“Let’s see now~~ One, two~” A middle-aged man, clad in an outdated pair of aviator sunglasses and a leather jacket, was counting money while leaning back in his chair.
Tapping the dress shoes he had propped up on his desk, the man flipped through the fifty-thousand-won bills one by one, a peculiar smile on his face.
“You managed to bring this much?”
“Yes…”
Across from him, a young man who looked to be in high school answered in a barely audible voice. He had a cute but timid face and a small frame. He looked like a rabbit that had wandered into a tiger’s den.
The bandage wrapped around his entire right arm drew a moment’s attention but did nothing to change his overall image.
“I’ve paid it all back by the due date… Can I go now?”
The timid man cautiously glanced around as he tried to get up from his seat. He looked as if he didn't want to stay there for a single second longer.
‘Look at this punk.’
One corner of the middle-aged man’s mouth curled up slightly. He had lent the money fully expecting it wouldn't be paid back. If the debt wasn’t paid, he would lend the same amount again, and if that wasn't paid, he would lend it again.
Once the debt snowballed to an irreversible amount, he would sell the debtor off from head to toe. That was the operational method of Ban Hae-min, the representative of Trust Private Loans. Once a D-rank Knight, he had his license revoked on charges of embezzling guild funds.
Having learned nothing but thievery, Ban Hae-min, who could wield more strength than others, gathered investment funds through his connections and started a loan shark business. The process of getting investments was surprisingly smooth. After all, there were no civilians who could stand up to Ban Hae-min, whose job had been to beat down Monsters.
From an investor’s perspective, it was a calculated risk that at least their money wouldn't be lost. Ban Hae-min primarily targeted people who couldn't get loans from financial institutions. Even if they paid it back well, he could reap exorbitant profits, and if they didn’t, he could just sell off their bodies, so there was no loss for him.
Besides, a naive-looking kid like this could be sucked dry to the marrow. Hiding his satanic face behind sunglasses, Ban Hae-min called out to the timid man to stop him.
“Hold on.”
“Ye… Yes?”
“Where do you think you’re going? The calculation isn’t finished.”
“The calculation… isn’t finished? You clearly said if I paid today, the interest would be two million won…”
“Ahem. This fellow. You look bright, but you can’t seem to grasp the situation. Have you forgotten what I said when I lent you the money, that the prepaid interest was separate?”
“Pre… Prepaid interest?”
At the timid man's reaction, Ban Hae-min smiled triumphantly. Just as he expected. There was no way that naive kid would remember everything that was said when the contract was signed.
In truth, there was no such thing as prepaid interest. Forget prepaid interest, he hadn't even given the timid man a copy of the contract at the time of signing. Only Ban Hae-min’s office had a contract with that content.
He had simply added one more line to the originally prepared loan agreement, but there was no way the flustered timid man would see through it.
“Hey, someone go get the contract.”
Still lounging, Ban Hae-min called over one of his thugs, and a brute who had been glaring menacingly at the timid man retrieved a piece of paper from a drawer. Ban Hae-min tossed the contract over as if throwing it, and the timid man examined the loan agreement.
Around the middle of the contract, he could see a line of text written in a size as small as an ant's waist.
“From the loan of twenty million won, the remaining amount after deducting five million in prepaid interest…”
“Haha. What did I tell you?”
The timid man felt as if he had been possessed by a ghost. He was sure he had borrowed fifteen million and the interest was two million. He thought paying back seventeen million in total would settle everything, but it turned out he had borrowed twenty million, not fifteen.
The money he had actually received in the envelope was fifteen million, and the part about the prepaid interest was written in later, so the timid man had been scammed right before his very eyes.
“This… is strange.”
“What?”
The middle-aged man’s voice suddenly rose. It was a preemptive strike before the other party could argue. But the timid man, despite his cautious glances, continued to speak.
“No matter how I think about it, I don’t remember hearing anything about prepaid interest when we signed the contract. At that time, when I asked, ‘So I just need to give you seventeen million in total, right?’, you said yes.”
“Huh? When did I ever.”
The middle-aged man flatly denied it. He himself remembered saying exactly that. But this brat wasn't meticulous enough to have recorded their conversation.
“At that time, I definitely…”
“Ah, ah. I don’t remember. Hey. Did any of you hear anything?”
“Nope.”
Since they were all in on it together, there was no one to speak the truth. The color slowly drained from the timid man’s face.
‘Even if it’s true, what can you do without proof? Hehe.’
When it came to dirty contracts, Ban Hae-min had seen it all. He was far too vile a man for the timid boy, who wasn't even an adult yet, to handle.
“You remember that you have to pay back double if you miss the due date, right?”
“……!!”
The timid man felt it was unfair. He had the money to pay. Considering the income he had earned from the dungeon before, he could immediately pay back not just five million, but twice that amount.
Even without that money, adding his tutoring income, it was an amount he could definitely pay. But for some reason, the timid man didn't want to pay. He didn't know the exact circumstances, but a strong gut feeling told him he was being taken advantage of.
“I… think I’ve paid what I owe.”
“Heh heh. They all say that nonsense after they can’t pay back the money.”
Crash!
The man slammed the shoe he had propped on the desk down hard.
“……!!”
The timid man flinched in surprise, and the man shot up to his feet, showing off his large physique. The surrounding thugs also gathered around, encircling the timid man.
“Hey, you little brat. You think it’s that easy to get other people’s money? You crawled all the way here because you had nowhere else to borrow from, didn’t you?”
Normally, this would be enough to make someone shed a tear or two. Not only was he alone, but he was also being intimidated by several large men. A truly timid person might even lose control of their bladder.
All that was left was to either bring more money immediately or sign a new loan contract.
