From There to There
On the way up to Seoul, Lee Yeonwu thought Haeun was worrying far too much.
Haeun kept telling her not to develop any romantic feelings for her little brother, but honestly, that seemed extremely unlikely. As a friend, Yeonwu tried to say it gently so Haeun wouldn’t be hurt by it.
Besides, when it came right down to it, Doyun had always been nothing more than a close little brother to her.
A cute one, at that.
To be precise, what she’d always found adorable was the way his face turned red every time he met her eyes.
There was no way she’d ever see him in a romantic light.
Even if Doyun had changed a little...
There’s no way.
Once she’d already decided that, it would take far more than a few changes to shake her feelings.
Maybe Haeun was just overprotective because she was the older sister.
That was all Yeonwu had been thinking, but then...
W-what is this...?
The moment she saw him again, her certainty cracked.
Sure, she’d expected him to have changed somewhat after all the time they’d spent apart. The gap between being a minor and being an adult was just that huge.
But this...
This was beyond anything she’d imagined.
He’s handsome in a really masculine way...?
The way he had dressed himself up made him look so polished that any woman would have had to admit he was handsome.
Of course, maybe it was only possible because he’d dressed up.
But wasn’t the inability to dress well what most men struggled with in the first place?
And he’d done it all so naturally.
He really has changed a lot...
It wasn’t enough to make her fall for him on the spot or suddenly stop seeing him as a man. He’d just gone from being a cute little brother to a cool little brother.
Even so, the change was so huge that it made her a little more careful around him.
She couldn’t be as relaxed with him as she used to be.
She swallowed her surprise and followed along.
Then...
This...
It wasn’t just the man himself. The car she spotted in the parking lot was even more shocking.
Something felt wrong. At this point it wasn’t just change—it was as if he had become a completely different person.
How was this only a “little” change?
The car was obviously absurdly luxurious. At the very least, it was not the kind of car she’d ever seen back in Gwangju.
Still stunned, she climbed into the car. Sure enough, the interior was just as luxurious.
Ha...
Even being surprised was getting exhausting now. She was honestly afraid her heart might just fall out of her chest at this rate.
“We’re going home now?”
“Yes.”
“Thank you. It must be a hassle, having to do all this because of us.”
“It’s fine. With just the two of you, there’s plenty of room.”
“Whoa, I hear Seoul real estate is insane these days. Looks like Doyun’s really made it big.”
“I got lucky.”
How lucky could he possibly be?
Every time you turned on the news, the first thing you heard was the soaring price of Seoul real estate.
In fact, even her parents—who had lived their whole lives in Gwangju—were seriously wondering whether they should clear everything out and buy a place in Seoul instead.
Luck alone didn’t explain something like this.
From the way he talked...
It definitely didn’t sound like a studio apartment.
“So what’s the plan while you’re in Seoul?”
“Hmm. Today I’ll probably stop by Lotte Tower, look around the department store, then go to Lotte World early tomorrow morning. After that, I was thinking we could look around Gangnam, Apgujeong, and Hongdae...”
“Perfect. My place is in that area too.”
“Really? Isn’t real estate there ridiculous?”
“It is, but it’s convenient.”
“That is not how you explain that.”
From the back, I nodded in silent support of Haeun. Yeah, he was saying that way too casually.
Like living in Jamsil could just be summed up as “convenient.”
Still, thanks to him, our schedule had suddenly become a lot more comfortable.
“I’ve got a building in Gangnam too. Since you’re here, you should come take a look.”
“What the hell...”
He was insane. Completely insane.
A building in Gangnam?
Even a five-story building there probably cost over ten billion won...
I had no idea whether he was telling the truth or not, but the car we were riding in gave his words some credibility. At the very least, it didn’t sound impossible.
This is nuts.
My head was spinning. I tried to make sense of it, but I just couldn’t.
How could a person change this much in only a few years?
He’d even spent about two of those years in the army.
Instead of getting any clearer, the whole situation just became more and more impossible to understand as time went on.
When we arrived near Lotte Tower, I realized that was only the beginning.
“Why did we come here? Aren’t we supposed to go to your place first?”
“This is my place.”
“..”
This time even Haeun was shocked. She was giving him a suspicious look, like maybe he was joking.
A moment later, a man took the key from Doyun and drove off to park the car. At the very least, it didn’t seem like he was completely kidding.
Still dazed, we went into Lotte Tower.
We took the elevator.
And before long, we’d arrived at the house.
It was real...?
When the door opened...
“Wow...”
“Th-this is really your house, Doyun?”
“H-how is this even possible...”
A sight so shocking unfolded before us that everything we’d been surprised by before suddenly felt like nothing.
How in the world was I supposed to describe this place?
Spacious...?
Using just that word felt insulting.
The sweeping view of Seoul through the floor-to-ceiling windows. The sheer size of the place, impossible to take in all at once. And the interior, every inch of it designed so luxuriously that it practically made the word itself seem inadequate.
I had no idea what word could possibly capture all of it.
It was the kind of house I’d never seen in my life.
Even the homes of chaebol families in dramas probably weren’t this extravagant.
“What even is this...?”
“D-Doyun, you’re not teasing us, are you?”
