NOVEL NEXT WORLD Chapter 46 - A New Residence (2)
Chapter 46: A New Residence (2)
Baek Jin-woo’s mother, Hwang Myeong-hee, felt like she was living in a dream every day recently.
Thanks to YooBaek’s family care service, her monthly living expenses now amounted to 10 million won.
Hwang Myeong-hee had cut down from three jobs to one, which allowed her to attend reunions she couldn’t participate in before.
“Jung-hye, didn’t you say your son had some news?”
“Haha, my son? Actually, he recently joined Baekho.”
“Baekho? Isn’t that one of the Big Three? Oh my, why didn’t you tell us sooner!”
“Really? He must be doing amazingly well.”
Even amid the usual parental bragging, Hwang Myeong-hee remained unaffected.
Perhaps her expression had grown more relaxed?
‘Baekho?’
She only found out about it thanks to her friends.
It was said to be one of the top three guilds representing Korea.
Baekho, Arirang, and Ilwol.
Not knowing these three was enough to get you labeled a spy; they were incredibly famous large guilds.
“If he’s a player in Baekho, doesn’t that make him practically a chaebol? Jung-hye, you’ve really made it big.”
“Hoho, not quite there yet. He’s just a rookie. But he was specially recruited, and the guild master praised his potential.”
“Wow, the Baekho guild master? Isn’t he ranked second in the country?”
Ranked second, Park Ho.
A monstrous player who also achieved third place in the recent National Team Selection Competition.
For reference, Kang Gun-ho, ranked first in Korea, was Baekho’s vice guild master!
This made Baekho the most notable among the Big Three.
Even so, it felt like a distant story.
Smiling brightly, Hwang Myeong-hee simply listened.
Baekho or whatever else.
‘My Jin-woo is just Baek Jin-woo.’
Baek Jin-woo.
The weight of his name alone carried enormous influence in Korea.
Park Ho? Kang Gun-ho?
All of them would be dealt with in one minute flat before Baek Jin-woo.
However, Hwang Myeong-hee didn’t share this fact with her friends.
She desperately wanted to brag but had agreed with Baek Jin-cheol not to.
They decided not to talk about it anywhere.
It was enough to support her son’s success from the sidelines; there was no need to boast about it publicly.
“But, Myeong-hee, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
One of her friends struck up a conversation with Hwang Myeong-hee.
Her friends’ perception of her could be summarized as follows:
‘Dirt spoon.’
‘Her son had a car accident.’
‘Lives in an old villa.’
‘Juggles three jobs to make ends meet.’
‘Her daughter is pretty, but not good enough to be a daughter-in-law.’
All were negative assumptions.
“Haha, it has been a while, hasn’t it? I recently quit work, so I have a lot more free time.”
“Oh my, but what’s with your skin?”
Skin.
At that word, all eyes turned to Hwang Myeong-hee.
“Now that you mention it, it does look great.”
“You’re starting to resemble your younger self.”
“…You almost look younger. Why don’t you have any wrinkles?”
“Oh my, look at your hands. Why are they so soft? Are you just not aging?”
Intrigued, the attention shifted from Jung-hye to Hwang Myeong-hee.
“Oh, this.”
Hwang Myeong-hee laughed.
Then, with an innocent smile, she summoned a creature.
“A snail?”
“What’s that?”
“A summon…?”
Reacting to their curiosity, Hwang Myeong-hee shared her pride indirectly.
“Yes, it’s a summon my son gave me. It’s like a cosmetic product. I used it and got great results. Want to try some?”
She handed the snail to the friend who had first spoken to her.
“Really?”
Her friend, eyes sparkling, carefully received the snail.
She gently spread a little mucus on the back of her right hand.
“It does feel moisturizing.”
“You’ll be surprised tomorrow. Your wrinkles will smooth out completely.”
“Really? Then let’s try it on the left hand too.”
“Unfortunately, the amount it produces per day is limited.”
