13
“Ah, it makes sense that you might not have heard me!”
Kim Cheol-hyeok of Maeil Real Estate smiled brightly and nodded.
But inwardly, he was making a face full of suspicion.
‘Good grief, why would he even want to look at a place like this...?’
Of course, this place had a plot of around 330 square meters.
Considering the overcrowding inside the Shelter, it was an extremely large plot.
The ceiling height was also as tall as a five-story building, so he had to tilt his head all the way back just for his gaze to barely reach the ceiling.
But from Kim Cheol-hyeok’s perspective, this place was nothing but a huge lump of shit.
Every time he stepped, piles of dirt crunched and scraped against the soles of his sneakers.
The sprinklers, which looked as though they had been broken for years, lay fallen here and there, rusted through.
The highlight among them was the state of the ceiling.
There was a huge window in the middle of the ceiling, but moss and water stains blocked the sunlight, so only faint light seeped inside, and no refreshing sunlight poured in.
However, he could not openly say that this plot was shit.
Kim Cheol-hyeok, who had finished explaining the place without saying anything bad, but without being able to say anything good either, let out a sigh and revealed the shy sincerity he had been hiding.
“Ugh... Mr. Ja-hyeon. As you heard, I do not think this is the place. The soil is completely dead... As far as I know, someone tried planting something here and failed. No matter what you do, you will have to overturn this entire field first, and that cost alone will be as much as the house price. On top of that, this is the outskirts even within Area 4, is it not? Criminals will be swarming around. To be honest, with 40,000 coins, you could aim for a twenty-pyeong old apartment in prime Area 4 land. There, security is reliable, and the elevator runs smoothly...so why would you insist on an outer trash heap like this, and so on and so forth....”
“......”
In truth, Kim Cheol-hyeok’s explanation did not even enter Ki Ja-hyeon’s ears.
‘It’s perfect....’
His pupils were already loose, in every sense!
There was no need to cultivate a field.
‘Because there’s already a field!’
There was no need to farm outside either.
Because the large window was letting sunlight in!
What he liked most was,
‘The sunlight is coming in just right, and softly too...!’
That meant mushrooms would grow well as long as he controlled the humidity!
And more than anything,
“The plot is wide, so wide...!”
The plot Ki Ja-hyeon had wanted so badly that he had offered Yoon Se-hak cherry tomatoes like his own children had been around 165 square meters.
This place was a full 330 square meters!
Of course, this place too was on the outskirts of Area 4, infamous for poor public safety, but in the first place, plots of this size did not even exist beyond Area 4.
In a Shelter where there was barely enough space for people to live, would the government tolerate one person using a place where dozens could reside?
Even if such a place existed, it would probably be land owned by the government.
Therefore, in Ki Ja-hyeon’s reality, this place before his eyes was the best and greatest choice for obtaining land of 330 square meters or more!
Of course, Kim Cheol-hyeok, who had no way of knowing Ki Ja-hyeon’s feelings, was still trying hard to persuade him at that very moment.
Selling a building in prime Area 4 land was better than selling a place like this. Even if not, this place was not particularly recommendable. Should he say his pride as a real estate agent would not allow it?
Kim Cheol-hyeok was a licensed real estate agent who worked according to his own convictions.
“That is true. The plot is wide...but what would you even do with a plot like this? Are you going to plant apple trees or something?”
But the face of the young man before him was nothing but bright.
“Yes, that’s what I’m planning to do!”
“......?”
To think he would take a metaphor and throw it right back as a direct answer.
On top of that, now that he looked closely, that man’s eyes were extremely clear.
And lurking inside those clear eyes was...?
‘He was a c-crazy person.’
Yes, it was madness.
At this moment, nothing seemed capable of stopping that man.
Still! With the last of his conscience, he tried speaking.
“As I said earlier, 400,000,000 credits is an amount that could let you aim for prime Area 4 land. Do you really want to sink the money you have earned over your entire life into a place like this?”
“Yes! I’ll sink it all in!”
An immediate answer came out as if he were giving a speech.
“I want this place! I will pay in full right now. 400,000,000 credits. That is correct, right?”
Ki Ja-hyeon had already exchanged all his coins at the exchange office.
At today’s exchange rate, one coin was 10,800 credits!
Because of that, his account currently held 400,000,000 credits plus another 32,000,000 credits.
No, if he added the money he had earned before, there were roughly 450,000,000 credits.
“Is that correct or not?”
“Hieek.”
“Answer. Answeeerr!”
“Hiiieek!”
Confusion flashed across Kim Cheol-hyeok’s face, as if he were thinking, “Is this bastard really insane?”
