Chapter 27
Chapter 27.
The Poison Demon and Valentine's Day (2)
[Previous Life]
It was when I was tilling the fields with Shennong.
Shennong spoke to me.
"From what I've heard on the grapevine, it seems you've blown away the Luoyang Sima Family."
"……Those people are traitors to our Dang Family."
"Even so, there was no need to kill them all."
"They're rotten from the start. If left alive, they'll become a source of trouble."
I pulled out yellowed sprouts and tossed them aside as I answered.
He said quietly.
"If raised well, even yellow sprouts can turn green again."
"I don't wish for miracles."
Life was too burdensome to wish for miracles.
Shennong drew near to me.
"Do you know the story of how I became friends with your father?"
"I heard you grew fond of each other after fighting."
"I'm from the Haomun Sect."
"……!"
It was a story I was hearing for the first time.
"I was farming, and the powerful took all my land away. With nothing I could do, I joined the Haomun Sect. I had a talent for lightness arts, and one thing led to another, before I knew it, I'd become a notorious thief in the martial world."
"……."
"Then I met your father. I had the audacity to climb over the wall of the Sacheondang Family. I must have been close to thirty years old at the time."
He and my father were more than a full cycle of years apart in age.
That meant my father would have been not yet twenty.
"I went at your father and got soundly beaten. The young master of the Sacheondang Family was strong."
"Father was…… Strong."
I bit my lip.
"Trapped in the prison, waiting only for the day I'd die, your father came to visit. He said to me—what was my dream?"
"Father did?"
Shennong nodded.
"I laughed and said. That I wanted to own land and live tilling the fields."
"And what happened?"
"He opened the prison door. He said he'd give me land from the Dang Family, so try once to make my dream come true."
"Ah……!"
"I am precisely that yellow sprout."
Shennong walked past my stunned self, chose a few from the yellow sprouts I'd pulled out, and replanted them as he spoke.
"Do you see the medicinal herb that grew the largest over there in the field? That one also had yellow sprouts originally."
"……."
"Try giving these yellow sprouts a chance—see if they turn green."
***
[Present Life—Entertainment District]
The thug who had called Min-jeong Jennie was gripping her arm and wouldn't let go.
Her expression had hardened gravely, and her body was frozen stiff with fear.
The thug opened his mouth.
"Jennie! Where are you trying to run off to again. Do you know how much you owe me?!"
Wham!
The man called Sangcheol yanked Min-jeong toward him.
Thud, thud.
The shopping bags she'd been holding dropped to the floor.
"O, Oppa……."
Min-jeong, looked at me.
The thug stood in front of me.
"Hooo. Boyfriend? Handsome. Pfff."
The thug blow cigarette smoke in my face.
……Should I kill him.
Whoosh.
I looked around.
CCTV cameras were visible.
"Sangcheol oppa. Don't do this. This person and I aren't anything to each other."
Min-jeong stepped between me and the thug and shoved him.
But he wasn't a build that a high school girl could push away.
"Hey! What's this? When you diving underwater every time I call you to pay up?"
"What debt!"
"Jennie. You don't have much left until graduation, right? Hurry up and work to pay the money back. If you want, I could even get you hired at my establishment."
"You crazy son of a—!"
Min-jeong tried to shove the thug's chest again, but instead the thug shoved Min-jeong.
She fell.
The thug stood in front of me again.
"Hey, boyfriend."
Whoosh.
The thug's gaze sweep over me.
"This girl, she's a total liar and a debtor. Before you end up getting played like me, hurry up and—."
"You son of a bitch!"
Min-jeong sprang to her feet, grabbed the thug, and shouted at me.
"Tae-yang oppa! Go quickly!"
"……."
"Go, I said! These guys are gangsters!"
"Who the hell are you calling gangsters, you damn—!"
When the thug raised his hand and was about to slap Min-jeong across the cheek—
Grab!
I snatched the guy's wrist.
"What the, bastard. You gonna let go or not?"
The thug squirmed trying to pull his hand free, but I spoke first.
"How much is the debt Min-jeong owes?"
"Oh-ho. Why? You gonna pay it off?"
"How much, I said."
"Thirty million won!"
At that Min-jeong shouted.
"What thirty million! That makes no sense! Oppa, he's lying. Just run!"
I said to the thug.
"I'll pay it back. Should we go to your establishment? There are too many eyes here."
