Well Begun Is Half Done
After wrapping up my discussion with the interior consultants, I sent them all on their way. The facilities I’d requested were a karaoke room, a game room, a movie theater, a gym (or yoga studio?), and a small studio space. The karaoke room and theater would be fine with basic soundproofing—vibration and noise wouldn’t carry to the rest of the house. Even if a little sound leaked out, the distance from neighboring buildings would keep it from becoming a nuisance.
The game room could be set up like the one I’d had in the apartment. The gym would hold all the equipment I needed so I could work out whenever I felt like it. As for the studio, it was mainly for taking photos to post online. “It’ll be perfect for practicing with the camera, too.”
Everything I’d asked for was just for hobbies. At this point, was this even a house anymore, or had it become my personal playground?
I smiled to myself and looked at the empty room that would soon become the karaoke space. It was the multipurpose room right next to the living room. The interior designer had mentioned it used to be a study. “A study, huh…”
For a moment I wondered if there might be some hidden room tucked away somewhere and glanced around the corners, but of course there wasn’t anything like that. “I’ve been watching too many movies.”
While I was amusing myself with that thought, Hye-won called out to me carefully from behind.
“Ma’am, we’ve finished the appraisal and defect inspection. Do you have a moment right now?”
She’d been bustling around the whole time I was talking with the interior team. She really had been busy.
“That was faster than I expected.”
The house was huge; I’d assumed it would take all day. Professionals really were on another level.
“Ah, yes. That’s fine.”
At my answer she nodded and brought her tablet over, setting it in front of me. The screen displayed an album labeled “Defects,” filled with photographs.
“The appraisal value suggested by the other appraiser had no major issues. However, we did find several defects that will require separate repair costs, so I took photos for you.”
She tapped one of the photos to enlarge it.
“This is the biggest one. It’s a small window in the garage. As you can see, it doesn’t close properly.”
After showing me the photo, she switched to a video so I could watch the window failing to shut. There was a gap just wide enough for a fist. The window itself was tiny—no one could actually climb through—so it wasn’t a security risk, but we still couldn’t just leave it like that.
“And here we have a scratch on the floor of the first-floor master bedroom, a misaligned shelf in the third storage unit of the dressing room, and a water-pressure issue in the second-floor guest room…”
There turned out to be quite a few defects overall. Aside from the window that wouldn’t close, though, they were all fairly minor. I was impressed she’d found so many so quickly, and a little surprised that things like an uneven shelf or a barely visible scratch were considered significant defects. Still, when you’d spent this much money, everything had to be perfect. Those small issues wouldn’t really affect daily life.
“That’s everything I found. The appraisal value itself won’t change much, but since repairs are needed, I’ll file the cost claims with the other appraiser. If you discover any additional problems later, please contact me right away and I’ll come back immediately.”
She’d worked hard to find the defects and was taking responsibility for them. There was no reason to refuse.
“Yes, thank you.”
I gave her a sincere thank-you and finished the short report. As she stepped back, someone from the facilities management team approached with another tablet.
“Thank you for your hard work. We’ve checked everything as well. The facilities and security systems appear to have been maintained regularly—nothing major came up.”
Even if no one had been living here, they wouldn’t have left a place like this completely empty. A house needs people to stay in good condition, and if no one’s living in it, at least regular maintenance is required. Security systems especially.
While explaining, the staff member played a video on the tablet.
“Ah, everything else was fine, but the sunroof was a little stiff. It made a slight creaking sound like in the video. We applied some lubricant we brought with us, but if the noise continues afterward, please let us know. We’ll take care of it right away.”
“Thank you for your hard work.”
With that, the facilities inspection was also complete.
“Thank you for your valuable time. We’ll be heading out now. Have a good day.”
Once the facilities check was finished, Hye-won and the staff gathered and left the house in a rush. The once-lively interior fell silent almost instantly.
After making sure everyone had gone, I stretched my arms high overhead. Then, unable to contain my excitement, I skipped lightly around the living room. I was so satisfied. I couldn’t believe I’d actually managed to include every facility I wanted.
“This really is my own little world.”
If I wanted, I could probably live here for the rest of my life without ever leaving. There were convenience facilities, leisure facilities… and once I had a housekeeper, I could just lie around all day.
