It Felt Real
I could finally feel that I’d made it.
We climbed into the Rolls-Royce together.
She looked flustered. That was kind of funny.
I’d been expecting exactly that reaction. She knew full well I didn’t exactly look rich.
“W-whoa…”
Sure enough, being a broadcast girl didn’t make her any different from the others.
She stared at the inside of the Rolls-Royce, marveling at it.
And honestly, fair enough.
No matter how well a broadcast girl made out, she was probably pulling in twenty or thirty million won a year at best. Once taxes were taken out, that shrank even more, and after living expenses, saving ten million a month was already considered a huge accomplishment.
Besides, everyone spent like money grew on trees.
By ordinary standards, that was still a lot to save.
But in front of a Rolls-Royce, everyone was equal.
This car was loaded with every option imaginable, and I’d picked it up used for around 500 million won. Since it was a fairly recent model, it had been a little pricey.
Apparently, the sticker price on a new one had come close to 700 or 800 million.
Even if she was a broadcast girl who could save ten million a month, this was probably the first time she’d ever ridden in one.
It’s not like she was about to buy a car before buying a house.
The same went for the people around her.
BJs might earn a lot, but there were still clear limits.
As Seola looked around in wonder, she asked in a tiny voice, “Oppa… what is this? Are you really rich?”
I answered just as quietly. “If I weren’t, do you think I’d be throwing around star balloons like that?”
“…”
At that point, I didn’t bother denying that I was rich.
Anyone with two hundred billion won in assets who claimed not to be rich would just be insulting everyone’s intelligence.
“Secretary, could you recommend a place for lunch?”
Through the mirror, I checked Seola’s expression.
“I recommend Western cuisine. Among the popular restaurants in Gangnam…”
“Don’t you have to make a reservation?”
“I’ll take care of it.”
“Oh, then let’s go there.”
“Yes, Chairman.”
Fortunately, lunch was settled.
Seola was more focused on something else entirely.
This time, her voice was even smaller.
“O-oppa… he called you Chairman.”
“Right. You’re the chairman of your broadcast, aren’t you? Unofficially.”
“Th-that’s not what I mean.”
It was cute.
Seola, who’d been leading me around just a little while ago, was now lowering her voice and getting flustered instead.
This must be why people call someone rich.
That someone was me.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Seola got out of the Rolls-Royce with a dazed expression.
Watching her like that gave me a strange little thrill as I led her into the restaurant.
“What do you want to eat? I’ll treat.”
“Huh? I’ll pay.”
“It looks a little expensive.”
“But you already did so much for me…”
How expensive could it really be? To me, it was pocket change.
I finished ordering.
Then Seola, who’d been watching me cautiously, hurriedly asked, “Oppa, what are you really? No, seriously, it just doesn’t match.”
“Hm?”
“If you have a car like that, why didn’t you come in it from the start?”
“Well…”
“Come to think of it, your house location is weird too. At that level, you could’ve lived right in central Seoul…”
She was so genuinely curious that she was trying to guess the answer before I could even give it.
This definitely wasn’t a normal situation.
“I live in two places.”
“...Are you married?”
“No, I moved to Seoul and I’m staying with family.”
“Oh, so you’re staying with a relative… no, wait, that’s not the point. With that much money, why would you…”
“There are reasons. It’s complicated.”
It was hard to explain one by one. More precisely, how was I supposed to tell her that it was because the women at my aunt’s place were so beautiful?
She’d definitely think I was insane.
Which, to be fair, I was. But I didn’t want to advertise it.
“I really did ride in a Rolls-Royce for the first time. And I’ve never even heard anyone called Chairman before. Just how much money do you have?”
“Enough not to feel short on it.”
“...I guess so. If you’re living in two places, does that mean you have another house?”
“I bought one recently.”
“...If it’s not rude, can I ask where? You don’t have to tell me, I swear. I know that’s only natural.”
“It’s not exactly a secret. Signiel in Lotte World Tower.”
“...Right. That wasn’t a normal house either, was it? That’s the place that just got completed recently, right?”
“I think so.”
Her reaction went beyond shock and straight into resignation.
“I heard the monthly rent there is over ten million won… Just how much do you spend a month?”
“Well, I bought it.”
“...You’re not lying, right? You really bought it?”
“Why would I lie about that?”
“No, but how… are you, like, some kind of crypto whale or something?”
“I was working part-time until not long ago.”
“That’s exactly why it makes no sense! I’d believe the whale thing more!”
It was, admittedly, not a normal situation.
One day I’d recovered the Bitcoin I’d forgotten about years ago, then I’d leveraged the hell out of it on a huge crash day with a high-risk short position...
Yeah, no, it really didn’t make sense.
Even I thought the whale explanation sounded more believable.
From the look on her face, Seola was having a hard time processing it too.
Then she cautiously asked, “Th-then… if it’s not rude, could I see it once?”
“My place?”
