1. The Shameless (Part 1)

“Please, please, I beg you. If you let me off this time, I swear I’ll pay you back somehow.”

At one side of the lush golf course, a man’s desperate cry echoed. Buried in a sand bunker with only his face barely sticking out, Min-jun was pouring out all kinds of flattery. Hee-tae, holding a golf club, swung it in front of him. Thwack, and as sand scattered right in front of Min-jun’s nose, he was engulfed in a sandstorm. Min-jun looked up at Hee-tae, trembling with fear that his face might have been blown away.

“Yeah, shut that mouth of yours. Your teeth will fly out if I swing this club.”

Hee-tae spoke in a leisurely tone, looking down at Min-jun. Min-jun, with a face that seemed like he might wet himself in the sand, shivered uncontrollably. Hee-tae was familiar with such terrified faces. He received a cigarette from the burly man standing behind him. After exhaling a puff of smoke, he lifted Min-jun’s chin with the end of his golf club and inspected him closely. 

“This guy, I don’t think he’d even be worth selling to a salt mines. You don’t smoke, right? You’d be better off selling your organs.” 

Hearing Hee-tae’s words, Min-jun was so horrified that he couldn’t even scream. He was the only son of the Myung-woo Foundation. A young master who had lived his entire life in luxury. However, two years ago, a political corruption scandal broke out, revealing the close ties between related figures and the Myung-woo Foundation. It was a huge incident that shook the nation, causing his family to fall into ruin. If they had been a prestigious family with a long legacy, they might have survived, but they weren’t, so they went bankrupt overnight. Despite this, Minjun had one person to lean on—his girlfriend, Soo-yeon.

“Please, I, I have a woman I’m going to marry. Her family is really well-off, and she has a lot of money. You know the daughter of the HJ Foods CEO, right?”

“Ah, who was that again? Was it Lee Soo-yeon? Kim Soo-yeon?”

Hee-tae tried to recall. 

Chae Soo-yeon. The daughter of the CEO of HJ Foods, who had a tight grip on the F&B sector, had been famous for her beauty since she was young. After becoming an adult, instead of following her family’s path, she became a traditional painter. Even Hee-tae, who had no interest in art, had heard of the name Chae Soo-yeon. There was a time when her name was buzzing around because she won an award somewhere abroad. 

Min-jun continued speaking with a trembling face.

“That’s right. She’s going to help me. Really, Soo-yeon really likes me.”

“Who would like an idiot who lost money on investments? Your girlfriend, damn, would probably turn back if she saw the state you’re in right now.”

Hee-tae sneered at Min-jun, who was spouting hopeful nonsense. Having lived as a rich young master, Min-jun couldn’t even think of working, so he borrowed money from Hee-tae to invest. 

Swept up in the investment frenzy that hit Korea, Min-jun had lost all his money in various coins and stocks, ending up in this sorry state.

To Hee-tae, it was no different from the gambling dens he ran. There were those who won and those who lost. It was surprising that an idiot, who had lost all his money, still had a woman. Hee-tae inspected Min-jun’s head, which was sticking out like a sore thumb on the sandy ground, and said.

“It’s amazing you two haven’t broken up. Even as a scumbag living off a woman, your face is half-formed.”

“She’s not someone who calculates like that. She’s really rich and kind.”

“You’re the one doing the calculations, you damn bastard. Don’t explain with a face that looks thrilled to have caught a sucker of a girlfriend.”

Hee-tae clicked his tongue, leaning on a golf club stuck in the bunker floor. The golf club was too fragile to support his muscular frame, causing the head of the club to sink deep into the bunker sand. Hee-tae pressed the head of the golf club, which he had pulled out of the sandpit, against Min-jun’s mouth and pushed hard.

“We don’t do business like you, you bastard.”

“Ugh, ugh…”

The man couldn’t even scream despite the burning hot head of the club pressed against his face under the scorching sun. A thin but clear voice caught Hee-tae’s ear as he looked down indifferently.

“Stop it.”

Turning his head to find the source of the voice, Hee-tae saw a woman who appeared a head shorter than him. The moment their eyes met; he knew. This woman was Chae Soo-yeon.

“I said, stop it.”

‘Why didn’t anyone tell me she was this beautiful?’ 

Hee-tae couldn’t take his eyes off Soo-yeon, who was approaching him quickly. He wondered if this was what it felt like to see an angry bird. Although the term ‘angry bird’ didn’t quite suit her clear and decisive voice, looking at her round head reminded him of a bird running hurriedly. The way she walked into his sight, unaware of the danger, also made her seem like a moth to a flame.

