With the Time Shop, I Too Am the Greatest Conglomerate of All Time

Episode 1. Buying time.

iron puck.

The moment I turned my head involuntarily to the sound of something falling, the hairs all over my body stood up.

“Ahh!”

People around me flocked to my screams.

“Sa..the person fell!”

The construction site went into chaos in an instant.

“What is this?”

“It looks like Mr. Yu.”

“That’s right, Mr. But isn’t he already dead?”

“Don’t be mean and call 911 immediately.”

On that day, the construction was stopped.

Uncle Yoo, who fell from the 5th floor, was taken to a nearby hospital, but eventually died within an hour.

Uncle Yoo’s mortuary was set up in the basement of the same hospital.

widely.

Uncle Han put down the glass with a helpless face.

“Mr. Kang, human life is so fleeting.”

“..Iknow, right.”

“Are you okay, Mr. Kang? You and Yoo were pretty close, didn’t you?”

it couldn’t be ok

8 years at Hwansung Electronics Semiconductor Division, the largest electronics company in Korea, and 7 years at Hwansung Display, which was almost kicked out.

Even though it was only 15 years that I devoted myself to cheering like that.

His corporate life came to an end when he was accused of leaking trade secrets.

He spent only two years in prison.

He was released from prison six months ago, but the only thing the ex-convict could do was get a daily job called ‘nogada’.

When I first came to the site like that, it was Uncle Yoo who taught me how to work.

Contrary to his blunt appearance, he is a friendly man, so we became friends easily and we often had drinks together.

When I saw my uncle here, the world felt resentful once again.

“You know what?”

“What?”

“Uncle Yoo, I told you that I wasn’t feeling well for a while. It didn’t look very good that day either.”

“okay? But why did you come to the scene?”

“You are the only person making money, and all of you with two children are in the hospital, and your sister-in-law is also unwell.”

Uncle Han was speechless for a moment.

“..don’t have money is a sin. It’s a fucking world.”

“Iknow, right.”

the next morning.

When I opened my eyes, a hangover came over me as if I was squeezing my head.

“Damn, how much did you drink?”

I can’t even remember how I got home.

He slept without even taking off his clothes, so he was wearing the same outfit he had been to at the funeral.

I wanted to keep spreading, but I got up immediately.

I don’t have money to buy food tomorrow, so I had to go to work.

As I was taking off my suit and changing into my work clothes, I found a white card stuck in my suit pocket.

“What else is this?”

Upon closer inspection, it was a public phone card.

Come to think of it, it seems that someone gave me a card as a gift when I was walking drunk last night.

“Hey, who’s using a pay phone these days? If you give it to me, I’ll even give you a gift card worth 5,000 won.”

As I was about to put my card in the trash, I realized that my phone had been suspended since yesterday due to non-payment of the bill.

“…better than nothing.”

I grabbed my card and left the house.

“Hey, where did your wallet go?”

As I was about to get on the bus, I realized that I didn’t have my wallet.

I searched for work clothes, but couldn’t find it.

I went home grumbling, but there was no wallet in the suit I wore yesterday.

“I can’t. I have to ask Myung-ho to borrow ten thousand won.”

Myung-Ho Yoon.

This is the guy I used to be friends with in high school.

He was also the only friend I still keep in touch with.

I went to a pay phone box near my house and put in the phone card I got yesterday.

Teddy Dee.

As soon as I put it in, I didn’t even dial the number, but I got a call on my own.

“Uh… huh?”

Turrr.

After a few dial tones, the call was connected.

“Welcome to the Time Shop.”

chin.

Confused, he hung up the handset, but the phone did not hang up.

I thought the phone was broken, so I tried to get another phone, but the calling card didn’t come out.

Reluctantly, I picked up the receiver again.

The message continued as if waiting.

“Press 1 to buy time.”

“Time shop? buy time?”

At first, I was embarrassed and didn’t know, but it was not a human voice, but a mechanical sound unique to ARS.

When I realized that the other person was not a person, I felt a little more relaxed.

I didn’t understand what you meant, but I pressed 1.

“Press 1 to buy a day, 2 times for 1 year, 3 times for 5 years, 4 times for 15 years, and 5 times for 25 years.”

I pressed 3 times.

🥺

“Your account balance is low. You will be contacted by a counselor in a moment.”

Less than a second later, a male voice was heard this time.

“hello. Dear Jaewoon Kang. I don’t have enough account balance, would you like to get a loan?”

To my horror, this man knew exactly my name.

I didn’t even tell you

I stuttered without realizing it.

“Like a loan?”

“If you want to buy time, you need a loan.”

time to buy? loan?

I still didn’t understand what you meant.

Feeling a little creepy, I hurriedly cut off the man’s words.

“I’m not going to do anything like buying time. I don’t even need a loan.”

Despite my refusal, the man continued to speak without hesitation.

“This is a sample that we provide to customers for two days. Please try it and visit us again.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he felt like he was being sucked into something, and at the same time, his eyes went black.

#

“Hey. Guest, wake up.”

I woke up to the sight of someone shaking my shoulder violently.