Watching the two of them chatter, Jung-hye frowned.
She was annoyed because the conversation had shifted before she was finished bragging about her son.
However.
“Huh?”
Jung-hye tilted her head.
‘That snail.’
She had seen it somewhere before.
What was it?
After a moment of recollection, she was stunned.
‘A r-rainbow snail?’
Among women who liked luxury items and spent a lot of money, the word was already spreading.
When it came to skincare, the rainbow snail was the ultimate solution.
Rumors had even surfaced that Daeseong would soon open a skincare clinic using that summon.
There were very few snail summons in the world, and none other than this one had a shell with a rainbow sheen.
“No way!”
Jung-hye eventually shouted loudly.
“Huh?”
“What’s no way?”
Her friends looked puzzled.
“That snail!”
She directly pointed at Hwang Myeong-hee’s summon.
“Isn’t that a rainbow snail?”
“…A rainbow snail?”
“What’s that?”
Jung-hye felt frustrated.
“You clueless people! Do you know how much that’s worth?”
“How much?”
“Is it expensive?”
“Her son gave it to her as a gift? But didn’t something happen to her son in an accident?”
“Oh my, didn’t you hear? He’s been awake for quite some time now.”
Jung-hye looked at her chatting friends and felt a sense of confusion.
‘Come to think of it, how does Hwang Myeong-hee even have that?’
Myeong-hee was dirt poor.
She had no money.
No connections.
She was an ordinary citizen, even below average.
Yet?
To her knowledge, the current market value of a rainbow snail was 50 billion won.
Moreover, with only 100 in existence worldwide, its price was increasing.
Its expected value was around 100 billion won.
Because of this, wealthy people who kept up with trends joked about snail investment being a new form of wealth management.
“….”
Sensing the strange atmosphere, Hwang Myeong-hee quickly unsummoned the snail.
“Oh, it’s just a simple gift. I don’t know its price, but it can’t be that expensive.”
While beads of sweat formed on her forehead, Hwang Myeong-hee thought to herself.
‘I need to be more careful.’
To be honest, she never imagined one of her friends would recognize the snail.
More than anything, she didn’t even know how much the snail was worth.
“……”
Fortunately, Jung-hye didn’t say anything further.
‘What on earth does her son do to give her such a gift?’
She simply continued to stare at Hwang Myeong-hee with suspicion.
* * *
“Done! It’s complete!”
At the foot of Geomdansan Mountain in Hanam City.
Yoo Ji-ah stretched out her arms and shouted with joy.
“Wow……”
“Amazing……”
Kim Byung-jin and Hwang Tae-seop, who had accompanied her, were wide-eyed in awe.
The construction company had finished all the final touches and left.
The land Yoo Ji-ah had purchased had been transformed into a small paradise.
Buildings towering high and a magnificently designed entrance!
“Isn’t it amazing? This will be YooBaek’s headquarters from now on.”
Yoo Ji-ah murmured, suppressing her ambitions.
“……YooBaek’s headquarters.”
“As the world’s best one-person management company, we will only hire the world’s top elites. Naturally, we’ll promise the best treatment and benefits in the industry.”
The first step toward that goal was “housing.”
YooBaek provided its employees and their families with spacious homes free of charge.
The duration of this benefit lasted as long as they worked for the company.
Of course, upon retirement, the home would be fully transferred to them.
“Does that mean we’ll be moving in here too?”
“Of course.”
Yoo Ji-ah smiled brightly as she continued.
“But first, there are some very important people I need to bring in.”
* * *
Yoo Ji-ah named the complex “YooBaek City.”
It was a small city exclusively for YooBaek members.
Let’s take a quick look at the design.
In the center stood a 35-story building, the headquarters of YooBaek.
This building would house research facilities, legal teams, sales teams, marketing teams, finance teams, and support teams.
All of these departments would work together to care for Baek Jin-woo.
