🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 01 …
Prologue — “That Damn Bastard, Shiba!”
“Take it.”
“…??”
“Hurry up!”
“…”
An elderly woman wearing a dark navy skirt embroidered with elegant peony blossoms held something out to me.
It was impossible to guess her age.
I had no idea who she was, but she stretched out her right hand toward me.
“Why’s a big bear cub like you looking so defeated? Life can be what-the-f** awful sometimes.”
“…!!”
My name is Ha Tae-woong (太熊).
Ever since I was a kid, people teased me by calling me “bear cub” because of my name.
“Never forget today! If you’ve got no money, even holding a woman’s hand is treated like a crime!”
“…”
Her brutally honest words struck me right in the heart.
Yeah!
Today, my life was completely screwed.
I lost my job, and my girlfriend dumped me too.
To her, I was just a worthless nobody with neither money nor connections.
“Tsk, tsk. You’re about to be showered with blessings, yet you still haven’t come to your senses.”
The old woman clicked her tongue.
“…Sigh.”
That was all I could do.
“My arm’s getting tired. Hurry up and take it.”
“Huh?”
“Can’t you see what it is?”
I could.
It was a bankbook.
A bank passbook inside a plastic cover, complete with an official seal.
“Open it.”
Without thinking, I accepted it and opened it.
“Gasp!!”
It was under my name.
The moment I saw the balance printed inside, I couldn’t help but gasp.
“W-What is this??”
A bank account I had never seen before.
And the number printed in it was unbelievable.
₩1,000,000,000.
One billion won.
I’d never seen this account before, yet the account holder’s name was clearly Ha Tae-woong—my name.
“From now on, live however the hell you want! Money? Women? If you want them, they’re all yours!”
Before I knew it, the old woman had walked over and gently patted the back of my head.
Strangely…
I didn’t feel uncomfortable at all.
The way she looked at me was filled with pity.
I’m two years older than most people my age.
It happened when I was in the first grade of elementary school.
I was just walking down the street when someone suddenly smashed the back of my head.
I never even knew why.
It was back when random assaults by strangers were common.
They never caught the attacker.
Those were the days before CCTV cameras were everywhere.
The attack happened in a blind spot in an alley.
The police investigated, but eventually the case went cold.
Because of that incident, I lost two years of my life.
For five months, I was practically in a vegetative state.
Then I spent another six months in rehabilitation.
As a result, I became the legendary elementary school second-year “returning student.”
“First, use this pocket money to buy that thing everyone’s crazy about these days… Ta… what was it called again?”
Tanghulu?
The balance in the bankbook was one billion won.
Realistically speaking, that was barely enough to buy a single apartment in Seoul.
“You know… that fake money those foreigners are always obsessed with.”
“Fake… money?”
“The one they inflate with electricity!”
“Inflate… with electricity?”
“Ah! That’s it! The name has something about the moon… and dancing… and there was also that damn bastard called Shiba!”
Moon? Dance? Shiba…?
A series of connected words suddenly flashed through my mind.
“C-Coin??”
