Jeong Eun-ji's Humiliation (2)
When Yuri made the announcement, Jeong Eun-ji thought for a second that her ears had to be broken.
“Han Seong-jin… got 65 points? Y-Yuri? You’re kidding, right…”
“Look at the tag yourself. I told you to stop while you still could…”
Yuri turned her eyes away from her friend and held out the two tags she was holding. Jeong Eun-ji snatched them in a panic, unfolded them, and scanned the contents with trembling eyes.
Overall Average Score
Jeong Eun-ji: 63
Han Seong-jin: 65
The unchanging numbers made it brutally clear who had won the bet.
“Told you, didn’t I? I could’ve studied if I wanted to.”
I had scraped by with a measly two-point victory, yet I taunted her like I’d crushed her by twenty. But none of my provocations even reached her ears. The world was spinning. Her mind had gone completely white.
Then the roar from the sports field hit us—especially the guys.
Students packed at every classroom window had already heard the results through group chats from their friends on the field. They clapped, cheered, and added their voices to the chant. A few girls scolded the boys for yelling it, but it was pointless. The rumor about the bet had spread across the entire school, and since Jeong Eun-ji herself had started it and kept raising the stakes, there was nowhere left to run.
“What are you waiting for? Strip. Or should I do it for you?”
My voice snapped her back to reality. She knew I wasn’t joking any more than she had been. If I had lost, she would have moved heaven and earth to humiliate me. Which meant she understood I would do exactly the same now that she had lost. I had told her over and over while studying that I wouldn’t go easy just because she was a girl, and I clearly had no intention of breaking that promise.
She had never once considered the possibility of losing. Only after she actually lost did she realize how insane her actions had been.
“What are you doing? I said strip. If you can’t do it yourself, just say so. I’ll rip them off for you.”
“Th-this is ridiculous! It was only a two-point difference…!”
“But I still won, didn’t I? Hurry up.”
At my words, Jeong Eun-ji’s hands shook as she reached for her uniform. The moment the crowd on the field saw her fingers touch the hem of her blouse, they erupted in a single cheer and shoved their phones even closer.
With her hands on the bottom of her school top, images of what would happen next flashed through her mind. She would be stripped naked, forced to her knees wearing a dog collar, and made to bow. She could grit her teeth and endure that somehow. But all those phone cameras pointed at her right now? There was no way the video wouldn’t end up online. And then what?
She would be labeled “Jinsu High’s Perverted Slut.” The footage of her naked and collared would spread across the entire internet. Every time she competed in the national championships or any track event, people would recognize her and whisper. It would be a landmine for her entire future. And if Gong Yeong-bae saw it…
I’m… finished…
The full weight of the backlash for what she had started finally crashed down on her. Regret after regret flooded her mind. She should have let go of some of her hostility toward me once she learned I wasn’t the one who got Mi-ae pregnant and forced an abortion. She should have listened to Yuri when she said I had changed and wasn’t causing trouble anymore. She should have admitted I had truly changed when she saw how seriously I studied for the exams.
Idiot. Idiot. Idiot…!
The fierce hatred she had carried for years had been built on nothing but a misunderstanding. She had escalated things until the situation blew up in her face like a boomerang.
But she wasn’t given much time to wallow in regret.
“If you’re not going to strip, I’ll do it for you. And don’t even think about complaining that I’m forcing you. You were the one who insisted we record everything so neither of us could back out later.”
Every single thing she had done to destroy me had become chains binding her own limbs. While she stood there frozen, stuck in that half-undressed, half-clothed limbo, I strode toward her through the roaring backdrop of the crowd chanting for her to strip and grabbed her arm.
“Hik…”
Jeong Eun-ji was normally fierce and hot-tempered, but she wasn’t so out of it that she couldn’t read the room. She couldn’t muster her usual violent resistance. All she managed was a weak tug, trying to pull her arm free. Her mind was already shattered from being backed into a corner, so she couldn’t even put real strength into it. And even if she had, my grip was far stronger. The result would have been the same.
When I saw the tears glistening in her eyes, I let out a small chuckle and leaned down, whispering right against her ear.
