Fortune Killer

Honk, honk- Loud noises could be heard on the street. Lain shortly clicked his tongue at the sounds of car horns coming from all directions.

"There’s a car in front of me, are they telling me to fly or what? Such filthy tempers."

They had come to a stop for 10 minutes already. And that was only speaking about this block. To the point that it was lacking to call the time people get off work in NY ‘Rush Hour’, it was a gruesome ‘Dead Hour’.

The name Ricky was displayed on the small, blue screen. Seeing that name, he checked the time and saw that it was about time for the horse racing to end.

"Yeah."

「Antonia won!」

Towards the resonant voice bursting out of his phone Lain replied flatly.

"I’m sure she did."

「Exactly what kind of magic did you use? Say, don’t you actually have superpowers?」

Ricky exclaimed ‘someone like you who forever remains middle cla.s.s all of sudden bets on a horse and wins’ and made a big fuss about nothing. On the other side of the line, Lain stared at the car in front which had finally started moving and slowly took his foot off the brake pedal while grabbing the cell phone in his right hand.

"Shut up, rather go exchange the ticket and bring it over. If you lose money in some weird place you’re gonna die?"

「Come on, why are you like this, buddy? Ah, but you’re not buying the next one? Which one should I buy? Hmm?」

Seeing Ricky’s att.i.tude that seemed as if he had had a taste of the fun in horse racing, Lain slowly stepped on the gas pedal and said in a low voice as if gritting his teeth.

"It’s only this once. I’m not doing this again. So stop talking nonsense and go exchange the ticket you’re holding for cash this instant. Then take it to Kelly. If you try anything on the way, I’m going to kill you?"

「Ah, understood. I got it. But how come you haven’t experienced anything like horse racing even once until now? Wanna go to Las Vegas with me? You are indeed a true Rainmaker (Eng in raws)! If I lose money, you can make it rain on me!1」

From a long time ago, sickening words like these poured in whenever a lottery or horse racing ticket he bought won and even when he just won a prize in a giveaway. But those people knew only one side of the story. 2

"I told you it’s not ‘Rain’ but ‘Lain’, didn’t I? It’s L, not R."

「Anyway. I like you better than the owner.」

"I envy you for having someone to call owner." 3

「Ah, you got fired, didn’t you?」

At those words a ripping 4 sound could be heard from Lain’s forehead.

"You just properly exchange the money and hand it over to Kelly. She needs to register by tomorrow."

Right when he finally managed to get out of the block of h.e.l.l, as expected, the road here was blocked as well. He let out a sigh and was just about to step on the brakes when the black car in the next lane suddenly turned on its blinker.

A crashing sound reached his ears and his whole body started to shake. Even though he stepped on the brakes that instant, it was already too late.
The cell phone dropped on the floor and his head bounced backwards, hit the seat’s neck support and then got stuck above the steering wheel again.

The accident was not that big. Due to there being a lot of traffic, their driving speed per hour was barely about 30km and because he stepped on the brakes instantly, he did not hit the other car very strongly, the air bag did not even burst.

The problem was…….

"Please……. Last night I got fired from the law firm, this morning I heard the news that my father gambled away Kelly’s university tuition fees in Las Vegas and I even bet on horse racing in order to pay Kelly’s tuition, something I usually would never do even if I died. Please change it to a medium-sized car."

Lain prayed to a G.o.d he did not even believe in with his eyes shut tight, then opened his eyes extremly slowly and raised his head.

He sincerely wished that the car in front of him was just not one of those two and nearly pa.s.sed out the moment he looked outside.

Jaguar XFR. The latest model that came out this September. The car he had seen in a photo a few days ago and wondered whether it was out on the market already, was right in front of his eyes.

"d.a.m.n it."

Under normal conditions, he had always lived while maintaining a state of plus minus zero but lately minus after minus repeated and made him feel like he had touched a low.

If he had crashed into this car boasting a monster like speed of 363.188km per hour on the highway, he probably would have turned into powder along with his own car. It would have most likely taken fairly long to st.i.tch together the parts of his corpse dropped here and there.

"In this whole world I hate the guys who drive around in a Jaguar or a Limousine during Rush Hour the most."

What exactly was their reason for dragging out those expensive cars on the street during a time slot where accidents frequently occurred.

Even if one sold this entire car that is a wreck beneath the surface, who knows if one could even afford to buy  that car’s b.u.mper.

"I’m going crazy."

How much did that b.u.mper cost again, is there even a market that sells this, won’t I have to order it per airmail from Germany, Lain thought about these in earnest and came to the decision that it would be wise to call the insurance company first.

He turned off the engine for the time being, removed his seat belt and then, above all, located his business card. Finally, he opened the car door and got off the driver’s seat.
And at that moment his gaze fell on the rear b.u.mper of the black Jaguar he hit. He realized it was adorned with a pompous ‘R’ logo. In the case of the XFR, apparently the b.u.mper’s design was a bit different, it seemed like those words were right.

Where can you even find that thing.

"『I’m screwed.』"

Confirming the slightly scratched b.u.mper, Lain- euheuheuheu– 6 broke into laughter as if dumbfounded. It had been 13 years already since he came to the US to live here but he still unconciously cursed in Korean at times.

"『This is driving me insane.』"

After the bleak laughter leaked out, Lain first of all approached the black Jaguar’s driver seat and knocked on the door. The cars which, in the meantime, had stopped in the back started honking all at once. He had already put up a sign and they pressed their horns even though they knew that it was useless to do so until the sign was removed, these people seriously had awful tempers. If at this rate he delayed things a bit longer, it was a force capable of making someone lose his mind. This would be over once they exchanged business cards and contacted the insurance company, so wanting to quickly deal with this whole situation he knocked on the dark, tinted window once more. When the car window was lowered, a cell phone and blond hair came into sight. Furthermore, a man’s loud voice resounded.

