Chapter 335

I was horrified as I saw the right hand snap up through the air like a whip and strike the child’s cheek before there was even a chance to stop it.

‘Just now, what have you just done…….’

I couldn’t understand it.

When I first learned he had a son, I was confused because he seemed so unlike the Kang Hyukwoo I knew. But now, I felt like I couldn’t understand anything about him at all.

But I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t understand the sudden violence.

Look, even the person who swung his hand was standing there dumbfounded, unable to accept what he’s just done.

Kang Hyukwoo’s clothes were soaked with sweat, as if he’d been running around all day. His breathing was erratic, and his face had gone completely pale, drained of all color.

Wasn’t it because his son was precious to him, because he was terrified something might happen to the boy, that he got so scared and angry?

Then why would he hit the very child he loves so much? Why would he do something that throws that relationship to the ground with his own hands?

It was all too clear that it had been an impulsive act.

Kang Hyukwoo, hands shaking, eventually attempted to forcefully pull his son into an embrace, but the boy backed away, rejecting him.

It was only to be expected. Who would want to be held by someone who had just hurt them? But Kang Hyukwoo seemed utterly shocked by it. He stood frozen in place, his face deathly pale, like a corpse.

This kind of situation wasn’t unfamiliar to me. I knew it all too well, having suffered through it myself.

But I couldn’t bear to see that happen to a child who had just been in my arms—a child who, until now, had known nothing but love.

“Chaeyul-ah!”

I rushed toward the child who had been thrown to the floor and shouted. Then, the boy—frozen in fear, unable to even get up, his eyes locked on Kang Hyukwoo in terror—suddenly sprang to his feet and ran straight into my arms. Only when he felt the safety of my embrace did he finally break down, crying like a baby.

Watching that, I felt a dull ache in my chest.

To calm the frightened child, I held him tightly and gently patted his back over and over. By the time my chest had grown damp with his tears, I slowly lifted his head to look at him.

“Let me see your face. Are you okay?”

In just that short time, the child’s face had already swollen and discolored. As soon as my fingers touched him, he cried out again, wailing as if even the slightest touch hurt.

“It hurts, it hurts. Huuhuu…….”

Clenching my teeth as I took in the sight, I finally stood up with the child still in my arms. Then I turned to Choi Jeokhyeon, who was standing beside me, checking a message on his phone.

“This won’t do. We need to go to the hospital first. Start the car.”

Even as he sobbed so hard he could barely breathe, the child somehow caught the word “ hospital ” and began shaking his head wildly, insisting he didn’t want to go. I had no idea how Kang Hyukwoo interpreted that reaction, but his face lit up with a hopeful expression as he once again reached out toward the child.

“That’s right! Let’s go home with Dad. You’ll feel better soon.”

But the child only burrowed deeper into my arms, refusing to even glance in Kang Hyukwoo’s direction. He must have been so scared. His small hands clutched my clothes so tightly they’d turned pale, as if afraid I might let him go.

“…….”

Faced with the child’s adamant rejection, Kang Hyukwoo stared blankly at the back of his son’s head, his expression one of utter despair. Never before had I seen his face so ashen, so devoid of life.

Leaving that sight behind me, I made my way to Choi Jeokhyeon’s car. I was convinced that nothing good could come from the child spending more time with Kang Hyukwoo.

But before I could get into the car, Kang Hyukwoo lunged forward and grabbed the boy in an instant.

At first, it looked like he was reaching for the child’s head, but at the last second, he changed course and seized his forearm instead.

The child, already shaken by seeing a father so unlike his usual self, completely panicked when he was grabbed. He flailed his arms wildly and screamed, utterly terrified—as if he were facing a monster.

“No! Go away!”

At that, Kang Hyukwoo flinched, as if struck by a sudden shock, and loosened his grip on the child.

Seizing the moment, I quickly pulled back and wrapped my arm around the boy’s torso, drawing him deeper into my embrace.

