Chapter 36
Chapter 36
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 36
Chapter Title: Our Second Deal
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High school senior summer.
On the way home from school.
"You're Lee Han from Dongmyeong High School, right?"
That was the first time I saw Park Il-su, with her haughty expression.
Honestly, I was shocked.
She was so pretty it made me wonder if a human could be that beautiful.
But what surprised me even more was what she said next.
I still remember the words she said to me.
"Date me. I'll give you two million won a month. In return, you have to go on dates with me every day."
Honestly, I thought she was crazy.
To think she'd date me with that face and even pay me?
So, with gratitude, I accepted without a second thought. It paid better than my part-time job at the barbecue place, after all.
Of course, I looked into Park Il-su right away that day.
I couldn't risk getting shanghaied on a fishing boat or having my organs harvested at my age.
A pretty girl with loan shark parents.
That was all there was to it.
Her parents being loan sharks wasn't her choice, so it didn't seem worth worrying about.
The next day.
I headed straight to the meeting spot after school for my date with Park Il-su.
Her striking appearance stood out even from afar.
But that appearance didn't just catch my eye. A bunch of fly-like guys had gathered around her, smitten by her looks.
She was my girl now, so it was uncomfortable to watch. As I moved to approach,
Park Il-su kicked one guy's balls like a soccer ball and ran to me.
How would you feel getting hit there?
The guy collapsed with a look like he was about to die, and his friends chased after Park Il-su, cursing.
"Lee Han! Those guys were trying to drag me away!"
Park Il-su threw herself into my arms, sniffling and shouting.
Making my girl cry.
Of course I didn't hold back.
I took down all the guys charging at her, hurling insults, in one go.
But after knocking them down, I felt an odd sense of dissonance.
The Park Il-su I'd seen the first day was haughty and arrogant, far from tears.
"Good work."
As if nothing had happened, Park Il-su looked down at the fallen men with a haughty expression.
This felt like I'd been baited.
"Is this why you're paying me two million won? To protect you?"
Park Il-su stared at me blankly and replied.
"Why? Don't like it? You know it takes effort to win a beauty. I even date you and pay you. Pretty good deal, right?"
It wasn't wrong, but I didn't like being dragged around like this.
"Then find someone else. Someone who'll do everything you say."
I turned away without hesitation.
"What now?"
From behind me, Park Il-su spoke in a worried tone.
"The guys you just took down are from Wang-o High School delinquents."
I stopped in my tracks.
I'd heard of Wang-o High School.
"You mean the school full of thugs?"
I turned to see Park Il-su grinning mischievously.
"Yeah. Now you're marked by Wang-o guys. They'll be looking for Dongmyeong High's Lee Han by tomorrow."
That explained it. She'd insisted I wear my uniform. And she'd just called my name, giving away my identity to those punks.
But there was one flaw in her plan.
"Looks like you miscalculated. Can't I just handle the Wang-o guys who come looking?"
I didn't need to stick by Park Il-su for that.
"True."
Park Il-su nodded too easily, as if agreeing.
"There's more, isn't there."
"Not much. I just prepaid the orphanage director the money I was going to give you."
"You were working hard at the barbecue joint to help the director anyway, right? So I gave it ahead of time. Exactly eight months' worth, sixteen million won."
Not wrong, but her expression and tone, like she was sitting on top of my head, still grated.
"Just give it back."
"They've probably already spent it. I donated in my name. If I mentioned yours, they might not accept it."
Clever girl.
"We didn't even sign a contract. What if I play dumb?"
"Then think of it as a good deed. But you'd feel guilty, right? I heard you have a huge sense of pride."
I was properly entangled.
If I were my current self back then, I might've broken her arm to vent my anger.
But back then, I was too young to hit a girl easily.
"Was this your goal from the start?"
"Yep. I'm running a little business, and these guys keep harassing me because I'm a girl, ignoring me."
"What business?"
"Money lending. I loan to kids privately and collect some interest."
"And that business makes enough to give me sixteen million won?"
"Yeah. I'm pretty capable, huh?"
At nineteen, making that much money? Hard to deny.
"You play dirty, just like your name."
"That's why my parents named me that."
Park Il-su smiled leisurely even at my sarcasm. She already thought she'd won.
"But why me? I'm just an average student."
"Average? Pfft."
Park Il-su laughed as if it was hilarious.
"You know my family does loan sharking, right? The basics of loan sharking? Knowing your mark's exact info. That's how you know if you'll get paid back."
"So you checked me out and found me useful?"
"Right. You're famous among delinquents. A lone wolf. Just protect me until high school graduation. I'll even buy you meals."
I got the gist.
Why she needed me.
But she didn't know everything about me.
"One thing to confirm: you don't actually like me, right?"
"Crazy?"
"Then as long as I don't interfere with your business, I don't need to tag along."
