Chapter 11

Chapter 11

11. Creditor of 1.06 Trillion Won

Signiel Penthouse.

WaterPpomi, Lee Geonho, soaked in the bathtub of his Signiel penthouse bathroom.

“I’m rich now! Hahahaha!”

Lee Geonho shouted as he tossed 50,000-won bills into the air from a bathtub filled with bundles of cash.

“Dad really raked in a lot behind my back.”

He thought his father only had a few tens of billions in assets(?).

But it turned out to be close to 100 billion won.

Of course, most of it was real estate, stocks, bonds, and the like.

Even so, those assets alone produced several billion won in income every month.

“Thank you, Father! Your son will put this money to very good use. Hahahaha!”

What should I buy first?

He had already moved into Signiel.

He had paid off the loan on his old home in one lump sum and sold it.

“Mmm, that smell of money. What should I do now? Maybe go to the Tower Bar and find myself a girlfriend?”

After finishing his bath, he happily imagined how he would spend his money and have fun.

“Right. I should do the most important thing first.”

What was the most important thing for a hunter?

Logging into Hunven.

And!

[Title: An Elegant Day at Signiel]

[Author: WaterPpomi]

-After grinding myself to the bone as an A-Rank hunter, I came to my senses and found myself soaking in Signiel... Is this what life among the privileged feels like? Still, let us not forget that I achieved all of this through my own hard work!

...Cheers!

(Attachment: Photo raising a champagne glass against Seoul’s night skyline)

Feeling superior while basking in the envy and jealousy of lower-ranked hunters struggling at the bottom!

That was one of Lee Geonho’s important daily routines.

Ding-dong-

The intercom chimed.

-Mail delivery.

“Mail? Just leave it in the mailbox.”

-I need to hand it to you in person.

What could it be?

‘Did I apply for a credit card or something?’

No matter how hard he thought back, he hadn’t done anything like that recently.

When he opened the front door, the mail carrier held out a smartphone.

“Please sign here. I need confirmation that you received the mail.”

“What is it?”

The envelope bore a court seal.

“The court? Why would the court send me mail... Ah! Ahem. Thanks for your work.”

“Sure.”

Could the court have sent official confirmation of the inheritance?

The letter must say that all 60 billion won of his father Lee Jinho’s assets had been inherited by his son, Lee Geonho.

There had to be words like that written inside.

That was what Lee Geonho imagined.

In truth!

‘The inheritance still isn’t finalized.’

Since Lee Jinho was only missing, his assets had not actually been inherited by Lee Geonho; Geonho had merely been appointed to administer them on his father’s behalf.

But!

[Provisional Seizure Notice]

-Debtor Lee Geonho (hereafter Party B) is ordered to repay a debt of 160 billion won to Friends Capital (hereafter Party A), the creditor’s legal representative. If the debt is not repaid within 30 days, provisional seizure proceedings will begin against Party B’s assets.

“A-A provisional seizure notice?!”

Lee Geonho’s hands trembled.

Thud!

His head spun and he dropped the letter.

“D-Dad... had this kind of debt?”

It was an absurd amount of money.

His total assets weren’t even 100 billion won, and now he owed 160 billion?

‘I-I’m bankrupt...!’

He was buried beneath hundreds of billions in debt he could never hope to handle!

‘I have to stop this!’

First withdraw as much cash as possible from my accounts... then bury it in the ground?

Or put it in a safe?

The moment that thought crossed his mind.

Bzzzt! Bzzzt!

Lee Geonho’s smartphone vibrated repeatedly.

Several text messages had arrived.

[Web Message: Your account has been frozen by court order.]

His personal bank accounts.

His fund and stock accounts.

All of them were frozen.

“I’m screwed...!”

At this point, he had no choice but to go directly to Friends Capital.

* * *

Friends Capital office.

“Tell your boss to get out here!”

Bang!

Lee Geonho kicked the door open and shouted.

“The boss is currently away.”

“And who the hell are you, you f—”

Lee Geonho was about to curse.

“You f... and then?”

But when two hulking men appeared, his body immediately shrank back.

“My surname is Lee... and my name is Geonho. I came to discuss something... Hahaha!”

I’m an A-Rank hunter!

And I got intimidated by a couple of loan shark underlings?

‘No. I’m simply being polite because we’ve just met. This is business, right? Yeah, business.’

Lee Geonho rationalized it that way.

“What is it? A customer?”

“Yes, Boss. Says his surname is Lee... and his name is Geonho.”

“That debtor?”

“Seems so.”

“Boss!”

Lee Geonho’s eyes widened when he heard the loan shark call him a debtor.

He looked ready to grab the man by the pant leg.

Scritch!

The loan shark lit his cigar with a match.

A gold ring gleamed on the hand holding the cigar.

“What are you here for? The court will handle everything.”

“H-How did this happen? One hundred sixty billion won?!”

“It’s written in the contract. Here, Hunter Lee Jinho’s signature is right there too. Look carefully. That’s your father’s handwriting, isn’t it?”

