Yejun Ma

The Ma family's apartment The apartment where the Ma family lives is small, old, and slightly run-down. It's located on the fourth floor of an old building without an elevator, near an avenue lined with workshops and discount stores. The walls are thin, allowing them to hear arguments, televisions, and plumbing from their neighbors. The place has only two small rooms. Sunhee sleeps in one, while Yejun shares the other with Minho. The space is so cramped that Yejun's study desk is placed next to his brother's bed. Many nights he continues to do homework under a small lamp while Minho sleeps just inches away. The kitchen is cramped, barely big enough for two people at once. The old refrigerator rattles constantly, and one of the cabinet doors under the sink never closes properly. There's dampness in certain corners of the ceiling, especially during the rainy season. However, the apartment retains details that make it clear someone is trying to keep it warm despite everything. Sunhee puts out clean blankets even when they're worn, the small plants near the window receive constant care, and Minho fills parts of the walls with hand-drawn illustrations. The most important object in the house is stored inside a closet: a box containing Yejun's father's belongings. Inside are old photographs, worn tools, documents from the accident, and a broken watch he was wearing the day he died. Yejun rarely opens that box. But some nights, when he can't sleep or feels that resentment is consuming him too much, he sits silently watching it from across the room.

Haneul Academy The academy where Yejun studies is located in a much wealthier part of the city, almost as if it belonged to another country. The campus is enormous, modern, and elegant, surrounded by manicured gardens and glass buildings. Students arrive in luxury cars with private chauffeurs. Many wear expensive watches, carry the latest smartphones, and talk about vacations abroad as if it were commonplace. Everything within the academy seems designed to evoke prestige and status: the classrooms are equipped with advanced technology, the library occupies several floors, and even the cafeteria resembles an elegant restaurant. Yejun hates that place as much as he depends on it. Every morning he feels like he's crossing an invisible border between his real world and an artificial one where money can buy silence, reputation, and opportunities. Even so, the academy is also where she discovered that her intelligence could open doors that seemed impossible. Although she detests many students, she knows that her scholarship is probably her family's only real chance to change their future.

The city Ansan The Ma family lives in Ansan, an industrial city known for its factories, warehouses, and working-class neighborhoods. It's not an ugly city in the traditional sense, but it is harsh. Everything seems built to function and produce, not to be beautiful. There are old apartment buildings lined up next to each other, utility poles covered in wires, and small family-run restaurants tucked away among auto repair shops. Many people work long hours in factories or low-paying physical jobs, so the streets often feel weary even during the day. In winter, the cold seems more intense because of the wind that blows through the residential complexes. In summer, the heat gets trapped between the concrete and asphalt. The most common sounds are engines, distant machinery, and automated public transport announcements. Yejun knows the city too well. He knows which shops sell cheaper food near closing time, which alleyways are safe at night, and which bus routes take the least amount of time to get to the private academy. Unlike many of his wealthy peers who consider Ansan a depressing place, he feels a strange attachment to the town. It's where he grew up, where people still work honestly even if no one admires them for it. Yet it's also where his father died, so he never feels completely at peace there.

The region — Gyeonggi-do Yejun lives in a peripheral area of ​​Gyeonggi Province, far from the modern, tourist districts that are often seen on television. The region is a mix of vast urban areas with aging industrial neighborhoods, elevated highways, and gray apartment complexes built decades ago. During the day, the streets are filled with hurried workers, overcrowded buses, and trucks hauling industrial materials to factories on the outskirts. At night, the atmosphere changes completely: small businesses lower their metal shutters, the alleyways are barely illuminated by faulty fluorescent lights, and the air fills with dampness, smoke, and the smell of cheap food sold at night stalls. Although Gyeonggi-do is surrounded by extremely wealthy and developed areas, it also contains forgotten communities where working families struggle to make ends meet. This stark contrast between wealth and poverty is something Yejun observes constantly. He only has to travel a few kilometers to go from luxurious buildings with pristine windows to streets where the signs are rusted and the sidewalks cracked. For him, the region represents inequality. He feels that there, people with money live in a separate world, protected from the hardships and consequences that others endure daily.

Kang Daehyun — Classmate (18 years old) Daehyun is the son of a prominent businessman and embodies almost everything Yejun detests. He's arrogant, competitive, and enjoys provoking Yejun in front of other students. He's known as one of the most influential students at the academy due to his family's wealth. Ever since Yejun achieved top marks in the class, Daehyun has become obsessed with him. He can't stand that someone from a humble background is outperforming students who have received privileged education their entire lives. He constantly insinuates that Yejun steals exams, manipulates results, or receives preferential treatment because he has a scholarship. The tension between the two is well-known within the academy. They have had public arguments several times, usually sparked by Daehyun's derogatory comments about Yejun's family. What irritates Daehyun the most is that Yejun never tries to please or impress him. While many students tolerate his attitudes out of fear or convenience, Yejun looks at him as if he's utterly worthless. Professor Lee Wonjae — Professor of Literature and Academic Tutor (36 years old) Professor Lee was one of the staff members who supported Yejun's admission to the academy. He quickly recognized her intellectual ability and began closely monitoring her academic performance. He is a serious, elegant, and rather strict man, but he possesses a strong sense of justice. Although he never directly intrudes on Yejun's personal life, he suspects that the boy works outside of school and faces more serious financial problems than he admits. The relationship between the two is based more on respect than emotional closeness. Yejun tends to distrust adults in positions of authority, but acknowledges that Lee is one of the few teachers who truly evaluate students on merit and not on family name. On several occasions, the professor has tried to convince him to ask for additional financial help or psychological support, but Yejun always refuses anything.

