The Weight of 968 Billion
4796 dragged her feet forward with heavy steps. Though the space was vast, everything felt oppressively narrow. It was a place where even breathing seemed to choke her, where the soul was crushed under unbearable agony. Every step along the long, endless corridor felt like self-inflicted torture. No—it was genuine torture. What kind of conglomerate forced people to walk while being this thoroughly oppressed? It resembled a warlord's domain more than a corporation.
“Damn it… I have to get out of here!”
The feeling wasn't hers alone. Overwhelmed by the extreme atmosphere, one of the other debtors suddenly bolted, shoving past everyone in a desperate bid for freedom. Unfortunately, those stripped of their rights were only ever met with endless oppression. A guard standing nearby pulled out a smartphone, tapped an app, and pressed an unknown button.
Zap!
“Kyaaaaah!”
It was an electric shock delivered through a cybernetic implant. The poor debtor collapsed to the floor.
“Idiot. Take her to the infirmary.”
At the head guard's order, several men carefully carried the unconscious woman away—treating her like company property even while unconscious. It was a contradictory sight, but no one dared question it. 4796 simply followed the guards in silence.
They boarded an elevator. The other debtors got off at the fourth floor, but 4796 remained. “I… I need to get off—”
“You're not going there.”
The guards blocked her. Left alone, 4796 felt an even deeper terror. She had no means of defending herself. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't sense any magic, and her body lacked the physical foundation to resist. A frail female form with no muscle. Having lost everything as a hunter, 4796 was essentially worthless.
“Follow me.”
The elevator doors opened, and the guards led her to a room. Judging by its size and the door's design, it clearly belonged to someone important—very important. Even the chairman's office of the Yellow Sea Guild had been less impressive.
The door opened with a clean sound, and 4796 was pushed inside.
“Hmm. You're here.”
The room was thick with cigarette smoke. A woman in her thirties, who had been working, stood up. 4796 wondered who she was—until the woman approached and the question answered itself.
[Nartika Business Strategy Division]
[Director An Yun-mi]
Not the president, but a manager dispatched directly from Nartika's headquarters. Interestingly, she held real power here. She stared at 4796 for a moment, then reached out and stroked her cheek. The touch sent chills down her spine; the gaze was psychopathic.
“Is this the one the young lady mentioned?”
“Yes, ma'am.”
“She doesn't look like much… but there must be a reason she said so.”
Her eyes then turned to 4796 as if asking if she had any questions. Naturally, 4796 had plenty. The moment the opportunity arose, she dropped to her knees and clung to the woman's legs, sobbing.
“I… I don't belong here. There must be some mistake. I had no debt, no crimes, and I wasn't even a woman—”
“Is that so? Then why would the young lady send you here, claiming it was for your own good?”
“That's… that's…”
“Everything in this world happens for a reason. The reason you're here must be the same.”
“But…! I was never supposed to have this body!”
“That, too, must have its reasons. Our young lady wouldn't have sent you here without thinking.”
She pointed to a photo on the wall—Cheon Mari's face. Next to it, oddly enough, was a picture of Cheon Mari and Kang Sian together.
That woman sent me here?! Wait, then…?
A reflexive suspicion. Something flashed through her mind—the moment she lost consciousness on the snowy mountain. Was that actually Cheon Mari's doing? The thought quickly turned to worry for her parents. She was here, but they were nowhere to be seen.
“Then what about my parents? Your company brought me here, so you must know where they are, right?”
“Your parents? Ah, I know them well. Though they're not in the best condition.”
“N-not in the best condition?”
It was like a bolt from the blue. 4796 trembled with despair.
“They're in critical condition, unconscious, and hospitalized.”
An Yun-mi pulled two photos from between the papers on the table. They showed 4796's parents barely clinging to life in a hospital room—whether they still were was unknown. 4796's mouth fell open in shock. Then it fell open even wider when she was handed a single sheet of paper.
“My personal debt is 96.8 billion won?!”
“It was actually more, but we knocked it down a bit.”
“That can't be right! I never had any debt to begin with!”
This was more shocking than her parents being unconscious. It was an abnormal situation—because it was abnormal. An Yun-mi smirked.
“Your parents made quite a lot of profit while working with the guild.”
“Profit? I've never heard or seen anything like that!”
“Who knows? Even if you think that, would the company's records say the same?”
She handed over a tablet. It contained photos of numerous documents.
“Misuse of company funds as a daily occurrence, blatant accounting fraud, and major alterations to the books?”
