Hyper Luck

I slowly opened my eyes to see the sunlight scorching my face.

I’ve gotten much more used to waking up to the scent of my room.

2 days in real life, which means 6 days in <Circuit> had passed.

I wondered how Khea was doing, and if Guinir, Larife, and Azera were still chasing after her.

What should I do if something happened to her?

And as soon as I started worrying even deeper about her, I decided to put those worries away.

I believe in Khea.

She is stronger than me.

Both mentally and physically.

She must be waiting for me somewhere.

I was able to put down the burden in my mind, perhaps because of the trust I had in her.

Today was the day I promised to meet my friends.

When I got off the bed, the numerous shopping bags filling my entire room caught my eyes.

Yes, yesterday was really...

Amazing.

At first, I headed toward the underground mall. The place was 10% cheaper to pay in cash than with a card, so it was also the reason I withdrew cash at the ATM in a convenience store.

There were many pretty clothes. I was able to make decisions that would make me hesitate, without any second thoughts

The merchants were extraordinarily friendly and treated me very well.

Then, when I came up to the ground floor, I saw a luxurious store that I never thought I would be able to visit for the rest of my life.

The store was decorated with only around 6 mannequins showing off their appearance in a wide space under golden lighting.

And just yesterday, I was able to step into a place like that for the first time in my life.

It was clear that I had purchased clothes to my satisfaction, but even so, I decided to enter the place out of curiosity.

Even now, I can remember what happened there so vividly.

When I opened the door, the golden light and the shiny white marble floor with not even a single speck of dust pressured me

The space in the store was so open that it made me feel like I was in an art gallery, and the items displayed in a very organized manner gave off a magnificent impression that made the products unpurchasable.

There, a female clerk in elegant clothes greeted me.

“Welcome.”

After I hastily greeted her back, I just stood there squirming, not knowing what to do.

“Do you have anything you’re looking for?”

The clerk approached me first. I was very much overwhelmed by the external appearance of the shop, but to my surprise, the clerk treated me very nicely.

“Uh... I just wanted to look around for a bit.”

I said cautiously. She then guided me with a smile on her face.

Various apparels and boots, bags, and coats that were displayed like it was in a gallery greeted me.

“Please, look around at your convenience. And call me if you need anything. If you need an escort, please let me know and I will help you right away.”

“Okay, thank you.”

The place was very stellar. There were a lot of cool clothes that caught my eye.

That didn't mean that the clothes I just bought were bad.

However, in my opinion, the clothes in this store had something of a magnificence that made it difficult for me to approach.

Soon a man came down from upstairs.

He immediately walked toward the female clerk who greeted me with a frown on his face.

I was sensitive to such subtle changes because I was in a place that didn't suit me.

I even noticed that the male clerk's voice got louder than before, so I started to pay attention to that.

As I approached the counter, pretending to be carefully looking at the products, I started to overhear their conversation.

“Ms. JinHee, are you not aware of our store’s rules?”

“I’m sorry.”

“How can you work in our store with such slow eyes?”

“But...”

“No buts. Ms. JinHee, do you see the shopping bag that the customer over there is holding in his hands? Do you know what the label drawn on the shopping bag means?”

“I do not know...”

“It just means nothing, do you not know that? It’s for something like recycling. It’s on a completely different field from ours. It’s the bag you get for putting stuff that you buy from those underground malls. Do you understand?”

“I’m sorry...”

“Get that customer out of our store and come straight up to the 2nd floor. Alright? There’s a VIP customer upstairs right now, so just pay your full attention to caring for that customer only.”

“Yes, I understand...”

Good god, this was the first time I heard something that I’d hear from a TV drama or something.

To be honest, I was tired of seeing things like this in dramas every time, but there was a reason why my mother was so focused on watching dramas with similar material to this situation.

It turns out that the drama was portraying something from reality after all.

I was stunned at the thought of being the main character of such a conversation for the first time.

Then I started to feel her gaze from the back.

***

She was looking at me very anxiously. Then, unable to bear the blazing gaze of the male clerk watching with a hawk-eye on the stairs to the second floor she ended up walking toward me.

“Uhm... Excuse me.”

“Yeah?”

“Uhm...”

It seemed that she couldn’t bring herself to say what was needed, with her face reddening in embarrassment.

She seemed untrained to situations such as this.

As a fellow part-time worker myself, I too was put in situations like this so I understood how she was feeling.

Of course, for her, this luxurious mall must’ve been a workplace for her, not just a part-time job.

If she wasn’t to solve the problem she was facing right now, it would prove to become bigger trouble in the future.

At the same time, I was angry at the male clerk for evaluating me in such a fragmentary way.

What gives him the right to belittle and evaluate me only through the shopping bags I was holding.

I could feel my face redden up in anger as much as the female clerk standing in front of me.

And I started naturally speaking out remarks that Lee KiHo of the past could never even dream of toward her.

