Chapter 6 : The Stepping Stone of Routine

6 a.m.

Ring ring.

The alarm clock rang loudly, signaling it was time to wake up. Covering my ears against the piercing sound, I turned off the clock, twisted my body, and got out of bed.

Ugh, where’s my slippers!

“Good morning.”

I stretched and cracked my stiff joints, then got up, folded the blanket, and headed toward the bathroom.

“Are you up yet, son?”

As always, Mom was already in the kitchen preparing breakfast before I even got up. Steam rose from the black earthenware pot sitting on the gas stove, carrying the rich aroma unique to doenjang jjigae.

“Good morning. That doenjang stew smells great.”

“Doenjang jjigae.”

“Ah, ‘doen-jji’ for short,” I said absentmindedly, a habit from before I came back to this time. I tend to shorten everything. Gotta be careful.

I let out an embarrassed chuckle and fixed my gaze on the doenjang stew.

“So, you young people these days call it like that, huh? ‘Doen-jji,’ ‘doen-jji.’ Then is kimchi jjigae ‘kim-jji’? Hoo~”

“Hahaha, your sense of humor is on another level.”

I felt a bit uneasy. It would be a big problem if I ever used that outside.

I silently hoped she wouldn’t use it in public.

“Son, want to try some?”

The lid of the earthenware pot was lifted, and steam rose in thick clouds. Mom ladled out tofu and squash in a clear broth.

No hesitation. I blew on it to cool it down, then took a sip.

*Slurp* “Tss, whoa. Haah.”

I thought it had cooled enough, but the broth was still hot. I tilted my head back and braced myself against the heat from the tofu.

“Ah, that saves my life.”

“If it’s hot, don’t rush.”

“How can I wait when it tastes this good? Mom’s cooking really is the best!”

Mom’s cooking always had deep flavor. Ever since she was helping out with the market in Bukhan Fortress, her skillful hands never changed.

*Grandma really was a great cook.*

Grandma passed away from heart disease before she could cross over to the afterlife.

That thought made my chest ache.

‘If I could come back to the past, it would have been even better if Grandma was still alive.’

Though I knew it was greed, I wished I could see Grandma once again.

My appetite felt a little bitter.

“You’ve gotten quite eloquent since you started writing, haven’t you?”

“Hahaha, I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Ignoring Mom’s smile, I headed toward the bathroom. I didn’t want to overlap with Dad’s schedule if I stayed any longer. Routine was important.

This routine was the stepping stone toward success.

Splash, splash.

I finished washing my hair, face, and applying soap all over my body. The refreshing scent of soap cleared my mind.

“I’ll go wake Dad.”

Drying my hair roughly with a towel, I entered the master bedroom.

“Dad, it’s 6:30 a.m. Please get up.”

After shaking him gently, Dad opened his eyes after about a minute and sat up.

“Ugh… I’m dead tired.”

I knew the pain of office workers all too well. I had experienced it before becoming a writer.

The pressure from superiors, office politics, meaningless late-night shifts, and company dinners.

“And now, it’s a six-day workweek. Companies making you work on Sundays too.”

Around 2003, labor laws were revised, and the five-day workweek was gradually implemented, only becoming firmly established in 2004. That was when the term ‘Bulgeum’ (literally ‘Fire Friday’) was coined — office workers enjoying their freedom on Friday nights.

“Hang in there until then.”

That day will come soon. Life will have a bit more breathing room than now.

“Ahh, today’s doenjang jjigae again. Nothing beats having stew for breakfast, right, Seung-hyun?”

After washing his face, Dad sat at the dining table, smelling the stew and signaling for me to empathize.

“Right. Just some stew is enough to finish a bowl of rice.”

A happy family starts with understanding and empathy. I sided with Dad and gave his shoulder some strength. This was society, this was family, this was our 39 years of wrestling together.

“Haha, you’ve gotten so good with words since you started writing.”

Dad wiped off his tired look and smiled brightly as we continued our meal.

“It wasn’t like this before. Back then, I was scary, so you just avoided me.”

That was why our relationship had to grow distant. What does it mean to become a parent? I haven’t had children, but I understood clearly.

What keeps a parent going, what gives them the strength to endure tiring days, is family — and children.

“Thanks for the meal. I’m off to work.”

As expected, Dad left for work looking much more energetic than before.

“Ath, when Dahye wakes up, give her some snacks. Buy her something nice later with this.”

