6. Mansion
6. Mansion
I decided to become humble.
I finally understood why the [Fate] card was SSS-rank.
I'm ashamed that I ever thought of myself as ordinary and useless, [Fate] Card-nim.
A person must be humble.
It's been two days since [Fate] Card-nim changed my destiny.
I was experiencing things I never could have imagined.
Getting the [Health Card] yesterday was nothing compared to today's surprises.
I had thought my father would have saved up a fair amount of money.
I didn't know exactly what he did for a living, but even to my young eyes, he always seemed well-off.
So, I came out today with slight expectations.
But reality easily crushed my imagination.
I thought maybe about 500 million won in cash and the detached house we used to live in.
Even that would be over a billion won.
That alone would change the trajectory of my life.
It's enough money for a high school graduate like me to live off of.
But the assets I inherited were 4.8 billion won and a mansion worth about 9 billion won.
They said if I didn't have to pay inheritance tax, or if there were ways to avoid it beforehand, it would exceed 20 billion won.
My mind couldn't keep up with reality.
Even when I managed to pull myself together and look at reality, it was just as bewildering.
I am currently sitting in the passenger seat of the coolest car I've ever seen in my life.
In the driver's seat, a beauty I wouldn't dare even speak to is driving while wearing sunglasses.
She looks like a neat, tidy beauty, but surprisingly, she was driving a huge SUV and driving quite aggressively.
A pleasant scent, one that really made me think "this is a woman's car," tickled my nose.
Even in my dazed state, I found myself pretending to look out the window while sneaking glances at her driving.
I don't know if she noticed my gaze through her sunglasses or not, but she was driving while humming a pop song in a low voice.
Slim body with snow-white skin. Large, well-shaped breasts that anyone would call beautiful.
Snow-white thighs and long, straight legs occasionally visible through the slit of her suit skirt.
Pretty, slender fingers painted with bright red nail polish.
Unlike my own slumped figure, always loathing myself, she looked beautiful and confident.
Including everyone on TV, she was the most beautiful person I had ever seen in my life.
Even in this situation where billions are moving around, she looks confident.
I know this type of person. She probably has massive assets.
Having always done emotional labor at the bottom, I could tell she was a top-tier human being who could be confident from the start.
Someone from the bottom like me, even if it wasn't my own money, couldn't help but be shaken by that massive amount.
But the way she just handles it as a normal job proves that even that amount of money can't even faze her.
Even if I bragged about the money I was inheriting, it wouldn't be easy to meet her privately, outside of work.
The reason I'm riding in her car right now is because she said we should discuss the rest at the mansion I'm inheriting.
She said her job consisted of two things.
One was handling the inheritance, and the other was brokering the items I didn't want to people who did, since there were many who wanted my father's collection.
Of course, she explained that since the collection is mine, it doesn't matter if I don't want to sell it.
We headed not to a famous wealthy neighborhood in Seoul, but to a somewhat quiet area.
And the car parked in front of a mansion.
I had expected it a little, but it was so exactly as I expected that it hurts.
A huge plot of land with a wide yard. And a Japanese-style house that makes me feel embarrassed.
Father. He was a Japanophile.
A luxury sedan was already parked in the parking lot.
Not a familiar foreign car like a German or American one, but a luxurious-looking sedan made in Japan.
The large logo catches the eye.
They said he died in a car accident, so I guess he originally had two cars.
In this political climate, just driving that on the street would be a total humiliation play.
I'd rather ride my sturdy 190,000 won used bicycle.
"We've arrived. How is it?"
"Is that car also part of the inheritance?"
"Yes. Do you like it?"
"No. Can you sell that one first?"
"I guess you don't like it. It's a decent car."
"It's a car I really don't like. If it's difficult to handle, I'll just have to sell it to the used car market."
"Hmm, it's not originally part of my duties, but it would be better if I handled it for you."
She smiled slightly and took out a file to start writing something down.
There was a security gate in the parking lot, and another security gate to enter the mansion from the parking lot.
I guess that's natural for a rich house.
There was a small pond in the garden, and some strange-looking carp or goldfish were swimming around.
I don't know why it's there, but there's a small stone bridge over the pond, and something like a pavilion sits next to it.
Behind the yard, there are two houses. Probably a main building and an annex.
I'd seen this kind of house structure on TV. A Japanese-style Ryokan.
I know it's expensive and cool, but it's embarrassing. This is Seoul. Not Tokyo.
My father had such a strong impression due to his woman troubles that I had forgotten, but I never imagined he was this much of a Japanophile.
The garden had small sculptures, flower pots, and rocks arranged nicely.
I smile slightly, thinking of my father who probably agonized over this arrangement, moving things dozens of times.
I thought I would only recall terrible images when seeing my father's mansion, so I'm relieved.
