After school, I dragged my tired feet home. Halfway there, a sports car suddenly sped past me. It had been raining a lot lately, and puddles had formed on the road. The car was going so fast that the water on the road splashed onto me. Then the car stopped, and I looked closely at it and immediately recognised whose car it was.
The car window rolled down, and Ju Ga-Eun leaned out to look back at me. The black car served as a backdrop, highlighting his dazzling platinum-blonde hair. He smiled at me with a look of regret, but it was clearly fake.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Lee Young-Won. We didn't notice and ended up getting your clothes dirty! Anyway, your clothes were already dirty, so a little more dirt probably won't matter, right?"
She laughed sarcastically at me, then sat back in her seat, rolled up the window, and drove off. I stood there dumbfounded, staring at the car. It was truly beautiful, but why did it have to belong to such a despicable owner?
I continued on my way home, soaking wet.
As soon as I arrived home, I heard shouting that made me jump. Instinctively, I ran straight into the house, and just as I had thought, it was the creditors coming to demand payment.
They were all very angry. As soon as they saw me, one of them sneered,
"Why don't you sell this girl to pay off your debt? She looks decent enough; I'm sure she'll bring you a lot of money."
"That's right, after raising her for so many years, it's time for her to repay you!"
"No! No way! Young-Won is our daughter! We'll try our best to earn the money to pay you back! Please don't touch my daughter!"
I stood frozen at the door, not knowing what to say or do, only able to stand helplessly, clutching the doorframe, watching my parents kneel and beg them to spare me.
"Hmph! You better make sure to pay back everything. Don't make me come looking for you again!"
After a round of crying and begging, they finally agreed to leave. The creditors passed by me one by one, and I could feel the murderous intent and desire in their eyes as they looked at me.
After they had all left, I dared to step inside the house. My parents looked at me with eyes filled with regret and remorse.
"Young-Won, we truly apologise. It was our fault that you were dragged into this."
My mother cried as she hugged me. I couldn't hold back my tears and hugged her back. I looked up at my father, who had borne the burden of this family to the point where he looked thinner than me standing beside me. I felt truly heartbroken.
Our family would have been very happy if it weren't for the appearance of a certain person. He was a man in his early thirties who had persuaded my parents to invest in shares of his company. When the company went bankrupt, he disappeared with the money. My mother was so shocked that she fainted. My parents had to borrow money from many places to gather the amount he demanded, but it turned out like this. I clearly remember that many residents gathered in front of the police station to hang signs accusing him of fraud, but the police said that since the man had fled and they had no evidence, they couldn't investigate. Many people were so angry that they picked up a large rock and threw it at one of the police officers. The officer was injured and bleeding from the head. Not only did they not get their money back, but they were even charged with intentional assault. From then on, no one bothered the police station anymore, and my family fell into hardship.
Every day, many creditors came to demand payment. The already cramped house became even more dilapidated because they would break things whenever they came. They even took the only small TV in the house, and all the valuable items in the house were taken by them. They even took my parents' phone to offset the debt. My parents hid a touchscreen phone with a few cracks on the screen for me.
I watched my parents apologise for not being able to give me a perfect family, and I silently wondered why everything had to target me? Is it because I'm poor? Is it because my family doesn't have the same powerful connections as others in this vast, luxurious city of Seoul? Why are the wealthy and powerful always prioritised over those without connections like us? Is this world still fair?
END