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# Chapter 3
In plain terms, he had decided to splurge.
After escaping the poverty that had tormented him relentlessly for his entire life, it was a form of compensation for all the hardships he had endured. He wanted to enjoy himself now.
Of course, he did not mean wasting money on useless things. Only on things that were genuinely necessary.
“Sua, are you ready?”
As soon as morning came, Kim Jin-woo headed to a nearby department store with Sua.
“Wow!”
Sua's mouth fell open at the sight of the magnificent department store.
“Uncle! It’s so big!”
She looked so excited that she seemed ready to run off somewhere if he were not holding her hand. Seeing that, however, Kim Jin-woo wore a bitter smile.
‘It’s just a department store...’
How unfamiliar must she have been with places like this for simply entering a department store to make her jump around with excitement?
His heart felt heavy.
Her mother spent almost all her time in the hospital because of cancer, while her father was tied to his job day and night to support the family. Naturally, amusement parks and shopping malls must have been unfamiliar environments to Sua.
‘It’s okay.’
From now on, he could make sure Sua was happy.
No, he would make sure of it.
With that thought, Kim Jin-woo stroked Sua’s head and asked,
“Where should we go first?”
“Hmm, wait a minute!”
Sua lifted her head and studied the department store directory. She was still too short to see it properly, so Kim Jin-woo picked her up.
“Let’s go to the second floor!”
After thinking for a while, Sua said it with a bright smile.
It was a satisfying choice for Kim Jin-woo.
In fact, he had roughly planned out their schedule before coming to the department store today, and fortunately, the second floor Sua had chosen was the place he had picked as their first destination.
The second floor focused mainly on children’s clothing.
As they went up the escalator, Kim Jin-woo suddenly spoke.
“Sua, you remember what Uncle said yesterday, right?”
“Huh?”
“If there’s anything you want, tell me. Uncle will buy it for you.”
“I’m really okay...”
Sua looked awkward and avoided his gaze.
This kind and adorable niece was worried about her uncle’s financial situation. She was even worried that he might feel offended if she made him feel as though she did not believe him.
Of course, Kim Jin-woo knew that.
But buying clothes for Sua today had already been decided yesterday.
More importantly, Kim Jin-woo could never tolerate seeing Sua continue to walk around wearing old clothes.
So he took the hesitant Sua by the hand and headed toward the nearest store. It was a fairly famous children’s clothing brand.
“Welcome. Please take your time looking around, and if there’s anything you need help with, just let me know.”
“Yes.”
After returning the employee’s greeting, Kim Jin-woo looked over all the clothes hanging on the racks.
“Is there anything you want to try on?”
“Hmm... There are too many. I don’t know.”
Sua shook her head with a troubled groan. Since her uncle was being so insistent, she decided to choose just one thing. If she was going to receive a present, she wanted the prettiest clothes.
“What do you like?”
“This one... and that one. And this one too.”
Sua thought about it very seriously before pointing at the clothes one by one.
Even to Kim Jin-woo, they certainly looked like clothes that would suit Sua.
He could already picture Sua wearing them in his mind.
She would look incredibly cute.
“Ugh. Which one should I choose?”
He decided to solve his niece’s serious dilemma in the simplest way possible.
“Excuse me. I’ll take everything from here to there.”
He simply bought every piece of clothing hanging on the racks.
There were easily more than twenty outfits.
“Uncle?”
“Oh, you can deliver them to our home, right?”
Ignoring Sua’s horrified reaction, Kim Jin-woo asked the employee.
“...All of these?”
The employee responded in disbelief, but the moment Kim Jin-woo casually swiped his card, her attitude changed 180 degrees.
“Thank you! Of course! Absolutely!”
“I have some circumstances to deal with, so would it be okay if I give you the address later?”
“Yes! Just give us a call, or even send us a text, and we’ll send everything directly to your home!”
And so, Kim Jin-woo left the store accompanied by an employee whose smile could not possibly have been any brighter.
“U-Uncle... Let’s ask for a refund. Even now...”
