The Debt Collector's Inferno
The man had a soft face. He appeared to be around thirty, and seeing him dressed neatly in a suit suggested he valued propriety. On the surface, he looked like a company employee heading to work.
But he couldn't be pinned down as just any corporate drone. Employees normally commuted to their own offices. Yet here he stood, for what felt like an eternity, directly in front of the door to a rundown basement apartment.
It had to be his home, but the words that came out of his mouth proved otherwise.
“Is anyone there?”
No answer came from beyond the door, so he knocked again with a loose iron bar and spoke bluntly.
“Stop wasting each other’s time and just open the damn door. The kid’s in there too. Don’t ruin the mood just because it’s awkward. Other debt collectors might not care, but we’re different. If you show even a shred of sincerity, we’ll leave without a word.”
When still nothing happened, he let out a heavy sigh.
“Hah, so this is how it’s going to be? We never even told you to borrow money by force. The debt was your own choice, and if you made it, you have to own up to it. I’m just going to break in by force.”
He shrugged off his suit jacket and tossed it neatly onto the floor. Even through his clothes, his toned physique was unmistakable. It wasn’t bulky, but the way the fabric strained showed how seriously he took his self-care.
He pressed straight into the iron door. The impact sounded like thunder, loud enough for neighbors to hear.
For a normal door, tools would have been needed, but this one was so long degraded that no tools were required. The hinge was already wobbling dangerously from his sheer strength alone.
When he slammed into it one final time, the hinge gave way completely and the door swung open backward. Inside, he wrinkled his nose and covered it with his hand.
“What is that smell…?”
Debtors who never bothered to clean after borrowing money was standard, but this place was worse. Trash created its own wall, piled so high that the floor was buried. The scent was overpowering, like it had been left untouched for months, mixing rotting garbage with actual food waste. Even the mask he’d grabbed out of habit barely helped.
“I’m going to have to squeeze more money out of the boss.”
He pulled on his gloves and pushed through the garbage mountain. Expensive clothes he’d bought with big money touched the filth, and his stress level spiked instantly. He swore he would never come back here as the debt collector again.
Beating the stench and the disgusting wet feeling, he froze in confusion.
“Kid?”
Finding a child wasn’t surprising. The paperwork already confirmed the debtor had a five-year-old daughter.
What shocked him was the rest. The guardian was nowhere to be seen, and the child—barely an elementary schooler—was tied up.
A rag stuffed into her mouth silenced any sound, and the ropes binding her were made from exposed electrical cords. He had no idea why.
“What the hell…?”
Even after years as a debt collector, this was his first time seeing something like it.
Kidnapping someone else’s child was one thing, but torturing his own daughter crossed every line of humanity.
He gritted his teeth and approached. When he loosened the ropes, bruises covered her skin from how tightly they’d been tied. After pulling the rag from her mouth, she blinked up at him, mouth still working in confusion.
“Did it scare you that much? You’re coming with me. I’m not exactly a nice guy either, but I’d rather you grow up under my roof than here. If you’re really that scared, there are state-run orphanages. Living there isn’t the worst option.”
The child kept her mouth working, still disoriented. At first he assumed it was the shock of being locked up by her mom. But when she pointed behind him with a finger, he realized something was wrong.
“B-BEHIND!!”
He whipped his head around just as a woman stepped into view, holding a kitchen knife with a terrifying smile.
He raised his arm on instinct, but the blade only grazed his forearm. He immediately kicked her in the stomach, sending her flying into the garbage pile.
Even though he’d hit her directly in the gut, she didn’t stop laughing.
“It would be smart to drop the knife when you’re still talking.”
“Heh heh, you’re just like her. That’s why you people exist. Me! I live this bottom-of-the-barrel life!”
Her eyes were glazed over. She kept rambling without making sense, and he sighed in annoyance. He’d already noticed she was crazy the moment she tied up her own daughter, but he hadn’t expected this level of madness.
