Chapter 28: CH 28

“We’ll help you become a prostitute,” they had cackled and declared.

Yiyoung couldn’t understand what they were talking about, but Jaeho’s name had stuck out to her. At that moment, she realized that all these troubles were caused by his command, and Sunah was in cahoots with him.

When she spotted Sunah, Yiyoung felt an immeasurable rage surge within and attacked her. She tugged at Sunah’s voluminous hair, twisting her long locks around her hands. “Did that rascal tell you to do this? To kill me?”

Sunah had screamed immediately, “Let go! You crazy—hey! Let go of my hair!”

But Yiyoung kept her grip firm, determined not to let her off. “You’re already an idiot, don’t you at least want to have a nice personality?”

“You were sucking up to Muyeol!” Sunah squawked.

Yiyoung still couldn’t understand their problem, and that only made her rage more. She had screamed, anger dripping from each word. “Who cares if I’m sucking up to Muyeol? He didn’t say anything about it! Who are you to say that to me?”

Yiyoung clenched Sunah’s hair and jerked her head around, almost wanting to drill a hole in her head. The lessons she had learned from the gym had proven to be useful; with every move she made, she only grew more confident and strong.

“You crazy b**ch! Do you want to die? Do you know who I am?” Sunah had tried to threaten.

But it didn’t even faze Yiyoung. “Who? You’re just you.”

Yiyoung did not need the killer move. In the center of the busy, crowded street, Yiyoung only had one target.

* * *

The incident quickly became the hot topic at school. Sunah, the person responsible for it, didn’t come to school, claiming that she had to be hospitalized for all the mental shock and injuries she had suffered from. The situation wasn’t in her favor; many people at the scene had recorded all of it.

From how Yiyoung was dragged around and beaten up to Sangsu jumping in to help her, everything had been filmed. Some of the recordings even showed how the kids had threatened the bystanders. Many were interested in the incident and were waiting for the right decision to be made, some even going as far as posting a petition on the government website.

The principal was in deep contemplation over how to deal with the matter. He wanted to keep things under wraps, but too many people were focused on it. It was possible to… take care of the incident, but the school would end up facing the heat as a result, and he would find it difficult to be promoted. If only one person had stayed quiet, it would not have become such a huge problem. That Yiyoung sure was bold, daring to attend school with her scraped knees. She was a psycho with an inferiority complex, looking down on her situation and wanting to rise above her status through such nefarious means.

***

Yiyoung kept her back straight and chin up. She knew she wasn’t at fault, and she repeated the same while giving statements at the police station.

“Still, how could you pull your friend’s hair like that?” the police officer admonished.

“Officer, I have four fractured ribs. Please ask the girl how she will compensate for it.”

Irked by her calm response, the officer snapped, “You’re so audacious.”

Sangsu was also dragged into this mess; the police officers were convinced that both sides had provoked each other in the fight. They insisted that Sangsu was worse than the kids, that as an adult, he shouldn’t have acted so recklessly.

Yiyoung found it ridiculous that Sangsu was subjected to such treatment. Guilt overwhelmed her; Sangsu was in the middle of this mess because of her. She didn’t shed a single tear throughout the investigation, but when she came face to face with Sangsu, she instantly burst into tears like a toddler. “Uncle, you had to suffer because of me. What should I do? I’m so sorry…”

“It’s okay, Yiyoung,” Sangsu reassured her, “I simply did what my client requested.”

“Client? What are you talking about?”

“I’m sorry, Yiyoung. Uncle did not tell you this before, but actually—”

Sangsu finally revealed his identity. He told Yiyoung how someone had anonymously asked him to protect her. He then said, “I already have a lawyer for my company, and the client also said he’ll send the best lawyers to assist me, so don’t worry.”

“Who is the client?” asked Yiyoung.

“Sorry.” Sangsu trailed off.

“If you could just give me their phone number, then I’ll—”

But Sangsu cut her off, “I can’t tell you, Yiyoung. The client wants to stay anonymous.”

“Oh…” she sighed dejectedly.