Just moments ago, he had seemed ready to drag his son away by force, completely disregarding the boy’s will, so I couldn’t understand why he was now hesitating like this. While I was quietly puzzling over that, the tense silence was broken by the slightest twitch of his eyelids.

Then his eyes, burning with fury and resentment, shifted toward me.

“Seo Yutae.”

I had been mentally preparing myself ever since the topic of similarities between ‘ Seo Yutae ‘ and ‘ Han Seungbeom ‘ first came up, and indeed, he seemed to have figured out who I really was. It didn’t look like he was trying to test me, either. He wasn’t even watching for my reaction; he just sat there, slumped over, his hands covering his face. He looked completely certain about my true identity.

Just like someone drugged out of his mind, Kang Hyukwoo staggered unsteadily. Then, he suddenly began muttering like a madman.

“This was all your plan from the start, wasn’t it? You wanted to … take my son away from me. This is your revenge, isn’t it? You even kidnapped a child just to screw me over. How the hell did you even know I had a son? Were you stalking me? F***, you’re a creepy bastard … What? Do you think doing this will make what I did to Jo Inchan even a little bit forgivable?”

“…What you did to Jo Inchan?”

The moment I opened my mouth, a thought crossed my mind, ‘ Ah, thank goodness .’

I was truly glad that Chaeyul couldn’t see my face right now.

“Is that really all you did? It’s not. You know it. You.”

My expression must have been a horrifying sight. What I could sense myself were only things completely unlike typical anger: my blank, unfocused eyes, a faint smile lingering on my lips, and eyebrows that had gone slack. But Kang Hyukwoo’s reaction told me everything.

After everything that had happened, a shiver seemed to run down my spine at the realization that, for the first time, Kang Hyukwoo was standing before Seo Yutae , not Han Seungbeom . The rage that had roamed aimlessly, clawing only at me after losing its rightful target, finally felt like it had returned to where it belonged.

“Don’t try to test me. I already know full well what you did to my brother.”

The moment ‘ my brother ‘ left my lips, Kang Hyukwoo’s Adam’s apple bobbed. Unable to hide his agitation, he quickly shifted his gaze to the ground, then, almost unconsciously, stole a glance at his son.

I was simply watching his every move with calm, sunken eyes.

The fact that he was so conscious of his son right now meant one of two things: either he was instinctively checking the vulnerable spot he needed to protect in a moment of crisis, or he was afraid his son might learn the truth about what he’d done. It was one or the other, or possibly both.

“You should be thankful that Chaeyul is next to me right now. If he weren’t, even I don’t know what I would’ve done to you.”

“…….”

“You know it yourself, don’t you? That what you did is something that can never be forgiven. So quietly take responsibility for your actions. That’s the only option left to you.”

After saying that, I gently ran my hand through the child’s soft hair and whispered into his ear, “Do you want to go back with your father?”

The child immediately shook his head. I replied with a brief “Alright”, then looked down at Kang Hyukwoo and spoke.

“Chaeyul says he doesn’t want to stay with you anymore, so I’ll be taking Chaeyul with me. As you know, I never lay a hand on children, so don’t worry.”

At my announcement, Kang Hyukwoo looked like he wanted to shout “That’s ridiculous” at any moment, but all he did was grit his teeth hard enough to make a grinding sound.

There was nothing left he could use to threaten Prism. On top of that, even the existence of his one and only weakness—his son—had been exposed. And to make matters worse, that son now clung to me, making every effort to stay within my embrace.

Anyone could see that I held the upper hand in this situation.

In the end, I got into the car, leaving behind Kang Hyukwoo, who remained motionless with his head lowered.

.

.

.

While we were driving, as soon as the child fell asleep, Choi Jeokhyeon asked me a question.

“Wouldn’t it be easier for you if the company handled this matter at an official level?”

“Why? Are you going to put pressure on them like you did this time?”

“If necessary.”

“Are you trying to make me look like some inconsiderate celebrity? And yourself like the overbearing parent? You know it’s out of line for you to keep meddling like this when my contracts with Fox and SU haven’t even ended yet.”

