TIN 41

I first saw Kei when winter was approaching my eighteenth year. It was a time when I was looking for boxes to cover myself from the suddenly cold weather, and always carrying the money I had saved bit by bit because I had nowhere else to keep it. It was a time when I had the nerve to ignore a corpse discarded in a pile of trash, but also a time to be wary of sudden presences.

‘Ugh…’

The black mass that I had momentarily thought was a corpse groaned in pain, proving my assumption was wrong. Judging by its occasional twitches, it seemed life still clung to it. Of course, death would soon become a reality to it, so it didn’t really matter either way.

The problem was that he was crawling toward me.

‘Help…me…’

The hand stretched out with all its might didn’t even reach me. Because I stepped aside before his hand could touch my ankle. Instead of giving up, the man pleaded once more with a dying voice.

‘Help me, ugh…’

Belatedly, I realized that the man’s appearance was different from ‘us.’ Though thoroughly dirtied, the clothes he wore looked expensive and shiny. He turned out to be a young master from a rich family. As soon as I realized this, the whole situation made utter sense to me.

‘Just to the end of the alley…just take me that far…’

It was a common occurrence. Naive young masters testing their courage by crossing to this side, only to be taught a harsh lesson. Those with nothing to lose fear nothing, so there was no way they would leave a golden goose alone. It was decent of them to not have stripped him of his clothes.

‘Please…’

The reason I didn’t leave immediately was because I was considering whether to take  his coat. It seemed all his valuable items had been stolen, and really, the most precious thing now was his clothes. But misunderstanding my hesitation, the man suddenly raised his head and shouted.

‘If you help me now, I’ll compensate you!’

‘…’

It was an incredibly arrogant request, considering he should be begging for my help. Offering compensation was wise, but given his state right then, it lacked credibility. Even if I helped, there was a high chance he’d just take advantage and then pretend not to know me.

‘So…hey, hey!’

As I was turning to leave, the man mustered all his strength and grabbed hold of my ankle. For someone on the brink of death, his grip was surprisingly strong, almost making me stumble.

‘You’re just going to ignore this and leave, huh? Y-You’ll regret this later!’

‘…’

‘I won’t let the guys who did this to me get away with it either. When I catch those bastards, I’ll catch you too!’

What’s he saying? That was about the extent of my thoughts. I shook my ankle, but the man clung on like a leech.

After shouting angrily for a while, when I didn’t say anything, the man suddenly asked with a disbelieving face.

‘…Could it be that you can’t speak?’

I swallowed a laugh at the familiar question. Then I roughly shook off the man’s hand. Finally after realizing this wouldn’t work, the man urgently cried out.

‘Money! I’ll give you money! I’m rich!’

‘How much will you give?’

‘…What?’

As if he really thought I was a mute, the man looked up at me with a startled face when I spoke. I crouched in front of him and pointed at his thoroughly dirtied coat.

‘I’ll help you if you give me that coat.’

The coat I obtained that way proved very useful in getting through that winter.

Furthermore, as soon as we reached the alley entrance, the man called someone and even paid me. The amount was more than I expected, enough to make me want to help him again if possible.

Anyway, what I thought would be a one-time encounter surprisingly continued the next time. Not long after, the man came back to the alley. Having learned from his previous experience, this time he came with a bodyguard.

‘Wow, good to see you.’

I had no intention of acknowledging him, but the man grabbed me, talking like a third-rate villain. Still wearing the man’s coat at that time, I could only eye him warily while closing the front of the coat around my body.

‘What did you do with the money I gave you last time?’

‘…I’ve already spent it all.’

The money was actually still in my pocket, but I couldn’t answer honestly. It would have been troublesome if he had asked for it back.

While I was considering kicking him in the groin and running away, the man smiled confidently as if to say ‘look here.’

‘See, this is the problem.’

‘…’

‘You just spend it all, afraid it might get stolen.’

It was a rather sharp observation for someone who had been lying helplessly after being attacked. In fact, in this world, there was nothing more foolish than hoarding cash that could be stolen at any time. Of course, the biggest problem was whether there was any money to hoard in the first place.