I looked to the side and saw a man in his fifties in a blue suit looking at me.

“This is the end, please stand up.”

what is the end point?

I was at a payphone box a while ago.

“Sir, won’t you get off? It’s over.”

At the urging of the bus driver, I got up from my seat.

When I got down, I felt a sense of euphoria as if I had seen it a lot.

“This is a familiar situation.”

Then it flashed through my mind that something similar had happened two days ago.

“That’s right, I fell asleep on the way to the office two days ago, so I made it to the final stop.”

tiling.

At that moment, the smartphone in my pocket rang.

“hello.”

“Jaewoon. where are you now? Everyone is waiting to go to the site of merit.”

He was an employee of the human resources office.

“Oh, I got off at the wrong stop. wait please. I am going now.”

I don’t know why I was on the bus, but I headed to the office.

I’m sorry, Uncle Yu.

Because the dead are the dead and the living must live.

The office is only two stops away by bus, so if you walk quickly, you can get there in about 20 minutes.

“Jaewoon! Why are you here now?”

When I arrived at the office, I immediately froze at the sound of my call.

‘This is the voice of Mr. Yoo, who died two days ago.’

When I turned my head, it was really Mr. Yoo.

I was so surprised that the words didn’t come out.

“mister..”

Uncle Yoo had a strange expression on his face.

“Honey, why are you looking at people like that?”

“How are my eyes…?”

“It’s because your face looks like you’ve seen some kind of ghost.”

It was accurate.

He suppressed his beating heart and opened his mouth.

“Alive. I was there.”

“Hey, why do you keep doing that? Of course I’m alive, who said I’m dead?”

Either way, it wasn’t a ghost.

I couldn’t believe it.

I saw him die with my own eyes.

Who is in front of me now?

“Calm down, man, I always said, it won’t be strange to die any time if you put your mind to it.”

At that moment, I heard someone screaming next to me.

“It’s been bad luck since Monday morning.”

monday?

Today is definitely Wednesday, right?

I grabbed him and asked him.

“Mister, is it Wednesday today?”

He looked at me with crazy eyes.

“What are you talking about? It’s Monday.”

“Isn’t today Wednesday, February 21st?”

“Ah really, strange bro, today is the 19th, watch TV over there, it’s written right above, February 19th.”

He was right.

The date floating at the top of the screen where the real-time news was displayed was February 19th.

His legs staggered as he heard the man’s voice.

“I’ll give you two days as a sample.”

“Does that mean that living the time that the ARS voice said would bring you back to the past?”

After that, I checked with a few more people, but today is definitely February 19th.

Miscellaneous thoughts that were intricately intertwined have been sorted out little by little over time.

First, I don’t know how he did it, but the man sent me back two days ago.

Second, the man and ARS have the power to send a person back to the past.

Third, there was something to think about and do first.

“Five janitors on the job site!”

The office manager raised his hands here and there, and Uncle Yoo was included in it.

I also raised my hand and was assigned to the same site as Uncle Yoo.

I continued to persuade him by following him.

“Uncle, are you going to take a day off today? You are not feeling well.”

Uncle was stubborn.

“What if I rest? Who feeds my wife and children?”

“Isn’t it okay to take a day off though? If you take a day off, you won’t starve to death.”

“Okay, I’ve been doing this for over 10 years, I don’t care about my body because I know it well.”

Persuasion didn’t work.

Then plan B.

I started following him.

Especially when I went to the upper floors, I always followed.

“Why do you keep following me? Go away, it’s annoying.”

“Let’s just be together for a day. It’s good to have a friend to work with anyway.”

“I talk more than you. harder Seed.”

The uncle grunted and did not actively push.

Because it’s pretty tsundere.

About an hour after I started working, Satan finally broke out.

On the 5th floor railing, the old man staggered and lost his balance.

“Uh huh?”

His expression hardened as if he sensed something was wrong, but his body was already leaning to the side.

The moment when the man’s body was half over the railing.

He reflexively stretched out his hand.

Fortunately, the tip of the middle finger caught a rough feeling of cloth.

As I clenched my fingers tightly, I felt the weight of my arm pulling me.

‘It is… a success.’

It was really breathtaking.

If the uncle had not had the habit of wearing puffy work clothes, he might have missed it.

Uncle grabbed my hand and climbed inside the railing.

“Huh…huh…thank you…”

The old man’s face turned white in surprise.

“So, I told you, take a day off.”

“…I know. I guess I’m old now.”

“Did you know that now? Let’s go inside today.”

“Yeah, I got it.”

My uncle could no longer ignore my words.

I sent him back and pondered.

No matter how you think about it, the time shop was real.

If I could buy the time in that choice, I could go back to the past as much as that time.

It was said that there was an opportunity to revive this miserable life from the beginning.

The problem was money.

What kind of money do I have to live on that day?

Because I have bad credit, I can’t even get a loan from a normal financial institution.

Oh right.

“By the way, I think there was a voice about lending out in the last sentence of that ARS?”

I don’t know if someone like me will be able to get a loan, but it doesn’t seem like a business that provides loans is a normal business, so I had to try it.

