When I arrived at the car dealership on time, a single car was neatly parked out front.
‘Oh…….’
I let out a brief exclamation inwardly.
In truth, it was just an ordinary boxy car.
The kind of compact car you could see anywhere.
On top of that, it was only a car I’d be driving temporarily, one I’d picked without much thought.
Still.
‘It’s pretty.’
Maybe because it was my first car, it felt strangely moving.
If this had been before, I might have clung to the hood and hugged it.
“The basic payment and insurance enrollment procedures are all complete, and as we informed you in advance, the license plate has already been issued as well. Before you drive, I’ll briefly explain the options…….”
Listening to the dealer, I gently closed my eyes.
Why were there so many procedures?
‘Are foreign cars even more complicated?’
If anything, they’d be more complicated than this, not simpler.
How much time had passed since I started listening to the explanation?
Honestly, there wasn’t much that was important, but I still listened attentively.
He was explaining so earnestly, so I should at least pretend to listen.
“……And that’s how you use it. Do you have any other questions or anything else you need?”
“No. I’m fine.”
It was finally over.
After receiving the dealer’s farewell, I took the car key and sat in the driver’s seat.
When I started the engine, the car trembled slightly. Feeling that pleasant vibration, I placed my foot on the accelerator.
As I gently stepped on the accelerator and slowly moved forward, not only the dealer who had helped me all this time, but even the other employees inside came out to see me off.
Was it normally this much?
“Thank you!!”
I wasn’t sure.
So at the dealer’s greeting, I rolled down the window, simply gave a light nod, and drove out onto the street.
####
“Phew…….”
I thought of the cigarettes I’d quit.
People usually think you only smoke when you’re in a bad mood or stressed, but that’s not always the case.
Like now, when you’re excited about something.
A cigarette smoked at a time like this has a different feel from usual, and that’s nice too.
Still, since I’d quit, I had no intention of smoking again.
‘There probably won’t be anything so hard that I’d start smoking again.’
Even after buying a compact car in cash, I still had almost 500 billion won left.
The money showed no sign of decreasing.
Feeling as though my sense of reality was disappearing, I shook my head.
‘Let’s not blow it by doing something weird for no reason.’
Business, gambling, stocks, coins.
I shouldn’t touch any of them.
I should just live quietly for the rest of my life, collecting interest on my deposits.
Thinking that, I gripped the steering wheel tightly.
Anyway, having a car was definitely nice.
For now, the biggest advantage I could feel was that I no longer had to walk around under the blazing sun.
The cool air conditioner.
And the comfort that coolness brought.
When I commuted in the summer, even if I left home fresh and dry in the morning, by the time I got back, I’d be damp and horribly uncomfortable.
The need to commute had disappeared, but even aside from that, I didn’t think that would happen anymore.
“The weather’s nice, and there aren’t many cars….”
It was truly perfect for a drive.
With the cool air from the air conditioner blowing on me, I drove down the wide-open road.
Maybe because it was a new car, the feeling of moving forward was definitely nice.
A hum escaped me on its own.
And then there was the navigation system, which told me the way all by itself.
Maybe because this was new too, the touch response was good and it was definitely smart.
No matter how much I touched the team leader’s car navigation, it never recognized anything.
There’s a saying that objects resemble their owners.
Maybe it was an object exactly like the team leader, who was so blocked up he had no intention of listening to anyone.
Thinking that, I chuckled to myself.
[Turn right at the next corner. Then turn left in 500 meters.]
After laughing for a moment, I heard the navigation’s guidance and skillfully spun the wheel, turning right.
It was my first car in life, but it wasn’t my first time driving.
Driving had been my specialty in the military, and I’d driven the team leader’s car several times too, so I was used to it.
I’d driven a deuce-and-a-half, a van, the company commander’s foreign car, and even the Science No. 7 that the team leader drove around.
Compared to those cars, this compact car felt different, so I continued driving while feeling a little awkward with its light handling.
My destination was a real estate office. Since I’d already come out, wouldn’t it be nice if I could settle the house too?
I was thinking that and yawning languidly when it happened.
“Damn it...”
A midsize car suddenly cut in front of me without even using its turn signal.
Seeing it squeeze in dangerously, I unconsciously honked the horn.
Baaang—
Maybe because it was a compact car, the sound was cute.
Usually, in a situation like this, turning on your hazard lights and apologizing was basic manners.
But the car in front of me didn’t seem to have any intention of doing that.
“Oh, really?”
Far from apologizing, the driver in front rolled down his window, stuck out his arm, and pointed to the shoulder beside the road.
Did he think I was crazy enough to follow that?
“He’s not some gangster, so who is he to tell me to pull over or not?”
I was about to think of it as stepping in crap and just pass by, but now he even turned on his high beams and tailgated me.
Had he never seen the public service ad that said, “Reckless driving on the road is murder”?
Then again, this type probably wasn’t the kind to watch public service ads in the first place, so it wouldn’t have meant much.
‘He’ll follow me to the end, won’t he?’
Even if I ignored him, he seemed like he’d keep following me like that, so I stopped the car as he wanted.
When I pulled over onto the shoulder, the reckless driver immediately parked behind me and got out of his car.
Looking at him, he seemed pretty clean-cut.
Pitch-black hair. He was dressed up in a style that was popular these days.
His looks seemed a little sly, but he didn’t look like a gangster. Maybe he was just someone with a nasty personality.
“Haa….”
Letting out a short sigh, I turned my head.
I wasn’t particularly scared.
It would be one thing if the person getting out had tigers or dragons growing on both arms.
They say ordinary people can actually be scarier, but it wasn’t like he got out holding a baseball bat or a kitchen knife.
As long as I didn’t get out, I’d be fine.
“Hey, get out!!”
