Chapter 7

Chapter 7

"I'm trying to give this man a new life, Grandma."

Jo Sun-ja grabbed the chair and burst into laughter.

"You're a completely reckless brat! Hohoho!"

"Things just became urgent. Please find me a funeral hall."

The moment I finished, Jo Sun-ja called Manager Park.

"Manager Park."

"Yes, Boss."

"Give the brat exactly what he asks for."

"Yes. Understood."

Manager Park bowed his head.

He still looked completely confused, but he followed the order.

Jo Sun-ja looked back at me and laughed.

"Even if that brat isn't my grandson, he's something special. I knew I had a good eye for people. Hohoho!"

She didn't sound like she was joking.

I thought to myself that even if I wasn't Jo Sun-ja's grandson, I could probably still get a job at this company.

At least in this industry, my ability would be extremely useful.

Private lending really is the job best suited for my supernatural ability.

Credit.

Lies.

Predicting someone's financial future.

None of those variables could fool my eyes.

"Taesan."

"Yes, Grandma."

"You're a born schemer. A real one! How are you so good at fake crying?"

"Mr. Kim Dong-su's life is just too tragic."

When I answered, Jo Sun-ja nodded.

Whether she thought I was being sincere or acting, even she stopped laughing for a moment.

The truth was, I genuinely felt sorry for Kim Dong-su.

Yeah. Love really is a sin.

Especially middle-aged love.

Sometimes, it was poison.

A funeral hall in Yeongdeungpo.

"You're not even doing the body preparation?"

The funeral hall operations manager asked.

Manager Park glanced at me and shook his head slightly.

He was about to explain when I spoke first.

"My father worked on a deep-sea fishing vessel. He was swept off the deck by a wave during operations and went missing at sea."

The manager nodded.

Then muttered,

"They killed him."

"What?"

I instinctively asked back.

He answered calmly.

"That kind of thing happens all the time on deep-sea vessels. Sometimes they could save someone, but they don't. They don't want to lose time and wages. There are cases where they don't even try to rescue someone on purpose. If that's what happened, then naturally there won't be a body to prepare."

His words brought back memories from before my regression.

I had also worked on a deep-sea fishing vessel once.

It was winter.

The ship constantly shook in rough waves.

The cold cracked the skin on my fingertips.

One night, a crew member disappeared.

He had been an undocumented foreigner living in Korea.

We had gotten along pretty well.

During operations, he accidentally fell into the sea.

But neither the captain nor the deck boss stopped the work to rescue him.

If it had been me...

They probably wouldn't have rescued me either.

What a rotten world.

The more you knew about the world, the more frightening it became.

Anyway, what the operations manager said wasn't wrong.

I nodded without realizing it.

"How much does a funeral here cost?"

The moment I asked, the manager recited the procedure like he had said it thousands of times.

"The standard room is 2.5 million won. Food is calculated for three hundred mourners. Payment is upfront."

"How much per person?"

"Five thousand won."

I calculated quickly.

Food would cost 1.5 million won.

The funeral room would cost 2.5 million.

Four million won total.

But neither I nor Kim Dong-su had that kind of money.

At the moment, even one hundred thousand won in cash would be difficult.

"Sir, can we pay after we receive the condolence money?"

"Absolutely not."

The manager cut me off immediately.

I carefully asked again.

"Aren't most funeral halls paid afterward?"

This seemed strange.

"Usually, yes. But this is Yeongdeungpo."

Manager Park also frowned silently.

What does Yeongdeungpo have to do with it?

The manager continued.

"Why?"

"Because there are plenty of animals who abandon the corpse and run away with the condolence money. Sometimes the funeral itself becomes one last scam using the dead person as bait. That's why we have no choice but to take payment first here. For Chinese families, we even charge an extra body-disposal deposit. You don't look Chinese, so I'll leave that out. Just pay the four million won first."

I learned yet another frightening fact about funeral halls.

"Sir, could you give us a discount? As you can see, I don't have much money."

"Sorry."

"Then I'd like to reduce the food cost. And if possible, could we reuse the funeral wreaths for the memorial altar?"

The owner glanced at me.

His eyes practically said,

I've seen all kinds of lunatics, but you're a new one.

"You want to reuse funeral wreaths for your father's memorial altar?"

"When I came in, I noticed the funeral in Room 201 was wrapping up. Couldn't we borrow theirs for a little while?"

Silence.

The funeral employee sighed and shook his head.

