Side Story: Fraud
Side Story: Fraud
"Oh... looks like our Arini studied hard?"
"I studied super hard!"
When I went to pick Arini up from kindergarten, her homeroom teacher handed me a sheet of paper and told me to praise her.
So I wondered what it was about — turns out, she was the only one in the entire kindergarten to get a perfect score on both dictation and arithmetic.
Something I had never once achieved... and she pulled off two of them!
Sure, six years old is plenty grown up, but as a father, there was no way I couldn't be thrilled by my daughter's growth.
"This calls for a celebration. Is there something our little girl wants?"
"A cell phone!"
"Tsk. We already said no cell phones yet."
"Hmph."
A phone was still too early for a six-year-old little kid, so I'd bought her a smartwatch that could make calls.
Well, since its only function was dialing designated phone numbers, it was less that I bought it for her and more that I equipped her with it — that would be the more accurate way to put it.
"Boo... I want a smartphone too..."
"What would you use it for?"
If she had a good reason to use one, of course I'd buy it.
These days, smartphones made for kids are pretty well-designed, after all.
"I dunno! It's just cool!"
"...That really is our little girl."
She just thought it was cool that all the adults carried one around, so she wanted one too.
I gently stroked her hair.
"How about this — we'll get you a phone when you start elementary school... today, something else."
"Umm... well, there is one thing I want..."
Glancing, glancing.
Finding it a little hard to say, our little girl started sneaking glances at me.
In this moment, my head was filled with nothing except that my adorable little girl had worked so hard on her studies and earned the title of kindergarten's only perfect score.
Which meant I was ready to give her the shirt off my back, no questions asked.
"Go on, tell me. Daddy will buy you anything."
"Hehe... there's something I want..."
"What is it?"
"A promotional item! A toy they don't sell anymore!"
Hmm... so it must be something you couldn't buy in regular stores anymore.
And the price would probably have some kind of premium tacked on, making it a bit expensive.
"Hehe. Did Mommy say no because it was too expensive?"
"Yeah... she said no..."
"Then Daddy's going to buy it for you."
"Really!?"
Ahh, could it really make her that happy?
Arini burst into a wide smile and came charging into my arms, hugging me tight.
Now she was holding on with a death grip as if she'd never let go.
"So where do we have to buy it?"
"Jungo Maket!"
"Umm... hasn't that place been completely overrun by ads lately?"
There was hardly any point in going there anymore.
Most people had flocked to Carrot or Lightning Market.
So I listened to what Arini said, and apparently, that one seller was the only person who had it listed.
She had even finished her own diligent research beforehand — that was so like our little girl.
"Let me see... Porsche..."
With Arini settled on my lap, I decided to search for the product name on my laptop first.
When I searched the product name, a number of different items came up, and some were listings that linked directly to internet shopping malls.
"That one, and the one I want, are different."
"They are?"
"Yeah. This one is red, and the one Arini wants is genuine red!"
I had absolutely no idea what the difference was, but apparently the limited-edition release had an entirely different paint job.
Didn't A-ra once do the exact same thing — buying several versions of the Bugatti Chiron at once because the paint jobs were supposedly different?
Our little girl definitely took after her mother.
If she hadn't, there was no way the exact same words would come out of her mouth.
"Daddy. Arini really wants this."
"Alright. How could Daddy not buy you at least this much?"
"Really? Daddy is the best!"
"Then give Daddy a kiss on the cheek."
Smack.
Saying how happy she was, Arini planted a kiss on my cheek and beamed a bashful smile.
Could she really be that happy?
A-ra must have told her no because it was too expensive.
To be fair, 350,000 won was pretty steep for a six-year-old's toy.
But wasn't that a bit rich coming from A-ra? Wasn't she the one who called things cheap even at ten million won, let alone 300,000 won?
She'd wrecked her own sense of money, but was determined to protect her daughter's financial sensibilities... or maybe she simply meant Tiny was still too young for it...
"The ones in good, clean condition are about 500,000 won."
"500,000 won means you need ten 50,000 won bills."
"That's right. As expected of our little girl."
Already perfectly nailing multiplication and division, our little girl.
I honestly couldn't tell anymore if this was a case of doting dad syndrome or if she was just genuinely brilliant.
"Arin-ah. So shall we buy this one?"
"Yeah!"
"If I buy it today, it should arrive in two days. If we go with post office delivery, it'll come in the morning so..."
Thinking to myself, I typed the seller's phone number into my cell phone.
And then I transferred 500,000 won for a quick, no-haggle deal and left our home address.
"Waaah! I have a Porsche too!"
"Our little girl likes Porsches that much?"
"Yeah! Mommy said when I go to college, she'll buy me a Porsche!"
"How about inheriting Mommy's car? Like the Bugatti Chiron."
"Umm... the Chiron is pretty too, but..."
"So you like the Porsche better."
"Yeah!"
