So-hee's Rape Blackmail Gambit
"Ding-dong."
There was no response.
"Ding-dong."
Ugh, for fuck's sake....
So-hee's voice drifted out, a quiet curse muttered in sheer irritation.
"Ding-dong."
Only then did footsteps begin to sound, drawing nearer until, at last, the door to So-hee's apartment swung open. She was wearing white hot pants over black pantyhose, and on top, a black off-shoulder top that left her shoulders bare.
The moment she opened the door and found Juhwan standing there, her expression froze solid.
"What the hell? Are you insane, you bastard?"
"...I came to accept your apology."
"Apology? What apology?"
"...You insulted me and my parents earlier."
"Pfft... haha. Hey, how was that an insult? It was a hundred percent accurate."
"...Excuse me?"
"Are your ears clogged? That wasn't an insult, it was a hundred percent the truth, you pathetic beggar."
"So some worthless nobody like you heard one little fact and got all puffed up about it, and now you've come marching up to my door?"
"Didn't I tell you? Never come anywhere near me, my husband, or our home again."
Juhwan fiddled with the phone in his hand and ground his teeth.
"...Then you'll regret it."
"What? Regret??? Pfft... BAHAHAHA!"
So-hee burst out laughing — a laugh dripping with contempt, a laugh that said what could a piece of trash like you possibly do to me?
"Regret, hahaha. God, it's been a while since I laughed that hard. So the rent-owing pauper is going to make me regret something? How, exactly? How far and how deep?"
"Wake up, kid. What are you going to do, hit me right here? Then it's straight to prison for you, you fucker."
"You really think I'd just sit back and take it if you pulled something on me?"
...You really are a bitch who can't be redeemed, aren't you.
Juhwan didn't back down either. Deciding to vomit up everything he'd swallowed until now all at once, he pushed forward.
"...I'm going to talk to your husband."
"Husband??!! Hey, you've officially lost your goddamn mind. Did you forget me telling you never to come near me or my husband again?"
"...I'm going to explain everything that's been happening to your husband."
"What things? Oh~ the noise? Hahahahaha! You're going to go to my husband over a little noise between floors? And you expect him to say 'Oh, I'm so sorry, I'll be more careful,' is that it?"
A slick smile curled across Juhwan's lips — a smile so chilling it belonged on the face of a slasher in a horror movie.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA."
"Are you broken or something? Laughing now? Have you completely lost it?"
"Because it's not just a noise problem. That's why."
It's not just a problem of noise between floors.
Hearing those words, a faint thread of unease began to wind through So-hee's chest.
".......What...? What did you say?"
"Every time your husband was away and you brought men home and did what you did — I'm reporting all of it to your husband."
Her heart plummeted. How the hell does this bastard know about that?? Even as that question coiled through her, the terror of what would happen if her husband found out began to take her over completely.
But So-hee couldn't afford to get tangled up here either. She had to shut this down, hard — that was the only way she'd survive.
"What? Hahahaha... hey... what the hell are you even saying?"
"You're going to go to my husband about things that never happened?"
"That's a crime, you know. Spreading false information! Are you that desperate to get locked up? Or have you finally gone completely insane? Which is it???"
She delivered it with full confidence, but her body had begun to tremble faintly, and before she knew it she was picking at her nails.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA."
Juhwan laughed like a man who'd gone off the rails. Part of it was the alcohol, and part of it was how absurdly brazen So-hee's attitude was.
"Never happened? You're positive it never happened?????? Hahaha?"
So-hee's instincts screamed at her. Oh, god... this bastard knows something.
".....Do you have proof? Do you, you fucking bastard?"
"Hahaha, proof?????? You want to see it?"
"On XX/XX at XX o'clock, you brought a man home and got absolutely railed. Then the very next day, XX/XX at XX o'clock, you went to a club, latched onto some guy, danced all over him, and then dragged him back to your place to do it again..."
"You must have stamina to spare, huh."
So-hee exploded. Her conscience pricked at her, but if she showed any weakness here, it was over.
