By Zephyria “Our Ryu Jeong, something good must have happened? Look at him coming here, grinning like an idiot.”
The man scoffed, saying he was seeing all sorts of strange things. The man, leaning on one leg and puffing away at a cigarette, beckoned Ryu Jeong, who was just standing there, to come closer. It was the loan shark… that man.
Ryu Jeong, with trembling hands, clutched the envelope tightly and took a step forward. He bit down on his lips, which had started to dry up in an instant, and swallowed hard. Why was he here all of a sudden? He glanced behind the man, but the usual gang was nowhere to be seen. It was the first time in the years he had been paying off the debt that the man had come all the way here alone, leaving the group behind.
Since a fist or kick would fly as soon as he got upset, Ryu Jeong cautiously asked, relieved in a way that didn’t fit the situation, thinking that at least he would only have to deal with one person if he got hit.
“What… what brings you here?”
“Don’t think I came because I wanted to, so wipe that look off your face.”
The man, who had been grinning, suddenly turned angry. Was he not even allowed to ask why he came? Ryu Jeong, shrinking his shoulders at the threatening tone, squeezed his eyes shut when he saw the man’s hand rising.
“…What the hell are you doing?”
Based on his past experiences, he clenched his teeth, but what came was not a fist but the man’s bewildered question.
“Anyone would think I beat you all the time? Open your eyes. Before I really hit you.”
Ryu Jeong cautiously opened his eyes and looked at the man. The hand he thought was reaching for him was actually going into the inside pocket of the man’s tacky wine-colored jacket. Feeling awkward, Ryu Jeong relaxed the tension in his body a little. The man, scoffing at Ryu Jeong, continued to move his hand and took something out, holding it out.
“What is this?”
“Ah, damn, you really talk too much. Just take it.”
The man took out a white envelope. He held the plain envelope, with nothing written on it, out to Ryu Jeong as if he was going to throw it at him, then stuck the cigarette he had temporarily put down back in his mouth. When Ryu Jeong looked at him with eyes asking if he could open it, the man raised his chin and gestured as if asking why he wasn’t opening it quickly.
Ryu Jeong carefully leaned the paper waste bag he was holding against the wall and cautiously opened the envelope the man had handed him.
“…List of Ladies…?”
When he unfolded the twice-folded paper, it had ‘List of Ladies’ written largely on it, and below that, only the first names of women were listed. As he read through the list he couldn’t understand, the man coughed a few times as if he had choked, waving his hand in the air.
“Not that side. Flip it over.”
“…Ah.”
So it was a used sheet of paper. Ryu Jeong quickly flipped the paper over. Only then did words he knew start to come into view. But the only words he knew were things like loan, repayment, and overdue interest. He only knew a few of those words, and he was completely clueless about the sentences made by combining them. He only knew how to read them, the sounds, but he had no idea what they meant, and as he blinked, the man tossed a word as if he knew Ryu Jeong’s situation.
“Terms of service? Anyway, they said to hand it out because it’s changed.”
There was no way he would kindly explain how it had changed even if he asked. Ryu Jeong folded the paper he had been looking at as if he understood everything and put it back in the envelope.
“You could have just sent it by mail…”
“It’s easy to lie and say you didn’t receive it. I wish I could just send it by email or something. How is it that you’re young but don’t even know how to use a phone?”
“I won’t run away without paying the money…”
“Even if you run away, I’ll catch you in a day. Ah, but damn, why am I talking so much today?”
The man, who threw away the cigarette he had finished smoking, scanned Ryu Jeong up and down. Ryu Jeong clutched the envelope tightly and lowered his head. If that was all he needed, he just wanted him to leave quickly.
Contrary to his wishes, the man didn’t seem to have any intention of leaving, and he took out another cigarette and lit it. The sound of the end burning echoed in the quiet alleyway. Did he have more to say? He muttered inwardly like he was chanting a Buddhist scripture, hoping he would say whatever it was and leave quickly.
“Hey. Paying back the money is really hard, isn’t it.”
As if that needed to be said. Ryu Jeong nodded and answered yes. As if he had been waiting for that answer, the man came closer, his eyes gleaming as if they would shoot out even in broad daylight.
“You’ll work your ass off for the rest of your life and still barely pay it back, so why don’t you just do what I told you?”
Ryu Jeong hesitated and stepped back. Once, on a day when he hadn’t been able to pay all the interest, the man, who had come looking for him, furious about something, couldn’t contain his anger and punched Ryu Jeong. He must have been hit wrong, because the inside of his mouth was torn, and a large bruise formed on his stomach where he had been kicked, making it difficult for him to lift heavy things for several days.
To Ryu Jeong, who was on the floor unable to breathe properly, the man had quickly taught him a way to pay off the debt, but he was bringing up that method again now, which he had already refused once.
