71 Episode 71 - Toward Buyeo, Part III (2/2)
”There are 255, so monthly interest rates 102 red-grade monster stones. Pay back 357 after a month. If you don't pay it back and move on to next month, you'll have to pay back 499.8. In three months, 700.”
”Wait a minute. What is that calculation method? That interest rate is ridiculous!”
”I just made a suggestion. Whether you accept it or not, that's your right. Complaints about interest rates should be made either through an international lawyer or through the U.S. Ambassador to Korea.”
She shut her mouth tight. Her thoughts became complicated.
Surely this was an opportunity. If she ate more than 250 monster stones right now, her abilities would greatly increase. Not only basic abilities, but special abilities would rise significantly.
She was the A-ranked player with Energy, and the merit that could be gained from the elevation of her basic abilities was higher than anyone else.
The problem was the interest rate of forty percent. In order to collect 357 monster stones per month, she had to hunt more than twelve monsters a day!
'I can do it.'
She faced the monster under his orders and killed it. Killing about ten monsters a day was not difficult. No, if she ate these monster stones, a red monster could not be an enemy to her.
But monsters were not things she could see when she wanted to see them, were they?
Most of all, her activities were now tied to his activities. If he stayed still, she should also stay still.
'But I have to do it now if I want to do it.'
The trouble was that she had to take the offer now. Kim Tae-hoon, was not a human being that the word ”negotiation” would work on. If she wanted to cut forty percent to thirty percent, he would increase the interest rate to fifty percent. If she wanted to accept his offer, accepting it at this moment was the least expensive way to pay.
'That's all?' So, at this moment she went all in. ”Don't you have orange or yellow ones, other than red ones?”
He smiled at the words.
She pressed again, ”I hope you will give me more. I want to borrow about 300, not 255.”
He asked about her ever-growing scale. ”What are you going to do if you can't pay it back?”
”Take them from my father, and you'd get paid anyway?”
At those words, he no longer asked.
'She is right.' She would never be able to pay it back. He would somehow get it. If something happened that couldn't be paid back, it would only be if she died.
Therefore, he was willing to accept it. He took out a leather case about the size of an eyeglass case from his Twin-head Ogre leather jacket. He put what was inside on his palm. Three orange monster stones appeared.
”The orange-grade interest rate is three times higher.”
He had already finished his intake of them. He brought them in case he needed to make transactions.
The only money in this world now were cigarettes, bullets, and monster stones.
”And three hundred Monster Stones… forty-five deficient.”
In addition, he was willing to meet her demands.
”… If you wait for one hour, I will prepare them.”
Gulp! She swallowed at the sight. Of course, the saliva this time was not mouth-watering.
9.
Buyeo District, South Chungcheong Province...
In front of them, the Geumgang River passed by, and the place with Mt. Buso and Mt. Geumseong behind them was beautiful and cozy.
That was at least four months ago. Buyeo District, when it met the winter, felt peaceful even when the snow fell, rather than cold. But since the appearance of monsters, Buyeo had become a place to describe as peace.ful. Even after the monsters were cleaned out to some extent, Buyeo was still not peaceful.
”Work quickly!”
”Don't think you're goofing off, if you don't want to die, for example.”
People were constantly plowing up land where there were originally skating, baseball, and soccer fields, using shovels and pickaxes. Soldiers in uniform were pointing their guns at the people.
It was a scene of forced labor that could only be seen in North Korea or Africa in the past. It was also a terrible scene.
”Uh-uh-uh…” As soon as a man with all skin and bones collapsed without being able to keep up with his pickaxing, the gunman approached the man.
”Tut.” The gunman clicked his tongue briefly as soon as he saw the fallen man foaming at the mouth and showing only the whites of his eyes.
Then he shouted at the crowd, whose eyes were focused on him. ”I don't know how many times we've warned you, but if you're going to fall, you'd better finish your work before you fall down!”
Taang! A single shot rang after the shout.
The man who fell down on the ground like a corpse became a real corpse. People shuddered at the sight. But their eyes did not change. Their eyes were already so dull that they couldn't get any worse.
The same was true of the man who made a dead body with a single shot. The man took out a pack of cigarettes straight on the spot and lit it from a lighter while holding it in his mouth.
Then he said to himself in a low voice. ”It's hard to run a farm. In this way, we are going to have to grow more graves.”
A companion approached the man. ”Hey, give me a cigarette.”
The man said to his companion, who asked for a cigarette as soon as he arrived, shooting him a look as terrifying as a gun. ”You're a fucking shit.”
”A cigarette, no, only one drag!”
”Fuck you!”
”You're really too much.”
”Too much? Then, what are you going to give me?”
”Do you want my turn? Do you want to take my place today?”
With the words, the man pretended to move his waist back and forth. But the man who smoked did not even show interest.
”How about this one? A glass of Soju.”
At that word Soju changed his gaze. ”Do you have Soju?”
”I robbed a supermarket in the mountain and found a Soju box. Of course, I kept one hidden.”
The man who was holding a cigarette gave it to his companion. His companion quivered after smoking.
”Well, I didn't smoke before this had happened, but now I'm going to die without this.”
”More than that, where did you hide it? You're not fucking me, are you?”
”That's not a lie. I have to get rid of it tonight anyway. The report is over, and they'll probably come from Nonsan the day after tomorrow. If I get caught, then it's over.”
”The bastards, we're working hard, but they take everything. Damn Stigmata! If I had had a Stigmata on the back of my hand…”
The man who was speaking stopped and looked up at the sky. ”I can't wait until night.” He wanted the night to come.
Their conversation went far away into the ears of a man who was breathing quietly under the Geumgang River. The man who was eavesdropping also waited for the night to come.
Very soon, the night that everyone waited for came.