A Genius Speaks with Money

Chapter 1

It was an exceptionally cold winter.

A day when the snow scattered violently.

The cold wind forced its way through the gaps in the old window and swirled around the room.

Even without that, the inside of the extremely old house was silent as if even the air was frozen.

Within it, only the faint breathing of a woman was heard.

The child tightly held the gaunt mother'

s hand.

“Taeshik, this mother can no longer protect you….”

As a child of barely ten years old, I was shedding tears while barely holding onto my mother'

s hand.

Hot breath flowed from the child'

s mouth.

I, Jeong Taeshik, tried to swallow my tears and looked at my mother'

s face for the last time.The gaze that looked at the child with eyes full of worry had already disappeared.

Tears that had pooled in the corners of the closed eyes of the woman flowed down.

She passed away while entering eternal rest.

From that day on Jeong Taeshik became alone.

In the house where I lived with my sick mother, I survived somehow while enduring hunger.

A neighborhood adult who could not bear to watch took pity on me and introduced me to a restaurant.

There, I helped with chores and eked out meals.

And I studied like crazy and did not let go of my studies.

Years passed and even though I was accepted into the university said to be the best in Korea, I had no money to pay the entrance fee.

Tuition was supported, but I had to pay the entrance fee.

Since I was barely scraping by while doing manual labor at construction sites, university was at a stage where it was difficult to even dream of.

Fortunately, I was able to enter the Department of Business Administration at K University after receiving a full scholarship.

Even when others roamed the campus on warm spring days, my day was weary because of work.

Even if I received a scholarship, I needed living expenses.

After graduating university with difficulty, I got a job first.

Because my grades were good, I entered a large corporation immediately.

I thought that sunlight would finally shine on my life now.

Cruelly, fate dictated that the company I was employed at did not last long.

Due to the IMF, the company went bankrupt.

I was kicked out onto the street without even receiving a salary several times.

After that, I drifted through several companies and met a woman.

I thought life would get better if I married her.

However, that too was an illusion.

While living her married life with me, my wife'

s heart wandered outside.

Perhaps because I did not grant it even though she demanded a divorce from me several times, she ran away with our young son.

In that way, I became alone again.

Although my wife ran away with our son while even taking the bank accounts, I could not turn away.

I silently earned money and deposited it into the account.

During that time, not even a single contact came, but I hoped that the child would grow up well without starving.

It was when I reached an age over fifty.

Still, my life was harsh.

I endured day by day while working to death.

I lived my life diligently.

Even within a difficult environment, I identified the situation with a cold head and read the rapidly changing flow.

One day, an incident suddenly broke out in a team that was in charge of a large-scale project worth tens of billions.

Ahead of the final report, the entire presentation material was damaged and would not open.

Restoration of the material was impossible within the time, and the team leader could not say anything in panic.

The moment everyone was frozen.

I quietly raised my hand.

“I will present.”

The meeting room buzzed, and the team leader asked back in bewilderment.

“Do not talk nonsense that does not make sense. If even one figure is wrong, it is a total disgrace.”

“I remember everything, so I am confident.”

I started the presentation without even a single piece of material.

My words were without hesitation.

I had perfectly memorized all key contents including the entire budget proposal and schedule plan, personnel placement, and risk response scenarios.

Not only that, I answered questions even for parts missed in the existing material and correctly corrected statistical errors while speaking.

After the presentation ended, the executive in charge of the project spoke directly.

“I heard that the data flew away. It was much more persuasive than when there were materials.”

After that day, people called me a ‘walking computer’.

However, someone did not look at me favorably.

“Do the work given to you properly.”

Even at the words mixed with scolding, I worked tirelessly to find ways for the company to improve.

Then, a problem occurred in the company I attended.

A small subcontracting factory met bankruptcy.

I was already noticing that the company'

s cash flow was strange since several months ago.

Even so, I had no other choice.

If I could not endure here, there was no suitable place for me to go at my current age.

The day I was leaving work after finishing overtime.

In my view as I moved my heavy footsteps soaked in fatigue, I saw a luxury car speeding rapidly.

At that moment, a little child jumped toward the road.

No matter how one looked at it, it was an action the child did unknowingly after seeing the parents standing on the opposite side.

The headlights of the car illuminated that small figure.

The child'

s face entered my eyes.

At that moment, my heart seemed to freeze.

It was because it overlapped with the face of the son who left me.

My head turned toward the car approaching rapidly from far away.

I instinctively threw my body without hesitation.

Screeeech!

Boom!

I, who barely pushed the child away, fully received the impact with my whole body.

Red blood flowed as if spreading over the street.

The chill of the cold ground was transmitted to my body just as it was.

I saw that the child was safe beyond my faint vision.

I painfully spat out a word.

“It… is a relief.”

My eyes slowly closed.

***

I, Jeong Taeshik, quietly opened my eyes in the darkness.

At first, nothing was visible.

Then the vision brightened little by little.

The space where darkness was deeply laid had a cold and chilly energy lingering.

It was only a void where the end was not seen at all.

