####
“Haaahm…”
After looking at the night view for a long while, I sat down on the sofa.
A sofa that seemed far better than the one I’d bought.
Even the quality of the leather felt different.
As expected, sofas like this, sold in high-end furniture stores, were on another level.
Later, once I developed an eye for furniture and got good at decorating rooms, I really should live in a place furnished like a rich person’s house.
I still didn’t know enough to live like that now.
I’d even felt a little embarrassed coming into the hotel earlier.
I was loitering around in nothing but a tracksuit with no luggage at all, while staff in suits kept following along beside me.
“I really do need to buy clothes soon.”
I’d been wondering if I should buy a hoodie, but if I was going to be spending money like this from now on, I felt like I should go around wearing something a bit more formal.
A suit, something safe?
Even if it wasn’t a suit, people wore things like blazers a lot these days, so wouldn’t that be fine?
“Tomorrow’s plan.”
Muttering to myself, I took out my phone and unfolded it.
Saying I unfolded my phone still felt a little awkward.
“It’s the best for taking notes.”
I unfolded the phone and pulled out the pen.
Then I began scribbling down what I had to do tomorrow.
“First, there’s an outlet and a department store nearby, so I’ll go there and buy some neat clothes to wear around.”
A suit.
Then I’d have to buy a women’s suit.
“These days women wear suit pants a lot too, so it should be fine.”
No skirts.
I still couldn’t allow that.
I was already wearing underwear on top and bottom, but still. Something about it. Something…
“…This is really hard.”
I had been clutching my head for a moment when the phone suddenly rang.
It wasn’t my cell phone, so I looked around, searching for where the sound was coming from, and stood up.
“Is that it?”
After glancing around the room a little, one phone caught my eye.
It was placed in the bedroom.
“Wow… why does even the phone look like this?”
A luxurious black phone in a Gothic style.
Because it wasn’t glossy, it felt even more elegant.
It looked so expensive I was almost afraid to touch it, so I’d tried not to, but it wasn’t like I could just leave it ringing.
Left with no choice, I carefully picked up the receiver.
“Hello.”
[This is Han Arang from the front desk. Am I speaking with our guest Choi Yeonbi, currently staying in Royal Suite Room 2103?]
It seemed to be the female employee I’d seen earlier.
But did hotels normally call like this?
‘Isn’t it usually the other way around?’
As far as I knew, if you needed something or there was a problem, it was usually the guest who called the front desk from their room.
While I tilted my head for a moment, the employee’s voice came through again. It was crisp and even in tone, and genuinely pleasant to listen to.
[We sincerely hope you are having a comfortable day. I’m calling to inform you regarding tomorrow’s scheduled breakfast buffet.]
Breakfast buffet was included, but did they normally notify you like this?
I wasn’t sure.
So I just stayed quiet and listened.
[Breakfast is served from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. in the lounge on the 16th floor of the hotel. In addition, Royal Suite guests are provided with dedicated seating and personalized service.]
Hearing that, I was a little surprised.
The breakfast buffets I knew were the kind where, once it was time, you went down on your own, sat wherever, and brought back whatever you wanted to eat.
‘It really is different.’
Well, it was 1.3 million won a night. If they didn’t at least have this much, people would probably say spending the money had been a waste.
[If you have a preferred time, we can prepare your seat in advance. May I ask what time you plan to visit?]
‘I didn’t really come with anything decided.’
A hotel I’d booked on a whim. A schedule for tomorrow I was suddenly making up.
In a situation like this, deciding what time I’d eat breakfast felt strange too.
A life without plans.
Maybe I was living so planlessly because I’d finally gained some leisure.
I smiled faintly to myself and answered.
“No, I didn’t really decide on anything.”
[Understood. If your schedule is decided later, please contact the front desk. Also, if your schedule is busy, you may substitute breakfast with room service, so we would appreciate it if you could keep that in mind.]
There were so many things I was hearing for the first time in my life.
From breakfast reservations to room service.
This wasn’t the hotel buffet I knew.
It wasn’t that I disliked it, but my head felt a little complicated.
“Um… understood.”
[Thank you for your valuable time. Have a comfortable night.]
And with that, the call ended.
“Whew…”
Somehow, the tension drained out of me, and a sigh slipped out on its own.
It was nice. Everything was nice, but it was uncomfortable.
“It feels like I’m being overprotected.”
If I was going to live enjoying services like this from now on, I’d have to get used to it to some extent.
I couldn’t freeze up or worry like this every time.
“That’s that, and for now, should I open the fridge?”
Talking about breakfast suddenly reminded me of the “free minibar access” listed among the services.
I ran over at once and yanked open the refrigerator.
“Wow!”
Alcohol, drinks, and snacks filled the inside.
High-end liquor whose names I’d heard somewhere, snacks and ice cream rumored to be expensive.
And familiar beers, along with water that had come all the way from France.
In other rooms, all of this was charged. They said you paid separately for whatever you consumed.
“Shall I see what French water tastes like?”
But in the room I’d reserved, everything was free.
