A New Investment (4)
Min Ah-reum, the youngest daughter of the Shinsegae Group.
Ever since she was little, she had been fascinated by fashion and design. She went to an arts high school, then studied design in earnest at Parsons School of Design in the United States.
But fashion, like art, demanded not just tireless effort but raw talent as well. There, she came to feel the limits of what she could do as a designer; in return, though, she built a network of connections and learned how to read people.
Min Ah-reum had the ambition to run a business of her own.
But she had an older brother and sister with a significant age gap, so she could safely say there was no chance of her inheriting the group. Even if she took charge of one of the fashion affiliates, she would only ever end up supporting her brother and sister.
In that situation, Han Miru's proposal came as a fresh shock.
So fashion itself is going online now, not just sales and distribution?
At first she thought it was nothing but fanciful talk, but when she looked into it, she realized it wasn't absurd at all.
Meta Fashion, fashion inside the metaverse, was still in its infancy. Fast-moving fashion companies were already jumping into the digital world to promote and sell their brands.
If she could seize that market first, she would wield far more influence than Shinsegae Department Store or Shinsegae Mart, which only dominated the Korean market.
And if she teamed up with Continue Capital, building a fashion kingdom of her own might not be a dream after all.
The old idea of Shinsegae Group no longer even registered on her radar.
Thinking of the words her cousin Yoo Jae-ho had once said, Min Ah-reum murmured, “He said it would be a huge help just to know him... and it really was.”
Min Ah-reum came into the department store even on the weekend.
She had originally planned to meet her friends with Sung Yoon-ah today, but Yoon-ah suddenly canceled, apologizing that something came up. She hadn't said who she was going to see, but Ah-reum had a pretty good idea.
Good for her.
Because it was a service industry, all kinds of incidents and accidents happened in a department store every day: employee mistakes, abusive customers, payment errors, theft, and so on.
Most of them were handled at the working level according to procedure, so it was rare for anything to reach her desk.
Then the intercom suddenly rang.
The Gucci boutique in the luxury wing. A merchandise voucher issued under your director-level membership card has just been used for payment.
Did Miru come shopping with Yoon-ah?
“Just a moment. I’ll head down right away.”
She cut off what she was doing and went straight down to the luxury wing on the first floor.
Inside the Gucci store were four college-aged girls together.
Among them, a cute-looking student seemed flustered as she shouted, “My brother gave it to me for my birthday present. I really didn’t know anything about it!”
At that, Min Ah-reum asked with interest, “Your brother? Is that Miru's younger sister?”
Han Sena lifted her head and looked at the woman standing before her.
There was someone there now who hadn't been in the store a moment ago.
She looked to be in her mid-twenties, a beauty whose short bob suited her perfectly. Her skin, makeup, accessories, earrings, and shoes—there wasn't a single flaw anywhere. Everything about her radiated luxury and polish.
Wow. She's insanely pretty.
Judging from the way the staff all bowed in unison to greet her, she must be someone important.
Still, the fact that someone like that had shown up meant this probably wasn't an ordinary problem.
Aha. I kind of want to hit my brother now.
So that was the trap behind all his recent niceness.
She was about to bow her head on reflex when the woman asked again, “You're Miru's younger sister, right?”
“Y-yes, I am...”
How does this person know my brother's name?
The woman smiled brightly. “Oh, how nice to meet you. I heard Miru had a little sister, but I never expected to run into you here like this.”
“W-who are you?”
“My name is Min Ah-reum. I'm friends with Miru.”
“Huh? With my brother?”
My brother is friends with a woman this pretty?
And yet, the face looked vaguely familiar.
Where have I seen her before?
Just then, Jung Sojin cried out, “Oh! If it's Min Ah-reum... could it be her?”
“Wow! Seriously?”
“No way, it really is her.”
Han Sena turned to her friend. “You know her?”
Jung Sojin leaned close and whispered in her ear, “She's the youngest daughter of the Shinsegae Group. A fashion celebrity.”
“What!?”
Of course she knew the name.
