Starting Over (31)
"I'll guide you to your table. Thank you for visiting."
"Yes."
The details of the Clothing Fitting Pass were revealed. It was a document stating that almost all fine dining establishments, including every Michelin-starred restaurant, must prioritize this customer above all others. Reservations were unnecessary, and if the customer visited without one, the staff was required to create an appropriate table for them immediately.
"...Don't lie to me."
"That's not all it does."
It wasn't just for restaurants. If you showed the card at a department store near closing time, you could force the store to stay open. While it couldn't be used too frequently, if you felt inconvenienced, you could exercise the benefit of having all other customers cleared out so you could shop alone. In situations where payment was impossible for some specific reason, the mere fact that the Clothing Fitting Pass was verified allowed for unlimited, no-limit transactions.
"How did you get this..."
In truth, Min Suyeon had wanted to come here even more than that Will Steakhouse. The excuse about reservations was just a pathetic cover; the reality was that she hadn't dared to even think about coming here. This was a place where guests created their own menus—you decided which cut of meat you wanted, how you wanted it cooked, and you could eat whatever you pleased. They would bring you any alcohol or other food you wanted without difficulty, provided you were willing to wait. Naturally, it was expensive.
The tater tots he’d ordered for her to try had rung up at 83,000 won on the POS system the moment the order was placed.
"Have you decided what you'd like to order?"
She didn't know anything about the menu. Seeing Min Suyeon just stare at him blankly before bowing her head, he said,
"...How about you have the same thing as me, Min Suyeon?"
"...Do whatever you want, I don't care..."
As soon as the order for two 600g sirloin steaks, medium-rare, was processed, the POS screen displayed 382,000 x 2, giving her a glimpse of just how expensive this place was. Of course, would the people who came here ever think about money?
"Now tell me. Why did you bring me here?"
"I really did just bring you here to eat."
"In the middle of the day? Why come here..."
Well, it was 4:00 PM. Of course, given the nature of the place, the tables were full, but it wasn't exactly prime dinner time.
"Since this place is a bit classy, can we talk with some dignity now?"
"Seriously, that 'dignity' guy..."
She couldn't bring herself to say 'bastard.' She wasn't completely oblivious to the situation.
"...Just say what you have to say. This, too..."
"That's right. This is also included in the debt. Or, if we're being precise, an investment...?"
The steaks arrived, served on a sizzling hot stone slab. It wasn't that she couldn't eat steak at all. Back when her father was still at Seongjeong, her parents used to take her and her younger brother out for steak every two weeks.
He glanced at her as she used her knife and fork with ease.
"What's this? It's not like you've never had it before."
"...Are you looking down on me?"
"Dignity."
"...Looking down... *Sigh*."
The creditor was demanding dignity, and for the debtor, that was actually harder than paying back the money. No, since he called it an investment, should he be the investor and she the startup that received the funding? Anyway,
"How does it taste?"
"It just tastes like meat."
"Exactly. It just tastes like meat."
"...What are you talking about?"
"You said I probably eat steak every day. Me."
He threw her own words back at her. Then he asked again,
"Can you eat this every day?"
She looked out the window for a moment, savoring the taste of the meat she had just swallowed. It was delicious, but... it was delicious, but...
"...No, it's not the taste I expected."
"Exactly. It’s all about preconceived notions."
"...?"
"It is delicious, sure. It's good, fine. But the idea of eating this every day? That's nonsense."
"I was just dumbfounded by the idea that a chaebol eats steak every day... Honestly, I wanted to ask. Have you ever even seen a real chaebol?"
Come to think of it, she hadn't. She had no such experience.
"That's how you are, Min Suyeon. You don't know anything, yet you look at things through such a narrow, biased perspective... You just make up weird ideas for no reason."
"What do you mean, 'what'? It's true. You're cosplaying as a commoner right now, aren't you..."
"...What exactly is 'true'?"
Only then did she really see the person named Han Suhyun. His hands were bare, not covered in multiple rings like some nouveau riche. His watch was a Doowon smartwatch you could buy at a digital store. His phone wasn't gold-plated, and his suit didn't look expensive.
"I know you're doing this on purpose. Do you think I wouldn't know? Pretending to understand me..."
"It seems someone who pretended to understand you must have hurt you."
"..."
"You're silent, so I guess I'm right."
He had hit the nail on the head.
"Shall I try to guess who it is?"
"Shut up, you're ruining my mood. Who do you think you are to try and figure me out..."
"...An ex-boyfriend?"
He had braced himself, expecting her to slam the table and storm out, but he was puzzled when she didn't react at all. Was it not him? Then who,
"What ex-boyfriend? Don't talk nonsense."
"...? Then who is it?"
He watched her pick up a tater tot—let's just call it a potato ball since that's hard to say—with her fork, and a thought suddenly occurred to him. He hadn't ordered anything to drink.
