Chapter 1 – The Beginning

―I’d like to meet for a bit.

One day, Kyung-won contacted her, and she sensed that the fragile peace she’d been clinging to was finally breaking.

―No need for long talk, just meet me for a moment in front of your school.

She barely managed to reply, ‘Okay.’ Before long, she met Kyung-won behind the pharmacy building, at a quiet bench.

Her half-brother Kyung-won, whom she hadn’t seen in five years, had gained a lot of weight and his eyes had grown dull since the last time.

On the bench in front of the pharmacy building, he sat with his legs spread wide, smoking a cigarette with a showy air. Through the haze, Kyung-won slowly scanned her from head to toe with indifferent eyes, then slowly smiled.

“It’s been a while.”

She pretended not to notice the long tattoos running down his arm and the scars covering one side of his face. She barely swallowed the words, ‘No smoking in front of this building.’ And inwardly, she wished no one else would see him.

When he said he’d come to the pharmacy building, she regretted not suggesting, ‘Let’s meet at another building’ instead of just saying ‘Okay.’

“…I should get back. I came out in the middle of class.”

She tried to sound as composed as possible, but Kyung-won smirked.

“My little Hee-won’s all grown up.”

He sucked on his cigarette and tossed it among the pile of butts by his feet.

“You can even tell your brother to get lost now, huh?”

She said nothing, only breathing in short gasps. Kyung-won had long lived outside the bounds of the law. As a mere college student, she was never a match for him.

Kyung-won looked at her face with a mocking gaze, then with a grunt, pushed off his knees and slowly stood from the bench.

“Well, since my beloved little sister is asking, I’ll listen. Not like we’re exactly happy to see each other.”

“…….”

“Hee-won.”

His shady eyes narrowed as if granting mercy.

“Let’s pay off the debt. I’ve found a way.”

“…What?”

“I’ve found a chance to wipe out that miserable debt, all of it.”

Her heart pounded.

Clouds drifted in the sky as the sun came out. The shadows from the trees dappled her face.

“You don’t actually think you can live like other students here, do you?”

Kyung-won swung his muscular arm as if it were stiff. Even his inner arms were covered in knife scars.

“I never planned to be a good brother to you, but I don’t think you should live like me either. Don’t get dragged into this world, just pay off the debt quickly, and then live like a normal person, never looking back.”

Pay off the debt, live like a normal person.

That was what Kyung-won said.

She couldn’t imagine what her face looked like right now. She’d always believed her life would be forever anxious and unhappy because of a debt she hadn’t even incurred herself.

Her father had died leaving behind a mountain of illegal loan debt. That debt, outside the law, naturally cast a shadow over her and her mother.

Her mother worked hard as a housekeeper, using all her earnings to pay off the interest. Her mother’s hands were so skillful that she’d worked over twenty years as a housekeeper for the notoriously picky Chairman of the Wigang Group, yet the principal of the debt had never decreased.

Both she and her mother knew. That debt would eventually fall to her.

Kyung-won, her father’s son from a previous marriage, couldn’t escape the loan either, but he chose a different path. He joined the loan shark organization itself. By pledging lifelong loyalty, he was freed from the debt.

She’d received a similar offer once. It was clear what kind of work they wanted young women for, so she refused immediately. At that time, the person from the organization said, ‘Right now, you could pay it off in a year if you work hard, but when you’re older and your value drops, it’ll take five years. Think carefully. But you’ll end up here anyway.’

It was that big of a debt.

Her suspicion that Kyung-won’s ‘chance to pay it off’ wouldn’t be easy was reasonable. Even so, at that moment, hope stirred in her heart.

Maybe she could live a normal life. Maybe she could escape the dark swamp that had always held one foot. Because of that swamp that would eventually drag her down, she was always, in every moment, completely unhappy.

It didn’t matter if she had nothing or was alone, as long as she could pull one foot out of that swamp. So she could run somewhere far away, never looking back at her miserable past.

