You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 441

“This year has been quite eventful, really,” Jo Bong-joon said, placing meat on the grill.

Today is December 31, 2011.

The last day of 2011.

Except for Manager Oh, who had to spend time with his family, and Kim Jung-woo, who had to meet his girlfriend, the rest of us were gathered at a Korean beef restaurant near the company.

It wasn’t particularly appealing since it was the same group of people I see way too often—Choi Jong-hyun, Jo Bong-joon, and Kang Min-jae—to the point where I wondered if a year-end party was even necessary. But I ended up coming because they said I had to play the role of the ‘sugar daddy’ (the one who pays).

“Hey, you. Why are you flipping it so often?”

“What?”

“The staff will grill it deliciously for us. You said you’re good at grilling, so you’d do it, but you’re grilling the expensive sirloin like this? Are you trying to die?”

“Ah, just leave me alone. I know how to grill it well.”

Choi Jong-hyun and Jo Bong-joon started fighting over something pointless again, and Kang Min-jae started mediating, trying to take the tongs away from them.

Once it goes into your stomach, it’s all the same anyway. What does it matter if you flip it multiple times or just once?

I took out my phone, waiting for their fight to end and for the meat to be grilled and neatly distributed in front of me.

And, as usual, I dryly skimmed through internet news articles.

Not long ago, news of the death of North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-il was announced, and Kim Jong-un succeeded him, signaling the start of a third-generation succession.

It’s been over a week, but articles predicting the future of inter-Korean relations still occupied most of the current affairs tab.

To be honest, I don’t really know either.

Because in my previous life, Lee Jung-chan was the president in 2012.

More than anything, it wasn’t a part that was closely related to my goal, so I didn’t think about it deeply.

Inter-Korean relations don’t affect hitting Wooshin unless a war breaks out.

I scrolled down dryly, recalling what 2012 was like in my previous life.

“Cha, eat some meat.”

Having ended up burning a few pieces of sirloin while fighting, they renewed their spirits and placed the first grilled piece of meat on my plate.

“The person who’s paying should eat first. We have that much etiquette,” Jo Bong-joon chuckled and distributed the remaining meat to Kang Min-jae and Choi Jong-hyun.

In the end, it seems they agreed that Jo Bong-joon would continue grilling the meat, but without flipping it multiple times.

“Hey, by the way, they’re abolishing ‘No Saturday Classes’ starting next year, right?”

“We were already on a five-day work week anyway.”

“Oh, right. That’s true. Good company.”

“Students will be happy since they don’t have to go to school on Saturdays anymore.”

Ah, that’s right.

Abolishing ‘No Saturday Classes’.

It was the most important issue for office workers and students.

“But is the Earth really going to be destroyed in 2012?”

“Will it? The Mayans couldn’t even predict when they would be destroyed, so how would they predict the Earth’s destruction?”

“Well, still. With the earthquake in Japan earlier this year and all, there are rumors that the Earth can’t handle it anymore.”

“Then why are you investigating Wooshin? If the world’s going to end this year anyway, we’re all going to die. You won’t even get to see Wooshin go down.”

“No, I’m just saying.”

While Jo Bong-joon and Choi Jong-hyun were having a serious conversation, Kang Min-jae’s gaze was constantly directed at me.

I didn’t know what he wanted, so I just kept my mouth shut, but Kang Min-jae chuckled and said to the two of them.

“The world will definitely not end. If it does, I’ll cut off my hand. No, I’ll give you both 100 million won [approximately $77,000 USD].”

“Are you kidding? Why would we need 100 million won if the world’s going to end anyway? And you have so much money, why only 100 million? If you’re so sure, give us 1 billion [approximately $770,000 USD].”

“Okay. I’ll give you 1 billion won.”

“But your tone is a bit unusual? Not ‘it probably won’t,’ but ‘definitely won’t’? Certain?”

“Yes. One hundred percent.”

Even while saying that, Kang Min-jae’s gaze was constantly directed at me.

Could it be that he believes I’m a time traveler who’s seen the future, so he’s talking so confidently?

I sighed and just picked up a piece of meat to eat.

“Then let’s trust Min-jae and work hard to take down Wooshin.”

“Trust me!”

Kang Min-jae no longer insisted on the Cha Joo-han alien theory.

Instead, he started pushing the Cha Joo-han time traveler theory.

He said it could be through a wormhole, or that time travel is possible if you can catch up to the speed of light, or that I have superpowers, and every time I refuted him, he would come up with a new argument.

He even stayed up all night, his eyes bloodshot from searching the internet, and came to tell me stories about time travelers.

