The Light of Dead Stars | KSJ

52

As it turns out, Seri was telling the truth. The PI gathered the same information from vetting her contacts and doing a background check on the man. They also found claims of another woman naming him in a post, narrating the same pattern of possessive and vengeful behavior, but he's a nobody so no one batted an eye. He didn't cover his tracks enough, as the PI got to track the email sent to the tabloid to his personal phone.

"So what are we gonna do now?" Jin asks that Sunday after Sejeong updates all of you.

"Nothing," she says.

"Nothing?! That bastard ruined our names and we're going to do nothing?!" Jin yells. "He has to pay for what he did to us!"

You jerk in your seat, as you've never seen your husband this angry and desperate.

"Jin, we checked him out and he hasn't done anything since leaking those photos and that half-truth of a story. And though the cheating was a false claim, which obviously is terrible, you still were in a sexual relationship with Seri," she says. "We're working on removing all the stories online. The issue has died down a bit. Just focus on the company and how we can get back what we lost - that's what you have control over, not people's reaction to suing him or ruining his life."

"So that's it? We're letting him get away?" He huffs.

"He knows that we know, and that's enough for him to not try anything stupid because he knows he won't get a pass the next time," Sejeong reasons. "He's just... an ordinary citizen who's one civil case away from losing everything, and he can't be someone who doesn't have anything to lose - that's when he'll be dangerous, and who knows what he'll do - to you, to ___, to Seri... He wanted you to hate her, but he doesn't know that you spoke with her so just don't be seen with her again. He tainted your name and he wanted that but we can do something about it. So don't do anything that will make it worse."

"I... fuck, after all this, all he gets is a slap on the wrist?" Jin shakes his head.

"He's gonna live his life constantly looking over his shoulder and knowing that the next time he does something stupid, he won't get away easy," Taehyung pipes in. "He works in the entertainment industry, hyung. Hyun-a and I will keep an eye out for him. But Sejeong is right - we can't give him a reason to do more or dig more. We can't have that."

You take Jin's hand as it shakes in anger, and you wish your touch could do more, to soothe him and let all the negative emotions disappear.

"I mean it, Jin," Sejeong warns this time. "We already have eyes on him. I'm working with the PI. We know what to do so the issue won't get any bigger, so he can't be a threat anymore. Don't do anything stupid."

She looks at you as if to tell you to watch over him, given his tendency to hyper-focus or obsess over things sometimes. You nod and bid them goodbye, and for their own sanity and yours, you promise to do something normal for once to try to get your mind off things.

So you suggest going to that newly launched food park and then heading over to the Mangwon Hangang Park to get some peace.

Jin lets you choose all the food and feigns excitement, you could tell, because his eyes don't shine the way they usually do whenever he sees tasty-looking food. He doesn't talk about it when you both start eating, and he doesn't ask you how you're finding it, either.

You let it go, understanding that it's tough to accept that there's not much you can do to the man who almost ruined everything. But when you sit at the bench to look at the river and marvel at the full moon reflected over it, he surprises you with a question.

"What do you think he's doing right now?" He mumbles, as he sips his second can of beer for the night. "Probably not worrying about any civil case since we're not filing," he scoffs. "Probably not worrying about his reputation nor his livelihood, either."