“Yang Yoseob-sshi, all of your tuition obligations have been settled until the day of your graduation.” The young and slender woman, with her warm smile and perfect hair, handed back Yoseob’s bank card to him.

Yoseob laughed at himself and shook his head in disbelief; finally the last straw of his sanity had left him. He was hearing things because of all the predicaments he was in. Aural delusion was not unheard of, but Yoseob was more than sure that right now was the worse aural delusion ever in history of mankind (because it actually gave Yoseob hope that something good was happening to him, and that was extremely bad). He was going to tell Hyunseung about this later, he would be so amused, just as amused as Yoseob was right now when he repeated, “Excuse me, I’d like to make payment for this month and last month, please.”

The smile on the young woman’s face faded a little as a cute frown formed between her perfectly shaped eyebrows. “Erm, Yang Yoseob-sshi, your tuition fees have all been settled with. There is nothing to pay anymore. Please take your card back.”

There was silence – awkward and strange and pregnant – as Yoseob stood motionless in front of the counter, trying to digest the situation and finally catching onto what the pretty administration staff told him. He made no move whatsoever to retrieve his offered bank card, all the while looking at her, then his card, then back to the young woman, before he struggled to take a look at the computer on the work desk, not believing a single thing he might have heard.

“…what…”

“Excuse me?”

Yoseob croaked and continued his question, “…what does this mean?”

The smile was back on the woman’s face, but now it was out of pure understanding, and her eyes softened upon seeing Yoseob’s completely confused face, “It means that all of your tuitions loans and fees – including books, examinations, any field trips, graduation and administration charges – have been paid for and you have no obligation to pay for anything else until the day of your graduation.” She placed the card on the counter and pushed it towards Yoseob, “Here you go. Get yourself a nice bibimbbap, okay. Lunchtime is almost over, you might be late for your next class.”

“W – who?”

She shook her head a little and shrugged prettily, “I’m sorry but I cannot give you any answer, the payment is stated on the system, but not the person who made payment. Details of card numbers and everything else are confidential and I cannot provide you with those.” She pushed the card nearer to Yoseob, urging him to be on his way, “Have a great day, Yang Yoseob-sshi.”

Still in shock, Yoseob silently took the card back from the counter and bowed politely, muttering a soft ‘thank you and have a pleasant day to you too’ before exiting the brightly lit administration office. There was almost relief, almost, as Yoseob sat silently in his next class – lunchtime was indeed over and he had to run to his next class to avoid being late – and went over what happened in the administration office.

Why?

Who would even care about him? Why now? He had been abandoned a long time ago and there was nothing he ever did for him. Yoseob was a mistake born by his mistress, an unwanted and unwelcomed presence in their lineage. He would never blame his mother though, his beloved late mother who was foolishly in love with the kinds of that Yoon sorry--of-a-bastard, whom Yoseob was sadly forced to call Father.

He vaguely remembered that specific time when he was brought over to the mansion by his Eomma to meet his Father, he was only five then. And strangely, what he remembered the most was not his Father, or the mansion, or the countless toys, or the lavish food, but instead it was the Hyung he met under the big oak tree in the garden behind the mansion, an orange dusk sky behind them. The soft almond eyes, chubby cheeks, and pudgy fingers offering Yoseob a pack of tissues when the younger boy started crying because he is lonely and he wants to go home with eomma right now and he hates the big house and hates the garden and hates the man who he doesn’t know but is forced to call appa, all the while blowing his nose onto the tissues and holding his Hyung’s hand tightly.

And goddamnit, Yoseob did not even ask for his name – because he was too busy being a brat. His Hyung remained a mystery for the rest of his life.

“Yang Yoseob-sshi.” A calm and chilling voice came and Yoseob was out of his reverie with a slight jolt. “So, what is your opinion about today’s topic?” Oh, how he hated his professors, especially this one. He squinted his eyes, trying to remember anything – anything – he randomly listened to as he struggled to see the white board in front of the hall, in hope that there will be huge letters informing topic of the day. But goddamnit, just like how everything worked against him, there was nothing in his memory to dig out nor there was anything written on the board.

He sighed, “Excuse me, but what’s the topic for today?”

His professor cleared his throat, “Yang Yoseob-sshi, see me after class.”

O~O~O~O~O~O~O

“No, no, no.” The old woman pushed Yoseob’s money away. “No, keep this. Keep – no, don’t – Just keep it. I don’t need any payment from now on.” Yoseob blinked rapidly, extremely confused, “But ahjumoni ~~ please just – “

The ahjumoni ignored him and went inside her apartment to get Yoseob a pot of steaming homemade kimchi jiggae, “Yoseobie, here you go. It’s for dinner and breakfast. Come back tomorrow afternoon as usual, I’m making panjeon (Korean pancakes).” She shooed him away with a motherly smile and closed the door in front of a gaping Yoseob – a pot of steaming jjigae in his hands – in order to stop the questioning.

