You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 116

After throwing everything in the fridge together to make a hodgepodge ramen, we shared it and cleaned up a bit. It was already past 9 PM.

Kim Jung-woo, the reporter, seemed to have a lot of questions for me, asking about the cases I had taken on so far.

I only told him briefly after receiving a promise that he wouldn’t publish it as an article.

Choi Jong-hyun pretended not to be interested at all, but at some point, he subtly joined in and asked me a few questions.

“It must have been difficult to trust Kim Yeon-joon, but it’s amazing that you didn’t consider a reduced sentence and immediately aimed for proving his innocence. It was a case that attracted so much attention, and it was your first trial as a lawyer, so you must have been very nervous.”

Choi Jong-hyun crossed his arms and looked at me.

His expression was quite unpleasant for someone who was praising me.

“As you know, I have a side job.”

“A side job?” Kim Jung-woo asked, as if hearing it for the first time.

“I recently received a spirit.”

“Yes? You mean, like the spirit that a shaman receives?”

“Yes. Since the general tells me everything that will happen anyway, I wasn’t really nervous.”

Whether he really believed me or not, Kim Jung-woo’s eyes widened as he stared intently at me.

Choi Jong-hyun clicked his tongue as if he were pathetic.

“Aren’t you believing him too easily, Jung-woo? We’re still reporters.”

“…Were you joking?”

“He’s acting like that because he’s still upset that I asked if he received a spirit earlier.”

Choi Jong-hyun stretched and got up.

“I’m exhausted from driving up from Mokpo. I need to wash up and go to sleep.”

“Where should I sleep? Do you have a sleeping bag? I’ll sleep in the study.”

Kim Jung-woo said, chasing after Choi Jong-hyun, who was heading to the bathroom.

Choi Jong-hyun glanced at me without making it obvious.

It was a look that seemed to ask what to do.

“You two should sleep in the bedroom. From what I see, the study is a bit messy, so there’s no space for someone to lie down. I’ll sleep on the sofa in the living room.”

“I’ll clean the study!” Kim Jung-woo said urgently.

Then, Choi Jong-hyun exchanged glances with me and shook his head.

“No. There’s an order in that chaos. If you clean it up, it’ll be difficult to find materials later.”

“But still,”

“Cha, there are blankets and cushions on the living room sofa, so just cover yourself and sleep.”

As Choi Jong-hyun went into the bathroom, Kim Jung-woo subtly approached me.

“Lawyer, would it be okay if I slept in the living room?”

Kim Jung-woo said anxiously.

It didn’t seem like he was just saying this because he preferred to sleep alone.

There must be a reason.

But I don’t know if that reason is safe or something else, so it’s unsettling to leave him alone.

“I’m sorry. I’m a bit sensitive, so I can’t sleep if someone else is next to me.”

“…Ah, I see.”

Kim Jung-woo said that his house was also close to here, so I felt like he would say he was going home right away.

I opened a bottle of water and poured it, asking him casually.

“Is there a reason why you can’t sleep with Reporter Choi?”

“Ah, no, it’s not that. I tend to toss and turn a lot, and I also talk in my sleep and snore a lot. I was worried you’d be uncomfortable.”

Kim Jung-woo smiled awkwardly.

And at the same time, Choi Jong-hyun, who had just finished washing his face, put his arm around Kim Jung-woo’s shoulder.

“It’s okay. Once I fall asleep, I don’t even know if someone carries me away. This *hyung* [older brother/male friend] will hug you tight and sleep. Then you’ll sleep veeery well. Hahaha.”

In the end, Kim Jung-woo, who couldn’t say anything, quietly washed up and went into the bedroom with Choi Jong-hyun.

I also turned off the lights in the living room and lay down on the sofa.

I lay down with my head towards the veranda so that I could see if Kim Jung-woo came out in the middle of the night.

At first glance, it would be dark, so he wouldn’t know that I was watching him with my eyes open.

Around 12:30 AM…

A sound of snoring that seemed to collapse the world came from the bedroom.

Kim Jung-woo said that he snored a lot, so I thought it might be him.

“……”

It wasn’t.

As soon as he confirmed that Choi Jong-hyun was in a deep sleep, Kim Jung-woo came out of the room.

He went to the kitchen and took out a cup from the shelf.

Pouring.

The sound of pouring water could be heard.

Because it was an open-plan kitchen, I could see everything he was doing from the sofa.

Kim Jung-woo took out a small packet of medicine from his pocket.

And after filling his mouth with water, he shook the medicine into his mouth.

Just from the sound of the medicine packet, it didn’t seem like just one or two pills.

“……”

And he went back into the room.

I decided to wait and see until he fell asleep again.

I got up from the sofa and took a sip of the coffee I had put under the sofa.

Anyway, night watch was my responsibility, at least for the period I decided to watch him.

I opened my phone to check the time, and a text message had arrived.

[(Color Mail) The manager and Lee *sunbae* [senior colleague] came to a great restaurant. Except for the lawyer ^^ The boss gave us a stir-fried rice on an iron plate as a service. Envy you, right?]

