CBB Chapter 1.1

“A snot-nosed brat living in a luxurious house like this? The world sure is unfair.”

Jang Woorak, hands shoved into his suit pants, looked askance at the large house and jerked his chin at one of the men with him. 

The man quickly went to the door and pressed the doorbell. An electronic chime sounded, but there was no other response. He cleared his throat and pressed the doorbell again.

“Hello, excuse me. Is this Mr. Lee Heedo’s residence?”

He bent over, his large frame almost folded in half as he spoke into the doorbell next to the door.

“……Who is it?”

After a long while, a young man’s voice finally came through the speaker. The camera attached above the doorbell scanned them as if it were alive.

“We’re here regarding a matter concerning your father, Mr. Lee Jeongpil. We have something important to tell you, so please open the door.”

“Why are you telling me…? I don’t know anything about my father’s business. I haven’t seen him in a long time.”

“This is something we must tell Mr. Lee Heedo personally.”

“……Leave your business card in the door, and I’ll contact you later.”

Look at this punk.

“Open it.”

At Jang Woorak’s command, the door lock was smashed, and the gate was forced open. The three men atrode accross the yard and ripped open the front door, barging into the house without even taking off their shoes. 

The first thing they saw was a pale young man huddled with his back hunched, clutching a cell phone. The phone vibrated continuously, likely a call coming in. It must be the security company. 

Jang Woorak approached him, put a finger to his lips, and gestured for him to answer. The young man pressed the answer button with trembling hands.

“……No. It’s nothing. You don’t need to come. Please don’t. Yes, …yes.”

The phone slowly fell away from the young man’s ear. His fear-filled eyes were already welling up. 

Young people these days are so weak. 

I haven’t even done anything yet, and he’s already crying. 

Such a waste of a big body. 

Jang Woorak took out a business card from his pocket and slipped it between Lee Heedo’s fingers. As if burned, he  flinched and dropped the card on the floor.

Tsk, Jang Woorak clicked his tongue loud enough for Heedo to hear. He pulled out a loan agreement from his pocket and thrust it forward.

“Mr. Lee Jeongpil borrowed money from our company. A lot of money. But then he disappeared. Completely vanished without a trace.”

Attached to the loan agreement was a picture of Lee Jeongpil holding the document and looking straight at the camera. 

Jang Woorak yelled at Lee Heedo, who was hunched over, only daring to peek upwards, to look him straight at him. Trembling, Heedo backed away and stumbled, his face looking like he was about to faint at any second. He couldn’t even make eye contact and just kept shrinking back into a corner, looking utterly pathetic.

Is this kid a little slow? What’s a grown man doing trembling like this?

Even when he tried to get a good look at Heedo’s face, he couldn’t see it properly because his chin was practically tucked so tightly against his chest.

“So, you, his son will have to repay the debt.”

“……I don’t know anything about that money.”

Jang Woorak slammed his hand against the wall. Heedo yelped and collapsed like a newborn calf.

“How can you not know? You lived well off that money. Living in a nice house like this. Huh?”

“……I, I was separated from my father when I w-was young. I, i only lived with my m-mother and my g-grandmother. My mother passed away…This house belongs to my g-grandmother.”

Now he was even stuttering.

“So, Mr. Lee Jeongpil isn’t your father?”

“……He, he is.”

“Then, in this land of filial pity, it’s natural for the child to repay the debt. So why are you talking so much? I’m not that bad of a guy. I’m not asking you to pay it all back at once. Just pay three hundred¹ a month, principal and interest combined. If you pay diligently, I can even reduce the interest a bit.”

“……I d-don’t have money. I only get t-two million² a month for allowance. If you deduct f-food expenses, living expenses, and other things, ugh!”

Jang Woorak grabbed a fistful of Heedo’s hair.

“Fuck, do I have to tell you how to pay it back? Get a job, borrow it from somewhere, do whatever the hell you want. Or sell this house.”

“……I c-can’t sell it.”

“Why?”

“My grandmother is in America.”

“Is America the moon or something?”

“Sob, n-no.”

Jang Woorak snatched Heedo’s phone and handed it back to him. He told him to contact his rich grandmother, whether to borrow money or to get her to sell the house. He was getting frustrated watching Heedo just tremble while clutching the phone, so he offered it again kindly. However, Heedo just shook his head, tears streaming down his face.