“I’ll keep your secret.”

Kang Min-jae whispered in my ear when the other two weren’t looking.

“Do as you please.”

“But is there anything happening next year?”

Kang Min-jae whispered again.

There’s nothing that will affect us next year.

Government policies, or a few popular songs that play so much on the radio that I’ve memorized the melodies…

Because the president changed, the stories about the government have become meaningless, and the things that happen in the entertainment industry, or what songs are popular, have nothing to do with us.

In my previous life in 2012, I was busy collecting data on Wooshin and didn’t achieve anything significant.

So, it’s quite surprising to think that I’ve come this far in just about four years, from the beginning of 2008 when I first returned to this life until the end of 2011.

Haven’t I shortened the time quite a bit?

I have no doubt that the organ trafficking case will be the final blow to Wooshin.

When I first fell into this life, I set the goal of a Wooshin special investigation, and now it’s no exaggeration to say that I’ve reached the final stage.

Of course, I don’t know how much time I’ll spend in this stage, but I briefly entertained the hope that maybe I could see the end without having to go all the way to 2018.

The sooner, the better.

In my previous life, I had bet everything on catching Wooshin, so in the end, I had nothing left for myself.

So, if I achieve my goal a little earlier than 2018, I want to live selfishly, just for myself.

That’s not to say I’ll rush unnecessarily and ruin things.

‘It’s not something to think about already. Am I losing my edge?’

I tilted my head from side to side.

Until now, the passing of the year had no meaning to me.

From my previous life to this life, my mental age has accumulated, so I guess there are times when I get sentimental.

“Cha, why are you so quiet?”

“Ah, I’m just feeling strangely amazed that time has passed like this.”

“Is that so?”

“Well, we’ve been running busily. But we haven’t finished the race yet. Let’s not rest on our laurels and run hard next year too.”

“Oh, your rhyme is great.”

“Shall we have a toast in that spirit?”

“Good. Cha, don’t skip it today either. It’s a year-end party.”

“Alright.”

When I readily answered, Choi Jong-hyun, for once, filled my glass with soju [Korean distilled rice liquor].

“The toast should be done by Cha, right?”

“I don’t do that kind of thing.”

“Then I’ll say a word. So, for the new year, may only happiness be with us and only sadness be with Go Sang-joon… Cheers!”

“Cheers!”

* * *

“I don’t think I have much of an appetite today. Should we eat out?”

“What should we eat?”

“I don’t know…”

“Oh? Isn’t that Choi Jong-hyun?”

The employees, who were moving to the cafeteria to supervise the children’s meals at the House of Angels, turned their gaze to where one of them was pointing.

Choi Jong-hyun was coming up the stairs leading to the front yard of the House of Angels.

“Is he crazy?”

“After exposing them like that on TV, he’s coming here again?”

“He hadn’t come for a while, so I thought he was done after that broadcast, but I guess not.”

In fact, from the employees’ point of view, there was no reason to be so negative about Choi Jong-hyun exposing the fact that the House of Angels was involved in corruption.

After all, it was the place they worked, and they wanted the children to live well, so they thought it was right for the problems to be revealed.

But the problem was that the director’s frequency of getting annoyed had increased sharply since that broadcast.

The staff were finding it increasingly difficult to endure the director’s hysterical attitude, and they hoped that if something was going to happen, it would happen quickly so they could seize the timing to switch jobs.

If not, they just wanted her to stay quiet.

“I think we should tell the director?”

“If he starts coming and going again, we’re the only ones who will suffer.”

“If we don’t report it and she later throws a fit asking why we didn’t say anything, it’s better to tell her now.”

Upon hearing those words, the youngest employee quickly took out her phone and opened the messenger app.

[Director… Choi Jong-hyun is here…]

The director, who usually didn’t check her messages often, couldn’t just ignore the name Choi Jong-hyun and quickly sent a reply.

[What did he bring?]

[Nothing.]

[No. Even if he brought something, we can’t let that man come and go. I’m going out now. Block him from entering.]

While they were exchanging messages, Choi Jong-hyun was rapidly getting closer to the employees.

“Hello.”

Choi Jong-hyun, who had already arrived in front of the employees, greeted them quite gently.

“Ah… Yes. Hello.”

“Happy New Year.”

“Haha, yes… But what brings you here? I thought you weren’t coming anymore…”

“Ah, I’ve been busy for a while, but now that it’s the new year, I’m slowly coming back. I miss the kids. Are they doing well?”

“Yes, well… But the director will be upset if she finds out…”

“I guess so.”

Choi Jong-hyun’s gaze was directed over the employees’ shoulders.

