Misfortune Strikes Twice
My heart was thumping.
I felt I had already paid Park Hyeji back for far more than what she had done to me, yet something about it still felt insufficient. More than anything, an itch prickled at my fingertips, driven by a rising impulse.
Snip, snip.
So, I took up the scissors. Applying steady pressure with my fingers, I cut through the fabric bit by bit. The blades were dull, making the chore slower than expected.
Thud.
The cleanly severed hem of a one-piece dress fell limply to the floor.
I was methodically destroying Park Hyeji’s wardrobe. It was only fair—she had taken a pair of scissors to my precious clothes first. Hanging in a neat row against one wall, her garments were sheared to ribbons without mercy. If I followed the darker whisper in my head, I would have mutilated her flesh as well. I was putting considerable effort into holding that urge back. I knew all too well that once I crossed that threshold, there would be no turning back.
Tap, tap.
“Wake up.”
I nudged the unconscious Park Hyeji with my foot, but she showed no sign of stirring. For this retribution to mean anything, she needed to be awake to witness her ruined clothes and suffer the despair of it. I briefly debated whether to give her another taste of the stun gun, but the thought of the hidden camera crossed my mind, pulling me over to her laptop instead.
Is this it?
Beside the keyboard lay the lighter, its metal casing flipped open. Moving the mouse, I rewound the video file she had left running and started it from the beginning.
Clatter, clatter.
As I turned up the volume, faint rattling noises drifted from the speakers. Soon, Park Hyeji’s face filled the screen. The footage showed her crouching on the cafe’s restroom floor, adjusting the angle of the lighter. With a creak and a heavy click, she stepped backward into the frame, gave the hidden camera one last scrutinizing look, and exited.
Resting my fingers on the arrow keys, I fast-forwarded through the timeline.
Did she plant this in the afternoon?
Familiar female faces began pushing the restroom door open. It certainly wasn't morning. Unaware of the lens tucked in the corner, the patrons pulled down their trousers or hitched up their skirts without the slightest hesitation to relieve themselves. The angle was devilishly precise, capturing their faces in clear, unforgiving detail—and, as they went about their business, exposing their private parts directly to the camera.
Rustle, thud.
Watching the playback, I finally solved the mystery of why trash was always strewn around the waste bin. One woman, after cleaning up, simply tossed her crumpled paper over her shoulder like a no-look pass without even glancing in the bin's direction. Her face was firmly etched into my memory.
Tap, tap, tap.
The evidence confirming Park Hyeji as the voyeur was already indisputable. I skipped ahead. Near the tail end of the recording, Boss appeared on screen, followed shortly by me. In the footage, my hand reached down toward the lens. I watched my own blank expression as I turned the lighter over, inspecting it, before the feed abruptly went black.
It really is today’s footage.
I skimmed further down the timeline. Suddenly, the screen flared bright again, revealing Park Hyeji’s face as she plucked the lighter from my pocket.
Click, click.
The recording cut out. I checked the open directory, but there was only that single video file. When I opened it again, it merely replayed what I had just watched.
This couldn't have been her first time.
I recalled the opening moments of the video: she had set the camera up in mere seconds, finding the optimal angle effortlessly, and slipped out of the stall without bothering to double-check her work. That level of efficiency did not belong to a novice. I poked around the laptop for a few more moments before standing up. Getting the truth out of Park Hyeji’s own mouth would be much faster.
Thud.
I drove a kick into her ribs, but she didn’t even flinch.
Bzzzzzt!
Flicking the switch, I pressed the crackling prongs of the stun gun against her bare bicep.
“Gaaahhh!”
Park Hyeji jerked awake with a strangled gasp. Her eyes bulged in agony, and the moment comprehension registered, a frantic struggle began.
“Jeongseo! Untie this! Right now!”
Her thrashing was utterly futile. I had bound her wrists and ankles behind her back in a tight hogtie. Her fingers were taped securely together, and I had reinforced the restraints with twine scavenged from the room, looping the cords taut up to her neck to lock her in an agonizingly contorted posture.
“Where are the other recordings?” I asked calmly.
“Let me go!”
“Setting up a hidden camera... this wasn't your first time, was it? Tell me where you stored the other videos.”
“Is that really what matters right now?! We had something special! It wasn't just me who felt it!”
She clearly had no intention of answering my questions cooperatively.
“Jeongseo, don't you remember me? Your noona gave you directions, remember? The mood between us was so sweet back then.”
“I remember. Now stop dodging the question and tell me where you hid the other files.”
“See? You remember too! You were just playing hard to get earlier, weren't you? Hehehe... so cute.”
She was living entirely inside her own delusions, hearing only what she wanted to hear.
Crack.
“Guh!”
I brought the blunt, heavy handle of the stun gun down hard against her shin.
Crack. Crack. Crack.
I struck the inner crest of her tibia, the bony prominence beside her knee, and the delicate joints where her metatarsals met her toes—targets that produced excruciating pain with minimal effort.
“Aaargh! Stop! Stop it!”