"True, but... Why? Think carefully. If I ever get in a dangerous spot, even a little, you break the deal."
She knew I was a lone wolf only in school life.
"I'll handle it. Don't worry."
What I did for the deal with Park Il-su wasn't much.
Seniors from my orphanage who'd left for various reasons.
Some lived normally, but I just asked most who'd gone to the dark side.
To leave my girl Park Il-su alone.
After that, it was smooth sailing.
Delinquents from each school connected to my seniors started cleaning up on their own.
Touch Park Il-su and die.
And whenever Park Il-su stepped out of school, from delinquents to gangsters, they all bowed. No one dared touch her.
So unlike her plan, I had nothing to do. We "dated" formally for eight months, meeting only four or five times.
After graduation, we naturally lost contact.
"What're you thinking about so deeply?"
Park Il-su, walking beside me, asked as I was lost in memories.
"When we first met."
"Why? Wanna date me again?"
"Nah."
"Funny. Me neither."
Park Il-su replied with a prim expression.
"Anyway, you're only the second guy who didn't do what I wanted, so be proud."
"Sucks I'm not first."
"Lucky you're second. The first is the guy I want to kill."
I knew who her "first" was, but played it off naturally.
"You were my first too. Not perfect, but you used me all the same."
In the end, we both got what we wanted, but neither bent to the other's will.
That was why things weren't great between us.
"Too bad. Should've used me perfectly so I'd never forget you. Anyway, let's head over there."
She nodded toward a nearby new cafe.
"No. Somewhere quieter."
Park Il-su stopped dead at my words.
"Quieter?"
"What?"
She narrowed her eyes at me.
"What?"
"Wanna do something we couldn't in high school?"
"Probably no guy in the world looks at you as indifferently as I do."
"Fair. Then what? Talk in my car?"
"Sounds good."
"Alright. Follow me."
We walked a bit more to the parking lot where Park Il-su's car was.
We each opened the driver's and passenger doors and got in.
As soon as we were in the car, Park Il-su asked.
"How'd you find me?"
"Asked someone I know. To find the woman loan sharking under Park Il-su."
"How'd you know I do loan sharking?"
I gave her an answer she never expected.
"You told me. To me."
"Huh? I told you? Were we the type to share our futures in high school?"
"No."
"Then when? We haven't met since graduation."
"The you from five years in the future told me."
Park Il-su let out a hollow laugh as soon as I finished.
"Escape from the psych ward or something? What nonsense?"
It was about the expected reaction.
That guy probably got the same at first.
"It's true, but you don't believe me."
"Believe what? That you came from the future?"
"Not exactly..."
Right, like Lee Si-woo.
"I can see the future."
I'm trying to follow his path for a bit.
"Ha? See the future? You?"
Park Il-su snorted, unbelieving.
I got it.
Popping up out of nowhere after five years to say I see the future.
"Guess I have to tell you one of the futures I saw to make you believe."
But I had info that would force her to believe.
"Toad. How's that?"
Her trait that no one knew about.
"W-what? How do you know that?!"
So shocked, Park Il-su bolted out the car door. That's how tightly she'd hidden it.
"Told you. I can see the future. Get back in. We have more to talk about."
"For real?"
"Would I track you down after five years if I was crazy?"
"Whew... Hold on."
Park Il-su pressed her hand to her forehead and took deep breaths outside.
Once calmed, she got back in.
"So, let's sort this. You can see the future? For real?"
She stared straight into my eyes.
"A trait?"
"No, not a trait."
"Then?"
"Just my innate ability."
"Like divine possession?"
"Dunno. It just appeared suddenly."
I couldn't hide it if I wanted her help anyway.
"Seeing the future..."
Park Il-su still looked incredulous.
"If it appeared suddenly, when? After the world changed?"
"Makes sense. If you could see the future when we met, you wouldn't have let me drag you around."
"I wasn't dragged around."
"Anyway!"
She sharpened her gaze, having sorted her thoughts.
"Why'd you come find me? Do I do something big in the future? Trying to buddy up early?"
Interpreting it that way.
Her ego matched her looks.
"No. You couldn't do anything important anyway."
"You die. Five years from now."
Park Il-su stared blankly at me.
Her brain couldn't process the words that went in her ears.
"You mean I die?"
Even denying reality.
"No, not me. You."
"Why me? I don't even go to Utopia. Hey! Tell me. Now!"
This was the key part.
"Can't tell you that."
I planned to use her life as leverage.
"Why not? Why won't you tell me!"
Park Il-su lost her cool, glaring and yelling. I understood the frustration.
Someone who knows your death is right there, saying nothing...?
Lucky she didn't try to kill me.
"Help me, and I'll help you. So you don't die five years from now."
But I calmly met her eyes and spoke.
"This is our second deal. Like the one in high school."
Not eight months, but five years.
With her life in my hands,
Unlike the ambiguous past, this time I was firmly in the driver's seat.