Chapter 113: The Hero
Why did they suddenly start calling each other brothers?
Perhaps it was because Li Ang’s tone was too earnest, his attitude too serious, that the Ghost couldn’t help but ask, "Did you also take out a campus loan?"
"Borrow? More than that."
Li Ang’s face was grave as he earnestly began to spout nonsense. "Since my first year of high school, I’ve been taking out small loans from various lending platforms. At one point, I registered accounts on over a hundred apps and maxed out thirty to forty credit cards. I received countless enthusiastic phone calls all day long. In every city I’ve wandered to, there have been underworld figures looking for trouble with me."
The high school student living on the Japan Islands opened his mouth. "You too, huh..."
"Little brother, since we’re both in the same boat, why not tell me your story?"
Li Ang, exercising his skill of adapting his speech to his audience, familiarly put an arm around the other’s ice-cold shoulder and, from nowhere, pulled out a cigarette and passed it over.
The other unconsciously took the cigarette but didn’t smoke it, instead hesitantly beginning to share his story.
Japan has long had what’s called a "borrowing culture." There’s a common saying, "Edokko wa yoi kosu no zeni wa motanu," meaning "Edo folks don’t keep money overnight." This essentially means "live for today," and when out of cash, they borrow. Such loans are short-term with extraordinarily high interest rates: ten percent in ten days, twenty percent in ten days, even fifty percent in ten days, or one percent a day.
In the seventies, the United States’ concept of advance consumption was introduced to the Japan Islands. This pushed the borrowing culture, which previously belonged to the middle class, into the lower strata of society. The rapid economic growth of Japan at the time also fueled the prevalence of this extravagant trend of premature consumption.
Driven by the Financial Services Agency, the Japan Legal Support Center, the National Consumer Affairs Center, law firms, banks, and other institutions, various lending companies sprouted like mushrooms after rain, including those specializing in usurious loans.
Japan also has a law stating that "interest rates above a certain level are void." Some usurious loan companies, before lending, clearly tell customers they charge fifty percent interest in ten days. They might even say that if the loan can’t be repaid, one can go to the police and won’t have to pay it back. However, most borrowers don’t do this because they can’t survive without constant loans.