“Where are the rest of the videos?”
She writhed on the floor, shrieking at the top of her lungs, yet there was no escaping my grasp.
“Jeongseo... please don't do this. I only did it because I like you so much!”
“Cut the bullshit. Where are the files?”
I dropped the polite honorifics I wore out of habit. Regardless of how little I understood ordinary human emotion, I could tell that Park Hyeji was completely twisted.
“It's the truth! Noona just loves you so much, Jeongseo! Stop this and come to me. I'll forgive you for seeing those other bitches, I swear—”
Thwack.
Tired of listening to her drivel, I buried my fist into her liver, then rained down blows across her soft midsection.
“Cough... hack! Ptui! Is it a crime for me to like you?!”
Even while gagging for breath, this was the best excuse she could muster.
“You're free to like whoever you want. But not like this.”
“Why?! What was I supposed to do, then?! Do I need some fancy business card like those other bitches?! Should I have pulled up in an expensive foreign car?! You fucking little slut, you only open your legs for rich women anyway!”
“What are you even talking about? What do you know about me to make that kind of judgment?”
“It's obvious! Flashing that cute smile of yours, latching onto every woman with deep pockets! Am I wrong?!”
She must have been stalking me for quite some time. Familiar descriptions spilled from her lips—she sketched out the appearances of Leehyun and my mother with unsettling accuracy, even babbling about cafe regulars I had never once spoken to outside of work.
“I don't care what delusions you've cooked up in your head.”
“Heh... hehe. Trying to act tough—”
“I don't know whether this is an inferiority complex or plain madness.”
“Bullshit! It isn't! That's not what this is!”
“If you truly liked someone, you would have approached them openly. Hiding behind excuses while trying to trap them with dirt isn't affection. It's pathetic.”
“Shut up! No, no, no! That's a lie!”
She shrieked at the top of her lungs, her bloodshot eyes glaring at me with raw venom.
“I didn't even know you existed.”
“You're lying... you're lying, aren't you?!”
Seeing the sheer anguish my words inflicted brought a quiet sense of satisfaction.
“I mean it. You are nothing more than a piece of cowardly trash. What you did wasn't a mistake, and it wasn't love.”
“No... no, it's not like that... I just wanted you, Jeongseo...”
“Given a little time, I won't even remember your name. After all, nobody remembers every stray pebble they trip over in the street.”
Park Hyeji ground her teeth so hard her jaw trembled, her face contorting as she tried to spit out a retort.
“That's all you ever amounted to. A pathetic weakling who couldn't even beat a boy in a fight.”
“Don't flatter yourself, you—”
“Actually, scratch that. You didn't even manage to trip me. You aren't even worth comparing to a pebble.”
Cutting off whatever venom she was preparing to spew, I closed the conversation and stood up. The frantic pounding of multiple footsteps had just echoed from the hallway outside.
Bang, bang, bang, bang!
“Park Hyeji! Open the door!”
A loud ruckus battered against the front door, followed by sharp shouts announcing the police and warnings that they already knew everything.
Rattle, clink.
The distinct metallic scrape of forced entry tools signaled they were preparing to breach the lock. I stepped over and pulled the door open before they could break it down.
“Freeze—wait, what?”
The officers burst forward, weapons drawn, only to stumble backward in sheer bewilderment the moment they saw me.
“Hello.”
A squad of female police officers stared at me with wide, astonished eyes. I greeted them with complete composure.
“Park Hyeji is inside. I've already subdued her.”
“Are you... Noh Jungseo-ssi?”
“Yes, that's me.”
I stepped aside, and the officers flooded past me into the room. The sight of Park Hyeji trussed like a roast pig on the floor struck them utterly speechless.
“Jungseo!”
From behind the sea of uniforms, Boss came rushing through.
“Boss!”
Only then did I finally let go of the stun gun. When she threw her arms around me, I wrapped mine around her in return. How she had managed to arrive alongside the police didn't matter right now. All that mattered was the overwhelming relief written across her face, and how comforting it felt to have her here.
“Fuck off! Get your hands off me!”
“Hold still! Ugh, somebody find something to put on this lunatic!”
A frantic scuffle broke out between Park Hyeji and the officers. I lifted my head from Boss's shoulder and glanced back toward the room, my gaze locking with Park Hyeji’s furious glare.
“Wait, the clothes in here... they’ve all been shredded!”
“Just drape whatever you can find over her!”
Meeting those glazed, dead-fish eyes, I allowed the corners of my mouth to curl upward. The moment my mocking smirk bloomed, Park Hyeji completely lost her mind, writhing in pure hysteria.
“Whoa, whoa! What’s wrong with her?!”
“Dammit, stay still!”
The officers struggled to pin her down and heave her to her feet. After watching the spectacle for another brief second, I nestled my face back into the soft warmth of Boss’s chest.
“Let go of me! Jeongseo... mmph!”
Her desperate shrieks tickled my ears before being abruptly muffled.
Fortunately, I hadn't crossed the line. If the police had arrived just a few moments later, things might have spiraled out of control.