CHAPTER 1

The heavy revolving door slowly turned with a cheerful morning greeting from the uniformed doorman. Any lingering lobby warmth inside the revolving door quickly evaporated as soon as it mixed with the air outside. The brisk winter morning air, having passed through the closed lobby, scattered as white breaths.

It was a picture-perfect morning on the Upper East Side, Manhattan’s traditional neighborhood, bathed in bright sunlight.

Park Avenue, which runs lengthwise through Manhattan, was spacious, clean, even the landscaping was beautiful, and bustling with uniformed children walking to Carnegie Hill, a neighborhood of private schools, not the usual delis, coffee chains, or shops, but a series of quaint marble pre-World War II buildings.

‘So many kids live in Manhattan like this?’

The everyday scenes that Taejun had never paid much attention to felt alien and unsettling, like seeing landscapes from another world.

The unfamiliar sensation of Rose’s tiny hand clutching his index finger made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He slowed to match her narrow stride and glanced at his watch.

7:50. They’ll have to hurry if they want to get to Rose’s school in the middle of Carnegie Hill by eight.

[TJ, do you know our school’s name?]

[Aster School.]

[How did you know? I went to kindergarten. My rainbow class teachers are Miss Silverman, Miss Ritter, and Miss Minnie. Miss Minnie looks like Snow White. My 12th-grade senior sister is Kate, how old do you think she is? Don’t be surprised. Kate is… eighteen years old! Pretty old, right? Yesterday in art class, I drew a rainbow. Did you know there’s a golden pot at the end of the rainbow?]

‘…Do six-year-old girls normally talk like this?’

Sweat trickled down Taejun’s spine with this unfamiliar way of communication. It was challenging to derive meaningful output from such random data.

Without waiting for Taejun’s response, Rose tugged on his finger.

[Dad says TJ can take pictures with his eyes. Can you take a picture for me?]

Rose stood in the middle of the street, pulling her lips up, revealing a sporadic smile with missing teeth.

‘Take pictures with my eyes? Is she talking about my photographic memory?’

Taejun, speechless, slightly opened his mouth and blinked his eyes.

[Did you take all the pictures?]

[…Yeah.]

[Now let’s get to school, we’re going to sing Wadley Wacha this morning].

‘Waddle, what?’

Before Taejun could respond, Rose grabbed his finger again and sang, ‘Wadley wacha, Wadley wacha,’. Her small hand felt as cold as ice.

Suddenly, a scene he didn’t even realize he remembered flashed before his eyes.

It was a cold winter morning in South Korea, and his mom was walking him to kindergarten, tucking his fuzzy mittens into his pocket and hugging him with a happy, pretty smile. In the memory, her face is young, not much different from Taejun’s current age.

Rose’s hand was beautifully red. It was only now that Taejun noticed Rose’s lips turning blue, and she’s wearing only a thin jacket that looks like it could only be worn in the fall.

‘Isn’t she cold?’

He didn’t need a scarf or gloves, not feeling the cold. When he wrapped Rose in his coat, she looked like she was covered in a large blanket.

[Kya!]

As he clumsily lifted the coat-buried Rose with one arm, she giggled and wrapped her tiny arms around his neck. Rose’s white breath scattered dizzily in front of his eyes. She was smiling brightly. Rose didn’t seem like the child who had woken up screaming at 2 a.m., exhausted from crying for more than two hours.

As he no longer needed to match Rose’s small steps, Taejun arrived at Aster School in about five minutes.

‘I should have done this earlier.’

He set Rose down in front of the dark green school gate and slung his coat haphazardly over his arm. He could hear the children entering the gates, chattering greetings with “Happy Valentine’s Day.”

[Rose doesn’t have Valentine’s Day decorations.]

Today was Valentine’s Day.

Looking around, he noticed that the children were wearing red ribbons on their heads or socks with hearts drawn on them.

Cold sweat that had formed on Taejun’s forehead trickled down his temple.

* * *

Baek Taejun, the co-founder of TJH Capital, a promising hedge fund on Wall Street with assets under management reaching trillions of won, was a genius in quantitative investing. At the age of thirty-two, he was unmarried and a bachelor.

