You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 137

You’ve Been Defended – Episode 137

Hwang Young-chan looked slightly surprised to see me, but quickly composed himself.

“Ah, Attorney Cha. Long time no see.”

I know that expression.

He has a habit of slightly lifting his chin and raising the corners of his mouth to appear relaxed when he’s not.

“It’s been a while, Chief.”

“And next to you… Attorney Kang Min-jae.”

Called out of the blue, Kang Min-jae, who was standing behind me, stepped forward and bowed.

“Hello.”

“Yes, I’ve heard a lot about you. They say you’re very talented.”

“I’m just a rookie lawyer with many shortcomings. I’m still learning.”

Tension filled the prosecutor’s office.

The investigators, who had been busily shuffling papers and typing on keyboards, all stopped what they were doing and stared at us.

Facing Hwang Young-chan wasn’t that daunting, but I didn’t want to give him anything to talk about in front of so many onlookers.

“I came to see Prosecutor Yang about a case. If you two were in the middle of something, I’ll wait.”

“No, we’re finished. Hmm, Attorney Cha. It’s been a while, let’s chat for a bit. Attorney Kang can handle your business.”

Hwang Young-chan patted Attorney Kang on the shoulder as he spoke.

Attorney Kang glanced at me, trying not to make it obvious.

His eyes seemed to be asking what he should do.

“Attorney Kang, take care of the errand and head back to the office first.”

“…I’ll wait in the car.”

“Go inside.”

Kang Min-jae repeatedly clenched and unclenched his fists, looking lost.

I patted him on the back and followed Hwang Young-chan out of Yang Han-seok’s office.

“Hello.”

“Oh, yes. You’re working hard.”

On the way to Hwang Young-chan’s office, several prosecutors bowed to him.

Hwang Young-chan smiled faintly and acknowledged each greeting.

The prosecutors who greeted him looked at me, who was following behind, with strange expressions.

Some even looked almost shocked and hurried off somewhere.

They probably wanted to share the surprising news they had just witnessed with their colleagues as quickly as possible.

“Don’t worry too much about what people think.”

Hwang Young-chan said as we crossed the hallway.

His voice, without turning to look at me, didn’t sound particularly sincere.

“I don’t care.”

“Really? Well, you were always a bit thick-skinned.”

“Thanks to you, Chief.”

“Did I teach you that too?”

Hwang Young-chan chuckled and entered his office.

The sofa in the chief’s office, where I sat after a long time, wasn’t as comfortable as I remembered.

Maybe it was because my feelings had changed.

I was feeling strangely uncomfortable when he offered me a cup of tea.

“My wife went to England a while ago. She bought some black tea there, and it’s quite good.”

I only took the cup and held it.

Hwang Young-chan watched my fingertips, which weren’t holding the teacup, and shrugged lightly.

“Come on, when did we become so distant that we can’t even have a cup of tea together comfortably?”

Hwang Young-chan tended to be polite, even to his juniors, unless he was extremely angry.

Many juniors liked him because there were many chiefs who would just call them ‘Hey’ or ‘You’.

I won’t deny that I was one of them.

“I’m not uncomfortable, but are you, Chief?”

Hwang Young-chan chuckled at my question.

“Of course not.”

He moistened his lips with the steaming teacup and looked at me.

“It feels strange calling you ‘Attorney’. Even when I see articles, they keep saying ‘Attorney Cha Ju-han, Attorney,’ but I keep thinking, ‘That friend is a prosecutor, a prosecutor.'”

“Do you want me to come back?”

When I asked, Hwang Young-chan stared at me for a long time without answering.

“Are you thinking about it?”

“I don’t know.”

“It doesn’t look like it to me. Cha Ju-han, you’ve already been branded as a rebel. And I don’t think you didn’t know this would happen. No, the Cha Ju-han I know would have calculated it on purpose.”

Hwang Young-chan’s voice was filled with conviction.

I can’t deny it.

Revealing Kim Yeon-joon’s innocence in court and criticizing the prosecution’s sloppy investigation was a kind of ‘aggro’ [aggressive provocation].

From the beginning, my goal was to effectively make my name known.

It was difficult to exert influence in cases related to Wooshin unless you were a celebrity with a somewhat positive image.

So, I didn’t particularly deny it when people in this industry accused me of only chasing fame.

What I wanted was public sentiment.

“But I was really curious. Why? Why did you suddenly make that choice? You, who had more pride in the prosecution than anyone else, why did you suddenly leave? Why, you who hated being noticed, were so desperate to become famous? Why did the obedient Cha Ju-han leave me?”

His words became faster, and his once gentle tone became emotional.

“So, I came to one conclusion.”

“What is it?”

“Ah, Cha Ju-han found something out. So, his righteous and petty pride was tarnished, and he couldn’t trust me or the prosecution anymore.”

He retorted sharply and met my eyes once again.

His back, which had been leaning deeply against the sofa, was now straightened and leaning slightly towards me.

“Is it related to Milhae?”
Hwang Young-chan prompted for an answer with a faint smile.

