A Girl's Revenge (5)

In a hospital room at Chulhyul Hospital, I was talking with Scarlet.

"Are you sure that's really the right call?"

"Yes. I'll handle the editing. If anything, you coming forward first would only make you look more suspicious."

The video from the room salon. The one where I'd gone with Park Min-gyu. I'd fully intended to get out in front of the press and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠confess it myself — but Scarlet had shut the idea down.

"...That so?"

"We'd be better off having the manager of the room salon Park Min-gyu used file the accusation himself. He was a regular, from the look of it, so if we have the manager expose the other clients while painting you as the one man who stayed clean... that story would play much better."

"I'm still a little uneasy. What if people decide I'm the same kind of guy?"

If I claimed my innocence before the whole thing blew, at least that particular disaster wouldn't happen.

"You're not exactly a different breed, though, are you?"

"...."

Getting closer to Scarlet meant she helped me with a great deal, which I appreciated — except for the moments she decided to drive a knife between my ribs. The teasing I could live with. Honestly, though, I was still anxious.

She must have read it on my face, because she let out a long sigh.

"Haa. You're laboring under a serious misconception right now."

"A misconception?"

"People don't change an impression once it takes root. If a good image has already locked in, everything you do gets the most generous reading possible. If a bad one has stuck, everything you do looks ugly."

"Yeah. That's true enough."

I'd worked hard on my image this whole time. Maybe it was finally time for that to pay me back. Maybe I was selling myself too short.

I, Lee Ho-yeon. I'd stopped a terrorist attack, taken the top seat at the Academy, and I was a genius mage. A man who could do just about anything.

"And...."

"Yeah?"

Was there ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠something else? I waited for whatever came next.

"If you just cried and apologized, people would forgive you even if you'd been the ace of a host bar. You've got that kind of face. The problem is you only use it to pick up women. A handsome face is an enormous blessing in a media war."

"...Alright. We'll do it your way."

I glanced at the mirror beside me. Even I had to admit it was a handsome face. The kind of face that, if I apologized, would make people automatically answer, No — I'm the one who should be sorry.

...There was no winning against that logic.

I watched Park Min-gyu's televised apology and opened my mouth.

"He's actually pretty good at apologizing, I'll give him that."

Of course, knowing the evidence we had on him, it was all meaningless. But if I judged by the apology alone, even I might have believed him.

"It's nothing but an ugly last stand. We have far too many weapons."

"Scarlet. What about asking Da-eun for her opinion?"

"Miss Da-eun?"

"Yeah. The second we put that video out, Park Min-gyu is finished in this society. I think what she wants matters here."

Nam Da-eun was the reason we were driving Park Min-gyu into a corner in the first place. It felt right that the revenge should start with her in it.

"...That makes sense. I'll ask her."

"No."

"Pardon?"

Scarlet's eyes widened at the unexpected answer. In all the time since she had first met Nam Da-eun, this was the first time the girl had stated her own wishes so firmly.

"I'm sorry...."

Nam Da-eun herself seemed startled by how bluntly it had come out, and she hurried to apologize.

"It's fine, Miss Da-eun. Ho-yeon told me to accommodate you as much as possible. Say whatever you like."

Nam Da-eun hesitated, turning over whether she was even allowed to ask. But it was something she had been carrying since the moment she first thought of revenge, and in the end she opened her mouth.

"I want to... talk to Uncle Min-gyu. I want to know why. Why he did that to me and Da-hee. I think I'll only have peace of mind once I know."

"...."

A conversation with Park Min-gyu. It wasn't impossible. It was only going to be a headache — especially for Scarlet.

The original plan had been to squeeze him slowly, blackmail him into a tighter and tighter corner, and then deal with him where Nam Da-eun could see it. Or hand the finishing to Nam Da-eun herself. That was the new plan she and Lee Ho-yeon had put together.

A cornered man grows desperate. Calm judgment becomes impossible; he startles and flares at the slightest push. That made him easier to steer, and it made the work cleaner.

Granting Nam Da-eun's wish would tangle all of that. If they dumped every piece of information into the open and sent him into free fall first, there would be no real conversation left to have. His life would already be over. But if they sat Nam Da-eun down with him before the information went public, Park Min-gyu would still have room to prepare a defense.

From Scarlet's seat, it was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠an extremely annoying request.

"...Is it not possible?"

"No. I'll pass it along to Ho-yeon."

Haa.

Scarlet swallowed the sigh. Part of her wanted to simply kill Park Min-gyu and be done with it. But she couldn't ignore the tremor in the eyes of the girl standing in front of her.

I've gotten too soft.

Lately she had started to wonder whether she was going too gentle.

"A conversation with Park Min-gyu while he's still in a proper state. I'll arrange a meeting."

"...Thank you."

Nam Da-eun bowed her head, packing the gesture with real gratitude. She knew exactly how difficult — and how inconvenient — a request she had just made.

Looking at the back of that bowed head, Scarlet spoke.

"Save your thanks for Ho-yeon. I just do as I'm told."

"Ho-yeon.... Yes. I'll be sure to tell him."

Nam Da-eun felt a sincere, bone-deep gratitude toward Lee Ho-yeon. None of this would have been possible if not for him.

After Scarlet left, Nam Da-eun sat alone and clenched her fist.

"...Uncle Min-gyu."

