PA 10

“Junhyuk… thank you so much. I’ll be sure to repay you for this favor.”

“Good thinking.”

Junhyuk ruffled Yejun’s hair and smiled brightly.

☂︎

Hyungyu was seething with an insane amount of irritation. This was because after begging and pleading, he had barely managed to join a gambling game with the money he earned from three days of manual labor, only to lose all of it the moment he started.

“If only I had the capital, I’m not the kind of guy who’d be in this situation… fuck.”

Hyungyu went to the house when Yejun wasn’t there, aiming for Eunseong’s cancer insurance money. But not only Yejun, but Eunseong too hadn’t come home for days. Hyungyu kicked a crumpled can lying on the ground as if to vent his anger.

He took a cigarette pack out of his pocket, but even that was just an empty wrapper. Hyungyu, who didn’t even have money to buy a single cigarette, crumpled the pack with great irritation and threw it carelessly onto the ground.

“Fuck!”

It was as Hyungyu was stomping on the cigarette pack on the ground. A man wearing a black suit over a shirt with a flashy floral pattern approached Hyungyu with a swagger, smiling slyly.

“Hey! Mr. Lee Hyungyu. It’s been a while.”

“Why? Did Mr. Jeon come to gamble too?”

It seemed Hyungyu knew the man. The man called Mr. Jeon placed a cigarette in Hyungyu’s mouth and began to smoke with a swaggering posture. Hyungyu took a lighter out of his pocket and spoke as he lit the precious cigarette he’d been given.

“What brings you here?”

“I heard your son is someone who’s on TV?”

The man called Mr. Jeon casually brought up Yejun. Hyungyu once again felt a surge of irritation toward Eunseong and Yejun, who were hiding somewhere to avoid him.

“That damn son of a bitch doesn’t even recognize his own father! Aish, that son of a lowborn.”

Hyungyu sucked on the cigarette as if he would burn it all the way to the filter. Mr. Jeon took out a business card, placed it in Hyungyu’s hand, and casually let his words slip out. Hyungyu looked back and forth between the business card and Mr. Jeon and asked bluntly.

“Your name is Jeon Sangup, Mr. Jeon?”

“That’s right.”

“Why are you giving this to me?”

“We also lend money with people as collateral….”

“People?”

“That’s right.”

Sangup lifted one corner of his mouth and smiled vilely. Hyungyu, after rolling the idea around in his head for a moment, stuck one leg out at an angle and whispered in a small voice.

“So… how much is my son worth?”

“I looked him up, and your son is a pretty famous idol singer.”

“So how much is it?”

Hyungyu asked back irritably, as if he didn’t have high expectations.

“About seven to eight hundred million won.”

“Seven to eight hundred million?”

Contrary to Hyungyu’s expectations, Sangup was valuing his son’s worth highly.

“Are you serious?”

“Have you lived your whole life being deceived?”

In that moment, Hyungyu’s eyes glistened with a blazing desire. Sangup, who was grinning broadly as if he had expected such a reaction from Hyungyu, even kindly taught him that there were more ways to make money than he thought.

“You can also go to the agency president and ask for an advance on what the kid is scheduled to be paid.”

“Is that for real?”

“Come to think of it, Mr. Lee Hyungyu, you live a very frustrating life. To have such a dependable son, yet you’re always going through hell.”

“Hoh….”

Hyungyu’s eyes sparkled as if a bundle of cash had already entered his hands. Sangup did not miss that look on Hyungyu’s face.

“What will you do?”

“You said eight hundred million won, right? If my son stands as collateral?”

“Of course.”

Hyungyu took out Eunseong’s cancer insurance policy from inside his tattered bag, which was torn here and there. Inside it were Yejun’s and Eunseong’s official seals.

“Will my son’s official seal do?”

“Mr. Lee Hyungyu’s thumbprint is all we need.”

“Alright, just lend me eight hundred million won.”

Sangup picked up his phone and made a call. A short while later, a shiny black sedan slowly stopped in front of them.

“Get in.”

Sangup said, opening the car door for him personally, and Hyungyu got into the large sedan with the most arrogant attitude in the world. The car carrying Hyungyu then slowly started to move.