Chapter 253:
“I’m sorry about this. Director Kim is very stubborn and does things his own way.”
“No, no. It’s not your fault. We didn’t do anything special, really.”
“Please accept our gratitude for your help today. And we’ll also reward you accordingly.”
“We’ll be thankful if you do.”
Yu-hyun exchanged smiles with Choi Jung-mo.
But Yoo Young-min looked dejected ever since Director Kim left.
After finishing his conversation with Choi Jung-mo.
Yoo Young-min quickly registered as a collector and got out of the association.
He didn’t say a word until then.
“Hyung.”
On the way back home, Yoo Young-min stopped Yu-hyun.
Was it because he remembered what Director Kim did a while ago?
Yoo Young-min’s voice, which was usually confident, sounded weak.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know if I did the right thing.”
“What do you mean?”
“I just feel like I did something wrong to that old man…”
Yoo Young-min couldn’t forget the expression on Director Kim’s face when he showed his ability.
He felt like he knew how Director Kim felt.
He couldn’t not know.
Before he came to this world, before he became a possessor, Yoo Young-min was a web novel writer who had experienced the same feeling as Director Kim.
“That old man worked hard for years to get to that position. No, not years. Maybe decades.”
“And then?”
“And then I, just because I’m a possessor, just because I got this huge privilege, I easily caught up with his efforts.”
“You should be happy about that.”
“How can I?”
Yoo Young-min looked helpless.
He showed off his ability to a high-ranking person in the association, but he wasn’t happy at all.
Rather, the moment he saw Director Kim’s expression, he realized what he had done.
‘This kid.’
Yu-hyun looked at Yoo Young-min with a surprised expression.
‘I thought he was clueless. But he wasn’t.’
Most people would abuse their power if they were given it.
They would think that the power they received out of nowhere was theirs, and they would brag about all their achievements as if they did them themselves.
And they would even mock those who didn’t use their power as stupid.
“Hyung. This is not my power.”
Yoo Young-min hated that.
This power was not his.
It was rather a bonus that someone forced on him when he crossed over to this world.
Could he really claim that the results he achieved with this power were his own?
“Young-min. That’s a rich man’s talk.”
“I know. I know there are people who are struggling without this power. But even though I know… My heart can’t accept it easily.”
What made Yoo Young-min’s feelings more intense was the money that Choi Jung-mo gave him on behalf of the association.
“…It was a token of appreciation for helping with the invention that will shake the world, right?”
Three billion won in compensation.
It was given under Director Kim’s name. That huge amount of money was deposited into Yoo Young-min’s account in an instant.
Yoo Young-min felt awkward about it.
Three billion won was a fortune that he would never touch in his lifetime.
Yu-hyun checked the time. He finished his business earlier than expected, so he still had plenty of time left.
“Young-min.”
“Yes, hyung.”
“Let’s take a walk.”
Yu-hyun led Yoo Young-min to the Han River embankment park.
Yoo Young-min sat blankly on a bench where he could see the view of the Han River.
Yu-hyun bought a drink from a nearby vending machine and handed it to Yoo Young-min.
“Drink up.”
“Ah, thank you.”
Yu-hyun sat next to Yoo Young-min with some distance between them.
The two of them silently sipped their cans and enjoyed the peaceful scenery of the city.
“Are you feeling better now?”
“Thanks hyung. Thanks to you, my head cleared up a bit.”
“So what do you think?”
“That… I still don’t know.”
Yoo Young-min smirked, recalling the astonished expression on Kim Hakjang’s face.
He suddenly started to tell his past story.
“When I was a web novel writer.”
“Oh.”
“When I wrote and earned money, I was very happy. Well, of course. I had no family and no decent qualifications, but I earned my own money when others were busy looking for jobs. I felt proud of myself. I earned an amount that ordinary office workers couldn’t touch.”
“You did well.”
“I did. But then, there were also many difficulties. Sometimes the results were not as good as I expected, or I had to rewrite several times to prepare for the next work and suffered for months. Even after all that, I didn’t have a hit work and just barely survived as a mediocre writer. I wrote steadily for 10 years like that.”
Yoo Young-min crushed the empty can in his hand. And he lightly threw it towards the trash can far away.
Thanks to his unbelievable dexterity, the empty can went neatly into the trash can.
Yoo Young-min looked at his hand and clenched and unclenched his fist.
