thefictionvixens Chapter 3 Money-Making Plan
Chapter 3 Money-Making Plan
"Let's take a group photo to commemorate this moment," Bae Joo-hyun said.
Li Zhengyi raised an eyebrow.
He stood up and walked to her side.
"Okay, how do we film it?"
"that's all."
Bae Joo-hyun raised her phone, switched to the front-facing camera, and then moved closer to Lee Jung-il.
The two appeared on the small screen.
She was glamorous and had exquisite makeup, looking like she had stepped out of a magazine.
A man in work clothes, with messy hair, looked like he had just come back from a construction site carrying bricks.
The contrast is so stark it's almost comical.
"Come...come a little closer."
"You can put your hand on my waist."
Bae Joo-hyun said in a very soft voice.
Li Zhengyi did as instructed.
His hand rested on her waist.
Even through her coat, I could feel her body tense up instantly.
"Smile."
Bae Joo-hyun said that she first smiled.
It was a sweet, perfect smile—the kind of smile she had practiced countless times on stage.
Li Zhengyi grinned, revealing a slightly roguish smile.
Click.
The flash went off for a split second.
Bae Joo-hyun's smile vanished instantly.
It was as fast as flipping a switch.
She put down her phone and looked down to examine the photos.
In the photo, she smiles happily, her eyes curving into crescents, her head slightly tilted towards Li Zhengyi's shoulder.
Li Zheng smiled casually, but his hand was on her waist, and the two were very close, it looked...
They really do resemble a young couple who have just started dating and are secretly sharing their joy.
perfect.
Bae Joo-hyun breathed a sigh of relief.
"I'll be going now, I have plans for the morning."
Her voice returned to calm, even somewhat cold.
"Okay, I'll walk you downstairs."
Li Zhengyi remained in that position, his hand on her waist without moving.
"No need, I can manage on my own."
Bae Joo-hyun took a step to the side, breaking free from his arm.
She walked to the door, opened it, and glanced back at him.
In the dim light, Li Zhengyi was still standing there, his hands in his pockets, a smile on his lips, looking at her.
That smile made her feel inexplicably uneasy.
"……goodbye."
She said that, then turned around and quickly walked down the stairs.
The footsteps faded into the distance.
Li Zhengyi walked to the window and watched the black van downstairs start up, silently drive out of the alley, and disappear into the night.
He took out his cigarette case and lit another cigarette.
Amidst the swirling smoke, he squinted and smiled.
"Bae Joo-hyun..."
He whispered the name and then exhaled a smoke ring.
"An SM artist who debuted this August, the visual center of Red Velvet, hailed as a goddess, and currently enjoying immense popularity..."
He turned around, walked to the table, and opened his laptop.
The screen lights up, displaying densely packed candlestick charts and news pages.
He opened a folder containing several documents.
One of the documents is named as follows.
[CJ Group - Family Relationships and Recent Developments]
He tapped the page, swiped quickly, and finally stopped at a certain line.
[Recent activities of Lee Woo-bin (the second brother): Frequent contact with SM Entertainment executives, seemingly indicating interest in pursuing Bae Joo-hyun, an artist under the company. He has repeatedly invited her out privately, but she has politely declined each time.]
Li Zheng stared at that line of text for a long time.
Then he burst out laughing.
"I see."
He closed the document, leaned back in his chair, and stared at the ceiling.
There was a water stain on the ceiling, shaped like a turtle.
"Using me as a shield, huh? Fine, great."
He picked up his phone, opened Kakao Talk, and found the friend he had just added.
The profile picture is a smiling face amidst flowers.
He clicked on the information and looked at it for a few seconds.
My personal motto is: May the sunshine illuminate the road ahead.
Using a little psychological reasoning, this sentiment likely reflects a bleak outlook and a longing for sunshine.
Why is the future so bleak?
It appears to be related to his second brother, Lee Woo-bin.
Two years ago, at the CJ family dinner, he was framed and falsely accused of having an affair with his stepmother. He was then expelled from the family, removed from the family tree, and cut off from all financial and other connections.
He only remembered one sentence, which his elder brother Li Chengwen whispered in his ear.
"The struggle for the crown prince position has always been like this."
Then, amidst her father Lee Jae-hyun's indifferent gaze, her eldest sister Lee Ji-hye's disdainful attitude, and her second brother Lee Woo-bin's mocking laughter, she left the Lee family mansion.
