--Intro and Background: Approx. 2700 characters--

You may skip this and read the short summary in the intro.

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High school entrance ceremony.

Passing through the school gates in my new uniform,

I repeated to myself countless times,

'This time... I'll be able to make friends.'

I didn't have a single friend throughout the three years of middle school.

I always ate lunch alone,

And in PE class, I was never picked for a team until the very end.

Still, I believed high school would be different.

But reality hit from the very first day.

"Hello..."

I stood up to introduce myself,

But my voice trembled from nervousness.

Laughter erupted from the back of the classroom.

"What's up with his voice?"

"Doesn't he smell? lol."

After that day,

Hardly anyone remembered my name.

Everyone called me 'Pig,' 'Loser,' or 'Hoodie Guy.'

I weighed 135kg.

My face was covered in acne,

And I always wore a black hoodie over my uniform.

It was the only way to avoid people's stares.

As time passed, cliques naturally formed in the class.

And the four most prominent girls:

Eunseo.

Jia.

Yueun.

Yuri.

Beautiful looks.

Many friends.

They were famous girls even within the school.

Model students in front of teachers.

But they were different toward me.

Lunchtime.

When I was eating my meal alone,

Eunseo would walk past me and say,

"Alone again today?"

Jia would smirk.

"Having no friends is a talent in itself."

Yueun would casually

Sit next to me and then immediately stand up, saying,

"It smells here."

Yuri would watch it all, laughing with her friends.

Every time I heard their laughter,

I would put down my spoon, losing my appetite.

PE class.

I was out of breath while running.

Eunseo shouted loudly from behind,

"Hey, you haven't even run half the way yet."

All the students around looked at me.

My face burned.

I kept running with my head down.

Group projects were even harder.

"Our team is full."

"Sorry."

"Look for another team."

It was always me who was left alone until the end.

When the teacher forced a team together, everyone sighed.

Even those sighs were wounds to me.

One rainy day.

I forgot my umbrella.

Friends laughed and talked while sharing umbrellas.

I walked home in the rain without a word.

What was heavier than my wet uniform was my heart.

When I got home,

The room was quiet.

A heavily overweight man stood in the mirror.

'Am I the problem?'

I asked countless times, but there was no answer.

Three years of high school.

I didn't make a single friend.

Graduation day.

While everyone was taking pictures and laughing,

I left the school with just my diploma.

Looking back at the playground one last time, I vowed to myself,

'Never... will I live like this again.'

---

After graduation.

I cut off all contact with people.

And I lived a hellish life.

Waking up at 5 AM to run.

Even if it rained.

Even if it snowed.

I didn't miss a single day.

I endured all the foods I wanted to eat.

It was painful at first.

I felt frustrated many times.

At first, I couldn't even run for 5 minutes.

But still, still... I kept running.

And then,

I started working out for the first time.

In the beginning, I couldn't even do a push-up.

I couldn't do sit-ups because of my belly fat.

When I stood on the scale, I couldn't see my feet.

Still, I kept trying.

Honestly, even if it was a bone-grinding effort,

Even if it was all useless,

Even if everyone ridiculed me,

I had to do it.

---

As if recognizing my efforts,

After three years, my weight went from 135kg to 74kg.

Muscles formed.

I took care of my skin.

I learned how to dress instead of just wearing hoodies.

I slowly regained my confidence.

And it turned out, I was a winning lottery ticket.

Behind the fat were chiseled features.

An appearance that anyone would find captivating.

Then one day,

A lottery ticket I bought out of boredom won first prize.

A massive jackpot.

But I didn't waste the money.

Instead of going to college, I learned about investing.

I started a business.

And I became a young CEO whose name everyone knows.

---

And like destiny,

I was invited as a guest speaker for a university entrepreneurship lecture.

When I opened the door to the venue,

Four familiar faces were sitting in the front row.

Eunseo.

Jia.

Yueun.

Yuri.

They had become students at the same university.

Eunseo glanced at me but didn't recognize me.

Jia was looking at her phone.

Yueun was talking to a friend.

Yuri was the same.

I walked up to the podium.

The moderator took the microphone.

"I introduce the CEO of ○○ Group, who will be giving today's lecture."

"Hello, I am Guest, the CEO of ○○ Group."

The moment my name echoed,

The expressions of the four froze simultaneously.

"...What?"

"...No way."

"...It must be someone with the same name."

I revealed my high school background.

The loser who used to keep his head down without a shred of confidence in high school.

The person they ridiculed, ignored,

And whose very existence they deemed insignificant.

I was now a CEO giving a lecture in front of hundreds of people.

After the lecture.

Eunseo called my name with a trembling voice.

"...Was it... really you?"

I looked at the four of them for a moment.

The scars of the past were still vivid.

But this time, I had no reason to hang my head.

I smiled faintly and thought quietly.

"In high school, you guys looked down on me."

And now again, I thought to myself.

"Now... it's my turn to look down on you."