“……”
The timid man’s expression entered Ban Hae-min’s field of view. A face that was cautious and worried. It was the textbook expression of someone fretting because they had no way to repay a debt.
The only slight difference was that, for a little while now, he had been glancing towards the entrance.
‘Huh?’
It didn't seem like he was contemplating an escape. But the timid man kept looking toward the door with a genuinely worried expression. As if someone was about to burst in at any moment.
As if he wasn't worried about himself, but about them.
‘What is this bastard doing right now?’
Behind his sunglasses, Ban Hae-min frowned. He thought the kid was the epitome of timidity, but on the other hand, he was showing a different side. Looking back, the expression he had thought was full of fear seemed to have been the kid’s face from the start.
Was it possible this kid wasn’t scared of them at all? Only then did Ban Hae-min begin to feel a sense of unease. But that unease was something he should have felt much earlier.
CRASH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“Hic!”
The door opened. No. To be more precise, the door was blown to bits. Ban Hae-min was all the more shocked because that was no ordinary door.
It was a door made of reinforced material because he often kept cash in the office. The kind of material used when fighting Monsters in dungeons. For such a sturdy door to be torn off in one blow like that.
He himself was once a Hunter, but he couldn't even dream of such power.
“Jeong-hyeon-ah!!!!!”
“Iron Arm Uncle…!!”
Two expressions appeared on the timid man, Kang Jeong-hyeon’s, face. One was relief. And the other was worry.
Only then did Ban Hae-min seem to understand why the timid man had worn such an expression. The man, with a face like a mountain bandit, huffing and puffing, was reminiscent of the ‘Angry Rhino’ he had seen in dungeons in the past.
“I heard a loud noise, so I came to check. Was the calculation not right?”
“No…”
At that, rage flared in Iron Arm’s pupils.
“You sons of bitches…”
As Iron Arm looked at him, Ban Hae-min felt like he was suffocating. He had never felt such fear even when facing a 3-star dungeon boss. Who in the world was that man to be taking his side like this?
Iron Arm stuck out his belly and made a threat.
“You all know who I am, right?! Whoever wants to be turned into dried squid, step up one by one!”
“……?”
Ban Hae-min looked at his subordinates with a bewildered expression, and they looked just as confused.
“Who… are you?”
Without even realizing he had used honorifics, Ban Hae-min asked cautiously.
“……What?”
At that, Iron Arm’s pupils swayed like a pendulum. It was as if he had expected people to recognize him for sure.
From his perspective, having become a member of the ‘Irregular team,’ he must have thought his name had become known throughout the world, but the people here at ‘Trust Private Loans’ were so engrossed in their money games that they failed to recognize even Kang Jeong-hyeon.
‘I told him there would still be a lot of people who don’t know…’
Seeing the shocked Iron Arm, Kang Jeong-hyeon made a strange expression. After confirming that the place he borrowed money from was ‘Trust Private Loans,’ Cheon Hae-seon had done some background checks. Afterward, the conclusion he came to was that ‘insurance is needed.’
In terms of pure force, it was right for Cheon Hae-seon to go, but he entrusted this task to Iron Arm.
Why?
The first reason was that an ‘adult’ should step in for such matters, and the second was that his own face had become too well-known.
[What if people recognize me? Won’t that ruin Hunter Cheon Hae-seon’s plan?]
[……It’ll probably be fine.]
At Iron Arm’s question, Cheon Hae-seon couldn’t help but fall silent for a moment. It was true that the ‘Irregular team’ had become famous, but that was only for the four ‘S-rankers.’ Not only did most people not know the name Iron Arm, but a great number of them even thought the Irregular team had only four members.
Unfortunately, Iron Arm was the only one who didn't know that fact yet.
“You don’t know?! You don’t know?! You dooooon’t knooooow?!”
‘Why is that bastard acting like that?’
Ban Hae-min felt dumbfounded watching the mountain bandit become even more agitated. So what if he didn’t recognize him, why was he getting so angry?
“You bastard, do you know where you are…!”
The most hot-blooded of Ban Hae-min’s subordinates threw a punch at Iron Arm.
Wham!!!!!!!!!!!!
The fist stopped right in front of Iron Arm’s eyes. His right hand had already enveloped the thug’s fist.
Crunch.
“Uwaaaaaaaah!!”
It didn’t seem like he had used much force, but a piercing scream erupted from the young thug’s mouth. His bones were actually being slowly crushed (!).
“Hey. Think carefully.”
“Ughh…?”
“You don’t know who I am? You should be able to remember.”
For a moment, the thug was plunged into a great dilemma over whether he should lie. But his temper was far too fiery for that.
“I don’t know, you son of a bitch!!!!!!!!”
Even amid the terrible pain, he swung his remaining left hand. But that fist, too, stopped right in front of Iron Arm’s face.
Crack.
“Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”
A desperate scream echoed through the office, and Ban Hae-min’s palms became slick with sweat.
‘A monster… He’s a monster.’
He too was once a Hunter, so he could instinctively guess that the man before him was a high-rank Hunter. He had done background checks before lending money precisely to avoid guys like this showing up.
‘This Kang Jeong-hyeon kid was definitely not a Hunter or anything of the sort.’
Who would have known that the borrowed money would be used for the Hunter Qualification Test fee? The price for not meticulously checking the purpose of the funds was enormous.
“All of you, come at me. I’ll make sure you know exactly who I am this time.”
The enraged bandit rolled up his sleeves and strode forward. Realizing that this could no longer be resolved through conversation, Ban Hae-min bit his lip once and shouted.
“Get him!”
“Uwaaaaaaaaah!!”
Soon, a battle reeking of the sweat of giants weighing over 100kg unfolded, and Kang Jeong-hyeon hid behind the sofa, peeking his head out to watch the spectacle.