Chaebol
It was the weekend.
Normally, I'd still be passed out in bed, lost in sweet sleep.
But here I was, out and about early in the morning, riding the bus to the orphanage.
"Huaaahm."
I let myself sink into the bus seat, which seemed cozier and more comfortable than any bed I'd ever known, and the warm sunlight pouring in through the window made me drowsy.
My eyes kept blinking, my vision blurring again and again.
I'd said I'd just take the bus since the distance wasn't that far, but I really shouldn't have.
I should have just accepted Dad's offer and asked him to send a car.
I was wallowing in all sorts of regrets, just a step away from falling asleep, when the announcement chimed, calling out the next stop.
"Ah..."
I snapped wide awake.
I hurriedly pressed the bell.
A moment later, the bus came to a complete stop, and the doors opened.
"Kkeuuung!"
The moment I got off, I stretched my body out long and wide, feeling the sleepiness fade to some extent.
I pulled out my phone and opened the map app.
"Okay, just keep going straight from here..."
I had no idea why they had to build the orphanage on such a high place.
If I just had a car, I could have leaned back in the plush seat and ridden up.
Haa. The more I thought about it, the more I sighed.
But it was already water under the bridge. With no other choice, I decided to walk up that steep road.
I started moving, once again regretting a past decision of mine.
After I made it all the way up that steep incline, I finally arrived at the orphanage.
But the front of the orphanage was strangely packed with people.
One person was holding a microphone with a broadcasting station logo, while another had a huge camera slung over their shoulder, endlessly filming the person with the mic.
Just then, a black foreign luxury car pulled up in front of them.
"He's here! He's here! Start filming!"
The people scrambled into motion.
The back door opened, and a guy who looked about my age stepped out. The camera captured him as microphones were shoved in his face.
As if accustomed to this kind of thing, he flashed a picture-perfect smile and did a brief interview before starting to push the mics away.
He said he hadn't come here to give interviews, but to volunteer, so this would be the end of it.
"Hmm..."
Watching the whole scene unfold right next to me, I snorted and thought to myself.
That kid was definitely the son of the Cheil Group that Dad had mentioned yesterday.
He looked completely different from the photos I'd seen online.
When I saw him in pictures, I thought he was pretty handsome, but seeing him in person... how should I put it. He was just ugly.
His name was Kwak Jaehyuk.
He was the eldest son of the Cheil Group's vice-chairman.
Kwak Jaehyuk passed by the reporters and went inside the orphanage.
As I also tried to slip past them and go in, the reporters looked at me and whispered among themselves.
"Who's that?"
"Never seen him before."
"Well... he's probably just someone here for volunteer work."
Labeled as a good person who comes here every week to volunteer, I got inside without any interference at all.
This is why it's better to just stay off the radar.
If I ever got dragged into the spotlight and my face became known, the fact that I was building a harem would get out too, and I wouldn't be able to avoid the criticism.
Because even if the people involved have agreed to it, the world is full of people who'll tear you apart for ethical reasons, or just because they don't like it.
"Haah... fuck. I don't wanna do this."
It wasn't long after I got inside that I ran into Kwak Jaehyuk, who had entered before me.
He didn't even seem to know I was there. He was leaning against the wall, holding a pack of cigarettes.
"This is a no-smoking zone, you know."
"Huh?"
He pulled out a cigarette and put it in his mouth, then reached for his lighter. I immediately stopped him.
"And who the hell are you?"
His demeanor was completely different from what I'd seen at the entrance earlier.
I guess you could say he had a strong thug vibe.
"A person."
"Ha... I'm losing my mind."
I cracked a joke, but the kid must have been dead serious. He threw the cigarette on the ground roughly and walked up to me.
"You want to die?"
"No. I've still got a lot of living to do."
When I answered him cheekily, Kwak Jaehyuk let out a laugh, looking like he couldn't believe it.
"What makes you so cocky?"
That's what I want to ask you.
He did look a bit tall, but he seemed like he'd never worked out a day in his life. His body was seriously scrawny.
His arms and legs looked like they'd break if you just tapped them, making me feel like I should get him to exercise.
No, wait. With the Cheil Group backing him, I guess acting cocky is only natural.
"Just because. I'm always like this."
Even if I didn't particularly like kids, I hated trash who smoked in a place full of them even more.
Because of that, I felt myself getting a little sharper than I meant to.
"Hold on..."
Seeing me run my mouth with no sense of fear, as if I didn't know who he was, Kwak Jaehyuk tilted his head. Then, as if remembering something he'd forgotten, he spoke.
"Lee Jihoon...? Is that right? Anyway, is your name Lee Jihoon?"
