After what had happened with Jiho, Suho came to reflect on how distant the relationships among his family had become lately.
Each member of the family had a great many things going on, and everyone had been too busy spending money to come home often, which only made matters worse.
Even when they did come home, they were now more likely than not to pass each other without meeting in that spacious, empty house.
Suddenly, he found himself missing the days when they had all crowded together in their small home.
The cramped space had made them sensitive, and they had fought often, but he even found himself thinking that those days had been good because of that.
Suho picked up his phone and opened the family messenger.
- Me: It’d be nice if we all had a meal together for once... How about this Saturday?
- Dad: Uh, sorry. I have a golf gathering.
- Mom: I have my travel club meeting too.
- Suji: I have a band dinner.
- Jiho: I’m free.
“Phew... So that’s how it is...”
- Me: I have some special items that only come from the Tower, and I was going to hand them out... Well then, I’ll do it next time.
- Jiho: I’m free.
- Mom: Come to think of it, I don’t think skipping this would be a big problem.
- Dad: Oh, wait. I think the golf gathering is next week.
- Suji: I’ll tell them to eat without me.
- Me: =ㅅ=
“These people...”
Suho let out a small laugh at his family’s sudden change of heart.
After work, the first place Suho went was Jiho’s room.
He knocked and entered to find Jiho playing a game with an expression as though he had lost the whole world.
There was still a pallet of cash in the room, its wrapping untouched, while bundles of money lay scattered across the floor.
“What are you doing?”
“Uh... Hyung.”
“What are you, a chaebol shut-in? What happened to this room?”
“I’ll... clean it up.”
“How’s the casino? You don’t seem to be going these days.”
“Yeah, it’s been a while since I went.”
“Why?”
“It’s just... not fun anymore. Winning or losing, it doesn’t matter. That’s how gambling is, I guess...”
“Hmm... Is that so? What a shame. I was thinking I might give it a try if you kept saying it was fun.”
“Don’t. It’s not fun...”
“Jiho.”
“What?”
“Try finding something you want to do.”
“There isn’t really anything I want to do.”
“That’s because you’re only looking for something grand. Don’t look for things like that. Start with something small. It’ll help.”
“Something small... Ah!”
“Hm?”
“So that’s why you keep going to the agency? To do something small?”
“Well, that’s one reason. Since we’re on the subject, let’s do something small together.”
“What?”
“We decided to have a family gathering, remember? This Saturday.”
“Oh, right. Is there really anything to do?”
“Let’s eat somewhere amazing, in style. We have plenty of money, so let’s arrange something impressive for once.”
Suho tipped his chin toward the money.
Jiho gave him a bitter smile, as if asking what he meant.
“Hey, you can’t forget where you came from. Even if it doesn’t seem like a big deal, forgetting it would be incredibly pathetic. Back then—hey, it wasn’t that long ago. How many years has it been? How many decades? We used to tremble even when we ate a single serving of samgyeopsal.”
“That’s right... We’d eat only a little meat,”
“And lots of rice!”
“And grill it so damn salty.”
“Heh heh, you remember?”
“Are we having samgyeopsal this time?”
“Yeah—no, I mean, that’s how we used to be. This time, let’s prepare and enjoy the things we wanted to eat back then but couldn’t. It’ll be fun, right?”
“Yeah.”
Only then did Jiho smile warmly.
* * *
After finishing his SimCity project in the subspace storage, Suho spent a great deal of time organizing and cleaning every corner.
Everything was brand-new to begin with, and the air inside the storage was so clean that it could hardly have been cleaner, so there was little that could actually get dirty.
Still, after cleaning everything and arranging it neatly, he felt good just looking at it.
The more effort he put into things, and the more his hands touched them, the more strongly they felt like his own.
Around the time there was nothing left to organize, Suho became absorbed in a new hobby: “collecting analog items.”
From retro and vintage ornaments to various devices, he collected all kinds of things indiscriminately.
Old-fashioned lamps, wind-up clocks, typewriters, film cameras, turntables, LP records, well-aged leather goods, wooden ornaments, various kinds of paper, fountain pens, pencils, brass paperweights, wax seals, and so on—
He gathered up piles of analog items that were hardly used in the modern era, displaying them and trying them out.
In a world plastered with wearable smart devices, the mood evoked by vintage analog items was something different.
He even had a complete hand-drip coffee set, and beside the coffee he brewed cup by cup sat scented candles releasing a gentle fragrance.
Suho had become so immersed in collecting things that some might call old-fashioned or even pathetic.
Ravi found the storage owner’s unusual hobby fascinating.
“Hmm, these... are different somehow.”
“Right? They’re incredibly different from the things on Earth right now. A lot of them carry the passage of time. That’s the charm of analog.”
“Hmm...”