Despite all the memories of hope betraying her, her heart pounded helplessly. Perhaps sensing her excitement, Kyung-won raised his eyebrows and smiled lightly.

“Isn’t it sad for your mom to keep suffering like this? Right? You should let her rest now.”

Now that her mother was mentioned, her heart floated helplessly. If she paid off that wretched debt, her mother, who’d suffered all her life, could finally rest.

She’d taken many leaves of absence to pay tuition and living expenses with tutoring. She planned to graduate this year, and after getting a new house with her mother, she hoped they could live together. Her mother could rest, she could work, and on weekends they could go out to eat somewhere nice….

She was catching her breath when he took out a new cigarette and said,

“Ryu-il.”

At that moment, she felt her breath catch at the name from Kyung-won’s mouth. He added, as if it was nothing,

“You’ll have to sleep with that guy. As often as possible.”

It was as if she’d been hit on the head. She didn’t know why, but her gaze fell.

Her worn sneakers and slightly frayed jeans, even though they were clean, looked shabby as if in a dream.

Kyung-won, cigarette in his mouth, scanned her face and clothes, then snickered.

“It’d be great if you could stick to him every day, but looking at you, even two or three times will be tough….”

He spoke carelessly, as if appraising a cheap item.

“But since you live in the same house, if you pick the right moment, you could manage a couple of times, right? Of course, more would be better….”

“…….”

“What, you don’t want to?”

His voice was openly mocking. His tone suggested she wasn’t even in a position to say yes or no. She took a deep breath and looked up at him.

“I don’t want to. And even if I did, it would be difficult.”

She was sure she was right, but her voice sounded as if it was echoing from far away ever since she heard Ryu-il’s name.

She struggled to find her words.

“Ryu… il, um, I don’t think he… likes women very much… um….”

“You think I don’t know Ryu-il isn’t easy, Hee-won?”

Kyung-won grinned.

“That’s why you have to try. Do you know how much debt father left behind? You think that’ll be easy to fix? That’s wishful thinking, isn’t it?”

His voice was merciless, almost making her resent the hope she’d felt earlier.

“Try catching him when he’s drunk and not in his right mind. You’ve got a pretty face, so if you work hard, I think you’ll succeed.”

Kyung-won dug in his back pocket and took out his wallet. He pulled out two 50,000 won bills, then, after a quick laugh, added a third and stuffed all three into her jeans pocket.

“What are you….”

“Buy some nice clothes, put on some makeup. Okay?”

Kyung-won curled his lips into a grin.

“I worked pretty hard to set this up, you know.”

“I can’t do it.”

“No, you’ll do it eventually. Unless you’re an idiot.”

“I said I don’t want to.”

“You said it’d be difficult anyway. At least try, so you won’t regret it later.”

He ignored her refusal.

“It’s simple. Sleep with Ryu-il a few times. Then your mother’s and your debt is gone.”

She stared blankly at the three crumpled 50,000 won bills in her jeans pocket.

“Or you could live like me. Haven’t you seen people come and go? You’re a bit old for that world now, but you’re still pretty, so if you work hard, you’ll pay it off in five years. Ah, I hear people from good schools sell better too. Honestly, if you stay like this, that’s the only path left for you.”

She knew exactly what Kyung-won was talking about, having received similar offers herself. In the end, he was telling her to sell herself in places like bars.

When she was twenty, they said she could pay it off in one or two years, but now it was five. As her eyes grew defiant, he laughed.

“But I’ve seen it enough to know, it’s not something you want to do. There are a lot of guys who make you do really dirty things. Rather than suffer for years with those jerks, it’s a hundred times better to sleep with Ryu-il a few times. At least as your brother, I’m giving you advice. Guess I’m getting old….”

Kyung-won smacked his lips and stroked his chin, speaking as if granting mercy.

“You know me—if nothing else, I keep  my promises, right? It’s a sure thing, so don’t worry needlessly.”

That was true.

Just as she had asked, Kyung-won finished all conversation before three o’clock and lumbered away.