Woo-Jin had no intention of enduring and tolerating this exhausting situation simply because he was afraid of the public’s eyes and opinions.
And there was no guarantee that a second or third Lee Yeo-Rin wouldn’t appear in the future.
He needed to act cunningly and inform the general public once and for all of how he dealt with stalkers. Thoughtlessly forgiving a stalker was the same as condoning their actions, nothing more, nothing less.
Woo-Jin ruffled his hair with both hands and closed his eyes.
Even if he didn’t do anything today, he felt like he would catch Lloyd’s depression like a contagious disease.
***
Since Chae Woo-Jin and his agency did not publish any articles refuting the rumor, people slowly started to treat the contents of the social media posts as the truth.
People brought up a past interview where Chae Woo-Jin mentioned that if he were in a relationship, he would care for his partner as much as possible and not disclose their identity. Therefore, many people were quite against Lee Yeo-Rin’s behavior and criticized her.
It was true that anyone would want to brag if they had a boyfriend like Chae Woo-Jin, but many people thought Lee Yeo-Rin’s actions weren’t proper and advised her to take down her posts.
Chae Woo-Jin’s fans did not criticize Lee Yeo-Rin thoughtlessly as there was no official announcement on the actor’s love life, but neither did they acknowledge her fully. Instead, most people showed a reserved attitude, observing the situation carefully.
If the woman often went in and out of the house, she must know Chae Woo-Jin’s parents personally. Thus, the fans couldn’t recklessly treat Lee Yeo-Rin negatively.
On the other hand, many fans noticed that DS and Chae Woo-Jin were strangely quiet about the whole situation.
Even Kang Ho-Soo and Hwang Yi-Young, who were in direct communication with the fans on Wish Baragi, were completely silent.
And Chae Woo-Jin’s close relatives or friends of relatives on the fancafe, such as Jin-Hee’s Mom and Gaon’s Designer, made no comments about the controversial social media account.
A member on Wish Baragi who sometimes gave legal advice briefly remarked to those who were being doubtful on the fancafe that ‘they probably haven’t brought this issue up because it isn’t even worth mentioning.’
Amid this situation, a quick-witted person asked a specific question.
Putting aside the fact that there were no pictures of the woman with Chae Woo-Jin, they asked why she had no photos of the new apartment the actor had moved into recently.
The question stemmed from their curiosity, as they thought that Chae Woo-Jin’s girlfriend would normally visit the new apartment if she often came by the house as well.
As soon as the question appeared on the fancafe, Lee Yeo-Rin took a picture of the landscape view from her living room balcony.
Not long ago, a few photos were uploaded on Wish Baragi as the view that was most likely visible from Chae Woo-Jin’s new apartment.
It was a collection of photos posted online by people living in the same building as the actor, although they were on different floors from the actor. The elevation difference could be seen when people compared those pictures with the apartment's old sales document photos. As Lee Yeo-Rin’s landscape almost completely matched those pictures, people couldn’t doubt her much longer.
***
A day after the social media account of the woman who was expected to be Chae Woo-Jin’s girlfriend became a controversial topic, TV broadcasts gradually started mentioning it.
Their tones were cautious as they remarked that they couldn’t make a conclusive opinion yet, but they described and explained each photo posted on the social media account in great detail.
Some panelists even spoke as though they sympathized with and understood the woman in question.
“As a matter of course, she’s friendly and close with everyone in the family.”
Kim Hye-Ryeong gracefully drank her tea when she softly clicked her tongue. Reporter Hwang Joon-Hee of The Goryeo Ilbo, whom she had known since her acting days, heard the sound and pulled out her voice recorder.
The two of them had met for the first time in a long while and were about to start the real discussion in earnest after having finished their meal.
“Does that mean Chae Woo-Jin is still in contact with his paternal family?” Hwang Joon-Hee asked.
These two used to talk casually with each other in the past. But after Kim Hye-Ryeong married Chae Mu-Seok, they started speaking politely and treading around one another carefully.
While they had known each other for a long time, Kim Hye-Ryeong rarely met the reporter these days since she now belonged to the upper class.
Usually, they only met up like this whenever Kim Hye-Ryeong wanted to use the press for her own goals.
Thus, even Hwang Joon-Hee didn’t know much about Kim Hye-Ryeong’s personal life.
However, their relationship had probably lasted so long because Kim Hye-Ryeong never forgot about Hwang Joon-Hee and took care of the reporter from time to time.
Today, they were meeting up after Kim Hye-Ryeong had contacted Hwang Joon-Hee first.
