Three Extremely Ordinary Girls
The plane was far more spacious than I’d imagined. On TV the seats always looked crammed together, but this private jet had only two chairs, giving the whole cabin an open, airy feel. Since this was my first time ever stepping onto an airplane, I kept glancing around. Liu, who had been watching me, let out a small snort of laughter.
“What, never seen a private jet before?”
“Well… I suppose that’s true.”
“If I’d known, I would’ve brought out Private Jet Three.”
“Is that one different?”
“It’s a military transport. About three times the size of this.”
“…………”
Can civilians even own something like that? Or do you just throw enough money at it until it’s yours?
“There are… only two seats?”
“It used to be just one, but I had them add another in a hurry. Feel honored.”
The interior was so luxurious and meticulously arranged it was hard to believe we were inside an aircraft. The two seats placed in the middle of the wide space were clearly premium leather and sinfully comfortable.
Whoa…
Just sitting down made me feel like I could drift off at any moment. The buttons beside the seat let me adjust the recline, footrest, and even move the entire chair. I probably wouldn’t need to stand up once during the whole flight.
Once Liu and I were both seated, she gazed at me for a long moment, then snapped her fingers.
“Take off.”
“Understood. What is our destination?”
“Hmm… Hey, you haven’t eaten lunch yet, right?”
“Huh? Ah, no, I haven’t.”
“Then let’s start with lunch. Set course for Italy. And you—reserve my usual table at the restaurant.”
“Understood.”
The pilot bowed politely and returned to the cockpit. The beautiful stewardess Liu had pointed out made a call somewhere. Was she phoning the restaurant? We were really flying all the way to Italy just for lunch? Was this actually happening?
I was still staring at the stewardess on the phone when Liu’s irritated voice cut in from beside me.
“Hey, do you have no sense at all? Make calls in the back. What the hell is this?”
“I-I’m sorry!”
“Tsk. If you stand out unnecessarily one more time, consider yourself fired. Get lost.”
“Y-yes!”
The stewardess’s face had gone deathly pale. She fled toward what looked like the crew rest area. I walked over to Liu, who was still fuming while adjusting her seat, and offered a smile.
“Ms. Liu, she was only doing her job. Why be so harsh?”
“………Is that the kind of girl you like?”
“Pardon?”
“Ah, never mind! Just take off already!!”
The engines roared to life with a deep whoooosh.
“Oh? Oh……”
“…? What’s with you? Never been on a plane before?”
“Well… aside from the flight to the aerial city, not once……”
It was true—I had never flown. Still, since everyone had to take a plane to reach the aerial city, I figured I should at least claim I’d flown once.
…So this is what it feels like.
After I became a police officer and saved enough money, I had promised Ji-soo we would visit Jeju Island together. That damn girl… why did she…
“Hmph. Here.”
“Yes?”
“The altitude change is going to clog your ears and nose soon. Pinch your nostrils and blow. It’ll clear them.”
“Ah, thank you.”
…Wait, did she really just say “hmph” as instructions for blowing my nose? Liu seemed to realize her awkward phrasing; her face flushed crimson.
Let’s just stay quiet…
The private jet lifted off. Following Liu’s advice cleared the pressure in my ears, and the flight became comfortable. Still, how long did it take to reach Italy from the middle of the Pacific?
I turned to Liu, who looked like she had mostly recovered from her embarrassment.
“Ms. Liu? How long until we reach Italy?”
“Hm? Oh, about an hour.”
“…One hour?”
Was this the fantasy-world equivalent of flying from Seoul to Jeju? Was that even possible?
“This thing flies supersonic. It’s on a completely different level from ordinary planes.”
“I see……”
“Plus it’s fitted with several artifacts, so it’s even faster. Ah, we should have something to drink.”
She clapped twice. As if they had been waiting, stewardesses approached carrying a golden tray with a bottle of wine and two glasses.
…The stewardess who had been scolded earlier didn’t seem to be among them. Probably just my imagination.
“This is probably a wine the fortune teller has never seen, so have it explained.”
“Yes. This is a 1945 Romanée-Conti. It is produced from grapes harvested from a Grand Cru vineyard of the highest quality. Only six thousand bottles are made each year—a truly precious item.”
“Ah……”
Yep. I understood perfectly. In short, it was an insanely good wine, right?
