You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 217

You Have Been Defended – Episode 217

[It was exactly 8:30 PM last night, right? A fire broke out at the Light and Salt Welfare Foundation for the Disabled, where Lee Se-hyung, the son of Minwoo Party leader Lee Jung-chan, worked as a welfare worker. Fortunately, there were no casualties. However, a shocking scene was captured there, becoming a hot topic. Yes, it was the scene of Lee Se-hyung, who had been paralyzed in his lower body, walking out on two legs. ……]

I usually listen to the radio news on my way to work.

There’s a radio program that nicely covers current affairs issues with a pleasant voice in the morning, so I usually tune into that channel.

As expected, the first issue they covered today was about Lee Se-hyung.

It’s only natural.

There wasn’t a place in Korea that wasn’t talking about Lee Se-hyung right now.

It was the same in this morning’s newspapers, morning news, and radio.

[Immediately after the incident yesterday, Lee Se-hwa, the leader of the Liberty Justice Party, released a statement demanding an immediate explanation from Lee Jung-chan. Currently, the Minwoo Party’s bulletin board is paralyzed with posts demanding an explanation about Lee Se-hyung. However, the Minwoo Party has not yet released any explanation.]

From the beginning, I didn’t think Lee Jung-chan would give an explanation quickly.

Because if he rashly denied it, he wouldn’t know what kind of evidence would come out and embarrass them.

However, he won’t be able to remain silent forever.

Lee Jung-chan’s national fraud is the biggest political scandal in 21st century Korea.

“Lawyer!”

“Oh, Attorney Kang. What brings you to work so early?”

When I arrived at the office, Kang Min-jae was sitting at the consultation table with Manager Oh, talking.

“I was curious if anything had happened overnight, so I woke up early.”

“Did you explain it well to your grandfather?”

“Yes. You saw the Liberty Justice Party’s statement that came out right away, right?”

“Was that your grandfather’s influence?”

“Haha. Yes. He made a call right there.”

I thought the Liberty Justice Party’s response was quick, but I didn’t know it was Kang Kwan-woong’s [a powerful political figure] pressure.

I thought he had cut ties with politics after retirement, but it seems he still had some influence.

I was also surprised when Park Young-ki was appointed as the 3rd Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the Central District Prosecutors’ Office right under the current president, who has ties to the Minwoo Party.

It was possible because the current president, with only a few months left in his term, was suffering from a lame duck situation [a president whose power is diminished due to the end of their term].

“By the way, I saw on the broadcast that Reporter Choi went to the police station. Is that okay?” Manager Oh asked, listening to the story.

“I talked to him on the way here. He kept denying that he moved after receiving a tip, and he said he was released for now. But he said he probably won’t be able to avoid the investigation, so we need to prepare for that too. Attorney Kang, take charge of the Choi Jong-hyun reporter investigation.”

“Me? Am I allowed to take on something like that?” Kang Min-jae asked with a very touched expression.

“It’s not a difficult task. The charges will be dropped at the investigation stage anyway. I’m just saying help with submitting evidence and procedures.”

“Yes! I understand!” Kang Min-jae jumped up excitedly and went out to the veranda, calling Choi Jong-hyun right away.

Is he that happy?

Manager Oh, who was following his back with her eyes, couldn’t help but smile.

“I think we did a good job bringing Attorney Kang on board, right?” Manager Oh subtly lowered her voice, pretending not to, but secretly wanting to bring in Attorney Kang.

I shrugged my shoulders as he spoke.

“We’ll have to wait and see.”

“You’re really a lawyer, aren’t you?”

“Why am I?”

“You’re smiling too.”

“Am I?”

“Yes. The corners of your mouth are turned up right now.”

Was I?

It’s true that I feel good when I see him working hard…….

I had nothing to say, so I just went to my desk and sat down.

The morning passed peacefully without any new issues.

News came out that people were gathered in front of the Minwoo Party headquarters in Yeouido [a major financial district in Seoul], demanding an explanation from Lee Jung-chan, but there weren’t that many people.

It wasn’t the time to gather firepower yet.

