3rd Grade.
3rd Grade.
School ended, and when I got home, Dad wasn't there.
Voices from a phone call drifted out of his workspace.
"Ah, yes, Jeong-min. You been well? Been a while."
There were exactly three people Dad addressed that familiarly and respectfully.
One was Lee Jin-seok, another was Jang Seong-man, and the last...
The mysterious man who managed Dad's money—he used to show his face now and then, but lately I hadn't seen him at all.
"China? You've been in China?"
Yep, it was that man.
The mysterious man, the one with the glasses and a face full of freckles.
From what Dad had told me, he'd been really close with my mom, and his name was Han Jeong-min.
"What?! Twenty... twenty-five times... the re...turn? No... Jeong-min, take it easy... I'm scared... Just keep that yourself..."
Twenty-five times returns in China...? What was that supposed to mean...
Don't tell me, China money...
The ultimate dream of every major corporation... getting their hands on China money.
While controversy around Chinese nationals never died down, there was a reason even the loudest voices demanding a severance of ties could never bring themselves to cut the cord.
From a major corporation's standpoint, a population of 1.5 billion right now was enough to make their mouths water.
By simple calculation, even if you only extract 100 won per person, that's 150 billion won.
To put it simply, if just one single bread product got properly distributed and established itself as the nation's bread in China, you'd reach a level where you could chew up and swallow Korea's super-conglomerates.
Of course, counting all 1.5 billion people as potential customers was nothing more than a pipe dream.
But even if you targeted only the best-known, upper-middle-class Chinese nationals and above, the effect was on a level so unapproachable that they called it China money.
So you messed with that kind of China money, huh...
I was dying to know what the hell was going on.
"Jeong-min, are you in danger right now? Ah, seriously! Be careful, okay! If something happens to you, how am I supposed to face Si-yoon's mom!"
I got the feeling he'd pried open the floodgates to China money through some special channel, but...
I was seriously, fucking dying to know the exact details.
Normally I could hear the other side of the call just fine—why was it silent now?
"A private jet... hold on, I'll get in touch with JSM. Jeong-min, please, seriously, be careful..."
When Dad picked up a different phone for a second, I held my breath and didn't make a sound.
Dad phoned Uncle Jang Seong-man.
He asked him if he could send a plane to Beijing, China, and with a final word of thanks, Dad clutched the other phone again.
"Yes, he said he'll send it right now, but it'll take about an hour to get clearance from the Chinese airport... Yes... Yes, take care. Get in touch with CEO Jang Seong-man, he'll sort it out, and seriously, be careful!"
Dad hung up and fidgeted, picking up his phone and putting it down again, unable to stay still.
"Crazy, crazy bastard... how... 2 trillion... holy shit..."
What?
Unless I'd misheard, that was the unit of money with twelve zeros attached... I had to wonder if I'd actually heard that right.
Assuming a 21st-century person lived a hundred years—36,500 days in total—that was the kind of money you couldn't spend even if you went without work and burned through 54.79 million won every single day. I had to wonder if I'd heard that correctly.
But... that wasn't the important part.
I needed to confirm whether the twenty-five-times return was what had turned it into 2 trillion... or if it was 2 trillion after that.
Twenty-five times 2 trillion... 50 tril... bullshit. With that kind of money, you could swallow one of Hanseong's core cash-cow affiliates whole.
I opened the door with trembling hands.
"Oh?! Si-yoon, you're in?"
"Fifty trillion?"
"...What about it?"
"Twenty-five times 2 trillion... fifty trillion?"
"I told you not to eavesdrop on Daddy's phone calls!"
"Dad? I asked if it's fifty trillion..."
"Stop caring about that kind of stuff, and go away!"
I couldn't sleep that night, my mind completely adrift.
Smack!
Inside a room, four heads were pressed together.
Smack!
"Ughh..."
Thwack.
Dad was stuck right next to me.
I smiled.
Smack!
""Ahh....""
"Hoo-hoo-hoo..."
I slammed down the last card in my hand.
Smack!!!
