The short winter break ended, and the spring semester began.
In preparation for early graduation, Jaesung packed his schedule to the brim, and with the coursework ramping up in earnest, his days became busier than ever.
“James! The stock prices just keep going up!”
“That’s good news. The Fed just announced a rate cut, so please look into borrowing as much as possible at the lowest interest rates available.”
“They’ve already risen a lot. Are you sure it’s okay to take on loans and invest at this point?”
“The overall trend is still positive, and I think it’ll keep rising for a while. Don’t worry. Take the loans and keep accumulating the stocks I specified.”
“The investment amount isn’t small, and it’s growing by dozens of percent every month. Honestly, it’s terrifying.”
Smith, who was running the investment corporation, sent weekly reports by email and followed up with phone briefings.
Just as Jaesung remembered, the U.S. government was actively promoting internet businesses to foster new industries.
With the Asian economy in crisis, interest rates were lowered, creating ideal conditions for investment.
At the start of the year, Jaesung’s assets had stood at five hundred million dollars.
Now they had surpassed six hundred million and were still climbing.
As soon as rates dropped, he took out low-interest loans and pushed forward with aggressive investments.
“This year, I’m not developing any programs, and there aren’t any companies I’m particularly focused on, but somehow I feel busier than ever.”
Stock investing demanded far more attention than expected.
The classes he was taking for grade-skipping went beyond high school level and into university territory.
Time flew by in a blur, and before he knew it, spring break arrived—finally a chance to catch his breath.
“This spring break, we’re going to a place called Reading, Pennsylvania.”
“Let’s go see Taylor!”
Until now, they had spent the roughly ten-day spring breaks resting in Seattle.
This time, they planned to visit Pennsylvania, where the Sweeper family lived.
Jaesung hadn’t been in direct contact with Taylor or her father, Scott, but his mother and sister had continued to keep in touch.
The Sweepers invited them over for spring break, and Jaesung’s parents—who enjoyed visiting households in different regions of the U.S.—were delighted at the chance to experience life on the East Coast.
“Is Dad coming too?”
“I’ll have to head back a bit earlier, but I can stay with you for about four days.”
When spring break arrived, Jaesung’s family flew to Reading, Pennsylvania, a small city northwest of Philadelphia.
“It’s still the same country, but the atmosphere is completely different.”
“It’s quiet, and you can really feel the history. A small but charming city.”
His parents were fascinated by Reading, a city they were visiting for the first time, while Jaesung felt the weight of an old East Coast mid-sized town.
“Jenny!”
“Taylor!”
As soon as they arrived at the Sweeper family home, Taylor ran out and hugged Jaeeun.
Then she looked at Jaesung with sparkling eyes.
“Thank you for coming all this way.”
“Thank you for inviting us. The city is calm and beautiful.”
“Haha. It can be a bit boring, though.”
The parents exchanged greetings, and the family was shown to the guest room.
“James, didn’t you miss me?”
“I’ve been really busy. Here—this is a gift I brought from Korea.”
He handed her a Hodori doll from the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
It was something that would become hard to find in the future, and since he was visiting her home, he’d bought it as a souvenir.
“It’s a tiger doll?”
“It’s a commemorative doll made for the 1988 Olympics in Korea. It’s hard to get now, so it’s special.”
“It came out before I was born.”
Taylor was born in 1989.
For a split second, the secretly old-man-minded Jaesung almost blurted out, Isn’t Hodori obvious?
Don’t you even know the hoop-rolling boy? but thankfully restrained himself—this was America, after all.
Later on, kids who never even watched the Korea–Japan World Cup would join companies.
He suddenly felt old, but fortunately, he was still physically a lively high school student.
Taylor liked the Hodori doll, and Jaesung made a mental note to pick up a few more Hodori items when he went to Korea in the summer.
“There isn’t much to do in Reading, but Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia are close enough for day trips.”
Scott Sweeper suggested nearby activities.
Reading was definitely much smaller and less flashy than Seattle, but it carried a distinctly East Coast atmosphere.
The Sweeper home itself embodied a warm, classic American household.
“Next time, we’ll invite you to our place.”
“I’ve never been to Seattle. This will be a good chance to see it.”
The parents chatted among themselves, while Jaesung spent time with Taylor and her siblings.
“Oppa, I think Taylor likes you.”
“Ugh. I’m not interested in kids.”
“Hehe. But isn’t Taylor tall for her age? She’s taller than me.”
Jaesung knew Taylor liked him, but she was still in elementary school.
He couldn’t possibly see her romantically.
No matter how insanely rich Taylor becomes in the future, I’m not trash enough to fall for a woman because of money.
Still, tall and slender, Taylor was technically his type.
Physically, he was a hormone-fueled high schooler, but with the mind of a man in his forties, Jaesung treated her like a daughter, being kind and considerate as they spent spring break.
“You’ll come to New York during summer vacation, right?”
“Yeah. I’ll see you then.”
Thankfully, the week passed quickly.
Jaeeun and Taylor parted in tears, saying goodbye.
