Chapter 68: Source (2)
It was almost midnight. Reporter Ahn Su-Jin tried to chase even a little of her fatigue away by stretching. However, no matter how hard she stretched or how many energy drinks she drank, she could not get rid of the fatigue that had accumulated over several sleepless nights.
“I really should go home today.”
She had become a complete mess after not leaving the office for several days. The midnight air was cold despite it being the middle of summer. She left the building and walked toward the street to grab a taxi. But then, two men with their faces hidden with hats approached her.
“...”
Su-Jin nervously stared at the men. She reacted as if she knew they would come.
“You’re the ones who’ve been watching me since a few months ago, aren’t you?”
The two men stared at each other in surprise, because Su-Jin was more quick-witted than they had expected. A reporter’s gut was not to be underestimated. There was no way that she, who had experienced all sorts of difficulties as a reporter, would not perceive their tailing.
“I’m calling the police.”
That was Su-Jin’s form of defense. She also carried around a gas pistol in her handbag just in case. She was thinking about shooting it and running away in the worst-case scenario, since she had always been confident in her running speed since childhood.
However, the men were treating her in an unexpectedly gentle manner.
“There is someone who would like to meet you.”
.
“We would appreciate it if you would come with us for a moment.”
Su-Jin was surprised by how well-mannered they were compared to their tough-looking faces.
“And who is this person? Shouldn’t they reveal themselves if they’re inviting me?” Su-Jin asked.
“You will find out when you arrive. You have already met them once before.”
“...?”
Su-Jin’s caution slightly softened by their mention that the person could be her acquaintance. She resolved herself.
“...Okay. Where are we going?”
The men directed Su-Jin to their car. She pondered about whether or not she had made the right choice before even getting in the car.
~
They headed to an abandoned building in the outskirts of Seoul.
“Please head inside.”
“...”
Su-Jin belatedly thought that she had made the wrong choice. However, it was far too late to run away because several men had already surrounded her.
As she went up the stairs, a woman revealed herself among the men. She was a long-haired young woman, but Su-Jin could not tell who she was because she was hiding her face with a mask. Was she in her early twenties? No, she could even be a teenager. Su-Jin could not tell if she was friend or foe, but she felt somewhat relieved that there was a fellow woman among the crowd of men.
The woman was sitting on a chair with one leg over the other. She then gestured toward the chair across from her and said, “Please take a seat.”
She was assumed to be in her mid-twenties from her voice. However, after a few exchanges of words, Su-Jin realized that it was pointless to guess the woman’s age.
‘She’s putting on an act.’
The woman was purposefully changing the tone of her voice. She was very proficient in acting. But most of all, Su-Jin needed to find out why the woman had brought her here.
“Why did you bring me here?”
The masked woman responded in surprise to Su-Jin’s question, “You’re not going to ask who I am?”
Most people would have asked who the other person was, but Su-Jin had chosen ‘why’ instead of ‘who.’
“You obviously won’t tell me even if I asked.”
The woman would not have concealed her identity in the first place if she had planned on telling Su-Jin. The mysterious woman laughed shortly because of Su-Jin’s wits.
“I knew it. You’re the same as always.”
“Pardon?”
“It’s nothing. Please forget what I just said. I was talking to myself.”
The more Su-Jin heard, the more she could not understand. The woman signaled the men to leave. After the men left, she handed Su-Jin a folder.
“What is this?” Su-Jin asked.
“A scoop related to the politician that you’re aiming for.”
“What?”
“Please open it.”
Su-Jin gasped as she opened the folder.
She had been chasing scandal stories regarding Kim Chi-Yeol lately, because there had been rumors that he was having an affair with a female celebrity after getting married and starting a family. She had been struggling to confirm whether or not the rumors were true, but her efforts had become meaningless through this one folder.
All of the evidence that she had been searching for was in it. It included several photos of Chi-Yeol having intimate skinship with the female celebrity, with their faces vividly shown.
“You can royally screw that son of a bitch Kim Chi-Yeol over with that, right?” the woman asked.
“Well, yes, but...”
Su-Jin could tell from the woman’s manner of speaking that she held a seething rage toward Chi-Yeol.
“How did you get these?” Su-Jin asked.
“By actually putting in the effort, just like you.”
“But why would you give these to me...?”
“Because I think bringing such things to light is a reporter’s job.”
She was not wrong.
“There is only one thing that I want from you right now, and it’s for you to ruin Kim Chi-Yeol’s family, like you’d already suspected,” the woman remarked.
