Slurp
Volume 1 | Chapter 1- Part 1
════════════════════════════════════
[ We are your reliable support. When you need quick cash, 'Reliable Capital' is by your side. ]"How far did you distribute these?"
"We covered the Bongcheon-dong area, President."
"Just Bongcheon-dong? Fucking slackers! Get them to Singil too, and do it now!"
"Yes, sir! Will do."
Seong Jugun threw the flyer down and strode forward. The flyer fluttered through the chilly air and landed on the ground. Park Jeongho quickly bent down to pick it up and hurried after the man.
"Huff, huff..."
What's he moving so fast for?
Tap, tap. The man strode forward, one hand casually shoved into his pants pocket, the other holding his phone as he walked. Despite his massive frame, his steps were remarkably swift. This wasn't intentional; his naturally long legs created a stride that effortlessly outpaced others.
Standing at 194 centimeters tall, he possessed thighs so muscular they seemed ready to burst his pants, and forearms so thick they could tear apart a cardigan. A man who could casually bet 500 million won without batting an eye. The epitome of manliness.
This was Seong Jugun.
Seong Jugun was a well-known figure in the local loan sharking industry. Starting with nothing, he had gathered allies, built his network, and then, almost overnight, began swallowing up the companies that had once dismissed him as a nobody.
The daily loan company Seong Jugun had recently crushed—or rather, acquired—was a prime example. It had taken on too many ventures with poor returns. On the verge of collapse, he simply ousted the owner and absorbed the underlings into his own organization. Now, he was systematically clearing out the hopeless debtors one by one.
"Ah, right."
Just as he was about to open the office door, Seong Jugun, who had been walking ahead, suddenly stopped. Park Jeongho, who had nearly bumped his face into Seong Jugun's broad back, hastily braked his stride. Barely managing to avoid a fall, he quickly bowed his head.
"Hah... Yes? P-please speak."
Park Jeongho hadn't even caught his breath yet when he abruptly cut off his panting and asked respectfully.
"Baek Seungyu. What happened to that bastard?"
"Ah, well... Junbeom took the kids out at dawn. They searched all the way to the old man's village, but he's nowhere to be found. So they're checking the convenience store where he used to work. They said they'd contact us again by evening at the latest..."
"Did you?"
"Y-yes, I did! I'll double-check immediately! I'm so sorry!"
Park Jeongho, his face ashen, frantically pulled out his phone. As the business had grown, he had started calling Seong Jugun "President," but he still vividly remembered the days when he called him "Hyung." It was as if his body, not his mind, retained that memory.
So, you fucking idiot, why did you lend him the money in the first place?
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
With each clipped word, brutal kicks rained down. The men, slumped on the floor like slabs of meat, trembled silently, unable to even groan. Seong Jugun stared impassively at the head bowed at his feet before delivering another vicious kick.
"Brother! I'm sorry. I'll finish this by today so you don't have to worry about it."
Park Jeongho broke out in a cold sweat as he looked at those covered in blood due to his own negligence. Barely suppressing the gnashing of his teeth in fear, he pulled out the ledger with trembling hands.
After Seong Jugun left the office, leaving him alone, Park Jeongho dealt with most debtors on his own. The system what that Seong Jugun would only personally deal with those deemed particularly vicious, establishing a clear division of labor.
Baek Seungyu was a small fish among small fish, not even worth Seong Jugun's attention. Yet, among the stacks of documents, he had the misfortune of being singled out by Seong Jugun and, starting a few days ago, became a full-fledged target.
When was it? A week ago?
"...President?"
Seong Jugun, who had stormed into the basement apartment to "take care of" Baek Seungyu, trudged up the stairs with a dazed expression. It couldn't be that he'd been ambushed by the scrawny Baek Seungyu, could it? Though he was only slightly out of breath and his body appeared unharmed, his face was a different story. Drenched in sweat, his eyes were bloodshot and ringed with red, as if he'd been doing something strenuous.
"Find Baek Seungyu immediately."
