Joo Do-hyeon, Direct Descendant of S Company.
Joo Do-hyeon, Direct Descendant of S Company.
Dad was cooking when he suddenly said something, like it just crossed his mind.
"Ah? I'm supposed to stream today, totally forgot. Si-yoon, help me set up."
As I was taking Da-yeon with me to set up the camera, Da-yeon tilted her head.
"What kind of stream?"
"The usual, a vlog."
"Ah!"
"Da-yeon, you want to be in the vlog too?"
"...My dad said I shouldn't show up in the media too often..."
"It's fine, we're just going to chat among ourselves."
"Okay! Then I want to!"
"Then go change your clothes first. The way you look now is a little much for other people to see."
"Okayyy."
Dad looked at me and made the same remark.
"You go change too."
"Why me~~!"
"You're asking because you don't know? Hurry up and change."
Dad turned on the stream and was cooking by himself while chatting with his fans.
When I appeared next, people went wild cheering.
Comments from people who'd wanted me to cut my hair short poured in.
- Hi, Si-yoon~
- Hi, Yuja~
I gave a wave and quietly sat down on the sofa.
- Si-yoon!
- Talk to usss~~
"What."
- AAAAAAAH!!!
Dad was clearly a global star selected by Forbus, but whenever the stream went on, more people came looking for me.
I deleted the people in the chat one by one as they spammed 'AAAAAAAH' and crossed the line with their messages.
People were flooding in endlessly anyway.
That was when a few people started asking me to give them a reality check.
"A reality check? Okay, just watch with a smile and don't regret it."
There are loads of articles about how Dad and I don't go overboard with luxury goods and live frugally.
If I searched right now, including overseas, there'd definitely be an article from within the last hour somewhere.
But it had all started one time when a viewer asked if I ate jjajangmyeon, and I answered that I had it about once a week.
Questions about my allowance started pouring in endlessly.
The allowance I get regularly from Dad is 100,000 won a month.
Dad keeps a diary-like record of the allowance he gives me, and I've got plenty of money besides that, so it doesn't mean much.
When I mentioned my allowance, I saw a comment saying 'not much lol,' and I smirked, picked up the camera, and just sat down by the living room window and looked outside.
Past my overwhelming looks...
The scenery outside the window, with the sunset glowing beautifully.
It's probably a view anyone living in Seoul faces all the time, but
looking down from a high floor, the beauty of Seoul was spread out outside the window like a painting.
"The building's my dad's, by the way."
That one line had the viewers reeling with huge groans and a reality check.
That's right. This was what viewers meant when they asked me to give them a reality check.
At first the pushback was severe, but at some point it became a meme.
It seemed to reflect people's curiosity about how South Korea's wealthiest families actually lived.
That was how people ended up seeing my dressing room while I was showing off the apartment.
The clothes that Kim Seon-hwa had bought for me one by one as I grew up appeared on the stream, and people on Neotube even started analyzing the prices of the clothes, having gotten my permission first.
And the crowning touch... was my wallet.
When they said to give them a reality check, I showed them the wallet inside my bag without thinking.
The wallet Dad bought me is from a brand that's more expensive than you'd think.
What stood out more than the fairly expensive brand itself were the three checks and the wallet stuffed with golden 50,000-won bills.
And the cards that were briefly shown.
The black card Lee Jin-seok gave me was kept out of sight so it wasn't revealed, but
everyone seemed curious about my cards, since they looked unfamiliar, so I pulled them out one by one and showed them.
"This one Dad gave me to use....."
That was how a meme was born.
'Give me a reality check.'
Right on cue, Da-yeon came over to the house to hang out.
It was a staged scene, of course.
Da-yeon was wearing a mask.
"Ah, this is my best friend. Her name's Da-yeon."
"Hello~"
- Da-yeon?
- That Da-yeon...?
- For real, is this the Lee Da-yeon from Hanseong we know?
- Whoa... look at the level of her friends... insane.
- Birds of a feather flock together... The upper class stay with the upper class.
- Can't you show us a reality check together with Da-yeon?
"A reality check would hit you pretty hard if you visited Da-yeon's grandfather's house or dropped by Da-yeon's family headquarters..."
- Holy shit... that's seriously on another level.
- Whoa... this stream content is insane... the global corporation Hanseong, from the daughter's perspective, LOL. Holy shit.
- You could totally tour the restricted areas of Hanseong off-limits to outsiders.
"Da-yeon, do you have your wallet?"
"Huh? No, I left it at home...?"
"Hmm... Then want me to show them Dad's collection...?"
"Your dad? He has a collection?"
"Yeah, want to see?"
"Yeah! I want to."
Everyone seemed curious about what Dad collected.
When I opened one of the doors, a long corridor-like room stretched out, packed with neatly arranged shoes.
Here and there, individual shoes were on display under spotlights.
"Whoa."
