147. Living Together (2)
147. Living Together (2)
It wasn't simple goodwill.
Even if you could say I'd spoken up out of a desire to help when Gukbap and her family landed in a tough spot.
I had my own reasons, you see.
Having more assets is great.
Of course—among all assets, real estate is king!
Forget God—be a landlord!
Real estate just fell into my lap. No way that could feel bad.
Sure, there was the café building I got from Shin Se-hee too, but honestly, that felt less like a proper "home" for relaxing and more like an operations room, a conference room, or a waiting lounge.
Now that everything was finally wrapped up, having a place where I could put down roots and live on this land—honestly, that was something to be happy about.
There was just one problem I hadn't seen coming.......
— I believe I've now sufficiently explained everything you ought to know.
The elderly woman I'd initially mistaken for the landlord was actually Chairwoman Rina's personal attorney.
She owed her life to Rina in the past, and even after retiring from the front lines, she'd continued serving as Rina's private lawyer.
All the tax bombs, the legal issues, and so on.
Most of it had been shifted onto Chairwoman Rina's shoulders. Well, she explained every complicated detail one by one, but honestly, I don't remember any of it.
If it hadn't been for her, I'd have been saddled with a white elephant—this colossal building I'd received but couldn't actually use.
— Yes, but....... From what you're saying, it sounds like there's almost nothing I need to do?
— Heh heh, you're not wrong about that. Normally, the maintenance costs alone on a building like this would be nothing to sneeze at, but this house runs mostly on magic, and it meets its energy needs by drawing in ambient Mana. That brings it down to about a fifth of the usual. Ah, though you will still need to cover the building maintenance fees, Jin Yu-ha.
— Oh, really? How much is it?
— Hmm, running a rough estimate....... It'll come out to about ten million won a month.
I was appalled.
A house with a hundred twenty million won monthly rent had maintenance costs in a class beyond imagination too.
What kind of house costs ten million won a month just to maintain?!
And that's supposedly at one-fifth the normal rate—meaning similar-sized buildings rack up fifty million a month!
'Can I actually afford this?'
While I drained my savings.
If I kept improving my skills and climbing the dungeon ranks, I could probably manage it somehow.
But it still felt like a losing deal.
'What if I split it with the Utopia Party members......?'
The party members could move into a great place on the cheap, and I could share the maintenance burden.
Wasn't that killing two birds with one stone?
That was why I'd originally called the party members together.
Of course, that Hye-ji or whatever her name was suddenly butted in and killed the whole mood.
So honestly, this is even better.
"Th-this is....... Th-the house our Yu-ri rec— received......!?"
Her composed expression shattered, and Lee Yu-ri's mother dropped her jaw without a shred of decorum.
Beside her, the father looked like his soul had straight-up left his body.
Lee Yu-ri's younger siblings, bursting with excitement, started running around everywhere.
"Well, technically it's more of a rental arrangement."
Revealing that I was the actual owner somehow felt like I'd be saddling them with a debt, so I glossed over it like that.
At that, the mother nodded as if everything suddenly made sense.
"Ah, w-well, that does make sense. Even for Velvet Academy, handing a student an entire building just for doing well on one exam would be absurd......."
'Huh. Makes you realize all over again just how insane Rina's way of doing things is.'
Even considering that I'd helped prevent a pretty major incident, casually giving away a building like this—that's not something just anyone can do.
"You're welcome to stay until Yu-ri graduates."
"Gr-graduates......!? Th-then we're talking four more years?"
"Yes. I've gotten confirmation on that point."
'I'll confirm it myself. And if you want to keep living here after that, I've got no particular plans to kick you out.'
At that, the mother suddenly seized my hands.
'W-well, this is a bit overwhelming......?'
I could feel a grown-up Lee Yu-ri glaring daggers at me.
"Jin, my son-in-law."
"......Yes?"
"Please take good care of our Yu-ri."
"......Excuse me?"
S-suddenly?
"I know this opportunity, far more than our Yu-ri deserves, is all thanks to you, Jin my son-in-law. And now even we get to enjoy such luxury. She's a child with a long way to go, but please take good care—"
"MOM!!!"
"From the moment I first saw you, I knew our Yu-ri had the same eye for men as I d—"
"G-go inside! Ji— Jin Yu-ha, we'll talk later!!!"
"I appr—mmph!"
Huh.
She's a fun one.
I awkwardly pulled up the corners of my mouth.
* * *
And so Lee Yu-ri's family headed off to see the floor where they'd be living.
'What? "Jin my son-in-law"? "I approve"?'
Shin Se-hee gnawed at her fingernails.
Then she let out a hollow laugh.
'Ha, seriously! I can't even.'
Shin Se-hee had taken in every last bit of that spectacle with her own eyes.
Jin Yu-ha.
The leader of Utopia—the hottest party on the rise right now.
And a man who'd proven, in a man's body, a level of swordsmanship that yielded to no one.
A charisma and leadership that commanded any room.
A mind so sharp it left even professors called theoretical geniuses drenched in sweat.
And on top of all that, looks that made every other man on the planet seem like a potato or a sweet potato by comparison!
Honestly, you could stand any woman beside him and she'd come up short.
Ever since early in the semester, when she'd tried and failed to get him under her thumb, Shin Se-hee had quietly acknowledged that fact.
