Chapter 205: Agitation and Fabrication (2)
Online articles about Kang Ra-Eun having been complicit in school violence had started to spread like wildfire. Dark pasts dealt massive damage to a celebrity’s image; not even Ra-Eun would be able to get away scot-free from it. However, the first thing that Ra-Eun felt was not bewilderment but doubt.
‘Had I ever been complicit in school violence?’
She recalled her high school days, but she couldn’t think of anything that could brand her as a perpetrator of school violence. Rather, it was the opposite.
‘I believe I’d spent my high school days as a model student.’
She had definitely not been the nicest, but she had never done anything that would result in her guardian being called.
‘Or could it have happened before I had entered this body?’
Ra-Eun did not know exactly how the original owner of her body had spent her high school days. She only had a rough guess.
‘She apparently was far from being a model student.’
It was obvious that Kang Ra-Hyuk would have no idea even if she asked him. Even if they were family, he had not monitored her twenty-four-seven, so there was no way he would know what she was like in school.
‘At times like this...’
It would be better to ask someone other than her older brother, and there was just the right person to ask in this very household.
“Yi-Seo! Can we talk for a second? It’s urgent!”
***
The news of Ra-Eun being complicit in school violence had also reached her agency. Chief Jung also called Ra-Eun after Yu-Bin had.
- Ra-Eun! You’ve seen the articles, right? What in the world is going on? Give me an explanation too!
“I’ll call you back once I find out.”
- Once you find out?
It was hard for Chief Jung to accept an answer like that. The news was about herself, but Ra-Eun had spoken as if she would call back after doing some research. She was treating the incident as if it was about someone else. Ra-Eun could not afford to waste time by explaining to Chief Jung in detail.
“I’ll call you back in a bit.”
- What? Wait! Ra-Eun...!
Beep.
Ra-Eun hung up on him since there was something of higher priority than talking to Chief Jung right now.
Yi-Seo, who had been sitting across from Ra-Eun, asked, “Is everything alright? You’re not in big trouble, are you?”
From Yi-Seo’s reaction, it did not seem like she knew that Ra-Eun had been accused of school violence. Ra-Eun decided to let Yi-Seo know what had happened and pulled up the articles on her phone to show Yi-Seo.
“Take a look,” Ra-Eun said.
“School violence...? You?”
Yi-Seo doubted her eyes. Unable to believe what she was reading, she reread the article again and again.
“Why would such an article...”
“That’s what I’m trying to confirm.”
“With who?” Yi-Seo asked.
Ra-Eun pointed directly at her. Yi-Seo was bewildered to be designated so suddenly.
“Me?”
“Yeah.”
After having a good read through the school violence articles, the classmate that accused Ra-Eun of being a perpetrator of school violence had claimed that they were ‘assaulted in their high school days.’ Yi-Seo and Ra-Eun had been in the same class for three whole years, all the way from Year 1 to Year 3. She would know exactly how Ra-Eun had spent her high school days, including the portion before Ra-Eun had entered this body.
“How was I like in our first year?” Ra-Eun asked.
Yi-Seo was confused by the unexpected question.
“What do you mean? Wouldn’t you know that best?”
“Well... Every single individual has different perspectives, don’t they? I asked because I was wondering if I had unintentionally done things that others would consider school violence, like these articles are claiming.”
It was the perfect excuse, if she said so herself. Having been convinced by Ra-Eun’s excuse, Yi-Seo immediately went from being confused to having perfectly understood.
“That’s true. It’s hard to look at yourself objectively,” Yi-Seo remarked.
Ra-Eun was asking what she herself had been like in her first year and the first semester of her second year. Yi-Seo’s answer was relatively simple.
“You seemed like a bit of a delinquent, but you’ve never gone around hitting or threatening anyone.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Though I hadn’t monitored your every action, I’m sure that you’ve never assaulted anyone, nor had there ever been such rumors spread around in school.”
“I see...”
In that case, who could have provided such malicious information to the press? Yi-Seo was also curious.
“Could they really be one of our classmates?”
“They might not be. They could have lied because they couldn’t stand seeing me be so well off.”
This sounded like a brag, but it was the truth. Ra-Eun was keeping every single possibility open. She had confirmed with Yi-Seo that she had never committed violence, but...
“I should also ask Gyu-Rin and Ro-Mi. Oh, I shouldn’t forget about the boys either.”
Ra-Eun was planning on contacting every single classmate that she was close to. She did not want to take any chances since this matter would greatly impact her career.
‘If I get the same answer as Yi-Seo from all of them, the next step would be to find the son of a bitch who spread this goddamn rumor.’
Ra-Eun was planning on doing whatever it took to find the culprit if the rumor turned out to be false.
