Debt Collection
"Broth came out right this time."
Won-goo was inhaling his noodle soup like it owed him money. Across the table, Sanghae was doing the same, tilting the bowl straight into his mouth.
"Forget the broth. Tell me the rest of the story, will you."
"It's intel from Solo types, so some of it's probably exaggerated. You only know for sure when you crack it open."
"Director Gong, you've got contacts everywhere. How do the Solos even know that much?"
"Which is exactly why you should take better care of the people around you. Keep handing out favors, and they circle back like this."
"I do take care of people."
"I'm sure you do."
"Anyway, if the intel's true? What happens then?"
"Then the Solos who tagged along hit the jackpot. Collect the Fishers' equipment, and the payout is no joke."
"If there's gear to unload, maybe I should unload it."
"That's your call. Me, I'm just asking whether I've got work for you. The direct-into-the-Gold-Coin-vein kind."
"Spent some money on the new crew member, did you?"
"Seed capital's unavoidable."
"There is work, but… it's the stuff you usually don't touch, Director. The dirty kind. You okay with that?"
"When have I ever only done clean work?"
"It's collection work. Still fine?"
"Items?"
"No. It happens inside the Shelter."
At that, Won-goo frowned.
"That's debt-sharking work."
"But that's where the money's best. What you put in comes back out. Clean settlement. For earning Gold Coins fast, nothing beats it."
"If it were just collecting reasonable interest, I'd understand. But I know the loan sharks around here, don't I?"
"What can you do? It's part of what keeps the Shelter turning. Besides, you could just take on the predatory debt cases."
"Predatory? People who borrowed with no intention of ever paying back?"
"Yeah."
"Those still exist? Who lends money these days without a contract?"
"They write them. But these ones had the penalties and everything torn up."
"Huh. Bold ones."
"And here's the headache. If a shark actually enforces the contract as written, the contract itself gets voided. You know how it works."
"Right?"
"So the sharks have a real problem. Cripple the debtor, and what's that worth? And selling off a cripple doesn't fetch much either."
"True — to a loan shark, the only thing that matters is money."
"And some of them wrote even nastier contracts than that, I'd bet?"
"Doesn't matter to them either. They're basically saying, try it. Only problem is, there's no money to collect."
"A total mess."
"A mess, sure. But there are bastards who know this system inside out and exploit it. Low-lives — no wait, not low-lives. Half-wits. Half-wits."
"So even the loan sharks have a natural predator."
"Doesn't everyone? Just like your natural predator is Ah-bal."
"Pff. F—!"
Wham!
Won-goo hurled his chopsticks outright.
Sanghae quickly raised both hands to stop him.
"Can't even take a joke? Director Gong, you've gotten so prickly lately."
"Ever since you nearly pulled a fast one on me, my cheerfulness index has cratered. F—. And I told you not to bring up Ah-bal. Especially not while eating. F—. No proper crew to speak of, and you want me to start squeezing bile out of you?"
"Fine, fine. I got it. You're walking on thin ice. Thin ice, you are."
"Quit the racket. That thing I mentioned — narrow it down to a few of the worst bastards."
"Give me a sec. Want a drink?"
"Something sweet."
Sanghae mixed up an iced coffee and brought it over, along with a few sheets of paper in his hand.
"What's the rate per case?"
"Recover the principal, you take ten percent of it."
"Ugh… and you call these predatory? Why's it so low?"
"Wait for the rest. Collect the interest too, and it's eighty percent."
"Which means the interest is insane?"
"You know it. The shortest one on there is six months old. Terrifying, right?"
In the world before the apocalypse, six months might not have been a long time.
But in the world now, it was.
A world that ground people up in every way imaginable.
There were loan sharks who lent money by the hour.
In such a world, six months was anything but a short span.
"Having money tied up for two whole quarters would make anyone furious."
"Exactly. And with the odds of never getting it back climbing every day, they're about ready to lose their minds. So — will you take it?"
"Yeah. I'll take it."
One corner of Won-goo's mouth curled upward. The reason was the familiar face staring up at him from the document he was reading.
"How long will it take?"
"Do I get a bonus for a fast resolution?"
"You're asking the obvious?"
"This one — today. Think you can manage it?"
"Why? You know the guy?"
