Chapter 4: Money is valuable ! no matter what world you are in!!

April 7, 2016

At the luxury penthouse on the 48th from 56th floor at the Sky Paradise in New York

"This is... the... home... the residence of Stephen Strange?"

Just the tall exterior, taller than any other building I've ever seen in my previous world, was already impressive.

But when I got on the elevator and stopped in front of the lobby, this entire floor... was my residence!

From Stephen's common sense and memories, housing in New York was very expensive.

And a high-rise luxury condo with a great view like this, just the monthly rent for a single room was enough to live in a 4-5 floor apartment in the suburbs for a year

Or if you buy it outright, it would be worth as much as buying a house with land in the countryside, in the suburbs, a bit far from center of prosperity. You'll have enough space to farm, raise animals, and have money left over to live on for another ten years.

And this entire floor. . . Stephen bought it outright!

It was as wide as 12 normal rooms in this condo in a row. Plus, there was a large bathroom, a sauna, a garden on the balcony, a laundry service room, an elevator to deliver food or other things directly from the lobby downstairs.

And many other things that... charged a monthly fee, including common fees such as a fitness center, a swimming pool, a park on a high-rise building, and parking. Stephen parked 4 luxury cars, all together... came to 15,000 US dollars per month.

At first, I didn't know how much it was worth, because it couldn't be compared to the Belly currency in my old world.

But when I walked into the room, I found a large living room with a luxurious sofa set. The carpet looked good. The walls, ceilings, windows, and other furniture in this area were almost as luxurious as, or even more luxurious than, the guest hall of the king in the Felvance Kingdom!

And when I sat down and leaned back on the sofa, picked up my phone with my still shaking hands, and clicked on the condo's app. I chose to look in the ROOM SERVICE category to see how much each menu cost so that I could understand the value of the 15,000 dollars that I had to pay per month.

It's strange that Stephen's important memories were vividly and clearly shown to me, even during his childhood when an unexpected event occurred. Stephen's younger sister fell into a glacier whose surface was fragile, causing her body to plunge into the abyss, being attacked by the cold air and cold water entering her lungs until her body suffocated and died before anyone could help her in time.

The feeling of pain, emptiness, sadness, regret, and anger at myself for inviting her to walk together on the first day of winter, leading to her tragic end, was conveyed to me so well, as if it were happening to me, as if I was really experiencing it with my own body.

It reminded me of my younger sister... who died of amber lead disease right before my eyes, before the World Government soldiers came to collect our parents, silenced them, and killed everyone in the city, except for the royals who had already boarded a ship and fled. And I struggled to survive, acting stay still like a corpse, before struggling. Breaking through the pile of lifeless bodies wall of people in this kingdom, until escaping

I felt that Stephen was no different from me. In terms of pain, the issues in my heart about my younger sister when I was young, this might be one of the reasons why I could accept it, to live as Stephen Strange more easily.

But... I, who accepted it, was ready to play the role of Stephen, had no memory of basic things, common sense, such as the value of money.

I only had information when Christine called a car to send me here, that I spent 23 USD, and when I got here, the staff at the counter informed me that this month's common expenses had been deducted from the linked account, and wished me well and that my hand would be able to hold the scalpel again soon, before giving me a receipt for 15,000 USD.

That made me sit down and look at the hotel's menu to see the prices, and thought that I would have to compare the prices with general restaurants, because I knew that hotel food would be more expensive than general restaurants, but there were also fancy restaurants that were more expensive than hotel food prices. I would have to compare many restaurants, many places, but the scope was New York City, where I thought the cost of living would be similar, not much different.

Thanks to the latest technology in this world, mobile phones and the internet, just sitting in the room, you can find information. No need to go out to ask questions, check the price tags yourself.

The weather this April is starting to warm up, but I don't feel too hot. Or even if I feel hot, it can be easily fixed with an air conditioner. If it's too cold, there's a heater. . . . This world is so peaceful that humans have developed technology to improve the quality of life in many basic ways. It's different from my original world. There are only stories of humans fighting, fighting, and competing for various resources. The World Government and the Celestial Dragons sit on top of the world, sweeping up resources such as money, luxury items, food, drinks, weapons, devil fruits, and... fellow humans as slaves.

