Elementary school days.
I had one dream.
"I want to make a lot of money! I want to earn so much that I can buy my parents a car, get a house with a yard, and run around playing with cute puppies and kittens!"
Before I grew up, I was brighter than anyone and had tons of friends.
But after middle school and starting high school, I realized something. This world is full of people better than me. No matter how grand your dreams are, a mudskipper like me can only climb so high.
From then on, I started showing those rotten mackerel eyes.
It was inevitable.
I poured endless effort into chasing that dream and lived harder than anyone.
To raise a kid like me, my mom didn't come home until dawn. While other kids grabbed their parents' hands after school and headed out for pork cutlets, what greeted me was silence in the darkness.
The only sound was the ticking of the clock hands.
Still, I never gave up and kept giving it my all.
I had no choice but to huddle under the dim light of my tiny desk lamp, barely sleeping three hours a night as I buried myself in my studies. The only shot at that 1% chance of making my dream come true was getting into a top university.
That was it. Nothing else.
But.
"Fuck..."
What came back after the college entrance exam was a grim report card.
I'd studied harder than anyone, sleeping even less, but the results were just as I'd feared.
I finally realized the truth: no matter how hard a mudskipper tries, the odds of success are less than 0.1%.
"Wah wah..."
I sat on the toilet and secretly wiped away my tears.
And to top it off.
My parents, their faces lined with wrinkles from years of hardship, had now fallen ill as well.
I'm from a single-parent home.
After divorcing when I was young, my mom had done every job under the sun to raise me alone. One day on the way home from school, I saw her working at a nearby restaurant, grabbed by the hair by the owner.
By the time I ran over asking what was going on.
It was already over.
She was my only remaining family.
And there she was, that family of mine, kneeling before the owner.
Right in front of me.
Tears streaming down her face in quiet sorrow.
"Please, just forgive me this once. I can't do anything else."
That must have been the moment.
When I became a loser...
Not some big corporate chairman, but in front of the owner of a tiny neighborhood diner, my mom couldn't even lift her head. I clenched my fists tight.
After all those ups and downs, I finally got my university diploma, only to be met by my mother's death from overwork.
She passed without a final goodbye.
Worried for her one and only son to the end.
I landed a job at a small company, and the world I could escape into was internet streaming.
Here, everyone starts equal.
Sure, there are big spenders who donate heaps, but since it's mostly anonymous, you begin on the same footing, whether you're a chaebol heir, a rags-to-riches type, or dirt-poor.
The moment I met the streamer Choa, it hit me naturally.
She approaches me warmly even without knowing who I am.
It was a new experience.
And the donations I started giving her little by little soon swelled like a river you couldn't swim against.
Forty million won in total.
I poured every penny I'd saved into one woman.
The problem was, the girl I adored so much ended up betraying me.
Like someone said, I didn't want special treatment. I just wanted her to remember me as a person. But the second "New York" showed up as a new big spender, I became a nobody to her.
Even after hitting the lotto jackpot.
And turning it into three trillion through coins afterward.
I couldn't fill the emptiness inside.
"Revenge."
That was the only driving force left to guide me.
Like a puppet wandering aimlessly, I donated Bubble Gifts wherever my hand led me. Is this really what I wanted? Or was I just burning cash to be remembered by someone?
It felt good watching Choa regret it.
Finally, she might remember me.
If I hadn't run into Kang So-yeon at the reunion, I'd probably still think that way.
[You know, I'd rather meet a guy who's chasing his dreams than some flashy dude.]
Why did those words stir my numb heart?
Because she was my first love from back in the day?
Or just the joy of reuniting with an old familiar face?
A shocking thrill shot through my chest like an electric jolt. I'd become nothing but a guy with money and no purpose.
The "rich man" I'd dreamed of as a kid.
Now that I'd achieved it, wasn't it time for a new goal?
That's why I acquired Selig through Jin Seol-hwa.
The odds of failure were probably higher than success.
For an uneducated nobody like me to own a top-seven U.S. pharma company—maybe it was just sinking into a swamp of delusions.
But I wanted to try.
Even if I regretted it, I wanted to charge full speed toward one goal like a horse at a gallop.
"I'll acquire Selig."
"Let's pump in 300 million dollars as initial investment."
Even as Jin Seol-hwa's shock came through the phone, I kept staring off into the distance.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
A woman with a short bob haircut.
Wearing a casual business suit.
Jin Seol-hwa wrapped up her schedule in the Philippines and flew straight back to the U.S. From now on, she'd handle things through her new contact.
Arriving on Wall Street, she looked up at a rundown building.
This would be her new base.
Traces of people lingered, but it felt devoid of life.
Miscellaneous office supplies the owner had hastily abandoned lay scattered on the floor.
"Sigh..."
She'd done enough cleaning to last a lifetime.
Back in her U.S. military days, she'd worked hard just to keep things spotless.
"Hup!"
Jin Seol-hwa had a solid physique for a woman—she effortlessly lifted a massive box that would strain most men. All thanks to her daily workouts without fail.