However, the young man held out his bracelet without hesitation.
As if telling him to hurry up and take his money!
“Could I perhaps move in starting today? There does not seem to be any luggage left behind by the previous owner!”
“N-No, customer! No, sir! Please wait a moment! If you are paying in full, I would gladly even give you a deep bow, but there is paperwork and...!”
“Then please process it quickly! The sooner the better!”
“U-Uwaah!”
Kim Cheol-hyeok, overwhelmed by his force, squeezed his eyes shut.
It was not good.
This place was truly not a good location!
But if the buyer himself said he liked it and was telling him to hurry up and take his money, was not stopping him the crazy thing?
“Whew. Please do not resent me later!”
***
Thinking of Kim Cheol-hyeok, who had tried to stop him until the moment he stamped the documents, Ki Ja-hyeon smiled foolishly.
“Heh heh. What a conscientious person.”
No matter how one looked at it, it must have seemed insane.
To pour the money he had earned over his whole life into this place, where the land value would only rise bit by bit?
On top of that, to throw away prime Area 4 land and go to the outskirts, deliberately moving to a place adjacent to Area 5?
It was a decision no one else would have made.
But Ki Ja-hyeon deliberately made that decision.
“I absolutely won’t regret it. Heh heh....”
It had been empty land anyway. Since he smashed the full amount in cash on the same day, without a down payment or intermediate payment, he was able to move the occupancy date, which would normally take over a month, up to three days later.
‘How could it be this good!’
As he headed home humming happily like that, he saw someone waiting in front of his door.
Well-dressed clothes. A sleaziness that did not suit them. A yellow gold tooth visible when he smiled widely.
Yoon Se-hak!
When he discovered Ki Ja-hyeon, he rubbed out the cigarette he had been smoking.
Well over a dozen cigarette butts were piled up like a mountain in front of Ki Ja-hyeon’s house.
“Yo, Ki Ja-hyeon! You’re here?”
‘Good grief. He came a week early again this time?’
If one kept paying a week early, that simply meant losing out by a week for as long as one lived there.
But today, that shameless man could not be more welcome.
Because,
there was no longer any need to lose out by a week.
“Oh dear, I was just about to call you, and here you are.”
“Hoho. What business were you planning to call me for again? If it is about that house from last time, no. I told you I liked that house, did I not?”
A ridiculous preemptive block.
Well, the business Yoon Se-hak expected from Ki Ja-hyeon would only be about that.
The smile on Ki Ja-hyeon’s lips spread wider.
Seeing that, Yoon Se-hak also smiled and stated his business.
“I came to collect the rent!”
“I don’t have any money to give you.”
“...What? You don’t have money?”
Yoon Se-hak’s eyebrow twitched.
‘What is this?’
This cold temperature, different from usual!
The smell he had sensed from tenants who tried to postpone their deadlines wafted over.
In that case, it was obvious.
‘I have really good instincts...!’
It had to be the reason he was trying to delay rent.
And from Yoon Se-hak’s perspective, Ki Ja-hyeon was a goose that laid golden eggs—tomatoes—a tenant who had never once fallen behind on rent and even brought those precious tomatoes for free.
He decided to let it slide a little.
“Hmm, should I push it back by about a week? If things are a little hard, at least bring out a big plate of cherry tomatoes!”
“Hoho...!”
Ki Ja-hyeon had always been curious.
Why did this guy come a week early?
Was it to receive money faster, or because he wanted to eat cherry tomatoes sooner?
Of course, it was probably both, but the thing he seemed more desperate for was the cherry tomatoes.
‘My little ones, dear as my own blood... I’m not giving you any more, you bastard!’
Unlike his inner feelings, Ki Ja-hyeon smiled and shook his head.
“I do not think I can give you any now.”
“No, why?”
“Because it looks like I will have to leave this place!”
“...What?”
The smile vanished completely from Yoon Se-hak’s face.
“No, why are you saying that now? Even moving out has common decency!”
“Isn’t a move-out notice enough as long as I give it one week in advance? That is what the contract says.”
“Exactly! You should tell me a week in advance, so why are you telling me now?”
“Because today is exactly one week before.”
“Huh?”
“Yes?”
“Ahem! Was it?”
Ki Ja-hyeon was dumbfounded.
This guy had been thinking in his head that today was the day rent was due!
“Yes. So I was going to tell you today, but since you came here in person like this, I am telling you now. Thank you very much for everything until now. Haha!”
“Ahaha...?”
Yoon Se-hak, who had lost the words to say, looked at Ki Ja-hyeon.
Naturally, from Yoon Se-hak’s perspective, Ki Ja-hyeon was a goose that laid golden eggs.