Honestly, it didn’t matter whether it was free or not, but didn’t “It’s all free” feel better than “If you eat this, you have to pay”?
There was a saying that if you loved free things too much, you’d go bald, but it wasn’t like I was obsessed with free stuff.
The feeling was what mattered, the feeling.
Anyway, I gulped down the famous French water.
And almost spat it all out right then and there.
“…Why does it taste like this?”
The water felt strangely slippery somehow. It didn’t go down refreshingly either.
To begin with, it just didn’t taste very good.
“…If I’d paid money to drink this, I definitely would’ve regretted it.”
Shaking my head, I closed the plastic bottle cap and shoved it back into the fridge.
Maybe my palate was just adjusted to Jeju water or cost-effective water from convenience stores.
To get rid of the subtle dryness still lingering in my mouth, I took out a snack from inside.
Butter cookies.
They were cookies from a brand I’d never seen before, but the packaging looked quite luxurious.
And as befitting that luxury, the cookies inside were tiny.
“…Delicious.”
This one passed.
The savory, soft cookie.
It had a crisp feeling when I chewed it, but once it entered my mouth, it melted away and disappeared.
Since my stomach was already empty, it tasted even more blissful.
“Oh, right. I need to eat dinner.”
Tonight’s dinner would be room service.
I brought the menu and sat down at the dining table.
Every single item on the menu was incredible.
“Grilled lamb chops… premium sirloin… What the heck is a Hanwoo and lobster sandwich?”
The prices were just as incredible as the names of the dishes, but there was no need to worry at all.
“Good thing I didn’t eat dinner at home.”
With that happy thought, I ordered the grilled lamb chops and salmon salad.
####
— Ttanda ttadadan, ttanda ttadadan
“Mm…”
A ringtone announcing morning.
The reason I’d set an alarm despite having no schedule at all.
“Breakfast… buffet…”
Because I had to go to the breakfast buffet.
I’d even made a reservation yesterday saying I’d go at nine, so I absolutely had to go.
If I made a reservation and then no-showed, how troubled would the staff be?
No matter how much money I had or how much of a VIP I was, there were still things I had to keep.
“Buffet…”
Looking forward to what might be there, I got up.
The lamb chops and salmon salad I’d eaten yesterday had been the most delicious food I’d ever had in my entire life, so I absolutely had to eat breakfast too.
‘It was better than Mom’s cooking.’
Even Mom would admit that.
After eating it, she would’ve said she had to live here.
Smiling faintly, I came out into the living room.
“Haaahm…”
Stretching, I looked at the floor-to-ceiling window in the living room.
It was a different sight from the night view that had made me a little sentimental.
Watching the lively city, I was struck anew by the feeling that another day had begun.
“This is what true luxury is.”
A life where, while everyone else was working, you watched them all and greeted a leisurely morning.
And the reason I’d woken up early wasn’t to go to work, but simply to eat breakfast.
I clearly realized that true luxury was something like this.
As I was pleasantly gazing at the scenery, the phone in my hand began to buzz lightly.
— Bzz bzz
Judging by the short vibration, it seemed to be a message.
“Hm?”
I turned on the screen and glanced at it. It was a text from the hotel.
— All preparations have been completed so that you may arrive at your reserved time.
“It’s an hour early, though?”
It really did seem to be the off-season.
If there were a lot of people, they wouldn’t be able to do this.
For no reason, I started feeling pressed for time and hurried into the bathroom.
####
A buffet with assigned seating.
A wooden table covered with an elegant white tablecloth trimmed with lace at the edges.
And on that table, a beautifully folded napkin and a menu were neatly placed like in a fine restaurant.
The hotel lounge wasn’t crowded because it was the off-season, but it wasn’t completely empty either.
Na Dayeon, an employee who had been waiting nearby to attend to VIP guests, recalled what Han Arang had said yesterday.
‘There’s one strange guest staying here. She looked like a model, but she was wearing just a tracksuit, you know? She didn’t look like she had that much money, and she didn’t seem to have any particular job either, but she booked the Royal Suite for two nights, and she didn’t have a single piece of luggage…’
She had joined the company at the same time as Arang.
Dayeon knew very well that Arang was the type who enjoyed talking behind other people’s backs, so she hadn’t paid much attention to it.
‘Isn’t she here because she’s being sponsored by some rich family or something? They say there are people who call models over and fool around with them. So that woman too…’
Excessive assumptions and gossip.
Dayeon found her story unpleasant, but she still endured it and listened. To be honest, she was curious too.
‘Just how pretty is she for her to say something like that?’
Arang almost never praised other people’s appearances—especially not other women’s. For someone like her to say the woman looked like a model…
As Dayeon was thinking that to herself—
“It’s true…”
Watching the woman enter the lounge in a tracksuit, she accidentally let her thoughts slip out.
And at the same time, she felt a slight displeasure.
‘Is she really going around with a sponsor or something?’
Dayeon quickly tapped on her phone and sent Arang a text.
A paltry sense of justice and jealousy at the sight of someone who was sponsored living comfortably.
With those two feelings mixed into a subtle emotion, she greeted her.
“I will show you this way.”