Chapter 98
Chapter 98
No matter how much one looked around, it would be impossible to find another young man as exceptionally handsome and warm-hearted as him.
The staff, who had been rubbing their sleepy eyes and nodding off after a long night of filming, cheered at the arrival of the coffee truck.
"Drink up, everyone!"
Nan-hee accepted the staff's greetings with a proud shrug, picking up a hot latte and a cup of fruit for herself.
"Now, let’s see. Should I call our Son-in-law Gyu to tell him it arrived safely?"
Before she could even press the contact button, a Boicetalk notification popped up on her screen. Oh my, we’re on the same wavelength. Look at that, my future son-in-law.
"Hello? Oh, I got it! Thank you!"
She had already dropped the formal speech and changed how she addressed him. After talking to him for a while, she realized he wasn't the type to be difficult, and honestly, he was easier to talk to than Cheong-i. She felt comfortable saying anything to him.
—Ah, so it arrived. You know I didn't do it alone, right? Bom’s sense really carried the whole thing.
"I feel so bad because I haven't done anything for you. I'm just glad you're here for her, Jae-gyu."
—But Mother, we have a huge problem. This might be a long call; can you talk?
Did something happen? Jae-gyu’s voice was an octave lower than usual. Nan-hee signaled her manager to continue greeting the filming crew on her behalf and stepped into her car.
"What is it? You're scaring me, talking in that low voice."
—I don't think you saw it because you were filming, but I’m sending you a few links via message. Check them immediately.
What could it be? Nan-hee checked the messages with a sense of dread. As she opened the links one by one, her expression gradually contorted.
Bom, again...
It was only a matter of time before this reached her husband’s ears. It was clear that this time, it wouldn't end with her just staying in the countryside for a while.
—Did you see them, Mother? You have to help Bom this time. Let’s work as a team, just the two of us. You can do that, right? No, you must do it.
Nan-hee’s mouth clamped shut in distress. It wasn't a question she could answer easily.
⋆★⋆
After parking behind the building, Bom buried her face in the steering wheel. Her face, already stained with tears, began to grow wet again.
She reached for her phone to turn on the screen but stopped, gripping it so hard her hand ached.
The more she recalled the horrific stories she had seen on her phone early this morning, the harder it became even to breathe.
Where did it all go wrong?
It was certain that the program she had glimpsed last night before changing the channel was the start of this incident. This morning, she had hurriedly clicked the "Replay" service on the broadcasting station's website to find the segment featuring Hee-yeon.
Hee-yeon’s video letter, where she tearfully claimed to have found her lost son, was broadcast exactly as it was. Then, the scene shifted from the writer making inquiries over the phone to a broadcasting van driving down the road. The caption "In Pursuit" was absolutely absurd.
From being turned away at the school they had struggled to find, to the moment they called Han-gyeol out to a cafe—it was a festival of malicious editing. The color drained from Bom’s face at the next scene.
<What did you just say?>
The footage showed Bom confronting the PD who was threatening Han-gyeol. Although her face was pixelated, the mosaic was so poorly done that her face was clearly visible at intervals.
<Teacher, we are simply trying to reunite a student with his mother...>
<Stop it and back off!>
The caption "Emergency—Filming Halted" flashed on the screen, and the panelists watching the video let out sighs of pity. The camera focused only on the dark floor of the cafe to make it look like a serious situation, while only the voice of the writer trying to "persuade" her was aired.
<So, you're saying you're seeing the man who is protecting that child?>
<.......>
<Is that man refusing to let the child meet his biological mother? The child has rights too, Teacher!>
<.......>
They had never had such a conversation during the actual filming. It was clear they had recorded separate lines and edited them together craftily. Up to this point, it was just enough to make her angry at the "evil editing." The real problem, however, was what happened after the broadcast.
The segment had been cropped and was circulating not only on the viewer board of I Am a K-Trot Singer but also across all sorts of internet communities.
[Today’s legendary villain-tier female teacher (feat. Nakega)]
The post included screenshots where her face was fully exposed due to the poor mosaic. This post was spreading like wildfire.
zkwa123: I felt like I was getting cancer while watching this;;
fklazlkq: What’s the deal here? Is she so crazy about a guy that she won't let her own student meet his mom?
└ ck_52k: Yeah, looks like the guy told her not to let them meet.
└ ksy_love: But is it okay to date a parent of a student in your own class?
└└ jngd00: It’s "date," not "daite," you idiot.
eg940302: She’s damn pretty, though. Guess she thinks she can do whatever she wants because of her face lol.
oo00ng2: Supporting contestant Lee Hee-yeon! ☆ Come to my blog for info on certifications. http://blog.nave.com/oo00ng2
There were so many comments she couldn't even read them all. Most of them expressed intense dislike, and while her heart raced, she could have endured it if it ended there.
