Chapter 30

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 30
Chapter Title: Son of a Bitch
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The desire stirring in Taeseo's body was one he'd forgotten about while adjusting to life in Seongu-eup.

It was a natural reaction for a healthy man, but a curse still escaped his lips because the object of his desire was Yuna.

Taeseo tried to ignore the urge and turned on the water. It was cold enough to sting as it cascaded down his firm body.

Come to think of it, it had been three weeks since he came here. He'd been so preoccupied for those three weeks that he hadn't even masturbated once. Or maybe he'd been so burned by a woman before coming down here that he just hadn't felt anything.

The truth was, Taeseo had had a girlfriend. Seo Jiae, a woman who had pursued him for a long time.

He had only started dating Seo Jiae because her constant pestering was annoying, and he figured she was decent enough.

He hadn't doted on her like other boyfriends, but if she asked for a kiss, he'd kiss her. If she wanted to sleep with him, he'd oblige, satisfying his own needs in the process.

But at some point, Seo Jiae's behavior had turned strange.

She would insist on having sex without a condom, actively pointing out that she wasn't ovulating. Right before he finished, she would use his desire as a weapon to suggest they forgo contraception.

On the day they broke up, he found a torn condom at the hotel he'd gone to with her.

‘Wow, Seo Jiae, are you crazy?’

As Taeseo raged, Seo Jiae had begged him to forgive her just this once, claiming she couldn't help it because she liked him so much. But Taeseo had no intention of taking responsibility for an unwanted pregnancy.

The way Taeseo saw it, their relationship was mutually beneficial, an exchange of wants. She got to quench her long-unrequited love, and he got his physical needs met.

Seo Jiae had been the one to sound the death knell for that relationship, and Taeseo ended things with her without a second thought.

He had no regrets about the relationship ending, but he was still a man, and without sex, the heat was steadily building up inside him.

Taeseo stood under the showerhead and turned on the water. The well water was brutally cold. Only after a shower cold enough to make his hair stand on end did the boiling heat in his body finally subside.

A man feeling lust was a natural phenomenon, but Taeseo couldn't stand the thought of An Yuna being the object of it.

The age gap was one thing, but more than that, An Yuna's situation stirred an unnecessary sense of guilt in him. He felt an oddly strong aversion to her becoming an object of his lust.

In any case, the desire had subsided. Just as Taeseo was feeling relieved...

-Agh!

So the walls really were thin. A scream came from the other side of the wall. It was from Yuna's room, which adjoined the middle room.

"What is she watching that's so loud..."

Was she blowing off a day's worth of frustration by watching a movie with fighting and violence?

At first, Taeseo thought the noise from the other side of the wall was just the TV. But a moment later, he heard an urgent voice.

-Don't do this! I said, don't!

It was unmistakably An Yuna's voice. Only then did Taeseo realize something was happening on the other side of the wall.

Taeseo placed his hand on the wall. A thud vibrated through the thin partition. Something had hit the wall, followed by a sharp "Agh!"

Taeseo bolted out of his room and pounded on An Yuna's studio door.

"An Yuna! An Yuna! What's wrong!"

As if on cue, the noise from beyond the door stopped.

Taeseo pressed his ear to the door, but he couldn't hear a thing from inside.

That was even stranger. It was as if someone was deliberately holding their breath, like in a game of hide-and-seek.

"An Yuna, I know you're back from work, so open the door! If nothing's wrong, open up!"

Taeseo hammered on the door as if to break it down.

If nothing was wrong, she should have woken up and opened the door by now, but Yuna never came out.

Something was definitely wrong. She was either too hurt to open the door, or she was being threatened.

He could call the police, but the nearest police station was eight kilometers away. Things could get worse while he waited for them to arrive.

Just then, he remembered something Yuna had once told him.

‘Actually, the second floor was also commercial space, but it was illegally converted... so the walls are a bit thin.’

When illegally modifying a structure, it's difficult to restore masonry walls, so they usually use wooden partitions to divide the space. Therefore, the wall between Yuna's room and the middle room was a thin partition.

Taeseo grabbed the fire extinguisher sitting in the hallway. He went into the middle room and slammed it with all his might against the wall separating his room from Yuna's.

With a crack, the plywood under the wallpaper split. With the sound of splintering wood, a large hole appeared in the partition, and styrofoam insulation poured out.

It was the act of a madman, something he would surely be cursed out for if it turned out nothing was wrong with An Yuna.

But he didn't stop, and after several more blows with the fire extinguisher, a large hole formed in the wall. And in that moment,

"!"

Through the broken gap in the wall, he saw what was happening in Yuna's room. Taeseo dropped the fire extinguisher he was holding.

"You son of a bitch!"

Jaeseop, who looked like a cattle rustler, was on top of Yuna on her bed. Underneath him, Yuna was half-naked, pinned down.

