Chapter 106
The post was uploaded to the community without any warning whatsoever. There was so little warning that people initially dismissed it as the ramblings of some pathological liars.
[These are the students who were identified as victims of Ha Suyeon’s school violence. Suyeon isn’t that kind of person.]
The title was the exact opposite of the exposés that had appeared before. The content was the same.
[I still remember the date.
It happened on X/X/2022.
Around second period that day, I was sleeping in the back of the classroom when I woke up to the sound of the other students talking loudly. I looked around and saw Suyeon and the delinquent kids chatting among themselves.
I wanted to go back to sleep, but it was too noisy. When I absentmindedly glared at them, Suyeon looked at me and said, “What the fuck are you staring at? Got a problem?”
I was already a little angry, so I said, “Could you keep it down?” Suyeon came over to me, saying, “Ugh, you fucking loser bitch, acting all fucking annoying,” then asked, “What, wanna throw down?” After that, she slammed her hands down on my desk several times.
I cowered in fear, and Suyeon said, “Hey, look at this fucking loser. She’s scared, hahaha.” Then she went back to talking with the others. Suyeon and the other kids harassed me for several days after that, but they soon lost interest and stopped.
But what happened back then remained a wound for me until the end of last year. Afterward, countless students labeled me a ‘loser’ and ignored me, so I couldn’t make more than a few friends.
This is what actually happened between Suyeon and me. I have no intention of denying it. After that, Suyeon sneered at me whenever she saw me, right up until the accident. I felt utterly humiliated.
But after Suyeon was in a kickboard accident at the end of last year, I began hearing that she had started apologizing to people. I thought it was ridiculous, but Suyeon really did come to apologize to me.
“The things I did to you back then must have hurt you a lot. So I wanted to apologize.”
That day, when Suyeon came to my house, I poured water over her. I was angry, and I thought that if I threw water on her, her true colors would come out. But Suyeon just stood there quietly and left. After that, she came back several times, saying she wanted to apologize.
Something similar happened repeatedly, and each time, Suyeon left without saying a word to me. It was the same that day, but I told her, “If you’re really sorry, write an apology on a giant notice and put it up in front of the school gate. Then I’ll at least hear you out.”
The next day, Suyeon did exactly what I said. I was extremely surprised, and so were the other students. That was when I began opening my heart to Suyeon. I thought that maybe she really was sincerely apologizing.
After that, Suyeon treated me sincerely. At the time, I had no friends because of what Suyeon had done, and my self-esteem had fallen considerably. But Suyeon spoke to me, helped me make friends, and became my friend herself. Since then, I’ve been enjoying school life tremendously.
If it ended there, this might simply be a heartwarming story about a delinquent who turned over a new leaf.
But that isn’t the case. I found out later that Suyeon had been hospitalized after her kickboard accident and had lost much of her memory after waking from a vegetative state. Her personality and demeanor had changed considerably. She only vaguely remembered what she had done to me.
Even so, Suyeon apologized to me and humbled her pride enough to put up that notice. And it wasn’t only me. She apologized and asked forgiveness for everything she had done to the other students as well.
Normally, one would feel wronged. She could have thought, ‘Why should I apologize for something I don’t even remember?’ But Suyeon apologized. When I asked her about it later, she said, “Even if I don’t remember doing it, if I was the one who did it, then I have to pay the price.” She did it simply because she believed it was the right thing to do.
I can’t deny that Suyeon before the accident committed those acts. But after the accident, Suyeon was probably one of the kindest students at Hanseung High.
We victims never agreed to that senior who identified herself as a Hanseung High graduate writing the post. We haven’t even met her. So why is she arbitrarily claiming that Suyeon is a school-violence perpetrator and should be kicked out?
We do not agree. We believe Suyeon is someone who can shine even brighter, and we believe she deserves to become even more successful.
Please don’t use what happened to us for your own ‘exposé’ without our permission.
Suyeon isn’t that kind of person.]
There had been signs. A few comments posted beneath the original exposé included things like [I’m a first-year at Hanseung High lol What the hell is this about Suyeon unnie lol, this is ridiculous], [Suyeon turned over a new leaf], and [I think I know who wrote this. Fucking pathetic lol].
But most people dismissed those comments as media play, and they were buried. Nothing happened afterward, and people simply assumed it had all been media play.
In the meantime, this post was suddenly uploaded. It caused countless repercussions and plunged the internet into complete chaos.
If there were a hundred people, a hundred opinions were presented. If there were a thousand people, a thousand opinions were presented. As countless people took opposing sides, the internet became a place that resembled a battlefield.
[The media play is fucking pathetic lol]
[If she turned over a new leaf, isn’t there no problem?]
[They say she really did those things, so doesn’t that mean she’s still a school-violence perpetrator?]
[Do people who’ve done wrong have to live forever with their heads bowed? What kind of bullshit is that?]
[Fucking lol, she only pretended to apologize because she wants to get famous on TV, and you actually believe that?]
[The victims say there’s no problem, so what the hell is the problem?]
The internet naturally burns hotter the more people there are to fight with. If ten units of effort had been spent attacking Ha Suyeon and Group Sound, then a hundred units were being spent debating ‘Ha Suyeon’s school violence.’
The Group Sound incident, which had occupied around 1–20% of the popular posts on the community, began taking up well over 50%. On Namuwiki, people who had become absorbed in the incident started staying up all night arguing over what was right and wrong.
* * *
“Enough. Let’s take a break.”
The girls stopped playing at Myeongjeon’s words.
“Just clear your heads a little and focus. The pace itself is fine, so if we keep going like this, we’ll be okay.”
