First Prey: My First Love, Lee Se-ah
It took far longer than expected to finally force the three of us into the same room.
We sat spaced apart around a round table, all three of us staring at the money laid out between us. Even the couple who lived together kept their distance — probably because of Se-ah's boyfriend, the one who'd let me into their home in the first place.
Three cases sat on the table. Three hundred million, three hundred million, and four hundred million won respectively.
As I'd already seen, Jang Mun-seok had completely lost his mind. He kept grabbing fistfuls of cash, hands trembling as he tried to decide whether this was a dream or reality. Lee Se-ah, on the other hand, looked only mildly flustered by the overflowing money. She crossed her arms with open distaste and studied the pile.
As if she couldn't stand the sight of it any longer, her long lashes lowered in a thin fold, and her lips parted slowly — like ancient castle gates swinging open.
"So."
"Yes?"
"What exactly are you after? I can't even tell if these are counterfeit bills, and I have no idea why you have this much money."
"If you're that suspicious, I can transfer it to your account instead."
"That's not what I mean!"
Se-ah slammed the table and nearly shot to her feet — then forced herself to stay put. Her fists trembled as she glared at me.
"You show up out of nowhere loaded with cash — what do you want? What's the point of all this?!"
"Ah, right. The proposal I have for the two of you."
The words I'd spent two days trying to deliver, only to fail every single time.
"I owe you an apology, Noona. Barging in with that shady contract out of nowhere — of course you'd be on guard. But it's simple, really. Neither of you will come to any harm, so don't worry."
"…And I'm just supposed to believe that?"
"I brought the money, didn't I? First impressions may have been a total disaster, but I've shown some sincerity. I'd appreciate a little trust."
"……."
It was nonsense, of course. Cash and personal safety had nothing to do with each other. This was pure financial violence. One billion won in hard currency — more physical cash than most people would ever touch in a lifetime — cast everything else into shadow. A man they'd taken for a lunatic had just dumped a billion won onto an ordinary dinner table. Anyone's ears would prick up.
"This proposal of yours… what is it?"
"Honey!"
Her fiancé, still clutching the money, couldn't hold back any longer and cut in first. I grinned, the corners of my mouth stretching wide with pure delight.
"Alright then — allow me to announce the terms under which this entire sum will be handed over, intact."
I spread my arms with the over-the-top flair of a game-show host, then paused for effect. Both of them swallowed hard. Once the tension had ripened, I delivered it slowly.
"I'll be renting Se-ah Noona for a little while. Come play with me on my island for one week ♥"
Se-ah's hands clenched her apron the instant the words left my mouth. She gripped it so hard that deep, crumpled wrinkles formed, and she stared me down.
"Island… you mean that ridiculous fantasy island written on that contract?"
"That's the one. Except it's not a fantasy — it actually exists."
"Don't be absurd! Renting? Treating a person like an object—"
"However."
I raised my index finger — a signal that I wasn't finished.
"All you have to do is go. Once you're there, you can barricade yourself in the hotel, swim alone, drive around and deliberately snub me — whatever you want. Completely up to you."
"Fuck off! Make some sense! Even if this island of yours is real, only you know where it is. What happens if something goes wrong?!"
The safety concern, as expected. I lowered my voice as much as I could and laid it out calmly, like an insurance salesman building trust.
"If I so much as lay a fingertip on Noona against her will, or if I fail to send her home after the week is up and break the contract — her boyfriend can simply report me to the police. You know my identity. Feel free to bury me with it. And if any such unfortunate incident should occur…"
I raised my middle finger alongside the index, forming a two.
"I'll double the money."
"……."
"T-two times… two billion."
That was it. Those were the conditions for delivering the money to Se-ah and her boyfriend — nothing more than begging her to come play with me. Loose terms, sure, but the word "play" held a great many definitions. A single word, packed with meaning.
Se-ah, who had to make the final call, wrestled with it. She tried her hardest to resist the temptation, but every so often her eyes flicked toward the money stacked in front of her — as if she couldn't help wanting it. She kneaded the sweat-wrinkled apron, squeezed her eyelids shut, then carefully parted her lips.
"……………I still can't. Take it and leave."
"…Are you serious?"
The disgust and hostility stamped into her from that first impression showed no sign of fading.
