Become A Music Monster Overnight! [EN]: Chapter 6

Chapter 3. Bitcoin at $5?

It’s been a month since that dream.

In the meantime, some significant changes are happening in my life, the biggest being quitting my job.

Even though I’ve quit before, this time feels different, and for a good reason.

Usually, I quit when I find a better opportunity, like a higher salary, but this time it was different.

“They let me go so easily, it was almost disappointing.”

Usually, they’d try to convince me to stay, even if it was just for show, but they accepted my resignation as if they’d been expecting it. My disappointment must have shown on my face.

Perhaps worried I’d change my mind, the vice president cleared his throat and said,

“Ahem. We know you’re a hard worker. But the company’s having a tough time, so we’re planning to downsize.”

“It’s okay. I’d appreciate it if you could process my severance pay quickly.”

“Hahaha. Don’t worry about that. Anyway, I hope you do well wherever you go.”

“Yes. Thank you for everything.”

That’s right.

This resignation was all about the severance pay.

The last day wasn’t much different from any other.

Even though I’d worked there for over four years, I didn’t have many close friends.

Well, that was to be expected.

There wasn’t room for that in a place that ran on two shifts.

I said a longer goodbye than usual to the team leader, who was the closest thing I had to a friend, and then I was unemployed.

“Wow!”

As the vice president had assured me, the severance pay came through quickly.

It was deposited the next morning as soon as the bank opened. Considering the company’s usual processing speed, it was truly amazing.

“It’s strangely upsetting, isn’t it?”

I grumbled to myself, feeling like they were afraid I might change my mind.

After receiving the severance pay, I went to the banks and started closing all my savings accounts.

Some of the accounts were close to maturity, and the bank tellers tried to talk me out of it, but I didn’t change my mind.

It wasn’t just the savings accounts.

I also borrowed the maximum amount I could using my lease as collateral. This meant paying a considerable amount of interest every month, but I did it for one simple reason.

“Bitcoin!”

It was to invest in Bitcoin.

Two years ago, when Bitcoin was new, its value was incredibly low.

You could exchange 10,000 Bitcoins for two pizzas, which shows how worthless it was.

Then, in 2011, things changed.

As various Bitcoin exchanges were created worldwide and people started mining Bitcoin, the price began to stabilize.

At that time, Bitcoin started at $0.29, and it was mainly used for payments on overseas baseball streaming sites.

Because of this, some lucky people who had bought Bitcoin to watch videos and forgotten about it later hit the jackpot and gained attention.

I was one of those lucky people.

I had bought a generous amount of coins to watch baseball during my break, but I was forced to move to the United States before I could use them properly.

2013.

When I found out that Bitcoin had reached $1163, I was so surprised my heart almost stopped.

“Hoo-eok!”

It was understandable since the money I had spent on entertainment had increased more than 1000 times over.

The amount was about ten million dollars, which helped me greatly at the time.

I was expanding YC Entertainment worldwide thanks to my growing fame, and I was short on funds in many ways.

The reason I partnered with legendary singers instead of focusing solely on my music was to raise that money.

However, I needed more money than I thought, and I was considering investment and going public [listing on the stock market].

That’s when I got my hands on ten million dollars.

Thanks to that, I was able to postpone the listing, and as a result, that money later returned at least a hundred times more.

Perhaps because of that experience, I developed a habit of checking Bitcoin even in my busy life.

“A cornucopia [a symbol of abundance and prosperity] is not just anything. This is a cornucopia.”

As that memory was imprinted on me, I immediately moved to make money as I naturally remembered the Bitcoin price.

There was a bit of regret.

“It would have been a real jackpot if I had known last year.”

That’s because Bitcoin hit $32 in 2011.

On the other hand, it would be difficult to aim for such a jackpot this year because it was going through a halving [a process that reduces the reward for mining new blocks, thus slowing down the creation of new bitcoins].

It would have been difficult to aim for this even if my birthday wasn’t in January.

“…Next year is the real deal.”

As I experienced in the other world, I was planning to make a lot of money with 2013 as an opportunity this time as well.

“Since Bitcoin is currently at $5…”

If you calculate with the highest point, a profit of 232 times was possible.

If you invest one million won [approximately $750 USD], it will return about 230 million won [approximately $172,500 USD].

‘I’m going to go crazy.’

That’s why I had no choice but to close my savings and take out a lease loan.

The money I raised was 100 million won [approximately $75,000 USD], and I put it all into Bitcoin.

“…Oh my. I’m nervous.”

Even though the Bitcoin price was imprinted and clearly remembered like any other memory, I couldn’t hide a hint of anxiety.

This is because I confirmed that the butterfly effect [the idea that small changes can have large consequences] caused by my changed life had altered the history of popular music.

So I couldn’t help but worry about the instability of the Bitcoin history I knew.

“I have to watch it slowly for now. Whatever happens, it’s certain that Bitcoin will rise.”

Even with the butterfly effect, it can’t go against the huge flow.

There was something else unusual happening, no less significant than quitting my job and investing in Bitcoin.

It was a popular video on Tube [likely a stand-in for YouTube] that I saw through an unknown algorithm two days ago.

-Common Neighborhood Guy (Bohemian Rhapsody)-

The title was hard to ignore, so I clicked it and was embarrassed.