His already piercing eyes, with their prominent sclera, became even more intimidating when he glared with bloodshot fury. It seemed he hadn't managed to find Baek Seungyu after all. Instead, perhaps he'd just helped himself to some water in the apartment before leaving.
A stream of water streamed down from his sharply defined nose and the corners of his mouth, glistening like oil. His thick, muscular body heaved as he shook off the water, making him look like a savage yaksha who had just emerged from a plunge into a lake.
In Korean, "yaksha" (야차) refers to a fierce demon from mythology. However, the term can also be used figuratively to describe a ferocious, hideous-looking person.
"Yes, y-yes!"
Park Jeongho quickly lowered his head to look down. He instinctively lowered his gaze, but the sight that happened to catch his eye almost took his breath away.
What the hell is that?
He had always known Seong Jugun's member was large—a natural consequence of working closely together in physical tasks. The dangling mass of flesh alone was enough to hint at its size, so he had simply assumed it was proportionate to Seong Jugun's massive physique.
But what Park Jeongho saw now was nothing like what he had expected. No, it was vastly and overwhelmingly different.
A massive, fleshy mass—undeniably a penis—protruded from Seong Jugun's left thigh, leaving Park Jeongho utterly stunned. He even forgot to breathe. Goosebumps ran down his body as the thing, thicker than his own forearm, throbbed and throbbed incessantly.
Even through the layers of his underwear and trouser, the cock was so obscenely large that you could vividly feel the shape and thickness of the pulsing veins surrounding it.
Just seeing it dangle had already made Park Jeongho want to bow his head in submission... but witnessing Seong Jugun's erect member shattered his male pride, sending it plummeting below the floor. A creeping dread seized his ankles, pulling him down into the abyss.
It started that day. No matter what report Seong Jugun received, his final order always ended with Baek Seungyu.
"What the fuck? You said you'd verify it!"
"Huh? Hic! Yes, sir. I'm verifying it right now, sir. Hyung... I mean, President."
Seong Jugun raised a skeptical eyebrow, as if he'd noticed Park Jeongho's momentary lapse in focus. His voice, as thick as his eyebrow, pressed Park Jeongho so hard he felt like he was about to suffocate.
Park Jeongho shook his head and frantically resumed typing, trying to shake of the thoughts that kept creeping into his mind. Instinctively, he glanced around to check if his pot-lid-sized hand was still in place. He knew Seong Jugun could suddenly raise his massive hand and thwack! his head at any moment.
____________________
"This piece of shit thinks I'm some kind of pushover."
"No, cough, no... That's not it at all. Gasp, pant... Mr., Mr. Seong, just this once, just one more chance, and I swear I'll repay you... Ugh!"
The man, who had been clinging to Seong Jugun's trouser leg, was slammed against the wall with a dull thud in an instant. His spine snapped as he hit the wall, and he slid down, unconscious.
Seong Jugun didn't even flinch at the blood streaming down the man's body. But when he saw frothy bubbles erupting from the man's gaping mouth, he immediately frowned.
"Ugh, fucking hell. Disgusting."
Ignoring the blood-soaked hem of his pants, Seong Jugun covered his mouth with his large hand as if repulsed by the scene before him. He then reached out with his other hand and pointed, bloodstains remained on his calloused fingertips.
"Get that bastard out of here and clean up the mess."
"Yes, President Seong."
At the command, the hulking figure guarding the iron door immediately moved. The bloodied man remained unconscious as he was dragged out like a sack of cargo. A short distance away, another man kneeling on the floor trembled as if his a soul had been taken away.
"P-President Seong..."
Now it was his turn. Thud. As the door slammed shut, the man felt dizzy. Without waiting for Seong Jugun's response, he crawled forward on his knees, bowing his sweat-drenched face as low as possible.
"P-please, if you could just give me... just one week. If you give me one week, I promise I'll repay you back right away."