Fine, I was going to buy some presents for my parents anyway.

And it’d be better for the presents to be very expensive and great in quality.

And I could buy one more clothes from here too.

“I wanted to buy something for a present. Could you suggest a wallet? Honestly, this is the first time I’ve been to a place like this.”

“Pardon?”

Flustered by my words, she stared at me with both her eyes wide open.

“I wanted to pick a wallet that I could buy for my parents as a present.”

At my words, she hurriedly turned back to look at the man watching us from the stairs.

And to my expectations, he walked toward us with hurried steps.

“Hello there, sir. What may you be looking for?”

With his dry words, his arms stretched out behind him.

It was a gesture of leading to relatively inexpensive products displayed behind the colorfully displayed items.

“I like the designs of the wallets displayed in front of me.”

“Ah, is that so? I suggest starting with the products at the back……”

The man came close to me and spread his arm out to hold me back.

His eyebrows were raised high, and his eyes looked at the products displayed in front of me as if he was asking if I had even read the price on the tag on the wallet.

“No thanks, I like this one better.”

“I see. Then I’d like to introduce you to the most trendy produc...”

“I want the employee over there to suggest for me.”

I cut his words off. Behind the man with a bewildered expression on his face, the female clerk hurriedly came toward me.

“I don’t think my parents would really appreciate too fancy designs. I’m looking for wallets that would be suitable for people a little older than the younger people.”

“Ah... Ah! Yes, the products recommended as a gift to parents are these products of this series with normal and simple designs.”

The man stood behind the female clerk who was busily introducing products in a hurry. And with a firm expression on his face, he budged in between me and her.

“Ms. JinHee. You have to always remember to take care of your customer. The bag in his hand seems fairly heavy.”

“Oh, how thoughtful. Here.”

I gently held out the bags in my hand to the man who said that.

The female clerk anxiously watching this situation hurriedly came to me to take the bag from me, but I avoided her hands and held out the bag toward him.

“Then, please. I like the explanations from her.”

Goodness, what am I even doing right now?!

Good god, Lee KiHo! I’m not dreaming right now, am I?

As I asked myself, my mouth began to move without hesitation.

How could I put this... It felt like the situation I was in started taking control over me.

Even after that, my mouth never stopped speaking.

“Thank you for taking care of my luggage.”

“Yes, sir.”

In the end, the man answered with a grin on his face as he clenched his teeth, took my luggage, and stepped back.

After that, I was able to pick a pair of black wallets smoothly with no difficulties.

Then I picked out another shirt and headed to the counter for purchase. The man who had been holding my luggage until then hurried to the counter and put a forceful smile on his face as if he was waiting for the moment of my payment.

“You’ve chosen to purchase the Le Mans Signature Collection Couple Wallets and the Black Down Weaver. Your total comes down to 23 million won, please.”

The woman next to me looked at me surprised at the attitude of the man who called out the price in a really loud voice.

The atmosphere suggested that he had done something that shouldn’t have, but his action wasn’t something to be considered rude to me.

Rather, I was relieved thanks to him calling out the price out loud.

Frankly, I was worried if he was going to call out an unbelievably high price.

Of course, it was true that my heart sank when he informed me what my total came down to.

Because I had never spent that much money all at once before, even though I had the ability to pay for the price.

“Just a sec.”

I hurriedly took out my phone and displayed my card saved on the screen.

It was not a credit card or hybrid card, but a check card with a fixed daily limit, so I clicked check on the limit change box and passed the screen to him.

Seeing the shape of my card on the screen, the man with his characteristic raised eyebrows made his expression stand out more as he pointed the machine towards the barcode on the screen.

And immediately,

[Approved.]

A short female voice rang out.

Only then did the male clerk quietly hand me back my phone and carefully lifted my luggage with both hands.

At such a change in the man's attitude, the female clerk put a smile on her face. Our eyes met at that moment, and suddenly her face turned red in an instant, and she hurriedly started packing the purchased products carefully.

“Here you go.”

“If it’s okay, could I get your business card?”

“Ah... Of course!”

I received the purchased products and her business card from her.

This was to give the male clerk an impression that I would visit this place again.

“Allow me to hold this for you to the exit.”

Then he hurriedly ran toward me and received the shopping bags from me and guided me out of the store.

“Thank you.”

I greeted him politely, even though I knew it was a forced and belated kindness.

I could hear him swallowing a dry gulp from the attitude I was showing toward him.

When I looked at his face carefully, I noticed that his face was a little redder than before.

After that, I left the store and went straight home.

What happened yesterday was truly an experience that made my heart race even now.

Still, it was also true that large expenses made my heart feel heavier.

Even when a large amount of money came into my possession, the way I lived and my habits did not change in an instant.

But starting from the incident that happened yesterday,

I decided to change my life slowly and steadily.