The Regression Chapter
Na-eun was finally able to get up in broad daylight the day after the intense sex, after a night that had felt like an eternity.
It had only been a wake-up call reminding her that she needed to leave the motel.
“Where did he go?”
She was disappointed that Kim Namhu was gone.
A thousand thoughts raced through her mind.
“Was it just a one-night prank?”
“Yeah, right. A professor having an affair with a college student. It’s something that absolutely shouldn’t happen.”
“Maybe it’s better this way, quiet and over with.”
She rushed through her shower and stepped outside just as a text came in from Kim Namhu.
“I don’t feel like talking much. If you don’t want your husband to see this file, deposit five million won into the account below.”
The message was long.
It included Kim Namhu’s bank account number.
There was a voice file from the night before that was more than enough evidence of how much she had enjoyed the sex.
There was also a photo of her passed out after being completely exhausted from sex.
And her husband’s phone number.
Na-eun realized that with her fingerprint unlocked, it was easy to find her husband’s number in her phone.
This was the perfect trap.
“Ahh!”
She let out a loud cry from inside the car.
But nothing was solved by that.
It was a long time before she started thinking seriously about how to handle this.
No one to talk to about it.
“Should I go to the police? No. Nothing would be solved that way.”
She had just listened to Kim Namhu’s tragic story from yesterday.
He was a man with nothing to lose.
If necessary, she could spread the entire truth to her husband and the university, and he would end up in prison.
“Five million won? Five million won?”
If it had been fifty million won, she would have reported him to the police.
But five million was the kind of money she could get without her husband finding out.
A professor’s salary wasn’t small.
The only thing that still worried her was one thing.
“Is this the last time?”
There were many stories about blackmailers who preyed on weaknesses and milked victims periodically.
But Na-eun didn’t have many choices.
In the end, she decided to pay Kim Namhu.
**
Kim Namhu saw the notification that five million won had been deposited into his account.
“As expected.”
In the future, Na-eun had gotten herself into big trouble by messing around with some college guy.
“Lucky I caught you instead of some clean-cut guy like me. In the future, don’t do things like that.”
Better to learn the big lesson for five million won than to get fired from university and divorced.
Kim Namhu thought he hadn’t done anything good, but he hadn’t done anything bad either.
“All right, now I have five million as my starting capital.”
Five million was a huge sum for a college student who couldn’t afford much.
Even if he spent it frugally, it would last him comfortably for months.
Even if he splurged, he could still enjoy life for a while.
He intended to invest that money in his future.
First, he headed to Gangnam.
Women saw a lot even when they were just meeting a host who knew how to pour drinks.
If a man wasn’t handsome enough to be on the level of an idol, and if his clothes looked cheap, women wouldn’t choose him.
That was why so many hosts went overboard buying luxury brands.
“But with five million, can I really buy one watch?”
Right now, Kim Namhu needed to think about value for money.
He had to get the maximum effect with five million.
The first thing was a suit.
A suit was the clothing that most maximized a man’s appeal.
Even if he didn’t dress formally, it was better to own at least one good suit.
“But I don’t feel like going to a luxury brand store.”
Kim Namhu was heading to a tailor shop in Gangnam.
It was a place where they made custom suits, and the sign was nonexistent.
It was located in the middle of a large building, so you couldn’t tell what kind of place it was from the outside, and ordinary customers couldn’t just walk in.
It was literally a place only for people who knew someone.
The main customers here were third-generation chaebols, celebrities, and top-tier entertainment industry people.
Kim Namhu rang the bell outside the tailor shop.
The staff working inside quickly opened the door and greeted him.
Customers who came here were all used to spending tens of thousands, so this was the usual hospitality.
But the moment Kim Namhu’s clothes appeared, the staff member’s face changed completely.
Right now, Kim Namhu just looked like an ordinary young man.
“Who’s the errand for?”
Even the staff member picking up the boss’s suit here dressed a bit more formally than Kim Namhu.
“No. I’m here to get one suit made for me to wear.”
The staff member tilted his head and asked again.
“Then who introduced you…?”
“Just a friend who knows me.”
Since he had come with knowledge of the future, it was hard to name anyone.
And Kim Namhu behaved confidently, because he was a person who had come to have a suit made with proper money.
