Time passed quickly.
One issue followed another, each bigger than the last, while new truths and suspicions continued surfacing everywhere.
Before we knew it, a week had passed in the blink of an eye—and a new article took over the portal sites.
[GojoseonTV] Christie’s Secret Auction Held Behind Closed Doors. Winner: Qatar’s Prince Cheonsur. Final Winning Bid: Approximately 500 Billion Won!
The short article came with a single photograph, but its impact was enormous.
That was because of the gigantic body visible behind the Middle Eastern prince, who was grinning broadly with a turban wrapped around his head.
Top Comment: Isn’t that the thing? The Named Monster Lord Fuck caught this time?
└ It is;;; I’ve seen it so many times that I can recognize it from the hide pattern alone. But some lunatic actually bought that for 500 billion.
└ The Middle Eastern prince’s class blew me away, and Lord Fuck’s majesty after earning 500 billion in one shot made me shit myself.
└ Son, what did you shit? You didn’t see something strange, did you? Mom believes in our son. Love you~
Many people were envious and impressed, but there were also those who viewed the matter sourly.
Top Comment: Jin Taekyung caused all kinds of chaos, never gave a single interview, and then sold the monster behind everyone’s backs. Am I the only one bothered by this?
└ Personally, I really don’t like him. Killing Won Myunghoon on his own authority was excessive force, if you look at it one way. But the prosecutors’ office only questioned him as a witness and then quietly let the matter fade away. It feels like they’re giving him special treatment because he’s famous.
└ Same here. Upvoted.
There’s a saying that when your cousin buys land, your stomach hurts.1
If even friends and blood relatives could make you feel that way, celebrities you only knew through the media were another matter entirely.
Not long after the article was posted, a bloody battle broke out among the netizens.
Top Comment: Are the idiots who posted the comments above the Three Stooges?
└ I’m shocked that crap like that has more than a thousand recommendations lol. Why are there so many people who can’t stand seeing others do well?
└ Exactly. What chaos are they talking about? Did the Dodong Sect punch a hole in their brains? How many people are alive thanks to Lord Fuck by now?
└ Jin Taekyung. Well, look at this rotten son of a—… As a public figure… what a nasty bastard, only filling his own pockets… Don’t forget that the entire nation is watching @~!
└ “Self-interest,” lol. The only interest here is the deposits building up in your parents’ bodies; what’s coming out of my mouth is pure profanity.
└ What are you talking about, public figure? He was a hyung who was wearing sweatpants and boiling ramen in the corner of his room until a month ago. And that way of talking is disgusting.
└ You young whippersnappers… Your tongues are sharp~!!!
└ Dentures confiscated for one month.
└ Hearing aid confiscated for two months.
└ Banned from the senior center for three months.
Even as people everywhere had their dentures and hearing aids confiscated and were banned from the senior center, the fighting didn’t stop.
Despite the fierce backlash, those criticizing Jin Taekyung stubbornly continued arguing their case.
You little brats… hehe. You’ve put knives on your fingers… You ignorant, rotten bastards~~!! Ignoring you… is the answer! @!~~
└ Cane confiscated.
I don’t use a cane… you bastard~~
└ Wheelchair confiscated.
You nameless lowlifes… Where do you think you’re pulling this red nonsense from…!!!!!
└ Park Hyeongseok. I gave my name, so are we done?
Young Hyeongseok, go back to your mommy, suck some more milk, and study harder~~`!!
└ You go suck some more.
└ You’re a goddamn lowborn son of a bitch.
It was a truly bloody battle.
The article reached one million views in just a day and racked up tens of thousands of comments.
As the two sides exchanged sharp comments and snarled at each other, another article went up.
[HunterTV Exclusive] Jin Taekyung Donates Hundreds of Billions to Gate Victims and Establishes Support Foundation
Hunter Jin Taekyung has drawn attention by donating hundreds of billions of won and establishing a support foundation for Gate victims under the name of the Peace Guild.
The necessary procedures had begun even before the Christie’s auction started…
Top Comment: Everyone who’s been calling him a public figure and accusing him of self-interest, gather here. Bang your heads against the floor.