I looked at the comments and spoke.
"This stuff, honestly even I don't know exactly how much it's worth at current market prices. Dad told me way too long ago. You guys can figure it out on your own."
Da-yeon looked around, focusing on the women's sneakers.
"So pretty."
"Want them?"
"Nah... They're your dad's."
"No, Dad said for the stuff he's got collected there, you can buy it as long as you have the money."
"Really?"
"Yeah, you can try them on."
But Da-yeon tried a pair on and was disappointed, since the shoe size was bigger than her feet.
"And when I touch the stuff here, he's super sensitive about it, so I don't really know the prices."
Just then Dad called from far away.
"Si-yoon~?"
"WHAAAT!!!"
"Ah, you were in here?"
Dad, who'd figured out my location from my yell, came into the room and saw the shoes Da-yeon had tried on.
"Want to give these to Da-yeon?"
"No, they don't fit my feet."
"This one comes in other sizes, come over here."
As I'd thought, Dad didn't seem to care much except for a few items he considered important.
"Dad, people were asking how much this one is?"
Dad was looking at the gold-colored shoes I was pointing to.
"This one, hmm... it's a bit expensive. If I say how much, people might not like it. Let's stop looking and go out and eat."
I leaned into the mic attached to the camera and whispered quietly.
"The ones Da-yeon tried on? Two years ago they were 9 million won. As for the rest, I'll leave it to your imagination..."
Dad said people might not like it if they knew the price, though.
His actions didn't match.
This was the same dad who'd hand a 9-million-won item to a kid like it was a toy.
I threw off the school uniform I'd gotten attached to over three years and changed into the new one.
I was pretty into the fact that this uniform had a darker color scheme.
As soon as I got the uniform, I hiked the skirt way up to make it sexy, and got smacked by Dad as a bonus.
No regrets. A welcome initiation ceremony for a new uniform was only proper.
As expected, a school within walking distance was the absolute best.
Kim Tae-oh had shot up to 172cm over the break before anyone knew it, making him 2cm taller than Da-yeon.
And Park Ji-hoon was 188cm... growing with no end in sight.
I was now at a point where I couldn't call people runts anymore...
161.6cm... In the end I couldn't reach 165 and my height seemed to have stopped where it was,
coming up to the height of Da-yeon's nose.
My height difference with Park Ji-hoon was starting to reach 26cm, and I only came up to Park Ji-hoon's chest.
"Ack? Did your height stop? You're fucking tiny."
I planted a calf kick right into him, and with a smack! Park Ji-hoon flinched and steadied himself.
"Are you crazy?!"
I lightly ignored Park Ji-hoon and walked on, and Da-yeon stuck right by my side and walked with me.
Da-yeon, who outclassed me in everything except looks and proportions...
That tiny, cute Da-yeon...
My very own Da-yeon...
Had become an adult.
Now when Da-yeon hugged me, it felt like I was being held in Da-yeon's arms...
Park Ji-hoon kept touching my hair from next to me.
I smacked Park Ji-hoon's hand away lightly and fast.
"Get lost."
"You grew it out for ages, why'd you cut it again?"
Park Ji-hoon looked at me staying silent, then shrugged to himself.
Then he tapped me on the shoulder, and I stared at him.
"I've got an amateur match next weekend, you're coming, right?"
"Really? Got to go watch a fight. Can you bring food in? I need to pack popcorn."
"Probably can. I'll ask."
"Fine, then get lost now."
Hearing me, Ji-hoon held his ground like he'd gotten worked up.
I gestured for Park Ji-hoon to go away and went on.
"I've got stuff to talk about with Da-yeon, okay? Go over there and hang out with Tae-oh."
"....."
The moment Ji-hoon left, I tried to put an arm around Da-yeon's shoulder, but it was too high up.
I looked at her shoes and saw she was wearing the ones Dad gave her last time, sneakers packed with air cushioning.
As I was staring at Da-yeon, our eyes met and Da-yeon laughed awkwardly.
"I'm... jealous... of your height too..."
"Si-yoon is suuuper~ pretty, you know~"
"What good is a flashy face when my body's like this..."
I poked at my chest and Da-yeon wrapped me in a hug to cover me.
"Don't do that outside!"
If anyone else had heard what I said, I'd probably have gotten slapped for humblebragging, but
compared to Da-yeon right next to me, it really was a body that looked pretty lacking.
"No way! I'm the one who's jealous of Si-yoon..."
"Heh... That's just making fun of what someone doesn't have."
"!!! No it's not!!"
I laughed and tried to pat Da-yeon's head like I always did, but it was too high up.
Da-yeon looked at my hand and then bowed her head, like she was asking to be patted.
"Aren't you... growing a little too fast?"
"My mom said the same thing~"
We walked along chatting, and before we knew it we'd reached the school area.
