You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 581

You Have Been Defended – Episode 581

All eyes were on the whiteboard, where the plan was laid out.

The Special Forces were deployed under the Chief’s direct orders, but the riot police were there at Heo Min-woo’s request. Consequently, they regarded me with slightly questioning glances.

“Allow me to reintroduce myself. I am Attorney Cha Joo-han. I will now brief you on the planned surprise raid on the illegal organ trafficking and transplant surgery site at Ribbon Medical Center, and the operation to apprehend all individuals involved.”

My introduction as a lawyer caused a stir among the riot police officers, who hadn’t been briefed beforehand.

Though they kept their voices down, they exchanged glances and whispered amongst themselves.

Then, one of the riot police team leaders spoke up.

“Quiet. The Chief has ordered us to cooperate fully with the lawyer, no questions asked.”

At the team leader’s command, the whispers ceased. I hadn’t heard of the Chief issuing such an order, so I looked at Heo Min-woo, but he seemed just as surprised as I was.

Then, Kang Min-jae smiled and met my gaze.

Kang Min-jae must have contacted Lee Se-hwa in the interim.

“Assuming that’s settled, I’ll be brief. The illegal organ transplant surgery is scheduled to begin at 11:00 AM, which is 82 minutes from now. However, that’s just an estimate, so we need to move in as quickly as possible. We’ll depart from here in 37 minutes, at 10:15 AM, and proceed swiftly to our designated locations.”

As I spoke, Kang Min-jae posted four photos on the whiteboard.

These were the photos Tae-shik had retrieved from the trunk.

“Our objectives are to rescue Park So-eun, the intended victim of the illegal organ transplant, and to arrest all the criminals involved, including the surgeon Lim Hyun-il, the organ transplant recipient, Onodera Hiroki (a Japanese national), and the recipient’s mother, Onodera Shizuka. In Onodera Hiroki’s case, he’s an elementary school student and not directly involved in the crime, so ‘arrest’ might not be the most accurate term, but I’m using it for simplicity’s sake. From left to right, we have Park So-eun, Lim Hyun-il, Onodera Hiroki, and Onodera Shizuka. The top priority is rescuing Park So-eun, followed by apprehending the other three. Additionally, all individuals inside the facility who are complicit in the criminal conspiracy at this illegal medical facility are also subject to arrest.”

While I was talking, Heo Min-woo sent the photos of the four individuals to everyone’s phones.

Short vibrations echoed around the room.

“I’ve sent photos of Park So-eun and the three priority targets to each team leader. Please ensure everyone receives them and familiarizes themselves with their appearances.”

The team leaders confirmed receipt of the photos and then returned their phones to their pockets.

“Now, please refer to the diagrams in front of you. The top diagram is a panoramic view of Ribbon Medical Center, located in the mountains directly behind our current location. The bottom diagram shows the internal layout of the Ribbon Medical Center building. I’ll also send these to the team leaders.”

At that moment, Lee Jin-woo produced a piece of paper from his pocket.

It was a satellite photo of the Ribbon Medical Center’s location.

He must have printed it out immediately after receiving the dispatch order.

The last time we checked, only the groundwork had been laid, but it seemed there had been an update in the meantime.

The Ribbon Medical Center site and the completed buildings were clearly visible.

He posted the satellite photo on the whiteboard.

“I thought this might be helpful for understanding the operation.”

“Thank you. As you can see in the diagram, there are a total of seven entrances to Ribbon Medical Center. This includes the main entrance, the side entrance, two back doors, and three secret passages that are disguised so they don’t appear to be entrances from the outside.”

I moved to the left side of the whiteboard, closer to the personnel deployment chart.

“All personnel are divided into entry teams, standby teams, and external support teams. The entry teams will enter through the main entrance and the side entrance. Immediately after disembarking, the buses must block the main entrance and the side entrance to prevent vehicles from breaking through from the inside.”

“What are the widths of the main entrance and the side entrance?”

“Blocking them with a bus will make it difficult for any vehicle other than a motorcycle to pass. If we set up a barricade on the road leading to the main road, we can prevent all escapes by vehicle, unless they use mountain bikes to escape into the mountains.”

I marked the bus and barricade locations on the satellite photo that Lee Jin-woo had posted.

“We expect security personnel to be concentrated at the main entrance and the side entrance, so there will be resistance. Break through as quickly as possible and secure the entrances. Some of you will surround the outside of the building, while others will enter. The team leaders will communicate and decide how to divide the manpower according to the situation. After entering the building, the top priority is to rescue Park So-eun, followed by locating the three main targets. The arrest of lower-priority individuals should be left to the officers surrounding the outside of the building until then.”

I finished speaking and looked around at everyone present.

So far, everyone seemed to understand the situation without any issues.

I continued the explanation without delay.

“The remaining back doors and secret passage exits will be handled by the standby teams. When the entry teams move in, the criminal gang inside will likely try to escape through these exits. The standby teams will arrest them immediately. There will be quite a few people, so we’ll need plenty of handcuffs.”

At my words, the detectives standing with Heo Min-woo brought forward a large bag.

A clanging sound revealed a large quantity of handcuffs.

“Good. Finally, the external support teams will move to the main entrance and the side entrance alongside the entry teams to assist with the initial entry. Some of the security personnel will be subdued, while others will likely run inside to alert the others. All of these people must be arrested. In addition, if anyone attempts to escape from the inside to the main entrance or side entrance, the external support teams will be responsible for apprehending them as well. If the external support teams have sufficient manpower, please communicate with the entry teams and offer support inside if necessary. If you have any questions or comments, please let me know.”

