SAGW 14

Chapter : 14

“…It’s gone.”

“What?”

“I said it’s gone. I spent it all.”

He answered bluntly, as if casually spitting out phlegm. He was so shameless and brazen that for a moment, I wondered if I had heard him correctly.

“You… spent it all? What do you mean? How could you possibly spend 300 million won? It hasn’t even been that long since you received it!”

My voice rose without me realizing it. The detectives glanced over, but I didn’t have the slightest room to care.

“Where did you hide it? Did you transfer it into a family member’s name? Or did you bury it somewhere?”

I hurriedly braced myself against the desk and leaned forward.

Please, let it be that. Please tell me there was still some of it left somewhere.

But the man shook his head as if I were being a nuisance, then pulled a crumpled stack of papers from his pocket and tossed them onto the desk.

Thud.

Papers covered in messy red pen markings.

[Gwacheon Racecourse]
[Race 7]
[Estimated Odds: 50 to 1]

“…What is this?”

“You can’t tell by looking? I tried to multiply the money and blew it all. I was planning to double it and give it back after hitting it big on one race, but the horses just wouldn’t run that day.”

I was speechless.

Was this what it felt like when your blood rushed backward?

The 300 million won I had earned by grinding away my youth.

The money I had saved by working overtime every night, constantly watching my superiors’ moods, and surviving on 1,500-won triangle kimbap.

Had it really become nothing more than horse feed?

“Liar….”

I heard something inside my head snap.

“Don’t lie to me! Give me my money! Give it back!”

Screaming, I reached for the man’s collar.

“Whoa, what are you doing! Detective! Stop this woman!”

As the man threw himself backward, making a huge fuss, a detective approached and restrained me.

“Calm down, Lee Da-eun! You can’t act like this here.”

“Let me go! He said he blew all my money! He gambled it all away!”

“I know, I know. Just sit down for now. We’re in the middle of an investigation.”

The detective forcibly sat me down in a chair.

I was gasping for breath, and white flashes flickered before my eyes. A fear greater than my anger began to overwhelm me.

What if it really is gone?

What if he really did lose it all?

Then what about my twenties?

The 300 million won Kang Seo-jun had given me could pay off my debts, but it couldn’t compensate me for all the years I had struggled desperately to survive.

I didn’t want to remain a “rescued debtor” living off someone else’s money.

When my contract ended a year from now, if I wanted to stand before him not as a penniless woman but as a “proud partner,” then I had to do something.

If I wanted to walk away on my own two feet with my head held high.

I had to recover this money with my own strength.

“Haa… huff…”

My fingertips grew cold.

The man in front of me—or rather, the entire world—seemed to be mocking me.

No matter how desperately you struggle to live.

Someone like you, an ordinary commoner, can lose everything in one blow.

I bit down on my lips until they bled.

I was so furious and aggrieved that I could barely stand it, but what made me feel even more miserable was the fact that all I could do was bite my lips.

“The lawyer is here.”

The interrogation room door opened, and a neatly dressed man in a suit walked in.

Greasy hair, thin gold-rimmed glasses.

Even at a glance, he had the look of someone who had been through every trick in the book.

As soon as he entered, he gave a subtle signal to Kim Gwang-su, the figurehead owner.

Keep your mouth shut.

Then he pulled out the chair opposite us and sat down.

Very leisurely, crossing his legs.

“Are you the victim?”

He slid a business card across the table.

[Taesan Law Firm — Attorney Park Deok-bae]

“I’m representing our client, Kim Gwang-su.”

“…A lawyer?”

I was dumbfounded.

The man who had blown 300 million won of someone else’s money had enough money to hire a lawyer?

“You said you had no money. You said you lost everything. But you have money to hire a lawyer?”

Despite my accusation, the lawyer didn’t even blink.

Instead, the corner of his mouth twisted as though he found me amusing.

“Miss. Let’s not get emotional. We’re also following legal procedures.”

“Legal procedures? What kind of procedure does a con artist need?”

“Watch what you say. There hasn’t been a verdict yet. And…”

The lawyer pushed up his glasses and leaned forward.

“Strictly speaking, this is closer to an ‘investment failure’ than fraud.”

“…What?”

“The property prices fell, so he was unable to return the deposit. It would be problematic to automatically call that fraud. The real estate market is terrible these days, isn’t it? Our client is also a victim. A victim who failed at an investment.”

A victim.

The perpetrator was pretending to be the victim.

Something hot surged up from inside me.

“Don’t play word games with me. You had neither the ability nor the intention to return the money from the beginning. Everyone knows you set up a figurehead owner to siphon the money away!”

“Do you have evidence?”

The lawyer cut me off coldly.

“Our client claims that he merely lent his name and that someone else actually operated the business. If intent cannot be proven, this will have to become a civil case. You understand, don’t you? A civil lawsuit takes at least two or three years.”

It was a threat.

A calculated threat aimed at an ordinary person who knew nothing about the law.

“Can you afford attorney’s fees for two or three years? I hear you have a job, too. Can you keep taking time off from work?”

“……”

I was speechless.

He had hit the nail on the head.

I was a salaried worker living from one paycheck to the next.

I was the kind of “subordinate” who had been anxious even about taking a half-day off work today because I worried about what people would think.

I had neither two years to spare nor the money to hire a lawyer.