"You son of a bitch, that's why I'm asking!!! DO YOU HAVE PROOF OR NOT!!!!!!"
Juhwan, entirely unbothered, opened his phone's photo gallery and held it out to her. The shamelessly obscene moans of So-hee he'd recorded from the apartment below. So-hee walking into a club in an outfit like a prostitute's. So-hee leaving that club with one man at her side. And, to top it all off, footage of her entering her own home with that man.
Every shade of So-hee's secret life was stored away, intact, in Juhwan's gallery.
The moment she saw it, So-hee's eyes began to tremble. And it wasn't just her eyes — her lips were quivering too. She had sneered at Juhwan as a rent-owing pauper, trampled him, ground him under her heel without a second thought — and now the tables had turned, and the knowledge of it was driving her insane.
"You little fuck...!! You've been following me? Stalking me and taking secret photos???"
"Hahaha, hey, you know this is illegal, right?"
"I guess you'll only come to your senses after a trip to the police station?"
Refusing to be outdone, So-hee whipped out her own phone, punched in 112, and hovered her finger over the call button.
"The police? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA."
He laughed like a lunatic — loudly enough that the neighbors next door could have come knocking about the noise.
"Sure, sure~~ I'll happily go to the police station. I'm a broke bastard, remember? Prison's fine by me. I'll eat the food they give me and get by."
"But here's the thing... while I'm off in jail, if I show this to your husband — what exactly is your plan for that?"
He'd struck the bullseye. He was right.
So-hee's apartment, her car, her bank balance, the luxury necklace at her throat, the designer clothes on her body... Not a single one of them had been bought with her own effort. Every last item had been purchased with money her husband earned. And So-hee didn't even have a proper job of her own. She lived at home as a housewife under the pretense of supporting her hardworking husband — and whenever he was gone, she indulged every kind of immoral degeneracy to satisfy her appetites.
"...haha..h....hahaha...hahahaha..."
"Are you okay?"
"So what if you show him...hahaha... you think I'll crumble in an instant?"
"Fine, fuck it. Go ahead, try me. It's your life or mine — you know that, right?"
Flustered, So-hee slammed the door shut and locked it.
In front of the firmly sealed door, Juhwan stood in silence for a moment before heading back down to his own apartment below.
"Hahaha....... playing it cool, huh... When your husband gets home, I'll expose every last thing about you..."
That very moment.
Despite slamming the door like a petty brat, So-hee had slid down to sit against it, gnawing at her nails, sinking deep into worry.
"Fuck...... what do I do.... Is he seriously going to show that to my husband???"
"If I get divorced, I'm finished..... This apartment, the assets, the luxury goods.... I'd have to cough up everything and get thrown out with nothing but the clothes on my back...."
"Fuck fuck fuck..... I should have been more careful....."
"What do I do...?? Should I go down there right now and apologize..???"
"No way.... fuck, who am I? Me, apologize to that insect?"
So-hee still hadn't come to her senses. Anyone could see the situation was dire — hopeless, even — and yet she clung to her pride to the bitter end.
".....But what do I do..? If I just leave it alone, that bastard looks like he really will go after my husband...."
Then something surfaced in So-hee's mind.
"....Money."
"Right... money."
"That beggar bastard... What, he thinks just because he's a rent-deadbeat nobody, he can throw all that at me with money as his lever??"
After a moment's deliberation, So-hee pulled a bottle of citron tea from the fridge, warmed it in the microwave, took a sip to calm herself... and then, as if she'd made up her mind, opened the front door.
At the same time.
Juhwan lay on his bed, fiddling with his phone. The truth was, he'd never imagined So-hee would push back that hard. He'd always planned it one way: he'd shove the evidence photos in So-hee's face, she'd grovel and beg forgiveness — and then, on the condition of erasing the evidence, he'd fuck her and break her completely. That had been Juhwan's plan all along.
That plan had cooled somewhat after he met Ji-hee at the officetel a while back — but So-hee's endless contempt and sneering had long since burned any memory of his promise to Ji-hee out of his head. Besides, he'd have no real reason to see Ji-hee again anyway.
