The Desires of a Woman Drowning in Debt (1)

In a cramped courtyard littered with all sorts of junk, a woman sat slumped on the ground. Her hair was disheveled, and her eyes were vacant, devoid of any focus. A moment later, the front gate creaked open, and another woman stepped inside, only to freeze at the sight before her. She rushed over in a panic.

“Yeeun! What is this? Are you okay?”

“Unnie….”

The girl’s bowed head lifted. As she looked at her sister, the vacant look in her eyes slowly sharpened, and tears began to stream down her face. “Unnie… *sob!* *sob!*”

“Did those bastards come by again?”

Seeing her younger sister nod, a string of curses erupted from the older sister’s lips.

“Those dog-like sons of bitches….”

“*Sob, sob*, they said they’re coming back in a week. They said if I don’t pay up by then, they’re going to sell me to a bar so I can pay them off with my body. What do I do, Unnie…?”

“Haa… I’ll take care of it, so don’t you worry.”

“How can I not worry? Where are we going to get that kind of money in a week?”

“I’ll find a way somehow. We can’t just let you get sold to a bar.”

“……”

Even as her sister said that, she knew there was no real way out. All their late father had left behind was this shabby monthly-rent house in a hillside village and a mountain of private loan debt. He had taken out the loans to try and save his failing business, but the business collapsed, and he had suddenly passed away last year from the stress.

She and her sister were left behind in an instant. Her sister, who had been in college, dropped out to work at a factory just to put food on the table. She had wanted to get a job right after graduating high school, but her sister had been adamant.

“No! You have to graduate from college, no matter what. If you don’t, you’ll never escape this cycle.”

Because her grades were good enough to get into Korea University, she hadn’t been able to resist her sister’s strong opposition. They scraped together every penny they had to pay the tuition. But she had only managed one semester before being forced to take a leave of absence.

She had worked part-time jobs while attending school, but the living expenses and the interest on the loans were too much for her sister to handle alone, and she needed to earn money to help her sister, too. Whenever they couldn’t pay the mounting interest, these vicious loan sharks would show up at their house, causing a scene and threatening to sell them to bars without a second thought.

She remembered the two thug-like men who had come by before her sister got home.

“Hey, miss. Do we look like we’re running a charity?”

The man with the sharp, slit-like eyes and arms covered in tattoos had pointed a finger at her, his gaze crawling over her body in a way that made her skin crawl.

“If you don’t have money, you should pay with that body of yours. You should be grateful that you can at least earn money with a body that’s going to disappear when you die anyway.”

“She’s got a pretty face, and this figure is A-grade, Hyung-nim!”

The burly man with the square-cut hair standing next to him had drooled as he graded her body. She had wanted to run away immediately, but her trembling body wouldn’t move, and she couldn’t even find her voice.

“We’ll give you exactly one week. If you don’t have the money by then, we’re selling that body to a bar to collect, so keep that in mind.”

That was the final warning they had left behind before trashing the house and vanishing.

‘I want to run away. I’m scared, Unnie….’

Honestly, she was terrified and wanted to escape. But she couldn’t bring herself to say it out loud, knowing her sister was suffering even more than she was. Even if she did run, there was nothing a naive twenty-year-old college student could do. Fortunately, she had gotten into a good university and was barely scraping by with well-paying tutoring gigs and a part-time job at a convenience store, but there was no end to this cycle in sight.

Still, she had to survive for now, so she got dressed and headed to the convenience store where she worked.

Desperately hoping that one day, she would be able to escape this hellish life….

On my way home after class, I stopped by a convenience store not far from campus, thinking I’d grab a cold drink. As I placed two drinks on the counter—one for Minyoung, who was waiting in the car—the part-timer, who had been lost in thought, snapped back to reality and scanned the barcodes.

She had regained her focus, but the dead look in her eyes seemed to trigger something in me, so I habitually checked her information window.

A pretty girl of the same age who attends the same law department as me. That violently attractive body hidden under those baggy shirts and pants. And a desperate story about drowning in loan debt. For the first time in a while, I’d found a delicious piece of prey caught in my Eyes That See Desire.

Well, it’s prey to me, but to her, wouldn’t I be a helping hand of salvation?

‘She said she has a week left, so I’ll keep an eye on her and look for the right moment to intervene.’

