Chapter 120
There was something a chaebol family's wastrel needed in order to be a proper wastrel.
It was drugs, alcohol, and women.
But Do Won-gyu, the second son of Do In-ju, president of Cheonmyeong Steel, wasn't fond of any of the three.
For starters, he wouldn't even touch drugs.
The second was alcohol.
He didn't understand the appeal of alcohol.
The first alcohol he'd ever tried, after becoming an adult, had tasted only bitter, and after a few glasses, all it did was give him a headache.
And the third was women.
This was somewhat problematic, because he wasn't particularly fond of women in 3D.
After being shocked when the first woman he could call his first love had approached him solely for his money, he became fixated exclusively on 2D women, who would never betray him.
That was the truth.
Thus, he was someone who couldn't meet the qualifications for being a wastrel.
Then was he a respectable young man from a chaebol family? That wasn't quite right either.
To live as a respectable member of a chaebol family, one had to demonstrate the ability to match that status.
But Do Won-gyu thought he was nothing more or less than an ordinary person.
And he had no ambition.
Aim for the position of president of Cheonmyeong Steel after his father?
He always thought,
I can't do that...
It was a position guiding the futures of thousands of people.
It was impossible to do with a sound mind, and it wasn't something a mediocre person like him should casually meddle in.
Fortunately, his older brother was unquestionably a proper member of a chaebol family.
He was the spitting image of their excellent father and possessed the ability to match it.
To his younger brother, he seemed a little psychopathic, but he still had both the ability and the character to take responsibility for thousands of employees.
Then what was he supposed to do as the second son of a chaebol family?
Live like a wastrel so that strange people couldn't latch onto him.
What if people who wanted to use him to make a profit latched on and offended his brother?
Wouldn't he later be unable even to be treated as a brother, leaving him unable to make a living when his brother became president?
So he had lived like a wastrel since high school.
Of course, being a wastrel didn't mean abusing his power or anything like that.
He just fought hard and played hard.
That alone was enough to get him called a wastrel.
Sometimes he would pretend to drink with other chaebol wastrels, then casually ditch them.
He would pretend to mingle with women, but never crossed the line.
A moderate wastrel, not enough to earn his brother's ire for no reason.
That was the role Do Won-gyu thought he had to play.
Then one day.
"Uh, oh, shit."
He got into a traffic accident.
At first, he took it in stride.
Traffic accidents happen in life.
-Crunch!!
As he walked down the street, a flowerpot fell from above.
He almost got hit in the head and killed.
"Whoa. I almost died."
While hanging out with real wastrels to keep up his wastrel cosplay, those crazy bastards suddenly pulled out syringes and stuck them in their arms.
They had been tolerable because they didn't do drugs, but suddenly they were doing drugs.
If those crazy bastards were going to die, couldn't they die among themselves?
He left without looking back and even reported them himself.
Worried there might be trouble, he went in person and took a drug test, receiving a negative result.
But strange things continued happening afterward.
Something's strange.
Even the world screwing you over has its limits.
Nearly dying or almost ending up in prison five times a month?
That meant something was going on.
Then one day.
"It's been quiet lately."
......
"You should go out and have more fun."
His brother's expressionless face.
And that psychopathic gaze.
It was clearly the look of someone wondering why he was still in one piece.
It's my brother.
My brother is targeting me.
Someone far more incredible than he could ever compare himself to was targeting him.
That was all Do Won-gyu could think.
He was afraid.
He became afraid to leave the house.
But was the inside of the house safe?
His brother's men could barge in at any time and kill him.
Maybe they would secretly spike his water or food with drugs and then report him.
It was just as fear was pressing down on his mind.
The news came on.
It was about a peerless prophet named Kang Noah.
The moment he saw it, he understood.
Only he would know.
Only he could tell him of a future in which he could survive.
From then on, Do Won-gyu watched Kang Noah's broadcasts diligently and applied just as diligently.
But.
His answer was not easy to obtain.
***
"Waaaaah!!"
I was at a loss as to how to deal with the sobbing man.
Do Won-gyu sat on the floor bawling, while Hong Si-yeon and I looked at him awkwardly.
Only after crying for a long while did he turn over the card I had offered and continue speaking through his sniffles.
"M-my brother's going to kill me..."
"I told you, your brother isn't that kind of person. And you're not going to die, either."
"Th-then what the hell were all those things that happened to me!! Is the world trying to kill me?!"
"If you're that worried, would it be all right if I talked to your brother?"
"R-really? You'll do that for me?"
"Sure. You're my viewer too, aren't you? And you've sent a lot of donations."