Yoseob struggled to knock on the door a few times more, “Ahjumoni, please I need to – “

“Go home Yoseobie!” There was a loud shout from inside of her apartment as she shuffled away from the door into the living room, trying to get far away from the stubborn young man. The old woman smiled to herself, finally someone has come to rescue little Seobie.

O~O~O~O~O~O~O

There was a loud bang coming from the vice president’s room. All of the employers in the office looked at each other but made no move towards the vice president’s room, trying to simply ignore it and continue with their job. Junhyung, Kikwang, and Dongwoon were outside of the chaotic room, guarding it and at the same time making sure none of the employer was going to make a scene.

Another loud bang was heard from the room, and an employer looked up from his computer, curious to find out what was happening. Junhyung caught him looking and exposed his jacket slightly to the man, where a gun was lodged tightly in its holster. The poor man shrieked a little and immediately went back to staring at his computer, face red with fear.

Inside the room, a terrified middle-aged man shriveled on the chair, fidgeting nervously, afraid to lose his life. Doojoon was sitting on the vice president’s leather swivel chair behind the perfectly waxed wooden working desk, both of his shoe heels perched on the edge of the desk, while the poor vice president sat in front of him, on the guest seat.

“Yoon Doojoon-sshi, it’s impossible to –“

Doojoon kicked a stack of important-looking folders to the floor, creating a loud clatter inside the room. The frightened ahjussi flinched and jerked in fear. “I don’t give a .” Doojoon snarled, “Just ing do it.”

The room was damaged – the vice president was left unscathed though, because Doojoon did not hurt innocent people – computer screen lay broken and files scattered on the floor, there were some dents on the walls caused by the collisions from some chair throwing. Doojoon hated doing this, ruining things was not really his thing, but this ahjussi pissed the out of him with his I’m-the-vice president arrogance.

Everything started out civil, with Doojoon calling Mr. Park, the owner and president of the supermarket chain, for a favour and the old friend was more than glad to be able to help the clan leader who had saved his family a long time ago. Yet, this vice president ahjussi refused to help him, even when Mr. Park had agreed. And this immensely pissed Yoon Doojoon off. He could just call Mr. Park and tell him about the vice president, but where would the fun be? The vice president would get reminded and then maybe fired and things would get even harder. So Doojoon resorted to a bit of discipline regime à la the clan tradition.

The expressions on the ahjussi’s face were worth every effort of being violence. When his arrogance melted and pure terror filled his eyes, Doojoon felt extremely amused albeit his disdain for using violence. A little bit of push would not hurt anyone, Doojoon reasoned with himself.

The vice president gulped, “I – I don’t know…”

This time Doojoon kicked the table over and the ahjussi jumped away from his seat to avoid being hurt, plastering himself on the wall furthest away from Doojoon. “Yah, ahjussi listen.” The clan leader strolled leisurely towards the trembling figure, “I have approval from Mr. Park. He personally instructed you to ing help me, what is your problem now? It’s not like I’m not paying you, I have loads of money in my bank account. I just need you not to charge Yang Yoseob and charge me instead for all of his purchases. My secretary has emailed you all of the details of my account.” Doojoon followed the manager’s line of vision and his saw the broken computer screen, “Oh yeah, I’m sorry about that. I’ll get you a better one.” He turned around to face the manager who was still plastered in fear on the wall, “Just get this going.”

“B – b – but – but I don’t know how to do it without Yang Yoseob knowing. It’s impossible to do so.” The ahjussi stammered out.

The clan leader smirked in satisfaction, finally this arrogant man crumbled under the pressure, “Well, you have a team of marketing people. Put them into good use. Inform the manager of the designated supermarket.” Doojoon leaned in and patted the ahjussi’s cheek firmly, “You’ll manage.”

When Doojoon walked out of the office followed by Junhyung, Kikwang, and Dongwoon, the other employers rushed to their vice president’s room, only to find him sitting weakly against the wall, his room was the pinnacle of chaos. It was a miracle that the middle-aged man did not wet his pants.

O~O~O~O~O~O~O

“Where are we going after this, Doojoonah?” Junhyung looked at his best friend who sat beside him on the backseat of the sleek black car. Doojoon sighed and loosened his tie, “I need to change out of my outfit. I need to go back home.” He groaned and put a hand over his closed eyes. Again, Junhyung noted when Doojoon referred Yoseob’s miniscule living place as home.

 “Should we pay and threaten the mangas rental place as well? So that Yoseob doesn’t have to pay rental fee when he borrows mangas there?” Doojoon chuckled softly at Junhyung’s question while Kikwang and Dongwoon looked at each other in confusion.

“No, I think the owner of that place is Yoseob’s friend or something. I cannot risk it.” Junhyung nodded at Doojoon’s answer and silence fell inside the moving car.

Kikwang could not hold his curiosity anymore and innocently blurted out his questions, “What is actually going on, Doojoonah? Why do you need to pay everything for Yoseob? First the tuition fees, then the old couple who owns that dilapidated apartment, then the supermarket, and then the manga place. Care to share, Doojoonah?”

