NT - 1

It was an unbearably bright and sunny day.

“Hey, that girl over there…”

“...Why does her face look like...?”

“Who did she get into a fight with...?”

Beyond each step as she walked toward the classroom, the sticky gazes of others clung to her. Beneath her uniform, sharp looks scraped across her exposed skin like finely honed blades. Having dealt with this kind of attention for days on end, Hae-soo brushed off the stares and continued toward the classroom.

Perhaps it was because she had arrived at school only by lunchtime, but the usually tranquil classroom buzzed with commotion. She tried to slip in unnoticed through the back door, but the moment she stepped inside, all eyes were already on her. The attention spread from the kids sitting in the back rows like wildfire. Hae-soo gave a quick glance at the students whispering about her before heading to her seat.

The last seat by the window, where the clear blue sky stretched out endlessly like a painting.

As soon as she sat down, exhaustion and lethargy washed over her in waves. It was almost impressive that she had managed to wake up and come to school at all; fatigue coursed through her body to the tips of her hair. Recalling the events of the previous night made her lips sting painfully.

Maybe she should have applied some medicine before coming.

Hae-soo carelessly hung her bag on the back of the chair and collapsed onto the desk. The scab stuck to the corner of her mouth twitched slightly as it pressed against her arm. She turned her head slightly to avoid touching the wound. She knew her homeroom teacher might call her out once they realized she had arrived, but right now, she just wanted to close her eyes for a bit.

In the past, lying down like this would unleash a flood of overwhelming thoughts that felt like they would devour her. But at some point, even struggling against them began to feel meaningless. She simply felt numb. Though she wanted to sleep, the incessant murmurs around her kept her mind restless.

Eventually, she turned her head toward the window and opened her eyes.

A single ray of sunlight pierced through the fluffy clouds, shining brilliantly. To someone else, it might have felt warm and gentle, but to Hae-soo, it was nothing more than a nuisance. Everything felt like it was attacking her in some way.

Hae-soo slowly blinked her eyes.

The sunlight became a concentrated mass of resentment. That day when her father disappeared was also unbearably bright, and so was the moment her mother committed suicide. Even as everything she had painstakingly built crumbled like a sandcastle, the sun shone brightly enough to make her cry. Her eyelids burned under the intense rays. Feeling her body succumb to fatigue, Hae-soo closed her eyes.

────────────

Hae-soo’s family had been wealthy and harmonious.

Her father ran his own business, growing increasingly prosperous with time. Her mother, delicate and gentle, supported him wholeheartedly. And then there was Hae-soo, their only child. Under her father, who gained fame by introducing trendy products ahead of everyone else, she lived a life without want.

But life is always fleeting.

The carefully constructed life they had built could be fragile, like a lamp in the wind, collapsing with just one blow. That’s how it was for Hae-soo’s family.

Everything seemed to flow smoothly, like clockwork. But one day, her father vanished. When they finally investigated what had happened, it was already too late. Her father’s business was like rotten fruit—appearing fine on the outside but hollow within. A complete bankruptcy.

It didn’t all fall apart at once. The initial crack came when one of his ambitious ventures went awry due to unexpected variables. Her father scrambled to recover, running around to find investors. But the impact of a single failure on public perception was devastating.

By the time he resorted to borrowing money from loan sharks to keep things afloat, it was far too late.

Selling his pride to put out the immediate fire with borrowed money instead of proper investment, the embers remained, eventually igniting into an uncontrollable blaze. Her father disappeared, leaving Hae-soo alone with her mother. This happened during her second year of high school, just after final exams.

The following year passed in a blur, like a forgotten dream. Her father’s absence left a fatal scar. What had once been a perfect household quickly unraveled. Red foreclosure notices plastered themselves over their furniture. Selling bags and jewelry to scrape together living expenses barely made a dent. Hae-soo wanted to get a part-time job, but her mother opposed it.

Her mother, who had been a stay-at-home wife since marrying her father, couldn’t handle the mounting debt from his failed business. In the end, she renounced inheritance. While giving up the assets also meant walking away from the debts, it still provided some relief.

Or so they thought.

They hadn’t known that those her father owed money to were exceptionally skilled at illegally multiplying their wealth—garbage of the worst kind.

Even after renouncing the inheritance, the loan sharks relentlessly hounded the mother and daughter, day and night. In less than a year, her mother, unable to bear the despair, took her own life. Her gentle and sensitive nature, hidden behind a facade of softness, simply couldn’t withstand the situation.

With her mother’s death, Hae-soo was left alone in this world.

Yes, alone on this wretched earth...

“...”

