The Green Goblin's Offer
A few days before the game started, a few suited men had visited Dae-yeon's office.
"Our general manager, it's quite difficult to repay the interest, isn't it?"
The man's words were kind. His expression was gentle. Yet Dae-yeon was pressed flat against the floor, begging for mercy.
"I'm sorry, Chief Han, I'm sorry! I will definitely prepare it next month, no, next week for sure."
The man called Chief Han spoke with a kind smile on his face.
"Ah, it's a tough economy these days, and getting money is hard. It's fine, it's fine. Take your time."
"This time it's for real, I really will pay it back!"
Dae-yeon cried out desperately. Chief Han, that guy had been the same last time. Kind and gentle, never threatening or violent, just telling him to pay slowly when urgent.
At first Dae-yeon had believed the words were true. So he had let the interest slide for about three months.
Then one day urgent contact came from the company factory. A few men had stormed in and forcibly taken away the important machinery.
At first Dae-yeon's parents could not understand.
Dae-yeon knew he had debts.
But why would they take company machines to repay personal debts? How much debt was it that they had to carry off a five-hundred-million-won machine?
Only then did Dae-yeon confess that he had used twenty billion won in private loans as collateral for the company's assets.
Moreover, the interest was at the legal maximum rate, four hundred million won a year alone.
His parents had thought he had simply borrowed a little from stocks, but when they learned the truth their bodies went limp.
The eldest son had been scolded not to worry, given the position of general manager, and various company authorities, and this is what he had done.
Without the machines the debt collectors had taken, the company's operations were impossible. Only after Dae-yeon had borrowed until his hands and feet were raw did the machines finally return to the company. Of course, they had not been returned; it was in the form of rent. Dae-yeon's debt interest and the machinery's rental fee were withdrawn every month from the company.
It was old and fairly solid, yet the company was small-scale. Through the COVID period it had accumulated a great deal of debt of its own.
Before long a crisis came to the company, and the debt collectors began pressuring them to hand over the company at a cheap price.
"Ah, General Manager, just sell the company, huh? We'll give you a good price."
"It can't be helped. This is the company our parents have devoted their entire lives to. Without it our elderly parents might end up sitting on the street. Please, please wait."
"Hahaha, really. You must think we're bad people."
"I could sell my heart, my liver, no, my eyes. What?"
"Ah, General Manager. What do you take us for, gangsters? Pulling out organs and selling them? We're a properly registered formal debt collection company, a formal debt collection company."
"Please, please don't touch the company and the factory. As long as those stay untouched, I'll do anything."
Chief Han scratched his head in embarrassment and handed over a single sheet of paper.
"What is this…?"
Name, age, career, photo attachment area, special skills, and so on.
What he had handed Dae-yeon was a resume.
"Ah, really, since the general manager is suffering so much, I was thinking of introducing a high-paying job."
"Please, please, anything, I'll do anything."
"It's nothing special. There is a friend of our president I know well who is looking for Korean personnel on the Cambodian side. He prefers young men. Although this won't clear the debt, it might allow you to pay the interest."
Cambodia…
Dae-yeon had seen articles about that country in recent news.
Kidnappings of Koreans, confinement, organ trafficking, and so on… It was an article about Chinese and Korean gangsters collaborating to commit all kinds of crimes.
"I… is this safe?"
Chief Han waved his hands.
"Ah, you saw another weird article again. It's safe, it's safe. It's a well-known person. It's the company of our president's hometown friend, and I know the person well too."
Your boss is a gangster, and a Chinese one at that.
Dae-yeon could not bring himself to say it. Surely it could not be a proper thing. It was a case of Korean citizens being mobilized for crimes like voice phishing. At worst they might face imprisonment or death. It was obvious.
After a moment of hesitation Dae-yeon answered that he would do it.
It was meaningless worry anyway.
A job offering a high salary with no skills or experience? It was not going to happen in Korea.
