I Bought the Male Lead with Money

1.

The youngest son of the Lucid family, Yu Jin.

One day, he recalled his past life.

Everyone has dreams. This is true even for Suho, an ordinary office worker at a small to medium-sized company.

“Ah, I want to get passive income.”

A typical form of passive income is winning the lottery. Suho had bought a lottery ticket just last week. Although the odds of winning are lower than being struck by lightning, you never know.

If he wins, the prize money would be in the tens of billions. He could quit the company that makes him work overtime without any extra pay, even while they claim the company is struggling and don’t even provide dinner anymore.

A sigh escaped Suho’s lips without him realizing it. His tight salary quickly vanished with credit card bills, utility payments, and a bit of savings. Being busy made it hard to enjoy any proper hobbies. Even when he had time on weekends, he mostly just slept.

‘Is this living?’

Given the situation, he had given up on dating a girlfriend at some point. Even if a good relationship developed, he didn’t have the energy to maintain it.

“It’s hard to live.”

Suho was startled by his own voice that had slipped out. He quickly looked around, but fortunately, no one was there. Now that he thought about it, today was a company dinner day.

Because of that, everyone had left early. Of course, the dinner was just an extension of work, so he didn’t envy it at all. Moreover, Suho had to join the dinner after finishing his work.

He wanted to run away, but doing so would probably get him on the manager’s bad side. Suho wrapped up his work and stood up. He had already received a message about the second venue.

The second venue was a bar. He hadn’t even had dinner yet, and now he was going to have to make do with snacks. Feeling suffocated, he slipped his hand into his tie to loosen it, and only then did he feel a bit better. Suho packed his bag and left the office. Fortunately, the second venue wasn’t far away. While waiting for the signal at the crosswalk, a little kid suddenly dashed out in front of him.

‘Isn’t the light still red?’

He saw a woman on the opposite side waving her hands in panic.

“Mom!”

The moment the child called for his mother, a car came speeding from the other side. Without hesitation, Suho threw himself forward.

Then came a deafening sound, and his body rolled on the ground. Struggling to open his eyes, he saw the child lying down. At least he wasn’t dead. After confirming that, Suho belatedly checked his own condition.

‘I’m going to die.’

He had no medical knowledge, but just seeing the blood pouring out made it clear that he was in serious trouble. It felt like blood was gushing from every hole in his body.

“Call 119! Call 119!”

He heard someone shout. But soon, that sound faded away, and silence fell. The sensation in his body began to fade, and drowsiness washed over him.

‘At least I don’t have to go to dinner anymore.’

He wouldn’t have to work overtime anymore. That seemed like a good thing. With that thought, Suho closed his eyes.

Where do people go after they die?

It was a question that countless people had pondered over time. And today, Suho realized the answer.

“Is this heaven?”

In the mirror stood a person with angelic features, blonde hair, and blue eyes. But it was him. It was a bit unfortunate to be a man with such beauty, but since he had been a man before, he was more comfortable with this gender.

As he stared blankly at the mirror, he turned his gaze to see a young man entering through the door.

“Yu Jin.”

The young man’s eyes widened in surprise as he looked at Yu Jin and smiled. He was also quite handsome. Is this what heaven is like? As he thought that and smiled back, an overwhelming pain suddenly surged through him.

The pain felt like his head was going to split open, and Suho collapsed. Fortunately, before he could smash his head against the mirror, the young man caught him.

“Yu Jin! Are you okay? I’ll call a doctor right away!”

The young man bit his lip in shock, then turned his head and shouted.

“Call a doctor immediately!”

Amidst the terrible pain, unfamiliar memories surfaced. And within those memories, the young man’s name also came to mind.

“I-I’m fine. Keith. I’m okay.”

“Yu Jin!”

The young man from South Korea, Lee Suho. No, now he was the youngest son of the Lucid family, Yu Jin, and he closed his eyes again. Once more, a deep darkness enveloped him.

When he opened his eyes again, Keith and a woman who resembled him were standing beside him. The woman’s name was Haruna. Although she was a twin with Keith, they didn’t look much alike. Keith resembled their mother, while Haruna took after their father, whose name she didn’t even know. She had black hair and green eyes, and her stature was petite.

“Are you okay?”

Haruna asked in a worried voice.