As soon as I finished speaking, Lee Jin-woo raised a point.

“Looking at the diagrams you showed us, it seems that escaping through the secret passages inside Ribbon Medical Center would only take a few minutes. If the entry team’s approach to the main entrance is detected by CCTV, the key people will escape that way. I think it would be better to position the standby teams near the secret passages and back doors first, and then have the entry teams enter through the main entrance and side entrance only after receiving confirmation that the secret passages and back doors have been secured. Knowing that their escape routes are blocked might confuse them, buying us a little more time, even if it’s just a moment.”

Lee Jin-woo’s suggestion prompted nods from the other team leaders.

It echoed Kang Min-jae’s earlier concerns.

“I agree. Let’s have the entry teams move in through the main entrance and side entrance immediately after the standby teams arrive at the secret passages and back doors and send a radio message confirming their positions. However…”

“Yes. Even with that, it’s hard to guarantee a complete lockdown. If Ribbon Medical Center sees on CCTV that all seven entrances are secured by the police, the main arrest targets will likely escape into the forest over the fence. Then we’ll be forced to search the entire mountain, or track them down later by analyzing public CCTV footage.”

I checked my watch.

I had given the National Intelligence Service (NIS) until 10:10 AM, so there was still time.

“Kkeuaaaaaa!”

Just then, a grotesque scream erupted from one corner.

Instantly, everyone turned towards the sound.

At the center of their attention, the NIS agent was stretching and contorting his body.

“Success! I didn’t have enough time, so I couldn’t access the internal CCTV, and I barely managed to replace the external feeds with peaceful, generic videos! I’m done, right? I’m going out for a smoke!”

The NIS agent, clearly frazzled, made eye contact with me, shouted, and rushed towards the door with a crumpled pack of cigarettes in his hand.

The NIS agent was half out of his mind.

He couldn’t even open the door properly, so Hyung-shik had to assist him.

Everyone watched the scene with puzzled expressions.

“…As you heard, the CCTV cameras installed outside Ribbon Medical Center are currently malfunctioning.”

“And… just to add, in case you’re worried, the entrance road is not the private property of Ribbon Medical Center. The installation of CCTV itself was illegal, and cutting off the power supply was inconsequential.”

As soon as I finished answering, Kang Min-jae quickly added his piece.

It was a desperate attempt to alleviate the police’s concerns.

I hadn’t intended to reveal that he had hacked the system, but the NIS agent was too exhausted to be discreet, so I had no choice.

I had to make excuses like this.

“I will take full responsibility if any problems arise. The police will not face any repercussions because of the CCTV.”

There will be no problems.

The police will confiscate all the CCTV equipment today.

Even if Ribbon Medical Center makes a last-ditch effort and tries to implicate the police by claiming the CCTV was acting strangely, it has nothing to do with them.

Wasn’t it the NIS that did it?

And the NIS is not the type to leave traces.

“…Since the lawyer will take responsibility for that, we will all pretend we didn’t know about it and move on.”

Lee Jin-woo declared.

He seems to be the leader of the Special Forces unit sent to support us, so if he’s on board, the entire Special Forces will be okay.

I looked at the riot police.

“We will also pretend we didn’t know about it.”

It seems the riot police team leaders have also reached an agreement.

“And one more question. Looking at the map and satellite photos, the distance between the main entrance and the hospital building is considerable. Even if the CCTV is disabled, the security personnel can still contact the inside and deliver the news while we’re confronting them at the main entrance. Then the main arrest targets will be the first to receive the call. If the police suddenly raid the place when nothing is visible on the CCTV, they will definitely realize there’s a problem with the security system. Then we’ll be back to square one. If they escape through the fence, we may not be able to catch them…”

Lee Jin-woo pointed out.

Then another Special Forces team leader nodded and added.

“First of all, it would be good to request additional support in preparation for that. And… in the case of a sudden raid, especially when conducting an operation on a fairly large site, we need the specific locations of the main arrest targets. But right now, we don’t have that information, so there’s a greater chance of missing them.”

Another Special Forces team leader cautiously voiced his concerns.

He couldn’t say it outright, but it seemed he judged that the probability of success for this operation was not very high.

Their concerns are valid.

Logically, it’s almost impossible to completely seal off such a large site without deploying a huge number of personnel. In such cases, the primary goal would usually be to rescue So-eun.

Of course, they would try to arrest the criminal gang as much as possible in the process, and if they missed them, they would search for them later.

However, if they fail to catch the main arrest targets, they can arrest the remaining members and investigate them, and if they get clues based on this, they can naturally consider the next opportunity.

They will judge that it is better to increase the probability of success of a mission that must be successful than to carry out an operation with the risk of failure.

If I were in a situation where I could aim for the next opportunity, I would do that too.

But the problem is that the main arrest targets in Ribbon Medical Center are all foreigners and are being protected by powerful people.

Even if we mobilize public CCTV to track their escape route later, there’s no guarantee if they leave the country in the meantime.

They are people who freely use forged passports, and even if we issue a departure ban, there are loopholes to exploit.

A departure ban may not even be issued for the Onodera mother and son.

If we don’t catch them as criminals on the spot this time, there will be no next chance.

“That’s right. But if we have this, all the failure conditions you mentioned will be eliminated.”

I said, taking out the box from under my feet and placing it on the table.