“Hey, dude. I suggest you let go of that hand if you don’t want it broken,” Park Deok-Gu warned.

“Sorry?” Yoo Seok-Woo asked.

Crack!

“Ahhh!” Yoo Seok-Woo yelled.

“Ah!”

I[1] wasn’t exactly sure what happened. The moment a large shadow covered my face, I ended up closing my eyes. However, the scream that I heard was real. When I opened my eyes, I saw Park Deok-Gu quietly looking down and Yoo Seok-Woo screaming while sitting on the ground.

“Mr. D-Deok-Gu?” I asked.

“Ahhhh…” Yoo Seok-Woo continued to scream.

“You’re such a scumbag. Look, it’s not even broken so stop crying like a baby,” Park Deok-Gu commented.

“Ahhhh…” Yoo Seok-Woo screamed again.

Park Deok-Gu raised his large hand into the air once more. With his hand exactly above Yoo Seok-Woo’s head, it made a thwack sound as it landed on his head. As if he got hit with a blunt weapon, the way Yoo Seok-Woo fell on the ground looked absurd.

“Ahhh! Uh…ugh…” Yoo Seok-Woo groaned.

“Hey, stop overreacting. I didn’t even hit you that hard…someone might think that we have a newborn baby here because of your screams,” Park Deok-Gu told him.

When he lifted his large foot, Yoo Seok-Woo’s body floated in the air for a moment. Park Deok-Gu kicked him. I was worried that he sustained serious injuries because he was curled up on one side of the wall.

“I-I’m fine now, so please stop. He’ll get hurt, Mr. D-Deok-Gu,” I said to him.

“Oh…” he said.

The way Park Deok-Gu glanced down at me was scary. But if I didn’t stop him, I was certain that Yoo Seok-Woo would really die because I saw him trembling while cowering on the floor.

“Don’t worry too much, noonim. I just pushed and kicked him. Jeez, this dude is exaggerating…”

But this wasn’t the only thing that happened. Several people came after hearing the commotion and after hearing Yoo Seok-Woo’s scream, they were running on their way here.

“Stop it!” someone yelled.

“…….”

“What do you think you’re doing right now? Mr. Seok-Woo, are you okay?” Lee Ji-Hye asked.

“I-I’m fine…” he answered.

Lee Ji-Hye was the person that caught my attention the most. She came here with a few people and then looked at us with a surprised look.

“Wh-What do you think you’re doing? Violence is prohibited inside the shelter,” she said.

“That man started harassing Ms. Ha-Yan, so all I did was hit him,” Park Deok-Gu explained.

“Is that true?” Lee Ji-Hye asked.

“I saw it with my own eyes,” Park Deok-Gu answered.

“It’s…not true,” Yoo Seok-Woo said.

“What?”

“Of-Of course, me grabbing Ms. Ha-Yan’s arm could cause a misunderstanding, but…it-it was an accident…” Yoo Seok-Woo explained.

“You sure talk a lot,” Park Deok-Gu commented.

“St-stop it, please. Deok-Gu oppa, as I’ve mentioned earlier, violence is prohibited here. Even if Mr. Seok-Woo did something wrong, using violence without hearing his side of the story can create a sense of incongruity among the survivors. Th-this method is…this isn’t right. We should first find out who was in the wrong,” Lee Ji-Hye suggested.

“...”

“Mr. Seok-Woo, did you really grab Ms. Ha-Yan’s hand and ridicule her?” she asked him.

“N-N-N-No, I would ne-never do that. That was definitely not my intention,” he answered while stuttering.

“So what Deok-Gu oppa saw…”

“I-I think there was a bit of a misunderstanding. Of-Of course I was trying to express my feelings towards Ms. Ha-Yan, but I misunderstood because I thought she felt the same way…I-I think that’s what caused this,” Yoo Seok-Woo explained.

“Is this true?” Lee Ji-Hye asked me.

“Yes, yes…it-it’s true,” he answered.

“Could you please tell me exactly what you said to her?” she asked.

