First Prey: My First Love, Lee Se-ah
Lee Se-ah read through the half-baked contract I had written.
With a puzzled expression she skimmed it roughly, then snorted a laugh.
“Hmm… is this some modern-day prank?”
When I shrugged my shoulders and told her I was serious, her face soured again.
She read it carefully, over and over, then eyed my sly expression and finally let out a deep sigh.
Her expression hardened.
Thud!
The crude handmade contract was flung roughly onto the table.
“……Are you kidding me?”
“Huh?”
“I was going to cut you some slack and think of you as a cute guy because of that canned coffee incident back then, but you were a complete psycho all along.”
Hearing the word “psycho” from my first love right out of the blue left me feeling strangely unsettled.
As she started to jump up in a rage, I gestured calmly for her to sit and listen.
“Noona, wait a second. You just got engaged and said you needed a lot of money, right?”
“What the hell does that have to do with this!?
What even is this insane content in the first place? I can’t refuse relations? I have to bear your child? Junhyuk Island? Are you out of your mind!?”
“Ah, of course it might be a bit hard to understand from a common-sense perspective, but once you actually go there—”
“Get out, you son of a bitch!”
Lee Se-ah noona was throwing me out on the spot.
She came back with an old broom she probably used for sweeping the street out front and thrust it at me aggressively, pushing me out with the force of a seasoned spear technique, like the legendary Guan Yu of old.
I had no intention of causing a scene, so I quietly raised both hands and was herded all the way to the entrance. As I stepped backward out onto the street, Se-ah noona slammed the door shut and locked the latch above it.
I understood the emotional high, but wasn’t it still during business hours?
“If you come back, I’ll kill you, you crazy bastard!”
“Noona, just one point—this isn’t even your shop, is it…?”
“Even as a part-timer I have the right to kick out problem customers! You fucking asshole! Don’t even call me noona!”
Lee Se-ah noona turned away as if her mood had been completely ruined.
A moment later a diligent other employee who had been watching carefully unlocked the door for me, but I didn’t go back in—I didn’t want to get hit by the broom again.
In an instant I was left sitting out on the street.
I scratched my cheek awkwardly, then stuck my hands in my pockets and pondered what had gone wrong.
Thinking about it, that was it.
Having spent the past two years completely detached from the common sense and normal lifestyle patterns defined by society, my own sense of normalcy had become quite warped.
Handing over a contract like that out of the blue was bound to seem suspicious.
Conversely, any woman who would cheerfully follow along would be the weird one.
I had lacked the means to persuade her with my capital and ideals.
So what now….
Did that mean it was over with Lee Se-ah now that I’d been branded a psycho?
Should I give up and move on to other prey?
“No way♪”
Of course the answer was No.
If I’d crossed the line, I just had to keep charging forward.
“You’re Jang Mun-seok, right?”
I waited a long time at the entrance to the parking lot of an ordinary villa in Gyeonggi Province.
I had memorized the photo and license plate number and cross-checked them against residents coming and going several times until finally he returned.
Around 7:30 in the evening.
It was the time when the streetlights were starting to turn on one by one, but the parking lot was still dark. When I suddenly called his name, the man became wary.
He got out of his SUV, showing only his side profile in a trench coat, and rolled his eyes.
As expected, the claim that women don’t care about looks is all a complete lie, isn’t it?
Naturally, he was a handsome man.
He looked kind and sincere, like someone who would be faithful to his family, and even seemed capable.
According to the information from the private investigator, he worked in IT and was four years older than Se-ah noona.
Taller than average with clear eyes.
Broad shoulders and an appearance that could be called a hunk, but honestly I think I’m better looking—not just because I’m biased.
Anyway, I hadn’t waited just to compare looks with the fiancé, so I slowly approached.
The man held his phone and had earbuds in, ready to call the police at any moment, but I spread my arms as I approached to show I had no intention of fighting.
“Mr. Jang Mun-seok, you’re Lee Se-ah’s remaining boyfriend… no, her fiancé, right?”
“……And if I am?”
“I’ve been waiting a long time in this narrow parking lot. I have something important to discuss—do you have a moment?”
“No. I’d prefer you leave before I call the police.”
“Come on, it won’t even take five minutes if you think about it. This is absolutely not a religious solicitation—”
“I’m pressing the report button on my phone right now.”
“Wait wait wait!”
This guy’s got a hair-trigger temper!
“It won’t hurt to listen. I’ve brought news that money will fall into your lap even while you’re sleeping.”
“Get lost.
This neighborhood’s so bad that all sorts of crazy bastards keep showing up….”
Apparently deciding I wasn’t even worth the bother of reporting, Jang Mun-seok headed toward the villa entrance.