Min Ah-reum was as famous among women as any celebrity, if not more so. Wealth, beauty, and fashion sense—she had all of it. She was basically every girl's ideal type.
That only made the current situation even harder to believe.
There's no way someone like that is friends with my brother...
There was no way something like “my real brother turns out to be friends with a chaebol daughter” could happen in real life.
Han Sena asked cautiously, “Did you maybe mistake me for someone else?”
“No. I gave this card to Miru myself.”
“Huh? Then you really are friends with my brother?”
Min Ah-reum nodded with a smile. “Of course. We're incredibly close. We meet often, eat together, even go to parties together.”
“...”
And just like that, it had really happened!
Min Ah-reum took them to a café in the VIP lounge.
Jung Sojin and the others asked Han Sena in low voices, “What is going on?”
“I've never been to a place like this before.”
“This isn't some hidden-camera prank, is it?”
“I-I don't know either.”
In truth, the one who found the situation least believable was Han Sena herself.
What on earth is happening?
Min Ah-reum said with a sunny smile, “Today's my lucky day. I got to meet Miru's little sister too.”
Han Sena asked carefully, “How do you know my brother?”
“One of Miru's former coworkers is a younger brother of mine who's close to me. That's how we ended up getting to know each other.”
“Ah...”
Can you really get close just because of that?
Jung Sojin and the others gathered their courage and said, “Unnie, you're so pretty.”
“I'm a huge fan.”
“I've been following LinStar for ages.”
“Thank you.”
Min Ah-reum looked at Han Sena.
They were siblings, and yet she didn't seem to resemble Han Miru all that much at first glance—though the shape of her eyes and the curve of her mouth were similar.
She was on the petite side, and her dyed blond hair had been tied up into a bun. Her outfit was less feminine than cute: a sweatshirt, jeans, and canvas sneakers, the unmistakable look of a college student.
So he gave the voucher to his little sister.
They were going to be business partners from here on out.
This was a good chance to make an impression on his family.
She knew very well how good Heo Min-woong was to Miru's father. She'd heard he had even been giving him golf lessons lately...
I can't lose to that.
Min Ah-reum asked Han Sena, “So what brought you here today?”
“It's my birthday, so I came shopping with my friends.”
“Oh! It was your birthday? Happy birthday.”
“T-thank you.”
“Is there anything you'd like? I'll buy you something as a birthday gift.”
Han Sena waved her hands quickly. “N-no, it's okay.”
Jung Sojin chimed in at once, “She wants a bag. We already went to the Hermès store earlier.”
“Hey, why would you say that...?”
Even as she said it, she shot Sojin a sidelong look.
Nice, Jung Sojin.
What? Friends should help each other out.
Min Ah-reum laughed. “Do you like Hermès?”
“Y-yes, I do.”
I'd carry one if I had one. It's just that I can't afford it.
She was confident she could carry it well if she actually had one.
“Hmm, but if I buy you something too expensive, Miru might have something to say about it.”
“Pardon?”
No, she didn't need to worry about my brother at all.
As if a good idea had just occurred to her, Min Ah-reum said, “Then can you promise me something?”
“What promise?”
“That we'll keep today's little incident between ourselves.”
Han Sena nodded quickly. “Yes, yes, of course. I keep promises well.”
Her friends all spoke up at once too. “We'll keep it secret too.”
After confirming everyone's firm resolve, Min Ah-reum rose from her seat.
“Great. Then let's start shopping.”
Inside a personal shopping room, staff would bring whatever items were needed up to you.
But Min Ah-reum deliberately took Han Sena and her friends straight to the sales floor.
“Please show us some tote bags a college student could carry around.”
At first, as customers who weren't ready to buy, they hadn't even been allowed to browse, but once Min Ah-reum was with them, the treatment changed completely.
The staff took out bags and explained each one kindly.
“What about this one? I think it would suit you.”
It wasn't only because it was a luxury brand; the bag Min Ah-reum picked was exactly Han Sena's taste.
“I love it.”
She felt like she ought to give the bag a name.
