diff --git a/src/corrupter.c b/src/corrupter.c
index 737c06c..8e92575 100644
--- a/src/corrupter.c
+++ b/src/corrupter.c
@@ -79,17 +79,18 @@ enum Interoperation_Result corrupt_byte(Interoperation_Input_Vars) {
 		byte_value = FLIP_BIT(byte_value, bit);
 
 		damaged_byte = true;
+	}
 
+	if (damaged_byte) {
 		// write the modified byte back to the file
 		FSEEK_MACRO(file, i, SEEK_SET);
 
 		if (fwrite(&byte_value, sizeof(byte), 1, file) != 1)
 			// on error
 			return INTEROPERATION_ERROR;
-	}
 
-	if (damaged_byte)
 		result->damaged_bytes++;
+	}
 
 	return INTEROPERATION_SUCCESS;
 }