"Know him? Of course. Didn't you take a look at this bastard yourself?"
"I only broker the jobs. I don't dig deep into the cases."
"Look into it a little. Come on. Anyway, I'll have the money back before you know it."
"Won't be easy. Some of them hold out on pure stubbornness, but these are guys with genuinely no money and no tomorrow. It won't be simple."
"No money and no tomorrow, huh? Then it's easy. I just have to show them they've got both."
Leaving Sanghae's place, Won-goo stuck two fingers in his mouth and whistled.
Fweee!
Then he clapped his hands together twice, loud.
"Get out here already, will ya!"
Survivors dressed in vagrant rags materialized out of nowhere and lined up in front of him.
The Shelter held all kinds of people, and among them were those who wandered around in beggar's guise, scraping together information to sell for a living. Along the way, the less scrupulous among them also committed crimes like pickpocketing against anyone who looked like an easy mark.
But Won-goo never crossed paths with them in the Shelter. Not once.
The reason was simple.
He had administered Physical (?) Therapy to every single one he laid eyes on.
Thanks to that, whenever Won-goo showed his face in the Shelter, the vagrants vanished from a wide radius around him.
But while they hid, they were still watching from everywhere. And Won-goo had never forbidden that.
"Joints not working? Movements sluggish?"
"N—no, sir. No, sir. You summoned us so suddenly, and—"
"Is that an excuse? Didn't I tell you to live on constant alert? Want to go back to how it was before? Want me to sound the alarm?"
"P—please spare me. I'm sorry."
The vagrants kept streaming in. Five gathered at first, then ten more piled in while Won-goo was still talking, forming ranks.
When the man at the front dropped to his knees, the rest all bowed to the ground after him.
"I'm going to walk to the office now. When I get there, Il-chul will be waiting out front, yes?"
"He will. Of course he will."
"Then I set out trusting you. If he's not there… then that would just be my bad luck, wouldn't it? Bad luck puts me in a bad mood. And when I'm in a bad mood…"
"Never! Never ever! It won't happen. Before you reach the office, that bastard Il-chul will be standing right there. Guaranteed."
"Good. We're better off not seeing each other often, aren't we?"
"That we are, sir."
Won-goo fished a pouch from his pocket and tossed it to the ground.
"Split it and buy yourselves snacks, or dump it all on one guy — your business. I'm counting on you."
"Yes, sir! Thank you!"
"You still here?"
Scramble, scramble.
The vagrants vanished from his sight in record time.
Won-goo had just inhaled a mountain of noodles, but he had no intention of returning to the office empty-handed.
When it came to food especially, stinginess was never Won-goo's style.
He was chewing on a freshly fried twist doughnut. It was dusted with so much sugar it bordered on a health hazard, but he couldn't have cared less.
These days, overindulging in sweets no longer ruined anyone's health anyway.
At the office entrance, Il-chul hung wriggling like a cocoon, bundled tight from head to toe. His mouth was gagged and his eyes were covered.
These were men with a razor-sharp grasp of the Shelter's inner workings, and sly hands for dirty work to boot, so the job had been done properly.
"Il-chul."
Won-goo called out as he peeled off the mouth gag.
"Yes, sir. Director, what is this ab—"
"Word is you've got no conscience. Any truth to it?"
"Whuh?"
"Conscience. You know what conscience is? That thing that's supposed to be stuck somewhere among your guts. Don't you?"
"…?"
"This bastard really doesn't have one, huh. I'll have to verify it. Let's cut open your belly. That way we'll know for sure whether it's in there or not."
"Director! Just tell me what I actually did and I'll fix it on the spot!"
"Really?"
"Yes. Really."
"Fix it, huh."
"Of course."
"Money."
"M-money? I still have the money you gave me. Haven't spent it."
"I don't mean the intel fee."
"Then…"
"They're saying you're straight-up predatory these days? Borrowed a fortune and bolted, they say."
"…!"
Won-goo made a familiar hand gesture.
Geum Chul-soo and Jo Mu-sa, who had just stepped outside, caught on to the situation at once.
"Shall we hang him up?"
"Yeah. Go hang him."