Returning home after finishing her evening self-study session, Hae-soo paused when she noticed a sedan parked nearby. After moving repeatedly in an endless game of cat and mouse, she had finally settled in this decrepit neighborhood. The car, with its smooth, glossy bumper, looked entirely out of place amidst the neglect and filth that had accumulated here. She stared at the bumper for a moment before turning her gaze toward the rusted gate, where a hazy mist was slowly rising.

As she opened the gate and stepped inside, a pair of pitch-black eyes glinted sharply through the darkness, locking onto her.

“You’re late.”

“...”

“Are you secretly selling yourself somewhere behind my back?”

The man, clad head-to-toe in black—from his shirt to his pants and shoes—exhaled a cloud of cigarette smoke as he sneered. Hae-soo stared blankly at him before turning around to lock the gate behind her.

“Right, you’re still in school.”

Lee Ho-beom squinted one eye, feigning surprise as if just remembering this fact. His reaction was utterly repulsive. Rising from the wooden platform, he approached Hae-soo and blew cigarette smoke directly into her face.

A glimpse of a black tattoo peeked out from beneath the crooked neckline of his shirt. Hae-soo instinctively took a step back, her back pressing against the dilapidated gate. The rusty hinges creaked, breaking the silence of the night.

Lee Ho-beom’s pupils, flickering with embers, slid down to the exposed cleavage of her uniform.

“So, how’s school going?”

“Stop talking nonsense and go inside.”

Being outside with this thug always made her anxious and uneasy. Though the slum was quiet under the cover of darkness, it was densely packed with people living like cockroaches, wall-to-wall. She didn’t know anyone here, but Hae-soo didn’t want anyone to find out what she did with this man every night.

Lost in that thought, she reflexively glanced outside the gate when—

“Ah!”

Lee Ho-beom’s thick-fingered hand grabbed a fistful of Hae-soo’s hair.

Her scalp burned as if dozens of needles were piercing it. His rough grip forced her body to turn. He clutched the back of her head and violently pressed his lips against hers. Her head tilted back, and the acrid smell of cigarettes filled her mouth as his tongue, which had been rolling a cigarette moments ago, invaded her. His slippery tongue ruthlessly swept across the swollen membranes of her mouth, irritated from the previous night’s ordeal. Hae-soo furrowed her brow and pushed against his chest, but her efforts were futile. Her back slammed against the gate.

“Don’t get cocky with me,” Lee Ho-beom growled threateningly, wrapping her thighs around his waist beneath her skirt. A heavy sensation pressed against her groin, and Hae-soo exhaled sharply, twisting her head away. He gripped her chin with crushing force, bringing his face close to hers.

The fingers gripping her chin curled softly, pressing into the scab on the corner of her mouth. “Ugh,” Hae-soo groaned, her voice muffled by pain.

“There’s still a wound here.”

“...”

“Ahn Hae-soo, are you sulking? Because I slapped you yesterday?”

“...”

“If you hadn’t acted like such a brat, this wouldn’t have happened, would it?”

Lee Ho-beom clicked his tongue, then abruptly lifted Hae-soo into his arms. With long strides, he carried her past the gate and into the cramped house. Even for a single person, the space was suffocatingly small, and with Lee Ho-beom, who stood at least 190 centimeters tall, the room felt completely full. Hae-soo let out a soft moan as he dropped her onto a pile of blankets. Standing over her, Lee Ho-beom bent his knees and crouched down.

“So. Are we ending it with your mouth again tonight?”

The long, straight fingers that had been holding a cigarette teasingly lifted the hem of Hae-soo’s school uniform skirt, which had already ridden up to her thighs.

“Even if I go in through your back hole, it doesn’t matter to me.”

His pretense of giving her a choice made her teeth grind and bile rise in her throat. He had long since taken full control, and though he could easily overpower and rape her at any moment, he still feigned as if she had some say in this twisted relationship. His calm, leisurely tone was as repulsive as the acrid cigarette smoke that lingered in the night air.

Hae-soo took a shallow breath and stood up from her position. She unzipped her school uniform skirt, and Lee Ho-beom’s eyes gleamed with predatory excitement. Her stomach churned, and her mind clouded over, as if she were facing an untamed beast that couldn’t understand words.

Lee Ho-beom watched intently as Hae-soo undressed in front of him, taking one last deep drag from the cigarette still between his lips. As her shirt fell open and her school skirt, along with her underwear, dropped to the floor, he carefully stubbed out the cigarette in the ashtray placed before him, as though it were a ritual. For someone who always had a cigarette dangling from his lips, this act of extinguishing it served as a clear signal.

As expected, Lee Ho-beom lunged toward Hae-soo.

