“…Lee Hyeonseok-nim?”
Nim? Oh, I was going crazy. The embarrassment was my share. Lee Hyeonseok ignored the secretary’s words and approached me.
“I knew you’d come to the police station at least once, but you really came like this.”
“Haha…”
“Hm? Did you drink too? You really do all sorts of fucking things.”
Lee Hyeonseok teased me with an exaggerated sigh. I wanted to refute him but had nothing to say, so I just laughed weakly. Until I heard what the detective and Lee Hyeonseok said, I thought my body was hot just from embarrassment, but thinking about it now, it might have been the alcohol taking effect. However, the moment Lee Hyeonseok started teasing me, it was as if the alcohol sobered up and my head started to clear. Ah. I really don’t know if I was tipsy until just now.
“That bracelet is pretty. Should I get you one later?”
Lee Hyeonseok noticed the handcuffs on me and didn’t hide his laughter. He looked like he was having so much fucking fun. Lee Hyeonseok, only you’re having fun. Only you’re having fun here. Still, I played along with a forced laugh to avoid creating unnecessary trouble.
“Do you know this person?”
“I told you he’s my son of a bitch?”
The secretary who had been ignored until now asked Lee Hyeonseok. If it were me, I would have been annoyed, but as expected, people who work for money were different. The secretary didn’t show a single crack. Lee Hyeonseok very confidently answered once again that I was his son of a bitch. The police were still bewildered, but the secretary and lawyer just accepted it.
“Do you know that Lee Hyeonseok-nim’s son of a bitch crushed our household’s young master?”
“When I heard that story, I laughed the hardest I’ve ever laughed in my life.”
At Lee Hyeonseok’s mockery, a slight crack appeared on the secretary’s emotionless face. The police station went quiet during the battle of spirits between the two. Embarrassed and having nothing to say, I scratched my cheek for no reason and touched the edge of the desk and the chair I was sitting on with my fingertip to ease the awkwardness. Wow, they clean well here. There wasn’t a speck of dust on the desk, and it felt nice and smooth.
“We will represent matters related to Seo Jiwoo-ssi.”
“You people?”
The one who ended that battle of spirits was the man next to Lee Hyeonseok. He was shorter than Lee Hyeonseok but similar. The neatly dressed man took out a business card and handed it to the detective.
“Lawyer, Ji Sangwoo… ssi?”
“Yes. Then, we’d also like to see the footage, would that be alright?”
“Yes, well, go ahead.”
Lee Hyeonseok, Ji Sangwoo, and another man next to Lee Hyeonseok watched the footage. After seeing the moment I injured a man’s precious place, the lawyer and the unknown man looked at me. I avoided their gaze. Lee Hyeonseok burst out laughing and asked to have the video copied.
* * *
Having become a perpetrator for the first time in my life, I was so anxious that I even dreamed of going to prison while sleeping.
It was Cheon Jaekyung who picked the fight and screwed me over. While having a bit of guilt I didn’t need to have, the self-loathing from making excuses like a criminal, and the anxiety and stress of wondering if I could possibly be okay going against a conglomerate—I lost 3kg, but things flowed unexpectedly in my favor.
The fact that I was still legally a minor under 24, that I had been drinking, that I was hit first, that I didn’t have a weapon, that I helped with the report, that I showed signs of remorse….
The only catch was that I had measured the kill angle while looking at Cheon Jaekyung’s place that was as precious as his life—that was the only one. Though that single scene full of obvious intent was enough to overturn all the favorable points mentioned earlier.
Anyway, if the opponent hadn’t been a conglomerate’s son, things flowed favorably enough that I could have won just by hiring a skilled lawyer without needing Lee Hyeonseok’s help.
On top of that, Cheon Jaekyung’s side seemed to want to wrap this up as quietly as possible.
First, setting aside that Cheon Jaekyung had thrown the first punch, they didn’t want the footage going around because the sight of him wailing while his center was grabbed looked pathetic to them, and second, they didn’t want everyone to know the fact that Cheon Jaekyung had become impotent.
The rumor that Cheon Jaekyung had become impotent was still a secret known only to those in the know.
In the end, Cheon Jaekyung’s family was very displeased, but after Lee Hyeonseok said something, they decided to let several things go in exchange for Cheon Jaekyung’s side also wrapping things up quietly.
It seemed to be flowing very favorably. Until the video was released on the internet.
Public opinion was split fifty-fifty between “He usually thinks ill of Cheon Jaekyung’s family, but wasn’t making him impotent going too far?” and “If you’re going to hit someone, shouldn’t you be prepared to get hit back?”
No matter how rich their families were, since things had gotten that big, they had to at least superficially investigate the case, and this case ended up properly going on the grill.