She tidied up in no time and placed orders at a nearby furniture store.
Her mind wandered to that anonymous man from recently.
'Just who the hell is he?'
Some mafia boss operating from the shadows?
Or a well-known public figure?
Maybe a high-ranking government official shaping national policy?
No.
He was just an ordinary guy.
One with a big heart who actually thought about others...
Jin Seol-hwa rewound to a month ago.
It made no sense.
Why would he want to acquire Selig, buried under 120 million dollars in debt?
"I want to help the underdogs."
"What? Underdogs?"
"...Yeah. It's my new dream."
Not like he was some superhero movie protagonist.
In this cutthroat world where survival was tough enough, the out-of-left-field answer made her tilt her head.
"That's... new."
Not content with offering her a fat salary despite being strangers, he was even covering her little sister's hospital bills.
After 31 years on this earth, she was amazed such people still existed.
"My original dream was to get rich."
"..."
"But once I did, I started wandering aimlessly. So I set a new goal."
"Which is?"
"I want to be someone people remember."
"?"
"I went to a class reunion recently, and this girl—my first love—said something."
What was so special about her?
School friends were usually just passing fancies, weren't they?
Even Jin Seol-hwa, who'd never been to one herself, had trouble buying her new boss's words at face value.
"She said she prefers a guy chasing his dreams over some cool guy."
"Huh? What does that...?"
"She was my first love. I confessed back then, and she shot me down hard."
"..."
"I thought it was because I was timid and petty... or maybe broke. Turns out, no. She dumped me because I wasn't chasing a dream."
"!"
Was that even the point?
What meaning was there in hinging your goals on someone you liked?
To fund her sister's treatment, she'd roamed dangerous zones worldwide—a virgin who'd never even dated, let alone held a guy's hand.
Jin Seol-hwa picked up her coffee mug and let out a smirk.
Amusing.
Even when she got into Stanford, dubbed the world's top university.
Or when she joined the U.S. military and stormed enemy lines to complete missions.
Or when she signed on with a global PMC.
A whole new breed of person she'd never encountered was opening up a fresh world for her.
"Loser, huh... Guess losers these days drop 300 million dollars without batting an eye?"
This new boss with the big heart.
He'd called himself a loser.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
December was already upon us.
This year, the heavy snow had blanketed the whole world in white.
"What the fuck!"
Out cruising Seoul streets to brave the wind, and all I saw everywhere were couples.
Vroooom!
My first beloved ride, the 11-billion-won LaFerrari Aperta.
Too flashy, so I'd casually ordered a Rolls-Royce on top.
Rolls-Royce Cullinan.
My shiny new second steed.
Its massive engine roar and ship-like front end gave the gawkers a real sense of intimidation.
"Hey, isn't that a Rolls-Royce?"
"Yeah, a Cullinan."
"Whoa! Isn't that the car money can't buy?"
"Nah, that's old news. These days, cash is king."
"For real? Should I get one?"
"Get lost. How? You know the price? And maintenance? That thing's a gas hog."
Two guys who looked like office workers bickered as they passed by.
I turned the wheel and pulled over to the shoulder for a bit.
Jin Seol-hwa had called from the States.
"President's office."
That's what she called me.
President, in American terms.
But it could easily be misheard as her calling me "Mr. President!"
"Just call me Do-jun."
I said it half-joking, but she shot it down hard.
"This is more comfortable for me."
"...Fine, suit yourself. So, why the call?"
"Selig acquisition completed smoothly. Full employee succession at 100%, and I've appointed a professional manager as vice president. Also, a merger proposal came in from a competitor."
"Moderna?"
"Yes, from Moderna, but I turned it down."
"Good call. You know why we bought Selig, right?"
New drugs usually sell for top dollar.
Obviously.
You need revenue to cover R&D costs.
I didn't do that.
I'd always thought a hard-developed drug was worthless if only fat cats could afford it.
"Yes. To become a company that helps the vulnerable, like you said."
"Don't ever forget that. And how's Mark-132 coming along?"
Mark-132 here.
The leukemia drug nearing completion.
In clinical trials, and the FDA had given it the thumbs-up.
Success seemed guaranteed.
"Should hit the market soon. One of the trial subjects was a U.S. senator's kid—total cure, from what I hear..."
"Wait, a politician's kid in clinical trials?"
"Seems it was acute and going south fast. Pulled strings to get him in midway, but it actually worked out great."
"...No kidding?"
"Oh! The senator wants to meet you, President."
"Handle that yourself. You're the face of the investment firm."
"Yes, sir..."
Steer clear of annoyances.
A loser's safer in the shadows.
"That wraps up today's report."
I ended the call, let out a long sigh, and slumped back in the seat.
Exhausting.
Me, a mudskipper loser, now the majority shareholder in a dream company and president of an investment firm.
Not dealing in hundreds or thousands, but astronomical sums in acquisitions.
'Sigh, shoulda just lived a normal life?'
Pretty soon.
They'll be calling me Chairman.
"Loser Chairman... Gives me chills just thinking about it."