Sua followed behind him in tiny steps, clinging to him with an anxious expression.
Kim Jin-woo chuckled.
‘That was 4 million won.’
It was a fairly famous brand, even if it was not luxury clothing, so he had spent quite a substantial amount.
It was probably a purchase that even an average middle-class family would have had trouble handling easily.
But not for the current Kim Jin-woo.
‘There’s 1.996 billion won left.’
His bank balance had barely even been scratched.
Kim Jin-woo cleared his thoughts and looked at Sua.
“You shouldn’t be surprised already.”
“...Uncle?”
Sua blinked and tilted her head.
“I told you Uncle became rich.”
There was still a lot left to buy.
He had made up his mind to splurge, but he had wondered whether perhaps there would not actually be many places to spend that much money.
It turned out to be a huge misconception.
When you had plenty of money, things you needed somehow appeared on their own.
The VIP lounge inside the department store.
Naturally, it was not a place just anyone could enter. The lounges were divided according to customer level, and the one Kim Jin-woo was currently in was the second-highest level.
To be precise, only customers who had spent more than 100 million won that year could enter.
‘I really spent 100 million won.’
Kim Jin-woo gave a bitter smile as he drank tea prepared personally by an employee.
It was not excessive spending.
Really.
First were the home appliances. He replaced the TV, refrigerator, and various other items that had been produced twenty years ago and purchased secondhand with brand-new ones.
A washing machine, dryer, air purifier, robot vacuum, air conditioner...
He realized all over again just how many things there were to buy.
He had already spent more than 40 million won there.
With the rest, he visited the luxury stores on the first floor and bought a handbag for his sister and a suit as a gift for his brother-in-law.
He would probably get scolded for buying such unnecessary things once they found out the prices, but he had no regrets.
“Let’s go now.”
They also had a meal together during their remaining time. Sua seemed to be gradually realizing her uncle’s financial situation, so she looked less worried than she had at first.
The two of them then took a taxi back home.
‘I should buy a car after I get discharged.’
If he wanted to take Sua to an amusement park or, once his sister recovered, go on a family trip, they would probably need a spacious SUV.
While imagining the future, they arrived home.
A cramped apartment of barely twenty pyeong. Yellowed wallpaper and yellow flooring greeted them.
That was why he had asked for the things he bought today to be delivered later. The already cramped space had no room to accommodate all those things.
‘As expected.’
For Sua’s sake, they needed to move to a better environment as soon as possible.
Kim Jin-woo put his coat back on and said to Sua,
“Uncle is going out for a little while. Is there anything you want to eat?”
“Chicken!”
“All right.”
At Sua’s bright, sparkling eyes, he chuckled and left the house.
When a young man in his twenties walked into the real estate agency, the agent naturally assumed he was looking for a studio.
Then she heard his first words and her eyes widened.
“I’m looking for an apartment I can move into immediately, with a budget of up to 1.5 billion won.”
And when the young man actually proved his assets, the agent’s mouth fell open.
It was only natural that the word “Sir” suddenly slipped from her lips.
“S-Sir! Please wait a moment. Ah, do you like coffee? We have orange juice too.”
“I’m fine.”
Unable to bring herself to neglect such a valuable customer, the agent placed a glass of water in front of him and immediately began searching for properties.
‘Is he from a wealthy family?’
She wondered to herself as she asked a few questions.
“Do you have any particular requirements?”
“The surrounding school district needs to be good. I’d like a newly built place, spacious enough for a family of four, with good facilities within the complex.”
“And you need to be able to move in immediately?”
“Yes.”
With housing prices soaring sky-high these days, those conditions were not easy to satisfy.
But when you had 1.5 billion won, things were different.
The agent quickly found several properties that met his requirements.
“There are exactly four properties that are currently vacant. There are more if immediate occupancy isn’t a requirement, but...”
“That’s fine. Let’s just look at those.”
The agent immediately drove the young man to the properties in her car.