The pace of practice had been set according to Myeongjeon’s plan. Surprisingly, the girls’ mental states were fine despite their initial concern that the incident might affect them.
Iseo habitually reached for her phone, then stopped. Myeongjeon saw her and smiled bitterly as he thought, Except for that, of course.
“Just check it. It’s not like there’s anything wrong with that.”
After the incident broke, the girls had watched Myeongjeon’s reaction. At first, they looked at him as if they couldn’t believe ‘Ha Suyeon’ had really been that kind of person. But when the abuse directed at ‘Ha Suyeon’ went too far midway through, they looked at him as though he might kill himself.
And now, they looked at him with admiration, as if it was incredible that he had apologized so thoroughly.
“I have no idea when this is going to end…”
“Who knows? Still, I don’t think it’ll last very long.”
Myeongjeon answered Hyuna’s mutter while gazing at the ceiling. Since the incident erupted, Hyuna felt a little closer to Myeongjeon.
“Oh, this is funny. Suyeon, have you seen this?”
“What is it?”
The video Seoha showed him was a short clip. It had around a million views. For some reason, Suyeon and what appeared to be Dain’s group were on the phone screen.
The video showed them subtly pestering and harassing Suyeon. Whenever she said, “Don’t,” they kept bothering her while making sounds like “Don’t~” and “Don’t do thaaat~.”
“When did they even film this…?”
Myeongjeon sighed and opened the comments.
[How can someone like this be a school bully?]
[Ah, she’s so cute hahahaha]
[She just seems like a total loser…]
[Hang in there, Suyeonㅠㅠㅠㅠ Don’t listen to those weirdos!!]
Most of the highly upvoted comments were supportive of ‘Ha Suyeon.’ A few comments said things like [Isn’t this a video of that school-violence perpetrator?] and [What a fucking staged concept shot lol], but several people had already started fighting in the replies.
“How is this whole thing playing out?”
“Um… well.”
Iseo suddenly tossed out the question. Myeongjeon paused to choose his words. How should he explain it?
“It’s going according to plan for now. I didn’t expect the incident to get this big… but anyway, there’s nothing to worry about.”
Myeongjeon stopped speaking when he felt his phone vibrate. The number displayed on the phone in his hand was unfamiliar, but for some reason, it also seemed to linger somewhere in his memory.
“Hello?”
In the end, Myeongjeon decided to answer. The voice that came through sounded strangely familiar.
“Oh, you picked up. How unexpected. You actually answer your phone.”
“Who is this?”
“…Are you pretending not to know me? Ah~ You were saying some weird stuff about losing your memory and all that.”
The strange remark made Myeongjeon briefly consider hanging up. But the other person soon gave her name and explained why she was calling.
“It’s me, Seong Juhee. You know me, right? You know who wrote that post. Where should we meet?”
* * *
“Why did you ask to meet?”
“Using honorifics gives me goosebumps. Why are you acting so unlike yourself? Ah… is pretending to have lost your memory part of your concept too? You’re just obsessed with this concept.”
At a café somewhere near Seoul, Myeongjeon met Juhee in an empty corner with a mask on and a hat pulled low. He had checked that no one was nearby, and he had chosen the location himself… but he still couldn’t relax. He had no idea what she might do.
“Just tell me what you want. And put your phone down without recording. We’re not exactly close, are we?”
“You’re so fussy. Weren’t you like that back then too?”
Juhee grumbled as she placed her phone on the table. There was no sign that she was recording. Myeongjeon placed his own phone on the table as well. Of course, he had a miniature recorder in his pocket.
Instead of speaking, however, Juhee pulled out a notebook. It seemed she intended to discuss anything sensitive in writing.
She’s thorough. Why did someone like this go around extorting money from people?
Myeongjeon thought that as he looked at Juhee. She wore a face that constantly sneered at him.
[Let’s get straight to the point. Give me 50 million won.]
“…What?”
Myeongjeon asked in response to the absurd demand. Juhee giggled and moved her pencil across the page once more.
[If you give me 50 million won, I’ll retract my testimony and say it was all a lie and a delusion. They didn’t pay me over there, but I did it to you for free because I had a grudge against you. But you have to pay me. You’re rich.]
Myeongjeon said nothing as he stared at Juhee’s face. So that had been her motive? There had to be some reason why someone who had remained silent until now had suddenly asked to meet… and this reason made sense.
‘That side…?’
The word clearly implied something. It implied that someone had planned this incident. Was the decision to communicate in writing their idea as well? But Myeongjeon shook his head and pushed the thought away. That wasn’t important.
Myeongjeon tore off a page from the notebook Juhee had taken out and pulled out a pen of his own.
[Don’t you think 50 million won is excessive?]
[You want me to lower it? You’re rich, so why are you acting like this? I’m not lowering it. Pay the full 50 million.]
[I don’t know why you think I’d give you that. Just do whatever you want.]
He glanced at Juhee’s expression. Her face had reddened slightly and was growing tense. Her hand moved faster as she wrote.
[You think you’ll be fine getting your friends to change their testimony and refute mine, but you’ll regret it if you don’t pay.]
[Try it. Let’s see who regrets it.]
[Want to get stabbed in the back? It’ll hurt like hell. If you don’t want that, you’d better pay. Ah, 50 million won won’t do. I’ll raise it to 70 million.]
Juhee stared at him coldly. Something was being implied in the spaces between the lines she wrote—something that allowed her to raise the demand from 50 million to 70 million won.
But Myeongjeon thought he knew what it was. That was why he could write this.
[Go ahead and do whatever the fuck you want, you bastard.]
He put down his pen and held up his middle finger to Juhee. Her face turned red beyond description.