## Chapter 44 – Interest
People pay attention to what they’re interested in.
If it’s a game, it’s a game; if it’s money, it’s money.
If they happen to fall in love, they don’t see anything else around them.
I don’t know if it’s right to call it love, but Seo-hee Jung is exactly like that right now.
“Seo-hee, when did you first meet Yuri and Yejin?”
“I don’t know.”
“The kids say you’ve known each other for quite a while.”
“Maybe.”
…It’s not sinking in at all.
She’s not opening her heart easily. She doesn’t seem to care about me, and when I try to talk to her, she just seems annoyed.
‘Is it as I thought?’
Seo-hee Jung and I have only been together for four days.
For the past three years, we’ve just been awkward acquaintances, so we knew each other’s faces and names, but that was it.
If we were complete strangers, we might have become more familiar.
I might have been able to aim for the thrill of a first meeting.
‘No. It’s not all bad. Anyway, Seo-hee Jung has been watching me for three years, so she’s not very wary of me.’
When the twins approached Kim Yeon-ju, Seo-hee’s tension was higher than when I did.
In other words, I’ve proven that I’m not a very dangerous person to Seo-hee.
‘Well, that’s fine. Let’s not rush.’
It’s a problem that time will solve anyway.
When I looked up, the sun was slowly setting, and the scorching heat had weakened a lot.
I walked along the shade of the palm trees and then moved towards the beach.
As I walked, I bent down and picked up only the lilies.
‘Let’s see, the price is… Oh. It’s gone up?’
The value of lilies, which had fallen to 2,000 won per kilogram, had rebounded to 5,000 won.
‘Did it go up in almost a week?’
It seems that the value returns to its original state over time.
It was good news. No, it was something to be very happy about in the current situation.
[Cash: 114,257 won]
The cash I had collected close to 300,000 won had fallen to around 100,000 won in just four days.
Some of it was spent on completing daily quests and taking care of science, but as a result, the biggest cost was bringing an 암호 tiger into the house.
‘…She really ate a lot.’
Tomboy Seo-hee Jung.
She’s a little taller than me and good at fighting, but her body is quite slender, but she eats a tremendous amount.
She ate so ravenously without saying a word, as if she were starving for meat… I even wondered if it was right to bring her in.
‘Anyway, it’s good news. Now I don’t have to worry about cash anymore.’
I thought the price would never go up again once it fell, but it wasn’t.
It’s going up again. Now I can resume the cash work.
Of course, I have no intention of moving myself.
Why bother when there are four women lazing around at home?
‘I should send them out once in a while to work.’
I just stand still and sell the seafood that the women bring in to the store.
If I do that every two or three days, I should be able to fill the leaks.
With that rosy future in mind, I picked up the lilies and put them into the store window.
I have to move for at least 12 hours, so it’s a waste to just kill time.
‘Let’s just pick up the biggest ones and put them in. The big ones weigh a lot, so I can earn some pocket money without bending over too many times.’
As I did, I learned a few things.
‘The value goes up even more when I pick up only the big ones and put them in?’
The value was 1.3 times higher than when I mixed in big and small ones. That’s 30% more value.
Also, the value jumped momentarily when I sold 1kg, 5kg, or 10kg instead of just picking up a few and selling them.
‘There are more variables than I thought. Interesting. Should I look for other unique points?’
I was playing with the lilies, wondering how to get the maximum profit, and I was immersed in the store window.
Swish.
Someone reached out from the side.
It was Seo-hee Jung.
“Is this right?”
I stared at Seo-hee Jung.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“…No. Nothing.”
I looked at the shells that Seo-hee Jung was holding. Hmm. I’m sorry, but Seo-hee’s eye for this was at Kim Yeon-ju’s level.
She didn’t even reach the twins’ toes.
There was only one lily among the dozen or so.
“You have to bring things that look like this. Like this. Okay?”
“Okay.”
She brought them several times after that, but her skills didn’t improve easily.
I had to correct myself.
Seo-hee’s eye for this was lower than Kim Yeon-ju, who was the lowest in our group.
‘It’s better if she doesn’t pick them up at all.’
But I didn’t get annoyed and carefully taught her every time Seo-hee brought them.
“Should I just quit? I don’t seem to have a knack for it.”
“No, you’re doing well. Don’t be too discouraged. I wandered around in the scorching sun for a long time before I finally learned it.”
If she looked like she was going to give up, I would comfort her.
“Oh. You got three this time?”
I praised her when she did well.
Then, little by little, her skills began to improve.
Even more than just her skills were changing.
“Okay, you have to look closely at things that look like this. Do you understand?”
Nod, nod.
When I taught her, she nodded and focused on me, and when she was praised by me, she was shy or started to laugh herself.
When we first started, there was no conversation between us, but at some point, we were talking all the time.
I stood still and watched the tomboy carefully examining the shells on the beach.
‘I never thought Seo-hee Jung would talk to me first.’
I felt frustrated when I tried to approach her, but I never dreamed that she would come to me so easily.
Thanks to that, I learned how to approach her and become friends with her.
I refrained from everyday conversation as much as possible.
I only talked about work and silently worked with her.
“Woo-jin. This isn’t it, this is a lily, right?”
