“Self-esteem... how to raise it?”

“Yeah.”

At the unexpected visit from Seo-jun and the even more unexpected question, Hwang Tae-su pondered.

Is he trying to start a Zen dialogue or something?

No... it’s not like the monster is a monk. Why would he suddenly bring up Zen out of nowhere?

Then is he seriously asking?

“I’m seriously asking.”

“Eek!”

He really is a monster. How does he always read people’s minds like a ghost...

Startled, Hwang Tae-su let out a squeaky sound and glanced nervously at Seo-jun as he spoke.

“Boss, could it be... that your self-esteem is really low?”

“Not me. It’s someone else. I want to raise their self-esteem, but no matter how much I think, nothing comes to mind.”

From Seo-jun’s expression, Hwang Tae-su could tell he was being serious. This wasn’t one of his usual dry jokes.

The hands that had been politely resting on his knees quietly slid down to the sofa, and his tightly crossed legs slightly relaxed.

“Raising self-esteem... now, that’s actually my specialty. I’ve dealt with similar stuff a lot back in the day.”

“Similar stuff?”

“This might take a while to explain. Mind if I smoke?”

“Do as you like.”

Lighting his cigarette, Hwang Tae-su curled his fingers into a loose fist.

“Back then, I made some good money off lending too, but I also had fun taking on various requests.”

“Requests?”

“For example, stuff like this. You know those little punks they call school bullies? When the parents of the kids being used as gofers can’t take it anymore, they come to me. I send some of my guys to the school, then I flash my tattoos and intimidate the bullies who laid hands on the client’s kid.”

“That’s not the kind of self-esteem I’m talking about.”

Ah... right. If it’s Seo-jun, the monster, he wouldn’t even need to show tattoos. Just one wave of his hand and they’d be knocked senseless.

‘Then what is it?’

After some thought, Hwang Tae-su snapped his fingers as if something had clicked.

“You should’ve said so earlier. The self-esteem thing, it’s related to a woman, right?”

“Well, you could say that.”

“Hah... Then Boss, you came to the right guy. I used to get a ton of those kinds of requests. See, men are instinctively... no, biologically wired to want to look strong in front of women, right?”

“That’s true.”

“So I send two or three of my guys. They hit on the woman the client mentioned. Then the client shows up and takes them down like autumn leaves in the wind.”

Seo-jun pressed his temple and sighed. He had clearly come to the wrong person—very wrong.

“...Did I get it wrong again?”

Seo-jun nodded.

“So it’s not something sexual? If it was, you wouldn’t have come to me, you’d have gone to a urologist. Then... it’s money.”

“Money?”

“As they say, men feel more confident when their wallets are thick.”

“There’s some truth in that.”

Seo-jun nodded, signaling him to continue.

“Think about it. When you’re a teen or in your early twenties, it’s no big deal going to Kimbap Heaven with your girlfriend. Taking the subway or bus instead of driving your own car? That’s fine too. But—”

“...”

“Once you hit your mid to late twenties, it changes. Your dating expectations shift. It’s about having your own car, and sushi restaurants instead of Kimbap Heaven.”

“Hmm.”

“And when things don’t go the way you want as a man? That’s when your self-esteem hits rock bottom.”

“Money, huh.”

Maybe Hwang Tae-su was right.

No... he was right. Whether man or woman, humans naturally feel more self-esteem when their wallets are full and their bank accounts are overflowing.

It’s not about materialism giving them superiority, but rather the confidence that comes from being able to enjoy a comfortable, cultured lifestyle thanks to money.

‘I didn’t think of that.’

Seo-jun was gradually regaining his humanity, but that didn’t mean his thinking was completely aligned with that of an average person.

He still occasionally had thoughts slightly removed from reality.

And this was one of those times.

Like the saying goes, the darkest place is under the lamp. The answer was right in front of him, but he hadn’t thought of it because he hadn’t approached it like a normal person.

‘Come to think of it, he was interested in cars.’

It was not long after returning to Earth.

He had been grocery shopping with Yeon-jun. On the way back, Yeon-jun couldn’t take his eyes off a flapping advertisement banner.

-If we want to buy something like that, we’ll have to work really hard.

Despite the hopeful words, Yeon-jun had worn a bitter expression. It was the look of someone resigned to the idea that no matter how hard they worked, it’d be difficult to afford it.

“So? Was that helpful?”

“Very much so.”

“Hahaha. I’m glad I could help.”

“That’s why...”

“Yes?”

“I’m going to ask you to help again. Or rather, to get me something.”

“What do you mean by that...?”

The next day.

Normally, Yeon-jun’s daily routine was simple. He’d wake up, prepare breakfast in Seo-jun’s stead, and take Seo-woo to school.

After that, he’d get a short nap, then head to the shop.

By the time he was lost in work, dusk would fall and the world would grow quiet.

Then he’d clean up and head back home.

That was Yeon-jun’s usual day.

But today was different. Right after taking Seo-woo to school, he headed to the shop with Seo-jun.

Yawning constantly, Yeon-jun scratched his head.

“What kind of wind made you want to do a deep clean?”

“What wind. It’s been a while since we did one, so I figured now’s a good time since I thought of it.”

“That may be, but... we did a deep clean just three days ago.”

“Well, no harm in doing it again. Why are you grumbling so much? You think customers want to drink in a place full of dust?”

Yeon-jun pouted and shrugged his shoulders.

They were about halfway to the shop when—

Seo-jun suddenly stopped walking.

“Hyung?”

“It’s a lotto shop.”

“Lotto?”

Yeon-jun aligned his gaze with Seo-jun’s.

Lotto Heaven

It was a lotto store.

There was even a signboard claiming they had multiple winners. Whether that was true or just false advertising was anyone’s guess.

