2
# Chapter 2
‘It’s okay. I’m okay.’
The person sitting in the very back seat of the bus, sweating cold sweat, was Yoon Geon.
The bus was about half full.
The inside of the cap pulled low over his head was already drenched with sweat. His tightly clenched hands trembled
uncontrollably. He tried to maintain a steady breathing pattern while keeping his gaze fixed outside the window as much
as possible.
Fortunately, there was a bus to Samseong Station, his destination, that he could reach after walking for about ten
minutes.
It had been an hour since he boarded the bus.
He still had another hour to go before he could reach Samseong Station.
Maintaining a steady breathing pattern, he searched for Hwang Choong-sik’s name on his phone.
— Uncle. Would you be able to have a meal with me today?
He typed the message and placed his index finger over the send button, hesitating for a long while.
“I’ve already gotten on the bus, so what am I hesitating about?”
He pressed send, and not long afterward, a reply arrived.
— Of course. Where are you now?
After telling him his estimated arrival time, Yoon Geon leaned back against the seat.
He occasionally exchanged messages with Hwang Choong-sik like this.
He wiped the sweat running down his face with the handkerchief he had prepared and slumped back.
Something that was so ordinary and natural to everyone else was the most difficult thing in the world for Yoon Geon.
---
Yoon Geon stood in front of a building in Samseong-dong, where tall buildings were densely packed together.
Haesong Law Firm.
Haesong was the law firm where Hwang Choong-sik, the man he had come to meet, served as the managing partner.
It was not one of Korea’s Big Three law firms, but if the range were expanded to the top ten, it was certainly a massive
firm that could claim a place among them.
Yoon Geon was pacing around a quiet corner, avoiding the people passing by, when someone called his name.
“Geon.”
A handsome, well-dressed man in his mid-forties approached him.
He was Hwang Choong-sik, his father’s closest friend.
“...... Uncle.”
Yoon Geon barely managed to speak through his labored breathing, and Hwang Choong-sik immediately put an arm around his
shoulder.
“Let’s go. I’ve had the car prepared.”
Once Yoon Geon got into Hwang Choong-sik’s car, he felt somewhat calmer.
“Hoo, hoo.”
Hwang Choong-sik looked at Yoon Geon with concern as he exhaled heavily.
“Is it still the same?”
“It’s still much better than before. I came to Seoul alone, didn’t I?”
“Now that you mention it, you did. But why did you suddenly come to Seoul? Is there something you wanted to tell me...”
Hwang Choong-sik trailed off before asking whether there was something Yoon Geon wanted to say.
If he had something to tell him, he would have sent a text message instead of coming all the way here himself.
“I had no choice...”
“No choice?”
Looking out the window, Yoon Geon spoke in a quiet voice.
“No, that’s not it. I just... wanted to change a little.”
Hwang Choong-sik’s expression brightened.
“Yeah. You made the right decision. You really did. If San had heard you say that, how happy do you think he would have
been?”
San.
Yoon San.
His father’s name.
“I reserved a quiet restaurant. Is Korean course cuisine okay?”
“Yes. I like it.”
---
“You look good.”
Before the food arrived, Hwang Choong-sik spoke with a smile.
Yoon Geon had taken off his sunglasses after entering the private room.
His pupils were still trembling slightly, but considering that Hwang Choong-sik had never once seen his eyes until now,
it was a tremendous improvement.
“Do I?”
“Yes.”
Rattle.
When the sliding door opened, Yoon Geon instinctively reached for the sunglasses he had placed down.
Then his eyes met Hwang Choong-sik’s.
Hwang Choong-sik shook his head, so Yoon Geon stopped the hand reaching for his sunglasses.
His hand trembled slightly.
His pupils shook even more violently.
An employee entered, placed water and wet towels on the table, and left.
It was nothing significant, but as soon as the employee left, Yoon Geon took a deep breath that he had been holding
back.
“Well done.”
“Hoo—”
Hwang Choong-sik filled Yoon Geon’s glass with water.
“This restaurant serves jasmine tea. The aroma is really nice.”
Yoon Geon smelled it before drinking, and just as Hwang Choong-sik had said, it had a pleasant fragrance.
“How have you been lately?”
“Same as always.”
“Haha. Are you still getting lots of messages?”
