You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 141

Tae-shik emailed me the head nurse’s personal information the next morning.

It included her photo, name, age, and even her current workplace in detail.

It even included her work schedule.

I don’t know how he got all this, but I have to commend him.

Of course, I don’t have time for that right now.

“So, she’s not at another hospital, but at a branch in the provinces,” Secretary Oh said, examining the information.

“I’ll leave right away,” I said, putting on my coat.

It seemed almost certain that she was demoted due to a conflict with Ko Yun-seong, not just a simple resignation.

It would have been easier to get her testimony if she had left Wooshin Hospital entirely, but I was a little concerned that she remained at the branch.

“Now?”

“Yes. Looking at the work schedule, she’s off tomorrow and the day after. If I can’t meet her today, I’ll have to wait three more days.”

It hadn’t even been 10 minutes since I got to work, but I needed to hurry.

The branch was in Yeongwol, Gangwon-do, so it would be best to hurry to make it a day trip.

“Are you going alone?”

“I have to take Kang along. I’ll be back.”

I went down to the first floor and looked into the cafe.

Kang Min-jae was carrying three freshly made coffees in a carrier as he came outside.

“Oh? Attorney? Did you come to pick me up?” He smiled happily when he saw me.

Instead of answering, I put my hand in his coat pocket.

“Huh? Why? Are you looking for something?”

“Car keys.”

When I pressed the remote key, the lights turned on in a shiny, freshly washed foreign car in one corner of the parking lot.

“Where are you going? Where? I’ll go with you,” Kang Min-jae chattered, following me busily as I walked toward his car.

“Okay.”

I was planning to have him drive from the start, but I decided to pretend I was doing him a favor by taking him along. I remembered him complaining last time about acting as my driver.

“Where are we going?”

“Byeolma Hospital in Yeongwol.”

“Yeongwol?” Having fastened his seatbelt in the driver’s seat, Kang Min-jae’s eyes widened.

“Yeah.”

“Why there, oh… The head nurse is there now.” Kang Min-jae understood on his own and entered Byeolma Hospital into the navigation system.

“Byeolma Hospital, is that Wooshin Hospital’s Gangwon branch?” Kang Min-jae asked, looking at the name on the navigation system.

When I nodded, he sighed.

“Sigh. I guess she was demoted after all. I’ll start driving.”

It didn’t take long to get to Yeongwol.

We arrived at Byeolma Hospital just before lunchtime.

Byeolma Hospital was certainly smaller than Wooshin Hospital, but it was clearly a secondary hospital [a smaller, regional hospital]. Nevertheless, the ivy climbing up the outer walls of the hospital created a bleak atmosphere.

I figured the head nurse’s anger wouldn’t be small, considering she had been demoted from the head nurse of Wooshin Hospital’s VIP ward to a place like this.

When I went inside the hospital, there was a small lobby.

I knew it was the biggest hospital around, but there weren’t many people, even on a weekday.

Moreover, there was only one staff member at the information desk, and she was even dozing off.

I went up to her and clapped my hands once in front of her face.

“Oh, uh, uh…” Only then did the information desk staff member wake up, wipe the drool from her mouth, and straighten her posture.

“Please take a number from over there…”

Instead of answering, I looked around.

No matter how I looked, we were the only ones there.

But Kang Min-jae quietly pulled out a waiting number from the machine next to her.

And immediately, the number Kang Min-jae printed appeared on the screen.

I didn’t know what that was about, but Kang Min-jae handed the waiting number to the information desk staff member.

“Are you here for an outpatient visit? Which department are you here for?”

“Not for an outpatient visit, I’m here to see Nurse Seo Hye-jin.”

“Nurse Seo Hye-jin? What is your relationship to her?” The information desk staff member looked us over and asked.

“I’m a lawyer. I came to ask Nurse Seo Hye-jin something.”

“Did you make an appointment in advance?”

“No.” To be exact, I called on the way, but she didn’t answer, so I couldn’t make an appointment. I just came thinking she must be very busy with work, but I didn’t expect there to be so few people. Well, it’s too early to tell. The ward with inpatients might be a little different. To be a secondary hospital, it must have more than 100 beds. This is a rare secondary hospital in this area, so there might be many patients there.

“Min-jeong, we’re going out to eat.” At that time, a group of nurses passed by the lobby and said casually to the information desk staff member.

“Ah, where are you going? Are you going to Suni’s?”

“Where else would we go besides there?”

“Then please have one soft tofu stew delivered to the information desk. Two fried eggs.”

“Okay.” The nurse at the front of the group finished a short conversation with the information desk staff member and went outside the hospital.

And among those nurses, I spotted a familiar face.

“Nurse Seo Hye-jin.” The woman, who was mixed in with the nurses and about to go out to eat, seemed surprised by the sudden call of her name.

“Who are you?”

“I’m a lawyer. Ko Yun-”

“Ah, Nurse Seo Hye-jin. Hello!” As I was about to get to the point, Kang Min-jae stepped slightly in front of me and approached Seo Hye-jin. At the same time, he didn’t forget to pout at me as he looked back. It seemed like he was expressing his dissatisfaction with my direct attitude.

