You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 111

My parents came up from the countryside.

They said they would come up this Friday evening, stay at our house over the weekend, and go back down on Sunday.

“Juhan’s here!”

…They came to the office.

My mother and father were sitting side by side on the sofa, and Kang Min-jae was sitting across from them.

I had lost a game of rock-paper-scissors to Kang Min-jae after lunch, bought his share of coffee from the cafe, and had just come back up.

“Oh, the lawyer is here?”

And for some reason, Kang Min-jae was chatting very amicably as if he were their son.

He didn’t even notice that I had entered the office until he heard my father’s voice.

“Lawyer, my mother brought food for us to eat. We haven’t had lunch yet, so it’s perfect, right?”

Kang Min-jae pointed to the pink wrapping cloth next to my mother.

I wondered what nonsense he was talking about, having just enjoyed pork stir-fry.

“I don’t know if it’s okay to eat in the office and make it smell.”

“What are you saying, Mother? The smell will disappear quickly if we ventilate! Lawyer, please sit down quickly. Shall I buy some instant rice [pre-cooked rice in a microwavable container], Mother? There’s a convenience store right on the first floor.”

“Oh, really? That’s good. I packed rice, but it’s all cold.”

“Oh, then I’ll eat what you packed.”

My mother put the wrapping cloth on the table and unfolded it, revealing an 8-tiered lunch box.

“No. It’s all cold. Instant rice is better. Juhan, go buy some instant rice quickly.”

My mother gestured to me, who was still standing still, holding the coffee carrier.

Then Kang Min-jae jumped up, sat me down on the sofa, and ran towards the door.

“I’ll go, Lawyer. Do you want a big bowl? Or a small bowl?”

“…….”

“Okay, small bowl. I’ll have a big bowl.”

While Kang Min-jae was out, I went to the sofa and sat down.

I awkwardly helped my mother and father unpack the lunch box on the table.

A heavy silence fell.

I couldn’t understand why the conversation stopped as soon as Kang Min-jae disappeared, even though they were my parents.

“Juhan, have you been doing well?”

My father asked after finishing arranging the side dishes.

“Yes. We talked on the phone yesterday.”

“That’s true.”

“You said you’d arrive in the evening, how did you get here so early? If you had told me you would arrive early, I would have picked you up.”

“Your mother was in a hurry to leave early. I guess she missed you a lot. But she fell asleep as soon as she got on the express bus, so she forgot to call you.”

“How did you know the office address?”

“Well, when we arrived, it was too early. Instead of you coming back and forth to the terminal, it’s better to take a taxi. I gave your business card to the taxi driver, and he dropped us off here after seeing the address.”

My mother nodded in agreement, pouring soup from the thermos.

“I heard you’ve been working with this friend Kang Min-jae for two years.”

“It’s been a little over a year now.”

“He laughs well and is very sociable. He’s polite to adults. It seems like he grew up being loved.”

My mother said, handing me disposable spoons.

I still don’t know much about his family.

He never talked about his parents, and only mentioned his grandfather, so I just assumed there was something going on.

“Is that so.”

“I heard that friend has been admiring you and following you around since you were a prosecutor.”

“Admiration? There’s not that much difference in our standings.”

The conversation ended there.

My father leaned back on the sofa and looked around the office.

My mother, unable to bear the silence, pushed the side dish container closer to me.

“Juhan, I made japchae [glass noodles stir-fried with vegetables and meat], which you like. There’s more here, so put this in the refrigerator. What if it spoils quickly?”

My mother took out a large side dish container from the paper bag and handed it to me.

It was a large container that looked like it would contain kimchi [fermented cabbage], but through the translucent lid, I could see the japchae filling it.

I put the side dish container in the refrigerator and said,

“That’s too much. I don’t eat well at home.”

“What are you saying? You eat breakfast before going out, right?”

“I eat something simple as soon as I wake up and go to work right away. There’s not much I can even prepare. I don’t even have time to prepare a proper meal.”

“If you wake up 30 minutes earlier and have breakfast, it’ll be든든하잖아 [든든하다 (deun-deun-ha-da) means feeling full and satisfied]. You’re almost forty. You need to eat breakfast and take care of your health. Dongjin takes such good care of his health. Don’t you learn anything from seeing your doctor friend do that?”