"Min Suyeon, aren't you going to drink anything?"
"...Get lost, I'm not eating."
"Come on, have a glass at least."
"You have to drive."
He said, "I won't drink," and as soon as he raised his hand slightly, a staff member approached the table quietly and quickly.
"Is there anything you need?"
"Please bring me any cold beer. Oh... and a cola as well."
"Understood. Would you please wait a moment?"
Soon, a draft beer was placed on the table. He couldn't eat meat without carbonation, so he never drank wine with steak. Even if it wasn't for him to drink.
"...Did you background check me?"
"Pardon? What?"
"...Never mind."
And that food preference was the same for Min Suyeon. Well, it wasn't easy to eat meat without carbonation, after all. Anyway, Min Suyeon, thinking her tastes had been investigated, lifted the beer glass and downed it without hesitation, despite having just said she didn't want any.
"I thought you didn't want any."
"Are you not going to shut up?"
"Right. I should shut up."
He looked at Min Suyeon with a wry, incredulous smile. She seemed embarrassed by her own actions, blushing and averting her gaze again. Anyway,
"Whoever hurt you, it doesn't matter. Now that you've actually tried it, how is it? You can't eat this every day, right?"
"..."
"So what I'm saying is, instead of having those preconceived notions, try things for yourself."
Listening to him, she thought he really didn't know anything about chaebols. Or, to be precise, she thought she didn't know anything about the person named Han Suhyun. She didn't know how other chaebols lived, but at least he was a person who didn't eat breakfast, didn't have a housekeeper at home, and for lunch, he ate Jeonju Bibimbap triangular kimbap from a convenience store or a large bowl of spicy beef ramen, which he bought in boxes because it wasn't popular. For the record, when he was living on an allowance, he drank Wenches grape soda incessantly. It was 2+1, and at 1,500 won a can, he couldn't afford anything else.
"If you can't try it, listen to what a chaebol has to say. Wouldn't that make those preconceived notions disappear~?"
"...What do you know,"
"That seems to be your favorite phrase, but frankly speaking, I'm the chaebol and you're not. I think I know this better than you, don't you think?"
Min Suyeon, looking at him with a smirk as if he were annoying, downed more beer.
"And I don't eat breakfast. What housekeeper? Have you been there? To my house?"
"It's not that you don't have a housekeeper, you probably have bodyguards at home too..."
"Are you having some kind of mental problem?"
I won't be swayed. By your words.
"...?"
"There's no housekeeper, no bodyguards, and well, I have a driver, but he commutes; he doesn't live there."
"Bullshit..."
"I'm telling you, there's none of that!"
Of course, there was a secretary in that house... and a secretary who would handle the 'cleanup' in the future... but still...
"And I eat ramen and triangular kimbap for lunch."
"That's bullshit, you fucker. How much is a triangular kimbap? Tell me—"
"1,400 won. The two-pack is 2,500 won. The size-up triangular kimbap is 1,600 won."
"..."
He recited the prices as if he had memorized them by heart,
"Chaebols go to convenience stores too. We go to marts. What, do you think we sit in our offices slicing steak all day..."
"...? Isn't that right?"
"What kind of dramas have you been watching?"
"No, you're all like that, abusing your power, getting reports while you eat..."
"You know that reports aren't like that."
She had some serious issues. And,
"And I always eat home-cooked meals for dinner. You have no idea how strictly I..."
"Then you're just trash who makes your wife suffer. That's really disgusting..."
....It felt like she was just looking for a chance to kill him. Anyway, back to the beginning,
"So, who is the person who hurt you?"
"So what?"
"No, really, is it not an ex-boyfriend?"
At the continued mention of an ex-boyfriend, she gripped her knife tightly,
"Do you want to die?"
"Then who is it? Ah, the person who hurt our brilliant and creative thesis-manufacturing Min Suyeon, I will...!"
"Won't you shut your mouth?"
"I'm asking who it is. Really, an ex-boyfriend,"
She seemed to be reaching her boiling point, raising her voice as she spoke, and finally, she shouted,
"Fuck, stop with the boyfriend talk, it's really disgusting, I never raised any boyfriend, that's bullshit, really. I don't even want my skin to touch a man, it's dirty! It's dirty, it's dirty....!"
"...?"
"What the fuck, I hate men so much. So what? I find men disgusting, I hate them, how many times do I have to say it for you to understand?"
"Look here, Min Suyeon..."
"Hurt by a man? Stop with that bullshit. I'd rather die than bow my head to a man. You're the same, you sex offender bastard!"
And the words that followed were,
"Why, if you bring me to a place like this, do you think I'll spread my legs for you? I'd rather bite my tongue and die than spread my legs for a man, I'll just die right here..."
Oh, is that so?