Chapter 21
"Now, look. You don’t really seem to understand, but you and Jin-Seo are dating. Am I right?"
"Ye-yes."
"Didn’t Jin-Seo meet another man during the school closure? What do you call this? It's cheating, right?
"N-no. Ji-Jin-Seo can't be like that. No way."
"Oh, you frustrating creature. Then shall I just report you?"
"No! So-so-sorry."
"Just get it through your thick skull, please."
Ko Jun-Min shrank at Bae Sung-Hyun's overbearing attitude.
"Okay, again. You and Jin-Seo are going out... Oh, this is such bullshit that I don’t even want to say it. Anyway, she’s cheating. And she’s cheating on you with Do Sun-Woo, right?”
"Ye-yes."
"Jin-Seo, that's... No. She met a man other than you, right?”
"Yes."
"Well then, what should you do? Are you just going to sit idly by and let another guy take your girl? You don’t want that, right?”
"N-no."
Sung-Hyun took Jun-Min's cell phone. Then, he sent some photos from Jun-Min's gallery to his cell phone.
"Wha-what are you doing?! Give it back!”
“It's a form of evidence that can be used as insurance.”
“Give it back! Give it back!”
Jun-Min was 159 cm tall. Sung-Hyun was 187 cm tall. No matter how much Jun-Min jumped, he could not take away the cell phone in Sung-Hyun's hand. In the meantime, Sung-Hyun sent various pieces of evidence to his cell phone, just in case Jun-Min betrayed him.
"Here. I'll give it to you, man. You're acting like you're gonna kill me for a cell phone."
"Th-this, I hope you don't do things like this."
"Yes, yes. If you are obedient."
Sung-Hyun continued with a cool smile. "Now, just do as I say. Okay? Then Jin-Seo will abandon him and like you again. Am I right, or am I wrong?”
“...”
"Answer me."
"Tha-that's right."
“Right. When is the best time?”
“Three days. Aw-award ceremony.”
“Correct.”
It was not that difficult to find out that there was going to be an award ceremony after the end of the school closure period. Finding out that Jin-Seo and Do Sun-Woo were scheduled to receive the awards was also not difficult. It might have been difficult for other people, but for Sung-Hyun, it was easy to obtain this information. This composition is securely entrenched in n0v*lbin★
“So, have you finished writing the post?”
“Ye-yeah.”
Jun-Min nodded in fear. Sung-Hyun smiled with satisfaction at Jun-Min, who became an obedient lamb. If the situation went as planned, it would be a great opportunity to bury both Jin-Seo and Sun-Woo. Even if things went wrong, there would be no damage to Sung-Hyun.
Since Jun-Min was labeled as the figurehead, he would also be held responsible for all the repercussions. All Sung-Hyun had to do was sit back and watch the show.
'No matter how things go, this is going to be fun.'
Sung-Hyun didn't really have a big reason why he was orchestrating this. He just thought it would be fun. If he succeeded, it would be fun to watch Jin-Seo and Sun-Woo get screwed over. If he failed, it would be fun to watch Jun-Min get screwed over as well.
No matter which side was screwed over, there would be no damage to Sung-Hyun.
"Bu-but. If I do this, Ji-Ji-Ji-Jin-Seo will g-go out with m-me again, right?"
"Of course~ If you do as I say, everything will be fine. I'm helping you with your relationship."
Sung-Hyun encouraged Jun-Min. His face was flushed and he was smiling.
‘This guy is the most disgusting.’
Jun-Min and Jin-Seo had nothing going on between each other. It was just a couple of text messages. Even those messages were purely business related. However, as his delusions reached their peak, he came to believe that he was Jin-Seo's boyfriend. Sung-Hyun calculated Jun-Min's delusions in his plan. Honestly, he was a little disgusting, but he was the perfect chess piece to manipulate.
* * *
"Hello."
There was no need to be hostile from the start. I greeted him lightly.
"Oh, hi. But why are you here?"
“Me? Here to meet someone. Why?”
“Ah. I... I see.”
He had an awkward tone, occasional stutters, a turtle neck, round shoulders, and an uncharacterized face with weak arms and legs.
It was Jun-Min.
He sat down on the bench, pretending to be calm. Cold sweat flowed down his forehead, and his gaze wandered into the air. His hand, which had nowhere to go, awkwardly touched his nose.
All those actions were evidence and signs of his anxiety.
Jun-Min was most likely the writer of the post. That was probably why Baron Samedi told me to come here at 8 o'clock. However, there was no way of proving it. Even if I pressured him to confess, he didn't seem to be the type of person to admit his wrongdoings willingly. In the first place, it was unclear whether Jun-Min was the writer.
Nothing was certain, and I only had countless faint suspicions that didn’t reveal anything substantial. In order to demystify things filled with confusion and uncertainty, it was necessary to use the most distinct emotion that humans had.
Anger.
"Are you close to Jin-Seo?" I asked.
"Jin-Seo?"
"Look. We-we even took a picture together, didn't we? As for the smo-smoking... During that time. I was talking about that time. Right?”