He looked stubborn and wouldn’t listen at all. I chattered away beside him, but he didn’t stop walking, and finally entered the password and went inside.
Just as he was about to fully enter the villa,
“Hey, you need money, right? I’ll put up one billion won.”
I placed my bet.
At that moment, for just a brief instant, Jang Mun-seok’s steps froze as he was going through the door.
“If you accept my proposal, I’ll give you one billion. I’ll come back tomorrow, so if you’re interested, tell me then.”
I didn’t want to keep talking while being treated like a peddler, so I left those words and turned away.
I felt a sharp gaze on my back, but I walked steadily through the dark neighborhood.
Next day.
“Great, now are you ready to listen carefully?”
“…….”
Meeting at the same time in the same parking lot, Jang Mun-seok got out of the same navy blue SUV and glared at me.
Since we were acquainted by face now, I cut straight to the chase.
“Mr. Jang Mun-seok, my proposal is—”
“Your name is Seo Junhyuk, right?”
Jang Mun-seok cut me off before I could even make the proposal.
“Ah, yes. That’s right. You live together, so did you hear it from Se-ah noona?”
“Yeah, she said you’re a delusional psycho.”
“Eek……”
“I won’t bully a pitiful kid, so get lost. Don’t ever show your face around here again.”
“What!? Wait a minute! At least listen to what I have to—”
Jang Mun-seok went right back into the villa again.
Two days wasted, and curses rose in my throat, but there was nothing I could do.
The next day.
“Hoo… now do you believe me a little?”
“…….”
On the third day I brought a sports car.
I had zero interest in cars so I didn’t even know the name of this one, but I casually sprawled on the hood, let out a deep sigh, and looked at him.
Jang Mun-seok rubbed his brow and sighed deeply.
“So now you’re renting a sports car to prove your delusions? What’s wrong with your head? Your parents must be devastated.”
Tch, I brought it for show and now he’s jumping to that conclusion.
“I already set my parents up in luxury long ago, and if it were a rental I’d have to return it, so why would I rent? I just bought it.”
“If you keep putting on airs like a YOLO kid at your age—”
“Here.”
No need to keep talking; I opened the case next to me.
Inside, densely packed bills that would make your wrist ache just counting them bloomed like a bountiful wheat field in full harvest.
“!!?”
Jang Mun-seok’s jaw dropped straight down in an instant.
His once-intelligent eyes spun like a slot machine, and as if drawn by a magnet he shuffled over and grabbed a bundle to feel it.
Bundled in hundreds, so one stack was five million.
Wow, scatter the bait and he bites right away like a goldfish.
I see now—it was my mistake.
My approach had been completely off.
If the other person is suspicious, just convince them with the real thing right away; I had just dragged things out for no reason.
“I-is this r-r-real…?!”
He fumbled around as if he could tell whether it was counterfeit by touch, then pulled out a single bill and held it up to the streetlight.
His sudden change in attitude was so cute it made me laugh.
“This is three hundred million, and there’s more in the trunk. It was hard to fit one billion into a small case.”
“Th-three hundred million! And behind that, t-t-ten billion!?”
His delicious reaction had some tease-worthy aspects.
But I hadn’t gone to all this trouble just to see a reaction like this.
“Alright, then will you listen to what I have to say now?
Ah! Since we’ve already wasted two days, we can go inside and talk leisurely, right?”
“…….”
Those eyes already twisted with desire by the magic of money didn’t even need to ask for permission.
“……Oppa, are you crazy?”
When I entered the house with Jang Mun-seok, Lee Se-ah stood at the front door, her eyelids trembling.
The two of them were living together. Even while working two jobs, she diligently handled the housework, wearing red rubber gloves and an apron.
Ah… she’s still so pretty.
Seeing my first love in an apron was healing.
I waved my hand lightly toward my woman, who was more valuable than money.
“Hello, noona. We meet again.”
“Get out right now!”
Lee Se-ah burned with the will to make a last stand at the front door, determined not to let me into the house.
The café broom had turned into rubber gloves at home.
She looked ready to call the police if I refused to leave, but the one who stopped her was her fiancé, Jang Mun-seok.
“Um… Se-ah. Let’s hear him out for now.”
“Oppa, are you seriously crazy?!
I warned you he’s a psycho so don’t even listen with half an ear, and now you’re voluntarily letting him into the house?”
“Well, what choice do I have? He even showed me the money!”
“…………Money?”
Money.
Yes, money.
The money that every Korean loves.
I shook the cases full in both hands.
Grinning, I jiggled them to let them guess what was inside by the sound.
This was the start.
Because of these two suspicious people, time had been wasted for no reason, but from now on I would begin the game in earnest to claim my first love.