What's the Big Deal Between Friends?
Unlike Narae's friends, who seemed thrilled to see her, Narae didn't look particularly pleased. She offered an awkward smile and greeted them.
"Oh, hey..."
"Oh my god, what a crazy coincidence!"
What was that about...? Of course it was a coincidence; it wasn't like we'd planned this. Narae's friends didn't seem like the sharpest tools in the shed. You could tell just by looking at them. Seeing the small tattoos on their arms, I wondered if they were the wild type. Well, it made sense. Narae had a fiery personality now, but she must have been even wilder when she was younger. In fact, it would be harder to believe if someone told me Narae had been a quiet, studious girl back in school. Besides, there was no way other kids would have left a girl that pretty alone. I didn't really have any prejudice against school delinquents or "it-girls," so this didn't change how I saw Narae. To be completely honest...
Am I seriously a pervert? Just imagining Narae as a school delinquent got my blood pumping. Maybe it was because we didn't really have those kinds of bad girls back in our rural hometown of Buyeo. One thing was for sure: I wasn't normal either.
"But who's the guy next to you...?"
"Oh, he's my mom's friend's son. He just moved up to Seoul."
"Really? Since we ran into each other like this, why don't we hang out together?"
"Together...?"
"What about your friend? It's been so long since we've seen Narae, it'd be a shame to just say goodbye like this..."
"Me? Well... I don't mind."
"Then it's settled, right, Narae?"
"Y-Yeah."
What was going on? Narae clearly looked uncomfortable. Yet, once it was decided that we'd hang out together, she shot me a look that seemed laced with a hint of annoyance.
"How's college going?"
"Good. Just working hard."
"I never expected you to go to college, Narae..."
"What?"
"Oh, nothing... I just thought studying wasn't really your thing."
Well, she definitely didn't look like the academic type.
"Why don't you just live comfortably like us? With your looks, you could easily do internet streaming."
"No thanks. Streaming is not for me."
"Narae's right about that. These days, losers online are just waiting for a chance to drag people down. Even if Narae never actually bullied anyone..."
"True. And it's not just the losers—plenty of girls were jealous of Narae back then too. They claimed she was acting like a sly fox, but what can she do if she was just born this pretty?"
"Sigh... Are you two seriously going to keep making things awkward for me?"
"S-Sorry."
"Whoa, Narae's old temper almost slipped out just now."
When Narae sighed, the two who had been chatting so excitedly shrank back slightly and began reading her expression. It felt like catching a brief glimpse into her school days. Since only the girls seemed close, the guys apparently didn't know each other either. After some small talk, Narae's friends made a suggestion.
"Want to go shopping? Let's go buy some clothes."
"Shopping...?"
"Let's go. We haven't gone together in forever."
"Yeah, we'll be really hurt if you say no."
"O-Okay."
And just like that, we were swept along to go shopping.
Shin Narae, who had been happily chatting with Lee Jinseok, was thrown off by the sudden appearance of her high school friends. She had already been actively avoiding her old school crowd, but running into them while she was with Jinseok made it even more awkward. Her reason for avoiding them was simple. Back in school, the world revolved around her. But after becoming an adult, she realized something: keeping up your pride required more than just being pretty. In fact, the prettier you were, the more money you might actually need. During school, hanging out with friends didn't cost much. But once they became adults, every single get-together cost a fortune.
Is it really worth it...? If she had the kind of personality to let men buy her everything or actively seek out rich guys like her other friends did, that would be one thing. But that just wasn't in her nature. On top of that, her mother was raising her alone, so she felt too guilty to ask for a bigger allowance. Every time she met up with her friends, uncomfortable situations would arise, causing her to naturally drift away from them over time.
Shopping... It wasn't that she didn't want to go shopping. In fact, she couldn't even remember the last time she'd bought new clothes, which made her want to go even more. However, she only had about a hundred thousand won to her name. A cafe was fine, but the moment they started shopping, she would inevitably run out of money. She could already foresee an incredibly awkward situation. Well... there was nothing she could do. She would just play along for a bit and make an excuse to head home early.
On the way to the shops, the three girls walked ahead while the three guys followed awkwardly behind. It was a bit uncomfortable. Then, one of the guys asked a question.
"How old are you, by the way?"
"Me? I'm twenty-one... How old are you guys?"
"Ah, I'm twenty-seven. He's twenty-six."
"Ah..."
