It Was No Longer a Matter of Pride
The Dior sales associate spoke in a trembling voice as she announced the total.
“The total comes to 28 million won.”
Standing beside her, I answered in a voice that didn’t waver in the slightest.
“Yes. Please process it.”
With shaking hands, I carefully handed over my card and paid. At last, the transaction went through.
The tense sales associate seemed to accept that this was really happening, and her face broke into a bright smile.
A completely unexpected 28 million won in sales. She couldn’t have been anything but happy.
The other employees nearby gave her thumbs-up and congratulated her.
After buying a few more things at Dior and checking out, I headed off in search of the next store.
It wouldn’t have been an exaggeration to say I’d bought everything worth buying at Dior.
Every time I passed a store, the staff from that brand looked at me with desperate eyes.
I didn’t think I was imagining it.
They probably figured that since an associate had been assigned to follow me around, I must have plenty of money to spare.
And she didn’t seem like an ordinary employee, either. She looked more like one of the dedicated managers with a certain rank.
You could tell just by the way the other department store employees treated her.
As we moved along, I decided it was time to make fun of Benz Boy.
“Didn’t you have anything you wanted to buy at Dior?”
“.. Huh?”
“No, I just thought you said you were going to buy a few clothes before we came.”
“.. There wasn’t anything I really liked.”
“Well, not everyone likes luxury brands. You can just pay for your drinks together later.”
“.. I already have a lot of clothes at home.”
He’d be getting nervous now.
Just at Dior, I’d spent nearly 30 million won.
Sure, he might have been a silver spoon, but that money belonged to his family, not to him. Didn’t he say he got 10 million won a month in allowance?
Even to someone born with a silver spoon, the way I was spending money probably didn’t feel small at all.
If anything, he was probably in a panic.
The smug attitude he’d had on the way here was gone, replaced by a blank, stunned expression, and that only made me feel more confident.
And he wasn’t the only one who looked thrown off.
Everyone except my older brother, who had already gotten a glimpse of my finances, was wearing shocked expressions.
Jihyun, who had finally collected herself, came over and asked me with a face full of questions.
“Oppa.. what is all this?”
“I just thought I needed some clothes.”
“.. This feels weird. You don’t seem like the oppa I know.”
“Come on. I’m the same as always. My investments just happened to work out.”
“.. How well did they work out?”
The other women in our group didn’t let Jihyun have me all to herself.
“Waaah. Oppa, what even are you?”
“Whoa. I’ve never seen anyone this rich. I thought Hyunsang was loaded, but.. you’re from a completely different world.”
With the women hyping me up like that, I found myself getting strangely excited.
That didn’t happen to me often.
Of course I knew it was because of money. But the fact that I now had more money than I could ever use only gave me confidence instead of pressure.
I stopped by Louis Vuitton next.
There, too, I spent several tens of millions of won.
Then the dedicated manager came over with new information.
“Sir, with the sales you’ve made here, you’ve just been upgraded to VVIP status. Whenever you’d like, you can use the VIP lounge, and if you ever want to shop again later, we can prepare a private space for you..”
She went on and on, listing the various benefits that came with being VVIP.
Thanks to that, the eyes of the women who had thought of me as someone from another world seemed to grow even more interested.
They were girls who had just turned twenty.
How intoxicating must a situation like this feel, the kind you usually only saw in dramas?
Even I felt like a special person, and I wanted to stay in the department store all day long.
By the time the shopping was finally over, I realized I’d spent about 100 million won.
Luxury really was luxury.
Even after spending 100 million won, the amount of stuff wasn’t all that large.
Still, carrying everything by hand would’ve been impossible.
“I’ll take the smaller things, like accessories. Could you hold the rest for me for a bit? I’m moving soon..”
“Of course.”
For now, I decided to take only the smaller items with me.
***
Kim Hyunwoo walked over to the stunned Baek Hyunsang.
“What the hell is going on?”
“.. I don’t know. Doesn’t seem like he was bluffing.”
It couldn’t have been bluffing. If everything he said was a lie, there was no way he would’ve had a dedicated manager following him around, no way his card would have no limit, and no way the purchase would’ve gone through as a lump-sum payment.
And yet it was still hard to accept.
What the hell he’d just done was close to impossible even for him.
Even his parents, who weren’t shy about luxury brands, had never spent 100 million won in a single day.
The comparison wasn’t perfect, but at the very least, he clearly wasn’t an ordinary person.
“What’s that guy’s deal, seriously? He spent 100 million won just on shopping.”
“Isn’t he like, a diamond spoon? He was so damn cool earlier.”
