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Chapter 21: Golf? It’s Easy
Who did I learn from?
Of course…
I don’t know either.
I could feel that my athletic ability was on a completely different level.
The way my muscles moved was unbelievable.
Even though this body was lean, I could sense the tightly packed strength hidden within those muscles.
The power behind every swing of the golf club was incredible.
I was nothing like my past self back in school.
Back then, I didn’t even exercise. I buried myself in studying like a dead man.
Even before I enlisted in the military, my stamina had been terrible.
“Just looking at your driver swing, you’re already at a semi-pro level.”
“Me?”
“Quit joking and tell me honestly. You took lessons from a pro, didn’t you?”
“…Yes.”
I quietly nodded.
“Who was it? Anyone who could build fundamentals this solid… I feel like it’d be someone I know.”
“Yes. Someone you know very well, ma’am.”
“Me?”
Ahn Hyun-joo looked genuinely shocked.
Do all beautiful women have eyes that naturally get this wide?
“It was Pro Ahn Hyun-joo. She’s an amazing instructor.”
“What? Me? When did I ever teach you…?”
“You just corrected my stance.”
“…Haah. Are you messing with me right now?”
She let out a sigh as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
But it was true.
Even after hearing the truth, Pro Ahn Hyun-joo still looked completely confused.
Honestly, I found it hard to believe myself.
A voice had suddenly asked whether I wished to acquire someone else’s talent.
I simply answered yes.
Then something unbelievable happened.
It truly felt as though I had acquired golfing talent.
Even stances I’d never practiced before…
My body remembered them.
The instant I gripped the driver, every posture and movement flowed out naturally as if they had always been part of me.
“Maybe… you’re actually a golf prodigy?”
I laughed awkwardly to ease the strange atmosphere.
This ridiculously overpowered buff Grandma had given me…
“…I admit it. At the very least, your driving distance is already professional level. We’d have to measure it to know for sure, but…”
Pro Ahn Hyun-joo kept nodding, as though trying to convince herself.
“If I have time, can I come here whenever I can?”
I genuinely wanted to learn golf.
People from high society, along with most individuals of status, all played golf.
The same was true overseas.
For future business opportunities, golf was practically essential.
Standing before me was Pro Ahn Hyun-joo, a woman who would soon reach the very top of South Korean golf.
If I couldn’t receive lessons while sharing the same space with someone like her, it’d be a huge loss.
“Sure. Come whenever you have time.”
She agreed.
Right now, she was a genius golfer quietly hiding from the unfairness of the world.
She was young, but her character was just as admirable.
It was a national loss for someone this talented to remain buried in obscurity.
“You’ll be preparing for next year’s LPGA Tour, right?”
“The tour?”
“Yes.”
“…I’d love to. But the world isn’t that simple.”
Her voice immediately grew heavy.
A shadow of pain crossed her beautiful face.
I knew exactly why.
The filthy side of this world.
Even in the distant future, ordinary people without power would continue suffering beneath the tyranny of those who possessed wealth and influence.
“I’ll sponsor you.”
“What? Sponsor me? You?”
“Yes.”
“…You don’t know who’s targeted me, do you?”
“The Shinyang Financial Group, right?”
I mentioned it as casually as if it were nothing.
“Oh… so you already knew?”
“When you came to Cheonghwa, the rumors spread everywhere.”
Back then, just like in the past, all sorts of twisted rumors had spread among the students.
Some openly mocked her.
They said she’d trusted her pretty face too much and ended up offending the chairman of the Shinyang Group.
At the time, it had nothing to do with me.
The students laughed while saying things like,
“If you’ve got nothing else, you might as well sell your body.”
“…And you still want to sponsor me? What do your parents… do?”
Concern and hope mixed together in Pro Ahn Hyun-joo’s eyes.
“My grandfather runs a business.”
“…Ah… a business.”
A trace of disappointment appeared in her gaze.
“And… I’m a scholarship student.”
“Ah!”
At those words, her eyes widened.
She let out a short gasp before silently closing her mouth.
As everyone knew, scholarship students at Cheonghwa High School were practically untouchable outcasts.
Pro Ahn Hyun-joo surely knew that much.
“Scholarship students aren’t qualified to become sponsors?”
“…Taewoong. To compete in the LPGA, I’d have to go through the Symetra Tour or Q-School first. Once you include living expenses overseas and caddie fees, the costs become enormous.”
“Would around one billion won a year be enough?”
“O-One billion?”
“Yes.”
“…You said your grandfather runs a business…”
“That’s right. Grandpa sells all sorts of things.”
“All sorts of things?”
“Oil, apartments… shopping malls sell all kinds of merchandise too.”
“…??”
She clearly didn’t understand what I meant.
She’d spent nearly all of her early twenties focused solely on golf and wasn’t particularly familiar with the business world.
