“Pwahahahahahaha.”

Just thinking about it cracked me up.

At the words take responsibility, the art school noona, Son Yu-ri, had gone into a total meltdown.

She couldn’t come up with a plan without knowing what she’d actually done, so she just flapped around on my little hook.

I was a gentleman and drove her all the way home.

I told her I wanted an answer soon on how she’d take responsibility.

Son Yu-ri hung her head and couldn’t answer.

Third-year art student Son Yu-ri was still a girl at heart.

She thought she was all grown up, but her soft cheeks hadn’t lost their baby fat, and they were adorable.

“You can’t clean your plate like that and just walk away. If you’re the first to use my back, you have to pay for it.”

Thanks to Son Yu-ri, I’d been having fun since yesterday.

I had no intention of spending my second life as a money-grubbing ghoul who did nothing but earn.

I knew how precious every single day was, so I wanted to squeeze in some fun whenever I could.

“Robert shouldn’t be asleep yet.”

Eleven a.m., Korea time.

Ten p.m. in New York.

It was Robert’s personal time, but I dialed anyway.

Brrring, brrring.

Robert’s ringback was the same as mine.

No music, just the mechanical tone.

“Boss. It’s Robert.”

Robert picked up right away.

“Sorry to call on your personal time, Robert.”

“Boss, don’t mention it. You could call me at dawn and I’d be happy to pick up.”

Hearing Boss never got old.

Just as his face had told me, Robert was loyal to me, heart and soul.

“I need you to buy some stock, fast.”

“What stock?”

“The Pelton Hotel.”

“The Pelton Hotel?”

“Its market cap is about ten billion dollars right now.”

“I know. Travel and hotels are the first targets in a recession. The stock’s going to keep sliding.”

Robert was Wall Street through and through.

He didn’t miss a thing, even on individual stocks.

“Buy forty percent at the very least. Go after it both on the market and off it.”

“Right away?”

“Start the moment the morning session opens.”

“Understood, Boss.”

“The play is simple. Knock the price down by short selling and pick it up at the bottom. Three days or so of work, and you should be able to buy at half the current price.”

Of course, I wasn’t fool enough to pay full price.

I played it the American way, all the way.

The American market still put no limits on short selling.

Push hard with short selling, and the Pelton Hotel’s stock, with no daily price limit to stop it, would keep falling.

Everyone knew the hotel business was in a slump; that was common sense.

In times like these, a takeover barely draws any criticism.

You just scoop it up and you’re done.

As his contract required, Robert asked nothing more.

“With that much stock, we could influence the hotel, right?”

“Of course. You’d be the largest shareholder, able to replace the Pelton Hotel’s management if you wanted to.”

“If things go well, buy fifty-one percent or more. Wrap it up by Thursday at the latest. Use the Unions private equity fund account for the bulk of it, and a few others in support.”

“I’ll take care of it right away.”

“Thank you, Robert. I feel safe with you on my side.”

“Boss, I’m only doing what I should. There’s no need to thank me.”

That guy really had a good heart.

That’s exactly why I trusted him with my money.

Lately, the futures and stocks I’d been buying and trading through a string of private equity funds had my balance piling up fast.

Three billion dollars or so was no burden at all.

It wasn’t a losing deal, either.

The Pelton Hotel’s stock gets through this crisis and goes from strength to strength.

Stock markets around the world would hit bottom around the end of the year, but I didn’t want to be stingy.

I’d wanted a hotel company of my own anyway.

I was done with the hassle of booking this and that every time I traveled.

Money you hoard just turns to crap. That’s the truth. (TL Note: The Korean proverb is “hoard even money and it turns to dung.”)

Above all, I needed influence over the Pelton Hotel for Mom’s alumni reunion at the Pelton this Saturday.

There’s no son like me anywhere in the world.

What kind of son buys a global company’s stock in bulk just to give his mom’s pride a boost?

“See you in Hong Kong, then.”

“Get some rest, Boss.”

The call ended.

Robert would probably have it all wrapped up perfectly.

“Next stop.”

I threw on a coat and headed for the garage.

The elevator was right outside my door.

I could even call it from the front hall.

I’d bought the whole building, so the underground garage—sixteen spaces, guest parking included—was my private garage.

Security was no problem.

Gangnam isn’t a careless place to begin with.

Everyone who lived around here was Korean upper crust.

A professional security company sent in staff and ran the place tight.

CCTV covered the inside and outside of the building, twenty-four hours a day.

It was like having a home inside a solid modern fortress.

Even the garage had warm air blowing in.

The maintenance fees weren’t high for nothing.

I got into the car.

It seemed to like the garage; even the engine sounded good.

Vroooom!

I started it up and drove straight off.

Operation Mom’s Pride was still underway.

“Oh my my my my~ Y-you really slept there? The two of you?”