But Bom’s heart sank to the very bottom when she saw a post uploaded by someone else later.
[Revealing the identity of the Nakega teacher today. Doxxing soon.]
Inside were screenshots of Bom’s face from the broadcast, her mother Jung Nan-hee’s face, and a university graduation photo obtained from who-knows-where. Along with those, her real name was revealed.
[Seohwa Women's University, Department of Ethics Education, Yoon Bom]
The fact that she was the daughter of Jung Nan-hee—a famous middle-aged actress who had recently made a comeback and was well-known even to the younger generation—caused the internet communities to erupt like a fire fed with dry kindling.
Comments speculating that she was neglecting her students to mess around with a man who had a child in the countryside were actually on the milder side.
As she looked at the posts and comments that were too horrific to witness, Bom’s heart trembled violently as if it would tear apart. But the people didn't stop there.
[That teacher’s dad is Professor YJG at Choam University. Their Everytime board is blowing up right now lol. Time for some "true education" justice.]
[Deleting soon. That controversial teacher from Nakega today? Apparently, she was already famous in Seoul for being promiscuous. She’s obsessed with money, so she went on several blind dates with chaebol families and tried so hard to climb the ladder.]
The mockery that began in the evening continued throughout the dawn. Just as people were appearing to calm the overheating atmosphere, a single photo was posted, and the internet was once again flooded with "Jung Nan-hee’s daughter."
It was that photo—the very reason Bom had come down to Shinsu-eup. She didn't know who had obtained it or how they had posted it, but her brother had been right.
The vague hope that everyone would have forgotten about that incident after she spent two years tucked away in the countryside was nothing but a delusion.
What am I supposed to do now?
Most of the missed calls from throughout the night were from her mother and Jae-gyu, while the overflowing messages were from her former classmates.
While all this was happening, she had been fast asleep, knowing nothing. Perhaps it would have been better to just sleep forever...
Such extreme thoughts kept painfully scratching at her heart.
Bom didn't reply. Not to her mother, and not to Jae-gyu.
Her father’s reaction was predictable even without looking. She didn't have the mental energy to care about him. But her mother was different.
She had only just forgiven her mother and was finally getting close to her...
She felt sick with guilt for leaving such a huge stain on her mother’s career, especially since she had just started a new project with a fresh mindset. I would hate me too. A daughter who dragged down an image her mother had meticulously managed for decades in a single moment.
And it was the same for Jae-gyu, who had become the most precious person to her.
More than anything, because of that photo, she couldn't bring herself to send any reply to Jae-gyu. He must have seen it. She could tell from the message he sent amidst the numerous missed calls.
—I saw what happened. I’ll take care of everything, so please trust me.
She didn't know how he planned to "take care" of it, but she knew that once Jae-gyu said something like that, he wasn't the type of man to sit idly by.
He might go find the PD and the writer to give them a piece of his mind. But there was something even Jae-gyu couldn't do anything about. That old composite photo had spread again, and many people had already seen it. And among those many people was Jae-gyu.
That fact itself was something no one could undo.
Even though she had shared many of her inner stories with him, this was the one thing she had never been able to say.
The fact that someone had harbored such malice toward her and orchestrated the whole thing, and the people who had coldly drawn a line and treated her like she was filthy, believing only what was right in front of their eyes. None of it had healed yet, so she only wanted to keep it hidden.
No, setting everything else aside, the mere fact that Jae-gyu had seen that photo of her entering a motel with her arm linked with an old married man made Bom’s heart grow darker and darker.
Perhaps it was a relief that he was in China right now. Closing her eyes, Bom lifted her eyelashes, which were heavy and soaked with tears. Looking at the clock, it was 8:25 AM.
With only five minutes left before work, she had no choice but to get out of the car. She closed the car door, walked around the building, and headed toward the teachers' office.
Before entering, the colorful campus where she was supposed to take photos with the children today caught her eye. What will they think of me? Since I’ve already been through this once in Seoul, will it hurt less?
[I heard the Ethics teacher is a motel VIP.]
[She taught us Ethics and Ideology while doing stuff like that behind our backs? That’s so ridiculous.]
Right, I’ve heard it all before...
Whether she continued at this school, went back to Seoul, or quit altogether, for now, she had to report to the office and finish all the classes on today’s schedule.
Without even having the luxury to feel the chill from the hallway where all the windows were open, Bom opened the door to the teachers' office.
"......."
The teachers, who had been gathered in small groups talking, fell silent the moment they saw Bom and headed to their seats. The bustling office was enveloped in silence in an instant.
It was sadly familiar. This entire scene.