He slid a copy of the contract across the table.

Lee Geonho picked it up with trembling hands.

“Th-This is definitely... my father’s signature, but...”

“Then that settles it.”

“No, it doesn’t! This is fraud! Fraud! There’s no way my father would sign a contract like this!”

Lee Geonho had no idea exactly what Hunter Lee Jinho and Choi Hyunwoo had discussed or agreed to inside the Tower.

Because Lee Jinho had never come back out.

But the loan shark didn’t even blink.

“Fraud? Got proof?”

“F-For such an enormous amount... without even a guarantor...”

“There may not be a guarantor, but there is collateral. An S-Rank weapon.”

“What S-Rank weapon?”

“What was it called again? Anyway, this.”

The loan shark held out a photo.

“Th-That’s my father’s Shadow Dagger!”

“Why is it your father’s? It belongs to the creditor.”

“What the hell are you talking about? That’s the S-Rank weapon my father used, the Shadow Dagger!”

“Really?”

“Yes!”

“Proof?”

“What...?”

“I asked if you have proof it belonged to your father.”

“Th-There’s no way there’d be proof like that...”

“Why not? If it was your father’s, the Association should’ve issued some kind of weapon ownership permit.”

“...Gasp!”

A weapon ownership permit issued by the Association?

There was no way his father, who had hidden his assets to avoid taxes, would have one.

The Association knew that too.

But they had quietly turned a blind eye to preserve the prestige of an S-Rank hunter.

Lee Geonho’s face went deathly pale.

‘I-I’ve been played...!’

They’d taken the S-Rank weapon.

Then used the supposed transaction as an excuse to extort money from him too!

Lee Geonho realized he had fallen into a massive trap.

“Even so, the transaction wasn’t completed!”

“Right. That’s why we were only going to take the ten-percent deposit. Sixteen billion won.”

The loan shark exhaled cigar smoke and continued.

“But your father broke the deal and ran. Then he owes a penalty.”

“He didn’t break the deal and run. My father is currently miss—”

Bang!

The loan shark slammed the table.

“Hey, can’t you see Clause 3? ‘Upon conclusion of the transaction, Party A shall pay Party B 10% of the purchase price as a deposit.’ Do you know what ‘conclusion’ means here? The moment you sign. The signature.”

“...”

“Someone signs a perfectly valid contract and then suddenly disappears? If he didn’t run off with the weapon, there’s no other explanation.”

Lee Geonho’s lips trembled.

“B-But my father isn’t me! Why should I have to repay his debt?”

“You inherited his assets. Or maybe you’re still just the legal administrator? Either way.”

The loan shark pulled out another document.

“Signiel penthouse contract. Heard you moved in this week? Congratulations.”

“...”

“You even ordered a five-million-won bottle of champagne. Posted a picture on Hunven too. An elegant life? Hahahaha.”

Cold sweat ran down Lee Geonho’s face as he remembered the post he had uploaded to Hunven.

‘This loan shark... he’s a hunter!’

He had suspected it, and sure enough.

‘Then he must know I’m an A-Rank hunter.’

WaterPpomi flaunted it constantly on Hunven, so anyone who had seen even one of his posts would know.

And yet the man was still this confident?

‘At least A-Rank...!’

That was why Lee Geonho couldn’t act rashly.

“Whether you’re the heir or the legal administrator, the moment you spend even one won of that money, you take on the debt too. That’s the law.”

“I-I didn’t know! If I had known, why would I have spent any of it?”

“If not knowing was enough to get you out of it, there’d be no point in having laws.”

The loan shark stood up.

He looked well over 190 centimeters tall.

“Now then, shall we talk about what you’re going to do?”

“P-Please... Please spare me...”

Lee Geonho dropped to his knees on the spot.

All the pride of an A-Rank hunter was gone.

“Spare you? Me?”

“Y-Yes! I’ll do anything! Please.”

“Anything?”

The corners of the loan shark’s mouth lifted.

“Then go climb the Tower. Earn 160 billion and pay it back.”

“B-But that... would take...”

“I gave you thirty days. Just earn five billion a day. For an A-Rank hunter, that shouldn’t be so hard, right? You’re young.”

That was absurd.

Even for an A-Rank hunter, earning five billion won a day was impossible.

“I-I’ll give you every asset I own!”

“Your assets? I already seized all of them. What else are you going to give me?”

All color drained from Lee Geonho’s face.

“My father’s inheritance too... all of it...”

“I ran the numbers. If we fire-sale your father’s assets and account for a few failed auctions, maybe we’ll get seventy to eighty billion. That still leaves you eighty billion short.”

At this point, Lee Geonho had no choice but to grasp at any straw he could find.

“L-Let me meet the creditor!”

But.

“The creditor? He’s standing right in front of you.”

The loan shark was firm.

He patted Lee Geonho on the shoulder and said.

“Got it? Eighty billion. Thirty days left. Better work hard in the Tower.”

“GRAAAAAAAAAH!”