The Second Step
To issue the documents, Hyun Si-woo and I took a taxi to the hospital.
Hyun Si-woo had been staring out the window in silence, as if lost in thought since earlier.
“Do you not usually use SNS?”
“I used to, but not these days.”
The conversation didn’t last long, and silence fell again.
I didn’t want to bother him unnecessarily, but whenever I saw him looking uneasy, I felt the urge to say something.
But what should I say?
“Uh...”
I hesitated for a moment before speaking.
“Don’t worry too much.”
“Huh?”
“There are more people who believe in hyung.”
At my words, Hyun Si-woo gave a slight smile.
“Yeah, thanks.”
Hyun Si-woo arrived at the hospital, spoke with the doctor, and then headed to the information desk to get the certificate. The staff’s voice as Hyun Si-woo spoke to the employee was trembling.
It seemed like he was afraid of people’s gazes due to rumors and bad comments.
“It’s okay.”
I said that and gently stroked Hyun Si-woo’s back.
Hyun Si-woo seemed to calm down a bit, and slowly took a deep breath.
“The requested documents have been issued. Please pay the issuance fee.”
The back of Hyun Si-woo handing over his card with a trembling hand was visible.
After completing the issuance, we were leaving the hospital.
“Hey, isn’t that Hyun Si-woo?”
Someone recognized him and voices from behind were whispering.
“There’s Do Won-woo next to him?”
“Whoa, amazing. But why is he here?”
Hyun Si-woo’s shoulders shrank at the surprisingly loud voices.
I took Hyun Si-woo and hurried toward the taxi.
After getting in the taxi and closing the door, Hyun Si-woo’s expression became much more relaxed.
'Honestly, the taxi fare was quite expensive, but this is better.'
Given that Hyun Si-woo was already suffering from rumors and bad comments, nothing could be more terrifying than people’s gazes.
Thinking that, I looked at Hyun Si-woo fastening his seatbelt.
“For now, the first step is complete. This alone is like half done.”
Hyun Si-woo looked at me and gave a slight smile. His expression was still dark, though.
Hyun Si-woo arrived home and was eating ice cream on the sofa with a quite gloomy face. After going out, it felt like all his energy was drained.
“Now the second step.”
Hyun Si-woo, who had been eating ice cream, lifted his head with a listless face.
“...Now, I just need to upload it to my Instagram account, right?”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“Huh? What’s left?”
“There’s a document called a traffic accident fact confirmation. I need to tear that off.”
Hyun Si-woo, hearing my words, slowly sat up.
“Wait... okay.”
It wasn’t that difficult. The traffic accident fact confirmation could be issued online, so I could tear it off in a few minutes.
“Okay, now I just need to upload it, but if I just upload one document, it could give a pretext, so I need a post to upload together.”
It seemed a bit overstepping to intervene in what to upload, but...
Given that Hyun Si-woo seemed to be in an anxious psychological state, I was worried he might not respond properly.
“For now, just clearly organize the facts in the introduction, and at the end, write hyung’s simple feelings. It would be good.”
But Hyun Si-woo just stared at his smartphone blankly and didn’t say anything.
Hyun Si-woo remained motionless, not moving a single finger, until the smartphone screen automatically turned off and became completely black.
If it were usual, I would have questioned or urged him, but I didn’t want to. I could understand it.
Just the finger pointing to get attention by trying to gain interest through narrative sales was painful enough, and now he’s being treated as a liar who fabricates a traffic accident.
'How much pain is he in right now.'
Because of those doubting him, he has to prove that he was in pain.
“...Sigh.”
Hyun Si-woo turned on his smartphone, as if strength had returned to move.
Hyun Si-woo slowly wrote the post in the memo, repeating writing and editing for several minutes, and finally handed me the smartphone, saying he had finished.
“Here. Want to see?”
I read the post he showed me slowly.
Just from the post, one could see his personality.
===
...omitted...
Due to the rumors, my family and I are having a very difficult time. Please stop the baseless speculations about me.
===
A concise fact delivery and the straightforward feelings of the current difficult situation. There was no consideration or worry about how people would react to this post.
'Should I consider this honest.'
Of course, it’s not bad.
Being honest isn’t a sin.
Acting honestly can lead to better results than scheming.
But from my perspective, in this case, the probability of being caught in another slander is high.
'Isn’t the frame already set that he’s trying to gain narrative sales by evoking sympathy.'
If the truth is revealed, there would be nothing to say, so they might dig into every sentence while claiming he’s evoking sympathy again.
Moreover, they might fabricate by pretending to be pitiful to hide the truth.