His thoughts tangled. He would simply wait until So-hee's husband came home, appear before him with a flourish, and show him the evidence on this phone. Done. Juhwan might well get hauled in for illegal filming, but that was a problem for later. For now, there was only one thing on his mind: dragging So-hee down into the pit.
"Ding-dong."
Just then, the doorbell of Juhwan's apartment rang.
"Who is it?"
No answer. Could it be that bitch...?
He padded quietly to the door and opened it. Bingo. Hahaha. It really is her.
So-hee stood in the same outfit as before, her face flushed a deep red, staring at Juhwan in front of his door, shifting awkwardly from foot to foot.
"What is it?"
"....What... what do you want..!"
Pfft...... so she's finally figured out her position, huh.
"What do I want? For you to fall into the pit."
"You...... if you do this, you don't just destroy me — you destroy yourself too, you dog."
"I know. And I don't care. A piece of shit like you, who isn't satisfied with trashing just me and has to drag my parents into it too — only when I've chased you all the way down into that pit will I be satisfied."
"....What?? Did you just swear at me?"
"Yeah, you piece of shit... You've cursed at me every day, haven't you? So your cursing is fine, but mine isn't?"
"You fucker, I swear...!!!"
So-hee was furious too, but she knew that reacting emotionally right now would spell disaster. The man downstairs — the "rent-deadbeat" she'd trampled so thoroughly — daring to curse at her was infuriating beyond words. But she folded that rage away. For now.
"..........Listen to me... those photos and videos on that phone..."
"Don't tell me you've backed them up to the cloud too??"
"..Of course I have."
It was a lie. The truth was, Juhwan hadn't thought that far. Gathering evidence and blackmailing a married woman — none of this was the kind of thing Juhwan had ever done before. His clumsy improvisation was one slip away from being exposed right then and there.
But from So-hee's side, there was nothing she could do about it either — believe him or not, he'd already claimed the backup existed, and she had no way to verify or counter it.
And then Juhwan twisted the knife deeper.
"You think it ends with telling your husband? It doesn't end there. Everything backed up on that cloud — I'm going to dump it all on the internet."
"You fucking bastard, that's going too far!"
Tears began to well faintly in So-hee's eyes.
"Not my problem. The whole world is going to find out what a filthy, unfaithful woman you really are."
Tears finally spilled, one by one, from So-hee's furious eyes, and she spoke through fists trembling with rage.
"........How much."
"?????"
"You heard me, you lecherous bastard.... How much do you want."
"..?? You're trying to hush this up with money? Money of your own, I mean — not your husband's? You have any of that?"
"I'll figure that out myself......... fuck, just answer me. How much to wipe all of this and leave me alone..."
Money, huh. Juhwan didn't know exactly how much So-hee's husband made, but living in the unit above Juhwan's, they'd have to be well off. And it made sense. In the officetel where Juhwan lived, only his own floor was the cramped one-room type — from the floor above up, the units were lavish three-rooms that might as well have been called penthouses. That was the floor where So-hee and Geon-young lived.
But money didn't matter. The alcohol had risen as far as it could rise, and Juhwan made his decision. The plan he'd been sitting on all this time — the one Dong-yup had once tossed out as a joke, but which Juhwan himself had taken dead seriously — he would execute it here and now.
"I don't need money."
"What?? Isn't this whole thing because you're a rent-deadbeat who needs cash?"
"I don't need the money, I said. Something else, maybe."
"You don't need money?? Then what the hell is this 'something else' supposed to b...???"
Unless she was a fool, So-hee was already starting to guess what that "something else" was.
"....You... what are you planning to do to me?"
"If you lay a finger on me... it won't end with just you going to prison..."
"You... I'll hunt you to the ends of the earth and shred you to ribbons..."
"I haven't even told you what I want yet, have I??"
"Then say it, DAMN IT!!!!! What is it!!!!!!"
So-hee's shriek rang through the entire corridor.
"Keep it down, will you? You want the whole neighborhood hearing every word of this?"
"......."
Wordless, tears streaming down her face, she stared only at Juhwan.