Unless Lee Jung-chan makes a bad move, such as leaving the country to escape, the protests will not grow to a large scale.

And Lee Jung-chan wouldn’t make such a bad move.

The most promising presidential candidate would not choose to abandon his entire political career because of one scandal.

Humans are animals that move with desire, and politicians are a race with even more amplified attributes.

And those politicians tend to take the people, who are the source of their power, lightly, even while enjoying the glory of being chosen by the people.

In Lee Jung-chan’s case, as long as there are supporters who dogmatically follow him, he will continue to remain in this field like a hyena, no matter what scandal breaks out.

Because he has the belief that the people will forget everything over time and vote for him again.

[The fire department said that after searching the Light and Salt Welfare Foundation for the Disabled, they found no traces of fire. However, they said they found a pile of dry ice for performances and traces of something burned inside the event hall. They believe that this was set up to create smoke and a burning smell after cutting off the power to the building to fake a fire.]

Around lunchtime, the results of the investigation into whether a fire really broke out at the Light and Salt Welfare Foundation for the Disabled were announced.

It’s only natural.

There’s no way they would actually start a fire that could cause casualties just to capture Lee Se-hyung walking on two legs.

[bkl***: Dry ice for performances ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Are they crazy ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

100***: But they’re really smartㅋㅋㅋㅋ If they cut off all the power and there’s a lot of smoke because of the dry ice and even the smell of burning, it’s obvious that it looks like a fire

ㄴmou***: But isn’t that also a crime? I saw on the internet that the reporter who does internet broadcasting was taken to the police station at the scene

ㄴ100***: Reporter Choi Jong-hyun presented evidence on the broadcast that he was at the scene after receiving a tipㅋ And honestly, it’s justice, so shouldn’t they just say it’s not a crime? If it wasn’t for that incident, the whole nation would have continued to be fooled by Lee Jung-chan and Lee Se-hyung

ㄴkil***: Still, a crime is a crime; They’ll find out who it is if they check the CCTV. And Lee Jung-chan hasn’t released a statement yet, so it’s a bit premature to conclude that it’s Lee Se-hyung’s fraud…

ㄴdaw***: ㅋㅋ Se-hyung is here]

Immediately after the fire department’s announcement, the incident spread even more widely on the internet.

Of course, the ripple effect was great just from the fact that Lee Se-hyung walked on two legs, but in this case, it was revealed that someone caused this incident to prove Lee Se-hyung’s fraud.

People are interested in rivalries.

Especially a rivalry between someone unknown trying to realize justice and Lee Jung-chan.

Isn’t it like a scene from a cartoon?

“Cutting off the power and using dry ice and a burning smell was a really great idea.” Manager Oh also burst into laughter while looking at the internet reactions.

To be honest, I briefly considered whether I should really start a fire at first.

Because Koreans don’t evacuate even when the fire alarm goes off.

But doing that seemed like crossing the line, so I soon gave up the idea.

So, what I came up with was blocking the light.

Because it’s natural for a power outage to occur when a fire breaks out.

That way, I expected people to use their cell phones as a light source to check their surroundings.

That’s why dry ice was needed.

However, just having simple smoke could raise suspicion, so an olfactory effect was also needed.

Jun-sang cut off the power to the entire building at the timing I instructed, pressed the fire alarm, and ran through the hallway shouting, ‘Fire!’

And a little later, Jung-hyuk immediately infiltrated the event hall under the cover of darkness, created smoke with dry ice for performances, and burned paper around the event hall.

When people were agitated, Jung-hyuk immediately ran to Lee Jung-chan.

And at Lee Jung-chan’s direction, he went to save Lee Se-hyung.

If the two of them hadn’t followed my instructions perfectly and moved quickly, or if their teamwork hadn’t been a little off, they would have been caught.

“How do you expect this incident to turn out?”

“First, we need to see Lee Jung-chan’s statement. If a proper explanation doesn’t come out, the investigation will begin soon. If that happens, Lee Jung-chan won’t be able to run for president. The party leader will also be replaced. Then we can tie in the Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals case. But if, by any chance, they come up with a convincing reason why Lee Se-hyung could walk…….”

