Three Hundred Billion
“Thirty billion… you say.”
“That’s right. Thirty billion. Quite a large sum of money.”
If someone asked me whether thirty billion Credits was a large amount of money, I would nod without a second thought. The currency value in this world was roughly equivalent to the Korean won. Thirty billion Credits was no different from thirty billion won.
And thirty billion was a sum you couldn’t even get by winning the lottery’s top prize. But if you asked whether thirty billion Credits was a large amount of money to Veronica Tigrica, the boss of the Tigrica Family… well?
To the Tigrica Family, which held the eastern part of the city in its grasp, thirty billion Credits was money they could earn not even overnight, but in under an hour. But I couldn’t say that out loud. In this situation, if I boldly said something like, “Thirty billion? Isn’t that pocket change to you people?” I’d probably be neatly chopped into pieces and fed to the hunting dogs the Tigrica Family raised.
So I kept my mouth shut and waited quietly until Veronica continued speaking.
“Of course, the Tigrica Family is not so incompetent that we would fail to catch a single runaway former male prostitute.”
“Then…”
“But by the time we caught Ivan, he had already squandered every last bit of that money.”
…All thirty billion?
It was so absurd that I couldn’t even speak. What the hell did he have to do to blow through thirty billion Credits entirely? And the method that came from Veronica’s mouth was even worse than anything I had imagined.
“He went to a casino run by the demons in Laftel’s Western District and spent it all, apparently.”
“Ah.”
Now it was beyond absurd; my head was spinning.
This stupid, brain-dead bastard.
Of all places, he had to go to a casino run by the demons of the west and blow through thirty billion?
The Demonica Clan that ruled the west of Laftel had a relationship with the Tigrica Family that “bitter enemies” didn’t even begin to cover. They were constantly at each other’s throats, and even when facing a common enemy, they would still try to stab each other in the back first. This relationship had already lasted for centuries.
“You seem to understand the situation. Your father Ivan has put a scratch on Tigrica’s pride.”
“Th-then…”
“Your father Ivan is scheduled to be publicly executed tomorrow morning, in front of all the Family members.”
Good riddance, then. It would be better for me and for the world if that bastard’s windpipe was cut before he could cause any more trouble.
But it was still too early to feel relieved.
“Then let’s settle the accounts.”
“Excuse me?”
“Your father’s thirty billion Credits that he blew through, the damages our Family incurred while capturing him, and on top of that, the scratch on our Tigrica Family’s pride—if we convert all of that into money… Hugin.”
“Yes, yes! Adding it all up and cutting out the extras, it comes out to roughly three hundred billion Credits!”
Excuse me? How much did you say?
At the bright words of the woman with crow wings, Hugin, my mind went blank. Three hundred billion Credits. An amount I could never earn even if I worked under the Boss for my entire life. And yet, the man who was supposed to repay that money—my father—was scheduled to die by public execution.
So then, from whom would the Tigrica Family collect that money to cover the damages they had suffered this time?
It’s me!
It was me.
Only now could I fully understand why I had been dragged all the way here. They needed someone to repay the money in place of that damned father of mine—no, that bastard who wasn’t even worth calling a father.
Fuck.
I had just started living on my own, and just when I thought I was finally seeing a light in my life… How the hell did things end up like this? If I had known it would come to this, I should have killed that bastard with my own hands before leaving home. The fact that I hadn’t been able to kill him myself made my chest burn.
Drip—
Tears of injustice rolled down my cheeks.
Three hundred billion. Three hundred billion. No matter what I did, it was money I could never repay with my own strength. Selling off my organs would probably recover more money than working my entire life. Perhaps—no, they must know full well that that would be far more convenient and recover far more money.
“Hoo— As you know, three hundred billion Credits isn’t an amount you can fully repay just by working a normal job.”
As Veronica spoke leisurely while smoking a cigar, I felt something boiling up from the bottom of my chest. This emotion was clearly anger. If I was going to die anyway, there was no need for formal speech.
“Who doesn’t know that? So what? You gonna carve up my body and sell it?”
“Oh?”
“How rude.”
With the bear woman’s words, the pressure returned once more. I gritted my teeth and lifted my head to glare at the four of them. They weren’t just treating me like an idiot—if they were going to kill me, they should just kill me cleanly instead of toying with me. When I glared fiercely with those feelings, Veronica’s lips, which had remained expressionless until now, curled up slightly.
“Good attitude. I like it.”
“So what?”
“Yes, that’s how it should be. You’re different from the ones who just fawn over me. I like it. Natalya, that will be enough.”
“Understood.”
The mana that had been pressing down on me fiercely disappeared, but I still kept my head up and glared at Veronica with an attitude of kill me if you want. Veronica nodded in satisfaction and spoke.
