Chapter 54
After I finished my appointment with Han Yuna and talked a little longer, I went home.
I only ate a meal and had coffee, but I'm tired.
There’s no broadcast today, and I already spent all my fatigue before going out, so I can just rest...
-Buuuuuuung!!
My phone is ringing.
Wondering who it is, I look...
Huh? What the...
"Hello?"
-Big bro~!
-Hyung~!
-Noah hyung!!
A familiar voice came through the phone.
I couldn't forget it.
Naturally—they're the younger kids from the orphanage I used to live in.
"Goodness. What’s this? You’re all calling me?"
-Hehe~!
-We wanted to see you, hyung!
A variety of voices came through the phone.
It sounded like several people were talking over speakerphone on one phone.
-Hyung. You said you were sending a donation too, right?
Then a rather deep voice came through.
It was a guy named Go Yo-hwan, a year younger than me.
He came to the orphanage when he was nine, had a huge build, and used to act tough, saying he’d make it to the UFC someday.
And until I left, he was also the orphanage’s enforcer.
"It wasn't that much."
-No. Thanks to you, our meals have gotten better.
The orphanage lives on government subsidies and donations.
I benefited from that a lot, too.
Thanks to the precious donations sent by generous people, I was able to study, buy clothes, and even eat something tasty once in a while.
So I’ve also been trying my best to repay the goodwill I received from them.
-But hyung, you’re seriously really famous.
"Didn't you get the sense that I was an impressive person even back when I was in the orphanage?"
-Seriously, I don't even know what to say. But hyung, if you're free, could you come by for a bit?
"Oh? I don't mind. Why?"
It isn't often that people who leave the orphanage come back.
Most of them hate their past.
Of course, I don't care about that.
An S-rank orphan like me doesn't feel ashamed of being an orphan.
-The thing is, the director's been acting a little strange lately.
"Strange? How?"
-It's kind of hard to explain. Anyway, there've also been more people coming to the house lately...
"What, gangsters?"
-I don't think so. They're suit-wearing men dressed to the nines.
Suit guys?
I asked again, thinking they might be civil servants, but apparently not.
I thought about doing a reading over video call, but figured it wouldn't be bad to go see them after such a long time.
"All right. I'll go tomorrow."
-Huh? Tomorrow?
"Yeah. I happen to have some free time. I'll buy gifts on the way, so look forward to it."
-Ooooooh...!! Hyung! I knew we could count on you!!
I could hear my younger siblings shouting over the phone.
I couldn't help laughing.
.
.
.
The next day.
I was busy from first thing in the morning.
Not me—Mr. Cheolhon.
He was running around hard to buy the things the orphanage kids wanted.
"Since we're going to see the kids, let's go in style with this."
What I pointed to was the sports car I'd received from Han Yuna before.
"Will you be driving it yourself?"
"No."
"Understood."
"Please bear with it a little if it's uncomfortable."
"Haha. That little discomfort is something I can make up for with the cool factor."
He loaded the gifts from his own car into the sports car's trunk.
Only after moving the gifts into even the cramped back seat was everything ready to go.
"Wow, it's cramped."
"Hahaha..."
At my reaction, Mr. Cheolhon just laughed.
"The orphanage was in Gwangmyeong, right?"
"Yes."
"I'll head out right away."
He entered the address into the navigation and started the engine.
-Bwaaaang!!
"That's really loud."
"Quite a few people like sports cars because they enjoy this sound and vibration."
"I respect personal taste, but I'm a bit..."
"Then are you just going to keep this car?"
"It was a gift, so I can't sell it."
If I sold it?
Han Yuna or Joanna would get really down.
"A happy dilemma."
"A troublesome dilemma."
"Anyway, I'll get going."
As expected of the best driver.
Mr. Cheolhon drove the sports car without a care in the world.
Every time I looked out the window, I could see people turning their eyes toward the car we were riding in.
"Do you think the kids will be shocked if we show up in this?"
"They definitely won't stay still."
They'll be overjoyed.
Some of them will probably even ask to ride in it themselves.
We chatted casually as we headed there.
When we reached the outskirts of Gwangmyeong, a familiar sign came into view.
Hosanna Orphanage.
As the name suggests, it's a Christian-affiliated orphanage.
Of course, just because it's named that doesn't mean all the children are Christians.
I mean, even I'm not religious.
"Hm?"
Construction was underway inside the orphanage.
Where the warehouse I used to think would collapse any day used to stand, a building was going up, and the main building, which was well over thirty years old, was undergoing full-scale repairs.
"Isn't this being done with the money you sent, Teacher?"
"No. I can't send that much."
The director said that.
If you left the orphanage, you should be thinking about how to make a living.
Even if you won the lottery, don't ever send too much.
So I could only donate at the level of an ordinary person.
What was I supposed to do when he said he wouldn't accept a lot even if I sent it?
"Oh my?"
As we got out after arriving, a middle-aged woman came out.
Yang Hye-sook.
Sister Veronica.
She's 51 this year and could be called the orphanage’s de facto matriarch.
