02
Jo Junghyun’s lips quivered as he spoke in a small voice.
“Um, but… what happens to the debt then?”
“That’s not something for you to worry about, Mr. Jo Junghyun.”
Only after hearing Ji Seunghyeok’s answer did he realize it. The debt wasn’t going to disappear. He could tell that the man in front of him would collect that money from his parents one way or another.
If there was a way to repay the debt his parents had accumulated while raising him, it was worth taking the risk.
“I… I’ll just pay it myself.”
“…Hmm?”
Ji Seunghyeok’s eyes narrowed.
“Do you have any idea what I might ask of you when you say you’ll pay it back?”
“What? Um…”
Junghyun bit his lip nervously as he scanned Seunghyeok’s expression.
“Perhaps I should tell you the amount so you can get an idea.”
Ji Seunghyeok muttered as if talking to himself before letting out a light sigh.
“The principal alone is 2.3 billion won.”
“…”
Junghyun closed his mouth.
It was a larger amount than he had expected.
“Your parents earnestly requested a short-term loan, so we set the interest at 4% per month. But instead of repaying the money, they sent you instead…?”
Ji Seunghyeok had been speaking formally the whole time, but his speech shortened at the end.
Junghyun stared at his fingertips.
2.3 billion won.
If that was just the principal, how much would it be with interest? In a world where billions were casually thrown around, one might think, ‘that’s not so much,’ but if you considered having to pay it back alone, it was an overwhelming sum.
“Twenty-year-old Jo Junghyun.”
“…Y-yes?”
“What can you offer me if I keep you here? Is there anything you can do for me?”
His tone was level. And that made Junghyun even more unsure of what to do.
Seeing Junghyun’s hesitant attitude, Ji Seunghyeok continued with the same unchanging voice.
“I’m asking what benefit I would get from accepting you.”
Junghyun couldn’t answer. There was no way he, who had just entered university, could repay such a large sum.
“600 million won.”
“…Pardon?”
“I’m saying that even if I took you and sold your organs piece by piece, I’d only get 600 million won.”
Junghyun had the foolish thought that it was a decent price before coming to his senses. Thinking about it, it was a chilling statement. Observing Junghyun’s reaction closely, Ji Seunghyeok slowly added:
“Though there would be more demand for you in other markets, but that’s not to my taste.”
Junghyun flinched, his shoulders trembling as he cautiously looked at Ji Seunghyeok.
Tap tap. The only sound was Ji Seunghyeok’s fingers drumming on the armrest of his chair. Junghyun, who had been keeping his head slightly lowered, raised his eyes and met Ji Seunghyeok’s gaze directly. Junghyun quickly turned his eyes back to the floor.
It was good that he had offered to pay the debt, but when he tried to think of a way to do so, he felt lost.
This wasn’t a matter of a few million won—it was tens of billions. But he couldn’t back down just because it was too much money. Junghyun thought of his parents’ faces and clenched his intertwined hands.
“As I said before, I’ll pay it back somehow.”
Ji Seunghyeok could have been exasperated at such an unrealistic statement, but Junghyun couldn’t give up without trying. In truth, Junghyun knew his words were empty. He had no way to find 2.3 billion won. But since it was his parents’ debt—the parents who had given birth to him and raised him—he couldn’t just walk away saying it had nothing to do with him.
The fact that his parents couldn’t be reached was true for them as well. If they could contact his parents, they wouldn’t be dealing with Junghyun like this; they would have gone directly to his parents. In other words, to them, Junghyun was the only link to his parents.
Ji Seunghyeok narrowed his eyes. He looked at Junghyun like an appraiser meticulously evaluating each body part, then let out a light breath. Junghyun moistened his dry lips with his tongue, tense.
“If you really want it that way, go ahead. We’ll think about payment methods as we go. Keep your phone on and answer when I call.”
As if he had said all he needed to, Ji Seunghyeok exhaled briefly and stood up, and Junghyun grabbed him.
Slowly turning his head to look at him, Ji Seunghyeok’s gaze made Junghyun hurriedly let go and speak.
“Um, I’m sorry. But could I stay here for a while?”
“Stay here? What do you mean?”
“I have nowhere to go right now. Please let me stay for a few days until I find a job with accommodation.”
Hearing Junghyun’s words, Ji Seunghyeok laughed with a “ha” as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“Do as you please.”
Click.
The sound of the door closing.
Junghyun felt his strength draining and leaned back against the sofa.
Could “do as you please” be taken as permission?
Gnawing on his lips and staring into space, Junghyun let out a long sigh.