“You said it was a coincidence that you took on the Kim Hyung-joon case at first, right? Yes, I thought it might be possible then. That you might not have deliberately targeted your own people. Because you’re stubborn, so I thought if you knew Kim Yeon-joon was innocent, you wouldn’t just let it go, no matter what others said. But, Oh Sang-hyun?”
Hwang Young-chan adjusted his glasses and continued.

“This is 100% your intention, isn’t it?”

“Do you think I deliberately targeted the Criminal Division 3 again?”

“Maybe not. But if you didn’t target Criminal Division 3, that means the target is Wooshin?”

He had clearly thought a lot since we parted ways.

His reasoning was close to perfect.

Since the idea that I came from the future is something ordinary people would never consider, the assumption that I found something out was the most reasonable at this point.

But even I, who experienced that future, didn’t know when Hwang Young-chan had connections to Wooshin.

Now everything is clear.

He was Wooshin’s dog since at least 2009, maybe even earlier.

“But let me tell you one thing, you made a mistake you’ll regret for the rest of your life.”

“What mistake are you talking about?”

“Whatever you found out, it’s not the truth. You didn’t even try to find out the truth properly and acted on it. You didn’t even consult me or give me a chance to clear up your misunderstandings about me or the prosecution! That’s arrogance. It’s dogmatic.”

In short, if I had misunderstood him, I should have checked with him to see if it was true.

It’s quite a talent to put it so indirectly.

“What do you think I found out that makes you so sure it’s not true?”

“Because nothing that would damage your pride enough to distance yourself from me and leave the prosecution ever happened in the first place. Have you forgotten? You said you wanted to protect the justice of the Republic of Korea, and I told you that’s why we’re here, in this prosecutor’s office. That hasn’t changed even now.”

I felt like laughing.

I thought he would show a slightly honest side, but in the end, it’s just hypocrisy again.

If I hadn’t seen him abandon me before his promotion to Prosecutor General, I might have believed him.

“I don’t know who leaked something to you. Or how you moved on your own and deduced something, I don’t know. But you made a mistake.”
Hwang Young-chan stood up abruptly.

And strode towards the window.

“Our chaebols [large family-owned conglomerates] are hotbeds of crime, and the prosecution is an institution that moves with the sponsorship of such chaebols, so of course, they’ll side with the chaebols? Is that why you took on this case, to give the prosecution that disappointed you a satisfying blow? Is it? Are you also trapped in such stereotypes?”

“Do you think I took on this case for no reason, solely based on that one thought?”

“Of course. If not, it means you were swayed by the crocodile tears shed by the perpetrators disguised as the weak and emotionally went overboard. Cha Ju-han, you’re not that stupid, are you?”

Crocodile tears, huh.

It wasn’t Oh Sang-hyun who was fooled by those tears, but Go Yoon-sung.

“Our investigation was flawless, and we didn’t give any favors even to the youngest son of the Wooshin Group. We judged solely based on the law. There was no substantial evidence that Go Yoon-sung assaulted Oh Sang-hyun, and there was substantial evidence that Oh Sang-hyun assaulted Go Yoon-sung. That’s why mutual injury wasn’t established.”

“That will be revealed in court. It’s not something the Chief can assert now, and even if you do, it’s not a bit of evidence I can trust.”
Hwang Young-chan raised one eyebrow.

“The prosecution’s investigation must have been fair. Of course. Even if he’s Chairman Go Sang-joon’s son, you wouldn’t have given him any favors.”

“…….”

“Please confirm that in court. Then I won’t challenge the prosecution anymore.”

“That sounds like you’re admitting that you deliberately targeted Criminal Division 3?”

My body is still too small to target Wooshin.

The current me will be crushed if Wooshin decides to step on me.

Well, from Wooshin’s perspective, they’ll probably see me as so insignificant that they don’t even need to step on me.

I can’t reveal my true intentions yet.

“Think as you please. The only person who can prove that what I found out, ‘that’ which made me leave this prosecution, is a misunderstanding is the Chief. As you said, I’ve already found something out and I’m confident in it. I don’t particularly think I’m misunderstanding anything right now. But if you clearly show me that’s not the case with this incident, I’ll have no choice but to admit my mistake.”

The word ‘something’ that doesn’t even have a form will tighten Hwang Young-chan.

I don’t know when or how he colluded with Wooshin.

Besides the deal for the Prosecutor General position in the distant future, I don’t know what kind of deals took place between them.

So, I can’t say it specifically, and I don’t intend to make reckless guesses right now.

But Hwang Young-chan will start to feel anxious about what I found out and whether there’s evidence.

Without knowing what the identity of ‘something’ I found out is until the end, he will review himself several times to see where I got the hint and learned about his corruption.

“Show me with this case. Prove that the prosecution didn’t hide anything about this case. How about sharing the CCTV [closed-circuit television] data you have first? After all, our purpose in coming to the prosecutor’s office was to inspect and copy the case records. As long as personal information is not revealed, CCTV is included in the scope of information disclosure, isn’t it? As you said, Chief, if all the investigation processes were fair and didn’t violate legal justice, it wouldn’t matter if we saw the CCTV.”