You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 145

“Mr. Tae-shik, I’m impressed by your incredible abilities. Come here.”

Kang Min-jae, who had been listening to Tae-shik, said this in a very serious voice.

But Tae-shik isn’t one to come when called and go when told.

“Kang Attorney, *you* come here.”

And Kang Attorney *is* one to come when called and go when told.

Kang Min-jae approached Tae-shik and hugged him.

He was so huge that he couldn’t be fully embraced with two arms, but Kang Min-jae didn’t care.

“What, why are you doing this? It’s creepy.”

Tae-shik subtly pushed Kang Min-jae away, but he didn’t seem to dislike it.

The corner of his mouth was twitching.

“Well, Sang-gil said he spilled everything when asked, but I bet you could have found out just by asking directly.”

Tae-shik, uncharacteristically, showed humility.

So much so that my hand, which had been about to call the chief while half-listening to their conversation, suddenly stopped.

“Are you sick somewhere?”

I asked.

“I’m not sick.”

“It’s so unlike you, Mr. Tae-shik, why are you being so humble?”

Kang Min-jae also chimed in.

“…I thought you might give me more money if I acted humble. You don’t seem to like people who are too full of themselves.”

Tae-shik whispered to Kang Attorney.

“I don’t care whether you’re humble or full of yourself. I basically lack human affection.”

“Oh, really? Ah, I shouldn’t have been humble then. Ptooey.”

Manager Oh smiled as he watched them.

In fact, I don’t agree with Tae-shik’s statement that we could have easily found out even if we had asked.

If we had revealed our identity as Oh Sang-hyun’s lawyers, they would have avoided answering for fear that Wooshin [a powerful corporation] would make an issue of it.

“Should we say that all the workers who were there saw the chief running into the office after Oh Sang-hyun and Go Yoon-sung disappeared?”

I asked before making the call.

Tae-shik, who had been chatting happily with Kang Min-jae, poked his head out towards me and answered.

“Not everyone saw it, but those who did are talking about it, so everyone who needs to know knows. But the chief later told people that there were no CCTVs [closed-circuit television cameras] at the site, so I guess no one knows that the chief knows the truth.”

Then the reason Kim Ui-cheol told me to go see the chief must mean that there was some kind of conversation between the two.

Kim Ui-cheol is just someone who was asked to commit perjury; he couldn’t have known about the existence of the CCTV unless the chief had told him.

“Ah, Attorney.”

Just then, Manager Oh held up a fax that had just arrived.

“Oh Sang-hyun’s hospital has responded with the time Oh Sang-hyun entered the emergency room.”

Manager Oh brought the document to me.

Oh Sang-hyun didn’t come in an ambulance; there was no record of when he arrived at the emergency room.

Registration is often done after waiting, so we can’t know the exact time from that.

It would have taken some troublesome work to figure it out.

I’m glad the answer came.

“There’s an hour gap between the time the situation ended on the CCTV and the time he arrived at the hospital.”

Considering the time it takes to get from the site to the hospital, he definitely arrived late.

I was planning to secure more evidence that Oh Sang-hyun was beaten by Go Yoon-sung by checking the time he arrived at the hospital, but did they calculate even this?

If so, that was terrible in its own way.

He was knocked unconscious while being beaten, but they waited for 30 minutes before sending him to the hospital without any fear of what might happen if something went wrong.

“I need to talk to the chief first.”

I went out to the veranda, calling the chief.

After a moment of ringing, the chief answered the phone.

-Hello.

“Is this Chief Chu Jeong-wook?”

-Yes, it is. Who is this?

“This is Attorney Cha Ju-han.”

As soon as I revealed my identity, I heard a sound like someone gasping on the other end of the line.

-What’s going on?

“Kim Ui-cheol told me to talk to you, so I’m calling. Since you know the truth of the incident, I’m sure you’ll tell me.”

Kim Ui-cheol never said that, but I thought he might have been thinking that as he kept telling us to go see the chief.

Well, it’s just my guess.

It’s also a lie that will soon be caught if the chief contacts Kim Ui-cheol to confirm the facts.

But isn’t it true that Kim Ui-cheol gave us a hint by telling us to go to the chief?

Besides, given Kim Ui-cheol’s personality, he wouldn’t be able to completely deny it if the chief asked.

-……I don’t know what you’re talking about.

After a long silence, the chief said.

I didn’t think he would easily come over since he was also paid and lied from the beginning that there were no CCTVs.

But I couldn’t easily give up on him either.

I found a way to prove Go Yoon-sung’s feigned illness, but I still haven’t found any evidence that Oh Sang-hyun was beaten by Go Yoon-sung.

I checked the time Oh Sang-hyun entered the hospital today, but even that didn’t help.

“Chief.”

-Yes.

“There was a CCTV at the scene. Right?”

-CCTV, what are you talking about? Didn’t I tell you then? There wasn’t one.

“No. There was.”

-……

Since gaining the ability to discern truth from lies, I have developed a habit of blurting things out without evidence, unlike before.

Originally, I never believed anything unless I had accurate evidence or facts found through circumstances.

It was burdensome because I had to bear a great risk when I blurted things out unless I was deliberately bluffing.

