You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 513

“……Um, well, I’m sorry if I said something presumptuous.”

It was Kang Min-jae’s deflated voice that pulled me from my thoughts.

I stared at him.

It’s generally said to be difficult to point out flaws to someone with an inflated ego.

It’s not that I haven’t had people like that around me, but I never felt inconvenienced enough or close enough to them to step forward and point it out, so I hadn’t experienced the difficulty.

But it seems it is indeed a difficult thing.

Looking at Kang Min-jae now, he seems to think he made a very rude remark.

“I’m not much of an orator, so I don’t know if what I wanted to say was properly conveyed. If you felt offended, um… well, I’d appreciate it if you could resolve it without cutting me off… That’s my small wish as I apologize……”

But I don’t think he was rude.

I wasn’t even offended.

I’m just feeling a bit of shame about the fact that the secret I’d been trying so hard to hide was exposed, and the lies I told to conceal it were revealed.

I was even surprised by Kang Min-jae’s ability to use a way of speaking that gives me a lesson without making me feel bad.

“I’m not offended. I don’t think you were being presumptuous either. It’s just that if I try to refute everything you want to say, I keep getting cut off. So I was just listening quietly, and it’s not like I kept my mouth shut because everything you said was right, you know?”

In fact, I kept my mouth shut because everything he said was right.

I had leaked so much that there was nothing to refute.

Of course, I might have been able to add this and that setting to somehow forcibly refute it, but Kang Min-jae completely defeated me in that he didn’t even allow me to attempt that.

Even so, I couldn’t coolly admit that everything Kang Min-jae said was right.

Judging from the fact that Kang Min-jae repeatedly said he respected me, he seems to regard me as special.

I’m not really that special, but if Kang Min-jae feels that way, there’s nothing I can do about it.

But specialness can act as a respectable point to some extent, but if it goes too far, it turns into a sense of alienation.

Apart from my desire to no longer lie, shouldn’t I at least try to make this a last-ditch effort?

“I know. Of course.”

[Lie]

As a price for denying the existence of superpowers, I was punished by noticing that Kang Min-jae was deceiving me like this.

But he also seemed to be trying to beautifully wrap up this situation that could have become awkward, so I decided not to press him further.

In the first place, when Kang Min-jae brought it up to me, he was already full of conviction, so changing his mind is close to impossible.

“Anyway… it wasn’t because I knew future knowledge, but I admit that I was trying to carry more than the average burden. It’s a problem worth thinking about. For now, it seems like what you’re saying is right.”

It will probably take a lot of effort to naturally accept the problem that Kang Min-jae pointed out.

In the future, when planning everything, I will have to ask myself countless questions, like, ‘Am I starting again?’

It is also very important to maintain balance in between.

It’s a difficult training, but I’m glad I found out before I started running for the WooShin special investigation in earnest.

I got up from my seat as it was.

Kang Min-jae looked up at me with a bewildered expression.

“Are you leaving?”

“I have to go. You’ve talked too much today too. Now rest, that’s enough.”

“I’m fine……”

“That’s what you think. Don’t forget you’re still a patient. Director Kang will be there, so you probably won’t need it much, but if anything happens, contact me.”

I took a bottle of juice from the refrigerator in the hospital room.

“It’s hot. I’ll drink this.”

“Ah, you can have it all.”

“What do you mean have it all? I’m going.”

As I left the hospital room, Kang Soo-il, who had been standing outside the door, approached me.

Because the conversation had been long, he seemed curious about what we had been talking about, but he didn’t ask.

I nodded slightly and went down to the parking lot with Tae-shik, who was waiting.

“I’m glad Kang Min-jae is doing better than I thought, right?”

“Yeah.”

“We’ve overcome one hurdle.”

I nodded.

I saw that Kang Min-jae was getting better, and the aftereffects issue will become clear after we watch it in the future, but the results won’t change just because I’m worried right now.

Therefore, for now, we must resume the existing investigation that was delayed due to the accident.