All four properties were in the same neighborhood, so they could easily visit all of them in one day. The neighborhood was not even far from Byeongjeom-dong.
Dongtan.
It was a neighborhood famous for many reasons.
Having been developed relatively recently and being almost equivalent to a new town, its overall infrastructure was excellent.
There were nature-friendly parks nearby, good school districts, a huge department store, a university hospital nearby, and more.
“This place has the best security. Guards are stationed here around the clock and patrol regularly, so suspicious people can’t even get inside.”
The agent explained everything with the determination to make sure the young man bought one of the properties.
“A lot of young couples come here. There’s no better environment for raising children. You saw the lake park over there on the way, right? Couples take walks there with their babies.”
She focused especially on the family-friendly aspects because the young man seemed particularly interested in them.
The strategy worked.
“It’s pretty good.”
After looking at all four properties, the young man finally spoke.
“I’ll take this one.”
It was the most expensive apartment among the four.
The agent quickly pulled out the paperwork. Then she suddenly realized that she had not yet heard the young man’s name.
She found out when he signed the documents.
The agent grinned broadly and bowed her head.
“Thank you, Sir Kim Jin-woo!”
“I’ll move in tomorrow.”
“Understood! Oh, do you need a moving company? I can arrange everything for you.”
Only then did Kim Jin-woo smile and nod.
“I’d appreciate that.”
[Jin-woo, Ha-young already told me beforehand... Is it really true?]
The voice coming through the phone trembled.
Kim Jin-woo looked out at the night view sparkling with countless lights and said,
“Of course. You’ll be surprised when you come.”
[If I weren’t away on a business trip...]
The person he was talking to was Jung Tae-hyun, Kim Jin-woo’s sister Kim Ha-young’s husband.
In other words, his brother-in-law.
Whenever Jung Tae-hyun had to go on a business trip due to unavoidable circumstances, Kim Jin-woo would take leave and look after Sua in his place. This time was the same.
[I can’t believe it. I saw the plagiarism case on the news, but I never imagined you were the person involved. And to think you actually bought a house with the settlement money.]
Jung Tae-hyun spoke in a hollow voice.
Just as he said, Kim Jin-woo had bought a newly built apartment yesterday, constructed three years ago by a major luxury apartment developer. The things he had purchased from the department store had already been delivered, and professional staff had finished setting everything up long ago.
[Can’t we have a video call? I’m really curious.]
“Come see it yourself when your business trip is over. Sua seems to like it so far.”
[Really?]
They say that if you talk about the tiger, it will appear.
Sua poked her head into view.
“Dad!”
[Oh, Sua. You were good with Uncle, right?]
“Yeah! Uncle and I came to a new apartment, and it’s really nice here. And it’s really high! Really, really high!”
Sua desperately wanted to express just how much she liked the new house, but unfortunately, with the vocabulary of a seven-year-old child, the word “really” was the best she could do.
Still, it was not exactly wrong.
It really was high.
They had previously lived on the fourth floor, but this place was on the twenty-seventh.
The entire neighborhood could be seen at a glance.
[That’s good. That’s really good...]
After laughing at his daughter’s reactions for a while, Jung Tae-hyun’s voice suddenly became faint.
Kim Jin-woo remained silent for a moment before speaking.
“Hyung.”
It was a form of address he had not used in a long time.
Back when his sister Kim Ha-young and Jung Tae-hyun were not yet married.
Back when they were merely close friends or lovers. Kim Jin-woo had called Jung Tae-hyun that way.
Jung Tae-hyun knew about Kim Ha-young’s circumstances and willingly offered his help.
And to Kim Jin-woo, who had no father, he had been both a father figure and a dependable older brother.
Later, he even married Kim Ha-young despite his own family’s opposition.
To Kim Jin-woo, Jung Tae-hyun was no different from real family.
“You’ve worked hard all this time.”
The voice coming through the phone abruptly stopped.
Soon, a voice that sounded as though it had been barely squeezed out, as if desperately suppressing emotion, came through.
[...Thank you.]
Those words were enough.