The next morning, the social media and news were crammed with news of the fat man's company going bankrupt. The media also revealed his dark history of countless sexual assaults. The population felt relieved that the man would spend his life in prison. They were also curious about who sent him to prison. After all, they were not dumb; it was especially rare for high-status people to pay for the crimes they committed. Often, they would bribe their way out of prison using the connections they had.
After the incident at the bar, Seojin stopped going to his part-time job. He realized that the environment at the bar could damage his reputation as a student, and he didn't want to experience that kind of assault again.
Valentin told the kid that he didn't need to feel bad about spending his money. Life was long, and Seojin could always pay him back when he found a good job. Besides, Seojin's dad also came from a rich family, so he should get used to this kind of life. After all, he isn't just a normal person; he's the male lead of the world.
On the weekend, Valentin was invited to an auction event hosted by the Choi family, which was Ji-a's family. From what he heard from Ivan, his lawyer friend, the Choi family has gone bankrupt after one of their popular artist got caught in a scandal.
Star Entertainment was one of the renowned agencies that treated their artists well. Leo Kim was a popular and rising young actor. He got famous after filming a romance drama. However, a scandal accusing him of being a bully when he was a student brought him down from his fame.
The company believed that their artist was innocent, but people on the internet cursed them for training such an artist. After this big incident, their partners who invested in their artists blacklisted the company from working with them. After a while, since there was no revenue, the company announced bankruptcy, and all their artists left Star Entertainment.
As Valentin sipped his glass of wine, two girls wearing elegant black dresses approached him.
"Hi, handsome, may we join you?" one of the women asked.
Seeing that they were no ordinary people from how they walked without a sound, Valentin said, "Of course, help yourselves."
As they walked closer to him, Valentin smelled their expensive perfume. He clenched his nose, trying to avoid having to inhale the fragrance. His nose was annoyingly sensitive to strong smells.
"We've never seen you around before, but we did hear the news that you sent the uncle bastard to prison," one of the women who was more extroverted said as she winked.
"I'll try to come to these kinds of events more often, in the future. I've also never seen you ladies before. If I may ask, in what field are you working?" Valentin asked politely.
"It's a secret. If you are lucky, maybe we'll tell you next time," the woman replied, smirking.
Valentin's gaze was caught by a familiar figure. What was Seojin doing here? Oh, right, he was Ji-a's close friend. It seems that there was a little argument between them and another person.
"Do you have to agree to the arranged marriage? I can help you with your debt," a boy with blond hair said while holding onto Ji-a's arm. Tears were about to fall out of his brown eyes.
"How many times do I have to tell you? I have no other choice," Ji-a said firmly. Even if the boy could help with her family's debt, they won't have much left after.
As Valentin recalled the novel, he remembered a part mentioning that Ji-a and the boy liked each other, and they were supposed to get married later. However, because of her family's sudden debt, Ji-a had to let go of her love.
"Ji-a, maybe there are other solutions. We can all help you. Can you think about it again?" Seojin also insisted.
Ji-a threw away both of their persistent hands. Tears threatened to fall from her eyes. She also didn't want to have an arranged marriage with someone she didn't know, but she had no other choice if she wanted to get rid of her debt. Even her parents were against her idea, but she strongly believed that it was the best solution.
"Maybe I can ask Mr. Judge, I'm sure that he will be willing to help," Seojin emphasized.
Ji-a shook her head; she didn't want to bother other people. It was her own business. She wiped her tears away and forced a smile.
"It's going to be ok," she said with a confident voice.
With the help of the system, Valentin heard everything that they were saying. As the two women at the same table as him chattered, he was lost in thought. Wouldn't it be the right thing to do to help Seojin's friend?
"Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming to this auction event! Without further ado, let the auction begin!" Ji-a's dad exclaimed with a mic in his hands.
"The first auctioned item is a mansion situated near the city. The bidding cost starts at 50 million dollars."
"55 million," a person called.
The bidding prize kept rising until it stopped at 100 million. As Mr. Choi was about to close the bidding, someone in the crowd called out 500 million dollars.
People at the event turned around to see the person who bid such a high price. The mansion doesn't even have a high value. How can someone be this dumb? As they saw the young man, they finally realized that he was from the Vronsky family. Their red eyes were the symbol of the family. No wonder he was spending money as he it fell from the sky.
Seojin and Ji-a also starred in his direction.
"Is that the judge who's taking care of you?" Ji-a whispered.
Seojin nodded and smiled. From the way Valentin was acting, he was sure that he would help Ji-a. He had a feeling that after this auction event, the Choi family would rise even higher.
Ji-a gazed at Seojin's expression and felt relieved that he had found a place where he belonged. After his parents' death, it was rare to see the kid smile, even as his close friend.
As Seojin predicted, Valentin continued to bid on some of the items at a high price. Mr. Choi didn't expect to have such a high revenue in one night. But it still wasn't enough to pay off all their debt.
"The last event of the night concerns my daughter's arranged marriage. My wife and I hope that she will find a good spouse. Once again, thank you for your presence!"
The last event of the day was what most people came for. Who didn't want such a beauty as their wife and daughter-in-law?
"One billion!" A fat man exclaimed. He didn't want anyone to compete with him. Seeing Ji-a's snowy white skin and rosy lips, the fat man couldn't help but smile perversely. Tonight was going to be their wedding night, he laughed to himself.
Ji-a started to tremble as she saw the fat man. She crossed her fingers, wishing that someone else would bid higher. The fat man was known to be violent towards women. He has already sent lots of them to the hospital.
Seojin clenched his fists until his nails sank into his palm. Even someone like him, who wasn't in the high society, knew about the fat man's atrocities. If he was going to be Ji-a's marriage partner, he would kill him before he could touch her.
The boy who liked Ji-a also planned a murder inside his head. There was no way he would let Ji-a in the hands of a bastard. If it were someone nice, he could accept it, but he would never accept a violent bastard like him.
Even Mr. Choi frowned as he saw the fat man; he was ready to call off the bid if he was the winner. There was no way he would send his daughter off to creep.
Valentin tapped his fingers on the table impatiently. He didn't like the sound of auctioning a girl as if she were an item.
In the novel, the fat man was the highest bidder. Ji-a's parents tried to call off the arranged marriage, but the fat man forcefully took Ji-a to his house. Not wanting his loved one to experience hell, Yongjae, the boy that Ji-a liked, killed the fat man and went to jail. He never regretted his decision; he just wished that he were richer so that he could help Ji-a when she needed him the most.
A dead silence rang through the crowd as Mr. Choi prayed for another bid.
Without wasting any more time, Valentin said coldly, "Ten billion."
The fat man snapped his big head backwards. Who dared to shatter his fantasies! As he saw the man with crossed legs with an intimidating aura, he cowardly turned back to his seat. How can someone have that much money? Even the fat man had a limit of two billion dollars.
Mr. Choi smiled widely as he looked at the young man thankfully. With that amount of money, their family would be out of debt and would even have the money to start a new business.
"This ends our auction event. Thank you again for all coming!"