"Ms. Martin has already deposited this month’s rent. Also, Mr. Landlord called and asked you to call him back. He said you haven’t been answering his calls."
The security guard looked at Jihwan as he spoke, then pressed a button beside his desk to unlock the main entrance for them. Jihwan simply smiled awkwardly, scratched his head, and nodded, silently telling him that he would call the landlord back.
"I’ll call him today. This is Kim Suho. If everything goes well, he’ll be sharing the apartment with Ms. Martin from today."
Jihwan tried to introduce Suho to the security guard, but the man didn’t even bother looking at him. He simply leaned back in his chair with an uninterested expression.
"When he finalizes the deal, then introduce him to me."
"Alright, let’s go, Suho."
Jihwan didn’t mind. Apparently, this security guard was always like this. Suho followed him inside and quickly noticed that there were several elevators leading up the tower. Jihwan walked toward a glass elevator near the side and stepped inside.
At first, Suho felt slightly uneasy as the elevator began climbing while the city remained fully visible through the clear walls. But once they passed the tenth floor, the nervous feeling slowly disappeared, and the view actually started to feel amazing.
"This place feels more than fancy."
"It is more than fancy. Even I wouldn’t dream of living here. After all, this place costs ₩2,430,000 ($1,700) a month, which is a lot of money."
"It really is."
If I didn’t have the system, which gave me over twenty months of headroom for the rent, I wouldn’t have dreamed of this place either.
Suho had ₩257,785,600 ($180,450), which was why he was quite confident. He had actually thought a place like this would cost somewhere around ₩3,000,000 ($2,100) a month. In fact, before hearing the actual price, he had been expecting it to cost way more than that. After buying that jacket, he was expecting everything fancy to cost more, considering the jacket alone had cost him ₩7,600,000 ($5,320).
The elevator slowed to a stop on the twenty-ninth floor, and the doors opened into a wide, quiet hallway. Suho stepped outside and looked around. For a moment, he thought steel walls surrounded the entire floor.
Their smooth silver-gray surfaces reflected the warm ceiling lights, while the floor beneath his shoes was covered in polished stone. There were only two apartment doors, set far apart, each fitted with a digital lock and a small camera beside the doorbell.
"Those are normal walls. The paint is specially designed to give them that metal finish. Looks expensive, doesn’t it?"
Jihwan pressed the doorbell and waited with an awkward smile, occasionally glancing at the camera. Suho stood beside him, looking forward to seeing the apartment. Even the hallway was completely silent. He couldn’t hear a television, music, or anyone talking behind either door.
"There are two bedrooms inside, and each bedroom comes with its own smaller extra room. The one I’m going to show you has a reading table and shelves already set up, so you can use it as a study room or change it however you want. Ms. Martin has the other bedroom and its extra room."
As Jihwan was talking, the camera suddenly moved. Jihwan smiled at the camera while Suho was slightly taken aback and also looked toward it. The camera seemed to stare at them for a few seconds before suddenly tilting in Suho’s direction. Then the lens moved slightly, almost as if someone inside had zoomed in on his face to get a clearer look.
Are they judging me through the camera as well?
*ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!*
Suddenly, a shriek-like girl’s voice came from inside. She was speaking in English, which Suho somewhat understood. Although he wasn’t very fluent in English, he knew the basic words well enough to understand that whoever was inside had just cursed loudly.
"As I was saying, you’ll share the living room and kitchen, but each bedroom has its own private bathroom. There’s air conditioning, underfloor heating, and a video intercom connected to the security desk downstairs. The windows are double-glazed too, so traffic noise shouldn’t bother you."
Jihwan tried to change the topic, but the corners of his lips twitched with annoyance. This was a premium location, and something like this wasn’t supposed to happen while he was showing the apartment to a potential tenant. He didn’t even know what had gotten into Elizabeth Martin today. Usually, she was the quiet type.
"Don’t tell me you didn’t hear that?"
Suho asked. He was concerned about the person inside. Was she alright? Or had something happened?
"You see, Miss Elizabeth Martin is from America, and we don’t know much about her culture. Maybe it’s something cultural... hehe."
*CLICK*
The door clicked open, and Suho saw a very beautiful blonde girl standing there, staring at him fiercely. She had long, wavy blonde hair, a bright, pretty face, and the kind of beauty that felt flashy and impossible to ignore.
Her whole vibe looked rich, stylish, and full of confidence, almost like the kind of girl who was used to getting attention wherever she went. Suho looked around for a second, wondering if he was really seeing things or if she was actually staring at him like that. And yes, she really was staring directly at him.
"Mr. Jihwan...?"
"Kim Suho."
Before Suho could ask Jihwan what was happening, he heard the girl say his name. Although it sounded a little strange because of her English accent, her pronunciation was still quite good. Suho was taken aback.