####
I remember once seeing economists on some program claim that “if you use cards often, you lose your sense for money.”
Something about how paying by card reduces the pain of payment compared to paying in cash, and so on and so forth.
At the time, I’d dismissed it as nothing important and moved on.
Then I became an office worker and got my first credit card.
When I saw that month’s salary go straight into my card bill, I realized.
“Ah. Scholars don’t say things that are wrong.”
I remember somehow borrowing from friends to cover my living expenses that month.
“I wonder if everyone’s doing well.”
Muttering to myself, I stepped on the accelerator.
Maybe because I had a bit more luggage than usual, the car felt strangely heavy.
Still, it was only clothes, bags, and shoes, so that couldn’t be it. Though the price was a little heavy.
“Things more expensive than the car.”
The luggage was more expensive than the car.
An amount that could buy about six of the compact cars I was currently driving was loaded in the trunk.
Thinking that made a hollow laugh slip out.
My spending habits haven’t changed much from back then.
I’d lived all this time tightening my belt somehow, but now that the belt had come loose, I was spending money like water.
“The pain of payment really does go down.”
Would I have been able to do it if I’d tried to pay in cash?
Even with 500 billion won, I feel like I would have hesitated a little if I’d paid by check.
Cards make guilt disappear.
Because once you swipe, the payment is done.
On top of that, the card I had was essentially a credit card with no limit. So of course it would feel even more like that.
[Wow, credit cards are amazing. No matter how much you use them, your money doesn’t go down?]
As I was thinking that, an internet meme suddenly came to mind, and I burst out laughing by myself.
“Maybe I don’t need to get a credit card.”
All the cards I’d used back when I was Choi Minhu were gone.
That was why I’d gotten a new debit card last time, but did I really need to get a credit card too?
Even if credit card companies offered benefits, they honestly seemed like they’d be insignificant.
“Hmm……”
Mulling it over, I entered the hotel parking lot.
####
‘What? She’s the same person?’
Na Dayeon had been standing in the lounge restaurant to attend to Choi Yeonbi, who had made a dinner reservation.
She stood there a little blankly, recalling the Choi Yeonbi she had seen in the morning, then was startled.
Seeing her again, she looked so refined it was hard to believe she was the same person who had refused an offer to become an actress and hurriedly fled as if running away.
Her proportions had been good to begin with, but once luxury items were added on top, even her aura looked different.
‘This… no matter how I look at it, Han Arang seems to have been wrong.’
Because of Han Arang’s influence, she had looked at Choi Yeonbi through prejudiced eyes.
That was why, at first, Na Dayeon had thought she was an ordinary person being sponsored by someone.
But if she had really come to the hotel after receiving that kind of sponsorship, she would have had no reason to refuse the casting offer that morning and run away.
People who received that sort of sponsorship were usually opportunistic and rather cold-hearted.
So she erased in an instant the thought that Choi Yeonbi was someone who went around receiving sponsorship from powerful people.
To begin with, the reason she had seen Choi Yeonbi that way had more to do with Han Arang’s words than her own personal judgment.
Only now did Na Dayeon begin looking at Choi Yeonbi with her own eyes.
Then she started wondering just what kind of person this woman was.
‘Could she have been dressing like that on purpose…?’
After a brief moment of thought, she arrived at the conclusion that Choi Yeonbi must have deliberately gone around looking shabby.
She had heard stories like that from time to time.
Stories about rich people deliberately pretending to be commoners.
And she also recalled something her boyfriend had once told her.
[You know when new recruits come in? Then even the sergeants act like they’re new recruits too and get all friendly with them. Then they ask who looks the ugliest……]
‘…For some reason, I feel uneasy.’
With her mind needlessly growing complicated, Na Dayeon recalled, one by one, the things that had happened that morning.
Whether she had said or done anything strange, and whether she had acted cheeky for no reason.
‘I shouldn’t have acted like I knew so much.’
Just the shoes and jacket she had wrapped herself in came to about three million won. And the shirt and pants she wore underneath were each around 1.2 million won.
There was no way someone who wore things like that as if it were nothing wouldn’t know common Italian home cooking and dishes prepared American-style.
So what she had done had been a kind of test.
In other words, it might have been a test to find out what kind of person Na Dayeon herself was.
‘Don’t tell me headquarters sent her on purpose?’
At this point, she even recalled a horror story a senior at work had told her.
[Sometimes people from headquarters disguise themselves as ordinary guests and come to check the service. So always act kindly. You know what I mean, right?]
While thinking all sorts of thoughts and growing serious all by herself—
“Hello. We meet again.”
At Choi Yeonbi’s greeting, she froze stiff.
“H-Hello! I’ll show you to your seat.”
####
She was strangely rigid.
Her way of speaking, her actions—everything felt stiff, like a robot.
‘Her vibe’s different from this morning.’
Was she tired because it was evening?
For that, her movements were incredibly quick.
If there was anything I needed, she immediately rushed off and brought it.
She kept asking beside me whether I needed anything.
It was a little burdensome, but I didn’t dislike it.
Then, all of a sudden, I lowered my head and looked at my clothes.
‘Is that it?’
Feeling as though I’d found the reason, I couldn’t help chuckling inwardly.
‘Clothes really do make the person.’
