Chapter 1: The Twenty-Year-Old Devil

If anyone were asked to name the most vicious twenty-year-old in the world, they would undoubtedly say Park Tae-seo.

Likewise, if anyone were asked to name the luckiest twenty-year-old in the world, they would point to him as well.

What percentage of chaebol families in the world are actually peaceful and harmonious?

And what are the odds of being born as the youngest child in such a family—a child who bears zero obligations and gets to do nothing but enjoy the luxury?

Park Tae-seo defied those microscopic odds.

He was the late-born youngest child of a peaceful, loving chaebol family, a spoiled monster raised on overflowing affection.

His family tree was as complicated as any other chaebol’s.

Park Cheon-sa, the vice chairman of the world-leading conglomerate Goseong Group, had been married three times.

He lost his first wife to illness, divorced his second wife by mutual agreement, and was currently living happily with his third wife.

His current wife, Lee Min-ji, was famous for her high education and stunning beauty as an actress.

Park Cheon-sa had aggressively pursued her starting when she was just twenty, eventually winning her heart and making her his third wife.

At the time, Lee Min-ji was only twenty-one, and Park Cheon-sa’s eldest son was eleven.

The eldest son treated his stepmother, who was only ten years older than him, with the utmost respect.

His younger half-siblings, born just a year apart, followed his lead and treated her politely as well.

Because Lee Min-ji was wise and gentle, she integrated smoothly into the family.

The couple’s marital affection was exceptionally strong, and just a year into their marriage, they welcomed a child.

This baby’s name was Park Tae-seo.

Most newborns are covered in adorable little wrinkles, but somehow, even as a newborn, this baby boasted cute and lovely features.

The Goseong Group chairman—his grandfather, infamous for his finicky nature—shook rattles for him.

The director of the Leo Art Museum—his grandmother, infamous for her sternness—pushed his stroller.

His aunt, the chairwoman of a Goseong Group foundation, created a social media account just to brag about the lovely baby.

His uncle, the chairman of Rajin Entertainment, constantly brought up his youngest nephew on broadcasts, leading the media to speculate about Tae-seo’s eventual debut in show business.

The entire family was completely infatuated with the youngest child.

“Come to think of it, things were already going wrong back then…”

Years passed, and Park Cheon-sa, now fifty-five, pressed firmly against his temples.

Lee Min-ji, now forty-one, took out a pillbox, swallowed one pill herself, and handed one to her husband.

Park Cheon-sa swallowed the painkiller without water, just like his wife.

He had taken them so often that he was used to it.

“If he had become a celebrity, do you think he would at least have managed his public image?”

“I doubt it. It probably would have just caused even more controversy.”

“Everyone’s criticizing us, saying we failed at raising our child.”

“We only failed with one out of four; they’re being too harsh…”

The eldest son from his first marriage was currently thirty-one and the designated heir to inherit the company.

From his second marriage, he had a son and a daughter, aged thirty and twenty-nine respectively, both holding key executive positions in subsidiary companies.

While other chaebol families were torn apart by bloody successor battles, the Goseong Group children shared deep sibling affection and were eager to do more for one another.

The company was growing day by day, the children were deeply filial, and the relationship with both sets of in-laws was harmonious.

In the midst of everything running so smoothly, the sole reason for the couple’s distress was Park Tae-seo.

They thought that if he received nothing but love, he would grow up to be a sweet, loving child.

However, Park Tae-seo received too much love, and it twisted him completely.

Since the succession had already been settled among his older half-brothers and half-sister, all the youngest brother had to do was receive affection.

There were only adults around him who spoiled him endlessly, no matter what he did.

He never had to compete with anyone, he could do whatever he wanted, and he never had to force himself to do things he disliked.

Park Tae-seo’s daily life was overly peaceful and happy.

If only he had grown up into a cute, sweet darling within that tranquility.

Instead, Park Tae-seo walked down the path of an arrogant, rotten scoundrel.

School violence, drinking, smoking, and driving without a license were just the basics.

He moved on to overseas gambling, stock manipulation, and drug parties.

Despite all kinds of vicious acts that constantly made headlines both domestically and internationally, his family could never bring themselves to scold him.

Whenever they tried to get angry, one look at their youngest’s cute acts of affection made them brush it off, thinking, ‘It’s just a small mistake.’

‘He’s still young. He’ll get better as he grows up.’

Caddled in the arms of his forgiving family, the devil smoothly transitioned into adulthood.

At age twenty, on January 1st: right from the start of the year, reports of Park Tae-seo’s power trips and abuse came through the hotline, and they bribed the media and the whistleblower with money.

February: drug trafficking. Naturally, they bribed the prosecution with money.

March: a traffic accident after running a red light. They bribed the victim with money.

April: assaulting a university classmate. Again, they bribed the victim with money and arranged a transfer for them…

And a few days ago:

“Drunk driving in our family…”

Tae-seo had been driving under the influence and struck an elderly person.

Supposedly, he had only taken a light sip of wine and driven for five minutes before hitting an elderly person who was jaywalking.

Fortunately, it ended with only minor injuries, but the outcome wasn’t the point.

Drunk driving? How could he commit such trashy behavior?

Ever since an elder of the Park family had passed away in a drunk driving accident, it had become a strict taboo.

Because of this, even Park Cheon-sa and Lee Min-ji could not tolerate it this time.

They made a drastic decision.

They gave up on bribing the media, allowing the story to be reported as it was.

They also cut off the Black Card they had given to their youngest out of worry for him living alone.