"Fine. I'll say it. You've probably guessed already, but..."
As if casting everything aside, Juhwan went on.
"What you did with other men while your husband was away — you're going to do it with me too."
"I knew it..... you beast, you animal...."
SLAP!!!!!
So-hee's hand cracked across Juhwan's cheek.
Juhwan touched his stinging cheek with his own hand for a moment — then, paying it no mind, continued.
"So what do you say? Sounds like a pretty good deal to me, doesn't it? No money leaving your pocket — you just pay with your body, right?"
"And... you can see the CCTV in this hallway, right there? Congratulations, you've just added assault to your record."
Drunk, Juhwan grew even more carried away.
"Honestly? It's not like yesterday was the first day I saw that body of yours and thought, goddamn."
"Let me have that body too. Then I'll delete the evidence, all of it. I won't breathe a word to your husband. And I'll live quiet. That's the deal."
"Oh — and don't even think about calling the police. Because if you do, I won't sit still either..."
"Which one of us ends up shredded to ribbons — me or you? We'll find out when we get there, won't we??"
So-hee stood at the door for a long, long while, saying nothing, only weeping. Not sobbing out loud — just tears falling, drop by drop, her body hitching with small, stifled whimpers.
"....Really... if I do it just once, you'll delete all of it? You won't tell my husband?"
"Is there cement packed in your ears?"
He leaned his mouth right up against the ear of the weeping woman.
"You heard me perfectly, you bitch. One time, and I erase everything — the evidence, all of it — and it stays a secret from your husband. Forever."
She had heard it exactly. So-hee had only been double-checking that she'd heard right — and, unfortunately, her ears had been one hundred percent accurate.
After standing there wrestling with it for an age, So-hee wiped every gathered tear from her eyes with the back of her hand. Then, her expression hardening back into ice, she shot Juhwan a look of pure contempt and spoke.
".....Five minutes."
"What?"
"......Come up to my apartment in five minutes. And you bastard... if you're rough with me even a little, I will actually kill you. Understood?"
"You'd better be gentle, no matter what......"
"Oh, right! And if you go through the motions like a machine, or do anything that doesn't satisfy me — promises, everything, all of it goes on the internet. Every scrap."
".......You absolute fuck......."
With those parting words, So-hee turned and headed for the staircase to the floor above. Halfway up the stairs, she twisted back around toward Juhwan's door.
"Don't worry about that, you animal......... you reek, so go wash, and come up in five minutes."
With that, she disappeared upstairs.
"Fuck....."
Now it really begins.
All the plans Juhwan had been nursing all this time... He'd thrown the words at So-hee half-drunk, half-bluffing — he'd never actually believed they'd land. There was no time to waste. He went into the bathroom, stripped, took a quick shower, toweled off, got dressed, and headed out. So-hee had said five minutes, but the shower had gone by so fast it hadn't even taken that long.
From shower to fully dressed to standing in front of So-hee's door again: exactly four minutes.
"Ding-dong."
He pressed the doorbell.
So-hee, in the meantime, had been tidying the apartment. When the bell rang, she walked slowly to the entrance, her face still flushed, and opened the door.
"I told you five minutes, you jackas— mmph..!!!!!"
Giving her no chance to finish, Juhwan pressed his lips against hers the instant the door swung open, his tongue forcing its way into So-hee's mouth.
She'd clamped her teeth shut to block him — but in that instant Juhwan's hand seized her throat, and before she knew it her clenched jaw fell open on its own. And so So-hee's tongue and Juhwan's tangled together, a wet, obscene kiss filling the doorway.
"Mmph..nngh..!! *smooch*..."
Finish everything while the alcohol still has me — while I'm at my boldest. That was Juhwan's plan.
Without breaking off, he grabbed the hem of the black off-shoulder So-hee was wearing and yanked it up in one violent motion. And there they were — So-hee's two breasts, shyly hidden away. Breasts so impossibly huge it felt almost improper to even call them breasts, trembling bashfully inside her red bra.
"KYAAAA!!!!!!"