"Fine by me."
The thug swaggered ahead.
In the far reaches of the night sky.
A wisp of cloud drifted across the tranquil moon, quietly veiling its light.
Somehow.
……It felt like a night when good fertilizer would come about.
***
[Ace Song Bar]
The place the thug headed to was a hostess bar.
"Boss!"
The thug called Sangcheol appeared to be the owner.
The establishment's employees bowed at the waist in greeting.
"Oh? It's Jennie."
"Hey, long time no see."
The establishment's employees acknowledged Min-jeong with familiarity.
Min-jeong bit her lip and followed behind me.
Short skirt. Min-jeong. Jennie.
Your life is as complicated as your many names, isn't it.
We entered a room.
A sofa arranged in a U-shape and a table in the center. The sofa was grimy.
On the ceiling, psychedelic lights twinkled, and on the TV hanging on the wall, a scene of a scantily clad woman dancing was playing.
"Sit."
The thug offered me a seat.
"Want a drink?"
Click.
He cracked open cheap spirits and poured them glug, glug, glug to the brim into three glass tumblers.
One for himself, one for me, one for Min-jeong.
Not shot glasses—water glasses.
"Drink."
Gulp, gulp. The guy downed an entire glass.
Trying to crush my spirit.
Something I'd seen plenty of in the martial world.
"Not drinking?"
"……."
"Scared, are you. Never seen strong liquor before?"
"Strong…… Liquor?"
"That's right, bastard. It's a strong drink, strong drink."
Then I'd better drink it.
Gulp, gulp.
【The Great Law of Reversal is applied. Poison becomes medicine.】
……For real?
Thank you.
"Drinks well."
The thug stared at me with surprised eyes when I finished the whole glass of spirits.
Whoosh.
"……More?"
Nod, nod.
【The Great Law of Reversal is applied. Poison becomes medicine.】
Good. The days of eating waste are now over and done with.
After drinking two glasses, I now grabbed the thug's bottle and held it to my mouth.
"O, Oppa……."
Min-jeong, seemingly worried, grabbed my arm.
Let go a moment, will you?
Oppa's getting stronger right now.
Thud.
I set the now-empty spirits bottle on the table.
Smack. No more?
"Khhh."
"He's a madman! This guy."
Whether my energy had overwhelmed him or not, the guy lit his cigarette and asked Min-jeong.
"Long time no see, Jennie?"
"……."
"You remember this place, right?"
"Enough. You crazy bastard."
"The hell, you had your fun and drank your fill and were all smiles back then!"
"When was I ever smiling!"
Bang!
Min-jeong slammed the table and cried out.
"I just came along with my senior that day! I was only told it was a birthday party."
"How amusing."
"I clearly said I wouldn't drink, and I didn't! But I started getting more and more hazy…… and when I came to my senses, my friend was gone, and you shoved some nonsensical receipt in my face!"
"You ate all that yourself."
"Don't make me laugh! And then this bastard…… Said he'd spread photos around school……."
She burst into tears.
The thug smiled a slimy smile and said.
"That's why you should have listened to me from the start. I'm offering to let you work at my establishment to pay it off. I even gave you a pretty name. Jennie!"
"Absolute nonsense!"
"That's how it starts for everyone. Your senior started the same way."
"Shut up!"
"Oh, you didn't know? How much that girl who brought you here got paid by me that day as a commission."
"Shut up, you piece of—!"
"So that's why I told you to bring your friends, didn't I. Jennie. Huh?! You, you—! Said you don't want to work and won't bring any friends! So when the hell are you going to pay back my money!"
Crash!
The thug hurled his glass tumbler at the wall.
"Eeek!"
Min-jeong ducked her head and screamed.
The thug shouted toward outside.
"Hey! Get in here!"
An employee entered.
"Bring paper and a pen."
The employee brought them and the paper was briskly thrust before my eyes.
Roll, roll.
The pen rolled toward me.
"Hey. Boyfriend."
"……."
"Write it down. I will without fail repay fifty million won by the thirtieth of this month—."
"Didn't you just say thirty million a moment ago?"
The thug smirked and answered.
"Your girlfriend kept swearing at me, didn't she. My feelings got hurt. Fifty million including emotional damages."
"……."
"I'll dictate again. Write it down. I will without fail repay fifty million won by the thirtieth of this month—."
