"Is this for real…?"
Jaesung stood alone in the spacious room, his face a mix of confusion and disbelief.
In just one night, his dirt-poor life had transformed into that of the youngest son of the Jeil Group, one of the country's top conglomerates. It was a reversal of fortune greater than winning the lottery.
Slap!
"Ow!"
Thinking it might be a dream, he slapped his cheek, leaving a red handprint and a stinging pain.
It was definitely real.
"This is insane…"
He was utterly lost on how to process this.
Suddenly, a commotion outside grew louder, and the door burst open as if it would break.
A robust middle-aged man and an older servant with graying hair stormed in.
It was Park Kyung-su, the chairman of the Jeil Group and a titan of the business world, along with Kwon Min-do, the butler who had managed the household for years.
Seeing Chairman Park Kyung-su, someone Jaesung had only seen on TV, right in front of him was both fascinating and bewildering.
What am I supposed to say?
As Jaesung scrambled internally, Chairman Park's voice boomed like thunder.
"You damn brat! I told you to stay out of trouble and keep quiet!"
The torrent of curses left Jaesung stunned.
Wasn't Chairman Park known as a refined, intellectual figure in the business world?
Hearing such vulgarity from him was enough to make Jaesung's soul leave his body.
As Jaesung stood there dumbfounded, Chairman Park grew even angrier.
"You little punk. Now you're ignoring me?!"
Fuming, Chairman Park gripped a baseball bat tightly, but the butler hurriedly intervened.
"C-Chairman! Please calm down!"
"Calm down? Do I look calm?!"
"No, but you can't do this!"
Chairman Park shook him off, shouting.
"It's because you keep coddling him that he's turned out like this! I've held back until now, but it's time he got a beating to snap out of it!"
Jaesung, still unable to grasp the situation, stood there blankly.
Part of it was that this didn't feel real, but the scene unfolding before him was so dramatic it felt like he was a bystander watching a show.
Instead, Jaesung felt sorry for the butler, who was getting an earful.
Is this the infamous chaebol bullying?
The butler wasn't young, yet he was no match for Chairman Park.
What if he tries to hit the butler with that bat?
Jaesung clenched his fists, thinking he'd have to step in if it came to that. Just then, the butler grabbed his hand.
"Young master, what are you doing? Hurry and hold on!"
"Huh?"
Snapping out of it, Jaesung saw the butler had placed a chair in front of him.
"…?"
When Jaesung looked at him questioningly, the butler said,
"If you take it as is, you might break a bone. Hurry and hold on."
"…!"
A sudden sense of betrayal made Jaesung's cheek twitch.
"What are you doing?!"
At Chairman Park's roar, Jaesung flinched and straightened up.
"Don't want your bones broken? Brace yourself!"
Chairman Park gripped the bat tightly and swung with force.
Thwack! A tremendous impact hit Jaesung's backside.
"Argh!"
The searing pain made him collapse to his knees.
Even if he's your son, full power? That's too much!
"Ugh…"
"Does it hurt a lot?"
"What kind of question is that?"
Jaesung tried to get up, annoyed, but the spreading pain in his backside made him bury his face in the pillow.
"Why do you keep causing trouble? The chairman was really furious this time," the butler said, applying ointment from a first-aid kit, scolding him lightly.
"Damn it…"
"It's all your own doing."
Hearing the butler's tongue-clicking, Jaesung pounded the pillow in frustration.
Being the youngest son of a conglomerate was great and all.
But instead of a carefree, silver-spoon life, he was getting whacked by his dad with a baseball bat!
What kind of nonsense was this?
And to be beaten for something he didn't even do—it was infuriating and unfair.
"At least your bones didn't break, so that's a relief."
The butler tapped the red, swollen skin and stood up.
His handling was like dealing with a child, but since he'd cared for Jaesung since birth, there was little to say.
"Haa."
As the butler left with the first-aid kit, Jaesung let out a long sigh.
When he'd locked eyes with Chairman Park earlier, he'd frozen like a mouse before a cat.
Facing a towering chaebol chairman, someone he'd only seen on TV, and feeling nonchalant about it would've been stranger.
With his chaotic thoughts somewhat settled, Jaesung stood in the center of the room, looking around.
He'd been too frazzled earlier, but now that he had a moment, he wanted to explore the room at least.
"This room is huge."
Jaesung was amazed that a single person's room had a separate living area, bedroom, and dressing room.
A large sofa on a rug faced a big TV, and there was even a small fridge for drinks, so he didn't need to go to the kitchen.
Opening the wooden doors of the luxurious dressing room, his eyes widened.
Custom-made designer suits, which he'd never even tried on, lined both walls, and a display case for accessories sat in the middle.
As he stepped in, the lights automatically turned on, illuminating the room like a high-end boutique.
"Wow… what is all this? It looks insanely expensive."
Jaesung marveled at the feel of the clothes, different from anything he'd touched before.
Though the colors and patterns varied, they were all formal suits, suggesting casual clothes were stored elsewhere.
While exploring the dressing room, Jaesung peered into the central display case and let out a scream of delight.
"P-Patek Philippe? And that's a Rolex!"
And not just any Rolex—a rare model, incredibly hard to get.
Like most guys, Jaesung was into cars and watches.
But as an ordinary office worker, such luxury items were out of reach, so he'd only admired them in magazines.
