LSDK 05

Chapter 5

His grandfather had told him that working in the same profession for forty years meant that, no matter how ordinary a person had been, by the end of it, they would have gone far beyond having the appearance of a master and would have reached the level of a saint in that field.

“Thanks to you.”

That was why Dong-in also treated Butler Kang with the respect he deserved, just like his grandfather did. Putting everything else aside, there was no denying that the butler was an extremely capable man. It was no exaggeration to say that the butler managed everything in this mansion, which covered 3,000 square meters, including the front and back gardens and three pools.

“Your meal is ready.”

When Dong-in followed Butler Kang’s guidance to the dining room, the table was richly filled with a twenty-dish meal, far surpassing the twelve-dish royal table once served to kings in the eighteenth century, with every necessary nutrient included.

And that was just breakfast. Haah.

It could not be helped. Even though the sun had already gone down and it was afternoon, this was Dong-in’s first meal of the day. And unfortunately, more than ninety percent of the food on the table was destined to be thrown away.

How many children in Africa were going to starve to death at this very moment? Tsk.

But donating food that someone had already eaten from and left behind would also be rude.

Some people even packed leftover food into lunch boxes and took it with them, which made him feel a little uncomfortable. Still, he did not bother revealing what he really thought.

Naturally, Dong-in was the owner of this mansion. However, when it came to his health, absurdly enough, Dong-in had lost control even within his own territory. His grandfather had personally flown all the way to Dubai and brought Kang Hyun-seok, the butler, back with him so that he could take care of Dong-in’s well-being inside and outside the house.

Even without that, from their point of view, the Grand Emperor was standing firmly behind Dong-in, so they sometimes seemed to forget who was actually paying their salaries.

It was not an eighteenth-century palace, but when Dong-in was born, he was an Imperial Crown Prince who was second to none but the Emperor and above all others.

His paternal family had a firm grip on politics, while his maternal family had the financial lifeline of South Korea tightly held in their hands. And, for some reason, Dong-in was the only male among the third generation of both families.

Because of that, he had been raised from a young age receiving treatment far more precious than he deserved.

The rule at this table was simple.

Dong-in had to put every one of the dazzling foods, each containing all the necessary nutrients like a meal fit for an eighteenth-century Crown Prince, into his mouth at least once.

Then he had to cleanse his palate with the disgusting green juice.

Dong-in never rebelled against this rule.

He could not afford to rebel over something this trivial and risk the Grand Emperor’s position.

Anyway, with this, Dong-in had completed all the small routines he needed before going to work.

When he came out to the entrance, the butler had already taken out one pair of shoes from the long row of shoes neatly arranged in the shoe cabinet. It perfectly matched today’s dress code.

Before that, immediately after Dong-in had come downstairs, the butler had probably already looked him over from head to toe.

Tsk.

He was not a three-year-old child, after all.

Even while clicking his tongue, Dong-in put on the shoes without another word.

At 4:15 p.m., he raised his chin arrogantly and briefly checked his appearance. Only then was he finally able to leave the house.

And that was the first step in the daily life of Dong-in, whom the public believed was nothing more than an idle rich man who did nothing but live off his wealth.

Dong-in had unintentionally been traveling all over the world since he was around ten years old.

Because of that, he had no choice but to know local circumstances as well as if they were laid out on the palm of his hand.

Thanks to this advantage, Dong-in had acquired an innate-like talent for investing in the international market, especially in futures.

Unless a natural disaster occurred—

No, even natural disasters were somewhat predictable to him.

In reality, Dong-in had simply become someone who did not know how to lose money.

However, from an outsider’s point of view, it appeared that he had merely been born into a good family and was an idle rich man who spent money like water, with an endless spring of money flowing out of nowhere.

But did that mean it was easy for people to approach Dong-in?

From other people’s perspective, he was extremely blunt and arrogant, so that was not the case either.

At 4:45 p.m., after traveling through the city, a midsize sedan stopped.

Dong-in’s long legs stepped out first, followed by the rest of his body.

Then, when the tall 187-centimeter man entered the building, some people in the lobby recognized Dong-in and hurriedly greeted him.

Toward them, he simply gave a slight nod in acknowledgment.

“Oh my, he’s so handsome.”

“Oh my, my, you’re right. He really is.”

“Who is he? A celebrity?”

As Dong-in strode toward the gate where the turnstiles were located, he could not help but notice the eyes of even those who did not recognize him sticking to him like they were fixed in place.

“A celebrity? Ah, I don’t know. Is that important? I’m going to fall for him.”

“If he were a celebrity with that face, there’d be no way I wouldn’t know him.”

There were many times when Dong-in wondered whether being born with such a perfectly sculpted face, which constantly made people mistake him for a celebrity, was a blessing from God or a curse.

“Ah, now that I think about it, I think I saw him on the 28th floor.”

“?”

“Yeah, Miracle. I think I saw him there.”

“Not a celebrity?”

“Ah, right. I saw him too. Not only did I see him, but I vaguely heard that he’s the CEO.”

“The CEO of ?”

“Come to think of it, he definitely has the kind of aura that means he has to be the CEO.”

“Then that means he’s the owner of every building within 100 meters in every direction around the we’re standing in right now, right?”

“Why wouldn’t he be? is a financial company that completely shook up the financial world, especially the investment industry, and made an enormous amount of money in just one year after its founding. So of course.”

“No way, no way, no way. Are we actually witnessing one of Korea’s top figures, basically a walking Bank of Korea? Wow!”

“Anyway, I guess these days even wealth chooses who it follows.”

“Exactly. He’s so handsome I’m going to pass out.”

Whispering.

No matter how many times he experienced this kind of gossip about himself, Dong-in could never quite get used to it.

When people whispered behind his back or even openly talked about him like this, he simply wanted to hide.

During the twenty-nine years he had lived on this planet, his unusual circumstances had made him accustomed to people’s interest.

You would think that, after all that time, he would have become used to the uncomfortable something between interference and meddling that people called concern.

But no matter how much time passed, he never wanted to get used to it.

That did not mean he had to show how uncomfortable he was.

Rather, it was easier for him to completely block unnecessary approaches by giving off an arrogant, indifferent, blunt, aloof, and prickly impression.

I have absolutely no intention of living alongside other people.

There were circumstances that had inevitably caused Dong-in to develop the belief that living disconnected from the world was safer.

When Dong-in was around seven years old, his parents died young right before his eyes.

When he was around ten, he himself was kidnapped.

His parents dying in an accident before his eyes, and his own kidnapping—

From Dong-in’s perspective, those events were merely part of the larger picture of what he had experienced in his lifetime.