Chapter 03
The Fall
Before the police could even summon her, Do Da-hee had voluntarily come forward for questioning. She was subjected to two consecutive days of intense interrogation.
Da-hee had never expected the questioning to be this relentless, and she was taken aback.
The agonizing hours dragged by, each minute feeling like an hour. The detective’s face grew increasingly irritated as exhaustion set in.
“Ms. Do Da-hee. What am I supposed to do when you keep repeating that you didn’t do it and don’t know anything? You’re not a parrot.”
“I’m simply telling you the truth, Detective. Please believe me.”
“This isn’t about whether I believe you or not, Ms. Do Da-hee. Think carefully. Are you absolutely certain you’ve never bullied Ms. Yoo Min-ah?”
Bang!
The detective slammed his hand on the table. Da-hee flinched and clenched her fists tightly.
“I’m telling you exactly what happened. But you’re talking as if it’s already been established that I bullied Min-ah and drove her to her death!”
“Ms. Do Da-hee!”
“The suicide note Min-ah supposedly wrote—have you even had the handwriting analyzed? Let’s be frank. Can you prove that the contents of a note whose actual author hasn’t even been confirmed are one hundred percent true?”
“As the person directly involved, shouldn’t you know that better than anyone, Ms. Do Da-hee?”
“Detective!”
Unable to contain her frustration any longer, Da-hee sprang to her feet. Her gaze fell on the document the detective casually slid across the table toward her.
“See for yourself. It’s the handwriting analysis report.”
“…!”
Da-hee picked up the document with trembling hands, her eyes widening as she read it. The report concluded that the handwriting was indeed Yoo Min-ah’s.
What particularly caught Da-hee off guard was the excerpt from the suicide note included in the report.
“You made me like this / Do Da-hee / Did you hate me that much? / I’m leaving because I can no longer endure the bullying / Even in death, I will never forgive you.”
Since the full note had never been made public, rumors about Yoo Min-ah’s suicide note had run rampant. The note was reportedly filled with anger and resentment toward someone in particular.
And Do Da-hee’s name was in it.
Da-hee stared in disbelief, covering her mouth as a hollow gasp escaped her. The detective shook his head at the sight.
“Now that you’ve seen it, why don’t you come clean and tell us what really happened?”
Just then, there was a knock at the door, which opened slightly.
“Detective Lee. Could I speak with you for a moment?”
The detective, who had been glaring at Da-hee, followed the junior officer out of the interrogation room.
“Min-ah. Why on earth would you…?”
For years, the media had constantly compared the two of them, calling them rivals. Da-hee had always brushed it off as just another media obsession.
They had never had any deep-seated grudges against each other, but neither had they been particularly close.
They were simply colleagues in the entertainment industry, the same age. Nothing more, nothing less.
No matter how hard Da-hee tried to understand it, she couldn’t figure out why Min-ah would resent her enough to attempt suicide.
Overwhelmed by frustration, Da-hee sank into her chair and bit down gently on her lower lip.
She slowly opened the hand she’d been clenching so tightly. The marks left by her fingernails were clearly visible in her palm, which was damp with nervous sweat.
Unable to make sense of the contents of the note, Da-hee felt her heart grow heavy. She buried her face in her hands, her skin dry and rough from exhaustion.
A short while later, the interrogation room door burst open.
“Da-hee!”
“Oppa Jae-min?”
Da-hee’s eyes widened in surprise at the sight of Park Jae-min, an actor who had once been under the same agency as her.
“You’ve been through a lot, haven’t you? I’m sorry I took so long. Come on, let’s get out of here.”
“Get out? What do you mean…?”
Just then, the detective entered the room and gathered the laptop and documents from the table.
“Ms. Do Da-hee, you’re free to go home.”
“Really? You’re letting me go just like that?”
“Come on, Da-hee.”
Da-hee stared at Jae-min’s outstretched hand as he stood silhouetted against the light. Her eyes trembled faintly.
When she remained standing there in a daze, Jae-min took her wrist and hurried her along.
“There are way too many reporters camped outside the police station right now. While Manager Kim distracts them, you can leave in my car.”
“…”
“Do you have any idea what you’re doing? You should’ve brought a lawyer with you, at least. What did you do wrong to deserve two whole days of interrogation? Do you know how worried I was?”
“…”
“Da-hee.”
Jae-min had been firing off one question after another, but when he realized she wasn’t responding, he finally stopped and turned to look at her.
Da-hee’s eyes were brimming with tears. She was clenching her teeth, desperately trying to hold back her sobs.
“Are you… okay?”
Jae-min reached out with a look of concern, but Da-hee stepped back and quickly wiped the corners of her eyes with the back of her hand.
“Yeah. I’m fine. But Oppa Jae-min, what are you doing here…? I heard you were overseas filming a drama.”
“As soon as I heard you’d gone to the police to be questioned, I booked a flight. I’m sorry I couldn’t get here sooner.”
“Why are you apologizing, Oppa? This is my problem…”
Jae-min studied Da-hee, who seemed to be deliberately keeping her distance from him, before speaking.
“Let’s get out of here first. I’ll take you home.”
With Jae-min’s help, Da-hee managed to slip past the reporters gathered outside the police station and escape safely.
Only then did she remember something she’d completely forgotten.
Park Jae-min, who was known throughout the entertainment industry as someone born into a wealthy family, was the son of the National Police Agency commissioner.
Come to think of it, Jae-min had helped her once before, a few years ago.
When Da-hee’s mother, Do Geum-ja, had caused a massive scandal over rigged gambling, Jae-min had quietly helped bury the incident. After that incident, Da-hee had cut ties with her mother.