The tension was so intense he felt like vomiting. He gagged, forcing down the bile that threatened to rise in his throat. Then, wringing his trembling hands together, he begged for mercy. His ashen face, with its hollow, sunken eyes, looked utterly pitiful.
"A week?"
"Y-yes, yes. I-I promise I'll repay you within one week."
"Hmm..."
Seong Jugun lazily opened his eyes and tilted his head. He impassively observed the man, who could end up like the one who had just collapsed with a single move from him moments ago. Then, as if having made up his mind, he nodded lightly.
"Three days."
"...Huh?"
"Three days. That's what I'm giving you."
He leaned back against the sofa. Thump. The tanned leather cushion sank under his massive weight. With a bored expression, he tilted his head back against the sofa, feeling the soft leather cradle his neck as he counted the seconds: one, two...
"Mr. Kim, you're three days and thirty seconds short. Now you have two days, twenty-three hours, fifty-nine minutes, and thirty seconds left."
Seong Jugun slowly closed and opened his eyes. His cold gaze pierced the man before him, who still hadn't moved.
"What time do you have for this? You should be scraping up every penny you can, even if it means working your ass off. Right?"
"Eek...!"
The man belatedly grasped the meaning of his words and scrambled to his feet. But after kneeling for so long, his legs buckled, and he collapsed back down. A sharp, unidentifiable pain shot through his joints.
"Should we just make it one day? You seem to have plenty of time."
"N-no! Gasp!"
A sharp pain shot through the man's lower calf, as if he'd twisted his ankle. But worrying about that now would likely get his neck broken instead. The man limped out of the office, his face slick with cold sweat. Then, as if his ankle finally gave way, he tumbled down the stairs with a loud crash.
"Tsk... He really does have too much time on his hands."
Seong Jugun glanced toward the door and shook his head. Then, almost reclining on the sofa, he snapped his fingers twice. Dried blood clung to the knuckles of his gnarled fingers.
As the debtors left the office, the burly men in black suits sprang into action. They scrubbed away the dark, splattered stains on the floor and walls with mops. Seong Jugun, who had been quietly observing, casually pulled a tissue from the box on the table and wiped the blood from his hands, meticulously cleaning even under his short-clipped fingernails.
"You said he'd be here in thirty minutes."
"Well... it seems there's traffic."
"Fuck. Tell him to get out and run. How much gas is he wasting on one puny bastard? In a country that doesn't even produce a drop of oil."
Once his hands were reasonably clean, Seong Jugun crumpled the tissue and tossed it toward the trash can across the room.
Swish! The crumpled tissue landed perfectly inside the can. Humming to himself, Seong Jugun couldn't sit still for a moment, his leg bouncing restlessly. One side of his widely spread legs bulged conspicuously.
It didn't writhe as violently as before, but it was still grotesquely large, about the size of a baseball bat. Park Jeongho involuntarily squeezed his eyes shut at the resurfacing memory.
How long had he been like that?
Thump, thump, thump. Heavy footsteps echoed down the corridor. The continuous rhythm suggested it wasn't just one person. Park Jeongho instinctively straightened his posture. Seong Jugun, who had looked on the verge of falling asleep, snapped his eyes open and stared intently at the iron door.
"Aaaah...!" A frantic scream erupted from outside the door. "Just a moment, hngh, just a moment! Help me, someone, please help me!"
The desperate, ear-splitting cry sounded as if someone was actually being murdered.
That little twit. Was he twenty? Twenty-one? His voice was youthful enough that it sounded like he hasn't reach puberty, contrary to the age stated in his documents. It was almost familiar, like he heard it somewhere before.
He should have just brushed it off, but Seong Jugun found himself unconsciously listening to the voice. As he did, sinister thoughts began to creep into his mind.
Fuck. Is my head filled with water cause i didn't get my cum out? What's wrong with me? Fuck that little bastard...
He knew the moment he saw that little bastard's face, he'd want to disappear. Disgusted with himself, Seong Jugun rose from the sofa, his face twisted in a grimace.
"Boss! We're here! Sorry we're late!"
