WWBU - Extra 8

Hyun-seo, who had been sitting on the floor, finally started to chuckle.

“What a bunch of pathetic bastards... So this is how you’re going to play it.”

After sitting there silently for a while, Hyun-seo got up and headed to the living room. Her unsteady steps led her to the sofa. A brand-new laptop she had recently bought was placed there.

“Yoon Guk. You know me too well.”

As she said, Guk knew her well. So he probably knew how to hurt Hyun-seo the most and cut off her financial lifeline like this. Hyun-seo was someone who could give up family, friends, and lovers, but she couldn’t lose money. Without it, she felt pathetic and unhappy. She thought it was better to die than to crawl at the bottom. And yet, Yoon Guk, you dared to.

Guk’s decision to halt support, a tactic he had perfected over years of manipulating Hyun-seo under the guise of assistance, dealt her a significant blow. Her mental and emotional instability and displeasure reached their peak. Was that why?

She looked at the laptop screen in front of her and moved her hands.

“Fine, you bastard. Let’s go all the way.”

Hyun-seo, having thrown off her nightgown, immediately accessed her social media and several internet sites. Then, she began to write something.

“I won’t die alone.”

Chuckle, her laughter, which she burst out again, sounded ominous.

The post Kim Hyun-seo uploaded on various social media and internet sites quickly became a hot topic. That was because it contained the claim that none other than the second son of the powerful HK Group was the real culprit of a past fire incident that had resulted in two deaths.

The post spread like wildfire, and news outlets everywhere covered it as a major story. Han was instantly branded as a shameless devil. Even without knowing whether it was true or not, people constantly gossiped and speculated.

The most troubled person in that situation was Hyun-soo. The one who had dragged her husband’s brother onto the chopping block was none other than her own older sister.

Now, it was Hyun-soo who was struggling to get in touch. Hyun-seo kept not answering her calls, so she could only exchange text messages with difficulty.

[Take the post down.]

[ㅋㅋㅋ Why would I???]

[I understand what you mean, so stop it and take the post down.]

[Fuck off, you idiotㅋ]

But Hyun-seo was as unresponsive as if one were reading scriptures to a deaf cow.

[Put everything back, put it all back and maybe I’ll consider it]

[What do you want?]

[Hmm??ㅋㅋㅋ]

The lack of reply for a while was enough to burn Hyun-soo’s heart black. And the reply that finally came was something that left her speechless.

[Mom. Bring Mom back to life then I’ll consider it]

Hyun-soo felt anger stirring within her heart. She just felt like screaming. Since when had her sister thought about Mom so much? Since when!

Knowing that she was more fixated on the money and fame she would gain than on the anger over the hidden truth, Hyun-soo shuddered even more.

“There are two options. Either fight back with a lawsuit, or reveal the truth.”

Guk offered a solution to the struggling Hyun-soo. Either way was fine, so he told her to choose for herself. But was what she had received really medicine?

Faced with a seemingly impossible dilemma, the medicine given was like a disease. It only drove her to more pain and hardship. Guk, who knew this, didn’t show it, but he was also having a difficult time.

“It’s true that I hated and loathed Yoon Han.”

“......”

“But... this isn’t what I wanted.”

Guk sat beside Hyun-soo, who was in anguish and had buried her face in her hands. His warm body temperature brought a little comfort, but this time, that alone wouldn’t solve everything.

“Does no one have to suffer? Does someone always have to be in pain?”

“......Hyun-soo-yah.”

“......”

“What do you want?”

At Guk’s low voice, Hyun-soo lifted her buried face. Their gazes tangled.

“Tell me. I’ll listen to anything.”

His eyes were sincere. Eyes that would clearly throw themselves into danger, even if she asked him to destroy the world right now.

“Even if it’s the fires of hell, it doesn’t matter. I’ll choose whatever you choose.”

And that thought was unfailingly accurate. Guk, who had spoken clearly, embraced the struggling Hyun-soo. Hyun-soo had no choice but to be pulled into her husband’s arms.

How much time had passed? Hyun-soo had finally made a choice.

“......Don’t say anything. There’s no need to reveal it.”

“Are you serious?”

“There’s no need for someone else to suffer like me.”

“......”

“I’m tired. It’s hard. I just want it all to pass. That’s all.”

Guk told Hyun-soo that he would. He held her as she seemed about to collapse. Hyun-soo thought that this was the end of everything, that it would somehow be resolved. But.

‘Yoon Han.’

‘Hyung, I’m sorry.’

‘Let’s make things easier for Hyun-soo now.’

‘......I feel the same way. I just hope it’s not too late.’

Life, as always, didn’t flow as one wished.