“I don’t have time to prepare a meal.”

“If you wake up 30 minutes earlier and have breakfast, it’ll be든든하잖아 [feeling full and satisfied]. You’re almost forty. You need to eat breakfast and take care of your health. Dongjin takes such good care of his health. Don’t you learn anything from seeing your doctor friend do that?”

“I’m not forty yet. I’m only thirty-five.”

It’s a strange thing.

In my previous life, when my parents passed away, I regretted not treating them better more than a thousand times, but when I face them like this, I can’t speak to them warmly.

“앗뜨뜨! [앗뜨 (att-tteu) is an exclamation like ‘ouch’ when something is hot] I’ve warmed up the instant rice!”

At that time, Kang Min-jae came into the office holding two bowls of instant rice.

As he had predicted, it was a big bowl and a small bowl.

“Aren’t you hungry, Mother and Father? Even if you’ve eaten, it’s been a while. Shall I serve you some rice?”

Kang Min-jae put the instant rice on the table and asked.

The atmosphere instantly became friendly just by his appearance.

“No. We ate a lot.”

“Oh, then have some coffee.”

He put the two cups of coffee I had bought earlier in front of my parents and said.

“Thank you. Eat quickly. Juhan, eat quickly.”

Thus, the second lunch began.

I had already eaten enough, so even though it was the first time in a while that I was eating my mother’s food, I was too full to eat well.

I couldn’t even empty half of the small bowl, but Kang Min-jae really ate and talked enthusiastically.

“Wow, Mother. This is really delicious. It’s the best bulgogi [Korean marinated beef] I’ve ever had. You’d be a hit if you ran a restaurant!”

“Oh, really? Should I open a restaurant? Hoho. Eat a lot. Juhan, why don’t you eat more?”

“Lawyer, what are you doing? Eat quickly.”

“I’m full. Kang, eat a lot.”

I was leaning on the sofa, watching Kang, who was moving his chopsticks diligently, but my father looked at me disapprovingly.

“Juhan has a small appetite.”

“Oh, that’s right. Whenever we eat together, the lawyer always puts down his spoon first. The food is so delicious, but the lawyer…”

“Kang eats well, so it’s good to see.”

“Please call me Minjae comfortably, Father!”

“Haha, even so, you’re a lawyer. Ah! My wife made japchae and put it in the refrigerator, so take some when you go home. Juhan can’t eat it all.”

“Oh my, can I really do that? You must have made it thinking of the lawyer.”

Kang looked at me and said.

Then my father clapped his knees and shouted.

“Hey, there’s sincerity from the person who made it, but Juhan doesn’t eat it and lets it ferment in the refrigerator. It’d be nice if someone who eats it deliciously took some.”

“Oh, then I’ll shamelessly take some. Hahaha.”

Kang put down his spoon only after emptying the side dish container as cleanly as if it had just been washed.

He held his stomach and repeated that he was full.

“I really enjoyed the meal, Mother, Father. If I had known you were coming, I would have taken you to a fancy restaurant. What should I do about getting a free meal like this?”

“No. It’s good to see you eating well.”

Kang quickly cleaned the table and took out fruit from the refrigerator.

It was what Jung Young-joon had bought when he came a while ago.

He rattled off various stories as if the topic wouldn’t run out.

The main topics were praise for me and light-hearted gossip.

Perhaps, those were the stories my parents wanted to hear the most.

Listening to what he was saying, I even regretted that I should have said those things when my parents called.

“You must have been really proud when the lawyer was on the news.”

“I was proud, but if you’re going to be on the news, you should tell us in advance. We usually watch NBS News, but my cousins called and told us that Juhan was on News9, so we barely switched the channel and watched it. So we missed the first 10 minutes.”

“Ah, that’s the lawyer’s fault. It was really cool. Ah, I cut out the part where the lawyer came out and saved it as a video, shall I show it to you?”

“Oh, really? We’d love to see it if you show it to us.”

Kang Min-jae led the news screening where I appeared.

He was so over the top that he even turned off the lights in the office and connected the laptop screen to the television.