Ryu Jeong shook his head as he had done then.
“I don’t want to…”
“You can earn in one day what you earn in a month of work if you do it right. Wouldn’t it be better to just get it over with quickly and start a new life? You’re young. It’s okay to work all day now because you’re young, but how long do you think that will last? Hey, listen. I’ll give you an example. One of the shops I manage, if you go to Gangnam…”
He couldn’t hear it. Even if he didn’t know much about the world, he knew that the loan shark was speaking with sweet sugar syrup. Everything he was saying was a lie. He was just trying to lure him in by coaxing him that he could pay off the debt quickly, and then drag him into an even worse hell than he was in now.
“…She got rid of everything in just two years, you know? I saw her sns the other day, and she’s in, where is it. Cancun? What is that place. Anyway, she’s there wearing a bikini, showing off her chest! Sipping cocktails and having fun, you know? She’s a Beta, so that’s why, if she was an Omega, two years is nothing. It wouldn’t have even taken a year. Her principal was 100 million won more than yours, wasn’t it?”
The man suddenly rolled up his sleeve and held the watch on his wrist in front of Ryu Jeong’s eyes. He asked if he knew how much this was worth, saying that he couldn’t even buy it with the money he had paid off after working for several years. He said that if he followed him, he could change into different luxury goods every day.
Even so, when Ryu Jeong stubbornly shook his head, he quietly muttered ‘shit’ with his lips and stepped back. He spat out a breath mixed with the smell of cigarettes and tapped Ryu Jeong’s head.
“Anyway, think about it carefully. Then you’ll be happy because you’ll pay off your debt quickly, and I’ll be happy because I won’t have to come up to this shitty neighborhood like this. I’m not doing this just for your benefit.”
“……”
“Huh? Got it? Do you understand, Ryu Jeong?”
“…Yes.”
When Ryu Jeong didn’t answer, the hand touching his head gradually became rougher. Eventually, unable to overcome the force, he staggered backward, and the man raised his hand above his head, as if to see if he would fall over this time too. Ryu Jeong had no choice but to answer.
“I’ll… think about it.”
Only when he reluctantly answered did the man lower his hand. There was a hint of pity in the eyes that looked at Ryu Jeong, who was always intimidated. Anyway, you poor bastard.
“While you’re thinking about it, think about it positively. That terms of service thing will be applied from next month, so keep that in mind. Aish, damn. I have to go to another place besides here. There’s a butcher who runs a butcher shop, and they said he makes a lot of money doing that job, but it’s all a lie, a complete lie. Aish, damn. I’m scared I’ll get butchered.”
The man, who shuddered as if he was imagining it, flicked off the ashes and threw the cigarette butt away. It just so happened to fall over the wall and into Ryu Jeong’s yard. He must have done it on purpose.
“Anyway, I’m going. You know I’m coming again in two weeks, right? Think about it by then.”
The man squeezed Ryu Jeong’s shoulder tightly and let go, waving his hand and walking down. Ryu Jeong couldn’t bring himself to look back at him, and he just waited, trembling, until the sound of his footsteps faded away and disappeared.
He was lucky he didn’t get hit this time. Ryu Jeong picked up the paper waste bag again, unlocked the lock, and quickly went inside, locking the door, worried that he might suddenly barge into the house later. He picked up the cigarette butt that the man had thrown away and disposed of it, washed his dirty hands, and was about to go inside when something on the floor caught his eye.
“Ah, meat…”
On the floor, there were two boxes neatly wrapped in cloth. When he carefully unwrapped them, meat and fruit that looked like models were revealed. Even to Ryu Jeong, who didn’t know much, they looked quite expensive.
Ryu Jeong, who was constantly admiring the meat as he pressed it through the transparent wrap, quickly moved, thinking that now wasn’t the time to be doing this, and that he should quickly put it in the refrigerator. The boxes were quite large, so he couldn’t move them all at once. Even then, he moved them with a groan, and then closed the refrigerator, looking at it with a proud look, as it was soon filled with only meat and fruit.
“What should I do…”
Then Lee Do-hyeon suddenly came to mind. He was worried that something might happen to him because he had foolishly told Noh Hee-cheol the truth. Leaving aside Grandmother and Grandfather, if Noh Hee-cheol and the Shop Owner joined forces, they would bite and tear without end.
He shouldn’t have said it. Even though he knew it was already done and couldn’t be undone, Ryu Jeong sighed deeply, blaming himself. He was going to say sorry and tell him to be careful if they ran into each other. Had their paths crossed?
Ryu Jeong kept sighing and worrying about Lee Do-hyeon, and he never knew. That because he had carefully locked the lock, there was no other way to move the heavy gift boxes inside.