“From what I can tell, you’re mainly investing in dot-com companies.”
“The government is pushing hard to foster this industry, so I see it positively for the time being.”
“I feel the same way. But since it’s a new field, I don’t fully understand it. How do you tell which companies are good?”
“There’s no perfect answer. I just have to judge based on common sense. Companies that don’t feel right will fail eventually, no matter how much their stock price rises.”
Scott knew Jaesung had been talking regularly with Smith and investing aggressively in dot-com companies.
Jaesung had no intention of hiding it, so he shared what he could with Scott, who worked in finance.
“You’re still in high school. That’s really impressive.”
“Grandpa Buffett scolds me every time. He says dot-com companies are all bubbles and won’t let me invest.”
“Haha. It’s true—there are a lot of companies that are hard to judge using traditional methods.”
Scott, who had taken a liking to Jaesung, said goodbye, promising to see him again in the summer.
Unintentionally, he praised James to his eldest daughter, Taylor, thoroughly planting the seed.
“It was my first time visiting Washington, D.C. It was more peaceful than I expected.”
“The Smithsonian museums were fun. Touring the White House was great too.”
While staying in Pennsylvania, they also visited the nation’s capital to the south.
After a fulfilling spring break, they returned to rainy Seattle.
“Jaesung, your maternal grandfather wants to talk to you.”
Titanic had been released in Korea.
Despite the struggling economy, many people were still going to theaters to watch it.
When relatives heard that Mom and the kids appeared in the movie, the whole extended family went to see it.
Grandpa called personally.
“They said on the news that Koreans appeared in a Hollywood film—and there you all were.”
Since Mom had once worked as an actress in Korea, many broadcasts focused on her.
Jaesung and Jaeeun, with their striking looks, also drew attention.
Fortunately, they were in costume and looked younger than they did now.
Once they grew a bit more, people likely wouldn’t recognize them, but Mom appeared on quite a few programs.
If the movie had flopped, it wouldn’t have become such an issue.
But Titanic was a massive global hit.
In a Korea suffering through hard times, the fact that Koreans appeared in such a film ignited national pride even more intensely.
In the future, Korean-language films and dramas will dominate the world.
Right now, just appearing as an extra in a Hollywood movie is enough to spark national pride.
After chatting about the movie for a while, Grandpa mentioned that he’d purchased two apartments.
They were excellent properties that came up as distress sales.
Prices were still falling, so he was watching the market for now.
Jaesung told him he trusted his judgment—if Grandpa felt something was right, he should go ahead and sign.
“Don’t wait too long just because it’s Korea. I think prices have fallen as much as they’re going to. It’ll be hard for them to drop further by summer.”
“That may be true, but good houses and buildings keep coming up as distress sales. This old man will get you the good ones.”
After that, Grandpa called the U.S. frequently under the excuse of real estate, happily listening to the voices of his daughter and grandchildren.
Between real estate, stocks, and schoolwork, time flew by.
“Hello?”
“James? It’s been a while. Have you been well?”
“Oh! I’ve been doing well. I watched the Windows 98 demo you released recently.”
“Haha. That’s actually why I’m calling.”
It was a programmer from Microsoft he hadn’t spoken to in a long time.
Windows 98, announced that year, came packed with new features and unprecedented stability.
It would remain widely used for a long time, not overshadowed even by later releases like 2000 and XP.
It was the first operating system to support USB.
It was also the last version of Windows to be released on floppy disks.
Designed for the internet age, it introduced online folders, dual-monitor support, and mouse wheel functionality.
It added a new system standby mode and many desktop features.
Jaesung himself had been looking forward to Windows 98.
“You’re calling because of the Blue Screen issue, right?”
“Of course you know. The whole company is in an uproar over it.”
Shortly before launch, William Gates had personally demonstrated Windows 98 at COMDEX.
While showcasing one of its new features—Plug & Play—he connected a USB scanner.
During the driver search, a Blue Screen suddenly appeared.
In the middle of a live demo before a massive audience, the giant Blue Screen popped up.
People burst into laughter, then cheers.
Fortunately, Gates reacted quickly, joking, “This is why we haven’t released Windows 98 yet.”
But once the demo ended, Microsoft headquarters went into emergency mode.
All programmers were summoned and thrown into problem-solving mode.
That was when someone remembered Jaesung and called him.
“If you’re available, could you help us?”
“I don’t have anything urgent right now. When should I come?”
“Tomorrow—no, actually, are you free now? I’ll come pick you up.”
Jaesung headed to Microsoft headquarters for the first time in a while.
Inside, employees who had just been chewed out by their bosses were tearing into the code.
“My goodness. James? You’ve grown so much since I last saw you.”
“I’m in high school now. It’s already been three years. How have you been?”
The familiar faces had changed.
In just three years, their hair had thinned, their limbs had grown lean, and their bellies protruded.
Feeling a twinge of regret, Jaesung decided it was time to truly show his skills and help them.
“We can’t find the problem no matter how much we look. It doesn’t happen during internal testing. We have no idea why this happened.”
“Let me take a look.”
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