12 Hours After

Translator: Khan

Editor: RED

As if I was a person who had prepared for a government job receiving a notice of acceptance, I smiled with joy, holding my fist. But after a while, I calmed down my glee in alarm. I had information worth tens of million dollars in my hand, and there were too many people in the terminal. I looked around. There was a pillar in the corner of the terminal. I made my way to the place through countless people. I picked up my smartphone again with my back to the post.

[Ranking News – The top news in the Life/Culture of 12 Hours After - Lotto 921 winning numbers?]

I clicked on the article.

[Lotto 921 is complete. The winning numbers are 2,6,15,22,36,41. The total number of winners is fourteen, with $1,284,610 each.]

$1,284,610 for fourteen people each. I took the Wi-Pad out of my bag and tried to calculate. The total amount of winnings was about $18,000,000. That was a lot of money compared to the average. Many people bought the Lotto this week. But that was why there were a lot of winners, fourteen winners. What was left now was how many times I wrote in the winning numbers. If I wrote the winning number once, the number of winners would be fifteen; if I wrote it three times, seventeen, and if I wrote it five times, it would be nineteen. I calculated each case.

One time – $1,198,960

Three times - $3,173,740

Five times – $4,732,770

The higher the number of winners, the smaller the individual amount I would have, but the higher the number of winners, the larger the total amount I would have.

'If I win a hundred times…

'When I knock on the calculator, my total winnings would be $15,700,000 among $18,000,000. But it is too much. If the grand prize becomes 100 times, it will be an issue. No matter how much this age protects individual information, someone will know me, and if he or she makes fun of me, I may become a celebrity. I don't want that. This time, I will use the Lotto to make basic money to pay the subscription fee for 12 Hours After.'

'One time – $1,198,960 is big, but it looks small compared to the amount below. Three times? Five times? How many times did the others win?'

I quickly searched through the past articles with 'Duplicated Winners Search'. There were usually about two times' duplicated winnings. Most of them were confused by the markings and wrote the same numbers. Five times was the best. A person came out of a real dream or pushed a number to one, because it was a favorite combination. I decided to win five times. More than that, it would be a new record, so there would surely be news.

'If I win five times, it won't be new news because it is a tie record. If I start with $6,000,000 seed money, adding $5,000,000 to $1,000,000, it will be a good start. If the money I have is not $1,000,000, but $6,000,000, my parents will be overwhelmed and they will not be able to say anything to me anymore.'

'All right, let's do five times.'

I found a lottery shop in the terminal, a yellow billboard between restaurants. Lotto 6/45. I went inside. The owner was listening to something like a lecture on a smartphone, whether I came or not.

"... a foolish man who doesn't know me, a foolish child without sense, and he has the sense to do evil, but he is ignorant to do good. The words of Jeremiah."

It was like a Bible passage. It seemed like she was listening to a sermon from a pastor or a priest. It was good. She did not care about me, so I picked up the OMR paper and pen and marked the numbers I memorized there.

'2,6,15,22,36,41.'

The same numbers, five times. Then, with $5, I handed it to her. "Bill, please."

The lady who was listening to the Bible sermon finally turned to me.

I was preparing for an answer to a question, "Why did you buy the same numbers five times? You're less likely to win?"

'They are the numbers grandfather called me out of my dream.'

It was a bit of a cliché, but there was no such thing as this. By the way, the lady said nothing and took the OMR card I gave her and put it in the machine. She seemed to see someone doing this strange thing often.

Wi-ying! The receipt was drawn and she handed it to me with little attention left on the Bible lecture. She didn't seem to have the slightest care if the same numbers would win.

'Maybe later she'll be surprised to learn that there is someone who won the grand prize in her store five times.'

It was good, anyway. I didn't want this lady to remember my face. I turned back with a weird Lotto receipt with the same numbers written five times.

'This small piece of paper is worth $4,700,000.'

That made me shiver a little. I stowed the paper in my wallet. It was time for the bus to go home. I got on. The Lotto drawing would take place at around 8:40.

'I suppose the same numbers will come up?'

But I thought of a way to confirm my winnings in advance.

'No... the news would have changed in 12 Hours After?'

12 Hours After, the news should now show nineteen winners, not fourteen winners. I checked my mailbox. As expected, there was correction news.

[Correction news of G. 12 Hours After]

When I checked the time they sent it, it was 9:12. It was the moment I had just bought a Lotto. I clicked on the email.

