Even if I appeared this way, I wasn’t someone completely devoid of thought.
No matter how much wealth I had, I knew well that facing off against Chairwoman Choi Na-kyung right now would result in significant losses.
I might not even be able to win if things went wrong.
Therefore, fighting with “money against money” should be avoided until I had more cards in my hand.
So, what’s the best way to increase the cards in hand?
It’s simple.
You just “buy more cards”.
Of course, the card of the teachers and the card of the school had already passed into Choi Na-kyung’s hands.
The very moment I tried to buy those, it would already be a fight of “money against money”.
Then, what kind of cards could I gather?
The answer: “cards that Choi Na-kyung never thought to buy”.
Naturally, each individual card was weak.
The chances of them becoming wild cards and guaranteeing my victory in this game were small.
But, at least in this small “turn” we’re playing right now, I could dominate.
“Well, let’s get started since it’s late.”
Team Leader Han Garam said, like an excited child opening a gift box.
…Is it really that exciting?
It’s not even her own to keep.
Well, this person just likes money.
Even if it’s not her own.
Come to think of it, even I would probably want to lie down on a bed of money if it were right in front of me.
Team Leader Han Garam expertly rolled the suitcase in front of her, pressed the button, and lowered the handle.
With a cheerful sound, the handle slid down smoothly, and she gently laid the bag on its side.
Then she bent down and unzipped the bag.
The travel bag opened in half.
With a click, the bag revealed both sides packed with stacks of cash.
The yellow bills, the highest denomination of “cash”, were neatly vacuum-sealed in plastic.
They were packed tightly enough that even while dragging the suitcase, they stayed neatly arranged.
“Did you know? Money is dirtier than you think. No, I mean literally.”
Team Leader Han Garam said as she pulled out a box cutter from her pocket.
“Money travels from hand to hand, you see. It doesn’t pass through just one person’s hands; it’s been through countless hands to get here. It picks up oils from hands, all sorts of bacteria cling to it… If left untouched for long, that bacteria grows, and it starts to stink terribly. I know because people sometimes bring that kind of money to the bank.”
Then, she pulled the blade of the box cutter out slightly and made a swift cut along the vacuum-sealed plastic, right between the bills.
At a glance, it looked like she was slicing carelessly, but she didn’t damage a single ₩50,000 note.
“Our bank sterilizes money to prevent that. If you put it in a private safe, we thoroughly disinfect the safe, and we package the money like this to prevent contamination. We always offer our clients ‘clean money’ and a service they can feel good about. So,”
With a broad smile, she held up the stacks of cash in both hands.
“If you ever need to store money long-term, remember our Chang-eon Savings Bank!”
She boldly promoted her bank while placing the money on the desk of the student who had just apologized to So-hee.
“Wh-What…!?”
Seeing two stacks of ₩50,000 notes in front of him, more money than he had likely ever seen in his life, the student was shocked.
“It’s my money.”
I finally spoke up after watching the scene unfold.
Everyone’s gaze turned to me.
As long as this amount of money was sitting right in front of them, I could never become “invisible”.
At least, the other side wouldn’t be able to react that way.
Since ancient times, humans have always been deeply attracted to shining gold.
Nowadays, gold is used as an important resource in various industries, but in the past, its value came solely from the fact that it “shined without rusting over time” and its “rarity”.
When a lump of gold appears in front of you, it’s impossible to look away.
That shine, that value.
You might instinctively reach out to grab it without realizing it.
That’s just human nature.
Time doesn’t change that.
Of course, what’s in front of me isn’t gold bars.
Even I wasn’t crazy enough to fill a suitcase with gold bricks.
Besides, I wasn’t sure if Han Garam could have dragged them here in the first place.
Well, still.
This is yellow, too.
The color is close enough.
When you think about how much you can buy with a single gram of this paper bill, it does a decent job of imitating gold.
“This is my ‘sincerity’.”
The student’s eyes shook violently as they stared at the two stacks of cash.
Do you know?
Even if you gather one hundred ₩50,000 bills, that’s only ₩5 million.
With two bundles, it’s ₩10 million.
Well… even for people with a decent amount of money, it’s enough to catch their attention, but it’s not enough to sell themselves.
