Chapter 105
Chapter 105
Bom tucked her long chestnut hair behind her ears and took off her sunglasses. Lowering her mask below her chin, she let out a long, heavy sigh.
Her chest, which had felt tight and stifled from listening to such infuriating nonsense, cleared just a little. However, her brother was still behind her, raising his voice.
"Fuck, I hung out with him even though he’s not even on my level, and now he’s screwing me over like this?"
Then, as if he’d had an epiphany, he began to sneer.
"A calculating bastard like you wouldn't do this for free. Come on, tell me. What did you get from this thug? No matter how much you act like some righteous hero here, I know who you really are."
"Ahhh-hum."
The thing that finally silenced Yoon-cheong’s relentless tirade was the sound of Jae-gyu letting out a massive yawn.
Jae-gyu, who had been sitting silently at the table with his large frame hunched over, suddenly straightened up and opened his mouth wide, making her brother flinch.
"Mr. Yoon-chung."
His intimidating, low-register voice intentionally mispronounced her brother's name.
"…My name is Yoon-cheong. 'Cheong' as in 'clear blue.'"
Despite the humiliating situation, her brother couldn't bring himself to snap back properly, merely huffing in indignation.
"At least get my name right."
"Ah, my apologies. I’d love to keep listening to my dear brother-in-law, but I’ve got someone waiting for me, so I can't."
"What do you mean you can't?"
"I'm getting to the point."
Jae-gyu leaned his massive upper body forward, plucked the wafer out of his Strawberry Salt Frappe, and crunched down on it.
"Don't waste your energy and just fess up nicely."
"What?"
"You asked for evidence earlier, didn't you?"
"Of course, there has to be evidence—"
"Haven't you been spilling it yourself this whole time?"
Her brother fell silent for a moment, looking dumbfounded. Bom felt a wave of relief. So Jae-gyu noticed it too.
"What did you say when the writer walked in earlier?"
"Me? What about it?"
Her brother was stupider than she thought. He still hadn't caught on.
"The moment the writer stepped into the cafe, your eyes got as big as a cow's and you started jumping around, asking if I was the one who called him."
"…."
"How did you know what the writer looked like to make such a fuss in the first place?"
"…!"
Jae-gyu immediately glanced at the writer sitting next to him and asked, "Writer, are you famous?"
"Ah, no. Not at all…."
"Have you ever been on TV?"
"Never."
Realizing his mistake too late, Yoon-cheong’s face washed over with a look of total defeat.
"See? You spilled it yourself. That’s the proof that you saw the raw footage. Happy now? I’m a living Conan."
Conan is alive, too, though… Regardless, seeing him land that blow was incredibly satisfying.
"Tsk, you don't look a bit like Bom."
Jae-gyu sucked on his Strawberry Salt Frappe until the straw made a gurgling sound. Bom felt like ordering him another glass right then and there as she waited for the next blow.
"The writer’s face… well, I think Seung-won might have mentioned it briefly."
"Cheong, I never did that. Why would I describe the writer's face to you?"
As Seung-won shook his head in disbelief, Yoon-cheong’s face turned a dark, bruised purple from shame, looking like a steamed sweet potato.
"You’re framing me as the culprit based on just that? That’s your evidence?"
"That’s not the only thing."
Right. There was more. Bom remembered their first encounter earlier.
"What did you say when you greeted me?"
"A greeting is just a greeting, what are you—"
[You look a bit different from the screen.]
"You said I looked different from the screen. What screen did you see me on? I haven't even made it onto network TV yet."
This was it. This was why Bom had tilted her head in confusion earlier.
During the filming, Jae-gyu’s face had been clearly visible for several minutes alongside Han-gyeol’s, but in the actual broadcast, only Bom’s poorly blurred face had been shown.
"Your expression is so transparent. I don't even need to pull out the other stuff I prepared."
"No, seriously, ha…."
Jae-gyu clicked his tongue at the sight of Yoon-cheong, who was visibly panicked and stuttering, then signaled to Nan-hee with his eyes.
"Now’s the time, Mother."
Realizing it was her turn to step in, her mother spoke up cautiously.
"Cheong, answer me honestly."
"Mother, not you too."
"Cheong, why did you spread Bom’s photos on the internet? You know, those… affair photos."
Bom’s expression hardened at the mention of the photos. Where did her brother get those? No, did he really post them?
"Mother, I never posted any photos of Yoon Bom. Where would I even get photos like that to post?"
Her brother responded irritably, acting like the victim. Normally, her mother would have stayed quiet to avoid upsetting him. But today was different. She didn't let him sway her and continued calmly.