After work, I stopped by the payphone box again.

The pay phone card, which he would not have gotten otherwise, was back in his pocket.

As soon as I inserted the calling card, the ARS machine voice answered the call, just like that time.

“Welcome to Time Store. Customer Jaewoon Kang”

This time I call my name from the beginning.

The message continued.

If possible, I will live for as long as possible.

pressed 5

Yes, the man’s voice was heard.

“Welcome back. sir. You chose 25 years, right?”

“yes.”

“To purchase 25 years, you need 500 million won. Would you like a loan?”

crazy.

Without realizing it, my voice grew louder.

“Five billion?”

“Yes, customer, it is not expensive at all, because it is the price of buying time.”

..not quite wrong, but I didn’t even have 50,000 won, let alone 500 million.

25 years must give up,

“How long is the loan?”

“You can borrow up to 500 million won.”

“Are you going to lend me a loan? 5 billion? It’s a bit of a stretch to say this, but isn’t that bad credit?”

“Our credit rating standards are somewhat different from those of other companies.”

Anyway, does it make sense to lend you 500 million won?

It was a life where I had no doubts, but I had nothing to lose anyway.

“How do I get a refund?”

“There are two types of amortization: 10-year lump-sum payment and 120 amortization.”

“What if I can’t pay it back?”

“The time purchased is void and your soul belongs to us.”

soul?

A strange word came out.

“Is there really such a thing as a soul?”

“Of course, we are lending you your soul as collateral.”

“What happens when that…soul is returned?”

“Well, I bet you won’t be very comfortable after death.”

The man’s tone was plain, but for some reason, he had goosebumps.

In novels, it’s usually said that the devil steals people’s souls or something.

I swallowed once and asked.

“Are you even demons?”

“It’s not that simple to define, but it’s close to that in human terms.”

They say it’s the devil.

It seemed like a nonsensical story, but when I went back to the past myself, I couldn’t even think of it as nonsense.

“Can I think about it a little more?”

“Available. However, the card we gave you has an expiration date.”

“What is the validity period?”

“Yes, please keep in mind that if you do not use it within 2 weeks from the issuance date, the right to use the store will be forfeited.”

thank god.

You can’t make a decision right now.

Once I hung up the phone.

I needed more time to think.

After that, I thought about it for another week and came to a conclusion.

I was kicked out of my job where I had worked for 15 years, and I was framed and went to prison.

If only I could turn my broken life back.

The only thing I have left is my soul, so I decided to walk even that.

The rest of the week was a time to plan and check what to do when we go back to the past.

After two weeks, I headed back to the pay phone box.

“Press 1 to buy a day, 2 times for 1 year, 3 times for 5 years, 4 times for 15 years, and 5 times for 25 years.”

When I pressed 5, I was connected to a counselor with a message saying that the balance was insufficient.

“Kang Jae-woon, have you made a decision?”

“Yes, that 500 million, I will take a loan.”

“Would you like to repay in one lump sum over 10 years or in 120 installments over 10 years?”

“If I choose a lump sum payment, can I pay it back in 10 years?”

“yes. Instead, interest is compounded at 3000% annually.”

“Then, of course, amortization.”

“All right. Then we will inform you of the terms and conditions before lending.”

The explanations continued, but there were three important things.

The first is that time can only be purchased once for the first time.

For example, if you choose 10 years, you cannot choose 25 years.

The second is that if you fail to repay the interest even once, your time purchase will be invalidated and you will return to the future.

It was a call to pay the interest on time without being pushed by any means possible.

The problem was the third condition.

The interest rate on the loan is a variable rate that changes every year, and you only need to repay interest except for the last 120 repayments.

The funny thing is that there was no explanation on what basis the interest rate changed.

Interest rates fluctuated enormously, ranging from a minimum of 10% to a maximum of 5000%.

5000%.

It was a loan interest rate that seemed to exist in hell beyond profit.

If you calculate at the maximum interest rate, the only amount you have to pay off per year is 25 billion won.

From the first year, there was no way to afford such an interest rate.

When I heard this condition, I seriously thought about taking out the loan, but fortunately, the interest rate for the first year was fixed at 10%.

It meant giving me at least time to prepare before hitting 5000%, and it was worth doing.

“Then do you want to sign a contract?”

He took a deep breath and answered.

“The contract has been signed. Thank you very much for using our service. Jaewoon Kang customer.”

“Can time be bought right now?”

“Yes, then I will switch to the purchase screen.”

The ARS machine voice was heard again.

“You selected No. 5, Year 25. To confirm your purchase, please press No. 5 again.”

I pressed number 5 with trembling hands.

“25 years, you bought it. Goodbye then.”

Now is 2022, so if we go back 25 years, it would be 1997.

It’s 1997.

Back to the right time

That winter, 25 years later, was so harsh that I will never forget it, but when I go back, many things will change.

Now is the time to correct all the twists.

As soon as she finished speaking, a familiar feeling came over me.

“When I wake up again, I wish I had my aunt right in front of me.”

When I’m trying to think of my aunt’s face, which has been blurred due to time.

His eyes went black and he lost consciousness.