#133

Everyone was strapped for cash, so the daily wages were extremely low, and often they didn’t receive any at all. Inevitably, the man went to the city to work as a day laborer. He left the the child with So-jin’s family and wandered the country alone. After paying off the principal and interest on his loans with the wages he earned, there was almost nothing left in his hands. Still, he didn’t starve, and he was able to save a little cash to send to the the child, so he thought he was fortunate.

He also saw hope that he could return to the village after just one year of hard work. But the world was not on the Man’s side. A slight twist of his leg during the rainy season began to swell so badly after a week that he couldn’t use it at all. The Man, who was working in Chungju at the time, spent a month lying in the hospital he was currently attending. As a result, he used up all the emergency money he had stashed away to use when the the child was sick. Not only that, but he also took out a small loan using his house and garden as collateral.

“At least I was in a better situation. They only took the money I had saved. But the others had already mortgaged their houses and land to invest at that point, so they couldn’t get any more loans. They had dragged in relatives and even distant cousins, so they couldn’t borrow money from anyone. In the end, they had no choice but to find loan sharks.”

Not only the Man, but even the villagers did not realize that the situation would deteriorate to this extent.

The period that Kwon Il-taek had asked them to wait became one year, then two years, then three years. And this year was the fourth year. Until last year, Chairman Kwon had been mindful of their feelings, but this year he began to act as if his son’s business failure had never happened. He showed no remorse to anyone he met. Rather, he scolded those who urged him to return at least some of the principal, asking them if they couldn’t bear to wait a little longer after having endured this long.

In the meantime, he began to re-lease the rice paddies. The the man never thought that an opportunity would come to him. He never dreamed that he would receive such a large and fertile plot of land, as much as 8,000 pyong. It was an opportunity gained through someone’s death, but even so, the man was excited and hopeful.

Everyone felt the same way. Now we’re finally getting our money back, the Chairman is saving us even if it’s late.

When they were asked to hand over the loan they had received for the newly leased land as an investment, everyone readily complied. They were afraid that they would be late in receiving their principal if they didn’t give it, and the loan they had received using the farmland as collateral was a drop in the bucket compared to the investment, so no one refused. The money taken in this way was disguised as agricultural machinery rental fees or fertilizer purchase costs and legally became Kwon Il-taek’s property.

The Man, who had signed the lease agreement somewhat late, also had to hand over the loan to Kwon Il-taek, just like the villagers had done. That was the condition of the contract.

“That’s when I started to get suspicious. Why are they asking for money again? Why are they preventing me from using the money I borrowed for farming and telling me to invest it again? So I did some research on my own. I went to other city agricultural cooperatives and asked about the misuse of loans, and I borrowed books from the library. But I had to know what they were saying to even begin. The terminology was too unfamiliar. I felt very helpless. Then, a bank employee, feeling sorry for me, told me that there was a free consulting lawyer. So I made calls here and there and finally met one, but I didn’t get much help.”

The more the man spoke, the more Tae-heun’s insides burned, and the faster his cigarettes dwindled.

“Give me one more.”

In the end, he had to get another cigarette from the Man.

The the man had only received advice from the lawyer to hire a tax accountant or a lawyer specializing in finance.

“How can I hire a lawyer when I don’t even have the money to pay the loan interest right now? After much deliberation, I sought the opinion of the Hyungs in the youth association. I thought they would be more reasonable since they were younger. But it wasn’t. Instead, they got angry at me, asking if I was trying to slander the Chairman. They told me not to spout nonsense, that the Chairman would take care of everything. I even heard that I was repaying kindness with evil, and that made me feel like I had made a big mistake. The Hyungs in the youth association spread the word, and I was scolded by the elders. I think that was the first time I had ever been scolded like that.”

The the man smiled bitterly.

“Ah. I was wrong. Who am I to have such corrupt thoughts? I felt so sorry to the Chairman that I couldn’t even lift my head. I blamed myself for becoming greedy, even though I hadn’t invested the money to get it back in the first place.”

The the man frowned and put another cigarette in his mouth. He puffed away, then looked at Tae-heun.

“Rumors travel fast here. As Tae-heun knows.”

He sought agreement.

Tae-heun nodded silently.