"You know me?"
"Oh... so I was right."
Kwak Jaehyuk grinned and threw his arm around my shoulder.
"My dad said there's nothing to lose by being friends with you."
"Oh, really?"
"Yeah. I heard your family's doing pretty well."
"That's true. But not as well as your family."
The Cheil Group was a bigger entity than the company my dad ran.
The problem was that there was a variable called me.
To be honest, without any exaggeration, I could bring down the Cheil Group with my power alone.
My readily available assets were approaching a hundred trillion won. There was no way I couldn't handle something like that.
"Heh heh. That's true. Hey. You know my name, right?"
"Kwak Jaehyuk, isn't it?"
"Whoa. You really know your stuff. And I like how you stand up to me. You."
He was so used to people crawling on their knees in front of him that seeing me stand tall and proud even though I knew who he was must have seemed fascinating.
"Let's be friends. Okay?"
"We'll see."
"Why? If we're friends, there won't be anything to be afraid of in all of Korea."
"Do I need to?"
Do I even need to? I already don't have anything to be afraid of.
"What?"
"No. Nothing. Let's just go inside first."
If you came to volunteer, you should volunteer. We can't just stand here talking forever.
At my suggestion to go in, Kwak Jaehyuk's expression soured.
Did he really hate it that much? I felt the same way, though.
*
Dad had said it.
He told me to try getting close to Kwak Jaehyuk.
To make him my first friend.
But.
'Dad... I'm sorry.'
I apologized to my father in my mind.
And that was because this bastard Kwak Jaehyuk wasn't doing any of the work he was supposed to do. He just kept staring at his smartphone, messing around.
"Hey. Move this over here."
"Huh? Why should I?"
"I asked you to move it."
"So?"
When he asked me back, genuinely seeming like he didn't understand, a headache started to creep in.
"Those reporters are still outside, you know. Are you sure that's okay?"
"Haha. It's fine. It's fine. This facility is sponsored by our group anyway, so they can't say a word. So as long as I don't show my face to the reporters, we're good."
Hearing him say something like that so brazenly made me dizzy.
I understood he didn't want to do it, but there were benefits to be gained from this, and since he'd already come all the way here to volunteer, he could at least do a little bit. Seeing him keep slacking off like this made it hard for me to have a good opinion of him.
"You should just slack off too. Even if we don't do it, the people who usually do it will take care of it anyway."
Kwak Jaehyuk said that and turned his attention back to his smartphone screen.
"Tch..."
Getting worked up about it would only stress me out.
I decided to just pretend Kwak Jaehyuk didn't exist and do my best with the tasks I was given, even if I was alone.
After moving what needed to be moved, I took the orphanage kids out to the playground and played soccer with them.
It didn't matter whether they were boys or girls. All of them came running out, dozens of them swarming around the little ball. It felt kind of cute.
"Kids..."
I didn't particularly like kids, but I didn't hate them either.
I figured I'd probably feel even more strongly about my own.
Actually, I really wanted a child of my own blood.
That was because there was a time, before I regressed, when I was hell-bent on making money and didn't hesitate to take on brutal manual labor.
Back then, because I was doing something I wasn't used to, my whole body would ache and scream in pain.
After finishing work, dragging my aching body home with heavy steps...
A kid came running up to some old man who was also trudging home, exhausted like me, and jumped into his arms.
And then, seeing that kid brightly welcome him home, saying "Good work today," and seeing the kid's mother, the man's wife, who had followed behind the kid, smile brightly and welcome her husband home after his hard day's work... I couldn't even begin to describe how much I wanted to get married and how much I wanted to have a kid.
"I want one."
I'd already found lots and lots of wives.
The problem was that there wasn't a woman who could give me a child.
My women were still young, and they had a lot of things they wanted to do. I couldn't put restrictions on their lives just because of my own desire to have a child.
"Big brother! Soccer! Let's play soccer!"
A kid came running up to me and started tugging on my hand.
I could have resisted if I really wanted to, but my body naturally followed the kid's pull, taking a step forward.
I didn't know it before.
Back then, when I had no room in my heart, when I was too busy getting angry at the crying sounds coming from all directions, calling them annoying.
"Sure... let's play."
I, too, had been a child once, immature and foolish, and the eyes of the adults looking at me back then were full of affection.
My body was still young, but my mind was getting closer to my mid-thirties. I squeezed in among the kids and kicked the ball.
Before I came here, the thought of having to play with the kids had filled me with annoyance, but now that I was actually doing it, it was more fun than I expected.
The kids were cute, too.
I thought it might be a good idea to come here with Nayoung sometime later.