"This one is basically the quietest place I have. It’s a three-bedroom apartment. You’ll get the smallest room, but the rent will be ₩850,000 ($595) a month."
Jihwan showed Suho around the old-fashioned but extremely clean apartment. The place was filled with paintings, small sculptures, and other art pieces that made it feel strangely elegant despite the age of the building. When Suho peeked out of the window, the neighborhood looked peaceful as well, filled mostly with private homes and quiet residential buildings. Still, he had a feeling Jihwan wasn’t telling him something.
"What’s the catch? You told me to be prepared, so what exactly was I preparing for?"
"Sigh! The other two tenants here are boyfriend and girlfriend."
"And?!"
Jihwan scratched his head as a goofy smile slowly appeared on his face, but he didn’t explain anything. Instead, he simply continued walking around the apartment while Suho stood there completely baffled. He couldn’t understand why living with a couple was supposed to be a problem.
Jihwan slowly walked toward the bedroom he was supposed to show Suho. The moment he opened the door, Suho froze. Paintings were everywhere—leaning against the walls, stacked on the floor, hanging above the bed, and even covering most of the desk.
"What are these?"
"This is the catch. The couple living here are both art students at SNU, and they also work as nude models for figure-drawing classes."
Suho stared at the colorful nude paintings covering the room. Some were painted in black and white, while others were so large they were almost life-sized. A few looked as if someone had dipped their entire body in paint and then slammed themselves straight onto a huge white canvas.
Others were only half-finished, with rough outlines, unfinished faces, and empty spaces where the artist had stopped halfway through. Naked men and women were everywhere he looked—on the walls, across the floor, beside the desk, even leaning near the bed. The longer Suho looked around, the more his head started to spin.
Psychopaths.
"I know. I was just showing you the cheaper ones first. Let’s go back. The next place will cost you ₩2,430,000 ($1,700) a month. If that’s too much, just tell me."
"That much?!"
They quickly left the old building and got back into Jihwan’s car. After only about three minutes of driving, the surroundings began to change completely. The older buildings disappeared behind them, replaced by wider and cleaner streets, neatly planted trees, expensive-looking cafés, private parking entrances, and newer apartment complexes.
Even the cars parked along the road looked noticeably more expensive. Suho kept looking through the window, slightly surprised that such a different neighborhood was only a few minutes away.
Jihwan finally slowed the car in front of a massive residential tower that looked almost like a skyscraper compared to everything they had seen earlier. The building rose around thirty floors into the sky, its glass and stone exterior looking clean and modern.
The entrance looked extremely secure. Two guards stood near the gate, checking every car that came in, while cameras were placed around the entrance and parking area. A barrier only lifted after the car was checked, and Suho could see another guard sitting inside a small security room filled with monitors.
The glass entrance doors looked thick and expensive, and even from the car, Suho could tell that random people couldn’t just walk into this building. He leaned slightly toward the windshield and looked all the way up the tower, trying to see where it ended.
"Here we are, sonny. You probably feel like every apartment I have listed is filled with weirdos, right? Well, weirdos usually get rejected by normal places and end up coming to me. I don’t judge people, as you can probably tell, and I try to help them out. This one is really expensive, though, so are you sure you want me to show it to you?"
Suho looked down at himself and gave a small smile. Compared to this neighborhood, he really did look rugged. His pants were already six years old, while the shoes on his feet had been given to him by an older orphan who had left the orphanage two years ago. Even the white T-shirt under his jacket had lost most of its color from being washed too many times, and there were faint stains from other clothes being mixed into the same wash.
If it weren’t for the expensive jacket covering most of him, Suho knew he would look completely out of place here. Thinking about it like that, he couldn’t really blame Jihwan for asking. For most of his life, Suho had worn whatever was available and never cared much about how he looked. But standing in front of a place like this made him realize just how obvious his old life still was from the outside.
"I have money."
"I’m sure you do. Sorry for being a jerk about the money. Come on, let’s go see this beauty. It’s on the twenty-ninth floor, and that floor only has two apartments. You’ll be sharing this one with only one other person. She’s American, and apparently she’s also studying at SNU with you."
"Is that so?"
Suho got out of the car and followed Jihwan toward the entrance. The whole area felt unusually quiet despite being in Seoul. The sidewalks were wide and clean, expensive cars moved slowly through the roads, and there were barely any people standing around outside.
Even the small gardens surrounding the buildings looked perfectly maintained. As they reached the front gate, two security guards stood near the entrance while several cameras watched the driveway from different angles. Jihwan casually walked toward them while Suho looked around, already realizing this place was on a completely different level from the apartments they had visited earlier.