72
Second floor loan company. There was no external sign, but inside there was a gold sign that read <Ilsim Capital>.
Ever since getting burned by Jang Ihwan, he had desperately avoided private loans. It seemed like there would be guys even more vicious than Jang Ihwan, and he didn’t want to take on more debt. But now, several years later, more money was going to <Hope Loans> than what he owed to various other places. When Jang Ihwan couldn’t get his money back, he’d tell him to sell his body, and aside from interest, he’d often demand money for himself.
At first, since he didn’t know anything, he could ignore it, but once the bastard started threatening him with the child and people around him, there was no way out.
He had to give whatever was demanded.
The only way to cut off the deal would be to pay a lump sum along with interest, but where would he get that kind of money?
He had been pretending not to know about the ridiculously large sum, but today Taein decided to be bold just once. He decided to try something. Slowly, as Taein climbed the stairs, the determination characteristic of someone who had made up their mind showed on his face. Of course, he wasn’t certain. He just thought it would be better than this. The money going out would be the same, but he wanted to stop being entangled with Jang Ihwan. After being tormented all day and even receiving Jang Ihwan’s call, he might have been seeing red. Still, if he could just shake off Hope Loans, it felt like he could do something.
It was a newly built building, so the walls, stairs, and even the ceiling were all shiny. The second floor glass door also looked freshly installed and clean. Taein hesitated for a moment in front of the glass door with the <Ilsim Capital> sticker, then pushed the door handle and went inside. Unlike the jingling bell sound, there was no response from inside.
No one appeared after hearing the sound.
The interior wasn’t a structure you could see at a glance. A few tables with partitions, a round table in the corner, one large water purifier. The rest could only be seen by turning the corner.
As Taein turned his body to look at the back area, one of the doors attached to the inner area happened to open. It didn’t seem to be a bathroom, but rather a separate space.
The man who came out showed his back as he tapped the front of his dress shoes against the floor.
He was a man with broad shoulders and tall height. The man didn’t seem to have come out after hearing the bell sound and paid no attention to his direction. He walked to the side like that and only cast his gaze beyond the window.
Taein watched the man who had moved away, then moved his body toward the round table. He felt like he should make his presence known first. When he pulled out a chair, it made that characteristic squeaking sound. Only then did he hear an “oh” sound. Taein also turned his eyes to look at the man.
“The staff stepped out for a moment.”
“……”
“Wait a bit. I’ll call them.”
And Taein’s eyes didn’t leave the man who picked up his phone. It was as if he’d been hit in the head with a large stone hammer, so he didn’t even know what the man had said. The man made a call saying ‘Oh, there’s a customer here. No, he looks about twenty-two, twenty-three.’ While saying ‘Is he a client?’ he glanced at Taein.
“Are you an existing customer here, or.”
“……”
“……”
When Taein remained silent, the man was also silent. He was waiting for an answer, but when Taein didn’t speak, he made a strange expression. The man who slightly raised his eyebrows put the phone back to his ear.
“He’s not saying anything. Just come over. Yeah. Yeah.”
The man pressed the call end button while looking at Taein. From what he could see, it seemed like he came for consultation, but he just sat in the chair staring blankly at him. His face was more than decent – it was extremely handsome – but it seemed like he was missing a screw in his head. The man who tilted his head slightly tossed his phone toward the window. Then he strode over and looked down at Taein with puzzled eyes.
“Is there something on my face?”
“……”
“Or do you recognize me and that’s why you’re staring?”
The man said this while lowering his face even more. Hair wet with sweat, face flushed as if he’d been running, and his eyes were somewhat swollen as if someone had hit him.
Since there were all sorts of strange places around, he could be someone who escaped from there… His face was excessively handsome for a Juhang guy, almost like a Dog Alley player… The man who briefly touched his nose still withdrew his gaze from the unresponsive man.
Just then the bell rang and a man who appeared to be in his mid-thirties entered the office.
Even when he sat in front of him, Taein only looked elsewhere. The tall man, the man who had asked if he knew him, was looking only toward the window like before. Taein stared at his back for a long time before coming to his senses. More precisely, it was because the capital employee knocked on the table once while saying “Customer?”
“Ah,” Taein lowered his eyes and roughly looked over the paper that had been handed to him.
“Should I explain again?”
“Ah… no.”
“Our customer seems a bit out of it. You did come to borrow money, right?”
“…Yes.”
