Chapter 17: Winning

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With a beep, Tae Hwan impatiently pulled the phone away and ran his hand through his hair.

He had called a total of 38 times since yesterday, the weekend, but the same woman, not Yoon Bodam, answered every time.

“What the f*ck…”

Wondering if something had happened at the Center, he had called the team leader, but even he said he couldn’t get in touch with the guide.

‘Is he sick somewhere?’

“Esper Lee Tae Hwan! Behind you—!”

At the Sector 4 site, where the danger level consisted only of Code Red, a winged monster rushed at Tae Hwan’s back as he was focused on his phone, not the gate.

The animal-type monster, the size of a small building, let out a piercing scream and aimed for Tae Hwan’s neck.

Boom!

“F*ck,” Tae Hwan cursed, and without looking back, he waved his hand and slammed the monster, which was several times his size, into the ground.

The ground cracked and shook from the weight.

Through the rising cloud of dust, Tae Hwan, his black eyes glinting, opened his KakaoTalk window.

He seemed to have no interest whatsoever in the problematic monster he had just killed.

After killing a monster that two teams of A-class attackers had been wrestling with.

“No, why isn’t he answering the phone?”

He was busy tapping the silent screen, all his attention focused solely on his phone.

15:01
[Hey]

15:16
[You wanna die?]

15:28
[Answer the phone]

15:43
[You ignored my summons, you must be crazy]

16:31
[Team Leader Han is super pissed. Kang Yi Jun is pissed too, and Ji Oh hyung’s eyes are rolling back]

16:32
[If you don’t want to get chewed out, answer my call]

16:32
[Call me]

16:43
[Are you dead?]

16:50
[Are you sick somewhere?]

[If you answer, I’ll defen(d)]

Tae Hwan, who was about to type the ‘d’, erased the message and shouted loudly, “Aargh!”

It was a lie that the other team members were angry.

Yi Jun and Ji Oh hadn’t even contacted him at all, and the team leader, true to his nature, showed no particular reaction.

He just warned them to control their wavelengths with medicine for now since the guide was out of contact.

‘Had Yoon Bodam ever been like this?’

A guy who, despite showing his reluctance, never skipped out on his work.

At the sound of the hooves of the rushing herd of monsters, the combat-ready attack teams moved swiftly.

They couldn’t wait for orders since Esper Lee Tae Hwan, who should have been at their forefront, seemed to be out of his mind.

They wondered what was wrong with him today, a man who usually had a hobby of monster hunting to the point where he couldn’t be stopped once he got started.

All of Tae Hwan’s attention was tied to his phone and watch screens.

It was a first.

***

To claim his prize money, Bodam followed the bank employee up to the third floor in an elevator.

Passing the general counters, he was guided to a room that seemed somewhat private, and he was in a fairly calm state.

It was largely due to the fact that it didn’t feel real.

Click.

The consultant who closed the door and came in congratulated the young winner with a benevolent smile.

“Congratulations. You must be so happy. You seem very young still.”

“Yes. I’m so happy.”

He nodded and replied, the corners of his mouth unconsciously rising into a wide smile.

As he listened to the employee’s request to fill out some personal information on a few documents, the tension that had been pricking his chest gradually grew into excitement.

Happiness, as if shy, was arriving quite slowly.

While filling out the documents and waiting for the newly opened bankbook, he finally started to laugh.

Tension be damned, he was just so f*cking happy.

Insanely happy.

For winnings over 300 million won, the amount after a 33% tax deduction was printed in the bankbook.

He should have been grateful for even 1 billion won, but seeing the amount cut by taxes made his stomach churn.

‘This must be why human greed is endless.’

“Have you told your family?”

“Not yet. I plan to contact them when I’ve calmed down a bit.”

“If my son came to me after winning first place in the lottery, I’d carry him on my back, I tell you!”

“Me too!”

“Oh my. You have a son?”

The employee let out a cheerful laugh at Bodam, who waved his hands, saying he didn’t have one yet.

Then, she picked up Bodam’s empty paper cup and left the room, asking him to wait a moment.

“Hehe. Haa. Oh, seriously…”

He pressed down on the corners of his mouth that wouldn’t stay down and pinched his cheeks.

The encroaching reality fanned the flames in his pleasantly trembling chest.

The warm energy spreading throughout his body made him fidget.

‘How should I start the conversation with mom?’

Just the thought of it felt like someone had reached into his chest and was tickling him.

If he called in this state, he would probably just burst into tears and worry her first.

