INFB Ch 2

“But why are you doing stuff like this here when you go to such a good university? Do tutoring or something. Or be an academy teacher. Don’t those pay way more money?”

“Ah, I do that too.”

“That too? You do all that and do this on top of it?”

“Somehow… it ended up that way…”

“Since it’s Hankuk University, it’s a national school so tuition must be cheap, is there a need to work like this?”

“There are many places I need money for.”

“What are you going around doing that you need money that much? Spend that time studying instead.”

At those words, Seobin’s busily moving hands froze stiff. He nodded his head with a bitter smile.

“Right. It would be nice if I could study.”

If only he could just study… nothing would be more comfortable and easy than that. Seobin fiddled with the soju bottle held in his hand. At the shadows layer upon layer cast over his small face, Room 209 clicked his tongue. Then saying, “Work hard. I’m going in,” he went inside the gosiwon.

Seobin gave a short nod toward his receding back and grabbed another piece of trash with his bare hands.

Seobin finished sorting the recyclables, came to the kitchen, and wiped the gas stove, dining table, microwave, and the like that had become unbelievably dirty in a single day. He also filled the empty cupboard with the basic provided ramen, and chopped up kimchi. He washed the rice cooker that only had burnt rice grains sticking to it, put in a fresh batch of rice, and gave the sticky floor a big wipe down.

After doing all that, the time passed midnight. Looking at the old clock attached to one side of the kitchen, Seobin raised the corners of his mouth, however weakly, at the day that had finally ended.

Then in a split second, his face turned coldly stiff. No, it would be more accurate to say he went pale. His face, which was already fair, turned even whiter. It was as if someone had poured white paint over his face.

His reddish-brown pupils twitched anxiously.

How many hours had it been since he hadn’t looked at his cell phone? Since what he checked when leaving the meat restaurant was ten o’clock, it had been a full two hours and more. Two hours. From ten o’clock to twelve o’clock. To think he hadn’t looked at his cell phone for two hours at the very time ‘his’ contacts were most frequent.

The moment he realized that, his heart began to pound—thump, thump, thump. His chest throbbed with excessive tension, and his lower abdomen tingled as if an electric current were passing through it.

Seobin ran to the bag he had left at the gosiwon entrance. And finding the cell phone tucked into the side of his bag, he lit it up. The bright screen of the cell phone struck Seobin’s face sharply.

A single message had arrived.

Come to Mae Money Lending

It was a message that came 58 minutes ago.

“Ah…”

Seobin squeezed his cell phone and let out a suppressed groan.

Just like in front of the gosiwon, it was a dim alleyway. Streetlights rose sparsely, there was no sign of people, and the occasional commercial buildings were all dead black.

But the feeling was different. The smell was different, too.

If near the gosiwon was full of the stench created by humans, this place was full of the stench of emptiness. Cement smell, dirt smell, dust smell, things like that. It was the smell coming from an abandoned building.

On the opposite side, there was an unidentified abandoned factory, and the shutter at the entrance was down. The shutter was covered in graffiti that couldn’t be deciphered as to what was written.

The building Seobin stopped at was a horizontally long, 5-story commercial building. It was clearly a commercial building, but most had no signboards, and the lights were also turned off. Only one, light was turned on in just one place.

A crude trade name made of red stickers was written letter by letter on the yellowish window. Next to it, two letters per window were written for the phrase [Same-Day Loan • Cash • Confidentiality Guaranteed].

“…”

Seobin, who was carefully reading with his eyes what he had already seen dozens of times, rubbed his chest softly. It felt as if the light seeping out thickly was strangling his neck.

Raising his hands to scratch his neck vigorously and scratch his cheeks, Seobin dragged his heavy legs into the building. The pitch-black entrance without a single spot of light swallowed Seobin whole.

The inside of the building was in an office building format. There was a long corridor that wasn’t very wide, and iron doors lined up on both sides.

The corridor was dark. It was because the fluorescent lights attached to the ceiling had been dead for a long time. The streetlight’s glow seeping in from the window was all the light there was.