Although there were atrocious rumors about the woman circulating these days, Kim Hye-Ryeong was still the first lady of Bareunjeong Foods with a lot of power in her hands. Moreover, Chae Mu-Seok wanted to divorce her through a mutual agreement instead of taking it to court, so she persistently clung to her husband until now, not letting him cut her off.
It was unlikely that she wanted to explain and defend herself to the reporter right now since the rumors were slowly fading away. She had no reason to rekindle the fire.
Then, the only reason she would want to see the reporter had to be about Chae Woo-Jin, so Hwang Joon-Hee came to meet her with high expectations.
And unsurprisingly, the story that came out of Kim Hye-Ryeong’s mouth was about Chae Woo-Jin and the young lady at the center of the scandal.
“He can’t stay in touch with us openly because he doesn’t want to offend his mother, but one can’t forget their roots. Woo-Jin is only human; he can’t ignore his father’s wealth. He’s an extremely ambitious kid. The general public just doesn’t know him well enough to know that. As long as everything goes well, both Garam and Bareunjeong will become his, so why would he let go of such an opportunity with his own hands?”
“Then how is Chae Woo-Jin’s relationship with your husband?” the reporter asked.
“It’s obviously good. I was even surprised by how well he adapted to his father and indulged him after Woo-Young left us. He really was born to be an actor.”
Hwang Joon-Hee nodded at Kim Hye-Ryeong’s explanation.
There was no way Chae Woo-Jin had no ounce of greed in his heart. Garam Hotel and Bareunjeong Foods were mid-sized companies with strong capital. And most of all, the CEO Chae Mu-Seok was able to defend his management rights with the stocks he owned.
He was a great man who had no plans of coming down from the top ranks of the annual ranking of the richest people in Korea. In fact, he had maintained his position in the upper ranks for several years now. And his eldest son was Chae Woo-Jin.
“He started getting in touch with his father at some point and even visited our house a few times with that lady alongside him. But you can’t tell anyone else about this, alright? I don’t think his mother knows about it yet.”
Kim Hye-Ryeong squinted her eyes. Reporter Hwang Joon-Hee nodded eagerly in response.
“His mother is quite pitiful. She doesn’t even know what her son is doing behind her back. If this fact were to spread to the public, Woo-Jin would claim he’s never done something of the sort and feign ignorance. I’d become the villain of the story and be branded a liar.”
Kim Hye-Ryeong then wiped the corner of her eyes with her handkerchief, remarking that no one in the world would believe Chae Woo-Jin’s stepmother.
“If that’s true, then wouldn’t there be at least one anonymous informant who would back your claims?” the reporter asked.
“Plenty more than that! All the people working at our house have eyes and ears as well, you know?”
Kim Hye-Ryeong smiled slyly as she claimed she was brimming with anonymous informants to back her claims.
“Then why did the lady suddenly start behaving like this online?” Hwang Joon-Hee asked.
“Who can say for sure what happened in the relationship between a man and woman? They seemed to be dating pretty seriously, but I think Woo-Jin lost interest recently. That’s why she’s upset. She even came to me crying, saying that he used to behave like she was the only person in the world that mattered to him, but now that the honeymoon period ended, he’s really scaring her. And there’s nothing I can do for her.”
Kim Hye-Ryeong spoke with sorrow, saying that a stepmother had no way to persuade her stepson.
“When I see Woo-Jin, I realize that the apple really doesn’t fall far from the tree. His relationships with women are so complicated.”
“Are they complicated? I’ve never heard anything like that.”
Rather, people in the entertainment industry said that Chae Woo-Jin was like a monk. When Hwang Joon-Hee disagreed with her, Kim Hye-Ryeong snorted.
“It’s because you people don’t know how cunning he….”
Kim Hye-Ryeong couldn’t finish her words. Hwang Joon-Hee, sitting in front of her, was also dumbfounded and stared at the woman with her mouth open — the woman who had suddenly appeared behind Kim Hye-Ryeong.
Hwang Joon-Hee was so engrossed in her conversation with Kim Hye-Ryeong that she hadn’t noticed the stranger enter the room where only the two of them were sitting. But that wasn’t all. This middle-aged woman had poured water on Kim Hye-Ryeong’s head.
“What on earth?!”
Kim Hye-Ryeong shouted out loud as she had no idea what was happening to her. She was in utter shock as the water was suddenly poured on her head in the middle of their discussion.
She leaped up from her seat and looked around to see what was happening when she found the woman standing behind her.