“As I earned money and tried hard, I also developed some pride. I wanted to become a more amazing writer. I wanted to earn more money. I wanted to climb higher. Something like that. So I worked hard, but the results were not very good.”
“It must have been hard.”
“It was hard. Maybe it was because my expectations were too high. When I saw the poor results that fell far short of my expectations, I wondered why I was doing this. Objectively speaking, it wasn’t that bad, but I still found it hard to be satisfied. But I could still be proud of myself for working hard. When others went to college and had fun drinking and eating, I worked part-time at a convenience store and barely wrote in a corner of a gosiwon.”
He lived as an orphan without parents, and he couldn’t even go to college because he didn’t have money for tuition. He couldn’t even enjoy the basic life that everyone else enjoyed.
He was sad about it, but he didn’t complain. He thought he just had to work hard and did his best at what he could do.
That’s how he succeeded as a writer.
He had enough reason to be proud of himself, but Yoo Young-min was different.
The emotion he felt was anger.
“I thought I was doing well, but then I saw someone like that by chance. Someone who was much younger than me, who had a nice foreign car and a house under his own name. Even though I thought I earned a lot of money, I couldn’t even dream of having those things. At that age.”
“His parents must have given it to him.”
“Yes. That’s right. And I also saw him messing around.”
Yoo Young-min clenched his fist tightly.
“I was angry.”
“…”
“I worked so hard and diligently, but some people were living without envy just by being ‘born’ with something. Really, what did he do to get what he had?”
And when he saw it for himself, how close he was to breaking down?
Yoo Young-min knew that what he was doing was a petty jealousy.
He also knew that the world was like that and there was nothing he could do about it even if he complained.
He knew that.
But he couldn’t help but grumble.
What he did to Kim Hakjang was no different from what he had suffered so much.
“100 million won is a lot of money. To save up for that, ordinary people have to work and save for years. But as a writer, if my work goes well, I can earn it in less than a year. But that 100 million won is nothing to that rich kid. 1 billion won or 2 billion won would be the same.”
“That’s true.”
“But look at me now. 3 billion won. And that’s from using a skill that’s not even mine.”
Yoo Young-min was not naive enough to be happy with the amount of 3 billion won.
He rather felt miserable.
Because what he did now was essentially denying all his past value.
“I earned more money in one moment by using a skill than by writing for 10 years as a writer.”
He found it hard to accept that cruel reality.
“I used the skill for only 3 minutes. Is that 3 minutes using an ability that’s not mine more amazing than my more than 10 years of effort?”
“…”
You’re making a problem out of nothing.
But could anyone really say that to Yoo Young-min?
There are many people who are worse off than you. Be grateful that you got such an ability.
These ridiculous things.
Could they really appease Yoo Young-min’s dissatisfaction with these words?
Just accept it and move on because that’s how the world is?
‘There’s no way.’
How could Yu-hyun not know Yoo Young-min’s feelings?
He sometimes had the same thoughts.
If he didn’t have this golden light, could he have come this far? He was living as if he was better than others just because he had returned.
He couldn’t be sure that he had come this far purely by his own effort.
His ambition and pride were too strong to be satisfied with the given reality.
But still.
“Young-min. I don’t have anything to say that can help you. I know how you feel.”
“You too, hyung?”
“Yes. But let’s make one thing clear. What do you want to do?”
“I… I don’t know.”
“Do you want to quit being a collector? Do you want to stop for that reason? Then let me ask you something else. Did Director Kim feel discouraged when he saw your talent?”
“That…”
No.
Director Kim was amazed by the incredible talent that Young-min showed, but he felt his own shortcomings and ignited his motivation even more.
Yu-hyun saw it.
The golden light that the man’s potential emitted, it shone much brighter at that moment.
“Director Kim became more determined. But look at you. You pitied him instead. Do you think that’s what he really wanted? Do you think he would feel better if he heard you say sorry?”
“…”
“I don’t think so. I think that would make him even angrier. Then what about you, Young-min? Do you want to give up everything and say sorry for this? Do you want to throw away everything you have, and start from the same starting line as everyone else?”
“…No. I have to do it. I still have to do it. How can I stop?”
He had already decided to do it, and he couldn’t stop for this reason.
“That’s all that matters. If you’re suffering because of your overflowing ability, then work harder. Work so hard that it can’t get any worse, and do your best in everything.”
“Can I really do that?”
