Found Out (2)
The moment I received that DM, I was convinced this woman was up to something. At least until about a minute ago. Hell, when I opened the door and saw her standing there fresh from the shower wearing nothing but a towel, I was almost certain. But the instant I looked at the DM she’d received, it wasn’t hard to realize my assumption had been wrong.
Someone had noticed. That the man in that short video was me.
My lurker account being linked to Seo Jia’s alt because it followed exactly one person was suspicious enough. I’d actually gotten DMs like that before. But no matter how I turned it over, there shouldn’t have been any clue that the man in the video was the retired baseball player Kang Juhyuk.
There are plenty of men with good bodies in this world. Sure, I’m tall, but Jia’s tall for a woman too, so in a video it would be impossible to tell whether the height was 180 or 190. I’d even scrubbed the surgical scar on my shoulder frame by frame in case it gave me away.
Yet the moment someone saw that short gif, they knew exactly who it was. And it wasn’t Jia playing a prank. Hinami or Haeun had no reason to joke around with something like this. So who the hell was it?
One of my stalker fans? It had been years since the injury. Would I even have one of those left?
“...Give me a second. I’ll put some clothes on first.”
Seo Jia, who had been showing me her phone, suddenly realized she was standing there in nothing but a towel. She hurriedly closed the door and locked it. I wasn’t aroused enough to feel any disappointment. Who sent this DM and why they sent it mattered far more.
With my name already dropped, deleting the account now wouldn’t be smart. It would be as good as admitting everything. Besides, I still didn’t know if this person was a blackmailer or just genuinely curious, or even whether they were a man or a woman.
There was no guarantee that if I rashly deleted the account without any preparation, the bastard wouldn’t spread the photo anonymously while claiming it was me.
“...Come inside for now.”
While I was turning the situation over in my head, Seo Jia—now wearing pajamas she’d thrown on in a hurry—opened the door she’d locked and pulled me into the room. She grabbed her damp hair, sat on the bed, looked up at me, and spoke in a trembling voice.
“Shouldn’t we delete this?”
“Deleting it here would be the same as admitting it’s me. And even if we ignore the admission, how do we know what they’ll do after we delete it?”
“...”
She must have recognized the crisis clearly. Seo Jia stared at me with shaking pupils, swallowing hard, visibly anxious. That was understandable. Honestly, even if this anonymous person tried something on me, it wouldn’t really touch my livelihood. But for her it was different. If my name got dragged out, hers would inevitably follow.
If not for that tabloid article, there would have been no connection at all, but now there was. No matter how thoroughly we’d erased the traces, we couldn’t change our body types. No one might be able to prove who the man and woman in the video were, but the fact that it couldn’t be proven was the problem in itself.
A lewd video featuring a couple with physiques similar to the pair in that strange tabloid article was circulating. It was obvious how viciously internet users would tear into it with malicious intent.
“...Then what do we do?”
“Hand me the phone first.”
This situation had to be handled discreetly inside Twitter. After all, the reason I had encouraged her to post erotic content on her alt account was that the whole thing had started with her. Of course she would never admit it, but creating the alt account, uploading the first face-covered photo—every step had been her choice. All I had done was hand her useful photos after I raped her.
So if she was feeling this much risk, there was no need to push it any further. Even I didn’t want to watch Seo Jia fall into ruin. She had to remain floating above the clouds, a mirage that only descended when I beckoned her—a woman who shone precisely because of that.
“What are you going to do?”
“Wait.”
I took her phone, held one device in each hand, and checked the DMs. Same account, same tone, same question. But trying to deduce who this person was would be stupid. It was an empty account with no photos, no information—there was no way to know.
Of course I could dig into the ID later when I had time, but knowing who they were wouldn’t change anything. Whether this person was a fan, an acquaintance, or a complete stranger, what mattered was what they wanted from us.
I sent the message from Seo Jia’s phone, but no reply came. I’d written it in a half-admitting tone, figuring there was no point denying it after they’d already dropped my name. Still, the owner of the account suddenly went completely silent and offered no response at all.
What the hell? If they wanted something, shouldn’t they make a demand?
“Why aren’t they saying anything...”
Seo Jia, sensing the same unease I felt, voiced the same question with a puzzled look. If it was blackmail, we could choose to comply or report it. If it was simple curiosity, satisfying that curiosity would end it. If their goal was to meet me, I could spare the time. But because this bizarre person’s identity and purpose were completely unknown, I couldn’t even figure out how to respond.
