Finally, as I arrived at the apartment complex where I would be living with Older Sister Seo-ha, I could feel something unusual right from the entrance.
The building was quite tall. Moreover, it was impressive. I couldn’t help thinking, ‘Am I really going to live in a place like this?’
“Well, shall we go up?”
After parking the car in the underground garage, we reached the elevator, where Older Sister Seo-ha flashed a cute smile and pressed the button for the 10th floor.
As I stood in the elevator, blankly staring at the changing numbers, the door slid open with an announcement of “10th floor!”
On either side of a small hallway was Room 1001 and Room 1002. Unlike the hallway-style layout of my family home and my current studio apartment, it seemed this place had a stair-stepped home design.
Beep.
When Older Sister placed the card key on the door lock, I heard the faint sound of the locking mechanism disengaging.
“Come on in, Uju.”
Drawn in by the gesture of Older Sister, who held out her hand against a neat shoe rack backdrop, I entered the house.
“Excuse me….”
“Pfft, what’s that? This is the house you’ll be living in from now on!”
As I threw in a courtesy line like I was entering someone else’s home, she burst out laughing and naturally pulled my arm. At this point, I began to wonder if she was testing my sanity.
“I’m still a bit awkward about it.”
“Hehe, that’s okay. You’ll get used to it in no time. But first, let’s check out the house!”
“Yeah, Older Sister.”
Nodding, I left my shoes at the entrance and slowly moved inside, taking one step at a time.
Strangely enough, considering it was a new house, there was no peculiar smell from paint or any oddly stuffy air. It felt incredibly comfortable.
“…Huh?”
Having crossed a rather long hallway and finally reaching the living room, I suddenly realized something unusual and widened my eyes.
Wait, didn’t they just say this was a new home? Then why is everything so full? From the TV to the sofa… they even had a bit of decor set up!
Is this what a new house is like? No way. At least the studio apartment I lived in before was completely empty when I first entered. And even the building was pretty old, so of course, it didn’t have central air conditioning.
“What… Older Sister, what’s all this?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“I mean, like, the TV and sofa… didn’t you say it was a new house?”
I thought maybe the previous owner left all this behind, but I could soon assure myself that wasn’t the case.
After all, Manager Park had mentioned earlier that everything had been arranged so I could move in starting tomorrow. There’s no way there would still be the previous owner’s things in a place like that.
“Oh, these? Well, obviously these are items provided by the company.”
“What? This is all?”
I expressed my confusion while Older Sister Seo-ha replied with an unbelievably calm face.
I blinked in disbelief, looking around once more.
Wait, are you telling me all this was provided by the company? From the sofa to the TV, everything looks expensive!
“Since the stuff you’re using in your studio apartment is quite old, I thought it would be best to get new things for you this time.”
“…How did the company find out about that?”
Did I ever mention that when negotiating the contract? I don’t think I told Assistant Kim anything beyond saying the place was a bit small.
How on Earth did the company know my old stuff was worn out and managed to replace it?
“Oh, no. I didn’t mean the company knew; it was just a matter of good timing, I meant to say. I might have misspoken.”
“Ah… I see.”
So that’s what she meant. But sure enough, Older Sister Seo-ha does tend to slip up in her words.
In other words, what she wanted to say was ‘It’s a good opportunity to change things up.’ It’s a mistake that could easily happen. I often mix up my words while broadcasting too.
“Anyway, let’s go check out the rooms next.”
“Sounds good.”
Having covered her tracks, Older Sister Seo-ha walked cheerfully towards the small room on the left side of the living room. Although it was called a small room, it felt much larger than the big room I used as a workspace in my studio apartment, giving me a sense of disparity.
“I didn’t bring in any extra furniture here just in case Uju might want to use it as a workspace.”
“Definitely… it would be perfect for a workspace.”
For some reason, Older Sister seemed to speak as if she had personally prepared it, but I decided to let it slide since she was explaining on behalf of the company.
By the way, she was spot on. I was considering that if I ever moved into a slightly larger place in the future, I’d want to separate the workspace from my bedroom, and it seemed this house was the perfect environment for that.
I noticed there were three rooms, just glancing around quickly.
“Looks like we’ve seen most of the place, so how about we check out the large room last?”
“That sounds great.”
After exploring various places like the bathroom and kitchen, we finally headed to the last remaining area, the large room.