Doojoon scoffed at the question, so used to Kikwang’s burst of emotions, he was too innocent for his own good. “Yoseob is living a hard life, he is slaving away, and I need to release some of his burdens because I am freeloading at his place now. I am not sure why he doesn’t get his inheritance. Mistress is not living him, I wonder what happened to them. All of you are initiating an investigation on this and I expect some results.”

Dongwoon cleared his throat and spoke up nervously, “Hyung, I heard that Mistress is dead because Madam killed her.” Doojoon removed his hand and opened his eyes abruptly, frowning at the new piece of information, “Where did you hear that?” The youngest of them shrugged, “There were rumours here and there, everywhere. But nothing confirms it because no one has ever met Yoseob Hyung after his mother was supposedly deceased.”

Orphaned too? Doojoon’s gut clenched at the information. “Junhyungah, all of you need to find me some information as soon as possible. Everything is getting messier by the second. I need to meet Mistress because she is the only one who knows where it is.” Junhyung nodded firmly in understanding.

“I need to get changed and get home. Junhyungah, thanks for bringing my phone. I’ll message you the next meeting location and timing. Just get me some information.” Junhyung, Kikwang, and Dongwoon voiced out a firm ‘yes’ to Doojoon’s request.

O~O~O~O~O~O~O

The soft click on the door indicated that Yoseob had come home from his part time job – a job that killed him, Doojoon deduced. “Yoseobah, you home?” Doojoon was halfway heating the pot of kimchi jjigae when Yoseob peeked cutely into the kitchen, as if afraid being seen. The older man laughed at the childish antic, it was adorable, too adorable goddamnit. And then there was a shy smile on Yoseob’s lips when Doojoon placed a steaming bowl of rice and a plate of fried egg on the dinner table followed by the pot of jjigae.

“What are you doing, Yoseobah? Stop being cute and come here eat you dinner.” Doojoon’s laugh became louder as Yoseob scuttled his way towards the dinner table. Yoseob thought it was a nice change, to have someone waiting with dinner when he got home. Although Doojoon had eaten his dinner earlier, but he always stayed up to accompany Yoseob during his dinner and even heated up food for him. Yoseob knew extremely little about this mysterious man but he understood. He, too, had secrets he could not divulge, information about him that he could not tell anyone. As long as Doojoon was not a threat in any way, Yoseob was cool with him.

It had been a long way for Doojoon, heating things up and cooking rice, and washing dishes and doing laundry and doing house chores. Well, Doojoon admitted that on days where Yoseob was gone since the afternoon till evening, he had his own house maids come to Yoseob’s apartment to clean and cook. There were some things Doojoon decided to get help from other people. He had maids and cooks and assistants to help him in his everyday life; he was not spoiled, he was just making the most out of other people’s abilities.

Yoseob was halfway into finishing his rice when his face beamed as he turned to Doojoon, “Doojoonah, guess what happened today!” The older man feigned confusion and asked back, “What? You got a promotion?” Yoseob shook his head like a puppy. “Your boss likes you?” Again, Yoseob shook his head. “Uhhh… Your professor likes you?” Yoseob shook his head harder and he grinned. And oh, how much more adorable can Yang Yoseob get as Doojoon watched him in amusement.

“No! No! No! But you know what, something magical happened today. Miracles I call them, miracles.” Yoseob smiled excitedly, “All of my tuition fees are settled, and this means I don’t have to pay for anything anymore until the day of my graduation. I mean how cool is that!” Doojoon grinned at watching happiness bloom in Yoseob’s face. “Oh but then something is wrong with ahjumoni. She refused my money. I always give them money since I had my first paycheck. I don’t know what’s wrong, are they finally sick of me since the day they rescued me? I mean I know what I’m giving them isn’t much at all, it’s not like it’s monthly rent or something. But she still gave me food and refused my money. Do you think they don’t love me anymore, Doojoonah?”

Yoseob rambled everywhere but Doojoon’s sharp hearing captured what he needed to know, since the day they rescued me. He needed to know why Yoseob needed rescuing. Baby steps, Yoon Doojoon, he reminded himself. He would get to the bottom of it another day, because now he wanted to absorb the happiness radiating out of Yoseob.

“I bet they love you all the same.” Doojoon petted Yoseob’s head, “Well, that’s great, isn’t it Yoseobah? I mean everything is just awesome, right?”

Yoseob nodded and laughed, “It’s more than awesome, Doojoonah. I think you are my maneki-neko.” And he shoveled more food into his mouth.

“Maneki-neko?” Doojoon asked, confused.

Yoseob looked up at him from his bowl, his big eyes wide and innocent, “Yeah, the Japanese ceramic fortune cat. But you are the cute ones.”

Doojoon frowned slightly in confusion before the image of the cat dawned in his mind. He erupted into a fit of laughter while Yoseob grinned back at him. Doojoon could not wait to see how the younger man would react when he walked into the supermarket and walked out without even needing to pay a single cent for his purchases.

Good things came for those who wait.