“If we don’t know who introduced you, we can’t even make you a suit here? Is this a luxury store that turns away customers? How long do we have to wait standing here?”
When Kim Namhu spoke confidently, the staff member started to look flustered instead.
“Hahaha! That’s exactly right. We only do business with customers who come here, but we don’t turn customers away.”
Loud laughter came from inside.
The owner and designer of this nameless tailor shop.
“Kim, come in.”
“Yes, thank you!”
Kim Namhu was immediately guided inside and sat on the sofa.
Then the person called the tailor shop owner stood in front of him wearing a sharp suit.
“So, you came to buy a suit? What kind are you looking for?”
Suits served many purposes.
From everyday wear to formal occasions, there were all kinds.
“Something comfortable for the current season. It should be fine for eight hours of wear. No cheap fabrics that women like. Shoes and shirt included as a set.”
The owner seemed to understand right away what kind of work Kim Namhu did from just those words.
“Ah, so you work in that industry? Still looks like an ordinary person though, interesting.”
When you first started in the host business, you just bought two cheap suits and that was the end of it.
Then you rolled around everywhere, made one regular customer after another, learned the tricks, started earning money, and only then could you finally become an ace at one place.
But Kim Namhu had come here right from the beginning even though he looked completely ordinary.
The owner had been in this industry for decades but had never met a customer like this before.
And Kim Namhu had no intention of satisfying the owner’s curiosity.
He was only here to buy a suit.
“Understood. My budget is four million won. Out of that, three million will be for fabric and materials, and one million for tailoring fees.”
“Hmm.”
“I understand. The owner’s skill is worth a million. But if I do well in this industry, I’ll return it multiple times over.”
This tailor shop owner was a skilled person who charged millions in tailoring fees for one suit.
The clothes were so comfortable and the design so excellent that even chaebol families ordered from them without trouble.
“I know the owner doesn’t play with fabric prices. So I’ll speak honestly too. If you reject my offer, I won’t have anything else to say and will stand up right here.”
There were people in the world who negotiated deals with words and those who didn’t.
And as a host who dealt only with the best women, Kim Namhu knew the real top-tier etiquette.
The truly top people didn’t like word games.
They didn’t care much about hundreds of millions.
This owner was a man who earned billions a month without breaking a sweat.
Instead of boasting with money he didn’t have, it was better to be honest and stir up curiosity.
“If it doesn’t work, I’ll just go to another shop.”
This tailor shop was the best in Gangnam, but there were always second and third best places.
If the owner rejected him, he would just choose an alternative.
And the middle-aged owner laughed loudly.
“Wow. I thought I had seen a lot of people in this industry and had good eyes for people, but I still can’t figure out what kind of person you are. You look like you don’t have money but seem to have a lot, and you look young but seem incredibly cunning. Good. It’s been a while since I met such an interesting customer, so I’ll show my skill.”
The middle-aged owner seemed eager to satisfy his curiosity.
He immediately moved to the spot for measuring body size.
The middle-aged owner quickly measured Kim Namhu’s body size.
“Is there anything else you want?”
“I plan to exercise to make my build a bit larger.”
Right now, he was too skinny.
He wanted to do muscle training to get the kind of lean build women liked.
“Yes, understood.”
After the body measurement was done, the process moved to choosing fabric.
The middle-aged owner brought three kinds of fabric.
And Kim Namhu realized that this owner was playing a game with him.
Two of the fabrics were good ones worth a little under three million.
And the third was the top-tier material that only chaebol executives could wear.
“Choose whatever you want here.”
“I clearly said I can only pay three million for materials.”
“Yes. I prepared within that range.”
“Then this one.”
Kim Namhu picked exactly one fabric.
Then the owner’s eyes sparkled.
The fabric Kim Namhu had chosen was Ranfshire grade, a top-tier material that would cost over thirty million won to make one suit with.
In Korea, such a material could only be worn by chaebol executives.
True luxury brands hid their names.
They only sold to people trained to recognize their quality without the brand name.
Ordinary people could only know the real quality after wearing it for days; no matter how much they looked, they couldn’t tell for a few minutes.
Right now, Kim Namhu was using exactly that ability, and the owner was enjoying it.
“As expected, an interesting customer.”
After that, it was just about adjusting the rough design.
The owner said confidently.
“Come back in three days. I’ll have the goods ready.”