“Well, I was born in 2010, so I’m not from a generation with a whole lot of memories connected to things like these. But they make you do things more inconveniently and more slowly. They also offer a much more physical, tactile experience.”
“So you gain leisure.”
“Oh, exactly! You’re pretty sharp, Ravi.”
“I am a long-lived species, after all.”
Ravi adorably shrugged her tiny shoulders.
“Besides, this is an ultra-high-tech world where everything goes whoosh, bang, click—quickly, easily, conveniently. Maybe that’s why even my boring life seems to get boring faster... So I thought I might deliberately try living a little more slowly.”
Humming as he filled a fountain pen with ink, Suho looked happier than ever.
* * *
For the family meal, Suho and Jiho looked into various arrangements.
The first thing was the venue.
They began by preparing a private party to be held aboard an expensive yacht cruising the Han River.
They invited a famous Michelin-starred chef and asked him to prepare a variety of dishes.
Caviar, sushi, sashimi, steak, lobster, and so on, along with premium wine and even a cocktail bar—
They also invited a jazz band to perform and hired dedicated staff.
Flower decorations and a photo booth were added bonuses.
On the appointed Saturday,
the family, who had thought they were simply going to have a meal at home together for the first time in a while, were bewildered from the moment they were given an escort in luxury sedans.
When they arrived at the yacht party venue, they all stood there with their mouths hanging open.
“Oh my, boys. What is all this?”
“Wow... Our son’s scale has... gotten enormous.”
“Wow... I never knew you boys had this kind of sense...”
Suho and Jiho, who had prepared everything, greeted their family with broad smiles at their reactions.
The Management Bureau’s bodyguards could not board the yacht and waited at the pier, but Joshua and the androids came aboard and took up positions, keeping watch over the surroundings.
Only a few months ago, this had been a poor family.
Although they had suddenly come into an enormous amount of money, most of them—apart from Jiho, who had caused trouble with gambling—had not been able to spend much of it.
The truth was, only people who had used money before knew how to spend it. Newly rich people lacked experience with effective consumption, and were bound to spend it awkwardly.
They would also be anxious that the money might suddenly disappear, and they would lack the experience, knowledge, and connections of the upper class.
To Suho, who possessed wealth on a cosmic scale, neither the life of ordinary people nor the luxury lifestyle seemed to have any particular significance.
Still, he thought there was nothing wrong with occasionally having experiences like this.
Looking down at the Han River glittering beneath the lights, he found his mother and Suji especially delighted.
The two of them simply could not stop taking pictures.
Even as the family of five chatted noisily, the jazz melody continued without pause, filling the spaces between them.
“Suho, the atmosphere here is so nice.”
“Do you like it, Mom?”
“Of course I do. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have dinner somewhere like this every evening?”
“Really? Then should we just buy the whole thing? Instead of renting it?”
“Huh? B-buy it?”
“Ah... No, I was joking.”
“You call that a joke?”
Suho hurriedly tried to take back what he had said.
In truth, buying the entire yacht and enjoying parties aboard it every day would have been no trouble at all.
But after giving it some thought, he decided it was not a good idea.
If he turned this “special experience” into an “ordinary part of everyday life” that he could enjoy every day, the pleasure it brought would disappear as well.
That would certainly not be a good choice.
Special things were best left special.
After they had spent time chatting about how each of them had been doing,
after they had patted their full stomachs following the delicious meal,
and after they had become pleasantly intoxicated by the music, the atmosphere, and the fine wines,
Suho brought up the main topic.
“There are two things I’d like to tell you.”
Everyone in the family turned their attention to Suho.
“First, let’s have gatherings like this regularly. Once a month, or twice at most. What do you think?”
“Sounds good!”
“I’m in!”
“Me too.”
“I like this idea too.”
“The second thing is... this.”
Suho took out a basket he had prepared in advance.
Five radiant bottles stood neatly arranged inside it.
Rather than the titanium bottles he had used before, these were high-quality reinforced glass bottles that Suho had newly acquired. Inside them, the [Anti-Aging Elixir] sloshed gently.
“What... is that?”
His father asked as he adjusted his glasses.
“Hmm, it looks like something unusual... Is it expensive liquor?”
“Oppa, is that... could it possibly be...”
Quick-witted Suji moved her lips, about to say something.
Suho had actually been debating whether to reveal that it was the “Anti-Aging Elixir.”
But an elixir was an unprecedented item, something that had never yet appeared on Earth. An elixir that prevented aging, no less—it would be enough to turn the world upside down.
No matter how strictly he instructed his family to keep quiet, it seemed likely to become troublesome and exhausting.
Besides, no matter what excuse he made, it would not be difficult. There was no chance that his ordinary family members had ever tasted a potion before.
