Chapter 197: You Deserve to be Punished (1)

Ji Han-Seok had recently bought a new house to move out of his parents’ home.

He muttered while sighing in exhaustion, “I’m home.”

He then found his action to be pointless.

“Is there even a need to say I’m home when I live alone?” he said to himself while laughing in self-scorn.

Han-Seok was at least a bit less lonely when he used to live with his family since there was always someone to welcome him home, but he was sometimes overwhelmed by loneliness after becoming independent.

“I guess I should hang out with people at times like this.”

Han-Seok thought about calling Je-Woon, but decided not to.

“He’s probably busy preparing for his world tour. I’d feel bad about calling him out.”

He thought about his other close acquaintances, but he continued to recall reasons why he shouldn’t call them. Just then, a certain woman flashed in his mind.

“I wonder if Ra-Eun’s free?”

Han-Seok had never once cared for someone this much in his life besides his family, so Ra-Eun naturally came to mind. He pondered over whether to give her a call or not.

“Okay. I’ll give it a shot, at least.”

It would be great if she was willing to meet, and it would also be fine if she was busy.

“I’m more than happy enough to hear her voice,” he said to himself.

Han-Seok scratched his left cheek in embarrassment at what he had just said. He pressed the call button.

- Hello?

He could hear Ra-Eun’s voice through the phone.

“Hey, Ra-Eun. It’s me.”

- Yes, sunbae?

“Are you free today? I was wondering if you’d like to have a meal together.”

- That sounds good. Would you like to eat out, or would you like me to make something for you?

Han-Seok’s ears perked up as soon as Ra-Eun mentioned that she would make him something.

“If you’re fine with that, I’d love for you to.”

- Okay. Just a second.

‘Hm?’?

Han-Seok thought in confusion.

“Just a second...? What do you mean?”

Ra-Eun had already hung up before Han-Seok even had a chance to ask. Just then, the light of the dark living room suddenly turned on, shocking Han-Seok at the sight that had befallen on him.

“Welcome back, sunbae,” Ra-Eun greeted Han-Seok with her hair tied back and wearing an apron.

Han-Seok’s eyes violently shook.

“How did you get in my... No, wait! Ra-Eun! You’re...!”

Han-Seok quickly scanned Ra-Eun’s entire body.

“A-Are you naked right now?”

He could not see any traces of clothes on her body besides the apron; all he could see was her pale, smooth skin. Ra-Eun smiled mysteriously instead of answering. Han-Seok had almost been entranced by her smile for a moment, but snapped out of it by fiercely shaking his head.

“What in the world is going on right now?” he exclaimed. “F-First, put some clothes on, Ra-Eun.”

Han-Seok decided to take care of the situation before his eyes right now before anything more serious happened. However, his words went into one of Ra-Eun’s ears and out the other. She pranced toward Han-Seok a bit too close for comfort.

“Your flustered side is a lot cuter than I’d expected.”

This was Han-Seok’s first time being called cute by a female junior. He kept stepping back until his back was against the wall. Ra-Eun yanked on Han-Seok’s necktie and brought his face closer to hers. Her red lips formed a crescent.

“Sunbae. Do you like me?”

Han-Seok couldn’t keep himself together after her bold question. He felt as if he was being paralyzed by her sweet scent, getting stronger and stronger the closer they got.

“You can do as your heart desires, sunbae. I’ll allow it all just for today.”

Han-Seok was not confident enough to turn down Ra-Eun’s seduction. There was no way that he could keep hold of his reason when she was being this aggressive.

‘Screw it!’

The moment he closed his eyes shut, he was met with the sound of pouring rain outside. Wind from the rainstorm was gushing in from the open window, and the curtains were strongly flapping.

“...”

Han-Seok drowsily opened his eyes and realized that he was on his bed. He sighed deeply.

“It was a dream...”

He honestly couldn’t tell if it was fortunate or unfortunate that it had been a dream. More importantly...

“How am I supposed to look Ra-Eun in the eyes during tomorrow’s shoot...?”

He was suddenly not confident enough to face her.

***

Ra-Eun went to her agency building with Shin Yu-Bin after her first shoot of

Spokesperson

. Yu-Bin pulled up Ra-Eun’s social media account on her laptop while Ra-Eun went to the bathroom. Managing Ra-Eun’s social media account was one of her many important duties as a manager.

Yesterday, Yu-Bin had uploaded a picture of Ra-Eun reading through her script on the set while having a cup of coffee. Countless fans had already commented on her post.

[You’re just as beautiful today, unnie! I love you ?????]

[I’ll be looking forward to the film ^^?]

[Yer killin me, noona!!!]

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Most of the comments were those cheering Ra-Eun on. However, albeit very few, there were hate comments harsh enough to make one frown. It would be fine if it stopped simply at hate comments on social media, but there were some people who sent private messages filled with curses and sexual harassment comments.

“Sigh... What’s wrong with this person?”