‘And then I’ll pay them back twofold... no, fivefold.’
She would carry out her specialty, revenge.
***
Ra-Eun had come to one outcome after contacting her high school classmates.
‘They all said the same thing as Yi-Seo.’
With this, her innocence had been corroborated. While she was calling her classmates, Na Gyu-Rin, Choi Ro-Mi, Choi Sang-Woon and her other classmates discussed among themselves that they couldn’t stand to see their friend being slandered. Hence, they decided to back up Ra-Eun in their own way by using their own social media accounts to leave comments saying Ra-Eun was not that kind of person.
‘I’m grateful, but that won’t solve anything.’
Ra-Eun would need to face the person claiming that she was a perpetrator of school violence. However, there was one problem.
‘How do I find the damn person?’
She did not need to think for long since she had an expert in such things among her subordinates. She took out her smartphone and called someone.
“You’re at the workplace, right? I’m in my office, so get over here.”
Ra-Eun heard a knock on her door as soon as she summoned the person. Moments later, Ma Yeong-Jun slowly opened the door and entered her office with an expression that showed he knew exactly what she was about to make him do.
“You want me to find the person who spread those rumors about you, right?”
“As expected of Misma. You read my mind.”
It was nice to have a quick-witted subordinate that could save one the trouble of explaining every little thing.
“Find them and tell me who they are. I’m gonna go see them myself.”
“That’s not difficult. Got it. I’ll get right on it.”
Just as he was about to get up from his seat, Yeong Jun asked, “But...”
“But what?”
“Have you really never assaulted anyone in your school days?”
“What the hell, mister? Have you ever seen a more docile and model student than me?”
Unlike the confident Ra-Eun, Yeong-Jun’s face was filled with doubt.
“Are you sure?”
“You’re so goddamn skeptical. What? You want me to show you how docile I can be right now?”
Yeong-Jun coughed after being threatened by Ra-Eun and hurriedly looked out the window for no reason.
“I guess I should go back to work.”
Ra-Eun sighed as she watched Yeong-Jun running away.
“Why ask for a beating if you’re not willing to take it?”
***
Ra-Eun decided with her agency to set some sort of countermeasure before Yeong-Jun and his men found the culprit who had spread the rumors. Chief Jung read through the official statement posted on the GNF website.
“As a result of discussing with our artist, we have confirmed that the rumor was baseless. We announce that we will take legal measures if further fabrications are spread... Or at least, that’s what we posted.”
He looked at Ra-Eun, who was sitting across from him.
“You’re sure you haven’t caused any trouble in your school days, right?”
There would be massive backlash if it were revealed that the school violence rumors were true after they had made a statement like this.
Ra-Eun reaffirmed while nodding, “Yes, I’m sure.”
The official statement, along with the comments from her actual high school classmates spread throughout the internet, was becoming a huge story. All that was left was to determine which side was telling the truth.
“I wish I could find out who’s trying to frame me. Have you found out anything on your end, Chief Jung?”
“I’ve also been trying to get in touch with the reporter who had first published the article, but it hasn’t been easy.”
Half a day had passed since GNF had released their official statement, but the one that had claimed they had been assaulted by Ra-Eun had not provided any additional evidence. Stalling for time like this only dealt damage to Ra-Eun’s reputation.
‘Let’s think this over.’
It could be someone who she had interacted with at least once. As she was deep in her own thoughts, Chief Jung pointed at her smartphone.
“You’re getting a call.”
Her display flashed. Ra-Eun picked up her smartphone as soon as she saw the caller ID ‘Misma’.
“I’m gonna take a quick call, Chief Jung.”
“Got it.”
Ra-Eun left the meeting room and moved to a place as deserted as possible. There was a small break room on this floor that could only be used by employees.
‘No one should be using it at this time of day.’
Her prediction was confirmed after opening the break room door.
Ra-Eun accepted the call and asked, “Did you get a name?”
- That’s the first thing you ask?
“Isn’t that why you called?”
- I guess so.
Considering Yeong-Jun’s personality, Ra-Eun expected that he had not called to hear her voice for no reason.
- I found out who the culprit is. It happens to be a graduate from your school in the same year as you.
Ra-Eun’s guess had been more or less correct.
“Who is it?”
- A guy named Choi Hwang-Cheol.
It had been a while since Ra-Eun had heard that name. He was the son of the convenience store manager that Kang Ra-Hyuk used to work at, as well as the school bully that had blackmailed Ra-Eun into going out with him.
‘I’d never expected to hear that son of a bitch’s name again.’
An ill relationship of the past had resurfaced.
Follow current novℯls on f(r)eewebnov𝒆l