“This is... a [Top-Grade Regeneration Potion].”
“A potion? Heeey...?”
“Why would you give us that? Isn’t that something the Admitti who climb the Tower are supposed to use?”
“I heard potions are incredibly rare... and extremely expensive.”
“That’s right. They’re extremely precious. But you know what my ability is—bringing back items like these from the Tower. So I sell some of them, and I brought some home for our family.”
“Oh, Suho, I’m fine. What would I do eating something so expensive? I think I’d get indigestion just looking at it.”
His mother waved both hands dismissively.
Suho merely grinned.
“You’ll change your mind once you try it. Come on, don’t be shy. Take one each.”
Suho handed out the bottles, and the family members, each holding one before they knew what was happening, fidgeted uncertainly.
“It’s extremely expensive, so don’t put it away for safekeeping. Drink it right now. Let’s make a toast with it.”
“R-right now? Here?”
“How much does it cost?”
“Yes, right now. Come on, raise your bottles. I’ll tell you how much it costs only after you’ve finished every drop. To the unity of our family!”
“To, to the unity!”
Suho downed his Anti-Aging Elixir in one gulp, and the rest of the family emptied their bottles while watching him.
Then, an astonishing change appeared.
“Whoa... What is this...?”
“Good heavens... Look at this. My body feels so... light.”
His mother and father, who had originally lacked energy, were unable to comprehend the sudden transformation taking place in their bodies.
Their bodies had abruptly changed from those of people in their sixties to the condition of people in their late teens. There was no way they could adapt easily.
Jiho also opened his eyes wide at the change in his newly lightened body.
Only Suji, who was still just twenty-three, did not feel much of a difference. She merely muttered, “Is it really that much...? I’m not sure.”
His mother, who had been too shocked to close her mouth, barely recovered her senses and asked,
“S-so... how much did you say one bottle costs?”
“Well... the average winning auction price for a Top-Grade Regeneration Potion is... 200 billion won.”
“Gasp!”
“Cough!”
“Eek! That’s crazy. I shouldn’t have drunk it! I don’t even really know if it’s that great...”
His father and mother sucked in startled breaths, while Suji jumped up and down, lamenting the waste.
Jiho also let his mouth fall open at the words “200 billion.”
Two hundred billion won was more than twice the piles of cash filling his room.
This tiny bottle was worth 200 billion won? It was hard to believe.
Although they were shocked, his parents continued to react in a dazed fashion to the potion’s effects.
“This isn’t just a boost of vitality... It’s almost as if...”
“You feel younger, don’t you, dear?”
“That’s right.”
“This is insane! Oppa, does that mean the five of us just drank one trillion won’s worth in the blink of an eye? This is crazy. Seriously... Ahh...”
Two hundred billion won.
In truth, the Anti-Aging Elixir was priceless.
It was an elixir that did not exist on Earth.
A miraculous medicine that instantly fixed every function of the body at the peak of its physical prime.
Its effects lasted for ten years, so taking it once every ten years would extend one’s lifespan by more than tenfold.
The [Anti-Aging Elixir] was an elixir that allowed a person to live for over a thousand years while maintaining the physical condition of someone in their teens.
If he put one up for auction to the great tycoons of the world, would its price really settle at a mere 200 billion won per bottle?
At the very least, the price would surely rise into the trillions per bottle.
“Anyway, I’m glad it worked. Though Suji seems a little regretful. In any case, this is all I managed to obtain. Top-grade ones aren’t exactly common, so I’ll share more if I manage to get any again.”
He shouldn’t give them the impression that it was easy to obtain.
Otherwise, they might start asking for one whenever they felt tired, like an energy drink.
* * *
“Come on, move over. I’m driving.”
Suho, absorbed in his analog pastime, told Minsu to get out and took the driver’s seat.
At Suho’s command, Minsu and Minji moved to the back seats, while Joshua sat in the passenger seat.
“Uh... Which button is it? Ah, here it is.”
Suho touched the screen and switched the vehicle’s driving mode from [Autonomous Driving] to [Manual].
“That’s dangerous.”
“Autonomous driving is absolutely safer.”
Minsu and Minji continued to object even from the back seat.
“Quiet. I have a driver’s license too, you know.”
Joshua eyed Suho suspiciously before asking casually,
“How long has it been since you last held a steering wheel?”
“Hmm... Not very long.”
It was true. It really had not been very long.
He had gotten his license only a few years ago.
The problem was that the first time he had ever held a steering wheel was also the last, when he had taken the road test to get his license.
After that, he had not owned a car, and once he had started making a lot of money, he had ridden only autonomous vehicles.
Even so, for some reason, Suho stubbornly insisted that he would drive.
Joshua let out a quiet sigh and surrounded the entire vehicle with a shield.