Having made up my mind, I paid for the drinks and left the store. From the next day on, I observed her and gathered some simple information. She worked at the convenience store from the afternoon until night on weekdays, and her weekend schedule was unconfirmed. Not that I needed to go digging for weekend info.

I confirmed where she lived, and by using my enhanced hearing to listen to her and her sister talking outside the house, I gathered that they really didn’t seem to have a way to come up with the money. Most importantly, I stopped by the convenience store every day to buy a drink, releasing my pheromones at maximum capacity for a short time to imprint myself on her. As a result, by today—the day before the loan sharks were scheduled to return—I had reached the point where I could have a simple conversation with her.

“Hello?”

“Ah, yes. You’re here again.”

‘Should I try being the man who makes her thoughts come true for a moment?’

“Look… I don’t know if this is overstepping, but since we’ve become familiar faces over the last few days, I’m asking. You always have such a worried look on your face when I come in. Is something wrong?”

“Ah… yes. A little. I guess my expression was too obvious.”

“Yes. Very. I don’t know what it is, but I hope it gets resolved well.”

“Thank you. Though I doubt it will…”

She mumbled the last part quietly, like she was talking to herself, but I heard it perfectly.

“Everything will be fine. In life, luck finds its way to you at least once. Well then….”

I tossed out a prophecy-like remark that only I understood and turned to leave.

“Ah… goodbye.”

I heard her hurried farewell from behind me.

The day we hoped would never come finally arrived. The day the loan sharks were supposed to visit. We ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hadn’t ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠been able to come up with the money, and we couldn’t think of any way other than to beg them to extend the deadline. The principal was only 20 million won, but they were demanding 5 million won in interest every month—there was no way we could pay that….

By simple calculation, the interest rate was 300%. The loan sharks used the absurd logic that the principal had increased because the interest was overdue, but we had no power to fight back, only to be helplessly swayed by our fear.

My sister had left work early and come home to be with me, afraid I’d be subjected to something terrible like last time. But she was just as anxious and restless as I was.

— *Bang, bang, bang*

Then came the sound of someone violently pounding on the door.

“Hey. Open up.”

Followed by the loan shark’s voice. These bad guys were certainly punctual.

“Yeeun, you stay inside. I’ll go out alone.”

“Don’t say something so ridiculous. Who knows what they’ll do to you… Absolutely not. Let’s go together.”

“I’ll handle it, so just stay here.”

“No. I’m going with you.”

— *Bang, bang, bang, bang*

“Open it quickly. Before I break the door down….”

With the sound outside becoming even more aggressive, my sister couldn’t stop me anymore, and we had no choice but to go out.

— *Clank*

The old iron door swung open with a loud noise, and two thug-like loan sharks, whom I hated more than death, stepped inside.

“Why did it take so long to open the door? It’s annoying!”

— *Crash*

One of the men stepped in, irritated, and kicked the basin sitting nearby.

“Eek!”

“Why, why are you doing this? As soon as you get here.”

They created an atmosphere of terror the moment they entered, their faces twisted into menacing expressions.

“Cut the crap and tell me, did you prepare the money?”

“Th-that… please, give us a little more time.”

“What are you talking about? Have you forgotten how many times we’ve already pushed it back? Is your brain made of goldfish memory? Huh?”

At the request for more time, the man insulted ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her, poking my sister’s forehead repeatedly with his finger.

“I’m sorry. We only prepared half. Please, just take this for now and give us a little more time.”

Enduring the insults, my sister held out the money she had prepared and begged once more.

“Ha! You must have thought we were jokes because we kept talking nicely. Hey, you bitches. Are you playing with me right now? You don’t know how grateful you should be that we’ve been patient this long, and what? You want more time? Both of you, follow us. We’ll sell your bodies to pay it off.”

With that, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠they grabbed my sister and me by the hair, pulling us hard as they tried to drag us away.

“Eek! Let go. Let go. It hurts….”

“Aack! Let go of my sister. I’m the only one you need, right? Let her go…!”

“Shut the hell up! How much do you think selling just one of you is worth?… It’s not even close to enough, you bitch. Stop yapping and follow us.”

We screamed as we were dragged away miserably by the two men, but just as we reached the front gate, helpless against their strength, a heavy voice from one man brought everyone to a halt.

“Let go of them.”