Chapter 68: Consulting for the Conglomerate Family’s Black Sheep

As soon as Director Song Jin-ho arrived at headquarters, he received an envelope that had been delivered to his office. It was a plain brown document envelope, without any markings.

He raised the blinds, letting light flood the room, then opened the envelope.

[Subject of Investigation: Yoo Seung-hyun Family Asset Background Report]

Starting from the words at the top, his gaze quickly scanned down as he read.

[Yoo Seung-hyun. Born 1984. Third year of high school.

Currently confirmed assets: approximately 550 billion won.

Means of asset accumulation: stock and real estate investment.

Most assets increased rapidly in the past three years.

Noteworthy: Writes. You Are the Star Within Me, selected as bestseller. High sales recorded.』

[Younger sibling: Yoo Da-hye. Born 1988. Currently in second year of middle school.

Estimated assets: approximately 40 billion won.]

[Father: Yoo Jae-il. Born 1963. High school graduate.

Occupation: Mid-sized site worker.

Estimated assets: approximately 60 billion won.]

[Mother: Kim Young-ran. Born 1963. Middle school graduate.

Occupation: Full-time housewife.

Assets: 5 billion.]

[Total family assets: more than 655 billion won.]

[No tax-related issues.

All payment history and sources of funds are legitimate, with no records of external lawsuits or accusations, and no criminal fraud history.]

"Is this even possible?! In just three years, an ordinary person without any specialized training starts with only a few hundred million and makes several hundred billion in profit?"

Each time he turned the page, he was so astonished he couldn’t even close his mouth. In just three years, people who had nothing, with no particular background, achieved incredible success.

Even mid-sized company presidents and professional investors hadn’t achieved such a phenomenal rate of return—his mind reeled.

"On top of that, they even succeeded as a writer. At just nineteen years old."

Unable to tear his eyes from the report, he took a deep breath.

The numbers were unbelievable.

He’d dealt with many businesspeople, but this was the first time he’d encountered anything like this.

Closing his eyes for a moment, he pressed his fingertips to his temple to endure the throbbing headache.

None of the family members had any connections to politics or the business world, and their academic backgrounds were nothing special—ordinary commoners who had risen to become a royal family.

Even more, their asset indicators had grown at a pace that defied reason.

‘This isn’t something you could accomplish just by being given information.’

No matter what information you gave, turning a few hundred million into several hundred billion in three years was impossible.

It was outright unattainable.

If it really were possible, the assets of major conglomerates and politicians would have surpassed tens of trillions by now.

"Who is it, the one who led this and made such profits?"

Yoo Jae-il, Yoo Da-hye, Yoo Seung-hyun.

Song Jin-ho rolled his eyes as he looked over the three names.

"Generally, the one with the most assets is the one driving things... But surely... Could it be... this kid?"

There were no signs of asset transfers; it was all achieved through their own efforts.

He had never imagined that investigating which conglomerate family they might be tied to would yield results like this.

Maybe he had discovered an investment genius.

"Even their school grades aren’t particularly high—how is this possible?"

The more he learned, the more it made his head spin.

Director Song sat at his desk, moving his lips in a quiet murmur.

"So that’s why, at that time, they could say that to me."

This was the reason behind their arrogance.

He suddenly found himself questioning what he’d been living for all this time.

He’d graduated from a prestigious university with high marks, joined the Nurture Group, and considered himself successful as an office worker.

But in front of this family, he felt embarrassed to even utter the word ‘success.’

"In that case, money can’t be the condition, can it?"

Would someone who built billions entirely by themselves really care about money?

The more you have, the better, but that depends on the person.

At this pace, it was clear that, before long, they would rise as a global tycoon beyond even our country.

Such a person wouldn’t be pleased just to get a few more bucks thrown their way.

"This was my mistake for thinking it’d be simple. What should I do now?"

The Chairman wants the Seocho-dong land. No matter what, he has to get that land, but no solution comes to mind.

Even the person who owns a small building is giving him trouble, and now, even a student who holds the largest key spot is making things difficult for him.

"In the end, I think I need to meet them again. Let’s find out directly what they want, then report to the President."

Ultimately, Song Jin-ho decided to meet the landowner again and hear directly what conditions they wanted.

He decided that reporting to the President would come afterward.

---

The Seocho-dong property would have to be sold someday.

It was far too enormous to hold onto out of personal greed.

The figure of one hundred million was just something I threw out there.

It was only a device to emphasize that I knew the value of the Seocho-dong land, so they wouldn’t try to cheat me.

"Regardless of me, they’ll have a headache. That location is extremely important for Nurture’s development."

Originally, I had no intention of drastically twisting history.

I’d only nudge things like real estate ownership and the flow of capital, making a few adjustments in stakes.

It’s just that, unlike my previous life, I had less greed for money; if anything, I was already more ‘successful’ than in my previous life.

"Most people would call it success to earn even a billion, but not me."

For me, success was likely closer to honor than to money. No matter what anyone said, in terms of pure sales volume, I was already considered a pretty successful writer.

Yet the fact that I couldn’t see the words I saw on the first day I opened my eyes in this life meant that, for me, sales and money were not the measure of success.

Which meant what was left was honor.

That’s why I decided to define my condition for success as honor.

"Investments like stocks and real estate are just hobbies for me."

When you have so much money that words can’t describe it, accumulating more money becomes nothing more than a hobby.

It’s just a game now, to see how much wealth I can build in this life.