I nodded at appropriate moments while the stewardess poured the Romanée-whatever into my glass and handed it over.
“Shall we… toast?”
“What? Hahahaha! Yes, let’s toast!”
Our glasses clinked. I took a sip. It was indeed sweet and pleasantly warming—definitely worth the price. But that was it. Just “pretty tasty.”
“Ms. Liu, how much is one bottle of this?”
“Hm? I’m not sure. Hey, how much is this?”
“Seven hundred million won.”
“That’s not much.”
………Right. I should stop thinking. When I considered the artifacts Liu always carried—easily worth close to a trillion—this really was pocket change. Still, the idea that every single one was for self-defense was enough to make my head spin. But that level of caution was probably the only way someone as paranoid as Liu could walk around feeling safe.
“Don’t you have anything better than this cheap stuff?”
“I-I’m sorry! Among the wines currently stocked on this jet, this is the finest……”
“…Who manages Private Jet Twelve?”
“Alphonse Filtergram, ma’am!”
“Tell that guy to watch himself from now on.”
“Yes!”
Some rather ominous conversation seemed to be happening beside me, but I didn’t have the mental bandwidth to care.
Don’t tell me… I’m…
Extremely weak to alcohol? In university I had never gone drinking because I was always working or studying, so I never knew. But getting tipsy off a single sip of wine… what was this…
“…? Hey, fortune teller. What’s wrong with you?”
“Ah, I’m sorry. It seems I’m quite weak to alcohol……”
“Weak to alcohol?… Hmm.”
Liu glanced between the wineglass in my hand and my swaying body, then smiled faintly. She took the glass away and gently closed my eyes with her own hands. Even though her fingers were lowering my eyelids, I couldn’t muster the strength to resist.
“Sleep for a while. I’ll wake you when we arrive.”
“Sorry……”
“No need to apologize. Just rest comfortably.”
“……………”
“…U-um, Lady Liu?”
“Hey.”
“Y-yes?”
“If your voice wakes him, are you prepared to take responsibility? Get out right now. And don’t come out until we land.”
“Understood!”
“I told you to be quiet, didn’t I?”
“I-I’m sorry……”
Liu gazed at the sleeping male student with soft eyes and even stroked his hair. She waved the stewardess away with a lazy flick of her hand. The stewardess bowed hastily and retreated into the crew lounge, closing the door behind her.
“Whew……”
Thanks to the jet’s enormous size, the stewardess waiting area was larger and better equipped than most lounges. The dismissed stewardess sighed and sank into a seat.
“Hey, why did you suddenly get kicked out?”
“Don’t even ask. That male student took one sip of wine and passed out, so she immediately ordered me to leave.”
“Right, right. Did you see Lady Liu’s face at the airport earlier? She looked absolutely thrilled.”
“Oh my, so even someone like her is still a woman after all……”
“That guy’s life is made. Receiving the love of the Great Tycoon—what luck.”
“…Is it really luck, though?”
“Huh?”
The head stewardess, who had been quietly listening, muttered under her breath. Having served Liu for over ten years, unlike the others, her eyes were filled with worry.
“I’m worried. Truly.”
“Worried that Lady Liu might be deceived by that boy? No way—the greatest tycoon in the world……”
“It’s the opposite.”
“…Pardon? The opposite……”
“I’m worried about the boy.”
The other stewardesses looked confused, but the head stewardess knew Liu’s true nature all too well. That was exactly why she couldn’t help but worry for him.
If she finds an artifact she likes, she locks it in a display case and forbids anyone from touching it.
Because Liu distrusted people, she poured that obsession into artifacts and jewels instead. Anything she took a liking to was stored deep away where no one could approach or touch it. Just how many artifacts had been kept like that for years? In the head stewardess’s eyes, those artifacts and this male student weren’t all that different.
“……All right, let’s rest for a bit too. We don’t know how many times Lady Liu will use this jet today.”
“Ah, yes!”
While supervising the stewardesses, she carefully observed both the one who had been sent away and the one scolded over the phone call earlier. Managing the crew of Private Jet Twelve, monitoring and investigating the stewardesses—that was her duty. Even if someone else was watching her in turn.
“This… is.”
“Why, not to your taste?”