Thinking that to myself, I took a bite of the steak placed in front of me.
I’d been curious what rare tasted like, so I ordered it rare, but this was just raw meat.
‘It’s subtle….’
No matter how much I liked yukhoe, this felt a little strange. At least yukhoe didn’t ooze blood when you chewed it.
‘Still, it’s delicious.’
The texture was unique, and the sauce was tangy, so it tasted good.
As I chewed on the steak, I noticed the staff moving busily around me.
‘Is a VIP coming?’
This was the VIP lounge restaurant.
Breakfast was a buffet where ordinary guests and VIPs ate in the same space, but this was a restaurant only VIPs could enter.
That was why everything, from the overall color scheme, was an elegant and passionate red.
And the steak on my plate was red too.
‘It’s not like I was trying to color-coordinate or anything.’
The steak in my mouth had disappeared before I knew it, so I cut another piece and put it in my mouth. As I kept eating, it definitely seemed to get better.
‘So this is why people eat it.’
Maybe because the steak had been served on an incredibly small plate, I finished it faster than expected.
It was smaller than the steak I’d eaten at a steakhouse before, so I suppose that was only natural.
Still, the taste was definitely different.
Then was it worth the price?
On that point, I was a little skeptical.
No matter what, burning nearly a hundred thousand won on a few grams of meat felt a bit wasteful.
Even if I had spent money lavishly today, what felt wasteful was still wasteful.
‘Then now I should eat dessert.’
They say women have a separate stomach for meals and a separate stomach for dessert.
It hadn’t been that long since I started living as a woman, but I understood what that meant now.
Eating only meat made my stomach feel a little greasy.
That was why I’d eaten salad after the lamb chops yesterday too.
Anyway.
I wanted something sweet and cold, so I ordered mango bingsu.
When you think of a luxury hotel, it’s got to be mango bingsu.
Somehow, it felt like the bingsu was more expensive than the steak, but since it was mango bingsu, it was fine.
After waiting a little while, Na Dayeon carefully brought out the mango bingsu.
“Oh……”
The visual made an exclamation come out on its own.
Until now, I’d just eaten all the other dishes right away, but I felt like I had to take a picture of this, so I took out my phone and diligently snapped photos.
‘I don’t have anywhere to brag about it… but it’d still be a little wasteful to leave without taking any.’
After taking pictures enthusiastically for a while, I put a piece of mango in my mouth.
It felt as if the cold mango was gently melting away in my mouth.
People didn’t talk about hotel mango bingsu on the internet for nothing.
‘It’s seriously good.’
This time, I tried eating the shaved ice and mango together.
My head throbbed from the cold, but it was still delicious.
As I was eating the mango bingsu in a daze, I heard the click-clack of dress shoes from behind me.
Wondering what it was, I casually turned my head to look.
There, a kind-looking middle-aged man and one employee were slowly approaching.
‘No way, right?’
They say that when an uneasy thought comes to you, it usually turns out to be right.
To begin with, even after making eye contact with me, he kept approaching with a slight smile, so it seemed certain.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Ms. Choi Yeonbi. I am Han Sangjin, the hotel manager. Was today’s meal to your liking?”
I swallowed the mango that had melted and disappeared in my mouth, then nodded as I looked at him.
“Yes. The mango bingsu is really delicious. The other dishes were good too.”
At times like this, wasn’t it best to only give compliments?
Well, it really was delicious, so it wasn’t as though I was lying out of consideration.
Hearing my praise, the manager smiled and lowered his head slightly.
“Thank you for the compliment. Is there anything that has caused you inconvenience? We will do our utmost to resolve it.”
“No, not particularly…”
“I’m glad to hear that. If there is anything else you need, please let us know at any time.”
He bowed his head once more and left.
Seeing his back as he walked away, I tilted my head.
It was true that I had booked an expensive hotel, and it was true that I was ordering and eating a lot of food.
But was that really such a big deal that the hotel manager would come over and greet me like this?
Honestly, I didn’t think so.
Just looking at the other tables nearby, they were full of people who seemed wealthier than me.
Even so, the manager had singled me out and greeted only me like that before leaving.
‘I don’t really get it….’
And then.
‘Ah.’
I realized that the people around me, as well as Na Dayeon, were staring fixedly at me.
####
Han Sangjin, who had barely managed to greet the VIP in time.
He hurriedly called someone and opened his mouth first in a reproachful tone.
“You should have informed us sooner!”
[I’m the one who wants to say that. According to you, that customer made a hotel reservation yesterday, didn’t she?]
“……Yes, but how were we supposed to know she was someone who would receive the Arcana tier directly at the department store?”
[It’s the same for me. How would we have known that?]
At the old man’s words from over the phone, Han Sangjin could offer no reply.
It was true that the department store had reported to him late, but that didn’t mean it was the department store’s fault.
It was something no one could have imagined or predicted.
A situation like a natural disaster.
That was why the delay in VIP treatment was no one’s fault.
It was simply that Choi Yeonbi was anomalous.
[If there were no complaints, then that is enough. So don’t worry too much.]
With the old man’s words, the call came to an end.
And in the midst of this situation, that customer herself was—
“Once I receive the furniture tomorrow… when am I going to organize it all…?”
Sighing to herself, she lay on the bed and looked at her phone.