Chapter 8
The One Who Remembers, The One Who Rages
School violence was one thing — Park Gwangseok had intentionally endured it so they could collect evidence — but rape was a different story.
You couldn’t tell Yoon Mi-young to be raped again just so they could capture it on video.
“What should I do?”
Looking at Yoon Mi-young, who had collapsed into his shoulder and was now soaked in tears, Noh Hyung-jin frowned.
There didn’t seem to be anything he could do at the moment.
“I can’t handle this on my own.”
The biggest problem was that rape was a crime of complaint — meaning it could only be prosecuted if the victim (or their legal guardian) filed a report.
That law would be abolished in the distant future, but for now it meant that the right to press charges rested solely with Yoon Mi-young or that alcoholic who called himself her father.
“That bastard…”
The law regarding rape as a complaint-based crime had countless flaws.
Offenders often threatened victims into silence, and even if they did report it, the perpetrator could just storm in, cause a scene, and force a settlement — wiping the slate clean.
In fact, there had been many cases where teachers who committed rape at one school simply transferred to another and did it again.
Worse yet, if the victim’s parents were of poor character — as in Mi-young’s case — they’d often take the settlement money and call it even.
Money that should have been used for the victim’s mental and physical recovery would, in such homes, 100% end up squandered on alcohol and gambling.
“I can’t do this alone. I need help.”
For a middle school second-year student like Noh Hyung-jin, it was a problem far beyond what he could solve alone.
“Get down and stretch your arms!”
Teacher Lee Kyu-sung had called Hyung-jin into the teachers’ office and immediately grabbed a mop.
“You little punk, you think teachers are beneath you, huh?”
Since that day, the two had clashed constantly.
No — it wasn’t even avoidable.
Hyung-jin refused to be apart from Yoon Mi-young, and whenever Lee Kyu-sung called for her, Hyung-jin would stand guard outside the teachers’ office until she came out.
Naturally, rumors spread that the two were dating.
But Hyung-jin couldn’t have cared less.
The one feeling the pressure was Lee Kyu-sung.
He’d thought he’d found an easy girl to relieve his stress with — and then this brat suddenly appeared.
Their relationship had completely soured, and now the teacher was itching for any excuse to torment him.
“Sir, isn’t that a mop you’re holding?”
“Yeah, and punks like you who think teachers are trash need a good beating…”
“You do realize that’s considered assault with a weapon, right?”
“What did you just say?”
“You can hit me if you want. But reporting you is my decision.”
“You little—!”
Even then, Lee Kyu-sung couldn’t actually swing the mop.
He could feel it — the boy would definitely report him if he did.
“That son of a bitch…”
He glared at Hyung-jin with murderous eyes, and Hyung-jin returned his gaze with a look of sheer disgust.
Their relationship had reached the point of no return.
“I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“Because of me.”
“It’s not because of you.”
“It is. The rumors, the trouble…”
“Screw the rumors.”
Hyung-jin knew why she was saying that.
Every class period with their homeroom teacher had turned into a punishment session for him, and rumors about them dating were all over the school.
“If you’ve got time to worry about that, you might as well read another page.”
Maybe if he’d been an ordinary teenager, those rumors would have gotten to him.
But with the mind of an adult, such gossip was nothing more than background noise.
As for the punishments — he could endure those.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.”
“But… what are you going to do?”
“About what?”
“Are you going to keep following me until I graduate?”
“Well… that’d be a bit much.”
Once they became third-years, their classes would be reshuffled.
Protecting her would become difficult, especially with Lee Kyu-sung certain to interfere.
“And this won’t just end when we graduate, either.”
That type of rapist wouldn’t let go so easily — he’d likely call her out even after graduation.
“We’ll have to solve the problem at its root.”
“Solve it?”
“Honestly… to do that, I’ll need your help.”
“I… I can’t.”
“Basically, sexual crimes like this require you or your parents to file the report. But your father would probably just take the hush money and disappear.”
“…”
“And I don’t want to see that happen.”
“Then what do I do?”
“Haa… there is a way. But it’s harsh.”
“…”
“Could you do it?”
“I’m sorry.”
She shook her head.
Of course she did — she wasn’t the type to be ruthless.
That was why she’d never been able to ask anyone for help, even as things spiraled this far.
And truthfully, when offenders say “She brought it on herself”, there’s a twisted grain of truth — not in that victims are to blame, but in that predators always pick those who can’t fight back.
They seek out the weak, the isolated, the ones with nowhere to turn.
“He must have known that.”
As her homeroom teacher, Lee Kyu-sung would know her home situation:
an only child, her mother deceased, her father a drunken gambler.
A timid girl, too scared to resist — and a father who’d take a bit of cash to “settle things.”
He would’ve known all of that.
“That bastard… how the hell did he know so much?”
Hyung-jin froze mid-bite as he shoveled shaved ice into his mouth.
“What’s wrong?”
“Just… something doesn’t add up.”
“What do you mean?”
Lee Kyu-sung’s approach to Mi-young had been methodical.