“We’ll have to hit them one more time.”

“That’s right.”

At that time, a text message arrived on my cell phone.

The sender was Choi Jong-hyun.

[Emergency press conference called at the Minwoo Party headquarters at 7 PM tonight.]

Is it finally the statement?

I’m very excited.

* * *

The area in front of the Minwoo Party headquarters was unusually crowded with people.

People demanding an explanation and reporters who moved quickly to attend the emergency press conference.

And even broadcasting station vehicles.

Standing by the window in the party leader’s office, Lee Jung-chan slightly opened the blinds and watched the situation, then returned to the sofa with an uncomfortable cough.

“Mr. President, would you like a glass of water?” The secretary asked, watching Lee Jung-chan, who was constantly coughing.

Lee Jung-chan slowly nodded and tapped the armrest anxiously.

While the secretary was out for a moment, Lee Jung-chan, who had been tapping the armrest, began to make a call somewhere.

After a long ringing tone, someone answered the phone.

“Chief Ahn. It’s me.”

-Yes, Mr. President. I was just about to contact you. How are you doing?

“How am I? The reporter bastards are swarming in front of the party headquarters. I feel like spraying them with a water cannon and getting rid of them all.”

Lee Jung-chan clicked his tongue and said, and Chief Ahn chuckled softly.

“What’s going on? There’s still no contact. How could it take so long to find out which bastard did that?”

-I’m sorry. I keep putting pressure on the police station in charge, but CCTV confirmation is not going smoothly…….

“You. You must find out who did this.”

At that time, the clock’s hour hand pointed exactly to the hour.

The secretary, who had gone out to prepare water, came in and whispered that it was time for the promised press conference.

“I’ll hang up now.”

-Yes. Take care, Mr. President.

Lee Jung-chan hung up the phone and took a sip of the water the secretary brought.

In the meantime, the secretary turned on the television screen connected to the press conference room.

Reporters were packed in the press conference room, where the spokesperson had not yet appeared.

And soon after, Oh Jang-hyun, the spokesperson for the Minwoo Party, appeared, opening the front door.

Camera flashes went off like crazy.

“Those, those, crazy bastards. They just gather when an incident happens. The reporters don’t even know what it really means to be for Korea.”

Lee Jung-chan frowned and slammed the armrest.

Oh Jang-hyun, who arrived in front of the microphone on the screen, opened his mouth, unfolding the prepared manuscript.

[……. In the incident that occurred at the Light and Salt Welfare Foundation on the evening of the 25th, Lee Se-hyung, the son of our Minwoo Party representative Lee Jung-chan, was captured walking.

Accordingly, Lee Jung-chan and Lee Se-hyung are being criticized for lying to the public. In addition, there are rumors that our Minwoo Party tried to gain public support by using Lee Se-hyung’s image. Malicious public opinion is also being created that even Lee Se-hyung’s disability is all made up. Therefore, our Minwoo Party is trying to correct the facts.

Although it has not been officially announced yet, Lee Se-hyung underwent spinal cord injury surgery last month and was successfully completed. He is currently in rehabilitation, but he is still using a wheelchair because he is not yet proficient at walking. Whether he will be able to walk fully like a non-disabled person is something we will have to wait and see after receiving more rehabilitation, so we have been postponing the announcement.

Lee Se-hyung said that he thought it would be better not to reveal the surgery until the rehabilitation was over, in case those who had the same disability would gain hope from the success of the surgery and then be disappointed again, and our Minwoo Party also agreed with this and kept it a secret.

Currently, Lee Se-hyung is able to stand up straight and is able to walk with assistance. The rumor that he can move freely on his own is not true. In yesterday’s incident, if you check the video, you can see him coming out holding the hand of his attendant.

We would like to reiterate that our Minwoo Party has never tried to gain public support through lies. Finally, we express our regret over the current situation in which some malicious forces are framing to disrupt the solidarity between our Minwoo Party and the public.]