March Novel (Completed) - Chapter 24

“Employment contract? When did I ever sign such a thing?”

“You signed it when your debt was transferred! Don’t you remember?”

The boss raged, asking if Sehwa was trying to make him out to be an evil employer. Sehwa narrowed his eyes, watching his show. Yes, it was a show. A truly enraged boss didn’t act like that. He was doing it on purpose.

“Here, look.”

The thick ledger was thrown onto the table with a thud. Sehwa winced and picked up the old bundle of papers. Just his luck, it was thrown towards the pile of drugs, and white powder, like bone dust, settled into the cracks of the brittle, yellowed paper.

Inside the old ledger was Sehwa’s entire life. From the money borrowed by a father he had never seen, to all the debts he had accumulated, the damned promissory notes that had thrown Sehwa into an inferno were all tangled and neatly stacked.

“What about this?”

He barely managed to suppress the urge to tear it all apart and asked, and the boss smiled slyly, gesturing with his head.

“Go to the very end.”

Since Sehwa had most recently moved to this House, there was a document assigning all his debts to this boss. There was also a concisely handwritten memo and settlement details, stating how much debt he had to repay and how he would repay it. Next to the monthly repayment amounts, Sehwa’s fingerprint was carefully stamped. He had meticulously written down the amounts precisely and stamped them perfectly within the boxes, leaving no room for misunderstanding, just in case someone tried to nitpick later.

“Did you see it?”

He felt a strange lump in his throat looking at the decreasing amount, and was just staring at that page when the boss interrupted with a sly smile.

“See what?”

“No, not there. In front. No, two more pages. Oh, yeah. There.”

As he flipped through the papers and came to the handwritten memo page, the boss clapped his hands. “Right there,” he said.

“What about this?”

Is there a problem? Sehwa scrutinized the memo with a bewildered expression. Of course, it couldn’t be considered a legal clause since it had an absurd interest rate. Even so, that was the boss’s problem, not his.

“It says here that Lieutenant Kim gave you the money first, and then you handed it over to us. Right?”

“Yes. Why is that…?”

“Look here.”

The boss stretched his mouth to his ears, pointing to a part of the memo.

“All additional profits obtained from the customer, (in parentheses) additional transaction fees, cost of used items, tips, etc. (close parentheses), uh-uh… profits must be pre-deposited to the House and settled after deducting commission.”

“…And?”

“What do you mean, ‘and’! You skimmed the money you received from Lieutenant Kim first, didn’t you? Without giving it to me first.”

“Skimmed?”

“Anyway, you received it first and then sent it back to the House, right? Strictly speaking, that’s a breach of contract, isn’t it?”

“What kind of…”

Sehwa was dumbfounded by the boss’s absurd nitpicking. Of course, he knew such a clause existed. It was a condition imposed to prevent drug makers or employees from skimming any money they received and underreporting profits. Sehwa, until now, had naturally followed the internal rules. After seeing a peer, who he knew, get beaten to death for skimming about 500,000 won from gambling money, he never handled money freely, no matter what else. Of course, he sometimes pocketed small tips, but he had never touched large sums of money with clear designations, like transaction fees.

“You told me to do it that way, sir.”

However, when dealing with Lieutenant Kim, the boss himself had said there was no need to follow regulations. He told him not to leave any traces of money exchanged with the illegal house and to accommodate Lieutenant Kim’s convenience as much as possible.

“Moreover, Lieutenant Kim always verified the amount, so what are you saying now?”

The boss always called Lieutenant Kim whenever he received payment. He was a shrewd man who, while talking about being considerate, even managed to get informal documentation from Lieutenant Kim. But what nonsense was he spouting now? He regularly searched Sehwa’s bank accounts, his lodging, and his frequent haunts, monitoring him for any hidden money.

“No, I was thinking about it last night. Honestly, how can I trust only that document when I didn’t directly witness the transaction? I mean, you could have been playing tricks, right?”

“Boss!”

“After Maejo landed the construction contract this time, I thought about it carefully. It just seemed strange. You’re not the only one selling drugs, and even if you did reel in a lieutenant, the money shouldn’t have been depleted so quickly.”

