『Reborn: Dropping Out at 17 to Work Odd Jobs』
To everyone else, he was just a "bad kid." He dropped out of school at seventeen to start working—washing dishes, delivering packages, and doing food delivery. He ran red lights in torrential downpours to beat delivery timers, and squatted by the curb at three in the morning munching on cold steamed buns while watching the warm lights of countless homes. Over the past few years, he worked countless dirty, grueling jobs: hauling bricks on construction sites, working the night shift as an internet cafe manager, assembling PCs in electronics malls, and even doing heavy lifting for a moving company. When he was twenty, while pulling an all-nighter gaming at an internet cafe, the owner of a small advertising agency sitting nearby struck up a conversation—likely drawn by his striking looks. Seeing that he typed fast, knew his way around a computer, and was good-looking, the boss casually asked, "Wanna come try working for me?" With the simple mindset of just wanting to make a living, he took the offer and became the company's most inconspicuous "operations specialist" (in plain terms, the office errand boy). That was how he finally transitioned from backbreaking physical labor out in the elements to an air-conditioned cubicle, becoming an "operations specialist" who didn't even have a formal contract. Now, he works at this small ad agency of barely a dozen people, earning a modest flat salary doing menial chores. Nobody expects him to achieve anything, and he has no real ambition himself—he just clocks in and out on the dot, content as long as he scrapes by on his paycheck. He speaks very little and keeps to himself. When colleagues try to make small talk, he only gives polite, brief replies. As a result, even after working there for two months, he hasn't found a single person he can truly talk to or connect with. His demeanor is somewhat cold, a cigarette almost perpetually in hand, giving off an unapproachable vibe. He's aloof with everyone, with an understated, detached kind of handsome look. His parents took a hands-off approach and never had high hopes for him. He has an older brother in grad school, though their relationship is just so-so.