Just thinking the word ‘mom’ made his nose tingle.

‘Let’s not cry. From now on, only good things will happen, so why cry?’

Bodam, who sniffled briefly, opened his eyes wide and blinked towards the ceiling.

He didn’t want to cry anymore.

He wanted to shake off the past where he had squeezed out tears every day before the swelling around his eyes could even go down.

‘I have the lottery now.’

Not second or third place, but first place.

A 3.1 billion won lottery ticket that had gone on a diet due to taxes.

“3.1 billion… 3.1 billion…”

‘How did such fortune roll its way to me? Who am I?’

The fact that something so dreamlike had befallen him made him suddenly scared.

He was afraid that he had used up a lifetime of luck all at once and that a huge misfortune would come his way.

‘No. That’s not it.’

Bodam, who shook his head to shake off the negative energy, recalled the past days.

He reminisced about the miserable times that had been so arduous and only brought curses.

‘Attack Team 3, those sons of b*tches.’

The time of perseverance over the past six months, summarized by them, was offering comfort to Bodam, who was sitting in this place.

“Wow.”

Bodam’s mouth gaped open as he was lost in thought.

“I don’t have to see those b*stards anymore. Wow…”

With his mouth agape, he recalled the greatest happiness the lottery had given him and leaned back deeply into the sofa.

The time had come to strike out the misfortunes of reality one by one.

“No, wait a minute.”

Bodam covered his lower face with both hands and made a serious expression.

‘This is big. This is big.’

“This is too good. Is it okay to be this happy?”

While he was laughing, drunk on the dazed feeling, and then hardening his expression, the employee came in again.

He quickly composed himself, sat up straight, and smiled.

The employee, who stared intently at Bodam’s bright smile, sat on the sofa and handed him a new paper cup.

This time, she had brought not water, but cool plum juice.

“On Mondays, there are a lot of winners, so the waiting time gets longer. Please wait just a little longer.”

“That’s okay.”

There was no way it wasn’t okay.

What could be more fun and thrilling than waiting for the money you’re about to receive?

“Have you thought about what you’ll do with the prize money?”

To the employee who asked with a soft voice and a smile, Bodam hummed and considered his answer.

After downing the sweet plum juice in one cool shot, he moistened his throat and opened his mouth.

An undisguisable excitement was evident in his bright voice.

“I’m going to start thinking about it one by one from now on. I really never thought I would be given such a large amount of money…”

The rest of the sentence, “I never imagined,” was blocked by a surge of emotion.

He just nodded his head in place of words and turned his gaze to the empty cup.

He was still young, with a long life ahead of him.

Bodam, at twenty-six, had started his social life early, like others who had manifested as ability users.

He had never once taken the guide work he started at twenty lightly.

Whatever the process, he thought of it as a job that saved people.

Calming down Espers who lived with pain in their bodies and guiding them so they wouldn’t go berserk was, honestly, good.

Bodam loved all professions and acts that healed the sick.

Therefore, even when Espers ignored him and took him lightly, he would protect his pride by thinking to himself, ‘You’re alive because of me, you b*stard.’

Anyone can easily forget the importance of the existence next to them.

Or not even realize it at all.

Bodam, who was good-natured by both his own and others’ admission, had tried to understand them.

That was when he liked what he did and was grateful to be able to earn money.

Until he met Attack Team 3, his job satisfaction was, on average, above the mean.

But those fcking bstards ruined it all.

“I’m going to quit my job first.”

He said, composing his emotions as he placed the empty paper cup on the table.

A firm voice flowed from his warmed throat.

It was the first time he had made up his mind so strongly while thinking of Attack Team 3.

Bodam, to whom the lottery had rolled in, now had nothing to fear.

The call signal from the watch that vibrated on his wrist bone, the worry of which teleportation Esper would be assigned today, and even the act of running frantically to avoid encountering a monster when leaving the gate site.

It was all over now.

The end.

The employee, who faced the fair face filled with firm resolve, cheered him on, saying it was a very wonderful idea.

She even gave him hopeful words, saying that most first-place winners sort out their jobs first and that he should now achieve all the futures he had dreamed of.

“You’re still young, so manage your prize money well and live comfortably until your old age. You can definitely do that.”

“Thank you for your kind words.”

Bodam’s eyes grew moist, touched by the employee who spoke warm words even for someone else’s winnings.

Bodam, whose heart opened at the kind smile that made him miss his mom even more.

“So, customer. For safe asset management, may I explain a few simple products? At our bank—”

And so, he ended up sitting there for another hour.