"Hey, you b.a.s.t.a.r.d! Where did you take off to while trying to screw someone over? Call me as soon as you hear this! We’re over if you don’t call!"

Lowering it about 10cm precisely, the man’s fierce voice made Lain flinch, as he roughly ended the phone call and then stared at Lain through the narrow window crack to ask.

"Who are you?" 7

At the man’s fearsome vigor, Lain blinked his eyes in a startled manner and extended the business card in his hands towards the other.

"Ah, I’m sorry. Here’s my card……." 8

Lain respectfully pa.s.sed him the business card through the small gap above window while the man scrutinized him from head to toe. Moreover, he curtly snapped at Lain without even taking a glance at the card.

"So, what should I do about it?"

"Excuse me?"

"What do you want me to do with your card? What are you? A stalker? When
did you start following me? That guy, he’s not in this car right now! What are you trying to achieve by following me?"

"What? Uh, that, car……."

Lain furtively pointed to the back and only then did the man cast a glance at the side mirror and spit out cuss words.

"No wonder the car frame I bought today was shaking……."

Lain thought, the words "I’m screwed." really were supposed to be used at times like these. It seemed like the owner of this Jaguar did not even notice he had encountered a car accident.

During the time Lain spent fiercely lamenting about today’s fortune, the cell phone of the man who once again sat down on the driver’s seat rang. He slightly bent down to confirm the caller’s number and took the business card from him, as if wanting to s.n.a.t.c.h it away, all while continously spitting out cuss words.

"I got it, so you can leave now. This is Alex. Yes, I think……."

Lain tried to look past the car window that got totally closed in a brief instant and stood there with a bewildered expression on his face, feeling as if he had just been dealt a heavy blow.

In any case, no matter how much one talks about this kind of accident, the one
at disadvantage is the person who crashed into the other. If the other party does not show much concern, the wisest thing one can do is hand over a business card and get away.

"Well, then."

The moment he greeted him goodbye and turned around, Lain realized one very important fact. Therefore, he once again knocked on the car window.
At that signal, the man roughly lowered the window once more and Lain hurriedly spoke up before he could become a victim to verbal abuse.

"That, please call my cell phone number on the back. It’s because I got fired from my company. I will handle the insurance matter for you……."

The instant he politely spoke these words, the man waved his hand almost like he was kicking out a solicitor and closed the window once again. The other side seemed to have absolutely no interest in Lain right now.

He fastened his seat belt and was about to start the engine, only to hear his cell phone’s ringtone resounding. Looking into the direction the sound came from, he lowered his head and spotted his phone in the area beneath the pa.s.senger seat.
Lain bent forwards and barely managed to recover his cell phone, then cursed under his breath as he started the engine.

"It’s you this time, huh."

The small, blue cell phone screen was completely shattered. Making a pledge not to keep any expensive belongings close to himself the entire day, he stepped on the brakes. Something on the floor rustled as he put his foot down.
He had an extremely unpleasant premonition. Just in case, Lain slowly lifted his foot and fell into despair the moment he glanced beneath his foot.

"My iPod……."

Come to think of it, he had felt like he stepped on something when he got off the car after the accident and apparently that had been the iPod.

And the second the car started moving, he had the chance to witness the scene of the car’s front b.u.mper being dragged away by the wind after falling down tragically.
Even if he had bad luck, how was it possible to be this unlucky. Falling into thoughts of how dreadfully unlucky he was, Lain changed his way of thinking in a haste.

"Think positively, think positively."

If this was his retribution for winning at the horse race, it was quite acceptable actually. Meanwhile his life literally was in a state of zero-sum (Eng in raws).

To give an example, during high school he had won a SUV in a giveaway event by chance and was jumping out of happiness, then the SUV his mother drove around suddenly broke and the repair cost alone came out as a few thousand dollars.

Moreover, during university his profits from one stock investment had amounted to a hundred thousand dollars, then the house became waterlogged due to being flooded.

Exactly a hundred thousand dollars went into returning the house to its original state and newly purchasing the ruined furniture.

That was what it meant that in this world, nothing was for free. At least to him it was that way. His life in itself was zero-sum.

To tell the truth, there had been a huge incident the day before yesterday as well. Someone gave him a considerably high priced present, this became known in only one day and got him fired from the company.

The high priced present in question, however, was a diamond ring and the fact that the meaning behind that present was a (marriage) proposal and that the person who gave it to him was his very own client, Edward Clark, was what turned it into a problem.

"G.o.d d.a.m.n b.a.s.t.a.r.d. I’m going to kill him one day."

TN:

1 – He was actually saying stuff about a money drought(?) but it didn’t make sense so I changed it. orz

2 – (lit. Know only one, don’t know two.)

3 – (lit. I envy you for having an owner) but that sounds kinda wrong kkkk

4 – 빠직하는 소리 (bbajik)

5 – I googled for like 20 minutes to understand this sentence but I only realized I don’t have a clue about car insurance in general. orz So this might or might not be correct.

6 – That’s literally what his laughter sounds like in Korean. lol

7 – He uses casual speech and talks down to Lain, quite impolite in this situation.

8 – Lain has manners and uses formal speech.

So I decided to start translating Korean novels on this blog and this is going to be my first project. I personally find there to be a lack of translated Korean romance and BL novels online and I decided to make up for it myself.

I actually haven’t read this novel yet but according to reviews it’s supposed to be good and funny, so let’s see how it goes. And if you’re wondering why I split the prologue into parts: The prologue alone is like 24 pages long, so I have to post this in parts unless you want to wait half a year for updates.

Please leave me some comments on how you like it so far and tell me if there’s anything to improve. After all, I’m new to this.