Collision 1
Even though this was an alley tucked away in the heart of a bustling downtown, the varied urban noises filtered in faintly here alone, as if making an exception for this spot.
“…”
The eerie silence hanging between the two did nothing to dispel the external sounds desperately trying to intrude, but they couldn't sweep away the heavy atmosphere that had settled over the place.
“What… what the hell is this…?”
It was hard to capture his emotions with just the word panic. His eyes trembled like there'd been an earthquake, half-scanning his friend's mom from head to toe.
No way… both mother and daughter got raped?!
Park Jun-hyun felt like he was going mad in the face of this horrifying reality.
W-what do I do…!
Lee Seo-yoon was confused for entirely different reasons and couldn't string words together. Objectively, it had been rape, but the presence of that man named Kang Jeong-min here meant Kim Il-woo had orchestrated it. She had no idea how to explain it, her lips twitching several times in futile attempts at justification or excuses, only producing deflated silence.
“Haa! Haa! Haa!”
Park Jun-hyun started panting roughly, as if gripped by panic. Unlike his girlfriend, any sense of elation or satisfaction from helping someone had long vanished. How the hell was he supposed to explain this to Choi Ara? Feeling a sticky despair rise like he'd been plunged into mud, he looked at his girlfriend's mother.
“Ah…”
Even disheveled from rolling on the filthy alley floor, she was endlessly beautiful. Her pale skin glowed undimmed in the darkness, her voluptuous figure bewitching the mind. The red choker around her neck and the vivid red lingerie failed in their purpose, fully exposing her intimate areas. Yet that bold color only amplified her allure, never cheapening it or diminishing her innate charm.
“O-oh… cl-clothes… j-just a second… your clothes…”
Park Jun-hyun desperately fought the pull of his male instincts toward her overflowing, massive breasts and the lewd valley between her thighs. Plagued by guilt over seeing his girlfriend's mom naked and a strange thrill of taboo excitement, he searched for something to cover her body.
Where…?
No matter how he looked, there were no clothes around to shield her. The shock had short-circuited his proper thinking until now, but the incongruity finally hit him. To pinpoint it, he looked at her face.
“…”
Her disheveled hair and tear-soaked face stirred protective instincts. Amid the whirlwind of shock and horror from the rape, one clear glint in her eyes was embarrassment.
Why is she so flustered?
Because her daughter's boyfriend saw her naked? Because of the identity of the man who'd saved her during the rape? With all threats gone now, what could possibly make her tremble like that?
His gaze drifted lower, finally registering the red choker around her neck connected by a leash-like red cord tied to a nearby building pipe, like a dog's collar.
“J-Jun-hyun-ah…”
As if terrified he'd realize the truth behind his unease, Lee Seo-yoon pitifully called his name.
“W-wait… just a sec… Ara's mom… wh-where are… your clothes…”
Park Jun-hyun desperately denied the swelling answer in his mind, asking about the whereabouts of the clothes she should be wearing. There were none, of course. She'd walked this alley nearly naked with Kim Il-woo, fallen into a trap, and been raped right here by Kang Jeong-min. If it had been a simple rape, her clothes should be nearby—but there was nothing.
“N-no… no, it's not… not like that…!”
Lee Seo-yoon's desperate denial only dragged the cruel truth Park Jun-hyun had been ignoring to the surface.
He'd come here after seeing the content announcement on Hartpans in the first place. The countless videos uploaded there. The woman in them had been ravaged brutally, sadistically, and uncooperatively, but it was clear it wasn't entirely without consent. Kim Il-woo had edited out all footage of Choi Ara's rape or Lee Seo-yoon's genuine hatred and lines, so it was no wonder he'd misunderstood. To Park Jun-hyun's eyes, the woman seemed reluctant but submitting to the man's commands of her own will.
“Then what the hell is this?!”
Forgetting she was his girlfriend's mom, Park Jun-hyun rudely and irritably yelled.
