The Boss Who Showed Up in a Luxury Car
That bastard was seriously insufferable.
I handed the chief secretary only the things that were needed right away, then went back to my ordinary routine.
By the time I was done with my part-time job, it was already Thursday.
In the meantime, Bitcoin had kept plunging, and it was dropping hard enough to call a real crash. People still seemed to be hoping for a rebound, but for some reason I had the feeling there was even more pain left in it.
Already...
In just two more days, it would be the weekend. The day we were supposed to go to the pension Jihyun had been asked to arrange.
For no good reason, I found myself looking forward to it. I wondered what would happen there.
After work, I said my goodbyes and headed to the café.
The chief secretary was already there waiting for me.
After we exchanged greetings, I got a drink and sat down.
“It feels like we only met not long ago, and yet you’ve already prepared the materials?”
“I’ve been busy. Let me give you the report first.”
The chief secretary took a stack of documents out of his briefcase and set them on the table.
Even at a glance, the materials were neatly organized to make everything as easy to read as possible.
“Luxury residences in Seoul can be divided into three major categories: officetels, apartments, and houses.”
“I see.”
“Officetels are preferred by young single wealthy people. Apartments are preferred by family-oriented buyers. Houses are preferred by chaebol families or those buying as an entire family unit.”
“Then an officetel would suit me.”
“If money is no concern, I’d recommend an officetel as well. Apartments can be attractive if you’re hoping for property price growth, but they may be a little unsatisfying for a single man. As for detached houses in Hannam-dong, even if you have the money, the transactions themselves aren’t easy.”
That was a perfectly fine answer, since I’d wanted a place like an officetel anyway.
I wasn’t even hoping for price appreciation. As long as it didn’t drop, that was enough. Fortunately, the chief secretary said it didn’t seem likely to fall in value.
“The place I’d recommend is Signiel. It was completed last year, so it’s the newest option, and the location is excellent. Since Lotte Group pushed that project through with real determination from the start, I can assure you the facilities and the location are both outstanding.”
“Signiel... you mean the one in Jamsil.”
“That’s right. It falls short of the price range the chairman asked for, but... it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that anywhere in Seoul at that level of price is basically only a house. We did manage to confirm that a super penthouse has come onto the market.”
“A super penthouse?”
“It’s a one-of-a-kind unit in Signiel. The owner is planning to immigrate overseas, so they’ve put it up for sale.”
A super penthouse. Just hearing the name was enough to tell me it wasn’t ordinary.
And it was the only one in the building, too.
“It uses the 70th and 71st floors as a single residence, with a total gross floor area of about 600 pyeong and a net area of around 250 pyeong.”
“...That’s huge. You could play hide-and-seek in there.”
“There’s even a joke that if you kept a cat there, you might not find it for a month.”
“How much does it cost?”
“You could buy it for roughly 20 billion won.”
“Hmm...”
Even beyond the super penthouse, there was information on the regular penthouses, and there were also details on other officetels.
Still, the one that caught my eye most was the super penthouse.
Maybe that was only natural, given the price.
The Lotte Tower where Signiel was located stood in Jamsil. It was the neighborhood I had dreamed of for so long. If I could get one of the most expensive residences in the tallest part of that place...
Let’s buy it.
My hesitation melted away, and the scale tipped decisively toward purchasing it.
“I’ll take the super penthouse.”
“I’ll proceed with that. How would you like to handle the payment?”
“In one lump sum.”
“...I’m continually surprised by you. Understood.”
Next after housing was transportation.
“Vehicles are broadly divided into two types: owner-driven, where the owner drives personally, and chauffeur-driven, where the driver is behind the wheel. I’ve separated them into supercars and luxury cars.”
“Tell me about the supercars.”
“For owner-driven supercars, there’s the Lamborghini Aventador, the Ferrari Superfast 812, McLaren...”
“And for chauffeur-driven?”
“Rolls-Royce, Bentley, Mercedes-Maybach...”
Each one was so impressive it was no exaggeration to call them dream cars.
After hearing the full explanation, I thought about it carefully. Which would be best?
It didn’t take long.
“Let’s go with owner-driven Ferrari, Lamborghini, and Rolls-Royce Dawn, and for chauffeur-driven, buy Rolls-Royce, Bentley, and Mercedes-Maybach.”
“I’ll arrange that. Since they’re supercars, it may take some time before they can be delivered directly to the chairman. Until then, I’d recommend keeping two used cars in the meantime.”
“That sounds good. Let’s drive a used Lamborghini and Rolls-Royce for now, and dispose of them once the new cars arrive.”