The tongue that had been busy rolling the cigarette moments ago now softly licked her nipple. As it began to stiffen under his touch, Lee Ho-beom lightly enclosed it with his lips and then sucked on it with forceful suction.

“Ahh...!”

While stimulating her nipple, he simultaneously thrust two fingers into her groin, scissoring them apart and pushing them in forcefully. Her knees, barely holding her up in front of him, wobbled as if they might give way at any moment. Lee Ho-beom swirled the tip of his pointed tongue around her nipple, grinding it as if digging into it. Hae-soo’s knuckles turned white as she gripped his shoulders tightly.

“At first, you didn’t get wet easily, but now you’re crying just from having my fingers inside you.”

With a loud sucking sound, he released her breast and smirked wickedly. The rhythm of his thrusting fingers grew faster and more intense. Hae-soo arched her back repeatedly, barely swallowing down the moans that threatened to escape. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead as the overwhelming sensations began to take their toll.

“Hah... uh, you don’t have to do this... we can skip it.”

She couldn’t understand why he dragged this out when all he wanted was one-sided gratification. Hae-soo muttered weakly, shaking her head, her face flushed red. As if waiting for her to say those exact words, Lee Ho-beom grinned slyly. With a large hand, he gently laid her down on the thin, damp blanket.

“Wouldn’t you prefer to skip these preliminaries and go straight to the main event?”

Shifting positions, he spread her knees wide and settled himself between them. He shrugged off his shirt, which had been hanging open, revealing a massive upper body covered in dense black tattoos, leaving no trace of his original skin. The sight of his imposing physique weighed heavily on her mentally.

“Hold on a sec.”

He cracked his neck lightly from side to side, then paused midway through pulling out his already erect member from his pants. Watching through blurred vision, Hae-soo saw him pick up her discarded school skirt. She could vaguely guess why he was putting it back on her despite her lack of underwear, and it made her feel utterly disgusted.

“You perverted bastard...”

Hae-soo muttered under her breath, her brow furrowed as if she wanted to spit venom. But Lee Ho-beom merely chuckled, unfazed by the insult, and firmly grasped the back of her knees.

“And what about you, exposing yourself so willingly to such a perverted bastard?”

“Ugh...”

The thick, vein-popping shaft rubbed against the opening that had been mercilessly stretched by his fingers moments ago. Lee Ho-beom bent his densely muscled back slightly. The broad glans that had been rubbing against her entrance now pushed its way in, stretching her inner folds taut.

“Ahh...!”

“Damn, stop tensing up. You’re squeezing me too tight.”

Even with his threatening words, it wasn’t easy for her. Hae-soo took deep breaths, her chest rising and falling dramatically, as she tried to relax her body. This brute of a man showed no consideration for her whatsoever. All she could do was try to adapt to this unbearable act and minimize her own pain as best she could.

Lee Ho-beom pressed her trembling thigh firmly to the ground with a large hand that completely covered her cheek. Then, he pushed the rest of his uneven length inside her with force. “Hah, ugh, ah,” Hae-soo’s broken moans spilled out in fragments.

“Hah, greedy, aren’t you? So tight at first, yet you always end up taking it all in.”

The words “It’s because you’re forcing it in with brute strength” rose to the tip of her tongue, but they died there as he suddenly pulled back by her ankle and then thrust upward with a powerful motion.

Lee Ho-beom regained the rhythm he had lost. Thanks to the earlier preparation with his fingers, there was enough slickness to allow his shaft to slide in smoothly. The wet friction of their bodies produced a slapping sound, caused by the mixture of her leaking fluids and his pre-cum.

Slap, slap. The wet sounds echoed in the small room as he continued his relentless assault.

“I feel like I’m fucking a minor while doing this.”

His pitch-black eyes swept over her white button-up shirt covering her small breasts and the checkered skirt that had ridden up to her hips. Apparently pleased with what he saw, he laughed heartily before readjusting his grip on Hae-soo’s legs and began thrusting into her forcefully from above.

“Ahh, ah, ugh, mmm...!”

Thwack, thwack, thwack!

With each merciless thrust, Hae-soo’s buttocks bounced off the floor. The cold night air seeping through the old house was now replaced by the heat of their intense coupling. Hae-soo’s sharp moans and Lee Ho-beom’s vulgar commentary painted an even more grotesque picture in the background.

“Haa, if only we had met a year earlier...”

“Ugh, no, ah, ahh...!”

“I could’ve really taken your virginity back then.”