"Cheong. I saw them on your computer."
"Saw what…?"
"The original photos of Bom, the original photos of the married man used for the composite, and the final edited version. Even the failed attempts… You did it, Cheong."
What did I just hear?
Bom went numb. The idea that those photos—the very things that had made her so ill—were the work of her own flesh and blood was so surreal she couldn't believe it. But these words were coming from her mother’s mouth.
"You must have… seen wrong, Mother."
Yoon-cheong gritted his teeth, forcing a facade of composure. But even at a glance, he looked anxious. Beads of cold sweat formed on his pale face.
"Mother, you don't even know how to use a computer."
"True. I am tech-illiterate…."
"You must have clicked something wrong. I’ll show you the computer when we get home. You can look through every folder."
Whether he had hidden the files or was just trying to buy time, her brother tried to soothe her mother. He even forced a smile.
"Right. Since I don't know much about computers, I just told the manager to load the whole PC tower into the car."
"What?"
"Because Son-in-law Gyu said that was the surest way."
"Why the hell would you take someone else's computer! Ah, fuck!"
Yoon-cheong screamed and jumped up, but when Jae-gyu let out a sharp "Tsk" and glared at him, he swallowed his rage with a groan.
"The final decision on what to do with the brother-in-law rests with the victim, Bom, but I’ll offer a bit of advice."
Jae-gyu leaned forward, looking Yoon-cheong straight in the eye.
"Confess exactly what you did and what kind of grudge drove you to do it, and then beg for forgiveness."
"…."
"I’m saying you should apologize with a sincere heart, letting go of any expectation that she’ll actually forgive you."
The fact that her brother was behind all of this was certainly shocking. However, it wasn't the kind of world-shattering shock she might have expected. Perhaps it was because she hadn't expected much from him to begin with. Or maybe, deep down, she had already known. That it was exactly the kind of thing her brother would do….
Bitterness. That emotion felt like a more accurate description of her current state than shock.
Could she ever forgive him?
"Why should I?"
After hanging his head for a moment as if contemplating, her brother replied coldly.
"Thinking about it, this is unfair. Fine, let’s say I did all of it."
"Watch your tone. Try again."
Jae-gyu spoke slowly but firmly, and her brother, intimidated once more, mumbled.
"Fine… fine, I did it."
Her brother chewed on the soft skin of his lip with his canines and let out a deep sigh. Finally, the confession she had both wanted and dreaded to hear flowed from his lips.
"I did everything."
Having spat those words out, he now acted as if he was glad he’d been caught, even letting out a mocking snort.
"So, fuck, what are you going to do about it?"
"Cheong, you rotten brat! Why would you do that to your own sister!"
Her agitated mother shouted in a high-pitched voice, slapping him repeatedly on the back. But the sound soon stopped.
"Because of my leg."
"…."
The clinking sound of Jae-gyu stirring his frappe stopped as well.
"Whose fault is it that my leg ended up crippled like this?"
"Cheong."
"If Mother hadn't told me to go pick up Bom that day, I wouldn't have turned out this twisted."
The steel pin in the eldest son's leg—a painful scar for Bom’s family.
She had always lived with guilt, watching her brother limp when he was tired or cry out for painkillers when the weather was bad.
So it was because of that.
Once again, she couldn't help but blame herself. They had caught the culprit, but they were back at square one.
"Pfft."
It was then. Seung-won covered his mouth, lowered his head, and his shoulders shook with laughter.
It was strange. It felt as if her vision was darkening and her mind was blacking out. Though they were in a bright cafe in the middle of the day, Bom was being pulled back to the memory of that day in her brother's car.
What happened that day?
[Bom, wait at the library. I told your brother to pick you up.]
[I can just take the bus. I feel awkward around him.]
Her brother, who had come to pick her up at their mother's request, had seemed incredibly annoyed from the start. She had tried to strike up a conversation, but something she said must have set him off. He had driven recklessly in a fit of rage, and then they had crashed somewhere, leaving her unconscious for a long time.
The one thing that remained vivid in her memory was the pungent smell of perfume in his car.
"Ha, Cheong. You’re really something."
Seung-won, who had been laughing for a while, stopped and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. At the same time, Bom felt her sense of reality return. The sunlight streaming through the window stung her eyes.
"Hey, Yoon-cheong."
Just as something was about to click in her mind, words as sharp as arrows pierced her ears—words so terrifying and shocking they made her heart drop.
"You were drunk driving that day."