Chapter 12

Chapter 12

A multinational karaoke bar in this neighborhood... someday, that could be worth setting up.

But it was only a plan in my head.

I had no intention of acting on it yet.

It was simply insurance in case I turned out not to be Jo Sun-ja’s grandson.

One card to help me survive.

If you wanted to last in this business, you had to hide weapons no one else knew you possessed.

You never knew what could happen.

So you always needed options in hand.

I always imagined the worst-case scenario.

I was the kind of person who prepared Plan B and Plan C.

I had no intention of ever turning my back on anyone or any situation completely.

There was a simple reason I never lowered my guard.

Before I regressed...

I had been betrayed by someone I truly trusted.

That betrayal forced me to use private loans.

And the loan sharks tormented me until I was almost dead.

I had never personally worked in the private lending industry before.

But I had learned plenty because of what they did to me.

If someone only digs one well?

They fail.

That was why Lin was just one of many options to me.

I looked at her again.

Her fingertips trembled slightly.

A quiet tension filled the room.

Then a thought suddenly occurred to me.

Kim Dong-su’s debt had probably begun because of this Vietnamese woman.

I stared at Lin.

“Have you quit gambling?”

The question cut sharply through the room.

Lin flinched.

The atmosphere became heavy.

Kim Dong-su’s face also hardened.

He looked at Lin anxiously.

Lin tried to avoid my gaze.

But eventually, she reluctantly met my eyes.

She nodded quickly.

But something about the movement felt strange.

Careful.

As if she were hiding something.

Her hands tightly gripped each other.

Uncle Kim Dong-su gently covered one of her hands with his.

Lin caught his fingertips with trembling fingers.

I glanced at their hands.

They instinctively pulled closer to each other.

It was a relationship they couldn’t hide even inside this office.

They loved each other.

Their eyes.

Their breathing.

Even their smallest movements were tied together.

Yet uneasiness still remained in the room.

Lin had another husband.

I remembered what my uncle had said earlier.

She entered Korea through marriage, but she has another husband.

I looked at Kim Dong-su.

After taking a breath, I quietly asked,

“Ms. Lin, did you come into Korea through a fake marriage?”

I paused briefly.

“Or did you run away from your real husband?”

The question landed sharply.

Lin’s eyes shook.

Her breathing became slightly faster.

Kim Dong-su’s pupils trembled too.

His lips parted briefly before pressing together again.

He clearly hesitated.

The silence weighed heavily on the room.

Kim Dong-su slowly spoke.

“Taesan, the truth is, Lin entered through a fake marriage.”

I stared at him.

“Fake marriage?”

I repeated it shortly.

Kim Dong-su hesitated again before answering.

“Yes. Even now, she still sends three hundred thousand won a month under the name of marriage.”

He let out a quiet sigh.

Lin hunched her shoulders and lowered her gaze.

There was obviously a complicated story between them.

A fake marriage was clearly illegal.

Using a formal marriage registration to bring a foreigner into Korea was punishable by law.

Especially in 1996.

So-called “homeless fake marriages” were becoming a social problem.

Foreign women who needed legal status joined hands with homeless men desperate for a little cash.

There was always a broker in the middle.

It wasn’t rare.

Fake marriages that existed only on paper were spreading through the back alleys.

I knew the structure well.

That was why the entire conversation made me uncomfortable.

My instincts told me to stay cautious.

And that was enough.

I had no intention of asking anything further.

I had already confirmed what I really wanted to know.

A brief silence passed.

Lin kept her head lowered and didn’t release Kim Dong-su’s hand.

He also kept his gaze down.

The mood was heavy.

But I deliberately removed emotion from the equation.

There was no reason to be shaken by unnecessary sympathy.

I summarized the complicated relationship in my head.

Then stopped wasting emotion on it.

I asked one short question.

“So why did you come today?”

Kim Dong-su raised his head.

He answered with a slight smile.

“Lin is going to start working at a sewing factory in Guro.”

After a short breath, he continued.

“We came to greet you because she got the job.”

I nodded casually.

“Good.”

Then I added,

“If there’s a problem from now on, tell me before it gets serious.”

Only then did Lin let out a relieved breath.

She quietly bowed her head.

Kim Dong-su also lowered his head in thanks.

Lin smiled again.

The tension had finally left her face.

