The Devil Wearing a Mask (Part 3: Destruction)
Three days later.
Se-na sat across from Professor Cha Eun-young in her office, hands trembling, voice barely above a whisper.
"He raped me."
The words hung in the air like smoke.
Professor Cha's face went pale. She reached across the desk and took Se-na's hands.
"Tell me everything."
Se-na told her. Every detail. The grooming. The isolation. The alcohol. The assault. She cried through most of it, her voice breaking repeatedly.
When she finished, Professor Cha was crying too.
"I'm so sorry," the older woman whispered. "I suspected... I should have warned you more strongly. I should have—"
"It's not your fault," Se-na said numbly. "It's mine. I was stupid. I trusted him. I drank with him. I—"
"No." Professor Cha's voice was fierce. "None of this is your fault. Do you understand me? You did nothing wrong. Kim Tae-sung is a predator. This is entirely on him."
"But I don't have proof," Se-na said. "It's just my word against his. And he's right—who will believe me?"
Professor Cha was quiet for a long moment.
"Do you have any physical evidence? Medical records? The clothes you were wearing?"
Se-na shook her head. "I threw them away. I couldn't stand to look at them."
"Security footage?"
"He said the cameras in his building are broken."
Professor Cha closed her eyes, thinking hard.
"Okay. Here's what we're going to do. We'll file a formal complaint with the university. I'll support you every step of the way. I'll testify to his pattern of behavior, to my own concerns—"
"But you don't have proof either," Se-na said. "Just suspicions."
"I know. But Se-na, you have to try. If you stay silent, he'll do this again. To another student. And another. You could save someone."
Se-na looked at her hands. They were still shaking.
"Okay," she finally said. "I'll file a complaint."
"There's something you need to know," Professor Cha said gently. "This won't be easy. Kim has powerful friends. The university will try to protect itself, not you. There will be people who don't believe you. Who attack your character. It's going to get worse before it gets better."
"I know," Se-na whispered.
But she didn't know. She couldn't possibly have known how much worse it would get.
Two weeks later.
Se-na sat in the university's Title IX office, giving her statement for the third time. The administrator across from her—a man in his fifties with a bored expression—typed slowly on his computer.
"And you're sure you didn't give Professor Kim any indication that you were interested in a romantic relationship?" he asked.
"For the tenth time, no. It wasn't romantic. It was assault."
"But you did drink with him repeatedly."
"Because he pressured me to."
"Did you ever say no to the drinking?"
"I—at first, but—"
"So you did drink voluntarily."
Se-na felt like screaming. This interview was supposed to be about gathering her statement, not interrogating her.
"We'll continue our investigation," the administrator said, closing his laptop. "We need to interview Professor Kim and other witnesses. This process takes time."
"How much time?"
"Several weeks. Possibly months."
Se-na left the office feeling hollow. This was supposed to help. This was supposed to be justice.
Instead, it felt like another violation.
She didn't know it yet, but while she'd been giving her statement, Kim Tae-sung had been in his own meeting—with two people who would seal her fate.
Park Min-soo stood in Kim Tae-sung's office, arms crossed, expression serious.
At twenty-four, Park Min-soo was the student council president—a position he'd won through a combination of charisma, manipulation, and ruthless networking. He was handsome, trendy, always wearing the latest streetwear brands. His Instagram had thousands of followers.
He also owed everything to Kim Tae-sung.
Professor Kim had been his mentor since his second year. Had written his letters of recommendation. Had introduced him to important people in the art world. Had helped him secure a job offer at a prestigious marketing firm starting after graduation.
Min-soo knew exactly what Kim had done to Se-na. And he didn't care.
"This girl is trying to ruin your reputation," Min-soo said. "We can't let that happen."
"I appreciate your loyalty," Kim said. "But what can you do?"
"I can mobilize the student council. Spread a different narrative. Make her life difficult enough that she withdraws the complaint."
"How?"
Min-soo smiled. It wasn't a nice smile.
"Leave it to me."
Jung Woo-jin received the call from Kim Tae-sung on a Tuesday afternoon.
At twenty-six, Jung Woo-jin worked in the university's public relations and communications office. Officially, his job was to manage the school's image—handle press releases, social media, crisis communication.
Unofficially, he was the fixer. The person who made problems disappear.