“Three hundred billion Credits. Since this is a matter related to the Tigrica Family’s pride, I have no intention of reducing it by even a single Credit. Even so, if there is a way to repay it, would you be willing to work under me?”
“…Besides carving up my body and selling it?”
“Hmm, similar but a little different. How about it?”
“…….”
Different is different—what does “a little different” even mean? Unlike before, I looked at Veronica with a gaze half of suspicion and half of anger, while quickly turning the gears in my head.
I had glared at her as if daring her to kill me, but it’s not like I wasn’t afraid of death either. Moreover, it wouldn’t be a simple death. Since it was related to the Tigrica Family’s pride, in the worst case, all my organs could be harvested and sold, and whatever was left of my body could become dog food.
Maybe I could survive—clinging to that hope, I also eased my anger a little and answered by nodding my head.
“Good choice. There’s a saying that even rolling in a dog-shit field, this world is better, isn’t there?”
“I’m the one who decides that, not you.”
“Heh, that’s fine too. Hamel, release our ‘product’ who will bring us a great deal of money from now on.”
“Yes~”
The woman with mouse ears and a tail, Hamel, strode over and cut the ropes binding my body in the blink of an eye. I rubbed my arms where the rope marks remained and stood up from my seat.
“Looking at you like this, you seem even more delectable.”
“Get that disgusting gaze off me.”
“Until you repay all three hundred billion Credits, the owner of your body is me alone, you know?”
“We haven’t signed a contract yet, have we?”
“Is that so? Heh heh, then next time I’ll come find you with that contract in hand.”
Having said that much, Veronica stood up from her seat and turned around.
“It’s about time to handle the next matter. Hamel, until the contract is made, look after Roman.”
“Eeh, that’s a pain.”
“He’s the product who will earn us three hundred billion Credits from now on. We can’t have any scratches on the product, can we?”
“Ugh. Yes, understood.”
“Then, Roman. I look forward to the day we meet again soon.”
“Get lost.”
Thud— thud—
Even while being cursed at until the end, Veronica licked her lips as if she liked it even more, and left the room with Hugin and Natalya.
Once the three of them had completely left, the mouse beastman woman called Hamel took a step forward.
“When I saw you in the back alley, I thought you were just an ordinary, boring man, but you went and cursed out the Boss. You’re more interesting than I thought.”
“What does that have to do with you?”
“Heh, well, because I’m going to be looking after you for a while from now on?”
Taking another step closer to me, Hamel closed her eyes and sniffed—smelling my scent.
“Hmm hmm. Good, I’ve memorized it.”
“What?”
“Your smell. With this, as long as you don’t go too far, I should be able to find you no matter where you are.”
Hamel said something creepy as if it were nothing and took a step back, naturally turning her body and walking toward the door.
“Follow me this way. I’ll show you to the room you’ll be using for a while.”
I walked following Hamel, who opened the door and led the way. Other Tigrica organization members we passed along the way greeted Hamel respectfully as soon as they saw her, and she replied by lightly waving her hand as she continued guiding me.
Passing through the corridor and going up the floors, we arrived at a room. Following Hamel, who opened the door first and went in, I entered the room’s interior. It wasn’t as good as the room I had just been in, but it was a spacious and stylish room that I was encountering for the first time in both my previous and current lives combined.
“You can stay here for a while.”
“What kind of room is this?”
“Hmm? Just one of the rooms for entertaining guests.”
“A room this big is used for guest entertainment?”
“Yeah, it’s a VIP room, but anyway, no one’s using it right now.”
I see, so it was a VIP room. Giving a VIP room to someone who owed three hundred billion Credits… I was a little worried about what kind of work they intended to make me do from now on.
There had been too many things today, and I wanted to rest soon, but contrary to my expectation that Hamel would leave soon, she instead went over to the VIP room’s bed and sat her butt down on it. And with her long tail swaying behind her, she patted the spot next to her.
“Come on, over here.”
“…What do you mean by that?”
“Hehe, I’m going to help you get a little used to the work you’ll be doing from now on.”
“What does that have to do with sitting next to you?”
“Really, are you going to keep pretending you don’t know until the end?”
Having said that, Hamel took off her suit jacket, lay down on her side, and showed off the skill of unbuttoning her dress shirt using only her tail. At this point, I could tell what she was saying even without words. And I could also somewhat understand what kind of work I would be doing from now on.
“Heheh. How long are you planning to make me wait? Come on, you have to serve me to the tune of three hundred billion Credits, right?”
“Ha…”
It seemed I was destined to become a male prostitute, just like that bastard had been.