You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 100

You’ve Been Defended – Episode 100

[The prosecution announced that Joo, the secretary of Ko Jin-ah, former executive director of Yangjin F&B, is involved in Cho Hyun-seok’s sex bribery case. The court issued a search and seizure warrant for Joo’s residence this morning.]

Listening to the news report from a specialized news channel, Kang Min-jae placed the freshly delivered jajangmyeon [Korean noodle dish with black bean sauce] on the table.

The news was quickly reported as breaking news on public broadcasting channels as well.

Perhaps it was because this was a rare achievement for the prosecution, which hadn’t been able to uncover anything substantial except for the individuals Ji Myung-ho had mentioned so far.

“It’s a relief the warrant wasn’t rejected,” Kang Min-jae mumbled, chewing his jajangmyeon.

He had been somewhat worried because they had failed to obtain an arrest warrant for Cho Hyun-seok, citing no risk of him fleeing, so this was a relief.

Even if there were individuals within the prosecution connected to the Yangjin Group, the prosecution organization itself had suffered a significant loss of prestige, so they must have been eager to seize any opportunity.

It would have been even easier since it was just a secretary, not an executive of the Yangjin Group.

*If the goal is to realize justice, I hope that all the Yangjin Group executives who received sex favors from Cho Hyun-seok will be completely exposed.*

However, what I prioritize is securing evidence that Chairman Ko Sang-kyung ordered the video to be taken.

“The evidence that Chairman Ko Sang-kyung gave the order must come from Joo Min-ji’s phone or hard drive.”

“Once that evidence surfaces, we’ll switch to an open investigation and announce that Jung Young-joon’s video was fabricated, so they’ll give us a heads-up before that.”

If the fact that Jung Young-joon is innocent is revealed to the world, how will Ko Jin-ah react?

We were assuming that she forced the divorce, knowing that Jung Young-joon was being wronged, in order to cover up her parents’ misdeeds.

However, once the full story is revealed, Ko Jin-ah will no longer have grounds to insist on a divorce.

But with the relationship between the two already broken, I don’t know if reversing the divorce and continuing the marriage would be a good ending.

Knowing Jung Young-joon, if Ko Jin-ah withdraws her intention to divorce, he is likely to forgive Chairman Ko Sang-kyung.

But what about Ko Jin-ah?

“Lawyer, you have a call.”

Kang Min-jae brought the phone from my desk.

The caller was Lee Ye-jin.

“Yes, this is Cha Joo-han.”

-Oh, Attorney Cha. It’s me.

“You must be busy, but you called.”

-I’m on my way back from Joo Min-ji’s house. Well, from what I can see, there doesn’t seem to be any handwritten lists. I’m heading back to the office with her notebook, phone, hard drive, etc.

“I’m glad it’s helpful to the investigation, but I didn’t expect you to update me in real-time like this.”

-I felt like I’ve been slacking off, so I wanted to let you know. I’m going to look for that video you’ve been searching for, but I doubt it’ll be on her phone or hard drive. I don’t know when the video was taken, but I think she’s cleared everything out.

“If we recover it with digital forensics, it might surface. Ah…”

-Digital forensics? The evidentiary value is too low.

I sighed even after saying it.

The evidentiary value of digital forensics will only be significantly expanded around 2015.

Now, in 2009, they are training experts, but the perception is definitely not the same as it was in 2018 when I was there.

-We’ll have to see what we can find. Trust me. I want to add charges of special rape instigation and distribution of obscene materials to Cho Hyun-seok even more than you do, Attorney Cha.

“Was there a black box [vehicle recording device]?”

At that time, not many cars had black boxes installed.

From some point on, the media frequently mentioned cases where installing black boxes greatly helped solve cases, so in 2018 when I lived, black boxes were considered essential.

-Yes, there is. Isn’t that amazing?

“That’s good.”

-If we compare this with the dates you met Cho Hyun-seok, I think we’ll find more things. What about Jung Young-joon’s video?

“Thank you.”

-Okay, I’ll contact you again.

I’ve been taking advantage of the situation before the laws were revised, but it seems like I’m being held back this time, which is a shame.

I hung up the phone and went back to the table.

Kang Min-jae had already quickly finished his bowl and was sitting in front of his laptop.

“Your noodles must be soggy, Lawyer,” he said, glancing at me.

Sure enough, when I picked them up with chopsticks, they were all stuck together.

I lost my appetite for no reason and put down the chopsticks.

I couldn’t leisurely eat because I had to rely on the results that Lee Ye-jin would bring.

“Ko Jin-ah seems to have gone to work.”

At his words, I also accessed the portal [web portal].

The main page featured an article about the relationship between the Yangjin Group and Cho Hyun-seok, as revealed by the prosecution in a briefing.

Since it was breaking news, most of the articles were superficial.

However, there was one article worth reading.

It seemed that more than a few reporters had rushed to Yangjin F&B as soon as the news broke.