"We have a situation," Kim said on the phone. "A student is making false accusations. If this gets out to the media, it could damage the university's reputation."
"Tell me what you need," Woo-jin said calmly.
"I need this to go away quietly. No media coverage. No formal investigation. Just... handled."
"Consider it done."
Woo-jin hung up and immediately got to work. He pulled Se-na's file, her social media profiles, everything he could find about her.
Then he started making calls.
To the Title IX office: "This case needs to be handled with extreme discretion. Drag out the investigation. Make it difficult for her."
To the campus security office: "The CCTV footage from Professor Kim's building on September 15th—I need it to disappear. Equipment malfunction. You understand."
To the university's legal department: "If this goes public, we could be liable. Our best option is to make the complainant withdraw voluntarily."
By the end of the day, the machinery of institutional protection was in motion.
And Se-na had no idea what was coming.
One week later.
Se-na walked across campus and felt eyes on her. Whispers followed her everywhere.
It had started subtly. A few strange looks. Some classmates who suddenly seemed distant.
Then she checked the university's anonymous message board—"Art School Bamboo Forest."
Her heart stopped.
The top post had her name in it. Her real name. Not anonymous.
Title: The Truth About Kim Se-na and Professor Kim
Posted by: Anonymous
Upvotes: 847
I'm posting this because everyone needs to know what kind of person KSN really is.
She's been having a relationship with Professor Kim for months. Everyone in the sculpture department knows it. She stays late at his studio, drinks with him, flirts with him constantly.
Now that he's trying to end things professionally, she's crying assault? Give me a break. She's just a bitter ex trying to ruin a good man's career because he rejected her.
I have photos of her leaving his building late at night, looking perfectly fine. I have messages from classmates saying she bragged about their "special connection."
This is a textbook case of a manipulative woman weaponizing assault allegations for revenge.
Don't fall for it.
The comments below were even worse:
User234: I knew something was off about her
FlowerPower: Attention seeker
ArtStudent99: Professor Kim would never. He's one of the most respected people in the department.
Anonymous847: She's been acting weird all semester. Super isolated, always tired. Probably mentally unstable.
WolfGang: Gold digger got exposed lol
Three hundred comments. Most of them attacking her. Calling her a liar. A seductress. A false accuser.
Se-na felt the room spin. She sat down on a bench, hands shaking as she scrolled through the vitriol.
Someone sat down next to her. Park Min-soo.
"Rough day?" he asked with false sympathy.
Se-na looked at him. "Did you write that post?"
"Me? Of course not. But I can't say I'm surprised someone did. People talk, Se-na. You weren't exactly subtle about your relationship with Professor Kim."
"It wasn't a relationship. He assaulted me."
Min-soo's expression hardened.
"Listen, I'm going to give you some advice as a friend. Drop this complaint. You're not going to win. All you're going to do is destroy your own reputation and future. Is that really worth it?"
"He needs to be held accountable—"
"Accountable?" Min-soo laughed. "Do you know how many connections Professor Kim has? How important he is to this university? You're a first-year nobody. You can't win this fight."
He stood up.
"Think about your future. Think about your career. Is revenge really more important than all of that?"
He walked away, leaving Se-na alone with her phone and the hundreds of anonymous comments tearing her apart.
She didn't know that Min-soo had written the original post himself, using a VPN to hide his identity. That the "photos" were carefully selected from public social media posts and captioned misleadingly. That many of the comments were from fake accounts he'd created.
All Se-na knew was that her world was crumbling around her.
And it was only going to get worse.
October. One month after the assault.
The disciplinary hearing was held in a small conference room. Present were five committee members, Kim Tae-sung and his lawyer, Se-na and Professor Cha, and a stenographer.
Se-na had hoped this would be her chance to be heard. To present her case. To find justice.
Instead, it was an execution.
The committee chair—a man in his sixties who Se-na later learned played golf with Kim Tae-sung—opened the proceedings.
"We're here to review the complaint filed by Ms. Kim Se-na against Professor Kim Tae-sung. Ms. Kim, please present your case."
Se-na stood, her prepared statement shaking in her hands. She recounted everything. The grooming. The isolation. The assault. Her voice broke multiple times, but she pushed through.
When she finished, Kim Tae-sung's lawyer stood.
"Thank you, Ms. Kim, for that... emotional testimony. Now let's look at the facts."