With a dog collar around her neck, wearing only see-through mesh lingerie, what was she doing in this dingy alley? Covered in a middle-aged man's semen, Lee Seo-yoon looked every bit the whore.
“I-I…! It's not…!”
Too flustered, Lee Seo-yoon stammered incoherently. Countless excuses fought in her throat, but none emerged. That it was a misunderstanding? Not what you think? That it was rape? That she had no choice for her daughter's sake? She lacked confidence any words would convince him.
“Not what?! Spit it out! If you've got a mouth, explain this mess right now!”
Park Jun-hyun, who'd collapsed powerlessly moments ago, sprang up as if it were a lie, pointing accusingly with veins bulging in his neck as he screamed.
“No!!! It's not what you think! I w-was ra… raped…”
Lee Seo-yoon screamed her excuse, but trailed off, objectively viewing her own state and sinking into self-loathing. Half-naked with a dog collar, rolling in a filthy alley covered in a middle-aged man's white fluid, forced to make pathetic excuses to her daughter's boyfriend. Her face drained white, clueless what to say.
“Raped?! Then why were you here looking like a total whore! Why in this deserted spot where some ballsy rapist just happens to show up?!”
Park Jun-hyun adopted a bold stance, ready for whatever bullshit excuse came next.
Meeting his scorching, disgust-filled eyes, Lee Seo-yoon felt her blood run cold. Like icy water dumped over her head, her gaze forced downward.
What… am I doing…?
She'd justified enduring everything for her daughter until now. But viewing the situation from one step away, she had no idea what she'd been doing. Under the pretext of protecting her daughter, she'd committed something utterly horrific. For her daughter, for her daughter, for her daughter. That single phrase had stopped her agonizing and fallen prey to Kim Il-woo's gaslighting. And this was the result.
“…Ah.”
A hollow word escaped Lee Seo-yoon's lips. She felt everything crumbling beneath her feet. Sorrow and misery overflowed as tears, her body shaking madly. Bitter self-reproach rose from her toes, spilling past her throat.
Her lowered head slowly lifted, gazing up at the man speckled with disgust. Her eyes were voids like an abyss. The loving, wise gleam was gone without trace.
“I…”
Her trembling lips squeezed out an excuse.
“For my daughter…”
The justification from Lee Seo-yoon's mouth was the same as always—the worst excuse she shouldn't make.
Park Jun-hyun felt like he'd been clubbed in the back of the head at those words, his blood boiling in delusion.
“Grr!”
A gruesome grinding like breaking teeth came from his mouth, his face twisting in rage. The thread of reason he'd barely held snapped, incinerated by flames of fury without remnant.
“Don't give me that shit! Shut that dog mouth! What?! For who?!”
Unable to hold back, Park Jun-hyun pounced atop her. Lee Seo-yoon lay once more on the filthy alley floor, but offered no resistance, blankly staring upward with empty eyes.
Park Jun-hyun glared down at the foolish woman beneath him with bloodshot, rage-filled eyes, scorching her with abuse.
“For your daughter suffering from being raped? That's your excuse?!”
What mother in the world would whore herself out for her raped daughter? Viewed in isolation, she seemed nothing but a slut voluntarily bedding countless men. Who could imagine a parent sacrificing her body to shield her child's mind? Even spilling the full process, understanding from a parent's position hoping to spare their child any hurt was unlikely. She'd only face more condemnation and humiliation for choosing the easy path over thinking.
“…”
Lee Seo-yoon realized it all and gave up. A foolish woman trapped in narrow thinking, flailing helplessly in Kim Il-woo's filthy desires without knowing what to do. That was her. If she'd just stepped back to view herself… if someone precious had remained to stop her rampage… the outcome might've differed.
“Fine. No more excuses, huh?!”
Park Jun-hyun's mind went white with rage, burning pain surging. Staring at the filthy woman refusing even excuses, his impotent fury threatened madness. Suddenly, through his blood-veiled red vision, the lecherous married woman's naked body came into view.