You Look Like Hell
Ma Sajang was a major player in the loan-sharking world, and today, as on any other day, he was conducting business with a woman named Manager Kim draped in his arms.
Then, out of nowhere, the phone rang.
"The hell is this?"
An unknown number. Caller ID blocked. No matter how he looked at it, something about the call felt wrong.
Ma Sajang hesitated. Should he even pick up?
He took it. A phone call, after all — how much of a threat could that possibly be? His face went grim almost immediately.
"Hey, Manager Kim. Beat it for a minute."
He gave the woman's ass a dismissive smack and shoved her toward the far end of the sofa, then leaned in toward the phone sitting on his desk. Restricted number. A nasty premonition slithered down his spine.
"Hello."
His voice dropped a register. From the other end of the line came a voice twisted by a mechanical modulator.
Ma Sajang's brow furrowed. Lee Jihyun. He knew that name. The former boxer who'd borrowed his money and hadn't paid a single won of interest in months. He had no shortage of deadbeats like her — but this call was something else.
"And who the hell are you to know so much about somebody else's debtor?"
He kept his tone as casual and mocking as he could manage.
A yellow-toothed grin crept across Ma Sajang's face. Now the picture was starting to come together.
"Sounds to me like you've got something in mind. Nothing's free in this line of work, you know."
He crossed his legs and sank back into his chair. He could smell a deal.
"Oh-ho?"
More than he'd expected. Ma Sajang narrowed his eyes. Just what the hell had that Jihyun bitch done?
"Interesting. Why her, of all people?"
The line went dead with a dull click. The call ended just like that — one-sided, no goodbye.
Ma Sajang sat there for a moment with the receiver still in his hand, thinking it over. Sounded like complete bullshit.
But exactly one minute later, a hundred million won appeared in his account.
He grinned with satisfaction and beckoned the woman who'd been writhing beside him. Any minute now, a fun new toy was going to walk right through his door.
And then the iron door creaked open. Right on cue — Lee Jihyun.
She stood there looking as gaunt and hollow as a stray dog that hadn't eaten in days, staring blankly at the chaotic scene inside the office. Ma Sajang roughly shoved aside the woman who'd been fawning over him. His eyes, gleaming like a snake's, raked over Lee Jihyun. Better merchandise than he'd expected.
"You look like hell, champ."
He crossed his legs and leaned deep into his chair. Lee Jihyun couldn't manage a single word in reply. She just hung her head.
"So. The money? Don't tell me you came all this way just to show your face."
At the sound of his voice, her shoulders hunched even tighter.
"I'm... sorry... If you could just give me a little more time..."
"Time?"
Ma Sajang snorted. He opened a desk drawer, pulled out Lee Jihyun's promissory note, and fluttered it in front of her face.
"Interest is snowballing, and you think more time's gonna change a damn thing?"
"I'll... I'll find a way..."
"How? You gonna sell that body of yours?"
The words struck like a dagger. Lee Jihyun's face went deathly white. She bit her lip and swallowed the humiliation whole.
"Hey now. Don't look so scared."
Ma Sajang shifted gears, his voice turning smooth. He pulled another sheet of paper from the drawer. A single address was scrawled across it in nearly illegible handwriting.
"You wanna pay off that debt, don't you? Well, I might just have a job I can hook you up with."
He said this as he slid the paper toward her.
"Go to this address I'm giving you. There'll be people there who want you real bad. You in?"
Lee Jihyun stared down at the scrap of paper on the desk with trembling eyes. It was the only option she'd been given — and an invitation straight to hell.
The scrap of paper in her hand had gone limp and pulpy with sweat. Lee Jihyun walked and walked toward the address scrawled across it, like someone whose soul had already left her body.
Ma Sajang's greasy voice kept circling in her ears. You won't have any problem paying off your debt there.
It wasn't even funny. Even a three-year-old could have told you this wasn't going to be a legitimate job. Maybe she'd have to sell an organ. Or something even worse. But what did it matter? Her life was already a pile of ashes.
She walked for a long time. Past an unfamiliar residential neighborhood, across a small park. And at last, she stopped in front of the address written on the paper.
It was nothing like what she'd expected — an utterly ordinary, quiet apartment building. Lee Jihyun checked the sweat-soaked scrap of paper one more time.
