Water of the Womb Ch22

I could tell that Han Jungho was pleased by my statement. His eyes sparkled with malice as he ushered me upstairs into the office.

"This is the right thing to do, Baek Jaehyun," he gloated, as he retrieved several documents across the filing cabinets. I had no idea that gangsters did so much paperwork. I stared blankly at them as he laid them down in front of me. He seemed to be going over some terms and conditions, but my head was still too dizzy to take it in.

"How much do we still owe?" I interjected. I just wanted to get this over and done with.

"Don't interrupt," growled his lackey.

Jungho held up his hand to stop the lackey. "Our client can ask questions. He's making a big, responsible, decision to take on this debt."

The way he kept praising my current action dripped with venomous persuasion. Even in my dazed state, I could hear it. Despite knowing it was intended to seduce me into going through with it, his words encouraged the idea that I was in fact doing the right thing.

"The remaining principal and compounded interest is 47 million, 717 thousand. And some." He wrote the number down for me. I stared at the figure in numbed disbelief. After paying them bi-weekly for almost six months, we barely whittled down less than 3 million won off the debt we owed.

"We've been paying for six months. How is that possible?" I said, feeling hollow.

"You were doing a good job of keeping just over the interest. You might have paid it off in a year's time if you had continued that way." Jungho said. "But about a month ago, your father suddenly stopped keeping up with interest again. Then he missed a week. So we paid him a visit. And unfortunately, he missed the week again while he rested. So you lost considerable progress on that compounded principal."

I should have been in despair, but that numbness that I had felt the day I left my brother returned quickly. I felt distant and calm. "Just how much interest do you charge?" I found myself asking, with surprising resilience.

"It's very reasonable, especially when compared to some of the Japanese guys. They charge up to 50% fortnightly. But we want our clients to be able to pay off their debts. We only compound 10% interest weekly," Jungho said, in a slimily practiced 'professional' voice. His imitation of a businessman negotiating a contract filled me with disgust.

At 10% interest, I would need to pay at least 4.8 million a week just to keep up with interest. Working for Do Hoon, I had only made a third of that. If our initial starting debt was 50 million, my family would have had to pay 5 million a week to keep afloat of the interest so it didn't compound and consume us.

If I hadn't given my father the 22 million of my savings, we would have never had the ability to even begin to keep up with the interest payments.

The thought chilled me despite how distant I felt in that moment. I didn't want to think about how much compounded interest we would have accrued without it. The bloody image flashed briefly in my mind before I could shove it down.

My mother could have killed us all.

I kept the panic compressed within. It hadn't happened. I had saved us from disaster then. I could do it again.

"I can pay 8 million today," I said, finally. There was an ATM just outside that I could withdraw the money from my crypto account from. "I just need to withdraw a little more."

Jungho's eyes lit up with glee. "I knew you were dependable, Jaehyun-a. I'm going to enjoy working with you." He snapped his fingers at his goon. "Escort him."

The one-armed lackey obeyed, and he stood over me, breathing down my back the whole time as I withdrew 2 million from my account. It would have terrified the me of two weeks ago, but somehow today I just felt irritated at his closeness.

I brought the entire sum up to Han Jungho so he could count it out. For such a large sum, he used a counter, unlike last time when he had simply counted it in his hands. It clicked satisfyingly through the bills until it confirmed the total amount: a perfect 8 million.

Jungho grinned like a hunting wolf. "You're a man of means, Baek Jaehyun. Where did you get this money?"

"Does it matter? It's here," I said, almost fiercely. I half expected to be struck for my insolence but instead, Jungho burst into hearty laughter.

"Looks like you've grown some balls since the last time you were here," he said. The payment today had put him into a good mood. "That's good, that's good. Now sign here."

I signed wherever he pointed until it was done. Now the debt was mine. But unlike my father, I was going to pay it off, as quickly as I could. With our business concluded, I stood up to go. Jungho saw me to the door. Before I left, he patted me on the back.

"Don't forget, at least 3 million next week," Jungho reminded me, as if he was doing me a favor by doing so.

I just nodded numbly. Jungho approved at my continued compliance.

"Baek Jaehyun, you understand responsibility. Obligation. Unlike that bastard brother of yours. If only Taejun had half the sense you did," he rumbled in satisfaction.

I looked at him sharply. He knew what he was doing. No one had ever favorably compared me to my brother.

I left before I could let his cloyingly sycophantic words settle.

—-----------

I took the metro back. I might have been insane last night, but this morning I didn't feel insane enough to walk all the way back to Inner Seoul. On the walk from the subway to the hangout, I felt my phone buzz with an incoming text.

Apparently I had missed an absolute truckload of calls and texts from Seol-hee last night, then several from Sungmin. Seol-hee must have told him about how I had fled her house in a frenzy.

