One of them, an older man, stepped forward.
"Maybe... maybe you can forgive her this once?"
"Yes, she did wrong, but maybe don’t go to the police."
"Let her go... Please?"
A few others joined in.
"She won’t do it again."
They all looked at her with pleading eyes.
But Gu Jin’s face didn’t soften.
She looked at all of them and said in a low voice:
"If I was the one begging like her, none of you would’ve saved me."
Everyone felt a chill run down their backs. She was right. If Gu Jin hadn’t shown the video, everyone would have believed the lies. They were ready to call her a kidnapper just because she was from another country.
The crowd went quiet.
Meanwhile, the three men—Lain, Lechisney, and Cane—were trying to crawl away quietly, like rats trying to escape.
But Gu Jin’s eyes caught them.
She smiled darkly and said, "No need to run. I already have you all in the video too. You were lying about seeing something that never happened."
Her voice was calm but full of danger.
"I’ll be submitting that footage to the police too. For slandering me."
The three men froze. Their faces turned pale.
"No, please!" Lain cried. "We were just confused!"
"We didn’t mean to—really!" Lechisney begged.
"We didn’t think it would go this far," Cane muttered, shaking in fear.
She turned to the crowd and said simply, "I’m tired. I need to sleep. Please leave."
Many people looked at each other awkwardly. They felt guilty.
Most of them quietly left, not daring to meet her eyes.
But a few people stayed behind. They had stubborn expressions on their faces. One of them stepped forward and said carefully, "Miss Gu Jin... maybe it’s better if you drop this matter."
Gu Jin raised one eyebrow. "Is that a threat?"
"No, no!" the man said quickly. "It’s just... if you punish people from our country, you won’t be able to live peacefully here. People won’t accept you."
Gu Jin chuckled softly.
"From this one night, I already know what kind of people live here."
Some of the remaining people lowered their heads in shame and walked away without saying anything.
Now, only four or five people were left.
Gu Jin looked at them and said in a blunt voice, "What? Do you need a formal invitation to leave?"
The last few people frowned.
"How rude," one of them muttered. "Even if she was robbed, she should at least speak politely."
"Yeah," another one agreed. "She should have manners."
Gu Jin gave a sharp smile.
"If I had shown manners earlier, I’d probably be in jail right now for something I didn’t do."
She turned and pointed at the three men.
"If I had been polite, these men might have done worse things to me before I could prove my innocence."
Everyone went silent again.
The last few people still felt annoyed and a little angry. But at the same time, they felt ashamed. Deep down, they knew she was telling the truth.
One man sighed and said, "Can we talk privately and settle this?"
Gu Jin raised an eyebrow again. "I’m open for private negotiation."
She turned to the beautiful woman and said, "She can pay me two billion dollars."
Then she looked at the three men. "And each of them owes me twenty billion dollars."
The entire group stared at her with wide eyes.
"W-What?! That’s insane!"
"This is daylight robbery!"
Gu Jin laughed a little.
"It’s your choice. I’m offering a private solution. That’s my price. Take it or leave it."
The last few people were about to argue when Gu Jin’s smile disappeared.
"You should be thanking me for giving you this offer at all. I could have handed you over to the police immediately."
Her voice was cold again.
"But if you can’t afford my price, that’s fine too. I’ll drag you to jail myself."
Her words were firm, and her eyes were full of fire.
No one dared to speak again.
They finally understood—
Gu Jin wasn’t someone to mess with.
The beautiful woman was frozen in place.
Her mouth opened, but no sound came out. Then finally, she whispered, "I... I don’t have that kind of money."
Gu Jin gave a soft smile, but her eyes were sharp. "Then you’ll be going to jail."
The woman’s eyes widened in panic. "Wait—no—please!"
But Gu Jin didn’t answer.
Instead, thick plant vines began to grow from the floor. They moved like snakes, wrapping around the woman’s legs and arms slowly but firmly. The more she struggled, the tighter they got.
"Stop! Let me go!" she shouted, but no one helped her this time.
She looked at the three men—Lain, Lechisney, and Cane—hoping they’d defend her.
But they were trembling, too scared to even speak.
After a long, silent moment, they took out their phones with shaking hands. The three of them stepped to the side and whispered to each other. It didn’t take long.
One by one, they sent the huge amount of money to Gu Jin’s account.
Their faces were pale and angry, but they said nothing. After sending the payment, they gave her resentful glares, then turned and stormed out of the tent.
The few people who had stayed until now looked at the woman, still tied up by vines.
Then they looked at Gu Jin.
One of them sighed. "We don’t know if it’s safe to let her stay with you. What if she hurts you while we’re gone?"
Gu Jin rolled her eyes and said calmly, "Don’t worry. I’m not a lesbian."
Then, suddenly, they all blushed bright red.
"That makes sense..."
They looked at the woman again, now squirming on the floor, completely wrapped up like a sleeping bag with eyes.
"She’s probably going to slap her a few times, not do anything weird," one of them mumbled.
"Yeah. And after what she did, she kind of deserves it."
With that, the last few people finally left the tent.
Silence filled the space.
The woman turned her head toward Gu Jin and hissed, "It wasn’t my fault... I needed money for my father’s treatment. He’s sick. I didn’t have any other choice!"
Gu Jin didn’t get angry. She just looked at her calmly and asked, "If that’s true, why were you so eager to frame me? Why did you lie and tell everyone I kidnapped you?"
Gu Jin leaned down a little, her voice quiet but cold.
"Even if you were stealing for your father, you could’ve just apologized on getting caught. But you didn’t. You tried to make me look like a criminal."
"What if the crowd had believed you? What if those three men had done something worse to me while everyone thought I was a bad person?"
The woman’s face slowly turned pale.
"Your situation might be sad, but that doesn’t give you the right to destroy someone else’s life. If you had been honest, I might’ve let you go. But instead, you gathered a whole crowd and made me the villain."
The woman couldn’t stop her tears now. She broke down and cried.
"I’m sorry! I really am! I know I was wrong... I didn’t mean to hurt you ... I just didn’t know what else to do..."
Gu Jin didn’t say anything. Her eyes didn’t soften.
She just thought to herself,
’Even if your life is hard, that doesn’t mean you can throw your problems on someone else. I’m not the one who made your father sick. Why should I be punished for it?’
She sighed, turned around, and lay down on her bed.
The plant vines slowly lowered the woman to the ground, but they didn’t loosen. Instead, they wrapped tighter, making sure she couldn’t escape.
"I’m going to sleep," Gu Jin said softly. "Try to run, and the vines will make you regret it."
Then she closed her eyes.
Soon, her breathing became slow and calm.
The woman looked at her sleeping form.
Carefully, she tried to move.
But the moment she twitched, the vines tightened sharply, squeezing her arms and legs until she whimpered in pain.
The rest of the night passed in silence.
...........................
The next morning, the sun rose and light spilled into the tent.
Gu Jin sat up, stretched, and looked down at the woman who was now pale, tired, and still tied up.
"Good morning," Gu Jin said casually.
The woman didn’t reply.
Gu Jin stood up, cleaned herself quickly, and packed her things.
Then she took out her phone.
With calm hands, she submitted the video evidence to the police—every second of it.
After that, she called them to come pick up the criminal.
When the officers arrived, she handed the woman over without a second thought.