Starting Over
“...But does a person really change this much just because you caught one thug?”
“Shut up.”
People don’t change easily. Always keep that in mind.
“How am I supposed to win against this? They break into my house every week... Men are so filthy...”
“It’s not that men are the problem, but that guy specifically, isn’t it?”
“Friend... ha, fuck...”
“...After I leave, try reading the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act.”
I’ve read it plenty. I once had a hundred billion won in debt.
“I don’t read that shit. How is some fucking law supposed to protect me...”
“It is illegal for a creditor to visit a debtor’s workplace or residence at will and disclose information about the debt.”
“...”
“They probably kept coming every week because you didn’t know that.”
He walked slowly to the kitchen, carefully picked up the shards of broken ceramic with his hands, and pressed them firmly into a standard garbage bag already piled high with trash. Ideally, he should have wrapped them in something, but was now really the time for that?
“So, what’s the condition?”
“Obviously, it’s for you to work at GPL. Didn’t I tell you repeatedly?”
“...?”
Min Suyeon was flustered. Extremely so. Now, this man was going to ask her to sign a contract he’d pulled out of nowhere. Regardless of the content, it would surely contain a clause concluding that he would pay her 410 million won. Since he was the kind of person who could paint a future where that 410 million won would land directly in her bank account the moment she signed, it couldn’t be a lie. But why? Why was that the only thing?
She knew it well from hearsay. Honestly, until now, she had...
“Is that all?”
“Well, do you need more?”
The things she believed in most firmly: Even if you work hard, you can’t become rich; you can’t escape the shadow of poverty; there’s no such thing as a free lunch in this world; if someone approaches you with kindness, you must always be suspicious. Suspect them until the very end.
That was why this man’s words were so bewildering. The insurance money that would come in if she committed suicide in about nine days—a total of 700 million won from three life insurance policies. He was offering to give her more than half of that for free, just for signing a paper. And that wasn’t all. The 5 million won he paid as compensation for the insults she’d hurled at the gas station owner. On top of that, he had smashed a loan shark—who demanded 50 million won back within a year after lending her 30 million—with a ceramic bowl without a moment’s hesitation, conflict, or worry, forcing him to his knees. He had even reduced the interest by 14 million won and paid it off for her.
“...I envy you, really.”
“For what?”
“...That you can do things like this and be completely unfazed...”
Given Min Suyeon’s personality, she naturally had a burning desire to do the same. But she couldn’t. There was the terror that if she did, several, dozens, or perhaps hundreds of people like that thug would come to her house and cause a scene. The future of being chased by countless police officers if she slit a throat. The prison that would be waiting for her at the end of it all. Even if she didn’t die, huge settlement fees and criminal punishment awaited her; she couldn’t just go crazy and do it.
Wasn’t it a life that was going to end soon anyway, so why not just stab someone once and get it over with? Well, if that were possible, she would have done it already. The judges, who lived for their own self-importance as if they had neck braces on, would surely rule after she died that compensation for the ‘victim’ must be paid out of the insurance money she left behind. Then...
‘My family would suffer.’
That was why she was so envious of the man sitting in front of her, having casually taken her chair. She was insanely envious. The power to dismantle the entire organization even if all those loan shark thugs rushed at him, the backing to bring a crowd of people connected to Doowon Construction who knew how to use their strength and leave everyone crippled if things went south. The financial power to pay off settlement fees without a scratch and return to daily life as if it were nothing, even if the thug reported him to the police and claimed he was injured.
That was just so...
“...I envy it, really...”
“What is there to envy about me?”
“...”
“Isn’t it pathetic? I’m in a stranger’s house where I almost ate cyanide, the place smells disgusting... Ugh, and what about that thug? I’m the one who’s more pathetic. If that bastard reports me to the police...”
“You’d be fine even if he did.”
“What do you mean I’d be fine?”
...?
“You’d just solve it with money again...”
“Look here, Ms. Min Suyeon. If the world worked entirely on money, I’d be a god. Doowon is invincible... no, um.”
“...”
“Look. If I fight that thug, who’s at a greater disadvantage?”
“The thug, obviously,” Min Suyeon said flatly.
“What... I’m at a greater disadvantage than the loan shark. I’d become the reckless second-generation chaebol who tried to beat an innocent citizen to death. That’s how it would appear on the news. It’s a world that loves to drive people who have a lot to be picked at into a corner. Good grief, if I were going to solve it with money, I would have just broken his arm.”