That year, Bitcoin was only $5.
Exit the profile and return to the chat window with Bae Joo-hyun.
type:
Let me know when you get home.
send.
Almost simultaneously, my phone vibrated.
Bae Joo-hyun replied:
【Um】
Just one word.
Li Zhengyi stared at the "hmm" and smiled again.
Outside the window, the night in Kowloon Village remained dark and quiet, with only the occasional barking of dogs in the distance.
"Bae Joo-hyun..."
"Then let's give it a try."
"Let's see if you'll use me as a gun first, or if I'll use you as a tool first..."
He extinguished his cigarette and switched to the computer interface.
I opened another folder on my computer desktop.
The filename is very simple.
[Money-Making Log (2012-2014)]
"Look at what they've been up to these past two years..."
He muttered to himself and clicked on a summary table.
The screen lights up, and data scrolls.
In 2012, I was kicked out of my home.
He had only 5 won hidden on him, lived in a rooftop apartment in Kowloon Village where it was freezing cold in winter, and had to work the night shift at a convenience store, earning 6530 won an hour, which was less than 40 yuan per hour.
They are barely above the minimum wage.
"This is the treatment I get after being reborn?"
He rolled his eyes at the instant noodle bowl.
But what is the greatest advantage of a reborn person?
It's the prophet Xiba!
He has a childhood friend, a close confidant since they were little, Kim Soo-ho.
Kim Ji-soo's cousin.
Just like Kim Jisoo of BLACKPINK in the future.
Of course, this relationship isn't important; what's important is that the two of them went to the same school from kindergarten until they graduated from high school.
The two are best friends among best friends.
He borrowed 1000 million won from Kim Soo-ho as seed money.
His first pot of gold came from the foreign exchange market.
From March to May 2012, the Eurozone collapsed, and the euro plummeted against the US dollar.
He remembered it clearly. With that meager principal, he leveraged it 50 times and went all in shorting.
For those two months, I would often doze off in front of the convenience store shelves during the day, and the boss would scold me mercilessly.
I would go home at night and stare at the stock market until my eyes were as tired as a rabbit's.
On the day he closed the position, seeing his account balance increase from $8000 to $125,000, his first reaction was...
"Damn, I can add an egg to my instant noodles tonight."
The second wave: Bitcoin.
In 2012, this thing was still considered a scam and electronic waste by most people.
It fluctuates between $5 and $15.
While he was checking out customers at the convenience store, he secretly registered more than a dozen alternate accounts on LocalBitcoins.
$5, $8, $10...
Take it slow.
"Sir, would you like your rice ball heated up?"
While juggling his work at the convenience store, he was internally screaming, "Drop it! Drop it even further! Let me pick up more chips!"
By the end of the year, I had quietly saved up 17,000 coins.
The average cost is $8.
Its value then rose slightly to $20.
But this is just the beginning.
2013 was a pivotal year.
Bitcoin first entered the public eye due to the Cyprus financial crisis, when its price skyrocketed from a dozen dollars to $260.
He sold half of it for around $250.
"I'll really miss it..."
My heart was bleeding when I sold it, but there was nothing I could do; I didn't have enough start-up capital.
He cashed out $250 million, putting real money in his pocket.
I'm not selling the remaining 1 coins; I'll keep them for my future self.
"This is digital gold; we have to hold onto it."
Once they have money, the first thing they do isn't to enjoy it, but to create a facade.
I flew to Singapore and set up a holding company called "X Pagoda" in the Cayman Islands.
The shareholder is an anonymous trust in Panama.
They hid themselves away completely, like a nesting doll.
It must not be discovered by family members.
He still doesn't know who framed him, so he dares not reveal his hand prematurely.
Continuing to work the night shift at the convenience store was also a way to avoid being noticed.
Only a useless person can put everyone at ease.
Then, using this shell, they registered "X Supernova Entertainment" in Singapore.
Registered "X Galaxy" in Seoul, X Galaxy game content investment company.
"My body is gathering dust in convenience stores, while my money is basking in the sun around the world."
This feels a bit surreal.
With the money and the shell company secured, they began making targeted bets.
My goal is clear: whatever business CJ Group is involved in, I'll plant a spy right next to it.