The night in Mist City was cold, yet sweat kept soaking my sheets. "Credit Fatigue" felt as if my veins were filled with molten lead.
Jo entered the room carrying a bowl of steaming soup. He moved with a quiet elegance that did not fit a mere servant of a ruined house.
"Drink this, Young Master. It will help with the spasms."
I took a sip. Bitter, but the pain in my hands eased slightly.
"Jo," I said, watching the shadows crawl along the walls, "why are you still here?"
The old man paused while wiping the table. He did not answer immediately.
"Ma and the collectors think this house is nothing but a nest of debt. Lin Chen thinks I'm trash. You know I don't have a single stone to pay you. Why didn't you run when the old Han Seo-jun spent the last coin?"
Jo sighed and sat down on a worn wooden chair.
"Your father, Commander Han, was not a businessman," Jo said softly. "He was a man who guarded the frontier. The debts you inherited were not born from vices… not at first. They were taken on to feed a battalion the Empire had forgotten."
I froze. That was something the System had never told me.
"He died holding the pass," Jo continued. "And the Empire, to avoid paying the soldiers' pensions, turned his logistical expenses into 'personal debts' of the Han family. You… the old you, lost his mind trying to repay the impossible. That's why he started gambling. That's why he became an arrogant idiot. It was the only way he knew not to break."
Suddenly, a golden screen appeared before my eyes. It was not the usual cold blue.
> [BACKGROUND REVELATION DETECTED]
> You have uncovered the truth behind the "Commander's Debt."
> Information Value: High.
> Do you wish to sell this secret to the System?
> Reward: Unlock function [BLACK MARKET OF REPUTATION].
'Sell my dead father's honor just to survive?'
The villain inside me did not hesitate.
'Sell it.'
> [SECRET SOLD]
> Function unlocked: You may now use your "Infamy" as currency to purchase forbidden items.
> Current reputation: [Despicable villain and useless heir].
> Sale bonus: 20,000 Soul Stones.
> Balance: -1,000,140,000 Soul Stones.
"Young Master, are you all right?" Jo asked when he saw me staring into empty air.
"I'm fine, Jo. Better than ever," I smiled, feeling a new current of energy flow through me. "Tomorrow, when the merchants arrive, we won't just be selling smoke. We'll use that 'bad reputation' my father left behind so no one dares cheat us."
I swung my legs out of bed. They still trembled, but I could stand.
I went to the desk and opened the System's new tab: [Black Market of Reputation].
There were items the normal shop never displayed: slow-acting paralysis poisons, grade-four illusion runes, and something that made me stop cold.
> [SOUL-BINDING CONTRACT]
> Effect: Forces the signer to uphold their word or their cultivation core will explode.
> Reputation cost: 500 points of "Infamy".
"Lin Feng will come tomorrow to kill me," I whispered. "But he'll leave as my best business partner. Or he'll leave in a box."
I looked out the window toward the mansion gate. Ma's men were there, standing guard in the rain. They were my protectors today, but tomorrow they could be my executioners.
"Jo, go get some sleep," I said without looking at him. "Tomorrow, Mist City will remember why the name Han once inspired fear. But this time, it won't be because of heroism."
I stayed alone, practicing my calligraphy for tomorrow's false contracts. The debt was still an ocean, but for the first time, I felt like I had started to swim.