“Understood. Also, I’ve come to feel the need for an office. I was thinking it might be a good idea to secure one in Lotte Tower, where you’re residing.”
There was no doubt we needed an office. For now, it was only the chief secretary, but since I wanted round-the-clock care, I decided to build a team with him as the core.
And who knew?
Later on, I might run investments, real estate, or even a simple business or two.
“I’ll have the super penthouse wrapped up within next week. I’ll also make sure the new cars are delivered as quickly as possible. As for a car you can use in the meantime, I can have one ready by tomorrow.”
As expected, hiring a competent person was the best move.
If I’d tried to handle all this myself, it would have taken ages just to find the right information.
“For now, I’ll set your salary at 20 million won a month. If nothing comes up over the next six months, we can revise it again after that.”
“Thank you. I’ll work hard.”
“I’ll set aside 500 million won a month as activity expenses.”
“Understood.”
Honestly, I was a little nervous.
Just the house alone, once you added taxes and maintenance fees, would easily come to over 100 million won a month. The office would probably cost tens of millions, maybe even hundreds of millions.
And once I added staff salaries later on...
I’d be spending at least 1 billion won a month.
That was about 10 billion won a year.
Even I, with 10 billion won in hand, couldn’t help but feel my stomach tighten.
For now, let’s just enjoy it.
If things got too rough, I could always sort everything out then. It wasn’t too late for that.
Even if I rented the place out, I could still make hundreds of millions of won a month.
More than anything else, rather than worrying about failure, I just wanted the investments to go well.
***
The weekend finally arrived.
“I’m off.”
“Be careful and have a good time.”
Since it was a one-night, two-day trip, I had given my aunt a heads-up in advance.
When I arrived at the meeting place, I saw my brother and Jihyun already there.
It could just be an excuse, but since I’d had the farthest distance to travel, it was only natural I’d be the last one to arrive.
“Oppa, seriously, thank you so much.”
“I’m just glad I get to have some fun properly for once, too.”
“Tch... our Doyun really does have a big heart.”
“...”
After the happy experience I’d had with Jaehoon hyung, he seemed to make it his mission to praise me at every opportunity.
Honestly, it didn’t feel bad.
If I were lacking in something, I’d probably have felt burdened by it, but I had more than Jaehoon hyung expected, so it wasn’t awkward at all.
We were talking about our shared topic—part-time jobs—when...
“Isn’t that the car?”
From one side, the Mercedes we’d seen last time was approaching.
“Huh? I think it is.”
A moment later, the Mercedes stopped in front of us.
As we were loading our bags and getting in,
“Uh...”
an unexpected situation arose. There were already four people in the car, driver included.
The driver got out and apologized to us.
“I’m sorry. My friends were supposed to leave first, but they insisted. I think I can still take Jihyun, though... Would it be okay if the two of you took a taxi? I’ll pay for it.”
Hmm.
What he said might not have been wrong.
But the look he kept throwing down at us from on high made it clear I hadn’t misread him.
“You don’t need to pay for a taxi. Just give us the address. We’ll go there ourselves.”
“Are you sure? I think a taxi would come to around 50,000 won. You’re working part-time so hard already, and if you throw away a whole day’s pay on a taxi fare, that’d be rough, wouldn’t it?”
“It’s fine, so go ahead without us.”
“Then let’s meet at the resort.”
I told Jihyun, who kept trying to read the room, to go ahead first. She wanted to stay until the end, but I didn’t know what else the driver might pull, so I sent her off for now.
“Wow, that bastard is completely disgusting.”
“Right?”
“Should we just not go?”
“Why not? This is getting interesting.”
“Ah, our Doyun isn’t someone who gets pushed around anywhere, either. That’s right.”
I made a call.
“I’m thinking of heading to Gapyeong. Has the car been prepared yet?”
— I’ll come pick you up personally. The drivers haven’t fully learned the manual yet.
“Yes, I’ll send you the address of where we are now.”
— I’ll be there as quickly as possible.
So the chief secretary was going to drive himself.
“What? You called a taxi?”
“Haha... no, not that.”
“Then your parents?”
“That’s not it, either...”
How was I supposed to explain this? The moment I tried to talk about the chief secretary, I realized I didn’t even know how to describe him.
Just as I was struggling over what to say, the chief secretary arrived sooner than expected, not far from here at all.
“Wow, this really is a fancy neighborhood, huh? You see expensive cars everywhere.”
“...”
The expensive car my brother was talking about came to a stop in front of us.
The driver’s door opened.
The man who got out walked around and opened the rear door.
“Chairman, I’ll be honored to take you.”
“Yes... me?”
“...Hyung, get in.”
“...What?”
I led my flustered brother to the car and got in with him.