Building 102, Unit 1301
This is the place?
She lifted her head and looked up at the ordinary apartment tower rising toward the sky. A landscape far too mundane and still to believe this was where a loan shark's "job" was waiting.
She swallowed once and stepped through the apartment entrance. The glass doors slid open with a cold electronic chime. She rode the elevator and pressed the button for the thirteenth floor. In that cramped box, the woman in the mirror looked so wretched, so utterly pathetic.
Ding.
The elevator doors opened with a cheerful chime. At the end of the hallway, a cold front door marked 1301 was waiting for her.
Her heart hammered wildly. What was waiting on the other side of that door? What kind of hell. She reached out with a trembling hand and pressed the doorbell.
Ding-dong—
The clear, bright chime rang in her ears like a death sentence.
A moment later, a click sounded from inside, and the door began to open slowly. What appeared through the crack was not a human face.
A stark white mask, utterly devoid of expression or emotion. Only the eyes and mouth were cut out in black voids. Lee Jihyun stumbled backward without thinking. Every hair on her body stood on end at the bizarre, bone-chilling sight.
"..."
The masked woman said nothing. She just stared. Then she gave a small nod of her head — come inside.
Where the hell is this.
Lee Jihyun's mind reeled with confusion. But there was already no way back. She swallowed dryly and stepped inside as instructed.
Click.
The moment she crossed the threshold, the front door locked behind her. There was truly no turning back now.
The apartment itself was surprisingly ordinary. A neatly arranged living room. A sofa that looked plush and inviting. But that very ordinariness only made the wrongness worse.
"Where... is this?"
Lee Jihyun asked in a trembling voice. Instead of answering, the masked woman walked past her toward an interior door, and opened it.
The moment the door swung open, a damp, metallic smell drifted out. Lee Jihyun couldn't identify the odor. But her instincts screamed danger.
Whatever the woman said next made Lee Jihyun's brow furrow into a savage knot. She had been led here in despair, yes — but she hadn't come all this way to listen to this kind of garbage.
"The hell are you talking about?"
Her voice had an edge now. From her body, honed by years of training, an instinctive, physical intimidation rolled off her in waves.
"If this is some kind of joke, cut it out right now. I'm not in the mood."
But the masked woman didn't so much as flinch. If anything, from somewhere behind that mask, a faint laugh seemed to leak through. Without a word, she threw the door wide open.
And Lee Jihyun saw it. The most horrific, unreal sight of her entire life.
On the bed inside the room was a woman — no. A bitch. A dog collar hung around her neck, so loose it had slipped down to her nape. Her completely naked body was covered in red and blue marks. And between her legs, her most intimate place... was buried under a black, grotesque clump of fur. Like a beast's tail.
The worst of it was the woman's face. Han Seoyeon — who in high school had been so arrogant, so untouchable, like a star floating in the sky above them all. She was staring into empty space with vacant eyes, gnawing on her own fingers.
"Han... Seoyeon...?"
The sound that escaped Lee Jihyun's mouth was barely more than air leaking from a puncture. The masked woman laid a hand on Lee Jihyun's shoulder and whispered, almost tenderly—
Senior? You've got to be fucking kidding me. These psychos actually did this to my friend?
"You... you sick fucking bitches...!"
The blood in her body reversed course. The debt, the despair — none of it meant a thing in this moment. Lee Jihyun snarled like an animal and threw a punch at the masked woman. A lightning-fast straight, every ounce of her fighting years poured into it.
But.
An instant before her fist could shatter the mask, a massive shadow materialized out of thin air — moving at a speed her eyes couldn't even register. A hulking, muscle-bound giant was standing behind her without a sound.
Thud—!
A dull, heavy impact slammed into the back of Lee Jihyun's neck. Agony exploded through her as if her cervical spine had snapped. The world went black.
"Nngh..."
She couldn't even scream. She crumpled to the floor, limp. The last thing her eyes caught was that stark white mask, still motionless, still looking down at her.
The masked woman gazed coldly at the unconscious Lee Jihyun, then spoke to the muscular man standing beside her.
"Good work."
The man said nothing. He slung the unconscious Lee Jihyun over his shoulder as if she weighed nothing at all.
Yoo Jimin smiled toward Han Seoyeon, who was still staring blankly into space from the bed.