100
The rockfish sashimi was just the beginning. Next came large plates filled with octopus and various seafood, and another plate with several types of fish sashimi all together. Seeing that they were called “gold bar-wrapped bastards,” the other fish seemed expensive too. Taein ate the sashimi he usually couldn’t afford until his stomach was about to burst. He had started eating piece by piece, but gained momentum and ended up eating without caring about Yoon Donghwan.
When they finished their meal like that, two cups of coffee were also brought out. It didn’t seem like they were brewed here directly, and there appeared to be a coffee specialty shop nearby that delivered.
“Now, since we’ve filled our stomachs a bit.”
Yoon Donghwan, who had taken a sip of coffee after opening the lid, acted like he was finally going to talk about the main point. Taein, who had only been touching the cup holder, also raised his eyes at those words. Throughout the meal, he had been making playful remarks to himself, and Taein had just kept ignoring them. He would say things like “I’m free, so you ate and threw up,” so how could he respond? It was a different context from keeping quiet because he was stiff with tension and uncomfortable with the situation, so he couldn’t give answers.
“Shall we talk about our money problem too?”
“Yes.”
It was comfortable that Yoon Donghwan no longer forced formal speech. Taein answered “yes” and sent his gaze to Yoon Donghwan.
“Right. You checked the money?”
“No. If you saw the house… you’d know it wasn’t a situation where I could check. Jang Ihwan also deployed people.”
When he had been forced to act friendly, there were parts he couldn’t talk about because of some inexplicable pride, but it was much easier to explain his situation when speaking formally like this. At the sudden mention of Jang Ihwan’s name, Donghwan made an expression he hadn’t made once today. It was a face as if he had smelled something foul.
“…As for the money, I was originally going to send it to Jang Ihwan anyway, so it’s not regrettable.”
He tried to add about what had suddenly happened. But Yoon Donghwan stopped him first.
“Why would you just send that to that bastard? That’s money I sent under your name.”
He hadn’t been able to check the bank statement details, so he couldn’t even confirm the depositor’s name. Usually money comes in with company names, but it seemed Ilsim Capital also sent money under personal names.
“Ah.”
“If you hand that over to that bastard, you’ll have to take responsibility for me.”
“……”
He was trying to play word games again in this serious situation. Yet his expression remained stern as he looked at him. Taein only frowned slightly at Donghwan’s unpredictable behavior.
“I’m not just saying this. That’s not company money, it’s my money. Before the loan came out, I first sent it under my name, and whether it’s work or whatever, I’ll gradually process it so when the loan money officially comes out, I’ll take that. You understand this far, right?”
“…Yes.”
“Then what about before that? I purely sent you money just because we became friends. That’s it. I’m a small citizen. I make 150 a month. I threw a whole year’s worth of that at you, so how can I not become completely broke? That money wasn’t supposed to be used like that. I was going to talk about the purpose that day too.”
“150…?”
It was less than the monthly salary he had earned when delivering. Did that even make sense in the first place? Taein had a serious expression as if he couldn’t believe it.
“I’m in the stage of setting up the company now. What’s left per month is exactly 150, 200 at most. What do you think is the reason I come to places like this to mooch food? Because I’m broke. Because I don’t have any.”
Though the menu they had mooched was too luxurious, the man continued speaking as if aggrieved, so other thoughts didn’t occur. No matter what industry, the possibility of failure always exists. Was the man in that case too? Most of what he had seen were self-employed businesses, but the principle would be similar. Not recovering money as expected was a typical and common failure story. Especially for loan businesses, the initial costs would be high too, so the probability of failure would inevitably be that much higher.
His thoughts were leaning toward Yoon Donghwan’s business acumen being terrible.
Well. If he were good at work, he wouldn’t have sent that much money first just because they became friends.
Saying strange things and giggling, pretending to be serious and putting on airs, then spouting nonsense like “I’m free so look your fill” – it wasn’t too much of a stretch. Compared to his clean and weighty first impression, the man’s substance wasn’t much.
Taein, who had come to that conclusion inwardly, quietly looked at the man’s eyes.
“Wow, to use that money like that.”
“I’ll try asking for some of it back.”
“What? You’re going to talk to that loan shark directly?”
“Yes, there’s also money to go into Hope Loans this month… I’ll make one phone call.”
“Don’t.”
“Yes?”
“I said don’t. No matter how fake that bastard is, an Alpha is still an Alpha, right? I’ll take care of the money myself, so don’t call either. Pheromones get tangled through phone lines.”
