“So there is no rhyme or reason to what makes your choices the best, other than luck?” Byeongkwan was lazily sprawled out on the couch, looking at his phone as he talked to Chan.

“Well yes. I have business training and experience now, so I can justify my actions, but everything is just pure luck.” Chan was looking over Donghun’s shoulder at a screen.

“Wait-wait, scroll back up.” Chan pointed to the screen. “This person you should send an email to. They will be a good repeat customer for you. They’ll be nice and pay well too.”

Byeongkwan scoffed. “So you really can just know these things by looking?”

“It’s more of a feeling.” Chan replied to Byeongkwan. “Oh wait- this business too. It seems like they are looking for a new graphic designer for their ads.” He pointed to another company listed.

“Thanks,” Donghun sighed. “I feel bad relying on you like this.”

“It’s fine. Everyone uses me for their own benefit.” Chan replied casually.

Donghun shook his head. It was quite pitiful to hear that from Chan.

“Thanks anyways. You are helping Sehyoon and me out quite a bit.” Donghun smiled.

“It’s not like you’ve seen his ‘luck’ in action yet.” Sehyoon replied from the next desk over. He was working on drawing a new design for one of their current customers.

Chan looked at him surprised. “You don’t believe in my luck, but you kidnapped me anyways?”

Sehyoon shrugged. “Byeongkwan asked for my help and I gave it.”

“Uh okay…” Chan was surprised at Sehyoon nonchalance. He turned to Byeongkwan, “Byeongkwan, you believe in my good luck?” Chan asked.

“I don’t know about your luck per say, but I know the results. I trust Jun’s files.” Byeongkwan replied.

“What do you mean?”

Byeongkwan stood up and rifled through a stack of files on their coffee table. He picked up a particular one and handed it to Chan. “Jun’s a private investigator and sometimes I read his files for fun. They’re never wrong.”

Chan flipped open the file to find his personal information laid out in a clean format. Many details of his life and business history were arranged neatly out for him to read. “Wow, this is cool. I didn’t realize you could find out so much about anyone.”

Byeongkwan laughed. “Are you kidding? Your file is the most short and boring. You have little to no personal details and you’ve never done anything wrong in your life.”

Byeongkwan grabbed Chan by the hand. “Come on, let’s go out and fill that file of yours with more juicy details. Baby Tonight, we are going to have so much fun.”

Chan had never experienced so much excitement in his life. Over the next few days, Byeongkwan had taken him to grills, food stalls, cafes, bars, clubs, internet cafes, malls, and other tourist traps. 

Byeongkwan even took him on a tour of a college campus. Chan had always wanted to see what it was like to be a normal student. 

Chan and Byeongkwan met up with the others frequently; Jun went with them to the mall, Donghun ate with them frequently at cafes, and Sehyoon would accompany their river walks. Chan picked up bits and pieces of their lives through all their conversations, and he freely shared details of his own.

He found out that Jun had met Donghun and Sehyoon in college, while Byeongkwan got to know them shortly after. He knew that Donghun and Sehyoon worked together to start up a freelance art company, and that Byeongkwan helps out sometimes but doesn’t have a permanent job of his own. He learned that none of them were really well off, and lived together in a house to keep rent low. 

Chan thought it was really inspiring that they were all able to work on their passions and still make ends meet. 

“We’re on the total opposite spectrum as you, Chan.” Byeongkwan commented as they were taking a night walk down the Han.

“What do you mean?” Chan asked.

Byeongkwan sighed. “Well, we’re all doing what we want with our lives, but we aren’t successful. On the other hand, you don’t live how you want to, but you have all the money in the world.”

“I don’t think having money means you’re successful.” Chan commented, “especially if you aren’t happy with how you live.” 

“I agree,” Byeongkwan replied, “but it’s hard to be happy without financial stability. I don’t think you can understand the pressure of rent being due, or having enough money to eat.” 

“But you all work so hard, I’ve watched Donghun and Jun put a lot of thought into their businesses. And they’ve made good decisions.” Chan expressed. “Shouldn’t their businesses be successful?”

Byeongkwan shook his head. “They’re missing the one thing that makes their work take off.”

“What is it?” Chan asked.

Byeongkwan stuck his finger in Chan’s face, pointing at him. “It’s luck.” He stated.

“No matter how hard you work, it’s still up to luck.” Byeongkwan asserted, “That’s why I kidnapped you.”

“That’s not fair.” Chan pouted, “Then no matter how hard people work, it doesn’t matter if they don’t have the luck.” 

“It’s true.” Byeongkwan sighed. “But look here, Chan, we can’t control our luck, but we can control our efforts. Through hard work, we’re able to take a bit of control of the outcome, even if that pales in comparison to the amount of luck we have.” 

Byeongkwan huffed. “Just remember, even if you have all the luck in the world, you shouldn’t sit back and just let things happen to you.” 

Chan was taken aback. No one had ever told him he needed to work hard. Because his luck was outrageously high, he never really needed to put an effort into anything before- since everything just worked out for him. 

Had Chan been stifling his potential this whole time? Could he have achieved more if he put in all of his effort? Would he be a different place in life had he tried harder?

Chan was really starting to reflect on himself.

“Hey, Byeon-” Chan stopped mid-sentence when he felt a large hand grip his shoulder.

“Kang Yuchan.” Chan felt shivers as he heard the familiar voice of his head bodyguard. “We are here to take you home.”