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CH95 | VOC
🕑 Added 2025-03-27 01:56:26 +0000 UTCHwa-young, who was waiting for me at the coffee shop, waved her hand and said, “It’s hard to even see your face these days. How have you been?”
I took off my jacket, frowning. “I said I’d pick you up from school, why did you insist on meeting so far away?”
“Well, duh. What if my friends recognize you?”
I scoffed. “Am I some kind of celebrity? Do people just recognize me on sight? I’ve been on the news a few times and in a magazine once, that’s it. If high schoolers recognize me, I won’t be able to go anywhere. Do you have any idea how many people are clinging to me like I owe them money?”
Hwa-young said nonchalantly, “Still, it’s better to be safe than sorry.”
“Whatever. It doesn’t matter. What’s this about needing a favor for a friend?”
Hwa-young rolled her eyes. “Can’t you at least ask how I’ve been before jumping straight to business?”
“You’re the one who asked for a favor. I’m a busy man. I made time specifically for this. Just tell me what it is. I’m hungry, let’s eat after this.”
“You’re so impatient. Okay, okay. It’s about a classmate whose family is having a hard time. She couldn’t even pay for school lunches. She’s a good student, and I want to help her, but if I ask my parents, it’ll be too obvious, and it’ll hurt her pride. So I thought of you. If you help her through your foundation, it’ll be less obvious, and it won’t hurt her pride as much.”
My eyes lit up. “Wait, isn’t your school co-ed? Is this friend a boy? Someone you like?”
Hwa-young said sternly, “No, it’s a girl.”
My face fell. “A girl?”
“What’s with that reaction?”
“I thought you had a boyfriend. That’s a shame.”
She looked at me, dumbfounded. “What are you talking about? You’re disappointed it’s not a boyfriend? Shouldn’t it be the other way around?”
“You should start dating too. Are you ever going to get married?”
“You’re one to talk! And I’m still in high school! Why are we talking about marriage?”
“I’m worried no one will marry you.”
“Are you crazy?! Are we fighting? I’m very popular at school!”
I made a face. “What nonsense are you talking about? You? Popular? Are you the only girl in your school? How can you be popular?”
“You want me to show you all the love letters and confessions I’ve received? We could be here all night.”
I looked at her with pity. She had been cute as a child, but she had become a tomboy, playing soccer with the boys and acting like the neighborhood boss. Now, she seemed more like a younger brother than a younger sister. She was objectively pretty, but her personality… I was worried about her future.
“Hwa-young, I made a promise a long time ago.”
“What promise?”
“I might be a selfish bastard, but I’ll be good to your future husband. I’ll be eternally grateful to anyone who marries you. I made that promise ten years ago.”
“Park Sol!” she yelled.
“Don’t yell at your older brother.”
“What makes you so special? You look like a bandit!”
I smirked, took out my wallet, and said, “I have a lot of money.”
“You…”
She sighed. “Fine, I’ll let it slide since I’m asking for a favor. I’m being the bigger person here.”
“Good. You need patience if you have a bad temper.”
“You’re so annoying today. So are you going to help or not?”
“Is she a close friend?”
“Not really… we just say hello to each other…”
Not even close?
“Why do you want to help her if you’re not even close?”
“She’s my classmate. And you have the means to help her. I didn’t know about her situation before, but now that I do, I feel bad for her. Just help her. It’s not that difficult for you, is it?”
I said with a dubious expression, “It’s not difficult, but why should I help someone I don’t even know? Money is money. I would help a close friend without hesitation, but you just said you’re not close to her. I don’t like wasting money.”
“How is that wasting money? You should help those in need! You’re so cold-hearted sometimes. It’s a problem, you know.”
She was right. I didn’t understand why I should help a stranger. I only made rational decisions, based on self-interest. Helping her classmate, whom she wasn’t even close to, was irrational.
To make it beneficial for me, I would have to expand the scope and create a new scholarship program, not just help one student. It would be good PR.
I was already donating a lot, and I didn’t want to waste money on students I wouldn’t even meet.
But I couldn’t refuse my sister’s request.