└ Tsk, tsk… Nothing has even been properly revealed yet, and you’re acting filthy and cocky… Look at the truth straight…!
└ LOL. Hey, are you crying?
└ LMAOOOOOO
But seriously;;; What the hell is with him throwing several hundred billion won around? Honestly, that’s even more amazing than the satisfying defeat of all the people who’d been maliciously trying to muddy the waters.
└ Agreed. What the hell is Lord Fuck? Is making money just easy for someone at his level, so he decided to make a generous gesture?
└ I don’t think it’s that. He just doesn’t seem particularly greedy for money. Either way, I was genuinely impressed.
└ Height, looks, personality, money. He has everything. Isn’t that cheating?
└ PH3D, PH3D…….
└ What does that mean?
└ Please have a three-centimeter dick.
└ Oh.
The fight ended with the trolls’ defeat, and public opinion was once again filled with admiration for Jin Taekyung.
He had already prevented two major catastrophes and possessed the strength to defeat a Named Monster all by himself. On top of that, the generosity to donate hundreds of billions of won.
It was the moment his image as an unassuming hero and a truly big-hearted man became firmly established.
—Let me update you on the progress regarding the establishment of the foundation…
“Team Leader Choi.”
I cut off Team Leader Choi’s voice over the phone in a trembling voice.
“That’s enough. Please don’t say anything more.”
—……Would you like to cancel the foundation’s establishment if you’re that reluctant to part with the money?
“No. Absolutely not!”
—Then why are you acting like this?
“Because I hate parting with the money.”
—Pardon?
“I hate giving it up, but this is necessary. Please continue.”
—Is this one of those rice cakes in a painting situations?
“It’s a rice cake in my hand. I’m starving, but I’m barely managing not to eat it.”
The secret Christie’s auction attended by wealthy people from around the world had ended a short while ago.
Exactly twenty-four hours later, my bank account was filled with an endless string of zeros.
Five hundred billion.
To be precise, after every fee had been deducted, it came to approximately 530 billion won.
The unit wasn’t hundreds or thousands. It was eok—hundreds of millions.2
It was literally an eok-inducing sum, and I nearly cried out myself.
How much money was this, exactly?
It was an astronomical amount—enough to change my life, no, enough to let me and my descendants live in luxury for generations.
But I had already made my decision. I knew where to spend the money and how to use it in the most proper and worthwhile way.
“So please continue. I’m trusting you with this, Team Leader Choi.”
—Understood. Then let’s start with the people on the list you gave us last time.
“Please take good care of it.”
The families of the team members whose lives had stopped on that day three years ago would be the foundation’s first recipients.
The money couldn’t fill the empty spaces left by their lost family members, but it could help them pursue their dreams without having to worry about anything.
—Next are the veterans who fought during the Great Cataclysm and single-parent families. Is that right?
“Yes. Please proceed that way.”
After exchanging a few more words, I ended the call.
When I left the room, I saw Mom and Hayeon sitting at the kitchen table and eating fruit.
The moment I approached, a fork with a piece of apple speared on it suddenly appeared in front of me.
“Son, have some apple. It’s sweet.”
“Uh, okay.”
Crunch.
The sweet flesh broke apart in my mouth. I quietly ate the fruit while listening to the conversation between the two of them.
Friends, studying, someone who lived nearby, dramas…
Sometimes I let out a quiet laugh, and sometimes I nodded along in agreement.
Then, at some point, I suddenly spoke.
“Everyone’s okay, right?”
“Hm? What do you mean, son?”
“What?”
“Um. I mean, about this whole thing. Is there anything bothering you?”
Hayeon tilted her head to one side.
“Are you trying to talk about the money?”
“……”
“I knew this would happen. Mom, didn’t I tell you yesterday? I said this human was definitely going to act like this.”
Mom smacked Hayeon’s skinny forearm, which was as thin as a twig.
“You! How can you call your brother, who’s eight years older than you, ‘this human’?”
“Ow, that hurts! Stop hitting me.”
Hayeon answered irritably, folded her arms, and leaned back against the chair.
“Excuse me.”
“……Excuse me?”
“What else should I call you? My household-register mate?”
She was my one and only little sister, eight years younger than me. Under normal circumstances, I would have flicked her forehead just for fun, but somehow today didn’t feel like the right time.
