Chapter 1
Shhhhhh—
As Onyu stepped out of the bank, she stared blankly at the sudden downpour. Though it was a welcome spring rain after a long drought, for Onyu, it only deepened her gloom.
“I’m sorry. It looks like we can’t approve an additional loan.”
“We’d need a more solid form of collateral. Do you have any real estate?”
“Sigh…”
Rubbing her dry, sleep-deprived eyes, Onyu let out a sigh that seemed deep enough to sink into the earth. Even this last bank, her final hope, had rejected her request.
“Song Seung-ah. Baek Ji-ho…”
Onyu ground her teeth, spitting out the names bitterly.
Baek Ji-ho was her ex-boyfriend, and Song Seung-ah had been her best friend until recently—and co-CEO of “WeLeadUs,” the handcrafted goods C2C platform they had founded together. She was also the backstabbing woman who’d had an affair with Onyu’s boyfriend.
When Onyu had walked in on them, entangled in a passionate embrace in Ji-ho’s officetel, she had thought she was hallucinating. She wanted to believe it was just eye strain from too many sleepless nights.
“You don’t make time for me anymore because you’re always busy. What did you expect me to do—wait around forever?”
Even after being caught cheating, Ji-ho had the audacity to blame Onyu.
“We’re in love, Onyu. Ji-ho is my soulmate. We can’t be apart.”
Seung-ah didn’t show a shred of remorse and told Onyu to step aside.
Onyu finally understood what it meant to be so stunned you can’t even laugh.
As much as she wanted to publicly shame the two of them in the middle of Gwanghwamun, she had decided to let it go and move on.
But they hadn’t stopped at betrayal—they’d stabbed her in the back. They stole company secrets and sold them to a competitor.
Because of that, the company was in a full-blown crisis. No bank would issue another loan, and the funds had dried up.
Even though she knew they wouldn’t answer, Onyu kept calling the two people responsible for this disaster—Song Seung-ah and Baek Ji-ho—over and over.
[The number you have dialed is unavailable…]
“You bastards… Just wait till I find you. I swear, I won’t let you off easy…”
Grinding her teeth, Onyu suddenly felt dizzy and stumbled. She hadn’t slept or eaten properly for days. Her body was on the verge of collapse.
Leaning against the wall outside the bank’s front door, Onyu closed her eyes.
If she couldn’t come up with the money in three months, the company would go bankrupt.
She imagined herself penniless, running from debt collectors. The thought jolted her awake.
She couldn’t just give up. This company had taken everything to build. She had employees depending on her.
She wouldn’t fall—not until she got her revenge on Baek Ji-ho and Song Seung-ah.
With new resolve, Onyu started walking. The rain poured down on her umbrella-less figure, but her expression was more serious than ever.
Ding. Ding.
The wind chimes hanging from the porch rang gently in the spring breeze.
Onyu lifted her head, which had been hanging in shame. Sitting across the tea table, her grandmother Nam Kyung-soon met her eyes—and at that moment, tears she had been holding back surged up.
“I’m sorry, Grandma… Coming here was harder than dying… but I’m desperate. I have no other option…”
Tears streamed down Onyu’s cheeks as her choked voice trailed off.
She had come to ask her grandmother to use the family peach orchard as collateral for a loan. She had no other choice.
“I swear I’ll pay it back once this is over. I already put my rental house up for sale. I’ll pay you half as soon as I get the money.”
“You’ve been through so much, my poor baby.”
Grandmother Nam took Onyu’s hand gently after listening silently to her granddaughter’s plea.
“You haven’t even been eating, have you? Just look at your face…”
“Sob… I’m sorry.”
“No, I’m the one who’s sorry. I was eating warm meals and sleeping peacefully, not knowing my baby was suffering like this.”
“Grandma…”
At her grandmother’s warm words, Onyu burst into tears.
“There, there. Don’t cry now. You’ll ruin your pretty face.”
Her grandmother reached out with her wrinkled hand and wiped Onyu’s tears away.