Yoon Geon nodded.
Gaming took up more than half of his daily routine.
The genre of games Yoon Geon particularly enjoyed was AOS games like Legend of Legends.
Yoon Geon’s tier was Grandmaster, known as the tier among the stars.
And he proudly held the number one spot even among them.
Naturally, he had received countless recruitment messages from professional gaming teams.
Even though he had never replied to a single one, they never seemed to get tired of sending them.
GUN.
The ID Yoon Geon used in Legend of Legends had already become something of a legendary existence.
“A professional gamer. I think it might be okay for you to give it a try.”
“It’s just... a hobby.”
Yoon Geon also enjoyed watching professional gamers compete.
Sometimes, when they made plays he had never thought of, he would let out a genuine expression of admiration, and he
would even imitate similar plays when playing the game himself.
But rather than admiration, his most common reaction was, ‘That’s not how you’re supposed to do it.’
“It makes me happy to see that you’re trying to change.”
His father would sometimes say things like this.
— Geon. If the time ever comes when your mother and I can no longer take care of you, go to Uncle Choong-sik.
Among the few people his father had opened his heart to, Hwang Choong-sik was the only one with whom he had a
relationship of absolute trust.
The university hospital professor who had treated Yoon Geon had also been close to his father, but not to the same
extent as Hwang Choong-sik.
Yoon Geon knew very well why his father trusted Hwang Choong-sik.
His father, his mother, and Hwang Choong-sik had all come from the same orphanage.
All three had been abandoned by their parents.
The three of them had relied on one another as they endured the harsh world.
Yoon San had combined his exceptional intelligence with his talent, built a business, and achieved great success.
Hwang Choong-sik had also become a lawyer and risen to become a partner at the major law firm Haesong.
Rattle—
The door opened, and the food was brought in.
Yoon Geon placed the hand that had been reaching for his sunglasses on his lap and clenched his fist tightly.
Every time the two employees moved around them, his heart pounded violently and his breathing grew labored, but he
endured it.
“You seem to be getting better and better. Come on, let’s eat.”
“Yes, Uncle.”
---
Hwang Choong-sik offered to drive him home, but Yoon Geon declined and returned by bus.
Perhaps even that had made him happy, because Hwang Choong-sik smiled and waved until the bus disappeared.
“Hwaa— I’m finally back.”
It was 8 p.m.
In a city, it might have been different, but around the mountain in Gapyeong where Yoon Geon’s house was located, the
sun set very early.
Yoon Geon smiled brightly at the sense of security brought by the deep darkness settling over the surroundings.
After realizing that he was different from other people, he had lived only in this house since the age of nine.
He pressed the master light switch in the entryway shoe cabinet, and the entire house lit up brightly.
He collapsed onto the sofa, reached around beside his head for the TV remote, and turned it on.
A Legend of Legends match was being broadcast on the gaming channel he usually watched.
It was not live. It was a match from the previous day.
“Swindler.”
The camera was focused on a player.
The greatest player among professional gamers, known as the Emperor.
He used the ID Swindler, meaning someone who deceives others, and was an opponent Yoon Geon frequently encountered in
ranked games.
Of course, most of the time, Yoon Geon’s team won.
“You shouldn’t do that.”
The player facing Swindler was repeatedly giving up solo kills to Swindler’s godlike control.
Swindler’s team, considered the undisputed number one professional gaming team, easily won the match.
“Boring.”
Yoon Geon was about to pour water into a cup noodle when he gently scratched his cheek with a finger.
— Don’t just eat cup noodles every day. Make yourself some proper food too. You’re good at cooking.
Those were Hwang Choong-sik’s words before they parted.
Certainly, just as Hwang Choong-sik had said, Yoon Geon was quite good at cooking.
No, rather than simply being good at it, he possessed an exceptional memory that allowed him to memorize any recipe
after seeing it just once.
“Rice...”
He opened one of the storage compartments beneath the kitchen sink.
“There is some.”
He took out vacuum-packed rice and washed it with water.
He also washed the electric rice cooker, which had not been used for a long time.
Hiss— Hiss—
The sound of steam escaping from the rice cooker seemed unusually loud.
Even though it was a sound that did not suit this house, to Yoon Geon’s ears, it sounded like a rather pleasant song.
