[Chapter 145]
[Things Money Can't Buy (4)]
It wasn't that he couldn't respond.
There was no need to make enemies unnecessarily.
However, the existence called Noh Eunha─
─I hate getting on a stage set by others. Who are they to try to handle me as they please?
He basically disliked getting on stages set by others.
He had a mindset that he would rather flip the stage in that case.
However, Eunha also knew how to grasp the current situation.
KK Group Chairman Kim Geon.
Twelve Seats
Even if he didn't like their attitude of looking down on him,
Even if he had no intention of getting on the stage they set,
There was no need to be in conflict with them.
"...I got a bit excited."
"Pi." "You were more excited than me. Where are you trying to comfort me from?" "Pupu."
After leaving KK Group's mansion,
Eunha muttered his mistake quietly while walking down the hill.
His emotions got ahead of him.
So he ended up showing an extremely sharp attitude towards them.
In hindsight, if he had bent a little, he might have been able to form a smooth relationship with them.
But the water was already spilled.
Even if he went back to that time─
─I would probably say the same words again.
Walking down the hill,
Eunha gave a wry smile.
'─How much can you be bought for?'
A question that made emotions precede reason.
When he received that question from the KK Group chairman,
Eunha felt insulted, as if it was belittling the existence of Lee Yu-jeong who gave him his second life.
So don't try to evaluate my life as you please.
Eunha pressured KK Group Chairman Kim Geon without being able to control his emotions.
And he poured all his unresolved emotions onto
"...Though they say that, there's probably not much they can actually do to me." "Pipipi."
"You didn't do well. Do you know how nervous I was inside because of you earlier? We could have given them justification by attacking first unnecessarily."
"Pipo pipo pu."
"...Yeah. But it did feel good."
"Pipi!"
"But don't attack first next time. Just threaten like those guys."
He doesn't regret it.
He could bend his head sometimes depending on the situation.
But not for Lee Yu-jeong.
Even if he goes back several times,
And gets to choose several times,
He will never reverse his choice.
"It feels a bit off to go back to the Academy like this... Should I go home?"
"Pipipi papapa pupupu!"
"Alright. I'll introduce you to the family. Ah, I should give some Royal Beads to Dad and Uncle Bruno when we get there. While we're at it, should I give one to Hyung Geum-jeon too, meaning to ask for his help in the future?"
He decided not to keep thinking about it.
Eunha switched his thoughts and decided to go home.
Just then─
"─I'll take you home." "...Han Seo-hyeon?"
"Get in. What are you doing not getting in?"
While walking down the road,
A car that seemed to have been parked started its engine and approached him.
The window rolled down.
Han Seo-hyeon showed her face from inside.
Eunha blinked at her sudden appearance.
☆
"─I heard you were being investigated at the Mana Management Organization, so I went to meet you. Then I saw you getting into KK Group's car and followed."
In the passenger car,
Eunha nodded at Han Seo-hyeon's words sitting next to him.
Thanks to her coming to pick him up at the right time, Eunha was able to go home comfortably.
...I'm tired.
He's tired.
Thinking back, he had just been investigated at the Mana Management Organization right after coming out of the dungeon.
There's no way fatigue hadn't accumulated.
Eunha stared blankly out the car window with his head leaning against it.
Meanwhile, Fire Chicken was sitting on her lap and acting cute towards her.
"It's cute."
"Pipi!"
"I'm really glad a mouse-like thing wasn't born from the egg." "Pipi?"
"But such a small bird... It's hard to believe it's based on a Phoenix."
"It's a monster companion that even received certification from the Mana Management Organization. Though its appearance is a bit like that, it is based on a Phoenix." "Pipu pi."
"By the way, what's its name?"
"...Fire Chicken." "...You gave it a name like you."
"That's not a name I gave, you know?" "Then who named it?"
"Ugh... No, I named it. I did name it."
"You really named it like you. You're having a hard time because you met the wrong dad. Do you like your name?"
"Pipipi!"
"Really? I'm glad if you like it."
Eunha turned his head.
Han Seo-hyeon, who had been touching Fire Chicken here and there, smiles.
Eunha just watched her and Fire Chicken playing with his mouth tightly shut.
