Chapter 3:
“Are you really going to give it to me?”
Shin Seo-yeon released her grip on my collar and put her hands together cutely, making her eyes sparkle. Just moments ago she was acting like she wanted to devour me, but now her change of attitude is truly artistic.
“I don’t see why I can’t.”
Her expression brightened immediately.
“Ah, but I should head home now.”
“What?”
Come to think of it, I forgot I needed to organize my equipment and pack.
“Let’s talk about this later then.”
“Hey! Wait! You’re leaving like this? You need to finish what we were talking about before you go!”
Shin Seo-yeon grabbed me with a desperate expression, but when I looked down and stared directly at her hand, she carefully let go. Then she fidgeted with her now-displaced hand, cutely watching my reactions. Just like when she was flirting with that middle-aged man earlier.
‘Truly impressive.’
I admired her chameleon-like transformation inwardly as I turned my body around sharply. Step by step, as I walked away, Shin Seo-yeon followed closely behind, pestering me with questions.
“So when are you going to give me the money? You’re definitely going to give it, right?”
“Yeah, depending on what you do. I might give you even more.”
“More?”
Shin Seo-yeon’s eyes widened.
“Or conversely, I might not give you anything at all.”
Instantly, Shin Seo-yeon’s expression plummeted from heaven to hell.
“H-how do I get you to give it to me?”
“Who knows.”
I ignored her and headed out of the buffet.
“Seo-yeon, where are you going?”
The middle-aged man who seemed to be her sucker number 127 or so called out to her, but Shin Seo-yeon ignored him and followed me out. The money I showed was one thing, but the greed and violence in her cat-like eyes were those of someone confident she could extort a considerable amount from me if she set her mind to it.
‘She’s thinking this is much better than dating tonight, acting cute, and receiving a gift bag worth several hundred thousand won.’
When I hailed a taxi – perfect. She grabbed the door to prevent me from closing it and got in with me.
“What’s this about.”
“Hmph, isn’t this your fault? Damn, you’re not giving me an answer. I hate ambiguous things. I’m going to follow you around until you tell me what I need to do to get the money.”
“Damn?”
“No, our Min Jun. I misspoke a bit. Sorry.”
Then Shin Seo-yeon smiled like a cat, acting completely different from the thug who was kicking my shins in the corner of the buffet just moments ago, making me wonder if she was even the same person.
‘Does money feel that good to her?’
Tomorrow it will become toilet paper – a meaningless arrangement of numbers. But right now, at this moment, every resident of Earth except me is living their day enthusiastically over those numbers. Isn’t it truly absurd? The limitations of humans who don’t know the future are this clear.
I gazed at the countless night lights illuminating the darkness and thought of the trials to come.
‘When Earth is destroyed, some of humanity will turn to dust from the asteroid impact, and others will give up on the selection process.’
There are those who disappear thinking naively “surely Earth won’t be destroyed,” and there are those who remain, afraid to leave Earth. The population that crosses over to the other world is four billion. Of those, approximately two hundred thousand reach the final trial. And among those two hundred thousand, the top 100 rankers receive a special grade – that’s S-rank.
“Kang Min-jun, are you listening to me?”
And this cat-like girl sitting next to me, chattering away and scheming with cunning eyes about how to extort my money, becomes that S-rank. Of course, by then her personality will have changed too, evolving into someone extremely arrogant, prickly, and conceited.
“Kang Min-jun!”
“We’ve arrived, sir.”
I got out of the taxi immediately.
“Sir, you need to pay.”
Shin Seo-yeon, who was about to follow me out, looked up at me with a slightly flustered expression. Regardless, as I headed toward the apartment, Shin Seo-yeon quickly paid the taxi fare with her own money and hurriedly followed behind.
“Today was enjoyable.”
“Hey, wait!”
But Shin Seo-yeon was a step too late and disappeared beyond the elevator doors.
‘I wonder if she’ll still try to follow after this.’
One minute after arriving home.
Ding-dong- Ding-dong-ding-dong- Bang bang bang!
“Kang Min-jun!”
Oh, she actually followed me here? Impressive. I stopped packing and opened the door to see our fuming S-rank thug.
“Hey!”
“Hey?”
“……”
Shin Seo-yeon took deep breaths, trying to calm herself. What’s amazing is that despite being treated like that, she smiles brightly as if nothing happened.
“Ah, Min Jun. That prank was too much.”
I laughed. She can act cute even after being treated like that?
“Why are you suddenly laughing?”
“No, I think the current you could definitely get plenty of money from me.”
“Really?”
Shin Seo-yeon jumped with joy. Someone like her wouldn’t be bad for Earth’s last supper.
“Come in.”
I smiled and let Shin Seo-yeon into the house.
-Kang Min-jun? Why didn’t he attend the orientation? -I heard his family doesn’t have money. He doesn’t have time to hang out, so he has to go straight to his part-time job after classes. -Hmm.
So I really thought he was poor.
“Wow, this is your house?”
