You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 148

This time, I couldn’t hide my bewilderment either.

“CCTV? How did the site manager get his hands on that?”

Even with the word [Truth] floating above his head, I couldn’t believe it.

I hadn’t even expected a copy of the CCTV footage in the first place.

I naturally assumed that the police had taken the storage device and the prosecution had buried it.

What I had hoped for was someone who could testify to what they saw on the CCTV.

“When Foreman Oh was called in by Ko Yoon-sung, a lot of time passed and he didn’t come back, so I went into the on-site office to look at the CCTV.”

This was already known.

The site manager glanced at my face and, perhaps feeling like I was pressing him, continued.

“While watching the CCTV, I started to think that Ko Yoon-sung might be trying to manipulate this case. No, I was certain. You’ll see why I thought that way, Counselor.”

“So you made a backup?”

“Yes. Thank goodness I did.”

“Does Ko Yoon-sung or the prosecution know that you have a backup copy of the CCTV footage?”

It didn’t seem like they did.

Ko Yoon-sung’s side had already contacted the site manager several times and was keeping a close eye on him, even planting a mole to eavesdrop on his calls.

If they had known, they would have gotten rid of it or openly threatened the site manager.

“They wouldn’t know.”

The site manager shook his head.

Then, he carefully took out a USB drive from his jacket pocket and handed it to me.

“It’s in here. I’ve been carrying it with me all the time because I was scared.”

I accepted the USB drive.

I needed to check the contents to be sure, but the video alone might be enough to make the prosecution drop the charges.

I needed to think a bit more about what to do, but one thing was certain.

Now I can prove Oh Sang-hyun’s innocence and hold Ko Yoon-sung accountable.

“There’s a lot in the CCTV footage. You’ll see without me having to explain. Please, clear Foreman Oh of this injustice with this.”

The site manager bowed his head deeply.

“And… I’m so sorry that my lies caused confusion in your investigation, Counselor.”

“It’s alright.”

I had become his benefactor for stopping the thug who attacked the back of his head with a wooden club and injuring my arm, but now the site manager had become my benefactor.

And I knew from the beginning that he had lied about the CCTV when I first visited the construction site, so it didn’t really cause any confusion in the investigation.

He seemed so sorry that I wanted to relieve him of some of the burden on his mind, but if he asked how I knew he was lying, I would have nothing to say.

It was a pity, but I decided to keep quiet.

“Well, first, let’s get you discharged and then have a simple meal while we continue talking. By now, even Attorney Kang, whom I chased away, should be back. What time is it now…? Ugh.”

“C-Counselor! Are you alright?”

I frowned, instinctively trying to grab the wristwatch on my left wrist with my right hand.

I had forgotten that I had a half-cast on my right arm.

“But Counselor, you’ve hurt your right arm, would it be alright to eat out?”

The site manager asked me with a worried look as I walked out of the emergency room.

Ah, now that I think about it, that’s true.

No matter which restaurant I go to, there’s no way for a right-handed person like me to eat with a spoon without spilling.

“Would it be alright if Attorney Kang helped me?”

“No.”

The site manager seemed to have just said it reflexively, but I unintentionally spoke seriously.

The thought of Kang Min-jae making a fuss about feeding me made my eyes glaze over.

“I’m sorry, but I’ll have to postpone the meal until next time.”

Fortunately, there weren’t many people at the reception desk, so I didn’t have to wait long.

When the number on the waiting ticket I had picked up in advance appeared on the electronic display, I got up from my chair.

“Wait here for a moment.”

“Ah, no.”

The site manager pushed me away as I tried to pay at the counter and tried to present his card.

I managed to push the site manager slightly to the side with my good left shoulder and successfully paid with my card.

If the site manager had been on the right, I might have failed.

The emergency room is much more expensive than a regular outpatient clinic, costing hundreds of thousands of won [Korean currency], and I couldn’t let my benefactor spend that kind of money.

“Counselor! I bought coffee! I was a bit late because the police called and I was talking about that thug from earlier.”

As I came out of the hospital, I saw Kang Min-jae with a coffee carrier in front of me.

The driver has arrived, so it’s time to go home.

“Site Manager, where do you live? We’ll take you.”

“Ah, me? It’s a bit far from here. I can take the subway from here.”

“No. I have something to say, so let’s talk on the way.”

I forced the stubborn man into the car and, on the way home, I opened my mouth as I checked the calendar on my phone.

“Site Manager, our trial is scheduled for the end of next month.”

