No Pay, No Gain
When Yoo Jae-won stepped aboard the private jet that had been prepared for them, he honestly hadn't thought much of it. He had approached the situation as conservatively as possible, assuming that Tiffany's maternal grandfather must simply hold a high enough position at Chevron to have access to their corporate jet. That assumption held even as the plane accelerated down the runway. But the moment the jet that had departed from San Francisco International Airport began its descent, his entire perspective shifted completely.
The aircraft had flown a considerable distance south before touching down—not at a public airport where ordinary passengers could come and go, but on a private runway attached to what could only be described as a colossal mansion. It was the kind of residence he'd only ever seen in movies. Today was the first time he realized such homes actually existed in reality. And when he disembarked from the landed jet, the surprise only deepened.
A red carpet had been rolled out—someone must have prepared it in advance—and at its end, several imposing vehicles waited. The mansion itself resembled a palace with its own runway, yet there was a noticeable distance between the house and the landing strip. A vast garden lay between them as well, making it clear that traveling by car was the only sensible option.
Beside the limousine stood a white-haired elderly man. For a moment, Jae-won wondered if this was Tiffany's grandfather, but he was mistaken.
“Young miss. Welcome to the main residence.”
“It's been a while, Uncle Alfred.”
Only after watching Marina exchange greetings did Jae-won realize the white-haired gentleman was not the grandfather but the family butler. Upon closer inspection, the man truly embodied the classic image of a butler—dressed in a black tailcoat-like suit with a bow tie and white gloves.
Alfred, who had greeted Marina first, offered polite salutations to everyone else who had disembarked. However, the warmth in his tone varied noticeably. His greetings to Stephen and Yoo Jae-won carried a distinctly mechanical politeness, while those directed at Marina and Tiffany overflowed with genuine affection. The most familiar exchange, naturally, was with Marina. After all, among those who had arrived on the private jet, she had likely spent the most time with Butler Alfred over the years.
“Where is Father?”
“He arrived yesterday. He seems quite eager about this gathering.”
“How surprising. The person who always arrived last is the first one here this time. What about the others?”
The others? Jae-won noted the phrasing.
“You, young miss, arrived first. I received word that Miss Theresa and Miss Rachel have departed. They should be on their way.”
“And Jacob?”
“Ah, the youngest master still cannot be reached. My apologies.”
“Why would you apologize, Alfred? If anyone is at fault, it's Father for spoiling him so much that he grew up this way.”
Rather than immediately boarding the cars, Marina and Alfred continued their conversation. It seemed to concern Marina's younger siblings. From what Jae-won gathered, Marina was the eldest of three daughters and one son, with two younger sisters and a youngest brother. That youngest brother, Jacob, apparently had a habit of skipping family gatherings.
Soon after, Tiffany's family and Yoo Jae-won climbed into the waiting vehicles. Alfred personally drove the car carrying Marina, Stephen, and Tiffany, while Jae-won and his two bodyguards took the next vehicle.
The cars glided smoothly and soon reached the massive gates of the estate. The gates, artistically forged from iron bars, were large enough for two vehicles to pass side by side yet stood firmly closed. What truly commanded attention was the enormous Chevron logo emblazoned at the center. It left no doubt in anyone's mind that this was the main residence of Chevron's owning family.
The gates appeared to be remotely controlled. As the vehicles carrying Tiffany's family and Jae-won drew near, the heavy iron doors swung open with surprising grace.
What is this place?
As the mansion drew closer, Yoo Jae-won felt a slight wave of confusion. He had never imagined Tiffany's family background could be this overwhelmingly grand. Even if her parents had been ordinary office workers, it wouldn't have mattered to him. The most important elements in a relationship were mutual interest and love—family background held no significance. That was why he had held no grand expectations about attending this gathering of Tiffany's maternal relatives. He had simply been curious about her grandfather and the rest of her mother's side of the family.
Of course, that didn't mean he had zero expectations at all. He had naturally noticed the high-end accessories Tiffany carried, the Model 1 electric bicycle, and the upscale residence where she lived. It all made perfect sense once he learned that her father, Steve, operated the private equity firm called Blackstone. Even that was remarkable. Though the Blackstone fund was still modest at this point in time, by the early to mid-21st century it would grow into the world's largest private equity firm—larger than the sovereign wealth funds of most nations. Stephen's influence was immense.
What amused Jae-won was how Steve's sense of humor had been directly applied to the fund's naming. It was currently called Blackstone, but later it would be renamed BlackRock. If it grew even larger, perhaps it would become BlackMountain. In any case, even Tiffany's father was no ordinary man, yet her maternal family turned out to be even more extraordinary. They weren't merely the owners of a large corporation—they controlled Chevron, which supplied twenty-five percent of America's oil and gas.