The untimely deaths of his older brother and sister-in-law, Taejun’s quiet and monotonous life, like a black-and-white silent film, was disrupted by the unpredictable energy of a six-year-old girl.

Since the age of thirteen, Taejun had never lost his cool composure, not when he was living on his own and making ends meet, not when he volunteered for the U.S. Army and facing the Taliban guerrillas in Afghanistan, but in the two weeks since he’d become Rose’s guardian, it had crumbled spectacularly.

For the first time in his life, Taejun had suffered a crushing defeat that he couldn’t handle alone.

He needed help.

‘A monster like me is going to end up making this child unhappy, and there’s no way a guy who shouldn’t have been born can’t possibly raise a child….’

Two days ago, Taejun received a call from Aster School. It was about updating personal information such as address and contact details due to the change in legal guardianship. They also wanted to discuss Rose’s recent regressive behavior. The term ‘regressive behavior’ deepened Taejun’s sense of defeat even more.

‘Is it because of me?’

As soon as he let Rose into the kindergarten classroom on the second floor and opened the door to conference room 301, Taejun slumped into the nearest chair, burying his head in his hands. A familiar headache set in. It felt like a sharp saw blade slicing through his head from the back to the crown.

Since he had not known that there would be a day when he would come to this school and have a meeting with the principal, he might have intentionally avoided listening to the discussions his brother and sister-in-law had about Rose’s school.

It was a defense mechanism that he, who has a photographic memory, had taught himself to keep from going crazy.

Rose’s school was a frequent topic that came up during the monthly dinner gatherings at his brother’s house.

‘TJ, do you know that top-tier private schools in Manhattan are more competitive than Ivy League universities? The elementary school tuition is more expensive than the enrollment fee for most state universities. Honey, do we have to send her to a private school? There are many good public schools.’

‘You went through the entire school tour, and now you’re talking like this? In-law, while we’re at it, could you write a recommendation letter for our Rose?’

‘Taejun, they’re interviewing four-year-olds. Isn’t that ridiculous? If we’re going to send her to a private school, do we have to make her practice singing lessons? Honey, let’s just send her to a public school.’

‘Singing practice and all that. With Rose’s talent, we could even consider trying a public gifted school. But, you and your brother were hesitant about the mention of gifted schools, right? Besides, we missed the application deadlines for those.’

‘Sister-in-law, I’ll write the recommendation letter for you.’

‘Brother-in-law! Thank you! When you write the recommendation letter, can you print it on company paper with your title on it?’

Though puzzled by the process, Taejun followed his sister-in-law’s instructions faithfully, and he was quite proud that Rose was eventually accepted into the Aster School, a long-established and prestigious private school for girls.

A few days ago, Taejun was in a meeting with Junhee, the co-founder of TJH Capital, when he received a call from the principal. After the call, Junhee, noticing something was wrong, inquired about what had happened.

Hesitating, Taejun confided in Junhee. Junhee, a graduate of a famous western private school, advised him to make a large donation to the school.

[The school knows better about parenting and education than you do. So, take advantage of the school’s help. The good thing about private schools is that they try to consider personal circumstances as much as possible when something like this happens. If a major donor requests help, the school won’t be able to refuse.]

This was an unexpected option for Taejun, who had dropped out of public school in the slums at the age of thirteen and had to earn money by pretending to be an adult. As soon as the meeting ended, Taejun called Aster School and expressed his intention to donate $1 million. The meeting with the principal was scheduled for that very day.

The door of Room 301 opened, and a man in his late thirties with a neat and gentle appearance walked in. Taejun straightened his wrinkled forehead due to the headache, sharpened his gaze, and stood up as the man approached. The man extended his hand for a handshake.

[Ben Anderson, headmaster of Aster School. Mr. Baek, first, on behalf of all the faculty and staff, I would like to express our sincere condolences. We are also deeply grateful for your generous donation].

Ben’s look at Taejun was a mixture of sympathy and kindness.

[Since Rose’s return to school, she has been having potty accidents, struggling to concentrate in class, and biting her classmate’s arm. According to her kindergarten teachers, these were behaviors that Rose had never exhibited before, and they wondered if she was temporarily regressing due to the shock of losing her parents].

