Chapter 36 (Please Teach Me Tutor)
Episode 36: Kidnapping of Yu Ah-ra
<Kim Si-woo’s POV>
Yu Ah-ra said she was going to go down to her parents’ house for about a week. Where did she say her parents’ house was?
‘I think it was Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi-do.’
After the gate opened 15 years ago, countless monsters burst out of the gate. Numerous cities were burned and disappeared by the monsters. Even though the Korean military responded quickly at the beginning, they could not prevent the damage. The damage was greater in larger cities.
Except for Incheon and Seoul, most of the major central cities in Gyeonggi Province were destroyed by the monsters.
Yes.
Except for Pyeongtaek where the US military was.
Among the cities in Gyeonggi Province that were on the verge of destruction, Pyeongtaek was barely able to be defended thanks to the quick response of the US military and the support of the Korean military.
All other cities were burned and disappeared.
Many Gate refugees flocked to Pyeongtaek, and after the Gate conquest entered a period of stability, Pyeongtaek prospered due to the people who gathered.
As a result, Pyeongtaek became the central city after the Gate.
There were too many gates and dungeons that had not been cleared yet to restore the city that had been scorched by monsters.
Of course, unlike Seoul, there is a prejudice that people without much money live here.
Since the creation of the Gate, there were not many cities in Korea that could be called cities.
Seoul, Incheon, Pyeongtaek, Mokpo, Busan, and Jeju Island.
These six cities became metropolitan cities, and large and small cities were being created around them.
If all the other places were cleared out, the old prosperous cities would be recreated, but that was a story for the distant future.
“There’s no way something could happen in Pyeongtaek.”
There was no need to send such an urgent text message. Pyeongtaek was especially famous for its good public safety.
It was a quiet city with almost no villains, so much so that it was called a boring city.
Even Yu Ah-ra is now a promising prospect with potential. Even if some gangsters come at her, she will be able to destroy them all.
‘The gate in Pyeongtaek didn’t explode…’
If that were the case, it would have reached my ears too.
I quietly looked at Yu Ah-ra’s text.
I could feel the urgency in the message she sent.
She wasn’t the kind of kid who would make up a lie like this just to see me. If I had to guess… debt.
Nothing came to mind except the debt she had incurred to enter the academy.
I called.
There was no answer.
Sure enough,
something has happened with the debt.
“Let’s go for now.”
She is a student who will be a major force for me. I don’t want to lose her or let her go because of something like this.
I went down to Pyeongtaek that very day.
Woohoo!
I was going down so quickly that I didn’t even realize that I had received another text message.
***
<Lee Hye-ri’s POV>
“Why is there no reply…?”
Lee Hye-ri looked down at her smartphone.
She had just finished training and sent a text message to Kim Si-woo.
Endurance training.
It wasn’t as easy as she thought.
-I failed. 20 sets.
This time she collapsed at set 20.
She thought she could do a little more, but her thigh and leg muscles couldn’t hold out and she collapsed.
She thought about lying, but she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Her pride couldn’t tolerate lying.
“You don’t even check.”
An hour has passed since I sent it, but the number 1 has not been erased.
“Are you trying to fool me?”
Her irritation surged.
Her head was boiling.
In her twenty years of life, she had never once felt ignored by anyone.
“It’s annoying. It’s really annoying.”
He was a person I had absolutely no affection for.
Isn’t it so irresponsible for him to not even check when he was the one who ordered it?
“Eeeeek!!!”
Lee Hye-ri stomped her feet. Lee Hye-ri, who had always been blunt at the academy, was completely absent. If Lee Kang-san had seen this, he would have liked it because he had seen his younger sister’s human side.
Aside from that.
“Okay. Let’s see who wins.”
Lee Hye-ri gritted her teeth as she stared at her smartphone.
***
<Kim Si-woo’s POV>
I took the express train to Pyeongtaek and arrived in Pyeongtaek in an hour.
After arriving in Pyeongtaek, I saw Lee Hye-ri’s text. To be exact, the text that appeared in the preview.
-I failed. 20 sets.
I didn’t bother to reply.
The punishment wouldn’t be given until next week anyway.
There was no need to check every time.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been here.”
