The Regressed Chaebol Grandson Finds It Hard to Forgive - Chapter 2

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 2. Lucky Day (1)

Click-click. Click-click.

High heels striking the ground in steady rhythm.
A beautiful woman comes into view.

She wears her ponytail well.

Luminous, porcelain skin; sharp cheekbones in perfect balance; large, striking eyes.

Every eye in the Coffee Shop pivots toward her.

Just seeing her makes my chest swell with pride.
It’s my girlfriend, Gu Hye-jin.

Smooth.

She glides into the seat across from me with elegant grace.

“Traffic backed up?”
“No.”
“Busy day?”
“No.”

Her tone is cold—different from any other day.

“I have something to say.”
“……?”

The moment she sits, Hye-jin stares at me with vacant eyes, then her lips part.
It’s the look I’ve been seeing more and more lately.

“Let’s break up.”

A bomb drops from her mouth without warning.

“You didn’t actually think we’d keep seeing each other, did you?”

Her cold, probing confirmation.

“………”

She’s right. Every word of it.

We’ve become too different in station—incompatible now.
I’ve become an unemployed drifter. She’s far too good for me.

She’s nothing like me—a full-time employee at a major corporation, one of the Top 10 Conglomerates.

“……Yeah.”

A truth I’ve been unconsciously denying all along.
An undeniable reality.

“Since this is the end, at least eat with me. And here—a birthday gift, late as it is.”

I hurriedly pull a Gift Box from my bag.

Her birthday was a few days ago.
But I couldn’t give it to her—she was too busy.

“Keep it. Sell it and use it to pay off your debts.”
“Hye-jin!”
“What? Embarrassed? Good. You should be. A man your age with no car, no house—that’s shameful. At least you’re realizing it now.”

Shudder.

My pride takes another scratch today. Several more before this is through.
My hands clench into fists in front of my girlfriend.

“I hate pathetic men. You know that, right? Delete my number. And don’t call me drunk like some loser, crying into his phone. Keep some dignity. If you’ve got even a shred of conscience left in you.”

She drives the knife in again and again, shredding my heart with each word.

She’s jumping across an uncrossable river, leaping far beyond what’s necessary.

“But it was fun while it lasted.”

That single consolation sounds pathetic.

“Honestly, you’re not really a loser type, are you? I mean—find a woman your own level and live well.”

Is that a compliment?
Or cruelty masquerading as sympathy?

Her words become a sharp blade, driven deep into the center of my chest with a sickening thud.

I stare at Hye-jin’s cold expression without speaking.

Even with her packed schedule, I did my best for the company and for her.

I thought if you live that way, you won’t be betrayed.
That’s what my elders always said.

But it was all a lie.
On the same day, both the company and my girlfriend abandoned me.

My coworkers—we shared meals together—showed no different attitude.

The way they looked at me after I rammed that executive, then slipped out of the office—
All of them averted their eyes.

These same men who’d asked me to grab dinner, to have drinks, just hours before.

Their swift abandonment devastated me.

Just hours later, my girlfriend’s attitude proved no different.

I have… no money. No connections. Nothing.

“Sorry to say this, but I’ll give you one more piece of advice—for your sake. Actually, you were my third choice for a backup man.”
“……?”
“So think of it as lucky. You were neglecting me anyway because of your part-time jobs and being broke—that’s a fact!”

Resentment blooms into fury.

But then, in an instant, my heart goes numb and cold.

We spent years together as lovers.

Those memories flicker past like a lantern show, then scatter like dust.

Brrring-brrring-brrring.

Her phone rings.
She checks it as if she’d been waiting for it.

Her eyes light up. Joy blooms across her face.
A soft smile spreads gently across her lips.

She takes the call without looking at me.

“Senior~”

That honeyed voice—the one I thought only I heard just days ago.

“Did you arrive?”

That flirtatious, saccharine tone, dripping with charm, is exactly the same.

“………”

She calls him “senior.”
But the emotion in her voice is far from ordinary.

Pain stabs through my chest.
My whole body tingles with agony.

“I’ll come down.”

Before her words even finish, she stands.

Click-click. Click-click.

She walks away without sparing me a glance.

Glug. Glug.

I drain the ice water in my cup without breathing.
My throat burns.

Yes, this is the whole story of what happened to me on my so-called Lucky Day.

But then……

“Want to know a secret to good fortune?”
“……?”
“When you make money, don’t eat it all like a pig till you burst. Always set aside one out of every ten for others. That’s how you keep getting blessed right up until you die.”
“………”

A secret?
Nothing that special, really.

But there’s Grandmother, muttering softly to herself as if anyone would listen to such obvious wisdom.

“Don’t lose heart. I’ll give you strength.”

Could she be… a spirit? A god?
I stifle the laugh trying to escape.

