The smell of mold was gone.
For the first time in ten years, the Kang family woke up to sunlight streaming through a window that wasn't at street level. They were on the 12th floor. The view wasn't a panoramic vista of the river, but if you craned your neck from the balcony, you could see a sliver of the Han River and the distant, golden tower of the 63 Building.
"Is this really ours?" Min-jun's mother asked, running her hand over the clean, white wallpaper. "The landlord won't kick us out in two years?"
"It's a Jeonse (Key Money Deposit) contract, Mom," Min-jun said, carrying a box of books. "200 million won deposit. Locked for two years. Unless the landlord goes bankrupt, we are safe."
"200 million..." His father, Dong-wook, shook his head, looking at the contract on the table. "I still don't understand. You said you made this investing in... political stocks?"
"It was a diversified portfolio, Dad," Min-jun lied gently. "Just enjoy it. You have a designated parking spot now. No more fighting for street parking."
Min-jun walked into his new room. It was small, but it had a door that locked and a desk that didn't wobble. He set up his computer. He opened the safe he had installed in the closet. Inside lay the ledger of Umbra Investment.
The 200 million won deposit had drained his liquidity significantly. Cash Remaining: ~15 Million KRW.
He was asset-rich but cash-poor again. However, looking at the monitor, he didn't feel poor.
Bitcoin (BTC) Price: $28.50. The "Crypto Winter" was thawing. The price had doubled since December. His 5,000 BTC were now worth $142,500 (approx. 150 Million KRW). The "Lottery Ticket" was starting to print.
"Min-jun!" Grandpa Byung-ho walked in, wearing his new Italian suit inside the house. "The water pressure in the shower... it's like a waterfall! No more heating water on the stove!"
Min-jun smiled. "I'm glad, Grandpa."
"But," Byung-ho closed the door and lowered his voice. "I checked the news. Daegwang Group launched that new app. 'DG Fast'. Are they killing us?"
Min-jun’s smile faded. "They're trying."
February 20, 2013. Hermes Logistics HQ (New Office). Guro Digital Complex.
They had moved out of the freezing warehouse into a cheap office in a "Knowledge Industry Center." It was an upgrade, but the mood was grim.
Oh Jae-il pointed at the dashboard. It was bleeding blue.
Active Drivers: 65 (Down from 120). Daily Volume: -40% Month-over-Month.
"They are buying the market," Jae-il said, frustrated. "DG Fast is offering drivers a guaranteed minimum of 150,000 won per day, regardless of deliveries. We can't compete with that. Our drivers are defecting in droves. Even Mr. Choi left yesterday."
Min-jun stared at the map. Daegwang's strategy was crude but effective: Cash incineration. They were willing to lose billions to starve Hermes to death, then monopolize the market again.
"If we lower our fees, we go bankrupt in two months," Jae-il said. "If we don't, we lose all our drivers. It's checkmate."
"It's not checkmate," Min-jun said, zooming in on the map. "It's a trap. But not for us."
He looked at the service areas. Hermes optimized for density. They loved Gangnam, Seocho, Songpa—places where a driver could drop 5 packages in one apartment block. But Daegwang, in their arrogance, had promised "Seoul-wide Coverage" for a flat fee of 2,500 won.
"Jae-il," Min-jun asked. "What is the cost to deliver a package from Guro to a villa on top of the hill in Moon-dong? The ones with the narrow alleys where trucks can't fit?"
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"It's a nightmare. The driver has to park at the bottom and hike up. Takes 40 minutes. Fuel cost plus time... it costs the carrier about 8,000 won to execute."
"And DG Fast charges the customer 2,500 won?"
"Yes. They lose 5,500 won on every trip to Moon-dong."
Min-jun smiled. It was the shark smile.
"Then let's give them Moon-dong."
"What?"
"Adverse Selection," Min-jun said. "It's an insurance term. If you offer the same price to everyone, the sick people will buy your insurance and the healthy ones won't. You go bankrupt."
Min-jun grabbed a marker and walked to the whiteboard.
"Update our API. We are going to filter our incoming orders. If an order is in a 'Green Zone' (High Density, Profitable) -> We keep it. We dispatch a Hermes driver. If an order is in a 'Red Zone' (Hillside, Remote, Heavy Item) -> We trigger an 'Overflow' protocol."
"Overflow?"
"We act as a 3PL (Third Party Logistics) aggregator. We tell the customer: 'Hermes is busy, but we have secured a partner carrier for you.' And we automatically route that order to DG Fast."
