Don't Take Money Lightly!

Still bothered by the look on Maru's face ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠when he'd left, I finished lunch with a lingering unease and headed back to the classroom.

Maru was already there. That earlier expression kept replaying in my mind, so I was about to ask what he'd been thinking about—but he was deep in serious conversation with Jisu and Nabom.

My closest friend Maru, his girlfriend Jisu, and Nabom, who was pretty even if her brains left a little something to be desired.

It was such an unusual combination that I got curious about what they could possibly be discussing. As I approached, Maru glanced my way, cut the conversation short, and spoke up.

"…You're back?"

"Oh, yeah. What were you guys talking about?"

I'd clearly directed the question at Maru, but Nabom suddenly perked up and butted right in.

"Oh, well, you see! Right now Maru's talking about Chan-nim's girl—!"

"…Girl?"

"Nabom?! We were talking about a secret, right? Right?!"

"Haha, Nabom…?"

"Ugh! Mmph…. Hwa…. Ahaha, Chan-nim! We were just talking about a secret…!"

"……."

It was obvious Nabom had been about to spill something, but this time Maru suddenly jumped in and clamped a hand over her mouth.

Even Jisu beside him shot Nabom a warning look and smacked her thigh with a solid thwack.

The two of them were definitely hiding something from me… no, all three.

Though I wasn't sure if Nabom really counted as "hiding" it. Anyway.

Even if Maru and Jisu made sense, I couldn't figure out what kind of secret would involve Nabom keeping something from me too. It wasn't like my birthday was coming up or anything.

I wanted to dig deeper and ask what it was about, but one look at Maru and Jisu's faces told me the atmosphere wasn't right for that, so I gave up.

…Just what the hell is it?

"Did you all pay attention in class today?"

"Yes~!"

"Good, then…. Ah, right. Almost forgot. There are still people who haven't joined a club, right? Starting this year clubs are mandatory, so get your applications in by the end of this week."

Clubs, all of a sudden?

Could they even make club membership mandatory in the first place? Some kids wouldn't have the time.

A friend who seemed to have read my mind asked the teacher.

"Teach~ What about the kids who can't do after-school stuff?"

"Those kids write down their circumstances on the paper I'm about to hand out and turn it in."

Then what was the point of all this….

"Come on, then isn't it the same either way? Why even bother?"

Exactly.

Sometimes the people at this school seemed pretty dumb. Kind of contradictory, really.

Ah, except for our Master.

"Teacher doesn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠know either, kid. Just do it if I say so."

"Eh~"

"Eh? Eh? I'm B."

"Whoa……."

"…Shut up, hurry up and write it down, and go home."

Our Master really was too cute.

Come to think of it, Master was already popular with the entire school, so there had to be people who liked her. If Master ever got a boyfriend, what would happen to me?

Hide the truth?

But if they started dating, they'd both be adults. What if they moved in together?

Master and I were Owner and pet, so it wouldn't be a problem between us, but there was no telling whether a third-party boyfriend would put up with the situation.

Hmm… no idea.

Well, it wasn't like a pet like me could go around telling Master, "Please don't get a boyfriend!"

I was in the middle of a worry that felt almost as important as my future career path when Maru, Jisu, and Nabom suddenly appeared beside me and spoke up.

"Chan~ What club are you joining?"

Club? What club? I needed to make money just to stay alive.

Thinking I'd escaped the loan sharks just because I'd moved was way, way too naive.

All I'd done was dodge the immediate danger. It was never a fundamental solution.

If I failed to send money this month, whether I was at Master's house or buried underground, those bastards would track me down somehow and come collect.

Those fucking pieces of shit….

They really were the most exhausting bastards imaginable.

Anyway, that was why I was about to refuse—but with Jisu and Nabom here too, I couldn't exactly spell it out the way I might if it were just Maru. So I decided to cover with the part-time job excuse.

Maru was sharp enough that he'd probably read the real meaning on his own.

"No way for me. No way. I've got to work part-time. Money's tight."

"Come on, of course I know! You think I don't know you?"

I had no idea what he thought he knew, but I did know he was being pretty shameless for someone who hadn't known my secret until lunch today.

