“Geuru has money too!”
“I’m asking if you have as much as me.”
“……As much as you, eonni?”
Geuru asked back, her chin puckering into a big walnut.
“Yeah.”
“I, I might……”
Kang Jei let out a small laugh at that adorable little face, unable to answer with certainty and mumbling instead, then quickly schooled her expression.
“Ahem, hmm.”
Trying to disarm me with cuteness, are you? What a terrifying little brat.
Kang Jei pressed her lips together viciously again and waved a hand to call over an employee.
When the employee came trotting over, she pointed at the items she and Geuru had touched.
“Please wrap all of these.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The employee bowed, and Kang Jei curled her lips at Geuru as if sneering.
The satisfaction of having beaten a five-year-old.
Her revenge for having her English skills, honed over two whole years abroad, dared to be criticized(?).
Seeing right through Kang Jei, Ham Honggi stared at his friend with clouded eyes.
‘Let’s just go home.’
Even meeting her again after two years, Kang Jei was still hopeless.
He was just about to slip away quietly so Geuru wouldn’t notice.
Tririririririk!
A phone rang loudly.
“Oh!”
Kang Jei, who had been holding her phone to her ear, spotted Ham Honggi and raised her hand.
“Ah, shit!”
With trembling eyes, Ham Honggi turned his gaze toward Geuru.
Geuru was looking at him, her round eyes sparkling.
Contrary to his wishes, Geuru waved brightly.
“Hanghangi!”
“Yes!”
His feet, which had been about to turn away, moved straight toward the watch store on the exact opposite side.
“What? Hanghangi?”
He wanted to grab Kang Jei by the collar and shake her as she kept snickering, but his master’s command to “live kindly” was extremely powerful.
Meanwhile, Kang Jei accepted the shopping bags the employee had wrapped up. Then she waved the bags at Geuru.
“See? This is eonni’s financial power.”
Kang Jei’s mental age, picking a fight with a five-year-old, was practically three.
Ham Honggi’s face burned so badly at the embarrassing sight that he felt like he was going to lose his mind. It was because his own past came to mind too.
She was far too effective as a cautionary example.
Ham Honggi poked Kang Jei in the side.
“What, what are you doing right now? Stop picking a fight with a kid and let’s go. You said we were eating.”
“You little—how can I eat right now? My friend was disrespected like this!”
“What disrespect, you crazy woman? You’re throwing a fit all by yourself. I said let’s just go!”
“No! I’m telling you, she started it first! If she doesn’t even have money, why come to a luxury store!”
Ham Honggi shouted that she had plenty of money, and Geuru, who had been staring at the shopping bags swaying before her eyes while Kang Jei pointed a finger at her, puffed out her cheeks.
‘Was she Hanghangi’s friend?’
Indeed. It seemed the saying that birds of a feather flock together was not wrong.
She looked down on Geuru for being young, judged her however she pleased and assumed she had no money, and interfered with Geuru’s shopping while speaking strange English.
Geuru rummaged through her bag.
‘Hanghangi’s friend = Geuru’s subordinate.’
A proper kindergartener never neglected the guidance and education of her subordinates.
‘Let’s give her enlightenment!’
Geuru raised her quokka wallet high above her head.
It was the loving rod of correction.
Just then, Kang Jei, recognizing the watch on Geuru’s wrist, lowered her sunglasses.
‘Huh? That watch……’
A smartwatch that functioned even inside dungeons was a concentration of cutting-edge technology and came with an astronomical price tag.
She had wanted to buy one, but only around a hundred had been released worldwide.
It was so difficult to obtain that the problem wasn’t the price, but the purchase route.
‘Why does that little brat have one……’
Kang Jei tapped Ham Honggi.
“You know her, right? What is she?”
“Haa…… Who she is……”
“That one!”
At that moment, Geuru pointed at the display case under the spotlight of the central lighting.
Kang Jei’s face twisted slightly.
It looked like a simple watch, but that was actually the pinnacle of cutting-edge mana technology.
Since it had to be portable, it required battery technology that drew out the maximum efficiency of mana stones.
“Th-that one?”
A rough-looking silver-gray smartwatch glittered under the light.
