NTH 41

“What do you mean by that, in what specific situation did you see that?”

“In the middle of a meeting, while all sorts of boring and headache-inducing topics were being discussed, you were secretly looking at your phone and giggling, or I saw you walking around and around the garden behind the faculty building with your phone to your ear. It was a side of you I never saw during the first semester, so it seemed so fresh.”

Embarrassed, Jeha let out a needless dry cough. To Jeha, who was accustomed to the admiring gazes of many women, Professor Min was one of the few people who always treated him in a straightforward manner. He had not thought that she would have been observing him so meticulously.

“I’m really curious what kind of person he is. Professor Kwon, you seemed so uninterested in the opposite s** that it felt like a waste of your looks.”

“Haha…”

Since the one who had currently captured his heart was not of the opposite s** but the same s**, Professor Min’s words were not exactly wrong. Jeha laughed awkwardly.

“Brag a little about your lover. Who knows, maybe I’ll get inspired and start dating too.”

“Professor Min, I think you could date anyone you wanted. You are so beautiful and exceptionally capable.”

“Well, I think it might be too late. But maybe if I wait, another chance will come.”

Without a moment to consider whether her words were meant for him or had another meaning, Jeha abruptly stopped walking.

“What’s wrong?”

Professor Min followed Jeha’s gaze, who was standing frozen, and looked far towards the central library, but nothing particularly stood out to her.

However, in Jeha’s eyes, it was perfectly clear. A tall, dark-skinned man with sanpaku eyes was meticulously observing the people passing by.

The man with the sanpaku eyes, who was lighting a cigarette he held in his mouth with a metal lighter, must have seen Jeha as well. Confirming that the man was slowly walking towards him, Jeha turned his head to Professor Min.

“Professor, something urgent has come to mind, so would you mind going to the restaurant first? I will follow you shortly.”

“Yes…? Oh, then I’ll see you at the restaurant.”

Professor Min was somewhat puzzled but left without asking for further reasons. To Jeha, who stood still, the man with the sanpaku eyes slowly closed the distance.

Wearing a vibrantly colored shirt and black dress pants, he was almost as tall as Jeha, and his build looked quite sturdy. His eyes, narrow and long, with small black irises and large whites, were almost identical to those of the exploiters from his past life.

Because of the two-snake tattoo engraved on the back of his neck, he exuded a somewhat decadent and unapproachable aura, but based on his looks alone, he was on the quite decent side.

What Nana had said about Chairman Cheon’s impression being foul, or that just looking at his face made him feel a threat to his survival, might have been due to his profession as a loan shark. Or perhaps he feared him instinctively because of their terrible connection in his past life.

In any case, the fact that Chairman Cheon had come all the way here to find Jeha meant that he already knew Jeha was connected to Nana. Jeha suddenly wondered if he, unlike Nana, would remember him from his past life.

“I don’t want to talk for long, so I’ll ask just one thing. How long are you going to keep Nana locked up?”

Chairman Cheon, no, Cheon Sagang, who had now stood before Jeha, spoke in an accusatory tone. Jeha responded in a calm voice.

“How rude of you, not even introducing yourself upon our first meeting.”

Cheon Sagang let out a short, dry laugh and puffed out clouds of cigarette smoke.

“Hey, professor fella. It seems that pretty face of yours has a penchant for men, but do you even remember Nana’s face properly?”

With those words, Jeha became certain that Cheon Sagang knew nothing about his past self. He only recognized Jeha as ‘the person who has Nana now.’

“Who do you think you are to so carelessly call my lover’s name like that? It’s unpleasant.”

Cheon Sagang let out a single syllable sound, ‘Huh,’ which could have been surprise or a sneer, and then briskly held out a business card to Jeha.

“This is who I am, and that Nana b**t**d owes me a debt and ran off, so I have to find him.”

Jeha looked down at the business card he was handed.

「Angel Cash Loan, CEO Cheon Sagang」

When he turned the card over, the ridiculous phrase Nana had mentioned before was written there.

★For you, who has been cornered, The Angel of Salvation, Angel Cash Loan!★

Same-day loans

Unsecured•No-guarantee credit loans

Full-time housewives•University students•Credit delinquents welcome

Absolute confidentiality guaranteed

Jeha, who had taken his eyes off the business card, asked in a tone devoid of any emotion.

“What business does a loan shark have with Nana? As far as I know, Nana has never taken out a private loan.”

“I guess he hasn’t told you yet. Maybe because he’s afraid his sugar daddy, whom he went through such pains to seduce, might throw him out if he said he took out a private loan.”

“Is that so? It seems Angel Cash Loan is kind enough to lend money even to an unregistered person of unknown identity. At that rate, you might as well call yourselves a charitable organization rather than a loan company.”

Cheon Sagang stared at Jeha with a blank expression, but inwardly he was flustered.

In this life, no one besides himself remembered Nana’s face clearly, so Nana had never maintained continuous contact with anyone. The fact that the house Nana was staying in belonged to a current K University professor and that the house was an ultra-luxurious apartment worth several billion won was surprising enough.

But for a university professor to have looks like something out of a movie screen, to confidently call Nana his lover, and even to know that he was an unregistered person, was far beyond the scope of Cheon Sagang’s expectations.

However, Cheon Sagang was a being who had existed for nearly a thousand years with the sole purpose of gnawing away at Nana’s soul. Other than that, he had no reason to breathe, no purpose.

Such a being is prepared to do anything to obtain the one thing he wants.

“Don’t be so prickly. I just did what you are doing now, first.”