Lee Ho-beom continued pounding her pelvis with swift, sharp movements, lamenting as though he truly regretted it. A fleeting memory of the first day he came to this house flashed in her mind before dissipating. It was hard to think rationally at this point. Despite the coercion, the unpleasant pleasure of being stretched below was ruthlessly tearing through Hae-soo’s lower abdomen.

“Hae-soo… does my dick feel good?”

“Ahhnnn...!”

He pulled her waist closer, burying himself to the hilt and stirring deeply inside her. Hae-soo’s head fell back sharply. His deliberate yet persistent movements tickled every nerve ending. This was one of the acts she found hardest to endure. Lee Ho-beom licked her bony nape like a dog, firmly supporting her lifted hips with his hands.

“Should I make you squirt again today? Remember last time when I did this and you pissed yourself?”

“No, please, don’t…”

“Do you really think I’ll stop just because you tell me not to?”

Lee Ho-beom lifted one of her legs and draped it over his shoulder. With his massive frame, he pushed deeper, forcing their bodies to connect even more tightly. His already deep penetration, which reached her cervix, seemed intent on claiming even more territory. The gentle rocking of his hips sent waves of urgency through her urethra, making her squirm.

Hae-soo shook her head wildly, her face flushed red like an apple.

“Ahh, ah...! Aaah!”

Lee Ho-beom hammered into her with precise, brutal force, targeting her most sensitive spot. She felt like she was being helplessly swept away by crashing waves, shivering uncontrollably as electric shocks coursed through her body. Lee Ho-beom lifted her other leg, pinning her down completely as he pistoned into her with wild abandon. Pressed so tightly that her knees nearly touched her chest, Hae-soo convulsed, unable to breathe properly.

Before long, Lee Ho-beom withdrew his member entirely from her slick, overheated insides. A flood of vaginal fluid gushed out like a fountain, drenching everything around them. The warm liquid sprayed everywhere, resembling a stream of urine. Lee Ho-beom smirked lewdly as he watched the fluids splash onto his twitching cock.

“You came so hard, didn’t you?”

“Sob, haa… ah!”

He stroked his cock up and down, smearing the juices before thrusting back into her violently spasming hole. Her greedy opening stretched wide to accommodate his thick girth. Drenched in the aftershocks of climax, Hae-soo’s spine stiffened as she trembled uncontrollably. Lee Ho-beom tapped her flushed cheek lightly with the back of his finger.

“Ahn Hae-soo, stay with me. I haven’t cum yet.”

“Ahh, ah, aaah, ah...!”

“Suck on it a little… Hurry up and make me cum so we can finish this and maybe reduce some of your debt.”

The word “debt” floated hazily in her jumbled thoughts. Without thinking, Hae-soo spread her legs wider, trying to take him even deeper. Lee Ho-beom stared intently at her unfocused eyes and laughed cruelly.

He grabbed her tangled hair and crushed his lips against hers. His slippery tongue invaded her mouth, ravaging her membranes recklessly. His re-entry into her tight passage maintained the momentum, scraping gently against her wet inner walls.

Exhausted, Hae-soo clung to him, moaning softly. Through her blurry vision, she could barely make out the small window, no bigger than a human head. Beyond it lay an impenetrable darkness.

────────────

“Haa, ha…”

Her sweat-drenched body stuck to the floor, sticky and uncomfortable. The thin blanket spread beneath them was soaked and crumpled into a chaotic mess. The school uniform he had dressed her in, saying he felt like he was deflowering a minor, had been discarded halfway through. Now completely naked, Hae-soo slowly lifted her head from where it had rested on Lee Ho-beom’s leg. Her throat burned with an unbearable thirst.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Before she could even lift her hips off the floor, his arm shot out and pulled her back into his embrace. Lee Ho-beom, who had just finished their exhausting session and was now puffing on a cigarette again, grabbed her full breast with his hand.

“Look at these big tits for such a young girl.”

“Let go... I’m thirsty.”

“No way.”

He chuckled softly and deliberately squeezed her breast harder, as if to prove a point. He lifted the mound of flesh in his palm, scraping her nipple with his fingertips. Unintentionally, Hae-soo let out a gasp, her body still overly sensitive from their recent sexual encounter.

“With tits like these walking around school, don’t the boys beg to sleep with you? If I were your age, I’d be chasing you nonstop just to get a piece of that.”

Hae-soo didn’t feel the need to dignify that with a response, so she simply closed her mouth. Sensing her silence as defiance, Lee Ho-beom pinched her already swollen nipple between his fingers. “Ah!” An involuntary moan escaped her lips.

“You don’t have to say anything. I know those little shits stare at you like they’re about to cum in their pants, right? They probably bump into you on purpose just to see these bounce.”

“Only perverts like you would do something like that.”