Bang! The iron gate swung open. Among the hulking figures that surged through, the single sheet of paper wedged between them seemed utterly out of place. It must have put up quite a fight on the way, as its armpits were still held by the bulky men's arms. One foot, dangling almost off the ground, had even lost its shoe, but it continued to struggle relentlessly.
"We've brought Baek Seungyu."
The man had been as slippery as an eel, finally found hiding behind a trash can in an alleyway. The moment their eyes met, he'd tried to bolt again, leading to a fierce struggle amidst the piled-up garbage near a utility pole. By the time they subdued him, the three burly men, all over 180cm tall, bore scratches across their faces.
"This bastard's still acting up even in front of the CEO... Hey, you punk, Baek Seungyu! Look up!"
Still seething with anger, one of the hulking figures who had just entered the office roughly grabbed Baek Seungyu's chin and jerked his head up.
"Ugh...!"
The forced upward tilt of his head caused his glasses, which had been sliding down his nose, to slip all the way up to the bridge of his nose. Are those even glasses? The lenses were so thick they completely obscured the eyes of the boy called Baek Seungyu.
"Baek Seungyu?"
The deep, gravelly voice resonated through the room, causing Seungyu to flinch and tremble. Before coming to this dilapidated office, he had never felt such dread. It was the first time he had experienced the air itself changing with just a voice.
But Seungyu quickly suppressed the growing fear. After all, this wasn't his first time facing such aggressive debt collection. Over the past few months, he had visited the place so frequently that the loan shark boss jokingly called him a VIP. So it was perfectly predictable that the loan shark would show up and drag him to the office if he couldn't pay back the interest or principal on time.
Even when dragged here, Boss Jang would only issue a few perfunctory warnings, seemingly for show. Furthermore, Jang's henchmen were also taking steroids or something to bulk up, so they weren't particularly powerful. Considering that the interest he paid over time would eventually equal the principal, he simply viewed these visits as mere reminders to repay when he had some money, like he did now.
So, when Seungyu encountered the loan shark's today, he let out a small sigh, "Ah, again..." That's how little fear he had of loan sharks. It was this lack of fear that had led him to borrow money habitually for so long.
"Hey, Mr. Debtor. Let's get a good look at that expensive face of yours, shall we?"
"......"
Seungyu kept his gaze fixed to the side, as if trying to ignore reality. His face was forced to face forward, but his eyes, which he could control with his own will, remained stubbornly fixed in a completely different direction.
Seungyu had always believed there was an unspoken agreement: as long as he repaid the interest before it was too late, everything would be fine. But today, they grabbed him more roughly than usual, and then tried to force him to look at them. Looks like Boss Jang's new hire hadn't been properly briefed. Isn't this going too far?
A simmering resentment began to rise within Seungyu. He pressed his lips together tightly and endured the rough handling for a while. Then, at some point, the hand gripping his arm tightened its grip.
"Ugh! No matter what, you can't treat a client like this!"
"Hey, you little shit," the man holding Seungyu whispered menacingly. "Keep acting up and you'll lose your teeth. Don't make the boss raise his hand. I don't want to clean up the blood."
Seungyu blinked, dazed, and repeated the words in his mind.
Lose my teeth? Illegally abducting someone for debt collection and then threatening them? This felt like a line had been crossed. Usually, he could dismiss such threats as mere intimidation, but this time, he sensed genuine murderous intent.
Could it be that these men genuinely misunderstood Boss Jang's instructions?
Sensing the ominous atmosphere, Seungyu hesitantly turned his gaze from beneath his drooping eyebrows to face the situation.
"Huh...!"
At that moment, Seungyu realized what it meant when the hairs on his body stood on end.
The men who had dragged him here were already formidable in size, but the man before him was on a completely different level. Broad shoulders and thick, sculpted muscles bulged across his body. Seungyu's gaze fell to the man's exposed wrists, where dark tattoos crawled across his tanned skin.
