My Patience Has Its Limits
Tae-hyun scowled. Lee Da-bi had never told him about her family. He had guessed that things weren't great, but he had never pried. Everyone had things they wanted to keep to themselves, and asking about such matters was rude.
And so... he had run a background check. Da-bi has her own way of doing things, but I have mine. Sitting around in ignorance only to regret it after disaster struck was not Tae-hyun's style. Being prepared for every contingency—that was his way!
The results of the investigation revealed that Da-bi's family circumstances were far worse than he had imagined.
"Her parents left behind some debt, and the bastards who took over the collection are incredibly vicious. They've inflated the principal dozens of times over."
"Isn't that illegal?"
"Of course it's illegal. But loan sharks like them do this kind of thing all the time. They specifically target people they know they can intimidate. After all, the law can't solve everything in this world, can it? Besides, Ms. Lee Da-bi has young siblings to protect."
Da-bi was a highly capable Pan-On player and a streamer with a large, loyal viewer base from running her guild. Even though her monthly income was substantial, she hadn't been able to make a dent in the debt. The loan sharks were bleeding her dry with extortionate interest rates.
Dammit, Da-bi. If something like this was happening, why couldn't you just ask for help? Are we not even close enough for that? Tae-hyun felt frustrated, but he held back. He knew all too well that misplaced pity could be the cruelest thing of all.
"Understood. Keep a constant watch on her house. If these loan sharks operate outside the law, they won't hesitate to show up at her place and cause a scene."
He was holding back for now, but if Da-bi fell into any more danger... Tae-hyun was fully prepared to throw his respect for her methods out the window and handle it himself. My patience has its limits!
"Monitoring them will cost a bit of money..."
"Didn't my lawyer tell you? Who I am?"
"My apologies. That was a foolish question. Understood! We will begin the operation immediately."
The private investigator spoke with utmost politeness. Having a high-profile client like Tae-hyun on their books was a massive boon in itself.
And now, the present. He had just received a call from the investigator he hired to watch the house.
"What's the problem?"
"Those loan sharks brought a crowd and are tearing her place apart. From the looks of it... they seem to be gangsters. What should we do?"
Snap! The pencil in Tae-hyun's other hand snapped in half. Kim Tae-san, watching him, gasped in surprise. It had been a very long time since he had seen Tae-hyun this absolutely furious.
What kind of phone call is he getting to make him look like that?
"I'm heading over right now. Keep watching, and if things get dangerous, go in and stop them."
"Pardon? I'm the only one on watch right now, so taking on that many guys is a bit..."
"If you get hurt, I'll write you a blank check. If things get ugly, stop them by any means necessary!"
"...Understood!"
Tae-hyun hung up and stood up from his seat.
"Father."
"Y-yes?"
"I'm borrowing your car."
"S-sure, go ahead."
Tae-hyun's aura was so terrifyingly murderous that Tae-san couldn't even bring himself to ask what was wrong.
Vrooooom! The roar of the engine echoed loudly as Tae-hyun sped away. Only then did Tae-san snap out of his daze and quickly dial Lawyer Jeong. However, Lawyer Jeong didn't answer.
"Uncle Jeong. This is the situation. I need your help."
"Those kinds of guys are tricky to deal with. You'd better be prepared for a long, drawn-out fight."
"I'm prepared. Please mobilize every connection you have."
"Understood. Since it's you asking, of course I will. Hold on, Tae-san is calling me right now."
"You don't need to answer that."
Tae-hyun hung up and dialed the next number. Now that he had decided to take matters into his own hands, he intended to use every single resource at his disposal to utterly crush them.
"Chairman!"
"...What on earth are you calling me for?"
Chairman Yoo answered the phone with a highly skeptical voice. He had never imagined Tae-hyun would call him out of the blue like this. What is this brat up to now?
"I need your help. I need your influence, Chairman."
"...??"
For a moment, Chairman Yoo wondered if he had misheard. This kid, who acted like he didn't need a single thing in the world, was asking for help?
"W-w-what is it? *Ahem.*"
His voice trembled with suppressed glee! But that joy vanished in an instant the moment he heard Tae-hyun's explanation.
"There are bastards harassing that sweet girl?!"
Chairman Yoo roared in fury. He was so incredibly enraged that any thought of trying to leverage this to extract something from Tae-hyun completely evaporated.
"A man of your stature must know some fixers, right? You are the chairman of Yuseong Group, after all."
"Don't say things that'll make people misunderstand if they overhear."
Chairman Yoo grumbled, but he didn't deny it. While movies and dramas often portrayed gangsters as grand and powerful, in reality, gangs in Korea were far from strong. There was a reason they only targeted vulnerable, helpless people. To a massive conglomerate like Yuseong Group, ordinary thugs couldn't even dare to look them in the eye. If the Chairman willed it, he could blow them away like dust in the wind.
"Whoever they are, please mobilize all your connections to crush them. I'll send you the details on them right now."
"Y-you brat! Isn't this a bit too sudden..."
"I have somewhere I need to be right now, so I'm hanging up!" Click!
Kim Chang-shik placed a cigarette between his lips and lit it. The already cramped apartment was now a complete disaster zone.
"Look, if you borrow money, you're supposed to pay it back!"
"I clearly transferred this month's interest."
"You think paying just the interest is enough? When are you going to pay back the principal? Instead of paying off your debt, you bought this expensive capsule? You're playing games in a capsule like this instead of paying us back, and you expect us not to get pissed off? Huh?"
"As I told you before, the debt that was added last time exceeds the legal maximum interest rate..."
Crash! A burly thug swung a baseball bat, shattering a piece of furniture. Behind Da-bi, her younger sisters squeezed their eyes shut. Da-bi bit her lip. The thugs were blatantly intimidating them.