“Just wait a few months.”
“A few months?”
“Before summer arrives, there’ll be nothing but a flower-filled road ahead of you, Noona.”
I declared it with absolute confidence, like a fortune teller.
Pro Ahn looked at me as if I were saying something ridiculous.
“…Are you some kind of player?”
“A player? What do you mean…?”
“‘Noona!’ How can you say that so naturally?”
She burst into laughter, teasing me.
Whoosh…
The spring breeze gently drifted past.
A mature feminine fragrance mixed into the wind.
A clear, sky-blue aura seemed to surround her.
This felt nice.
I slowly extended my hand toward her.
Then…
“Noona! Trust your little brother just this once.”
“…”
Her dark eyes widened.
She looked directly into mine.
“…Alright then. Little brother… why don’t you give this noona a push?”
She still seemed to think I was joking and smiled faintly.
Pro Ahn Hyun-joo’s fingers were exceptionally slender and elegant.
I gently took her hand, putting just enough strength into the grip.
Perhaps she sensed my sincerity.
Her cheeks turned slightly pink with embarrassment.
Noona… do you know?
Today, you really hit the jackpot!!
“Man, I could become rich just by getting slapped a few times. Heh.”
After finishing the golf lesson, I headed home.
In my previous life, this was the time I’d be locked inside my room, glued to online lectures.
Thunk.
I crossed my legs while sitting on a shabby plastic chair.
May 6th, evening.
The Seoul sky looked especially beautiful today.
The colorful sunset peeked through the rooftop room.
Tap tap tap.
“Thank you for the smartphone!”
On the way home, I bought the newest Galaxy phone with cash.
If you’re going to spend money, you might as well spend it properly.
“This thing is insanely fast.”
I also signed up for an unlimited data plan.
The latest phone paired with modern service created incredible synergy.
Using the smartphone, I converted today’s earnings into the stablecoin Tether.
Then…
“Go ahead and fatten up, Bitnance. Big brother just sent you an allowance.”
Through Appbit, I transferred everything into Bitnance.
A clean 490 million won.
I left 10 million won behind as pocket money.
“Let’s make you burst!”
Luna Coin still hadn’t crashed yet.
If anything, it had even risen slightly.
“I’ll buy my friend’s house too.”
I also purchased Tether for Jiwoong’s share.
Then immediately opened a short position.
“I’m taking the profit and getting out.”
I only planned to grow Jiwoong’s account to a reasonable level.
Just enough wealth for him to live comfortably as the upright prosecutor he would become.
“I know you too well. You think you can shake me? Hah.”
Luna continued climbing little by little.
Whoever was manipulating the market was just trying to shake out weak hands.
Starting tomorrow, it’d begin slipping.
Then it’d collapse spectacularly.
The chart from that time remained crystal clear in my memory.
“You’re my meal. Hehehe.”
Only a few days remained before the massive crash.
I wasn’t a villain…
But somehow, I kept laughing like one.
Today had been a fulfilling day.
Completely different from the anxious, hopeless days of my previous life.
Back then, every single day had been painful and miserable.
Yet after returning, I’d begun cleaning up the school in just a single day.
“If worrying could make worries disappear… there’d be no worries.”
Back then, I never understood the meaning of those words.
Every day had been suffering.
Because of school and my family’s circumstances, I carried endless worries despite being so young.
No matter how desperately I struggled, nothing ever changed.
People say suffering helps your soul grow.
At the time…
I simply wanted to die.
Only after surviving several brushes with death during my military service did I finally find the courage to live.
There was one lesson I came to understand.
Only what I experience firsthand becomes my truth.
After that, whenever I faced something difficult, I thought it through myself, made my own decision, and acted.
With courage.
Without hesitation.
That mindset had given me the strength to hand in my resignation, part ways cleanly with Fox, and walk away without looking back whenever I decided something wasn’t right.
And at the end of that road…
I was rewarded with this unbelievable miracle.
“I need to make every moment count. First thing’s first… I should get my driver’s license.”
There was too much to do.
Time moved slowly now, but my list of preparations was endless.
“Regression… this is fascinating.”
Even though I was living it myself, it still thrilled me whenever I thought about it.
A second chance at being a high school student.
There was more than enough waiting for me in the future.
“As for school… there shouldn’t be any problems for a while.”
After today, no one at school would dare mess with me.
At least…
Not until my family’s circumstances became known.
I’d done everything I could to shield myself for the time being.
It wouldn’t be perfect, but I’d covered as much as possible.
Ring ring~♬
My smartphone began to ring.
A name appeared on the screen…
One I was happier to see than anything else.
“Dad…”
The name of the man I’d spent years trying to forget…
Was connected to me once again.
There were no words that could fully express what I felt.