“By ‘right now’... do you mean there will be more things that you will want from me in the future?”
“Yes.”
The woman got up from her seat and handed her cash.
“This is a fee for your services plus taxi money. Please keep this a secret from other reporters. Oh, and please keep in mind that I might call for you again whenever there are scoops to be reported.”
The woman was telling Su-Jin that she would provide her with information again in the future.
“Then see you next time,” the woman said as she left first.
Su-Jin looked down at the folder of Kim Chi-Yeol’s scandalous acts and stared at the bundle of cash. She fell into a state of panic, unable to understand what had just happened.
***
Kang Ra-Eun got into the back seat of a car with Ma Yeong-Jun.
He asked her as they headed toward her home, “How did you know Kim Chi-Yeol was having an affair with that female celebrity?”
“It was a hunch.”
“And did you find out the exact time and place of their secret dates through a hunch as well?”
“Yup, exactly.”
“...”
No one would believe such an outrageous lie. When Ra-Eun had told Yeong-Jun’s men to take pictures of Chi-Yeol committing infidelity at a specific time and place, Yeong-Jun thought it was completely meaningless at first. However, he was sorely mistaken. They had caught a massive fish with the bait that Ra-Eun had provided.
However, she did not tell them how she acquired her source regarding the Kim Chi-Yeol scandal. She simply told them that they just needed to do as she said.
Yeong-Jun’s head was being filled with more and more questions.
At that moment, Ra-Eun said to him, “Mister. You said you wanted to move onto a bigger stage, right?”
Yeong-Jun had told her before that he wanted to stop playing around in such a small pond and move on to somewhere bigger. He slowly nodded.
“I did.”
“In that case, all you need to do is to follow my instructions. If you do, I’ll let you play around on the big stage that you want so much.”
Considering that Ra-Eun was a high school girl and a popular actress, her movements were far too restricted since she would be easily recognized anywhere she went. Hence, she needed people to be her arms and legs, which was why she was planning on using Yeong-Jun and his men. In exchange, she would give them what they wanted.
Yeong-Jun agreed shortly after thinking about what Ra-Eun had said. However, this event had also engraved a slight fear toward Kang Ra-Eun in his mind.
***
Kim Chi-Yeol arrived at his office early in the morning with a cup of coffee to commence his morning duties as always. However, his peaceful morning turned into a warzone by his chauffeur.
“Vice Minister! H-Have you seen the articles?!”
“Articles? What articles?”
“P-Please read them right now! It’s really bad!”
Chi-Yeol opened up the internet while grumbling. At that moment, his eyes shook greatly. Scandal articles of him and a famous female celebrity were popping up everywhere. They were not rumor articles; they contained pictures of the intimate skinship between him and the female celebrity.
“H-How did they get these pictures...?!”
He could tell exactly when and where they had their date from the picture. It was not only the internet that was in an uproar.
Vrrrr—!
His phone vibrated furiously. It was a call from his wife.
Gulp!
Chi-Yeol’s head went completely blank.
***
Breaking news of Chi-Yeol’s scandal played on TV.
Na Gyu-Rin said in astonishment after having heard the news, “Did you guys see the news? Vice Minister Kim Chi-Yeol got caught having an affair.”
“Oh, that? I saw it too. I thought he was an earnest person, but he turned out to be complete garbage.”
“I know, right? I mean, if he was gonna do something like that, then he should have just married that woman. Why did he marry someone else? I don’t understand.”
Gyu-Rin and Choi Ro-Mi who had been singing praises about Chi-Yeol while they were studying at Ra-Eun’s house had now taken a complete 180 and were talking shit about him. Ra-Eun looked at them in delight.
Sitting next to her, Seo Yi-Seo asked in wonder, “Did something good happen, Ra-Eun?”
“Sure did.”
Something absolutely amazing was happening before her eyes. Her revenge would take a very long time. She was planning on toppling everything that Kim Chi-Yeol and Kim Han-Gyo had built all at once, but she had a few time-sensitive cards that she could make use of.
Ra-Eun had given Su-Jin the scoop on purpose because now was the perfect time to bring Chi-Yeol’s infidelity to light. But of course, she was not going to take her revenge on Chi-Yeol alone.
‘You’d better watch out as well, Kim Han-Gyo.’
Hell hath no fury like a high school girl scorned.
1. A gas pistol is a non-lethal weapon used for self-defense, made to be able to fire blanks or tear-gas cartridges.
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