“There’s nothing you can’t do. Don’t just rely on your ability, but keep working hard. Well, it’s funny to lump everything together with the idealistic word of effort at this point, but the truth is, I don’t have anything else to say.”
Yu-hyun added with a ‘but’.
“You can’t stop. You have to keep going. There’s nothing else we can do but this. What’s going to change if we whine here? It’s not like people will praise us for doing well.”
“…You’re right.”
Someone might have heard his complaints and been annoyed by his greed.
He had no excuse even if he got hit by a stone on the road.
Young-min knew that too, so he only acted spoiled to Yu-hyun.
“So in the end, we have no choice but to do our best every moment. To not be swayed by mere power or ability. At least, we can be proud that our effort was more than half of what we achieved, even if not 100%.”
There was no such thing as ‘all’ or ‘perfect’ in the world.
Even if it was only a part,
He had no choice but to make sure that his effort was part of his achievements.
Young-min nodded his head with a blank expression after hearing Yu-hyun’s words.
“…You’re right, hyung. Just because I have this power, I shouldn’t be swayed by it. Rather, I should work hard to make this power mine.”
“It will be hard. There will be times when your heart will weaken, and you will want to compromise without knowing it.”
Yu-hyun chuckled and patted Young-min’s back.
“When that happens, don’t hold back and tell me that you’re having a hard time.”
“Oh, can I do that?”
“It’s my job to take care of the mental health of the contracted collectors. It’s only natural that I should do it.”
Yu-hyun said so, and Young-min felt relieved.
Maybe he wanted to hear something like this.
It’s okay. Even if it’s hard, do your best without being ashamed of yourself.
He didn’t think that the 3 billion won he received was worth more than his 10 years of life.
If he did, he would work much harder.
He would prove that the value of his money was not just his ability, but his own worth.
Yu-hyun saw Young-min’s expression and decided that this was enough.
“Are you feeling better now?”
“Yes. Thank you. It’s all thanks to you, hyung.”
“Then let’s go back. Sumin will nag at me.”
“Why?”
“I’m learning martial arts from her. So I have to spare some time every day.”
Young-min was curious about the martial arts of Heavenly Demon.
“Really? Can I learn too?”
“I don’t think so. It’s not something that ordinary people can learn. Well, maybe if you use your skill creation to strengthen your body a lot. Then it might be possible. Do you want to?”
“No. I was just asking.”
“There are other martial arts that Sumin knows besides the Foreign martial arts, so it wouldn’t be bad to learn them for self-defense.”
“Oh.”
Young-min felt excited.
He had a chance to learn martial arts for real. How could he refuse as a man?
“I was curious about martial arts. I’m looking forward to it.”
“Don’t take it lightly. Sumin is very strict when she teaches.”
“Strict…?”
Young-min remembered the day he came to White Flower Management and had a sparring match with Seo Sumin as an entrance test.
He remembered how he had underestimated her as a young girl and got mercilessly beaten by her.
Wait a minute. If I have to learn from someone, it should be her, but there’s no way I’ll lose to her, right?
Yoo Young-min felt worried.
“What’s wrong?”
“Uh, well… you know.”
Yoo Young-min smiled awkwardly.
“Can we do this later?”
“No. You’re late. You have to pay the penalty.”
“…Ah.”
***
Agael was not in a good mood lately.
First of all, she was frustrated by the fact that she had to stay still almost like a prisoner, but more than that, she noticed that the tellers of ‘Exodus’ had been frequenting the Korean library recently.
‘What do these crazy cultists want from here? Do they have something to eat?’
Although the Pentagram department and Exodus were said to be in a cooperative relationship, Agael never thought of them as her colleagues.
They were just business allies, and if she had to choose, she would rather avoid dealing with the tellers of Exodus.
She couldn’t help but stick out her tongue at those who praised despair and destruction, even though she was a twisted person herself.
‘Besides, it seems like there are more collectors who call themselves Unleashed in Korea lately.’
Agael’s eyes wrinkled.
The Unleashed were collectors who had been rejected by the Pentagram even after they proposed to join them.
They were very proud for collectors. She wondered if they had some kind of connection with Exodus, or was it just her imagination?
‘Sigh. For now, I have to keep quiet.’
Agael couldn’t move freely yet.
But this life wouldn’t last long.
She might be holding her breath now, but as soon as the opportunity came, she would snatch it and regain her old glory.
“Hehehehe.”
Agael couldn’t help but laugh wickedly just by imagining it.
Of course, reality was always miserable.
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