During Sunday worship, the pastor’s words about “acknowledging my inability and earnestly seeking God’s help” resonated deeply within me. This was because, amidst the gloomy news of the ongoing economic downturn and turbulent diplomatic situation in 2023, I encountered reports of ‘jeonse scams’ that completely upended the lives of ordinary citizens.

The bankruptcy of the so-called ‘villa king,’ who owned hundreds of villas in the Michuhol District of Incheon, became a sudden catastrophe for countless tenants. The despair of those who lost their deposits—essentially their entire life savings—overnight led to the tragic consequence of extreme choices. To make matters worse, after the landlord’s bankruptcy, the bank auctioned off the villas. While auctioneers bought the houses at half price, tenants were forced onto the streets with only a small priority repayment amount in hand. This news was even more heartbreaking.

For the tenants, that money meant more than just a sum; it was the economic foundation of their lives. Having personally experienced the value of money earned through hard work delivering packages in the past, I can somewhat imagine the weight that sum carried. To some, it might be less than a year’s salary or the profit a full-time investor might make in a few days, but to the victims, it was their ‘seed money’ for survival and their only ‘foothold in life’. That’s why the despair must have felt even more extreme.

Truthfully, there wasn’t much the victims of the jeonse fraud could do immediately. It must have been a painful time of helpless waiting. Seeing the news later that the government was preparing countermeasures, I feel a pang of regret, wondering, ‘What if they had just held on and waited a little longer?’ I wonder if acknowledging it was beyond my control and fully entrusting the problem to God might have allowed them to endure the situation with just a little more hope.

I earnestly pray that such sad news will never again be heard from that neighborhood in Michuhol-gu, where I once delivered side dishes at dawn. Hoping God’s comfort will come to that place where human limitations were faced, I delivered the happiness entrusted to me today.