In the novel, none of the staff was on Kang Ho's side.
He had been raised in an extremely isolated manner; far away from the main house, and after one attendant quit and the other died before he turned three, all his attendants after that were abusive drones who served the whims of his Grandmother. Then he was thrown into the Korean education system, having to go to various cram schools and classes from a young age, and if he didn't show perfection he was beaten. As a result, when he grew up his personality was dry, crass, antisocial and cruel, because he had never learnt any kindness.
Those who worked at Kangmung and or directly in the Kang family household hadn't witnessed how Kang Ho was raised and only saw his awful personality. They easily sided with the family and also treated him unkindly, but now I had changed that narrative.
Nothing makes people move like curiosity. Why do you think woman are taught to yell 'fire' instead of 'help' or 'rape' when they're being assaulted or attacked by a man? It's because curiosity makes people do things. As Hobbes said, humans are innately selfish and self-serving, we seek to look after ourselves and not others by nature, and we seek to satiate our needs, such as human curiosity. That's why we don't look out the window when we hear someone yell 'help' or 'rape' it's not within our interest, but if it's a fire, that could affect us. That motivates us.
We'll open the window and even walk out onto the street when we hear someone yell 'fire'.
It's for that exact same reason that I showed my early talents.
A normal baby starts walking around twelve months and around about the same time they make indecipherable baby sounds. By 24 months they can start to somewhat talk like a regular person and it progresses from there. A child that defies that logic, that walks at 6 months and talks at 8, is some kind of genius.
A rare and curious existence that people want to see. It's information that can entertain their lives and possibly benefit them. So like moths drawn to a flame, they come to see me and realise the dire living situation the Kang Family had put one of their own children in.
I could see the beauty of pity burning in their eyes.
The moment they saw the faded yellow wallpaper, that one open window without a grill, the lack of baby safety in the room, the distance between the nursery and the main house, and that one flimsy lock; their brains were filled with subtle instinctive pity.
With pity comes sympathy, and with sympathy comes favour, and with favour, comes only benefits for me. With the amount of staff that were in this room, it was only a matter of time before rumours would circulate the Kang residence and leak out beyond the household.
I didn't know the members of the Kang family too well, but I did know how people under the limelight operated.
Public figures are vain creatures who need a good reputation to sustain their image, uphold their pride and keep their businesses running. The Kang Family wasn't likely to be any different. I predicted that the moment any rumours of Child Abuse began to circulate they would immediately try to rectify the situation, and when that time comes about they would welcome me with open arms.
But, for things to go the way I predicted I needed to make people fall in love with me.
I smiled my most loving smile, I batted my fluttery eyelashes, and I said, "Hello everyone, it's the first time I've been visited by so many people, it's a pleasure to meet you." I bowed deeply, respectfully towards them and stumbled on my feet, luckily Lee Min-Ki caught me.
I was still unsteady and I was at the age where my head was quite heavy in proportion to the rest of my body. While I found my little stumble annoying, the onlooking crowd practically gasped with adoration and moved towards me to hold me up.
"You're so well-spoken, who taught you such good manners?!" They praised.
"He's so smart I just know he will pick up a calligraphy brush when he does his Doljanchi[1]" they fawned.
While they fussed and played with me, some snapping pictures with their mobile devices, I noticed one person in the corner filming the entire thing. Realising this I smiled wider, "You are all too nice!" I said.
"Aww no, you're the nice one Kang Ho!"
"So cute! Your pronunciation is great, you speak better than my three-year-old!"
I simply smiled and continued to show them what a prodigy I was.
A few days later the fruits of my labour became obvious when Lee Min-Ki burst into the nursery and ran up to Kim Bora who was bathing me in a bucket.
"Sammy posted about Kang Ho on youtube and the video got ten million views!" Min-ki shouted.
"Oh is that s—wait what!!"
"It was Sammy, you know that American student that has been working at the stables part-time. She posted it on Youtube and even spoke about Kang Ho's mistreatment."
"WHAT!?" Kim Bora's eyes had turned wide.
"Watch, there are Korean subtitles" Lee Min-ki played the video, I heard the familiar the sound of English as a female voice echoed out.
"Hi everyone, this is Sammy Vlogs! As my loyal subscribers know I have been updating you guys daily on my fabulous life in South Korea. Everything about my exchange; from university to my friends was amazing, and when I got to work at the Kang residence part-time and look after their horses' thanks to my friend, I really lived my best life, and I forgot how dark the world can be.
I will give you all a warning because this is going to be a serious video and I will talk about topics such as Child Abuse and neglect. I've disabled ads on this video because I want you guys to know that this is not for profit. I need to bring this topic to light and you guys will help so much if you share."
Sammy went on to explain about the situation in the Kang Family household and about me.
"Staff members were buying him toys and food out of their own pocket, he's literally left in a dingy old shed with a single cot that is located miles from the main house, and I heard from one of the attendants that a maid was even beating him. If you're sensitive to photos of physical harm look away, I got these photos from a really nice servant who is always looking out for him."
Kim Bora looked sharply at Lee Min-Ki, he blushed and mumbled, "I didn't know she was going to use the photos like this, I thought she was going to an international child protection service that wouldn't be easily influenced by KangMung."
"It disgusts me" Sammy continued in her video, "That a family can do this to a baby, so what if his Mum died during childbirth, so what if he's illegitimate. He's still an innocent victim in all of this. Kang Ho is a bright, really intelligent child" she showed clips of me talking and walking with captions, saying 'he's only eight months old.'
"So guys make sure this trends so that it can reach the Korean public and so that Kang Ho can get help, he deserves all the love. And also if you can donate to charities that save children in need then do it. I want to use my platform the right way and protect kids."
"HOLY SHIT" Kim Bora swore, "Is Sammy crazy, getting fired is the least of her worries, the Kang family can have her buried for this."
"I think she'll be safe, last week was the end of her exchange, she posted this when she got back to the US. Kangmung has influence but I don't think they're crazy enough to assassinate someone in the States, especially over something like this."
"What about you or me though? It only takes a second for them to figure out who could have given her those pictures."
"Firing or punishing us is the least of their worries Bora" Lee Min-ki showed her his phone.
Trending on Naver, Korean Twitter, and various search engines was the keywords, "Kangmung abuse", "The Kang Family exposed", "Save Kang Ho" and "Arrest the Kang family".
"HOLY" Bora said.
"SHIT" I thought. I had expected this to blow up but not to this level. Well, it seemed like things were going to get very interesting from now on.
[1] Doljanchi is a Korean tradition that celebrates the first birthday of a baby. This ceremony blesses the child with a prosperous future and is very significant in Korea. The highlight of the doljanchi is a custom called the doljabi where the child is placed in front of a table of food and objects such as string, paint or calligraphy brushes, ink, and money. It is believed that if a child picks up a paint or calligraphy brush they are destined to be smart.