To us, she was like a mother.
"Noah, is that you?!"
"Haha. Mother Veronica. Have you been well?"
"Yes! Yes! I heard you're doing really well! It's all the Lord's grace... I'm always praying for you!"
Our mother, smiling brightly, ran over and hugged me tight.
When I hugged her back, the children burst out from inside.
"Wow!! Noah hyung!"
"Big brother!!"
"You little rascals!"
The laughing kids ran past me and headed for the car.
"Whoa! What is this car?!"
"It's so cool!"
"Heh. Your hyung is that kind of guy."
"Wow..."
"Hyung, are you that too? A super famous YouTuber like Ppeuhong?"
"No way! Yo-hwan oppa said so. He said Noah oppa is a super famous fortune teller!"
"Hyung! Hyung! Tell my fortune too! We have a dictation test this time—can I get a hundred?"
"Big bro! Big bro! Hachuping!!"
I was completely overwhelmed.
But from the children's pasts, it seemed they'd been fine without any particular trouble even after I left.
"The other kids must be at school, so where's the director?"
"Ah... that is..."
Her expression darkened slightly.
"Noah. Could you talk for a moment?"
"Of course. Ah, Mr. Cheolhon. Would you hand out the gifts to the kids?"
"Understood!"
Leaving the rest to Mr. Cheolhon, I followed Sister Veronica.
We arrived at the dining hall.
The dining hall where, back when I was here, seventeen people ate together.
Now twenty people eat here.
Four more children had been admitted since I left.
"The... director's been hanging around with some strange people lately."
"Strange people, you say. What kind of people?"
Even after looking through Mother Veronica's past, I still couldn't figure it out.
They only ever kept company with the director.
"I don't really know either."
But while hanging around with them, the director had been coming home later and leaving earlier.
"I asked him once, and he said he was hustling for donations."
"Hustling for donations, huh. Well, the director used to run a business before."
It's a Christian-affiliated orphanage, but he's not a pastor.
He's just a person of faith.
"He should be here soon... if possible, could you meet him for me?"
"Yes. I will. Yo-hwan asked me to, too."
"That's such a relief! But have you been eating well lately? Your face looks like it's shrunk to half its size."
Compared to before I left, though, I'd put on about 5 kg.
"Since you're here, eat something before you go. I'll be making stir-fried pork today."
"Nice. Stir-fried pork."
Pork was doomed.
That was when I was talking with Mother Veronica.
I heard a car outside.
"Let's go."
"Yes."
When I went outside, I saw a familiar midsize car.
Getting out of it was an ordinary-looking man in his mid-fifties.
It was Kang Ho-tae, the director of Hosanna Orphanage.
"Oh? No way! Look who it is! The greatest star our orphanage ever produced! Mr. Kang Noah, the one who drives both fans and haters crazy, I presume?!"
Approaching with a playful expression, he hugged me.
"Wow! You've really cleaned up since you left."
"I heard Mother had gotten so thin her face was half its size, though?"
"What are you talking about? She’s puffed up like a steamed bun. Anyway, good to see you. Come on in for some coffee."
I headed to the director's office with him.
It was a familiar place to me.
This was where I had made a ton of Go-Stop money, and where I started my life game, Dunsa.
"So. How's the work you're doing these days?"
"I'm doing well."
"That's good. I've always been praying for you."
"Thank you. By the way, Director."
"Why?"
"Would you turn this over, please?"
He looked at my card and grinned.
"I'm a man who serves Jesus—should I really be doing divination like this?"
"Yes. It is fine, so please turn it over."
"Tsk. You've really grown up, you little punk..."
The director grumbled and turned the card over.
The card that came up was the upright Chariot.
Before he could ask what it meant, I spoke first.
"Don't do it."
"...Huh? Why?"
"You're about to receive sponsorship from Stay Construction and run for city council, aren't you?"
"......."
The director's expression hardened.
Right.
He was trying to step into politics.
"...Why would you say that?"
"Once you're a city councilor, Stay Construction will bring up the costs for expanding and repairing the orphanage, and they'll try to control you however they want."
In the end, he'd be led around by them.
While rubbing shoulders with them to protect the orphanage and its children, the director would lose even his honor and end up being pushed out of the city council.
Naturally, the donations to the orphanage would drop sharply, and the kids would have a hard time.
Later on, the orphanage would stop receiving government subsidies altogether, and the place would close down.
"...But Noah. I already promised them. I accepted their proposal, and... construction has already started."
No one knew that better than I did.
The building where the children ate and slept was, to put it mildly, nowhere near a good place.
It was old and smelled bad.
And there were cracks everywhere; when it rained, it often leaked.
A new building was absolutely necessary for the children’s lives, too.
"And if I become a city councilor... wouldn't I at least be able to get involved in welfare budgets, not just for our orphanage but for nursing homes too?"
This wasn't simple greed.
He was trying to make the world a little better.
If that's the case...
"The CEO of Stay Construction. May I meet him?"
Then I'll have no choice but to step in.