Whether he wanted sarcasm or honesty, her response seemed to satisfy him. As expected, Lee Ho-beom merely snickered and stopped pressing her for answers.

“Look at this,” he said, holding her breast in his hand, letting it spill over his fingers. “It’s so big it doesn’t even fit in my palm. I think it’s gotten bigger since I’ve been playing with them.”

He placed the cigarette in the ashtray and cupped both of her breasts, lifting them gently and making the fleshy mounds sway like waves, emphasizing their presence.

“If someone begged you to let them suck on your nipples and offered you money, would you do it?”

His words were endlessly vulgar and crude. Since the day they met, he had never shown any restraint, but after sex, his behavior became even more unbearable. Hae-soo, her mind still hazy, didn’t bother answering. Instead, she turned her head away. Whatever she said, Lee Ho-beom would only twist it to make her more uncomfortable.

“Ah, well. Since you’ve already got me wrapped around your finger, maybe you’d laugh at anyone else offering you money, huh?”

The hand that had been teasing her reddened nipple slowly slid down and slipped between her parted thighs.

“You should consider yourself lucky for meeting me. If you’d ended up with another loan shark, you’d already be sold to some brothel, sucking dirty dicks and getting your pussy torn apart by disgusting men.”

Hae-soo’s spine curved slightly against Lee Ho-beom’s chest. Her reaction—a raw flinch of fear—made him smirk.

As he stroked the still-wet, overheated folds of her entrance, Hae-soo bit down on her lower lip. His fingers rubbed persistently at the creases where his semen had smeared, and he lazily whispered, “Should we go one more round?”

The intent behind his fingers, which were now teasing her protruding clitoris, was painfully obvious. Hae-soo felt the unmistakable pressure of his erection poking insistently at her again.

“...Will you cut another hundred thousand won off my debt?”

A hundred thousand won per session—that was the deal between Lee Ho-beom and Hae-soo. He smirked at her audacity in negotiating while her body was already starting to produce fresh arousal. Effortlessly, he pushed her back onto the floor from where she had been sitting on his thigh, licking his lips slowly.

“Sure thing.”

“And… can you not… finish inside me this time? You already did once…”

“Didn’t we already establish that one more time wouldn’t hurt?”

Hae-soo knew him all too well.

This man, a member of a group that ruled the underworld through sheer brute force, had a nasty habit of doing exactly what he wasn’t supposed to. If she begged him not to ejaculate inside her, he’d do it just to spite her. Occasionally, he might pull out at the last second and come on her stomach without being asked—but that was rare. Perhaps it was better to retreat strategically here.

Suddenly, Hae-soo felt a deep sense of disgust toward herself. She couldn’t understand how she had fallen so low, constantly gauging his mood and crawling to accommodate him.

When she opened her eyes again, Hae-soo was alone in the tiny room.

The languid morning sunlight rippled over her naked body like waves. Even in this cramped, filthy space, the rays of light managed to creep in sharply. Blinking groggily, she heard a loud noise coming from her bag tucked away in the corner of the room. It was her phone alarm ringing.

The sound that broke the bitter silence of the morning did little to rouse her foggy mind. Lying on her side, Hae-soo stared at the wallpaper smeared with black mold. Then, slowly lowering her gaze, the memory of her first encounter with Lee Ho-beom flickered before her like a ghostly afterimage.

“Running away isn’t going to solve anything, is it?”

It had been the very next day after she moved into this tiny one-room apartment, which she had barely managed to secure with the money her mother left behind.

In the early hours of dawn, a man suddenly kicked open the door and barged in, cigarette dangling from his lips, and kicked Hae-soo while she was still asleep. He seemed extremely irritated for some reason, muttering all sorts of curses under his breath—”What kind of shitty situation is this? Having to deal with crap like this…”—while she writhed like a worm tangled in her blanket.

The house where Hae-soo had stayed before coming to this slum had gradually fallen apart after her mother’s suicide. The landlord, eager to take advantage of the rumors that someone had died there, used the loan sharks who came to harass Hae-soo as an excuse to kick her out. Even if she had wanted to stay, it wasn’t a choice she was given. At the time, she had been too busy scrambling to pack what little belongings she had.

Kicked awake by the intruder’s boot, Hae-soo grimaced as pain shot through her back and irritably pushed the blanket aside.

“I didn’t run away.”

She raised her head defiantly but froze when she realized the man standing before her wasn’t the usual debt collector who had relentlessly tormented her. Unlike the sleazy, cunning man with fox-like eyes who always licked his lips when he saw her, this stranger was different. He was tall, with a muscular frame that blocked her view entirely. And the face holding the cigarette—so unlike the previous debt collector’s sly, malicious demeanor—was on another level altogether.