Not many students seemed to walk to school like us, because a lot of cars were going by,
and maybe because it was a school Lee Jin-seok had chosen, spaceship-looking supercars were driving past too.
Even with dazzling supercars filling the area around the school, every pair of eyes was fixed on me and Da-yeon.
People said my looks could make even most girl-group idols look plain, but Da-yeon stood beside me without being overshadowed at all.
And that overwhelming body no one could dare rival.
It was more than enough to capture all the boys' attention.
Da-yeon acted pretty naturally now, like she'd gotten used to those kinds of stares.
We arrived at the classroom under countless gazes, and as expected, all eyes were on us, and just like in middle school we went and sat at the four empty desks.
"Yay~ Si-yoon and I are seatmates."
"Yeah~ Da-yeon and I are seatmates~"
The moment I sat down, I opened up a fantasy novel in English like it was second nature and started reading, and Da-yeon opened a book and studied.
That was when... the door at the front rattled open with a clunk.
Five guys and one pretty girl walked in.
The pretty girl was practically nestled in the arms of a fat guy.
Da-yeon flinched when she saw the fat guy's face.
"...?"
No matter how I looked, I didn't recognize him, but
the fat guy who had the girl in his arms looked at Da-yeon, gave a greasy smile, and started walking over.
I got a video recording going on my phone just in case of anything and slipped it into my chest pocket.
Coming in with a girl in his arms... made me wonder if he was really seventeen.
A scene straight out of some third-rate wannabe gangster movie...
Even so, the fat guy walked right up to us, so close he was in our faces.
"Wow~ You go to this school too?"
Kim Tae-oh recognized him and got up first to approach him, and the guy, seeing Kim Tae-oh's face, went 'whoops~', raised his hands, and backed off.
"Hello."
"Yeah, nice to see you~ But a dog should know to move out of the way on its own, shouldn't it?"
"That will be difficult. This is my assignment, so please make a separate appointment with Miss Da-yeon."
Everyone's attention was on Tae-oh and this fat bastard.
"What are you talking about~ She'll be mine once we're adults anyway."
"Could you... kindly refrain from insolent remarks...?"
The pig flinched at the look in Tae-oh's eyes, but
smirked and leaned his face in toward Tae-oh.
"What? Gonna hit me? Can you handle the consequences?"
I watched the scene with my chin propped on my hand.
The pig's eyes met mine and lit up.
"Oh! Miho! I'm a huge fan by the way, you're fucking gorgeous... Want to be mine?"
Miho was the character name I went by in 'My Love Was a Gumiho.'
"What the hell is this pig bastard saying? Guess the fat hasn't clogged your airways—you seem to be breathing just fine."
"....."
The pig had not expected me to jump straight to cussing him out without a second's thought, even on a first meeting.
He looked thrown off and didn't say a word.
I asked Da-yeon.
"Someone you know?"
"Uh... yeah, his name's Joo Do-hyeon."
"Ah~"
There was only one person in Korea with the surname Joo who'd talk that kind of shit to Hanseong's daughter.
S (Es) Company...
When I ignored Joo Do-hyeon, he smirked and came over to me.
"I said be mine. I'll make you my mistress."
When he approached me, Tae-oh blocked his way, and Joo Do-hyeon slapped Tae-oh across the cheek.
"Tae-oh!"
"This motherfucker keeps blocking the way when people are trying to walk... Fucking annoying."
I put a hand on the startled Da-yeon's shoulder.
That was when Ji-hoon, who had been behind us, stood up and walked over, rolling his shoulders.
Park Ji-hoon's 188cm height and broad shoulders gave off an intimidating air, but Joo Do-hyeon didn't seem fazed.
"What are you sup—"
SMACK!
Park Ji-hoon slapped the S Company heir right across the face.
"Pig bastard's got a lot to say."
And then... Joo Do-hyeon, after being slapped by Ji-hoon, went airborne for what felt like three seconds.
"AAAAAH!"
The girl who had been nestled at his side screamed in surprise.
And Da-yeon next to me was horrified, and Kim Tae-oh's eyes went wide.
No matter how much Park Ji-hoon was a crazy bastard with no one backing him,
it seemed no one had imagined he'd slap an S Company direct descendant without a second's hesitation.
The four who were with him must have been bodyguards, because they sized up the situation and immediately lunged at Ji-hoon.
They rushed him with flashy moves straight out of a movie, all apparently skilled in their own right, but each and every one of them caught a single slap from Ji-hoon before going to sleep.
With the smack! of palm connecting with the last one's cheek, Ji-hoon dusted off his hands.
"What's with the swarm of flies already, and it's barely spring..."
In the chilled classroom, not even the sound of breathing could be heard.
And Park Ji-hoon, as if savoring the attention, slowly walked back to his seat and sat down.
Without looking at him, I held out my fist toward Ji-hoon, and Park Ji-hoon bumped it.
S Company, huh...
Looks like a fun high school is about to start...