“Ah, is that so? If you let me know the date, I’ll take a day off and attend the trial.”

The site manager replied as if it were nothing.

But that’s not what I wanted to say.

“I’m saying this because I’m concerned about the thug who threatened you today.”

“Why the thug? I’ve already reported it to the police… Is it because he hasn’t been caught yet?”

“Whether the thug is caught or not doesn’t matter. Even if that person is caught, Ko Yoon-sung’s side can just buy another person and send them.”

At my words, the site manager shuddered and rubbed his arms.

“The reason Ko Yoon-sung’s side sent that thug to you is because you might have contacted me today and told me the truth about the case. That’s what they were afraid of.”

“I guess so. On any other day, I might have thought of it as a random assault, but the timing is too perfect, so I can’t help but be suspicious.”

The site manager scratched his cheek and replied.

“It doesn’t seem like Ko Yoon-sung’s side was really trying to harm you.”

“That’s a relief, but why do you think so?”

Before the site manager’s question, Kang Min-jae, who was driving, answered.

“If they were really trying to harm you, they would have used a different weapon than a wooden club. Like a knife.”

Kang Min-jae is right.

A wooden club is insufficient in many ways to kill someone in one go.

If you hit the vital spot on the back of the head, you could die instantly, but there’s no guarantee that you can accurately aim at that spot in that dark alley.

Frankly, if you just stabbed someone once in the back with a knife, it would be over easily, but the fact that they used a wooden club…

I don’t know if I should say this, but it’s unprofessional.

If I were an employer, I would never let such a clumsy guy do the job of hitting people.

“I think the purpose was to scare you. Or, to think a little worse, it might have been to knock you out and kidnap you.”

The method of covering the nose and mouth with a handkerchief soaked in chemicals, which often appears in the media, is not actually that versatile.

Of course, it’s possible if you can keep covering the nose and mouth with the handkerchief until they pass out, but people don’t just fall asleep like that in a few seconds.

If you resist with all your might, the knockout operation will fail.

Hitting the head with a bat is the most reliable and simple way to knock someone out.

If they had used an expert in that field, it might have been possible to knock them out without killing them.

“Kidnap? Me… kidnap me?”

I want to say that they are the kind of guys who would do that, but I’ll keep quiet about that too.

Revealing my animosity towards Wooshin could give the impression that I’m not being rational.

“It’s because it would be difficult for them if I persuaded you to testify and got a statement. They would have thought of a way to prevent you from testifying, no matter what they did by kidnapping you.”

What about Hwang Young-chan and Yang Han-seok?

If it were Hwang Young-chan, I think he could even think about harming the site manager in order to handle Ko Yoon-sung’s case well and prove how loyal he is to that family.

Of course, he wouldn’t do anything that could become his weakness, so he wouldn’t go as far as killing him.

‘I think he would do something like covering it up with a random assault, putting the site manager in the hospital, and making it impossible for him to testify.’

I tilted my head.

But I don’t know about Yang Han-seok.

Honestly, he seems to have a great deal of animosity towards me, but I’m not very interested.

The reason I’m wary of him is only because I’m worried that the situation will become complicated and troublesome due to his animosity.

“Will they keep targeting me?”

“Well, I don’t think so.”

Conversely, now that they’ve already met me, they might give up thinking that there’s nothing to be gained by harming the site manager.

The odds are fifty-fifty, like the front and back of a coin.

The site manager may have told me, or he may not have.

I won’t know until I stand in court.

It’s like Schrödinger’s cat [a thought experiment about uncertainty].

In that situation, if they target the site manager one more time, the risks they have to bear will increase.

They were lucky this time that the thug wasn’t caught, but next time they might be caught right away, right?

They wouldn’t think I’m such a fool as to just stand by and let the site manager be in danger again.

“Still, they’ll prepare for the possibility that you told me the truth. Since they don’t know you have a copy of the CCTV footage, they’ll try to find a way to neutralize your testimony.”

Like he usually had complaints about Ko Yoon-sung and committed perjury [lying under oath].

It’s not that difficult to make a fool of a witness in court.

“Well, it doesn’t matter in the presence of CCTV, though.”

“That’s a relief then.”

“Still, I can’t help but think of the worst-case scenario. If they’re willing to take all those risks to harm you and prevent you from testifying… We have to keep you safe too.”

“…Is there a way?”

“We have to create one even if there isn’t.”

The site manager chuckled at my answer.

“I’ll assign someone to you. Someone who can protect you both at the construction site and outside. You can think of it as a bodyguard.”