The table was small, the bowls chipped, the food plain—but to Jinwoo, it was a feast.
He sat across from Park Kyung-Hye, Daniel's mother. Her face was weary from endless labor, but her smile as she placed food before him was radiant. She fussed over every bruise on his arms, every mark left by cruel children, her eyes shining with worry.
"Daniel-ah… you have to take care of yourself. You're growing," she said softly, placing a piece of kimchi on his rice. "Don't fight back, okay? Just… endure it. I'll always be here for you."
Jinwoo's chest tightened.
In his past life, he had been an orphan, clawing his way to the top with nothing but ruthless ambition. No parents. No warmth. No one who ever waited for him at a dinner table. Even as a billionaire, his mansions had been cold, empty shells.
And now—here she was. A woman who loved her son more than her own life. A mother who worked herself to exhaustion, scraping recyclables, cleaning floors, waiting tables—just to make sure her boy could eat.
Jinwoo clenched his chopsticks. In this world, I have a mother… a family. I won't let anyone disgrace her. I won't let her suffer another day.
---
The Weight of Poverty
The apartment was cramped and bare. Old wallpaper peeled at the corners. Their refrigerator hummed weakly, half-empty. They had no computer, no luxuries—only the bare minimum for survival.
Jinwoo recalled what God had shown him before sending him into this life.
> "Daniel's father is alive," God's voice had said, echoing in the void.
"But he abandoned his wife and son. He was weak, unwilling to bear responsibility. He began another family elsewhere, leaving them to starve."
The memory made Jinwoo's blood boil.
---
Flashback – Mocked for Being Fatherless
Suddenly, Daniel's memories surged through Jinwoo's mind like a flood.
He saw a group of children, faces twisted in cruelty, circling the fat and trembling Daniel.
"Your mom's a trash-picker!" one boy sneered.
"She digs through garbage to feed you!" another jeered.
"And you don't even have a dad! Hahaha! Maybe he ran away because you're so disgusting!"
The laughter rang in his ears. Daniel had curled up on the ground, tears streaming down his cheeks, powerless to stop the kicks and punches. Later, he had run home, locking himself in his room, unable to answer his mother's desperate knocking.
The humiliation, the helplessness, the shame—it all came crashing down on Jinwoo like fire in his veins.
---
The Promise
Snapping back to the present, Jinwoo looked at his mother across the dinner table. She smiled gently, oblivious to the storm inside him.
He put down his chopsticks and spoke with a gravity that did not belong to a child.
"Omma," he said firmly. "You don't have to worry anymore. I'll study hard. I'll become rich. I'll make sure you never have to work again. Nobody will ever laugh at us again."
His mother blinked, startled by the seriousness in his tone. Then she chuckled, brushing his hair with tender fingers. "Ah, my Daniel… you're always saying strange things. Just be healthy and safe, that's all I need."
But Jinwoo didn't smile. His words were not the innocent wish of a child—they were an oath, carved deep into his soul.
---
Night Resolve
Later that night, lying on his thin mattress in the tiny bedroom, Jinwoo stared at the cracked ceiling.
The echoes of laughter—"fatherless, trash-picker, disgusting"—burned inside him. His fists clenched, nails digging into his palms.
That man abandoned her. He abandoned us. Fine. I don't need him. From this day on, I am her son, her shield, her empire.
He thought of his past life—how his ambition had driven him, how betrayal had destroyed him. He thought of his training with the greatest warriors across dimensions, his body now filled with potential. And he thought of his mother, who deserved the world.
Wealth. Power. Respect.
He would seize them all. He would not wait until high school or some miracle body. He would begin now—at age ten. He would turn Daniel Park into someone untouchable, someone feared and admired in equal measure.
He closed his eyes, a cruel smirk forming as his mind burned with plans.
I will build wealth from nothing. I will forge this weak body into a weapon. I will become the strongest man in this world—and the richest. For her.
The boy drifted into sleep, his dreams filled not with nightmares, but with visions of empires yet to be built.
Tomorrow, the first step would begin.
---
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