LIGHTNOVELSTORY Chapter 27 - Family Care Service (2)
Chapter 27: Family Care Service (2)
‘What’s this?’
Why is Yoo Ji-ah following me……
We only met once and exchanged greetings, but…
‘I did request it first, didn’t I?’
I didn’t think it through.
Since she’s a popular influencer with so many followers, I just clicked it as a fan, but as the CEO of “YooBaek,” she might have accepted it for player management reasons.
After all, I’m Baek Jin-woo’s family.
“Haha, right.”
In the end, Baek Ah-jin scratched her head, having nothing to say in front of her friends.
“Right…?”
“Hey! Just ‘right’? You can’t explain this with just that reaction!”
“How do you know each other? Are you close?”
“What the heck. Why didn’t you tell us!”
Baek Ah-jin was already receiving a lot of attention, but her friends’ reactions that day were explosive.
While her shoulders lifted in pride, Baek Ah-jin also felt embarrassed.
She’d promised her brother, mentioning it every time they met.
She’d agreed not to mention her existence to others.
‘Geez.’
She should be only moderately famous if she’s going to keep quiet.
She brushed it off with her friends, saying she happened to meet her once and that she seemed to like her.
Naturally, none of her friends believed her, but what could she do? It was the truth.
And then…
Meeting Yoo Ji-ah happened sooner than she’d expected.
[Yoo Ji-ah: Ah-jin? Could we meet briefly, perhaps?]
A direct DM from her!
“Eek!”
That day.
Baek Ah-jin let out a bird-like cry.
Out of sheer excitement.
* * *
Hannam-dong.
Baek Ah-jin, who had taken a day off, stood on the road, waiting for someone.
Before long.
Screech!
A sleek car came to a halt in front of her.
A premium line from Dae-sung Motors.
It was Yoo Ji-ah’s car.
“Get in.”
“Ah, yes!”
A very nervous Baek Ah-jin got into the passenger seat.
‘She’s so frugal.’
As a chaebol granddaughter, she expected an expensive foreign car with a chauffeur.
But driving a domestic car herself?
‘Well.’
For chaebols, cars wouldn’t matter that much.
Whether domestic or foreign, it probably wasn’t that expensive for them.
In reality, Yoo Ji-ah owned enough cars to have a personal collection, but there was no way for Baek Ah-jin to know that.
“So.”
Baek Ah-jin asked.
“You want to see our family, right? Without my brother. Just us.”
Yoo Ji-ah and Baek Ah-jin had exchanged plenty of messages before meeting.
“Yes. Jin-woo is so busy these days. So, I asked if it would be okay to send gifts under the YooBaek name, and he said it was fine.”
“Wow, so you’re giving the gifts in person?”
“Yes, since I’m the CEO.”
In that one sentence from Yoo Ji-ah, Baek Ah-jin sensed it.
How sincere she was about Jin-woo.
How deeply she was thinking of him.
Most companies would just send the gifts by delivery and be done with it.
That’s why she agreed.
She was curious about the gifts, too.
“I told my mom and dad not to go to work today. Told them I’d introduce someone.”
“Hehe, thank you.”
“I love my parents, but they’re something else. They don’t even realize how famous their son is yet.”
“Really?”
“Yes, they might be the least aware people in the world.”
The two chatted lightly as they headed to the house.
To the villa complex, where Baek Jin-woo lived.
* * *
As they passed a narrow path and saw an extremely old villa.
“…….”
Yoo Ji-ah was honestly surprised.
‘People still live in places like this.’
It might seem like an ordinary home, but for her as a chaebol, it was the real life of ordinary people that she had never experienced before.
Cobwebs stretched across the entrance.
A dusty, abandoned bicycle.
The earthy smell wafting from various places.
Ding dong!
As they entered the house, a man and woman greeted them with smiles.
Baek Jin-cheol and Hwang Myung-hee.
Baek Jin-woo’s parents.
“Oh my.”