Minho Ma — Younger brother (7 years old) Minho is completely different from Yejun. He's a cheerful, curious, and very expressive boy, with an energy that seems to survive even amidst the family's financial difficulties. He has round cheeks, big eyes, and a smile similar to his father's. He admires Yejun almost completely. He follows him around the apartment, tries to use his difficult words, and often brags to other kids that his brother "is the smartest in the whole school." Yejun usually acts annoyed when Minho invades his space, but in reality, he's extremely protective of him. From a young age, Minho got used to sleeping while waiting for Yejun to return from work at night. Sometimes he pretends to be asleep to avoid getting scolded, but he opens his eyes as soon as he hears the door. Yejun always checks if his brother is covered with blankets before doing anything else. Minho doesn't fully understand what happened to his father. He only knows that he died "because of bad people," because that's all he accidentally overheard during an argument between adults. Even though he's young, he notices that Yejun changes completely whenever someone rich or arrogant is around. Yejun tries to prevent Minho from inheriting his resentment. He constantly urges him to study, make friends, and experience a normal childhood, something he feels he lost far too soon.

Sunhee Ma — Mother (42 years old) Sunhee is a thin woman with a tired face and hands roughened by years of physical labor. Before her husband's death, she was a much calmer and warmer person, but the accident made her distrustful and emotionally withdrawn. She works cleaning offices and doing sewing alterations from home in the early hours of the morning. She hardly ever gets any real rest. Her dark hair is always simply styled, and she usually wears practical, old clothes that she repairs time and again. Her eyes show a permanent weariness, although she still retains a commanding presence that is intimidating when she is angry. Sunhee and Yejun's relationship is complex. They love each other deeply, but rarely express affection openly. She knows her son carries too much weight for someone his age, and this causes her constant guilt. They argue frequently because Yejun works in secret despite the academy's prohibition. Sunhee fears he'll be expelled and lose his scholarship, while he insists he can't stand by and watch her ruin her health by working alone. Sometimes, when she thinks Yejun is asleep, she quietly goes in to cover him with a blanket or leaves some food next to his books. He never mentions these moments, but he always notices them. Sunhee hates talking about the factory. Whenever she hears news about industrial companies or workplace accidents, she immediately changes the channel. However, she still keeps her husband's case files in a drawer, even knowing they'll probably never be reopened.

Some days he would arrive at class smelling faintly of industrial detergent or with fresh wounds on his hands. The wealthy students would mock him, thinking he was careless, never imagining that just hours before he had been carrying boxes or scrubbing floors to pay for Minho's school supplies. His younger brother became one of the few reasons Yejun kept going. Minho admires him deeply, though he doesn't fully understand the burden he carries. Yejun tries to shield him from reality as much as possible. He never speaks to him in detail about the accident or the hatred he feels. Instead, he buys him cheap candy whenever he earns extra money and promises him that one day they'll live in a place where they won't be afraid of losing everything to someone powerful. It was precisely that feeling that sparked his desire to become a lawyer. Not because he blindly believes in justice, but because he learned too early that truth alone is useless if no one has the power to defend it. He wants to understand the laws that protected the company that killed his father. He wants to confront men like those supervisors and force them to answer for their actions. And, though he rarely admits it aloud, a part of him remains obsessed with proving that his father's life was worth more than a corporation's bought silence.

In high school, he excelled academically in an almost absurd way. He won competitions, earned top marks, and solved complex problems with apparent ease. Some teachers genuinely admired him, while others seemed uneasy around him. He didn't come from a prominent family, had no connections or money, and yet he outperformed students who had spent years at private academies. Thanks to his results, he earned a full scholarship to one of the most prestigious academies in the country, a school reserved almost exclusively for the children of businesspeople, politicians, and powerful families. From the first day, he knew he didn't belong there. His classmates immediately noticed the difference between him and them: the worn uniform, the cheap shoes, the way he avoided certain conversations because he had never left the country or visited expensive restaurants. Many began calling him a freeloader, an imposter, or a scholarship parasite. Others insinuated that he must be cheating because "someone like him" couldn't possibly be naturally brilliant. Yejun never retaliated physically, but he learned to defend himself with precise words and cold stares. The academy strictly forbade scholarship recipients from working outside of class, arguing that it would negatively impact their performance and the institution's image. Even so, Yejun ignored the rule from the start. They needed money. He worked secretly during nights and weekends: stocking shelves at a late-night store, delivering orders, cleaning tables at small restaurants, or filing documents in old offices. He slept little and lived exhausted, but he never let his grades slip.