As I was looking at the messages wondering how to answer what had happened, I got another call. Surprisingly, the caller ID said it was Eunsoo. I answered it.

"What do you want," I asked irritably. I was annoyed that he had given me the pills last night that had caused me to completely go ballistic.

"Heol! He answered! Told you guys he was fine." A clamor of reprimands chased him back to the phone. "Hey, Jae. Where are you?"

"I'm on my way back to the garage," I answered tersely. My head was starting to pound, and I desperately just wanted to lay down and sleep it off.

Eunsoo relayed my answer to whoever was with him. "Okay, that's good. Are you ok?"

"I'm fine," I grumbled.

"You sound hungover," he chuckled. "We'll head over there too then."

-------------------

I arrived to the hangout first, and flopped down onto the couch. Maybe I could catch some sleep before they all got there. I closed my eyes.

It felt like an instant (and maybe it was) before someone shook me awake roughly. It was Sungmin. I sat up miserably and looked at him. He looked as miserable as I felt. Clearly he would also rather be sleeping. "Where have you been, Jaehyun-nom?" he growled. "Seol-hee's been calling me since 4 AM asking me to find you."

"What time is it now?"

"It's 11."

"You just ran out in the middle of the night, tripping out," Seol-hee exclaimed.

"Yeah well, I'm fine now," I replied, somewhat guiltily.

"Did you drive your goddamn Eclipse? It's missing." I didn't answer, but Sungmin knew that meant yes. "Were you out of your goddamn mind? You could have gotten yourself killed or arrested! Eunsoo told me you did a fucking double drop right off the bat. Have you ever even done e before?"

"Well then he shouldn't have given me two," I glared at him over Sungmin's shoulder.

Sungmin also turned to glare at Eunsoo, who raised his hands in surrender and backed away. "I'll deal with you later," he growled at Eunsoo. He turned back to me. "Where's your car?"

"Gone," I said tersely.

"Gone, as in totalled?!"

"No. I just… gave it back."

Sungmin fixed me with a blank stare. He was the only one who knew who I had stolen it from. Even if he didn't know the reason, he knew the guilt I had eventually remembered to feel over it. "Fine," he said finally. "Whatever. You have your Z now."

Seol-hee sunk down next to me on the couch and gave me a weird side hug. "I'm just glad you're alright," she said shakily.

Sungmin pulled me away from her. "Don't do that, Seol-hee. We had no idea where you were all night. I had no idea what stupid thing you could have run off to do."

"You let Hoojin run off," I replied childishly, annoyed that I had been pulled away from Seol-hee.

"Oh yeah, you want to know what happened to Hoojin?" Sungmin snapped at me. I froze. "LC texted me. So your narc brother did show up to the meet. And our idiot Hoojin did too. And you were right, he fucking ate shit. And now he's sitting in a goddamn federal jail cell!"

"What?! Just for trying to punch a NIS agent?" This was not good news at all. Apart from Hoojin being arrested, he could also spill the beans on me in a vindictive rage.

"Oh yeah well, your narc brother also lived up to his job description, and searched Hoojin and his car. And apparently Hoojin keeps his stash in his glove compartment like a goddamn moron!"

I groaned. How was my asshole brother so good at making things worse, even when we weren't together?!

"What'll happen to Hoojin?" I sputtered.

"Probably a fine and some quality time with his dad in jail," Sungmin said. He groaned and rubbed his temples. It must have been a stressful night for him. "What a goddamn night!"

"I think you should try to sleep it off," Eunsoo said appeasingly. "Deal with it later?"

Sungmin glared at him. "You know what? That is what I'm going to do. In the comfort of my own home. If you want to fuck up the rest of your weekend, do it without me."

He stormed off, and despite telling me I was a dumbass for trying to drive in my current state, we heard his WRX growl and speed out of the garage.

Eunsoo, Ryusuke, Seol-hee, and I stared at each other blankly. I hadn't even noticed Ryusuke in all the conversation. He had just been standing there shell shocked and silent the whole time.

Eunsoo groaned and collapsed onto the couch. "I vote we all sleep for now," he said, patting the couch next to him to beckon Ryu over.

No one disagreed.

—--------------

It was evening by the time I woke up. To my surprise, Seol-hee was cuddled up against me, despite there being plenty of room on the couch set to accommodate all four of us pretty comfortably. Her arm was thrown over my chest. As much as I would have liked to lay there with her some more, I was uncomfortably aware of how badly I wanted a shower. I felt sticky against Seol-hee, and I was sure I reeked of sweat and alcohol.

I tried to ease myself out from under her gently so as not to wake her, but it didn't work. Seol-hee murmured sleepily as I jostled her awake, then she lifted her head and blinked at me.

Her hair was messy from sleep and clubbing, and I couldn't help smiling a little at how it looked. "Where are you going?" she mumbled.