Just babbling away by himself.
I did nothing but stare blankly at him.
"What are you doing? Not writing?"
"Is there any particular need to write it?"
"Ha! If you don't write it, are you handing over fifty million right here and now? Rolling in money, are you?"
Scratch, scratch.
He took the paper, wrote down an account number, and pushed it back to me.
"Transfer it."
"……."
"Not transferring?"
Thud!
The guy stubbed out the cigarette he'd been smoking, leaned toward me, and spat out curses.
"You bastard. You said you'd pay the money. Fifty million for our Jennie's bar tab!"
"……."
"Is this bastard deaf? Wanna die?!"
He jumped to his feet, so I held out my hand.
"Hand over the pen."
"Well of course…… Stupid bastard."
The thug smirked and handed me the pen.
I twirled the pen and said.
"Nice pen. Sturdy, and sharp."
"O, Oppa."
"Min-jeong. Close your eyes."
Crunch!
I jabbed the pen through the back of the guy's hand and pinned it straight to the table.
"Aaargh!"
The thug screamed.
I twisted the pen.
Crack, crack, crack!
"Ugh—!"
At the thug's screaming, an employee flung open the door and entered.
It was the guy who'd brought the paper and pen earlier.
A menacing face.
He looked for all the world like someone had written 'thug underling' on his forehead.
Perfect.
"Everyone get on your knees."
"You son of a—!"
Thwack! Thud.
The underling cursed at me and charged.
I lightly grabbed the guy's right arm.
Then immediately pulled the pen that had been jammed into the table and pinned it through the hands of the underling and the boss, stacking them on the table.
Crunch!
"Aaargh!"
Hands stacked neatly together, the two of them pinned to the table.
You really do need to use your hands before they'll listen.
"Hey now, it hurts if you move."
As I said that, I rocked the pen left and right.
"Aaagh!"
The guys went berserk left and right following the pen's movements.
More fun than expected.
That ought to have thoroughly crushed their spirits.
Tremble, tremble, tremble, tremble.
"Shut your mouths and kneel."
Right then. Now it's time for education.
A proper lesson.
"Khhh."
"Be quiet."
"……."
Through the open door outside, two female employees could be seen covering their mouths and trembling.
Judging by their outfits, they appeared to be hostesses working here.
"You two ladies, come in here as well."
No point having them call the police and making things bothersome.
The thug and his underling still pinned by the pen.
I sat the two female employees on the sofa beside them.
With everyone's eyes covered.
I asked the guys.
"Where's the establishment's ledger?"
"In, in the office."
"Ladies. Please go fetch the ledger."
I read through the confiscated ledger one page at a time.
Crunch, crunch.
Helping myself to the fruit snacks on the table one piece at a time, too.
Me, never losing my reading habits no matter where I am.
A true intellectual of this age.
"This fruit's tasty. Did you get it from a convenience store?"
"Hm? Oh, no……."
The ledger had many interesting parts.
I asked questions about things I didn't know, too.
"Here—what do the numbers and circles mean?"
The thug answered.
"It, it means the advance and that it's been paid back."
"What's an advance?"
"It's money the establishment lends out."
I flipped through.
There it is. Jennie.
[Jennie 5,000,000 / ]
The space after the amount was blank. I asked the thug.
"You said thirty million. Here it says five million."
"That…… Interest was added……."
This time I asked Min-jeong.
"How did you run up a five-million-won bar tab?"
"I didn't. I really didn't drink."
"You said you got dizzy and collapsed. Doesn't that mean you drank?"
"That was…… Truly just one glass. My senior told me to have just one glass…… I, I'm serious."
"You lost your senses from one glass?"
"I, I heard it was strong liquor……."
Min-jeong waving both hands.
The times are degenerating, I tell you.
Min-jeong added with an aggrieved tone.
"My short skirts are because of that bastard too! He kept coming to find me and telling me to pay up, and every time I said I couldn't pay, he kept cutting them!"
……Was that so?
So that's why they kept getting shorter and shorter?
"Why didn't you report it to the police?"
"I did report it! But…… That bastard didn't even flinch. When the police came, they were calling each other bro and little bro and saying to come by for drinks sometime……."
"My goodness."
"After that he kept showing up in front of my school, and in the end my job placement fell through too……."
Min-jeong burst into tears.
I looked at the thug.
"An extraordinary piece of trash, this one."