Jang Woorak getured at the two men who accompanied him. They responded with a resounding “Yes, sir!” shrugging their shoulders up to their ears, and began to demolish the house. They picked out relatively cheap and noisy items to throw around for dramatic effect. 

Lee Heedo was now cowering in the corner, covering his head with his arms and whimpering.

“Uh…? Is that kid pissing himself?”

Lee Heedo, crouched with his knees drawn up, had a strangely spreading wet patch on his cotton pants, starting from mid-thigh and reaching  down to his knees.

“Ew, gross.”

Jang Woorak, who was more fastidious and had a weaker stomach than he looked, gagged and left the house. Before leaving, he “kindly” advised Heedo to be prepared to sell his organs if he didn’t have a month’s worth of payment ready for his next visit

* * *

“Ah, it’s hot.”

As soon as he entered the office, Jang Woorak turned on the air conditioner, unbuttoned his shirt, and plopped down on the sofa.

“Team leaders, have a seat.”

“Yes, sir.”

“How long do I have to keep working in the field? Isn’t it time for you guys to handle things on your own?”

“Yes, sir! We can do it. Just leave it to us, and next time…”

Jang Woorak kicked the table with a loud thwack.

“You talk big. If you’re so capable, why are this month’s collections so pathetic?”

He rubbed his forehead as he watched the team leaders’ heads droop lower and lower. 

A small office in the suburbs, two team leaders, a part-time employee for paperwork, and himself. Despite its small size, his business had been doing quite well thanks to lower interest rates compared to other lenders, but lately, the collection rates has been dropping. 

It was all because of those irresponsible team leaders. 

When he was learning the ropes under his boss, it wasn’t like this. He worked as if he were the owner, as if it was his own money, collecting relentlessly. It seemed like their base salary was too high. He’d have to switch to a completely performance-based system.

Lost in thought, he noticed the two team leaders nudging each other with their elbows and bickering.

“Are you two messing around right now?”

“N-No, sir. I was trying to tell you, but he kept saying it wasn’t the right time…”

“What is it?”

“Well… Mr. Park, the owner of ‘Musical Note Chicken,’ tried to kill himself by taking pills, so there’s been a slight delay in collections…”

“What? When?”

“Last Friday…”

“And you’re telling me this now? Are you guys out of your minds? Why didn’t you tell me earlier!”

“He’s not dead yet…”

Jang Woorak stood up and grabbed a golf club. He’d never learned to play, too stingy for lessons, but someone had given it to him, so it had been standing there as decoration. He tapped it on the floor a few times to adjust his grip and then swung it at the two men. 

The team leaders quickly dodged, so the sofa took the brunt of the blow, its cushions deflating with a whoosh.

“Get back here! You trying to ruin my business?”

He was about to throw the golf club but stopped. 

No, I can’t. If I break a window, it’ll just be more money out of my pocket.

“Come here. I won’t hit whoever comes first.”

They exchanged glances and then rushed towards him simultaneously, colliding with each other and falling to the floor in a heap. 

A deep groan rumbled in Jang Woorak’s throat.

I should have looked at their educational backgrounds when I hired them. 

He’d been too open-minded in his hiring process. His unbiased nature had come back to bite him. He lifted the golf club, ready to whack them both.

“Sir!”

One of them raised his hand. It was Yoon Chorong, the one who had confidently declared during his interview that he had been a class president in elementary school. Perhaps because of his model student past, he occasionally made insightful comments. 

Jang Woorak nodded, signaling for him to speak.

“That kid we saw earlier didn’t give me a good feeling either. He pissed himself before we even laid a finger on him. It seems like he lacks mental fortitude.”

That’s right. He did seem pretty slow.

“Shouldn’t we get some kind of  insurance in advance, just in case he ends up like Mr. Park?”

Jang Woorak stroked his chin with an impressed expression. 

As expected of Class President Yoon Chorong. 

He had that sparkle in his eyes, despite his rough appearance. 

Smart kid.

“You, my brilliant Team Leader Chorong, and you, you useless piece of… hey, where do you think you’re looking, you little… both of you, go to Mr. Park. Check if he has any insurance, and I’ll go back to see that kid.”

Jang Woorak cracked his neck and walked out the door.