We Were Alone at Last
After arriving at Signiel.
The university students all stared at Si-hyun with their mouths hanging open in disbelief.
To lump it together under the name "Signiel" hardly did justice to the place; this super penthouse was, for all intents and purposes, a completely different world.
In the best possible sense, of course.
The living room was as large as a sports field, and every inch of the interior was packed with luxury materials that looked expensive at a glance.
Above all else, there was the Seoul nightscape spread out beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Anyone could tell at a glance that this was no ordinary home.
After a long stretch of speechless admiration, they began firing questions at me one after another.
How much did a place like this even cost? How do you manage it? They'd never seen a home like this before...
There were so many questions.
And then one of them asked, “If there are any empty rooms, could we take a look...? I’m curious what the rooms are like...”
“Of course. I’ll show you.”
I gladly agreed when they asked to see the rooms.
Except for the room I used as an office, there wasn't anything particularly sensitive to worry about anyway.
I opened the nearest room.
Luxury goods were piled up inside like luggage. There were so many high-end items that anyone looking in would have mistaken them for random clutter.
“Wow... that’s an Hermès Birkin...”
“Holy crap... how many luxury items are there?”
“There isn’t a single piece of clothing here that isn’t designer.”
“If a room this big still looks cramped...”
It was the room where my luxury clothes were kept.
I had so many clothes that even with all that space, there still wasn’t enough room for them, so the shoes were kept in another room.
I opened that room too.
“...What the hell.”
“How many shoes are there?”
“Some of these cost over ten million won just by themselves...”
“There are so many limited-edition pairs...”
It was the room with the shoes.
I opened the next room.
“...How many car keys are there? Looks like twenty at least.”
“The German luxury car keys are actually the fewest. Just the supercars...”
“Wait, is that a Patek Philippe? There are five Patek Philippes here?”
“Rolex is the cheapest watch in here. Damn, so this is what they mean when they say another world.”
It was the room with the car keys and watches.
I was pretty sure there were more than twenty keys in there.
That included the company cars I’d bought, not just my personal vehicles.
I’d gone for solid cars for the company fleet too, like Rolls-Royces and Bentleys.
And even then, it still hadn’t cost more than twenty billion won.
Not that it mattered.
I could see that not only the university crowd, but Si-hyun and Soo-ho too, were completely stunned.
There was no way they could have guessed I was this rich from a single trip abroad.
I hadn’t even shown them the building yet, but they were already wearing expressions of disbelief.
I decided to give Soo-ho, who’d worked hard today, a present.
“Soo-ho, you have a license, right?”
“...Yes, sir. I got mine as soon as my birthday passed in my third year of high school.”
“Really? Let’s see...”
I pulled out a car key.
“Drive this. Since you and Si-hyun live close to each other, you can use it to commute to university.”
“...Seriously?”
“Yeah. Use it comfortably. You can even scratch it for all I care. I’ll put a card in there too, so use that for gas and food whenever you want.”
“...Sir.”
He looked like he might burst into tears.
It was a Rolls-Royce key.
Specifically, the key to a Rolls-Royce Dawn with the roof that opened.
It wasn’t a car I really needed. I’d bought it back when I was still ignorant about these things.
But once you had too many cars, you stopped bothering to look for any one of them.
If I wanted a comfortable ride, I could just take the Rolls-Royce Phantom. If I wanted a car with an open roof, I had Ferraris, Lamborghinis, and McLarens.
Soo-ho took the key from me.
Everyone around us looked on with envy.
Soo-ho looked as if he might start crying any second.
After the room tour was over, I said, “If there’s any alcohol you want to drink, just say the word.”
“...Whoa.”
I pointed toward the liquor displayed on one side of the living room and told them to help themselves.
Wine, whiskey, vodka.
Whatever they wanted, it was all there.
***
A large dining table had been set out.
Big enough for more than ten people to sit comfortably.
Since the living room was so huge, everything tended to look empty even when it was furnished, so I’d put in several pieces to fill the space.
Thanks to that, we could sit comfortably and drink.
While we were drinking, Soo-ho, who seemed to have sobered up a little after crying his eyes out earlier, delivered a perfect knife to the smug bastard from before.
“You said your senior’s relative lives in Signiel too—are they in a place like this?”
“...It’s different from here.”
“Ah, I see. Well, I guess places like this aren’t exactly common.”
“...”
He sneered even as he asked the question. The so-called senior’s eyes sharpened.
But there was nothing he could do.
The mood had already shifted to my side.
Everyone was looking at me with friendliness now, brimming with curiosity about who I was.
“You can all drink comfortably now. Since you’re university students like Si-hyun and Soo-ho, I’ll treat you to some good liquor.”
I brought out bottle after bottle, including a thirty-year-old Ballantine’s.
Every bottle was worth at least several hundred thousand won.