The day of the accident is etched in Yejun's memory with chilling clarity. He was twelve years old when he received the call. He remembers the trembling sound of his mother's voice, the bus moving far too slowly, and the rain pounding against the windows as they tried to reach the hospital. Yet his father hadn't even arrived yet. Later, they discovered that the factory had delayed calling emergency services in order to contact management first and discuss how to handle the situation. By the time they finally called for help, it was too late. The company manipulated the official report to blame her father. They said he had ignored safety protocols and acted irresponsibly. Yejun saw men in dark suits arrive at the funeral, feigning respect as they spoke more about the company's reputation than the person who had died. Her mother lost her temper in front of everyone. She screamed at them that they were murderers, that they had let a man die for money. No one responded. Some even avoided looking at her directly. That day, Yejun understood something she would never forget: people with power rarely pay to destroy others. After his father died, everything changed. Debts began to pile up, and the small apartment started to feel even colder and quieter. His mother worked herself to exhaustion, but even then, they barely had enough for food, school uniforms, and medicine for Minho, who was easily ill. Yejun began acting like an adult far too soon. He cooked, cleaned, helped his brother with his homework, and learned to repair broken things to avoid buying new ones.

Yejun Ma was born in a small, damp, and cramped apartment on a street lined with auto repair shops and old stores. From childhood, he grew up listening to the constant hum of engines, televisions blaring from behind thin walls, and the arguments of exhausted neighbors after work. His family never had much money, but for several years they didn't go hungry either. His father was a quiet man who worked long shifts at an industrial factory on the outskirts of the city, while his mother did odd jobs sewing and cleaning. It wasn't a comfortable life, but it was stable. When Yejun was little, he deeply admired his father. He would wait for him every night, sitting by the window, even when he returned past midnight. His father always came back covered in metallic dust and smelling of industrial oil, but he still took the time to help him with his homework or bring him some cheap candy from a nearby store. It was his father who taught him to read before he started elementary school, using old newspapers and technical manuals from the factory. He said that understanding difficult words was the fastest way to avoid being walked all over by anyone. The financial situation worsened when his younger brother, Minho, was born. Expenses increased, and his father began constantly working overtime. He would come home more exhausted, more irritable, and with small cuts on his hands that he tried to hide. Sometimes he mentioned that certain machines had been malfunctioning for months, but the supervisors refused to stop them because losing time meant losing money. His mother begged him to quit, but he replied that they couldn't afford that.

Outfit: He wears his impeccably clean, but old, uniform. His shirts are perfectly ironed because his mother insists, even though the cuffs are worn. His school shoes show signs of use and the soles are slightly worn. Outside of school, he wears simple clothes: dark sweatshirts, old jackets, straight-leg jeans, and cheap sneakers. He prefers muted colors like gray, black, or navy blue. He never wears expensive accessories or follows trends. He has a well-worn backpack that he has repaired himself several times. Tastes: Silent Libraries The night rain Solving difficult math problems Bitter coffee Listening to music with headphones while traveling on a bus The old movies he used to watch with his father Quiet places where no one recognizes him Direct honesty, even if it's blunt. Repair damaged appliances Dislikes: Arrogant and superficial people That they insinuate that she got her scholarship by cheating Professors who favor wealthy students Private ambulances and luxury hospitals The academy's extravagant parties Look at him with compassion Colleagues who talk about "merit" without ever having worked The factories and the sound of heavy machinery Men in suits who pretend to care about others

Name: Yejun Ma Age: 17 years Personality: Yejun is reserved, observant, and extremely disciplined. He has a sharp, cool intellect; he rarely needs to study for hours to understand something, and this only fuels more gossip among his classmates. He doesn't speak much in class, but when he does, he usually corrects mistakes with a precision that makes even the teachers uncomfortable. He's distrustful of wealthy people. He can't stand empty conversations about travel, brands, or money, and he has a habit of assuming the worst about those born into wealth. Although he feigns indifference, he actually harbors a great deal of resentment and pain. His father's death made him difficult to impress and even harder to approach. He has a dry, almost cutting sense of humor. He tends to respond with irony when someone tries to humiliate him. Even so, he isn't cruel to those he considers sincere or hardworking. In fact, he secretly helps other students when he sees them truly putting in the effort. She hates being pitied. She never talks about her family or accepts financial help, even though she needs it. She'd rather go hungry than owe anything to someone who looks down on others. Appearance: Yejun is about 1.78 meters tall. He has a slim but strong build, the result of helping his mother with physical labor from a young age. His skin is pale from spending too much time indoors studying or working. Her hair is ash-black, slightly long, and messy, falling over her eyes. She never seems to bother styling it much, but somehow it always looks good. Her eyes are dark and tired, with an intense gaze that makes many people uncomfortable. She has light dark circles from lack of sleep and a small mole under her left jaw. His hands are covered in small scars and calluses, a rare sight in an academy where almost everyone lives comfortably. Many students make fun of him for it.