But now it’s different.

I have no evidence now.

But there are facts.

-Do you have evidence?

“Yes.”

-……That can’t be, how can there be evidence if it’s not true?

“There was a CCTV, and you saw it. You saw Oh Sang-hyun getting beaten by Go Yoon-sung with your own two eyes, clearly. Isn’t that right?”

-Did Kim Ui-cheol tell you that?

Oho.

He told Kim Ui-cheol directly that he saw it.

I thought he wouldn’t say anything, but it was effective to say that I contacted him after hearing Kim Ui-cheol’s words at the beginning.

If he had been determined to keep his mouth shut with bad intentions, he wouldn’t have been shaken this much.

The chief also seemed to be feeling a pang of conscience.

“Let’s meet in person and talk.”

-……Ha, I understand. If we meet, I’ll be able to see the evidence you have, right?

I don’t have anything like that.

Should I avoid answering for now?

“When is it convenient for you? The sooner, the better for us.”

-……Let’s meet after work today. 7 o’clock. Can I decide on the place too?

“Of course.”

-If you come out of Ttukseom Park Station Exit 3, there’s an outdoor stage in front of it. I’ll be waiting behind there.

“Okay.”

-Then goodbye.

“Chief.”

-Yes?

“Be careful.”

The chief asked as if he couldn’t understand my words.

-What do you mean?

The chief is currently the only witness who saw the scene.

As long as Wooshin knows of his existence, they won’t just leave him alone after giving him money.

“It’s best not to tell anyone that you’re meeting me today.”

The chief is at Wooshin Group’s construction site.

It’s not difficult or strange to plant someone to monitor him.

I would be anxious about the chief’s existence if I were them.

-……Okay.

I hung up and went back to the office.

“Kang Attorney, I’m meeting the chief at Ttukseom Park at 7 o’clock today. Prepare yourself.”

I said to Kang Attorney, but the answer came from Tae-shik.

“7 o’clock? Wow. You’re telling us to work overtime so casually? You’re such an exploitative lawyer.”

* * *

Yang Han-seok put his cell phone in his inside pocket with a heavy face.

“These bastards think the prosecutor is their personal problem solver…”

The call came from Go Yoon-sung’s lawyer.

He had been scolded by Hwang Young-chan dozens of times and had to cater to Go Yoon-sung’s whims, even throwing away his pride, to do well this time.

But there’s more to do?

Yang Han-seok frowned and got up.

“Prosecutor, where are you going? I had something I wanted to ask you to approve right now.”

The chief asked him as he stormed out of the prosecutor’s office.

“The chief prosecutor called me. I’ll take a look when I get back.”

Yang Han-seok moved towards the chief prosecutor’s office.

He just hoped that this case would end quickly.

His determination to do well hadn’t changed, but Yang Han-seok couldn’t shake the anxiety that his corruption would be discovered.

And there was no one to confide in about this anxiety.

If he told Hwang Young-chan, he would surely be scolded for being timid.

It felt like a game that he had to endure alone, even though he had started it with Wooshin and Hwang Young-chan.

“Chief, this is Yang Han-seok.”

-Come in.

Yang Han-seok took a deep breath.

And he opened the door with all his might and went inside.

“What’s going on?”

“I just received a call from Go Yoon-sung’s lawyer.”

“What for?”

Hwang Young-chan didn’t even look at Yang Han-seok and read the newspaper as he replied.

“You know that the site chief saw the CCTV, right?”

“I know. Didn’t we decide that Wooshin would take care of that? I heard they gave him a lot of money. Didn’t they say they even put someone to watch him in case he did something stupid?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“The last time Cha Ju-han came to the site in person, you said it went well.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Then why is he calling?”

“…He called me today and said that the chief made an appointment with Cha Ju-han.”

Only then did Hwang Young-chan take his eyes off the newspaper.

“What are you talking about?”

He took off his glasses with a distorted face and looked at Yang Han-seok.

His eyes were extremely cold.

Yang Han-seok clenched his fists with his hands behind his back.

He didn’t even glance at him until he came in here, but as soon as Cha Ju-han’s name came up, his attitude changed immediately.

It must be because the matter is urgent.

Yang Han-seok regained his composure and continued.

“While the chief was answering the phone, he had an uneasy expression while mentioning evidence, and then he made an appointment… He said he secretly looked at the call list while the chief was away. And the person he called was Cha Ju-han.”

“Who asked you that now?”

Hwang Young-chan said coldly.

“Are you saying that Cha Ju-han suspected something? That there was a CCTV at the site, and the chief saw it?”

“…I think so.”

I don’t know how he found out, but circumstantially, that’s the only way to see it.

When Cha Ju-han took on the case, the evidence was already gone.

The CCTV had been removed a long time ago, and although there are traces of it, it’s impossible to confirm that it was a CCTV.

The workers at the site don’t know whether the CCTV existed or not.

Unless the chief directly opened his mouth, there’s no way to know.

But it doesn’t seem like the chief opened his mouth, since he said he answered the phone with an uneasy expression.

How did he know?

“So, what does Attorney Tae-gwang say?”