In the corridor, boxes stamped with unknown company logos were stacked up to the ceiling, flowerpots containing dead plants were rolling around, a supermarket cart that he had no idea why it was there was shoved in a corner, and mail full of shoe prints was rolling about.

Seobin crossed that corridor familiarly and arrived in front of the door at the very end.

A short sign was stuck right on the door.

Seobin rubbed his eyelids with the back of his hand, took a deep breath, and patted his clothes downward to make preparations. Preparations to face him.

After that, knock, knock. He knocked on the door.

There was no answer from the other side. However, Seobin opened the doorknob. An unluxurious golden light poured out like fog. Seobin stepped inside it. A small business card was stepped on by the sole of his shoe.

Mae Money Lending

• Same-Day Loan •

Up to 30 Million Won

Self-Employed, Credit Defaulters, Housewives Welcome

02― ****― ****

On one side of the bright yellow business card, a red goblin pattern was drawn. Mae. One would commonly think of a flying bird, a hawk (mae), but it was the goblin mae (魅). Seobin always thought it was a name that suited this place and the owner of this place very well.

Seobin called out to him as he walked into the inner space.

“Hyung.”

The first thing seen was a bright red cigarette ember. And white smoke was seen, and a bitter cigarette smell brushed the tip of his nose.

The owner of this place was sitting in a suit on the head seat of the sofa with his legs crossed. A loosely tied tie hung down long between his thickly bulging chest muscles. His hands were extremely long and large; one hand was holding a cigarette, and the other hand was slouched on the armrest.

A black tattoo was drawn on the back of his hand, but as it was a picture flowing out from inside his shirt sleeve, it was difficult to grasp what kind of shape it was depicting.

The single-person black leather sofa he was sitting on was so large that Seobin could curl up horizontally and lie down. But since the man was sitting, it didn’t feel that large. It was because his shoulders and his torso were broad and thick.

Dark grey pupils similar to the color of dark rain clouds stared at Seobin.

“You’re late.”

“…”

“Fuck, I thought you ran away and almost released my guys.”

At the low bass voice that seemed to vibrate the floor, Seobin curled his toes inside his sneakers inward and uncurled them. Pausing his breath for a moment, he quickly bowed his waist deeply.

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

The voice that showed neither annoyance nor anger was gentle, and his smiling face was tender. His long, monolid eye corners curved nicely.

It was a generous tone, but for some reason, Seobin’s heart tingled. It was because of the tension stemming from fear.

“Come here.”

The man called Seobin, patting his own thigh. However, Seobin only raised his head abruptly and didn’t move his feet. It was an impudent act.

Behind the man, a single black nameplate could be seen. White dust sat thick on the old nameplate, but even so, the name carved there could be clearly recognized.

[President Gil Jaegyu]

Jaegyu was the owner of this place, the man sitting in front of his eyes, and the one who monopolized Seobin in this present time.

Seobin said as he wiped his palms vigorously on his waist line.

“Because I… sweat a lot today. I’ll go wash, wash up and come back.”

At those words, Jaegyu lowered one shoulder and tilted his head.

“You’re making me wait again?”

He flicked the cigarette ash into a black ashtray. The ashtray was piled with slaughtered cigarettes. It was a sight that made known Jaegyu had been here for a long time.

“…I’m sorry.”

Seobin bowed his waist once again.

“…”

Without any particular answer, Jaegyu puffed on his cigarette about three times in a row. The smoke he exhaled became fog and turned the surroundings murky. The air grew heavy. At the feeling of an intangible snake coiling tightly around his body, Seobin consciously inhaled deeply through his nose. If he didn’t, it felt as though he would faint from suffocation.

Jaegyu, who had been silent for a moment, slowly opened his mouth.

“I’m fine with your sweat smell.”

He inhaled with a hhhhp sound and made a gesture of smelling. At that, Seobin felt goosebumps rise all over his cheeks.

“I’ll hurry, hurry and wash up and come back.”