Yuna couldn't make a sound because Jaeseop's large hand was clamped over her mouth.

The moment Taeseo grasped what was happening, his eyes blazed with fury.

Seeing red, Taeseo recklessly smashed the wall. *Thwack, thwack, thwack.* With each explosive sound, insulation flew everywhere. After a few more hits, the wall was completely destroyed.

Taeseo charged into the next room, grabbed Jaeseop by his clothes, pulled him up, and punched him.

"You fucking bastard!"

Jaeseop swung his fist, trying to fight back against Taeseo.

"What the fuck. Who the hell are you, you son of a bitch! You fucking Car Poor!"

That only made Taeseo's punches harder. He gave him no room to resist, knocking him to the floor and stomping on him relentlessly.

Jaeseop tried to shield his face with his arms, but Taeseo just stomped on the protected areas more persistently.

Yuna, her face pale, couldn't even scream as she covered her body.

Even while beating Jaeseop, Taeseo grabbed the blanket from the bed and threw it to Yuna.

After countless kicks, Jaeseop's body went limp.

Taeseo picked up Yuna's phone from the bed and called the police. About ten minutes later, the sound of sirens began to echo through the quiet countryside.

* * *

"Manager! Manager!"

Hyunwoo rushed into the police station and ran over to Taeseo, who was being questioned.

"What on earth is going on? You've caused trouble before, but you've never been hauled into a police station!"

Hyunwoo, who had rushed over from his sleep, looked back and forth between Taeseo and the police officer, his face pale.

"Officer, I don't know what he's been brought in for, but for now, he'll be exercising his right to remain silent. His lawyer is on the way. Please postpone the questioning until then. For now, he won't—"

Hearing this, Taeseo let out a curse loud enough to echo through the station.

"You, son of a..."

A startled Hyunwoo clapped a hand over Taeseo's mouth.

"Manager, please! Cursing like this in here could get you an extra charge for contempt. Just be quiet for now."

Taeseo shook Hyunwoo's hand off.

"You! Do I look like a criminal to you? Huh? Do I look like someone who'd get dragged to a police station for committing a crime!"

"What? Didn't you get arrested for committing a crime?"

Hyunwoo's words made Taeseo's face twist, and the officer sitting across from them, looking baffled, spoke up.

"Mr. Kwon Taeseo is here to give a witness statement after rescuing a victim from a crime scene."

"Rescued a victim? Him?"

Hyunwoo stared at Taeseo as if to ask if it was really true.

"I'm free to go now, right?"

Taeseo pushed himself up from his seat.

"Ah, yes. Yes."

"You said you'd take her home after her statement, right?"

During the questioning, a female officer had taken Yuna to a separate room. They said she would rest there to calm down before being taken to a hospital for an examination.

He wanted to accompany her, but he figured Yuna, who had almost been subjected to something terrible, wouldn't want that, so he stayed at the station to finish his witness statement.

"Yes, that's correct. We'll take the victim home after she's calmed down and finished her statement."

"Okay. If you need any further testimony, contact this number."

Taeseo pulled Hyunwoo's wallet from his back pocket. He took out one of Hyunwoo's business cards and placed it on the officer's desk.

"Well then, have a good evening."

"Yes. Please ensure a fair investigation according to procedure."

Taeseo walked out of the police station with Hyunwoo. Three people had come to the station, but only Taeseo left.

Jaeseop had been beaten unconscious, but his condition wasn't serious enough to require hospital treatment.

More importantly, he was dead drunk and unable to be questioned, so he was put in a holding cell at the station.

"Gimme a smoke."

Taeseo held out his hand to Hyunwoo as they stepped outside the police station.

Hyunwoo took a cigarette and a lighter from his pocket and handed them to Taeseo.

"Seriously, Manager. I know you did a good thing, but of all the things, coming to the police station at this hour? Do you know how my heart sank? I thought you'd gotten into trouble again."

"I didn't get into trouble, so it's fine."

"How is it fine?"

"Hey, I told you I did a good thing. It was a sex..."

Taeseo, about to say 'sexual assault', shut his mouth.

Seongu-eup was a small town. In Yuna's neighborhood alone, gossip spread so fast that everyone knew what happened in any given house. If word got out that she was almost sexually assaulted, everyone would know in no time.

"Ah, shit. Maybe I shouldn't have called the cops."

"What?"

"Never mind. If I let a bastard like that go, he'd obviously just do it again..."

"Ugh, can you please explain it so I can understand?"

"What's there to explain? It's just like the officer said. Anyway, you said the lawyer is on his way down?"

"If you didn't do anything wrong, why are you waiting for a lawyer?"

"I got a little violent."

"V-violent? But you just said you were a witness!"

Taeseo turned away, avoiding Hyunwoo's intense gaze.

"Something happened..."

If he answered the probing questions, he knew he'd get an earful of nagging.