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TL: This chapter is divided into 2 because it was too long.
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Choi Kangmin looked at his cell phone clock with an anxious look, while standing at the cashier of the convenience store.
– It’s already 9:55am.
“Why aren’t you coming? I have an appointment with a private shark loan at 10am. What if my organs will be sold and be pushed on Han river as a corpse?”
His heart was beating loudly.
Kangmin opened his cell phone contact and tap “recent call.”
-Convenience store owner (8)
There were eight phone calls tried. Kangmin called the boss again.
The boss answered within five beeps.
“Hey, Choi Kangmin. I told you I was on my way!”
“Boss, my shift time was going to end at 8 o’clock. I told you I had an urgent appointment today. If I am late I will be going to die like this!”
“Are you the only one busy? I’m busy too! And I’m dying too!”
“Boss!”
The boss hung up the phone.
“What a jerk!”
Kangmin wanted to leave the convenience store regardless of his part-time job. But he couldn’t. Today is payday and he had to receive the money and give it to the shark loan.
Five minutes later, the boss entered the convenience store with a red face.
“Welcome…”
Kangmin stiffened his face looking at the owner’s face with gray hair.
“Hey, you punk. I told you I was coming! Why are you calling me like that?”
As soon as the boss came, he yelled at Kangmin.
Kangmin was speechless. It was himself who wanted to shout now.
He wanted to grab him by the collar right away, but he didn’t have time. Kangmin had to run.
“Take over quickly.”
Kangmin said and showed the amount in the screen and the cash matches.
The boss didn’t bother looking at it and pointed his finger at the display stand.
“Didn’t you clean up last night? What’s this dust?”
“I cleaned up.”
“Then, what’s this dust?”
Kangmin’s face turned red. The boss was deliberately nitpicking now. He did it on purpose knowing his situation.
“You punk!”
He wanted to quit this place right away, but this convenience store paid the most part-time jobs at night nearby.
Kangmin clenched his fist tightly and replied.
“I’ll wipe more this evening. I’m busy, so please pay me my salary.”
“I can’t believe you’re asking for a salary while working like this. Really… You are really like a beggar.”
The boss ‘tsk’ his tongue and transferred the account with his cell phone as if he didn’t like it.
“Thank you, boss.”
Kangmin took off his apron from the convenience store and left immediately.
As he closed the door, he heard the owner’s voice.
“Why is the part-timer hurrying the boss to come? This is how you grow without parents.”
Kangmin ran, biting his lips until they bleed.
He had to run. The place he had to go now was a scary place and he will be meeting people that was incomparable to the convenience store owner.
* * *
Kangmin opened the office door with “happiness loan” written and entered.
No one was seen in the office except for one female employee. The female employee was chewing gum and filing her nails.
“Hello, I’m here because I have an appointment with the boss.”
The female employee glanced at Kangmin and answered while filing her nails again.
“The boss just left.”
The secretary with thick makeup replied, chewing gum.
“Uh… When did he get away?”
“It’s been about 20 minutes. Want Coffee? Green tea?”
Kangmin shook his head at the employee’s words.
“I’m okay…”
His whole body was exhausted.
“It’s Kangmin, right? Weren’t you supposed to meet with the boss at 10am? The boss left exactly 10:01.”
“I’m sorry. The convenience store owner came late today. I brought interest for this month. What should I do?”
At Kangmin’s words, the secretary spat the gum out to the tissue and put it in the trash can.
“Money? You are late. As you know, what the boss hates the most is breaking his promise. The boss told me to deliver you this.”
The employee spoke loudly, immitating the boss’ way of speaking.
“Bring all the overdue interest so far by 6 p.m. on Monday, all in cash, otherwise you have to leave your house on Monday. That’s what he said.”
Kangmin closed his eyes tightly. Today was Saturday. Even if he sold all his organs, he wouldn’t be able to raise a huge amount of money on Monday.
“Is it up to here?”
As private lenders, they had no blood or tears. Everything they’ve up to him so far has been because of my small relationship with my father.