Fire Chicken follows Han Seo-hyeon well.
Probably because it received Han Seo-hyeon's internal mana once when it was in the egg.
Then─
"─By the way, aren't you going to ask?"
"Ask what?"
"What I talked about with the KK Group chairman."
Eunha stared at her blankly before opening his mouth.
How he came to meet the KK Group chairman.
Though she who followed him would be curious enough,
Han Seo-hyeon wasn't asking him anything.
She only asked if he had received any uncomfortable treatment while at the Mana Management Organization, and what kind of activities he showed in the dungeon.
It was just strange to Eunha.
Then she answered quietly.
"─I can somewhat guess what you heard there, and you have a face like you don't want to talk about it." "..."
"Why? Should I ask? If so, I'll ask." "...No, it's fine."
It was strange when facing Han Seo-hyeon.
Sometimes she acted as if she had read his mind.
"..."
"Why are you being gloomy? No, why are you being lonely?" "...What are you saying."
"If you're lonely, say so. Your 2-year older sister will comfort you." "You usually tell me not to call you noona..." "That was then, this is now."
"Where is there such a thing?"
So Eunha occasionally had such a feeling.
A feeling of being understood as a being, a feeling that seemed impossible yet possible.
It was a very strange sensation.
Because Noh Eunha who lived the life of
So he suddenly wants to lean on her.
He can't help but wonder how Han Seo-hyeon thinks.
Eunha self-deprecatingly murmured.
"─Is there really nothing in the world that can't be bought with money?"
What kind of person is Han Seo-hyeon?
At this moment, Eunha felt a very intense curiosity about her.
At the same time, he felt like he wanted to be comforted by her.
So he asked.
Cutting out all context and just the point.
"..."
Hearing his question,
Han Seo-hyeon seemed lost in thought.
Silence fell.
Fire Chicken on her lap just tilted its head between the two and chirped pipi.
Soon she seemed to have finished thinking.
She opens her mouth.
"─Isn't it obvious? There's nothing in this world that can't be bought with money."
"...Really?"
A voice that seemed certain.
But her answer completely betrayed his expectations.
Well... Seo-hyeon is Sirius Group's direct descendant. I guess it can't be helped if she thinks that way.
Eunha's gaze calms.
His feelings for Han Seo-hyeon cool.
She is ultimately Sirius Group's direct descendant, a person living in a completely different world from him.
Eunha grasped what kind of person Han Seo-hyeon was from her answer just now.
He thought he grasped it.
Until he heard her next words.
"─In a world where nothing is impossible with money, there are three types of people."
"...Three types?"
"Yes, three types."
Han Seo-hyeon avoids Eunha's gaze.
Soon she hugs Fire Chicken and looks out the opposite window.
"If there's a person who tries to buy something they want at full price, that person is third-rate."
"..."
"And a person who tries to buy things by haggling the price or borrowing other people's money is second-rate."
Han Seo-hyeon explains calmly.
Eunha listened to her story.
He wanted to look to the bottom of what she was thinking.
So he interjected midway.
"...Then what's first-rate?"
Han Seo-hyeon turns her head from the window.
She's smiling.
Eventually she answers as if it's nothing.
"─A person who doesn't buy with money."
"..."
"There's nothing that can't be done with money in the world. But a first-rate person should know how to make impossible things possible without using money. No matter how much money I have, there's ultimately a limit, so isn't a person who spends lavishly saying everything can be bought with money a foolish person?"
A person who doesn't buy with money.
Eunha murmured her words.
Curiosity stirred again.
"Then what kind of person are you, Seo-hyeon?"
"If there's something I really want, I don't buy it with my money. Because I know that even if I entice someone with money, they'll eventually leave when I run out of money." "...Person?"
"That's just an example."
"Then how do you get it? If there's something you really want, Seo-hyeon."
It's an interesting story.
Before he knew it, Eunha was sitting close next to her.
"─I don't buy it. I make it so they can't live without me." "...Huh?"
Han Seo-hyeon's eyes sparkle.
Meanwhile, Eunha blinked.
He didn't understand for a moment.
It was a subtle answer that seemed understandable yet not.
