By Zephyria 
The place Shin Ji-hye and Jae-gyeom headed to was a large department store located in Jung-gu, Seoul.
As soon as they entered the first floor, which was lined with luxury jewelry shops, Shin Ji-hye introduced Jae-gyeom to a few famous brands. Jae-gyeom followed her, wandering through various stores for quite a while.
Everything was dazzling and beautiful, but in truth, it all looked the same. Perhaps that was why the more he looked, the more confused he became. Then, it happened while he was browsing rings displayed in the showcase of the last store they visited.
An exclamation of admiration escaped Jae-gyeom’s lips as if he were possessed.
“Oh… this one is pretty….”
What had captured Jae-gyeom’s attention was a signature ring worn on a finger model.
“Welcome.”
A staff member greeted Jae-gyeom with a bright smile as he stood still, his gaze fixed on the ring.
“Is there something specific you are looking for?”
“Ah… well… I want to… give a ring as a gift….”
As Jae-gyeom stammered out his words, Shin Ji-hye, standing beside him, peeked over and pointed to the displayed ring. “Do you like this one?” When Jae-gyeom nodded, the employee asked with a smile.
“Oh my, is it a gift for your girlfriend?”
“Ah… well….”
Jae-gyeom hesitated for a moment before answering.
“Not a… girl… but a boyfriend.”
Shin Ji-hye’s eyes widened as she looked at Jae-gyeom. She hadn’t expected him to be so blunt. On the other hand, the employee simply replied, “Ah, I see!” and nodded with a beaming smile. He had expected her to be incredibly shocked or look at him strangely, but surprisingly, the employee seemed unfazed.
If anything, Jae-gyeom was the one who was surprised.
It was because the fact that he and Yoon Tae-hee were in a romantic relationship suddenly felt real. It was his first time announcing the existence of a partner to a stranger, let alone revealing that the partner was of the same sex.
I feel kind of shy.
Suddenly, the edges of his ears began to tingle.
“Excuse me, but what is your budget?”
At that moment, the employee spoke in a kind tone.
He hadn’t really thought about the amount. He simply wanted to give Yoon Tae-hee the ring that would suit him best. After a moment of consideration, Jae-gyeom asked for the price of the first ring that had caught his eye. The employee gave a small smile and, instead of saying the price aloud, tapped it into a calculator and showed it to him.
Looking at the number of zeros on the calculator, Jae-gyeom asked blankly.
“How… how much did you say?”
The employee then placed the calculator in front of Jae-gyeom so he could see it clearly.
“One, ten, hundred, thousand, ten thousand… hundred thousand… million? 7 million won?”
Counting the digits, Jae-gyeom flinched, his eyes widening like a rabbit’s.
Seven million won for a single ring?!
At the unimaginable price, Jae-gyeom unconsciously gaped and looked at Shin Ji-hye. Shin Ji-hye, who had been watching the situation with her arms crossed, leaned in and whispered in his ear.
“It’s a luxury brand, so it’s a bit expensive.”
He had thought that even if it were expensive, it would be around a million won! For Jae-gyeom, who was quite out of touch with the ways of the world, this shocking reality was hard to swallow. Seeing Jae-gyeom unable to close his mouth, Shin Ji-hye added a further explanation.
“And the one you picked is from the wedding band line, so the price tends to be higher.”
“What’s a wedding band?”
“It means a wedding ring.”
A wedding ring?! Jae-gyeom asked, sounding very flustered.
“Then isn’t it wrong to give this as a gift? Tae-hee and I are both men, so we can’t even get married. We shouldn’t wear wedding rings.”
Shin Ji-hye burst out laughing at the sheer innocence of the remark.
“It’s not necessarily like that. It’s all about how you frame it, isn’t it? There’s no law saying you have to wear it only as a wedding ring. The ring I’m wearing right now is a wedding ring, too. And why can’t men marry? If you want to, you just do it. Eun-kyung and I are going to get married.”
Marrying Eun-kyung…?
Jae-gyeom was dumbfounded. This was a story completely different from the common sense he knew.
“How can women marry each other? Isn’t marriage between a man and a woman?”
“Why wouldn’t it be possible? You can hold a wedding ceremony between people of the same sex whenever you want.”
Shin Ji-hye shrugged her shoulders and continued.
“Well, it’s not legally recognized in our country yet… but still, holding a wedding ceremony is meaningful because you’re promising a lifetime together in front of people. Even if it’s not legally recognized, just declaring ‘we’ve become a couple’ or ‘this person is my spouse’ in front of others has a certain power to it.”
Hearing that, it sounded reasonable. However, because he had never considered that people of the same sex could marry, it was a culture shock in itself. It was a concept he had never once entertained in his entire life.
“I see….”
While Jae-gyeom was lost in thought, scratching his cheek.
“Do you like this one? Or shall I show you some others?”
At the employee’s words, Jae-gyeom barely managed to pull his drifting mind back and nodded for now. The employee then took out a few more rings from the showcase to show him. Jae-gyeom looked through various rings with Shin Ji-hye and agonized over the choice. Since Yoon Tae-hee had such straight and beautiful hands, any ring would likely suit him well, but the one that captured Jae-gyeom’s heart was the 7-million-won ring he had seen first.
He liked that it had small cubic zirconia set closely together but wasn’t excessive, and that it was both stylish and neat.
“Which one looks good to you? To my eyes, the first one was pretty, but….”
Shin Ji-hye, who had been standing with her arms crossed, nodded in agreement.