Like he said, he had been out of his mind for a moment. Thanks to the employee who pointed out his purpose, he belatedly remembered why he had come here. Just moments before, it was as if time had stopped and his mouth wouldn’t even open, but he was barely placed back in reality.
Taein easily understood what the employee in front of him was rattling off about loan types, methods, and corresponding interest rates. Because he had visited lawyers due to Jang Ihwan and had looked up all available and unavailable information on the internet, he could easily understand what the employee was saying.
Even though he had come here first, he didn’t necessarily think he had to borrow from this place. It was true that <Ilsim Capital> had given him the impulse, but he planned to check out at least three places before deciding. As Taein nodded while looking at the employee, he felt his eyes occasionally turning to the side.
Gu Wanjae. He thought that bastard had really appeared in front of him.
When he turned from the window, he was so flustered that his legs stretched out in front of him.
He tried to start a conversation but no words came out, and he couldn’t think of anything to ask.
And he thought he should run away.
He wondered if he had come all the way here looking for him.
A face that was different from five years ago yet the same. There was one large scratch on his eyebrow as if it had been cut by something, but other than that, it was familiar. The fact that his eyes had become somewhat sharper over the five years, that his brow bone protruded more than before, that his face was somewhat tanned.
Even in the face that had gained a more masculine bearing as time passed, there was the Gu Wanjae he knew.
But he heard completely absurd words from the man. Why are you looking? Do you know me? At first he was dazed thinking this couldn’t make sense, but as time passed by the second, his certainty lost its strength. Although he resembled him too much, the man’s voice was much deeper than Gu Wanjae’s, and his way of walking was also different. He could clearly picture that bastard walking carelessly without weight, but the man was the complete opposite.
Each step he took had weight to the extent that the sound of his shoe heels remained heavy, and his questions directed at him were only normal.
Still, he couldn’t shake his suspicions and looked at the man suspiciously, but there was no change in the man’s expression.
Rather, he looked at him as if he were a strange person.
Meanwhile, the employee entered and the distance from the man increased. The man who turned his back seemed to be watching something through the glass window from earlier. His gaze kept going to that sight, but it didn’t seem like he was someone he knew anymore… and it seemed rude to keep staring, so he decided to stop looking.
“Customer Kang Taein. We looked at your credit and such.”
The employee who had looked into various things about his personal information spoke with an expression that showed things weren’t going well.
“It seems a bit difficult to go with the regular option.”
He had heard the same thing at <Hope Loans>. But instead of sending him away, they had said there was a way and presented him with a strange contract. There was no guarantee that the <Ilsim Capital> employees were better guys than them. They might even be stranger than Jang Ihwan. Taein looked at the employee warily.
“Have you heard of work loans?”
“……”
“This isn’t us lending to you. It’s done through banks… It’s not really difficult. Regardless of your occupation, we make plausible documents on our end and borrow money together, you can think of it like that. You understand up to here, right?”
Still, he at least gave some explanation. There was a subtle difference from the Hope Loans employee who had told young him to just stamp first and see later. If there were no loans at all, that would be one thing, but since he had come here to cut off the private loan entangled with Jang Ihwan, he wanted to hear something positive. Taein nodded slightly at the employee’s attitude, which at least seemed to have a plan.
“Wow, our customer understands quickly. Anyway. Then money and time would be involved for us, right? Then when the money comes out from the bank, you just need to give us a service fee or commission. We’re not a bad company that involves gangsters or anything. We moderately gather only those who meet the conditions… We’re people whose purpose is to give dreams and hopes as gifts… You understand, right?”
Taein didn’t speak and only looked into the employee’s eyes.
The man who had been looking out the window from the side was also looking this way from around that time.
He seemed like someone related to the company, but he wasn’t directly involved. He kept one foot away and only kept his eyes on this side. Taein raised his gaze again to the man who had come closer. Like before, he ended up glancing at him, but since the man was also openly looking this way, their eyes kept meeting.
He really looked alike. There were different points too, but the face was too much like Gu Wanjae. Even if it wasn’t the same certainty as at first, he continued to feel surprised. Was it possible to resemble someone to that extent? The man whose eyes met Taein’s only slightly raised his eyebrows. He occasionally lowered his chin and pointed to the contract. Look, read that.
Taein went “Ah” and lowered his eyes. Precautions related to work loans and codes of conduct densely filled the white paper.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