I clicked my tongue. “Fine, I’ll help her. Just this once, because it’s your first request, and you’re my sister. No one else would get this special treatment. You know how I am.”
Her face brightened. “Really? Thank you, oppa! I’ll be good!”
I doubted that, but it was more important to save face in front of my sister than to save money. “You should be. You won’t find another brother like me. Rich, generous, handsome… I’m the whole package.”
She rolled her eyes. “I really want to punch you.”
I returned to the company, instructed Maru to create a new scholarship program, and gave him the classmate’s name and contact information.
The program would provide up to 10 million won per year for educational and living expenses, and there would be 20 recipients, including Hwa-young’s friend.
20 was the optimal number based on my past experience with donations.
Since Hwa-young wasn’t close to her friend, I didn’t have to meet her and left everything to Maru. But a week later, he came to me with some surprising news.
“Is that true?”
“Yes, it is.”
I grimaced. “So we wasted the money?”
“This is the first time this has happened. She refused the scholarship.”
“What’s her name?”
“Seo Ga-yeon.”
Hwa-young’s not-so-close friend had refused the money.
But I couldn’t cancel the program just because of one person.
“I wasn’t even keen on this, and now she’s making me waste money?”
“Should I meet with her and try to persuade her? We still have time before the ceremony.”
I massaged my temples. “I have to personally persuade someone to take free money? This is ridiculous. If it weren’t for Hwa-young…”
“I’ll go and talk to her. There must be a reason.”
“You?” I looked him up and down. If I looked like a bandit, he looked like a bandit leader. “She’ll probably run away screaming.”
“What about Director Park?”
Park Jong-bum looked like a con man.
“No. Why can’t I find a single normal-looking person around here? Just send someone who looks harmless.”
“Alright.”
“This is unbelievable. Park Hwa-young, you’ll pay for this.”
But the next day, the employee I sent returned, his head bowed, having also failed to persuade her. I exploded.
“What the hell is wrong with her?! How can she refuse free money?! Is she trying to be some kind of noble pauper?! Why is she refusing?!”
“She said it won’t make any difference, she’s better off without it,” the employee said, sweating. “She wouldn’t listen, no matter how much I tried to persuade her.”
I ripped off my tie. “This is infuriating. Get out.”
After he left, Maru said, “It’s your sister’s friend. Can’t you ask Hwa-young to persuade her?”
“She would have done it herself if she could have. She asked me because she doesn’t want to hurt her friend’s pride. This is ridiculous. I agreed to this because it was my sister’s first request…”
Hwa-young was independent and rarely asked for favors, especially for someone else. I couldn’t give up.
“I have to resolve this to maintain my image in front of her. I’ll go myself.”
“You? What are you going to do?”
“I have to see the face of the person who’s making me waste money for the first time in my life. She’s a rare talent.”
* * *
“Is this the place?” I looked at the address on the memo and the address plate on the dilapidated house.
“I knew she wasn’t rich, but this is…”
Cracked walls, a rusty roof, a flimsy door… it looked like a slum, not a house in Seoul, the capital of Korea.
And the other houses on the street were just as dilapidated.
The streetlights were mostly out, and the few that were working flickered ominously.
“Maybe I shouldn’t have come at night. This is a bit scary.”
I had rushed over after work, angered by the employee’s report, and it was already past 9 p.m.
I regretted coming alone, without my bodyguards or Maru.
The dark, deserted alley, the broken streetlights, the dilapidated houses… even I, a large and imposing man, felt a chill.
“My childhood home wasn’t this bad. So this is what they call a slum.”
I was suddenly grateful for my childhood, even though we hadn’t been rich.
“Should I come back tomorrow during the day?”
I shook my head. “No, I’m not afraid of this.”
My eyes gleamed. “Park Hwa-young, you’re dead. You’re making me suffer.”
I waited, grinding my teeth, but Seo Ga-yeon didn’t appear, even after 11 p.m.
“This is ridiculous. I give up. It’s too late to go to the company. I’ll go to my parents’ house.”
As I was turning back, a voice called out from behind me,
“Excuse me, who are you?”
I screamed, startled by the sudden voice in the dark, deserted alley.
“What the…!”