“Of course, it reached the Chairman’s ears. I was scared. I was terrified that they would tell me to leave the village, that Ji-hye and I would have nowhere to go, that they would drag us out. So I went to him right away, knelt down, and apologized. I said I was sorry, that I had really done wrong. Then the Chairman smiled and forgave me. He understood with a generous heart, saying that I just shouldn’t do it again.”

Ah. A sigh escaped Tae-heun’s lips.

This was the reason why the man looked at Kwon Il-taek with affectionate eyes. After that day, the man stopped all suspicion. He believed in, relied on, and followed the Chairman, who had forgiven and embraced him for his great wrongdoing, like a religion. He did so because there was no other way to live in this village.

The the man puffed on the remaining cigarette with an expression that looked like he was about to cry at any moment. It ended up like this, he said.

“I’m such a fool, aren’t I? They say you can get your nose cut off even with your eyes open, and that’s exactly what happened to me.”

“Why is Ki-beom a fool? That bastard who planned and committed the fraud is the bad guy.”

The the man shook his head.

“Yong-jun told me. He said he sold all the land here. So the lease I wrote is useless.”

He said all sorts of things even while running away. Son of a bitch.

Tae-heun gritted his teeth.

“What should I do? I really thought I was going to have my own rice paddy.”

The Man, as if the cigarette had lost its flavor, crushed the still-lit cigarette with his palm. Tae-heun was startled and forcibly unfolded the Man’s clenched fist. Then he snatched the cigarette from the Man’s hand. Fortunately, it had only been slightly scorched.

“Hey, seriously. Why are you doing this? You almost got a cigarette burn on your palm.”

He grumbled.

The the man gave Tae-heun an awkward smile.

“That’s right. Smile. Let’s not blame ourselves for things that have already happened.”

“Yes.”

He answered, but no matter how hard he tried, it didn’t work, and the man lowered his head with a blank expression. As if that was all he could do, he stomped the dirt with his shoes.

“Ki-beom can farm that rice paddy. In the case of ordinary farmland, the lease agreement is often transferred as a whole when the land is sold. How annoying is it to sign a new lease agreement?”

Tae-heun said casually.

“Really?”

The the man raised his head.

“Yeah. Really. If that wasn’t the case, the news would have spread throughout the village long ago. Rice doesn’t grow for free, and you have to hire people anyway. Is this a place where you can bring in people from other areas? Isn’t that right? Honestly, it’s not in a good location, and the transportation isn’t as convenient as in other regions. And it doesn’t have any special products either. Even foreigners avoid places like this.”

Tae-heun said very confidently.

“Shit. Now that I say it, it sounds like I’m badmouthing my own neighborhood.”

The the man laughed. That’s true, he said.

“I hope what Tae-heun says is true.”

“It’s true. Believe me. Next year, Ki-beom and I will raise ducks together and transplant rice in that rice paddy.”

“Yes. I’ll believe you.”

The Man’s eyes sparkled. He repeatedly said that he would believe him. It wasn’t so much that he really believed Tae-heun’s words, but rather that he desperately wanted to believe them. It was as if he had to do that to survive.

Screech-

A chilling sound came from the speaker. It was coming from the speaker on the utility pole in the distance. Soon, a person’s voice was heard, “Ah, hoo, hoo.” It seemed that someone was holding the microphone in the Village Chief’s house, as the broadcasting equipment was only in the Village Chief’s house.

“Ah, microphone test. Microphone test. Dongjam-ri residents, this is Bae Young-ho from Keungol.”

The man, who called himself Bae Young-ho, announced in a somewhat agitated voice that everyone should gather at the village hall’s Sarangbang.

“Those who have signed farmland lease agreements with Chairman Kwon should also gather.”

He summoned not only those who had invested in Kwon Il-taek’s family but also the residents who had signed lease agreements. It seemed that he had found out that the landowner had changed in the meantime. The microphone was in poor condition, and Bae was excited, so his words were often garbled, but everyone probably understood most of it.

The the man hesitated. He didn’t seem to want to go.

“If you really don’t want to go, I’ll go alone. I’ll listen carefully on Ki-beom’s behalf.”

“No. I have to go. I’m a victim.”

The the man moved towards his car with a heavy expression.

All the villagers gathered at the village hall’s Sarangbang. The Pastor and Pastor’s wife were also there. They were also among the victims of the fraud. It was unknown how much they had given, but it seemed to be a considerable amount. The Pastor’s wife was almost out of her mind.