“I told her that I wanted to become closer to her and Ms. H-Ha-Yan responded positively, so I…I guess I misunderstood her,” Yoo Seok-Woo answered.

“Ms. Ha-Yan, please tell me the truth. What Mr. Seok-Woo said just now, is it true?” she asked me.

Many eyes were on me and of course, I wasn’t used to it since they weren’t looking at me in a friendly way.

I instantly realized that no one was on my side here.

When my arms and legs started shaking because of my nervousness, I saw Lee Ji-Hye staring at me as if she was pressuring me to confess. For some reason, I found it difficult to talk.

“Th-that’s true, b-but after that, Mr. Se-Se-Seok-Woo…f-forcefully pulled my arm and s-said that…i-if I wanted to live comfortably here…I-I was a bit surprised…” I said.

“Please answer properly, Ms. Ha-Yan. I can’t hear what you’re saying, so please calmly answer my question,” Lee Ji-Hye told me.

“S-so…”

“So what you’re saying is that Mr. Seok-Woo did tell you that he wanted to become closer to you and you agreed to that, right?” she asked me.

“Sorry? Yes…b-but, I didn’t know that’s…w-what he meant…” I told her.

“I asked you whether it was true or not,” Lee Ji-Hye said coldly.

“I-It’s true. B-But…”

“Excuse me, Ms. Ha-Yan” Lee Ji-Hye said, interrupting me.

“Yes?”

“Wasn’t it you that misled and gave him an opportunity? If I recall correctly, since you arrived here, you’ve been hanging out with Mr. Seok-Woo. Am I wrong?” she asked.

“That’s true, but…no matter how you look at it…Mr. S-Seok-Woo first…”

“This kind of problem occurs because there’s an issue with how you usually act,” she said.

“No…I, you see…” I started.

“Do you think you can just create a situation where anyone can misunderstand and then simply deny it? Same goes for you Deok-Gu oppa. I can’t believe you just beat someone up before listening to both sides…” Lee Ji-Hye told him.

When I glanced over and looked at Park Deok-Gu, he looked slightly surprised. I’m sure he was thinking that he may have made a mistake.

“Miss, is what he said true?” Park Deok-Gu asked.

“I-It’s true that he wanted to become closer to me…b-but…”

I became confused because I wasn’t sure where I should start my explanation. I had no idea how I was supposed to handle this unexpected situation and where I should start from. My face turned red for some reason and tears started to fill my eyes because of the way people were looking at me.

“Do you think crying will resolve the issue?” Lee Ji-Hye asked.

“I-I’m sorry, I…I…”

“Just saying that you’re sorry isn’t going to work. Everyone hasn't been in a good mood these days…and Deok-Gu oppa…of course, I’m thankful that you helped a woman who seemed to be the victim in this situation, but you shouldn’t act on your own when you haven’t even heard both sides of the story. I think you…were a bit careless,” she explained.

“Ugh…”

“I’m not sure who’s the victim and who’s the perpetrator in this situation…”

“I-I’m sorry,” I said, apologizing.

“Apologizing won’t resolve this issue,” Lee Ji-Hye said.

“Please apologize to Mr. Seok-Woo properly since he’s the victim,” she told me.

“I, I…I’m…”

“What’s going on?” someone asked.

* * *

“What’s going on?”

I[2] was able to answer the question even though I was the one who asked.

The situation in front of me was suitable and excellent. I thought something was going to happen sometime soon, but I didn’t think it was going to be like this.

Park Deok-Gu looked slightly surprised and Jung Ha-Yan was shedding tears like a waterfall. Of course, she would think that the situation was unfair.

It was obvious who the victim and the perpetrator were.

Well, it was none of my business whether Jung Ha-Yan really was trying to use this guy named Yoo Seok-Woo, but the fact that Jung Ha-Yan was being cornered was pretty important to me.

Lee Ji-Hye spoke up first while looking at me.

“I’m glad you’re here Ki-Young oppa. You see!”

“Are you out of your mind?” I asked, interrupting her.

“Sorry?”

“I’m asking if you’re out of your mind, Ms. Ji-Hye,” I said again.