Hayeon looked at me and let out a deep sigh.
“Oppa.”
“Hm?”
“What’s the thing Mom says the most?”
I wondered. What was it?
It didn’t take long to remember. It was something I heard every time I came home—or at least once every few days over the phone.
“Take care of yourself?”
“Exactly. You know it well.”
She poked the apple and held the fork out to me.
“Eat. Eat, and take care of yourself.”
“……”
“What good would several hundred billion do us? Besides not being able to spend it all, it’s obvious we wouldn’t even know how to use it properly.”
I mechanically chewed the apple in my mouth. It was sweet, and it stung like fire—enough to make the tip of my nose tingle.
When did she grow up this much?
This had been a difficult choice for me.
The truth was, I wasn’t particularly good or righteous.
I was an ordinary older brother who wanted to do everything his only sister asked of him, and an ordinary son who wanted to let his mother, who had struggled alone for so long, live in comfort.
And several hundred billion won was more than enough to turn every fantasy I had ever imagined into reality.
With this kind of money…
I had agonized over it. Even after making my decision, I continued to agonize.
But all of it had been pointless.
People praised me as both a hero and a big-hearted man, but they were wrong.
The person with a bigger heart than mine was my sister, who was eight years younger than me.
She had inherited all of Mom’s best qualities. Even those eyes that curved into crescents whenever she smiled.
“Son, as I always say…”
“A parent anywhere in the world can’t spend money their child earned by bleeding. Yes, I know.”
“Good. You know it well.”
“But now you’ll have to spend some of it. I plan to earn a lot from now on.”
“Then buy me a massage chair.”
“A massage chair?”
“Yeah. I thought about what I would want first if my son became successful and gave me a present, but that was the only thing I could come up with.”
I laughed along with Mom.
My heart felt lighter, as though I had finally set down a heavy burden I had been carrying for a long time.
“Then let’s go look at one together tomorrow. We can look at furniture while we’re at it.”
“Furniture?”
“Actually, the furniture in our house is pretty old, too. Mom, when someone gives you something like this, you should accept it while it’s being offered.”
I wondered what expression she would make when she learned that I meant furniture for the house we would soon be moving into.
Even more so when she learned that it was the place where our family had lived back when the three of us had been four.
I’d love to go there right now, but…
I wanted to save it as something to look forward to tomorrow—or rather, to what came next.
Realizing that the time had finally come, I rose from my seat.
“Where are you going?”
“Son, there’s still plenty of fruit left.”
I smiled broadly at the two disappointed faces and answered,
“It’s okay. I think I’ll take a nap.”
This time, I was going to sleep for a very long time.
Whoooosh.
The winter wind, already nearing the end of the season, blew past.
Darkness had long since swallowed the surroundings, while the illuminated pavilion shone brightly.
The old man gazing at the wavering flames suddenly spoke.
“Who is it?”
A clear voice answered moments later.
“It’s me.”
“……Is that you?”
At first, he couldn’t easily tell.
In the span of one or two shichen, the young man’s footsteps had become as light as his voice.
Has he gained some kind of enlightenment?
The old man had been able to sense his presence from fifty paces away, but had only noticed him when he came within thirty.
It was hard to say whether that was impressive or strange.
Despite the smile at the corner of his mouth, a gruff voice slipped from the old man’s lips.
“Didn’t I tell you to come when daylight broke?”
“It was hard to wait. The answer’s already decided, so why waste time?”
“Tsk, tsk. For a martial artist to be this impatient…”
“You said it yourself, Old Master. Sleep is a luxury for a martial artist. Train during that time. Am I wrong?”
“Hah! You really are something.”
That was the attitude of a martial artist—and of a Disciple who regarded his master’s words as golden maxims.
The old man couldn’t hold back any longer and let out a hearty laugh. When he waved his gaunt hand, a gentle blast of heat swept through the pavilion and flung open the door.
Standing before it was Jin Taekyung, wearing a broad, refreshing smile.
“Old Master. Please teach me martial arts.”
The old man, Jeok Cheongang, the Fire King, smiled with delight.
“All right. I’ll teach you everything I know.”
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