Once Da-hee was settled in the passenger seat, Jae-min climbed into the driver’s seat.
“You haven’t moved, have you? Should I take you to the same address I knew?”
“Yes. But, Oppa Jae-min, you don’t have to keep helping me like this. We’re not even with the same agency anymore.”
“What could possibly be wrong with helping a younger friend I’m close to? And speaking of agencies, why don’t you terminate your contract and come work for my company instead?”
“What?”
“After seeing how your agency handled this whole scandal, I’m not impressed.”
“You know what our CEO Lee is like. He’s always been such a pacifist…”
“This industry is as fierce and terrifying as a battlefield. What good is being peaceful in a place like this? A company that can’t handle a crisis is one you should leave. Otherwise, everyone will go down with the ship.”
Park Jae-min, who usually chose his words with great care and kindness, seemed a little different today.
Since he wasn’t wrong, Da-hee didn’t argue. She quietly fastened her seat belt.
“Anyway, take your time and think about terminating your contract and moving to another agency.”
“…Oppa, do you believe me?”
“What kind of question is that?”
“I don’t want to believe it, but what happened to Yoo Min-ah… It’s because of me, isn’t it?”
Having seen the contents of the suicide note with her own eyes, Da-hee lowered her head, her heart heavy with turmoil.
Jae-min placed a hand on her head.
Startled, Da-hee looked up and met his eyes as he gently stroked her hair.
“I’ve known you for years. I can guarantee that you’re not the kind of person who would do something like that.”
“…”
“Don’t worry. And don’t you dare entertain any dark thoughts, no matter what happens. I’ll help you.”
“Thank you, Oppa Jae-min.”
“You don’t have to thank me. That’s what friends are for.”
At last, the familiar, gentle expression returned to Jae-min’s face. Da-hee answered with a faint smile.
Soon, the car carrying the two of them passed through the police station’s rear gate and made its way safely onto the road.
Da-hee stared blankly out the window.
Ironically, while her insides felt as though they had been burned to ashes, the world outside was dazzlingly white, blanketed in the snow that had fallen overnight.
Even after voluntarily submitting to police questioning and being released, the wave of public condemnation against Do Da-hee showed no signs of dying down.
The aggressive reporters and extreme fans alike spoke with cruel abandon, treating Da-hee as though she were a murderer who had driven Yoo Min-ah to her death.
No matter how hard people tried to contain the situation, sensational articles continued to pour out, accusing Da-hee of abusing her fellow actress and throwing her weight around. Baseless rumors also spread wildly, including claims that she had a sponsor who was pulling strings to advance her career.
Naturally, Da-hee’s schedule began to fall apart. Events, appearances, and advertising shoots were canceled one after another, both in Korea and overseas.
Amid all this, the production team of a drama scheduled to begin filming that summer requested a meeting with her.
The drama was a fantasy romance with Do Da-hee cast in the lead role. It had generated enormous anticipation ever since the casting announcement was published.
The director was someone Da-hee had worked with before and had a friendly relationship with. On top of that, the drama was being written by a celebrated screenwriter whose work every actor dreamed of appearing in at least once.
With that in mind, Da-hee arrived at the meeting dressed as neatly as possible, trying to suppress the excitement she felt as she faced the production team.
“I thought it would only be right to meet with you in person and talk about this, Da-hee.”
“As you know, the production budget for our drama alone is thirty billion won. It’s a challenging role, and the truth is, having Da-hee cast as the lead made it much easier to secure investment. But after this controversy erupted, the investors…”
The screenwriter and director trailed off, their expressions troubled.
Even without hearing the rest, Da-hee could tell that things were not going well. She struggled to ask the question.
“Please, feel free to tell me honestly. You want me to voluntarily withdraw from the production, don’t you?”
“No, that’s not it. We’ve spent several days thinking this over, and we were wondering whether you’d consider taking a different role instead of the lead.”
The director had clearly struggled to bring himself to say it.
Da-hee lowered her head, while Ju-young let out a disbelieving gasp.
The original story of this drama was already widely known, leaving Da-hee with very few options besides the lead role. The only alternative would be a minor supporting character with very little screen time.
Since Da-hee had already been publicly announced as the lead actress, appearing in a supporting role instead might actually be worse than withdrawing from the production altogether.
A heavy silence settled over the room.
The atmosphere was so stifling that sitting there felt like being tortured.
“Da-hee, why don’t you step outside and get some fresh air? I’ll wrap things up here and join you.”
At Ju-young’s suggestion, Da-hee forced a smile and nodded before getting to her feet.
With a mask covering her face, Da-hee stepped outside the building. Despite the cold weather, there were plenty of people around the office building near the Han River, perhaps because it was Saturday.
Worried that someone might recognize her and come chasing after her, she pulled her hat down firmly over her head and walked slowly across the bridge.
When the unexpected scandal first erupted and public criticism intensified, causing her schedule to collapse one event after another, Da-hee had believed she could endure it.
But what had happened today cut especially deep.
“Where did everything start going wrong…?”
If only Yoo Min-ah, who remained unconscious, would wake up soon.
If Min-ah died, there was every chance that the situation would become even worse than it already was.
Just as Da-hee lowered her head to wipe away the tears rolling down her cheeks, a powerful gust of wind swept across the river and blew her hat right off.
“Huh? My hat!”
Da-hee reached beyond the railing, trying to catch the hat as it flew away in the wind. She lost her balance and staggered violently.
“No! Aaah!”
In the blink of an eye, Da-hee lost her footing. Her body plunged through the air, falling helplessly toward the river below.
Before she could do anything to save herself, the dark waters swallowed her whole.