“Don’t worry about anything. Grandma has money. Lots of it.”
“What?”
Sniffling, Onyu looked up, confused. She knew her grandmother’s finances better than anyone.
It was the beginning of the farming season—no peach harvest yet, and there were expenses like fertilizer and labor. Where would this “lots of money” be coming from?
“Onyu, Grandma hit the jackpot.”
“Jackpot?”
“Yup…”
Her grandmother looked around, then lowered her voice.
“I won the lottery. A huge one.”
“Grandma, did you have a dream or something?”
Onyu asked in disbelief, but her grandmother immediately snapped at her.
“Excuse me?! Do I look like someone who’d say that after a full meal for fun?”
Emphasizing that she was serious, her grandmother pointed toward the village entrance.
“Go check the lottery store downtown. There’s a huge banner hanging out front.”
“Banner…? Wait a second—!”
Suddenly, Onyu remembered something.
She had seen that banner at the lottery shop next to the grocery store she’d stopped by to buy snacks and meat for her grandmother.
[Congratulations! 1st Prize Winner – 8.85 Billion Won!]
Onyu’s jaw dropped at the memory.
A first-prize lottery winner, in her hometown. The amount was astronomical—even if there were three winners, it was still one of the biggest payouts she had ever seen.
She had joked at the time, “Whoever that is, I envy them. I wish I could win the lottery too…”
And now, that winner was… her grandmother?
“…Unbelievable!”
“Yup. This is Jackpot Village now.”
Grandma misunderstood and nodded smugly.
“Grandmaaa! I can’t believe this! We’re saved! We’re going to walk the path of flowers—no, of money!”
Now realizing it was real, Onyu leapt up and hugged her.
“Oof—easy there! Grandma can’t breathe!”
“I’m not ruined anymore! My company will live!”
But just as Onyu was celebrating, her grandmother dropped a bombshell.
“But, Onyu… there’s a little problem…”
“Problem? What problem?”
“You know, that little slip of paper. With the numbers. I, uh… can’t remember where I hid it.”
“…”
“…”
“……What did you just say?”
Onyu was frozen. Was this a prank? A hidden camera?
“I’ve been getting a bit forgetful lately… and I guess when I wasn’t quite in my right mind, I must’ve hidden it somewhere. I’ve looked everywhere, but it’s gone.”
“…So you’re saying…”
Suddenly short of breath, Onyu swallowed hard and exhaled slowly.
“You won… but you lost the proof…?”
“That’s right…”
“…”
“They say you can’t claim the prize without it, right? What do we do now?”
“Ah…!”
Onyu’s legs gave out, and she collapsed to the floor.
So this is what they mean when they say fortune and misfortune arrive hand-in-hand. The lottery ticket that could have saved her… had vanished.
One Month Later
[You have arrived at your destination.]
At the mechanical voice from the navigation system, the car gently came to a stop. Only then did Lee Wan, who had been absorbed in his tablet for the entire ride, look up.
“We’ve arrived, President.”
Before his secretary chief Ahn Hae-yo could even finish her report, Lee Wan had already stepped out of the car. With a crisp and fluid motion, he planted his feet on the ground.
“This is the place?”
“Yes, sir.”
Lee Wan stuffed both hands in his pockets and looked at the hanok (traditional Korean house) in front of him.
Why here of all places…?
He frowned, annoyed, recalling what had brought him here.
This morning, his grandfather—Kang Dong-shik, chairman of the Seonin Group—had summoned him urgently.
“Either marry the woman I picked for you, or go build a theme park in Jackpot Village. Only then will I pass the company to you. Choose!”
It had been an unusual demand, even for his persistent grandfather.
Lee Wan had always made it clear—love, dating, marriage, and kids were not part of his life plan.
But his grandfather wouldn’t give up. He raised the stakes with this new ultimatum.
Lee Wan naturally chose the second option. What was a theme park, after all?
Then came the add-on.
“There’s an old noble family in that village—descendants of the Geuman Na clan. You must buy their house and peach orchard.”