"No way… these aren't fakes, right?"
The chairman of the Jeil Group wouldn't have fakes, would he?
Still, unable to believe his eyes, Jaesung opened the case with trembling hands and picked up the most expensive-looking watch.
Trying it on, it fit his wrist perfectly, as if it had always been his.
No, it is mine now.
Jaesung's heart swelled with excitement.
"So, all of this is mine."
I'm the youngest son of the Jeil Group's chairman.
It was like waking up in a fantasy world—his entire reality had flipped overnight.
Bolstered by the memories flooding his mind and newfound confidence, Jaesung set out to explore the rest of the place.
As expected, there was a secondary dressing room for casual clothes next door, and a study space, though it seemed rarely used.
"Not much of a studier, huh," Jaesung said, looking at the mostly empty bookshelves.
No surprise, since someone like this wouldn't worry about job prospects, leaving the study pristine.
Recalling his own college days, spent buried in the library to build his resume, Jaesung felt a pang of bitterness for his lost youth.
While exploring, he spotted a laptop on the desk and his eyes lit up.
Sitting down, he turned it on and opened a browser.
Though his new memories gave him basic knowledge, relationships, and past events, he wanted to sit down and organize it all.
"Let's start with the date and year. Something feels off."
While checking the dressing room earlier, he'd noticed that, while the suits were fine, the casual clothes were slightly out of fashion.
The watches, though expensive, weren't the latest models either.
"Let's see, today's date is… 2006?"
A sharp cry escaped Jaesung's lips.
Grabbing the desk calendar next to him, he confirmed it: August 2006.
"Wait, so this isn't a game world? The past, or… a parallel universe?"
With the weird status window and all, he'd thought he'd entered a game.
Jaesung clung to the laptop, frantically searching the internet to make sense of his situation.
"Nothing seems too different…"
Major events from the past, like the Cheonggyecheon restoration and the stem cell frenzy, matched what he remembered.
But there were differences.
[There's no student named Park Jaesung on the roster.]
"Are you sure? He should be a freshman in the business department by now."
[I've checked multiple times, there's no such name. Maybe you got the department wrong?]
"No, I even remember his student ID number."
Flustered, Jaesung repeated himself before finally hanging up.
In 2006, he'd just started university.
But calling the school yielded nothing—they kept saying no such student existed. Even dialing his old home number resulted in a "number not in service" message.
"I'll have to see for myself."
Jaesung grabbed a jacket from the closet and raced down the stairs.
"Young master?"
The butler, standing at the entrance, tilted his head as Jaesung rushed out like something big had happened.
"You're not feeling well, where are you going?"
His narrowed eyes suggested he was wondering what trouble Jaesung was about to cause.
Seeing this, Jaesung felt a newfound pity for the original owner of this body and how he must've lived.
"I'm just going to take care of something quietly, so don't look at me like that."
"You know the chairman's in a bad mood. If you cause more trouble, your name might really be struck from the family register."
"Got it."
Brushing it off and trying to pass by, the butler asked,
"So, which car are you taking today?"
"Huh? Car?"
"Yes."
The butler asked matter-of-factly.
"The Benz you usually drive… as you know, it was too badly damaged and had to be scrapped. So, you should take another car."
Jaesung stared at the butler, mouth agape.
Then he remembered what "accident" the original owner had caused.
Like usual, he'd been partying with his delinquent friends.
That alone wasn't a big deal, but a female celebrity they were drinking with crashed the car.
He hadn't been driving, but with drunk driving and a celebrity involved, it was prime gossip material.
No wonder Chairman Park stormed in with a baseball bat.
Having to scrap the car? He was lucky not to be in the hospital.
Maybe it's because it was a good car?
Snapping out of his stray thought, Jaesung responded to the butler's call.
"Young master!"
"Uh, right. There are cars in the garage, yeah?"
"…?"
Ignoring the butler's odd look, Jaesung moved his stiff limbs toward the garage.
Damn, a chaebol kid wouldn't ride the subway.
Even with new memories, changing ingrained habits wasn't easy.
Jaesung wiped cold sweat, realizing he'd almost done something foolish.
The garage was at the right end of the mansion, and seeing Rolls-Royces, Porsches, and Ferraris lined up, he couldn't close his mouth.
It was practically a luxury car showroom.
"How much is all this worth?"
In one corner, there were Benzes and BMWs.
Brands that would never be outdone elsewhere, but here, they looked almost shabby.
Slightly overwhelmed, Jaesung snapped to attention at the butler's voice.
"Which car will you take?"
"Oh, uh…"
Scanning the imposing lineup, Jaesung's eyes stopped at one.
There sat a Lamborghini with a bold bull logo, looking ready to charge with a snort—sleek black matte Gallardo Nera, one of only 185 made worldwide.
"That one."
"Understood."
Sitting in the driver's seat, Jaesung turned the key with a trembling heart.
VROOOM!
The engine's roar, amplified in the enclosed garage, sent a thrill through his body.
Pulling out of the garage onto the open road, Jaesung saw the clear path ahead and gently pressed the accelerator.
His body lurched back as the car shot forward with a roar.
The sheer acceleration and power from the 10-cylinder engine left him ecstatic.
"Hell yeah! This is awesome!"
Hearing the engine growl like an angry bull, Jaesung thought for the first time that starting the game was a damn good decision.
Quests… damn.