“W-What do you…”

“Do you think this place is some kind of playground? Do you think the monsters won’t hear you if you yell loudly like that? Just because we clean up outside the shelter regularly, it doesn’t mean that they can’t come here at all,” I explained.

It seemed like they had finally realized their mistake.

“Oh…you see, the current situation…”

“I watched from afar so I have a general idea of what happened, Ms. Ji-Hye. As you stated earlier, we don’t know exactly who the victim and the perpetrator are, but if the group corners one person, I’m sure I would get scared too. What do you think about this situation then?” I asked.

“That’s true, but this is clearly that woman’s fault…”

“Ms. Ji-Hye, can you be certain that Mr. Seok-Woo really did nothing wrong?” I asked, interrupting her.

She probably wouldn’t be able to say that she was certain. If she said that, she would be the one who would be penalized, not Yoo Seok-Woo. I saw her hesitate with an anxious and flustered look.

“Also, seeing Ms. Ha-Yan’s reaction, I don’t think that’s what really happened…more than that, I can guarantee that Ms. Ha-Yan isn’t the type to do something like that,” I said confidently.

It was far-fetched and right now, I was saying things that didn’t make any sense. Even though I was the one that said it, I found my words so nonsensical that they could elicit laughter from anyone.

To Jung Ha-Yan, protecting her by telling everyone that she wasn’t the type of person to do that could be a statement that she would be thankful for, but that wasn’t the case for other people.

I barely knew her and yet, I told them that she wasn’t the type of person to do that. Other than the fact that her nature was an innocent supporter, there weren’t any other real reasons I could use to guarantee that she was innocent.

Honestly, there was a lot I wanted to say. Accusing the victim of a sex-related crime in the first place was a mistake. As a woman, there was no way Lee Ji-Hye wouldn’t know that. The only reason why she intentionally took Yoo Seok-Woo’s side was that she had a hidden intention to strengthen her group by rejecting outsiders. If not that, then she was planning on screwing over Jung Ha-Yan from the start.

It wouldn’t be bad to nitpick every single issue and logically refute them, but forcefully moving forward with it could also be effective. No, there’s no way it wouldn’t work.

But…

‘I’m powerful.’

I was the one in power here. My words were more significant than anyone else here.

“Ms. Ha-Yan isn’t the type of person to do that,” I said again.

“Oh…well…”

Jung Ha-Yan looked at me after wiping her tears and the others looked at Jung Ha-Yan with hostility.

To them, they may think that this situation was unreasonable since I suddenly appeared, cleared up the misunderstanding, yelled, and was being overly biased towards one person. Despite that, I was certain that I wasn’t going to be the one to receive the hate.

I started looking towards Jung Ha-Yan discreetly. A woman that was favored by the person in power. No matter how you looked at it, she was the type of character that people would hate. Especially by people like Lee Ji-Hye.

“Jeez, what are you all doing here…I think it’ll be best if Mr. Yoo Woo-Seok got his wounds treated first. However, once his injuries are treated, I’ll ask him properly about what exactly happened. Please move Mr. Seok-Woo away for now,” I told them.

“O-Okay.”

“Ms. Ji-Hye, please clean this place up so that you can start your day. Mr. Hyun-Sung will be returning soon. Deok-Gu, do a light patrol around the area since monsters might get attracted here due to the incident just now,” I said.

“G-Got it hyung-nim,” Park Deok-Gu answered.

“Also…Ms. Ha-Yan, please come with me,” I said.

“Okay.”

A few of the survivors gossiped among each other, Lee Ji-Hye was lightly biting her lips and Yoo Seok-Woo looked slightly anxious, but it was obvious what they were all thinking. I kind of heard what they said, but no one openly criticized my actions.

“What’s…with that woman.”

“She’s so full of herself.”

There was a better prey than me…

“Let’s go,” I said.

“Oh…okay,” Jung Ha-Yan said.

…It was a person that lacked power and could easily be taken advantage of.

1. Jung Ha-Yan’s point of view ☜

2. Back to Lee Ki-Young’s pov ☜