“Honestly, it’s just too hard to believe. Why would someone that amazing watch my broadcast…”
“Have some confidence. You’re pretty.”
“…”
Never in my life had I expected to say something like that to someone like Seola.
Still, I guessed attractiveness really was relative. Someone who’d once seemed hard to approach now only felt cute.
Beauty remained beauty.
It felt real that I’d succeeded.
“You can come if you want, but it’s still a mess inside. I had an interior company handle it.”
“...I guess that makes sense?”
“But if you don’t mind, you can stop by for a little while.”
“I-I’ll go! I want to see the view at least once. I mean, what kind of place costs ten million won a month?”
“Then let’s go after we eat.”
“Today I’m definitely going to get some serious motivation from looking down over Seoul. Maybe I’ll even get to live in Signiel for a little while.”
“I don’t know. Wouldn’t that be hard?”
“Hmph, I might strike it big too, you know.”
Could she?
As far as I knew, my place had cost over 20 billion won.
And the monthly rent wasn’t just ten million, but several tens of millions—or more.
Of course, the bigger question was whether it was even available for rent at all.
Still, seeing her so full of anticipation made me feel good.
At the very least, Seola didn’t look like she regretted coming on this lunch date.
There was something special about her. Like Jihyun.
Maybe because she was someone I’d known since before I had any money at all.
“This is exciting. Seriously, I’ll never be this surprised again. I almost should’ve been the one to ask you out for lunch.”
“Then should we do it again sometime?”
“...It depends on my schedule.”
“That was a pretty clear rejection.”
“N-no, it wasn’t a rejection…”
“I’m kidding.”
“The food is ready.”
“W-whoa…”
First, we took care of lunch.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
We finished eating.
“Seriously, wow. That person is insanely competent. How can a restaurant recommendation made in just a few minutes be this delicious?”
“It is good.”
“Right? I’m not the only one who thinks so, am I?”
Even my own taste buds were satisfied.
Considering that my usual idea of eating out was nothing more than pork belly, maybe I had no right to complain about food not tasting good.
Still, this was especially delicious.
I was about to pay.
“Oppa, I already paid.”
“...I said I’d take care of it.”
“How could I let you?”
Apparently Seola had settled the bill while I was in the restroom.
Pretty people really did everything prettily, even their manners.
By then, I didn’t think about how many star balloons I’d sponsored her with at all.
Outside, I called the secretary chief.
I was told the car was already waiting nearby.
The sooner the driver training was finished, the better—for our secretary chief’s sake, so she could finally focus on her work.
The hiring was already done.
We waited for the car to arrive.
“I’m seriously excited.”
“It really was nice.”
“Of course! There are places that cost at least several billion won, and some that go over ten billion.”
“The location is good.”
“Huh? What kind of price can you explain with location alone? Honestly, Oppa, you have absolutely no sense of money.”
“…”
At this point, I couldn’t even be bothered to say anything.
Maybe because my position had changed, the same words sounded different now.
But my thoughts hadn’t changed at all from before.
Before long, the car arrived.
Since she’d already ridden in it once, she climbed in smoothly this time.
“This car is seriously so beautiful. It feels like we’re in the Milky Way. Like some place cut off from the world. I wonder if this is how it feels to be on a yacht in the middle of the ocean.”
“The ride is nice. You can’t hear much from outside either.”
“Well, yeah… if it’s a car worth over 500 million won, it ought to be this good.”
I’d bought it without really knowing any of that.
I just bought it because I liked it.
By now I’d reached the point where I was buying things without even looking at the price tag.
You make the money, after all.
Not long after, we arrived in Jamsil.
“Wow, do you see that? That towering Lotte Tower. If you live there, don’t you get motion sickness? Hah… even if I got motion sickness every day, I’d still want to live there for a few days. What would that even feel like?”
“…”
She was really worked up.
That wasn’t an exaggeration at all.
Her attitude was completely different from earlier.
Only now did she feel like a younger sister.
“By the way, Seola isn’t your real name, right?”
“It’s my stage name. My real name is Han Seonhwa.”
“That’s a pretty name too.”
“...That’s cheating. Saying that here is seriously cheating.”
What the hell.
Why was her face turning red?
I wasn’t remotely handsome enough to deserve that reaction.
We arrived in the underground parking lot.
“I can’t believe I’m actually going to Signiel. Heh. I’m totally bragging to the other broadcast girls later.”
We took the elevator and pressed the button for the 70th floor.
“Whoa. Seventy floors? Just how many floors does Signiel even have?”
“Not sure. I think I heard there’s a hotel above it.”
“This is what people mean when they say the world of the rich really is a different world.”
I couldn’t deny it.
The place I’d bought was definitely not ordinary.
We reached the 70th floor.
The elevator opened directly into my home.
I opened the front door.
“...Oppa?”
“Yeah?”
“...”
Seola lost her words.
Because this wasn’t just Signiel.
Her reaction was even more intense than the one I’d had when I first saw it.