Especially, Hwang Myung-hee was surprised to see Yoo Ji-ah’s face.
“What a pretty young lady. Are you Jin-ah’s friend?”
“Haha, Mom. Not exactly a friend.”
“Hm? Not a friend?”
Baek Ah-jin had only mentioned she would introduce someone.
So her parents had no idea who Yoo Ji-ah was.
Once inside, Yoo Ji-ah bowed politely.
“Hello. I’m Yoo Ji-ah from YooBaek.”
“YooBaek?”
“Yoo Ji-ah?”
Mom and Dad looked confused, and Baek Ah-jin sighed.
Of course.
They didn’t know a thing.
It’d be hard not to know her if they followed the news closely.
“Sigh, Mom.”
In the end, Baek Ah-jin began to explain.
She had been prepared for this since deciding to bring Yoo Ji-ah here.
She planned to tell them everything about her brother as a player.
‘Family should know, even if friends don’t.’
Her brother kept saying he’d tell them soon, but he was always running dungeons, and the fact that he’d allowed Yoo Ji-ah to send gifts under the YooBaek name meant he was ready, too.
She took out her phone and showed them all the videos and articles she’d collected about her brother.
The relationship between Baek Jin-woo and YooBaek, and information about Yoo Ji-ah, were all neatly organized.
“Is… is that true?”
“Our Jin-woo… Is he really such a famous player? Oh my, his face even appears large on the news?”
“A new Korean record? Ha ha, does that even make sense?”
At first, his parents couldn’t believe it, but after checking the materials, they had no choice but to believe.
Yoo Ji-ah bowed her head again.
“Yes, that’s why I, as the CEO of YooBaek, came here to care for Baek Jin-woo’s family.”
“…Huh.”
Baek Jin-cheol sighed deeply.
Now he understood exactly who this young lady was.
‘A member of the Daesung Group family.’
No one living in Korea could be unaware of Daesung, no matter how oblivious they were.
A conglomerate of conglomerates.
A company that sustains the nation!
Honestly, Baek Jin-cheol was taken aback.
He was so surprised he didn’t even know how to react.
How could such an important person come directly to such a humble place?
“Father. Under the contract with your son, our company has a duty to care for the two of you with utmost sincerity.”
“For us?”
“Yes, would you like to take a look?”
Yoo Ji-ah handed over a pamphlet.
A care system for family members, specially designed by YooBaek.
From security to a new home, regular living expense support, and even medical assistance…
“Ha ha.”
“What is all this?”
Hwang Myung-hee’s eyes widened.
Especially when she saw the part about a monthly living expense of 10 million won, she was so surprised she almost fainted.
‘Is this even real? Isn’t this a prank?’
It had been so difficult up until now.
Struggling to support the family, taking on three jobs, her wrist was nearly ruined.
Wrinkles covered her skin.
No one does exhausting work because they want to.
They just move for survival.
“Is… is this really true?”
“Yes, there’s no need to be overly surprised. Compared to the profit we gain through Player Baek Jin-woo, this is a minor support.”
“Huh…”
It felt like a dream.
It had to.
How could it make sense that her son, who had been in a coma for three years, suddenly became a renowned player in Korea?
If she told her friends, they’d laugh, saying it was nonsense.
“Oh, and… I also prepared a personal gift on top of this.”
“A gift?”
“I heard that Father likes summoned creatures?”
“Oh, uh… I think you mean the Pebble Golem.”
Baek Jin-cheol scratched his head.
He felt a bit embarrassed.
It seemed like just yesterday he had been so proud of his E-rank Pebble Golem…
“First, let’s go outside!”
In front of the villa, at the playground.
The first thing Yoo Ji-ah took out was…
Awoooooo!
A majestic howl from a Shadow Wolf.
“Wow! What is this!”
Baek Ah-jin was thrilled.
A 500 million won B-rank summoned creature!
She’d been hoping for it when her brother said he’d give it to her, but as time passed with no news, she’d honestly given up.