The man, frowning just as deeply as Hae-soo, twitched his eyebrows upon seeing her face peeking out from beneath the blanket. Then, folding his long legs, he crouched down in front of her.

“Hello?”

“...Who are you?”

“Who am I? I’m the guy here to collect the money you owe.”

No matter who showed up, their purpose remained the same. Exhausted from nearly a year of relentless harassment, Hae-soo turned her head away. These people invaded her life without regard for night or day, leaving her no room to breathe.

“Ugh.”

Her head was abruptly grabbed and turned back. The man firmly gripped her chin, bringing her face close enough for him to examine. He took a deep drag from his cigarette, hollowing his cheeks, revealing a long scar running from his sunken cheek to the corner of his mouth.

“Hmm.”

“...?”

“Hong Shil-jang really didn’t want to hand you over, huh? I can see why now. No one mentioned you were this pretty.”

His pitch-black eyes, glowing faintly with the ember of his cigarette, gleamed with an unsettling boldness. The pressure of his gaze was stronger than she expected, and Hae-soo couldn’t move, trapped in his grip. Even the acrid smell of his cigarette smoke seemed to press down on the air around them. After leisurely inspecting her delicate features and fair skin, the man squinted one eye and spoke.

“About 50 million won, maybe?”

“What?”

“The price your body would fetch if sold to a brothel.”

It was nothing less than an appraisal.

“Do you know what I mean?”

“...?”

“If we play our cards right, we could even get up to 70 million.”

It was a nauseating evaluation.

Even amidst all this, what gnawed at Hae-soo’s insides was the realization that even if she sold herself, the amount she could raise would only cover a fraction of the debt her father had left behind. Her heart churned with anger, fear, regret, frustration, resentment, and despair—all tangled together like a knotted mess inside her. She bit her lip hard.

That day, the man who had barged in—Lee Ho-beom—left after telling her to “think about it.”

Think about it? It was advice that only provoked a bitter laugh. Or was it even advice? Maybe it was a threat. In truth, there wasn’t much difference. To them, the only thing that mattered was getting their money. They didn’t care about Hae-soo’s dignity or well-being. If damaging her could bring in cash, they’d do it hundreds, thousands of times over without hesitation. These were monsters in human form.

After that, Lee Ho-beom began showing up at her place at all hours, without warning.

But something about Lee Ho-beom felt different. The previous loan sharks would barge in, tear the house apart, and push Hae-soo and her mother to the brink with their threats. Once, when she had tried to stop them from smashing the furniture, she was slapped so hard she fell to the ground. Their relentless cruelty had been a direct factor in her fragile mother’s decision to take her own life.

However, Lee Ho-beom simply sat on a creaky chair that looked like it might collapse at any moment, puffing away on his cigarette as he watched Hae-soo. Occasionally, he would walk around the tiny room, inspecting it as though he were there to appraise the house rather than collect a debt. Despite this seemingly calm demeanor, Hae-soo always retreated to a corner whenever he showed up, holding her breath. Loan sharks were unpredictable beasts, and she couldn’t afford to let her guard down.

When he finally rose to leave, his parting words were always the same:

“So, have you made a decision?”

It was a persistent follow-up to his earlier proposition about her “worth” in millions of won.

Hae-soo bit her lip until it nearly bled and closed the door behind him, letting silence answer for her. She could sense that Lee Ho-beom, unlike the brutal gangsters he associated with, was showing a strange kind of restraint. But even so, she couldn’t bring herself to give up everything and sell her body into the sex trade.

Rather than walk that path, she would sooner follow her mother into death. That road was unthinkable.

Perhaps it was because the weight of the depression she once shared with her mother now rested entirely on her shoulders. Hae-soo’s heart sank deeper each day, mired in a swamp of despair. Life had ceased to feel like living; it had become an act of mere endurance. Her inner resolve, once steady, now wavered unsteadily, tilting this way and that under the crushing weight of existence.

The final breaking point came on the day of her graduation ceremony.

She should have graduated alongside her peers after completing her third year as an exam student, but due to insufficient attendance, she had been held back. While others posed for photos with their parents, smiling and celebrating, Hae-soo stood awkwardly to the side, watching like a fool before slipping out of the school gates.

As she reflected on her failed promotion, memories of her mother’s suicide inevitably resurfaced.

Her mother’s death hadn’t come without warning.

The depression that drove her to it had clear precursors. Hae-soo, sensing her mother’s unstable state, had rarely left her side. As a result, her attendance record—once flawless—became riddled with absences. Her homeroom teacher issued repeated warnings, but Hae-soo couldn’t bear to leave her mother alone. In her own way, she fought desperately not to be left alone in this world.