I had deliberately driven Jeong Eun-ji all the way to the farthest edge of the cliff. The moment her fingers, barely clinging on with one hand, were about to slip, I reached out with a lifeline.
“Want me to spare you once?”
Jeong Eun-ji’s body trembled as if she couldn’t process the words at first. She just blinked rapidly.
“You know this is batshit insane, right? You can’t actually go through with it. If you swear to listen to me from now on, I’ll give you one chance to get out of this. Or you can strip naked and put on the dog collar right here in front of everyone.”
I had only made the offer, but I didn’t need to hear her answer to know what it would be. She had kept pushing the stakes higher every time I lightly provoked her, far past what she could handle. If there was any way out, she would take it—no matter what.
“But once this is over, you do everything I tell you. I’ll call you separately later to explain exactly what that means. So what’s it going to be? Are you going to listen to me, or are you going to strip right here?”
Jeong Eun-ji didn’t hesitate long.
“I-I’ll… listen…”
“Good. From now on, no matter what I say, you keep your mouth shut and stay quiet. Oh, and if you talk back after we get out of this situation, you’re really dead.”
She nodded frantically. She didn’t even have the mental space to think about defying me anymore. Now that I had her completely in my grasp, it was time to do what I needed to do.
I took a deep breath and shouted loud enough for the entire crowd on the field to hear.
“Hey! We’re done here, so that’s it! There’s nothing else, so get lost!”
The guys who had been chanting “Take it off!” fell silent almost instantly. They didn’t dare talk back to me, but they started murmuring and glancing at each other. No one could give them the answer they wanted. Even Yuri, standing a little farther away, just looked back and forth between me and Jeong Eun-ji, completely confused.
“What, did you idiots seriously think I was going to make her strip naked in front of this many people? I was just going to embarrass her a little. Neither of us actually planned to go that far, so everyone clear out. It’s over.”
A few of the guys who had really wanted to see Jeong Eun-ji naked let out disappointed groans. When the crowd still didn’t disperse, I turned up the menace.
“Or what? Did you all gather here hoping to see me get fucked over? Huh? Am I supposed to assume every last one of you was planning to film me getting stripped the second I lost and upload it to ruin my life?”
If they kept standing there after that, they would basically be admitting they were the ones who wanted to see me destroyed. That meant they would be on my shit list immediately. Even though I hadn’t caused any trouble this year, my old reputation was still enough. The crowd scattered in seconds.
Jeong Eun-ji had been rescued from the cliff’s edge at the last moment, but she was still mentally pushed to her limit. She kept trembling, unable to pull herself together. The only ones who hadn’t left were Yuri and Choi Su-yeon. Su-yeon was giving me a look that practically screamed “Why the hell did you stop?” while Yuri walked over, clearly worried about her broken friend.
“Eun-ji, are you okay? Why on earth did you suggest a crazy bet like this…”
“Yuri, I need to talk to her alone for a bit. Go on ahead.”
“Huh? What kind of talk…?”
“It’s a little awkward to say in front of others. I won’t be late for class, so just head to the classroom first.”
“…Fine, I got it. You better not be late.”
“Su-yeon, you go too. There’s nothing here you wanted to see anyway.”
“Ugh, so boring… You’ll tell me what you talked about later, right, sunbae?”
“Maybe.”
Su-yeon puffed out her cheeks and left. Yuri soon followed her back into the school building. Once we were alone, I crooked my finger at Jeong Eun-ji.
“Follow me.”
We headed toward one of the shipping containers behind the school that were used as storage sheds. Normally they should have been locked so unauthorized people couldn’t get in, but the management here was sloppy. I quickly found one that wasn’t locked.
After we stepped inside the dusty container that clearly wasn’t used often, I locked the door from the inside.
“Um…”
Jeong Eun-ji, who had started to regain some of her senses, tried to speak, but I raised my hand and cut off her right to talk.
“You said you’d do whatever I tell you.”
I walked toward her as I spoke. She flinched and took a step back. I stopped right in front of her.
“Take off your clothes.”