“I’m fine. I just drank too much yesterday. The doctor said I’m okay, right?”

When Yu Jin asked, Haruna nodded.

“I told you to drink less, didn’t I? If you drink like that, you’ll end up collapsing. If you really want to drink, just have three glasses a day. No more than that. Got it?”

Yu Jin had never listened to Haruna’s words because he was so reckless. He had sought pleasure to forget the pain of the past.

‘How foolish.’

She was only saying that because she cared about Yu Jin.

“Okay, I’ll drink less from now on.”

For the first time, he returned an answer to Haruna’s concern.

“See!”

Just as Haruna was about to continue speaking, she suddenly noticed Yu Jin’s unusual demeanor and fell silent. She opened her eyes wide and scrutinized Yu Jin, then pinched the arm of the twin standing next to her.

“What’s going on? What did you give him this time? Yu Jin is acting strange!”

Keith didn’t budge at his twin sister’s actions. He remained still even as she pinched and poked him. Unlike Haruna, who had no talent for physical abilities, Keith was skilled with his body.

Hadn’t their swordsmanship teacher, who used to teach Yu Jin, been amazed by Keith’s talent?

“Yu Jin, I’ll call the doctor again. It seems like you weren’t treated properly.”

Keith said seriously.

He understood why he was acting like this. Yu Jin had been reckless all this time. It would seem strange for him to suddenly agree with Haruna’s opinion now.

But what could he do? Now that the memories of his past life had resurfaced, Yu Jin was not the complete Yu Jin anymore. Since he hadn’t liked alcohol much in his past life, it felt awkward to even bring it to his lips now.

‘That’s why I struggled so much at the company dinner too.’

“Enough. I’m going to sleep more.”

Although his memories were still disorganized, Yu Jin turned his body and lay on his side. He could hear the twins bickering behind him, but he tried to ignore it.

He knew that even with this, Keith and Haruna had a good relationship. Sometimes, fighting could be a sign of a good relationship.

Yu Jin sank back into his memories.

Here, there was a newborn baby. When the baby cried, a blonde woman carefully picked him up. The child stopped crying and smiled. And time passed.

The baby grew into a child and could now run on his own. He learned many things, and with that, his knowledge increased. Among those was information about his family.

The child’s name was Yu Jin von Lucid. He was the youngest son of the Lucid Marquis family, one of the wealthiest families on the continent.

In his early years, Yu Jin laughed a lot. Even when things were tough, he had a kind mother by his side and a nanny as well. The nanny had fraternal twins, who also brought smiles to Yu Jin.

The twins were not much older than Yu Jin, yet they tried to act like older siblings.

‘I was happy.’

But even in those happy moments, an end came. Before Yu Jin could become an adult, his mother passed away. She had fallen ill for a few days before she died, and no one could find the cause.

His father had called in a famous doctor to save her, but he was unsuccessful. After the funeral, before Yu Jin could overcome his grief, hardships struck him.

With his mother, who had acted as a breakwater against the waves, gone, his father withdrew from Yu Jin. It seemed he could love his mother, but not Yu Jin.

‘Selfish human.’

Nobles in the empire could have three wives, and Yu Jin’s mother was the third. The other wives, who had already disliked Yu Jin’s mother, became even more malicious after the funeral.

Days of suffering continued.

At first, he tried to endure, but the torment was endless. Every time the twins stepped in to protect him, it felt like something inside Yu Jin was breaking away.

Yu Jin, who had been praised as a genius in his childhood, began to fall apart from that point on. He touched things he shouldn’t have and withdrew from learning.

The more Yu Jin fell apart, the less pressure came from the outside. Thus, he endured until he became an adult and received a business from his father to become independent.

Now that he was independent, he didn’t have to fall apart anymore.

He needed at least a minimal disguise to remain a troublemaker, but there was no need to destroy himself. However, once Yu Jin had fallen, he couldn’t climb back up again.

He continued to fall deeper and deeper. He left all the business matters to Haruna and indulged in pleasure under Keith’s protection. He enjoyed alcohol and cigarettes and recklessly threw his body around.

The evaluations of Yu Jin worsened, but he didn’t care. The actions he had taken for safety had become a habit.

“You fool.”

Yu Jin muttered softly without realizing it. Would it have been better if he had recalled his past life sooner? He didn’t know.