Min-joon opened his eyes in a classroom.
He was sitting at a desk in the middle of a large room. Other desks surrounded him, all empty. A chalkboard covered the front wall. The windows showed darkness outside.
His phone buzzed.
TASK: PASS THE TEST.
TIME LIMIT: 3 HOURS.
REWARD: 8,000,000 WON REMOVED FROM YOUR DEBT.
PENALTY FOR FAILURE: DEATH.
SPECIAL CONDITION: YOU MUST ANSWER EVERY QUESTION TRUTHFULLY.
TIME REMAINING: 2:59:58.
Min-joon read the special condition three times, his heart sinking.
Answer every question truthfully.
That meant speaking truths. Lots of them. And he was already drained from the collector encounter. Speaking truths in his weakened state would destroy him.
The System had set him up to fail.
A piece of paper appeared on his desk. A test. Min-joon picked it up and read the first question.
Question 1: What is your greatest fear?
Min-joon stared at the question. This was not a normal test. These were questions designed to hurt him.
He picked up the pencil on his desk and started to write. "Losing my brother."
The moment he finished writing, pain exploded in his chest. It was worse than any pain he had felt before. Min-joon doubled over, gasping.
The paper glowed faintly. The answer was accepted.
Min-joon looked at the next question through watering eyes.
Question 2: Why do you lie so much?
He wrote slowly, each word agony. "Because the truth is too painful."
More pain. Stronger this time. Min-joon bit his tongue to keep from screaming.
Question 3: Do you blame your father for your situation?
Min-joon hesitated. He had never let himself think about this. But the question demanded an answer.
He wrote: "Yes."
The pain was like fire in his veins. Min-joon fell out of his chair, writhing on the floor. The test paper floated down next to him, waiting.
He crawled back to the desk and pulled himself up. His hands were shaking so badly he could barely hold the pencil.
Question 4: What do you really think of Tae-hyun?
This question felt like a trap. Min-joon loved his brother. But what was the deepest truth? The one that would hurt most to admit?
He wrote: "I resent him sometimes. Because he gets to have a future and I do not."
The pain that followed was the worst yet. Min-joon screamed. He could not help it. His vision went white. His heart felt like it was tearing in half.
When the pain finally faded, he was lying on the floor again. Tears streamed down his face. He checked his phone.
TIME REMAINING: 2:51:34.
Only eight minutes had passed. He had answered four questions. How many more were there?
Min-joon looked at the test paper. More questions appeared as he watched, filling the page.
Twenty questions total.
He had sixteen more to go.
Min-joon wanted to give up. The pain was too much. He would rather die than continue.
But then he thought of Tae-hyun. If Min-joon died here, all his lies would unravel. The debt collectors would remember. They would take Tae-hyun.
He could not let that happen.
Min-joon dragged himself back to the desk and looked at the next question.
Question 5: Have you ever wished Tae-hyun was not your brother?
"Yes," Min-joon wrote. "When I was younger and he ate food that should have been mine."
The pain came, but he was ready for it this time. He gritted his teeth and endured.
Question 6: What would you sacrifice to be free of the debt?
"Anything," Min-joon wrote without hesitation.
The pain was sharp and quick.
Question 7: Do you think you deserve this suffering?
Min-joon paused. Did he? He had not created the debt. His father had. But he was the one paying for it.
He wrote: "No. But I inherited it anyway."
More pain. Manageable.
Question 8: If you could go back and change one thing about your life, what would it be?
"I would save my mother," Min-joon wrote. "I would make her rest instead of working herself to death."
This pain cut deeper. Guilt mixed with the physical agony. Min-joon sobbed as he wrote.
Question 9: What do you hate most about yourself?
"My weakness," Min-joon wrote. "My inability to protect the people I love."
Question 10: Are you afraid of dying?
"Yes."
The pain was constant now. Each truth piled on top of the last, creating a mountain of agony. But Min-joon kept going.
