If I Don’t Earn 1 Trillion Won, My Regression Ends - Chapter 35

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 35

 

“…Ah, yeah. Uncle said to get treatment in Korea instead of the United States. He said there’s a good surgeon he knows here.”

 

“Really? Then this might be better. At least in Korea you can focus only on treatment. Pierce also-”

 

“Hey.”

 

“Oh, sorry.”

 

“But… you two have become very close. A lot must have happened while I was away. I’m feeling left out?”

 

“Haha. Are you jealous, hyung?”

 

“Yeah. I’m jealous. What are you going to do about it? You used to complain every time I carried baby around, and now you’re even holding hands~ hm?”

 

Rampa Lim’s laughing tone was full of teasing, but I didn’t even want to play along anymore. I felt more than disappointed—my heart was stinging.

 

‘Didn’t he clearly say he would cut ties?’

 

「Cut ties with that uncle too.」

 

「Cut ties? What does that mean?」

 

「Don’t contact Jeon An-min anymore. Distance yourself.」

 

「Fine. After coming this far, how could I say no to you.」

 

He said he would cut ties with Jeon An-min. After saying all that, it turns out I’m the only one who remembers.

 

No matter how mature he seemed, a kid was still a kid in the end.

 

‘Just don’t regret it later when Park Min-su gets to you.’

 

Whatever. Let me just take care of myself.

 

Maybe I had been expecting too much from Rampa Lim.

 

Was it some kind of comradeship born from PTSD?

 

They say memories are beautified—maybe those four days were so intense that I unconsciously ignored that kid’s age.

 

Rampa Lim and Jeong Hyeon-gyo chatted cheerfully.

 

I took the umbrella Jeong Hyeon-gyo handed me and quietly stepped back.

 

November winter with heavy snow falling, two boys.

 

Though only a year apart in age, Rampa Lim, with mixed blood from various countries making him grow faster than his peers, had grown much taller and now looked almost like a middle schooler.

 

Twelve-year-old Rampa Lim, whom I was seeing after three years.

 

His once-short black hair was now long enough to cover the back of his neck, and his quarter-blood’s naturally pale skin that didn’t tan easily was patched with burns from the intense foreign UV rays.

 

Every time he smiled with his eyes crinkled, the mole at the corner of his eye folded along with them.

 

His complexion was slightly pale, perhaps due to his injury, but vitality and energy overflowed from his athlete’s solid body.

 

Yes. Rampa Lim had really returned.

 

With bone-deep realization, I awakened from my fantasy.

 

‘Right. He’s just a slightly special little kid.’

 

“What are you doing, Sing-a? Come here. Oppa is struggling. Come support me.”

 

“Hyung, you can just ask me. Sing-a is so weak, how can she do such things? I’ll do it.”

 

“Stop. You clean freak, are you joking? Did that incurable disease already get cured? I can tell you and baby have become very close, so now step aside and let me have my turn. It’s my turn to get close, so move. Come here, Sing-a.”

 

“Hyung….”

 

Rampa Lim spoke while grinning, clearly joking to anyone watching, but model student Jeong Hyeon-gyo, who had no immunity to such wordplay, was flustered.

 

I shook my head and approached to support Rampa Lim.

 

As expected. Rampa Lim, who draped his arm over my shoulder, didn’t put any weight on me at all.

 

Thanks to that, it became more like an embrace, and being held in that unfamiliar yet familiar embrace, I naturally wrapped my arms around his solid waist.

 

Perhaps because I had sorted out my thoughts, I felt comfortably at ease.

 

I could feel vibrations through his body as Rampa Lim laughed. The hand stroking down my back was affectionate.

 

“Let’s go. It’s cold.”

 

The three of us entered the apartment like that.

 

Was it because the three of us shared umbrellas, or because of the unexpected reunion?

 

My vision was narrower than usual, so I failed to notice that there was one more person inside the angular Lincoln car that Rampa Lim had arrived in.

 

♧

 

“You want to stay at our house?”

 

“I told you I ran away from home.”

 

I couldn’t help but be shocked by Rampa Lim’s shamelessness.

 

What running away from home?

 

You don’t even live in Korea!

 

When I glared at him, Rampa Lim spoke as if making excuses.

 

“Kyo’s house is uncomfortable because Hyeon-hye is there. You might not know, but Hyeon-hye doesn’t really… like me.”