“You can stay comfortably while you’re here. There’s a separate guest room too.”
“...”
Stay comfortably?
C-can’t we just live here?
The thought crossed my mind so absurdly fast that even I was startled by it.
Haeun, who was just as stunned beside me, seemed to be thinking the same thing.
***
Watching Little Sister and Yeonwu react after seeing the house...
I’d felt it in the car already, but it still never got old.
Especially the way they kept opening and closing their mouths because they were too shocked to speak—it was adorable.
“If it’s uncomfortable for you two, just say so. There’s a hotel upstairs too, and separate guest rooms.”
“No! How are we supposed to leave this place and sleep somewhere else?”
“Doyun, I’m asking you too...”
“Honestly, if you hadn’t shown it to us, that’d be one thing. But after showing us and then telling us to sleep somewhere else? That’s just cruel.”
“No, that’s not what I meant. I just thought you might feel uncomfortable.”
“If this place is uncomfortable, then what is comfortable—some Middle Eastern royal palace?”
As always, it wasn’t just men who liked places like this.
Women seemed to especially love them.
The two of them were so thrilled they kept claiming the place with complete seriousness, taking pictures every few minutes.
At this rate they were going to photograph the entire house.
And that was no small task.
Once they’d finished touring the place, they were so happy it was obvious.
“Ha... should we cancel all our plans for today?”
“Same... What are we even supposed to see after this that could make us more excited?”
“Maybe coming here first was a huge mistake?”
“What do we do... Our common sense just got completely shattered.”
“Waaah...”
They genuinely didn’t seem to want to leave.
They were so attached that they were practically on the verge of tears.
It looked like a textbook case of being moved to tears because you were happy.
They weren’t joking around—they were seriously thinking it over.
“We can’t do that. Since we’re already here, don’t you want to go out and look around? Our place is always open to you, so for today we should stick to the plan.”
“Ha... I know.”
“You’re heartless...”
Only then would I be able to casually mention later that we’d gone to Gangnam and that I owned a building worth around 150 billion won.
Little Sister, trying to soothe her disappointment, still couldn’t quite force herself to move.
Then she glanced up at me.
“Doyun, can I maybe stay here—”
“No way!”
“...Honestly, they say you shouldn’t raise black-haired beasts after all. I was so good to you, and this is the thanks I get?”
“That’s not it. It’s just that this place doubles as my workspace, so I can’t have my concentration broken while I’m working.”
“Seriously? Hey! Even if you’re in your workspace, if I were in the room you wouldn’t even be able to find me. You probably wouldn’t hear me screaming from all the way over here.”
“It just feels that way. If it really bothers you, tell me. I’ll book you a suite every time you come.”
“R-really...? What’s that?”
“The nicest room in a hotel.”
“J-just how nice is it?”
“Easy—more than ten million won for one night.”
“...”
Her jaw dropped. Then she immediately refused, unable to accept that kind of reality just yet.
Hmm...
Seeing how happy she was, I was reminded all over again how inattentive I’d been toward my family.
I’d meant to tell them properly when I went back down to Gwangju this time, but it kept getting delayed, and now here we were.
At this point, telling them I was rich wouldn’t be a problem anymore.
There was no way I could possibly go broke completely at this level, and even if my family’s sense of money grew, there’d still be a limit—and I was confident I could give them far more than that.
“Tell me when you come up to Seoul for real. I’ll have a place like this ready for you. In return, when Big Sister or our parents come to Seoul, you can stay at your place.”
“Of course! The moment I get home, I’ll even have water ready so you can wash your feet first.”
“I’m jealous...”
“Yeonwu, you can always come up whenever you want too. I’ll prepare everything for you.”
“Whoa...”
Her eyes misted with emotion, as if she were genuinely moved by the thought that she could use a house like this too.
Well, everyone said this was the kind of dreamlike house you’d never get to use again.
The kind of place you could struggle your whole life and still barely afford to sleep in for one night...
Rather than feeling deflated, they just wanted to savor the moment.
“Can you two drive?”
“Hey, your sister here is a world-class driver.”
“I can drive too.”
“Then how about a drive late tonight or early tomorrow morning?”
“A-are you suggesting we rent a car?”
“I feel like we’re asking too much of Doyun...”
“No, no, it’s not like that. Let’s go check out the underground parking lot together.”
“Whoa... I don’t even want to go.”
“Once you get down there, you won’t be saying that.”
Smiling, I led them down to the underground parking lot.
They seemed to have some idea what was coming.
When we arrived...
“Wow... Why are all the cars here so expensive? In Gwangju, you’d only ever see cars like these in the nightlife district at night.”
“There are so many... So Korea really does have a lot of rich people.”
“Oh, that one over there is the car we came in.”
“It stands out even here...”
Just as my sisters were beginning to get suspicious, I pointed to one side.
“From there...”
Their eyes widened. As if they were already thinking the same impossible thought.
“To there.”
Their pupils shook violently.
“It’s all mine, so just tell me whichever one you want to ride. Little Sister can take one back to Gwangju if she likes it.”
“...”
“...”
“They’re all insured, so there won’t be any problem.”
“...”
“...”
“...”
They were so shocked that even I ended up falling silent for a moment, thrown off by the quiet that followed.