1RomanceEB Chapter 18 I Hate You
Chapter 18 I Hate You
6 PM, Cheongdam-dong, Casa del Vino private club.
Kim Tae-ah, holding a glass of red wine, was chatting and laughing with a middle-aged man.
"Section Chief Li Guanyu, thank you so much this time. I've looked at that folder, and the contents are quite interesting."
Li Guanyu, the guy from SM's logistics department, chuckled and leaned closer, lowering his voice.
"Miss Jin, regarding this matter... I think we should inform the Second Young Master about it..."
"What's the rush?"
Kim Tae-ah took a sip of her drink.
"He'll find out once the media publishes it. At that point, he'll be too busy dealing with his good-for-nothing brother and that ungrateful female idol to care where the news came from."
She put down her wine glass, took out her phone, and glanced at it.
A short message.
Your package has been signed for. Kowloon Village Convenience Store.
She raised an eyebrow.
"interesting……"
After half an hour.
Kim Tae-ah sat in the private lounge on the second floor of the club and opened the package.
A small USB flash drive.
She plugged it into the computer.
turn on.
The folder is quite large.
Chat history, photos, and location information.
She looked at them one by one.
Then, when I saw a few photos, I suddenly paused.
These photos.
Everything is too ambiguous.
There were even selfies taken in bed.
There are also screenshots of the conversation.
"I miss you." "If you miss me, come find me." "Aren't you afraid of being found out?" "I'm not afraid of anything for you."
What is this thing?
Compare it to the original photo in your hand.
This level of dialogue is not present in the original version.
In the original version, only Bae Joo-hyun took the initiative to say "Are you there?", and Lee Jung-il replied with perfunctory messages such as "Send a cute photo".
And the contents of the package.
It's practically an adult channel.
Kim Tae-ah leaned back in her chair, tapping her index finger on the armrest, her eyes darting back and forth between the two screens.
Original screenshot.
Addition document.
Original screenshot.
Addition document.
"It seems this good-for-nothing has offended even more people than he thought."
"Someone around him was stealing his data and then conveniently added to his success."
She unplugged the USB drive and held it in her palm.
Then pick up another phone and make a call.
"Hey. It's me. Don't release the original stuff yet. I have something even more exciting."
Some people's brains are like they've been slammed in a door.
Kim Tae-ah is a typical example.
Three days later?
She can't wait three days.
After receiving the USB drive, she didn't even finish her meal before making the call herself.
"Hello, it's me. Don't send out that batch of materials that was originally scheduled for three days later."
"There are even more powerful ones."
Then she sent everything from the USB drive over.
Package the files, send them via email, and CC three gossip media outlets, with a special note: "Send them as soon as possible, and you'll get double the money."
The next day at 8:00 AM.
"Star News Chase" was the first to release it.
The title exploded like a torpedo:
[Exclusive Breaking News] Red Velvet's Irene's ambiguous chat logs fully exposed! The stunning idol secretly meets with a mysterious man late at night, and their conversations are incredibly explicit!
Eight screenshots.
The most explosive thing was that "bed photo".
In the dim light, the two snuggled together, and Bae Joo-hyun smiled the kind of smile that only appears in front of her boyfriend's camera.
It also included screenshots of the conversation.
"I miss you." "If you miss me, come find me." "Aren't you afraid of being found out?" "I'm not afraid of anything for you."
The comment section exploded.
—What the hell is that?
—Is this Bae Joo-hyun? Am I seeing things?
—I just became a fan of hers… This collapse happened way too fast…
Who is this guy in the chat log? What kind of penniless jerk is he?
—It's not just chat logs, there are also photos of them in bed. There's no way to clear this up now, kkk
—Is SM Entertainment having a run of bad luck this year? The problems with the previous group aren't even over yet, and now the new group is having issues.
—I'm a fan and I'm really upset. This conversation is just too much... Isn't she usually supposed to be a cool and aloof persona...?
The speed at which major forums repost content is faster than that of food delivery drivers.
Within ten minutes, it became the number one trending topic.
Within twenty minutes, three of the top five trending topics were on the list.
[Bae Joo-hyun's chat logs]
[Bae Joo-hyun's Relationship]
Red Velvet's stunning visuals have been exposed.