For me, it was just easy drinking. For most people, though, these were the sorts of bottles they’d only open on very special occasions.
If they drank freely tonight, they could easily burn through several million won.
Maybe even more than ten million.
That kind of thing wasn’t exactly normal for ordinary people.
Everyone’s eyes sparkled, probably because they knew that too.
It looked like they were planning to keep drinking no matter what.
Which suited me just fine.
If the atmosphere improved, Si-hyun would drink too, and once she did, the alcohol would start to loosen her up.
As I brought out one bottle after another, Si-hyun, sitting beside me, asked worriedly, “Oppa... you’re not pushing yourself because of me, are you?”
“Do I look like I’m pushing myself?”
“No, but...”
“Don’t worry. From here on out, these are just things I can enjoy comfortably.”
“...”
I ruffled her hair. She didn’t pull away.
Instead, her face turned bright red.
It was a completely different reaction from the Si-hyun I’d known before.
And it definitely wasn’t red from alcohol.
As the table was properly laid out, the mood rose again while everyone played drinking games.
Under the table, I took Si-hyun’s hand. As expected, she didn’t avoid me.
This time, I was a little bolder.
I moved the hand I was holding onto her thigh.
I placed my knuckles against Si-hyun’s thigh so they touched through her clothes.
She flinched, but again, she didn’t pull away.
Still, I checked her expression in case she didn’t like it. She didn’t look displeased at all.
If anything, she seemed a little aroused.
While everyone else enjoyed the drinking games, we were finding a different kind of fun altogether.
Then my eyes met those of the so-called senior on the other side.
I gave him a sly smile.
His face twisted.
But he couldn’t do anything about it.
I saw him lower his head and mutter curses under his breath.
At this point, he’d probably resigned himself to reality.
Si-hyun had no intention of handing herself over to another man.
“Shouldn’t we all have a toast together? Only the people drinking are drinking, and that’s a waste of alcohol. Especially with liquor this good...”
“Soo-ho’s right. When else are we going to get to drink something this precious? Let’s stop the games for a bit and all drink together.”
“Come on, everyone, toast.”
“Cheers.”
When you play drinking games, usually only the people taking turns end up drinking.
Soo-ho sneaked a glance our way, then, seeing that Si-hyun was still perfectly fine, suggested that everyone drink together.
That only helped me.
I didn’t want Si-hyun to get wasted, but I did want her to get at least a little tipsy.
Just enough to give her courage and boldness.
After Si-hyun had a few drinks, I could see the alcohol starting to take hold.
She even found herself unconsciously sliding the hand resting on her thigh inward a little more.
Every so often, I could feel her flinch softly.
Even so, she still didn’t take my hand away.
By then, if I moved my fingers, I could almost touch her most sensitive spot.
Even through her clothes.
Hold back.
I couldn’t rush this. There was still time.
I didn’t want to get greedy and ruin the mood by acting too fast.
There were other people here, after all.
If everyone’s attention turned this way, Si-hyun might get embarrassed enough to go home.
When the atmosphere had become suitably warm, I said, “I think I should probably stop drinking now. It’s getting late, and I’m starting to feel a little tipsy.”
“...Sigh, what a pity.”
“Hey, everyone, let’s head home. Honestly, just the liquor our host gave us is worth several million won, and if we keep going like this, we’re all going to be smashed in no time.”
“...Too bad, but I guess so?”
“People with roughly the same direction should talk to each other. I’ll ask the driver to...”
“Whoa... you have a driver too?”
“Yes.”
Right now, there were about five people helping me.
That included the drivers and the secretaries.
It was only because I had that many people that I could prepare for even a one-in-a-million situation: three teams covering twenty-four hours in eight-hour shifts, five people per team.
At a time like this, it was more important than ever.
After asking one of the staff to see everyone off, I sent them all home.
Soo-ho stayed behind.
“You still have the car key I gave you earlier, right? Take that car home. The driver will leave your car here and return in another driver’s vehicle.”
“Th-thank you, sir! I’ll never forget this kindness!”
“Yeah. Get home safely.”
“Yes, sir!”
He didn’t say another word and hurried out.
If we kept chatting and Si-hyun suggested leaving with him, or even just started asking questions, it would have been a disaster.
In the end, the only ones left were Si-hyun and me.
***
By now, Si-hyun was definitely feeling the alcohol.
“Can you get home like this? It’ll take over an hour.”
“...I guess I don’t have a choice.”
“Or you could stay here and go tomorrow? There are plenty of rooms.”
“...”
“Tell your aunt you’re sleeping over at a friend’s place.”
“...Can I?”
“Of course. The place is huge, isn’t it? It’s more than fine.”
By telling her the house was big, I was giving Si-hyun an excuse.
An excuse that meant we didn’t have to sleep in the same room.
Women cared about excuses like that.
And so—
“Should I get you something comfortable to wear?”
“...Yes.”
We were finally alone.