Cha Huila
After their time at the karaoke room ended, Huila and her group stepped outside.
Walking at the back, she watched her friends laughing and chattering as they moved ahead, when she happened to spot a claw machine.
"Ah..."
Inside the claw machine, one particular plush toy caught her eye.
It wasn't particularly cool, or pretty, or cute. It was ordinary yet somehow not ordinary.
For some reason, that plush toy...
"It looks like Jihoon."
Its face resembled her boyfriend's, pulling her gaze toward it.
"Huh? Huila?"
Yeona, who had been walking ahead, noticed Huila standing blankly staring into the claw machine and approached her.
"What, is there something you want?"
Men fell in love just by looking at her face, and even women were slowly eroded by her crush-worthy appearance, dragged into the swamp of same-sex attraction by her devilishly charming allure.
In line with that vibe, she kept an iron wall toward men, though she didn't exactly put up barriers with women either.
But she didn't easily open up to women either, so the only person who could truly be called her friend was Ju Yeona.
Because of this, she was like a flower perched atop a cliff, inaccessible to anyone regardless of age or gender.
Unlike ordinary girls, it seemed like even when she was young, she'd never given a passing glance to things girls normally enjoyed—playing house, playing with dolls.
But seeing her captivated by a mere plush toy proved she was still very much a girl at heart.
Even Yeona, who had known her for nearly three years, had never seen this before, and a smile crept onto her lips.
"Hey, guys~!"
She called out to the boys who had been walking ahead with her.
"Looks like Huila wants a plush toy!"
The boys were like beasts who wouldn't give up even knowing she had a boyfriend.
As always, Yeona was using Huila as bait to exploit them.
"Which one? I'll get it for you."
"Get lost. The guy who spent 70,000 won on a Pikachu not even worth 10,000 is gonna get it?"
"You shut up. You've never even done this before, have you?"
"What nonsense. When it comes to claw machines, I'm the man."
"Bullshit."
They were like moths to a flame, scrambling and blocking each other, desperate to earn even the smallest point.
"That's enough."
Huila, whose way of thinking was completely different from Yeona's, didn't appreciate this scene at all.
For one thing, she already had Jihoon as a wonderful boyfriend, and she didn't want to act like some queen bee.
She also didn't want to empty the pockets of kids who didn't have much money to begin with.
After all, even if she combined all the money those boys had, it still wouldn't compare to the monthly allowance Jihoon gave her.
Speaking of which, she had no idea why that dog gave her so much money under the name of an "allowance."
He gave her so much that even after deducting rent, utilities, food expenses, and everything else, plenty of the allowance money remained, steadily piling up in her bank account.
When she told him she didn't need that much and asked him to reduce it, he refused, accusing her of wanting to live frugally.
Frugally, her ass. She wasn't the type to enjoy luxury anyway, so she just let it sit in her account.
Anyway, Huila had more money than most kids—more, even, than most working adults.
"I said it's fine."
A single 10,000-won bill was a huge amount to them.
Watching them shove that kind of money into a claw machine made her frown.
"Already put it in. Here, which one do you want?"
Seeing the boy's bright, innocent expression only made her sigh.
"Huila, he already put the money in. It's not refundable. Just let him get it for you."
"You really..."
"What~! You want it, don't you?"
It would be nice to put it on her bedside table while sleeping... but asking kids with no money to get it for her—what kind of mentality was that?
She'd rather just spend her own money and get it herself.
But what's done was done.
With no choice, Huila pointed at the plush toy she wanted.
"That one."
"Uh...?"
"That one?"
"You mean the one next to it?"
Reactions of bewilderment abounded as she pointed at a strange plush toy that had absolutely zero charm.
"She must mean the one next to it."
Deciding naturally that Huila had pointed incorrectly, someone moved the claw toward the one right beside it.
"Not that one. The one next to it."
"Ah... th-this one? Oh, okay."
After a moment of fluster, he skillfully manipulated the controls and began trying to grab the plush.
"Hmm. So Princess Huila likes that kind of plush, does she?"
At Yeona's slightly mocking tone, Huila couldn't bring herself to argue.
"I guess so."
"Heh. Then your taste in men... ah... come to think of it...!"
Yeona stared intently at the plush, then suddenly something seemed to dawn on her, and she clapped her hands.
"It looks like your boyfriend! Hehe."
"..."
The corners of her mouth curled up to her ears.
Feeling burdened by Yeona's knowing eyes, Huila turned her gaze back to the claw machine.
"Aah!"
The claw didn't even manage to grip the plush properly, and it tumbled back down.
Somehow, that felt satisfying.
After all, she had allowed him to take other women into his arms.
Lately, Jihoon had been distracted by other girls, barely meeting her or even contacting her—so seeing him get punished like this, even in this small way, felt good.
Honestly, she really did need to scold him separately.
Wasn't that only fair?
Sure, he had helped her become beautiful by more than 90%.
But she couldn't, in any positive light, condone his behavior of treating her like a fish already caught and going after other pretty fish.
What could she do?
In a way, she herself was practically a concubine. If Nayeong, the main wife, wouldn't yell at Jihoon to stop adding more women, things weren't going to improve.