[Hello. This is Yoon Han. First, I am sorry and regretful for causing such a commotion with this unpleasant matter. All the posts uploaded before were......]

He said it was true. Everything was true.

Han’s confession made the issue even hotter. Many media outlets loudly clamored, and many who learned about the incident added their own opinions. It was literally chaos.

As the incident was a hot issue, people expected Han to be punished. They naturally assumed he would end up in a detention center or prison. However, reality once again presented a different outcome. Han received no punishment whatsoever.

The biggest reason given was that the past investigation had found no circumstantial evidence of intentional arson. Even if the real arsonist had come forward now, he couldn’t be heavily punished.

Furthermore, the person identified as the culprit claimed that it was indeed their doing, and everything fizzled out. If someone claimed they caused an accident, what more could be said? So, Hyun-soo had once again saved Han. Just like she had grabbed his hand in the flames and led him to the yard sometime in the past.

However, the public’s sharp gaze and hatred didn’t die down easily. It was something that had to be directed somewhere, something that would only subside after being burned away.

“I told you not to look at things like this.”

“......”

Guk, who had come home from work unnoticed, snatched Hyun-soo’s phone. He had thought things would get better after she changed her number and cut off contact with Hyun-seo. But for days, Hyun-soo had been sinking into a swamp, looking at internet posts and news article comments.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to...”

Guk let out a deep sigh. He felt sorry and heartbroken for Hyun-soo, whose shoulders were slumped.

He pulled Hyun-soo into an embrace.

“Hyun-soo-yah. Don’t say you’re sorry. Why should you be? Why are you sorry?”

“I don’t know. It’s just... my head is a bit complicated. I guess that’s why.”

“Promise me. Promise me you won’t look at things like this anymore.”

“......”

“Huh?”

“Okay.”

Nestled in Guk’s arms, Hyun-soo’s eyes, looking at the scenery behind him, were lifeless. Her extinguished pupils stared blankly, not knowing where they were looking.

[This bitch is another one of those bad ones. How can she marry into the family of the enemy who killed her parents? Is the taste of money that good?]

Late at night. Hyun-soo, still unable to sleep, tossed and turned in bed. The news article comments she had seen during the day kept rolling around in her head.

“Hoo...”

Finally, Hyun-soo turned on the bedside lamp and sat up. She had sent Guk to his parents’ house because she wanted to be alone, so tonight it was just her.

“......”

Sitting against the headboard, Hyun-soo stared blankly at the wall. On the cream-colored wall, all the speculative posts and malicious comments she had seen before seemed to be printed and visible.

People didn’t stop hunting. As soon as Yoon Han escaped the snare, they immediately pointed at another prey and swarmed in. Hyun-soo stood in the middle of them, her hands and feet tied, having to endure all sorts of criticism. A person who killed two people, even if it was a mistake, a bitch who sold her conscience to the enemy’s family for money.

Among them, Hyun-soo was most hurt by the latter opinion. She had grown up hearing the word murderer, but she was less immune to the latter opinion.

Living a life constantly talked about by the world like this. It was a completely unexpected reality. So much so that she wanted to wake up from this dream immediately.

That night, Hyun-soo couldn’t sleep for a very long time, until almost morning.

Hyun-soo grew thinner day by day. She was so gaunt it was precarious to look at her. She also lost her words and constantly lived in her own thoughts. She would sometimes smile when she was with Wan, but that was really it. As soon as she turned around, she would invariably freeze like a statue.

Meanwhile, Guk couldn’t possibly be okay with Hyun-soo, who seemed like she would break if he just touched her. His insides also burned black every time, leaving nothing behind.

But despite that, Guk never let go of the thought that he had to protect Hyun-soo and Wan no matter what. So he had to endure. He had to endure because he didn’t even have the right to suffer with her.

“Madam!”

Then one day. Something finally happened. When Hyun-soo, who had gone into the bathroom, didn’t come out for over an hour, the aunt opened the door and found her collapsed.

Fortunately, she hadn’t hit anything when she fell, so she wasn’t seriously injured, but it was a huge shock to Guk. His face was so hardened, it was the first time Hyun-soo had seen it, to the point where she ended up comforting him instead.

“Yoon Han left the country today.”

It was when she was applying ointment to the bruises she had gotten here and there when she fell. Hyun-soo froze at Guk’s words as he applied ointment to her upper back and shoulders in her stead.

“......Left the country?”

“Yeah. He left for America. He won’t be back for a while.”

“For a while means......”

“A long time. A very long time.”

Hyun-soo couldn’t possibly not understand the meaning in those words. A long time, a very long time, probably meant he might never return to Korea.