But the moment she saw the price tag, she snapped back to her senses.
Gasp! How much is this?
One of her friends worked part-time at a café so she could buy luxury goods. If this bag were her goal, she'd need to switch industries to loading and unloading cargo and work for months.
No matter how she thought about it, it wasn't a gift she could accept from someone she'd just met.
“Uh, um...”
“What's wrong? You don't like it?”
“It's not that, it's just... it seems too expensive. I feel like my brother would scold me if he knew.”
Min Ah-reum gave her a wink. “It's fine. Miru's a bit dense, so he wouldn't know much about women's bags anyway. Even if you held it right in front of him, he probably wouldn't know what brand it was.”
“My brother really is a little dense, isn't he?”
“If he catches on, just insist it's a replica.”
“Ah! That's a great idea.”
While they were talking, Min Ah-reum paid for the bag and handed it over.
“Here, take it.”
Han Sena received the shopping bag with both hands, as politely as she could.
“Thank you, Unnie.”
“Oh? Unnie?”
“Ah, sorry. I just called you that without thinking...”
Jung Sojin nodded from the side for no reason at all.
If you buy someone a bag, you're automatically Unnie.
Min Ah-reum laughed and shook her head. “No, that's really nice to hear. Keep calling me that from now on.”
“Really? Then you can speak casually with me too, Unnie.”
“Can I?”
Min Ah-reum looked at her shoes this time and said, “Your shoes look a little worn out. Want me to buy you a pair of sneakers too?”
“Huh? Oh, no, Unnie. The bag was already more than enough.”
“The soles look pretty worn down too. What if you slip and get hurt? Since we're here, let's just get them.”
R-right. A pair of sneakers would be fine, wouldn't it?
There was a Nike and an Adidas store in the department store, so if they picked something reasonably priced, it should be fine.
But the place Min Ah-reum led her to was the Gucci store they had visited earlier.
“You're a 230, right?”
“I am, but...”
Before long, Han Sena's old sneakers had been replaced by a pair of luxury shoes made from calfskin.
“Wow!”
“The design is so pretty.”
Her friends could only gasp in admiration.
Watching them, Min Ah-reum smiled to herself.
Being admired and envied by friends was a good thing. But if handled badly, it could turn into jealousy and resentment.
Fortunately, she knew exactly how to prevent that from happening.
“For Sena's birthday, I'll buy each of you girls an outfit too.”
“Us too?”
“Yep.”
Min Ah-reum took Han Sena and her friends to the women's clothing section and picked things out for them herself.
They weren't luxury items, but they were still far from cheap. And true to her excellent sense of style, every item she chose suited them perfectly.
Jung Sojin asked in surprise, “R-really? We can accept these?”
“Of course. It's Sena's birthday.”
“Thank you!”
After the shopping was over, Min Ah-reum took them to a classy restaurant in Cheongdam-dong and bought dinner for them.
Since it was the first place like this they'd ever been to, they spent more time taking photos than eating.
Who would've thought my brother would be this useful in my life?
Han Sena bowed her head politely. “Thank you for today, Unnie.”
“Come by the department store often from now on.”
“Really? I can do that?”
“Of course. Next time, use the pickup service when you come. If you reserve in advance using the number written on that card, a car will come get you.”
Before long, the two of them exchanged contact information as well.
Min Ah-reum even arranged the ride home, and the four girls were able to get into the car and head back comfortably.
They couldn't shake off the afterglow so easily.
All of them looked as though they were floating on cloud nine.
“Sena, this isn't a dream, right?”
“I think it must be a dream. I don't want to wake up.”
“My brother is basically my enemy. I wish I had a brother like that too...”
Seeing her friends envy her, Sena's shoulders rose on their own.
“Well, my brother does go crazy for me. I guess you could call him a total little-sister idiot.”
Jung Sojin, who had been visiting Han Sena's house often since they were children, tilted her head.
Doesn't seem that way to me.
“By the way, what does your brother do?”
“Well...”
Just as Han Sena was about to answer, she paused.
Come to think of it. What exactly does my brother do?