“Let’s go buy a lottery ticket.”

“What lottery? That’s a waste of money.”

“You never know. What if I hit the jackpot?”

“Hyung. I used to buy lottery tickets regularly, you know? But I gave up the year before last. Do you know why I quit? I didn’t even win 5th place, not even once. Just no luck at all.”

“Do you think your luck and mine are the same? Who knows, if I buy one, it might win.”

Yeon-jun let out a short laugh.

In truth, Yeon-jun still felt a little unfamiliar with Seo-jun. Not because they were meeting again after a long time.

How to put it… it was like the man had become sharper and colder somehow?

His demeanor had that same vibe too.

Seeing that kind of brother dream about hitting it big with a lucky break somehow made the remaining unfamiliarity vanish completely.

“Alright, let’s buy one. Let’s do it.”

Seo-jun went into the shop and came back with lottery tickets. The price per game was different from before.

Three thousand won per game.

Seo-jun bought ten games in total.

And he gave five of them to Yeon-jun.

“I got ten games randomly selected.”

“Why would you buy ten games? Just get five.”

“Five for you. Five for me. No backing out if we win, alright?”

Yeon-jun chuckled.

The odds of winning the lottery are one in eight million.

One in eight million may be a statistical fact, but that’s like getting struck by lightning five times in a row in a single day and surviving—something nearly impossible in this day and age.

“If we win, I’ll buy you anything you want, Hyung. No—actually, I’ll just give you the whole ticket. You can go claim the prize under your name.”

“You promised?”

“Yeah, alright. If we win, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do.”

Yeon-jun smiled and nodded lightly. Then he tried to open the envelope containing the tickets, but Seo-jun stopped him.

“That’s bad luck.”

“Still, we should check what numbers we got, right?”

“Opening them early brings bad luck. Even if it was going to win, it won’t. Let’s check on the drawing day. It’s the day after tomorrow anyway.”

“Since when do you believe in superstitions? Well, alright.”

Yeon-jun shrugged and stuffed the envelope with the lottery tickets roughly into his wallet.

Not long after they arrived at the shop—

Customers came flooding in.

“Three servings of spicy pork belly, please.”

“Boss, can we get two more bottles of beer over here?”

“Boss, is the fried egg ready yet?”

“Hey, if you haven’t started cooking yet, can we switch it to braised chicken instead? And bring a bottle of soju in advance. Quickly, please.”

There were more customers than usual.

“Yes, coming!”

They were so busy working nonstop that Yeon-jun forgot all about buying the lottery tickets.

And that didn’t change even on the following Saturday, the drawing day, when things got even busier due to it being Friday night.

Yeon-jun only remembered the lottery ticket purchase buried deep in his memory on Monday—two days after the drawing day.

Winning numbers: 1·9·17·26·31·41

Yeon-jun doubted his eyes.

He couldn’t believe it.

Even though it was visual information clearly entering through his optic nerves, it felt like he was seeing an illusion.

His body felt like it was floating, and his mind was going blank. Meanwhile, his hands were trembling.

“How could this be…”

He checked the lottery ticket again.

It matched. Every single number matched. All six numbers matched, which meant…

“First place?”

Smack!

He slapped his cheek.

Why doesn’t it hurt? Is this a dream?

Ah, maybe I hit too softly.

Just to be sure, he slapped the other side this time.

Smack!

“Ah.”

It hurt. He felt the pain.

“So this isn’t… a dream?”

Even so, he still couldn’t believe it.

His floating body was drifting into a trance-like ecstasy he couldn’t escape.

‘If it’s the first-place prize…’

These days, the average first-place prize is around 1.4 to 1.5 billion won.

Even if he were unlucky and won only 1 billion, after deducting 33% tax, he’d still get 670 million won in hand.

No, this isn’t the time for that. Flustered, Yeon-jun quickly searched for the prize amount for that drawing. Then his jaw dropped.

<1,534,511,366 won>

“……!”

Even after the 33% tax deduction, the actual take-home amount was nearly 1.03 billion won.

One billion.

Of course, the cost of living now compared to ten years ago is completely different.

A tray of eggs that used to cost 3,000 won now costs over 30,000 won, and a can of cola that was 1,700 won now goes for over 20,000 won—an insane rise in prices.

However, still—even if the value of money is less than before—one billion won is not an amount you can just grab easily.

As he stood there dazed, a memory from a few days ago came to Yeon-jun’s mind.

-If we win, I’ll buy you anything you want. No—actually, I’ll just give you the whole ticket. You can go claim the prize under your name.

-You promised?

-Yeah, alright. If we win, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do.

Yeon-jun blankly looked down at the lottery ticket.

One billion…

A flood of thoughts rushed through his mind.

He once read a news article.

A story about an armed robber who murdered a passerby and stole their wallet. The victim died, and inside the stolen wallet was 2,000 won.

The value of that person’s life was 2,000 won.

And now this is a billion.

Anyone would feel greedy. Yeon-jun was no exception.

With a billion, he could buy the house he lived in now, get a nice car, and let Seo-woo grow up in a more comfortable environment.

But if he did that, it would damage the bond between them.

More than losing a billion, Yeon-jun feared losing his family again.

Besides…

‘Compared to the hardship Hyung has endured…’

The brother he remembered had always suffered.

When their grandmother was alive, and even after she passed.

All because of him.

Even if Seo-jun didn’t eat or wear well himself, he made sure his younger brother was dressed and fed properly—that determination drove him.

That determination made Seo-jun’s life harder. Even so, back then, he never once showed how tough it was.

Compared to the hardship Hyung endured, this measly billion…

“Hyung! Seo-jun Hyung! Come down here, quick! Hyung!”