Question 11: Do you trust Han Woo-jin?
Min-joon thought about this. The man had taught him useful techniques. But there was something cold about him. Something calculating.
"No," Min-joon wrote.
Question 12: What is the biggest lie you have ever told?
Min-joon thought about all the lies he had spoken since receiving his curse. Which one was the biggest?
He wrote: "That I will be okay."
The pain nearly broke him.
Question 13: Do you believe you will survive the System?
Min-joon wanted to write yes. He wanted to believe it. But the question demanded truth.
"I do not know," he wrote.
Question 14: What do you think happens after you die?
"Nothing," Min-joon wrote. "We just stop existing."
Question 15: Have you ever thought about giving up?
"Every day."
Min-joon was crying openly now. Each truth stripped away another layer of the armor he wore to protect himself. He felt raw and exposed.
Question 16: What would you say to your father if you could see him again?
Min-joon's hand trembled. He wrote: "I hate you for leaving us. But I understand why you did it."
Question 17: Do you think Tae-hyun knows how much you are suffering?
"No. And I do not want him to know."
Question 18: If you had to choose between your life and Tae-hyun's, which would you choose?
"His," Min-joon wrote without hesitation. "Always his."
Question 19: What do you want most in the world?
Min-joon thought about this for a long time. Freedom from debt? Power? Revenge?
No. None of those.
He wrote: "Peace. Just one day where I do not have to be afraid."
Question 20: Are you a good person?
Min-joon stared at this final question. After everything he had done, all the lies he had told, the reality he had warped, was he still good?
He wrote slowly: "I want to be. But I do not know anymore."
As soon as he finished writing, the pain reached its peak. Min-joon screamed and fell forward onto the desk. Every nerve in his body was on fire. He could not breathe. Could not think. Could only feel pain.
Then, suddenly, it stopped.
Complete silence.
Min-joon lifted his head. The test paper was glowing bright white. Then it burst into flames and turned to ash.
His phone buzzed.
TASK COMPLETE.
ALL QUESTIONS ANSWERED TRUTHFULLY.
REWARD: 8,000,000 WON REMOVED FROM YOUR DEBT.
NEW DEBT TOTAL: 22,000,000 WON.
SPECIAL BONUS: YOUR CURSE HAS EVOLVED.
YOU MAY NOW SPEAK ONE LIE THAT COSTS NO ENERGY.
CHOOSE CAREFULLY. THIS CAN ONLY BE USED ONCE.
Min-joon barely processed the message. He was too exhausted. Too broken.
White light filled the classroom.
When it faded, he was back in the parking lot. His body collapsed onto the concrete. He lay there, unable to move, staring up at the dark sky.
He had survived.
Barely.
His phone buzzed with a text from Tae-hyun.
"Hyung, where are you? I am worried."
Min-joon did not have the strength to reply. He just lay there, breathing, grateful to be alive.
Footsteps approached. Min-joon turned his head slightly and saw the woman in white standing over him.
"Congratulations," she said. "You passed the hardest type of task. The ones that attack your soul instead of your body."
"Why?" Min-joon croaked. "Why does it have to be so cruel?"
"Because the Debt System does not just erase debt," the woman said. "It erases the person you were before. It burns away all your illusions, all your comforting lies, until only the truth remains. Some people break. Others become stronger."
She knelt down next to him. "You have a special reward now. One free lie with no cost. Do you know what you will use it for?"
Min-joon thought about it. One lie that changed reality without draining him. One perfect moment to reshape the world exactly as he wanted.
"Yes," Min-joon whispered. "When the time comes, I will use it to save Tae-hyun."
The woman smiled. "Good answer. Now rest. You have earned it."
She stood and walked away, disappearing into the darkness.
Min-joon closed his eyes. He had twenty-two million won left to erase. Seven more tasks at this rate. Maybe fewer if the rewards kept increasing.
He could do this.
He had to.