“Seriously. If he’s buying all of us T-shirts too..”
“He does seem different.”
His female friends were praising that older guy instead of him, but not a word of it reached his ears.
He was too shocked.
It had been such an unexpected situation.
After that, a sense of defeat settled over him.
Just how much money did that guy have to be able to spend 100 million won in one shopping trip?
Then came the urge for revenge.
That man had clearly gone overboard on purpose just to put him in his place. The malice dripping off him was obvious.
And finally, denial.
There’s no doubt he was pushing himself too hard..
That was the conclusion he reached with pure common sense. What that guy had just done was obviously a massive stretch.
Honestly, if he was rich enough to spend 100 million won on a single shopping trip, why would he be working part-time? He was just a part-timer, not even at his own store.
On top of that, it made no sense that he didn’t even have a car.
What’s the first thing a man does when he suddenly has money? Most people would buy a car.
And someone who spent 100 million won on luxury goods didn’t own a car?
It didn’t fit.
Most importantly, the way he’d reacted when they first arrived at the lodging proved he wasn’t rich.
If he were wealthy, there was no reason for him to look so shocked at a place that cost only 1 million won a night.
Anyone could see he’d been wearing a stiff, awkward expression the whole time.
He must’ve hit the lottery or something.
Lotto, crypto, investments—whatever it was, some chance to come into a fortune must have fallen into that guy’s lap.
Then, when the situation arose where he might lose face in front of Jihyun, he’d forced himself to go way beyond his means.
Who does he think he’s fooling?
Shopping wasn’t the only reason they’d come here.
Hadn’t they also agreed to buy the alcohol they’d be drinking at dinner later?
Up to 10 million won is fine.
He had 10 million won in spare cash he could spend right away.
After overdoing it on the shopping just now, that older guy probably wouldn’t be able to spend much more money.
He’d been too shocked earlier to do anything, but this time he vowed not to back down.
And on top of that, he’d make that guy, who would surely be feeling the pressure now, lose face.
They arrived at the liquor section.
“You sure this is okay? If the two of us split it, you might feel the pinch.”
“Not really. We’re going to pick out the drinks we usually drink, so you should choose too, hyung.”
“Sure. If you’re okay with it, then fine.”
That bastard..
He hated that relaxed tone so much.
How could he stay that calm?
He picked out bottles of alcohol priced well above what he normally drank.
Drinks that cost nearly 1 million won per bottle.
After picking out five bottles, he spoke up, hoping to put him on the spot.
“I picked out about five bottles. Is that okay? Each one’s around 1 million won.”
“Really? That’s fine then. I..”
He kept that easygoing look right up until the end, as if he were trying to protect his pride.
Then he started walking again.
The place he stopped at was the section with premium wine on display.
Among them, he reached for the most luxurious-looking bottle.
Then he picked up a bottle with one hand and looked over at him.
“Is this one okay? I think I like this one.”
“..”
He couldn’t answer right away.
The price tag showed it cost well over 15 million won.
Split in half, that was 7.5 million won. Add that to the liquor he’d already picked out, and it came close to 10 million.
He didn’t like the idea of blowing all his allowance here, but..
He liked the idea of running away even less, so he forced a calm expression onto his face and answered.
“Looks good. I like wine too.”
“Really? Good. Then let’s all get wasted together tonight.”
It stung, but it was fine. At least his pride would stay intact.
The others, who had been listening to our conversation, checked the wine’s price and reacted in shock.
“Wh- whoa. That wine costs over 15 million won.”
“Are you kidding me? I’m posting more than ten stories on Instagram tonight.”
“Seriously, thanks to you two we’re living in total luxury right now.”
“Our Doyun is so cool!”
Watching their reactions, I couldn’t help thinking it was a relief.
At least I’d saved face.
Or so I thought.
“W- what are you doing?”
“Hm? You’re not seriously planning to drink just one bottle, are you? Come on, there are so many of us. One bottle won’t be enough.”
His hand didn’t stop moving, and he added the wine he’d picked out earlier onto the pile.
One bottle, two bottles, three bottles..
He ended up with six bottles total.
“You guys can finish all this, right? We should at least get our money’s worth.”
“O-of course. We’ll drink it even if it kills us.”
“I-I’m really good with alcohol. If there’s any left over.. can I take some home..?”
“It probably won’t even be left over. What are you saying? That’s like, 1 million won a glass.”
Six bottles at 15 million won each, plus the liquor I’d already picked out.
It was close to 100 million won.
Split in half, that was 50 million.
“..”
It was no longer a matter of pride.