No Saving You If a Mad Bitch Bites You (Part 2)
Bam—! Bam—! Bam—!
But who's been pounding on the door like that since earlier? I swallowed my boiling frustration and headed to the entrance, calling out.
"Who is it?"
Bam—! Bam—! Bam—!
I'd asked who it was, but there was no answer—just more pounding on the door.
"Haa... fucking hell..."
I was already pissed off to the max, branded a national piece of trash thanks to that shit Masugomi Rin pulled, and now this? Someone deliberately poking at my nerves? To see the face of whoever—or whatever—these bastards were, I flung the door open.
"What the hell? Why are you pounding on the door like that?!"
I stepped out yelling, and there stood three guys in school uniforms.
"No way, she really lives here?"
"Whoa! It's the real Golden Sun Hero!"
"How much was the bounty again?"
The moment I showed myself, they started whispering.
Have these fuckers lost their minds?
"What the fuck do you punks think you're doing?! How did you even get in here!?"
This was a brand-new villa—unless you lived here, you couldn't even pass the entrance. I was dying to know how they'd gotten in.
"Don't worry about that. Just come quietly, and we won't get rough."
One of the guys stepped forward, waving the wooden bat in his hand as he spoke.
Golden Sun Hero hunter, my ass—they were seriously planning to hunt me down? These guys were fucking insane.
"Do your parents know you're out here pulling this shit?"
I threw the word "parents" at the three of them, but they just gave me looks like What the hell are you on about?
"Lady. Cut the bullshit. We need some cash, so it'd be best if you come along without getting hurt."
"Lady? Excuse me?"
That "lady" hit a nerve. Where the fuck did they get "lady" from? My temper wasn't soft enough to brush that off as kid stuff.
"So you punks are those Golden Sun Hero hunter whatevers?"
"Hey! We said you don't need to know, lady!"
The bat guy swung at me.
"Hera, vector field."
Understood.
HERA formed the vector field, and the bat bounced right off my body, the shock rebounding straight back at the guy.
"Aaaagh!"
He was howling in pain, so yeah—they'd swung for real, meaning to hurt me.
"You punks are beyond saving. Time for a beating first."
"Uh, um..."
"Tch! Hands up straight!"
"Eek! Y-yes, sir!"
The three guys were standing there with their hands raised high, punished. Once I dealt with the bat guy as an example, the other two surrendered on their own.
"Now explain properly. How did you know my address?"
"W-well..."
I glared at the hesitant bat guy, and he looked terrified as he spilled it.
"It's already all over Rin-gal... uh, not lady, sis's personal info."
My personal info? More importantly, what the hell was Rin-gal?
"Rin-gal?"
"Short for Masugomi Rin Minor Gallery."
"Masugomi Rin, huh..."
Now it clicked. That dogshit crazy bitch Masugomi had spread my info on some Rin-gal forum.
"So there'll probably be more coming besides you punks."
"Y-yeah, probably?"
"Got it."
"C-can we go home now?"
"Nah, you've got somewhere to go before that."
Ding-dong—!
The doorbell rang, and I headed back to open the door. In came that cop from before—the one who'd hooked me up despite the messy situation.
"Ae-ri, I shouldn't really come out like this personally, but I came for Jung-woo's sake."
Turns out this cop knew Lee Jung-woo. More than knew—high school classmates, I think?
"These the kids?"
"Yeah."
"Wh-who are you?"
Officer Kim Ji-hoon had been in violent crimes before, just filling in with the uniform last time. Now in plain clothes, no wonder the kids didn't clock him as a cop.
"How old are you punks?"
"N-nineteen... why?"
"High schoolers, huh? You've got charges for trespassing and attempted assault. Come with me first."
"P-police?!"
Their faces went white when they realized. After that, they begged for mercy—just once—but it got shot down with "Some things in this world don't bend for begging," and they got dragged off for questioning with Kim Ji-hoon. I was told to wait if they needed me as a witness.
One week later
A lot had gone down in that week. Those three were small fry. They must've dosed everyone with some heavy shit, 'cause people swarmed me like I was a walking ATM, making normal life impossible.
Now, to settle things with Masugomi, I stood in front of her 2nd-floor personal office and knocked.
"You're finally here."
The door opened, and Masugomi greeted me with a smile. Not thrilled at all on my end, but that face made my blood boil even more.
I sat down in her office, and she asked,
"Coffee? Or some other drink?"
"No drinks. Sit down."
Did she have no clue how much I was holding back?
"You've got some heavy dark circles there."
She commented on the bags under my eyes.
Did she seriously not know whose fault it was that I couldn't sleep?
"Thanks to you."
"Anyway, coming here like this means you've finally decided to do the interview!"
Masugomi beamed, eyes sparkling, convinced I'd come for the interview.
"Before that, I want to hear why you're going this far. Screw the 'right to know' bullshit—tell me the real reason."
"If I toss the right to know, there's nothing to explain. As a reporter, I just want to deliver the truth to everyone..."
"Don't make me laugh. You write articles for your own satisfaction."
"Pardon? What do you mean?"
She looked genuinely puzzled. Ah, is that it? Unaware egocentrism—the type who doesn't realize their own blind spots. She genuinely thought she was writing for others.
"Talking to you just tires me out. I didn't come here for an interview."
"No way. Golden Sun Hero came for the interview, right?"
Her IQ was borderline suspect. I yelled toward the door.
"Come in!"
At my call, Lee Jung-woo entered with a woman in a red kimono whose age was impossible to guess.
She looked so much like Masugomi Rin, it was like seeing what Rin would grow into.
"M-Mom?!"
Masugomi flinched hard at the sight.
"I'll apologize on behalf of my daughter for her rudeness."
The woman—Masugomi Lina, Rin's mom—approached me, bowing repeatedly.
"Mom, when did you get to Korea? You didn't even call!"
"Rin."
Lina softly called her name at that.
"You need to apologize too."
"Apologize? I didn't do anything wrong..."
"Rin. That's an order. Your grandfather won't let this slide either, so we're going back to the family home after."
"G-Grandpa?!"
Masugomi's face paled even more than when she saw her mom.
"I-I'm... s-s-sorry. For... for the trouble my... article caused... I apologize."
It felt half-hearted, but I'd let it slide this far. She'd face worse anyway.
Ignoring the trembling Masugomi, Lina said to me,
"This won't end with just an apology in the Masugomi name. We'll provide fitting compensation."
"Well, if you're offering compensation, I won't say no. But make sure this shit doesn't happen again."
"Understood."
After that, Masugomi got practically dragged away by Lina to the car and vanished. Now Jung-woo and I were at a nearby café.
"Thanks for pulling through, Jung-woo."
"Eh, whatever. How could I say no to my benefactor?"
"Didn't know you knew Masugomi Rin's mom."
"Lina? Not really my connection—my dad's acquaintance."
"Ah, got it."
"Anyway, still got shit to handle. Hunting down whoever first posted that Golden Sun Hero Hunter crap."
"Let me know first when you find 'em."
Whoever it was, I'd smash them to pieces.
"Sure. But Ae-ri, you..."
Jung-woo stared at me intently. Her gaze was fixed on my chest.
"You didn't wear a bra, did you?"
"Huh?"
Her sudden question left me dumbfounded.
"Your reaction confirms it. Doesn't it chafe? Hurt?"
"It's a bit uncomfortable, but..."
With my strong lingering male ego, the idea of shopping for underwear had never crossed my mind—hence the fluster.
"Come on."
"Huh? Where?"
"Where else? Department store."
And just like that, I got dragged along by Jung-woo to the department store.