“Wh-what are you talking about! I just slept!”

“So… oh my God… our Yu-ri’s all grown up. Sleeping over at a guy’s place the day she meets him~.”

“Hey! Kang A-rin! You want to die?”

“Is that a threat? Yu-ri, intimidation is a bigger crime than you think.”

“Haah…”

Son Yu-ri pressed a hand to her burning forehead and collapsed onto the bed.

Calling Kang A-rin to check the facts had backfired even worse.

In all the confusion, she’d let slip that she’d slept at Jang Tae-san’s place, too.

They were really close friends, but this was still mortifying.

“Yu-ri, so what did Jang Tae-san say? Is he going to take responsibility?”

“Stop talking nonsense! He wants me to take responsib—”

Son Yu-ri clamped her mouth shut mid-yell.

“What? Responsibility for what?”

Kang A-rin was aiming to be a judge someday, and her questions were relentless.

“I didn’t do anything I’d have to take responsibility for! Why is your mind so dirty!”

“What’s wrong with my mind? Stop people in the street and ask them. A guy and a girl meet for the first time, get dead drunk and sleep together—is that normal?”

“You… if you’re going to be like that… in high school… you and that senior in the broadcasting room…”

“Stop! Yu-ri, enough! Let’s forget our past. Hey! How long ago was that, and you still haven’t forgotten? That boat went down the Han River ages ago.”

“I really didn’t do anything. I ate the breakfast Jang Tae-san made and went home quietly.”

“He even cooked for you at his place? Heh~ what a sweet boy~. Letting you sleep in peace is already something to be grateful for, and he fed you too?”

“Ugh… why do I even talk to you.”

“Hee hee hee~ this is priceless. Today’s the day the great Son Yu-ri entered the world of the X-rated—a national holiday. I’d better mark it on the calendar.”

“You… you’re dead!”

“Oof, that feels so good to get off my chest. That Jang Tae-san is a sly devil. Leave it to a guy like him to be that slick. Snatching up our high school’s best face, Son Yu-ri, just like that… if the law school seniors find out, a bunch of them will die of heartbreak. I should spread the word. Son Yu-ri of Western Painting is now a married woman. Heh heh.”

Kang A-rin teased her friend mercilessly.

It was all the funnier because she couldn’t believe that Son Yu-ri, single since birth, had actually spent the night out.

“You just try it! If you ruin my chances of ever getting married… you’ll never get married either!”

“Oh~ how scary~. Yes, yes. This humble servant shall be very careful, my lady.”

Talking with Kang A-rin, Son Yu-ri felt her heavy heart ease a little.

How on earth am I supposed to take responsibility! I’d need to know what I did to deal with it!

Son Yu-ri had been holed up since she got home, and she still hadn’t found an answer.

She might have confessed she liked him, might even have kissed him.

When a woman’s drunk, she can turn into an animal too.

That was how great a guy Jang Tae-san was.

But she was sure things hadn’t gone any further than that, and yet Jang Tae-san had brought up responsibility.

“Hey! What’s Jang Tae-san’s place like? An officetel? Where does he live? It’s not some creepy basement studio or anything, right? That’d be kind of a letdown for a first night, huh?”

Kang A-rin, clueless, kept asking.

“G… Gangnam. He lives in Gangnam.”

“Gangnam? Ooh, so it’s a Gangnam officetel, huh?”

Kang A-rin was writing herself a whole novel. (TL Note: “Writing a novel” is Korean slang for spinning a story out of nothing.)

Son Yu-ri didn’t say any more.

Once she got home, she’d looked up the price of Jang Tae-san’s place online, and as she’d expected, it was worth several billion won.

He’d said it was his mom’s place, but the interior was all Jang Tae-san’s style.

Very suspicious.

“Son Yu-ri, count yourself lucky. The girls in our department are texting like crazy about how great Jang Tae-san is. Honestly, if it weren’t for you, I’d go after him myself… but he had to go and spit out that nonsense about being the Arrogant Mouth…”

“The Arrogant Mouth? What’s that?”

“Heh heh heh. Jang Tae-san’s nickname. Short for arrogant, insolent mouth~. Brutal nickname, right?”

“That’s not fair. Jang Tae-san isn’t that rude.”

“Whoa! One night building the Great Wall with him, and now you’re arguing your man’s defense? Is that it?”

“…”

Son Yu-ri pressed her lips shut.

She wanted to say that wasn’t it, but that wasn’t quite true either.

“Silence means yes! Okay. Noted.”

“F-forget it! Let’s hang up for today. I have to paint.”

“Yes, yes. Rest well, Your Highness Yu-ri. After the great undertaking you performed all night long, this humble servant was so very thoughtless.”

“Hey! Kang A-rin!”

