Chapter 27

Looking at my father who had to go to work because he had to earn money even when he was sick, and my mom who was trying hard to take care of her children while working, I thought that I had to earn money quickly somehow.

Fortunately, after more than a week of those idiots not showing up again, I didn't notice anything else and started thinking about making more money.

First of all, I concluded that it would be difficult for me to earn money directly because I was still young and still had to rely on my mom if I wanted to carry out my plans.

Also, my family circumstances weren't in a position to spend a lot of money on something.

I just had to think about how my mom could earn a lot of money with little money spent.

After thinking about it for a few days, I decided on a thing my mom could do right now that earned her a lot of money.

The next day I came home right after finishing school.

My mom was still in her room doing her work.

I approached my mom and said.

"Are you saving money right now?"

"Huh? Money? Why?"

"Mom, I have some good stuff that can be sold, what if you sell it?"

My mom didn't say anything and she just stared blankly at me.

"Sell it? How can I do business and where is the money for business?"

"It doesn't take that much money for a business. But you can make quite a lot of money. That's what I guarantee."

"Your mom only has a little money, it won't be enough to do business."

"I know mom has money saved for me and my siblings. That should be enough."

When my mom heard what I said, she looked at me with astonished eyes and was secretly quite surprised.

"Mom, I'll tell you what to do. Let's go."

I held my mom's hand and took her to the market.

I went to the supermarket my mom frequented and bought wheat cakes, rice cakes, cooking oil, tomato sauce, starch syrup, sugar, and other ingredients.

These were the ingredients for the skewers.

When my mom saw me picking up the items without hesitation and checking their expiration dates and capacities, she was amazed by my actions.

I also decided to generously invest the money I had saved while running the newspaper.

After I bought a lot of ingredients and paid at the cash register, my mom was worried that I'd spent a lot of money, but she still followed me as if she was curious.

My mom probably wondered what I was going to do to buy so many ingredients, but she didn't tell me to stop because she believed in me.

Arriving home, I put the ingredients into the kitchen and started cooking.

I turned on the oil burner, put cooking oil in the wok, washed it once with cold water, and fried the rice cakes and wheat cakes that I had bought earlier.

I made the sauce by properly mixing various ingredients such as sugar, ketchup, starch syrup, and soy sauce.

I turned around to see my younger siblings peering inside, gulping.

Today, because it was just to show the taste, I didn't put the rice cakes on skewers, I just put the fried rice cakes on a plate and put the sauce in a separate bowl, and took it out.

"Okay, done. Please try and taste it."

After speaking in a bright voice, my mom and younger siblings quickly came over to me.

I quickly took a piece of fried rice cake, dipped it in the sauce, and put it into my mom's mouth.

As my mom swallowed it, my younger siblings' eyes gazed at the dishes on the table.

"Now, you all should eat too."

As if they had been waiting for my voice, my younger siblings rushed towards me.

After living without a light meal like this for so long, my younger siblings, who had never eaten a decent snack, ate everything as if they were starving from a lifetime of not eating.

"Wow. Brother, this is good."

"Brother, I want to eat this again."

My siblings cheered and gave thumbs up.

"What about you Mom?"

"Huh. This is the first time I've tried it, and it's really good."

"The name of this product is rice cake skewers. Currently, it is only fried and eaten with gravy, but when selling, you can put some toppings on it and sell it. If you sell this in front of a school, it will be a hit. I can guarantee that."

But my mom who heard what I said looked at me with a slightly suspicious expression.

"You mean doing business with this? Is that possible?"

"Don't worry Mom. This is a product that has undergone clinical trials. Do you think it won't sell?"

My mom couldn't clear her doubts and she looked at me with a worried look.

"Don't worry Mom. You have to believe me, it will work."

After dinner, I taught my mom how to make the sauce, and since I had already bought enough ingredients, I told her to make it herself with the remaining ingredients.

My mom is a good cook, so she quickly learned to make better-tasting sauces by mixing in other seasoning ingredients that she had at home.

She must have been excited about doing something with her son. Carefree laughter didn't escape my mom's mouth as she cooked.

When my younger siblings suddenly asked why she was making these things, she told them the story, happily saying that mom would make a lot of money by doing business.

My mom, who didn't even think about business until a while ago and only gave her a worried look, now, when she thinks about how to make it more delicious, she feels hope for the business to flourish.

My younger siblings who were the test subjects of my mom's cooking were lucky to be able to eat until their stomachs bulged for the first time.

The next day...

At this time I was waiting for Caleb and Brandon to come home after regular class.

But suddenly, outside the window in the hallway, I see Jaxon's face.

I had completely forgotten about them because I hadn't seen them for over a week, but when I saw the face next to Jaxon, my face involuntarily hardened.

Jaxon looked towards the stairs, opened the front door of the classroom, carefully bent down to let the person next to him in, and respectfully extended his hand forward.

Jaxon's face hardened with tension.

At Jaxon's guidance, a man in a brown suit and about 180 cm tall entered the classroom.

All the kids had already left the classroom, so there was only me and Caleb in the classroom.

I looked at Caleb and urged him to go home immediately and let him go.

Caleb ran out of the classroom through the back door with a scared face.

The man in the suit watched Caleb leave without saying a word, then approached me.

I got up from my seat and moved to the back of the classroom, ready to act and run.

"Don't be so nervous. Are you Daniel?"