Compared to my old home, crossing from one room to another felt, exaggeratedly, like taking ten times longer.
“…Wow.”
Upon finally arriving in the large room, I couldn’t help but express my admiration.
The built-in large wardrobe made great use of the space and was pleasant enough, but what surprised me more was the ridiculously large bed that took up most of the space in this large room.
This bed looked like it could comfortably fit three people lying down. I’ve never been there, but it seemed like the kind of size you’d expect in a hotel suite.
“What do you think? I thought it would be best suited for a bedroom, so I decorated it like this.”
I already knew what I was going to answer when Older Sister asked for my impression.
“I love it! Honestly, it feels a bit too lavish for me.”
“Too lavish? Not at all! This room was decorated with only you in mind!”
The truth behind her sincere affirmation was evident. The overall decor and atmosphere of the room aligned perfectly with my taste. It wasn’t too flashy but wasn’t dark either; it was just a neat vibe.
Although I didn’t have any complaints about how perfect everything was, there was just one thing that caught my eye.
“By the way, this bed is enormous… you didn’t need to get such a big one for someone living alone.”
This monstrous bed, after all.
Honestly, if you ask me if I had any dreams of having a big bed, I would say no, but when I thought about how much the cost of this bed must have been, I felt like it was a bit excessive.
A simple, appropriately sized single bed would have sufficed. Or I could have just brought my bed from my studio apartment over.
“The thing is, beds should be big. Since we’re talking about it, why not lie down for a moment?”
“Should I?”
Older Sister Seo-ha threw out what sounded like a convincing reason with a rather tempting suggestion.
After all, it’s a must to jump on a bed when shopping for one. It’s just proper etiquette with a new bed.
Flop.
Encouraged by her, I threw myself on the bed without hesitation, and the soft mattress enveloped me with a cozy scent from the freshly dried blanket wafting up.
Wow, I feel like I could fall asleep right now.
“Yah!”
“S-Sunbaenim!?”
As I was basking in abundant happiness, barely clinging to consciousness like a near defeat to sleep, she jumped onto the bed with a surprisingly cute yell.
“I’ll get up! Older Sister, you should try lying down too…”
Just as I hurriedly tried to get up to avoid an awkward scenario, she yanked my arm, causing me to lose my balance and awkwardly end up face-down on the bed.
“How is it? A big bed is the way to go, right? Look, we have plenty of room lying down together.”
“I-I guess so.”
Older Sister crawled over next to me, wearing a playful smile as she poked my cheek lightly.
Staring into those alluring eyes made my heart race like it might burst, so I tried to look away, but Older Sister chuckled softly and stroked my cheek before sitting up.
“How about we finish the house tour and head out? Uju, you have a broadcast to do this evening, right?”
“Oh, y-yeah, you’re right. You must be busy too….”
Only then did I snap back to reality, quickly getting up and exiting the room with her.
I couldn’t help but feel that Older Sister was enjoying something, as she kept glancing at me with a smile as we left the house.
That grin was exactly like the one my older sister used to give when she teased me back in the day.
Click.
As we stepped out of the front door, locking the door behind us, I pressed the elevator button.
“By the way, it sounds tough for you too, having to commute to work…”
In that moment, I suddenly realized that the distance from Older Sister’s house to the company was farther than from my studio apartment. I felt a pang of sympathy and spoke without thinking.
Although I’ve never personally experienced it, I recall hearing somewhere that long commutes are the hardest for office workers.
“Huh? Tough? Why do you say that?”
“Huh? Isn’t your house pretty far from the company?”
Oddly, Older Sister looked at me as if she didn’t understand at all, her expression natural.
Thinking I might have been mistaken, I cautiously brought it up, and after a moment of what seemed like thinking, she suddenly exclaimed, “Oh!” with a bright smile and continued to speak.
“You don’t have to worry. I’m planning to move there too!”
“Oh, you’re moving too! Where to?”
Hearing this welcomed news, my eyes sparkled with excitement. After all, if the distance got shorter, it would be easier to meet up, which would be good both for work and personal reasons.
“Right here.”
“…Huh?”
While I waited for an answer, guessing where it could be, Older Sister unexpectedly pointed to the opposite apartment, Room 1002 and declared with a refreshing tone, freezing my thoughts for a moment.
Here? Where?
“Well, I’ll be living right across from Uju. We’ll be seeing a lot of each other from now on!”
“……”
Is this for real?
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