However, what would a student, struggling to study hard in hopes of earning a scholarship to attend a good university, think?
No matter how much prices have risen, if ₩10 million suddenly came into a regular household, it would be a big help.
And, well…
“It’s up to you whether you take it or not. But after all, I’m invisible to these people, aren’t I? If you don’t pick up the ₩10 million that’s dropped in front of you, that’s just stupid.”
That’s right.
Officially, I’m still a transparent person.
So, my money is “invisible money”.
“…”
The student gulped nervously, sweat forming on their forehead.
“Is it not enough?”
As I tilted my head, Han Garam bent down and picked up three more stacks of cash.
Now there was ₩25 million on the desk.
I didn’t place this money impulsively.
Team Leader Han Garam, who loves money more than anyone, had advised me that when you wrestle with someone over money, you should never offer all the money at once.
To shake them, remind them they could lose it, and make sure they realize they could get even more if they do something extra.
“Why… why are you doing this for me…?”
“You’re an external transfer student, right?”
At my question, the student trembled and nodded.
This was a student who had likely never given or received a bribe before.
They probably studied hard to get in here, and if that’s the case, they were likely an honor student in middle school.
They’ve probably never done anything bad, just studying hard until they got swept up in this situation.
It’s only natural they would tremble when such a large sum of money is placed in front of them.
Somewhere in their mind, they were probably thinking, “I shouldn’t accept this”.
“You didn’t even actively participate, did you? You were just following along because the others told you to.”
Whether they took the money or not, they were now in a position where they couldn’t ignore me, the owner of that money.
After all, they were in a situation where their “heart was shaken”.
Whether it was due to family circumstances or personal desire, ₩25 million was too large an amount to give up for no reason.
If they were going to refuse it, they would need a justification to rationalize it to themselves.
So that they wouldn’t regret it later.
That’s right, even good people have to go through this process.
And I just needed to shatter that justification as much as possible.
“You know what you’re doing is wrong, right?”
At my question, the student fell silent.
They couldn’t deny it.
The person involved was standing right in front of them.
Plus, there was all that money spread out before their eyes.
If they denied it carelessly, who knows what this rich girl might do.
“I’m just asking you to stop doing what you know is wrong. I’m not trying to punish you.”
It’s only been a month since school started.
If they stopped now, I truly had no intention of doing anything to them.
The wrongs they had done to me were separate from what Ye Sara had experienced.
The kids who ostracized Ye Sara during middle school—whether or not they’d be forgiven was up to Ye Sara.
…Soo-ah was probably among them too.
“…”
My request was fair.
The victim was asking them to stop, even offering money in return.
If you weighed this on a scale, it was much more just than the forced apologies the teachers were demanding.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure if this would work on other students at this school.
There might be some who could spend ₩25 million just as pocket money.
People like Yoon Da-ho certainly wouldn’t fall for it.
But at least for the students who were intended to be used as shields, things were different.
These were students who were in the minority in this school, at the very bottom of the food chain.
This was a contract in its own way.
Not just a simple bribe, but a contract to form a future “relationship” with me.
A request to shatter the iron bars surrounding me.
Yes, the “cards” I was trying to buy were these.
Cards that no one had paid attention to, but could definitely be useful.
One of the students intended to be a shield gulped nervously.
Everyone’s eyes in the room were drawn to the open suitcase of cash.
None of the money in that suitcase was meant for the teachers.
Of course not.
Even if it wasn’t their intention, and even though So-hee and Yang Hye-in had acted without my knowledge, hadn’t the teachers already been stuffed full of bribes?
“What are you going to do?”
External transfer students didn’t make up a large percentage of the total student population.
But that didn’t mean they could be completely ignored.
Once a crack started, it would begin to spread slowly.
Well, the cracks had already begun before this.
“W-Wait…!”
Seeing me confidently handing money to the students, the teacher shouted and stood up.
Bang!
But then immediately flinched and trembled.
So-hee had slammed her foot down on the desk.
Well, the desk didn’t split in half like something out of a comic book.
It just made a loud noise.
But the noise itself was enough.
They had offended someone they couldn’t afford to ignore.
Money is truly strange.
It can completely flip the relationships between people like this.
I think I started to understand why Han Garam was smiling so broadly.