Then I discovered that a huge river was flowing far away.

I walked toward that side.

As I approached closely, the river water was black and looked very deep.

I could know instinctively that it was the river that separates this world and the next.

Faint lights floated on the river.

Those things that blinked like candles had the shape of a human one by one when looked at closely.

They flowed without sound, or soon sank into the water, or disappeared far away.

A twinkling light was created and then led me somewhere.

As I followed, another space was unfolding before I knew it.

It was like a place like a courtroom.

I saw a judge looking down at me from a high place.

“Jeong Taeshik, look at your life.”

My life unfolded like a panorama before my eyes and then flowed.

A succession of constant misfortune and trials.

However, there were also shining moments within that.

The day I saw an old man starving on the street and handed over the bread I had.

The moment I took off my old coat and gave it to a person shivering on a cold winter night.

The memory of running to the hospital while carrying a colleague injured by an accident in the factory on my back.

The moment I noticed the mistake of the incompetent president and prevented a crisis.

Until the moment I pushed the child away with all my might at that time when the lights of the car were shining blindingly.

The judge opened his mouth heavily.

“You performed virtues even amidst hardship your whole life. Moreover, at the last moment, you risked your life and saved the child while knowing you would die.”

The judge looked down at me, Jeong Taeshik, while wearing a satisfied expression.

The surrounding air wavered.

“All your karma has been extinguished. You have achieved limitless merit.”

I quietly closed my eyes.

The low and deep voice of the judge echoed in my ears.

“Hahaha. Unlike your previous life, you shall receive a great blessing.”

I opened my mouth with an earnest heart.

“Might I be able to make a request?”

The judge quietly looked down at me and then nodded.

“How is my child living? I miss him so much, perhaps because I have not been able to meet him since we separated when the child was young. I beg you. Please let me know if the child is doing well.”

The judge muttered while touching his long dangling beard and then ordered someone.

A person who seemed to be a subordinate of the judge returned while carrying something.

The judge looked into the mysterious object and then opened his mouth.

“I see you sent money to your separated wife to raise the child. Tsk tsk. However, that child passed away before even becoming twenty years old.”

I clutched my head.

My heart felt like it was tearing at the fact that I could not protect the child'

s life even though I earned money and sent it so painfully.

An earnest voice flowed from my mouth.

“Will I… be able to meet that child again?”

When I knelt down and pleaded while crying, the judge replied quietly.

“…If there is a connection, you might be able to meet again.”

At the judge'

s words, I glimpsed a faint possibility.

I requested one more thing for the last time.

“I do not need anything else, so please do not erase my memory. That is the only thing I wish for.”

The gaze with which the judge looked at me deepened further.

The time of silence passed, and a deep and resonant voice was heard in my ears.

“Hahaha. It is the first time I see such a guy without greed. Usually, when they come to this spot, they make a fuss to get even one more thing.”

Actually, it was not that such a feeling did not occur to me as well.

It was just that I thought there was no good in being greedy in a place like this.

The judge said while wearing a mischievous smile.

“Considering your merit, I will give you one blessing. When you look into a person'

s eyes, you will be able to glimpse a piece of that destiny. It is up to you how you will use that, so do not refuse.”

Before I could even answer, my soul was surrounded by light.

The voice of the judge echoed in my head as if it were reverberating in my ears.

“Now, proceed toward a new life.”

The darkness deepened, and then the front of my eyes blurred.

***

The consciousness that was deeply asleep slowly returned.

When I opened my eyes, a soft blanket was wrapping around my body.

The texture touching my skin was unfamiliar.

An extremely soft sensation, not the roughened fingertips.

As I took a deep breath, a subtle scent brushed the tip of my nose.

I slowly blinked my eyes.

Everything coming into my vision was something I was seeing for the first time.

The inside of the room was filled with furniture that looked very expensive, so wealth was felt at a single glance.

‘…Where is this?’

I tried to raise my body, but my senses were not yet perfect.

A strange name echoed in my head.

‘Lim Hyunjun.’

The memories of a person named Lim Hyunjun flowed in rapidly.

The 3rd generation of Taeseong, which enters the top 10 corporations in South Korea.

A scoundrel of a chaebol family who is a troublemaker.

I, who was Jeong Taeshik, slowly closed my eyes and then opened them again.

I raised my body and headed toward the place where the mirror was.

Fortunately, there was a large mirror inside the room.

I came into view from head to toe at a single glance.

A young and handsome man was facing me in the mirror.

I, who was Jeong Taeshik in my previous life, opened my palm and then clenched my fist tightly.

They say a person'

s affairs are such that one does not know even an inch ahead, but to think I am a chaebol family diamond spoon upon opening my eyes.

A word that young friends often said came to mind.

“Is this what they call a sweet deal?”

Even at this time, Hyunjun felt as if the world was colored in roses, as if he had obtained a huge fortune overnight.

Without knowing that soon the world would buzz at his single word, and would be turned upside down while being enthusiastic about his name.

How dazzlingly his second life would shine.

He did not know yet.