Fortune Killer – Chapter 1 (Part 1)

Translator: Miri

 

키에- Fortune Killer

Chapter 1

 

 

“Phew.”

Arriving at the villa he had come to last night, Lain took a seat in the living room and panted out of breath. His heart was still unable to calm down.
He had even signed the contract as if possessed by something and accepted a bunch of keys and a PDA last night, but when he had opened his eyes this morning he wondered what in the world was going on.
However, when he right away had ended up seeing the keys lying next to him and the Jaguar with the scratched bumper in the parking lot, he had had no choice but to face reality.
And when he had driven to the villa in that car and walked inside the elevator, the fact that the card key actually activated the elevator made him accept reality once more. He had then walked in the house and scrutinized the contract he had signed yesterday before slapping himself in the face.
He felt uneasy. Too uneasy. He did not know why but he felt awfully uneasy.
Instead of thinking of this whole situation as a windfall, he was convinced that there was no reason for him to experience such good fortune.
Even during his university days, when he received a scholarship some kind of trouble costing him just as much would occur- his very inexpensive apartment would fall victim to water damage or the new costly electronical goods or major books would get soaked in water, or they would ask him to leave his home immediately because the building was getting demolished, in that manner. In other words, there was no way for him to be lucky without having to pay a price for it.
An annual income of five hundred thousand dollars with a car, as well as board and lodging provided, furthermore working as Edan Blake’s attorney and spokesperson.
Edan Blake’s family lawyer was Luke Feltin. He was a legendary figure in New York and his work experience alone amounted to 30 years.
It was strange that he was the one who was supposed to replace that kind of person and more than anything, the conditions were too good.
He was someone who only pursued correctly earned income. In his case, unearned income always turned into a disaster before long.
This meant that if he were to receive more pay than he deserved for his work, problems would arise as well.
Working for a fixed amount of hours and receiving exactly that much money was secure.
No matter how he thought about it, being paid a wage far above his capability made him anxious.
What kind of thing would happen this time. Would his house perhaps explode this time around? Otherwise, would his car suddenly start running and cause him to be indebted to the hospital ¹ ? If this was not it either, would one of his family members guarantee somebody’s debt…….
Lain was tightly clutching the contract in one hand and trying to calm down his wildly beating heart when the sound of heavy footsteps reached his ears from the corridor outside the living room.
The sound made him abruptly get up from his seat and straighten his suit as he waited.
Even though he had lived in New York for quite a long time- university, grad school and finally finding work- it was his first time seeing a celebrity up-close.
Even when occasionally spotting a model or actor on the roadside, he usually just pretended to be indifferent and passed them by. However, right now his heart was skipping a beat.
It was Edan Blake. Not anyone else but Edan Blake. America’s star who had grown from a teenage star to character actor and producer who boasted powerful ticket power.
He could not even be considered ordinary amongst stars and was of large scale by nature. At the thought of meeting this person who he had only admired through photos or television in person, Lain felt his heart flutter.
When they met, he intended to first of all get an autograph and then use the old-fashioned cellphone he had newly purchased in the morning- the least expensive model- to take a picture and send it to Kelly.
When he had mentioned that he was going to work with Edan from now on during the call this morning, Kelly had let out a shriek and Elly had as expected indifferently hung up with the words “So hitting that Jaguar has made you go insane.”

If he sent a photo to Elly, she also would have no choice but to believe him.
While he was nervously waiting and contemplating about whether to take a photo or ask for an autograph first, someone stepped into the living room.
He was still in the process of worrying about how to greet the other cooly and in the least tacky way possible, when an African American with a huge build and a smallish but somehow strong-looking Caucasian grandfather who looked familiar for some reason came into his field of vision.

“Oh, the newly hired lawyer?”