Seungyu wondered if he had irritated the man, for he let out a small derisive chuckle and the taut muscles on his body tensed, bulging beneath his cardigan. The thick shadows that rippled across his frame nearly stole Seungyu's breath away.
"You're more gutsy than I thought... So that's why President Jang kept lending you money, huh? Too bad for you. Unlike that sucker, I need to settle with debtors quickly. Hey, did you forget to tell this punk the boss changed?"
At those words, everyone except Seungyu bowed deeply. In unison, they all respond with a thunderous "We apologize!"
President Jang... Seungyu, who had been in a daze, finally noticed that the nameplate on the office desk had been changed.
[ President Seong Jugun ]
Just a short while ago, the name on that plate had definitely not been Seong Jugun!
Seungyu soon realized that the "President Jang" the man had mentioned was Jang Mungyu, the man he had been borrowing money from. At the same time, he realized that his ledgers had already been handed over to this man.
"Ah, uhh..."
As the man slowly approached, Seungyu's frail body began to tremble like an aspen leaf. This man seemed different from Jang Mungyu, who ran a loan shark business without being a gangster himself, but occasionally hired burly men to intimidate his debtors.
"President Jang and I are quite different when it comes to waiting for interest payments..." Seong Jugun cracked his stiff neck and took another step closer.
"Haaah..."
Seungyu was on the verge of a panic attack, overwhelmed by a terror he had never felt before, even when surrounded by hulking men. Instinctively, he tried to back away, but the grip on his arms tightened, a voice growling, "Where do you think you're going?"
"Hng, uh..."
Seungyu's small face instantly paled. The arm that loomed closer was on a completely different level from muscles enhanced by drugs. One blow from that densely muscled arm would undoubtedly crush his bones.
"Finally, I get to see your busy self? Do you even know how much I've been running around like a dog just to catch a glimpse of my dear debtor's face?"
"Ah...!"
Seong Jugun, who had closed the distance in an instant, thrust his face right in front ofSeungyu's. Towering over him by more than a head, Seong Jugun cast an ominous shadow over Seungyu. Hic... Seungyu flinched and hunched his shoulders, making the man burst into laughter, finding it amusing.
"Ha ha. What's with the attitude? I'm treating you like a VIP client here, and you're acting so ungrateful."
"Y-yes, yes. I'm sorry, sniff, I'm so sorry..."
Seungyu, now completely submissive, shook his head and trembled.
The man was overwhelmingly massive and terrifying. His short, gasping breaths made it seem like he was about to suffocate. Seong Jugun, facing Seungyu in person, slowly tilted his head.
In photos, Seungyu had appeared small, thin, and unremarkable. Even accounting for the thick, dweeby glasses that looked like they might slide off with the slightest tilt of his head, his face—so small it seemed it could fit in one hand, and now deathly pale—evoked a strange feeling.
"......"
But that was all there was to it.
Seungyu's physique was even smaller than Seong Jugun had vaguely imagined, his face as pale as a glutinous rice cake. The drooping corners of his eyes gave him an utterly spineless appearance, making Seong Jugun lament the angel's poor judgment in dating such a tiny thing. For an angel to date such a piece of shit was a disgrace.
"Is his dick even big?" Seong Jugun muttered, his gaze fixed on Seungyu's crotch. "Fucking hell. Doesn't even look like he has one."
The bulge was barely discernible, leaving Seong Jugun wondering if Seungyu even had a penis. It was humiliating to even compare his own massive dick to it. This was the moment Seong Jugun became certain that if the angel saw them both sober, she would switch sides without hesitation.
"...S-Sir... President..." Seungyu stammered desperately, interrupting Seongjugun's thoughts. The hesitant, thin voice rekindled the strange feeling Seong Jugun had experienced earlier. As Seong Jugun paused, caught off guard by this unfamiliar sensation, Seungyu hastily wiped the sweat from his palms and continued, his words tumbling out in a panic.
"Ah, it's not like I won't pay you back... It's just... I ended up being a little late. Sniffle. I... I'm usually not this late, you know? It's just... a really, really small delay, okay? I've had so many expenses lately... So, um..."
