I'll Never Get a Tattoo Again!
I'll Never Get a Tattoo Again!With a representative stepping in, there was no reason for us to stay at the police station. Especially since that representative was a lawyer from the Kim & Jeong Law Firm — what else was there to worry about?
The only problem, if you could even call it that, was how visibly uneasy Gahyeon Nuna was, to the point of being on edge.
"Bam-ah, is this really okay? The retainer fee must be astronomical."
"Ahem. I have a lot of money."
"No, but still......."
The scale of the help was too huge to brush off with a casual "I have a lot of money." It was no wonder Gahyeon Nuna was reacting that way.
But Bam Nuna just spoke with a calm expression, pulling Han Saebyeok, who had been standing off to the side, close by the shoulder.
"No need to worry. Saebyeok is practically family to me. And Saebyeok told me that Gahyeon unni is like a mother or an older sister to her."
"...Hey."
Saebyeok Nuna jabbed Bam Nuna in the side, her face flushed, but the words had already been spoken. Gahyeon Nuna looked at Saebyeok Nuna with a touched expression.
"Saebyeok-ah......."
"C-could you please not look at me like that? I didn't do anything. She's the one who did all of it."
"...Do you want a hug from Mom?"
A laugh slipped out of my mouth. She looked far too young to be the mother of a 22-year-old daughter, but judging by actual age, it wasn't impossible. Gahyeon Nuna was 40 this year, 39 in international age. If she'd gotten into trouble back in high school, she really could have had a daughter Saebyeok Nuna's age.
Of course, Saebyeok Nuna was horrified.
"Crazy!"
"Daughter, come here! Let me hug you just once!"
"I said stop it!"
Gahyeon Nuna tried to hug her, and Saebyeok Nuna tried to flee.
Only after that little farce had played out did we leave the premises.
*
Gahyeon Nuna gained a reliable ally, and the faces of the perpetrator's parents, who had been acting like they were the victims, turned white as sheets. The perpetrator himself still carried himself with a brazen attitude, but it was clear that wouldn't last long either.
There's a saying: Insiljot.
Life is reality, you dipshit.
He might be holding his head high right now out of sheer ignorance, but the more he did, the worse it would become for him. Judging by the look of him, he probably wouldn't come to his senses even by the time he landed in the slammer. But as time passed, in the years to come, he would realize it, whether he liked it or not. That the rest of his life was utterly fucked.
After all, the lawyer attached to Gahyeon Nuna belonged to the Kim & Jeong Law Firm. The matter of right and wrong was already clear. All that remained was how much compensation they could squeeze out of him. In this situation, just how far could a law firm notorious for wringing dry rags even the last drop go? If I switched perspectives and thought about it for even a moment, it was enough to send chills down my spine.
Buuuung-!
As I drove, I glanced through the rearview mirror at Bam Nuna sitting in the back seat. She was tapping away at her smartphone, whatever she was doing.
- Aaahng~ kimochi!
Suddenly, a lewd moan burst out.
"...That startled me."
"B-Bam-ah! Turn the volume down! Or put in earphones!"
"Eehng. Isn't this a turn-on? This voice actor's moans are really good."
"That's not the problem!"
Saebyeok Nuna, in the passenger seat, turned around and scolded Bam Nuna.
"Tch. Fine."
In the end, Bam Nuna raised the white flag and took out her earphones. There had been a few more lines before that, which, if I interpreted the Japanese, went something like: 'Master, not there! Ah, nooo!'
'A suspiciously wealthy pervert.......'
That was a fact I'd already known. She was a regular who'd commissioned dozens of explicit illustrations from me, after all.
But I hadn't known it was to this extent. Not the perverted part — the financial part.
I checked on Bam Nuna, absorbed in her eroge, through the rearview mirror, then called out to Saebyeok Nuna.
"Nuna."
"Yeah?"
"What exactly is Bam Nuna's identity? Calling Kim & Jeong, of all firms. They don't normally take individual civil cases."
Kim & Jeong was the largest law firm in the country by scale. Naturally, their retainer fees started in the tens of millions of won, and they rarely took on individual civil cases. They were a firm that primarily handled corporate and mega-scale cases rather than everyday disputes.
Yet a lawyer from Kim & Jeong had come running at a single phone call from Bam Nuna. No matter how grave a crime arson was as a property offense, this was incredibly unusual. If Gahyeon Nuna had properly understood this fact, she might have felt so burdened that she'd have refused until the very end.
Saebyeok Nuna glanced back and then shook her head.
"I don't know much either. Just that her real name is Leila. Even then, I don't know her full name..."
"Really? I thought you would know, Nuna. You're the closest to Bam Nuna in the club."
Not just close, but incredibly close. As if they were lovers.
Saebyeok Nuna nodded.
"Well, we are close. But Bam-i is a kid with a lot of secrets....... So I never pried."
"Hmm. She always told me it was a secret, too. Now that I think about it, it wasn't right of me to ask you if she said it was a secret."
"I understand. I was really shocked, too. I knew she was rich from seeing her spending, but I never imagined it was to this degree."
Saebyeok Nuna glanced back with a slightly daunted expression. I'd assumed she already knew and was composed, but that didn't seem to be the case.
But her expression quickly returned to normal as she said this.
"Whatever her identity, Bam-i is Bam-i. Our club president, Yu-bam."
"As expected, the power of love......."
"Huh?"
"Ah, no."
I trailed off and added:
"One thing's for sure, though. That nuna is a colossal pervert."
"That's... true, yeah."
"Shamelessly playing eroge on speaker."