Lain blinked his eyes at the sight of the man who was tall enough to reach 2m of height, wearing a comfortable T-shirt and pair of cotton trousers and the strong-looking elderly gentleman.
Where did the Edan Blake in question go that only unfamiliar faces kept appearing one after another.
While he was in the midst of thinking about where in the world Edan Blake had gone, the white-haired old man showed a kind smile and extended his hand.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Jerry Brook, this is Sean Kaylee. We are Eddy’s bodyguards. I briefly heard what happened from Alex yesterday.” ²

Looking at he man who familiarly addressed the Edan Blake as ‘Eddy’ with surprised eyes, Lain hurriedly reached out and held the other’s hand.

“Ah, yes. How do you do? I’m called Lain Jang.”

After first exchanging greetings with Jerry, Lain faced Sean’s massive body and extended his hand to shake the other’s large hand.
It was literally as big as a caldron lid ³ . If one got hit once by that hand, a concussion would be guaranteed.

“Eddy is in France right now. And he’s expected to return soon. That’s why we’re about to go to the airport to meet him, will you accompany us?”

“Ah, is that okay?”

“Of course. Since you’ll become family from now on.”

Jerry grinned while speaking those words and in that instant Lain suddenly felt that something was strange. They kept saying family, family since yesterday……. it was somehow odd.
When he thought about why these people kept using the term ‘family’ instead of friends all the time, Lain blurted out the word that came up in his head.

“Mafia?”

“Huh?”

“Family. Don Corleone. Marlon Brando, Al Pacino. Ah, Marlon Brando!”

After wondering who this old man resembled, Lain came to the conclusion he looked like Marlon Brando. He yelled with a voice filled with conviction and Jerry ‘ho ho ho’ broke into laughter.

“Seems like you are fond of ‘The Godfather’.”

“Yes. You resemble Marlon Brando.”

“Oh, I’m often told that.”

“Marlon Brando and Mike Tyson.” ⁴

Lain showed a slight smile hiding no ulterior motives and pointed towards Sean who was standing at the side. From a certain point of view, this attitude could be considered fairly impolite but Lain’s expression was so innocent that the two people just laughed it off.

“This friend also hears that kind of thing quite often. Then, shall we leave? Because we have to catch him before he gets away to some other place.”

“Pardon?”

Before he even had the chance to ask who would get away to where, Jerry checked the time on his watch and nodded.

“Now then, let us hurry, I say. Because we don’t have time. Lawyer, can you use some strength?”

“What? Yeah, well. As much as the average person.”

“What about running?”

“I’m good at running.”

He was not good at other sports but had confidence only when it came to running, so when Lain replied while smiling, Jerry patted his shoulder as if satisfied.

“That’s great. Let us go.”

“Yes? Where to?”

“To the airport.”

 

 

It was early in the morning but JFK airport was bustling nonetheless.
Standing in front of the regular gate and looking at the surroundings with his eyes wide open, Lain contemplated if someone like Edan Blake would not use the VIP gate and looked around the area.
Jerry and Sean who he had come with together were whispering about something and getting a grasp on the location.

“Uhm, when is Edan arriving though?”

“He’ll arrive before long.”

“Why is he coming out of the regular gate?”

“……not sure.”

While he was looking at the other who was mumbling in a somewhat ominous way, the gate started opening.
When Lain was in the midst of thinking about whether Edan Blake would not come riding a private plane and tilting his head to the side, people started pouring out from the gate
All ethnicities swarmed out but even in the midst of this, a person resembling Edan Blake was nowhere to be seen.

“Uhm, excuse me. Are this all of the bodyguards?”

“No.”

“Then what about the other people?”

Occasionally looking at entertainment news programmes, Edan Blake was always surrounded by five or six bodyguards and seemed to have two or three managers as well. Lain tilted his head wondering if they were all resting because it was not within their working period, so Jerry very kindly explained to him.

“Originally there were five people, but last week two people quit and another one resigned yesterday. And there originally were three managers as well but two of them quit yesterday.
The attorney also got his license revoked as of yesterday, so we ultimately have to see it as him having resigned.”