Kangmin stood up helplessly and left “happiness loan.”
“Goodbye!”
As he closed the door, he heard the voice of the employee who was not impressed.
“Sigh, how can I get 20 million won (~$2 million)?”
After leaving the building. Kangmin began to walk helplessly.
* * *
When he arrived home, it was alread 11:30 a.m. Kangmin looked at his house.
It was a very old hannok full of vines on the fence at the end of Bukhansan Mountain.
“Do I really have to sell this house?”
Kangmin went inside the house helplessly. The yard was visible, and an old Korean-style house with the shape of a rectangle appeared.
There was a large persimmon tree planted in the yard.
Kangmin stroked the persimmon tree. When he was young, he remembered calling his friends to show off this persimmon tree and pick up persimmon fruits together.
“No! I will never sell this house! What kind of house is this? It’s my family’s house since my great-great-grandfather!”
It was a house with memories of himself, his parents, and his grandfather.
“Let’s sell them all. I’ll protect this house even if I sold all the old items in the house.”
Kangmin bit his lips tightly, passed through the yard and entered the master bedroom.
The masters bedroom was not his. It was the room of his late parents.
Kangmin opened an old cabinet in his home room. There was a small old-looking jewelry box.
Kangmin took out the box and opened it. There was a golden ring with a large green diamond.
At first glance, it was not an ordinary object. The gold decoration was very detailed, and the smell was kind of metallish, not like a normal smell.
“If it’s this ring, wouldn’t I get at least 5million won? Even if I combine it with my salary, I can’t even pay the interest, but wouldn’t I be able to get a little time?”
Kangmin recalled a conversation he had with his father, about the ring, when he was young.
“Dad, what’s this ring? It’s very tacky!”
“What do you mean tacky? Kangmin-ah, this is a ring that our family’s founder received from the God.”
“God? You’re lying!”
“I’m not lying. If you wear this ring, you will be healthy and live long life.”
“Hmm… Dad is wearing a wedding ring, right?”
“Kangmin, this is a family treasure. No matter what happens, you have to keep it and hand it over to your descendants later. This is a promise from our ancestors.”
Kangmin, who thought of his father, closed his eyes and opened his eyes and said.
“Father, I’m sorry. I don’t think I can keep that promise. Even if it’s a good gem, it’s not more important than a person’s life, right? I love this house. So I’m going to sell this and pay interest to protect this house full of memories.”
He made such a resolution, but he felt like he was guilty of something big.
Kangmin took out the ring and get a closer look. The green diamond sparkled from the sunlight coming from the outside of the window.
There seems to be a pattern engraved inside the green jewel, but he couldn’t see it well.
“I don’t think there’s any flaw. Please… There should be a place that would buy you for a huge sum.”
He heard from his father that the ring is more than 1,000 years old. He didn’t believe it all, but the thought he could get quite a lot of money even if it was around 500 years.
“Please… I have no other wish if only I could get about 20 million won.”
Kangmin tried the ring on his left index finger. It was a little big, so he put it on his middle finger. It was perfect.
Kangmin grabbed his left hand wearing the ring with a solemn look.
“I’m sorry, ancestors. Your descendants is thinking of selling this ring. But I’ll make sure to get this ring back in the future. Please look forward to it.”
His words were firm, but his inside was a mess. He lamented how this wealthy house came this far.
“If it weren’t for him.”
Everything was because of the “him” who betrayed his father. Because of him, their company went bankrupt and his father died.
Now the house looks like it’s going to fly away.
“Kim Sangchul!”
Kangmin said on the name and bit his lips till it bleed. His lips were torn and a drop of blood fell on the ring.
Then the ring was getting and his whole body was warming up.
“What is it? Did I just turn on the heater?”
When he checked the boiler, it was turned off.
His body got hotter. When he looked at it with a strange feeling, his ring was the cause.
Surprised Kangmin tried to take off his ring quickly, but strangely, he was weak. Perhaps because he worked part-time at the convenience store all night, he suddenly felt sleepy.
“What’s wrong with this? I can’t…”
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