"That's... when it's a person?" "That's right."
"Then for things like objects..."
"That would be different each time."
"Ugh..."
In the end, it means she has no intention of telling.
Eunha sank into the backrest and sighed.
Regardless,
Han Seo-hyeon kept giggling, seemingly very pleased about something.
"Then what if, you said there's nothing that can't be done with money in the world."
"Yes, go on."
A question that came up next.
Eunha chose his words for a moment.
He pondered how to say it.
He mumbles.
Soon he asks in a tense tone.
"─Do you think money can turn back time?"
"..."
It must have been an unexpected question.
Han Seo-hyeon couldn't answer right away.
She sent a gaze asking what he was saying.
Eunha didn't answer.
He just waited for Han Seo-hyeon's answer with a stern face.
In the end, she had to answer without knowing what intention he had in saying such words.
"In a world where nothing is impossible with money, you think time can't be turned back?" "..."
An answer that seemed to ignore Lee Yu-jeong.
Eunha closed his mouth.
Just then, she adds.
"If you can just pay the cost to develop the technology to turn back time, it's not impossible to turn back time. But I told you."
"...What?" "Money has a limit. A person who pours astronomical amounts of money into technology development with unknown costs is a foolish person. First-rate people don't do such things." "Then what do first-rate people do?"
"Well..."
Though she had been answering with certainty until now,
Han Seo-hyeon showed an uncertain attitude for the first time, trailing off.
Then her eyes meet his.
She smirks.
"─Wouldn't they make the person who can turn back time their ally?" "..." "In the end, what's important in turning back time is the person who develops the technology first rather than developing the technology. In that sense, that person would be priceless, and even if priced, there wouldn't be enough money in this world. Because money has a limit."
"...I see." "It's an ironic thing. That in a world where nothing is impossible with money, there are ultimately people who can't be bought with money."
A person whose worth can't be measured with money.
A person who absolutely can't be bought with money existing in this world.
Eunha's eyes shone at her words.
Ah, that's right.
What kind of person is Yu-jeong.
To him, Lee Yu-jeong was such an existence.
An existence no one can evaluate.
Yet KK Group Chairman Kim Geon implicitly belittled her by trying to buy him with money.
He couldn't help but be angry.
Kim Geon, he's third-rate.
A very foolish and stupid person.
"Are you feeling better now?"
"Yeah, thanks to noona, I feel refreshed. Thank you so much." "It's nothing." "Can I ask one more thing?" "Go ahead."
On the other hand, Eunha thought of words he wanted to hear through her mouth.
She nodded.
He asked in a bright tone.
"Then me?" "Hm?"
"How much do you think I can be bought for?"
"Like the previous question, you really ask very random questions, don't you?"
"I can't be priced either, right?"
"Sigh..."
As if exasperated,
Han Seo-hyeon immediately sighs.
Then she smirks.
As if teasing him waiting for the expected answer.
"─0 won."
"Huh? I'm 0 won?" "You're already mine. Why would I buy you with money when you're already mine?"
"..."
It was correct.
Because they were engaged.
As a result, Noh Eunha was sold to her for free.
Eunha let out a hollow laugh.
"You think I can't say that? Noona is 0 won too. Because you're already engaged to me."
Since she said his worth was 0 won,
Eunha decided to devalue Han Seo-hyeon's worth to 0 won as well.
He felt strangely wronged.
But she smirked and─
"─Alright then. Let's do that. 0 won."
"What?" "Yeongwon (eternity). Let's be eternal, you and I. I don't really care what my worth is." "..."
While feeling unsettled,
Eunha couldn't understand why Han Seo-hyeon was so pleased.
Han Seo-hyeon is really incomprehensible.
Soon Eunha burst out laughing along with her.
"─Here, eat some tofu." "Why tofu?"
"Because you came out of the
Mana Management Organization."
"Is that a prison or something?" "It's not a prison, but so what? And tofu is good for you, so just eat all of it."
"You bought a lot. Yum."
"Beep beep beep!"
"Okay, you eat it too."
That day, Han Seo-hyun brought Eun-ha home and was welcomed by her family.
And Eun-ha had to be scolded by her father for doing something dangerous when she came back from work.