As I'd said, Maru was pretty sharp—sharp enough that he read my face, briefly put on a sulky expression like he wasn't just "pretty" sharp, then quickly switched back to a smile.

At that level, maybe he should make acting his main job. Or no—if he could read someone's true intentions that accurately just from their face, maybe profiler was the better fit.

This time Maru ignored my face entirely and kept going with an even brighter smile, as if nothing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had happened.

"So I've got a good idea! A good idea you'll be happy with too!"

I'll hear him out, at least.

"I don't really believe— wait, that was my inner voice just now. Sorry…."

"……If you're sorry, just say you'll do what I tell you."

"Uh… that's overkill…."

"……Tsk."

"…I'll try to think about it as positively as I can."

"…Fine. That much is… whatever."

One wrong word and I'd almost been in for a rough time.

If Maru had demanded something like "Do three naked somersaults right now," I would've jumped out the window on the spot.

Maru read my face again, made the most bizarre expression I'd ever seen in my life, failed to hide even that one, and continued.

"…Ahem. We make money through club activities. More than what you're earning at your part-time job right now, Chan."

…What was this, some nine-in-the-morning drama with a completely unrealistic third-generation chaebol? Wait… strictly speaking, if you left out the drama characters, he wasn't entirely wrong.

"…Maru. You might not get it because you're a flower-brained third-generation chaebol— wait, slip of the tongue. Because your brain circuits are made of nothing but happiness and hope and you have zero sense of reality as a rich kid… but making money isn't that easy, you know?"

If making money were that easy, I wouldn't be in this mess right now.

And those fucking loan-shark bastards wouldn't be wasting their energy hunting me down for pocket change either.

"Setting aside whatever image of me you've got in your head…. Isn't that already an insult? Do you really need to correct it and hit me twice?"

"Ah, sorry. Real sorry. I'm making a lot of slips today for some reason."

"…I don't like it…. Anyway, I know that much too? …Actually I've been thinking about this for a while, and I took it pretty seriously, so I even asked my parents about the prospects. They said it seemed fine."

"Oh, really?"

That changed things a little.

Maru's parents—especially his father—had the golden touch. Everything he invested in succeeded.

If the person I respected fifteenth most in the world had given that opinion, it meant there was real potential.

"Fifteenth is kind of an awkward ranking, isn't it?"

"What the fuck! What?! How did you know?!"

Holy shit, that one actually gave me chills.

He could nail a ranking that specific?

Did Maru's father have some kind of superpower that let him keep succeeding at investments? Had Maru inherited it? Did movie-level stuff actually exist?!

"I don't know what weird thoughts you're having, but…. Just now you were talking to yourself…."

"……Awkward."

Yeah, of course.

Thinking about it, if he really had a power like that, he would've known my secret before I ever told him.

"So, what kind of business is it?"

I couldn't stand the awkwardness and asked Maru.

And the words that came out of his mouth were something I never saw coming.

"It's— YouTube! We make a YouTube channel. A YouTube channel filming our club daily life!"

This was a bit much….

Honestly, Maru's parents had probably just been happy their son was trying something and tossed out hopeful words to encourage him.

YouTube was already famous as a massive red ocean. It wasn't a market for amateurs like us—kids who didn't know how the world worked and weren't experts at anything.

High school club daily life?

Sure, a few people might click out of curiosity a couple times, but honestly, who was going to watch that?

"I figured you'd say that, so I wrote it down on paper to make it easy to understand."

Whoa, this was getting serious.

"Of course. If I didn't, you definitely wouldn't do it."

He even had my personality down perfectly.

"Well, we've known each other for fifteen years this year."

"No, how are you reading my thoughts so naturally?! Was that another monologue?!"

"Isn't this pattern getting old?! It's just written all over your face! Like you're begging 'Please read me~'!"

Looking for all the world like two people rehearsing a comedy routine, we calmed down a little and all looked at the plan Maru had written up.

Including Jisu ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and Nabom, who'd been standing there the whole time.

The fact that they were still around made it pretty clear Jisu and Nabom had already agreed to do this with Maru.

"Yeah, that's right. They both already said they'd join."

"……Somehow that pisses me off."

The plan we'd read said this:

…Yeah. They really were looking down on it.