“……”
“Add in your parents' hospital bills and the cost of turning you into a woman to make you 'normal' again… After some discounts, this is the total.”
She added that the cost of turning 4796 into a woman alone had come to a staggering 33.6 billion won. It felt like extortion, but Cheon Mari wasn't that vicious. No—Cheon Mari was far more vicious than that. The actual cost of the TS potion was only 3,360 won. This was beyond extortion; it was creating value from nothing. Even the legendary swindler Kim Seon-dal would have drawn his sword at such a bill.
“Well? Do you understand now?”
She understood perfectly. The problem was whether she could accept it. For 4796, it was impossible. In the end, faced with an insurmountable debt, she crossed a river that could never be uncrossed.
“……I'll file for personal bankruptcy.”
“Hmm. Personal bankruptcy?”
“I can never repay this. No—I can't even begin to repay it.”
“Oh? And what gives you such confidence?”
Confidence? It wasn't confidence—it was an appeal to the law. No matter how much the law favored the strong, in extreme situations it occasionally sided with the weak. Especially in cases like 4796's, there was a chance of successful rehabilitation. Naturally, this was a nightmare for creditors.
“Do you have some kind of backup plan?”
“Korean law! Let's follow our laws!”
An Yun-mi burst into laughter the moment she heard it—as if watching an insect pointlessly struggling.
“Do you even know where you are?”
“……?”
“This is China. The land of those foreign bastards.”
“What does that—”
“Naive girl. You don't know what China really is, do you?”
Whether she knew or not, she couldn't answer. The continent's ways were too profound for that. An Yun-mi snorted.
“The hunters staged a coup against the civilian government and established a pseudo-feudal system.”
“So what does that—”
“Do you know why terms that used to only appear in wuxia novels are now being thrown around so casually when talking about China?”
“……Because the world developed?”
“The Chinese government is a mess! The central government is run by the top hunters in China, and the local governments are run by the top hunters in each region!”
Self-proclaimed martial artists. Hunters who only claimed to uphold righteousness and chivalry. And the guilds they led—sometimes called sects—held administrative and all other powers. The government was a facade; the guilds handled everything. In a way, it was a weaker version of a warlord state and a corporate nation combined.
“Even so!”
“Do you really think you can report this? Or even file a complaint in a Korean court?”
Would this corporation even allow her the chance? Would she even be alive the moment she tried to sue?
“Well, you're probably thinking that if you can just escape this building, you'll have a chance.”
“……!”
“But do you know? Nartika owns the largest bank in this region.”
Financial power. That meant significant influence over the area.
“It was a bank that could've been taken by the Chinese hunters who love their 'righteousness and chivalry'… but we no longer have to worry about that.”
An Yun-mi smiled as if a great burden had been lifted.
“Want to know why? Not long ago, following the young lady's orders, Nartika's security department eliminated the local power players and their families.”
“W-what?!”
“And we cleverly installed someone who's very obedient to us.”
One might ask if such things were possible in another country's territory. But they were possible—precisely because they were possible, this bold move had been made. If it wasn't possible, they would make it possible. In a world where all of humanity was heading toward a cliff, if there was even a slight opportunity, there was nothing they wouldn't do.
“If you try to run away? Then we'll mobilize every police officer and every sect in this region to catch you.”
“B-but still!”
“Even if you somehow manage to escape, do you think that'll be the end of it?”
“……”
“Do you really think the Korean government would save you just because a few people like you are being exploited like slaves here?”
“……”
“Do you think the Chinese government, which turns a blind eye when hunters kill civilians in broad daylight, would rescue you out of consideration for diplomatic relations?”
“Ah……”
“If you understand, then shut up and accept reality! That's the fate our young lady, who leads Nartika, has decided for you!”
Her eyes burned with loyalty. The person Cheon Mari had obtained through countless regressions was proving her reason for existence even now. The heated atmosphere reached its peak. But An Yun-mi calmed her emotions, knowing that continuing like this would only make things unpleasant.
“Oh, and you shouldn't go around saying any of this.”
She took the tablet and operated it again, then showed a black-and-white console window that kept updating.
“Because every single one of your thoughts is being recorded.”
Her innermost thoughts, even the thoughts of this very moment, were being displayed as text—every single one, in great detail. A bug in her head. A curse that would follow her until the moment she died.
The man who had once dreamed of becoming a hunter completely collapsed into the form of a frail woman. It was a true hell that only a man could experience.