Naturally, the rooftop was extravagantly designed as a private office space for Yoo Ji-ah and Baek Jin-woo.
This area would be accessible only to the founding members like Kim Byung-jin and Hwang Tae-seop.
Next.
To the north was a training facility dedicated solely to Baek Jin-woo.
It included a spacious outdoor field similar to his previous open area, along with a soundproof underground room, various exercise equipment, showers, and cooling facilities.
The facility was designed in every way to ensure his summons could train in optimal conditions.
Next.
To the east was an apartment complex.
Four buildings in total were constructed.
At the top of each 30-story building was a 489.25㎡ (approximately 148-pyeong) duplex penthouse.
The other floors all consisted of large units with a size of 60 pyeong.
The parking lot extended to two basement levels.
It was spacious enough for every resident to park two cars, and the community facilities were exceptional.
Breakfast service, cleaning, valet parking, laundry, fitness centers, golf courses, swimming pools, pet care, and shops.
Residents could live their entire lives without stepping foot outside the complex.
Next.
To the west was a bunker.
This was built at Baek Jin-woo’s request for safety, designed deep underground to withstand even a nuclear strike.
All residents could move underground where there were rooms and facilities to sustain them.
Finally.
To the south was the grand entrance and garden.
There were beautiful walking paths as well.
“……Wow.”
“What is all this?”
“Hahaha.”
Yoo Ji-ah first brought Baek Ah-jin, Baek Jin-cheol, and Hwang Myeong-hee to the site.
“This is part of the care service I mentioned before. The three of you are like VIPs of our company. You’ll be staying in a penthouse.”
The four penthouses already had their owners assigned.
1. Baek Jin-woo.
2. Yoo Ji-ah.
3. Baek Jin-cheol and Hwang Myeong-hee.
4. Baek Ah-jin.
Following Yoo Ji-ah’s tour of the penthouses and facilities, the three were overwhelmed with emotion.
“……Mom, Dad. I think this is the nicest house I’ve ever seen in my life.”
Baek Ah-jin marveled.
“Thanks to our son, we’ll never have to worry about housing again.”
“……Is it really okay for us to accept something like this?”
Baek Jin-cheol and Hwang Myeong-hee didn’t know how to react.
They had lived their entire lives in an old, worn-down villa.
“I’ve never even dreamed of a house like this.”
“Our imagination couldn’t even come close.”
“Even so…… We’ve grown attached to our old place……”
As he spoke, Baek Jin-cheol grinned.
“Yeah, right?”
“Agreed, dear.”
Hwang Myeong-hee nodded firmly.
“Don’t say such scary things. Attached? Please.”
Attached? Nonsense!
No matter what anyone said, a new house was the best.
That’s right!
Their son was the world’s best player!
The news said the government’s annual support for him alone was 2 trillion won!
A house like this was something he could easily afford!
“I’ve always known our Jin-woo would become someone great!”
“……Didn’t you give up on him when he was just playing games?”
“When did I say that? You’re the one who said you wished he could be half as good as Jung-hye’s son!”
“Hahaha, honey.”
Hwang Myeong-hee quickly covered Baek Jin-cheol’s mouth.
“Someone might hear. Let’s just say nice things today, okay?”
“Okay.”
Yoo Ji-ah smiled warmly as she watched the playful banter between the two.
She then handed over the keys, user manuals, and blueprints.
“We’ll help make the move as smooth as possible, so take your time looking around.”
“Hahaha, thank you.”
“We’re always grateful.”
Watching the couple express their thanks, Yoo Ji-ah smiled softly.
‘You’re welcome.’
Compared to the wealth Baek Jin-woo would generate in the future, this was insignificant—barely even worth mentioning!
After wrapping up their greetings, Yoo Ji-ah quickly got back to work.
As YooBaek continued its rapid expansion, her tasks were piling up.
Even so.
Yoo Ji-ah worked with the happiest smile she had ever worn in her life.