500 million may sound easy to say, but…
It’s something some people never touch in a lifetime.
To be honest, she already felt indebted to her brother for taking just a 20% share from rune sales.
“This is my personal gift. I heard from Jin-woo that Ah-jin would like it.”
“Really… can I really have this?”
“Of course.”
Yoo Ji-ah smiled and handed gifts to Baek Jin-cheol and Hwang Myung-hee as well.
“This is…”
The summoned creature Hwang Myung-hee received was a B-rank Rainbow Snail.
“What is this?”
“It’s hard to come by, but I managed to get one. The skill descriptions are written, so you can read them slowly.”
The summoned creature Baek Jin-cheol received was a B-rank Diamond Golem.
“It’s similar in size to the Pebble Golem, but the strength is in a different league.”
“Heh, heh heh… Thank you. Thanks to my son, I get something like this.”
He couldn’t know the exact value, but it looked quite precious.
Honestly, he felt a mix of burden and happiness.
At times like this, Baek Jin-cheol preferred to joke.
“If you want a refund later, don’t come asking, okay?”
“Haha, if anything, we’d add more, not ask for it back.”
After the gift ceremony was over…
“Stay and have a meal. It’s just about time to feel hungry.”
Hwang Myung-hee grabbed Yoo Ji-ah and led her inside.
“Mom. A meal?”
Baek Ah-jin tried to stop her, but…
“Shall I? I was actually feeling a bit peckish earlier.”
Hehe.
The atmosphere softened with Yoo Ji-ah’s playful grin as she stuck her tongue out slightly.
***
Meanwhile…
Baek Jin-woo was still clearing dungeons with Poryong.
These days, he was entirely focused on this, with no energy for anything else.
–
[Summoned Creature: Explosive Dragon Warrior]
[Species: Human]
[Grade: EX (Classified)]
Isolated due to balance-breaking factors found in specific situations.
[Level: 42]
[Stats]
Strength: 20, Intelligence: 85, Endurance: 20, Agility: 20
HP: 22,000, MP: 500
Critical Hit Rate: 55%
Critical Damage: 185%
[Skills]
Dragon Explosion: Unleashes flame in the shape of a dragon forward.
–
Now the runes were fairly upgraded, and his level had risen quite a bit.
The runes had good options for decent damage output.
“How’s the training going?”
It’s taking longer than I thought. I thought leveling up would do the trick since I learned it once, but… I’m starting to get the hang of it.
Poryong was quite enthusiastic.
However…
Though his damage output and skill proficiency had increased, strangely, he hadn’t unlocked a new skill.
‘I need to master “Yeon” quickly to move to the next stage.’
He had to change his weekday dungeon to intermediate soon, and more than anything…
‘The Tower of Trials.’
Baek Jin-woo’s eyes sparkled.
He needed to challenge the Tower of Trials soon.
‘Rachel said she’s on the 29th floor?’
It might be too much to reach that high, but…
He could likely make it to the 10th floor with his current strength.
‘If only Poryong could learn “Yeon.”’
While he could compensate for the lack of damage with control, if the damage was too low, clearing would be difficult.
The only solution to break through was Poryong.
The Tower of Trials was a dungeon Baek Jin-woo had to conquer.
With its extreme difficulty, the rewards were excellent.
Unlike regular or weekday dungeons, it offered unique rewards, but even veteran players didn’t know much about them.
There was no other choice.
Each floor allowed only one chance at the reward, and since it varied each time, there were too few testers left as most players had quit.
One thing was certain.
The rewards were unique items that couldn’t be obtained from regular or weekday dungeons.
‘Whatever it is, it’ll be a huge help to me now.’
For that, my Poryong needs to learn that skill quickly.
Don’t worry, Jin-woo! I’ll definitely learn it and treat you to chicken and beer!
“Yes, yes. Take it easy. When you’re in a rush, things don’t work out.”
Fwooosh!
Today, too, Poryong’s flames decorated the dungeon.