Chapter 31
About an hour later, the jewelry store owner willingly handed over the CCTV tape, and it was played on the monitor at the police substation.
The inside of the alley was not visible, but the entrance was clearly recorded.
Three men surrounded one woman, shoving her with their shoulders and forcing her deeper into the alley.
A few minutes later, the woman walked back out alone, completely fine.
“I checked that none of them were in life-threatening condition, and I even called an ambulance for them.”
Gain spoke calmly.
The officer nodded.
“Good. You handled that properly.”
Another officer agreed.
“People getting hurt after picking fights while drunk happens all the time.”
After replaying the tape twice, the officer turned toward the three men who had been waving their medical certificates around.
“Would you like to file an official complaint?”
“Yes.”
Gain did not hesitate for even a second.
“Against all three of them for attempted indecent assault.”
The moment the words indecent assault came out, the three men's faces changed.
“W-Wait! We were just fooling around because we'd been drinking...”
“Tell that to the investigator.”
The officer organized the documents, then turned back toward Gain.
His tone had become more respectful than before.
“To be precise, both sides' complaints will be registered. They have medical certificates, so according to their claim, you'll remain a suspect in an assault case for the time being.”
“I understand.”
“However...”
The officer gestured with his chin toward the frozen image on the monitor.
Three men were surrounding a lone woman and forcing her into the alley.
“It's very clear who started this.”
As the stationery store owner, Mr. Im, was being taken into the interrogation room, he suddenly glared at Song Yeonggon beside him.
“Damn it! Mr. Song, you said we were only going to scare her! You're the one who called us out there!”
“Y-You bastard! What are you saying now?!”
When even Mr. Kim from the ramen shop nodded in agreement, Song Yeonggon's face turned bright red.
That statement went directly into the official record.
So did the fact that Song Yeonggon had been the one who gathered the others.
Mr. Song shouted.
“Hey, Mr. Im!”
One of the officers chuckled.
After leaving the police substation, Gain finally took a business card from her wallet.
It was the card a patient's guardian had given her before.
She stared at it for a moment, then called the number.
“It's me, Judge Kwon. ...Yes, it's nothing too serious. Could you introduce me to one of your junior lawyers who's good at criminal cases? I've become the complainant in one.”
There was a brief silence on the other end.
Then came a quiet sigh.
“You'll receive a call within thirty minutes.”
The judge asked nothing more.
About an hour after the final school bell rang that afternoon, Jeong Eunwoo stood in front of Hyundai OB-GYN Clinic, still wearing her Myeongwon Girls' High School uniform.
She looked at Yoonji beside her.
“Are you really okay?”
Vice class president Yoonji bit her lip and nodded.
Even so, she could not bring herself to take another step.
They stood before the narrow staircase leading to the second-floor clinic at the end of the market alley.
“...My mom will be angry if she finds out.”
“Why?”
“Because I went to the hospital without telling her.”
Eunwoo studied Yoonji's face again.
A few days ago, Yoonji had told Eunwoo that her menstrual cramps had gotten much worse since last month.
The school nurse, Chae Seunghui, had handed her two pills and said,
“If these don't work, go to an OB-GYN and get a prescription for an antispasmodic.”
After that, Yoonji had come to Eunwoo.
Yoonji was usually confident and reliable.
Seeing her tremble in front of a clinic felt strange.
“I'll go in with you. Dr. Im is a good person.”
Eunwoo remembered when she had first come here.
At the time, it had been an emergency, so everything had happened too quickly for her to think.
Still, she did not remember being as nervous as Yoonji was now.
“I'll go in first.”
Eunwoo led the way.
Yoonji followed one step behind her.
The familiar interior greeted Eunwoo as soon as they entered.
Choi Yuri, sitting at the front desk, immediately smiled when she saw them.
“Welcome. Is this your first visit?”
Eunwoo shook her head.
“No. I've been treated here before. I'm not the patient today, though. I brought my friend.”
Yoonji stepped forward and quietly gave her name.
Yuri handed her a registration form.
“It's your first visit, right? Just write your name, age, and contact information here.”
Then she added reassuringly,
“Minors can receive OB-GYN treatment on their own. You don't need to worry.”
Yoonji gave an awkward smile and accepted the pen.
Apparently, she had been afraid that she might need a parent's permission.
Eunwoo quietly watched from beside her.
A short while after Yoonji's chart was taken into the examination room, Gain's voice came from inside.
“Yoonji, come in.”
Yoonji looked back at Eunwoo.
“Want me to come with you?”
“No. I'll go alone. It's embarrassing.”
Yoonji nodded to herself and entered the room.
The door closed.
Eunwoo sat in the waiting room and placed her schoolbag on her knees.
Only then did she notice some new employees.
Two unfamiliar nurses were organizing things in the back.
One looked quiet and reserved.
The other moved carefully with one hand resting on her lower abdomen, perhaps because she was pregnant.
The clinic must be doing well.
While Eunwoo waited for Yoonji, three patients entered and sat down one after another.
One was a new mother with a baby in a carrier.
Another had a swollen face, as if she had barely slept.
The third was a young pregnant woman wearing a bright pink coat.
Each of them was looking at a cell phone.
Eunwoo accidentally saw the screen of the woman sitting in front of her.
[Exposé] I heard someone suffered side effects after treatment at Hyundai OB-GYN Clinic
It had been uploaded by a brand-new anonymous account.
There was no exact date.
No procedure name.
No patient's name.
Only phrases like someone I know and I heard.
Even so, the post had already passed a thousand views in half a day.
Then a familiar veteran username poured fuel on the fire.
└ PickyMom: See? What did I tell you? That's the clinic where the doctor doesn't even wear gloves;;
Replies immediately appeared beneath it.
└ GounMom: Who is this person you know? What date was it? I've posted three reviews about that clinic and uploaded every receipt.
Side effects? If you're going to name a hospital and post something like this, at least upload a medical certificate.
└ MountainBreeze: LOL, here we go again. Look at when this account joined. Today. Literally today.
└ HighSky: But wasn't that director involved in an assault incident recently? I heard she even went to the police station;;