But rapists rarely operated so systematically — most acted on impulse, driven by raw aggression.
To plan around a victim’s habits and surroundings implied one of two things:
either he was an obsessive stalker… or he had experience.
“He doesn’t act like a stalker…”
He showed hostility toward Hyung-jin — but only because the boy got in the way of his urges.
He didn’t display the fixated behaviors of a stalker.
Which meant he’d done this before.
“Right. You don’t just wake up one day and become a sex offender.”
Sex offenders usually escalate from smaller crimes.
No one just suddenly decides “I’ll commit rape today.”
And since he’d targeted Mi-young — a minor — it hinted at pedophilic tendencies.
Such offenders, ironically, often lost interest once their victims grew older and began to resemble adults.
“If that’s true… there might be other victims.”
If there were other adult victims, maybe — just maybe — there was a way.
“Ugh… my poor, precious money.”
Tracking down other victims wasn’t easy.
When he’d had his law office, he’d had entire teams for investigations like this — but now he had to do it all himself.
“Good thing I still remember a few tricks I overheard back then.”
He’d once picked up a few pointers from a private investigator who specialized in finding people.
Combining that with his own legal knowledge and patterns of sexual assault victims, he managed — painstakingly — to locate them.
The shocking part was that there weren’t just one or two.
“Four victims… unbelievable.”
There were four probable victims in total.
Two were now adults; the other two appeared to be high school students.
He must have discarded them once they started looking too mature.
“God, I hate this kind of thing.”
Hyung-jin lifted his gaze toward a large building.
Had she been living there with a husband, he wouldn’t have minded — but that wasn’t the case.
“Saint Home for Unwed Mothers… of course. My worst guess is always right.”
Ironically, victims of sexual violence often found themselves in relationships again — desperate for someone who’d accept and acknowledge them.
Too often, they fell for the wrong kind of man and ended up as single mothers.
“Who are you?”
When Hyung-jin entered, a staff member eyed him warily.
It made sense — he was a boy, and every woman there had been betrayed or abandoned by men.
Even a middle-schooler wasn’t automatically harmless; she’d probably seen younger fathers before.
“I’m here to see Ms. Kang So-young.”
“We don’t have anyone here by that name.”
“I didn’t say she was a resident. So how did you know she was a mother?”
“…”
The sharp remark silenced her.
Her reaction made it obvious.
“I’m not from the child’s father, you know. You really think he’d send a middle-schooler?”
“Hmm.”
Usually, it was the man’s family who sent people to apply pressure, so the staff would deny everything.
“Even so, men aren’t allowed to meet with the residents. They don’t like it.”
“Please — this is really urgent.”
“I said no.”
“Then at least pass her a message.”
“What message?”
“Ask her if she wants revenge.”
“Revenge?”
“Yes.”
“…Fine, I’ll tell her.”
He knew she wouldn’t meet him if he barged in.
And he couldn’t force it either — it would just reopen her wounds.
So he left the message and his phone number, and to his relief, he got to meet Kang So-young that weekend.
“You’re Ms. Kang So-young, right?”
“I heard you were a student… you look so young.”
She clearly hadn’t expected someone his age — certainly not a second-year middle-schooler.
“You said you were looking for me?”
“Yes. It’s about Lee Kyu-sung.”
Her hands began to tremble.
She didn’t stand, but the mention of “revenge” had told her everything she needed to know.
“Another student… he hurt someone again, didn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“Then tell her parents. Why come to me? Honestly, I don’t even want to hear about it.”
“Because her father would just take the money and drop the charges.”
Hyung-jin thought this was a good sign.
She hadn’t even asked for names — just hearing his name was enough to come.
Either she’d suspected it already, or she’d hardened her heart long ago.
“So you came to me — you want me to report him?”
“Something like that.”
“And if I refuse?”
In this country, rape victims rarely reported their attackers — people always assumed they were “asking for it.”
In a nation that handed out suspended sentences to rapists, what could one expect?
“I won’t force you. But the fact that you came here tells me you’ve already made up your mind.”
“…”
She didn’t answer, and Hyung-jin wondered what had made her change so drastically.
Was it just the cruelty of the world?
No — there was something else.
“Ah… I see.”
He realized it then.
Someone had once said, “A woman may be weak, but a mother is strong.”
“You’ve decided to raise your child, haven’t you?”
“How did you…?”
“Because raising a child takes money.”
Her eyes widened.
That was the reason she’d become so strong — her child.
Ironically, in this country, unwed mothers weren’t even guaranteed basic support.
Raising a baby required enormous expense.
If she’d planned to give the child up for adoption, she wouldn’t have needed to steel herself this way.
But she had — meaning she’d chosen to keep the baby.
And that meant she needed money.
“A boy?”
“A boy.”
“I see.”
A long silence passed before Hyung-jin finally spoke.
“I’ll help you.”
“What?”
“I’ll help you file for child support.”
“You? What could a student possibly know?”
“Probably more than most lawyers.
You haven’t received any support, have you?”
“…”
“Filing for it would cost at least five million won — and I doubt you have that kind of money.”