“Who on earth are you?”
Kim Hye-Ryeong shouted sharply at her, deducing that the woman was the culprit behind the water pouring incident.
But she stopped yelling loudly. While she didn’t recognize the woman glaring with piercing eyes, the face seemed somewhat familiar.
“Who do you think you are to do this to me? Do you know who I am? Do you have a death wish?” Kim Hye-Ryeong shouted.
“But you already killed me,” the woman said.
“What?”
“You’ve already killed me.”
Only when Kim Hye-Ryeong heard the cold voice whispering dryly did she realize who her adversary was.
“Kang Hye-Min?” Kim Hye-Ryeong asked.
She was Chae Mu-Seok’s second wife and the deceased Chae Woo-Young’s biological mother.
Kim Hye-Ryeong hadn’t recognized her immediately because of her frizzy hair and how much older Kang Hye-Min looked compared to her actual age. But she soon realized who it was due to the familiar voice.
The face had significantly changed, but Kim Hye-Ryeong had seen that gaze and heard that voice drenched in resentment during Chae Woo-Young’s funeral.
“It’s you? And are you still saying stuff like that? You’re the one who ran away, leaving your child behind, because you cared more about money. You should’ve held him tight and close to you if you loved him so much. Why come and attack me like this? Did I kill Woo-Young or something? No, he died because of you. So why didn’t you die alongside him or leave the house miserably with your child like Park Eun-Soo did? Don’t shift the blame on me, you crazy bitch!”
As soon as Kim Hye-Ryeong finished stating her mind, Kang Hye-Min slapped her loudly across the cheek.
“You bitch, you don’t even understand who…!”
Kim Hye-Ryeong couldn’t continue as she was slapped again. When she wiped her nose with a finger, she noticed her nosebleed and glared at Kang Hye-Min with hatred.
She was Kim Hye-Ryeong. The Kim Hye-Ryeong, who would hit people and smash objects yet not tolerate or accept any suffering of her own, not even the tiniest of scratches.
“You’ve lost your mind. Know your place, you….”
She was cut off again as Kang Hye-Min’s hand slapped her cheek.
“Keep talking. I’ll slap you every time you open your mouth.”
“You bitch!”
Kim Hye-Ryeong raised her hand to fight back, but Kang Hye-Min grabbed her wrist and immediately subdued her. Her grip was strong even though she was all skin and bones. Kim Hye-Ryeong couldn’t free herself.
“Let go! Let go, you bitch! Do you think you’ll be fine after doing this to me?!”
“Sue me if you want. That’s what I want the most, actually.”
“Kyaak!”
Kang Hye-Min twisted the wrist in her grasp and threw Kim Hye-Ryeong to the floor. She was wearing a confident expression as though she sincerely hoped to be sued.
She even started giggling like a crazy person, saying that things would be fun if she actually got sued.
As the situation and atmosphere took a strange turn, Hwang Joon-Hee slowly got up from her seat.
She put her voice recorder and notebook in her bag and was about to leave the place in a hurry. She didn’t want to get involved with this crazy middle-aged woman. But unfortunately, her wish didn’t come true because the madwoman suddenly snatched the bag.
“Who are you? Stop, what are you doing?!”
Hwang Joon-Hee asked Kang Hye-Min as she trembled. The latter’s grip was just too strong for her to keep a hold of her bag.
Kang Hye-Min then took out the voice recorder in the bag and glanced at the reporter with an indifferent expression.
“Me? Didn’t you hear what that bitch was saying?”
Kang Hye-Min took the recorder and put a check of one million won in the bag before throwing it back to the reporter.
“If you want to sue me too, feel free to do so.”
“Wait, you can’t take that! Do you think money solves all your problems? Hey, stop! And I can only sue you if I know who you are!”
For Hwang Joon-Hee, the stolen voice recorder was far more important than the million won. The content recorded in it was far more valuable than this check.
However, the opponent’s gaze was too sharp and terrifying for the reporter, and she wouldn’t dare stand up against the madwoman. Despite Hwang Joon-Hee’s complaints, Kang Hye-Min was already making her way toward the exit when she stopped and glanced behind her at the woman on the floor.
“Know your place, you bitch.”
Kang Hye-Min returned the words Kim Hye-Ryeong was trying to tell her moments ago. As soon as she said so, liveliness and energy returned to her face. Contrary to her first impression, she now looked much younger and somewhat beautiful.
A pleasant hum escaped her mouth as if she now had a newfound reason to live.