Manager Park looked at me like he was checking whether I had genuinely lost my mind.

"Are you really that poor?"

"Yes. I just want to give my father a funeral. Sob... sob..."

I lowered my head and started crying.

To stimulate my tears, I pulled up the most painful memories from my past.

One scene after another.

Soon, tears were streaming down my face.

"Tsk, tsk. Fine. We'll do it. Stop crying. I've seen plenty of poor bereaved families, but this is a first."

"Thank you. And..."

"What now?"

"Could we reduce the food cost a little too?"

The manager narrowed his eyes.

Then he spoke slowly.

"How exactly do you expect me to cut funeral food costs? The standard meal is spicy beef soup, boiled pork head meat, and rice cakes. That's the minimum. You need that much for it to look proper."

"I know."

"Then why are you doing this?"

"Take the bracken out of the spicy beef soup. I'm begging you."

If necessary, I was prepared to cry again.

I lowered my head slightly and waited for the right timing.

The manager suddenly stared at me.

"W-What?"

"Or use Chinese bracken."

Even I was slightly surprised after saying it.

I'd just been genuinely crying a moment ago.

The joke could have ruined everything.

The manager silently stared at me.

His lips pressed tightly together.

He slowly turned his head.

The muscles in his face had stiffened.

He was clearly holding back his anger.

But he didn't immediately explode.

Why?

Probably because Manager Park was standing beside me.

Manager Park wore a neat shirt and carried a business card case.

At a glance, he didn't look like some clueless student or ordinary customer.

He looked like someone's representative.

That was probably why the funeral hall owner didn't react recklessly.

He probably wanted to curse at me.

But with Manager Park there, he couldn't easily do it.

I didn't waste the opening.

"Then let's settle it like this. We'll borrow the funeral wreaths, and we'll just adjust the bracken in the food."

The manager didn't answer.

He interlocked his fingers and closed his eyes.

His lips moved once, but he swallowed whatever he wanted to say.

Instead, he gave a deep sigh and looked up at the ceiling.

I decided to interpret that as agreement.

"Let's do what the chief mourner says and remove the bracken. How much can you discount it?"

Manager Park finally spoke.

His voice was low.

His face looked more resigned than anything else.

The funeral hall owner finally lifted his hand from the calculator.

"Manager Park, why are you doing this too?"

"Making some money is better than leaving an empty funeral room unused. You still need to pay your interest."

The owner's expression twitched.

That sentence clearly hit a nerve.

His gaze wavered.

His fingers stopped.

Only then did I understand.

This man had been cautious around Manager Park from the moment we arrived.

Manager Park wasn't just a helper.

He apparently had some influence in this neighborhood.

Even funeral halls ultimately moved according to money.

"Hmm."

The funeral hall owner gave a low groan.

"Fine. We'll remove the bracken."

"Good. Let's do that."

He immediately tapped on his calculator.

Numbers flashed across the screen.

3.4 million won.

"Pay 3.4 million won first."

The owner looked at me.

I turned toward Manager Park.

"Why are you looking at me?"

"You have money, right?"

Manager Park's eyes widened.

The corner of his mouth twitched.

There was a brief silence.

Then that familiar professional tone appeared instantly.

"Do you require a loan of 3.4 million won, valued customer~?"

Wow.

I was genuinely impressed.

His completely expressionless face changed with a single sentence.

This was why loan sharks were frightening.

Their attitude could change instantly.

Their voice changed perfectly to match the business situation.

A moment ago, he had been my companion.

Now he was the employee behind a private lending counter.

"If you borrow 3.4 million won, we deduct ten percent upfront interest, so you'll only receive 3.06 million. Then you can't pay for the funeral. Which means you'll need to borrow four million won instead. You understand, right?"

I slowly nodded.

"Manager Park, you really have an amazing professional spirit."

"It's less about professional spirit and more about being able to recognize people and situations where they have no choice but to borrow money."

There was both pride and coldness in his words.

I had to admit it.

Manager Park had a nose for it.

Not just a person's financial situation.

He also calculated their psychology and circumstances.

Once he smelled debt, he never let go.

"Lend it to us."

Kim Dong-su spoke from beside me.

His voice was low but clear.

He looked like someone who had already let go of everything.

At the same time, his attitude said he wouldn't run.

Kim Dong-su owed the private lending office 45 million won.

If this plan succeeded, thirty percent of that would be mine.

13.5 million won.