Chapter 101
Chapter 101
Spending money is fun.
Strictly speaking, it isn't my money, but yeah.
In my past life, I didn't spend because I didn't have it, not because I was thrifty. Swapping out computer parts, buying a console, grabbing a camera I'd only use a few times, taking a quick overseas trip. Those were once-every-few-years events, sure. But spending money on my hobbies and enjoyment really was genuinely enjoyable.
"Um, but..."
After the disciplinary committee ended and I stepped into the hallway, a female student spoke to me cautiously.
Still wearing an expression that said is this really okay?, the girl clutched a thick paper envelope tightly in both hands. Inside was an envelope stuffed with bundles of yellow banknotes.
"What are we supposed to do now?"
She was asking how they were supposed to act, now that they'd taken the money.
"Well."
I lifted my gaze slightly and stared blankly into space for a moment.
I didn't know what to say to someone asking how not to ignore a person. Then again, even without it reaching the level of outright ignoring each other around school, if two people simply didn't know each other, they wouldn't even greet each other. Even if Ye Sa-ra had been living an ordinary life without being ostracized, anyone who wasn't close to her wouldn't necessarily be on greeting terms with her.
And considering Ye Sa-ra's wealth, there probably weren't many chances to get close to an outside admit in the first place.
I simply shrugged a little and said,
"Just say hi when you run into me."
"...Huh?"
"You don't need to greet me cheerfully or force a smile. Just, when you're walking in the hallway, in the cafeteria... or even outside school, if you see my face, give a little wave."
Honestly, I didn't want anything more than that. A normal, happy school life doesn't need paid minions following you around. If they just stopped ignoring Ye Sa-ra, that alone could be called ordinary.
...And gaining just that much had been this difficult.
"Obviously, if I talk to you, you'd answer... but I don't really want anything beyond that?"
I tilted my head and asked,
"Is the money not enough?"
"Huh? Oh, no! That's not it! Really, it's more than enough!?"
Well, I didn't think it would be too little either. I might not look like it, but I've worked at a small-to-medium company for a take-home pay of less than two million won a month. I worked minimum-wage part-time jobs as a student, and I did military service, which paid far less than minimum wage.
To a chaebol, sums in the hundreds of thousands or millions might seem trivial, but for regular people who feel the weight of a single ten-thousand-won bill, that money can make daily life comfortable right away. If someone has a sick person at home, it could be truly essential.
It takes a thousand bills, each weighing less than a gram, to make one kilogram.
But the weight of that one kilogram doesn't end at just one kilogram.
"Yeah?"
I shrugged once more and turned around.
"Um, excuse me...!"
I'd only walked a few steps when I heard someone urgently calling after me.
I turned back. This time, a different girl was calling me. There had been roughly seven kids who'd come to the classroom as human shields. Still, maybe because of the specific nature of 'group bullying,' they'd at least tried to save face and hadn't piled all the responsibility onto one person.
Among them, one girl had been trembling and hadn't said a single word during the whole committee meeting.
She was extremely plain. Frankly, for a character in a dating sim, her hair color wasn't unique, and her hairstyle wasn't particularly pretty. She was a girl with roughly-cut short black hair and round glasses.
At the very least, this one definitely wasn't a main character. To be honest, she gave an even less distinctive impression than Shin So-ri, who hadn't existed in any of the CGs.
But perhaps for that very reason, she oddly seemed earnest and diligent.
The girl ran toward me and immediately thrust the paper envelope at me.
"...Huh."
I let out the sound before I could stop myself.
Apparently, she wasn't just earnest-looking; she genuinely had an earnest personality.
It was easy to guess what her action meant, but I deliberately kept my arms crossed, tilted my head slightly, and didn't take the money.
"What's this supposed to mean?"
Ye Sa-ra is pretty, but her resting expression is incredibly sharp. She did make a weird noise when poked in the side, but nobody would know that without actually poking her. And anyone in a different class wouldn't have a chance to see that side of her.
When I narrowed my eyes and looked at the girl, she let out a little "eep."
But she didn't pull the envelope back.
"I-I can't accept this kind of money...!"
"'This kind of money'?"
"W-Well, I mean..."
I deliberately let out a big sigh and said,
"Don't tell me you think this is a bribe?"
"..."
She probably couldn't bring herself to say that directly to the person who gave her the money. The girl silently lowered her eyes.
"Then let me ask you something. For a 'bribe' to be established, what has to happen?"
"That's..."
Right. How exactly does a 'bribe' come into existence?