I need to check how far it has progressed, so I need to contact the others.

I took out the cell phone I had put in my pocket and opened the messenger.

The group message room was constantly increasing in badge numbers, as if it was in the middle of a heated conversation.

[Heo Min-woo: So can we put down our worries about Attorney Kang now?

Oh Yang-hoon: Yes. When I went to see him today, I wondered if he was really the person who had the accident.

Choi Jong-hyun: As expected, Min-jae is Min-jae, lol. It felt a bit awkward for Kang Min-jae to be sick, but there was no awkward feeling at all. I’m so glad. I think Detective Heo will also wonder if he’s the one who got hurt, lol.

Heo Min-woo: I want to visit Attorney Kang’s hospital room at least once, but I guess it’s still a bit early?]

It was too early to let the WooShin side know that Heo Min-woo was on our side, so Heo Min-woo had not yet been able to come to the hospital.

He seemed very worried, so I typed a message.

[You don’t have to worry about Attorney Kang anymore. Visit him slowly. Even if Attorney Kang says he’s okay now, he still had brain surgery, so he’ll have to stay in the hospital for a while. After some time has passed, you can go as if you have other business at Myungwoon University Hospital.]

As soon as I typed the message, everyone except one person read the message.

That one person seems to be Kang Min-jae.

[Jo Bong-joon: Attorney Oh came out? I’m curious what you talked about.

Choi Jong-hyun: I bet Kang Min-jae didn’t shed tears? He must have been touched to hear that Attorney Cha was so worried about him and cried.]

It seemed like a useless conversation was about to take place, so I was about to put my cell phone back in my pocket as it was, when suddenly a phone call came.

The caller was Heo Min-woo.

“Yes.”

─I didn’t call because I heard you were talking to Attorney Kang separately, but have you come out now?

“Yes. I’m on my way home now.”

─Then could you check your mailbox now?

At Heo Min-woo’s words, I connected earphones to my cell phone and went into my mailbox.

One new email had arrived from Heo Min-woo.

There were several attachments, a mix of video and image files.

“What should I look at first?”

─You don’t have to watch all the videos. The videos are attached as evidence to support the conclusion. Um, didn’t you have a diary entry from Choi Jae-hoon saying that he was ordered by Im Hyun-il to extract organs from a patient who was not brain dead?

“Did you find out where he was ordered to perform the surgery?”

─Yes. As you said, it wasn’t inside WooShin Hospital. The two of them moved separately from WooShin Hospital. Looking at Choi Jae-hoon’s card usage history, he took a taxi. So I checked the taxi number and checked the public CCTV [closed-circuit television, a video surveillance system].

“So where were they doing the surgery?”

─Actually, I don’t really know what that place is specifically. Security is tight, so I couldn’t get in. I can’t push my way in without a warrant. Of course, I could get a warrant by posting the contents of Choi Jae-hoon’s blog, but we’re not at that stage yet. How should I put it, it was like if that side knew that someone had discovered this hidden place, it felt like they shouldn’t know.

“A hidden place, was it not an ordinary hospital? Is it difficult to check online?”

─Yes. When I searched online, it didn’t feel like there was a business at that location. No business information comes up. The road view also cuts off at the entrance to this forest…….”

Wasn’t satellite photo confirmation available in 2012?

No.

Even in 2012, when I needed to grasp the structure of the area immediately, I had checked the terrain and structure through satellite photos for areas that were far away.

At that time, I mainly checked satellite photos provided by overseas portals.

Photos provided by domestic portals cover up places like security facilities with other images, but overseas portals show them as they are, as if they don’t care about other countries’ affairs.

This has caused minor controversy in Korea, so doesn’t that mean they provide accurate images?

“Did you look at the satellite photos?”

─Yes. I saw it. That’s um… ah, file number 15. Even with satellite photos, it’s not clear what this place is. Besides, the latest photo is from the end of last year, so you can’t see the completed 모습 [moseup, Korean for “appearance” or “form”]. There are no buildings, you can only see the state of the site being leveled.

