Chapter 324: The Beloved Man
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 324: The Beloved Man
“No, why would I want a reward for doing something righteous as a citizen? Is this a game to you? This is real life!”
My shout was a vow—a declaration that I would never, ever perform a catastrophe like the Earth-fucker again.
Students around the convenience store were whispering as they looked our way, but I didn't have the luxury of caring.
The look in these bastards' eyes was dead serious.
“Ahn Hyun-ho, you say something.”
Lee Gyu-a was involved in this.
If the person I suspected was indeed the culprit, there would definitely be photos of Lee Gyu-a there.
In fact, Ahn Hyun-ho should be the most desperate person here.
“Hmm.”
He crossed his arms and pondered for a moment, then answered with a world-weary, serious expression.
“I think the opposite.”
“Opposite of what?”
“Shouldn't the youngest son of Uju Group be able to do at least that much to catch a criminal?”
“……”
I really don't have a single ally.
“Am I wrong? It’s not even that hard. You just have to thrust your hips against the ground a bit.”
“Yeah, exactly.”
“If it were me, I would’ve done it ages ago.”
“Even if I experienced something like that, I’d just shrug it off like, ‘Whatever, I’m rich.’”
Look at these guys pulling out their phones as they talk.
I have no idea why they’re suddenly so hell-bent on humiliating me.
Until a moment ago, I was almost feeling a bit hurt, thinking they were finally acting like chaebols by demanding material compensation.
Now, I just want to settle this with money.
Money is the best.
“Excuse me.”
Just then, a group of women we’d never seen before approached us.
Except for Jeong Chan-woo, who was naturally handsome even while standing still, the rest of them were making "handsome" faces or striking poses like total assholes. One of the most annoying things about these guys was that they actually had a high success rate when hunting for girls at bars.
“Um, could we get your autograph?”
But the person the women approached was me.
“……An autograph?”
“Yes! I saw the video of you catching that spycam pervert. I became a fan because you looked so cool!”
“Thank you for protecting us!”
“Ah, well. Um……”
Awkwardly, I scratched the back of my head.
“I don’t really have an autograph. I’m sorry.”
I politely declined the phones they held out—apparently, people get autographs on their phones these days—and they made a different request with disappointed faces.
“Then what about a photo? Could we take just one photo together?”
“Ah, a photo is fine.”
I felt bad for refusing the autograph just because I didn't have one, so a photo seemed reasonable enough.
The two women took a selfie with me sandwiched between them. Then, one of them approached Han-gang, who was sitting at the table.
“Excuse me, could you possibly take a photo of us?”
“No.”
“Pardon?”
Han-gang rejected her instantly.
“I’ll take it for you!”
As the atmosphere turned awkward, a flustered Jeong Chan-woo quickly jumped in and took the photo for us.
“Thank you! Is it okay if we post this on SNS?”
“Uh, yeah…… I guess.”
It shouldn't be a problem, right?
Or would it?
Will the girls see it?
While I was worrying, the women had already left.
‘Eh, whatever.’
It’s not like Seo Ye-rin or Yoo Ah-rin don't take photos with people.
Since those three get hit on even while just walking down the street, it wouldn't hurt to show off that I’ve got some appeal too.
“This is exactly why you need to do the Earth-fucker,” Han-gang began to grumble, tearing open a chocolate bar he’d bought. “It was so annoying seeing that bastard act like he’s popular that I wanted to create at least one disgusting meme of him.”
‘How pathetic.’
Not just pathetic, but truly, filthily pathetic.
* * *
“Shit.”
Han Su-cheol, who was currently on a leave of absence from Gahyeon University, spat out a curse as he looked at the messages popping up on his phone.
Even though he was working a part-time job as an administrative assistant at Gahyeon University during his leave, he couldn't find any peace of mind even after clocking out.
The problem was the chat room he was looking at.
“Ha.”
Han Su-cheol bit his lip in disbelief as he watched the messages and replied.
“Idiots.”
As if that were true.
the open chat room had already been compromised. He had done quite a bit of research on Kim Woo-jin, the youngest son of Uju Group.
‘That guy is just a lunatic.’
He was a spiteful bastard who wouldn't let go once he bit down.
He didn't know about Chairman Kim of Uju Group, but in the case of Kim Woo-jin, he had to be avoided at all costs.
‘Anyway, I’m only working until tomorrow. Let’s take the money I’ve saved so far and head overseas.’
In reality, Han Su-cheol was just an ordinary civilian.
Having seen many people flee abroad in movies, he decided to take that route as well.
‘I should tell the editing team’s chat room the same thing.’
Han Su-cheol was having a much busier time after work than when he was on the clock.
Arriving at the parking lot, he felt a bit of relief as he looked at the foreign car he’d bought separately while doing this work.
“Hey.”
Standing in front of him was a large man with a slight belly. Looking like a delinquent at a glance, he was leaning against Han Su-cheol’s foreign car.
“This is as far as you go.”
Pyo Jin-ho declared, raising his hand toward Han Su-cheol.
Laughter could be heard from behind, but Pyo Jin-ho didn't care and delivered the cool line he’d prepared.
“I won’t let you hurt any more girls.”
“Puhahaha! Shit! That’s so fucking funny!”
The laughter finally burst out, unable to be contained.
“Hey, he’s saying a cool line.”
“It’s not cool because your face isn't cool.”
Kang Han-gang, who had been hiding near the trunk, stood next to Pyo Jin-ho while cackling.