‘I’m going to open up a financial route here.’

He introduced himself as Kei and claimed he would create a bank for the poor. He said current banks were only for the privileged, so he would become a safe transaction point for those without legal identities. It sounded nice to call it a bank, but it was no different from a fee-charging safe, and to me it seemed like the unrealistic dream of a naive young master.

‘I’ll give you the honor of being my first customer.’

Naturally, I had no intention of accepting such a trivial honor. Seeing me turn around without another word, Kei seemingly flustered, shouted urgently again.

‘I’ll even waive the fees for you specially, okay?’

If you’re going to rip people off, you’ll try anything. I thought it was quite varied how this rich guy was putting into words his intention to take money.

What stopped me in my tracks was what he said next.

‘Then information! Just get me some information!’

‘…’

I stopped abruptly. As I slowly turned back, Kei sighed deeply and messed up his hair.

‘To do business, I need to know how things work around here. Just find out what I ask you to.’

‘For free?’

Calling him a terrible guy under my breath wasn’t too important. Hadn’t he come all this way just to play with money in the first place? So as it turned out, what only mattered in the end was what I would manage to get from him.

‘I’ll pay you. Per piece of information.’

For exactly one year after that, Kei became a businessman whose name everyone knew. He would keep money for a small fee, and occasionally give out loans for higher interest. With anonymity guaranteed and fixed fees, more and more people sought him out.

My role in this process was, as he said, to gather information. Who controlled which area, who to be careful of, where people usually got robbed, and even what the public opinion was about K’s ‘bank.’

‘So, what do you think?’

‘…’

‘Do you feel like becoming my customer now?’

By that point, I couldn’t help but use Kei as well. Especially since he didn’t even charge fees, claiming it was some kind of business partner benefit.

A few years later, when I entered Oceans, my relationship with Kei changed a bit. He no longer needed my help, and I could no longer entrust money to Kei. It was clear by then that I wouldn’t be able to meet Kei anymore since I couldn’t leave Oceans.

‘I’ll come to meet you then.’

But when I went to retrieve the money I had deposited, he said that casually. Until then, not knowing about Kei’s family background, I couldn’t help but think it was groundless and reckless confidence.

‘You can’t enter Oceans.’

‘What do you take me for?’

His smirking face was confident. Just like years ago when he said he would open up a financial route here.

‘How about this? If you suck me off now, I’ll visit once a month.’

Whether it was a joke or not didn’t matter. Kei was a valuable connection for me too, and I was the one at a disadvantage, not him. Seeing me suddenly kneel down, Kei made a subtle expression, but after everything was done, he caressed my ear with a flushed face.

‘…Let’s meet as a VIP next.’

To cut to the chase, he really came to Oceans a month later. As a VIP that even the manager bowed to while escorting him to Room 2, too. Well, I kind of expected it as soon as I belatedly realized he was an alpha.

When I found out he was the heir to one of the top three financial companies, I thought, This bastard is quite loaded. I couldn’t understand why someone with so much money would go around doing silly things to earn pocket change. When I realized it was really just for ‘fun,’ I thought he was even more of a lunatic.

‘Hello, Bada.’

Anyway, his greeting while waving a wad of cash was different from when he was groaning face down in a pile of trash. He spread the bills on the table and smiled with a deliberately arrogant expression.

‘I finally learned that expensive name.’

It was something I hadn’t answered in the past. When Kei asked for my name and age, I brushed him off asking if he’d pay for that information too. I eventually told him my age in exchange for money, but I always dodged the question about my name.

‘Surprised? That I’m Kim Jaewon, not Kei?’

Kim Jaewon of Jaekyung Finance. The guy who was still Kei to me asked with a grinning face. He seemed delighted to have learned the name Bada, his face full of smiles. He seemed somewhat expectant, but unfortunately, I only had one answer to give.

‘I knew it was an alias.’

I knew from the start, I just didn’t ask because I wasn’t interested. It was strange for someone so well-off not to have a surname, and he never actually told me his name himself. At most, he only said, ‘Call me Kei.’

‘There’s no way you’d use your real name in a place like that.’