She did not want to forgive him. If anything, it was the opposite. She still remembered the warmth of their first meeting. That kindly smile still sat in her chest. And that was exactly why Nam Da-eun wanted to cut Park Min-gyu out of her life for good.

The next day, in the guild master's office at the Buyer Guild.

"How's the response?"

The moment Park Min-gyu had returned to the guild, he had mobilized every connection he had to push out interviews and a written apology. He held the line that none of it had anything to do with him, and to keep suspicion from sticking he performed repentance — head bowed, voice soft, the picture of a man making amends.

And the public's reaction was not bad.

"Excellent, sir. The Guild Master's face is so naturally kind that everyone is saying the apology feels genuine."

"Good... let's just ride this out."

Park Min-gyu had always been told he had a kindly face, and once again that face was doing him an enormous favor.

"Yes. I'll go manage the comments, at least."

"Do that. Think of this as the last gate before we make it into the clear, and hang on...."

Park Min-gyu pressed a hand against his still-hammering heart. Then he noticed a letter sitting on the desk.

"...What's this? Director?"

But the director had already gone out. A letter had simply appeared in a room with no one in it.

"...."

He must have imagined it. He was tired; the letter had been there the whole time and he was only now seeing it. Park Min-gyu closed his eyes, opened them, and gave his head a hard shake. Once he had collected himself, he tore the letter open.

The color drained from his face as he read.

Photographs of Park Min-gyu drinking with women on his arm. Evidence of every crime he had committed in years past, all of it written out in black and white.

"Th-this is... I was sure I'd destroyed all of this."

Even at the establishment he favored, a magic circle had been installed to summon security the instant anyone so much as raised their mana.

A whistleblower?

Park Min-gyu swallowed hard — and then found that the letter had a back page.

I have to find them. Who the hell....

Park Min-gyu felt his lips go dry. If he were still under the Shinyeong Guild, this would have been manageable. He could have gone to them for help. Even if they cut him loose, he had been at the bottom anyway — throw away a guild member or two and start over.

But now it was different.

"After everything I did to climb this far...!"

He was staring at the end of more than a decade spent in the dirt. He had only just begun to know what honor felt like. He would not give it up here.

"...."

Part of him wanted to mobilize everything he had and hunt the culprit down. There was no time. And he couldn't even gauge the other side's level. The one hope Park Min-gyu had left was that whoever this was wanted something from him.

Do I go alone? No. That's too dangerous.

Showing up at the meeting place was a given. But he needed at least a minimum of insurance.

Park Min-gyu took a darkened blade from the safe in the corner of the office.

"Haa...."

A last resort among last resorts. He had never expected to use it here.

He tucked the sword into his coat and went out.

The next day, after Scarlet had delivered the letter, we were on our way to the meeting place — going to see Park Min-gyu in person, to grant Nam Da-eun's request.

"Don't be nervous."

"...Okay."

Of course we were bringing Nam Da-eun. She was the one who had asked to see him. She was today's protagonist. I kept talking to her so the tension wouldn't eat her alive, but she only drew slow breaths and tried to settle whatever was turning in her stomach.

She's incredibly nervous.

At times like this, leaving her alone was kinder. I turned to Scarlet on my other side.

"Park Min-gyu won't actually come alone, right?"

"Look carefully at the people around us."

"The people?"

I followed her gaze and swept the surroundings. Nothing looked off to me.

"There are people deliberately not looking at us. Ones Park Min-gyu sent, most likely. He wouldn't have used cheap help — the fact that they're showing means he must have been in quite a rush."

"Oh...."

Now that she said it, I could see it. We had put up a perception-dampening barrier, but it was only running at a weak setting. It made my face hard to recognize as Lee Ho-yeon's. It did not make me vanish as a person.

A working intelligence operative really was a different breed.

"Let's go in through the back so Park Min-gyu doesn't notice."

"Yeah. Let's go."

"...Alright."

We slipped into the warehouse.

Well. I never thought he'd actually come alone.

Still, he didn't know what we were capable of, so he wouldn't drag a whole crowd. If more people showed up than we could handle, we could always run.

We hid ourselves in the dark of the warehouse and waited for Park Min-gyu to appear.

Near the appointed time, the rusted door scraped open with a long creeeak. The kindly face we had always known was tight with tension. Once I had confirmed it was Park Min-gyu stepping inside, I came out of the dark.

"Hello, Mr. Park Min-gyu."

"...Cadet Lee Ho-yeon?"

Park Min-gyu frowned slightly at the face that had appeared out of nowhere — then clenched his teeth.

"You piece of shit... so you were after me from the start."

Even while he cursed me, his eyes kept rolling, checking the shadows for whoever else might be there.

"It's not exactly like that. Why don't you take stock of the situation first?"

I saw him start to draw up his mana, and I pulled a sheaf of documents from my pocket. The Buyer Guild's double ledgers.

"W-wait... tell me what you want. You called me here because you want something, didn't you, Cadet Lee Ho-yeon?"

Park Min-gyu forced the rising mana back down and waved a hand.

"I have a client. Come out, Da-eun."

"Da-eun? Wait. Don't tell me...."

Step. Step. Nam Da-eun, who had been hidden in the dark beside me, came to stand at my side.

The look Park Min-gyu turned on us was filled with insult and humiliation.