And yet, despite her efforts, her mother had still slipped away...

On the day of the graduation ceremony, after returning home and sitting blankly in front of her mother’s framed photograph, rain poured down as if to console her solitude. Sitting in the dark, unlit one-room apartment, she heard Lee Ho-beom enter shortly afterward.

“Hey.”

Today, instead of sitting on the chair, Lee Ho-beom leaned against the sink, lighting a cigarette as he gazed at Hae-soo, half-consumed by the shadows.

“What happens if I die?”

Instead of answering, Lee Ho-beom twisted one corner of his mouth into a smirk that seemed to mock her. Perhaps it was the faint haze of cigarette smoke surrounding him, but his smile carried a sharp, biting edge.

“Why are you asking such nonsense?”

“...”

“Are you planning to hang yourself like your mom?”

His cutting baritone sliced through her like ice, chilling her to the core. Any lingering hope or resistance she might have clung to froze over completely. Hae-soo glared at him, her face obscured by darkness. Without care, he stubbed out his cigarette on the sink, letting the ash fall where it may, and lumbered toward her.

“Hae-soo, you know what? People like you disgust me the most.”

Since the first day he grabbed her chin, Lee Ho-beom had refrained from physical contact—but not today. His hand shot out, grabbing a fistful of her unkempt hair and yanking her head back forcefully. Hae-soo stared up at him, her neck arched painfully backward.

“What makes you think dying is the answer? You’re giving up too easily.”

“...”

“You should be clawing and fighting tooth and nail to survive.”

“Even if I died and came back to life, I wouldn’t be able to repay the debt I owe you.”

“...”

“Selling my body to pay it off is worse than death to me.”

“...”

“So, I’d rather just die.”

Lee Ho-beom’s dark, viscous eyes bore deep into Hae-soo’s irises. The murky gray of resignation swirled with faint but stubborn determination—two opposing emotions tangled together like oil and water. It was strangely fascinating.

With a sly glance, Lee Ho-beom pushed the corners of his lips upward.

“How about this?”

The finger bearing his scar prodded sharply at the midpoint between Hae-soo’s collarbone and chest.

“Sell this to me.”

“...”

“I’ll pay you well.”

It had been clear from the start what Lee Ho-beom wanted from her. During the countless hours she spent idling at home, he often stared at her exposed skin as if licking it with his eyes. And now, his lingering gaze swept over the space between her legs, sticky and unbearable in its intensity.

“How is that any different from being sold to a brothel?”

“It’s different.”

The large hand that had been hovering near her upper body suddenly shifted direction. Hae-soo flinched as his sturdy forearm slid between her thighs.

“One dick inside you versus every diseased, filthy bastard shoving their way in.”

Hae-soo’s face turned deathly pale. Lee Ho-beom’s blunt tone forced her to imagine the horrifying scenario.

“For your information, I’m clean. No STDs, so don’t worry.”

“...”

“You’re right—you’ll never be able to repay that debt even if you die trying. And let’s not forget: the interest on these loans grows faster than you can pay them off. Right?”

The explanation came from a man who understood all too well the vicious cycle trapping Hae-soo. Hearing it amidst her boiling despair made it sound almost like a kind persuasion.

“I’ll take care of the debt for you. From now on, just deal with me. How convenient is that?”

No matter how hard she thought about it, the difference didn’t seem significant. The only change was that instead of servicing countless men, she’d only have to service one. Still, the circumstances surrounding her—the dreary weather, the relentless drumming of rain, the isolating solitude of her graduation day, and the inescapable reality of her situation—all shook her fragile resolve.

“As a special favor, I’ll cut down the interest rate.”

“...”

“One hundred thousand won off for each time.”

As he smoothed the tip of his eyebrow with the hand he had withdrawn, Lee Ho-beom let out a self-deprecating laugh.

“Damn, I’m such an idiot. Don’t you think? Where else would you get a hundred thousand for letting someone use your hole?”

Everything he said felt like sugar-coated lies wrapped in despair.

He was right. What other options did she have? She had grown up without ever holding a proper part-time job. Even if she worked tirelessly, where could she earn enough to make a dent in this insurmountable debt? If she gave herself to Lee Ho-beom once a day, chunks of the debt would slowly chip away. It wasn’t forever—at least, not if he kept reducing the interest. By all appearances, it didn’t seem like a losing deal.

“Stop living so pitifully. Be cunning. Use whatever you can to survive.”

