Chapter 208: Agitation and Fabrication (5)

Choi Hwang-Cheol was not able to immediately perceive what was happening before his eyes as reality.

“Wh-Where am I...? And wh-who are those people?!”

Kang Ra-Eun being here aside, he was surrounded by men like Ma Yeong-Jun that were so scary that he was about to piss himself from looking at any one of them. And Ra-Eun was a stark contrast standing among them.

Ra-Eun concisely answered while smiling subtly, “My subordinates.”

“S-Subordinates?”

“Well, you don’t need to know any more than that.”

Once Ra-Eun glanced at Lim Seok-Jun, he brought her a chair as if he had been waiting to. She had told him to prepare a chair beforehand since she expected the conversation to take long.

Ra-Eun stared at Hwang-Cheol with one leg over the other and arms crossed. However, she wasn’t just staring at him; Hwang-Cheol felt as if she was looking down at him from above.

Hwang-Cheol said under the intimidation, “Are you going to blackmail me or something?”

“Blackmail?”

“You’re doing this because you’re scared that I exposed you as a perpetrator of school violence! Am I fucking wrong?” Hwang-Cheol claimed as if he had hit Ra-Eun right where it hurt.

However, Ra-Eun did not even flinch.

“This son of a bitch is out of his mind.”

Rather, she chuckled.

Yeong-Jun said to himself from behind Ra-Eun, “You see guys like this from time to time who think they’re the shit because they’re loud.”

Yeong-Jun had seen people like Hwang-Cheol too many times to count, and there was one common way to deal with them. Yeong-Jun glared coldly at Hwang-Cheol.

Seok-Jun and the executive Park Du-Chil, who were next to Yeong-Jun, said in order, “Let’s just bury him, boss.”

“Why should we give mercy to a guy like this? We’ll eliminate him without a trace if you just leave it to us.”

Hwang-Cheol violently flinched from their threats. Ra-Eun did not feel an ounce of pity as she watched him tremble in fear.

“That’s not a bad idea. Should we just bury him in the mountains like you’ve suggested?” she expressed.

Hwang-Cheol couldn’t even scream. Since he had gone to the same high school as Ra-Eun and also had been in the same class as her once, he knew exactly what kind of person she was. If she said she would do something, she would do it; she never said anything randomly.

So Ha-Jin, who had also been complicit in Hwang-Cheol’s kidnapping along with Yeong-Jun and his men, coughed.

“Chairwoman.”

“I know. It was just a joke. I’m not actually gonna do anything like that, so don’t give me that look.”

It was a Kang-Ra-Eun-style joke, although the one that the joke was aimed at could only tremble in fear.

Ra-Eun turned back toward Hwang-Cheol.

“I wished you were someone capable of thought, but I guess my wish had been in vain.”

Ra-Eun got up from her chair and slowly walked toward Hwang-Cheol. He thought that she had become far more beautiful than her high school days, but an inexplicable feeling of fear also filled Hwang-Cheol’s mind. Ra-Eun suddenly lifted her right leg and slammed it down right in front of Hwang-Cheol's groin.

Boom—!

“Eek...!”

Hwang-Cheol unconsciously manspread to avoid getting his nether region stomped. Ra-Eun giggled as he watched him scared out of his wits.

“Do you finally remember what I had done to you back then?”

Gulp!

Ra-Eun continued as she watched Hwang-Cheol swallowing his saliva, “I’m sure you also know which side public opinion is on, right?”

“...”

“There’s no one in this world who’s willing to be on your side. Not one.”

Ra-Eun had taken an overwhelming victory in the battle of public opinion. However, Hwang-Cheol did not give up until the very end.

“Hmph! Sunbae told me that he’d do something about it, so it’s not over ye—”

“You’re talking about Reporter Hong Ju-Tae, right?” Ra-Eun interrupted.

Hwang-Cheol’s eyes quivered once Ra-Eun mentioned Ju-Tae by name. It was obvious that Ra-Eun would know his name since it had been included in the published article. However, Hwang-Cheol felt as if there were thorns hidden deep within her words.

“The one whom you joined forces with is no longer a reporter.”

“Wh-What are you talking about? Could it be that you actually buried him...?!”

Hwang-Cheol had kept talking about burying that he had thought they had actually done so with Ju-Tae. Ra-Eun smiled even wider.

“We didn’t bury him physically, but we did bury him socially. He won’t be able to work as a reporter anymore. And of course, he won’t be able to give you an ounce of help.”

Ra-Eun was not joking; she was simply telling Hwang-Cheol the exact truth.

“Do you want to know what happened to him?” she asked.

The truth that Hwang-Cheol wanted to avoid no matter what, forcefully dug itself into his ears.

***

“I-I’m fired?” Hong Ju-Tae asked in disbelief. “Wh-What are you talking about all of a sudden, Chief?! What in the world did I do wrong...? Please give me a valid reason!”

His superior replied as he was quelling his rage, “Because you spread misinformation regarding Kang Ra-Eun.”

“It’s not misinformation! Kang Ra-Eun really assaulted my junior—”

“Then bring me something that can refute Miss Kang’s claims at the press conference!!!”

