You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 147

You Guys Are Defended – Episode 147

Damn it.

That hurt like hell.

“…….”

A wooden club lay on the asphalt floor.

The assailant seemed just as surprised.

The moment he made eye contact with me, he dropped the club and turned to run.

It all happened in an instant.

“Lawyer!”

Kang Min-jae’s scream echoed through the alley.

I wanted to tell him not to come to me but to chase after that man, but I couldn’t bring myself to speak.

It really hurt like hell.

I tried to ask the Foreman if he was okay, but,

“Ugh.”

All that came out was a groan.

“…….”

The Foreman, who had been crouching and trembling, seemed to realize what was happening only after hearing my groan.

“……Attorney Cha Ju-han?”

He slowly rose, his voice trembling, and looked at me.

“Attorney, are you alright?”

Under the flickering streetlights, I saw Kang Min-jae’s pale face.

Of course, I wasn’t alright.

I had been hit in the arm by a wooden club swung with all the force of a grown man.

“No…….”

“Attorney, what happened?”

The Foreman looked at me, seemingly clueless.

The situation was simple.

After I hung up with the Foreman, I felt uneasy as I recalled the phone conversation.

It suddenly occurred to me that the Foreman had mentioned the location and time with his own mouth while talking to me.

If Wooshin had planted ears nearby, they would know the exact location and time of our meeting.

The fact that he had received the call not at his home but at the construction site bothered me.

So, I got up and prepared to leave immediately.

I thought it would be better to wait for the Foreman in front of the construction site rather than going to the meeting place.

If we picked up the Foreman right in front of the construction site and moved from there, at least they wouldn’t be able to eavesdrop.

We had parked the car in the alley next to the construction site, timed to coincide with his 퇴근 [quitting time] time.

Then, I saw the Foreman up ahead, and a suspicious man with his arms folded, hiding a wooden club behind his armpit, following the Foreman.

I ran towards the Foreman, and fortunately, the timing was just right.

The assailant’s club, which was about to strike the back of the Foreman’s head with full force, hit my arm, which I had raised to block it.

“W-We need to go to the hospital first, don’t we? And report it to the police!”

The Foreman shouted, flustered.

Kang Min-jae took out a handkerchief and picked up the wooden club from the floor, making sure not to leave any fingerprints.

“Attorney, it seems like Go Yoon-sung’s doing, right?”

Kang Min-jae said with a stern expression.

I nodded once.

Then, the Foreman opened his mouth wide.

“Go Yoon-sung? ……Go Yoon-sung attacked the Attorney.”

“No.”

“……Yes?”

“He was aiming for the Foreman. I blocked it.”

I replied, clutching my throbbing arm.

“Attorney, what should we do? Should we report it to the police?”

Kang Min-jae asked me.

I nodded once.

They must have known that the Foreman was going to meet me and sent someone.

If we hadn’t come here, I didn’t even want to think about what would have happened to the Foreman.

“Even if we report it, it might be treated as a random crime, but we still have to do it. The report history will be useful in court.”

I replied briefly.

If there is a record of the report, it is much more credible than saying “I was attacked like this” in court.

It is best to leave everything possible as an unforgeable record.

“I’ll report it and go to the hospital.”

“It might just be temporary pain, so let’s talk to the Foreman first, and if you’re still not feeling well tomorrow, then go to the hospital.”

I said, moving towards Kang Min-jae’s car.

“Foreman, you must be very surprised, but it’s hard to postpone it to another day. Let’s talk today.”

I said, opening the back door of the car.

The Foreman stared at me.

Not saying no, but not saying yes either.

He just stood there, rooted to the spot, staring.

Kang Min-jae, who was opening the driver’s side door, also turned to look at the Foreman.

And then, the Foreman opened his mouth.

“Ha……. Attorney.”

“Yes?”

“……Let’s go to the hospital. I won’t run away. I’ll go with you, so let’s go to the hospital. I don’t think I’ll feel comfortable today if you don’t go to the hospital.”

He lowered his head and got into the car.

The nearest emergency room was where Oh Sang-hyun was hospitalized.

When Kang Min-jae said he would go to that hospital, the Foreman lowered his head, as if he knew that Oh Sang-hyun was there.

Guilt was written on his face.

But the Foreman kept his mouth shut, turning his head towards the window.

After waiting for a long time at the emergency room, I was able to receive various tests.

I told Kang Min-jae to keep a close eye on the Foreman in case he got scared and ran away because of what happened today, and then headed to the examination room.

In just an hour or two, the area hit by the wooden club was bruised and swollen.

It didn’t take long to confirm the results.

My arm bone was fractured, and I would have to wear a cast for at least a month.

“We’ll put on a splint today, and you’ll need to make a separate appointment for a full cast. When should I schedule the outpatient visit?”

“I’ll do it at a place close to my office.”

“Ah, then do that. You can pay over there when you go out.”

“Doctor!”

The doctor nodded lightly and was about to leave when Kang Min-jae suddenly shouted.

“Yes?”

“Is it okay to leave him with just a splint like this? Doesn’t he need surgery? And can’t you put on the cast now? Why do we have to make a separate outpatient appointment? What if it hurts in the meantime?”

Kang Min-jae shouted non-stop.

He wasn’t exactly arguing, so the doctor didn’t seem offended, but he seemed a little dumbfounded.