It wasn't a question of expensive or cheap; she simply wanted to drive the car she liked.
Our little girl certainly knew her own tastes.
But here was a six-year-old Tiny already thinking about her life as an adult.
Wasn't that a little too fast?
***
"This is bad... Arini's going to be home soon..."
I sat there clutching my head as I stared at the inside of the opened delivery box.
The package I'd picked up from the unmanned delivery locker had felt a bit light, so I had an uneasy feeling and opened it up, and inside was nothing but a few rocks in a zipper bag...
For the first time in my life, I had fallen victim to a secondhand trade scam.
And for my little girl's toy, at that...
Arini would be getting out of kindergarten in about an hour, and Minji was supposed to bring her home today.
"Wh... what do I do..."
I was panicked.
The fact that I'd been scammed — that could wait; I could just file a lawsuit later. But the thought of our little girl coming home and sobbing over this box was terrifying.
Carrot... let me check Carrot.
Hoping against hope, I went onto Carrot and did a detailed search, but nothing came up.
It wasn't really the kind of item you'd find on Carrot in the first place.
On Jungo Maket, the listings in poor condition mostly seemed to be business accounts, too...
Since things had come to this, I'd have to get my hands on one even if it meant paying a large sum.
I put up a post on my Qtube channel and the communities I frequent, stating I would buy one at a premium price.
And the comments came flooding in instantly.
Questions asking what it was, and comments saying they'd give me one for free if I'd just meet them once — they started sprouting like bamboo shoots after rain.
First, I blocked every single person who said they'd give me one for free if I met them.
I hit them with a ban so hard they couldn't even come onto that channel to watch my content.
I pinned the comment from the person asking what it was and replied that it was a kids' toy.
Then came more comments going on about how it wasn't a kids' toy but a car model or whatever, but I just left those alone.
And then... after searching for about thirty minutes, one comment appeared.
A car model Qtuber — an extremely famous one — left a comment saying they could send it to me right away via quick delivery.
"Ahh... so God really hasn't abandoned our little girl after all."
And He hadn't abandoned me either.
I immediately sent an email to the address left in the comment and succeeded in getting their phone number.
"Oh, man... thank you so much. If you could just give me an account number..."
-Oh no! I'm really giving this to you out of pure fandom, so you honestly don't have to! Really!
I tried everything to force some money into their hands, but it was no use.
So I told them that since fate had brought us together like this by coincidence, let's at least get a meal together sometime, and ended the call.
It would take at least forty minutes for Minji to bring Arini home.
I didn't know how long the quick delivery would take, but to minimize the time, I decided to go downstairs and wait.
"Ugh... it's cold..."
Since it was still only mid-February, outside was freezing.
And yet here I was, having come out in nothing but a single thin long-sleeve shirt.
But seriously, who the hell was that bastard who scammed me?
Did they really want to ruin their life for a measly five hundred thousand won?
And to think they pulled off a scam with such an incredibly niche item — I had never imagined that.
If someone was going to do this kind of thing, they'd normally do it with an iPhone or an iPad or something.
Well... a scam was a scam either way.
I'd properly take care of them later...
I had waited outside for about twenty-five minutes.
Since they must have put my phone number down as the recipient as well, I got a call on my phone and went to the front entrance.
"You are Yoo Seong-hwan, correct? Please sign here."
The process was very analog, but what did it matter.
I took the document the man held out, skimmed over it, and signed.
"Thanks for your work."
"Thank you."
Still, I managed to get it for now.
Even if it was an item obtained in a rush!
***
"Waaah!"
The moment Arini got home, she burst charging into the living room.
She had seen the toy placed on the table and made a beeline straight for it.
"Arin-ah. Daddy told you, when you come home, you have to wash your hands first, right?"
"Boo..."
Arini pouted out her lower lip and headed toward the bathroom.
Minji went in with her as well, and the two came out after washing their hands.
First, I had put the box and the rocks away in a separate place for safekeeping.
I had taken pictures and secured the evidence.
She dared to scam me?
I'd show her what it really meant to have your life wrung out good and proper.
Well, putting that aside.
Right now, I was just drinking in with my eyes the adorable sight of our little girl staring at the car with her eyes wide and round as saucers.
For reference, the item this Qtuber had sent was unopened.
It was an unopened product, which I'd heard was almost impossible to find.
Arini seemed to pick up on that too, because she showed no intention of opening the packaging.
Since she placed more emphasis on collecting than on playing with it.
"Daddy! Thank you!"
"Yeah... as long as our Arini is happy, that's all that matters."
"Hehe."
I scooped up Arini as she smiled adorably, her face beaming brightly.
Even so, our little girl kept her eyes on the car and couldn't stop smiling.
First thing, I'd have to call the Director and have a consultation with the lawyer.
All that talk about Jungo Maket, Jungo Maket — and to think I'd end up a fraud victim like this.