The next few days blurred together in a mix of excitement, caffeine, and chaos.
Min-jun and I spent every free hour at the café near campus, hunched over laptops and sketchpads. He coded while I brainstormed ideas, our table littered with coffee cups and scribbled notes.
We decided on something simple but useful—a platform where students could buy, sell, or trade used textbooks and gear easily. Fast, clean, fair. We called it UniTrade.
I covered every cost—servers, licenses, marketing, you name it. Min-jun kept asking how I had the money, but I always shrugged it off with a laugh. "Lucky savings," I'd say.
He didn't buy it, but he didn't push.
Nova was constantly in my ear, acting like an overexcited manager.
[Branding matters, Rin! We need a catchy logo. Maybe something blue. Humans love blue.]
"Nova, you're supposed to be my AI assistant, not a design consultant."
[Hey, I'm multi-talented.]
I couldn't help but grin. As strange as it was, Nova made the long hours feel less lonely.
When we finally launched the site, it exploded. Within a week, students from other universities started using it. The feedback was wild—everyone loved how easy it was.
Suddenly, I wasn't just the "free lunch guy." I was "that guy who made UniTrade."
One afternoon, as I left class, Soo-ah caught up to me. She looked at me with that quiet smile of hers. "I saw your site," she said. "It's really clever. You're helping a lot of people."
Her words hit harder than I expected. "Thanks," I said, rubbing my neck. "It was just an idea that got out of hand."
She laughed softly. "Those are usually the best kind."
We walked together to the campus park, the air warm and filled with the scent of spring. She talked about her dream of opening an art studio someday, a space for young artists to share their work.
"I'd like to see that," I said.
"You will," she replied, glancing at me. "You seem like someone who keeps his promises."
For a moment, the noise of the city faded. It was just her voice, her calm eyes, and that faint smile.
[You're in deep, Rin,] Nova whispered slyly.
"Shut up," I muttered under my breath.
But I couldn't deny it—something had changed. Money could buy me anything, but this feeling… this quiet happiness around her… it was something else entirely.
Later that night, as I walked back to my dorm, my phone buzzed.
[New System Update Available.]
[Feature Unlock: Investment Expansion.]
I froze mid-step. "Nova, what is that?"
[Oh, just something that's going to make your life very interesting.]
And just like that, I knew the real ride was only beginning.