"Just to take a shower," I said, laying a little kiss on her forehead. "I'll be right back." Eunsoo and Ryusuke were gone, hopefully back to their respective homes.

"Can I come with?" she asked cheekily.

I chuckled a little. She was just as insatiable as I was. "Sure."

She stretched like a cat. "You go in first, I'll join you in a minute."

I was reaching for the bathroom door's knob when it suddenly swung inwards and Eunsoo popped out, his hair still slightly wet.

"Oh hey, you're up. Shower's all yours. Ryusuke went to get some food and a change of clothes. You have the right idea keeping all your stuff here. I should leave some stuff here too," he chattered happily. Clearly he was feeling reinvigorated after the sleep and the shower.

I just blinked blearily at him.

"I used your shampoo," he added. "It's crap. Get something from Nature Republic or Ryeo next time."

"Are you living here?" Seol-hee asked in surprise.

"Just! Get!" I shoved him out of the way so I could shower. With Eunsoo around, Seol-hee and my shower plans had popped like soap bubbles.

Despite that, as I stepped into the shower, I could hear a commotion just outside, and Eunsoo protesting.

"Oh hell no, noona! I'm still here, goddammit!"

—--------------

Ryusuke returned with fried chicken and tteokbokki after Seol-hee finished her shower. "Nice, everyone's up," he said brightly. "Eunsoo, help me get the drinks from the car."

"You want to drink more?" I said in bafflement. "After last night?!"

Ryusuke laughed nervously at my reaction. "Uh… you can't have chicken without beer?"

You definitely could, but I felt bad at snapping at Ryu, who was always only ever trying to help, and a bit on the nervous side.

He had brought what originally looked like an obscene amount of food for just four people, but apparently we were all starving, because we mowed through it all effortlessly.

"So Sungmin never came back?" Ryusuke asked.

"No, and he didn't even answer my texts," Eunsoo said.

"Then what should we do?" Seol-hee asked.

I finished the last of my can and crushed it in my hand. I was in a bad mood still. "You guys just always do whatever he says?"

"No," said Eunsoo.

"Yes," said Ryusuke.

"I mean, just on the weekends he usually coordinates whether we're going to the meet, or whatever else," Seol-hee explained. "And after yesterday, none of us know what to do."

We all picked at our thoughts and the remnants of food on the table for a while.

"Well," Ryusuke said, surprising us all. "I still don't understand. If Jaehyun hasn't actually done anything wrong, why do we need to hide him from his brother anyways?"

I looked at him.

He continued. "His brother might be NIS, but that doesn't mean he can just kidnap people against their will. You could just tell him you don't want to go to Beijing? He can't physically or legally force you to go."

"You're forgetting about the loan sharks, idiot," Eunsoo said.

I felt idiotic for not realizing it immediately. I really didn't have a reason to hide anymore. "Actually," I said. "I sorted it out with them this morning."

All three of them exclaimed into various versions of 'are you crazy!', but stopped at my glare.

"Did you pay it all off?"

"No, but I've taken responsibility of the debt." I explained to them what had happened this morning. Somehow I felt comfortable enough with all of them to even include the numbers.

"You'd never have be able to pay off that debt on your old salary," Ryusuke said. He and Eunsoo both looked thoughtful. Maybe their mental math was better than mine. He continued, more excitedly this time, "But if you can pay 8 mil every week, you'll be able to pay it off in about two months."

Just two months? When I had run away that night, it had seemed like such an impossible task to ever pay it off with the gangster's predatory loan terms. Now it seemed entirely possible.

"But that means you have to win a fucking ton of races," Eunsoo said, bringing reality back. "Why don't I just help you pay it off?"

I was touched that he had offered, but I could never accept that. I decided to play it off with a joke. "Yeah? What interest would you charge me?"

"Does 50% a week sound fair?" he joked.

"Damn! What are you, a yakuza?" We laughed at the banter, but I had to be realistic. Even if Eunsoo and I had become pretty good friends in the short time we had known each other, I could never allow myself to take advantage of him like that. "But no. I don't want to owe you either."

"You could pay me back over time, but less the interest," he insisted.

"I want to do it by myself," I said. For some reason I wanted to stand my ground, to do it even with the gang's unfair advantage. It was probably idiotic, but for some reason I wanted to do it, almost out of some sort of obligation. "I want to know that I can."

"You're a dumbass," Eunsoo lamented. "But I can kind of understand. Just… let us help if you can't meet the interest."

"Sure." I had no intention of letting that happen.

Seol-hee probably had about the same amount of mental math I had, and had seemed fairly lost in the conversation about the debt, but now she spoke up cheerily. "Ok! Now all we have to do is tell off your narc brother, and everything's sorted!"

If only it were that easy to tell off my narc brother.