'Right now, when people’s interest is at its peak, it’s a good opportunity to strip away the frame placed on Hyun Si-woo.'
“Hyung. Can you trust me just this once and leave it to me?”
“Huh?”
Hyun Si-woo tilted his head.
“What are you going to do?”
I took the permission from Hyun Si-woo and decided to revise the post based on the original.
First, I changed the tone to a firm tone in the explanatory part.
And decided to remove as much emotional appeal as possible.
And left a message hinting at legal response at the end.
[If false information is spread again in the future, we will consider additional responses.]
With that, the statement was completed.
'It’s done.'
This should be enough.
It felt like something had completely changed from the beginning, but whatever.
It should be fine. I didn’t change the words I was telling the fans.
“It’s finished now.”
Hyun Si-woo, who had been subtly curious, came closer to me.
“Can I see the edited version?”
“Yes.”
I handed the phone to Hyun Si-woo.
“If there’s any part you don’t like, please tell me.”
While reading the post, Hyun Si-woo shook his head.
“No, it was well edited. Thank you.”
“Do you like it?”
“Yeah. Seeing what you wrote, I can see what I was lacking.”
It was a bit surprising.
Actually, it wouldn’t be easy to belittle oneself in front of a younger brother.
“Don’t say that. I don’t think you’re lacking, hyung.”
There was nothing lacking in Hyun Si-woo’s post. It was just overly honest for this rotten world.
“Then, now we just need to upload the certificate and the traffic accident fact confirmation document.”
“No.”
“Huh?”
Hyun Si-woo looked at me as if asking what I meant.
“Leave out the traffic accident fact confirmation, and let’s upload just the certificate for now.”
“...Why?”
The answer was simple.
“Because we have to upload it later.”
On a weekday evening at 7pm.
The time when people often use the internet, the post was uploaded. This was also something I coached Hyun Si-woo on.
As expected, reactions started coming in shortly after it was uploaded.
[Hyun Si-woo’s Statement]
...omitted...
Due to the rumors, my family and I are having a very difficult time. Please stop the baseless speculations about me.
Meanwhile, Hyun Si-woo’s fans let out a sigh of relief. They had been fighting against unbelievable slanders and had almost fallen apart.
The words about needing time to organize thoughts and apologizing for being late carried Hyun Si-woo’s sincerity, and the comment section was filled with waves of fan support.
On the other hand, there were also people who became more uncomfortable than anyone else after the post was uploaded.
Emergency Meeting Group Chat (21)
Anonymous User 1: Leader. What is this?
Anonymous User 2: You said you heard about Hyun Si-woo’s traffic accident story being a lie from an account?
Anonymous User 3: Are we being sued?
Just as the chat room members were about to split, the leader appeared.
“Leader: You don’t believe me?”
“Leader: I received a definite report, and the document that just came out was manipulated.”
“Leader: And we can’t sue. The company doesn’t exist, and there’s no money at home. What?”
The leader started his last desperate move.
“Leader: Another report came in. It says the certificate was manipulated because of ties with the hospital staff.”
“Leader: Keep uploading suspicious posts while not forgetting to upload Hyeon-min’s supportive posts. The PD manipulated Hyeon-min’s evil editing to sacrifice him to bury this controversy.”
Their claims were impressive. They claimed Hyun Si-woo couldn’t sue because his background wasn’t good enough, while also claiming he had the power to swing the PD and the hospital.
Originally, there was no logic in their words. Only coercion and fabrication.
Right after uploading the statement, they went wild as if waiting for it.
As expected. All sorts of unbelievable nonsense came out, like having ties with the hospital staff and being manipulated.
So, the traffic accident fact confirmation was kept for this timing. It would definitely go wild like this, so it had to be used as a final defense.
Like driving in the final nail.
[Hyun Si-woo Traffic Accident Fact Confirmation]
(Photo)
Second authentication just uploaded.
This way, even people who weren’t interested would naturally start paying attention.
They would feel backlash for making him do all this, and unconsciously they would support Hyun Si-woo.
By doing this, the frame of pretending to be pitiful was broken, and fan support was obtained.
It was turning a crisis into an opportunity.
Emergency Meeting Group Chat (21)
Anonymous User 1: Leader, please don’t ignore this. Is it really a report?
Anonymous User 2: It was weird from the beginning when there was no authentication. Hah...
Anonymous User 3: Everyone. We’re screwed. There was a spy in our group chat.
Anonymous User 3: Our group chat capture is already spreading in the community lol
And everything started returning to normal.
The fact that the ones who incited Hyun Si-woo’s rumors were revealed to be Yoon Hyeon-min fans meant Yoon Hyeon-min, who was already being torn apart, crossed the river of no return.