Not Such a Bad Life as a Young Lady...?
Kwon Siyoung was nothing like the disaster cousin I’d imagined.
Sure, showing up at two in the afternoon in a jet-black luxury sedan was hardly ordinary, but even so...
Her voice, her eyes, her manner—none of it was remotely overbearing.
If anything, she was so naturally likable that even I, with no real intimacy to speak of, found myself thinking she was a genuinely good person.
“If our Seah is going to make a fresh start in a good mood, she should at least get herself another designer bag. Right?”
Kwon Siyoung had arrived dressed so extravagantly from head to toe that even I, who knew absolutely nothing about fashion, could tell she’d gone all out.
She’d told me to dress comfortably, then came swaggering in like this, so for a moment I wondered if she was playing some kind of trick on me.
But the more I thought about it, the less it seemed that way. In her tone—her gaze, I guess you’d call it—there was just a heap of concern, so much that it was hard to mistake for anything else.
If she really wanted to mess with me, why bother taking me to a place like this in the first place?
“Has the item I mentioned last time come in yet?”
“I’m sorry, Young Lady. Production still isn’t complete, so we’re waiting on it as well.”
“Ah... tsk... that would’ve been perfect. Black suits Seah best. She’s got the face for a proper young lady...”
Kwon Siyoung made a circle with her finger and gently waved the manager back.
The female manager, with her slicked-back hair and intense, polished smile, was welcoming us as though she’d been training for this moment all her life.
How much did any of this even cost?
There weren’t even price tags, but each one had to be worth at least several million won—easily.
“Seah. Don’t you like any of them?”
“I was thinking the one I’m using now is fine, so nothing’s really jumping out at me.”
“New releases really are the best... Ah! What about this one?”
Sorry, but I’ve only ever seen designer bags in dramas or movies.
And I don’t even have a girlfriend, so even if you show me a bag like this, I won’t know a thing about it!
Kwon Siyoung either didn’t notice or didn’t care about my inner panic. With the air of someone playing dress-up with dolls, she picked up a black leather bag and held it out to me.
The manager took it halfway, then swiftly slipped it onto my shoulder.
“It’s a newly released piece this season. We’ve blended a classic mood with modern sophistication to complete an elegant style.”
What was I supposed to say to that? Classic, modern—honestly, I had no idea what she was talking about.
Wasn’t classic something you put after a game title?
Forget it. In moments like this, I should just throw my cousin under the bus.
“Mm... I think it looks pretty good. What do you think, Siyoung unnie?”
“It suits you perfectly. Let’s get this one. At this level, nobody’s going to dare criticize you.”
...People buy designer bags for that reason?
Just as my head started to spin, Kwon Siyoung pulled a card from her wallet and handed it to the manager.
The bag I’d tried on was returned to the display rack the manager had brought over.
And, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, one of the staff members handed the security guard a glossy paper shopping bag.
“Let’s buy a watch next. There have been so many pretty ones lately.”
I nodded on reflex and quickly pulled out my smartphone.
How much was that bag, anyway? I’d remembered the brand name earlier, so searching it wasn’t hard...
“Huh...?”
What the hell?
I’d only just learned the name “Birkin bag,” and now you’re telling me the basic models go well past ten million won, while rare leathers and limited editions can reach the thirty-million range?
“What’s wrong? Seah?”
So stunned I couldn’t even answer, I stared at the paper shopping bag in the security guard’s hands.
Just how expensive a thing had she bought me as a gift?
And that was after she’d said something about new releases, so...
“I just realized you bought me something way too expensive, unnie...”
“Expensive? Compared to the gifts I got when I entered college, this actually feels cheap. I’m the one who should be sorry.”
So this... was what the life of a chaebol young lady looked like?
She didn’t seem to think the price was expensive at all, and that made it even more impossible to laugh.
* * *
“To our Seah’s fresh start!”
The final stop on Kwon Siyoung’s day-long tour with me was an absurdly luxurious yakiniku restaurant.
The moment we arrived, a woman in a hanbok came out and bowed to us in greeting.
She led us to a VIP room that looked exceptionally private, expensive, and lavish.
“To a fresh start...”
Even for a chaebol heiress, it didn’t seem like they drank hard liquor with their Hanwoo beef.
Brandishing a glass of familiar-looking beer, I raised it in a toast and drained it in one refreshing gulp.
“It must’ve been rough, hearing all those stories after you woke up in the hospital.”
“Mm-hmm... It still doesn’t feel real, but... after sleeping on it, I’m feeling a lot better.”
“Sigh... your mother and your great-uncle both, they really don’t seem to understand that you’ve been sick.”
—Sssssk!
Kwon Siyoung expertly laid a cut of marbled sirloin on the grill.
Seen like this, she looked like a perfectly ordinary woman in her twenties... but then I remembered she’d bought me a designer bag, a wallet, and even a watch today, and all I could see was a chaebol young lady.
...Just how much had she spent on me today? Was it really okay for me to accept all this?
I knew it was stupid to regret it only after I’d already taken everything, but still!!!
“I figured you’d get gloomy if you just stayed home all day, so I practically dragged you out. Was it okay?”
“Of course. I could really tell you were thinking about me, and that made me so happy. As for Mom and Dad...”
When I deliberately let the rest trail off, Kwon Siyoung nodded.
“Yeah. Take your time sorting it out. For me, the funeral was only a month ago, anyway...”