"That's three pitted, three gwanged, three meonged~ Ah, Da-yeon, you're off the hook for the gwang penalty~ Shaking it once, double, add the five-go, and that makes..."
We were playing Go-Stop, and both their faces had turned a deathly pale.
"Da-yeon, 920 points. You, 1,840 points."
"...."
"At 500 won per point, Da-yeon owes me 460,000, and you owe me 920,000."
Dad, who had held the gwang cards and dropped out of this round, was also horrified right beside me.
"Si...Si-yoon, I don't... have the money..."
"Hoo-hoo-hoo... Then you'll have to pay with your body..."
Lee Jin-seok recoiled and stared at me.
"Where did you... learn to talk like that?"
"Pay up. I told you we should do 100 won per point. Imagine if it'd been 1,000 won like you wanted."
Lee Jin-seok pulled a check from his wallet. I spread my palm to stop him.
"Stooop~ Not taking checks. What's a kid gonna do with a check."
"...Who carries around 920,000 won in bills..."
I casually flipped open my wallet.
"Da-yeon, if you're out of cash, I'll take the 220,000 you've got and treat the remaining 240,000 as wages at 10,000 an hour. So from now on, you're my slave for the day~"
"...Wait, really...?"
Dad looked at me, flustered by what I'd just said.
"Si-yoon... don't you think your choice of words is a little weird...?"
"Eyy, ahem... My, my, suddenly I'm so thirsty~ A glass of water, ice cubes floating, where oh where could I find one...?"
"Oh... yeah."
Da-yeon stood up and went to get me some water.
Dad was stealing glances at Lee Jin-seok. I grinned, teeth bared.
"So, how about it. Wanna work ninety-two hours?"
"...."
Lee Jin-seok got right up, went home, and came back.
When he returned, Lee Jin-seok was clutching a bundle of cash...
"Da-yeon, wait there. Daddy will save you."
"Mm-mm~ I don't wanna be saved~"
"Eo-heo! Sit your butt down, now!"
"No, you can just pay her debt with that money, why d'you wanna play again?"
"As a born fighter, I absolutely cannot let this go... I'll win back through the game what I lost in the game, and show you how it's done."
"Don't wannaaa~ I'll just skip the game and play with Da-yeon instead~?"
"Don't treat our Da-yeon like a thing!"
I looked at Lee Jin-seok and gave a savage little smile.
"Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo.... Only twenty-four hours to devour our Da-yeon... Far too short..."
"NO!!!!"
"Then shall we play just a few more rounds? With Da-yeon's slave time instead of money~"
"Okay..."
With Da-yeon's time attending me on the line, my 1-on-1 match against Lee Jin-seok began.
If Lee Jin-seok won, Da-yeon's time would get proportionally shorter. If I won, it'd get longer.
In the end, Da-yeon was stuck beside me for 1,440 hours, and everyone stared slack-jawed in silence.
"...Ha-ha? Da-yeon's mine for two months...?"
Truthfully, ever since my reincarnation, any time I played a game with heavy gambling elements, I'd never once played properly to win against people.
But just because time had passed, you think I can't gamble anymore...
I, Kang Han-seong, had once blown enough money to buy five buildings on gambling—and learned from it.
And now, I possessed an overwhelmingly sharp, fast-spinning brain.
Up till now, I'd just been pretending not to know and half-assing it.
When I leaned against Da-yeon with a lecherous glint in my eyes, Lee Jin-seok stared at Da-yeon, eyes trembling.
"Da-yeon, starting today, you're my little sister. Call me Big Sis."
"...Okay..."
"Try saying 'Big Sis.'"
"Uh... Uh... Big Sis..."
"Da-yeon... your father... is sorry he couldn't protect you..."
Lee Jin-seok stretched a hand out toward Da-yeon, pathetically. I lightly blocked it.
"Hoo-hoo-hoo... Da-yeon, let me touch your boobs."
""What?!""
At my demand, even Dad jolted in shock, and Da-yeon recoiled and scrambled away from me.
When I wiggled my fingers, Lee Jin-seok blocked my path.
"...That's not allowed."