Jae-won wasn't sure whether he should be pleased or concerned.
Is this some kind of bonus?
Something about the situation felt off. It didn't seem like his connection with Tiffany had happened purely by coincidence. The master plan he had created in his previous life was what thoroughly guided this current existence. Naturally, that plan had not included pre-selecting a future girlfriend or wife. The risk would have been far too great—courting someone specifically because her family background would help execute the plan. Jae-won had learned all too well in his past life that other people's hearts could not be controlled at will. If mastering his own mind was difficult, how could he possibly manipulate someone else's?
That was why he had designed his master plan around excelling in the IT field he knew best and building a massive enterprise. He had never anticipated that Tiffany's father or maternal family would be this powerful. So was this entire situation truly one hundred percent coincidence?
No matter how he thought about it, that couldn't be right. Yoo Jae-won was a man who believed there were no true coincidences in this world. After all, the life he currently enjoyed was the result of meticulous planning and dedication from his previous existence. Therefore, this development had to be the work of a force even greater than his master plan.
It was that absolute being with whom he had made the deal for his regression.
How exactly did I make that deal with him?
He had encountered the absolute being only once in the dream world, and the meeting had been brief. It had flashed like lightning and vanished in an instant, yet the memory remained vividly etched in his mind. From his mid-teens, Jae-won had begun experiencing recurring dreams for reasons he couldn't explain. He studied various techniques for controlling dreams and used them to vastly expand the world within those dreams. The resulting realm felt like virtual reality—a place where countless NPCs, animals, plants, and even imaginary mythical beasts lived and moved with lifelike realism.
However, maintaining such an enormous world with human mental power was no easy task. When strange errors began appearing like bugs in a computer game, Jae-won would reset the world. He would return everything to a blank slate and rebuild it anew. Interestingly, each reset allowed him to create a slightly larger world than before. After several resets, the world inside his mind had grown larger than the Earth itself.
Yet the unstable errors inevitably returned. While contemplating the upcoming reset of his seventh world, the absolute being suddenly appeared. Its form far surpassed anything Jae-won had imagined among his NPCs or mythical beasts. Most importantly, while every other being in the dream world acted according to his thoughts, this entity operated completely outside his control. It was unmistakably an independent existence separate from his own mind.
The being had been deeply impressed by Jae-won's dream world. It then proposed that rather than destroying it, he should sell it instead. The communication hadn't come through spoken words but as pure intent transmitted directly into his mind. Jae-won felt both fear and curiosity. If the compensation was reasonable, handing it over to this entity seemed better than simply erasing everything.
When he asked about the price, the being raised three fingers and offered to grant three wishes. Overjoyed at receiving three wishes, Jae-won immediately agreed. Unfortunately, he couldn't ask for something like "grant me a hundred wishes." The being would only fulfill wishes expressed in very short sentences. So Jae-won thought as hard as he could.
The three wishes he ultimately made were to return to the fifth grade of elementary school while retaining all his memories from just before death, and to be granted the power of regression. The mistake was that he hadn't specified exactly when the regression would occur. After completing the deal, he had expected to open his eyes as a fifth-grader, but his ordinary life continued unchanged. At first, he thought the encounter with the absolute being had been nothing more than a meaningless dream. But that wasn't the case.
From that day forward, Jae-won stopped dreaming. He had always entered the dream world the moment he closed his eyes, yet after that day, he never dreamed again. After deep reflection, he realized he hadn't specified when the regression would activate. Only later did he understand that it would trigger upon his death. Once he grasped this, he felt relieved, but the thought of having to die also frightened him. Upon further consideration, there was no need to die immediately. It would be far better to prepare thoroughly for his post-regression life until he died naturally. The longer he endured, the more new technologies would emerge, and the more advantageous his position would be after returning.
Thanks to this realization, Jae-won abandoned his reclusive lifestyle and began anew. In particular, creating a Memory Palace in the space left behind after the dream world vanished—to mimic absolute recall—was the second-best decision he had made after the deal with that being. It allowed his preparations for post-regression life to expand dramatically, ultimately leading to great success.
It had been an unexpected success, and if only he had managed it carefully, things might have been different. But his greed grew, and with greater greed came more mistakes. In the end, he was betrayed and entangled in bitter relationships, meeting a lonely death.
Ah, that's not what I should be thinking about right now.
Jae-won shook his head and refocused. What he needed to recall was the exact moment of the deal with that being. The entity hadn't explicitly said it would grant three wishes in exchange for the dream world. Jae-won had simply interpreted the three raised fingers that way.
Hmm, were there really three fingers?