With a smile, she placed a beautifully grilled piece of meat onto my plate.
Ah, right, this was supposed to be a sad, painful scene...
Sorry, but I’m not actually grieving my real parents, so I’m feeling nothing at all?
Without saying a word, I picked up my chopsticks and took the slice of grilled sirloin Kwon Siyoung offered, stuffing it into my mouth.
“Mmmf...”
Whoa... this is seriously delicious!
Is this what they mean when they say it melts in your mouth?!
It’s ridiculously, absurdly, insanely good!
How can meat even taste like this?
“I know it’s not easy to suddenly spill everything and make a fresh start~ Still, if anything gets too hard, tell me, okay?”
“Yes, unnie...”
I spoke as though I were trying to look sad, but...
No, seriously, this is too good. No, really, this is so good I could eat it all day long!
—Munch munch, gulp!
“Look at her eating... Be honest with me. You didn’t even eat lunch because you were overwhelmed and just sprawled out on your bed, did you?”
“Ah... well...”
“Sigh... I knew it! You’re just like your aunt! I’ll grill it for you, so eat faster, eat faster! First, let’s get some food in you!”
Kwon Siyoung, making a completely outrageous misunderstanding, kept grilling more meat and serving it to me one piece at a time.
Wow... can I really live this casually? Is this actually okay?
But the meat was melting in my mouth and so delicious that I was too happy to care, right?
“Gulp...!”
If I could live my whole life eating delicious food and buying whatever I wanted, there’d never be a boring day again!
* * *
“Ah...”
I flopped around on the bed, blankly staring at the ceiling I’d already grown used to.
“I’m bored... nothing... is fun... my life is such a total waste of time...”
No, seriously... this is unfair.
I’d thought the life of a chaebol family’s youngest daughter would be a nonstop dopamine festival, with joy exploding every single day.
But it really, truly wasn’t.
“Ugh!”
Honestly, the first week had been fun.
Unlike the old days when I’d sometimes get by on nothing but instant ramen, even the food that went into my mouth was different, and that alone made me happy.
But that pleasure from eating... honestly, it didn’t last long.
First of all, Young Lady Kwon Seah’s stomach was catastrophically tiny, so I couldn’t eat much.
And eating turned out to be surprisingly easy to get used to.
“Tsk...”
Of course, it was still fun to dig through delivery apps and try all kinds of new foods I’d never have dared order before...
But that happiness lasted only a moment while I was eating, and no human being could eat twenty-four hours a day.
Once I looked away from food, there were clothes, bags, accessories, and all the rest, but I just wasn’t interested.
I wasn’t interested enough that even hearing they were expensive or famous didn’t do anything for me.
“Ugh... was it golf... or skydiving...? I don’t get what’s fun about any of that at all...”
Since I was so bored, I tried a few hobbies that basically amounted to burning money, but none of them really did it for me.
To begin with, I didn’t even like running around from place to place, and having to act like Kwon Seah made it all feel way too burdensome.
Pretending to be a chaebol heiress while trying hobbies I’d never once experienced or enjoyed in my life was, to be honest, nothing but stress.
“Dopamine... I need dopamine...”
So when I came to my senses, I was either staring at the ceiling blankly or killing time on YouTube.
Honestly, if I were a man, I’d at least use all this money to pick up women...
Was it because I had the body of a beautiful woman? That sort of thing held even less appeal to me than eating did.
Could a woman even buy another woman with money in the first place? I didn’t think so...
“Ah... can life really be this damn boring?”
That didn’t mean I was going to work, though.
If I had four billion won sitting in my account, who the hell would be crazy enough to go work?
Besides, even after a month had passed, there wasn’t a single relative expecting me to get a job.
Starting with Grandpa, then my great-aunt and great-uncle too.
No one was going to interfere if I lazed around all day, so there was no way I was going to work.
“I have to do something. Anything... something...”
Come to think of it, the last time I was poking around my smartphone, I saw that a few games were already installed, didn’t I?
Should I play one of those? Or maybe just download a new release and give it a try?
—Bzzzzzt!
“Ah, crap! J-jesus, you startled me!”
Suddenly, the smartphone in my hand buzzed.
Startled, I checked the screen and found the most obvious promotional text imaginable.
『Pioneer! Our adventure has only just begun! Hurry and board the train!』
“Pre-registration?”
What kind of life had Young Lady Kwon Seah been living, exactly?
Why would she pre-register for a mobile game like this?
Come to think of it, I used to be pretty serious about these games, didn’t I?
I’d worked hard enough to write strategy guides and even run a guild...
“When was that again... did I quit everything while I was preparing for the civil service exam?”
These mobile games really do suck up an absurd amount of time and money.
You start out planning to keep things casual, and before you know it, you’ve poured in a ridiculous amount of cash...
“...Huh?”
Wait. What was I overflowing with right now?
Money and time, right?
“... ...Should I give it a try? This even looks like a new release.”
Impact: Galaxy Train
The trailer attached to the pre-registration text made my heart start pounding.
The graphics were cleaner and prettier than I expected.
The OST sounded great.
And because I’d played mobile games before, it had that unmistakable subculture smell to it—something I could enjoy without much pressure.
“Whoa, it’s turn-based? Then the whale wins no matter what, right?”
And that was how I set foot on the path of the full-dol-ful-jae whale owner.