"Sigh," I sighed before shaking my head to get rid of the tiredness when comparing my original world with this world. Before I found out that the food in this world is not much different from my original world. It's just... more details. Like spaghetti. My original world only has tomato sauce, cream sauce, and meat that is easy to find on that island. Some islands are famous for cows, sheep, pigs or wild boars. Some islands don't have many livestock. You have to hunt wild animals to cook them, so it would be deer meat, barking deer, crocodile, tiger, bear, wolf, and so on.

But the meat that every island normally puts in is fish, crab, shellfish, shrimp. If you want something more luxurious, it would be the meat of the king of the sea. In this world... After looking at all the spaghetti menus in the hotel, there is no king of the sea. But there are many sea animals with strange names. The prices range from $12 to the most expensive $100.

The cheapest menu is Spaghetti with minced shrimp. You can choose one from 3 sauces that I don't know at all. The most expensive is Spaghetti Supreme Seafood. They brought the whole sea. Crab, shrimp, shellfish. You can specify which kind of crab, shrimp, shellfish you want. Topped with caviar. I still don't know how luxurious each name of crab, shrimp, shellfish that you can choose is. How rare how easy it is to find.

because Stephen didn't share the taste and memory about food to me. . .

When I tried to find the price of Spaghetti with seafood in restaurant around New York, I found that the average price is 10-100 USD. But some restaurants sell it as a course, called Chef Table. . . I'm a little interested in selling way of food as a course that requires advance booking. And there is also wine pairing at an additional price. So you can get the right drink well taste to go with each menu.

As I searched for information, I could only shake my head. . . Especially when watching the clips of food tasters taking me to taste those luxurious restaurants, it made me feel even more hurt. . . This world is so peaceful that people can easily access to eat and drink luxurious food. They don't have to be kings, nobles, or high-ranking soldiers. As long as they have enough money, they can receive such good service.

In my world, ordinary people have no right to access these things, whether it's through money or the respect of waiters or restaurants that look down on the poor and lick the butts of the rich.

"A course of a luxurious meal, with at least 17 dishes, plus dessert, costs 250 USD... It's quite expensive compared to regular spaghetti that costs 10-20 USD... How much do ordinary people get per month?"

I still understand the concept of salary, but the welfare from the workplace, the city, and the government is something that I'm quite surprised and amazed about. There is a fund that collects money from people through the "tax" system that doesn't extort money to give to the Celestial Dragon, but brings it back to manage and support people's lives to be better. There is clear auditing. You can use your mobile phone or computer to check the details of which agencies get how much tax money. If they don't do a good job, the people have the right to come together and ask the government. Government officials can also check.

"This world is really good." I don't know how many times I've said this sentence, while looking at the salaries of various positions at Metro General Hospital, where Stephen Strange used to work. The lowest position is a security guard, with a salary of 33,000 USD per year. It can be negotiated based on work experience and certificates of various security training courses, such as self-defense with weapons, or certificates of passing martial arts such as taekwondo, karate, and boxing.

And I... no, Stephen has the highest salary in this hospital, not counting the management, owners, and shareholders, who I'm still confused about the structure here.

Let's just say that among the doctors and nurses in this hospital, I have the highest salary, as the number #1 surgeon in the hospital. I can operate and connect organs accurately and precisely, and patients recover quickly.

My last month salary... 804,080 USD... Yes, 800,000 dollars per month!

My salary in just one month is more than the combined salaries of all 18 security guards in the hospital!!

"If you earn 800,000 a month, just the monthly maintenance fee of 15,000 usd is enough to pay comfortably."

I blinked my eyes before checking my bank app to see Stephen's remaining balance. When I saw the nine-digit number lined up beautifully, 102,314,423, I gasped.

"Rich… extremely rich, isn't it!? A hundred million dollars… Even if I can't become a surgeon anymore, I can still live comfortably for ten years, huh!?"