“...”
“...Come to think of it, there’s no reason to break it. It’s not like there’s anything between you and me...”
The words just now were spoken after what he considered serious thought, but to her, they felt like a strange, stinging sense of bitterness and regret she was feeling for the first time. He wouldn’t know that, though.
“Anyway, I’ve been in someone else’s house for too long.”
“...”
“What I mean is... to summarize...”
He had worked hard to explain: Join GPL and work hard, and I can pay you exactly what I said. If you agree, I’ll pay you right now. And being a chaebol doesn’t mean life is easy. It’s a lonely life where you’re unfairly criticized as a suspect, and even when you’re a victim, there’s no one to empathize with you, saying things like, ‘You’re rich anyway.’ After saying all that, he felt like smoking a cigarette.
“...Are you leaving?”
“Yes, it’s stuffy, and I’m craving a cigarette.”
“You smoke...?”
“Yes. Occasionally. No, damn it, is this even a human life? Even so, you should at least clean up a bit while living here, sigh...”
“...”
Suddenly, she remembered the pack of cigarettes she had bought, intending to smoke one, but had stopped.
Seeing her approach the drawer, he said,
“Fuck, you’re holding a knife again, you re...”
“...Take it.”
“...?”
The cigarette pack hit his chest and landed in his hand.
“What is this? You smoke?”
“None of your business.”
“...Where’s the place to smoke?”
“There isn’t one.”
“...”
Then she pointed her chin at the only window in the studio apartment. As if to say, go over there and smoke. Even though it was filthy, the house didn’t smell like cigarettes. So she’s a woman who smokes, he thought, and lit his lighter. A brand-new pack. After taking a delicious puff, a thought occurred to him...
“Wait, do you have AIDS...”
“...?”
“...Ah, never mind.”
Right. Well... I wouldn’t catch it just from smoking a cigarette someone else smoked. It’s not like she would have put them in her mouth one by one. Anyway, what a tragic life. The family is struggling, so there’s no money. ...It’s pathetic.
“You’re a chain smoker.”
Damn it, why do I feel sympathy again? I’m acting like an idiot.
“I’m not a chain smoker. And why do you keep trying to pick a fight with insults? Did I make a mistake?”
“You say that, but you’re smoking like it’s delicious. Isn’t it?”
“You should reflect on who made me like this. Phew...”
He had been a bit harsh. But when you go hard, the other person usually goes hard back.
“...Fuck, is it my fault that I have no money?”
“Yes.”
“...?”
Because of the room’s structure, the cigarette smoke didn’t escape outside due to the wind direction. So he turned his posture and used the method of dealing with someone who comes at him even harder. By going twice as hard.
“Ms. Min Suyeon, it’s true that life is hard and difficult when there’s no money in the house.”
“...”
“But you said your age is the same as mine. Then you’re twenty-eight. What have you done since becoming an adult? Are you just going to keep blaming your family’s situation?”
Min Suyeon clenched her fists. Because she was frustrated. She would be frustrated. Who wouldn’t be?
“You don’t know anything, so stop lecturing me, you fucking boomer...”
“I’m not a boomer, and someone once said this. Being born poor isn’t your fault, but dying poor is definitely your fault.”
“...”
“What you’ve done until now is truly impressive. Even looking at your papers, it’s clear. I even sent the RISS site links to other employees. Everyone read them once and said they were good... But where did the conclusion go?”
“If you start something, you have to reach a conclusion. You have so many opportunities, yet you’re wasting them? Don’t you think I’m trying to reach a conclusion? I don’t know why you gave up on that work, but if you live like this without even reaching a conclusion, what do you think will be in your future, Ms. Min Suyeon?”
Now was the time. He had to open this woman’s eyes. He had to make her see a future where she could leave this studio apartment, and make her believe she could do it. The only thing he was good at: stirring people up with words and persuading them to follow his instructions well. It seemed it was time for that.
“...Abortion, AIDS, what do you want me to do? What are you thinking when you look at me? I came here thinking about reaching a conclusion with you, Ms. Min Suyeon.”
“Rich people have friends all over the world. Poor people only have a friend called misfortune. But is it only because you’re poor that you have nothing but misfortune? Ms. Min Suyeon, think about it carefully yourself. Did misfortune come and make your life like this, or is it because life is harsh, because it’s miserable, because you have no leeway, so you pushed away all the friends around you...”
“...And ended up with only misfortune left in the end.”