“No, no. It’s incredibly delicious……”
I chewed on the wagyu steak that melted on my tongue and looked around. We were in Rome, the capital of Italy, on the top floor of a luxury building. The entire floor had been turned into a high-end restaurant, and right now only Liu and I occupied it. Every other table sat empty. An orchestra played on one side while dozens of chefs performed live cooking at full power.
Of course, Liu had rented the entire place. But weren’t reservations for a restaurant like this usually booked solid? Was it really possible to reserve an entire floor on the same day, even for a tycoon?
“Ms. Liu, did you make the reservation in advance?”
“Hm? I did it while we were boarding the jet, remember?”
“…And that’s fine?”
“It doesn’t matter. I own this building and all the surrounding shops.”
“Ah………”
“The building owner’s words should be obeyed.”
No wonder the staff had bowed so deeply when we entered. So she really was the owner. Both the private jet and this restaurant were luxuries I would never have dreamed of in my normal life……
“Um, Ms. Liu?”
“What now?”
“Is a date usually like this?”
“…Eating and then hanging out isn’t a date?”
“Do normal people take a private jet to another country just to eat?”
“They don’t?”
Maybe the problem was using the Great Tycoon as my baseline. Or perhaps—
“…Ms. Liu, I don’t mean to belittle you in any way.”
“Why, what is it?”
“By any chance… are you single?”
“…………You son of a bitch.”
Bullseye. So a solo was asking another solo for dating advice…
When I let out a hollow laugh, Liu’s face turned scarlet and she crossed her arms defensively.
“What! What’s wrong with that?!”
“Ah, nothing. It’s just……”
“Just what!”
“I thought we were similar, you and I. That makes me want to be even better friends.”
“…………”
Honestly, someone as beautiful and wealthy as Liu should have had boyfriends lining up, so this was unexpected.
…Ah. The paranoia. Right. She hadn’t shown that side around me lately, so I’d forgotten.
Anyway, Ji-soo had once told me that for solos, another solo friend was the best possible thing. So Liu and I really were a good match, weren’t we?
“………”
“Ms. Liu?”
“Ha, this guy.”
“……?”
“You brought this on yourself, you sly fox.”
Brought what on myself? And why was I suddenly a fox?
“Hey, you said you wanted to buy clothes.”
“Yes. I mentioned it on the way here.”
“See that over there?”
“…You mean that building?”
“The entire third floor is a clothing store. Suits, casual wear—anything you want.”
“Oh, then I could buy some really nice clo—”
“Take the whole thing.”
“—Pardon?”
“I said take the entire clothing store.”
Uh, um. Did I mishear?
“So… the building and everything inside it…?”
“You heard correctly.”
“No, wait. How could I possibly accept that!”
In dramas I had seen rich heirs walk into department stores and casually say “I’ll take everything from here to there,” but this was on a completely different scale. What kind of person gifts an entire three-story building in the heart of a capital city?
When I panicked, Liu simply grinned at me.
“Just take it, idiot.”
“No, more importantly—this is Italy. Even if I take a clothing store here, I’ll be living at the academy……”
“Oh, that’s true.”
“Yes. So perhaps you should withdraw the offer……”
“Then take the private jet from earlier as well. I’ll cover maintenance and staff salaries, so don’t worry.”
“Ha………”
“Since we’re here, we can stay a night. The hotel over there—”
“Ms. Liu!!”
“Pfft.”
“Tsk, for someone called the Great Tycoon, her spending habits are surprisingly modest.”
“Indeed. What gift shall we prepare?”
“Hmm… How many buildings owned by Arthur are nearby?”
“This is Europe. Even the Great Tycoon must yield to Arthur’s influence here.”
“And?”
“There are several options, but the best is the thirty-four buildings surrounding the three-story clothing store mentioned earlier.”
“It’s right next to that bitch Liu’s gift, so the comparison will be perfect. Transfer all titles to Sir Namgung Min.”
“Yes!”
Without his knowledge, Namgung Min was becoming a landlord.
“…If I remember correctly, Italy and the Korean Empire have little connection.”
“Correct, Your Highness.”
“It can’t be helped. Since Namgung Min will be living in the Korean Empire… secure land near the imperial palace and select something suitable.”
“Understood.”
“Everything is to draw the talent named Namgung Min into the imperial family… I have absolutely no other intentions……”
He was becoming a landowner. It was an extremely ordinary gift.