Chapter 8: Winner

Mother cried out with a shrill voice, overwhelmed with joy.

“Jeonghyeok! Oh my, this… sob!”

“Mom, quiet.”

I covered Mother’s mouth and warned her.

“There are people from the shantytown outside.”

Mother looked at me with eyes that seemed to ask, “So what’s the problem?”

“If those people find out there’s a first-prize lottery ticket worth ten million won here, what do you think they’ll do?”

Mother tilted her head in confusion.

“Forced eviction is right around the corner. They’ll lose their minds.”

Only then did Mother’s expression change.

‘I know.’

‘I know they’re good people. But they’re also people pushed to the very edge. They have families they need to protect.’

I knew very well.

I knew how people on the edge act.

In the back alley world, it was all too common.

Even those who usually wear a friendly face would lose themselves when pushed to the brink.

“If we’re lucky, they won’t show up at night with knives. Mom, do you think you can protect that ticket then?”

Mother shook her head.

“That’s why, let’s stay quiet until everyone’s gone. We can think about things after that, okay?”

Mother nodded.

Only then did I take my hand off her mouth.

“It doesn’t hurt to be cautious.”

The look in Mother’s eyes as she gazed at me grew strangely deep.

Then—

***

Knock, knock, knock.

“Janghyuk’s mom.”

Mother flinched and turned around in surprise.

Behind the aluminum sliding door, with its frosted glass, the shadows of adults could be seen.

I quickly stuffed the lottery ticket into Mother’s cardigan pocket.

Before she could even open the door, the aluminum frame slid open with a rattling sound.

“What’s going on?”

“Oh, nothing. We were just a bit worried.”

The neighborhood ladies stuck their heads through the doorway, peeking around.

They said they came out of worry, but their eyes scanned for anything valuable.

“There wasn’t a thief, was there?”

“You didn’t lose anything, right? Jewelry or your bankbook, for example.”

It was nice of them to care, but I’d already taken all the valuables myself.

“Goodness, this place is freezing.”

“Owner Granny said she couldn’t fix the boiler, right? Doesn’t look like she’s calling anyone either.”

“Looks like you haven’t found a new place to move to, either.”

“You need quite a bit of principal money for deposit and monthly rent, don’t you? How much do you have? Janghyuk’s mom, you must have saved up a lot from selling vegetables.”

“You don’t even have a place to sleep tonight, do you? If you’re in trouble, come to my place. I’ll rent you a room cheap. Our coal boiler is going strong.”

“For the same price, come to my house. I can even make you breakfast!”

Mother couldn’t hide her embarrassment at the sudden competition among the ladies.

At that moment, the voices of men came from the front yard.

They were urging everyone to go home now.

“We’ll get going then.”

“Janghyuk’s mom, get some rest.”

The people who’d gathered in Owner Granny’s front yard to watch the lottery drawing disappeared all at once, like the tide receding.

“……”

Mother looked lost in thought.

I held Mother’s hand.

“Mom, let’s move. How about Hyeonmu Apartments in Apgujeong?”

“Hyeonmu Apartments?”

The Apgujeong commercial district was about to see land prices skyrocket.

But the look in Mother’s eyes from before still bothered me.

“You see them on TV all the time. ‘Come to Apgujeong~♬ Hyeonmu Apartments are great~♬’”

So I deliberately sang the jingle like a child.

Mother smiled softly and patted my head.

“Cheonma Apartments are good too.”

“You mean Cheonma Apartments in Daechidong?”

“At Cheonma~♬ there are good schools~♬ good academies~♬ brand-new apartments in a new town~♬”

The school district was excellent.

That meant, thanks to passionate parents, apartment prices would never drop.

I balled my little fists and grinned.

“I’m going to study hard and go to University.”

That was after I saw the bankbook Mother made for my college tuition.

I wanted to grant Mother’s wish.

She’d been so busy trying to make ends meet that she’d had to give up on school—that regret still lingered.

“The best University in Korea! How about that?”

“That would be wonderful.”

Mother smiled brightly and patted my head.

Mother murmured softly to herself.

“Yes, our Jeonghyeok will have to enter National School soon, and then University after that…”

I still hadn’t been registered at birth, so I wasn’t even on the Household Register Book yet.

“If something happened to me like yesterday, what would happen to our Jeonghyeok, left all alone?”

Her voice was firm with resolve.

So I asked, quietly,

“Mom, what’s our dad’s name?”