He was a jewel far too brilliant to pos-Yu-ha-ss all by herself.
Better to display him in the Utopia gallery and merely sh-Yu-ha-re—only with the few who had been granted access to his heart.
For anyone who knew her deep-seated possessiveness and clingy nature, this was a concession so shocking it would've made their jaw drop.
She and he shared even the secret that she was "someone who could see the future"—so really, all she felt was a sense of superiority.
The greed to push further? A little? A tiny bit? Occasionally—often?—it had bubbled up, but she'd always forcibly tamped it back down.
Yes, she'd had no complaints whatsoever about their current relationship.
But lately, Lee Yu-ri.
That woman was seriously getting on her nerves.
'It started with the Midterm Evaluation.'
Using her Mana exhaustion collapse as an excuse,
she'd shamelessly soaked up Jin Yu-ha's devoted nursing for a full five days straight.
And using Jin Yu-ha's exhaustion-induced sleep after staying up all night as an excuse,
she'd had the audacity—without consent—to let him use her arm as a pillow while he slept.
She'd even paraded that bold, brazen behavior right in front of us as if she were showing it off!
If that wasn't a declaration of war, what was?
'And now she's dragged her family into it....... Lee Yu-ri, you're a genuinely terrifying person.'
No matter how she thought about it, the whole family was beyond shameless.
I mean, honestly.
A grown man and woman—not even in any kind of relationship—sharing a roof, sharing a blanket?!
What was the world coming to?!
Crack—
The tip of Shin Se-hee's fingernail snapped off against her teeth.
'This can't go on.'
Hooo.......
Shin Se-hee let out a long breath and walked toward Jin Yu-ha.
"Jin Yu-ha."
"Hm?"
"Chairwoman Rina made quite the bold decision, didn't she."
"Uh, yeah, well, I guess so."
Jin Yu-ha nodded with a flustered look.
'Oh?'
Reading his expression, Shin Se-hee's eyebrow twitched.
'Aha. So that's how it is?'
The corner of Shin Se-hee's mouth curled up in a smirk.
"This isn't a rental, is it? It's a grant? To you personally, Jin Yu-ha?"
"......!"
Jin Yu-ha's eyes went wide as if he'd been caught off guard.
'I really do know you better than that woman who's all brawn and no finesse, don't I. Just how long do you think I've been observing you?'
A swell of superiority crept up in Shin Se-hee, and she smiled smugly.
"But out of consideration for Lee Yu-ri's family, you kept it to yourself."
"......It's a secret?"
"Hehe, don't worry. Still....... I am a little concerned."
Shin Se-hee nonchalantly placed a hand against her cheek and sighed.
"About what?"
"Well, you said Chairwoman Rina granted Utopia full rights to use the place. But if it's just the two of you—you and Lee Yu-ri—using it, won't that eventually raise suspicion?"
"Ah, so that's why—"
Shin Se-hee hastily cut him off and pressed on.
"A-and! I'm saying this knowing you're also aware of my, my family situation!"
"Huh? The Shin family?"
"Yes. E-even though it's vacation, I— I'm not going back home. I'm still staying at my accommodations near the academy, you know?"
Ahem!
Shin Se-hee cleared her throat, because what she was about to say was so unbearably embarrassing.
"S-so. I mean. I-if you'd like! I— I could, um....... L-live in this house too, i-if you want......?"
Sneaking a sidelong glance at Jin Yu-ha as she spoke, Shin Se-hee's face flushed a shade of red that looked ready to burst.
At that, Jin Yu-ha's face lit up.
"Really!?"
And looking genuinely delighted, he pulled Shin Se-hee into a hug.
'Eek!?'
"Thank you! Thank you so much! For living with me!"
"......Huh?"
"I thought you might turn me down, but you're really okay with it?"
"Y-yes!! O-of course I'm okay with it!!!"
"Thank you, Shin Se-hee!!"
'Uh....... Um. I-I don't really get it, but...... does me living with you seriously make you that h-happy?'
A wobbly smile leaking out, Shin Se-hee rested her head against Jin Yu-ha's chest.
* * *
Starting with Shin Se-hee.
Without me even saying a word, the party members started coming to me one by one.
"Ahem! Y-Yellow Dog! What are your plans for j-joint training over the break? We d-do still need to work on grappling, don't we? Th-this place seems to have quite well-equipped training facilities......."
Kang Do-hee brought it up under the pretext of training.
"Hoobae! To monitor my growth over the break, you'd have to keep a cl-close eye on me, w-wouldn't you!? I already got lazy during the Midterm Evaluation because you weren't around! If you're not watching over me, I'm going to turn into a completely hopeless noona!!!"
Im Ga-eul tried a very novel and bizarre method of blackmail.
"I-I dunno if I've got the right to even say somethin' like this. With my modelin' work, goin' back home is still a li'l, um, awkward....... I-if y'all could just spare me even a single bathroom, I'd— I'd just quietly stay in there and take photos, honest!"
Sofia. You're saying some pretty dangerous things there.
'Why does every single one of them stutter, though?'
Anyway.
And that was how every party member ended up living together under one roof.
The maintenance, originally ten million won, split six ways including me.
1.6 million won.
Damn, what a steal.