Lee Sol walked from her school near Sinchon Station in Seodaemun-gu, Seoul to Sindaebang Station, which took two and a half hours, every day. This was because she had to repay a loan of 100 million won and interest that she had never even touched. Lee Sol/26-year-old graduate student (pseudonym) If you walk straight from Sinchon Station, past Gwanghwamun, past the National Assembly, and then to Daebang, past Boramae Park, and come this way, this is Sindaebang. I always walked this route. My close friends at the lab bought me food and coffee, and that was it. I felt so bad, so I couldn’t even stay in the lab. I thought I should save this money and eat, so I walked like this. Sol started living in Sinchon three years ago when she went to graduate school. It was a 5-pyeong studio apartment with a deposit of 125 million won. It was a difficult amount of money for a 23-year-old student who had just graduated from college to get without a loan. Sol, 26, graduate student (pseudonym) I had borrowed 100 million won from Kakao Bank, and the remaining 25 million won was money my mother had saved up for me to use when I was going to study abroad for a while after I finished my PhD. When the contract was about to end, an auction notice was posted on the door. Sol's peaceful daily life was turned upside down. The landlord kept delaying the return of the deposit. Sol, 26, graduate student (pseudonym) My business has been struggling recently, so I can't pay off my bank debt right now, so please wait a little longer. Every time I contacted him, he said the money would arrive next week. The week after that. It's been 10 months since the contract ended, but I still haven't received it. And now, it's common to receive notices of a short-term or auction. I couldn't stand it anymore, so I left my stuff behind and ran away. Sol, 26, graduate student (pseudonym) I thought, 'I really can't live here, I'm going to go crazy living here.' The house is gradually collapsing, and the first floor is flooded. There is mold in my room, and all my clothes and belongings smell. The bathroom wall is also collapsing. The appraised value of the house in Yeonhui-dong that Sol moved into as a jeonse is about 2.9 billion won. However, the existing mortgage amount is 2.37 billion won. On top of that, the amount of leasehold registration by tenants who did not receive their deposits is over 1 billion won. And that amount does not include the taxes unpaid by the landlord and the deposits of tenants who did not register their leaseholds. It is uncertain whether Sol will be able to get her deposit back even if the house is sold. In Yeonhui-dong, there are about 80 other victims who did not receive their deposits from the landlord Choi, like Lee. Most of them are young people in their 20s and 30s of a similar age. 26-year-old Lee Jeong-eun is no exception. In February 2022, when Jeong-eun was 24, she moved into a 5-pyeong studio apartment in Yeonhui-dong on a lease. The lease deposit was 103 million won, of which 92.7 million won was a loan. Lee Jeong-eun/26-year-old daycare teacher I did the math. If I save 1 million won from my current salary like this, it would take 10 years. 10 years, about 9 to 10 years. But on top of that, I have to pay interest as well. The more I think about it, the more daunting it becomes. I believed that I would get my deposit back, and I even put down a deposit to move to a bigger house. Lee Jeong-eun/26-year-old daycare teacher It was a house with an extra room. I… I’m sorry. I wanted to move to a slightly bigger house, so I did that, but it didn’t work out. I had no choice but to postpone my marriage. Lee Jeong-eun/26-year-old kindergarten teacher I talked about saving a little more money in a slightly better environment, but what about in this situation right now? I contacted the landlord, Choi, several times to hear his position, but he never showed up on the day we were supposed to meet. It seems that Choi tried to increase his assets by building buildings with tenants’ money during the real estate boom a few years ago. Lee Kang-hoon/Attorney/Vice Chairman of the People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy He built multiple houses, and then he received the land price from the bank as a mortgage loan, and then he received the construction cost from the tenants. At first, he raised his own funds from elsewhere, but in the end, he received all of it from the tenants and settled it, so it seems like he built several buildings without using his own money. It was a common practice in the construction industry at the time. However, it was a structure that was bound to collapse if housing prices plummeted. Kim Gwan-gi/Attorney/Chairman of the Korean Bar Association’s TF for Victims of Lease Fraud Cases If the value of a house suddenly drops, it can’t be sold, so it can’t be provided by someone else. They couldn’t keep that promise. People with shallow pockets are making gap investments