"Enough about Nurture and money. They’ll come looking for me again soon anyway. For now, let’s focus on writing for the first time in a while."

Imagining the conditions Nurture might bring when they came to see me, I fixed my gaze on the monitor and placed my fingers on the keyboard.

[Consulting for the Conglomerate Family’s Black Sheep.]

Starting by typing the title at the top, I focused on writing.

Choi Kang-ha was the youngest son of one of Korea’s leading chaebol families.

To be precise, he wasn’t even treated as the ‘youngest’—he was the illegitimate son.

From the moment he was born, his very existence was an inconvenience.

His stepmother referred to him as the ‘blemish of the family,’ and his half-siblings called him the ‘family’s crap.’

But the problem was, that ‘crap’ was far too clever.

His formal education ended with high school.

Instead, he self-taught statistics, accounting, psychology, and market structures.

At twelve, he pointed out an issue with the personnel transfers at his father’s construction subsidiary, and at thirteen, he summarized the risks of diversifying the group holding company’s revenue streams in three minutes at an executive meeting.

At fourteen, he tracked the flow of assets that his stepmother had put in her children’s names and called it ‘the most inefficient way to avoid taxes.’

[“The eldest brother? Seems good at studying, but has no sense for managing people. Second brother? Well, he’s fast at calculations, but he rushes too much and makes mistakes. Still, he’s got shamelessness, must’ve gotten that from Stepmom. Ah, sorry. You heard that, didn’t you. I was just speaking as I saw it, no offense.”]

He never harmed others.

He never allowed himself to take a loss.

He didn’t cower from being called an illegitimate child; if anything, he grew bolder.

If someone bit him, he’d bite back. If someone yielded, he’d show generosity.

He never bottled up what he wanted to say; the main character of this novel always spoke his mind.

"But with this personality and intelligence, his brothers started to see him as a threat, and in the end, they spread rumors that he was the family’s mad dog, turning Choi Kang-ha into the black sheep. Of course, inside the family, everyone called him a mad dog."

Then, just two days before his nineteenth birthday, Choi Kang-ha was kicked out of the house under the pretense of ‘studying abroad,’ and, on his stepmother’s orders, he was murdered overseas.

[“I thought that was the end.”]

I added another line above that sentence.

But when he opened his eyes, he found himself in a one-room apartment in Incheon.

There, he lived again under the name Ryu Kang-jun.

His mind and memories remained the same, but, once again, he was an orphan, abandoned by family.

[“Well, this is better. Better to be alone than to be harassed by a stepmother, half-siblings, and those kinds of people.”]

He was always, ever, alone.

His so-called father, who had brought him into the world, was obsessed with money and women, while his stepmother and half-siblings divided into camps and fought legal battles.

The sight was just pitiful.

That’s why he’d decided to study abroad, that’s why he’d gotten on the plane.

"Choi Kang-ha, or rather, Ryu Kang-jun, accepts his reincarnation and starts working part-time to avoid starving."

[“Is this kimbap really for sale?”


Ryu Kang-jun, who started working at Kimbap Happiness, grimaced after tasting the kimbap.

It was bad—so bad, it was downright terrible.

Even if it was being sold at a bargain price, it would be better for the store not to sell it at all.

"Why?"

The owner’s face soured.

"This isn’t kimbap, it’s guilt-bap. The taste makes you want to apologize after eating."

Ryu Kang-jun let words form in his head and spill out without any filter.]

"The snack bar owner tries to fire Ryu Kang-jun. After all, what kind of part-timer criticizes the food? But, in the end, the owner can’t bring himself to fire him."

[“I’ll turn this place into a restaurant people line up for within three weeks. If I can’t, I’ll forfeit my wages and walk out. But if it works, you’ll pay me the consulting fee I ask for. Those are my conditions.”]

"Those words moved the owner’s heart, and because he wouldn’t have to pay wages if it didn’t work out, he accepted the deal—without knowing how his store was about to change."

Then, three weeks later, the owner was left not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

["What? You want to throw out all the ingredients and buy new ones? Plus, you want to stir-fry things like spinach on the day and sell it fresh? Not pre-slice the kimbap?"

The owner couldn’t hide his disbelief at Ryu Kang-jun’s words.

"Yes, I checked, and there’s plenty that’s past the expiration date. The spinach has been stored too long and doesn’t have good texture. The eggs taste like, well, not even worth mentioning, enough to make you gag. The seaweed is soggy. The rice is either too hard or way too sticky. Selling this cheap doesn’t make it good. Sure, people used to buy it because it was cheap, but consumers aren’t idiots. They hate being treated like suckers. Every consumer thinks they’re smart. Even if they’re actually clueless."

Consumers get played by corporations all the time. If a company says, ‘This is the cost price,’ people just believe it.

Who knows why they believe the reports companies hand them.

"But if the seller is dumber than the consumer, the business should close. If you want the place to be known for real value, you should lower the profit margin and increase the effort."

Trying to attract customers without even doing that is just the owner’s greed.]

"The owner had a lot to say, but overwhelmed by Ryu Kang-jun’s bulldozing momentum, he couldn’t even respond and just got dragged along."

At the end of episode 3—

"If I show a scene where crowds of people flock to Kimbap Happiness and word of mouth spreads..."

If I can show the protagonist’s insanity and abilities clearly to readers, they’ll be so curious that they’ll click to the next episode.

Satisfied, I took my hands off the keyboard.