TGMND 75

A sudden interruption dropped in front of his eyes one day.

“…It’s nothing.”

The man mumbled something. He looked a little too frightened for nothing. He took a hesitant step back. As the wind blew, the sound of rustling leaves filled the air. There was a faint scent of spring in the wind. The man’s auburn hair fluttered softly across his forehead.

“I just wanted to ask for directions.”

His round eyes curved gracefully, forming an awkward smile, as if trying to escape the situation.

He stared at the man for a long time. Though his impression was vague, there was something oddly captivating about him. His brown eyes were now gleaming brightly with vigor. Although his face was clearly gentle, there was an inexplicable madness in his gaze. He was clearly frightened by his own face, yet for some reason, he didn’t avert his eyes.

“…”

No, why did he keep staring?

His heart, which had shrunk in surprise, began to beat fiercely again, revealing a sharp sense of discomfort. The one who averts their gaze first loses. Yoon Ji-gu furrowed his brow and clenched his fist to avoid showing that he was slightly intimidatannoyed.

“Not this alley. Follow me.”

His first impression was… the worst.

***

July 9th, a summer day with lush greenery.

“Is our Ji-gu impatient? Did our baby want to see daddy’s face quickly? …Yoon Ji-ho, don’t run!”

Born a week before his due date, Yoon Ji-gu’s life has always been a struggle. He has blood type A and is the youngest of three brothers. Due to the significant age gap, his brothers treated their younger sibling like a plaything.

He was like a subordinate to his brothers. Running all sorts of errands. From a young age, he was forced to be a human wreath on Mother’s Day, wearing a giant fake carnation around his neck with a grotesque non-woven fabric glued to it, and he was required to train his dog to fetch a ball. They made him play fetch with a ball like a dog, and even when they were full to the point of bursting, they would force food into his mouth under the pretense that he needed to grow taller. They were like demons. They would place him somewhere high and never let him down until he cried. Yoon Ji-gu vowed revenge a thousand times.

At his elementary school graduation, after being teased all day for being called “baby” by his friends, he decided to close his heart to his brothers. But after a night’s sleep, he completely forgot about his plan to close his heart.

‘Fvck… Fvck, fvck, I should have been born in a different family!’

It was only natural that his once normal personality began to change. From the time he started walking, he constantly tried to avoid his brothers. The crazier they got, the more they clung to him, picking on him and harassing him.

With a family that didn’t have much to worry about financially, his parents didn’t pay much attention to his studies. Even without attending any private lessons, he managed to hover around the middle ranks. His parents would shrug, saying, ‘That’s good enough.’ Yoon Ji-gu could live a very free life, playing when he wanted to play and eating when he wanted to eat.

‘Hey, Yoon Ji-gu! You’re good at math, right?’

‘…?’

‘How about we make a bet? Whoever gets a higher score on tomorrow’s math test will confess first. …I’ll wait for you after school.’

The day before the first midterm exam of the first year in middle school, a bold confession from a transfer student. She was a girl with short bob hair that suited her well.

So, she’s asking me to confess tomorrow.

…No way!

But who is she? And why should I confess?

If she wants to do it, she should do it herself. Seriously, why me!

His thoughts were a tangled mess. Yoon Ji-gu’s mind went blank from the first confession he had ever received, and he spent the night wide awake. As a result, he was so relaxed during the exam that he fell asleep and didn’t solve a single problem.

-Yoon Ji-gu, 7th grade class 2 number 22, please come to the teacher’s office.

Waking up at the sound of the bell signaling the end of the test, he barely managed to write down his class number and name before submitting his answer sheet, so the result was obviously the worst. After being scolded for submitting a blank answer sheet, he went back to his class only to find that the rumors had spread widely. The girl who caused all this approached him hesitantly.

‘Ji-gu… Why were you called down? What was your score?’

‘Huh? Zero.’

‘…Really? Did you hate the idea of confessing to me that much?’

‘Huh?’

Still not fully awake, Yoon Ji-gu blinked his eyes.

‘Fuck, forget it. This is so embarrassing. If you speak to me from tomorrow on, you’re dead.’

‘…What?’

‘Just get lost!’

But… who are you?