Jae-il's eyes widened. "We dump the trash on them?"
"Exactly. We strip-mine the profitable routes for ourselves. And we flood Daegwang's network with the toxic, time-consuming, money-losing orders. They promised 'Universal Coverage.' Let's see how deep their pockets really are when every delivery loses them 6,000 won."
"That's... diabolical," Jae-il grinned, typing rapidly. "I can code the filter in 4 hours. We'll become a leech on their network."
"Do it," Min-jun said. "And one more thing. Raise our driver payout for the Green Zones. Use the money we save by not servicing the Red Zones to pay our drivers more for the easy jobs. Make Hermes the 'Premium' job and DG Fast the 'Hard Labor' job."
April 10, 2013. Daegwang Retail HQ. Strategic Planning Division.
Director Choi, the man in charge of DG Fast, slammed his fist on the desk.
"Why are our costs exploding?!"
His subordinate trembled. "Director... the volume is up. We are getting thousands of orders a day!"
"Volume is up, but the fuel costs are up 300%! Look at these routes! Why is every single delivery going to a mountaintop villa or a basement in the slums? Where are the Gangnam apartment orders? Where are the bulk cosmetics deliveries?"
"We... we don't know. It seems Hermes is still retaining the easy routes. We are only getting the... difficult ones."
"Are they dumping on us?" Director Choi realized, his face turning purple. "Those rats are using us as their garbage disposal?"
"Should we raise prices for remote areas?"
"We can't! The Chairman announced 'Flat Rate for All' as our marketing slogan. If we change it now, we look weak!"
April 12, 2013. SNU Campus.
Min-jun sat on the lawn, checking his phone. The notification from his crypto tracker app was constant.
Bitcoin: $100.00.
The historic 2013 rally was in full swing. Cyprus had a banking crisis. People were losing faith in fiat currency. Bitcoin was the escape hatch.
Min-jun’s holdings: $500,000 (approx. 550 Million KRW).
He was half a millionaire in US dollars. He looked around at the students worrying about midterms and part-time jobs paying 5,000 won an hour. The disconnect was jarring.
He called Grandpa Byung-ho.
"Grandpa. Check the kimchi pot."
"I told you, I buried it deep! I'm not digging it up!"
"Just check the price on the news. It hit $100."
Silence. Then a crash, as if the old man had dropped the phone. "One hundred... dollars? Not won?"
"Dollars. Your 500,000 won investment... is now worth half a billion won."
"I'm going to dig it up," Byung-ho shouted. "I'm digging it up right now! We need to sell! Before it crashes again!"
"No selling," Min-jun commanded. "Remember the rule. Diamond Hands. This is just the warm-up. It hits $1,000 by December."
"A thousand?!" Byung-ho sounded like he was about to faint. "Min-jun, you are trying to kill me."
"I'm trying to make you a Chaebol, Grandpa. Hold the line."
Min-jun hung up. He needed cash for Hermes. DG Fast was bleeding, but Hermes needed to expand to solidify the "Premium" positioning. He couldn't sell the Bitcoin (taxes and tracking issues, plus the potential upside was too high).
He looked at H-Semicon. Price: 38,000 KRW. It was steady. Boring.
He needed a new play. A "Creative Economy" play. President Park Geun-hye was pushing for "Venture Capital." The government was matching investments in startups. Min-jun didn't need to be a trader anymore. He needed to be a Venture Capitalist.
He texted Hong Ye-eun.
To: Ye-eun (Queen of Spades) "Are you free tonight? I have a pitch. Not a stock tip. A business proposal."
From: Ye-eun "I'm busy. But for you? I'll clear my schedule. Meet me at the Vault. 9 PM."
Min-jun stood up. He had the tech (Hermes). He had the hidden wealth (Bitcoin). Now he needed the institutional backing to come out of the shadows. He was going to found a proper VC firm. And Umbra Capital would officially step into the light.
[TRANSACTION LOG]
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Date: April 2013
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Asset: Bitcoin (BTC)
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Price: $100.00
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Holding Value: $500,000 (Unrealized).
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Strategy: HODL.
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Operational Metric (Hermes):
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"Red Zone" Orders Diverted: 4,500 / week.
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Estimated Cost Inflicted on Daegwang: ~25 Million KRW / week in pure burn.
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Hermes Profitability: Approaching Breakeven (due to dumping loss-leaders).
[Next Chapter Preview]
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The creation of the "Future Fund."
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Ye-eun joins the alliance.
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Bitcoin hits $1,000.