Upon hearing the man's boast about his car's '444' license plate, Eun-woo lost all interest in engaging further. Of all the numbers… He simply shook his head with a faint, dismissive smile and turned his attention back to the agent, handing over his bank card.
"I'll take these two. Please proceed with the payment. Thank you for your help."
A moment later, a bewildered voice came from behind the counter.
"Umm… Handsome, did you… maybe select the wrong option by mistake?"
Her voice immediately drew the balding man's attention, but he misinterpreted her confusion entirely.
"Heh. Of course he made a 'mistake,'" the man scoffed, a triumphant gleam in his eye. "A student like him, if he doesn't just pick a random number, what kind of 'good' number do you think he could afford?"
He assumed the agent's surprise was due to Eun-woo selecting a terrible, worthless number.
Hearing this, the agent couldn't help but curl her lip in silent disdain. Seeing her reaction, the man's smugness grew. See? Now she knows a pretty face means nothing.
"No mistake," Eun-woo confirmed calmly. "Just these two numbers. Please, go ahead."
The agent opened her mouth to say more—to confirm the astronomical sums attached to those selections—but seeing Eun-woo's utterly composed expression, she simply took the card, her face a mask of stunned disbelief.
Beep.
The soft chime of the card reader was followed by the crisp digital voice from the terminal: "Transaction approved. Amount: 38,000,000 won."
For a moment, the air in the service center seemed to crystallize.
The sound hung in the silence, utterly surreal.
The balding man's jaw went slack. His face morphed into a caricature of utter incomprehension. How? How could this… this kid… The sum was staggering. That was the price of a decent midsize sedan, thrown away on two phone numbers.
If the buyer had been an obvious tycoon, it would have been one thing. But this boy looked like any other high school student. The cognitive dissonance was too great.
"I have to get back to school soon," Eun-woo said, breaking the frozen silence. "If you could hurry, I'd appreciate it."
As he spoke, he pulled the two Apple bags onto the counter. He took out the new phones and began methodically unboxing them, preparing to insert the SIM cards.
While peeling off the protective film, he glanced sideways at the stunned man, the corner of his mouth curling upward in a cool, imperious arc.
"You were right. I didn't buy four sixes or four nines." He let the pause hang for a beat. "I bought '1111' and '9999.' You look to be in your fifties, Ajeossi? A word of advice for your later years: try not to judge a book by its cover. You should be glad I'm feeling gracious today."
With that, he turned his back fully on the man, his attention on the sleek devices in his hands.
The balding man's face flushed a deep, mottled red. But not a word of protest escaped his lips. Someone who could drop 38 million won on a whim was not someone to antagonize. This kid was either a chaebol heir or connected to something far beyond his understanding. Either way, he was dangerously out of his league.
The agent's gaze, now openly scornful, felt like a physical weight. He could no longer bear to be in the room.
Without another word, and without finishing his own transaction, he snatched his ID card back from the counter. Mumbling something incoherent, he shuffled out of the SK Telecom store, his earlier swagger completely deflated.
Watching him scuttle out the door, the agent let out a satisfied "Hmph!" and muttered, "Serves him right."
Eun-woo offered a small, wry smile and sat down to wait patiently.
Ten minutes later, the agent handed him the two activated SIM cards. Since they were under one ID, both were registered to Eun-woo.
"All done! The required deposits are loaded. Just a reminder, the monthly spending cap is 200,000 won per line. Your plan includes unlimited 5G data and 1,000 minutes of nationwide calls per month."
As he skillfully slid the nano-SIMs into the phones, Eun-woo handed his bank card back across the counter.
"Please add a 10 million won prepaid credit to each line as well."
The agent's eyes widened again. The initial 38 million was shocking enough. Now another 20 million in prepaid credit? In a city like this, she'd never encountered such casual, staggering wealth in her career. For a fleeting second, an old, clichéd meme flashed in her mind: 'Just fill up the credit until the system stops me.'
"Handsome… how about we exchange KakaoTalk IDs?" the agent suggested, her voice taking on a noticeably softer, more personal tone. "That way, if you have any problems at all with your service, you can contact your unnie directly." She subtly emphasized the word "any" and finished with a deliberate, lingering blink.
Eun-woo suppressed a shudder. This unnie looked to be pushing thirty, and here she was eyeing him, fresh out of high school… "Sure," he said with a bland smile. "My ID is 'MorningStar_92'. You can send a request. But fair warning, I have the Suneung the day after tomorrow, so I might not be online much. I should get going."
He watched as she hastily scribbled the ID on a notepad. A sly, almost imperceptible curve touched his lips. Kim Do-hyun, you're always complaining about your dry spell. Don't say your hyung never looks out for you…
He powered on the two phones, slid one into his jeans pocket and the other into his jacket. Under the agent's lingering, appreciative gaze, he flashed a final, charming smile and strode out of the store.
Watching his retreating figure, the agent picked up the note with the KakaoTalk ID. She pressed it briefly to her lips with a quiet, self-satisfied chuckle. Gotcha.
She quickly pulled out her phone, opened KakaoTalk, and typed the ID into the 'Find Friend' search bar.
A profile popped up. The picture was a flamboyant, meme-worthy edit of a K-pop idol. The status message below read: 'If you play with my heart, I'll make you dance to my beat.'
"Ya! You little troublemaker," she giggled to herself, her eyes sparkling. "A bad boy hiding behind that innocent face… Just you wait. Your unnie will teach you a thing or two…"
[To be continued…]