The video was of me singing Bohemian Rhapsody at a coin karaoke [a small, private karaoke booth] a month ago.

I was embarrassed to see the video, but I soon sighed in relief.

The video was 5 minutes long, meaning only the song Bohemian Rhapsody was uploaded, as the title said.

I covered my face by pressing down on my hat, but it was still embarrassing.

“By the way, why did so many people watch this?”

The current number of views is 3 million.

As expected with that many views, the comments already exceeded 3,000.

-While listening to the song, I didn’t think of Freddie Mercury’s Bohemian Rhapsody. I can’t believe there’s such a legendary singer!-

-At least for this song, Kim Na-bak [likely a famous Korean singer] should take a step back.-

-It’s not just good singing? What’s this person’s identity? I don’t think he’s an ordinary neighborhood guy at all?-

-If this is a common neighborhood guy, the cats in our neighborhood are tigers [a Korean idiom meaning someone is much more skilled than they appear].-

-I came to laugh, but I’m crying. Rock is alive ㅠㅠ Rock and Roll!-

-The pronunciation seemed like a foreigner, but looking at the skin color under the brim of the hat, it seems like a Korean. What are the agencies doing! There’s a singer in Korea who’s no less than Freddie Mercury!-

-I think I’m crazy. I’ve already listened to this song more than 100 times. To show this level of quality with just a coin karaoke system…-

Considering the karaoke system and my physical condition, the song had many shortcomings, but there were many comments like this that were praising it.

Even I, who had become somewhat accustomed to praise while sharing memories of the other world, was embarrassed by the excessive praise, so I couldn’t read any more comments.

“Let’s see. Who am I (誰是我: Who am I)… Seodonggo Band Club?”

I checked who uploaded it, and it was a high school band club.

Come to think of it, there was a high school girl filming with a smartphone among those kids, and I thought she might have uploaded it.

“Well…it doesn’t matter.”

I was surprised for a moment, but I soon lost interest.

My face was covered by a hat, so they couldn’t recognize me, and this number of views was nothing compared to my memories.

Wasn’t I the one who made videos with 100 million views as if I was just casually filming?

There was no need to be happy or sad about a video that wasn’t even 10 million.

‘That’s what I thought…’

However, contrary to my thoughts, the number of views doubled in just two days, and the upward trend wasn’t stopping.

No, it was accelerating as if it was just beginning.

As evidence, English began to dominate the comments, which were mostly in Korean before.

This meant it was becoming a hot video overseas as well.

“I don’t know how far this will go…but I think I should visit them later.”

Seeing that YouTube was growing tremendously, I had to grow my channel.

If I used this video well, I could grow my channel at a scary speed.

“Above all, I like that it’s getting attention overseas.”

I knew from experience that I couldn’t grow properly by clinging to the small, competitive Korean market.

This industry was more about connections than I thought.

Therefore, although the risk was high, I could only succeed by going abroad.

In this world where I, the vanguard, wasn’t present, there was still no proper Korean Wave [Hallyu, the increase in global popularity of South Korean culture], so the number of foreign subscribers was important.

That’s why I desperately wanted this video to burn even more fiercely overseas.

Three months have passed since then.

I’ve been really busy for three months.

‘To be honest, I think I was twice as busy as when I worked at the factory.’

Dieting along with physical fitness is also a diet. The biggest part is restoring the music I made in the other world.

I poured all my money into Bitcoin, so I couldn’t build a proper system, so I was just recording with a guitar and voice, but it still took a lot of time.

It’s also because my fingers are torn from time to time, but more than that, the number of songs I made there is considerable.

If you add up all the songs I sang, the songs I collaborated on, and the songs I produced, it’s over 1,000 songs.

Considering that I went to the military in the middle and did business activities, it was a crazy number in terms of the number of years I was active.

It was possible because I had inspiration pouring out like a cornucopia, which the masters called a monster.

Among them, I collected and recorded the ones that received good responses by year, and the number of songs I recorded during that time was 103.

“To be honest, if it was just about restoring it, I wouldn’t have had such a hard time…”

That’s right.

If it was just recording, I wouldn’t have been so busy.

However, the work became so difficult because I was also doing simple arrangements in the process.

“I couldn’t help it.”

It was already overflowing with inspiration. Then, it evolved into a new realm or form due to the drug that drove me to death in the other world.

It’s not just overflowing; it feels like the levee is collapsing and pouring out.

Thanks to this, I often couldn’t sleep and stayed up all night.

“I can change this song like this.”

However, it’s more fun than difficult, so I can’t rest even if I try to.

You may think it’s arrogant, but it’s even more so because it’s a work that breaks down my other works that I thought I couldn’t improve the perfection any more.

“I was a frog in a well [a person with a limited perspective].”

Maybe I’m still in another well, but anyway, the music I see from a new realm gave me endless freedom and joy.

In addition, recently, I have fingers with calluses that have been torn countless times, and I don’t have to worry about them anymore, and I have a lung capacity that is as good as my prime, so I have come to digest this song even more.

So I started to look for even higher quality.

“This won’t work. It’s a waste, but I think I should find a studio first.”

Fortunately, it was time to settle the first coin in a few days.

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