Her thoughts were unraveling as though intoxicated, though she hadn’t touched a drop of alcohol. Perhaps the relentless downpour had hypnotized her. Her eyelids trembled under the weight of her inner turmoil. Deep down, she already knew. This was less about convincing herself and more about rationalizing what she felt she had no choice but to accept. There seemed to be no other path forward except Lee Ho-beom.

To escape the suffocating despair that had consumed her that day, clinging to Lee Ho-beom felt like the only lifeline available. That day, with a heart heavy as though sinking into the ocean, Hae-soo finally spread her legs for him.

After that day, her relationship with Lee Ho-beom devolved into something lewd and vulgar. Like a wobbly rowboat finally swallowed by a filthy wave, it was an outcome almost predetermined by her acceptance of his proposal.

The fragile mouse that once cowered in the corner, breathing shallowly, and the cat that had patiently stalked her—how quickly they shed their distance. Now, whenever they met, clothes were hastily torn off, more often than not driven by Lee Ho-beom’s insistence rather than Hae-soo’s will.

Hae-soo often found herself bitterly regretting the choice she had made that day, especially when Lee Ho-beom resorted to violence. Thinking back to how he had kicked her during their first encounter, it was clear he had no mercy in his hands. So why had she so readily accepted his proposal? His earlier show of leniency had been nothing more than a fleeting act—Lee Ho-beom was just as capable of wielding violence without hesitation, especially when he was riled up. 

His crude and vulgar nature reared its head most prominently when he was aroused—specifically, when Hae-soo didn’t comply with his demands. The scab on the corner of her mouth throbbed painfully. Hoping to skip even one day, she had claimed her lower body was sore, but he had forced his erect member into her mouth anyway. The slap across her cheek had come during the ensuing struggle. To force her reluctant mouth open, he had shown no restraint, striking her mercilessly. By the time she blinked her eyes a few times, disoriented from the sharp sting, his shaft had already taken control of her mouth.

Hae-soo absentmindedly touched the corner of her mouth before letting her hand drop. Never before had she felt such a profound sense of self-loathing.

What if...

On that lonely graduation day, what if she had chosen differently? Would things have turned out any better?

Such questions occasionally bubbled up in her mind like foam on water. But they were dismissed almost immediately as pointless thoughts. Even if she had resisted then, it was inevitable that she would have faltered eventually, and once she did, the outcome would have likely been the same.

At the time, Hae-soo’s circumstances were akin to being trapped in a cesspool. No matter where she stepped, she was bound to get dirty. In that context, Lee Ho-beom, despite his rotten core, had appeared as a lifeline. Rather than wallow in filth, she had clung to him with reckless determination, hoping for some semblance of escape.

The predictability of it all brought a bitter laugh to her lips—a mirthless, acrid chuckle that left a metallic tang in her throat. When she was left alone in the house after Lee Ho-beom disappeared, basking in the blinding morning sunlight that felt sharp enough to bring tears to her eyes, her emotions spiraled downward with alarming speed.

“Ha...”

Hae-soo picked up her school uniform, which lay crumpled on the floor like a discarded shell, only to let it fall again with a soft thud. She had noticed the damage earlier when he had yanked it up roughly—the buttons near the zipper had torn off. Having grown up sheltered and pampered, Hae-soo didn’t know how to sew. Still, she couldn’t just lie there helplessly.

With great effort, she dragged her heavy, stone-like body toward the sewing box tucked away in the corner. Fumbling clumsily with the tools, she pricked the tip of her finger on a thin, sharp needle.

“Ah.”

A reflexive groan escaped her lips. A round bead of blood welled up where the needle had pierced her skin. It was so vivid and red that it almost didn’t feel real. Hae-soo stared blankly at it before setting down the uniform and needle in her hands.

Her head dropped heavily, chin touching her chest. The sorrow she had been suppressing began to surge forth like an incoming tide. Wave after wave crashed over her, consuming her rapidly. Why did the memory of her parents, who had always shielded her hands from harm, now fill her with such resentment and lament? 

“Oh dear, let me do that for you. Mom will take care of it.”

Whenever moments like this arose, the absence of her parents, who had always protected her, hit her with unbearable clarity. Was it already the end of summer, with autumn peeking around the corner? Her heart felt unbearably cold, as though someone had stuffed endless shards of ice into her mouth. Finally, the prickling behind her tear ducts gave way, and liquid spilled forth uncontrollably.

“I miss you, Mom...”

Her voice was hollow, a whisper lost in the void, met with no reply.

Today, as always, the silence wrapped tightly around her, a stark reminder that she was utterly alone in this world. Though the sun shone brightly in the morning sky, she felt like a solitary wanderer trudging through the darkest depths of night.