about it and drove away.
Weekend.
It had been an incredibly long time since I'd had a weekend with absolutely no schedule.
Soyeon was right.
Unemployed, no girlfriend—there was nothing to do.
Even my only hobby, watching stock charts, was unavailable on weekends.
"…What should I do?"
A shockingly empty weekend.
I'd lived a busy life since childhood, so this situation itself felt unfamiliar.
I cleaned my already spotless apartment again for no reason, even washed my car—but time refused to move.
"Come to think of it…"
If your luck with women opens up, your luck with money follows.
The old woman at the lottery shop's words came back to me.
I didn't believe in superstition—but it did bother me.
Especially since right after hearing that, my luck with women had exploded in a ridiculous way.
So if my luck with women had already opened up… wasn't it time for my financial luck to follow?
My mother had called about selling the land for a high price—but that didn't quite feel like my financial luck.
The money wasn't going into my pocket right away, after all.
And it wasn't like my stocks had surged either.
They'd gone up a little—but that was well within the margin of error.
I was a safety-first type to begin with, so I only bought stable stocks.
If those suddenly skyrocketed, that wouldn't be my luck—that'd be a national event.
"Then… is it really just the lottery?"
I still had the lottery ticket from back then.
But the draw wouldn't happen until later that evening.
"Wait… crypto trades on weekends too, right?"
Crypto.
How many people had laughed and cried because of crypto?
There was even someone at my company who quit after a huge crypto win.
Of course, he ended up losing it all back in crypto.
I had no idea how he was doing now.
Unstable assets that could crash at any moment didn't suit my personality.
That was why I'd never touched crypto.
Thinking about it, the reason I'd clung so hard to stability was actually because of Sojeong.
I'd been dating her for a long time with marriage in mind, saving up wedding funds.
I couldn't afford to blow that money, so I naturally managed my assets conservatively.
But now… did I really need to prioritize stability anymore?
Sojeong and I were over.
Thinking about my future, saving money for marriage still made sense—but I no longer felt the need to get married no matter what.
Which meant I didn't need to force myself to hoard money either.
"…Let's try five million. Just five million."
If I lose it, I really quit.
I made that promise to myself.
Five million won wasn't nothing—but it also wasn't money that would ruin my life if I lost it.
I could think of it as one month's worth of dating expenses with Sojeong.
In the end, I installed a crypto trading app.
A flood of information poured onto the small phone screen—similar to stock trading, yet completely different.
Since I'd traded stocks for years, I roughly understood the mechanics.
First, I transferred five million won from my bank account into the crypto account.
At the top of the list were familiar names like BTC and ETH—even someone like me, who'd never traded crypto, knew those.
Below them was an endless list of coins I'd never heard of.
If stocks had junk stocks, did crypto have junk coins?
As I mindlessly scrolled through the endless list, one name suddenly caught my eye.
"Oh? KSH?"
KSH.
A coin called Kronos Secure Hash.
It just happened to share the same initials as my name—Kang Suhyeok.
It felt oddly fated.
"This must be destiny."
I glanced at the chart.
It was a wild roller coaster—overall trending downward.
The current price was a mere 0.00473 won.
Basically worthless.
But who knew? It might turn into gold someday.
I boldly bet one million won on it.
Since the price was so low, even that amount bought me over two hundred million coins.
The chart spiked briefly—maybe because of my purchase—then quickly returned to normal.
Hmm. I bought it, but… was it really okay to just hold onto this?
I decided to watch the trend for a bit.
In a matter of seconds, the price jumped 20%, then dropped 30%, then surged 40% again.
It was similar to stocks—but the speed was on a completely different level.
Up and down, nonstop.
"…Huh? What about my financial luck…?"
If things were going as expected, the price should've skyrocketed the moment I bought in.
Instead, it kept fluctuating wildly.
I guess it wouldn't be that easy.
Ah—now it was about to plunge.
I immediately hit sell.
Thankfully, it sold right away, and I got my money back exactly—no profit, no loss.
The constant tension of not knowing when everything might crash.
I couldn't take my eyes off the screen.
For someone who'd only traded stable stocks, junk coin trading was dangerously stimulating.
"…Huh?"
The coin I'd just sold suddenly shot up.
Ah. I shouldn't have sold.
Just like that, I was sucked into the crypto pit.
"…What time is it?"
I was hungry.
It was already night.
I'd spent the entire Saturday completely absorbed in crypto.
Staring at charts on a tiny phone screen until my eyes felt like they were about to pop out.
So—did I make any money?
"Heh."
After selling everything and returning the funds to my bank account, I had 4,990,000 won.
Exactly ten thousand won less than my original five million.
For spending an entire day glued to the screen, it was a laughable result.
"It was going well halfway through."
Beginner's luck, maybe?
At first, it was great.
Whenever I bought, the price went up. Whenever I sold, it went down.
The five million I started with ballooned to thirty million.
For a moment, I even thought my financial luck had truly opened up.
But that luck didn't last long.
"Things went weird after the alarm went off."
In the middle of it all, an alarm rang on my phone, and I missed the timing to sell.
I turned it off right away—but by then, my coins had already plunged.
From that point on, the rhythm was off.
Whenever I bought, the price dropped.
Whenever I sold, it climbed.
After repeating that cycle several times, the balance that had once reached thirty million returned to square one.
I barely managed to sell in time and salvage my original five million.
"But what was that alarm, anyway… ah!"
The alarm I'd dismissed earlier without checking.
It said: "Lottery."
It was the reminder I'd set for the lottery draw time.
I hurriedly pulled the lottery ticket from my wallet and scanned the QR code.
Then, a red banner filled my phone screen.
[Congratulations! First Prize Winner!]
[Prize Money: 2,317,364,000 won]
"…Ah. Of course."
So this was why my crypto had collapsed the moment the alarm went off.
The lottery.
Winning first prize.
That damn lottery had sucked up all of my financial luck.