“Guess you’re not paying the money after all. Hey, just stay knocked out for a bit and we’ll talk later. Crazy people often come around once they get beaten like dogs.”
“Die with me! We’ll all die together! We might as well!”
“Of all the luck, I had to get cornered by a full-blown psycho.”
He was about to grab her when he stopped dead.
The woman pulled a lighter from her pocket and flicked it open. The way she was laughing, she clearly meant every word about dying together.
The area was stacked with flammable trash. Still, there was a way. The lighter’s flame wasn’t powerful, but he could knock her out fast and smother the fire.
Decision made, he charged forward. She laughed even harder at his approach.
“You think that? Heh, but I’m going to die here anyway. What’s the point in your thinking?”
She tossed the lighter into the burning trash pile. The flames roared to life faster than he expected. Only then did he realize the area had been soaked in oil.
The overwhelming stench of garbage had hidden the smell of fuel from him. The child must have sensed the danger and screamed at her mother.
“Mom!”
“Who the hell are you to my baby?!”
But the woman ignored her and sneered.
“It’s all because of you! You shouldn’t have been born in my belly! When that bastard suggested abortion, I should have ended it right there! Then my life would have been… just a little better…”
“What’s done is done. If you’d never had a kid, you’d have blamed something else. Honestly, you’re the ugliest debtor I’ve ever met.”
He kicked her again. Even as he spoke, the fire spread. Oxygen was disappearing fast. The child was coughing nonstop, her breathing ragged. In one corner of his vision he saw a window.
Just a normal window. Big enough for one elementary school child to squeeze through at best.
There were options.
He could run straight for the door now, taking the burn if he had to, and get out alive. But he couldn’t take the child with him. He’d have to separate her from the mad woman, and her arms were tied.
“Why am I even thinking about this? You’re an idiot.”
He clicked his tongue.
The child sat frozen, tears streaming, unable to escape the flames. But she kept calling out, “Mom, Mom, that crazy lady…”
He lifted her up and carried her toward the window. Even as he went, he wondered if this was right. After getting beaten by his own parents and sold to some bastard, he’d decided to live selfishly. Why was he doing this now?
He’d lived his whole life without giving anything to anyone and never doing anything kind. Why was he helping now? The more he thought, the more irritated he got. He smashed the window and lifted her onto the ledge.
“Go.”
“Y-Yes?!”
“Remember this as your greatest glory. It’s the first time you’ve ever helped someone. Grow up well and remember me forever. I’ll put you on the ledge. Run like hell.”
“But what about you and Mom?!”
He pushed her off the ledge.
“Don’t worry about that. If you’re really scared, just explain the situation to anyone and ask for help. You can still ask for help, right?”
The child scrambled outside. The moment she vanished from sight, he spat on the ground.
“What the hell were you thinking, rescuing the kid? Park Sungwoo.”
The woman was still giggling, twirling the knife. He’d ended up in this mess because of some crazy debtor. His perfectly fine life had gone up in smoke.
“Yeah, die. I’ll die too.”
When she swung the knife, he caught her wrist. Then he squeezed her face, palm over her features. The sound coming through her skin was inhuman.
“I’m going willingly.”
Into the roaring flames.
He was the debt collector, Park Sungwoo. He asked himself the question.
Was rescuing the child the right thing to do?
From a purely human perspective, it was.
But for a man who put survival first, it was the wrong choice.
Living with all the PTSD he already carried was the obvious future. Why had he bothered to save her?
Some instant echo of his parents had briefly driven him insane.
It was so ridiculous that Park Sungwoo laughed along with the woman, flames swallowing them both.
“One good deed is enough.”
See?
He’d lived life without getting stabbed in the back. But one time he trusted the wrong person and went straight to hell.
Never again would he give his kindness away freely.
Whatever. Whether or not he got another chance, his life was already over.
That was how Park Sungwoo died burning alive.
But contrary to what he thought, a second chance had been granted. He woke up inside the body of the Demon King Worshipper from the novel he used to read.
Whether he would become a demon or remain human was his choice.