< Winner >
The mother screamed with joy.
“Jeonghyeok! Oh my god, this is······ Ouch!”
“Mom, be quiet.”
I covered my mother’s mouth and warned her.
“There are shantytown people outside.”
My mother asked with her eyes, as if to ask what the problem was.
“What would happen to those people if they found out that there was a 10 million won first prize lottery ticket here?”
Mother tilted her head.
“Forced eviction is imminent. It’s going to be mind-boggling.”
Only then did my mother’s expression change.
“I know. They’re good people. But they’re on the edge right now. They have families to protect.”
I know very well.
How do people act when they are pushed to the edge?
It was a very common occurrence in the back alley world.
Even people who normally have a kind face turn pale when they reach a dead end.
“It’s fortunate that no one comes at night with a knife. Are you confident that you can protect this lottery ticket then?”
Mother shook her head.
“So let’s just be quiet until everyone leaves. Thinking comes later. Okay?”
Mother nodded.
Only then did I take my hand off my mouth.
“It can’t hurt to be careful.”
My mother’s gaze as she looked at me strangely deepened.
That was when.
Knock knock.
“Jeonghyeok’s mom.”
The mother looked back in surprise.
The shadows of adults were visible through the aluminum casement doors with opaque glass.
I quickly put the lottery ticket into my mother’s cardigan pocket.
Before my mother could even open the door, the aluminum chassis creaked open.
“What’s going on?”
“No, I’m just a little worried.”
The neighborhood ladies stuck their heads out through the door and looked around.
He says he came because he was worried, but he looks around to see if there is anything of value.
“You didn’t steal it, did you?”
“Have you lost anything? Like, your belongings or your bankbook.”
I appreciate your concern, but I already took all my valuables with me a long time ago.
“Oh my, there’s no such thing as cold bones here.”
“Didn’t the landlady say she wouldn’t fix the boiler? It seemed like she didn’t call anyone.”
“It looks like you haven’t even found a place to move into.”
“Don’t you need quite a bit of money to pay the deposit and the monthly rent? How much do you have? If you were Jeong-hyeok’s mother, you would have saved quite a bit by selling vegetables.”
“You won’t have anywhere to sleep today. If you’re really in trouble, come to my house. I’ll give you a cheap room. Our coal boiler is working fine.”
“If it’s the same price, come to my house. I can even pack you breakfast!”
Mom couldn’t hide her embarrassment at the sudden competition between the housewives.
At that moment, the voices of adult men were heard from the front yard.
It was an urging to go home.
“We’re going to go now.”
“Jeonghyeok’s mom, get some rest.”
The people who had gathered in the front yard of the landlord’s grandmother and were happily watching the lottery drawing broadcast disappeared in an instant like an ebb tide.
“······.”
My mother seemed to be thinking a lot.
I held my mother’s hand.
“Mom, we’re moving. How about the Apgujeong Hyunmu apartment?”
“Hyunmu Apartment?”
Because the land prices in the Apgujeong commercial district are expected to rise sharply in the near future.
But the look in my mother’s eyes as she looked at me earlier bothered me.
“You appear on TV a lot. Come to Apgujeong~♬ I like Hyunmu Apartment~♬”
So I deliberately sang the commercial song in a childish manner.
My mother smiled brightly and patted my head.
“Cheonma Apartment is also nice.”
“Are you talking about the Cheonma Apartment in Daechi-dong?”
“In Cheonma~♬ Good school~♬ Good academy~♬ New apartment in new city~♬”
The school district is good.
What that means is that apartment prices won’t fall thanks to parents who are passionate about education.
I clenched my fists and smiled.
“I will study hard and go to college.”
After seeing the account my mother opened for college tuition.
I wanted to listen to my mother’s wishes.
It was also a shame that I had to give up school because I was too busy trying to make a living.
“The best university in our country! How is it?”
“Then that would be great.”
My mother stroked my head with a very happy expression.
My mother muttered quietly to herself.
“Yes, our Jeong-hyeok will soon have to enter elementary school, and later on, if he wants to enter university······.”
I haven’t been registered as a child yet, so I’m not on the family register.
“If something happens to me like it did yesterday, what will happen to Jeong-hyeok who will be left alone?”
It was a voice of determination.
So I asked subtly.
“Mom, what is my dad’s name?”
The only conglomerate in Korea that uses the surname Cha is the Taesung Group.
One more thing.
The number I saw in my mother’s notebook was the home phone number of the CEO of Taesung Group.