He opened another storage compartment.
There were plenty of preserved foods that had been prepared just in case.
He took out several of them.
It was not an elaborate meal, but compared to his usual meals of cup noodles and instant rice, it could be considered a
feast.
“Seaweed soup. Not bad.”
The quality of the instant soup was not bad either.
Of course, it lacked a great deal of flavor compared to homemade soup, but it was still quite edible.
After finishing his satisfying meal, Yoon Geon headed to the room containing four computers.
It was also the place where he spent the longest amount of time each day.
As Yoon Geon turned on the computer and watched the monitor brighten from black, something happened.
— Quest cleared.
— Reward will be granted.
— Reward ‘Mochang’ has been granted.
Yoon Geon looked through the wall-sized window at the night sky, which had turned completely black.
Compared to Seoul, the night sky of Gapyeong had an unusually large number of stars.
The combination of the black sky and twinkling stars was a sight Yoon Geon quite liked.
“Why are you doing this to me?”
Naturally, there was no answer.
He had turned on the computer intending to play Legend of Legends, but instead launched MeTube.
He typed ‘songs’ into the search bar, and a long list of videos appeared.
He checked the videos with the highest views first.
Music videos from popular idol groups naturally had the highest view counts.
There were also videos of singers known as legends, along with videos of MeTube streamers covering their songs.
“Im Dae-ho.”
A singer in his mid-fifties.
He was known as a legend of his father’s generation.
His unique vocal tone had itself become legendary.
Numerous singers had uploaded cover songs, but they were harshly criticized for not even coming close to the original
versions sung by Im Dae-ho.
Perhaps because of that, cover singers generally avoided touching Im Dae-ho’s songs.
“Confession.”
If Im Dae-ho was a legendary singer, then among his songs, Confession was undoubtedly the ultimate legendary song.
It was known as a song that was difficult not only because of its high notes, but because no one could dare imitate Im
Dae-ho’s unique vocal tone and deep emotional delivery.
Yoon Geon played the video.
It was a performance Im Dae-ho had given on a music competition program that had once become a nationwide trend.
And—
Confession was his father’s favorite song.
— God, please hear the confession of this foolish child kneeling before You.
The moment Yoon Geon heard the opening line, his body shuddered.
He could understand why everyone called him Im Dae-ho, Im Dae-ho.
He casually uttered each word as though whispering to someone, yet the emotions contained within them came crashing over
the listener like waves.
The cries that burst forth during the high notes were less like singing and more like screams and regret.
It was as though—
He were wailing in self-reproach over how carelessly he had wasted his own life until then.
“Incredible.”
After the video ended, Yoon Geon offered a brief review.
He could not think of anything to say other than that it was incredible.
He was not someone who particularly enjoyed listening to music, but when playing games or watching animations, there
were times when he had no choice but to listen.
It was not that those songs were inferior.
It was simply that Im Dae-ho’s singing was overwhelmingly superior.
The ‘Mochang’ he had received as a reward came to mind.
“I can imitate that song?”
Yoon Geon was not bad at singing.
He could not objectively judge whether he was good or bad at singing himself, but he did not think he was particularly
bad.
However, being good at singing and being able to perfectly imitate someone else’s singing were entirely different
things.
“I might be able to imitate the singing, but how am I supposed to imitate those emotions?”
If someone could copy not only Im Dae-ho’s vocal tone but also the emotions contained within his song perfectly, that
person would become enormously famous.
He considered giving it a try, then shook his head firmly and turned off the computer.
He went to the bedroom, lay down on the bed, and tried to fall asleep.
But sleep would not come.
It was because messages kept appearing whenever he was about to drift off.
— Start a MeTube stream.
— Until now, you have never engaged in any income-generating activity. You have merely been slowly eating away at the
inheritance your parents left you.
— Start a MeTube stream and generate income.
— Time limit: one week. Start streaming within one week.
Yoon Geon let out a long sigh and sat up.
— If you fail to clear the quest, your internet connection will be cut off for one month.
— You can complete the quest by earning at least 1 million won through streaming.
— A reward will be granted upon completion of the quest.
— The reward will vary depending on the amount of income earned.
Yoon Geon looked at the blackened sky beyond the curtains and asked,
“So why are you doing this to me?”