After preparing for work, Mom handed me 5,000 won.

“No, please keep it. I have money.”

“But—”

“It’s okay. You use this to buy something tasty for yourself.”

Even just transportation fees must be a burden, but she never skimped on her children.

“Just your monthly allowance is more than enough.”

Before coming back, I would have accepted it without question, but now it was different. I decided to cut all expenses on myself.

If I save, I can make Dahye even happier.

“Are you really sure?”

Mom asked again, eyes filled with concern.

“Yes. Leave Dahye to me.”

I straightened my back and filled my chest with pride. A son is a strong pillar for his parents.

“When did our son get so grown-up?”

Mom ran her hands over my buzz cut.

“You’ll be late.”

“Okay, I’ll buy some snacks on the way.”

“Take care.”

In the end, Mom didn’t insist further and left with a promise to buy snacks instead of handing me the 5,000 won.

“Dahye’s still sleeping.”

Checking the clock, it was 6:50 a.m. Looking into the master bedroom, my younger sibling was still deep asleep.

“Time to work out and prepare to write.”

My routine consisted of push-ups, sit-ups, chair dips, squats, lunges, and planks — 20 reps each, five sets.

In the afternoon, I also endured 10 minutes of hanging on the pull-up bar.

“Glad I got that.”

I realized the importance of exercise at a late age and invested heavily in lessons. Now, bodyweight workouts alone were enough.

Before, I thought exercise required spending money.

That was my own misconception.

I started with simple stretching and then began the workout.

One, two, three.

Each time the urge to give up came, it passed by.

“If I give up here, when harder challenges come, I’ll give up then too. There’s no giving up in my life. If I can’t do this, I’m nothing.”

I gritted my teeth and finished. My whole body was soaked in sweat.

“Eating is part of exercise too. Now that I’m full, once Dahye wakes up, let’s go replenish protein and carbs.”

The leaner the body type, the more often and more one needs to eat. Since eating a lot at once was difficult, calories needed to be distributed over several meals.

After heading to the bathroom and finishing a cold shower, I sat at my desk. I opened the pre-planned plot and jumped straight into writing.

---

“Oh, this is refreshing.”

I had read countless works to the point of confidently saying, “There’s nothing more to read.” I read everything — mystery, fantasy, martial arts — no genre spared.

Among them, one story caught my eye.

[Born a Genius in a Chaebol Family.]

Usually, novel titles from this era were short and concise, like “Dragon Braza.” But this one was longer, and just from the title, I could roughly guess the plot and tone.

What about the synopsis?

[Synopsis: Geniuses are unlucky.]

That kind of introduction was truly unique.

“Interesting.”

How was I supposed to take that? I rested my chin on my hand, staring at the monitor for a long while before grabbing the mouse.

“I’ll find out once I read it.”

No matter how indiscriminately I read, I always craved genuinely entertaining stories. But those that hooked me so much that time flew by were extremely rare.

Soon, the first page loaded.

[Right after I became aware of myself, I realized I was an orphan with no parents.



Seeing the word floating in the air, I guessed what was about to happen.

This time, it seems I’m going to be adopted by those people.]

“What? I already finished reading it?”

I didn’t even notice the time passing. When I snapped out of it, I had devoured episodes 1 through 12 in one sitting.

I was captivated by the protagonist’s unique charm and read non-stop.

Unlike many other works filled with just explanations to hit word counts, this one had a fast pace and clean sentences that boosted readability.

It was also impressive how economic terms and financial structures were explained at the reader’s level.

The way the story unfolded was incredibly clever.

“Ah, I need the next episode badly!”

The more I absorbed the content, the stronger my craving for the next episode grew.

“Haa, I’m going to upload this… huh?”

Just as I was about to leave a comment demanding the next chapter be uploaded quickly, many others had already posted similar requests on the board.

“Of course, things will go differently.”

Even I was this hooked, so what could I say about the other readers? They were probably suffering withdrawal waiting for the next chapter.

Raising my heavy hand, I placed it on the keyboard.

[Assassin: You better upload the next chapter before I kidnap you, writer.]

Feeling proud, I left a comment matching the nickname and then rose from my seat with a faint smile.

[Novel / Long Story] Unreal Older Brother — Born a Genius in a Chaebol Family, Chapter 13.

Soon after, the next episode appeared on the monitor.