"Why not."
"...She... she doesn't like it..."
"I don't think so...? She's just embarrassed, I'm pretty sure she doesn't dislike it...?"
Da-yeon's face turned rapidly scarlet as she shook her head.
"Kidding~ Let's go play Maple Leaf~"
"Huh? Uh, o-okay..."
"You're supposed to say 'Okay, Big Sis.'"
"....Okay... Big Sis..."
"Kahaha!"
I left the adults to their own time and went off to game with Da-yeon.
Even inside the Maple Leaf game, Da-yeon followed me around calling me Big Sis for a good while.
From the start, I didn't demand this or that from her.
If anything, I looked after her more. Even so, Da-yeon had playfully insisted rules were rules and she'd do it herself.
Before long, Da-yeon had perfected the job, from bathing me to tucking me into bed.
And more than anything, in the end, Da-yeon was the one enjoying it more.
Even after two months had passed, Da-yeon still went along with plenty of my requests.
'Hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo-hoo...'
Winter break arrived before I knew it, and I spent a winter break that was maybe even busier than the regular semester.
During the break, I was always drawing pictures, or going to meet world-famous masters with Farzier,
or following Dad's concert tour.
And on ordinary days with nothing scheduled, I went for walks or on trips with Da-yeon.
Sometimes it felt like time was racing by too fast, but every single day of those three years had stayed as a good memory.
A few days later, graduation day approached.
After taking pictures with kids I wasn't even close to, I also took pictures with Da-yeon, Ji-hoon, Tae-oh, Min-ji, and Jun-su.
Tae-oh smiled sunnily as we took photos, like he was genuinely happy about our graduation ceremony.
Even if he was affiliated with HSW, Tae-oh was still only sixteen.
Tae-oh also sincerely enjoyed making memories with his friends, and that alone was reason enough for us to feel obliged to make memories for him.
Min-ji and Jun-su were set to meet us again a year later at Seoul Jungang High School, where we were headed.
And in the end, all four of us ended up going to the same high school.
The original name was Seoul Special-Purpose High School, usually shortened to Seoul Specialized High, but the designation disappeared after a legal revision, so the school's name changed.
Tae-oh and Ji-hoon had studied till their noses bled to go to the same school as us, but as it turned out, Lee Jin-seok had pulled the strings with under-the-table money to stick the four of us together.
Once Ji-hoon found that out, he threw a bitch fit, swearing he'd never study again.
Ji-hoon seemed to be the only one who didn't know he'd never have gotten in on grades alone anyway.
I looked in the mirror and smiled, a little proud, at my chest, which was filling out faster and faster.
"Si-yoon, what're you grinning at?"
Dad walked over and turned on the TV.
"My boobs got bigger."
"...What?"
"You asked. What's with the reaction?"
"......"
I groped my own soft tits—quite a lot smaller than Da-yeon's, sure, but still sizable—as I spoke.
"These are a solid B-cup right now, so by the time they're fully grown, depending on my cycle I'm probably hitting C or D."
"Hey! What the hell are you doing!!!"
Dad averted his eyes in horror, and because his reaction amused me, I groped them even more.
"Hah! Oh, right—I heard there are pills for it these days. Dad, buy me the boob-growing pills."
Dad stared at me and let out a deep sigh.
"Si-yoon... What's gotten into you lately...? Hm? It's hard on me..."
"Wow... that's how you take your daughter's serious, humiliating dilemma..."
"...Haah. Isn't that stuff already ordered? You've been sneaking it for two years..."
"How did you know?!"
"I left it alone because it's not like it's bad for your body..."
"It's strawberry-flavored. Wanna try one, Dad?"
"...Have you lost your mind?"
"Ah-ha!"
I stopped fondling my chest and glanced at Alpha and Beta.
Then I muttered toward Dad, half to myself.
"Da-yeon's gonna be insane."
"What is?"
"She always hides her strength, but she's gonna clear E for sure. When she's full-grown... G, even?"
At my words, Dad was horrified, staring at me as I petted Beta.