With the diligence of never once being late on rent, and even paying tribute with top-grade tomatoes of unknown origin, he was, in every sense, a VVIP tenant!
‘No...!’
He could not let him go like this!
“Why...why are you leaving? Did I really do that badly to you? Huh?”
“......”
There were more things he had failed to do than one could count.
The creaking door, the rusty water coming from the old pipes, the cherry molding that had already been worn down before he moved in—how much had his insides boiled every time he saw them?
There was so much he wanted to say.
Yes,
‘until I got money, that is.’
Ki Ja-hyeon was now a man earning 100,000,000 credits a week!
Once he moved and started elixir farming(?) again, he would earn even more.
All of that had somehow become his self-esteem and patted the one-month-ago Ki Ja-hyeon, who had been crying sadly without money, so he somehow felt he could simply move on without saying those things.
It was, in every sense, generosity born from a full granary, just like the old saying!
“Come on, it isn’t like that.”
“Then what is it? Why are you trying to leave?”
What could the reason be?
Because he had Awakened.
Because he had earned a lot of money.
Because he no longer had to endure humiliation like this.
But this time too, Ki Ja-hyeon only shook his head and did not say any of that.
He did not want to share any kind of good fortune with this person.
“What am I supposed to do if you say you are leaving like this? How am I supposed to find a tenant?”
“Come on, why are you acting like this? You said that once I left, you would raise the rent, so if I was going to leave, I should tell you right away, did you not? You said there were many people besides me who would come here, and that there was nothing for you to regret, did you not?”
“Eek...!”
He had certainly said that.
It was also true.
There were more than enough tenants trying to climb up from Area 5, saying they wanted to try living in Area 4 at least once.
But they moved in and left quickly.
Their money was delayed at the drop of a hat too!
There were more than one or two wicked tenants who required violence every time he squeezed money out of them.
In that harsh environment, only Ki Ja-hyeon had paid him rent punctually.
There was fur flying, but the dog and cat were cute too.
And, and....
He gave cherry tomatoes too...!
‘Right. Is it because of that plot...?’
Yoon Se-hak was not a fool.
He knew that Ki Ja-hyeon had been giving him cherry tomatoes because of “that plot.”
Because of that, he had delayed it day by day while plundering(?) the cherry tomatoes.
Then, when he thought that would not work anymore, he had said he would just live there himself, then proposed a 5:5 revenue share.
Though he was the five, of course.
‘Kgh... Is there no choice?’
Yoon Se-hak decided to make up his mind.
There would be many other ways to obtain cherry tomatoes.
Even putting that aside, Yoon Se-hak did not want to give up on an angelic tenant like Ki Ja-hyeon.
“...It seems it is because of the large plot. Am I right?”
“Come on, no. It isn’t.”
“What do you mean, it is not? It seems like that to me... Fine! I will not live there! So how about moving there? That solves it, right? Even so, with our relationship, the cherry tomatoes are still the same, right?”
Madness settled into Yoon Se-hak’s eyes as he mentioned cherry tomatoes to the very end.
No, what, was this bastard crazy for cherry tomatoes...?
Well, they were delicious.
‘Then you should have made that offer earlier, shouldn’t you?’
Ki Ja-hyeon’s gaze was nothing but cold.
If Yoon Se-hak had given him that plot, Ki Ja-hyeon probably would have gone there.
He would have paid rent punctually and handed over cherry tomatoes with a “here you go.”
But now, he did not need that place.
A plot of around 165 square meters did not even enter his eyes.
The current him was,
‘the owner of a 330-square-meter plot!’
A future wealthy farmer, in every sense!
There was no way that plot could satisfy Ki Ja-hyeon’s taste now.
“Thank you for everything until now.”
He bowed.
Somehow, although Ki Ja-hyeon was the one lowering his head, the heart of Yoon Se-hak, who was looking at the top of his head, twisted.
“Eek! I have done this much for you, and yet...!”
Yoon Se-hak lost his temper.
His fists were trembling.
“Isn’t this too much, fuck!”
An emotion that should not have burst out did.
“If I’ve done this much for you, you should know how to be grateful! Hey, Ki Ja-hyeon! Do you not know how small this field is? You think there will be a place that accepts you if you leave here? You think I will stay still? You will not be able to find even one room in Area 4. Understand?!”
“That is fine.”
However, Ki Ja-hyeon’s face, which had gone down, merely rose at the same speed.
The face that came up to meet him wore not even a hint of discomfort, but instead, a smile that could almost be called relieved.
“Because I’m leaving after buying a house.”
“......!”