Through the wall, he could hear people greeting the man as he left.
Right. This was better than doing nothing. He had to do something.
At least he was given some kind of opportunity, Junghyun thought, trying to comfort himself, when a dusty drawer caught his eye.
* * *
A week later.
It had been a hastily arranged business trip to a provincial area. Nevertheless, having successfully completed his work, Ji Seunghyeok was on his way back, leaning deep into the car seat with his eyes closed.
Since it was a fairly large company, it would take some time to properly digest and convert it into cash. While calmly going over the plan in his head, he also recalled what had happened before the business trip.
It was two months ago when Chairman Jo Yeongung of Hyeonmu Enterprise had visited him.
He didn’t know where Jo had heard the rumors, but he had urgently pleaded for a loan, saying there was a place where money needed to be arranged quickly, and volunteered to pay higher interest than the original rate. Upon verification, there was a promissory note worth 2 billion won that had to be paid two days later.
Not all companies hold cash ranging from hundreds of millions to billions of won. There are cases where companies are unable to pay promissory notes due to bad circumstances or coincidences. There have been cases where even companies ranked as conglomerates have defaulted on promissory notes worth tens of billions of won.
The default itself is a big problem, but the real issue is what comes next. When it becomes news, a stock price crash is inevitable. With shareholder backlash and other factors, it’s precisely the kind of situation companies want to avoid.
Companies worried about such situations wanted to borrow secretly from places other than traditional financial institutions. And Ji Seunghyeok’s business was exactly the one that dealt with those companies.
Compared to the average amount Ji Seunghyeok lends, 2 billion won was a relatively small amount, not enough to make his business falter. For that, Ji Seunghyeok’s company had too much cash on hand.
He didn’t deceive anyone into taking loans. Interest rates were thoroughly disclosed in advance. It was Jo Yeongung who accepted that and took the loan. Not just Jo Yeongung. It was common for people to beg for money when borrowing but then threaten to report the business for not being officially registered when it came time to repay.
Of course, it was through thorough debt collection that Ji Seunghyeok was where he was now.
Slowly rubbing his chin, Ji Seunghyeok recalled Jo Junghyun, who still looked somewhat youthful.
A heat-sensitive omega.
In a world where betas made up 95%, omegas were rare beings, accounting for only about 1.5%.
Even without seeing any documentation, he could tell that Junghyun was an omega. After all, Ji Seunghyeok was an extreme dominant alpha who had an exceptional sense for distinguishing others’ traits.
Before looking through the documents, the moment he saw Junghyun standing in front of the building like a lost child, he had a rough idea of the situation.
That’s collateral handed over in place of debt.
And his prediction was not wrong.
Unlike betas, alphas and omegas partially remain under their guardian’s parental and custodial rights until the age of 21. Of course, they have the same suffrage as adult betas. It’s just that due to the special nature of alphas and omegas, there’s a higher chance of unfortunate incidents, so there’s a grace period in some areas. But they had abused that and handed Junghyun over to Ji Seunghyeok.
He had tried to find the president couple of Hyeonmu Enterprise, but they had already disappeared. If they were living proudly in their original residence after handing over their son as collateral, it would have surprised Ji Seunghyeok instead.
It was also difficult to expect to hear from Junghyun about their hideouts or refuges. No one gives information to a card they’re discarding.
Judging from Junghyun’s reaction, he had no idea what kind of situation he was in. Well, how many people would come on their own knowing? Junghyun was too honest to fake such a reaction.
His offer to pay the debt himself was also within the expected range. Because Junghyun was an omega.
If Junghyun had used his omega status to seduce him by releasing pheromones, Ji Seunghyeok would have kicked him out on the spot. Instead, Junghyun asked to stay for a few days. The reason was to look for a job with accommodation.
He was a type that couldn’t be found around Ji Seunghyeok.
“Manager Kim, let’s go to the office.”
“Without resting first?”
“I just remembered something I need to resolve.”
“Yes, sir.”
The sound of the car’s navigation being adjusted was heard.
Yun-young Seo, who was sitting in the passenger seat, turned to Ji Seunghyeok and spoke.
“If it’s about President Jo, should I reach out to him?”
“No, that’s fine. I’ll handle that directly.”
Seo Yunyoung shrugged once and straightened her posture.
Perhaps due to their long years together, she often sensed what Ji Seunghyeok was thinking and spoke up first like this.
Due to traffic congestion, it took about 20 minutes longer than scheduled. Heading to the office, Ji Seunghyeok stopped as he was getting out of the elevator. The sound coming from inside was not the usual noise he knew from the office.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
