The Business Card

“So this is the place.”

He was a tall man.

Dressed in a suit with a coat neatly worn over it, he casually rested a hand on the doorframe, then quickly pulled it away and brushed his palm as if the touch displeased him.

Semi-basement apartments were never bright.

Because of the villa’s structure, which faced away from the sun, even during the day only a meager amount of light filtered in.

The situation outside the house was no different, to the point where one had to be careful descending the stairs even in daylight.

And yet, the moment Ju Hayan saw the man standing at the door, she thought he was blocking all the light himself.

As his dress shoes clicked sharply against the tiles and he braced both hands against the narrow entryway walls, there didn’t seem to be any space for light to slip past him.

“It’s small.”

After briefly surveying the messy room, the man delivered his assessment.

He stepped inside the apartment.

He neatly removed his shoes and left them aligned at the entrance.

“I apologize.”

“We ended up taking a little longer than expected while explaining things.”

“If you wait in the car, I’ll come right up.”

The scarred man, who had been acting arrogant until moments ago, bent at the waist and gestured toward the door.

The other men, who appeared lower in rank than him, clasped their hands politely in front of them.

Only Ju Hayan, still bewildered by the situation, peeked up to look at the man.

He must be someone in a fairly high position.

With his hair slicked back, he looked like he had stepped out of the glossy pages of a salon magazine.

He was the complete opposite of the scarred man, who wore only a jacket in the middle of winter with his tie loosened.

A shirt buttoned all the way to the top.

A tightly knotted tie.

Hair without a single stray strand.

Everything about him intensified the oppressive air he gave off.

Especially those emotionless eyes.

Hup.

Ju Hayan sucked in a small breath without realizing it.

Just as the man nodded lightly and turned his head, their eyes met unexpectedly.

“Hello?”

He greeted her casually, but Ju Hayan hunched her shoulders like a mimosa touched by a hand and bowed her head deeply.

“The floor’s dirty.”

“You should keep your shoes on, sir.”

The gaze resting atop her bowed head lifted at the scarred man’s words.

Telling someone to walk into another person’s home with their shoes on so naturally.

Ju Hayan bit down on the inside of her mouth, already swollen and ridged from how much she’d chewed it earlier.

“I told you not to call me that.”

“Just speak comfortably.”

The man lightly scolded him and walked between the items scattered across the floor.

His black-socked feet moved carefully to avoid stepping on anything.

Anyone watching might think he was a burglar casing the place.

As if observing, he nudged something aside with his foot.

A pen with a worn-out tip rolled across the floor and bumped into Ju Hayan’s knee.

She flinched and lifted her head.

Their eyes met immediately.

“Customer?”

The man addressed Ju Hayan, but the answer came from another direction.

“He’s the son.”

At the scarred man’s words, the tall man tilted his head slightly, then nodded.

As if that explained everything.

Even after receiving his answer, his gaze didn’t withdraw.

Because of that, Ju Hayan’s eyes darted restlessly across his eyes, his face, his shoulders.

It felt like his stare was pinning her in place.

After thoroughly inspecting her for a long while, the man finally spoke.

“Did you get hit?”

He raised his index finger and tapped lightly at his own temple.

“Ah.”

Ju Hayan hurriedly covered the side of her head with her hand.

Earlier, when the thick palm had struck her head, it had brushed her face as well.

It must have turned red by now.

“No….”

She denied it in a voice no louder than an ant’s whisper.

For some reason, admitting she’d been hit felt uncomfortable.

Ju Hayan wondered if saying yes would fall under the kind of reckless “thinking” the scarred man had warned her about.

“So that’s why you were crying.”

“Because it hurt?”

She hadn’t expected him to believe her outright.

Ju Hayan roughly wiped at her damp eyes with the back of her hand.

Her eyes, reddened from the friction, stung, making her blink several times.

The more she tried to act like she was fine, the worse she looked.

Still, she stubbornly wiped away the dried tear tracks on her cheeks.

“It’ll bruise, probably.”

…Probably?

Not “if you’re unlucky,” but “if you’re lucky”?

While Ju Hayan froze in confusion, a hand reached toward her.

Even as she rubbed her face hard with her sleeve, the hand pried away the one stubbornly covering the spot she’d been hit.

Her fingers twitched as her hand was caught in his grip.

Tilting his head, the man examined her face closely.

“Still.”

“It’ll look pretty.”

The words, laced with breath, were quiet enough that only Ju Hayan could hear them.

When she lifted her eyes, startled, his gaze had already moved away.

He released her hand as he straightened his posture.

He slid one hand into his pants pocket and turned away at a slight angle.

The pose looked oddly delinquent.

Yet paradoxically, it only emphasized the authority he carried.

“Have you explained everything?”

“Yes.”

“We explained everything and handed over the documents.”

Hearing the scarred man’s reply, the tall man glanced at the papers neatly placed beside Ju Hayan.