The tiny, beady eyes behind his glasses looked utterly frantic. Seongjugun stared intently at those small, insignificant eyes, watching them blink with a watery sheen. As the plump lips exhaling pitiful breaths parted, the glimpse of a pale pink tongue became vividly clear in his vision, as if he'd deliberately zoomed in.
"Hngh...sir, sir... huhu..."
His reddish eyes welled up with tears, which gathered in glistening pools before trickling down his small chin, leaving behind wrinkled, walnut-shaped marks. The intermittent trembling of his lips and his shallow, rapid breathing added to the look, stirring a pang of pity—or something like it—that he didn't know he possessed.
Oh, fuck. Buddha, help me.
Was this how the patience I'd cultivated through countless temple visits on bloody days was finally being tested? Seeing a grown man cry brings bad luck the whole day. He should have just smacked him upside the head and told him to shut up. Instead of acting on his temper, he found himself staring blankly at the pathetic sight.
"Hey, client. You've been calling me 'president' all this time. Do you even know what president I am?"
"Hic... N-no... I-I don't know..."
"This guy's really something. Begging without even knowing who I am? Hey, Seong Jugun, over there. Do you even know how to read Korean?"
Seong Jugun flicked his thick, gnarled finger toward the nameplate behind him. Its size and distinct joints made it impossible to miss his gesture.
Seungyu, who had been on the verge of tears, seized the opportunity and nodded eagerly. A faint glimmer of hope appeared on his small, weepy face.
"Ah, hngh... Y-yes, yes. Pre-President Seong Jugun... I'll repay you properly. I promise... I'll give you all the money I have right now... Please, just take what I have for now... Hngh..."
His nasal passages must be as delicate as his veins, already clogging and making his voice sound muffled Combined with his nasally, almost feminine tone, it strangely aroused a subtle emotion. It was as if he wasn't begging for his life, but trying to stir something else... ... .
This is crazy. Again?
Seong Jugun furrowed his brows deeply and glanced at the men standing behind with their hands clasped back. At his signal, the arms that had been supporting Seungyu vanished, causing Seungyu to lose his balance and collapse. No! He was about to smash his face into the floor.
"You're really making me work hard," Seong Jugun muttered.
"Hngh!" Seungyu gasped.
Seungyu instinctively squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for the pain of the impending fall. But no pain came. Instead, he felt a much firmer grip on his arm, the pressure tightening around his forearm. Slowly, he opened his eyes.
I should have just fallen to the floor. Seong Jugun had caught him.
"I'm sorry, hic, I'm so sorry."
Seungyu quickly straightened his posture, but Seong Jugun's grip on his arm remained unyielding, preventing him from fully distancing himself. This won't do. I need to do something to survive.
"S-Seong Jugun, hic, President Seong Jugun... Just a moment. L-let me at least..."
Muttering incoherently, Seungyu squirmed, his plump lips pursing as he struggled to move. As he thrashed, his body leaned toward Seong Jugun, who still held his arm, unintentionally shifting his center of gravity toward the man. His flailing body nearly sinking into Seong Jugun's wide embrace.
"Fuck... you little shit, where do you think you are?"
Is it because he's so scrawny? Unlike the guys Seong Jugun usually bumped into, Baek Seungyu's skin felt soft and squished the moment they touched. Seong Jugun flinched, his eyes narrowing. As Baek Seungyu's hair brushed against his shoulder, the heavy scent of peach shampoo intensified.
The blatantly cloying peach fragrance wasn't pleasant, but it suited Baek Seungyu perfectly. Amidst the strong shampoo, Seong Jugun also caught a faint hint of his body scent, causing his lower abdomen filled with abs to tighten.
It smells like baby powder... The scent perfectly matched Baek Seungyu's small, fragile frame. Has he been using this shit to get laid all this time?
You little cock-sucker, where do you think you are, wagging your filthy tail like that? Fucking hell.