In the small pavilion-like thing, there was a stone ashtray and an opened pack of cigarettes that looked like they had some left.
So he smoked... I thought he was a non-smoker when he lived with me.
She, who had waited for me to process my strange feelings, began to state her business.
"That sculpture is the work of a Japanese master, and its current value is about 90 million won, and..."
One by one, she tells me the value of the sculptures and gives a brief explanation.
Naturally, I don't have a hobby of collecting sculptures.
"Please dispose of all the sculptures here."
When I cut off her explanation and stated my intention to dispose of the sculptures, she nodded.
"The sculptures here have their own value, and their value might rise even more later. Are you sure?"
"Yes."
To me, who doesn't know their value anyway, they're just strange decorations taking up space in the yard.
"Then I'll have an easier time thanks to you, Seonmin-ssi. In return, I'll negotiate the best possible price for you."
She said with a slight smile.
After the sculptures came the flower pots. I don't really understand from her explanation, but she says they are quite expensive bonsai.
I'm someone who has never even raised a cactus.
I asked for them to be disposed of in bulk. She said it wasn't a large amount, but I didn't want to let them wither and die.
Next were the rocks. I guess there are people in the world who have the hobby of collecting rocks.
And there were even people who wanted the fish in the pond.
If she hadn't brokered this, I shudder to think how I would have had to dispose of this.
For a clean disposal, I asked her to handle the small rocks or small fish that no one wanted as a package deal.
Unlike my father, I thought I would like the garden to be clean.
Having decided to dispose of the items in the garden, what remained were the pond, the pavilion, and a few cherry blossom trees, which are like symbols of a Japanese-style mansion.
I don't like the Japanese style either, but I liked cherry blossoms in spring, so I decided to just leave them.
I thought it would be cool to drink some alcohol in the garden in the spring, even if it doesn't quite fit, and enjoy the pink breeze.
After deciding on everything regarding the garden's disposal, we headed inside the mansion.
As expected, it was a Japanese-style house. It smelled of tatami grass.
I'm already starting to dislike it.
Fortunately, the clean Western-style bathroom and the kitchen filled with flashy cooking utensils were a welcome sight.
If even these had been Japanese-style, I might have asked to dispose of the mansion too.
Unlike our country's typical houses, which consist of a living room in the center and rooms surrounding it, this mansion was built in a corridor style.
Maybe that's why there's no living room.
In the dressing room, there were clothes my father usually wore, and as expected of a leader of Japanophiles, men's kimonos and yukatas were hanging there.
Unfortunately, I was told that these clothes couldn't be disposed of despite their high price, so I just decided to throw them in a clothing donation bin later.
A tea room that I surprisingly liked.
Thinking, "I should learn the tea ceremony like a rich person and enjoy a cup of tea here later," I asked for the expensive tea sets to be disposed of.
I don't understand why some teacups or teapots are so expensive.
The teacups left after the disposal still look luxurious enough.
Next was the study.
A fair number of books were shelved there.
Among them, one book stood out, boasting a sense of incongruity.
'Children's World Classic Fairy Tales'
The book my father read to me when we lived together, before he changed.
It was tattered from being read dozens of times, contrasting with the luxurious books around it.
When that book caught my eye, for the first time, my father's obituary made my heart heavy.
I knew. That even if my father was a monster, he loved me.
It's just that we had become a relationship that neither of us could accept.
The lawyer asked about disposing of the high-end ebony desk in the study, but I refused, thinking it would be okay to leave at least one trace of my father.
The next room we headed to was the collection room.
First of all, a Japanese sword was being kept in a glass case, and brushes, fans, paper written with ink where I couldn't recognize the characters, ink wash paintings, and currency like old coins that I didn't know well but naturally assumed were Japanese.
The dreams of Japanophiles were gathered here.
Naturally, I asked for all of it to be disposed of.
She seemed to be in a good mood because of my quick disposal.
Since she must have come after receiving requests from people who originally wanted these items.
The rest were two large rooms and three small rooms.
I thought they were probably the rooms used by my father's women.
There was nothing much of note inside.
And. At the end of the hallway was the room my father used.
Unlike the flashy mansion, it was a large but somehow simple-looking room.
It seems he slept by laying a mattress on the tatami mat.
Judging by the lack of a living room, it seemed he ate the food brought by employees inside the room.
It was a room that had lost its owner, so the silence was even greater.
Perhaps because I just thought of it as the mansion owner's room, I thought I should make this my room.
Of course, after placing a bed and tables to get rid of this Japanese style.
The mansion tour still wasn't over.
When I opened a small sliding door in front of my father's room at the end of the hallway, there were stairs leading to the basement.
I don't know why, but I thought it was just like my father.