“That might be going a bit far.”
Anyway, I was so happy that a little hum escaped me. While I was savoring the joy and freedom, my phone on the kitchen island started ringing. I ran over and saw it was Nayeon.
“Ah, she must be nearby.”
Perfect timing.
“Nayeon, if you keep walking straight from there you’ll see a big house, right? Yeah, that’s the one. Just ring the doorbell and I’ll open the door right away. Okay~”
After hanging up, a short while later Nayeon’s face appeared on the wall pad. She looked a little bewildered.
“Well, that’s understandable.”
Going from an ordinary apartment to a luxury mansion overnight was a lot to take in. Even I thought it was excessive.
“Nayeon, come on in.”
“Yeonbi… is this really… your house now?”
Her voice held both admiration and shock. Seeing her reaction, I decided to act as gracefully as possible. Or maybe I should just behave normally. Either way, there was no point hiding anything anymore.
“Yeah. The apartment was getting inconvenient in a lot of ways. I should’ve moved out sooner.”
At my words she gave a small laugh, as if something had occurred to her. She was probably thinking of the downstairs neighbor we used to argue with all the time.
“I wonder how he’s doing now.”
Since I’d moved out, maybe he could finally live without constant noise from above.
“I’ll have to make sure the new eighth-floor tenant has a bit of a temper.”
While thinking that, I took the paper bag she’d brought and set it on the table.
“Um… no matter how I think about it, this is still unbelievable.”
Nayeon smiled at me, her expression complicated by all sorts of thoughts. Pretending not to notice, I cheerfully started unpacking the ingredients she’d brought one by one.
“This is… jjajang?”
“Oh, correct. Moving day calls for jjajangmyeon, doesn’t it?”
She was right. I’d been planning to eat jjajang alone tomorrow, but she’d beaten me to it. Still, eating together was better than eating by myself. Come to think of it, she had the jjajang ingredients but no noodles. Was she planning to make hand-pulled noodles?
“Nayeon, do you know how to make hand-pulled noodles too?”
“Want me to show you?”
Wow. She could even do the noodle-pulling show I’d seen at the hotpot restaurant.
“Yes!”
“Just kidding. I already picked up the noodles from a Chinese restaurant owner I know. Of course, I’ll be making the jjajang sauce myself, so look forward to it.”
She pulled out a neatly packaged bundle of noodles from her bag. I smiled and shook my head at the sight. No matter what, Nayeon was always the same. She always treated me like before. That made me a little wistful. If I’d been just a bit more selfish, maybe I could’ve convinced her to stay with me somehow.
“Wow, the kitchen is really nice.”
While I was lost in thought, Nayeon’s exclamation pulled me over to her side. If I really had been selfish, our relationship would never have been like this in the first place.
“Right? I specifically chose a place with a big kitchen thinking of you…”
“You just wanted me to cook, didn’t you?”
“No, that’s not what I meant…”
We both burst out laughing again.
After Nayeon left and I finished cleaning up, I fell asleep right away. Since there was no bed in the master bedroom yet, I woke up inside the sleeping bag I’d laid out on the floor. Before I could even enjoy my first morning in the new house, I stumbled out of the room in a half-asleep daze and grabbed some bread from the fridge to munch on.
“Heat up the leftover jjajang and eat it with rice. Stop trying to get by on cup noodles and stuff like that, okay?”
Nayeon had given me strict instructions before leaving, but eating a full meal first thing in the morning felt like too much effort. It was still early. I’d woken up early again today, just like yesterday. Of course it was because of the move. There was still so much left to do—installing facilities, organizing everything—so it was only natural.
“Today… they said they’d come for the estimates, right?”
The defect repair crew was coming, along with interior design staff for quotes. The furniture company employees the interior team had selected would be coming at the same time too. It was the first time in my life I’d had this many visitors over several days in a row.
“I’d better wash up quickly.”
After swallowing the last of the bread, I checked the clock. I had about an hour until the appointment. I rushed through washing up, changed clothes, and finished getting ready to greet the guests. Just as I was finishing, the visitors arrived right on time. I tied my hair back neatly with a hair tie and opened both the front gate and the entrance door. Once again the staff poured in, and I guided everyone into the living room.