"Yes. No matter how desperate we are for money… this isn't right. I can't trust you, and treating a person like an object is disgusting. More than anything — I don't even want to go to that island!"
"I see."
Honestly, I was impressed. If I'd been her boyfriend, I might have been moved by the principle of it. Remarkable self-control. Suspicious or not, this was a sudden billion won — and she'd turned it down. She hadn't buckled under the easy shortcut or the violence of money. She'd stuck to her own stubborn code.
"Understood. In that case…"
Reluctantly, I began closing the money cases one by one. I managed two of them — but the case in front of Jang Mun-seok wouldn't shut. Both his hands were still full of cash, greedy as Scrooge himself.
"Mun-seok?"
I called for him to let go, but there was no response. He just sat there brooding, then quietly murmured his girlfriend's name with a doubtful edge.
"…Se-ah."
"Are you serious…?"
He still wouldn't release the bundles. Now the look of contempt that had been aimed at me redirected itself entirely onto her boyfriend.
"This is money we need. It's a billion won."
"Is this the Jang Mun-seok I know?! You're saying I should sell myself like an object to some stranger for a week, go to some shady island I've never even heard of — and right now all you care about is the money—"
"We still haven't paid off our debts!"
"……!"
"We've worked like dogs every single day for a year — we don't even have time to eat together! You pick up weekend shifts at the café, and I spend my precious weekends delivering food on foot like some damn courier, getting yelled at! How long are we supposed to live like this?!"
Whatever had been building up in him for so long finally erupted. Jang Mun-seok tore into their financial misery at full volume. Se-ah lowered her brows as if she understood. She looked almost cowed, clutching her apron like a scolded child.
"…The money is accumulating, little by little. By next year, we could take out another bank loan and at least hold a modest wedding."
"That just means more debt! When are we ever supposed to buy a real house? When do we have kids and raise them? I'm sick to death of paying loan interest!"
Jang Mun-seok flung the cash bundles down and covered his face. Sensing this was his moment, he poured everything out like a machine gun. The air went rigid — like a sturdy tree about to snap in a gale. Then he brought the final blow down on that frozen mass of ice, shattering it completely.
"Damn it — if only someone hadn't drained our savings to play stock futures…!"
Se-ah flinched, shoulders drawing in. I found myself sitting there solemnly, like a kid eavesdropping on a marital fight. I wondered if the momentum had carried him into a slip of the tongue — but Jang Mun-seok didn't take it back. It looked as though he'd seized this chance to finally say the honest things he'd never managed to say before.
"……."
"……."
"……."
"…Fine."
Se-ah stood up abruptly. She glared down at her boyfriend with lowered eyes, then swept her gaze over me.
"I'll take part in this weird little bet of yours. But if you don't keep your word, I'm going to the police and the press. I know a reporter — so you'd better be ready."
"Of course."
Immediately after, Se-ah stormed out of the living room and slammed the bedroom door shut behind her. That left two awkward men sitting there. One way or another, the cumbersome prize money still needed collecting, so I gathered up the cases.
Just as I was about to leave, the previously silent Jang Mun-seok spoke in a low voice.
"Hey."
"?"
He lowered his hands and looked up at me. The corners of his mouth were already curling upward, victory hanging on them — as if the billion won were already his.
"I don't know if you're some rich kid or what your reason is for going after Se-ah… but you've just thrown your money away. Se-ah will be my woman for the rest of her life."
He clearly had something to lean on. Like an ordinary guy making grand plans right before getting punched by a boxer, he delivered his victory declaration as a matter of course.
"I'll show you what happens when a little brat covets someone else's property."
It was hilarious. I nearly collapsed laughing right there in someone else's living room. Still, determined to keep my manners to the end, I settled for splitting my mouth into a wide, toothy grin.
"I wonder about that."
I laughed with genuine pleasure. I was already looking forward to the moment that self-important face of his crumpled like an aluminum can.
Inside the airport, going through departure procedures.
"Alright! The bet starts here."
I was empty-handed. Se-ah had deliberately chosen a plain outfit and brought a single small carry-on suitcase. Her boyfriend, Jang Mun-seok, had naturally come along to see her off.
"Today is March 7th, 9:00 AM. We'll meet again one week later, on March 14th at 9:30 AM. Consider the thirty-minute buffer immigration processing. The condition for receiving the money is simple: Lee Se-ah Noona must be standing right here with me. Succeed, and I'll transfer one billion won to Noona's account via online banking on the spot."