The employees all turned around at once.

The director was approaching them from inside the building with hurried steps.

Her distorted face, even from a distance, seemed to indicate that she was very angry.

“Hey!”

The director called out to Choi Jong-hyun in a loud voice, even before arriving.

“Hello. Happy New…”

“Happy New Year, my foot… Did the person who wanted me to receive a lot of blessings do that kind of broadcast?”

“No, I was going to say, ‘Don’t receive a lot of blessings.'”

“What did you say?”

The director, whose face had turned red, glared at Choi Jong-hyun as if she wanted to kill him.

“Now, Mr. Reporter, no, there’s no need to call you a reporter anymore. Because you’re a third-rate internet broadcaster.”

“Well, that’s right.”

“Anyway, you’re banned from entering here now, so know that and go back!”

“Banned from entering? Why?”

Choi Jong-hyun asked as if he couldn’t understand.

“Are you asking because you don’t know? Where do you think you’re going after smearing the faces of our hardworking employees and angelic children! Aren’t you ashamed?”

“If you know that the employees are working hard and the children are angelic, why did you do that?”

“What did I do! Are you really going to keep pushing me like this? The kids who heard about that broadcast are teasing and bullying our babies for being from the House of Angels. Aren’t you the one who made it hard for the kids? So where do you think you’re going!”

“Sunbae [term of respect used to address a senior colleague or mentor]!”

Just as the director’s voice was getting louder and her gestures were becoming more violent, someone’s voice was heard from afar.

The employees, who had been watching the fight between Choi Jong-hyun and the director and had no time to turn their gaze elsewhere, looked behind Choi Jong-hyun at that voice.

“What, what is it…”

Behind a woman waving her raised hand, about 15 college students were rushing towards them.

“Oh, Se-yeon! You’re late?”

“Ah, the car broke down in the middle. Anyway, the Iljung Ilbo [a fictional newspaper] guys won’t even replace the rotten car, I’m so sick of it.”

The director’s eyes widened at the mention of Iljung Ilbo.

Iljung Ilbo was someone the House of Angels had some acquaintance with.

Iljung Ilbo was also the place that selected gifted children from the House of Angels.

And those college students…

“Hello! Are you the director?”

“Ah, yes. But what brings the Iljung Ilbo reporter here…”

“Today is the first day that the college student union club is coming to the House of Angels for educational volunteer work. So I came to cover it.”

The student who was at the forefront of the college students approached the director and bowed.

“Hello. I’m Kim Young-gyun, the president of the club who greeted you last time.”

“Ah, nice to meet you. Was today the start of the educational volunteer work?”

“Yes. The manager and I fixed it for today last year, and we even talked on the phone yesterday, but I guess it wasn’t communicated.”

“Oh my, look at my mind. I remembered it, but I guess I forgot it. I’m sorry. But… so many people for educational volunteer work?”

“Ah, yes. The manager and I discussed our plan, didn’t you hear about it?”

The director made a troubled expression, and Choi Jong-hyun stepped forward to answer.

“Hey, she heard it. I was just talking about it with her. The early childhood education students will take care of the young children, the education college students will take care of the elementary school children, and the education department students will take care of the middle and high school students. Right?”

“Ah, yes. We can decide for sure after meeting the children, but we talked about forming groups of a few people and having us each be in charge like a homeroom teacher, helping them with their studies and doing various activities. It will be held three times a week. Since our club is a union club, we have over 100 members, so fortunately, we have friends who can take charge on each day.”

Only then did the director awkwardly roll her eyes and start pretending to know.

“Ah, I heard it. I remember, me. I thought it was a really good idea. These days, many people are getting private education, but since the support we can provide is limited… The children each have different talents, but it was really frustrating because we couldn’t teach them accordingly. It’s such a good idea. Whose idea is it?”

The club president smiled and said to the director’s question.

“It’s Choi Jong-hyun reporter’s idea.”

“Yes? Who?”

“Here, Choi Jong-hyun reporter.”

The director’s face was filled with shock.

Choi Jong-hyun smiled coldly as he looked at her.

Three times a week is by no means a small number.

If each college student forms a group of about six children, they will quickly become close to the children, and it will be easy to keep track of the people.

If a child is going to be taken to Japan, that fact will inevitably reach the ears of the student in charge, and that will flow directly into Choi Jong-hyun’s ears.

The same goes for sending them out without notifying in advance.

Since they’ll find out anyway the next day, it won’t be difficult to deal with.

‘How about it, you old woman? Are you still going to say I can’t come here?’

Choi Jong-hyun looked at the director and smirked.