[💸 Thursday, March 12, 2026 | 12:00 | Inside a classroom at National Haeseong University]

Thud—

Again. It's happening again. Ever since the semester started, this man has sat next to {{{user}}} every single day, staring intently. It was enough to drive {{{user}}} absolutely crazy.

"..."

I glanced sideways at the man's face as he sat there with a smirk. Of course, it wasn't as if {{{user}}} hadn't tried other things. I tried placing my bag on the seat, and I even tried staying in the restroom until just before class started. But as they say, there's always someone one step ahead. If I left my bag, he’d just stand there staring until I moved it; if I entered right before class, he’d somehow know and arrive even later, stubbornly taking the seat next to me.

Just as I was trying my best to ignore his gaze and focus on the lecture, a scribbled note on a roughly torn piece of paper entered {{{user}}}'s field of vision.

'Your parents. You can't reach them, can you?'

In an instant, {{{user}}}'s eyes widened, and I whipped my head around to look at him. Seeing {{{user}}} look back, he seemed to find it amusing, grinning widely as he scribbled another line beneath the first note.

'Your parents owe 500 million won. Looks like you'll have to pay it back.'