The old man spoke to me with a weak voice and a gentle smile.

I had to keep racking my brain trying to figure out what was going on.

"Let's start with my introduction. I'm Dominic Park, who leads that men's group."

Hearing what the man said I was shocked and took a deep breath.

Even while expecting things to get bigger, I didn't expect it to get this big.

Dominic Park, a leader of the organization that controlled this neighborhood, came straight to me.

Then the back door opened and Brandon walked in.

Seeing the man standing in front of me, Brandon hesitated and stood still.

"Are you Brandon? Come here. I'm Dominic Park."

"Y-Yes?"

Brandon was even more surprised than I was.

How could he not know Dominic Park? Brandon had been in a frat, so it would be a lie if he didn't know Dominic Park, the king of this neighborhood.

Brandon cautiously approached me.

"I'm not here to scare you, so sit down both of you."

Brandon immediately sat on the chair in front of the man with his back straight, and I sat as if on guard, slowly looking into the face of Dominic Park, a man known as the king of this neighborhood.

"I like that look you have."

Dominic Park looked at me and smiled.

"I've been hearing a lot about you lately, so I came here myself because I was curious about what kind of man you are."

"It was just a small quarrel between the boys. But does such a trivial thing enter the ears of an organization boss like you?"

"Heh heh, you are a brave person. Even in front of me, you dare to speak straightforwardly. That's good. Very good."

The man burst out laughing as if the current situation interested him greatly.

"This is no longer a child's fight."

"Huh? How can that be?"

"The kids you hit in front of the gas station last time were our gang members. Do you think I would be interested in fighting high school kids I don't even know? To be honest, even the fact that the youngest members of the organization are fighting is none of my business. That's something the mid-level members should take care of. But I heard a very interesting story. Four adult gang members were crushed to the point of hospitalization by a freshman in high school. When I recruited members under me, I didn't pick just anyone. They choose kids who have a certain level of skill and skill. But no matter how new they are, they shouldn't be crushed by a high school freshman. So I asked them directly and they said that they were beaten up by a high school student. Moreover, they said that they couldn't even fight back properly. Do you know how crazy I was to hear that? That's why I was so curious about what kind of man he was."

After hearing the story of this man in front of me, I felt so absurd that I laughed myself silly.

"But now that I see it, Daniel, you are true as they say. I like that look of yours, and I like your big guts. And your skills I've verified. I didn't waste my time coming here."

Dominic Park seemed to be in a good mood and kept laughing.

Hearing all that this man had to say, I began to feel uncomfortable and was convinced of what I had thought earlier about why this man had come looking for me.

"Hey, Daniel. I have an offer for you."

As I expected, this must have been the purpose of this man looking for me. But I didn't show it on my face and just focused on listening to what he wanted to say.

"Come under my wing. I'm sure you'll grow up so much in the future, I'll probably pass on my position to you later."

"Huh?"

Brandon and I shouted in surprise.

Even if the first thing he said was what I expected, the last thing he said was something I never even remotely expected. Of course, maybe it was just a false hope given to me, but looking at the look this guy gave, it was like he was serious.

"You said your name was Brandon, right? If Daniel says he joined the organization, I'll accept you too."

We were once again taken aback by what this man said.

I was quite nervous, thinking that they must have come to arrest us, but when the offer of joining and inheriting his position suddenly came in, I couldn't think of anything…

Brandon was thrilled and the excitement on his face was obvious upon hearing the offer.

From Brandon's point of view, meeting this man face to face would be an achievement, with the man who was the boss of the organization offering membership, he must have felt like a rookie whose dream had come true.

"How's that? Do you intend to join under my wing?"

Dominic Park asked again.

"Well, what if I refuse?"

"If you refuse it becomes simple. I will capture you like this and pay back what my members suffered. You will know how it goes."

Dominic Park twisted the corners of his mouth and smiled sarcastically.

Brandon's face was drawn, and I quickly organized my thoughts.

'It's mid-September, late October, or early November when the gangsters get arrested and there's a commotion in the neighborhood. If I can hold out for a month and a half, this guy will be arrested too. Then there's no need to reject this invitation badly now and try to buy time.'

"Well, your suggestion is tempting. Besides, it looks like Brandon likes it too. But do I have to make a decision now? We're still 17 years old and only in our first year of high school, but do I have to drop out of school and start living in an organization right away?"

"As expected. You must be thinking about the future first. Okay. Then what do you want?"

"Once I finish high school, I'll make a decision and let you know. Although I look like I can't study, I got first place in the whole school with perfect scores in all subjects in the first-semester final exam. And, my parents will be worried if I drop out of school"

"Oh, first place in the whole school, I didn't expect such a thing from you. A guy who is good at fighting is also good at studying and obedient to parents. Good, very good. I understand, let's make a decision when you graduate high school. But, there are conditions."

It seemed like what I wanted to be work, but Dominic Park didn't seem to want to just let me go until high school graduation.

"You have to come to my office to see me at least twice a month. This is an order rather than a condition. Understood?"

"Fine, I can do it. Not to mention I have nothing to lose."

Without the slightest hesitation, I replied because the more this man was pleased, the freer I would move to avoid joining this man.

"Okay. Good."

Dominic Park burst out laughing while patting my shoulder and writing down his office address and phone number on a piece of paper, shook hands with me, and left the classroom.