Unaware of Seong Jugun's thoughts, Seungyu diligently suppressed his sobs, wriggling and fidgeting. He fumbled with his shirt hem for a while and finally reach into his pocket. His hand, trembling with fear, took an agonizingly long time just to rummage through his pocket.
"I... I did it!"
Finally, he pulled it out and in his palm lay a crumpled wad of cash, half the size of his hand.
"I'm sorry. Sniffle. I should have straightened it out for you... but it's hard to do with one hand..."
After fiddling with the money for a while, Seungyu finally unfolded the bills in his hand. He had expected to find several 50,000 won notes, but instead, he awkwardly presented four 1,000 won bills and a single lottery ticket.
"What the hell? 4,000 won...? And what's this bullshit lottery ticket?"
He clung to me like he was trying to seduce me, and then he handed me 4,000 won—not even 40,000—along with a pathetic lottery ticket.
Is this bastard a spy sent by a rival organization? If I had high blood pressure, I would have collapsed and died right there.
"I was originally planning to buy a lottery ticket today with that money... I had a good dream last night, so I thought, hngh, today might be the day. Ah! But that doesn't mean this one ticket won't win. It's not Saturday yet, so I haven't checked it, but there's still a chance. You know, 'what's meant to be will be.' Someone destined to win could win with just four lines. I was going to pay you back first if I won the lottery..."
Seungyu quickly licked his lower lip and muttered to himself. Sweat immediately soaked the palm of his hand, which was tightly clenched in his sleeve.
But... I really did empty out everything I had—every last bit of money and even the lottery ticket. Yet Seong Jugun seemed completely uninterested in accepting this hard-earned money.
Feeling awkward with his outstretched hand, Seungyu hesitated before slowly curling his fingers into a fist. As if afraid someone might snatch it away, he swiftly stuffed the 4,000 won and the lottery ticket back into his pocket.
......
That was it. As soon as he put the money away, Seong Jugun glared at him with murderous intent. Shrinking under the intense gaze, Seungyu, already looking pitiful, drooped his eyebrows even further and began to stammer an explanation.
"……I thought you didn't like it, but… If you're going to take it, I'll give it back to you...Seriously, I had a really good dream last night! It's true! This one ticket might already be a winner, and if I could buy more... sniff... those could win too..."
He frantically pulled out the money and lottery ticket again. He tried to swallow, but his throat was tight, making it difficult. His brow furrowed in distress as Seong Jugun waved his hand dismissively, as if utterly exasperated.
"Enough... Stop rattling your balls and get that shit out of here. If you don’t buy a lottery ticket with it, I won’t let you off easy.”
"Huh? Y-yes... I'm really, really sorry..."
"I've heard enough apologies. Now, let's hear your repayment plan. If it involves winning the lottery or some bullshit like that, I'm going to get fucking unfriendly right now. Consider yourself warned."
"Ah..."
"Hey, Kang Jeongsik. Bring me Baek Seungyu's records."
"Yes, sir."
As soon as he finished speaking, the documents were handed to him immediately. He still gripped Seungyu's arm with one hand while flipping through the papers carelessly with the other. Throughout this, a man who appeared to be one of Seong Jugun's subordinates stood quietly, holding the documents flat in his palm like a human clipboard.
[ March 21, 20XX: ₩1,000,000 - Upfront interest ₩300,000, Actual loan ₩700,000
March 30, 20XX: ₩1,500,000 - Upfront interest ₩450,000, Actual loan ₩1,050,000
March 31, 20XX: ₩300,000 - Upfront interest ₩90,000, Actual loan ₩210,000
... ]
The more Seong Jugun looked, the more absurd it became. He already knew Baek Seungyu was hopeless, but skimming through the detailed records left him so dumbfounded he almost laughed out loud.
Seungyu had borrowed money far too frequently and in ridiculously small amounts. Seong Jugun even began to wonder if Seungyu was mentally ill.
"You made one repayment on April 3rd. But then you borrowed more the very next week? Insane."