The problem was that Nayeong wasn't just pushing Jihoon's harem forward—she was actively helping him build it.
He said he'd "picked up" some girl on the street last time.
Thinking it was nonsense, she went to Jihoon's house to check. And sure enough.
The girl he'd somehow picked up was ridiculously beautiful too.
She was so skinny from apparent starvation that she was basically just skin and bones, but even in that state, her beauty was undeniable.
With silver hair reaching down to her waist, and despite being in poor condition, she possessed a beauty beyond imagination—it was easy to predict she'd become stunning soon too.
Thinking about the women steadily increasing in number...
"Haah..."
A deep sigh escaped her.
Right at that moment, the claw grabbed the plush, lifted it, and then dropped it.
Firmly believing Huila's sigh was due to the plush toy, the boys became even more fired up.
"Hey, if you're done, get out of the way! Big bro's gonna get it."
The ten-thousand-won opportunity vanished in an instant.
That plush toy, with its ordinary appearance that had absolutely zero charm, was ordinary but not.
They were spending over ten thousand won on a plush not even worth paying money for.
The next guy in line placed his hand on the controls with a visibly nervous expression.
"This is the angle! The winning angle!"
As soon as he pressed the button, the music changed and the claw descended.
"Ooooh!"
It felt like he was actually going to get it.
But strangely, the claw's grip was weak—it grabbed the plush but couldn't lift it and dropped it.
"Ah, what the fuck! It's rigged! Rigged! These fucking scammers!"
He was certain he'd caught it, but the claw released it, and he started screaming about it being rigged.
"Hey, hey. Cut it out. You're embarrassing yourself."
She understood his frustration—it was his first time putting money into a claw machine he'd never even looked at before, only to fail miserably.
But getting angry and drawing everyone's attention in such a shameful way wasn't a good look.
"Ha... fuck. Still, I've got the feel now. You bastard. Let's see who wins."
By now, the thought of scoring points with Huila had vanished.
The only thing left was the firm determination to absolutely, definitely get that damn plush with his remaining chances.
Second attempt.
Failed again.
"Ha..."
He moved straight to his third attempt.
Of course, the third attempt disappeared in an instant too.
The fourth... the fifth attempt also ended in failure, leaving him just standing there with a dazed expression, gripping the joystick tightly.
"Get out of the way. You guys don't even know how to spell 'claw machine.'"
A stocky boy approached, shrugging his shoulders with a confident expression.
Inserting more money at once gives you extra chances, but he acted as if he didn't need such things, feeding just a single thousand won into the machine.
With a flourish, he stretched his fingers and placed his hand on the controls.
He skillfully measured the distance and pressed the button, sending the claw downward.
"Whoa... is it really gonna catch it?"
"No fucking way...!"
To everyone's surprise, the claw actually lifted the plush, returned it to the starting point, and dropped it.
"See... easy. So easy."
He'd gotten it much more easily than the others before him.
With an arrogant expression, he pulled out the plush and stood before Huila with a shy look.
"Here... you wanted this, right?"
Thinking he was absolutely oozing coolness, he harbored the vain hope that even Huila, known for her iron wall toward men, might have her heart swayed just a little.
"You... actually got it..."
With a dazed expression, she accepted the plush, not expecting anyone to actually win and give it to her.
Receiving a plush toy from someone other than Jihoon for the first time didn't feel bad at all.
Especially since the toy resembled Jihoon, the person she loved most in the world, the corners of her mouth curled into a smile.
"Thanks."
Huila's bright smile, something never seen before.
The boy stiffened, staring blankly at Huila as she smiled while fidgeting with the plush.
"H-Huila...!"
He called out to her desperately, losing his composure.
He knew she had a boyfriend, but according to rumors going around, they were supposedly going to break up soon.
There were many reasons, but first, the difference in their appearances was extreme.
Second, her boyfriend was way too young.
Third, he was a guy with no good qualities whatsoever.
There were various other stories, but most boiled down to these three points.
If Huila had heard them, she'd have refuted them, telling them not to talk nonsense—but since the rumors were thoroughly blocked from reaching her, she'd never heard any of it.
In contrast, the rumors had spread far and wide, now being accepted as truth.
So he thought that if not now, the timing would never be right—and harbored the faint hope that if he played his cards well, he might be able to steal her away.
"M-maybe... hey, maybe... if you have time..."
As he struggled to continue, Yeona, who had been momentarily distracted, hurriedly tried to step between them.
But.
"Noona."
"Ah..."
A third party's voice.
Recognizing the owner of that voice in an instant, Huila's expression brightened even more than before, then she deliberately tried to wipe it away.
"Jihoon. How did you get here?"
She tried to maintain a blank expression, but the corners of her lips trembling with joy revealed exactly how much she loved that guy.
"..."
He had won her the plush. In a way, he had been the one to bring her smile, and he thought he had a chance.
But seeing her reaction, he immediately let go of that hope.
"Just felt like it. I missed you, noona."
And the fact that he had lost to a guy who looked worse than him infuriated him.
To that Lee Jihoon—Huila's boyfriend.