24. New Car Contract
24. New Car Contract
24. New Car Contract
"Well, since we can't keep talking about this stuff here,
let's talk business."
"You're cold."
"Manager Lee Ha-young-nim. This is your workplace, you know?"
"Alright, so what kind of car are you looking at?"
"I told you earlier. This one."
I point to the car she mentioned earlier
in the catalog spread out on the table.
"No, stop joking.
I'll make sure to get you the best price
and accessories."
"I'm not joking. I told you, I inherited a fortune."
"Are you really going to buy this?"
She looks at me with distrustful eyes.
"Did you happen to come here
knowing I work here?"
"What are you talking about? If I knew,
I would've gone somewhere else or dressed up a bit."
But even with my words, the distrust
doesn't fade from Lee Ha-young's eyes.
"I'm glad to see you and I feel bad,
but it's uncomfortable doing this at work."
"What is?"
"If you want to talk to me, let's meet after work."
"No, I came to buy a car. The staff over there
guided me to this spot, too."
"Really?"
Seriously, what's the big deal about an 80 million won car?
Her imagination must have thought I was dirt poor.
Actually, I was poor until last week.
Still, I was a guy who had the 'Mom and Dad chance'
if I really wanted to...
I must have shown her too much of my
penniless side back then.
"Yeah. Really. The top trim of this car you mentioned,
full options. 86 million something. All cash.
Four boxes of tissues as a freebie."
I put my driver's license on the table.
"If I buy it today, when does the car arrive?"
"...In two weeks."
"Can't you pull some strings as Manager Lee Ha-young
and make it faster? I can pay extra."
"I guess you really are serious."
She takes my license with a surprised look.
The license has my old photo
from when we were dating.
She smiles bitterly
and silently prepares the paperwork.
I sign where she tells me to.
"I'll make sure it's delivered as soon as possible."
"As expected, the 'acquaintance chance' is the best."
"Is it really all cash?"
"Yeah. Give me the account number."
I transfer the money to the account written on the paper she handed me.
A moment later, she checks the deposit on the computer.
"Wow... It really was true. Have you really become rich now?"
"Yup."
"Thanks. For selling me the car."
"Don't mention it. Just give me your business card.
Oh, I'm not trying to get your number.
I might buy another car later, that's why."
"You're buying more cars? You really became rich, Kim Seon-min.
But it's a bit of a shame."
"What is?"
"Earlier, I mistakenly thought you came to see me again.
I was even thinking about the old days and
considered talking after work..."
"What about your boyfriend?"
"I broke up with that senior after he graduated.
We dated for about half a year?
I've been single ever since. How about you?"
"I dated one or two more people and got dumped..."
"Are you seeing anyone now?"
If you count slaves, I have two.
Of course, I can't say that.
"Nope. Why, should we try dating again?"
I say this with 90% joke and 10% sincerity.
If it were now, at least I wouldn't
disappoint her financially.
"Of course not. If a guy I dumped because of money
comes back rich and asks to date again,
what would that make me?"
"What would it make you? Manager Lee Ha-young."
I guess it's true she dumped me because of money.
"Oh, seriously. You should've come before you got rich.
I would've bought you a meal, apologized,
and pretended to give in and date you again."
"I guess that's where our fate ended."
"I thought about you a lot after we broke up.
I only heard news about you, but I couldn't bring myself to visit
because I felt bad, and then at some point,
I stopped hearing anything."
After that assault incident, I quit school
and changed my number.
"I guess I should've gone to find you and apologized sooner."
I didn't want an apology.
She thinks I left because I did something wrong.
Thinking about the women I met after that,
I didn't have any hatred, even if there was some lingering regret.
And now, I'm fine.
I had completely forgotten about her until I came here today.
I don't think I'll think about her much in the future either.
I'm busy with my own problems.
But she seemed to still have a knot of guilt.
Apologies are really hard when you miss the timing.
"When the car is delivered, I'll buy you a meal."
"I thought you said we weren't meeting?"
"Let's just talk about old times.
We can't date again anyway.
Let's just be college friends."
"My ex-girlfriend has become a 'girl friend'.
Alright, let's see each other when the car comes out."
Without even needing to exchange numbers,
I got her business card,
and she saw my number on the contract.
I reached out to shake her hand.
Surprisingly, first loves are easily forgotten.
Sorry, A-yeong.
I think I'll easily forget my first woman too.
I take the contract and leave the store,
and on the way to the mart, I find a furniture store.
Being rich is good.
You can buy things anytime,
and you can buy things without any worries.
I tell them the furniture I need
and request the fastest delivery possible.
When they say it might be a bit late,
I offer an extra 500,000 won for delivery,
and they say it can be delivered tomorrow.
I pay in cash on the spot,
and this time, I really go to the mart.
Two 1 million won vacuum cleaners, popular for newlyweds.
A big tray.
Women's free-size training wear.
Two pairs of shoes.
A hair dryer I hadn't thought of until I saw it.
Food ingredients and beer.
Work gloves for renovation.
A tool set.
Snacks.
There's quite a lot of luggage.
If I didn't have the Strength Card,
it would be heavy enough to carry to the car.
I head home, carrying the luggage easily in both hands.
On the way, I stop at a convenience store
to buy cigarettes and condoms in bulk.
Iris recognition security is useful
when your hands are full.