I couldn’t stop him because my parents liked his overreaction so much.

I had also monitored it once with the file he had saved, but it was awkward to see it again with my parents.

“Kang’s parents must be really happy. They have such a sociable son. We only have one child, Juhan, but he’s quiet and aloof, so it’s not fun. Even when we talk on the phone, all he says is ‘yes’.”

My mother said with a chuckle.

Then Kang Min-jae scratched his cheek.

“I don’t have parents, but I have a grandfather instead. But my grandfather scolds me for talking too much. I wish he would 봐 주셨으면 좋겠는데 [봐 주셨으면 좋겠는데 (bwa ju-syeoss-eu-myeon joh-gett-neun-de) means ‘I wish he would understand/tolerate it’]. Hahaha.”

He said with a bright smile, but the atmosphere froze instantly.

I didn’t know about it either.

There was a reason why Kang Min-jae, who talks so much, hadn’t mentioned it.

“Ah… I’m sorry. I said something unnecessary.”

“No, no.”

Kang Min-jae waved his hands as my mother was at a loss and embarrassed.

“My grandfather seems to want a grandson just like the lawyer. I might become your son.”

“Oh, we’d love that!”

In an instant, he became Cha Min-jae.

When it was past 5 o’clock, Kang Min-jae urged me to take my parents home quickly.

It’s unlikely that a new client will come, but just in case, he said he would stay until 6 o’clock, close the office, and go home.

As he said, I couldn’t keep my parents in the office for several hours, so I decided to leave the rest to him.

Kang Min-jae put all of my parents’ few belongings in my car, and then stood in front of it and started chatting again as if he was saying goodbye.

I thought I wouldn’t be able to leave like this, so I finally intervened.

“Kang. I’ll go first, so call me right away if a client comes.”

“I can handle client consultations on my own.”

“Call me.”

“Okay. Go in. Mother, Father. Have a great weekend and go down safely! It was really nice to meet you today!”

“Okay. It was nice to meet you too. Don’t work too late, Kang.”

“Yes! Take care!”

After getting in the car, I argued with my mother, who said she had to clean the house as soon as we arrived at my house.

I had been calling a housekeeper to clean once a week since my income stabilized, so I told her to rest about three times.

Tired of arguing with my mother, I spoke to my father.

“Father, how are your joints?”

“Joints? Why do you ask me if my joints are okay every time you call? It’s okay now. It doesn’t hurt at all since I quit working.”

“That’s a relief. If your joints hurt, tell me first. Don’t get any injections that the doctor recommends.”

My father nodded.

I had him quit his job, but since he was old, I couldn’t let my guard down.

Even if I told him until my ears were sore, it wasn’t enough to emphasize it several times.

Because that was the beginning of all the tragedies.

“Come to think of it, I talked to Chief Choi a while ago, right?”

“Chief Choi, who used to work with you in Pyeongtaek?”

“Yes, that Chief Choi. Chief Choi also suffered from arthritis for a long time, but recently he said he’s getting that medicine you mentioned. Antrozole? It seems like there’s nothing wrong with it, why did you tell me not to get it?”

As soon as I heard the word Antrozole, I almost slammed on the brakes.

“He said he’s getting Antrozole?”

“Yes. I told him that my son told me not to get it, but the doctor said there’s nothing wrong with it and it’s okay.”

I sighed.

The problem with Antrozole was that the ingredients of Antrozole changed in the middle.

Before the ingredients changed, there was no remarkable effect from getting Antrozole.

Then, around 2010, articles began to spring up saying that patients who had been steadily getting Antrozole were finally starting to see results.

Contrary to the saying that it was the result of steady medication, it suddenly improved because it had been changed to an ingredient with inherent risks.

The changed ingredient was also a major issue in the lawsuits filed by victims of side effects at the time.

However, Myung Hwa Pharmaceutical changed the ingredient in the second half of 2010.

Since I remember the date exactly, I can’t call for a halt to the sale of Antrozole, which has no problems now in 2009.

“…Still, tell him one more time.”

“Okay, I got it. Is that your house over there?”

The car had already arrived in front of the house.

“Yes. Are you tired? Let’s go in quickly.”