"But you two don't seem like a couple... Are you going to be okay?"
"Huh? With what?"
What wouldn't be okay?
"Well, we're going shopping. Since we have jobs, we're financially stable enough to help our girlfriends out with their shopping... but since you're only twenty-one, you're probably still a student and don't have much saved up..."
"Ah, is the guy supposed to pay for everything?"
"It's not exactly like that... but the atmosphere can sometimes end up that way. Then again, since you two aren't dating, there's no reason for you to pay."
"Well... I don't really mind buying her stuff anyway."
"Oh, really? I guess I worried for nothing."
They seemed like decent guys. Still, it looked like men in Seoul really did spend a lot of money, just like my older brother had said. When looking at online communities these days, there was always a lot of talk about how couples should split everything fifty-fifty and how men shouldn't spend all their money... but I didn't really agree with that. Even if you split the bill with a girl you didn't care about, why would you hold back on spending money on a girl you actually liked? If a girl expected that and I didn't have the money, I just wouldn't date her. If I had the means, I could easily buy things for her. Of course, regardless of how much money I had, I'd still find it off-putting if a girl took my generosity for granted. But in that case, if she took it for granted, I could just spend a reasonable amount and demand something else in return. Like a drink together, or... *cough*. There was no such thing as a free lunch in this world. It was all about give-and-take.
But Narae was an exception. I could feel that she was trying to look out for me in her own way since I'd just moved to Seoul. If we were going shopping, I wanted to help her out. Besides, I actually had the power to do so now. I had checked my phone on the way here; my margin, which had been 400 million won, had shot up to 600 million won as the coin prices rose again. The power of 10x leverage was truly insane. The coin had only gone up by 5%, but I was already looking at a 50% return... Anyway, while I didn't have a clear grasp of how expensive shopping in Seoul could get, with my current profits, I could easily handle whatever came our way.
"By the way... do you guys know each other well?"
"We actually just met today too."
"Ah... Where did you meet your girlfriends?"
"We actually met at a bar... and he said he met his girlfriend at a bar too."
"Ah, I see."
I'd just gained a valuable piece of information. If you wanted to meet girls in Seoul, you had to go to bars. While Narae's two friends fell a bit short compared to her, they were by no means ugly. As I chatted about random things with the older guys, we soon arrived at an area lined with clothing stores. Man, Seoul was flashy no matter where you went, but this place was on a whole other level. People around my age were singing and dancing on the streets. Ah... this was exactly why I'd wanted to come to Seoul. Of course, dating beautiful women was a big part of it, but this vibrant atmosphere was another major reason. You could never experience anything like this in Buyeo. Unlike me, the people of Seoul seemed completely used to this. I hoped that one day, I would get used to it too. After walking around for a bit, we followed the girls into a clothing store.
I watched the girls pick out clothes for each other, making a huge fuss and jumping around as they debated what looked good. Meanwhile, Narae still didn't look entirely comfortable.
"Narae, this looks so good on you! You absolutely have to buy this."
"What about this one? It's a bit pricey, but since it's unbranded, it should still be totally..."
"Wow... Narae, your figure is so amazing that literally everything looks good on you."
"I-I'm fine, so you guys go ahead and pick yours."
Seeing Narae's reaction, I casually glanced at the price tags on the clothes.
"Huh...?"
I was utterly dumbfounded when I saw the prices with my own eyes. Had I put Seoul on too high of a pedestal? Or had I imagined it to be a completely different world? For some reason, the clothes here were actually much cheaper than the ones I'd seen back in Buyeo. Most of them were only a few tens of thousands of won, and even the expensive ones were around a hundred thousand won at most. At this rate...
"It looks great on you. Narae, why don't you try this one on too?"
"..."
"I'll buy them for you. Go ahead and pick out whatever clothes you want."
"What's gotten into you all of a sudden...?"
"I figured I could easily give you a gift as a friend. They're not even that expensive."
"..."
I wouldn't feel any financial strain even if I bought every single piece of clothing in this store. Right now, I had 100 million won sitting in my bank account. On top of that, the money tied up in the constantly rising cryptocurrency was worth 600 million won. At this point, buying a hundred of these outfits wouldn't even make a dent. Honestly, I wanted to tell her that I was buying them because they looked so good on her, but I held back and beat around the bush, worried she might think I was confessing my feelings. What was the big deal between friends? I could easily afford to buy her this much. It wasn't just anyone, after all—it was our Narae.