If you look at it very broadly, any money given to someone to win their favor is a bribe. Rich parents buying food for classmates so they'll be nice to their child—broadly speaking, that could also be called a bribe.
"I mean, if you gave me money, that would be a bribe. Strictly speaking, I'm the victim, and you're one of the perpetrators. You could give me money to get your name out of the case or for some reason like that. But right now, you're not the one giving money—I am. In this situation, can anyone say I 'paid you a bribe'?"
The victim of school bullying handing tens of millions of won to the bullies. Anyone would think the picture looks bizarre. Honestly, if you heard about it without context, it'd be a story the news would splash all over.
It wasn't simply that tens of millions of won changed hands. The problem was that 'the richest teenager in the world' handed it over.
'The heiress of Yujin Group, unable to endure school bullying, paid tens of millions in tribute to her bullies!'
This wasn't something you called a 'bribe.'
Still, as expected of an outside admit, she seemed to grasp my meaning. Her face went pale.
"Anyway, don't worry. I won't report anything like that."
"B-But, even so..."
"If you're worried this is dirty money, you don't need to worry about that either. It's just 'my money.' I used various methods to discreetly pull it out because fund tracking would be annoying, but it's entirely, perfectly my money. Isn't that right?"
I looked up and asked Team Leader Han Ga-ram, who had somehow drawn close. Team Leader Han Ga-ram gave a deeply satisfied smile and said,
"That's right! The money came from your account and vault, customer. And the gift tax has been neatly calculated and deducted in advance, so there's nothing to worry about. The problem is giving money without paying taxes—the reason for giving it doesn't matter at all. The government doesn't care about anything as long as the taxes are properly paid and the money isn't illegal."
Of course, there are cases where they don't care even if the taxes aren't paid and the money is illegal... but this is a different situation, so let's set that aside.
I pressed the offered money firmly back toward the girl with my hand.
"And if you give this money back to me, what happens to the kids behind you? Won't the picture look really strange?"
The other six kids standing behind her were watching us with anxious expressions.
Whatever their circumstances were, each one clearly had their own reason for desperately wanting to keep this money. Maybe it wasn't for their families, maybe they just wanted to spend it themselves... Well, it didn't really matter. The money was already given.
"So just take it and be done with it."
"..."
When I put it that emphatically, the girl must have run out of reasons to refuse. She finally nodded silently.
I turned and started walking again. So-hee, Ha-neul, Su-a, Son A-reum, and Team Leader Han Ga-ram fell in behind me.
"Did you see the teachers' faces?"
So-hee asked me, brimming with excitement.
The teachers hadn't said a single word from the moment So-hee slammed her foot onto the desk. True, just me acting up was enough to paralyze the class. If So-hee, who had already fed the school over a billion won to get in, started raising hell too, someone was going to end up bleeding.
"I guess no one at this school will ignore you now."
Ha-neul said it like a weight had been lifted.
She was right. Other students were watching us as we walked through the hallway. They all held a little fear in their eyes. Those kids didn't know what had been said during the committee, but seeing us come out with bright expressions, they must have realized something huge had happened.
At the very least, it would be hard for them to ignore me from now on.
"Good, right?"
When Su-a gave a soft smile, I grinned back at her.
Well, right now, they couldn't ignore me out of fear... but there was still time.
By the time Ye Sa-ra comes back, I'd need to have erased that fear somewhat. She has to be able to live 'normally,' after all.
"But... is it really okay to solve things with money like this...?"
Son A-reum, who had been the one to set the stage in the first place, asked as if she was worried.
It wasn't an odd concern. Relationships built on money fall apart the moment the money stops flowing.
That was why, this time, I'd spent such a large sum just to set the condition as 'don't ignore me.' The minimum condition for building relationships. With just that much in place, from then on, we could connect and build relationships through other means besides money.
"..."
Team Leader Han Ga-ram, who had been following me pulling a half-empty travel suitcase, was silent for a while with a serious expression.
Then, "Excuse me, if it wouldn't be too presumptuous..."
She began, as if she were about to launch into that confident nonsense from last time.
"I'll give you a success fee, at least."
Not five hundred billion, of course.
"Think of a way to reduce the taxes on it in advance."
"Thank you so much, valued customer! Please continue to use our services regularly! Please!"
Team Leader Han Ga-ram was practically jumping with joy.
...Does she really like money that much?
Well, I guess I do too.
...So, I can only hope that when Ye Sa-ra wakes up, she doesn't tell me to pay it all back.