“Then that means construction hasn’t been going on for very long. Is it completed now?”

─I’m not sure about that. I couldn’t approach inside the fence. All I can see beyond the fence are mostly trees. Anyway, I took a picture of that side just in case. File number 12 is that photo. Take a look.

I opened the file he mentioned.

A large fence that looked like the gate of a mansion was in a place presumed to be in the mountains.

“That’s right. It’s hard to guess what they’re doing.”

─Yes. I looked around carefully without getting caught, and there are two big gates, front and back. One of them is photo number 12. And that side all has something like guard posts. The area around the fence is all forest, so I had difficulty looking around, but it seems like there are also small side doors.

“Well, it looks like there’s something of unknown identity that’s putting a lot of effort into security.”

─Yes. If someone who doesn’t know well sees it, they’ll think there’s a national restricted facility here.

“Where is this?”

─I don’t know if you know the Jungrim district in Miseong, Gyeonggi-do. You know, the Jeonil New Town is right next to it.

“Ah, yes. I know.”

─It’s there, in what you’d call a small hill. It’s ambiguous to call it a mountain. If you look at photo number 11, there’s a map.

“Ah, I roughly know where it is. Songju Mountain is behind it. But it doesn’t seem like you can see it as Songju Mountain here. Is it private land?”

─According to the registry, it is private land. The owner is a corporation called RND.

“RND?”

─Yes. Was my pronunciation bad? Ar. En. Dee.

Heo Min-woo awkwardly rolled his tongue and emphasized.

RND.

I thought I misheard, but I heard correctly.

Is this going to be this interesting again?

Wasn’t RND a paper company that Ko Sang-joon established in the British Virgin Islands?

In the original future, it’s one of the paper companies that will be exposed through the ICIJ [International Consortium of Investigative Journalists] around next year, so I told Choi Jong-hyun to join the ICIJ to advance the timing.

So he is making scraps and portfolios that can appeal to the ICIJ.

Moreover, the ICIJ seems to want a reporter with fluent English skills, so he was even preparing for a test to belatedly be recognized for his English skills.

I’m not too worried.

Choi Jong-hyun seemed to be quite good at English.

“I see. RND…… That’s nice. I didn’t expect to hear that name here.”

Ko Sang-joon thought about the past when KDL Company and L&B were caught, and this time he tried to create confusion by establishing more paper companies and dividing the shares of RND.

In the end, the numerous paper companies that hold the shares of RND are also Ko Sang-joon’s, so it wasn’t a very meaningful action from our perspective.

Perhaps Ko Sang-joon thought that even if several paper companies were caught, RND would be the last to be caught.

Organ trafficking is one of the businesses they want to hide the most, so in that sense, they conducted the business under the name of RND.

That’s why the land where Okashima Hospital was established and the land of this hospital that Heo Min-woo discovered were all purchased under the name of RND.

If someone who doesn’t know well sees it, RND will just look like it’s in the land leasing business, right?

Coincidentally, there are two hospitals on those lands.

─Why? Do you know the place?

“Ah, judging from the fact that you didn’t know, it seems like it wasn’t shared with Detective Heo yet. Well, you probably haven’t been able to organize the files properly yet. It will take time to edit the data so that Detective Heo can understand it easily, and in the meantime, Reporter Choi has been busy preparing various documents.”

─Yes? Um, when I took out the registry of RND, I didn’t feel anything particularly strange. Ah, I also attached the registry, so let’s talk while looking at it. It’s all in English, but you’ll have no trouble interpreting it at all.

“I also have the RND registry. It’s a company in the British Virgin Islands, right?”

─Ah, yes. ……Wait, is it Ko Sang-joon by any chance?

“That’s right.”

Okashima Hospital in Japan, where organ trafficking is taking place, and an unknown place in Korea that seems to be prepared for organ trafficking.

The picture is roughly drawn.

How should I start?