He straightened his posture and spoke.

Though he didn’t use a title, Ju Hayan knew the words were directed at her.

“Please follow what we discussed.”

“Let’s avoid any unpleasant scenes for both our sakes.”

“……”

“You might feel wronged too, son.”

“But it’s the same for us, who lent the money.”

“If we help each other, isn’t that better?”

“We’re not asking for much.”

Ju Hayan looked down at the document the scarred man had handed her.

Was persuasion always disguised as a threat with these people.

She felt she needed to show some kind of response and bowed her head slightly.

It was too little to be a nod, too much to be indifference.

Fortunately, the man didn’t pick on it.

Afraid she might be making an unpleasant expression, she didn’t dare look up at his face.

“Let’s avoid seeing each other if possible.”

“Especially you and me.”

“I’d be fine, but I don’t think you would.”

Ju Hayan wholeheartedly agreed.

It was the first thing she’d agreed with since the men barged in.

This time, she answered, “Yes.”

Only afterward did she worry it had been too quick of a response and hunch her shoulders.

But the words were already out.

“Good.”

“Then I’ll take that as your cooperation.”

Seeing her compliant attitude, the man concluded the conversation.

He had already conveyed the important points, so there was little more to add.

As he turned toward the entrance to leave, he stopped after only a few steps and suddenly turned around.

As if he had just remembered something he’d forgotten.

“Almost forgot.”

He walked back to Ju Hayan and pulled a small wallet from inside his suit.

From it, he took something out and held it in front of her face.

A business card.

“If you need treatment costs, contact this number.”

As he said that, he pointed to his own head.

He must have meant the spot he’d mentioned earlier.

Now that the pain had dulled, it felt strangely distant.

Ju Hayan stared at the card without moving.

The man waved his hand lightly to urge her on.

When her cautious hand reached out and took the card between her index and middle fingers, he withdrew his hand.

Then he turned away immediately and left the apartment.

It seemed he had returned solely to give her the card.

There was no hesitation in his departure.

Ju Hayan stared blankly at his back as it disappeared down the stairs.

Then she lowered her head.

The light-colored card had only one line of English printed in the center.

When she flipped it over, the rest of the information finally came into view.

DK Financial Loan Co., Ltd. / CEO Shin I-hyeok

His position was higher than she had expected.

Still internally shaken, she read the personal number printed below.

Suddenly, an arm entered her field of vision.

Before she could react, the hood of her jacket was grabbed at the nape.

“Just because the boss said that doesn’t mean you should actually contact him.”

Her clothes were pulled taut, tipping her upper body forward slightly.

Ju Hayan looked up with wide eyes.

The scarred man had her by the collar, glancing back and forth between the open door and her.

It seemed like he was wary the boss might come back.

“Yes, yes.”

She had never planned to contact him in the first place.

Even if they met again, there was nothing in it for her.

Just like the man said, if possible, she never wanted to see him again.

She nodded quickly as she answered.

The scarred man stared down at her face for a moment, then released his grip.

His gaze lingered briefly on the business card.

It was the look of someone who wanted to snatch it away but couldn’t touch something handed over directly by a superior.

In the end, he shook the thought off and stood up.

The boss was likely already waiting upstairs, and they couldn’t delay any longer.

As the scarred man turned away, the other two men followed behind him.

Ju Hayan turned toward their retreating figures.

Soon, she was left staring at the front door as it closed on an empty room.

“Haa….”

She sat there for a long time.

It felt accurate to say that once the tension drained from her body, she didn’t even have the strength to stand.

She slowly stretched one leg as a sharp, delayed jolt ran through it.

Having knelt for so long, her legs were stiff, and she had to massage her calves with her hands to straighten them.

Objects were scattered beneath her extended legs.

Ju Hayan looked around.

Aside from the small patch where she had been sitting, there wasn’t a single intact space.

Everywhere she might place her hand was like a minefield.

She picked up the document the scarred man had handed her and read it again.

She flipped to the next page.

As expected, there was nothing she could understand.

Lifting her head and scanning the room, Ju Hayan spotted a small, flat piece of paper among the fallen items.

She picked it up.

It was the note that had fallen out when the drawer was overturned.

She unfolded the crumpled paper and placed it beside the document.

I’m sorry.

[Name: Ju Gilwoo (Seal)]

The handwriting was the same.

It really was her father’s document.

Ju Hayan let the note fall from her hand.

There were more handwritten personal details on the form.

And at the top, the loan amount.

‘Principal: Fifty million won (₩50,000,000)’

All his life, he’d been indecisive and spineless, never once acting like an adult she could rely on.

Yet when it came to digging his own grave, he always rushed to the front of the line.

That alone would have been fine.

If he wanted to dig his own grave, who was she to stop him.

The problem was that Ju Hayan was about to be buried in it with him.

In the twenty-first century, burial by proxy came in the form of economic entombment.

(To be continued)