He closed his eyes slightly and carefully replayed the memory. It seemed there had been another finger, only half-folded, in addition to the three fully extended ones. To recall it perfectly he would need to enter the Memory Palace, but he was certain there had been more than three. Logically, a half-folded finger should be disregarded. Yet the enormous Chevron mansion looming before him completely defied common sense. The red carpet laid out for honored guests and the rows of maids standing at attention on both sides made him momentarily forget that this was 1994.
And the white-haired elder waiting at the front gate was undoubtedly Frederick Taylor II, the second-generation owner of Chevron. If that being had interpreted the half-wish from the partially folded finger as something like "greatly increase luck," and that was what had connected him with Tiffany, then the current situation made perfect sense.
Well, if not, then so be it.
As the car came to a stop before the front gate where Frederick Taylor II waited, Jae-won's train of thought ended. If it was that being's consideration, that was good. If not, it didn't matter. Having Chevron's owner as an ally would be a tremendous advantage, but even without it, there would be no problem executing his plans. For now, he simply needed to focus on being Tiffany's boyfriend.
“Grandfather, let me introduce my boyfriend. This is Yoo Jae-won.”
“Jae-won, say hello. This is my grandfather, Frederick Taylor II.”
“Hello. It's a pleasure to meet you. My name is Yoo Jae-won.”
At Tiffany's introduction, Jae-won bowed deeply. Frederick Taylor II observed the greeting with a stern and serious expression. In truth, there had already been a brief staring contest between them even before Tiffany made the formal introduction. It seemed Frederick viewed Jae-won as the scoundrel who had completely stolen away his beloved granddaughter, while Jae-won was simply fascinated. He had never expected to meet Chevron's owner face-to-face, yet here he was, standing right in front of him. And not for business reasons, but purely personal ones.
“Nice to meet you. I am Frederick Taylor.”
Since Tiffany had introduced him personally, Frederick spoke to Jae-won without formal distance.
“My granddaughter, who once declared she would never marry and would live with me forever, suddenly dropped the bombshell that she had a boyfriend. I knew such a day would come eventually, but it arrived sooner than I expected, so I felt rather aggrieved. That's why I asked to see you.”
“Is that so? Now that you've met me in person, what do you think?”
“You seem somewhat different from the Asians I have known. The ones who worked at the company never revealed their true feelings in front of me.”
“That's because they were employed by you, Grandfather. I can stand here with confidence thanks to Tiffany.”
While Frederick Taylor's presence and influence were indeed formidable, Jae-won refused to be intimidated. Having died once seemed to have stripped away his fear. Even in direct confrontation, his heart rate remained steady and his words flowed naturally.
“Heh heh. Our granddaughter is indeed remarkable. Still, you don't seem to come from an ordinary background either. Let's continue this conversation inside. Welcome to our home.”
Contrary to his appearance, Frederick Taylor seemed to be quite the doting grandfather. His previously stern and serious expression completely crumbled in front of Tiffany. Stephen, who had been watching the exchange from the side, wore an extremely aggrieved expression. It was understandable—Stephen had only received a formal invitation to this house after Tiffany was born. Yet from the very beginning, Jae-won's reception had been warm and open. The discrimination was impossible to ignore. He had sensed it when his father-in-law sent the private jet, but experiencing it in person made it sting even more. Still, he couldn't show it openly. When his wife Marina poked him with her finger, the feeling quickly vanished.
Soon the tightly closed doors of the mansion swung wide open. Frederick Taylor walked alongside Tiffany and Jae-won, with Marina and Stephen following behind. After entering the residence, a brief welcoming ceremony took place. Afterward, separate rooms were assigned to the couple Stephen and Marina, Tiffany, Jae-won, and his two bodyguards.
“Why is this room so huge?”
Jae-won muttered as he looked around the room assigned to him. It was large enough to fit two or three school classrooms. The space was divided into several smaller rooms, including a separate living area and study. According to Butler Alfred, this room was typically given to VIP guests who arrived with large entourages. As a result, it felt absurdly spacious for Jae-won and his two bodyguards. Yet it wasn't empty or barren. Paintings, ceramics, sculptures, and other clearly valuable works of art and furniture had been tastefully arranged throughout.
The only regrettable aspect was the near-total absence of modern electronic devices in the interior. The only things that used electricity were the lights, a large audio system, and a single telephone. There wasn't even a television, let alone a computer. While he wouldn't be spending much time in the room during his stay except for sleeping, the lack of a computer and television was a significant drawback for Jae-won.
Knock, knock.
As he was examining the room, a knock sounded at the door. When he opened it, Tiffany stood there. Having changed into comfortable clothes, she looked like she had quite a lot to say.