It was a text from Kang Min-jae, who had been sending me messages complaining that I wasn’t telling him properly and acting alone since earlier.

It was a color mail with several photos attached of the meat cooked golden brown on the iron plate and everyone together.

I was about to reply, but I thought he would call me drunk, so I just closed the phone flip.

And I was lying down, staring at the ceiling.

Squeak.

The door opened with a sharp sound.

The sound of footsteps scraping the floor could be heard, and soon the sensor light at the entrance turned on.

It was Kim Jung-woo.

He put on his coat, slipped on his slippers, and carefully opened the front door.

He didn’t forget to put his shoes in the gap of the front door so that he wouldn’t be unable to enter if it closed again.

From beyond the slightly opened door, the sound of his footsteps going down the stairs could be heard.

I approached the veranda.

I intended to check which direction he was going and decide whether to follow him or not.

Soon, he appeared at the communal entrance.

‘Convenience store?’

When he came out of the convenience store again, he was holding a black plastic bag in his hand.

I couldn’t tell what was inside.

He came back into the villa.

From outside the door, I heard the sound of climbing the stairs again, and I went back to the sofa and lay down.

“Hoo……”

Kim Jung-woo, who seemed to have had a hard time climbing the stairs, took off his shoes with a rough breath.

He put the black plastic bag in front of the dining table and took something out of it.

From the sound of it, it seemed like a bottle.

He rummaged through the cupboard and took out a glass from it.

And he went back into the room with the bag.

‘Is it alcohol?’

The room he went into was the study, not the bedroom where Choi Jong-hyun was sleeping.

Judging from the snoring that could still be heard, Choi Jong-hyun seemed to be sleeping without knowing anything.

He seemed to have deliberately chosen the study to drink alone.

I listened to the sounds coming from inside.

Because Choi Jong-hyun’s house wasn’t big, I could hear even the slightest sounds if I concentrated a little.

-Ugh……

The exclamation that comes out reflexively when drinking *soju* [Korean distilled beverage] could be heard from inside the room.

I don’t know if he likes alcohol, but even if he does, would he go this far?

Generally, if you’re going to sleep at a senior’s house, you’d hold back even if you wanted to drink.

I hesitated for a moment and got up from the sofa.

‘I threw the medicine packet here earlier.’

And I turned on the phone light and opened the trash can.

Inside was the medicine packet that Kim Jung-woo had thrown away.

[(Before Sleep)

Stilnox 10mg 1

Indenol 10mg 1

Ativan 1mg 2

Lexapro 20mg 1]

It’s psychiatric medication.

Among them, Stilnox is a drug containing the ingredient commonly called Zolpidem.

The other drugs were also used to treat depression.

But what was surprising was that there wasn’t just one medicine packet he threw away.

‘What is this?’

There were seven more medicine packets inside.

The design was a little different, but the ingredients were also listed here.

Other depression medications were different, but they all commonly contained Stilnox 10mg.

‘Taking more than 10mg of Stilnox is an overdose.’

Judging from the different designs of the medicine packets, I think he visited other hospitals to get more prescriptions without insurance in order to get multiple Stilnox.

‘Addiction and side effects.’

The main side effect of Stilnox, or Zolpidem, appears similar to sleepwalking.

Getting up in the middle of the night and sending texts and calls to people around you, suddenly rummaging through the refrigerator to eat something, going somewhere, or drinking alcohol.

They even attempt suicide.

There’s no exact pattern of what actions they take, but there’s one thing in common.

They don’t remember it when they wake up the next day.

‘Then is suicide also caused by Zolpidem side effects?’

I also had Stilnox prescribed and taken in my previous life.

Because Stilnox is a drug that is often used in crimes, I looked up various information because I was worried about whether I could take it.

There were many articles warning of the dangers, but I had no choice but to take it for about a month due to chronic insomnia.

At that time, I didn’t experience any side effects.

Was it because I had already been avoiding alcohol for a long time, fearing that I would reveal everything I knew while drunk?

The probability of side effects doubles when Zolpidem is taken with alcohol.

‘Should I stop him from drinking now?’

I went back to the sofa and hesitated for a moment.

If I go in and stop him right now, if this is a side effect, I don’t think I’ll be able to have a proper conversation anyway.

If Choi Jong-hyun didn’t know about his depression at all, there wouldn’t have been any side effects such as sending texts everywhere.

The same goes for suicide attempts……

It seemed like a good idea to watch him tonight and check tomorrow when he’s sober.

‘4 o’clock……’

I checked the time while lying on the sofa and it was already 4 o’clock.

It’s been 2 hours since Kim Jung-woo went into the room alone and drank alcohol.

He staggered out with the same black plastic bag.

He looked around, put the plastic bag outside the door, and went back inside.

And he went into the room where Choi Jong-hyun was sleeping as if nothing had happened.

‘Is he going to sleep now?’

I sighed.

Even though it was severe depression, if Choi Jong-hyun, who was very close to him, didn’t know, it means he hid it very well.

That’s why he kept saying he wanted to sleep alone.

First of all, I have to talk to Choi Jong-hyun when he wakes up.