At Cheon Sagang’s vile words, Jeha narrowed his eyes.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Aren’t you providing Nana with food and lodging right now? And in return, you’ll be enjoying him to your heart’s content, biting and s**king on him. You don’t seriously think you’re Nana’s first sugar daddy, do you?”

“I believe I said he is my lover, not my sugar baby.”

“Ahaha! Well, well, it seems you’re a naive scholar who only did well in his studies but knows nothing about the world. Are you seriously expecting sweet romantic feelings from Nana, that worn-out male p**stitute?”

“…”

“The moment you cut off the meals and the bed, that punk will disappear without a trace. Want to bet?”

“Whether he does or not is none of your business.”

“Nana is my debtor and has an obligation to repay his debt to me. You are currently obstructing the fulfillment of that debt. So, stop your whining and kick Nana out of that g**d**ned apartment right now.”

“You have an irritating knack for making me repeat myself. I believe I told you that Nana has never taken out a private loan and, in the first place, is not even eligible to borrow money.”

“I’ve been providing Nana with a house and a job and feeding him all this time. What would you call that if not a debt? Unlike some noble, rich professor somewhere, I’m not that b**t**d’s lover or anything, so I have absolutely no reason to feed and house him for free as charity.”

“You forced him to do things like steal d**gs, and you’re counting the time he lived in that one-room flat in a rundown hillside shantytown as all debt? They say even a dog won’t eat a loan shark’s s**t, and you’re just as vicious as they say.”

“You said it well. That very one-room flat got flooded in this recent monsoon. The tenant didn’t manage it properly and the house was completely ruined, so compensation is a given, isn’t it? That’s also been added to the debt, with interest accruing daily.”

Jeha, barely suppressing his anger, spoke with force in his voice.

“How much is it.”

“What?”

“That debt Nana supposedly owes you, what is the total amount including all the interest?”

“That’s personal information, so I can’t recklessly tell it to an unrelated person. I may not look it, but I’m quite the law-abiding type.”

“Is that so? Then I’ll give you Nana’s phone number, so notify him there. Whatever the amount, I’ll pay it all back today.”

After a moment of silence, Cheon Sagang stared intently at Jeha. Jeha had no intention of waiting for his answer.

“If it weren’t for that money, you and Nana would have no more business with each other ever again, right?”

“I never realized a university professor’s earnings were so good.”

“Text me the amount and the account number right now. After that, I’m going to change his number immediately, so don’t even think about contacting him again until the day you die.”

Cheon Sagang suddenly burst out laughing with a keuk keuk sound. Lowering his voice, he said in a whisper.

“Hey, was Nana’s s**en tasty?”

Jeha couldn’t believe his ears at Cheon Sagang’s vulgar words.

“What did you just say?”

“His s**en. Pretty tasty, right? Your body must be overflowing with energy, so you can’t help but keep consuming it.”

“Ha, what is this crazy b**t**d.”

“It seems you haven’t gone all the way yet. If you had, you wouldn’t be in this world anymore, so be thankful. Well, I can’t say I wish you a long life from now on, though.”

Judging by the way he spoke, it seemed there was something that only a parasitic soul could know. Perhaps a parasitic soul could sense when someone other than itself received the host’s life force or had intercourse with the host.

Feeling extreme disgust, Jeha did not hide the contempt that rose on his face.

“If you’re done barking, get lost.”

“Professor Kwon Jeha of the K University English Language and Literature Department. If I want to expose that a current university professor is a perverted g** man who confines a young man in his home and enjoys pederasty, should I post it on that ‘Bamboo Forest’ thing or whatever it’s called?”

“…”

“As a citizen of the Republic of Korea, I’m deeply concerned that such a person is teaching students in the hallowed halls of intellect.”

“Do as you please. No one will believe it anyway.”

Hearing Jeha’s cold reply, Cheon Sagang wore a chilly smile on his shameless face.

“I just have to make them believe.”

“If you’re planning on fabricating false evidence, you’d better stop. You’ll just end up spending money and being disappointed.”

“There’s no need for that. Do you think people are interested in the truth? With looks like yours, you must already be a celebrity at the university. The mere fact that there’s something to chew on and tear apart is enough to start the party.”

“It seems you only investigated me before you came. If you want to be a little more cautious, I recommend you look into my family as well. It will be too late to regret it after you’ve been thrown in prison.”

“Ho, your background seems quite solid. Looking at your face, you wouldn’t lack for women. Why is a man with a good family and a lot of money so fixated on a male kid who goes around committing petty theft? Is that just your orientation?”

“I decline any personal interest. You’re a loan shark, and as long as you can get back the money you lent, that should be enough, right? Obsessing over a debtor to this extent seems illogical.”

“You can’t explain everything in the world with your logic.”

“Don’t tell me you like Nana or something? That’s creepy.”

“Me? Are you seriously asking if I have romantic feelings for that male p**stitute? Now that’s what’s creepy.”

Jeha had a rough idea of what Cheon Sagang thought of Nana. But hearing it spoken aloud like this made his chest burn with rage as if it were on fire.

“Know your place. How dare a non-human thing like you insult Nana.”

“…What are you talking about.”

“You should be able to understand. If you touch Nana one more time, I will never let you be. So, from this moment on, give up on Nana forever. Not just in this life, but in all future lives as well.”

Cheon Sagang’s characteristic vile expression wavered slightly. In a voice laced with confusion, he said.

“You, what the h**l are you.”

“What about it.”

“What do you know that you’re spouting such nonsense?”

“I know everything. I know what your identity is, how you’ve been living as a parasite off Nana since long ago, and what your future purpose is.”

“Huh. Were you a shaman, not a professor.”