Whack-a-Mole (3)
Whack-a-mole, part three. A guarantee, huh… I knew the general definition. It meant signing a contract to shoulder someone else’s obligations in their place, and if things went south, actually stepping in to fulfill that duty yourself. If the other party racked up debt and ran, you paid it back. If they committed a crime and fled, you took the punishment. Most people who couldn’t offer collateral when borrowing money ended up grabbing onto the guarantee system after getting hooked by the bait called “trust.” And the ones borrowing were usually already cornered so badly they couldn’t scrape the money together any other way, so the ending was rarely pretty. If the debt had been taken out as an immediate lifeline just to survive another day, the odds of disaster only skyrocketed. I’d heard plenty of real-life stories about people who’d been completely ruined by standing as someone’s guarantor.
Still, I had a vague memory of some touching tale about two friends who kept their word even at the cost of their lives. But the other party this time was her. After more than enough cold, calculating deliberation that perfectly matched our relationship, I gave my answer to her proposal.
“I refuse.”
—Immediate refusal?! That’s way too fast! At least pretend to think it over!
“This much is already generous. I didn’t tell you to fuck off, did I?”
I thought I’d shown the maximum possible courtesy to the rude bastard who’d dared to ask me for a guarantee, but she clearly didn’t see it that way.
—Please, just take a moment to reflect on our relationship. I’ve helped you plenty of times, and it’s not like we’ve only known each other a day or two.
“That’s exactly why I’m saying this. Debt relationships usually have a much higher chance of completely destroying the bond between both sides. I value what we have quite a bit, so I don’t want to do anything that might shatter it.”
—You’re not being sincere, are you?
“Of course not.”
My personal philosophy was that if the answer was going to be rejection anyway, it might as well sound nice. I’d tried to wrap it as warmly as possible, yet she ignored my warm heart and just grumbled about how cold I was.
—You rotten little…
In the end, Ser seemed to realize that trying to persuade me with emotional appeals had been a mistake. She switched tactics and began laying out the pros and cons instead.
—First, thank you for the warm consideration.
“Don’t mention it.”
—I fully understand why you’re suspicious.
“Oh?”
If she understood that much, I wished she would just hurry up and disappear so I could reclaim my peace of mind. But she clearly had no intention of doing so.
—Now that I think about it, my explanation earlier must have sounded strange. Let me clarify it properly this time.
“No, that’s not what I—”
It seemed my real intentions weren’t getting through at all. Was communication always this difficult?
—Just hear me out once.
“…Fine. If you insist.”
Dragging this out any longer clearly wasn’t going to end the conversation, and I was desperate to be rid of her. So I reluctantly agreed to listen one more time.
—There seems to have been a misunderstanding right from the part about me asking for a guarantee. The truth is, this isn’t just beneficial for me—it’s good for you too.
“The opening line is already extremely suspicious.”
The moment she started with the classic con-artist preamble, I narrowed my eyes. Sensing the shift in mood, Ser hurriedly added that it was a misunderstanding and kept explaining.
—No, no, it’s a misunderstanding! Sure, those kinds of people exist, but this is completely different.
“…I pray the story doesn’t end with you trying to sell me defective goods.”
—That’s not—ugh, never mind. Let’s just continue the explanation.
It was genuinely rare to see her flustered or rushing like this. I was quite curious about what lay behind it, but after all the times she’d screwed me over, I couldn’t help savoring the rare sight of her in a submissive position for a moment. I kept my skeptical gaze firmly in place, but I pretended to listen so I could enjoy her lowered stance a little longer.
“Yeah, keep going.”
—Originally, a new ability should have already been unlocked for you by now…
“Ah, right. Now that you mention it, why wasn’t there any reward this time?”
After all the points I’d scored, there should have been a result. But there hadn’t been.
—Because you left Sun Quan in such an ambiguous state. You twisted her fate, but that alone wasn’t enough.
“Even after throwing Ju Tae in as a bonus?”
I’d asked in a tone that suggested it should have been sufficient compensation, but Ser gave a wicked snort.
—Pouring a single bucket of water into the Yellow River doesn’t make the muddy water any clearer. Besides, your finishing touch was rather sloppy, wasn’t it?
“Hearing you say that… it does feel a bit disappointing.”
Originally I should have driven Sun Quan into the abyss of despair, then torn out her heart and destroyed her the same way I had with Zhang Liao. If Ser had then used that body as a sacrifice to manifest again, the plan would have been a perfect success. Instead, various complications had piled up and I’d only achieved about half of what I intended. As a result, none of us—Sun Quan, Ju Tae, myself, or Ser—had come away satisfied.
Regretting it now was pointless, but hearing the cold assessment still left a bad taste in my mouth. I clicked my tongue. Ser gave me a light rebuke and continued.
—That’s what happens when you show unnecessary mercy… Anyway, the problem is that the Vampirism lineage ability that should have been unlocked is still sealed. You’ve worked quite hard this year, but with those strange immortals starting to run wild, your current level of power has clear limits. I spoke with Zuo Ci, and it seems there’s more than just one or two of them. I’d caught wind of that myself. And now that another immortal named U Gil has shamelessly shown up, it’s obvious the rumor is true. In that sense, just as I said, you need to raise your own abilities. The question is how.
“So it really is connected to this guarantee thing?”
—Yes. Normally this kind of advance borrowing doesn’t exist, but you’re a premium asset in many ways, so some credit transactions are possible. Of course, you still need to provide a guarantee, at least formally.
According to Ser, since I hadn’t achieved the original goal, the idea was to unlock the ability early by taking an advance. But even an advance required a guarantee that I would definitely repay it later. That was where I came in.
“So what exactly do I have to pay?”
—Fifty thousand soldiers, or about three Axes.
“Axes?”
—The pillars of fate I mentioned before. People like Zhuge Liang or Sun Quan. Though at that grade, even one would suffice. What I mentioned earlier referred to ordinary generals.
“Deadline? Interest?”
—Just handle it by the first half of next year. Interest will begin accruing if you miss the deadline.
“What’s the interest rate?”
—It’s not that high. Roughly nine.
“Nine…?”
—Think of it like this: if you borrow one hundred, you pay back nine every month. If you miss a payment, it compounds. At first I didn’t really grasp how bad that was, but after doing the math, I realized it was a terrifying rate—before even a full year passed, the interest would devour the principal.
“Just asking… what happens if I don’t pay it back?”
—Nothing much. At the point where repayment is deemed impossible, we simply extract your soul by force.
“…And you call that ‘nothing much’?”
—That’s basically standard practice in this line of work.
As expected, common sense simply didn’t apply to her. The most she seemed to consider “nothing much” was the slight discomfort of ripping out a living person’s soul. I had to be the crazy one for expecting normal reasoning from someone like that. I let out a long sigh, thought for a moment, then made my decision.
“Fine.”
If the plan I was currently preparing went smoothly next year, more than twice the amount of this contract would be spilled across the earth as blood fertilizer. As long as I fulfilled the terms properly, there was nothing to lose. Of course I knew this was exactly the kind of attitude that ruined most people who took on debt. But the fact that someone could wander in and out of my private quarters without any hindrance was simply too threatening. She didn’t seem hostile right now, but people’s hearts were fickle by nature. In that sense, I chose to take the gamble.
Ser sounded delighted by my decision.
—Wise choice. Then please extend your right arm.
“My right arm?”