 

Oh. I know. I know that very well.

 

How could I not know when she glares as if she wants to kill us whenever Jeong Hyeon-gyo and I even mention Rampa Lim? The person Jeong Hyeon-hye hated most in the world was first Rampa Lim, and second Seosing-a.

 

“You used to come to Korea every winter originally. Where did you stay then? You couldn’t have only stayed at Hyeon-gyo oppa’s house.”

 

“Just… hotels?”

 

Rampa Lim mumbled while rubbing the back of his neck.

 

I thought to myself that it was probably that great uncle’s house, but there was no need to mention Jeon An-min at this point and ruin the mood.

 

“The time when I had to just lie down after surgery is over, but I don’t want to smell hospital odors anymore. It’s also lonely being alone in a hotel… I’m hurt, you know. Even if not nursing care, I need warm comfort. Hm? Won’t it work?”

 

Rampa Lim pulled me into his long arms and lowered his voice pleadingly while rubbing his forehead against my shoulder.

 

Geez~ look at this feather-light behavior.

 

As expected of someone who would spread romantic rumors worldwide in the future, this young guy is already being cunning!

 

I had roughly heard through Jeong Hyeon-gyo that Rampa Lim was doing very well.

 

Youngest debut, contract with Ferrari, and such—I don’t believe such a guy has nowhere to stay.

 

In the first place, the reason he regularly came and went to Korea during off-seasons was also because of sponsor contracts.

 

I smacked Rampa Lim’s handsome forehead, telling him not to fool around.

 

But Mother, who had been listening to our conversation from a distance, seemed to think differently. She spoke indifferently, as if it was no big deal.

 

“Go ahead and do that! What’s the problem? Friends can stay over at each other’s houses sometimes. You can share a room with Cheong-song.”

 

“…!”

 

Oh no! The 90s!

 

I forgot it was an era when privacy was completely dead!

 

An era when if relatives lived in Seoul, relatives from the provinces would come up without a care and occupy a corner of a room, and poor friends would naturally freeload and board at friends’ houses!

 

‘Besides….’

 

Look at that Buddha-like face of Madam Bang Suk-yeong.

 

Her round, plump cheeks were endlessly generous.

 

This year, after my fierce KOSDAQ battles resulted in my bank account balance jumping to unprecedented levels, Madam Bang and Seo Shin-hyeon began showing unprecedented affection.

 

‘The precious parents I raised with my bank account….’

 

“What?! No way! Cheong-song will have his own room! Who are you! No way! Get lost right now!”

 

“Cheong-song, do you like cars? Hyung is the person who drives the fastest car in the world, look at this. A present! Racing car toy.”

 

“Hyung~♡”

 

“….”

 

‘The unprincipled little brother I raised with my bank account….’

 

The Seosing-a Family’s amazing assist!

 

And so Rampa Lim succeeded in becoming a freeloader…!

 

♧

 

Buy Korea.

 

In March 1999, the chairman of some securities company said.

 

Right now our Republic of Korea is undervalued, and this is a stock that will definitely work.

 

Buy Korea! Buy it all up no matter what!

 

Follow me, you ants!

 

As if following the words of a cult leader, the 【Buy Korea】 fever spread like madness, and with sayings like ‘you’re a fool if you don’t do stocks’ going around, enormous amounts of money began being sucked into the stock market.

 

Thus, as South Korea demonstrated the miraculous resilience of a V-shaped recovery that left economists worldwide stunned and amazed, the nation’s economic lifeline began to surge.

 

Ta-da!

 

The magic called 【Internet】 appeared in the world.

 

“Daughter? Sing-a? Samsung Electronics has gone up four times, so why on earth are you selling it? Are you crazy? 200,000 won is right around the corner!”

 

“I don’t know. Grandmother who passed away told me to sell it. She said to buy internet stocks. Then I’ll become rich. Surely… you wouldn’t want to be ‘unfilial,’ would you?”

 

“Mother… why are you so busy even from the afterlife…!”

 

Come, sweet bubble…!

 

I’ve been waiting for you for so very long.

 

Miracle or madness.

 

The beginning of the End of the Century ‘Dot-com Bubble.’

 

It was the arrival of the Quantum Jump period, when the digits in my bank account would finally change to the hundred-million range.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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