The only chaebol family in Korea with the surname Cha was, of course, Taeseong Group.

And there was more.

That number I’d seen in Mother’s Household Register Book was the home number of Taeseong Group’s head.

“Your father’s name is Chaseongjun. With the surname Cha, and the characters ‘seong’ and ‘jun’.”

For the first time, I learned my father’s full name.

It felt strange.

‘My father was the youngest son of Taeseong Group? He was supposed to inherit Taeseong Construction?’

Before I’d swept up Taeseong Group’s stocks in the past, I’d gathered every scrap of information I could, from the family tree to the group’s internal affairs.

Taeseong Construction was to be the share of the youngest, Chaseongjun.

‘Taeseong Construction exploded in growth from the mid-70s, winning a ton of Middle Eastern construction contracts. So that was Father’s doing.’

Father said he couldn’t come home because he was laying roads in the Middle East.

It didn’t seem like a lie, after all.

‘If there’s one thing that bothers me……’

Knock, knock.

A second knock.

“Ahem, um, if it’s all right, could you come over to our place for a moment? My mother is calling you. She has something important to tell you.”

It was a summons from Owner Granny.

“Hey, kid, are you done eating? Want to play with me for a bit?”

That man always had to interrupt at crucial moments.

Naturally, my gaze toward Cheolgu Park grew sharp.

But Mother nudged me forward.

“Go on, go with him. I’ll have a quick chat with Owner Granny and be right back.”

“……Okay.”

I had something I wanted to ask anyway.

I put on the new sneakers Cheolgu Park had bought for me.

As soon as we arrived in the backyard, Cheolgu Park asked bluntly.

“Hey, kid, what’s going on here?”

“What do you mean?”

I pretended not to know, but I had a good idea.

“So how much did you win, then?”

“How did you know? Are you a fortune teller or something?”

I squinted my eyes deliberately, and Cheolgu Park scratched the back of his head.

“A million won.”

‘For a ticket with just a gold border?’

That’s a lot more than I expected.

The shantytown demolition compensation was only 100,000 won, after all.

So I grinned with pride.

“That’s great.”

“How did you even buy it? Did you know in advance it would win… No, that can’t be. That’s just…”

Cheolgu Park gave a wry laugh, as if he couldn’t believe it himself.

I shrugged.

He handed me the winning ticket.

“Here. Take it back.”

“Keep it. I gave it to you. Consider it a service.”

“You really want me to have this?”

“What, are you going to take back what you gave away like some petty man?”

“That’s… I mean, I’m not the kind of guy who shakes down little kids…”

“Use it for your moving expenses.”

Cheolgu Park looked dumbfounded.

“So you’re planning to just stay here and keep holding out? What if the demolition team comes when Owner Granny’s alone? She’s getting on in years—what if she gets hurt?”

“That can’t happen!”

“It’s fine to oppose demolition, and fine to hold out. But even if you’re going to fight, you need to send your family somewhere safe first. Moving comes first.”

“Yeah. That’s what I’ll do.”

Cheolgu Park nodded obediently.

“Hmm, where should we go? Maybe Jongno or Euljiro…”

“Go to Gangnam.”

He turned to look at me with round eyes.

“The government is pushing hard for Gangnam’s development. Didn’t you notice them moving government offices and prestigious high schools to Gangnam? Land prices are bound to soar.”

Buy while it’s cheap.

Don’t regret it later when you’re kicking yourself.

“Are you really seven years old?”

It just turned out that way.

I deliberately changed the subject.

“By the way, about those documents from earlier. Ukwang Construction.”

“Hey! I told you to forget about those.”

“What are you planning to do with them?”

‘How did it come to this, that a Central Intelligence agent died under torture over them?’

“You don’t need to know, kid.”

I engraved the word ‘endure’ deep inside.

‘If you act recklessly, you’ll die a pointless death, you hear? That’s exactly how you ended up dead.’

I saw it with my own eyes!

Mister, you die in a week because of that, tortured to death!

Ha, I can’t just blurt it out.

‘Mother’s life is owed, and Yama said to form good ties—so giving advice to save a life should be okay.’

Favor for favor.

Evil for evil.

I’m someone who repays kindness and grudges clearly.

‘If only those Ukwang Construction documents are used right….!

That golden light will burst out.

It’s hard to just ignore it.

It’ll be good for me, good for him,

A win-win for us all.