“It’s not that serious. You don’t need surgery. There’s swelling now, so you need to put on the cast after the swelling goes down. You might feel pain at night, but I’ll prescribe painkillers. Is that okay, patient?”

The doctor looked at me and asked.

“Yes.”

The doctor looked at Kang Min-jae as if to ask if he was done, then turned back around.

“Doctor! Please give him the strongest painkillers possible. Our attorney already doesn’t sleep well, and he won’t be able to sleep if he’s in pain, you know?”

“Don’t exaggerate.”

I used my good left arm to push Kang Min-jae back into the chair.

Hoping he would notice that the child and the child’s mother lying next to me were laughing at us.

“Hmph, Attorney. Does it hurt a lot?”

“I said don’t exaggerate because it doesn’t hurt…….”

“You said it hurt earlier. I asked if you were okay, and you said no!”

“That’s because it was right after I got hit, but it’s bearable now, so don’t exaggerate. Please.”

This was already the third strike.

But Kang Min-jae didn’t stop.

He started complaining again about why I had to injure my important right arm.

It might be inconvenient because it’s my right arm, but I can do most things with my left hand.

And I can just take Kang Min-jae around and make him do the rest, so I don’t know what the problem is.

If I saved the Foreman by fracturing my arm, isn’t that a clear benefit?

“Kang, Attorney.”

“Yes?”

“Go buy me some coffee.”

Seeing Kang Min-jae not stopping his overreaction, I decided to kick him out.

“Coffee? You want coffee?”

“Yeah. Don’t get it from the hospital vending machine, go to a cafe outside and get it. I’ll be at the reception desk, so come there.”

“Okay. I’ll be right back.”

Kang Min-jae quickly left the emergency room.

And I turned to the Foreman, who was still standing there, keeping his mouth shut.

“Foreman.”

“……Yes.”

“Have you thought about it?”

I said, looking at his face filled with guilt.

“Attorney, are you a mind reader?”

The Foreman, who had been wearing a stern expression all along, finally let out a chuckle.

I shrugged.

Isn’t it obvious?

His agreement to today’s meeting was not because he wanted to tell me the truth.

He said he would meet me to see the evidence I had.

But the Foreman hadn’t said a word from the alley until now.

He looked like someone who was contemplating a lot.

Of course, he must have been 고민 [agonizing] whether to tell me the truth or not.

In fact, it’s rare for someone to ignore the fact that a stranger got hurt saving them.

Of course, I didn’t save him with that in mind.

But that’s how it turned out, isn’t it?

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“Is that so.”

The Foreman chuckled.

“I think you were feeling fear.”

“……Fear?”

“You directly saw Go Yoon-sung collectively assaulting Oh Sang-hyun through the CCTV at the site. But you’ve been hiding that fact because of pressure from Go Yoon-sung’s side. Go Yoon-sung’s side must have threatened you not to open your mouth, and you must have received compensation for keeping your mouth shut.”

“…….”

“You don’t have to answer if it’s difficult.”

The Foreman really didn’t answer.

If he had answered, I could have used my ability to be more certain of my assumptions.

That’s a little disappointing.

“And Kim Eui-cheol, who was the starting point of the incident, also received money from Wooshin and closed his mouth. So you must have been afraid to come forward alone. But you must have felt a pang of conscience. That’s why you told Kim Eui-cheol the truth, right?”

Looking at him still not answering, I continued like a soliloquy.

“But since I had evidence that CCTV existed, you must have thought you should see it, no matter what it was. You didn’t want to, but since you received compensation, you were basically on the same boat as Go Yoon-sung. So you met me…… and unintentionally, I got injured instead of you.”

I gestured to my right arm wrapped in bandages.

“Usually in this case, people say thank you first, but you didn’t.”

“……Ah, Attorney. That’s not because I’m not grateful. I haven’t been able to say it yet because I’ve been so 경황 [distraught].”

At my words, the Foreman started to make excuses, visibly flustered.

“No. I’m not blaming you for that, I’m saying that you were so overwhelmed by fear that you couldn’t even say thank you. Go Yoon-sung’s side was trying to harm you, who knew the truth, and you almost suffered an accident. So, you have to make a choice now. Tell the truth to your benefactor, or keep your mouth shut before you suffer an even bigger accident.”

“…….”

“But you’re not the kind of person who can just ignore someone who got hurt instead of you. That’s why you told me not to run away and go to the hospital first, right?”

The Foreman, who had been listening to my words silently, finally nodded.

“……You’re right, Attorney. You even got hurt instead of me, and I saw it with my own eyes, but I couldn’t bring myself to say that I would tell the truth first. I was too, too scared.”

The Foreman said, covering his head with both hands.

“I’m even close to Deputy Oh, and you’re the first person Deputy Oh has seen in this case……. Seeing you trying to defend Deputy Oh even at the cost of injury, I’m really ashamed of myself.”

The Foreman’s voice trembled.

As if holding back tears, he kept clearing his throat.

Covering his face with both hands, he was silent for a long time, as if trying to calm down.

I waited for him to open his mouth.

And after a long time, the Foreman wiped his reddened face and took a relieved breath.

“That’s right. There was CCTV at the site. I saw it. Go Yoon-sung hit Deputy Oh.”

He confessed the truth as if 터트리 [bursting out].

But that wasn’t the end of the story.

“And……. I have a copy of the CCTV footage containing that scene.”