I arrive home and finally put down the luggage.
One vacuum in the main house, one in the annex.
They aren't in the annex, maybe they're cleaning the backyard.
The women's clothes and shoes go in the room meant for the dressing room.
I organize all the items in their places,
and prepare lunch.
There's no dinner scheduled for today.
Tonight is punishment time.
I'll keep them on an empty stomach so they don't make a mess.
However, I prepare a simple snack
to eat after the punishment is over.
For now, lunch is braised short ribs,
cucumber cold soup, and wild vegetables.
Lunch preparation is finished, and I carry the food on a tray
to the pavilion in the garden.
It was quite heavy.
Unlike the Stamina Card which doesn't work unless I do,
I wanted to give the Strength Card an "Employee of the Month" award.
I go to the backyard and call them.
"Hyeon-ah, A-yeong, come eat."
Am I the owner, the butler, or the dad?
At my words, they stop what they were doing
and run over.
And a fact I just learned:
Kimono is hard to run in.
They smile brightly at the meal set on the pavilion.
"Master. Thank you."
They did physical labor for the first time in a while.
The high-quality food disappears into their hungry stomachs
in an instant.
"Eat slowly. No one's going to take it from you."
"Ah. Master, I'm sorry for showing such unseemly behavior."
"It was so delicious that without realizing it..."
"What's the rush?
If you can't finish the work today, you can do it tomorrow."
"Yes. Understood. However, Master.
I don't think we should postpone the punishment anymore."
"Yeah. Both of you, wear your collars and wait at 6 o'clock today."
Finally, I notified them.
Tension appears on their faces.
"Yes. Understood, Master."
"Um... Master. I really like how kind you are,
but during the punishment..."
"I know. Both you and I have to be prepared.
Us being here together is a slave-master contract.
And I'm looking forward to it too."
"Master. During the punishment time,
please do not think of us as humans."
"You guys shouldn't think of me as the 'me' right now either.
When you're not wearing the collars,
you can act spoiled as much as you want.
Manners? I don't care. You can tease me for being pathetic.
That's the kind of relationship I want.
But when you're wearing the collars,
think of me as the slave master you've always thought of."
"Yes. I will keep that in mind."
"For now, finish your meal. Let's rest in the afternoon."
"Yes. What kind of service should we prepare?"
"I'm going to take a nap. Alone.
You guys stop working too and go play on your own."
Lying in my room for the first time.
The room still has Father's traces.
Lying on the soft tatami is okay sometimes.
I didn't expect to meet Lee Ha-young.
It wasn't a great breakup, but
it was nicer than I thought,
and I felt less than I expected.
Earlier, I joked about dating again out of nostalgia,
but thinking about it, I have no intention of dating her again.
I can't meet anyone until I deal with those two slaves.
I laid down to nap,
but I'm not tired at all.
The Stamina Card doesn't prevent mental fatigue like last night,
but it makes me feel no physical fatigue
from manual labor like today's shopping.
The only reason I'm alone in my room.
It's time to acquire cards.
-Status-
[Owned Cards 7]
[Current Emotion 363/100]
[Accumulated Emotion 963]
It's been a full day since I came to the mansion.
Kim Hyeon-ah and Shin A-yeong earned points
in unexpected places.
Higher than the points earned by 40 children at the orphanage.
They, who didn't even have basic human rights,
really feel happiness in trivial things.
I feel rewarded by my actions.
-Issuance-
The cards that appeared in the first selection
were ones I'd already seen.
Eyesight, Hearing, Performance.
I thought about Performance for a moment,
but I chose Eyesight, which kept appearing
and asserting itself.
[No 36. Eyesight - D]
[See the world with bright eyes]
[Eyesight is significantly enhanced]
I request the second issuance.
Performance, Beautiful Voice, Singing.
These look like they'd be amazing
if I collected the set of 3.
For now, I'll choose Beautiful Voice,
which is useful in daily life.
[No 41. Beautiful Voice - D]
[A wonderful voice makes even clumsy speech,
or singing sound cool.]
[Changes to a charming voice.
The person listening to the voice will feel attracted.]
[People will not notice the change from your original voice.]
Last issuance.
Hearing, Singing, Drawing.
I think I've collected almost all the D-rank cards.
Almost all the cards were just ones
I'd seen before.
I should collect the rest
and move on to C-rank.
For now, physical enhancement over skills.
Physical enhancement is used in any situation.
I chose Hearing, which appeared annoyingly often.
[No 38. Hearing - D]
[Not being able to hear sound is a state of being deprived
of the happiness of talking with others.]
[Hearing is enhanced to the highest level.]
[Sense of pitch is enhanced to the highest level.]
Eyesight was the card whose effect
I felt the fastest among all the cards so far.
Every single stain on the ceiling,
every knot in the tatami is clearly visible.
It's not just seeing well;
the world has changed with clear colors and sharp vision.
It feels like switching from an HD monitor to a 4k monitor.
The Hearing card, which I worried would be noisy
because sounds would be too loud,
didn't turn up the volume so much as make things clearer.
If I focus, I can even hear the insects in the garden.
It feels like taking cotton balls out of my ears.
I'm not sure about the sense of pitch.
I try saying something random alone
after getting Beautiful Voice.
Honestly, I don't know what changed.
Since the Card System says it's attractive,
I have no choice but to believe it.