The lawyer didn’t miss the uncertainty in my eyes.

As if he had seized the upper hand, he pulled an envelope from his briefcase.

“So, let me make you a proposal.”

“……?”

“Let’s settle.”

“Settle…?”

“Yes. Our client wants to offer you at least some compensation on moral grounds.”

He opened the envelope and showed me several checks.

“Five million won.”

“…What?”

“Five million won as a settlement. Take this and sign a statement saying you don’t want him punished, and it’s over. Nice and clean, right?”

Five million won.

1.6 percent of my 300 million won.

Less than three months’ salary for a convenience store worker.

And now he wanted me to call that even with everything I owned?

“Are you… kidding me?”

My voice trembled.

“My money is 300 million won. Three hundred million! And you’re telling me to take five million won and call it even?”

“Miss. Let’s do the math properly.”

The lawyer’s tone turned cold.

It was no longer persuasion.

It was coercion.

“Even if you take this to court, our client doesn’t have a single penny of property in his name. Even if you get a favorable judgment, it’ll be nothing more than a piece of paper. He can just lie down and tell you to do your worst. Aren’t you the only one who loses?”

“……”

“At least if you settle now, you’ll get 5 million won. Later, you won’t even have that. Here, take the pen.”

He tried to put a ballpoint pen into my hand.

I slapped his hand away, and the pen rolled across the floor.

“I can’t. I absolutely can’t.”

I bit my lip and glared at the lawyer.

“Give me all my money. Every single won. Don’t leave out even ten won! Otherwise, I’m never settling!”

“Haah, how frustrating. Why are young people so inflexible?”

The lawyer clicked his tongue.

Then he turned his head toward the detective.

“Detective. As you can see, the victim is being extremely uncooperative. We did everything we could.”

The detective, who had been silently staring at the monitor until then, finally turned around with an annoyed expression.

“Lee Da-eun.”

His voice was dry.

Any hope that he would take my side had been shattered long ago.

“What the lawyer said does make some sense. You need to think realistically. Even if this man gets arrested, all that happens is that he eats prison food. Is that going to make money appear? Is rice going to come out?”

“Even you, Detective… Why are you doing this? He’s a criminal! He’s a bad person!”

“No, this is frustrating. Miss, look at reality. So what if you file a civil lawsuit and win? If that man just lies down and says he has nothing, it’s over. We’re busy enough as it is. How long do you expect us to keep dealing with this case?”

The detective tapped the desk.

“And you have some responsibility, too. Didn’t you carefully check the property register when you signed the contract? What about the fixed date? Did you properly check the market price?”

“…What?”

“In this day and age, who just hands over a huge sum of money without thinking? You also bear responsibility for your own negligence. Do you really think throwing a fit will solve anything?”

Thump.

My heart dropped to the floor.

Was it my fault?

Because I was stupid?

Because I hadn’t been thorough enough?

“I… I checked. I got a copy of the property register, recorded everything the licensed real estate agent told me… I even got the fixed date… I did everything I could….”

My voice dwindled to a whisper.

It was so unfair.

I really had done my best.

I had studied while cutting down on sleep and investigated everything myself, going from place to place.

But when ordinary employees were up against a scheme deliberately orchestrated by professionals, there was nothing they could do.

“Exactly. That means it wasn’t enough. Do you really think the world is that easy?”

The detective sighed as he organized the documents.

“Just settle it, okay? We’re busy, too. We can’t keep holding onto this case forever.”

Just settle it.

That word stabbed into me like a dagger.

For someone, this was a matter that their entire life depended on.

But to them, it was nothing more than an “annoying task” they wanted to finish quickly so they could go home.

I couldn’t say anything.

There were walls on every side.

In front of me was a shameless con artist.

Beside me was a cunning lawyer.

Behind me was indifferent law enforcement.

There was no one on my side.

I’m… completely alone.

The expectation that Kang Seo-jun would solve this for me?

That was a luxury.

He was my employer, not my guardian.

My debts were mine alone to bear.

But with my own strength, there was simply no way I could break through this enormous wall.

“Here. Take it. Five million.”

The lawyer extended the pen again.

“This is your last chance. If you don’t take it now, you won’t get anything.”

My hand trembled violently.

My vision blurred.

The tears I had been holding back finally welled up, obscuring my sight.

Mom… what am I supposed to do?

I had fought desperately to survive.

I didn’t want to feel inferior even in front of Kang Seo-jun, so I had proudly declared that I would earn my keep.

But in the end, was I nothing more than a debtor who had to sell her pride for a mere five million won?

Even though I bit my lips, I couldn’t stop the sobs from escaping.

I lowered my head.

I felt pathetic.

I was so miserable and wretched—myself, my life, everything about me—that I couldn’t bear it.

Someone, please.

Please get me out of this hell.

Anyone would do.

Please, just be on my side.

“Sign it quickly. We don’t have time.”

The lawyer urged me on.

With trembling hands, I picked up the pen.

The signature line was blurry before my eyes.

If I wrote my name here, my 300 million won would disappear forever.

But if I didn’t, even the five million won would disappear.

Give up.

Lee Da-eun, this is as far as you go.

The tip of the pen hovered over the paper.

My hand trembled so badly that drops of ink dotted the page.

I was one second away from selling my pride—my entire twenties—for the number five million won.