"Bastard. The bottom line is you borrowed money and didn't pay it back — that's a fact, isn't it? What, no response? I'm being civil with you and all you do is roll that head around. Should I crack open your frontal lobe and pump it for you?"
"The interest is just too brutal. If you, uh, heard the full details, Director—"
"This bastard really is a piece of work. So what you're saying is, if the interest stings, that makes it okay to borrow money and never pay it back? Bastards like you are what's killing off all the honest workers in the finance business."
"Director, the interest is over 2,000 percent."
"HOLY—? 2,000 percent?"
"It's just way too steep. The interest."
"Is that so? Well, it wouldn't have mattered if it were 20,000 percent, would it?"
"What?"
"You never planned on paying it back in the first place. Two thousand, twenty thousand, two hundred million — what difference does it make? You had no intention of repaying a single coin. Am I wrong?"
"…"
Il-chul hung upside down like a side of beef in a walk-in freezer.
The blood rushing to his head had flushed his face so red it looked ready to burst.
"Time to pay up now. Isn't it?"
"Um… Director."
"What."
"I really don't have any money."
"I'm sure you do."
"…"
"Even if you don't, you do. Il-chul, you know my style. When I take on a job, I see it through properly. We've got something of a special bond, you and me — but business is business and personal is personal, no? If you truly have no money, then there's nothing I can do. All that's left is to make an example of you."
"What?"
"The loan sharks say they've been patient long enough. They've even given the green light to take measures so that no more vermin like you crawl out. You know what that means? It means they could stake you out in the plaza and leave you there, and nobody would blink."
"…"
"Relax. Would your big brother ever do a thing like that? I wouldn't do it myself — I'd hand you over to someone with real talent. Dr. Woo, maybe. Or Ah-bal."
"…"
Thud. Crumple.
Won-goo sliced through the rope and let Il-chul drop to the floor.
"Three hours. If the money doesn't materialize by then, I can't help you. And you know what, right? My eyes are all over this Shelter besides yours. If you run and get caught, it'll be worse. Much worse. There's a rumor going around that Dr. Woo's been grinding human bones into his medicine lately…"
Il-chul fled in abject terror. The moment he was gone, Jo Mu-sa, who had been reviewing the documents, stepped forward.
"Director. This one. He's not your ordinary piece of trash."
"Everyone knows Il-chul isn't an ordinary guy."
"I meant the loan sharks, not him."
"They're not exactly normal either. But most of them borrow a reasonable amount and pay it back as they go. This one never repaid a single coin."
"And they just left him alone?"
"It's a bluffing game."
"What?"
"A loan shark who can't collect is taking a loss, so they scare the debtor into thinking they'll really gut him, and squeeze the money out that way. Or they keep hounding him forever. But a bastard like Il-chul doesn't care about any of that. He knows they can't touch him, because there's simply no money to take. So he probably did them a few favors instead. A few favors in, and then he tells them to go gut him. My guess is he'll be back with the money soon."
"With nerve like his, will he actually bring it?"
Jeon Hye-ji asked. Won-goo gave a small smirk and glanced at Mu Beob-sa.
Mu Beob-sa stretched his arms overhead and answered in his place.
"He will bring it. Because he knows Director Gong would genuinely gut him, that is the case. But Director Gong."
"Yes?"
"Was this not a line of work you kept your hands off of? Are you saying you will be taking on this side of things from now on, that is the question?"
"That's not the plan. But I saw a familiar face."
"The loan sharks…"
"I have no intention of touching them. They're insects, granted — but you know how tangled up their webs are, don't you? Dealing with an Il-chul or two should be enough to cover the office expenses."
At that, Mu Beob-sa's eyes went wide.
"That is a considerable sum to have borrowed, is it not?"
"Look at the file. Quite a lot, apparently."
"But is it right to squeeze him this hard? Was he not someone you had been watching with particular interest?"
"Which is exactly why I'm squeezing him. Hye-ji."
"Yes, Director."
"You checked his state again a little while ago, right? How did it look? Still the same reading? Low trust, maximum danger?"
"Yes. Exactly the same as the first time."
"So even with all the growth you've had since then, it still comes out the same?"
Hye-ji nodded.
"You heard her? An opportunity has been handed to us, ever so naturally. Let's find out, then. Whether he's just a dangerous bastard — or whether there's something more to him."