12 Hours After

Translator: Khan

Editor: RED

—

1. Would you like to pay $500,000 and use the Gold Class service from tomorrow? Y/N

2. You must agree to the automatic withdrawal from Gold Class. Do you agree? Y/N

3. Please enter the bank and number of the account you want to withdraw from automatically.

※ The deposit will be made at 8 a.m. tomorrow. At the same time, you will receive a Gold Class guide.

※ Skills are available from Gold Class. Please check the guide.

※ Please use the Customer Service to change your payment account number in the future and to raise your class up and down.

—

Something was clumsy, but there was a contract coming up. I read it carefully.

‘They’ll give me a guide tomorrow at 8:00. Skill…’

I clicked Y, Y, and entered the stock account number that contained $1,500,000. Then I gulped once and finally pressed the “Application” button.

[Gold Class subscription is complete. Thank you.]

———————-

The next morning, I went to work faster and earlier than usual. I hoped there were few people there at 8:30, but when I came at 8, there was really no one.

‘It’s nice to be able to concentrate.’

I knocked on the keyboard to get the email, thinking that way. But the moment it was from 7:59 to 8:00, my cell phone rang first. ‘Yiing.’

There was a message.

[The withdrawal of $500,000 has been completed. You will be promoted to Gold Class immediately. Please check the guidebook in your mail.]

I entered the mail site at the same time as I watched the MTS on my cell phone. In the stock balance, $500,000 was gone like a ghost. And I had an email fifty-five minutes earlier than usual.

[Gold Class Guide]

These guys did a good job. I clicked on it.

———————

[Skill Guide]

[Starting with Gold Class, you can get upgraded news with active and passive skills added. Each skill can be used and enhanced by investing points. The cooldown time of the active skill is based on the same 30 days as the subscription period. Each skill requires the same skill point as the level up.

ex) 2 Level Enhancement = 2 points; 4 Level Enhancement = 4 points]

———————

Finally, there was a story about the skill that I was curious about. I looked down on the scroll.

———————

[There are currently three different skills available in the Gold Class. Skill points currently not allocated are 2 points.

People search Lv1 (Active Skill)

Search the name of a person to receive additional news. The search term can only contain the last name and the first name of Korean characters, and if you have the same name, you can get other people’s news, and if you don’t have news with that name, you won’t get any news at all. You can change the name you enter every day.

Ranking News Lv1 (Active Skill)

In a specific category of 12 Hours After, you can get a news item that has high cumulative views for one hour. Only available once a month.

Additional News Lv1 (Passive Skill)

Get another news item at 8:55 p.m. The contents are the same as the existing news, and active skills can be used the same.]

———————

I slowly finished reading it. Then I read the information again, going back and forth.

‘I need one point per level. Then I can’t pick one two consecutive times and take the second level… I can only pick two out of three and upload them at level one.’

I went down the scroll a little further. Like in a game of character creation, there was a button next to it.

[Select – Cost 1 Skill Point]

‘Well, I think this is a matter of careful choice.’

I looked at the monitor for a moment and thought about which would be the most helpful. Number one was a little difficult. People Search. Conditions were tricky, as they described.

‘Only by name… I am going to get the same name.’

There was an incident that came to my mind first as I read the explanation. It was the most recent election for the mayor of Seoul.

‘Last time, if I had searched for Joo Sung-won or Lee Hee-chul, it would have been an easy game. But you want me to use it for that?’

It wouldn’t be bad. The last time in the case of the political theme, the Me Too scandal was so nuclear to political news that even if I chose the “Politics” category, I would continue to receive news about it, but I would not have been able to receive it in that particular way.

‘But if I have this characteristic, I will be able to track the news of any celebrity in politics as well as in other fields, like the president, the prime minister, or the high-ranking government official of the Ministry of Finance and Economy. Or I’ll find out what the big company president or CEO, or the big business, or the strong business people are talking about.

‘It looks good. I think I can get a lot more refined information than usual. Money stories. But if the name I’m searching for is not famous, or if it’s too common, I won’t get the information I want.

‘Well… but I think it’ll be very useful if I keep that in mind.’

I went over it a second time. The second skill was ranking news. It would show the news with the highest number of views in the next twelve hours.

‘I don’t think it’s bad. First of all, it’s the hottest news, so it’d be nice to use it well. However, it should be remembered that the hottest news may not have anything to do with money.

‘In addition, it’s only once a month. That’s a bit disappointing, too. The name search above gives me one more news item all month, and only once. It feels a little hard. I think it’s time-concentrated or something.’

I went over the third skill for now.

‘Skill No. 3 is the only passive skill. It’s the simplest, the most intuitive. The news shows 12 Hours After at 8:55 p.m. one more time after 12 hours. Not bad. If I think simply, the chance to make money seems to double. But if I get it in the evening, I’m going to hear what would happen in the morning. Then, it wouldn’t be hard to apply to the stock market.

‘It’s 8:55 p.m., twelve hours from then, it’s 8:55 a.m. the next morning. That means other people will know the news before the market opens. I can’t make money on the news that everyone knows. If this helps, it may only be meaningful when I trade overseas stocks or options, like the United States and Brazil, that are in the opposite side of the world from Korea.’