He pulled a cigarette from his pocket, put it in his mouth, and suddenly changed his gaze as he spoke to Han Su-cheol.
“You should’ve known when to stop. You finally caught our eye.”
“Oh, that was slick.”
The two of them started blabbering as if they were in a competition for the best one-liner.
But that wasn't the end of it.
Two more people cut off Han Su-cheol’s retreat.
“Whoa, look at his body……”
Jeong Chan-woo was already intimidated by Han Su-cheol’s well-trained physique.
“Was it you? Did you take photos of our Gyu-a?”
Ahn Hyun-ho looked ready to pounce at any second, gritting his teeth.
‘Photos?’
Did they somehow know he was involved in the open chat room?
While he was filled with doubt, his eyes widened the moment he saw Kim Woo-jin appear from between Jeong Chan-woo and Ahn Hyun-ho.
‘Already?’
“Your face says it all. ‘How did he know?’”
Kim Woo-jin let out a sneer.
Han Su-cheol felt a surge of anger, but he didn't let himself be provoked. He forced a smile and asked.
“What are you talking about?”
“Someone who can spam the Bamboo Forest with multiple IDs. They’d need to be able to access students’ ID numbers or resident registration numbers.”
Spamming the Bamboo Forest with multiple IDs had been a sort of hint.
“You seemed to know the internal affairs of the university well, and rumors spread fast. Seeing how you designated targets one by one, I figured you were someone inside Gahyeon University.”
“……So what?”
It was absurd that they were framing him as a spycam criminal based on such flimsy circumstantial evidence.
“Is it okay for a chaebol to act like this? Treating a person like a criminal? Isn't this just one-sided tyranny by a large corporation?!”
“I happen to be acquainted with the detective investigating this case.”
A detective?
A chilling sensation washed over him.
Thinking about it, no matter how crazy that man was, it didn't seem likely he would come looking for him with just that much circumstantial evidence.
“I heard that the open chat room was blown up immediately, not even a few minutes after I caught the spycammer.”
“……”
“The detective asked me not to spread the word because they needed to catch the culprits, but it ended up on SNS anyway. He said it looked like they saw it and fled.”
But funnily enough.
Only one person had posted the video at that time.
It only grew as it was shared over and over.
“You were the only one who posted the video then. You pretended to be all fussed about it, but in reality, you were openly tipping off your chat room buddies, weren't you?”
“That’s bullshit! You son of a bitch! How can you suspect someone based on that?!”
To be honest, Kim Woo-jin didn't have full certainty yet either. That’s why he’d come here based only on circumstantial evidence.
One could call it forced, but it was also a sign of how heated Kim Woo-jin’s head had become regarding this case.
“Then show me your phone. Based on my deductions, you were the only one who fit the criteria perfectly.”
“Are you a detective?”
“One hundred million won to check your phone.”
“What?”
“If you’re truly clean, you get a hundred million for free. I won’t check anything else. Just show me your chats and your gallery.”
“……”
“Is there something embarrassing? Don’t worry about that; Chan-woo has gay memes in his gallery.”
“Stop talking shit!”
Faced with Kim Woo-jin’s confident refusal to back down, Han Su-cheol let out a deep sigh and walked toward him.
“Here.”
He submissively held out his phone, and for a moment, the others wondered if he really wasn't the guy.
Thwack!
Han Su-cheol’s fist landed a direct hit on Kim Woo-jin.
Thwack! Crack! Thud!
The combo didn't stop there.
Hit by the heavy fists, Kim Woo-jin collapsed to the ground before he could even react.
In that instant, Ahn Hyun-ho and Jeong Chan-woo rushed in, but—
“You little shits!”
His well-defined muscles weren't just for show. He landed a blow on the face of Ahn Hyun-ho, who reached him first, and then delivered a back-kick to Jeong Chan-woo’s abdomen.
They had seen on SNS that he went to a gym, but no one expected him to be this good at fighting.
“Ha, this is getting interesting.”
Pyo Jin-ho approached, loosening his shoulders.
As a martial artist who had learned Taekwondo, it had been a while since he’d met such a formidable opponent. He immediately executed a roundhouse kick with a step.
“Whoa.”
However, his leg was caught.
His heavy body, which had neglected exercise and only eaten what it wanted before going to the military, was no match for a gym rat who worked out every single day.
Bam!
Ultimately, with a resounding impact, Pyo Jin-ho also collapsed.
“W-Wait! I’ll let you go!”
Kang Han-gang, the only one left, shouted while covering his face.
“Just don’t hit my face!”
Despite his plea, Han Su-cheol beat Han-gang up and then headed for his car.
‘Shit, shit, shit.’
I need to go to the airport right now.
I’ll go and take the earliest flight available.
His mind filled with chaos, Han Su-cheol flusteredly dropped his car keys just as he was trying to pull them out.
“Did you think I’d only rely on these idiots?”
Even with a swollen face and blood flowing, the corners of Kim Woo-jin’s mouth were turned up.
“C-Could it be Min Ju-hee?!”
Kang Han-gang, who had been hit the least, shouted with delight from where he lay.
He was shouting that everything would be resolved if Min Ju-hee came, but—
“I’ve already relied on Senior Ju-hee too much.”
I brought someone else.
That man’s footsteps were like boulders.
Footsteps that shook the very earth.
It signified just how much the man was enraged.
The Bald Man, who had joined late, rushed straight toward Han Su-cheol.
“How daaaaaare you!”
The rage of the beloved man was truly fierce.