-------------------

[Correction News]

[We inform that the contents of the article 'The Lotto 921 Winning Numbers?' sent today has been revised because of a reader's involvement. The changes are as follows:]

-------------------

I looked down at the email. The original contents were short, and the revised contents were also short.

[Lotto 921 has been completed. The winning numbers are 2,6,15,22,36,41. The winners are nineteen people, each with $946,550.]

I took out the lottery receipt in my wallet, now worth $4,700,000. I picked up the receipt and put it in my pocket. It was time to leave, and the bus headed home.

-------------------

That evening. My family had dinner together. My dad was smiling.

"I'm glad you're here after a long time."

My mom nodded, "Yes, come more often."

My sister, Su-Jeong, said, looking at the beef fillet sizzling on the fire, "I welcome you, too, if you buy meat like this every time."

I glared at my sister. "Can't you just welcome me purely, sister?"

We were ready to fight again, but in the meantime, my mom said, cutting the meat, "This meat is good quality."

"It's rated AA. It's expensive."

"Why did you buy something so expensive? You always complain about your salary."

I tried to answer something, but I just stopped talking. It was 6 p.m, before the Lotto draw.

"I just bought it, and it's been a long time since I came home. I didn't want to come home empty-handed."

"Well done, I am eating this beef because of my son."

"Eat it."

------

My mom cut out the meat and set it on the front. After a long time, the family conversation naturally moved on.

"So what about the blind date? Your aunt said she was a good girl."

"I think she's nice, but somehow..."

"You said before, it was not bad."

"She is not bad, but I'm not really attracted to her. She feels like a good person, but not my mate."

"Brother, your mate of destiny is in the movies or novels. Do you know? You have to match each other..."

"Ms. Han Su-jeong, I never applied for a love counseling..."

---

Later, we talked about my job.

"How's your job been lately? Is it still hard?"

"Yes, I've been having a hard time doing my job lately, so I can't make it good. So, the mood at work is bad, and the superiors always have me work overtime and are hysterical... I don't know if the company is going well. It's not like that."

Both parents didn't look good at what I said. No parents would feel good about their children's difficulties.

"Yeah, well, there's a lot of competition these days. In our times, we used to live okay with a college certificate, but... What's the matter with the country now?" My dad blamed the country.

"Yes, I saw on the news that young people just quit or move out of their jobs even if they get a job at a large company. If you don't get the right job, think about leaving and getting a new job," Mom related a story she had seen on the news.

"If you want to move, you'd better get another year's experience. Mom, if you move with the experience you've been in for only a year, they'll probably think you're a man with no guts. You have to spend at least one or two more years and then transfer."

Su-Jeong uttered a sarcastic remark. I nodded and said something that was not in my mind.

"Yes, but I'm going to go to work a little bit more and find out."

Then I gave them a hint a little bit.

"What I want to do is start a business... It costs money, too."

I took a look at my parents after saying that. My parents nodded, too. Both of them knew well that when I was in a senior year, I was about to start a business ahead of graduation and ended my dream because of the cost. I was looking at their faces and said as if I just remembered something.

"Oh. I was going to tell you that. Something strange happened a while ago. Grandfather came out of my dream."

My dad was surprised and asked, "Grandfather?"

"Yes."

Mom said, peeling pears for dessert. "What did he say?"

I brought up the story I had prepared. "He didn't say a word. He came up to me without saying a word, and he held my hand and wrote something with a pen."

"What did he write?"

"When I saw something, it was six numbers."

At that time, Su-Jeong stepped in.

"Six numbers? Six numbers, aren't they the Lotto numbers?"

It was a performance lacking in acting ability with a cliché story, but it seemed to have passed.

"Yes. Even after I woke up, the numbers were clear, so I wrote down the numbers as soon as I woke up. I bought the Lotto as it was this morning."

I took my wallet out of my pocket. Five receipts lined up on the table with the same numbers.

Without looking at the numbers, my mom put the pear before me and said, "I hope you get the winnings. Then, you can quit the company and do what you want to do."

My dad nodded. "Well, your grandfather used to love you a lot when he was alive. Every time he called our Sang-hoon, our Sang-hoon... Do you remember?"

To be honest, I couldn't remember very well. My grandfather died when I was four years old. I had only heard from my parents and relatives many times that my grandfather loved me very much.

In the meantime, Su-jeong, who picked up the Lotto paper, just smiled at it.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha. What if you buy the same numbers five times? You should have changed it one by one. Is this how you're going to win?"

When I took the Lotto receipt from Su-jeong's hand and put it back in my wallet, I thought, 'I'll win the Lotto, sister. I'll see you in a few minutes.'