“You have quite a good eye. Even I think the first one is the prettiest.”
Since it looked pretty even to Shin Ji-hye, it seemed he had made a good choice, but…
The problem was the price. Because it was far too expensive, he couldn’t bring himself to do it. He could compromise on the price and give a cheaper ring as a gift, but that felt like a blow to his pride.
I want to give him something more precious than anything, the most beautiful thing.
In truth, it had been an eternity since Jae-gyeom had worried about money.
When he lived with Myo-jeong, he lived on the money Myo-jeong earned, and when he was left alone, feeling like whatever happens, happens, he had stolen a sack of rice from a wealthy house’s storehouse and lived by selling it.
Then he met Jeong-ju. Jeong-ju, the son of a wealthy family from the Tiger Clan, had brought plenty of rare goods and gold and silver treasures when he left the Tiger gate. Thanks to that, since meeting Jeong-ju, he had lived a life far removed from worrying about money. If he needed money, he used Jeong-ju’s card, and when he needed cash, Jeong-ju provided it. Now, he even had a card given to him by Yoon Tae-hee. He had simply been taking whatever was in his wallet and spending it as he pleased.
Although he considered Jeong-ju’s money his own and Yoon Tae-hee’s money his own (?), he still didn’t want to use money earned by Jeong-ju or Yoon Tae-hee to prepare a gift for Yoon Tae-hee. If he did, it wouldn’t have much meaning. He felt it was right to give a gift using money he had earned through his own effort and blood, sweat, and tears.
Jae-gyeom pulled his wallet from his back pocket and checked the contents.
Excluding the cards given by Jeong-ju and Yoon Tae-hee, the only money he had was a mere 32,000 won. Jae-gyeom sighed. Since there had been no particular problem with eating, buying, and spending, and because he had lacked the will to live over the past years, he naturally hadn’t thought about saving money. This was the result. 32,000 won in his pocket.
“What should I do? I want to buy it and give it to him right away….”
Then, Shin Ji-hye asked.
“What do you want to do? Do you want to buy it with this?”
In the end, Jae-gyeom touched the back of his neck and spoke miserably.
“I’m short on money right now… I don’t think I can buy it today.”
“How short are you? Want me to lend you some?”
After thinking for a moment, Jae-gyeom shook his head.
“No. Since it’s a gift, I want to do it with money I earned.”
“True, that makes sense. I get how you feel.”
Shin Ji-hye readily agreed.
“Thanks for helping me pick. I’ll try to save up and buy the ring later.”
“Sure, okay.”
Having no choice but to postpone the purchase of the ring to a later date, he left the department store with Shin Ji-hye. After parting ways with her, Jae-gyeom walked ploddingly, recalling his asset status (?) in his head.
Come to think of it, there was a bank account he had opened when he worked at the Exorcism Bureau.
During the approximately two months he worked at the Exorcism Bureau, Jae-gyeom had received a salary. Since it could only be received in an account under his own name, he had opened an account for the first time then, but Jeong-ju had been managing it on behalf of the clueless Jae-gyeom. As far as Jae-gyeom knew, the money in that account was roughly 5 million won.
To buy the ring, he needed about 2 million won more.
Anyway, where and how do I get 2 million won…?
It was then.
“Huh? Chil-chil?”
At the voice coming from behind, Jae-gyeom whipped his head around.
Standing there with wide eyes was Im Hyo-mun, dressed in his uniform. It was a chance encounter. The street Jae-gyeom was walking on was not far from the main office, and it was Im Hyo-mun’s way home from work.
“Wow. I actually run into Chil-chil here.”
“What the, why are you here?”
“I went to work this morning and I’m on my way home now. Where are you going?”
“I’m on my way home too.”
“Really? If you have time, do you want to grab dinner together?”
Checking the time, it was late afternoon, close to dinner time. At Im Hyo-mun’s suggestion to eat, Jae-gyeom rolled his eyes for a moment and then readily nodded. It was a coincidence to meet on the street like this, and since he had been indebted to him for dating advice (?) before, he felt glad to see him in many ways.
The two headed to a nearby restaurant. While sitting at a table with Im Hyo-mun, having finished ordering and waiting for the food to arrive, Jae-gyeom continued to think intensely about where to get the money.
“Chil-chil, is something bothering you?”
Im Hyo-mun asked, noticing that Jae-gyeom was preoccupied.
“Huh? No, well….”
“What are you thinking about so hard?”
Jae-gyeom, who had been resting his chin on his hand and looking out the window, scratched his head vigorously and spoke.
“Hey. Where should I look if I want to earn money?”
“What, like a part-time job? You want to work part-time? Why?”
“Just… there’s something I urgently need money for.”
At Jae-gyeom’s words, Im Hyo-mun’s expression instantly became serious.
“How much do you need? What’s going on? Is it something serious?”
“No, it’s not something serious….”
“How much is the amount? Should I lend you some?”
He didn’t want to borrow money to buy a gift. This was, after all, a matter of sincerity. It might be similar to the feeling he had long ago when he had clumsily embroidered leaves on Myo-jeong’s clothes. Jae-gyeom remained silent with a pouting expression for a while, then scratched his forehead and confessed the situation.
“So, you don’t have to lend me any.”
“Ah, so you mean you want to give a gift to your lover?”
Jae-gyeom nodded and sighed.
“Yeah. But I’m short on money… it would be great if there was some kind of job.”
At the lamenting words, Im Hyo-mun blinked and suddenly clapped his hands!
“Oh! Then, do you want to come work at my shop?”