"The law? The laaaaw? You think the law is everything? Is there a law that says you don't have to pay back your debts? If you want to talk about the law, pay back what you owe first!"
Reasoning with them was entirely useless. Their goal was to terrorize her and inflate the debt even further. Da-bi clenched her fists. She had made it this far without ever relying on anyone else's help. Yet, to end up in a situation like this... The sheer injustice of it made her blood boil with unbearable frustration.
"Let's just take this capsule, Boss."
"N-no, you can't..."
"What do you mean we can't? If you have a debt, pay it! Stop playing these stupid games and—"
Wreeeeeeeeeee-!
"...?"
"What kind of crazy bastard..."
A loud car alarm blared from outside. One of the thugs grimaced in annoyance.
"If you're drunk, just go home and sleep."
"Seriously."
"B-Boss."
"...?"
"I-isn't that... our van's alarm?"
"...?"
"There weren't any other cars around here when we parked!"
"!!!!"
The thugs froze. Now that they thought about it, when they parked their van and got out, there hadn't been a single other vehicle in sight.
Scuffle!
"What are you idiots doing?! Get out there and look!"
At Chang-shik's shout, the thugs rushed outside in a swarm.
"..."
"..."
Their jaws dropped. Some crazy bastard was systematically demolishing their van with a baseball bat.
"Oh, you're out?"
"W-w-what the..."
When confronted with something completely unexpected, people usually freeze up, unable to process the situation. But one of the thugs was different. Seeing his beloved van being reduced to scrap metal made him see red.
"You son of a bitch!!"
Thud! The moment the thug charged with his fist raised, Tae-hyun dropped the bat and delivered a picture-perfect counter right to his jaw.
"This is self-defense. I hope you understand."
"..."
"..."
Only then did the remaining thugs snap out of their stupor. Seeing one of their own instantly knocked cold brought them back to reality. One of them pointed a trembling finger at Tae-hyun.
"Y-you... do you have any idea who we are?"
"I do."
"You do?"
"Would I be doing this if I didn't? Look behind you. What do you see?"
The thugs turned their heads. There stood the Ferrari Tae-hyun had driven over.
"Do you really think someone like me would just smash up your van out of boredom while passing by? Of course I did this knowing exactly who you are."
"Y-you..."
"Is 'you' the only word in your vocabulary? Aren't you going to charge at me like your buddy here?"
The thugs flinched, unable to answer. Under normal circumstances, they would have pounced on him immediately, but a chilling, ominous aura was radiating from Tae-hyun. A primal instinct warned them that if they attacked, they would be utterly destroyed!
"You're terrified, but you don't want to show it, so you just keep repeating 'Do you know who I am?' like a broken record. I told you, I know exactly who you are. You're just parasitic loan sharks who prey on the weak."
"You arrogant little punk, you've got a filthy mouth on you."
"Boss!"
Kim Chang-shik spat on the ground and stepped forward, glaring at Tae-hyun. Who the hell is this guy?
As gangsters, they were highly selective of their targets. They only went after the weak. In that regard, Tae-hyun—who had arrived in a Ferrari and casually demolished their van—was a complete enigma. Whoever he was, he was clearly not someone they could easily mess with.
Should we just crush him? That idiot got caught off guard, but if all of us jump him together, we can easily stomp him into the dirt...
"I don't care who you are, kid. You picked the wrong fight today."
"Funny. I was about to say the exact same thing to you. Do you know what my father told me when we were watching a movie together when I was a kid?"
"...?"
"He told me never to be afraid of gangsters. He said they're the kind of pathetic cowards who will tuck their tails and bow their heads the moment you slap them across the face with a stack of cash."
"You little—"
Tae-hyun raised a hand, cutting the thug off. The thug froze, shocked that he had unconsciously obeyed the gesture, before his face flushed red with sheer humiliation and rage.
"I was thinking on my way here about how to handle this. What was the total debt again? 2.7 billion won?"
So this guy is connected to that girl! Realizing Tae-hyun was involved with Da-bi, a sly glint returned to Kim Chang-shik's eyes. An unknown opponent was terrifying, but once their identity and motives were clear, they were no longer scary.
"Yeah, that's right. 2.7 billion won. So you're acquainted with the girl back there?"
"On my way here, I actually considered just paying off the 2.7 billion won. It's pocket change to me."
"..."
"..."
It sounded like an absurd bluff, but there was something in Tae-hyun's demeanor that made it impossible to dismiss as a lie. Kim Chang-shik unconsciously swallowed hard.
"But when I heard you guys were tearing her place apart, I changed my mind. It felt like a waste to just hand over cash to scum like you. I figured it'd be a much better investment to put a 2.7 billion won bounty on each of your heads instead."
"...??"
"There are plenty of people out there who would kill a man for just a hundred million won. If I put up 2.7 billion, I wonder how many times they'd kill you?"
"You arrogant bastard!"
"Stop!" One of the thugs, his patience completely exhausted by Tae-hyun's words, lunged forward. Kim Chang-shik tried to hold him back, but the thug ignored him and charged. He was a man who was exceptionally confident in his fighting skills.
Crack! With the sickening sound of breaking bones, the thug collapsed onto the ground. The other thugs watched in horror, muttering among themselves.
"D-Dong-seok was a boxing champion..."
Kim Chang-shik grimaced as he assessed the situation. He had a strong feeling that trying to settle this with brute force would not end well for them. In that case, it was time to change tactics!
"My, my. Beating up our employee like this. Do you really think you can get away with this?" Tae-hyun let out a cold, mocking smirk at Chang-shik's words.