However, Shin Seo-yeon, who followed Kang Min-jun into his home, couldn’t help but widen her eyes. Actually, she had been surprised since getting out of the taxi. How much are Seoul apartment prices these days?
‘His family was this well-off? I thought he was a busy kid doing part-time jobs to cover living expenses?’
“Um, are your parents here by any chance?”
“They’re not here. I live alone, so you don’t need to worry about that.”
“!!”
He has his own house in Seoul and keeps that much money in his bank account? Could he be the son of some small business owner?
‘Shit. If I had known he lived this well and had this much money, I would have tried to be friends with him instead of bullying him.’
Shin Seo-yeon suddenly began to regret her actions.
‘Is it too late to rehabilitate my image now?’
Then there’s no choice. I’ll have to stick around and milk him for a while. With such thoughts, Shin Seo-yeon clung to Kang Min-jun and asked with an innocent smile.
“Min Jun, please tell me now. What do I have to do for you to give me money?”
Kang Min-jun sat on the floor and patted his legs. Understanding quickly, Shin Seo-yeon diligently massaged Kang Min-jun’s legs.
“It’s simple.”
“What is it?”
“If you do it once with me, I’ll give you five thousand.”
Shin Seo-yeon, who had been massaging his legs enthusiastically while smiling brightly, froze cold. Her expression immediately turned menacing as she shot up from her position and shouted.
“Has this bastard lost his mind!”
‘Oh.’
Shin Seo-yeon, who shot up from her position, grabbed my collar roughly without any hesitation.
‘The Shin Seo-yeon of this time really is fiery.’
That’s why she didn’t earn the title “Crimson Flame” for nothing.
“Do you really want to die? Should I remind you of high school? Huh?”
Having my collar grabbed while listening to her sharp voice brought back memories of the past. Coming from a poor family, she seized what she wanted through beauty and violence.
-Oh sweetie, oppa.
Acting pretty and cute toward those stronger than her.
Crash!
“You think I’m a complete joke?! Huh?!”
And endlessly threatening toward those weaker than her, like this. Shin Seo-yeon, who was glaring at me as if she wanted to kill me, began smashing things around her. She kicked a chair, kicked the vacuum cleaner…
“Fuck, say that again! Say it again, you little shit! What? Do it once with you?!”
If this were before, I would have trembled at that sight, but having lived for 10 years risking my life, I felt no emotion at all. As Shin Seo-yeon was turning her gaze around looking for what to break next, she approached the backpack I was packing in preparation for the tutorial.
“That’s expensive.”
Shin Seo-yeon hesitated, then ran toward me and started kicking me.
“Say it again! Try spouting that bullshit again!”
Thud thud thud thud thud.
Honestly, being kicked by a girl didn’t hurt that much, and more than anything, the current Shin Seo-yeon wasn’t scary at all compared to the Shin Seo-yeon who had died a few days ago.
-What’s this black charcoal? Who did this? -They say it was the Crimson Witch’s doing. She burned two women to death on the spot for looking at her boyfriend. -Wow, look how brutal that is.
‘Right, compared to then, now she’s fresh.’
She feels like a child. Her kicks and tantrum without any killing intent only made me laugh inwardly.
“Huff. Huff.”
When her breathing started getting difficult, I stood up and spoke to the sweating Shin Seo-yeon.
“I made a bit of a verbal mistake earlier.”
“Fuck that. You think an apology with words ends it? If you want to shut me up…”
“If you let me do it once, I’ll give you 100 million.”
“What…?”
Shin Seo-yeon blinked her pretty eyes. Haha, to be able to see that proud S-rank witch’s flustered face. The Shin Seo-yeon of her prime years really has that fresh appeal.
“Is that still not enough? Then 150 million.”
“!!”
“For reference, I won’t raise it any higher under the same conditions. Now choose.”
Suddenly Shin Seo-yeon became silent. Rolling her surprised eyes around, she asked me very carefully.
“A-are you really going to give me 150 million if I do it once with you?”
The Shin Seo-yeon up to this point is nothing more or less than a delinquent girl pretending to be tough. A poor family, no strength or ability – just an ordinary college girl with exceptional beauty. Honestly, she’s not even worth 150 million as an ordinary girl, but in just a few years she’ll become an S-rank mage and a super-famous person reaching 19th in the rankings. Taking her virginity?
‘150 million is cheap for that.’
Could there be a better profitable deal than this?
“What will you do?”
After much deliberation, Shin Seo-yeon said to me.
“But I have conditions too.”
“What are they.”
“I can’t trust your word, so give me advance payment.”
“Of course I should give advance payment. Tell me your account number.”
When I deposited 30 million as advance payment, Shin Seo-yeon’s smile reached from ear to ear. Grinning, Shin Seo-yeon said.
“Hey, let’s start right away.”
Such an enthusiastic request from the same girl who went crazy just moments ago when I brought up doing it once. I thought about how truly honest she is with her desires as I sat on the sofa, got hard, and gestured with my chin.
“Want to get the money quickly? Then suck it first, you bitch.”
