Luscious Deal

Mr. Park's POV

"If I don't get out now, I'm sure they'll catch up to me and try to kill me. I should just go to the seashore and board a ship to anywhere that isn't here, anywhere but here. There's nothing left for me here, not with the huge debt on my neck. I'll go to the seashore, where it all started a few months ago." Mr. Park downed the remaining beer left in his glass as he struggled to get up from his chair.

He'd been out here drinking for so long that he wanted to enjoy himself a little before he died.

"I shouldn't have made that luscious deal; it was too good to be true." He stammered as he left the beer shop. His mind was set on one thing only: to get to the seashore before the traders found out he was missing. As he walked away, he daydreamed of the seashore and the incident that befell him six months ago.

*Flashback six months ago...*

"Hey there, Mr. Park, come to buy more stocks?" A young boy greeted me as I arrived at the seashore.

I'm a social butterfly when it comes to this part of town, and it's because I've been the one making all sea food purchases for the traders from this outskirts of town. I've been doing this for a very long time, so everyone around here knows and trusts that I'm an honest man worth doing business with.

I've always lived a life that my daughters would be proud to call their father. Well, I find myself lucky to be called the father of those beautiful souls, and I really am grateful.

I was on my way to my regular customer when this young man approached me with the most dreadful deal I had ever made: "Sir, would you like to try this new deal in town? It's called double your money." It seemed like he had spied on me from afar before approaching his target carefully.

I blame myself for letting my human nature of curiosity get the better of me. I was so confident that, since everyone knew me, surely this wasn't a by-chance encounter. I was chosen because I was a good man, and no one would dare dupe me. Well, that kind of thinking just led to my downfall.

"Young man, how come I've never seen you here before? And I come here almost all the time?" I asked, but I still followed him wherever he was taking me.

"We just arrived here some days ago and decided to open this business; you see, I'm from the city," he said, and truly, I believed him because he didn't dress like a normal marketer.

He dressed like those company men in fine suits who wanted to market their shares of the business, and his aura spoke for itself. He didn't just look like a trusted man; I felt at that moment that I could fully trust this young man.

"I know, you still dress like you're in the city. So come tell me about this business of yours; I'd like to help your business grow in any way I can." I smiled

"Thank you very much, sir. You see, here at Double Your Money, you get to deposit a certain amount of cash, and we'll double that amount for you. Our own cut is just 1,000 won." He smiled politely.

"Just a thousand won?" I questioned,

"That's a very poor strategy; they'd be losing more than what they'd give to people, and they could go bankrupt before they even start out. My gut tells me this is wrong, but I still want to see this through.

How foolish I thought; he clearly was too young to be doing this sort of business.

"You do realise that you'll lose more money before the day runs out, right?" I just had to be sure he was aware of what he was trying to accomplish.

"Don't worry, sir; let that be our headache. Besides, we plan on giving back to the people, so what better way to do that than this free give-away, and you're lucky enough to be our first customer?" he said as he stopped at his store.

He had just two attendants with him, and his store looked simple with little furniture inside. I was given a seat before the offer was about to start.

"Any time you're ready, Mr."

"Just call me Park," I said as I gave him 5,000 won. He smiled at me.

"Trying to start easy, right?" he chuckled.

"Of course!" I laughed back as his female attendant fixed me a glass of fine whiskey.What a good way to start off! He definitely has my full attention now.

He went into some other room and came out with 10,000 won and handed it over to me, but as I was about to collect it, he retracted his hands and took out 1000 won.

"You know the rules." He smirked as he handed me 9,000 won. I honestly told him it was a lie or that I wasn't seeing straight. He honestly brought 10,000won to the table within a heartbeat.

I got more curious, and so I dropped 20,000 won on the table; that was half of my part of the fish purchases I had to make, and again, the young man brought out 40,000 won and took out 1,000 won. He gave me back my 39,000 won, and I laughed inside.

"You really weren't joking when you said you could double my money." I laughed, already getting used to the burning taste of the whisky coursing down my throat.

"Is that all, or would you love to double more than just petty change?" he uttered, and I was urged to do more. I really had been playing with petty change; the real deal was about to go down this minute, and I would be the one walking out two times richer than when I came in.

I pulled out the 500,000 won from my safe purse and handed it to him. Let's see how he can double that.

"Are you sure you have enough in your savings to double that?" I mocked, and all he did was smile before walking back into that room of his.

He stayed there for a while before calling his attendants to help him with the money. I guess it was too much for him; I just kept downing the whiskey till I finished the bottle.

"Hey! Attendant, bring another bottle for me, will you? Don't leave me hanging here!" I shouted for two straight minutes until I noticed no single sound was coming from that door, and they'd been gone for too long.

So I decided to check that door, and to my dismay, I found no single soul in that room.

"Wait? What! My money!!!" I cried as I scattered the room, only to find a small hidden door. They must have escaped to the seashore.

I rushed out as fast as I could to the seashore. What could I possibly do?

"Sir, did you see a man in a fine suit with two women carrying a bag?"

"No sir"

"NO sir"

"I didn't; excuse me." I kept on hearing the same thing until a fisherman told me he saw them boarding a ship twenty minutes ago.

It was official: I was doomed.

"Oh! My hard-earned money, what am I going to tell the others?" I fidgeted as I laid down on the floor and wept for my dear life.

*End of flashback*

"Well, no use crying over spilled milk," he shrugged.

"There he is!" Mr. Park heard someone shout, and he saw the very people he had been trying to run away from since this morning.

"You think running away would solve this issue? It just makes you look guiltier." One of the traders, whom he thought was his friend, shouted with the fellow crowd of traders holding pitchforks and planks.

"Our anger towards you has just increased by 100 percent, Park! Where is our money?" He shouted again, and the crowd kept closing the distance between them.

The only thing that registered in his head at that moment was to run; even though his legs wouldn't be able to carry him for long because of how wasted he is, it didn't matter. He wouldn't die without a fight.

So he took off.

"It's worthless if you run Park; you're just making this much harder for yourself. Just surrender now!" His friend called from behind him, but he didn't give one single thought to what he had said; he was going to listen to his instincts this time around.