“My father’s name is Cha Seong-jun. Please use the surname Cha and the characters Seong-ja and Jun-ja.”
For the first time, I learned the three letters of my father’s name properly.
It felt strange.
‘My father was the youngest son of Taesung Group? He was supposed to take over Taesung Construction?’
Before the stocks of Taesung Group were swept up in the past.
From family trees to the inside story of the group, we gathered all the information we could find.
Taesung Construction was the responsibility of the youngest, Cha Seong-jun.
‘Taesung Construction grew rapidly in the mid-1970s by winning a huge number of overseas construction orders in the Middle East. That must have been my father’s skill.’
My father said he couldn’t come because he was paving the way to the Middle East.
It seems it wasn’t a lie.
‘If there’s just one thing that catches the eye······.’
dripping.
It was the second knock.
“Ahem, if it’s okay with you, could you come over to my house for a moment? Your mother is calling. She says she has something urgent to tell you.”
It was a call from the landlady.
“Hey kid, have you finished eating? Do you want to play with me while you’re at it?”
Anyway, that guy always strikes at important times.
Naturally, the gaze directed at Mr. Cheolgu sharpened.
But my mother pushed me from behind.
“Okay, follow me, uncle. Mom will go talk to the landlady for a bit and come back.”
“······Yes, that’s right.”
Because I had something I wanted to ask anyway.
I wore the new sneakers that Mr. Cheolgu bought me.
As soon as they arrived at the backyard, Mr. Cheolgu asked right away.
“Kid, what’s going on here?”
“What is it?”
I pretended not to know, but I actually had an inkling of it.
“So how much did you win?”
“Oh, how did you know? Are you a fortune teller?”
When I deliberately squinted my eyes to look, Mr. Cheolgu scratched the back of his head.
“It was a million won piece.”
It was just a lottery ticket with a gold rim?
It’s more money than you think.
Because the compensation for the shantytown demolition is only 100,000 won.
So I could smile proudly.
“That’s good.”
“How did you buy this? You didn’t know in advance that this would be a winning ticket… No, does that make sense? That can’t be right. Huh, really….”
Mr. Cheol-gu let out a hollow laugh, as if he thought it was ridiculous.
I shrugged.
The man handed me the winning lottery ticket.
“Okay. Take this back.”
“Put it away. I gave it to you, sir. It’s for your service.”
“Are you really telling me to take this?”
“Then the man gave it to me and took it away?”
“That’s······, I mean, I’m not the type to rip off little kids······.”
“Are you using it for moving expenses?”
Mr. Cheolgu made a dumbfounded expression.
“Then you’re not going to move and are going to keep holding on like this? What if the demolition crew comes and the old lady who owns the house is home alone? What if she gets hurt? She’s old. What are you going to do?”
“That will never happen!”
“It’s good to oppose the demolition, and it’s good to hold out. Even if we fight, we should fight after evacuating our families to a safe place. Moving comes first.”
“Yeah. I guess I should do that.”
Mr. Cheolgu nodded obediently.
“Hmm, where should I go? I guess Jongno or Euljiro······.”
“Let’s go to Gangnam.”
The old man looked at me with round eyes.
“The government is actively promoting the development of Gangnam. Don’t you see that government offices and prestigious high schools are being relocated to Gangnam? Land prices will definitely rise significantly.”
Buy it when it’s cheap.
Don’t regret it later when you hit the ground.
“Are you really seven years old?”
As it turned out.
I deliberately changed the subject.
“Sir, you know that document from earlier? Wookwang Construction.”
“Oh! Didn’t I tell you to forget that?”
“How do you plan to use it?”
How on earth did you write that a person called Jungjung Agent was tortured to death in Jungjung?
“You don’t have to know, kid.”
I carved the character for patience (忍) into my heart.
‘If you keep acting like a guest, you’ll die a dog’s death, you idiot. That’s exactly how you died.’
I saw it with my own eyes!
Dude, you’ll be tortured to death for that in a week!
Ha, I can’t say this out loud.
‘I owe my mother my life, and King Yeomra told me to make good connections, so I guess it’s okay to give her advice that will save her life.’
A favor is a favor.
Malice begets malice.
Because I am a person who is clear about my debt.
‘If only I could write the Woo Kwang Construction documents properly······.’
The golden light bursts out like that.
It’s hard to just pretend not to know.
I like it, and you like it too.
A win-win solution that benefits all of us came to mind.
< Winner > End
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