Model number CSE-A0.
The model Geuru had pointed at was one version above the watch the child was wearing.
It was closer to a concept piece showcasing the latest technology, so there was only one in all of Korea, and its estimated price was three billion won.
In truth, it was more for display than for sale. Its role as a promotional piece for the watch brand was greater.
“How could anyone buy something like that?”
“Eonni can’t buy it?”
Kang Jei, stung, rattled off at her.
“A-are you some conglomerate family’s daughter? Is your company’s market cap in the top ten or something? That’s not something you buy just because you have money. You need to have that much to spare before it’s even worth—”
Before she could finish speaking.
“Miss On Geuru! You were here? Do you know how long this uncle has been looking for you?”
It was the department store branch manager.
The sharp-looking man simply gave Geuru a warm, friendly smile.
“Hello, ajeossi.”
When Geuru greeted him, the man bowed deeply and asked,
“Do you remember me?”
“Yes. You said hello at Geuru’s birthday.”
“They said you were gifted, and your memory is good too. Hahaha! When we heard you were coming shopping today, the chairman asked us so many times to take good care of you, but you were nowhere to be seen. I was afraid I might send you off without even greeting you, and this uncle’s heart nearly shrank to the size of a bean.”
When the branch manager joked with a laugh, saying he had been terrified, Geuru smiled brightly too.
Kang Jei, who had been eavesdropping on their conversation, rolled her eyes.
If it was a “chairman” the department store branch manager would mention……
‘Nam Jiwon?’
Nam Jiwon was the chairman of the company currently holding firm at number one in market capitalization.
Why would someone like that ask them to take care of this child?
While Kang Jei sensed an ominous premonition—
Geuru took a debit card with a cute drawing on it out of her tiny quokka wallet.
“Geuru, please wrap this one too!”
Geuru activated the loving rod on her subordinate (not really).
‘Geuru can use it too! A ca-rd!’
When Geuru said she was going shopping, Jurim had lifted the limit and taught her how to use the card, and Geuru had been stamping her feet, wanting to try using it just as she’d learned.
At this, not only Kang Jei but even the store employee went blank.
And no wonder—the debit card had a chick character blowing hearts on it.
Holding the card, which was far too cute to pay three billion won, the employee stammered a whisper to the branch manager.
“I-it wouldn’t be…… in installments, would it? Since it’s a debit…… card.”
The branch manager nodded that it was all right, and the employee reluctantly swiped the card.
She was in the middle of rationalizing this absurd situation, even wondering whether they were all just playing house with the branch manager.
But.
‘It went through?!’
The debit card with the chick blowing hearts paid three billion won in a lump sum.
“Th-the payment, the payment has gone through……”
Was this right?
She looked at the branch manager, but he only smiled in satisfaction.
With trembling hands, the employee took the watch out of the display case, wrapped it, and handed it to Geuru.
As Kang Jei’s eyes shook violently, Geuru quickly became smug and put her hands on her hips.
That was why one should not look down on children.
Geuru confidently shoved the watch box into her bag.
“……!”
Kang Jei inhaled sharply.
Was it all right to handle that like that? Her own hands were trembling.
The branch manager, not even sparing Kang Jei a glance, repeatedly told Geuru to tell him anytime if there was anything inconvenient, then left.
“…….”
Ham Honggi looked down at Kang Jei, who had become as silent as if she had honey stuck in her mouth.
“……She’s Guild Leader On Jurim’s daughter. She really is a conglomerate chairman’s granddaughter.”
If she was On Jurim’s daughter, that meant she was Chairman On Suhyeong’s granddaughter.
On top of that, the child seemed to have the solid backing of Chairman Nam Jiwon too.
Kang Jei shouted, her face bright red.
“Why are you telling me that now! You crazy bastard, Hanghangi!”
“D-don’t call me Hanghangi!”
The two raised their voices and blamed each other, while the employee struggled to stop them.
‘As expected of friends…… Birds of a feather……’
Thinking that, Geuru watched their quarrel for a moment, then solemnly put the quokka wallet back into her bag.
‘I ended up taking out the wallet of justice. I’d better seal it away again.’