It was a city I often visited when I was active under the alias of Hanchang Shadow Mask. This was because there were several gates connected to Pyeongtaek.
There was no need to come here since there was no need to subdue the gate. It’s already been two years.
“Nothing has changed.”
I picked up my smartphone and made a call.
This time too, there was no answer.
“It would have been helpful if I had known the exact address…….”
Before I could finish my monologue, my smartphone rang.
Woohoo!
It was Yu Ah-ra. I looked at her number on my smartphone.
One, two, three.
Click.
“Hello.”
-Hyung, are you here already?
An unfamiliar voice. It was a rough man’s voice.
“Who is it?”
-Who is it? A debt collector. Our client borrowed money and didn’t pay it back.
“So you kidnapped her?”
-Hey, why are you talking so rudely? We invited her here for a moment to have a proper conversation.
“If the scholarship Yu Ah-ra received was enough to pay back the money she borrowed.”
Even if you add up the academy admission fee and private tutoring fees, it won’t exceed 30 million won.
Since I was the top priority scholarship recipient this time, I would get a full refund of the semester’s tuition, so there shouldn’t be any financial issues.
-Hey, our brother has no sense of finance. Don’t you know? If you borrow money, you have to pay interest.
“So how much is it?”
-Our customer Ara borrowed 15 million won, and the interest is 45 million won. And if you include the 33.5 million won in other expenses we used and the 12 million won for food, it comes to 105.5 million won.
It’s a common story. People who harass people by charging them ridiculous interest rates just because they lent them money.
How can you call something worth 15 million won 100 million won?
‘These bastard.’
An urge to just smash that bastard’s face in half began to creep up on me.
“The interest rate has increased a lot.”
– Of course. They even wrote a contract stating that they would pay it back at a high interest rate because it was urgent.
There are guys like this.
Guys who put people on leashes with ridiculous contracts.
They are the type of guys that annoy me the most.
Why? Because Daesung’s guys are exactly like that.
Guys who make new hunters half-retards with unreasonable contracts and throw them away like consumables.
They are the type of guys I hate the most.
No matter how difficult and harsh life is in this world.
You shouldn’t treat people like that.
“Okay. Let’s meet up and talk.”
– That’s impossible without money, right?
“I’ll take it, just give me your address.”
– Hmm, what do I trust?
“You don’t want to receive money?”
– Anyway, if I sell this guy to some back alley guild, I can get enough money. If the top student at the academy is placed in market, I should be getting hundreds of millions of won, right?
They’re worse than I thought. They’re familiar guys I’ve seen countless times. They’re the ones who parasitize the hunter world and eat away at the board.
“You’re stupid. Is that all your thinking can do? Well, then you must be satisfied with mere loan sharking.”
-What?
“If it were me, I’d sell you to a regular guild instead of a back alley.”
-What is this kid…
“You make a contract with the guilds. You claim some of the rights of the cadet you sold, but you only get some of the money. That way, even if you don’t get the money right away, you can still collect the income from the cadet you sold.”
-What is this kid joking about…
“Do you think it’s joking? How much do you think an A-rank hunter gets paid for clearing a gate or dungeon? 50 million? 100 million? No, at least 200 million. If you don’t die clearing just one dungeon, just receiving a portion of that share will far exceed the 100 million you mentioned.”
– … … .
“At the same time, there is an opportunity to create a connection with the regular guild. I don’t know about back-alley loan sharks like you, but the guild guys aren’t as righteous as you think.”
Make a connection with the regular guild.
It would be an unbearable and dizzying proposal for a mere loan shark.
The reason I’m telling you this is simple.
They can’t do anything even if you tell them anyway.
In fact, it was a method that Daesung liked to use, but they didn’t leave it to the back-alley loan sharks.
They had a separate specialized company, and the company’s method of seducing new hunters was secretive and meticulous.
-You know a lot about regular guilds.
“Of course.”
-But why are you telling me that? Aren’t you this student’s teacher?
“I am a teacher.”
-But why on earth?
“Why do you think I’m acting as that girl’s teacher?”
-… … Ah.
Soon, a bitter laugh was heard as if realization had been realized.
-He’s more articulate than I thought.
“Give me the address quickly. Don’t damage my merchandise.”