There were records of occasional repayments scattered throughout the ledger. Naturally, the outstanding balance would outweigh those meager payments.
Lost in this relentless parade of jaw-dropping entries, Seong Jugun glanced at Seungyu with disdain. The way Seungyu flinched and shrank further into himself was utterly pathetic. A faint tremor emanated from his thin arm, which was so thin it barely filled Seong Jugun's grip.
"Well, there were... circumstances... you see..."
He'd only asked a question. But it seemed to have been a grave threat, as tears streamed endlessly from Seungyu's tiny, beady eyes. The tears trickled down, forming droplets, dripping from the tip of his round, pink nose. His thick-rimmed glasses fogged over, making the whole scene... well, quite pathetic.
Seong Jugun stared at Seungyu's tear-streaked face for a moment, then clicked his tongue and shook his head. He hadn't intended to relentlessly dig into the debt history anyway. His goal was simply to make Seungyu realize how dire his situation was. He planned to exploit that realization to gain what he wanted.
Seong Jugun released Seungyu's arm and slammed the cover of the documents he'd been examining. How can such a hopeless fool be living with an angel? It was absurd.
"I'll definitely, really pay you back properly now, President..."
Terrified, Seungyu collapsed to his knees on the floor. The whole thing had happened so quickly that Seong Jugun merely raised an eyebrow. Even without being told, Seungyu's hands, resting on his obediently bent knees, trembled as if shocked by electricity. Oblivious to the nail marks digging into his tightly clenched palms, Seungyu kept bowing repeatedly, his upper body bobbing up and down like a puppet.
How long would this go on? Seong Jugun left Seungyu to his own devices, as if watching to see how far he would go.
Seungyu gradually felt his legs growing numb. His ankle, twisted from the hasty kneeling, ached, and the tingling, electric sensation in his calves grew increasingly uncomfortable. So, when Seong Jugun wasn't looking, Seungyu tried to slightly raise his butt and adjust his posture.
"Hick!"
At that moment, Seungyu's eyes met Seong Jugun's. He quickly lowered his head and settled back down, his calves aching and nerves prickling from the constant pressure. There was nothing else he could do.
"......"
After a long moment of gauging the situation, Seungyu glanced up at Seong Jugun, his eyes darting around like marbles. Fortunately, Seong Jugun had lost interest and wasn't looking at him.
Seungyu stuck out his tongue and licked the tip of his pale finger, then dabbed it on the tip of his nose, hoping to alleviate the tingling numbness. Lick, lick. He repeated the motion several times.
"Fucking hell. Who do you think you're trying to flirt with? You little dickhead."
Flirting? It was just a little spit on the nose to soothe his numb legs.*
Not a mistranslation (please check note at the bottom for explanation)
Besides, he only moved a bit because Seong Jugun wasn't looking at him until just now. But the atmosphere was too tense to voice such thoughts, so Seungyu froze, his face blank and expressionless.
__________
NOTES:
Applying saliva to the nose - Old folk remedy used to alleviate leg numbness.
In some other countries, the method is pinching the upper lip.
Debunked and explained by a Korean doctor below:
https://m.health.chosun.com/svc/news_view.html?contid=2023042102079This claim has absolutely no medical basis. Dr. Kim Yong-chan, director of the Orthopedic Surgery Department at Kangbuk Yonsei Hospital, explained, "A common pins and needles sensation is caused by prolonged maintenance of a single posture, which can lead to poor blood circulation in the muscles, or by sudden, excessive muscle exertion, which can trigger abnormal activation of the muscle nerves, leading to muscle spasms." He added, "Ultimately, it's a muscle issue, so touching the nose won't alleviate the symptoms." If you felt it was effective, it's likely just an illusion. The nose is rich in nerves, so when you touch the tip of the nose and apply saliva, the brain focuses on the sensation of touching it and the refreshing sensation caused by the saliva evaporating. Although the numbness in the legs isn't actually alleviated, the sensation of pain is perceived as improving as it diffuses.
Comments
Post a Comment