It seemed that when a person was too angry, no words would come out. Sehwa pressed his forehead and closed his eyes. He felt wronged, enraged, and all sorts of emotions surged, making him dizzy. He could only hear his own ragged breathing in his ears. He was so suffocated, so resentful… he even wondered what it would be like if Gi Taejeong were beside him right now. At least he needed him. He might have immediately taken his side, even if only to get a hold of Lieutenant Kim’s flaws.

“I was so resentful that I was going to take all the fines as written there, cough. What is it, considering Director Gi paid off your debt, and we’ve been like family for so long… I’ll let it slide if you pay just 5% of the transaction fee. You know the House usually takes 30%, right?”

The boss rummaged inside his jacket and pulled out an old calculator.

“Let’s see, rounding off the decimals… it’s 3.78 billion.”

“…What? 3.7 billion?”

“Commissions are deducted daily, and late fees apply to that too. You’ve been skimming Lieutenant Kim’s payments for over two years now.”

Sehwa fumbled with the abacus in his head. It was an absurd but possible amount. If late fees were applied to the commission, then interest would be applied to that amount the next day, and then interest would be applied to the entire amount again the day after… That’s how private loans and loan sharks inflated their size. Because of that damned interest, he had been toiling his entire life and still couldn’t pay off his debt.

“Ha…”

He was so dumbfounded that he kept letting out hollow laughs. No wonder he had agreed so readily when Sehwa said he was quitting. It seemed he had this hidden agenda. To present a new shackle once the debt was paid off. To throw him back into the mud just when he was full of dreams.

“Still, be grateful. If it weren’t for Lieutenant Kim, you wouldn’t have had any way to get money anyway. I could have locked you up somewhere and made you take customers until you died.”

“…Do it again.”

“Do what again?”

“Let’s recalculate accurately.”

“What?”

“If you’re going to be like that, then I should also properly settle the brokerage fees for connecting customers who came looking for me with the prostitutes. It’s right here. ‘When developing new business outside of assigned duties with the assistance of this House, 10% of the transaction fee shall be separately settled in commendation of the effort.’”

It wasn’t that Sehwa didn’t know about this clause all this time. He had told the accountant and even the senior manager several times. But all he got back was a scolding to be more mindful, and sometimes, even beatings. No one listened to him, and he was so scared and resentful that Sehwa eventually gave up. Still, he only missed out on the money the House should have given him; he was still receiving a small portion of the brokerage fees from the prostitutes. He had consoled himself, thinking that it was better than nothing, since he was cleverly paying off his debt faster than others.

But with the boss, that bastard, acting so petty, Sehwa couldn’t take it anymore. If he had just told him he couldn’t leave and still had more debt to pay when he first said he was quitting, he wouldn’t have been this angry. It was infuriating that he came belatedly with such nonsense only after Gi Taejeong had paid off his debt of about 200 million won.

“How dare this bastard talk back so brazenly!”

“Why? You said to follow the contract, didn’t you? And let’s be clear. What? No way to get money? How much money have I earned for this place all this time…!”

Before he could finish his sentence, the boss slapped Sehwa hard across the cheek.

“This bastard, I’ve been too lenient with you, how dare you look at me like that! Huh?”

He slapped him with such force that his words broke off with each breath.

“Are you and I the same? Are we the same?!”

“What the f*ck, what’s the difference?!”

“What? F*ck?! Is this bastard cursing at me now?”

He spat what was in his mouth onto the floor. He thought it was saliva, but it was bright red blood. He must have been injured from being hit in the middle of yelling. But so what? What if his mouth was torn a little? Sehwa, with a face swollen like he had mumps, screamed back.

“No, I’m not done. 3.78 billion? Okay, I’ll pay for it. I’ll pay for it. So, recalculate the money I earned for you, and the brokerage fees I should have rightfully taken, with interest.”

“This bastard, still…!”

This time, the boss threw a punch. Sehwa didn’t even blink. Hit me if you’re going to. He stood there, staring directly at the thick gold ring with dangling large jewels, when,

“Boss.”

Suddenly, a voice like a hallucination was heard. A soft yet powerful, deep, low voice.

“What brings you here?”

It was Gi Taejeong.