BTA 02

chapter  02

 Dogok-dong Town Palace (2)

The lobby of Town Palace was spacious and immaculate, almost like a department store.

I couldn’t help marveling at it the entire time I walked.

Wow. It looks like some kind of luxury hotel.

I had lived in a small neighborhood in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province.

Even within that neighborhood, our house was in an extremely remote area.

Well… to give you an idea, would it make sense if I said that the neighborhood dogs would bark and come out to greet me from the moment I reached the entrance to the rice fields I had to walk through to get home?

Anyway, for someone like me who had lived in such a remote place, the luxurious interior of Town Palace was a genuine culture shock.

I feel a little intimidated.

I kept my eyes straight ahead so I wouldn’t show it, but Manager Yang pulled a card out of his pocket and waved it around.

“You can’t get inside here without this.”

“What is that?”

Manager Yang stopped right in front of the elevator.

“An access card. You saw how intense the security was earlier. If you’re not a Town Palace resident, you have to get a temporary access pass at the main entrance.”

“Ahh~ I’ve seen that online. I heard that even delivery workers can’t easily get into Town Palace. But seeing it in person, it’s even more extreme than I’d heard.”

Manager Yang smiled and looked up at the ceiling.

“Well, yeah. These places cost tens of billions of won.”

“T-Tens of billions?”

Manager Yang lowered his head slightly, then looked at me with a grin.

“Especially the floor where Hee-soo lives. It’s worth 12 billion won.”

“…What? O-One hundred…?”

“Hee-soo lives in the largest unit in Town Palace, ninety pyeong. And she lives there alone! Ah, right. Now there are two of them, with the baby. Haha.”

I couldn’t hear anything else Manager Yang said.

Wow. 12 billion won.

I knew it would be expensive because it was such a famous high-rise mixed-use residence, but I’d expected it to be something like one or two billion won at most.

Well, I guess my employer is Ahn Hee-soo. She’s the top actress in Korea, so it’s not exactly surprising.

Ring-ring—

Bzzzz—

“All right, let’s get on.”

As we rode the elevator up, Manager Yang suddenly asked me a question.

“Hyuk-chan, you said you live in Icheon, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Hmm. Come to think of it, that’s quite a distance from here to your house. If the interview goes well and you start working here, would commuting be okay?”

“No problem at all! After coming here today, I found that it only takes about an hour and a half from Icheon to Dogok-dong. When I was in college, I even commuted five days a week from home to Heukseok-dong. Haha.”

“Hmm. Aside from the commute, there were a few other concerns. Above all, having a male babysitter…”

Manager Yang rubbed his chin with an ambiguous expression.

Before he could think of anything else, I quickly continued.

“Manager!”

“Yes, Hyuk-chan.”

“I think you may have forgotten something. I’m the eldest son of thirteen siblings. Both of my parents were busy working, so my second and third siblings and I took care of all our younger siblings. Whew~ Every day was like a war. One of them would be running around the house and suddenly fall down, while someone else would be throwing up everything they’d just eaten. And the siblings who were born one year apart would be beating each other up.”

Manager Yang let out a long breath and shook his head.

“That sounds terrifying. It must have been hard having so many younger siblings.”

“No, no. That kind of battlefield was exactly suited to me. That’s why I majored in Early Childhood Education in college, too. I also have plenty of professional certifications, as I wrote in my application, right? What I’m saying is, if you entrust this job to me, I’m confident I can do it more reliably than anyone else. Please evaluate me based on my ability, regardless of my gender.”

Manager Yang nodded vigorously.

“Haha. Yes. I already know that when it comes to taking care of babies, Hyuk-chan is the perfect person for the job. There’s no need to think about anything else.”

“Yes, exactly. I’ll work hard!”

Ring-ring—

Just then, the elevator arrived.

Manager Yang made a strange expression as the doors opened.

“But Hyuk-chan, I’m not the one who specifically picked you out of all the applicants and asked you to come for an interview. It was Hee-soo. She’ll have to like you herself.”

“…Pardon?”

Bzzzz—

“We’ve arrived. Let’s go.”

After getting off the elevator, we stood in front of the entrance door for quite a while.

Manager Yang repeatedly tried calling someone, but eventually shook his head and slipped his phone back into his pocket.

“She isn’t answering her phone or reading her KakaoTalk messages. Though I don’t think it’s that she isn’t answering or reading them. She probably can’t.”

I immediately understood what he meant and nodded.

“I suppose so.”

She has a newborn who’s only just over fifty days old in her arms. She must be completely overwhelmed.

Manager Yang let out a sigh and walked over to the keypad.

“I guess we’ll just have to enter the passcode. Hyuk-chan, just give me a moment…”

With one hand resting on the keypad beside the entrance door, Manager Yang stared straight at me.

I tactfully turned my gaze away.

“Got it! Wow~ Even the hallway outside the entrance is spacious and luxurious.”