“Hohohohohohohoho~.”

A witch’s cackle came down the line.

Click. The call ended.

“Ugh… I’ll get you back someday!”

Son Yu-ri swore revenge on her wicked(?) friend.

“But why hasn’t he texted? I’ve got lots of free time until this afternoon…”

After a good night’s sleep and a solid breakfast, her fatigue was completely gone.

Crisp winter sunlight poured in through the window.

It was a good day for a drive out of the city.

But…

“Hmph! Hmph-hmph!”

With a huff, Son Yu-ri tossed her innocent phone to one side of the bed.

Every time she thought of Jang Tae-san, she felt a strange flutter she’d never felt before.

He was a freshman, yet the way he acted felt weightier than the guys back from their military service.

Jang Tae-san was a man of mystery.

Son Yu-ri flopped onto the bed, hugged her pillow and closed her eyes.

“Pfft~.”

Picturing Jang Tae-san in his apron made her laugh.

“I’ve lost my mind… totally lost it…”

Son Yu-ri’s confession filled the room along with the sunlight.

“Another month of coming up empty… damn it.”

Choi Seung-tae, head of sales at the Bentley showroom on Dosan-daero, winced at the bitter taste in his mouth.

His coffee tasted even more bitter than usual today.

Gangnam gets its information faster than anywhere else in Korea.

The rich knew the crisis coming out of America was serious.

Ordinary people had no idea and kept working away at their posts like ants.

The rich cut back on spending cash and bided their time.

They’d sensed that a global financial crisis meant opportunity.

Because of it, the high-end luxury stores were tanking. (TL Note: The Korean says the stores “cooked porridge” — made a mess of it, flopped.)

Supercar showrooms, where a single car went for three hundred million won, were hit even harder.

Besides the cars on the showroom floor, a few more, polished and spotless, sat in the underground garage.

It wasn’t a model that sold in big numbers to begin with, but headquarters had decided to push stock onto the dealers anyway.

In a global recession, even a headquarters that insisted on its luxury status couldn’t cope.

A few of the staff made themselves look busy wiping down cars or cleaning.

I’ve got to sell at least two this month, or I can’t even cover the kids’ tuition…

Choi Seung-tae had a daughter and a son in college.

It was the stage of life when money flies out the door.

These were luxury cars, so selling even one a month made for a nice income.

But at tuition time, even he struggled to keep up.

He couldn’t call his customers, either.

The higher up the ladder, the more they resented a sales call.

As long as you kept your connections well tended, they’d get in touch on their own.

Until then, a luxury-car dealer’s way of doing business was to wait with a fisherman’s patience. (TL Note: The Korean says “with the heart of Kang Tae-gong” — the ancient Chinese sage Jiang Taigong, who fished with a straight hook for years, waiting for his time to come.)

Swsssh.

Just then, the spotless automatic glass doors of the showroom slid open.

“Welcome.”

Two staff members stepped forward to do their jobs.

A well-dressed college student walked in, a Gangnam resident by the look of him.

These weren’t cars a kid could buy.

You could see the staff’s enthusiasm drain away.

The young man casually looked over the cars on display.

There’s… something about him!

Choi Seung-tae, a master salesman after years as a dealer, felt it hit him in an instant.

He straightened his clothes and went straight over.

“Thank you for coming in. I’m Choi Seung-tae, head of sales.”

He bowed politely.

A customer was a customer, whatever their age, gender or looks.

“The sedan and the GT model…”

“This model here, sir.”

This customer had looked them up before coming in.

He might even have been sent to look on his parents’ behalf.

Choi Seung-tae treated him as if he were dealing with a VIP.

Sincerity always gets through—that was his philosophy of selling.

The young man looked at the gleaming black sedan and the GT.

“The sedan has solid-wood interior trim. With a smart start button, power-adjustable seats and a six-speed automatic, all beautifully matched to a 6,000cc-class engine, it underscores the prestige and class of its owner. The GT, on the other hand, has a dynamic style…”

Choi Seung-tae began describing the cars, his voice full of pride.

The other staff, watching, thought he was wasting his time.

Anyone could see there was no way a college student was going to buy a car that cost nearly three hundred million won.

Watching the head of sales throw his effort away, the dealers told themselves they’d never be like that and went back to their own work.

Right up until they heard his startled voice.

“Excuse me? You… you want to buy both of them?”

“You give a discount for paying in full, right?”

“Yes!!! We’ll give you our best price, sir!”

The dealers stood frozen like statues and watched. (TL Note: The Korean says they “turned into mangbuseok” — the stone, in a Korean legend, that a wife turned into while waiting on a hilltop for her husband who never came home.)

Choi Seung-tae, who was endlessly strict with his staff, was bent at a ninety-degree angle, folded like a flip phone…

(End of Chapter 85)