Regardless of age, most of the women had swollen eyes, and the men couldn’t resist drinking in the meantime, so they reeked of alcohol. In the midst of all this, there were even some who were unconscious.

A police officer from the eup-nae police station, about Detective Oh’s age, was standing at the front, trying to calm people down. He seemed to know everyone, calling the uniformed police officer Jong-chan and begging him. They clung to him as if he were their savior.

Kim Jong-chan and a police officer in his mid-twenties who had followed him were struggling to figure out the situation. They also knew who Kwon Il-taek was and how much influence he had in this village. And not just in Dongjam-ri. It seemed that he held an important position in eup-nae as well, as Kim Jong-chan was constantly receiving phone calls even while investigating.

As time passed, the atmosphere in the Sarangbang became heavier. The number of people fainting increased. Several ambulances arrived. Even while the paramedics were attending to the patients, someone else collapsed and fell. In the meantime, the number of police officers also increased. People who held positions, including the head of the police station, gathered. Officer Kim, holding a portable megaphone, announced what needed to be done in the future. The megaphone often made a chilling screeching sound.

It felt like he would go crazy if he stayed here, let alone investigate the damage. The aura of misfortune was so strong that it seemed to knock down even healthy people. Tae-heun couldn’t believe that he was in a situation that he had seen and experienced so much that he was sick of it. He had abandoned the name Lee Seon-jae and was reborn as Kim Tae-heun, but the world was the same. The world that Tae-heun was experiencing was not much different from the world that Lee Seon-jae had experienced. It was a lamentable situation.

The the man wrote down his name, resident registration number, and other personal information on the paper that the police officer handed him, and wrote down the amount of damage. It was more than Tae-heun knew. It was more than what was stated on the documents.

“No, just write down the facts of the damage. Why are you writing down the private loans you received?”

At that time, Officer Kim Jong-chan took the paper that one of the elders handed him and scolded him.

“This was also introduced by Chairman Kwon. They colluded with each other!”

“Oh, Elder, really. You’re the one who took out the private loan from the loan shark. Did Chairman Kwon tell you to do that? Did you receive it by force?”

“Yes, you bastard. I received it by force. I didn’t receive it because I wanted to, but because Kwon Il-taek didn’t give me the money, I had no choice!”

When the Elder pointed his finger and shouted in an agitated voice, Officer Kim reluctantly took the paper, saying, “Okay, okay. Why are you getting angry at me?”

The Man’s gaze lingered briefly on the elder and Sergeant Kim in front of him. Even though he only needed to write his own, he looked around to see what they were writing. After hesitating for a long while, the man began to write down the names of the loan sharks. It wasn’t on the Helper’s documents. Tae-heun was dumbfounded.

“Ki-beom, did you borrow from them too?”

“…Yes.”

The the man moved his pen busily with an embarrassed look.

“How did you know all these places?”

“The Chairman introduced them to me.”

“That son of a bitch. He’s a real piece of shit.”

Only then did Tae-heun look at the forms of the people around him. Not only the elder, but they too had borrowed from the same loan sharks as the Man. It was a case of debt begetting debt, and interest begetting more debt. Kwon Il-taek was deliberately fleecing the neighborhood. He was a vicious bastard.

Fortunately, the man had only borrowed a large sum of money from three places, and the rest were small loans ranging from 300,000 to 1,000,000 won. It seemed he was working his fingers to the bone to pay off the loan shark debts and bank loans, and using the small loans to make ends meet.

But the man didn’t write down ‘Hanju Jeil Used Cars’ on the list. Even though he still had over 15 million won left to pay in principal alone, he hid it carefully.

Was it because it wasn’t a company introduced by Kwon Il-taek?

Even if that was the case, it was Kwon Il-taek who had forced him to borrow money from there. There must be others besides the man who had borrowed money from Kim Byung-chan. Tae-heun wondered if others had also omitted that name from their lists, but he didn’t have the authority to check the documents right now. But if he looked for a way, he would find it.

The the man put down his pen. He took a deep breath and went forward to submit his form. And instead of returning to Tae-heun, he took care of his neighbors. He filled out the form on behalf of an old woman who couldn’t write.

Oh, Yoon Ki-beom.

Tae-heun smiled. He was just glad that Ki-beom was manly. He felt sorry for having looked down on him earlier.

Tae-heun also helped the Man.

It was a long day.

134 – Chapter 134