‘It could be helpful, or shall I move on?’

I agonized for a moment with my arms folded. People Search certainly looked better than the other two. I didn’t have any specific ideas on how to use it right away, but I thought I would get used to it. I was worried about number two and number three.

‘No. 2? Ranking news? Only once? People only click the provocative news: there’s been a mass assault, and there’s a celebrity scandal or an incident. Then it’s no use for me. Number three? Shall I turn my eyes overseas? I have $1,000,000 now, so shall I move on? Shouldn’t it be worth $10,000,000?’

But I was thinking like that, there was something that came through my mind.

‘Wait a minute… Culture… Life category…’

Due to its characteristics, the Life/Culture category was so dense and there were too many topics related to everyday life that there was not enough news to click on. There was no interesting news of an incident that was going to cause a click in time. So, considering the news, there was nothing but an extremely dusky, time-consuming article like.

[You can do it, too. How to manage the time to grind a cat’s hair.]

[Tomorrow, it will rain all over the country. Take your umbrella with you.]

[A woman who is sexually harassed in her daily life. A new novel that tells the story of the socially weak.]

It was not a place where there was news that came with lots of view counts, except for one time, 8:40 on Saturday night. There was only one news that people would click on a lot.

‘The lottery number!’

Translator: Khan

Editor: RED

‘That’s right. If I look at the ranking news in the category of Life/Culture on Saturday…

‘No matter how much I think, there’s nothing but a Lotto number. The Lotto number is always on and off the real-time search keywords around 8 p.m. on Saturday. There are so many people looking for it, it can’t be unnoticed. That’s the only news they’ll see in the Life/Culture category of that time zone.

‘If I get Lotto winnings, I can easily afford to pay not only $500,000 but also $1,000,000.” Yeah. If I could go after Lotto in that way…’

I decided to choose the Ranking News this time. Additional News was likely to be more synergistic later on, after being able to use this People Search and Ranking News freely.

‘Then let’s take a characteristic like this.’ I clicked on ‘People Search’ and ‘Ranking News’ once. Then I pressed the “Application” button. A warning window popped up.

[The skill points used cannot be returned. Do you want to choose this way? Y/N]

I hesitated for a moment, but I didn’t seem to have a better choice than this now, no matter how much I thought. I chose Y. The notice window was on top.

[People Search Lv1, Ranking News Lv1 selected.]

[The selected skill is available immediately in the following news.]

‘All right.’

I thought we could use the People Search right away from today, and the Ranking News tomorrow and Saturday, when the Lotto would draw. I went down the scroll thinking that way. Under the description of the skill, there was a “Platinum Class Service Guide.”

[Upgrade your news to a Platinum Class with a monthly fee of $10,000,000!]

[Platinum members will be given five skill points and will be eligible to apply for a Diamond Class Membership Service.]

[When you apply for an upgrade through the Customer Service, the charges will be automatically drawn from the account you specify. The monthly payments service will be immediately renewed, and the Platinum member service will be upgraded.]

[If you apply, we will repay you with a service you won’t regret.]

Gold’s next Class was Platinum, followed by Diamond.

‘Bronze, Silver, Gold, and then Platinum, and Diamond.’

These were the grades I had seen often. And there seemed to be something on top of them. The first thing that stood out was the fee. Platinum charged as much as $10,000,000 a month. I needed at least $20,000,000 to consider whether to pay or not.

‘It would be nice to upgrade, but…’

$10,000,000 was not a sum I could reckon with right now. They were going to give me five points and I could upgrade my skills. That was the story then. Right now, $10,000,000 was too burdensome. I scrolled down a little bit more, and saw the end of the email. At the end of the notice, there was a line:

[Customer Service is open. Customer Service is open 24 hours a day and you can get counseling upon application. Apply for counseling.]

‘Do they run it 24 hours, and is counseling possible immediately?’

As expected, the place where it said “Apply for counseling” glittered.

‘I don’t know how the Customer Service operates, but I think I’ll have to apply.’

I had a lot of questions when I got 12 Hours After. And in recent years, whether on a guidebook or anywhere, I had often seen the words, Please visit Customer Service in the future.

I picked up the mouse cursor and twirled around the place saying, “Apply for counseling.”

‘No, how is counseling possible?’

I looked down at my cell phone with a slight scratch on it. Those who sent me 12 Hours After already knew my cell phone number. If I would apply for counseling, my cell phone would ring right away. I looked around. There was no one in the company.

“Ahem.” Holding my cell phone, I cleared my throat once, then pressed the “Apply for counseling” button.

Instead of the cell phone ringing, a window opened in front of my eyes. Rectangular window, one shining cursor on a white background, and two IDs that I could see. This was a classic messenger app screen that could only be seen in the early ’00s. I was going to write something, but the chatting window popped up first.

[Customer Service – How are you, Mr. Han Sang Hoon? How may I help you?]

‘This way? By chatting?’

I tried chatting to the cursor. I was trying to make sure it worked.

[Han Sang-hoon – Is this the Customer Service that sends the news in 12 Hours After?]