And this guy.
He likes games too.
Not that he enjoys Dunsa like I do.
But I can make a move out of fellow-gamer solidarity.
"Thanks, hyung!"
"For now, have a drink at least."
He can't drink, so let's give him a soft drink.
When I fetched a drink and held it out, he hesitated for a moment.
He was worried that the beverage might be a trap intended to frame him.
"I'm the one giving it to you."
"R-right. You have no reason to kill me..."
The recent events had driven him into a persecution complex.
Though he was still afraid, he cautiously took a sip of the drink.
"Phew..."
"Do you have your brother's phone number?"
"Yeah."
He held out his cellphone.
I took it and pressed the call button.
The ringing continued for a moment.
And then.
-Won-gyu? What is it? At this hour.
"Greetings."
-...Who are you?
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Do Won-il. My name is Kang Noah."
Silence.
The person on the other end kept his lips tightly shut.
But only for a moment.
-Kang Noah... Why does someone as great as you have my brother's phone?
"Well, you see."
Leaving the frightened Do Won-gyu beside me, I explained the situation.
After listening for a long while, he said in a cold tone,
-I wasn't trying to kill my brother.
"I know. In the future I saw, your brother doesn't die at your hands."
-...The fact that he doesn't die means he must go through a danger that serious.
"Yes."
Do Won-gyu, who was sitting beside me, was horrified.
But that wasn't what was important.
"If it's all right with you, could we have a video call?"
-Of course.
The call ended, and I called him again.
This time, it was a video call.
Seeing his face, I picked up a card.
"I'm thinking of reading your fortune. Is that all right?"
-Of course. However, if my company's secrets are revealed through my past and future...
"I keep my mouth shut. And I know secrets more important than those of the Cheonmyeong Group."
Even so, I wouldn't reveal them.
He nodded.
-Please do.
I turned over the card.
And saw.
***
"It was you."
Ten years.
From taking over as president of Cheonmyeong Steel after his father to becoming chairman of the Cheonmyeong Group.
And.
Until he found the person who had made his only biological younger brother, Do Won-gyu, unable to walk for the rest of his life.
"Do Yang-cheon."
The current president of Cheonmyeong Electronics.
The first son of his uncle, who had once been the closest to becoming the successor.
Staring him down, Do Won-il spoke coldly.
"Heh, heh... Yes. I did it. I was the one who crippled your brother."
"Why? Why didn't you target me instead?"
"I intended to use him."
Everything had already been exposed, and all his authority and property had been taken away.
With nothing left but ruin, Do Yang-cheon said with a resigned expression,
"Because you never showed an opening."
"......"
"So I targeted your brother. At least you treated your father, mother, and younger brother warmly."
"That was all... just that?"
"I heard your brother, that idiot Do Won-gyu, was a wastrel. I wanted him to think you were attacking him and fight back."
But Do Won-gyu was even more cowardly than he had expected.
And things had gone even more awry than he had intended.
He had only wanted a traffic accident that would frighten him.
But who could have imagined that the accident would damage his spine and leave him unable to walk for the rest of his life?
From then on, Do Won-il thoroughly protected his family, and there were no more openings to target.
And after that.
Do Won-il achieved incredible results and quickly secured the position of chairman.
"It was my mistake. My mistake. I should have targeted you instead..."
Looking down at him as he gnashed his teeth, Do Won-il rose from his seat.
"You should have."
If he had.
If he had done so.
His stupid but kind younger brother wouldn't have ended up like that.
Do Won-il closed his eyes.
In the end, wasn't the cause of everything ending up this way...
himself?
Though he had risen to the highest position.
In the end, all that remained was emptiness.
***
I told him about the future I had seen.
Do Won-il on the other side of the screen said nothing.
But I knew.
That he was furious.
-Is that so...
"What will you do?"
-You always said that the future changes.
"That's right."
-Then the fact that Won-gyu will be unable to use his legs for the rest of his life can change as well.
"That's right."
-And that means I can make those bastards who touched my brother and my family fall earlier, doesn't it?
"That's right."
-That is enough.
In that moment, his future changed.
The executive vice president of Cheonmyeong Steel begins attacking Cheonmyeong Electronics.
With help from an insider at Cheonmyeong Electronics, he exposes its corruption.
They tried to defend themselves using the Cheonmyeong Group's lawyers, but he even won those lawyers over, completely bringing down his uncle and cousin, who had attacked Do Won-gyu.
And.
Though he was judged utterly heartless and merciless for completely ruining his blood-related family, despite them being his cousins.
Into a future where he boldly claimed the position of chairman.