Rumors

Accumulation.

He was gathering inventory, piece by piece.

There was one difference from stocks, though.

"I still haven't finished thinking it over…"

The inventory could talk.

A landlord who had clearly settled things over the phone would start rambling the moment they met face to face. Why isn't the buy order filling already! The signature still had to be completed at the end. That process didn't take a day or two. The reason real estate deals were never easy: he was too busy to personally talk every single seller into it.

"Is there any way we might be able to help with whatever's troubling you, sir?"

He was teaching Suhyun the trade secrets. She tilted her head slightly and leaned her face in close. The landlord flustered, then broke into a silly grin. The door to his heart swung open on the spot.

Works every time.

Real estate transactions meant meeting in person. That made eloquence and first impressions critical. The former you learned by doing. The latter was easy if you leveraged a face you were born with.

"Haha, nothing a young lady like you needs to worry about."

"If something's weighing on you, sir, it makes us uncomfortable too. Wouldn't it be better to work through it together?"

"Hahaha… maybe so?"

Landlords. Nine times out of ten, middle-aged men. Put a pretty young woman in front of them and they practically melted. That was the angle. It was why he'd had her dye her hair back to black and dress her in a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠suit that was equal parts sexy and demure.

There's a reason office girls are every middle-aged guy's ideal type.

The extraordinary hiding inside the ordinary. The sense that if only a connection formed, something wonderful might happen. You just had to act as if goodwill were already there, and their imaginations did the rest.

"Things aren't going well with your wife, I take it…"

"Keeps telling me I should've sold when prices were up. Always with the backseat advice."

"That must be so hard on you."

"Sigh… yeah, well… wait, what?"

"In my opinion…"

He was preparing for divorce. Plenty of worries, shoulders slumped — it made sense. Suhyun took the man's hand firmly in both of hers, cradling it gently, and met his eyes.

"When you stay in a place full of bad memories, you just keep having bad thoughts."

"W-well, yeah?"

"Even if prices go up, aren't you the one who'd have to suffer through all of that in the meantime?"

"That's true…"

The man was hunting for a late-life romance. The dopey smile on his face said his heart was already shifting.

That's it.

In the end, it was always a matter of the heart. A small enough nudge could change everything. She smiled brightly and delivered the finishing blow — the words he'd been waiting to hear.

"If you sign the contract, we'll arrange a place for you to stay in the meantime."

"You do that too?"

"Yes. Some clients specifically request it as a condition. We'll make sure to find you somewhere nice."

Anxiety. A home lived in for decades. Leaving the nest made anyone hesitate. She solved that worry for him. Among the units they planned to put out on jeonse, there were vacant ones they could simply lease him at a reasonable rate.

"Please call us if things get hard. Don't let your wife hurt you too much."

And then, hope. After the contract was signed, she didn't forget one more round of lip service.

No circuit performs better than the happiness circuit.

No IT company had ever managed to invent it — the dream semiconductor that automatically generated heat and happiness.

"Miss, if it's not too much trouble…"

"Please, go ahead, sir."

"I've still got a few things on my mind. Would it be all right if I… consulted you sometime?"

"Of course. Call me whenever it's convenient."

She ran that circuit at full capacity. Saying things she didn't mean was a specialty of hers.

"One deal closed."

"Easier than I expected?"

"You're a natural liar."

"What I say to you might be a lie too, oppa."

"…"

Bold enough to flirt right to his face. For all her cool exterior, she was an outrageously brazen little thing.

Which is exactly why she's so damn hot.

Looks and clothes. Too stiff wouldn't work; too trashy wouldn't either. Trust lived somewhere in the middle. Suhyun wore it perfectly. Keep her mouth shut and she was the chic, mysterious type.

"Honey, I told you to sell back then!"

"Well, I thought it still had further to go…"

"I can't live with you anymore!"

There were households where that approach didn't work. Rising home prices didn't only have positive effects.

Number one cause of domestic strife in Gangnam.

Should've sold when I said so!

The real estate market was the same. When apartment prices fell, people burned with regret. They fought over why they hadn't sold at the peak. And there were more practical reasons too.

"What about all those charges on your card, then…"

"Excuse me, old man?"

"Was I wrong?! We're barely covering the interest and you start spending like crazy just because the house went up!"

I'm a twenty-billion-won landlord!

Spending habits expanded. Consumption genuinely rose as a result.

And the backlash hits just as hard.

The moment they had to face the fact that money which had never even hit their bank account had been nothing but a bubble.

A newspaper lay crumpled on the floor. The headline plastered across the front page said everything.

"Looks like the two of you have a lot to discuss."

"Ah, well…"

"Hehe."

"Please don't mind us. Interest rates are so high these days, and with more hikes expected, everything's a mess."

"Is that so?"

So he adjusted his approach accordingly. Just as the first landlord had wanted peace of mind—

For these people, I just need to give them a reason to sell.

He picked the words the sellers wanted to hear. Of course, putting his own name on it would be a problem.

"Professor Doctor Doom said as much."

"Doctor Doom?"

"Yes. He's a university professor who also works as an analyst — quite well-known in economic circles."

"Wow~!"

"So you can trust what he says."

Borrow the insight of an industry expert. Not a single word of it was a lie.

And if not, so what.

He hadn't said it himself. If it turned out wrong, the professor could take the blame just fine.

"Still, just because he's a professor doesn't mean he's always right…"

"Honey! Are you taking that money with you to the afterlife?"

"Fine, woman!"

The principle of authority. A famous person said it, so they swallowed it whole. There were videos up on YouTube. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Once he showed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠them the proof, the contract was done on the spot.

Scratch. Scratch.

It was the kind of thing that could actually happen. Just like stocks — no matter which way things flowed, nothing was strange. He had simply bet on the call.

He kept expanding his investment in Baekma Apartment, bit by bit.

"If there's a wife, the honey trap doesn't work."

"Men fall for it even when there is one."

"That's a stretch."

"And you're different?"

"Oh."

Distressed sales usually came with circumstances attached. You had to go in assuming that as a baseline.

Being able to navigate that is a skill you need too.

Real estate was a market of ordinary individuals, not professional investors. They had no investment knowledge. They didn't know how the world worked. Soften them up properly and you could secure inventory at a good price. Or rather — you made a deal both sides were happy with.

Riiip~!

Suhyun, for her part, dragged a fingernail slowly down the black stockings he'd put on her as a turn-on point.

"These are completely ruined."

"That's why I put them on you."

"Oppa, you are a total pervert."

She was performing her secretary role beautifully. Body and mind, both thoroughly optimized. Even that once-impassive face now carried a hint of sensuality. In more ways than one, she had grown.

The real estate market.

Day by day, sentiment deteriorated. You could see it getting worse with your own eyes.

The news. No — you could feel it in real life. Real estate was daily life itself. The impact hit differently. The fear resonated far deeper, right down to the bone.

The economy is collapsing!

Thinking that way wasn't pure overreaction. Fear was spreading. One of the forces that excessively contracted the market.

There were people fanning the flames too. Doctor Doom was worshipped as a god among real estate investors. Because he'd been right about everything so far. The deeper the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠real estate slump, the higher Doctor Doom's reputation climbed.

That was how it was supposed to go. He'd thought no one could threaten that reputation — until now.

A new face had appeared in the industry.