It was logic he had never heard or seen. He momentarily felt suspicious of Donghwan, who was blocking contact with Jang Ihwan to this extent. Were the two of them plotting something together? Were they trying to cause him greater harm? Since he wasn’t close to Donghwan yet, Taein could only think such things.
“I fucking hate the smell of Alphas. Especially bastards like him who smell like foot odor. What is it these days, communication networks, broadband something, huh? It all transfers through that too. I even saw an article about it.”
He says everything seriously, so you don’t doubt him while listening. Only after a few seconds do you look at Donghwan with an “huh?” expression. This time too, Taein only slightly twitched his eyebrows and sent his gaze to the man.
“What, should I show you at a PC café?”
“…No.”
“I’ll show you.”
The man leaned his upper body forward as if he would really go to a PC café. He was trying to get up. Taein hurriedly added words.
“We don’t have time for that. Let’s just go to the front of the office you stopped by.”
“Ah. You said you had to go by one o’clock. What’s the reason?”
While asking the question, he returned to his original position and sat cross-legged.
“I have to go to a labor office.”
“Labor office? You’re going to do manual labor?”
“…Yes.”
The negative tone in his words directly showed through, so Taein’s mood was also somewhat hurt. He understood that he had lent money, but he wouldn’t let him use that money freely, and he was only pouring cold water on his will to try to do some work, so his mood couldn’t be good. Taein, whose expression had noticeably hardened, didn’t add any further explanation.
“You’d do that kind of work?”
“…Don’t look down on me.”
He had been showing his rock bottom all along, but he felt angry at “that kind of work.” His life hadn’t been smooth partly because of his own stubbornness in deciding he had to live by force and grit. A life with only force and pride left. When that life seemed to be touched, Taein flared up.
“I’m finding work I can do and doing it, and there’s nothing wrong with people who do manual labor.”
When he added words to that extent, Donghwan’s expression gradually relaxed. The face that had been frowning and saying “that kind of work?” even had a faint smile floating on it. Taein only frowned at Donghwan, who had a grinning expression.
“You speak smartly.”
“…What?”
“You’re smart. You seem to have high intelligence.”
It felt like he was somehow mocking him, so he didn’t feel good. Taein pulled his upper body back while keeping his brow furrowed. While talking, he had gotten close to the table, and feeling that, he had created distance. Donghwan said “hmm” while looking at Taein and put his elbow on the table. His leisurely smiling face briefly hardened and seemed to fall into thought. His mouth soon opened.
“Should I introduce you to a job?”
“……”
Unable to understand the intention of his words, he kept his mouth shut for now.
“All the guys around here have empty heads. But you speak well and seem like you’d do work carefully and thoroughly… though it might be a bit difficult.”
“…What kind of work is it?”
Though he had just spoken seriously and it seemed like he was now begging the man for a job, which didn’t sit well with him, given his position, he couldn’t afford to be picky about this and that.
“Looking at documents, having meetings. There’s also construction-related stuff.”
Documents and meetings sounded like office work. He had never even heard of construction in his life.
“Having conversations while looking people in the eye.”
It seemed like he was talking about sales. In Juhang, he had only delivered alcohol, and before that, he had only done small part-time jobs. Though he had never studied anything related, the job Donghwan proposed was tempting. Even after going around all sorts of shops until his heels ached, he hadn’t been able to find a single part-time job. Worried that if he delayed more time, he might change his mind, Taein immediately opened his mouth.
“Yes, I’ll try it.”
“Right. I need to find you work to feel at ease. If you keep running around empty-handed like that, when will you ever pay back the money? Right?”
“…Yes.”
“The salary too… I can speak well for you.”
“Thank you.”
Though he spoke sarcastically here and there, it didn’t seem like he was doing it with bad intentions. No matter how much money he had to receive, to even care about the debtor’s salary. Taein said thank you while recalling his own flare-up. He was bothered by speaking harshly about the manual labor. He should apologize to the man who was saying “yeah, yeah” in front of him before moving on.
“…I’m sorry for speaking harshly earlier.”
“Did you speak harshly? I don’t know?”
Then Donghwan, who tilted his head back, groped the table and grasped his cell phone. It seemed he intended to leave now that the conversation was over. Taein also slowly raised his body at that action. Though time had gotten quite late eating like a course meal here, since he had found work without having to go to the labor office, it wasn’t a waste of time. With a light heart, Taein, who sat on the threshold, put his feet into his shoes.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