-Hmm… But do we get anything from this woman?
“I’ll pay you enough. And…”
-And?
“Shouldn’t you guys at least have a connection with the regular guild by now?”
– … … I get your intention. But why should we trust you and tell you?
“If you tell me the location, I’ll give you the guild’s contact information.”
-Just some customer service center…
“It’s a direct line.”
-Direct line?
“Yes. It’s the guild master’s number. If you call my number, you’ll be able to reach me right away.”
The voice cracked.
The breathing on the other end of the receiver became heavy.
The sound of swallowing was audible.
I could feel the greedy bastard panting in heat all the way here.
“Give me 5 seconds. Then the negotiations fall through……”
-Okay! You’re in a hurry, my friend.
“I don’t have time.”
-But first, my contact information… … .
“If you send me your address, I’ll send you my contact information to that number.”
“I’m not the kind of person who has the leisure to chat with you guys like this.”
-Okay. I sent the address.
“Then, wait.”
First, I hung up the phone.
And less than 10 seconds later, the address arrived.
-108 @@-ro, Pyeongtaek-si. Factory area.
“You little brat. You’re acting up.”
It won’t be a real address, but I’ll send you my real contact information.
Twilight.
It was a guild I once entrusted my body to.
It was a mid-sized guild.
And the guild master of Twilight, Geom-seong, had a unique, gruff voice mixed with a rattling sound, so you could tell who he was just by hearing his voice.
It must be a very attractive place for loan sharks.
I handed over the contact information of the Twilight Guild Master.
I’m sorry, Mr. Black.
Please be considerate.
After sending the contact information, about 5 minutes passed?
-119, #@-ro, Pyeongtaek-si. Factory area. Sorry. I was suspicious. Also.
I moved quickly to save Yu Ah-ra.
***
-Who is it?
The loan shark, Gu Jeong-mu, froze as soon as he heard the voice on the other end of the receiver.
The power conveyed in the voice.
And the mana.
He was an incredibly skilled person.
“Sorry, I’m sorry. I dialed the wrong number.”
He quickly hung up the phone.
His heart was beating like crazy after just a short conversation.
He wanted to check if what the teacher said was a lie, but it was true.
“Whew, whoa… This crazy kid. It was real?”
He almost lost to Geom-seong. As Gu Jeongmu trembled, his subordinate asked him from the side.
“Brother, is it real?”
“Yes. It really was the Twilight Sword Saint. I can tell just by hearing his voice.”
“T-then is it real? Selling that woman out……”
“Of course. I thought that Sword Saint was a righteous person, but he’s committing human trafficking behind my back.”
In the end, they were just like me, pretending to be righteous in front of others.
“This is an opportunity. A chance to graduate from Pyeongtaek and move to Seoul.”
“Brother, then we really…”
“Let’s make the most of this opportunity. Be the best we can be to that person. Oh, and tell him your address again. And tell him I’m sorry.”
“Okay.”
Gu Jeong-moo calmed his trembling body and looked at Yu Ah-ra.
“Did you hear that? That private tutor you trust is no different from us. Now there’s no one to protect you. Hehe, play with that body for us. Hehehe.”
“Eeeeek!!!”
Yu Ah-ra, whose arms and legs were tied and whose mouth was sealed with tape, struggled.
Her eyes, filled with tears, glared at Gu Jeong-mu, and were charming.
“Calm down. It would be a problem if something important got scratched. If you’re going to do it, you’d want to pay a high price, right?”
His mouth was watering. The enormous amount of money that Yu Ah-ra would make.
Yu Ah-ra, who was thought to be a repeat student, is actually a future A-class student.
The second test was broadcast live and everyone watched.
Yu Ah-ra took first place among the first-year students!
He had no idea how much her value would increase.
Yu Ah-ra was able to hold on to her like this, using the excuse of the money she borrowed from him.
That meant he could treat this woman however he wanted.
“Is this really the year it happens?”
It was Gu Jeong-mu who was rubbing his hands while recalling the fortune he had seen last time.
Squeak, thud!
At that moment, the door opened.
“Hey, bro! You’re here!”
He was the teacher who would become his strong business partner in the future. Koo Jeong-moo welcomed Kim Si-woo with open arms.