The message contained language so dirty that it was hard to say out loud. It was enough to annoy Yu-Bin despite the comment not having been aimed at her. Celebrities, especially beautiful female ones, often had to endure sexual insults, and Ra-Eun was no exception. Rather, she was getting it even worse since she had become extremely popular as of late.

Yu-Bin’s expression stiffened as she checked who had sent the private message. The ID was Ewue3821.

“This guy again?”

He had been spamming Ra-Eun’s DMs without missing a day since last week. He always sent thirty per day at most. His obsession with Ra-Eun was out of this world. As Yu-Bin couldn’t take her eyes off the laptop, Ra-Eun came out of the bathroom after finishing her business and walked toward Yu-Bin.

“What are you looking at?” she asked.

Yu-Bin’s face was momentarily dyed in bewilderment. She tried to close the laptop to hide its contents, but Ra-Eun’s hands had been faster. She grabbed the top panel of the laptop and quickly scanned the screen. It was filled with sexual harassment comments that were hard to even articulate in words.

“Ewue3821 sent this, didn’t he?”

Yu-Bin nodded while smiling awkwardly. Ra-Eun’s agency managed her social media account for her, but Ra-Eun also logged in to look through it from time to time. Hence, she naturally ended up remembering the IDs of a few people that sent her hateful DMs, and the one that she had just mentioned was the worst of the bunch.

“Looks like he sent more today after all that he’d sent yesterday,” Ra-Eun remarked.

She was apathetic compared to what Yu-Bin had feared.

“Are you okay, Ra-Eun?”

Ra-Eun was just a normal girl before she was an actress. There was likely no one in the world who would be completely fine with being insulted by someone whom they had never met. However, it did not leave a large impact on Ra-Eun.

“Well, I can handle something of this level.”

When Ra-Eun first saw these private messages, she felt more like they were directed at someone else entirely, probably because she was getting messages that would be sent to a woman when she was a man on the inside. However, that didn’t mean that she was completely fine with it.

“He should be punished, shouldn’t he?”

She had endured and let it slide as much as she could tolerate, but the individual did not seem to be satisfied at all. Ra-Eun’s lack of action only spurred Ewue3821 to send her more private messages. From Ra-Eun’s perspective, she had turned a blind eye for long enough; she would not be merciful any longer.

“I’ve screenshotted every single message that he’d sent me. I’ll email everything to you, so please pass it over to the law firm, Miss Manager.”

Ra-Eun had been gathering evidence in advance to prepare for this day. Yu-Bin had also been waiting for Ra-Eun to come to that decision.

“Got it. I’ll tell the lawyer to contact us once everything is ready to go.”

“I’ll leave it to you, Miss Manager.”

One needed to be punished for their sins. Ra-Eun decided to engrave that natural principle into the head of the man who was spamming her DMs.

***

Ra-Eun walked to her waiting room after arriving at the

Spokesperson?

set for today’s shoot. The entire set was bustling with people. Unlike the dreary set atmosphere of her previous production

Shuttered

, the set of

Spokesperson?

was far more lively.

‘I should avoid horror film shoots for a while.’

Ra-Eun had thought that it would be alright since she was on the production team and not watching the film, but she had come to realize that reality was not so simple. As she was about to practice her lines, she caught a glimpse of Han-Seok through the open waiting room door.

“Sunbae!” she exclaimed.

Han-Seok’s shoulders violently flinched.

“O-Oh, hey, Ra-Eun.”

His voice was subtly trembling. Ra-Eun tilted her head in confusion due to his strange response.

“What’s wrong, sunbae? Is there something wrong about me?”

“Huh? N-No! Not at all!”

Han-Seok recalled Ra-Eun in a naked apron that he had seen in his dream. His face turned bright red. Meanwhile, Ra-Eun found Han-Seok’s actions to be highly strange.

“Are you not feeling well?” she asked.

“Yeah... a little.”

“Go home and get some rest once the shoot is over. There’s nothing better than sleep whenever you’re feeling unwell.”

Ra-Eun began to ramble about her get-better treatment. Yu-Bin interrupted her while she was going on and on.

“Ra-Eun. I got a call back from Mr. Kim, the lawyer. They’ve filed the lawsuit, and they’re going to meet the perpetrator soon. You’re not going to settle this peacefully, right?”

“Yes. Oh, could you ask if I can come along when they go meet the perpetrator? I want to see what kind of person he is with my own eyes.”

“Okay, sure.”

The mention of a perpetrator piqued Han-Seok’s interest.

“Did something happen?”

“There’s this one person who keeps sending weird messages to my social media account. Something about me appearing in his dreams wearing a naked apron and seducing him to marry me, or something like that... He’s such a creep.”

“R-Really?”

“I thought he was a lunatic or something. Me? Wearing a naked apron? What a joke. It was so outrageous that it wasn’t even funny. Don’t you agree, sunbae?”

“Y...Yeah. What an absolute weirdo.”

Han-Seok felt guilty for some reason when he had not been the one to send those messages.