CHAPTER 113: CHAPTER 113: THE HERO

Why did they suddenly start calling each other brothers?

Perhaps it was because Li Ang’s tone was too earnest, his attitude too serious, that the Ghost couldn’t help but ask, "Did you also take out a campus loan?"

"Borrow? More than that."

Li Ang’s face was grave as he earnestly began to spout nonsense. "Since my first year of high school, I’ve been taking out small loans from various lending platforms. At one point, I registered accounts on over a hundred apps and maxed out thirty to forty credit cards. I received countless enthusiastic phone calls all day long. In every city I’ve wandered to, there have been underworld figures looking for trouble with me."

The high school student living on the Japan Islands opened his mouth. "You too, huh..."

"Little brother, since we’re both in the same boat, why not tell me your story?"

Li Ang, exercising his skill of adapting his speech to his audience, familiarly put an arm around the other’s ice-cold shoulder and, from nowhere, pulled out a cigarette and passed it over.

The other unconsciously took the cigarette but didn’t smoke it, instead hesitantly beginning to share his story.

Japan has long had what’s called a "borrowing culture." There’s a common saying, "Edokko wa yoi kosu no zeni wa motanu," meaning "Edo folks don’t keep money overnight." This essentially means "live for today," and when out of cash, they borrow. Such loans are short-term with extraordinarily high interest rates: ten percent in ten days, twenty percent in ten days, even fifty percent in ten days, or one percent a day.

In the seventies, the United States’ concept of advance consumption was introduced to the Japan Islands. This pushed the borrowing culture, which previously belonged to the middle class, into the lower strata of society. The rapid economic growth of Japan at the time also fueled the prevalence of this extravagant trend of premature consumption.

Driven by the Financial Services Agency, the Japan Legal Support Center, the National Consumer Affairs Center, law firms, banks, and other institutions, various lending companies sprouted like mushrooms after rain, including those specializing in usurious loans.

Japan also has a law stating that "interest rates above a certain level are void." Some usurious loan companies, before lending, clearly tell customers they charge fifty percent interest in ten days. They might even say that if the loan can’t be repaid, one can go to the police and won’t have to pay it back. However, most borrowers don’t do this because they can’t survive without constant loans.

The ordinary high school student in front of Li Ang, named Ishida Inamori, was one such victim.

He initially borrowed money to buy a brand-new smartphone out of vanity. When he couldn’t pay it back, he was lured to another lending company to borrow more money to cover the first loan. When he couldn’t repay that either, Ishida Inamori, possessing the "stubborn and petty" characteristic often attributed to people from the Japan Islands, didn’t confess to his parents. Instead, he steeled his heart and entered a gambling den, naively thinking luck could turn things around.

Naturally, he lost everything, down to his pants, and ended up nearly a million yen in debt.

With interest continually compounding and growing, a desperate and hopeless Ishida Inamori finally faced the day his family learned the truth. His parents were ordinary working-class people, unable to repay so much money at once. Meanwhile, debt collection agencies kept sending fearsome thugs to loiter around the Inamori family’s home and even near his school, making various threats.

"If you have no money, then hurry up and sell your blood, your kidneys, your eyeballs! If you can’t bear to part with those, sell your house! In short, you must repay on time!"

All kinds of pressure drove Ishida Inamori to a dead end. One afternoon, in his dormitory, he hung an electrical wire from the railing of his bed...

The banknotes scattered on this corridor floor belonged to youths like Ishida Inamori, driven to desperation by usurious loans.

Li Ang patted Ishida Inamori’s shoulder sympathetically and, pulling out a cigarette from somewhere, began to reminisce. "Compared to me, you guys were much luckier."

"Lucky?"

Ishida Inamori clenched his teeth, hatred as sharp as a knife’s edge gleaming in his eyes. "I was driven to death by those people! There are no more despicable and cunning individuals in this world than them!"

"Young man, there’s always someone bigger out there, and a vaster sky beyond. Compared to the real predatory lenders, Japan’s usurious loan companies are just playing house."

Li Ang laughed. "The companies engaged in sophisticated loan schemes hire many legal experts to find ways to circumvent the law.

"For example, if someone comes to borrow 5,000, the monthly interest might be 2,000. The loan shark will then write an IOU for 7,000, stating that if it’s not repaid in a month, the interest becomes 3,000. If it’s still not repaid, they’ll write another IOU, perhaps saying 10,000 was borrowed with an interest of 5,000. As this continues, interest compounds on interest, leaving borrowers with no chance to recover. Meanwhile, the loan shark convinces them to keep borrowing from other companies to cover the shortfall.

"The amount on each contract doesn’t look high. However, there are all sorts of ridiculous consulting fees, service fees, and management fees. When added up, they’re simply explosive. After several rounds of passing the problem around, a small amount snowballs into a huge one, with no possible solution.