"Yes, good thinking. It's good experience to go abroad young and suffer a bit. The plane tickets and resume will be prepared by us. When everything is ready, we'll contact you."
Three days later, late at night, Chief Han called again.
"General Manager, how are you? We've finished talking with the company. Tomorrow go to Incheon Airport Terminal 1. The flight is at 12:30, so you must leave by 10 a.m. Our employee will be waiting there; contact us when you arrive."
"I understand, Chief. Thank you."
"Yes, take care of your health."
In the end, it had come to this.
Dae-yeon packed a light bag and left the office.
Before leaving there were things to finish, and seeing his parents at home would shake his heart.
He had done such a ridiculous thing, yet today they had cooked meat for him as dinner, because he was their son, their eldest son.
If only he were gone, the house would have no problems. With his two parents and diligent younger sister they could have lived without luxury, but not badly.
Now that he went to Cambodia and solved only the interest, things would be better. As long as the economy improved from now on, the twenty-billion-won debt could be repaid by the company.
"Haaaaah…"
Dae-yeon let out a long sigh.
How had his life come to this? If he left for Cambodia tomorrow, would he ever return alive?
"Everyone else is doing well except me."
Dae-yeon scrolled through Instagram and suddenly a photo caught his eye.
'Finally received a proposal!'
It was Min-jeong's recent post.
It showed a hotel room filled with colorful flowers and balloons, and pretty candle decorations.
And in the center lay a ring, placed in the Mint-colored box of the famous T brand. The tagged hotel was one of Seoul's top luxury hotels.
"Park Seong-hyeon, that bastard really is a spineless worm…."
He looked like a girl, and the things he did were nothing but a sissy. Whenever someone said they would go for drinks, he had an excuse. He couldn't drink, so he always bailed. For meetings he couldn't even say a proper word and hid in a corner. No matter what, he said it couldn't be done, it might be dangerous, he wouldn't do it.
He had never shown a cool, manly side. As for the proposal, it was just some expensive hotel and an expensive ring. If it were him, he would have mobilized his brothers and friends and given a grand, once-in-a-lifetime proposal.
Compared to him, Dae-yeon had done well. When he was a student the company was doing okay, so he drove a foreign car to school, and he had been in charge of many events. He knew people everywhere, and the board game club had almost made him president.
It would have been the same if not for Eun-hee, that flower snake. He had refused the president's post just to avoid weird rumors. Seong-hyeon, that spineless worm, was the one who had met her. So he had gotten scammed because he was so unreliable.
If he had only stayed at the big corporation he worked at, if he had only invested a little more in coins at a good timing, if he had only not joined that scam leader's chat room, his life would be completely different from what it was now. He would still be doing well, and Park Seong-hyeon would not even dare look at him.
A pretty wife, a good house, a good car — that was the life he was supposed to have enjoyed.
More than anything, what he could not stand was that Park Seong-hyeon had scolded him. That spineless bastard had the nerve to tell him not to do coin things but to live a proper life because his life was going well.
Recently he had bought an apartment, which had risen a lot. Those speculators should be squeezed. What the hell was the government doing?
Anyway, the government that couldn't control real estate prices or Park Seong-hyeon or anyone in this world had nothing that pleased him.
Knock knock.
"Who is it? Is there an employee who hasn't gone home?"
"Yes?"
"Hello, there is a good product I would like to introduce…"
"Ah, I don't buy."
Knock knock knock.
"I said I don't buy!"
"Don't say that, take a look once!"
"Tsk, really."
When the door opened a massive bundle-carrying green-skinned dwarf stood there.
"Hello-!"
Bang!
Dae-yeon startled and hurriedly closed the door.
What the hell was that…?
"Hello! There's a good item, but if you keep closing the door like that what will you do?"
The green dwarf had somehow entered the office.
"You… what are you? How did you…?"
"The best merchant who gives the right thing to the right person is the Golden Goblin Koping! I hope you have a good night?"
Visitor Type: Merchant
Special Trait: Opportunistic Goblin
Status: Entering Office