DCinside, theqoo, Nate Pann—all the hottest posts on these forums in real time were about this.
The post titles are getting more and more outrageous:
"So this is the fourth-generation god-like face that you guys have been praising to the skies?"
"Pann Live: Fans have started tearing down the posters."
"My friend works inside SM Entertainment, and he says the company is in complete chaos right now, with all the managers in meetings."
Someone has uncovered the man's information in the chat logs.
"Convenience store worker", "Kowloon Village", "Suspected former CJ playboy".
Although few people recognized that face, the power of the internet is so strong that it was completely exposed in less than half an hour.
"He looks broke, working at a convenience store. Why would Bae Joo-hyun be interested in him?"
"Wasn't it said she was dating the second young master of CJ? What's going on here?"
"The entertainment industry is really messy."
Various conspiracy theories began to emerge and ferment.
The time is set to 8:20 AM.
SM Entertainment's employee apartments.
The moment Bae Joo-hyun saw the news, she froze on the spot.
The teammates' phones were also vibrating incessantly.
Kang Seulgi glanced at her, silently handed over her phone, her eyes filled with disbelief.
Son Seung-wan's mouth was agape in an "O" shape, and she almost dropped her phone.
"Unnie... this..."
Bae Joo-hyun's mind went blank.
Within seconds, all she could hear was the buzzing of her own brain and the pounding of her own heart.
shame.
An intense sense of shame.
The heat started from the soles of my feet and spread all the way to the top of my head.
Then came anger.
She grabbed her coat from the back of the chair, rushed out of the practice room, and frantically pressed her phone.
"That madman Li Zhengyi!"
The call was connected.
She didn't even hear if the other side said "feed".
"Li Zhengyi!!"
"What are you trying to do?! Are you crazy?!"
"I trusted you so much, I thought you were a good person, and this is what you did to me. Chat logs, sex photos... You bastard!"
"Listen to me."
On the other end of the phone, Li Zhengyi remained calm.
The calmness only fueled my anger.
"You think I'll listen to what you say? You think I'll listen to your fabrications?"
"The chat history is from your phone, the photos were taken from your perspective, who else could it be but you! Tell me!!"
Li Zhengyi remained silent for two seconds.
Then the volume suddenly increased.
"Shut up."
That "shut up" silenced her completely.
Bae Joo-hyun was startled by the shout.
"Why are you yelling!"
"I'm yelling at you for being stupid."
"Listen to me carefully. My phone's chat history has never been leaked. Your own phone has been thoroughly hacked long ago. My second brother has people inside SM, and Kim Tae-ah has spies too. Think about your crappy phone, isn't the cloud backup password still your debut date? Hmm?"
Bae Joo-hyun paused.
Cloud backup password.
Debut date.
She hasn't changed.
"Pei Datou, you've been watched for a long time. The day you came to me, your background was already exposed. That photo and chat history on your phone are all in someone else's hands, and they can throw them out at any time to blow you up."
Li Zhengyi lowered his voice, but he still couldn't suppress his fierceness and impatience.
"You think I did all this to trick you?"
"I'm fucking patching up your hole."
Bae Joo-hyun's hand holding the phone began to tremble.
"Then... what about those bed photos? Those words? Those... I won't say any of that..."
"I built it."
"...What?"
"It's fake. I had it all photoshopped. The photos are face-swapped, the dialogue is fabricated. Everything has been Photoshopped, and the metadata has timestamps embedded. The SM technical department can easily confirm it's a forgery with a simple check."
Why did you do this...?
"Because your phone is already riddled with holes, you stupid woman."
Li Zhengyi practically shouted these words.
"Only one of these photos is real, the one you took of us that day. The enemy can detonate it whenever they want. I can only detonate a firework that they think is a bomb before the enemy detonates yours. Understand?"
Bae Joo-hyun didn't say anything.
"Don't understand? Then shut up and wait, say less."
There was a long silence on the other end of the phone.
Then Bae Joo-hyun suddenly felt very wronged.
"Even if what you're saying is true...it's all over the place now! Everyone's cursing me! My fans are leaving! My life is ruined!!"
Her voice trembled with tears, "You ruined all of this... You were the one who agreed to date me... I hate you."