He looked like he was absolutely furious.
Since there was no reason for me to get out of the car, I only lowered the window slightly.
In the first place, I wasn’t the one at fault. He was.
“What?”
I lowered the window just enough for my face to be visible, then glared at him and spoke bluntly.
“What? You little… little… young lady, seriously!!”
Then, suddenly flustered, he mumbled with his face turning red.
Hadn’t he come here to get angry?
####
Twenty-eight-year-old fashion model Kim Minhyeok.
While hurrying because he was late for his schedule, he saw the compact car that honked at him and couldn’t hold back his anger.
He was already late and about to get an earful, and now some compact car of all things had the nerve to disrespect him.
He was so furious that he thought getting scolded after ignoring it and rushing there would be no different from getting scolded after being even later.
So he opened his window and pointed to the shoulder with his hand, but—
“That bastard…….”
The compact car ignored him and drove ahead.
Seeing that, he immediately turned on his high beams and began chasing after the compact car.
Perhaps his stubbornness paid off, because not long after, the compact car obediently pulled over onto the shoulder.
Kim Minhyeok immediately parked his midsize car, bought on a forty-eight-month installment plan, behind the compact car.
Then, wondering what he should say, he trudged toward the driver’s seat.
“Hey, get out!!”
He shouted loudly and lightly knocked on the window.
Then the window lowered slightly with a whirring sound.
Seeing only up to the top of the driver’s head, he judged that the driver was a woman, and had planned to call her “ma’am” to get under her skin and see her reaction.
“What?”
“What? You little… little….”
The words lingering in his mouth never made it outside.
Because no matter who looked at her, she wasn’t a ma’am.
And because she was the prettiest woman he had ever seen.
Since only her face was visible, he couldn’t tell for sure whether her hair was long or short, but he could clearly see that it was black.
Next, her sharp eyes caught his attention.
They looked a little provocative, but her overall impression wasn’t fierce, so she instead felt like an alluring beauty.
So, to put it simply, Kim Minhyeok had—
‘Ah….’
Fallen for her at first sight.
For various reasons, his words became a mumble, and he forced himself to pretend to be calm as he finished with,
“Young lady! Seriously!”
At those words, the woman Kim Minhyeok had fallen for stared at him as if she found him absurd and poured out her words.
“In the first place, you’re the one who cut in dangerously without even turning on your blinker, you know? And don’t you know I can report you for retaliatory driving when you chase me like this with your high beams on?”
But Kim Minhyeok didn’t budge. He didn’t say a word.
He just stood there like an idiot, staring at her.
“If you follow me again, I’ll report you.”
With those words, she rolled the window back up without giving Minhyeok any chance to speak.
Then she simply drove off and disappeared.
“Ah.”
He stood blankly for a moment.
Only after the phone in his pocket began ringing noisily did he come back to his senses.
[Hey, you son of a bitch!! Where the hell are you right now!!]
“I’m sorry. I got into an argument while driving…….”
[Don’t make excuses and get here in ten minutes, right now!!]
Listening to the furious voice of the shopping mall owner, he got back into his car.
‘I wonder if I’ll ever see her again…….’
Then, setting aside his worries about being scolded, he climbed into the car again while thinking only of the woman he had just seen.
####
“There are all kinds of weirdos out there…….”
Leaving the strange person behind, I drove to the real estate office.
There was no parking lot nearby, so I parked a little distance away and leisurely walked over.
The sunlight was so warm that I got hot in an instant.
In the first place, wearing a tracksuit on a day like this was the problem.
‘It’s not like I can go around wearing women’s clothes either.’
For a moment, I imagined myself wearing women’s clothing.
Even thinking about it briefly made me feel so strange that I shook my head.
‘Winter, hurry up and come.’
Thinking that I wished it would get freezing cold soon, I carefully opened the door to the real estate office.
“Hello….”
“Welcome~ Did you call ahead before coming?”
When I opened the door and entered, a middle-aged man sitting in front of a computer got up from his seat and came toward me.
Come to think of it, people usually called ahead when they went to look at houses.
Back when I was looking for a place before, I’d always called first.
Thinking I’d made a mistake, I shook my head.
“Ah… no.”
At my words, the agent nodded slightly and pointed to the sofa beside him.
Well, it seemed it wasn’t completely impossible.
“Are you looking for a studio? A two-room?”
Once I sat down, he spoke and sat in front of me.
At his question, I shook my head again and answered that I’d come to look at apartments.
“No, I’m looking for an apartment.”
“Ah~ An apartment. Is there one you had in mind? Are you looking for a jeonse?”
What jeonse?
No matter how much money I had, I wasn’t someone who scattered money on the floor.
I’d rather get a monthly rental.
“No, to buy….”
“To buy… to buy?”
At my words, he narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at me.
I was getting used to people being surprised now.
When I roughly nodded and looked at the agent, he hesitated for a moment, then began running his hand over his hair, which seemed to be suffering from hair loss.
I found myself needlessly worrying that more of his hair might fall out if he did that.
“……Is there an apartment you had in mind, or a price range you’re considering?”
Then, after hesitating for a moment, he cautiously opened his mouth.
At those words, I nodded again.
There was one apartment I’d thought of while driving over earlier.
“Allstate, near the station.”
Allstate, one of the brand apartment complexes with a fairly good reputation.
When I’d roughly searched it on my phone last time, the sale price was around 600 million to 1 billion won, so I’d thought, Wouldn’t that be enough? and kept it in mind.
So while driving over, I’d glanced at the building, and it was definitely different.
Even if I didn’t like it, I could move somewhere else at any time, so I decided without hesitation.
However, the agent glared at me with sharp eyes and spoke in a somewhat irritated tone.
“Student, you didn’t come here to mess around, did you?”
“Pardon?”