Perhaps because the footage had already spread, Cheon Jaekyung’s side transformed into “Since it’s come to this, let’s go all the way,” and I ended up standing in court. Not only did I enter the police station as a perpetrator for the first time in my life, but I also went to court. At this point, I could only laugh. I searched online for methods good for mental health and saw many posts saying to stay away from the internet, exercise, and meet people, but the only one I practiced was meeting people. I met detectives, lawyers, secretaries—so many people.
Just when it seemed hard to guarantee an easy victory, Lee Hyeonseok’s side presented evidence that Cheon Jaekyung had bribed gangsters to kidnap me on CSAT day and evidence that he had canceled my early admission applications.
Public opinion completely flipped to “He deserved it, can’t say anything even if he became impotent, this is so satisfying, this is what revenge is, how dare he touch a CSAT student—this is basically natural death.”
In this process, it was a natural course of events that my parents cried. Cheon Jaekyung’s side kept getting cornered. Of course, it almost became a mudslinging fight. If we traced back to the beginning, it started with Lee Juwon getting slapped for defending me. But Cheon Jaekyung’s family didn’t want to say that their second son did this because of Lee Juwon, and Cheon Jaekyung didn’t want to put Lee Juwon on the grill.
This case, which could have dragged on longer, ended in about a month as people’s attention focused on it and both groups tried to end it as quickly as possible. My victory and Lee Hyeonseok’s group’s stock rose, and Cheon Jaekyung’s group’s stock plummeted. As a bonus, the entire nation learned that Cheon Jaekyung, the second son of Seongwon Group which ranks within the Top 10 in corporate rankings, had become impotent. I’m certain that if I get assassinated, it will definitely be at Cheon Jaekyung’s behest.
Of course, it seemed like other things went back and forth behind the scenes, but Lee Hyeonseok never told me.
During this month, I was so out of it that I couldn’t even submit for the second round of early admissions. I wasn’t disappointed. Anyway, Cheon Jaekyung got royally screwed, and since my CSAT and first round of early admissions ended in failure—at this point, I had the mindset to take the CSAT next year.
My only anxiety and worry was my parents. This was also the reason I really wanted to resolve things as quietly as possible. But it was very natural that as the case grew bigger, my parents would learn the full story. I lost weight from stress and almost fainted, but my parents completely took my side. They comforted me, consoled me.
And people really liked writing fiction. Since Lee Hyeonseok, the eldest son and Dominant Alpha of HW Group who was at the center of attention, was helping me—a mere ordinary person—in every way possible, everyone speculated about what our relationship was. Friendship or love. Everyone was writing fiction. The fact that Lee Hyeonseok was a Dominant Alpha also played a part. Actually, that was the biggest factor. People wanted this case to be as sensational as possible,
So Lee Hyeonseok and I transformed into the romantic protagonists of the century. Everyone cheered for our love. Of course, there were quite a few looks of disgust, but since men could now get pregnant, negative reactions couldn’t gain momentum as people asked what kind of discriminatory statement this was in this era. As positive reactions gained momentum, sexual minorities thought this was their chance and started raising their voices, and eventually even talk of same-sex marriage came up.
How… how on earth do things turn out like this—I still don’t know.
* * *
“If Seo Jiwoo-ssi had done it intentionally, things wouldn’t have gotten this big.”
I blankly stared at a newspaper with “Modern-Day Cinderella?” written in huge letters while sitting on the now-familiar living room sofa at Lee Hyeonseok’s place. Watching me, Cha Minjae, Lee Hyeonseok’s secretary who was also now familiar, spoke while organizing the newspapers.
“Wasn’t measuring the kill angle intentional…?”
“Justification, cause, and timing are important for everything.”
In the end, the fact that I was the victim first and that it wasn’t intentional played a big role. If it had been intentional from the start, I would clearly have received quite a few arrows of criticism. Because Korea wants victims to be flawless. The timing was also appropriate. Because same-sex pregnancy became possible in a country with the lowest birth rate, people started viewing homosexuality favorably. Human rights organizations and the like also had their eyes lit up, so they couldn’t openly show disapproval, which also played a part.
“I was already kidnapped and had my applications canceled, so didn’t I already have justification and cause…?”
“Who would believe that. Even if a journalist got interested and came to cover it, that side would have blocked it all with money.”
But once a video spreads, it can’t be controlled. Since you can see it with your eyes, the trust is even greater. I didn’t know my dead eyes would gain life.
“Enough, so leave now.”
“Yes.”
Lee Hyeonseok, who was sitting across from me, issued an eviction order. The secretary briefly bowed to Lee Hyeonseok and withdrew from the living room.
“Still…. isn’t this too haphazard?”
“Same-sex marriage is possible in this novel.”
“Same-sex marriage.”
“If there’s an opportunity, they’ll jump right on it.”
“……”
But why is that being used to make Lee Hyeonseok and me the romantic protagonists of the century?