He clicked a remote, and a presentation appeared on the screen.
Evidence of Consensual Relationship:
- Multiple witnesses report seeing Ms. Kim leaving Professor Kim's studio late at night, appearing happy and willing
- Text messages from Ms. Kim thanking Professor Kim for his "special attention"
- No physical evidence of assault
- No contemporaneous report to police or medical professionals
- Ms. Kim voluntarily consumed alcohol on multiple occasions
- Ms. Kim continued to attend class and interact normally with Professor Kim for three days after the alleged incident
"Furthermore," the lawyer continued, "we have reason to believe Ms. Kim filed this complaint due to anger over the termination of her private lessons—a decision Professor Kim made due to concerns about Ms. Kim's emotional stability and alcohol consumption."
Se-na wanted to scream. Every fact had been twisted, every piece of evidence reframed to make her look like a vindictive liar.
Professor Cha stood. "I'd like to testify to Professor Kim's pattern of inappropriate behavior with female students—"
"Do you have direct evidence of any such behavior?" the committee chair interrupted.
"I have concerns and observations—"
"Concerns and observations are not evidence, Professor Cha. If you have specific incidents with corroboration, please present them. Otherwise, please sit down."
Professor Cha sat, her face flushed with frustration.
The hearing lasted two hours. At the end, the committee chair announced they would deliberate and deliver a decision within one week.
Se-na knew what that decision would be before they even left the room.
One week later, the decision arrived via email:
DISCIPLINARY COMMITTEE DECISION
After thorough review of the evidence and testimony, the committee has determined:
1. Insufficient evidence exists to support Ms. Kim's allegations against Professor Kim Tae-sung.
2. Professor Kim is cleared of all charges and will face no disciplinary action.
3. Ms. Kim is found to have filed a complaint without merit, potentially constituting harassment and defamation.
4. Ms. Kim is issued a formal warning. Any further baseless accusations will result in expulsion.
5. Ms. Kim is strongly encouraged to take a leave of absence to address personal issues, including alcohol use and emotional instability.
Se-na read the email three times, each word landing like a physical blow.
She was the one being punished. She was the one being told to leave.
The rapist walked free. The victim was exiled.
That night, Se-na returned to the sculpture studio one last time. It was after midnight. The building was empty.
She walked to the shelf where her sculpture "Aspiration" sat—the piece that had started everything, that had caught Kim Tae-sung's attention.
She picked up a hammer.
And she destroyed it.
Each blow felt like purging something from her soul. The statue that represented hope, innocence, dreams—she shattered it into dust.
When she was done, she gathered the fragments and arranged them into a new form. Sharp pieces jutting upward like knives. Like teeth. Like rage made solid.
She stepped back and looked at her new creation.
"Shattered," she whispered.
That's what she was now. What they had made her.
But as she stood there among the ruins of her innocence, something hardened inside her. Something cold and sharp and purposeful.
If the system wouldn't give her justice, she would take it herself.
If they wanted to destroy her, she would burn down everything they'd built.
If they thought she would disappear quietly, they had badly miscalculated.
Kim Se-na walked out of the sculpture studio for the last time, leaving her old life in pieces on the floor.
And somewhere in the darkness of her mind, a new persona was already forming.
Cherry Berry.
The weapon she would forge from her pain.
The mask she would wear while she hunted them down, one by one.
"This isn't over," she whispered to the empty hallway. "This is just beginning."
November 2020. Se-na's withdrawal from the university was processed.
She packed her things from the dorm, ignored the stares and whispers, and left campus without saying goodbye to anyone except Professor Cha.
"I failed you," Professor Cha said, tears in her eyes.
"No," Se-na replied, her voice flat and emotionless. "The system failed me. But thank you for trying."
As she walked away, Professor Cha called out: "Se-na! Don't let this destroy who you are!"
Se-na didn't turn around.
Because it already had.
The girl who had walked into Korea National University of Arts eight months ago—full of hope and dreams and innocence—was dead.
And something else had been born in her place.
Something that would not rest until every person who had hurt her, betrayed her, destroyed her—paid the price.
Kim Tae-sung. Park Min-soo. Jung Woo-jin.
She would remember their names.
And one day, she would make them remember hers.
[End of Chapter 5]
Next: Chapter 6 "The Artist's True Face (Part 1: Present Day Investigation)"