Our Cute Youngest: [Dad ㅠㅠ There are so many trashy reporters outside that I can’t leave ㅠㅠ]

Our Cute Youngest: [I was supposed to hang out with my friends today ㅠㅠ If I don’t go, I’ll get left out ㅠ]

Our Cute Youngest: [Mom, Dad, what are you both doing? Why isn’t anyone replying? ㅠ]

Our Cute Youngest: [Dad, Mom, your youngest is having such a hard time…..]

Park Cheon-sa found it increasingly difficult to look at Tae-seo’s messages.

Even though he knew those cute acts were fake, his heart still wavered.

“Should we reactivate his card at least?”

“You must absolutely not give in. That child is a devil.”

“But what if our cute youngest gets bullied?”

“Never… If anything, he would be the one leading the bullying. He will never be the victim of it.”

Unlike Park Cheon-sa, Lee Min-ji was cold and calm.

“He looks pitiful like this, but I’m certain he’s thinking, ‘f*ck, those old geezers are throwing a tantrum by cutting my card. They’re gonna give it back soon anyway.’ If we bow down and give in again, it’s no different from admitting we’re raising him to be a monster.”

“Then what do you propose we do? He’s not the type to reflect just because we leave him like this. I’m worried he’s starving because he has no money.”

“A person doesn’t die from starving for a day.”

“How can you say such a thing?”

Her husband, a natural-born chaebol who had never starved a day in his life, was thrown into shock.

Lee Min-ji held her husband’s hand tightly.

Even though he was a wealthy man who spent a fortune on skincare, his hands were wrinkled appropriate to his age.

She desperately wanted to reform her youngest son, and she believed it wasn’t entirely too late yet.

He was only twenty, wasn’t he? He could definitely change.

However, doing things the old way would only keep them running in circles.

Her husband looked ready to contact Tae-seo at any moment.

His soft-hearted grandparents and half-siblings might have already contacted him.

The only person in this family maintaining sanity was herself—the devil’s biological mother.

“I have an idea.”

She explained the plan she had thought of.

It might be a harsh act that trampled on Tae-seo’s pride, but this was something that could never be swept under the rug again, so she hardened her resolve.

If anyone were asked to name the most vicious twenty-year-old in the world, it would be Park Tae-seo.

The luckiest twenty-year-old would also be Park Tae-seo.

Furthermore, if anyone were asked to name the handsomest twenty-year-old, everyone would still point to Park Tae-seo.

Standing well over 190 cm tall with broad shoulders, an impeccable physique, and a remarkably handsome face that looked as if God had painstakingly sculpted it, the twenty-year-old young man got into his car with a murderous expression.

“Those old geezers are throwing a f*cking fit by cutting my card. They’re gonna give it back soon anyway.”

His language was filterless, even when talking about his parents.

Yoon Jun-ho, who used to be Park Cheon-sa’s secretary before losing a game of rock-paper-scissors and becoming responsible for catering to Tae-seo, read the room and gestured to the driver.

The driver carefully turned on the navigation system.

The destination was Goseong Hospital—the place where the victim of Tae-seo’s hit-and-run accident was currently admitted.

“How long will it take?”

“It will take 30 minutes.”

“f*cking great, seriously.”

Tae-seo tossed his phone aside.

On the screen, two messages from the vice chairman of Goseong Group were displayed:

[If you receive forgiveness from the victimized grandmother, I will reactivate your card.]

[It must be a handwritten letter of forgiveness from the grandmother herself.]

Seeing as there were no typos, it seemed to have been written by Lee Min-ji rather than Park Cheon-sa.

Yoon Jun-ho was seeing the phrase ‘letter of forgiveness’ for the first time in his life.

He felt this was practically a punishment for the victimized grandmother instead.

“If those old relics have gone senile, they should just stay quietly in a hospital. Who the hell do they think they’re ordering around?”

Yoon Jun-ho thought that the one who needed to go to a hospital was probably Tae-seo himself.

“First, I have drafted an apology letter. Please review it.”

Park Tae-seo frowned as he casually skimmed the apology letter handed to him by the secretary.

Yoon Jun-ho was on pins and needles.

Park Tae-seo was the kind of person who could throw a punch at any moment and break the jawbone of a secretary who got on his nerves.

Sure enough, Tae-seo crumpled up the apology letter.

“Sorry…? Ha, you want me to say a word like this? In my entire life, I’ve never said a word like this to anyone except my mom.”

“We have prepared cash in advance, so you won’t necessarily have to read the apology letter.”

“How much?”

“It is 1 billion won.”

“Only that much? Well, fine. If it’s 1 billion won, she’ll accept it. She’s just a pauper who barely owns a single multi-unit house.”

Tae-seo hadn’t turned into a beggar just because his card was cut.

The stock he held alone was worth tens of billions, and combined with his real estate, it was an astronomical fortune.

However, this was the first time his parents had ever cut off his card, and this wasn’t an issue he could simply brush off by giving up that card.

Because it was the first scolding he had experienced in his life, even Tae-seo was taking it seriously.

Given his temperament, he wanted to fight back and tell them to cut ties if they wanted to.

Yet, unlike his spoiled-brat appearance, Tae-seo understood reality very well.

The power to cover up his rowdy, delinquent behavior was only effective under the shield of the Goseong Group.

This time, he had to go along with the old folks’ wishes.

If 1 billion won wasn’t enough, he could give her more money. 1 billion won was chump change anyway.

Either way, he would smoothly obtain the letter of forgiveness, and once his parents calmed down, he planned to lay low for a while.

Tae-seo skimmed the apology letter drafted by his secretary once more.

Right from the very first sentence, the word ‘sorry’ was written.

He had never once imagined in his life that he would ever say a word like that to another human being.

“f*ck.”

Getting pissed off all over again, he threw a tantrum inside the spacious car interior.

Yoon Jun-ho backed away as far as he could.