Beep— Beep— Beep— Beep— Beep— Beep—

Ring—

Click.

“Hyuk-chan, let’s go in.”

“Yes!”

When I turned back toward the entrance, the door to that incredible Town Palace residence worth 12 billion won was open.

The entrance door looked like a gigantic vault door straight out of a fantasy novel.

I hadn’t even taken a single step inside yet, but my heart was pounding uncontrollably from curiosity.

What does the inside of a 12-billion-won home look like? And what kind of person is Ahn Hee-soo, the owner of this place?

I’d applied for the job because I needed to earn living expenses before graduation, but now that I was standing in front of the Town Palace entrance, my heart was pounding for a completely different reason.

Then Manager Yang suddenly turned his head.

“Hyuk-chan, why aren’t you coming in? Don’t tell me you’re nervous?”

I waved my hands dismissively and strode into the entrance.

“Haha, Manager. The only time I get nervous is when my youngest sibling is sleeping through the night.”

I clenched my fists and reminded myself of my original purpose.

That’s right. I came here to work. I need to do well in the interview and get hired. I need to earn money for my living expenses. Lee Hyuk-chan, just focus on the job. Work your butt off and earn four million won a month during the vacation.

From that moment on, I started mentally preparing myself.

Dogok-dong Town Palace—the place I’d only ever seen on television and the internet, the place surrounded by all kinds of rumors.

Sure, the exterior and lobby were dazzling, but at the end of the day, it was still just a place where people lived.

Right. Even if the house costs 12 billion won, it’s still just a home.

I walked for quite a while through the enormous entrance hall toward what I assumed was the living room.

As soon as the living room came into view, a strange sound involuntarily escaped my mouth.

“…Gasp. …Huh.”

No.

It wasn’t just a place where ordinary people lived.

It was definitely a home, and it was definitely spacious like ours, but the quality was on an entirely different level.

The interior was pristine white, with gray furniture arranged throughout. Even though I knew next to nothing about design, everything looked so sophisticated that I couldn’t help marveling every time I looked around.

The crowning glory was the living room’s floor-to-ceiling windows.

Beyond the glass was a panoramic view of Dogok-dong.

Wow.

I glanced at the view and almost shouted, Yahoo~!

“Hee-soo! Ahn Hee-soo!!”

Manager Yang happened to be calling for Ahn Hee-soo as he walked around the house.

Only then did I allow myself to freely look around the living room.

So this is how Korea’s top actress lives. I wonder if chaebol families all live like this too? What would it feel like to live in a place like this? Will I ever get another chance to come back to Town Palace? Hmm. Would I have to earn 12 billion won?

A hollow laugh suddenly escaped me.

The part-time job money I earned after working myself to the bone for an entire month while keeping up with my studies was 1.2 million won.

If that 1.2 million won was deposited on time, I could feel full for the entire day.

And now I was talking about earning ten thousand times that amount—12 billion won.

“Hyuk-chan~!”

Just then, I heard Manager Yang calling from somewhere in the distance, so I hurried toward the sound.

“Yes, Manager!”

I quickly walked in the direction of his voice, and as I got closer, the sound of a baby crying grew louder.

It was a cry that was almost a scream.

“Eeeeeeeaaah! Waaah~~ Uwaah, uwaaaah! Hiiiyaaaaya~!! Hiiiiiiiiiyaaaah!”

Just as I was about to reach the door where the sound was coming from, the door suddenly flew open.

Manager Yang poked his head through the gap.

With a dazed expression, he opened his mouth.

“H-Hyuk-chan. You’ll be having an interview right away. No, this is the actual job. No, an interview that’s basically the actual job. No, no, that’s not it. Whew. An interview that’s like the actual job.”

“Ah, yes, yes.”

I nodded, but then I heard a woman’s voice from behind Manager Yang.

It was an extremely desperate voice.

“Oppa, what are you doing?! Tell him to come in, quickly!”

“Yeah, okay. He’s right in front of me. But, Hee-soo, the person who applied for the babysitter position is a man…”

“So what?! Hurry up and do something!”

“Eeeeeeeaaah! Waaah~ Uaaahhh~! Uaaahhh~!!”

Hearing the baby’s piercing cry up close, I could roughly guess what kind of situation they were in.

Just then, the door Manager Yang was holding suddenly flew open.

“Ah!”

Seeing the person standing behind Manager Yang, I was startled and quickly bowed my head.

“Hello—”

The greeting burst out of me like a sneeze before I could even think.

But before I could finish my greeting, a woman wearing teddy-bear pajamas, her hair completely disheveled, spoke with a look as though her soul had left her body.

“Please, sir. Help me. Please. Please…”

It was Ahn Hee-soo.

That’s right.

Korea’s top actress.

“Whew.”

I was startled for a moment, but I first took a short, deep breath.

Then I smiled brightly and spoke to Ahn Hee-soo.

“Let me take a look.”