Ju-Tae unconsciously stepped back as the chief slammed his fist down on his desk.

“I-I’m about to look for them now.”

“Now? You want us to wait a little longer when the entire agency is on the brink of collapse? Is that seriously what you’re telling me?”

Members of the public were pointing fingers at the entire news agency that Ju-Tae was part of, demanding they pay for the sins of agitating the public through misinformation, fabricating the truth, and making Ra-Eun cry. They were being condemned as a group of fake news reporters, and even their most loyal subscribers, however little they had, were turning their backs on them.

“I told you to bring me a scoop, not a ticking time bomb that could blow at any second!”

Not just that, the bomb had blown from within; in other words, it had been a suicide bombing.

“I don’t need anything else from you. Just pack your things and leave. And the director said that he’ll be suing you for the damages that we’d suffered from your actions, so you’d best be prepared.”

Ju-Tae had betrayed the agency that had hired him. He was getting dizzy. He went back to his desk and tried reaching out to his connections. He contacted every single one while brainwashing himself that it was not the end, but not even one decided to help him in his time of need; none of them seemed to want to be associated with him in any way.

“Just why?!”

Ju-Tae’s rage got the better of him and he hurled his smartphone, cracking the screen. His hopes that everything would work out one way or another had shattered, just like his smartphone screen.

***

The strength left Hwang-Cheol’s body. He had thought that their plan had been perfect, but Ra-Eun’s countermeasure had far surpassed it.

“Well, it was an obvious result. Who in their right mind would help a reporter who has only ever spread absurd news and had the nerve to claim no harm was done when it was revealed to have been fake?”

𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Ra-Eun had expected Ju-Tae to bring himself to ruin, and even if he didn’t, she had planned to take measures to ruin him. However, Ju-Tae’s life had crumbled far easier than she had expected, so there had not even been a need for her to step in.

Nonetheless, it was still not enough.

“We’ve taken care of Reporter Hong Ju-Tae, so you’re up next,” Ra-Eun remarked while staring right at Hwang-Cheol. “I’ll give you one last chance.”

“C-Chance?”

“To be exact, I’ll give you a chance to at least walk out of here with your life intact.”

Ra-Eun's words were terrifying in and of itself; Hwang-Cheol took it as she would actually bury him if he made the wrong decision. He swallowed his saliva before he realized it.

Ra-Eun proposed as she watched Hwang-Cheol’s eyes quivering, “Tell the world that everything you said had all been in your imagination. Tell them that you had done it because you were jealous that I was doing so well for myself. If you do, I’ll let your sins slide.”

Since they had come at her with agitation and fabrication, she would also strike back with agitation and fabrication. Hwang-Cheol did not like the proposal in the slightest, but he couldn’t bring himself to refuse as he saw the men behind Ra-Eun holding shovels, pickaxes and nail bats.

“I-I’ll do it! I’ll do it, so please spare me at least my life!”

“I’m glad you’re not completely brainless,” Ra-Eun said as she suddenly took out leather gloves.

She put it only on her right hand, and made a fist with all her strength.

Smack—!

Ra-Eun punched Hwang-Cheol right in his face.

“Why...?!”

He fell to the ground along with his chair, and fainted before even having a chance to ask why she had hit him when he had said he would do as she had demanded.

Ra-Eun spat and said while taking off the leather glove, “I just wanted to punch you.”

She had no other reason.

***

Even after Hwang-Cheol acknowledged that he had fabricated it all like Ra-Eun had told him to, Ra-Eun’s lawsuit against Hwang-Cheol did not stop. She had decided to continue pursuing legal action against him.

“Didn’t you say that you would let things slide?” Yeong-Jun asked.

He couldn’t understand why Ra-Eun was acting this way.

Ra-Eun smirked. “This

is?

me letting things slide.”

“...”

Yeong-Jun was lost for words. He had not yet fully grasped the woman that was Kang Ra-Eun. She did not stop at just legal action.

“Leak Choi Hwang-Cheol’s personal details on the internet as well.”

Hwang-Cheol would not be able to go around anywhere with his head held high for a long time once his face and personal details were leaked. Whether it be university or private life, his entire life itself would implode.

As Yeong-Jun answered that he would do as Ra-Eun said, he also thought that he would never want to make an enemy out of this terrifying woman.

“But what should we do if Choi Hwang-Cheol decides to go off about us?” he asked.

“You don’t have to worry about that. There’s no way anyone would believe another word coming out of the boy who cried wolf.”

“I see.”

She had planned on talking about other matters, but it had to be postponed due to a sudden guest.

“Chairwoman. Your older brother has come to visit.”

Yeong-Jun left as Ra-Eun sighed.

“I’m here, lil’ sis.”

Unlike the happily greeting Kang Ra-Hyuk, Ra-Eun was the complete opposite.

“Why are you here?” she asked while blatantly expressing the fact that he was being an annoyance.

“Aren’t you being way too insincere when your oppa has come all this way to see you?”

“Stop talking nonsense and tell me why you’re here. I’m busy.”

“It’s nothing major,” Ra-Hyuk said.

However, what came next out of his mouth completely contradicted what he had said.

“I got a girlfriend.”