"Even better, usurious loan companies can openly seize a borrower’s house through public notary commissions and judicial auctions. They can even turn illegal debts into legal ones through litigation. Also, due to the unclear mode of liability investigation, even if those responsible for usurious loans are caught, it’s difficult to hold them accountable with strict and forceful laws for some time. In other words, in the eyes of these educated, law-savvy loan shark scoundrels, the cost of crime is frighteningly low, while the potential profit is enough to make people rush in one after another.

"If I told you there was an online consumer loan provider who got rich by feeding on the blood of others, not only escaping punishment but also going public in the United States with its market value hyped up to nearly ten billion US dollars, you definitely wouldn’t believe me. It was because I borrowed a meager two thousand yuan that I ended up trapped by various schemes and driven to flee, bantering with the old hands on the forums.

"Phrases like ’Only those who strive will win, only those who dare to bet will hit it big,’ ’To get rich, you must bet big,’ ’Whose kid cries every day, which old hand loses every day?’ A few bottles, military-style boxing, blindly adding zeroes to card numbers when transferring funds—whether you win big or lose big, it’s all down to fate. In the end, out of desperation, I was utterly ruined, metaphorically paralyzed in bed, joining the ranks of the Sanhe drifters."

Li Ang spoke various terms from the Chinese underworld jargon, patting the stunned Ishida Inamori on the shoulder, and sighed, "You’re not alone. There are thousands of others in this world just as miserable as you, if not worse. Campus loans should never be touched; once you get involved with them, you’re doomed forever."

Ishida Inamori swallowed nervously, completely forgetting he had just been about to harm Li Ang. "Then... do we really have no way out?"

"A way out... It’s not entirely impossible."

Li Ang thought for a moment, then patted Ishida Inamori on the shoulder again. "Inamori-kun..."

"Brother Li, just call me Ishida," Ishida Inamori said earnestly.

"Alright, Ishida," Li Ang nodded, then hesitantly said, "You... you’re a ghost, aren’t you?"

"Yeah." Ishida Inamori nodded, his mood somewhat downcast. "Sigh, when I think about it, I really let my parents down."

"Yes, Ishida, abandoning your parents and seeking your own escape was truly an irresponsible thing to do." Li Ang first rebuked him, then immediately added, "However, since it has already happened, it’s irreparable. Ishida, take this briefcase full of money and give it to your parents. The U.S. Banknotes inside are all non-sequential and absolutely safe to use."

Ishida Inamori took the briefcase, and the chill immediately lifted from Li Ang’s arm. His face showed deep emotion. "Brother Li..."

"We’re kindred spirits, fallen on hard times. Seeing you reminds me of my former self." Li Ang spoke with heartfelt emotion, "Ishida, have you ever thought about striking back at those who caused your death?"

"Who? The loan sharks?" Ishida Inamori, holding the briefcase, appeared somber. "After I realized I’d become a ghost, I thought about getting revenge too. But those in the loan sharking business are all ferocious gang members. And once I leave this school, my Mana weakens immediately. I can’t possibly take down a robust man brimming with Evil Qi."

Li Ang smiled. "If assassination is out of the question, surely some pranks are doable, right?"

Ishida Inamori paused. "Pranks?"

"Exactly." Li Ang nodded. "For example, when no one’s around, you could throw red paint on the loan shark’s door, draw on their front floor with dung, and write messages like ’Pay back your debt.’ In the dead of night, you could frantically knock on their second-floor windows. You could take a toilet brush and put it in their fridge, or puncture their car tires..."

Li Ang rambled on, suggesting a slew of vicious tricks to Ishida Inamori, leaving the ordinary young man flabbergasted.

"And since you’re a ghost, they can’t catch you. Even if the top brass of a loan shark company spends a fortune to hire an Onmyoji or someone similar for protection, they can’t protect all their underlings." Li Ang gently coaxed, "By drawing on the resentment and hatred emanating from these gang members, as a ghost, you can not only increase your Mana but also protect others who have suffered the same fate, preventing them from being driven to a dead end."

"But..." Ishida Inamori said uncertainly, "Is it really okay to do this? I always feel..."

"Those who harm others will always be harmed in return!" Li Ang declared righteously. "No matter how they try to whitewash their actions with the ’Spirit of Contract,’ they can’t change the fact that they thrive on the blood of others. Ishida, don’t you want to be a righteous Messenger, administering justice in the darkness of the night?!"

Stirred by Li Ang’s righteousness, Ishida Inamori nodded vigorously. "Yes! I’ll follow your lead, Brother Li!"

"Good." Li Ang nodded in satisfaction and lightly punched Ishida Inamori on the shoulder. "DC has Batman, Marvel has Iron Man, and you, as a Hero from the Japan Islands, should have a codename too."

Ishida Inamori asked, "Like what?"

Li Ang grinned. "Since it’s a codename, the primary goal is to conceal your true identity. From now on, you can pretend to be a ghost from Goryeo in South Korea, and go by the name ’Goryeo Bandit’."