Jin-Seo was on the phone screen. Jin-Seo was sitting down with her knees bent, and she was smoking with tears in her eyes. There was even the image of Sun-Woo passing by.
They were pictures taken in secret.
‘When did he take this? Was he stalking me? Why on earth would he do this?’
Her hands shook. Fear, disgust, anger—all kinds of negative emotions piled up and relentlessly overwhelmed her.
Smack!
Jin-Seo forcibly snatched the cell phone from Jun-Min's hand, and she erased the picture right away.
"Huh...?”
When she deleted the picture, the following picture was revealed.
It was a picture of her leaving the gym while soaked with sweat.
When she deleted it, the next picture popped up.
It was a figure of herself entering her house. And then there was the next picture.
It was glimpses of her face showing through the window in her house.
Next.
She was heading to the convenience store in shabby clothes.
Tap.
The cell phone fell from Jin-Seo's hand. The cell phone that crashed onto the floor made a dull sound. The sound soon echoed in the park filled with silence.
Jin-Seo just trembled while staring blankly into the air. Her body stiffened with fear, and she couldn't even turn her head. Her mind was blank. She couldn't think of anything.
"What's wrong?"
Jun-Min's voice was calmer than ever.
Jin-Seo couldn't help but wonder whether she should run away or call the police or a paladin. She was out of breath, and her vision was blacking out.
"Why are you so, af-afraid? Ji-Ji-Jinseo."
Jun-Min reached out with his hand to Jin-Seo's shoulder, but she instinctively swatted his hand away. With a dull thud, Jun-Min's hand was thrown back.
"Are you an-angry? Huh? You're up-upset! Haha. My-my bad. We're dating, right? Oh, you were just saying that we weren’t because you were angry earlier, right?"
Jin-Seo bit her lip until it bled. She felt nauseous and felt like throwing up at any moment. Her head was full of thoughts of wanting to get out of this position. She just wanted to get some rest. She wanted to go back to when she was lying in bed and rolling around without thinking.
"Let's talk later again. At the moment, I'm too, ah."
Jin-Seo got up from the bench. Her legs were shaking. Her head was dizzy, and her vision was blacking out.
"Wa-wait a moment!"
Jun-Min grabbed Jin-Seo's arm with a blank expression Jin-Seo turned her head and looked at Jun-Min's empty eyes. His eyes were so dark and eerie that it was impossible to gauge their depth.
"Let me go, what are you...!”
"What's wrong with your ex-expression? Ah, no matter how angry you are, you shouldn't do this to me. Right?”
Jin-Seo's face was stiff.
She practiced smiling. She smiled when she was happy of course, but also when she was sad or angry. People thought she was a good girl because she smiled a lot. She knew how to laugh, but she didn't know how to cry. The tears she couldn't spill clogged up her heart, but she didn't know how to release them. So she left them as they were. And now, Jin-Seo even forgot how to smile. There was nothing resembling an expression on her face. It was only distorted by disgust.
"A-as much as I think of you. I wanted you to think of me, too. Huh? B-by the way, if you are hanging out with other guys. You thought I wouldn’t know? Y-you shouldn’t do this to me. Do you know how much I, uh, how much—!"
"Don't delude yourself. There's nothing between us. Let go. Let go!"
Jin-Seo attempted to shake off his arm. However, Jun-Min did not let go.
The force was strangely strong.
"Ah, what do you mean nothing between us? Delude myself? I’m not. What are you talking about? Huh?”
At some point, Jun-Min stopped stuttering.
"Ah, so that's it. Transfer? So you’ve switched? You’ve switched to Sun-Woo. I’ve been so nice to you. How can you do that to me?”
"Huh? Ju-Jun-Min. Calm down and let go of me. What's wrong with you all of a sudden...”
Jin-Seo was in tears.
"Shut up, you filthy!"
Rip. Crack. Crunch.
Flesh was torn, and bones shattered. New flesh and bones sprouted in their place. Jun-Min was discarding his human body and being reborn as a demon.
In front of him, Jin-Seo couldn’t do anything but stay still. Her body went cold. Her legs didn't move.
A demon.
It was not a fake demon used for training. It was a real demon, like the one that tore her mother to death when she was young.
Flop.
Her legs gave out, and she sank down where she stood.
Jun-Min's body was torn apart and then mended itself, growing larger in the process.
"Ah, crunch, crunch, heh. What, do, you, think? Do I look cool? If you apologize now, I'll forgive you. Huh?"
Jun-Min muttered incomprehensible gibberish while his body continued to grow in size. He eventually grew into a monster. He had a bizarre form with black flesh and bone fragments all over his body.
The monster lifted Jin-Seo with his crude and dirty hands.
"Ah, argh...!”
Jin-Seo's neck was being strangled by a black and dirty hand. She struggled with pain, but no one could help her.
Boom.
As Jin-Seo's consciousness drifted away, an explosion rang in the park. What exploded was Jun-Min's forearm, which was holding Jin-Seo's neck. The forearm was severed as if it was cut off by a piece of stone that came from somewhere.
"Ugh."
Sun-Woo was standing on the other side. He trembled as he saw Jun-Min, who had turned into a hideous monster.