While the two of them checked the airport clock pointing to 8:17, I relayed the remaining details.
"However — if Se-ah Noona doesn't show up, everything is void. If she fails to arrive on time of her own free will, the game ends there. I'll arrange a phone call or video call so you can verify the situation yourselves."
"…That won't happen."
"Absolutely not."
Somehow the two of them were in sync as they denied it. They still looked awkward with each other, but there seemed to be some shared conviction — some invisible bond of trust — holding them together. That satisfied me. If anything, I liked Se-ah's expression: full of confidence, and thoroughly fed up with me. I could barely contain my anticipation for where this story would go.
"Well then — we've got procedures to get through, so we'll be off."
"Hey! Hands off!"
"Come on… what's the problem? I'm just offering to carry your bag."
"I can carry it myself, okay?! Seriously."
Se-ah stomped off, grumbling. In my memories she'd always been so refined and graceful — turns out she had quite a personality. Whether they'd already said their goodbyes the night before, or she was still thoroughly pissed, she didn't even offer her boyfriend a farewell.
…She's cute even when she's angry.
That ass, twitching like an irritated duck as she walked away. I swallowed hard at the sight of it — then beamed at Jang Mun-seok, who was staring daggers into me like a laser.
"Ah! Come to think of it, Mun-seok — I almost forgot this~"
"?"
For a man about to spend a lonely week, I casually dropped a precious piece of information I nearly left out.
She was gone.
I'd seen them off at the airport and come back home, but I'd kept my foot on the accelerator the entire drive back — I was already bracing for a bill-bomb at the end of the month.
One billion. A full one billion won was about to drop into our laps. That annoying little brat was a bit of a nuisance, but with a billion… we could pay off the debt, save carefully, and finally get a real house — not some villa where the streetlights barely reach. This was the moment our lives, which stock trading had sent plummeting into the abyss, could take flight again.
Of course, the idea of the two of them going on a trip alone still sat wrong with me. What man would feel at ease sending his woman off alone with some other guy? But that brat genuinely didn't know Se-ah's personality one bit.
Right was right. Wrong was wrong. Her will was absolute — she showed clear affection to people she liked, and for anyone branded with her contempt, she never gave a second chance. The word "preference" might as well have been invented for Se-ah.
Granted, that same straight-line personality is how she blew through my money on stocks too…
But this was a chance to make up for that painful past. Having watched her for four years, I was certain of Se-ah's sense of chastity. This was swimming with both feet on the ground. And if it came to it — we already shared a past that would make her feel guilty.
…Still, why did he tell me that?
That Puckstagram ID the brat had given me before departing.
Puckstagram. An app popular with people from their early twenties to mid-thirties who liked to show off — mostly for posting photos. There were various genres, but honestly, the suggestive ones dominated. Young women and men uploading pictures to flaunt their bodies, building popularity and making money off it. And behind the scenes, plenty of rumors about certain kinds of meetups.
I'd meant to ignore it. But once it was in my head, it wouldn't leave. Four hours had passed. I'd just finished lunch and was bored, so I opened the app for a bit of idle entertainment.
The search turned up an account with neither many followers nor frequent updates. I hit follow, and — pling☆ — there was a single recently uploaded photo.
Only her back was visible — but I remembered exactly what she'd worn when she left today. Of course I knew who it was. A woman gripping a straw hat on her head, looking up at the sky as if the weather had moved her. A plain skirt fluttering just enough to suggest a breeze.
It wasn't a sexy photo at all. If anything, it was the artsy type that got zero traction on Puckstagram… but the camera angle — a specific man trailing behind Se-ah, framing her from the rear — gave it a strangely cold, unsettling edge.
It'll be… fine, right?
I'd deliberately pushed our relationship into a cold war to stop her from kicking away the fortune that had rolled to our feet — to grab the money that had fallen into our laps. But she must have understood my true intentions.
Thump-thump-thump!
I tried to dismiss it, folding the feeling neatly into a corner of my heart — but a drumbeat pounded in my chest. Maybe it was because we'd never spent a night apart since moving in together. One loaded photograph, and my heart was racing. Anxiety crept in, and the regret seeping into my veins now that it was too late…
Was it just my imagination?