"Pfft. She writes erotica, too. Did you know? Our club's goal almost ended up being an eroge instead of a short-form animation."
"...That's news to me."
"Me, Hana, and Seora Unnie barely managed to persuade her and change it. You should be grateful."
At those words, I expressed my sincere thanks.
"I'm really grateful. Your sunbaes' hard work was immense."
No, seriously. If the club goal had been an eroge, Seongju Hyung and Ahn Seong-hyeon wouldn't have even joined. That bastard Ahn Seong-hyeon, for a hardcore otaku, he's surprisingly conservative.
But Saebyeok Nuna glanced sideways at me and spoke.
"Well, you probably would've done fine anyway."
"...What do you mean?"
"Don't play dumb. You're a huge pervert, too. Ah......."
"......."
I think this nuna was about to say 'Areum' just now. She hastily switched words, speaking with an awkward pronunciation.
"...You draw lewd illustrations. I looked up Kkang-cheol, and you're insanely famous?"
"Wh-why did you look that up!?"
"...You draw well."
Saebyeok Nuna smiled faintly while staring out the window.
Suddenly, I wanted to die.......
*
Several days passed.
I heard from Saebyeok Nuna that the immature white-haired punk had been sent to the prosecution. During that process, a forensic search of his smartphone unearthed several more crimes. Starting with simple theft, then extortion, then school violence, and even evidence of sexual exploitation surfaced.
The case grew bigger than expected. It wasn't just Gahyeon Nuna's complaint; victims who had remained silent until now stepped forward and filed complaints as well. It was only my speculation, but I suspected the lawyer from the Kim & Jeong firm might have been involved.
'That punk is completely finished.'
Granted, I don't know for sure, but a living hell would unfold in his real life. He'd rot in the slammer for at least a decade or more, and even after getting out, he wouldn't be able to find a proper job. No, it wasn't just the individual — his entire family might be collectively ruined.
I felt not an ounce of sympathy. He was simply paying for his crimes. The same went for the so-called parents who had acted like they were the victims.
Bam Nuna's help didn't end with just hiring a lawyer. She also employed professionals to help restore the two-story building that housed Scarlet Ink. Thanks to that, work that would normally take three months at the very least, and up to a year, was progressing rapidly.
Expected timeframe: two months.
They said that within three months at the longest, everything from restoration construction to building safety inspection and use approval would be completed.
Of course, construction hadn't even started yet, but that was the estimated timeframe they'd produced by deploying the best personnel available.
However, could I call it regretful? There was one piece of unexpected news.
"She's quitting the tattoo shop? Gahyeon Nuna said that?"
"Yeah. She said she'll sell clothes in the restored building."
"Ah, the online shopping mall she said she originally planned to do?"
I asked while sitting on the edge of a mat. Currently, I was at another tattoo studio, about to receive a tattoo from Saebyeok Nuna.
She answered while setting up her equipment.
"Originally, she intended to keep running the tattoo shop and only sell the clothing online. But it seems this incident left her feeling somewhat disillusioned."
"Disillusioned?"
"There was apparently a problem with the fire insurance claim this time. Tattooing has a hard time receiving legal protection in Korea, after all... so that seems to be where the discussion started."
"Ahh....... That would make sense."
Unlike most other countries, in Korea, you need a 'medical license' to perform tattooing.
But would someone with a medical license professionally run a tattoo shop? Would a tattooist get a medical license to operate a tattoo shop?
Realistically, it's nonsense. In practice, tattooists don't have medical licenses, and naturally, their establishments are technically illegal under the law.
Nevertheless, there are thousands of tattoo shops nationwide, and they are still operating to this day. Most maintain a certain level of hygiene standards and customer consent forms and operate unofficially.
Even the police tend to take action only when there's a complaint, rather than conducting aggressive crackdowns. You could say that in the Republic of Korea right now, tattooing is in a transitional state, moving from the shadows into the light.
"If insurance doesn't cover it, there's no choice but to squeeze it out through civil litigation."
"Yeah. Well, it looks like that'll be resolved nicely, too, thanks to Bam-i."
"That nuna is really something else."
"You said it."
We both let out a hollow laugh at the same time. The gratitude was gratitude, and the astonishment was astonishment. I hoped we could find out Bam Nuna's true identity before her exchange student period ended. It wasn't for any particular reason, just genuine curiosity. Honestly, wouldn't anyone be curious?
"Anyway, her quitting the tattoo shop business — Gahyeon Nuna must have complicated feelings about it."
"I wonder? It didn't really seem that way."
"Huh?"
"It didn't make much money. Because she was selective about her clients. Profit-wise, using it as a clothing store would be more beneficial."
"Ah."
Only doing cover-up work for people with scars — that was Gahyeon Nuna's philosophy, or in other words, her stubborn-ass principle. Naturally, profitability was bound to be low.
"Chatter's over, now lie down."
Saebyeok Nuna said, slapping my back with a cheolsseok. The tool in her hand glinted under the light.
I gulped and asked.
"...Is it going to hurt a lot?"
Saebyeok Nuna smirked.
"A teensy bit?"
"A-a teensy bit, right?"
"Of course. Here, bite down on this."
Saebyeok Nuna held something out.
It was a mouthpiece, the kind people only use during martial arts matches.
"...What's this for?"
"So your teeth don't break."
"Y-you said it only hurts a little!"
"Alright, starting now. Don't move."
"Eu, agh! Keueueueueuk!"
When getting a tattoo, the closer it is to bone and the thinner the skin, the more it hurts. I learned that fact after the procedure was over.
'I'm never getting a tattoo again!'
That day, I had to shed tears in shame, forgetting all about my dignity.