Ko Jin-ah’s appearance today was captured on camera.

“There are a lot of reporters.”

Already, the reporters who wanted to dig into the divorce with Jung Young-joon were forming a crowd in front of Yangjin F&B.

This time, social affairs reporters joined the ranks, making the scale even larger.

Ko Jin-ah’s photo was taken against the backdrop of the underground parking lot where Jung Young-joon had entered to view personnel documents at the headquarters.

“I don’t think she would have received prior notice, so why did she go to work?”

Kang Min-jae said, scrolling the mouse wheel.

“It doesn’t look like she’s going to work, but she’s in a hurry to leave. Judging by the time, too.”

“Ah, that’s right. It looks like she’s getting into the car, not getting out of it, right?”

If she doesn’t get out of this situation quickly, she may have to be trapped inside until the reporters leave the headquarters.

“She’s the one who deliberately exposed Jung Young-joon to the reporters to mess with him, so it’s a bit satisfying to see her suffer like this,” Kang Min-jae chuckled.

“I hate these kinds of articles the most. In such a serious matter, a fashion article always comes out.”

“A fashion article came out?”

“Yes. Should I send you the link?”

Without even asking me to send it, Kang Min-jae sent the link via messenger at the same time.

Indeed, there was an article analyzing the tone and color of the suit, shoes, accessories, and bag that Ko Jin-ah was wearing to guess her state of mind.

“I remember you picking out clothes for Jung Young-joon when you sent him to the headquarters, thinking that this kind of article would come out. Fortunately, Jung Young-joon wasn’t exposed to the reporters, but Ko Jin-ah is finally being analyzed like this.”

I couldn’t help but laugh as I read the article that the suit she was wearing was from a line released by a certain brand in the last S/S [Spring/Summer] season collection, and the set was worth 20 million won [approximately $15,000 USD].

In addition, there was also content that she didn’t have a wedding ring on her finger.

The fact that Ko Jin-ah had demanded a divorce was already widely known, but it seemed that a lot of attention was focused on it because the progress made so far had not been disclosed.

In fact, there was nothing to disclose because there was no progress.

Anyway, there were many article photos that especially zoomed in on her finger.

When I think about it, Jung Young-joon still seemed to have his wedding ring on his finger.

“That necklace costs 8 million won [approximately $6,000 USD]. It’s so small that you can’t even see it well.”

Kang Min-jae still seemed to be reading the article carefully.

I didn’t think I needed to read the long, drawn-out lecture to the end, so I scrolled down.

Below that, there were many comments from netizens.

[hka***: The suit is really pretty, but it’s a bit much that it costs 20 million won]

[lpa***: You can buy something similar for 100,000 won [approximately $75 USD] in Namdaemun [large traditional market in Seoul]]

[kim***: Does anyone know where that bag is from? It’s so pretty ㅠ]

[pop***: Even if you know where it’s from, you probably can’t buy it;; It looks really expensive ㅡㅡ]

[kim***: How do you know my financial situation and say it’s really expensive; I might be able to buy it -_-]

[jis***: Looking at the strap part, it’s definitely an H company product. I looked for it as soon as I saw it, but I couldn’t find it no matter how much I searched…….]

The netizens’ analysis that followed was quite professional.

They said that they had searched through all of H company’s past fashion shows, catalogs, and wallpapers, but could not find the same design.

The netizens claimed that the bag was a custom design.

They even mentioned that it is very rare for H company to make such custom-made products.

In addition, since the tassel design on Ko Jin-ah’s bag was a new design first revealed at the H company fashion show in March, they estimated that the bag was also custom-made after March of this year.

[jis***: For more details, please refer to this link -> blog.bookhb.com/bkl0925. It’s an H company mania blogger who has organized all the designs by year and new fashion show products. I hope it helps ^^*]

The netizens were sad that they couldn’t buy the bag, but it was a great gain for me.

A custom-made bag from H company.

Moreover, the fact that custom-made itself is very rare, and that it was made after March 2009.

Then there is only one conclusion that can be drawn.

“Kang.”

“Yes?”

“Read the long comment below.”

At my words, Kang Min-jae quickly scrolled the wheel and began to read the comments.

He looked at the laptop with a serious expression for a long time, then looked at me with wide eyes.

“This… is that the bag that Cho Hyun-seok ordered? Right? Looking at the blog post, it’s definitely a bag design that Ko Jin-ah is holding that has never come out of H company.”

He had a very confused expression.

Kang Min-jae seemed to be thinking the same thing as me.

He couldn’t easily open his mouth and just mumbled.

I wasn’t much different from him.

The conclusion drawn from that comment was very shocking, and that’s why I had ruled it out from the beginning.

“Cho Hyun-seok’s lover isn’t Joo Min-ji… it’s Ko Jin-ah. Joo Min-ji just had Ko Jin-ah’s ring.”