Staring at his report card, Jang Young frowned in silence. With grades slipping like this, would he even get into high school next year?
"Cheer up! Let's go over to Mouse's and play on the game console," Taeho called out.
"Yeah! I heard Li Ho's family is the only one in town with a real Japanese game console. How'd he even get it?" a few classmates chimed in as they gathered around.
Li Ho jutted out his chin and tried to look casual. "My aunt brought it back from Seoul. The console with one cartridge cost us a million won!"
Gasps and envious stares followed. For many, a million won was the family income of an entire year.
"Mouse, can we come over to play too?" someone pleaded.
Soon enough, a dozen students were trailing after Li Ho, who was positively glowing with pride. Anyone with a game console at home was king among friends.
"Taeho, you coming?" someone yelled.
"I'll catch up later. Got something to do," Jang Young waved, already slipping away around the back gate.
He didn't go home. Instead, he made his way to a tiny alley, retracing steps from an old memory. Finally, he spotted an old wooden sign swinging over a door, brush painted with three bold hanja characters: Video Hall.
He wasn't there to watch movies. This video hall played everything from bootleg VHS tapes to offering movie rentals. If memory served, he was almost sure it also rented out game cartridges.
The place was owned by Wang Kangsu—the brother-in-law of a deputy official at the county office. He got away with all kinds of copyright violations, paying the necessary hush money and splitting profits with the powers that be. Rumor had it he pulled in millions of won every month.
A man in his late twenties with a cig dangling from his lips cracked the door. "Here for a movie? Five hundred won in the daytime, two thousand at night. Night shows are… spicier," he winked.
"Not here for a movie."
"VHS rental? One tape, five hundred a day, fifty-thousand won deposit. That shelf over there—action flicks, gangster movies, a couple of Hong Kong karate films."
"I'm not here for that either, hyung. I heard you rent out game cartridges?"
The owner looked surprised, then grinned. So kids are getting clever, eh? "Yeah, I got a few. Costs more, though. One thousand won a day, deposit's one-fifty. Got that kind of cash, kid?"
Jang Young puffed up confidently. "My dad's chief engineer at the electronics factory. If you need a reference, ask around. So, what cartridges you got?"
"Chief engineer's son, huh?" Now Kangsu was all smiles. "Wait here, I'll show you." He ducked into the back room and returned with a small stack: Contra, Tank Battle, Chipmunk Adventure, Mario Brothers, Tetris—all original Japanese cassettes.
Genuine cartridges, not a single bootleg yet.
"The deposit's high—can't do it cheaper?" Jang Young asked.
"Kid, the cheapest game is 120,000 won, and some go for 180,000. Even in the city, you can't always find them. Lose one, and I'm out a fortune," Kangsu declared, eyes wide in practiced outrage.
"All this for a single cassette?"
"Some people from Seoul come down fighting over the rare ones. Sometimes prices double overnight."
Jang Young glanced at the haul, his mind whirring. Once pirated chips get popular, costs will plummet, and demand will explode—he just needed to be first.
"So, what if I could get you brand new cartridges for half the price?" Jang Young finally got to the point.
Kangsu burst out laughing. "Half price? You're a funny kid. I'm lucky if I can buy at this price. If you get a cassette, why would you rent from me in the first place?"
"No joke. My uncle works in America—he can duplicate these chips. If you give me all your cassettes, he can copy them and we'll sell them here for half price. If you sell or rent, there's no way you'll lose money. We all win, right?"
"Wait, you want to walk out with my game cassettes? Why should I just trust you? Where's your uncle now?"
"He's still in Seoul, working for the city government. He can only come down at night, and obviously, he can't just walk into a place like this in plain sight. Besides, your brother-in-law is a legend around here. Even if I tried to scam you, he'd make me pay twice over."
Jang Young eyed the boss, lowering his voice, "We can cash in before Lunar New Year. Don't you want to rake in a few million before the holiday? If it works, you could earn twenty million in a month just from cassettes."
Twenty million!
Those words made Kangsu's heart skip a beat. His entire business, under his brother-in-law's wing, never brought in close to that a year.
"I'll tell you what. Fifty thousand won profit per cassette, but the batch must be over a hundred units. Got it? I'm not interested in tiny numbers. If it's just ten or so, forget it."
"Deal. Give me these cassettes now, and I'll return in three days with a hundred brand new ones. We'll pay and deliver at the same time."
Kangsu held onto the boxes, scrutinizing Jang Young. "And your uncle? Dad's name?"
Just then, a customer who'd been in the screening room walked out. "Hey, isn't this Chief Jang's son?"
"Yeah, uncle! Did you come for a movie too?"
"Sure, beats the oldies they show in the theater. You tell your dad I said hi!"
Jang Young turned back to Kangsu, "Now, do you trust who I am? If you want to make a fortune, here's your chance. Don't overthink it."
Kangsu watched Jang Young go, weighing risk against reward. How on earth did this
teenage kid out-negotiate me? Aren't I supposed to be the street-smart adult here?