"And Da-yeon's got firm skin like I do. Man... I think I'm gonna see the most incredible chest I've ever laid eyes on... You could call it a blessing."
"Ki... Si-yoon? I am still your dad... talking about that..."
"Then who am I supposed to talk about it to, if not you?"
Dad hesitated for a moment, then sighed.
"...You're right..."
Tomorrow was the first day of school, so after lazing around for a bit, I touched my hair, which fell all the way to my butt.
"Should I cut my hair into a bob?"
"Why? You're not growing it out?"
"It takes way too long to dry."
"Hmm... Should we go get it cut, then?"
"Might as well go now~"
I went to my room to get dressed, and Dad quickly changed clothes and came out too.
My hair, chopped back into a bob.
Now I could say it with absolute certainty.
My mom's looks—once overwhelming... I was prettier now than she'd been.
Looking in the mirror, I put on the black underwear and the see-through top I'd secretly ordered behind Dad's back a while ago.
I was admiring myself alone, trying out a pose one by one, getting drunk on my own body, when Dad spotted me and recoiled in shock.
"Hey! What in the world are you wearing!"
"I'm seventeen."
"...."
"It's been two years since the promise we made, hasn't it?"
"No. What I said clearly back then was, let's renegotiate in two years. I never gave you permission."
"Tch. Too much saving up and it turns to shit."
"And too much reckless spending and it all breaks."
Lately, Dad's logic and counterarguments have been multiplying by the day.
As you'd expect from a guy who's enjoying a never-ending golden age as a lyricist and composer.
"Wow! Who do you think I am!"
"Stop with the weird acting and go change, fast."
"Tch."
After changing into comfortable clothes, I faced off with Dad again on the bed.
"Your skirt, mid-thigh."
"No."
"Keep this up and you want me to hike it till the bottom of my ass hangs out for real?"
"Go ahead. Try it. I'll lock the door so you never set foot outside again."
"What, are you all about premarital chastity now? I'm a high schooler and you want it above the knee? You're overdoing it."
"You only ever wear gym clothes anyway."
"That's when I'm at school, not on the way to and from."
"Right above the knee."
"What? Why don't you just put me in a jeogori? Huh?! Twenty centimeters above the knee."
"You want Daddy to get mad?"
"Fifteen."
"...Go on, bring it here."
"Wow, Dad, are you living in the Joseon Dynasty? This is the twenty-first century I'm aware of, right?"
Dad finally went and got my skirt to check the length himself.
I pulled it down as far as my hips to show him it was plenty long.
"...That's too short."
"Dad."
"What."
"Just the photos of Mom performing, she practically looked like her bare ass was about to show?"
"...."
"Why hide pretty legs!"
"Haah... Ten centimeters."
"Then five centimeters added every year?"
"...Why do you keep trying so hard to wear it short..."
"That's what looks good. If it's long, it flaps too much. No style~"
Just then, Da-yeon came over to hang out.
Dad spotted Da-yeon and hurried over to her.
"Da-yeon, what'd you do about your uniform skirt?"
I quickly shot Da-yeon a knowing look, and Da-yeon, catching my signal, said to Dad,
"I had it tailored short! Short is kind of the trend these days..."
Dad narrowed his eyes and stared at Da-yeon. Da-yeon flinched and gave an awkward laugh.
"Would you... go put on your uniform...?"
"...Huh?"
"Go on."
"Yes..."
At Dad's request, Da-yeon went and put on her own uniform skirt, and I felt it—we were screwed.
Da-yeon's skirt, probably hiked up as high as it would go, still came down to her knee.
"...."
Da-yeon awkwardly looked up at Dad, trying to gauge his reaction.
"So that's what you call short..."
"I-I'm... I'm very sorry."
"No, it's fine. If that's short, I'll just have Si-yoon's skirt altered to be a bit longer."
"Dad."
"What."
Dad turned around and gave me a pointed glare.
"Any longer than that and it'd be genuinely hard to walk. Yeah?"
I started bickering with Dad for a good while.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Da-yeon naturally scooped up Alpha and Beta and started playing with them.