He experienced his first heartbreak from a girl he didn’t even like, or rather, didn’t even know existed. His parents were called to the school for a counseling session due to his drastically dropped grades, and Yoon Ji-gu became quite famous in his grade.

The guy who rejected a transfer student. The guy who handed in a blank answer sheet and got his parents called to school. But it turns out, the reason his parents were called wasn’t just his grades. ‘Hey, are his brothers gangsters? I saw them come to pick him up in 5th grade, and they were so huge.’

The unattended rumors grew and became distorted. Yoon Ji-gu belatedly tried to claim his innocence by shouting, and even angrily smashing the classroom window with a broom to assert his innocence, but the more he did, the more the rumors grew and became twisted. No one believed him.

Exactly one year later, Yoon Ji-gu had become a child of darkness that no one dared to mess with. The only ones who gathered around him were a few known troublemakers in the grade who had long given up on studying. School life was pitch black.

‘When I get to high school, I should make normal new friends.’

Yoon Ji-gu cheered when he make his high school goal, as only ten students from his school would be attending. However, that determination was shattered on the first day due to a rumor spread by someone. From the first day of the new semester, all his classmates began to watch him warily.

‘My life is ruined!’

Having failed his goal to make new friends, Yoon Ji-gu gave up on his studies and started living even more recklessly. He would deliberately avoid the tutor his now-worried parents had hired for him and come home late after playing out all night. Or he would suddenly take off to see the sea in Incheon with a friend he had known since elementary school who went to a different school.

Even when he did go to school, he didn’t lead a normal school life. As soon as first period was over, he would break into the rooftop and play with fire by burning textbooks with his friends, resulting in his parents being called. On days when the school lunch tasted bad, he would boldly walk out the back gate and eat out before returning. He even leisurely came to school around lunchtime after oversleeping.

‘Does that jerk come to school just to eat? I’m grateful he’s lowering the grade curve though.’

‘I can hear you, bastard. Say it to my face.’

‘S-Sorry!’

‘What are you sorry for, come here and say it.’

‘Hey, hey, sit down. That guy’s about to cry.’

This behavior further reinforced the rumors and images that surrounded him. He was unable to make friends beyond his existing circle of friends because of the image that had already been firmly established.

But he too wanted to make new friends. Not those who approached him based on appearances, but true friends.

Around that time, Yoon Ji-gu started playing an RPG game popular among his peers. He wondered what the fuss was about, given how everyone went crazy for it as soon as it launched. It was only a matter of time before he got hooked on the game he started out of curiosity.

They didn’t know his face or the rumors about him, so they accepted Yoon Ji-gu for how he acted. They would casually curse at him when he made unreasonable moves, and laugh when he talked about things that happened at school.

Perhaps that’s why. Yoon Ji-gu presented a character opposite to his own personality and hid behind it to fulfill his loneliness. It might have been somewhat of an image he hoped to become.

He created a cute character opposite to his gloomy appearance, and began to make new friends by reflecting even the aspects he couldn’t reveal at school.

As a result, his grades were at the bottom. Naturally, there was no university on this planet he could enter with these grades. He didn’t intend to go anyway… However, his parents, who believed their child must at least graduate from university, made Yoon Ji-gu a proposal.

“Anywhere is fine, son. If you enter any 4-year university, mom and dad will buy you a car too. You were jealous when we bought cars for your brothers, right?”

“What if I ask for a 5-ton truck?”

“If you just go to university, we’ll buy you a truck too!”

“Forget it, I don’t need a truck.”

It was a very tempting offer for Yoon Ji-gu, whose only plans were things like “get a driver’s license when I become an adult” or “drive alone to Busan”. Despite not having studied seriously ever, and there wasn’t much hope even with a one-on-one tutor, whether it was good luck on the day or ancestral spirits blessing him, he ended up acing the college entrance exam.

Yoon Ji-gu’s mother: [Teacher, thank you so much. Thanks to your efforts… (See more)]

‘…’

I didn’t do anything though? Yoon Ji-gu’s tutor received a huge incentive for the exam success and suffered from guilt for a while, feeling conscience-stricken.

That’s how he unexpectedly got into university. Thus, Yoon Ji-gu, who had been constantly absent, causing trouble, and playing games endlessly, was able to enter the quite prestigious Daehan University, but he didn’t receive the promised car.

It was the first scam of his life, and it came from his parents.