[….]

[Yesterday, the elementary school counselor spoke with Rose, and she said that she’s been sleeping past 12 midnight lately and having scary dreams at night. She said she used to sleep before eight. There are many possible reasons for Rose’s current behavior, not only the absence of a parent, the change in guardian, but also lack of sleep or being in an unfamiliar environment.]

[…I didn’t know.]

Taejun’s eyes, black as the depths of the ocean, wavered. A surge of tension went into his jaw as he endured the throbbing headache.

[It’s natural not to know. We understand how overwhelmed you must be to suddenly find yourself in the role of a young child’s guardian. We at Aster School are fully sympathetic to the tragic circumstances that have befallen Rose, and we want to help her as much as we can. Given her age and circumstances, we’ve classified this semester for her as a temporary ‘Special Needs’ period. So, with your consent, we would like to assign her a teacher of her own, from the school.]

Taejun nodded in agreement to Ben’s cautious proposal.

[……I agree].

[Rose’s dedicated teacher, Ms. Minhee Seol, is an assistant teacher in the kindergarten department. I heard that Rose was exceptionally well behaved last semester. Children tend to subconsciously feel more comfortable with people who look like them, and it must have helped that she’s Korean. I’ve already told her to be here at 8:30 to say hello to you, Mr. Baek.]

[Okay. By any chance, is Teacher Minhee Seol ‘Miss Minnie’?]

Taejun, remembering the random data that Rose had spewed out on the way to school, connected the two pieces of information.

[Ah! You know Minhee. She’s a thoughtful, warm teacher that kids love. They pronounce Minhee as Minnie, so they call her ‘Miss Minnie’ instead.].

Ben Anderson smiles gently, his warm eyes shining as he explains the origin of “Miss Minnie.

[Oh, I see.]

[Mr. Baek. Aster School is a school from kindergarten to 12th grade. As a single father raising two kids after losing my wife, I understand that it’s impossible to perfectly fill the role of a parent. But by the time she graduates after 13 years together, the Aster School students and teachers will be another family for her.]

Ben, leaning forward with both hands clasped on the table, met Taejun’s gaze and spoke with conviction in his voice.

[We will do our best to educate and take care of Rose until she graduates. So, don’t worry too much, and if there’s anything we can do for you, please don’t hesitate to contact us].

Ben handed a few printed sheets to Taejun, excusing himself to get up for a meeting, and left the conference room.

He was a competent and straightforward leader. A dedicated teacher for Rose was worth the million dollar donation.

‘At least I’ll have peace of mind for the time she’s at school.’

The weight in his shoulders eased a little.

The printout in his hand contained a list of pediatric psychiatric referrals, contact information for elementary school staff and teachers, and a list of high school students available for part-time babysitting. Glancing at it briefly, he mentally absorbed the information, then neatly folded the printout, aligning the edges, and tossed it into the trash bin in the conference room.

It was exactly 8:30. Knocking sounds accompanied the door swinging open. A student pushed the door open with her hips, a stack of books and notes under each arm.

‘Rainbows are unicorn farts.’

Reading the words on the T-shirt absentmindedly, Taejun found himself chuckling unintentionally as he scanned the student’s outfit. She wore a short pleated skirt and heart-patterned socks that reached her knees, and her t-shirt was colorfully illustrated with a unicorn farting a rainbow. A pair of plastic hearts stood out like horns on her head, swinging back and forth with every movement.

[Sorry, but we have a meeting scheduled here shortly.]

At the sudden sound of Taejun’s voice, the student spun around to face him with an embarrassed look on her face.

[……Aah].

[If you need space, the adjacent meeting room is available.]

[…Mister Baek?]

As Taejun maintained his expressionless face, a subtle glimmer of surprise appeared in the student’s eyes. As the woman straightened her hunched posture, a gust of wind whistled as the door she had been supporting with her hips slammed shut. As her previously disheveled black hair settled neatly, the girl with pink cheeks flashed a shy and innocent smile.

[Nice to meet you, I’m Seol Minhee].