Kim Dong-su bowed as well.

I quietly watched the two of them.

I didn’t miss the subtle atmosphere between them.

The changes in their expressions.

Even their small breaths.

Sunlight stretched across the desk.

The ticking of the wall clock sounded unusually clear.

In the distance, a car horn faintly mixed with the sound.

I slowly leaned back in my chair.

Every human relationship inside this room felt like a small part moving inside a larger system.

My next plans were already flowing rapidly through my head.

Even the unstable relationship between Kim Dong-su and Lin was just another small problem that would eventually need to be handled inside my system.

I had no intention of becoming a good person.

But the people inside my fence...

I would protect them.

And I would use them thoroughly, all the way to the end.

That was how I survived.

Inside Jo Sun-ja’s office.

Manager Park entered and lightly bowed.

“Madam, you called?”

His voice was low.

It carried both tension and respect.

Jo Sun-ja stared out the window for a long time before slowly turning around.

Deep wrinkles covered her face.

Heavy exhaustion and sharpness mixed in her eyes.

For a brief moment, hesitation and complicated emotion passed through her gaze.

Then she hid everything unnecessary again.

A light drizzle fell outside.

Faint moonlight slipped beneath the window frame.

In that atmosphere, she looked even older.

But her eyes remained sharp.

“Manager Park.”

She called to him quietly.

Then spoke again.

“What did you do with that bastard President Kang?”

Her voice was heavy.

The weight inside the question pressed down on the room.

Manager Park took a breath before answering.

He briefly lowered his eyes.

There was a feeling that Jo Sun-ja already knew what answer she would hear.

Manager Park slightly hunched his shoulders and spoke.

“I sent him to a salt farm in Sinan. He’ll make salt until he repays every last bit of his debt, Madam.”

Jo Sun-ja gave the slightest nod.

A faint smile touched her lips.

“Good. That’s about right.”

She paused.

“People who think life is easy should taste some salt.”

Manager Park pressed his lips together.

The air inside the room became even heavier.

A brief silence passed between them.

The sound of rain outside deepened the tension.

Jo Sun-ja’s fingertips paused slightly as she lifted her teacup.

She slowly took a sip.

The scent of tea spread softly again.

She placed the cup down.

“Manager Park.”

Her voice was low.

“About Taesan...”

She stopped.

Something shifted in her eyes.

“If he really is my grandson...”

Then she continued.

“What should I do?”

It was an unexpected question.

Manager Park’s eyes widened slightly.

But he quickly composed himself.

Jo Sun-ja’s voice was gentle.

There was serious thought inside it.

Expectation.

And even a little anxiety.

Manager Park carefully put down his cup.

After a breath, he spoke.

“Madam.”

His voice was calm.

“I acknowledge Taesan’s ability too.”

He continued.

“But... you should test him a little more.”

Jo Sun-ja looked at him.

Manager Park slowly breathed out and finished.

“Honestly, it’s still too early to hand him the whole game.”

His voice was quiet but firm.

Between Jo Sun-ja and Manager Park lay decades of silence and trust.

The quiet room carried the old atmosphere of two people who had survived countless years together.

Jo Sun-ja looked at Manager Park for a while.

Something flashed in her eyes.

Then she slowly nodded.

“You’re right. I should test him once.”

Her voice became firm with decision.

At that moment, she slowly opened a drawer.

A heavy scraping sound spread across the desk.

She pulled out three thick envelopes.

Then quietly placed them on the table.

The envelopes carried the smell of old paper and money.

Age and cash clung to them.

Anyone could tell they weren’t ordinary documents.

Manager Park looked at their thickness.

He immediately sensed that the stories inside them were heavy.

Jo Sun-ja spoke slowly.

“Three garbage debts.”

Her finger lightly tapped the envelopes.

“The first belongs to a man who has absolutely no intention of repaying.”

She paused.

“The second belongs to a woman whose life collapsed because of her husband’s cancer treatment.”

Her voice trembled slightly.

“The last one is a debt inherited by a seven-year-old child from his father.”

Manager Park unconsciously rested his fingertips on the envelopes.

He couldn’t help imagining the weight of those lives behind the paper.

He stared down.

A very quiet sigh escaped him.

“There’s no one who can collect all three of these, Madam.”

His voice was firm, but resignation was mixed into it.