“I’m a lawyer from Attorney Cha Ju-han’s office. A small incident occurred in the ward where you were working when you were at Wooshin Hospital in Seoul, and I wanted to ask you a little about that. I called you, but I’m sorry for coming so suddenly because I thought you were busy. Haha.” Kang Min-jae quickly rattled off the words and handed her two business cards.

Seo Hye-jin took the business cards and looked at us.

“Go ahead and eat,” Seo Hye-jin waved her hand at the nurses.

The nurses said okay and went outside the hospital. One of the younger nurses stared at Seo Hye-jin persistently, but Seo Hye-jin smiled as if to say it was okay. It wasn’t like we came to arrest her, but she had a pretty worried look on her face.

“It seems like we’re interrupting your meal time. I’m sorry. How about we talk while having a meal nearby?” Kang Min-jae asked, scratching his cheek as if he was embarrassed.

But Seo Hye-jin shook her head.

“No. Did you come because of Ko Yun-seong?” Seo Hye-jin got to the point faster than I thought.

I was glad that I didn’t have to drag out the introduction.

“That’s right. Is there a quiet place where we can talk?” When I asked, Seo Hye-jin answered briefly, “Come this way.”

The place she led us to was a small rest area behind the hospital.

As Seo Hye-jin took a seat on a nearby bench, Kang Min-jae quickly pulled out a drink from the vending machine.

“How did you know I like Pocari [a popular Korean sports drink]? Thank you.” Seo Hye-jin smiled faintly as she received the can of drink that Kang Min-jae handed her.

“Ko Yun-seong was from Tae Kwang, but looking at your business card, it doesn’t seem like you are. Then are you the lawyers for the Wooshin Construction employees?”

“That’s right.”

“I did get a lot of calls earlier, but I’ve been getting a lot of calls from unknown numbers these days, so I haven’t been answering them. I’m sorry. Did you leave a text message too?”

“Yes. But nurses are so busy, so I thought you couldn’t answer because of that. I’m really sorry for coming so suddenly without making an appointment in advance.” Kang Min-jae bowed his head, and Seo Hye-jin waved her hand.

“No. I’m not busy. Look, there aren’t many people here.” The rest area was lush with trees and had a fairly spacious walking path, but there were hardly any patients. Other than an old man in a patient gown sitting on a bench and smoking, I couldn’t find anyone.

“The mountains are good, the water is good, that’s good. But it’s a little sad to be demoted here after being in the VIP ward.” She smiled bitterly and drank her drink.

I thought she might not want to tell us her story, but the fact that she opened her mouth before we even asked was a little unexpected.

It was a good thing for us.

If we could hear the story of Ko Yun-seong without persuading her…

“You said you were demoted and came here, is that because of Ko Yun-seong?”

Seo Hye-jin made eye contact with me.

I don’t usually judge a person’s character by their simple impression, but she seemed pretty upright.

Hoping that her inner self was the same, I waited for an answer.

“That’s right. To be exact, that’s what happened when I stood up to Ko Yun-seong.”

[Truth]

Seo Hye-jin sighed deeply.

It seemed like there was a long story to tell.

If she was the head nurse of a VIP ward in a large hospital, it meant that she had been working at that hospital for a long time and had been recognized for her skills. As such, she should have been immune enough to so-called ‘problem patients’. Ko Yun-seong is certainly a character destroyer to the point where even Satan would run away, but I don’t think a veteran like Seo Hye-jin wouldn’t have been able to handle his temper.

First of all, our business is more important.

I have to check it first.

“Ko Yun-seong is currently colluding with a doctor at Wooshin Hospital to fabricate a diagnosis, and he’s been hospitalized claiming to have a fake 8-week injury diagnosis. Is that correct?”

Seo Hye-jin answered without much hesitation.

“That’s right.”

[Truth]

As if affirming wasn’t enough, she began to elaborate at length. It felt like she had been frustrated because she had no one to tell her story to.

“His limbs are perfectly fine. He said he was beaten, bruised, and torn, but I’ve never seen him get a dressing. A person who said his face was so swollen that he couldn’t chew food well was buying outside food, playing games in the hospital room, and drinking alcohol. It doesn’t make sense. I’ve been a nurse for over 20 years, but that doesn’t make sense for an 8-week injury.”

It became clear that Ko Yun-seong was using the hospital room like a hotel.

I thought that maybe it was because I had gotten used to it after 6 weeks, but according to her, it had been like this from the beginning. It seems like he thought it was okay because it was Wooshin Group’s hospital.

But what does it mean that she was demoted for standing up to him?

“What kind of incident did you have with Nurse Seo Hye-jin?”

Seo Hye-jin sighed with a complicated look on her face.

“To be exact, it wasn’t an incident that happened with me. There was an incident with a nurse under me. I protested to Ko Yun-seong about that incident, and that’s how it happened.”

A nurse under her…

I stared at the word truth that had not been turned off above her head for a moment, and asked again.

“What happened?”

“After Ko Yun-seong was hospitalized for that assault case, he sexually harassed a nurse.”