Hearing Jerry mumble something like ‘Come to think of it, didn’t Melissa say she was on leave starting today as well’ Lain glanced at him anxiously.
A workplace with too good conditions must have some kind of issue. Even if he did not know about other people, to him it was like that.
When looking back at his life in which plus and minus always resulted in a sum of precisely zero, there was no such thing as a free lunch. ⁵
You get what you pay for ⁶ , unearned income was linked to a disaster shortly afterwards. Whenever he gained something for free, he had to repay just as much.
He had known something was weird.
A newbie like him, a rookie lawyer who just barely rid himself of his intern status- and even had an unknown winning rate at present- to think that his annual salary was five hundred thousand dollars.
By the look of it, it was clear that there must be a slave contract or some kind of other scheme hidden behind this. No, even if there was no scheme, some issue just as bad would come up.
Edan Blake was a celebrity famous for not causing any trouble. He should have no need to use a lawyer apart from when he signed movie contracts.
If, without a personal office, he were to only take care of matters concerning him, he would stack up an enormous amount of unearned income.
If so, he was afraid of the future troubles. He had a premonition that extremely scary things would most likely happen in the future.

“Uhm, I’m sorry Jerry…… but may I ask for the reason why those people resigned?”

Heavily clouded with suspicion, Lain’s question caused Jerry to hesitate briefly as if he was put into a difficult spot.

“You will slowly learn about that.”

“What is it?”

“Well, let’s just say that’s how life is for everyone. No matter how much money is offered the people we can trust are few, moreover even if we can trust them they still have their own personal circumstances.”

“So what I mean is, those personal cicumstances…….”

Just as he embraced his wildly beating heart and was about to ask what exactly those personal cicurmstances were, Jerry who was looking back at the gate hit his shoulder and gestured towards the gate.
Following the hand with his gaze, he saw a man carrying a large Louis Vuitton monogram KeepAll(Eng in raws) over his shoulder coming out.

Because he had pulled down his black beanie and put on dark Boeing sunglasses his face was almost not visible, however even this casual look sporting a black V-neck t-shirt with jeans and the earphones in his ears made the man stand out from the sea of people pouring out of the gate. One look was enough to know he was a model or actor.
His walk, as well as the way he did not respond with any kind of shyness to the gazes directed at him and instead showed a confident demeanor as if enjoying them proved the fact that he was at the very least a model.
The head that was almost severely small when compared to his height, his long neck and limbs and the body that had developed muscles just in the appropiate places while still being slender made Lain sincerely blurt out an exclamation. “Wow.”
The people around him only had been either middle-aged men whose bellies sticked out and whose hairlines had started to recede or lawyers who were short of stature and looked like they had nasty tempers- Edward Clark exempted.
However, this guy had a problem with his head.- After being in that kind of situation, seeing such a handsome man who was close to perfection made his eyes feel extremely refreshed.

“It’s an air purifier, an air purifier.”

 

 

 

 

TN:

 1 – In other words, cause him to get hurt and spend time in the hospital.

 2 – He talks casually.

 3 – Talk about exaggeration, that’s like at least three times the size of my hand.

 4 – For those who don’t have a clue about famous people, this is what they look like:

 

 

Marlon Brando

Mike Tyson

 5 – (lit. In this world, nothing is for free.)

6 – (lit. Cheap things are biji ddeok (rice cake made from bean-curd dregs).)

This part was so difficult. First of all, Jerry has his own unique ‘old man’ way of speaking which is quite hard to translate, so it might not always come across that way… But I’ll do my best to make it sound somewhat similar ㅠㅠ Second of all, this story made me realize that I have like zero knowledge when it comes to designer brands and movies. And lastly, Lain fawning over Edan made me kinda laugh.

Sorry for the long delay. A lot happened and I also slacked off <.< But things are back to normal now (at least somehow….), so I’ll try my best to get back to one update a week.

Btw, I still have some chapters from novels I translated a while back on my computer, do you want me to post those as well? But let me warn you, it’ll mostly only be the first chapter and I don’t plan on continuing any of them. There are also some novels I considered translating apart from Fortune Killer for which I could post summaries or teasers. Maybe someone else will be willing to translate them or I can translate one of them after I finish FK or when I have more time.

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