She approached Hee-tae and snatched the golf club that had been pressed against Min-jun’s mouth.

“This is really something else, huh?”

Hee-tae laughed heartily, willingly handing over the golf club to her. For some reason, he found the current situation incredibly amusing. Soo-yeon’s boyfriend was a pathetic bastard buried in the bunker, groveling and trying to sell out his girlfriend because of money. Yet, Soo-yeon, seemingly unable to bear seeing him in such a state, fearlessly ran over to snatch the golf club away. Watching Soo-yeon glare at him, Hee-tae felt a strange thirst rising within him. He took a drag on his cigarette and blew the smoke into her face as he spoke.

“But you should know. That bastard was trying his best to sell you out. Did you come all the way here to stupidly devote yourself to a jerk who blabs that his future wife is rich?”

“Soo-yeon, no, it’s not true at all. I never…”

“When did I say you could speak? Why the hell are you showing so many teeth?”

Hee-tae frowned at the man who, as soon as Soo-yeon appeared, started acting like a good boyfriend. The man immediately shut his mouth, fearing that his teeth might fall out if Hee-tae swung the golf club. Seeing him tightly close his lips, Hee-tae couldn’t help but feel exasperated. He was a pathetic coward. He didn’t care about calling his girlfriend to this dangerous place, but he trembled in fear at the thought of being hurt himself.

“I brought this in a hurry.”

Soo-yeon dismissed Hee-tae’s words as if treating them as mere provocation. She took out a velvet pouch she had been holding and opened it. With a slight rustle, small diamonds spilled into her palm.

A pouch of diamonds. It was perfect for a rich girl to carry as emergency funds. Hee-tae let out a low sigh as he watched the diamonds in Soo-yeon’s hand sparkle brilliantly in the sunlight.

“Stop fooling around and put them back.”

“They’re genuine. You can call an appraiser and check right away.”

“I’ve dealt with goods for a long time; anyone with eyes can see that.”

“Then why won’t you accept them?”

Soo-yeon asked, as if unable to understand. For Hee-tae, it wasn’t about whether the diamonds were genuine or not. He had no intention of taking the diamonds that had slipped from Soo-yeon’s grasp.

From the beginning, he never dealt with the children of chaebol families. If any problems arose later, it would be Hee-tae who would suffer. He had a policy of avoiding anything that seemed like a ticking time bomb. Hee-tae pushed Soo-yeon away, who had come to save her boyfriend without knowing better.

“If I accept diamonds from the daughter of the HJ Food CEO, it’ll only cause trouble for me. Why would I do that?”

Hee-tae pulled the golf club Soo-yeon was holding, tilting his body. As Soo-yeon was pulled forward by the club, she let go of it when their faces got close. Hee-tae watched as she took a step back, unable to take his eyes off her because she was so heartbreakingly beautiful. If she hadn’t been a chaebol’s daughter, he would’ve already been thinking of how to take advantage of her.

“This is my personal emergency fund, money that has nothing to do with my family.”

Soo-yeon said, grimacing and wary of him as the distance between them suddenly closed.

She was walking a path different from her family’s. Soo-yeon was so renowned in the art world that she was called the face of 21st-century Korean painting. She was offering up an emergency fund that had gradually grown from the sale of her paintings. Hee-tae, as if reminding the naive young woman of reality, spoke again.

“Whether that money comes from your pocket or your parents, it’s the same. If I take it and get into trouble, will you take responsibility?”

“There are many ways to make sure the source of the funds isn’t traced back to me.”

“You think I have lost all my pride? Do I have to launder money I took from a woman who got swindled and then spend it?”

Hee-tae asked, blowing out a cloud of cigarette smoke. He was not pleased about having to witness this melodrama just to retrieve a small amount of money, especially since the woman happened to be the daughter of the HJ Food CEO. It was almost insulting to his pride to accept the diamonds she was offering, wondering what she lacked to take care of such a worthless man. Hee-tae pointed at Min-jun with his chin and asked.

“Just one question. Is that face worth paying to be with? Is he at least good in bed?”

“Don’t speak carelessly.”

Soo-yeon, who had been maintaining a calm expression, narrowed her eyes and replied. For some reason, Hee-tae felt a sensation as if his spine stiffened at her gaze. Instead of finishing his nearly extinguished cigarette, he had an overwhelming urge to grab the heavy feeling below his navel. Yet, he wanted to savor this tense confrontation a bit longer, so he teased her.