“We’ll head straight to the areas you mentioned yesterday and start repairs. Please call us if you need anything. Thank you.”
The defect repair team introduced themselves and immediately left to work. The remaining people were the interior team and the furniture company staff. After brief greetings, we settled in the somewhat cluttered kitchen—there was nowhere else with a table and chairs. Once everyone was seated, the furniture company employee also took out a tablet and placed it in front of me, just like the others.
Smart devices really were everywhere these days. Instead of paper catalogs, everyone carried tablets. I marveled inwardly and listened to what the staff had to say.
“…And if you tap on the detailed categories, you can filter by material, design, price range, and so on, making it much easier to browse…”
My head was already starting to hurt. I wasn’t sure if it was from waking up early or from looking at all the furniture in the catalog. Maybe both.
“This is too hard…”
I didn’t know anything about interior design to begin with. When I’d decorated the apartment before, I’d basically just copied a model home rather than designing it myself. So when someone asked me to choose directly, I ended up staring blankly like this.
“Hmm…”
I could only gaze blankly at the furniture options. After fiddling with the catalog for a while, I made a decision. Staring at it forever wasn’t going to help me pick anything. I didn’t know any of the furniture brands, so organizing by brand wouldn’t work. I didn’t understand the differences between materials either—even when they explained, there were just too many options. On top of that, the designs were so varied that keeping a cohesive look was nearly impossible.
So I decided to just tell them the style I wanted. That would be easiest for everyone.
“Last time I went for a warm wood-tone atmosphere, so this time… something modern that fits a house.”
“There are so many options. Could we focus on clean, modern-style furniture?”
“Ah, of course. If I set it like this… yes, you can click through them one by one to check.”
Perfect. It was much easier to look at now. Ignoring the prices completely, I started adding anything that caught my eye to the cart.
How much time had passed? After putting quite a lot of furniture into the cart, I handed the tablet back to the staff member. He checked the list slowly.
“Understood. First, this bed frame you chose—could you let me know where you’d like it placed?”
He asked while looking at me with bright, expectant eyes. All right. Here we go.
It was exhausting. There was just too much to do.
“If you’re placing it here, I’d recommend a different bookshelf than this one. Sunlight will damage it easily, so these other brands in a similar style would hold up much better.”
“Hmm… this desk is long enough to reach here, which means the door won’t open all the way. Adjusting the desk length will cost extra—would that be all right?”
“This room has a narrow doorway, so getting the furniture inside might be difficult. We could disassemble it and reassemble inside, but that may also incur additional fees. Is that acceptable?”
Even though it was tiring, it was nice that they were being so thorough. They pointed out things I never would have thought of on my own and even measured the spaces between furniture—something I would’ve struggled to do alone. It definitely made the whole process easier. Still, that didn’t mean it wasn’t exhausting.
Unlike just buying ready-to-assemble furniture and shoving it in, trying to do a delicate, piece-by-piece interior design was… really draining. And today’s work was only the first round of selections—basically just choosing the essential furniture. In other words, facilities like the karaoke room hadn’t even been properly designed yet.
“This is insane.”
Still, there was that saying: starting is half the battle. Since the first round was done, I could consider half of it finished. I let out a short sigh and looked around the empty house. The defect repairs had finished quickly, and the inspections were basically just purchasing items, so everything was wrapped up before afternoon. Now I had free time.
To take a short breather, I poured myself a cup of coffee and went outside to sit comfortably on the swing chair in the yard. Sitting in the semi-outdoor space, basking in the warm sunlight while slowly sipping coffee, I felt some of the fatigue melt away. Maybe I should put a big table out here later…
— Meow, meow.
“Huh?”
Suddenly I heard a soft meowing sound from somewhere. I stood up, thinking it might be the chair creaking, but…
— Meow.
It definitely wasn’t coming from the chair. It sounded more like an animal than an object. I listened carefully and slowly walked toward the source of the sound. The meowing was coming from a patch of bushes in the corner of the yard. When I crouched down, I spotted a small black lump. The moment it met my eyes—
Meow! Meow!
“A cat?”
It started meowing loudly.