As soon as I post the chat, it took less than 0.1 seconds for me to get a reply.

[Customer Service – Yes, that’s right. Sir.]

I was sure.

‘It’s not… it’s not a human replying.’

It was impossible to type so fast with a human hand. In my mind, words like Machine Learning, Deep Learning, AlphaGo, and Alexani went back and forth. In short, it was artificial intelligence. I asked the counselor about it.

[Han Sang-hoon – Is the counselor who’s answering this question human?]

[Customer Service – We’re both human and not human, Sir.]

A strange reply came back.

‘It’s some bullshit…’

I chatted one more time.

– So what’s the company doing there? Is it a company?

– It’s a company and it’s not a company, sir. We’re publishing the news.

These guys seemed to have set up a Customer Service to play with words. I typed faster.

– Then, is there a place in Korea that sends the news?

– There’s a place in space that publishes the news.

I clapped my hands on my forehead. Being in space was simply an answer for Andromeda.

– So, are you aliens?

– Alien is just a concept of distinction. The universe is one.

‘Oh, come on. The universe is one.’

It seemed wrong to expect a normal Customer Service. I asked another question.

– If it’s from outer space… Do you mean there’s another reader beside me?

– None. This news service is available to only one subscriber, Han Sang-hoon, in space.

Unexpectedly, the normal answer returned this time. I softened up slightly and asked for something else.

– Then what is it? Why are you only sending it to me when you are in space?

– Think about it yourself.

This time, it destroyed my expectations again.

‘Do I have to think about it myself? You’re a very good teacher. You’re a… Well, that’s enough.’

I decided to ask about the news in 12 Hours After.

– Do you have any higher grades? How many more do you have?

-The membership is rated Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond, Master, Grandmaster, xxxxxx, xxxxxxxx, sir.

This time, a slightly better, normal answer came back. Except for the xxx in the back.

– What’s the next xxxx class?

– That’s a secret.

I put my hand down from the keyboard for a moment because I was a bit dumbfounded.

‘Secret? Then what does the Customer Service do?’

I shook my head and put my hands back on the keyboard.

‘Let’s give up the normal answer. Instead, I am just going to get as much as I can.’

– How do I increase my usable skills?

– Skills naturally open as they go up. Please apply for a class upgrade. Skills become stronger as class goes up. In particular, the skills you get from the Master Class are very powerful, so I recommend you upgrade.

– What skills? Please let me know in detail.

– That’s a secret.

‘They say that I have to do it without telling me what it is. If it’s a Master Class, it’s three grades higher than Gold now. The amount required will also be enormous.’

I followed up with a few more questions.

– What’s the usual way to call Customer Service?

– Send a text message to 919-31413-11721 and you will receive an email for a counseling chat. You can talk 24 hours a day through email.

The telephone number was familiar. When I searched on my smartphone, it was the number I sent when I first applied for a subscription: the stupid number in the flyer. I saved the number for now.

– Is the news only sent in Korean? Will you tell me your news if I go abroad?

– News will only be sent in the subscriber’s native language. Han Sang Hoon’s native language is Korean. We will send you selected news based on the type of media in Korea.

– Can I change the email address I receive the news in?

– You can change it anytime. Please use the Customer Service.

– Can I lower my class or pause my subscription for a while? Just in case I don’t have any money.

– It’s possible. Please contact the Customer Service as well.

A normal answer came to this kind of question. I watched the chat window for a while with my arms folded. I thought I had asked everything that came to mind.

‘I can call them 24 hours a day, if I want to ask them something. Then shall I close the chat window?’

I took the mouse cursor to the upper right x button with that thought. By the way, I suddenly had one more question come up, and I put another line on the chatting window.

– What the hell are you? Are you God or the devil?

As expected, a reply came in less than 0.1 seconds.

– Both a god and a devil.

I should not have expected a proper answer. I closed the Customer Service chat window.

———————

At 8:55. A new email, G. 12 Hours After, came. Silver’s S changed to a G. I clicked on it.

[Gold Class Member Mail, Subscription Period left: 30 days.]

[Politics – Seoul Mayor Joo Sung-won is predicted predominant.]

[Economy – DSR is applied in Full-scale. Is a cold wave coming to real estate?]

[Society – The Four Rivers are coming back to life.]

[Life/Culture – Southern Storm and Thunder]

[World – Chinese Prime Minister visits Japan.]

[IT/Science – Why are Survival Games so popular?]

[Entertainment – Photos of the Goddess Joo-hee of Double Up Girls]

[Sports – Chelsea? Manchester United? The agony of a super prospect.]

It certainly looked different from Silver Class. It showed each news item without having to choose three separate categories.

‘Well, if this is the case… even if I don’t mean it, I’ll have a big chance of getting a good one.’

I went down further, thinking that way. There were more and more changes to the bottom part.

[People Search – Enter name.]

[Ranking News – Use Now (1 available)]

Where there was nothing, there was a place where I could click on the People Search and Ranking News.

‘This is an active skill…’

I was a little concerned about the Customer Service, which was unkind, but it seemed obvious that this email would bring me a lot of money anyway. I clenched my fist, thinking, ‘All right, let’s make a decent living.’