“Get a good night’s sleep and wake up. Something good will happen. A lucky………”

Grandmother presses on with her relentless encouragement, glossing over nothing.

Even if it’s just empty words, I feel grateful.

I’ve never seen her among my relatives.
But there’s something about her that feels intimate, familiar.

She’s the grandmother I bumped into in the Alley on my way home, utterly drunk.

She’s definitely someone I’ve never met before.
I can’t even tell if this is a dream or real.

“Go on now. And I put some good things in there for you—stay strong. Whatever happens, don’t forget that you’re a big bear.”
“Th-thank you.”

My whole life’s a failure; if it’s all a dream, I don’t care.

Good things? A few good things?
I still don’t understand.

What troubles me more is this grandmother appearing out of nowhere, treating me this way.

But I bow my head in respect anyway.
It’s surreal, dreamlike, but I’m the kind of man who keeps his manners.

“I’m so very sorry………”

Sorry about what? Who even are you?

Shouldn’t we introduce ourselves first……?

“Life is short. Go out and enjoy it………”

She leaves only cryptic words in her wake.
Now I notice her eyes are glistening with tears.

What is this look?
It’s brimming with compassion and sorrow.

Yet I’m certain I’ve never seen her before.
Why……?

Pat-pat. Pat-pat.

In the time it takes my fragmented thoughts to resume, the grandmother in Flower Rubber Sandals vanishes into the Alley.

I wanted to grab her, to confirm something—anything—but no words would come.

And then………

“……!!”

She’s gone without even a shadow.

Swallowed by darkness, the grandmother vanishes completely from sight.

“……Have I been bewitched by a ghost?”

But she wasn’t a ghost.

The events of today remain vivid and clear in my memory.

“……A Lucky Day my ass………”

* * *

“Damn it!!”

I jolt awake.

Thrash.

Eyes still shut, I kick off the blanket tangled around my feet.

The moment I wake, all the bitter memories of yesterday come flooding back.
Every small detail rises to the surface.

“Fine! Go. So what if I have no money? That doesn’t mean I have no pride.”

I shout at the ceiling, venting my frustration.

Gu Hye-jin—she tore my final shred of dignity to pieces and trampled on it.

She was my junior in the business school.

We met when I transferred back after discharge, grouped together in an elective.

From the first time I saw her, Gu Hye-jin was popular.

A true extrovert, through and through.

Her face was small, her proportions excellent.
And her looks—striking enough to turn heads.

Even standing still, she had a magnetic charm that drew people in.

Every man around her fell for her flawless looks—way beyond ordinary.

And when she played up her charm, the men around her lost their minds.

At first, I took no interest in her.

Pretty. That was all.
My interest stopped there.

My family situation didn’t leave room for dating.

I was always scrambling to squeeze in part-time work hours.

She was pursued by countless men, beautiful and vivacious—far too good for someone like me.
But the twist came there.

The moment I didn’t show interest, she became interested in me.

I gave her no response, and she pouted, curious about why.
The appeal of the “bad boy” had triggered something in her.

She made her interest known many times.
I noticed, but I ignored the signals.

In the end, the fox outmatched me.
I was still a man, after all.

Against her seduction, I had no defense.

It was a rare gathering with junior classmates.
She came along too.

She sat beside me, calling “Senior, senior” without end.
Pressed close………

I caved without resistance.

That seductive, clingy gaze of hers—I fell under her spell.
No man can escape a fox’s charm.

Even now, those were happy days to remember.

That happiness ended yesterday.
A brilliant, gaudy finale.

“Thank you. ……Live well.”

The words I couldn’t say yesterday, I mutter alone now.

I won’t curse her or wish her ill.
This failure is more my fault than hers.

We were happy together.

She was beautiful, overflowing with charm.
It was the blessing of youth in blood.

“Starting today, I’m unemployed. What the hell am I supposed to do now………”

My heart feels hollow.

I handed in my resignation coolly enough, but the future looks bleak.

I’m terrified to even open my eyes.

I never thought I’d face the IMF Crisis my parents endured.

Fwoosh!

“Huh……?”

A brilliant shaft of sunlight hits my closed eyelids.

This is strange.

A semi-basement room in a rented rowhouse.

The window, half-buried in ground level, stays locked at all times.
I keep the Blackout Curtains drawn 24 hours a day.

A choice I made so I wouldn’t become a spectacle for passersby in the Alley.

But………

This bright light is impossible from a semi-basement window.

The warmth settling on my eyelids caresses my face.
This sunlight carries real, abundant warmth.

My eyes snap open.

“……?”

My vision fills with cheap, checkered wallpaper on the ceiling.

It feels strange and yet somehow familiar.

Oddly similar to that Rooftop Room I lived in during high school………

“Whoa—!”

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