...Was it simply a warning? Was it someone holding a grudge against me, warning me not to do anything stupid because they already knew everything?
“...Isn’t it one of your fans?”
“Huh?”
“If it’s not one of your fans, there’s no explanation. Or maybe someone from your company. If they think I’m secretly posting stuff like this and are warning you, that at least makes sense.”
“...”
No matter how I thought about it, nothing else fit. There was also no reason to specifically point out the man instead of the woman. Or to simply drop that pressure without stating what they wanted. If it wasn’t that, then it had to be my fan.
...Logically, if a fan had noticed, wouldn’t they try to continue the conversation and make an effort to meet me directly? Like those strange women who slide into my Instagram DMs asking to meet up.
But this strange person kept their mouth tightly shut and revealed no intention whatsoever.
“If that’s the case... what should we do?”
“...We delete the account.”
“But you said that would be admitting it.”
“It was already confirmed the moment they asked by name. The important thing is what they want... Deleting the account should tell us. If they don’t like it, they’ll just DM my main account.”
“...”
In the end, the only choice I could make was to delete the account. This person was already convinced the man in the photo was me. And from any logical standpoint, they didn’t seem to want this spreading widely. Otherwise it made no sense for them to apply pressure and then clam up completely.
“...I’ll delete it, then.”
Following my advice, Seo Jia picked up her phone with an anxious face and deleted her account with trembling hands. Her expression, desperately hoping the incident wouldn’t escalate, looked truly pitiful, but since I had a heavy stake in it myself, it wasn’t easy to add anything.
In the silent room, after the clicking of her nails finally stopped and the account was gone, she let out a shaky breath.
“Haa... Haa...”
She was breathing so hard it was painful to watch. She collapsed onto the bed and pressed a hand to her pounding heart, trying to calm it.
...For a woman this terrified, where on earth had she found the nerve to create her own alt account? Honestly, I still couldn’t understand it. But one thing was certain.
“Want some water?”
“...Yes.”
This woman no longer had anywhere to turn. ...Even the stress she had relieved through secret deviant behavior on her alt account had lost its outlet. And the razor-thin anxiety that someone might have found her out was something she would never be able to shake off.
Guessing that the man in the photo was the president and the woman was Jia had been fine. The idea that the only account the discovered profile followed belonged to the president had seemed plausible too. There was evidence, and the more I looked the more certain I became. So I had planned to tell them to stop posting it on Twitter, promise to keep my mouth shut, and ask them to send everything only to me.
Honestly, I didn’t want to watch people I knew fall into ruin, but... I really, really wanted to see the two of them having sex.
Sending the anonymous DM had been fine, but... that was where the problems started.
...What if it wasn’t them?
The account that posted the gif was one thing, but there was no actual proof that the account it followed belonged to the president, right? What if I had played detective for no reason, gotten it completely wrong, and accidentally revealed the president’s name to some random stranger?
...Wasn’t this actually pretty dangerous?
“What do I do...”
Even assuming it really was the president, when I calmly reflected on my own actions I realized something was off. Outright asking for personal information from a throwaway account—what was that if not blackmail? I had even been about to ask them to send the full uncut video if they had it.
...Didn’t that make me an attempted blackmailer?
The moment that thought hit me, I couldn’t bring myself to reply to the returning DM. If they found out who I was... it felt like I would be in real trouble.
But thinking about what my silence must mean to them from their perspective made it painfully obvious. Imagine if I had a secret account and someone suddenly DM’d my school and real name. I’d freak out and ask who the hell they were. If they just stayed silent after that, it was obvious how I would feel without even needing to imagine it.
...Ah. And the account got deleted.
This is bad... Really bad.
It really seemed like it was those two. Whether it would be worse if it wasn’t them or if it was, I couldn’t tell. But the important point was that the president would definitely try to track me down. If I were in his position, I would have done the same.
Still, I hadn’t used this account for anything except voyeurism, so there shouldn’t be any way for him to find me...
“Ah.”
...The ID. It was way too similar to the old one. I had just... switched the order of the characters. It might not show up in a search, but if you placed them side by side, the alphabet cluster was impossible to miss.
The moment my mind cleared, I frantically deleted the account and hurled my phone aside.
...He probably didn’t notice, right? The president wouldn’t be interested enough in me to have my ID memorized...
If I get caught.
...W-will he spare me if I kowtow?