When we first started, I was walking ahead, and Seo-hee was following about 25 meters behind.
Now we were walking together at a distance of less than 1 meter.
Sometimes even closer than that.
So close that our hands and feet would bump into each other while walking.
“Oh. Sorry. There’s sand on your thigh, Seo-hee.”
“Don’t worry about it. You’ve gotten it on me a few times. It’s even.”
Seo-hee smiled at me.
I never thought the day would come when I would see that Seo-hee smile so naturally.
“Hoo. Let’s take a break. Seo-hee, here’s some water.”
“Thanks.”
Seo-hee opened the lid and drank from the canteen. Then she handed it to me.
“Haa. That’s refreshing. You drink some too.”
“……”
“Why? Is it dirty because I drank from it?”
Now she even jokes with me. I laughed and shook my head.
“It’s not that, you don’t ask me anything about myself.”
“Hmm?”
“Aren’t you curious about how I pull things out of thin air?”
Seo-hee shrugged.
“Everyone has secrets. As an intellectual, I think you shouldn’t dig into someone’s personal affairs unless they say it first. That’s etiquette, and it’s basic.”
“……”
“Sorry for saying it so hard. I just didn’t ask because I thought you’d be in trouble if I asked.”
I thought she would say it was because she wasn’t interested, but she said it was because she was afraid I’d be in trouble….
‘You’re different from the other kids, Seo-hee Jung.’
She treats me like a person. When I think of the kids in my class who treat me like air, it’s unimaginable.
But it wasn’t something to be happy about.
The fact that she didn’t cross the line meant that I shouldn’t cross the line either.
In other words, it meant that she wouldn’t open her heart easily and that she wouldn’t trust others easily.
‘…There’s no need to rush.’
I got up from my seat.
“Shall we move again?”
We started walking again.
Before long, darkness fell on all sides, and stars gathered in the sky to form a Milky Way.
And as I walked along the beach, I led Seo-hee to the edge of the bushes.
‘It should be somewhere around here. Ah, here it is.’
In one corner of the bushes where I had rolled around with Park Ji-min, there was a white shirt. And on top of it was something, and when I picked it up and held it up to the moonlight, it was a cola.
A 250ml can.
I checked what was written on the shirt.
『I picked it up on the beach on the way. I don’t really like carbonation, so you can have it, Kkojimo.』
‘Even if you don’t like carbonation, you’re giving me cola you got in this kind of outback. Ji-min, you’re really…’
Feeling a warm heart, I put water and fruit of all kinds on the shirt again this time.
About twice as much as last time.
It’s a bit much for Ji-min to eat alone, but he’s probably quick-witted, so he’ll figure out how to use this abundant food.
『Thank you. I’ll enjoy it.』
I left a reply like that and got up from my seat. Then I turned around and went back the way I came, and Seo-hee came up and asked.
“Do you always take care of them like this?”
“Yeah.”
“When I think about what the kids did when they came here, I don’t understand it.”
They controlled the water and food and only gave them enough to keep them from dying. They made them work every day….
It made my skin crawl just thinking about it.
“I don’t want the kids to die.”
“Even though you’ve been through that for three years?”
Ah. Seo-hee was clearly aware of my existence.
Maybe the reason she looked at me with pity was because she didn’t like the way I was groveling like a slave.
I said frankly.
“Yeah. I don’t want the kids to die. Even if they did that to me. I want them all to live long and happy lives.”
I was serious. I sincerely wanted the kids to live long lives.
Would my sincerity be conveyed?
“You’re really… you have a big heart. More than any adult, not just any twenty-year-old.”
Seo-hee’s eyes were completely different when she looked at me.
“Haha, no way.”
I scratched my head and gave a silly laugh.
Then I was sure that this was my chance.
When a person is deeply moved, the walls they have built up are temporarily broken down.
They put down their standards and are ready to accept everything positively.
I had been trying to get Seo-hee into this state by treating her to food.
But I kept failing. I didn’t know why, but I didn’t know there was a shortcut like this.
‘Bribing someone to gain favor is exactly this kind of moment. Ji-min, thank you. I’ll make good use of the cola.’
I threw the can of cola I was holding to Seo-hee. Seo-hee, who had taken it without realizing it was cola, looked at me with wide eyes.
“You like cola, right? I’ve seen you take it out of the vending machine sometimes.”
“Then why are you giving it to me?”
“Because I trust you. I was impressed with your work today. I’m relying on you now, and I hope you’ll continue to do so in the future.”
“……”
“Of course, keep it a secret from the others in the settlement. I don’t want to be misunderstood.”
Only when she heard that she didn’t want to be misunderstood did Seo-hee’s face relax and she smiled.
Seo-hee opened the cola and drank it down.
캬아! She made a pleasant sound and came up to me, put her arm around my shoulder, and held it out.
“Here, you drink some too. There’s still half left.”
“I’m okay.”
“You’re not refusing, are you?”
Seo-hee pressed my back with her big chest and held out the cola.
When I turned my head slightly, I saw her pretty face smiling brightly between her short hair.
“I’ll enjoy it.”
“Yeah, yeah!”
Seo-hee hugged my shoulder and neck roughly and answered.
Thanks to that, her big breasts were pressed against my back and jiggled, making it a little difficult to walk.