“I’m saying this because it looks like the company has no intention of taking any proactive measures right now.”

“Making an official response to something like this will only make us a laughingstock. The smartest move is to let it quietly die down, like nothing ever happened. It’s unreasonable to expect everyone to prioritize my personal life over my market value the way you do.”

“…Are you still planning to perform on stage as scheduled?”

“Of course. I need to stand on that stage more confidently than anyone else. The people who love me will be there, and I exist for them.”

As I said that, I deliberately turned my head away from the window, but I could still feel his gaze clinging persistently to me in the rearview mirror. I sighed softly and started to elaborate, trying to convince him that I wasn’t simply being stubborn.

“It’s okay. I just need a little time to sort out my thoughts. I’ve realized now that those kinds of voices aren’t all there is.”

Given the nature of fandoms, which were made up of all kinds of people, it was unrealistic to expect them all to think the same just because they claimed to love me. To take an extreme example, a single fandom could include both healthy fans who shared a positive relationship with the idol, and also sasaengs.

And since everyone hides behind the mask of anonymity online, I couldn’t be sure if those who attacked me while calling themselves fans were truly my fans in the first place.

[I love you, Yutae-ya.]

I had already made the decision to listen to the voices of those who truly loved me. As long as I had even a little bit of mental space, I could always remind myself of that fact, so I was okay.

Bzzzz. Then, all of a sudden, my phone started vibrating.

As usual, I didn’t bother checking the notification and simply sat there with my eyes closed. Then, Choi Jeokhyeon, who had been quietly watching me through the rearview mirror, spoke again.

“You’d better check it.”

If someone like him, who normally couldn’t care less about what I do, went out of his way to say something like that … then something was definitely going on.

“…You, what did you do?”

“As long as you don’t do anything in the name of the agency , it should be fine, right?”

Choi Jeokhyeon’s cryptic words sent a jolt of anxiety through me, and I rushed to check my SNS feed. There, a string of bizarre keywords was trending in real-time: MuSe Alliance , Kang Hyukwoo, Han Seungbeom, Seo Yutae, RH , and so on.

— Ah f**k, the MuSe Alliance is freaking hilarious. These girls literally just teamed up to beat up Kang Hyukwoo

— What the heck? I just woke up from a nap and the neighbors are out there sword-dancing?? What is going on??

— [Summary Post] Kang Hyukwoo’s Media Play Timeline

— You thought we were staying quiet because we were buying it? We were gathering evidence, you bastard

— Hubaenim, I’ll make the entertainment industry a better place for you to work in

└ Oh look at the way they’re talking LOLOLOL

By then, SNS was already filled with posts summarizing Seras and Muses’ statements, along with compiled evidence of Kang Hyukwoo’s ties to Cyber Wreckers accounts and news outlets, as well as shady details about his sketchy business dealings.

‘What is this?’

I had thought that Kang Hyukwoo was pushing things too far and that he might slip up and get caught because of it, but I never expected things to escalate this quickly.

“It looked like your fans were quietly gathering information to help you and expose Kang Hyukwoo’s corruption. So I put together the materials you’d collected so far, along with Lim Seunghoon’s testimony, into something convincing and spread it. To make it easy for the fans to use.”

As I carefully read through them, I absentmindedly muttered a curse.

“Ha, shit … This crazy bastard…….”

“I’m your fan too, so this much is okay, right?”

Then, Choi Jeokhyeon answered shamelessly with a bright smile.

Ah, has there ever been a day like this when I didn’t get pissed off watching the mess Choi Jeokhyeon caused?

I let out a wry laugh with my hand pressed to my forehead and said,

“…This is what a real fan of mine should be like.”

“Of course. As it should be.”

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Translator’s Corner:

Seras adopting Han Seungbeom … tears in my eyes……

CJH really went everywhere acting as Yutae’s driver like he doesn’t have 1001 companies to take care of

Allday Project debuted today, and maybe it’s because I’m into k-hiphop, but their song is really good T_T

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