You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 16

You Have Been Defended – Episode 16

The consultation room had a cozy atmosphere.

The director’s appearance was more like that of a friendly counselor than a meticulous specialist.

He gave the impression that would make patients feel comfortable and open up honestly.

I hoped Ms. Yeo Hee-sook had felt the same way.

“Hello.”

“Ah, yes. Hello. You said you’re in charge of Mr. Kim Yeon-joon’s defense?”

“Yes. I’m Cha Joo-han. This is Attorney Kang Min-jae.”

As I handed over my business card, the director also gave me his.

“I’m sure you’re busy with consultations, so let’s skip the formalities and get to a few quick questions.”

“Please do.”

“When did Ms. Yeo Hee-sook first come here?”

“It was two months before the incident.”

“Did Ms. Yeo Hee-sook ever mention that she was experiencing domestic violence?”

At my question, the doctor hesitated for a moment.

But soon he opened his mouth.

“Releasing a patient’s health information is a bit…”

“Didn’t you already testify to the prosecution anyway?”

“No, no one from the police or prosecution has come to see me.”

The director’s name wasn’t on the witness list, but I didn’t expect they hadn’t visited at all.

Given that antidepressants were detected in Ms. Yeo Hee-sook’s body, the prosecution must have checked the hospital she attended through the National Health Insurance Service [a national healthcare system in South Korea].

But if they haven’t visited….

“Was it non-insured [meaning she paid out of pocket]?”

“Yes. She wanted it to be very private, so the consultation times were set late, after the hospital closed.”

Even so, the manager is a prosecution witness.

And one of the few people who knew that Yeo Hee-sook was attending a psychiatric clinic.

But the prosecution never visited the psychiatric clinic Yeo Hee-sook attended?

I think I know how the prosecution was planning to use the manager.

They caught a criminal in the act, so they’re taking their time, huh?

“It’s already known that the deceased Ms. Yeo Hee-sook and her husband were continuously assaulted by their son. The autopsy results also showed that she was prescribed antidepressants and anti-anxiety medication. It’s not a leak of health information.”

“Hmm….”

“More than anything, the suspect could change depending on your testimony. Please tell me.”

“I don’t think the suspect can change.”

The doctor said firmly.

And the result of that answer was [Truth].

He sincerely doesn’t think the suspect can change.

Could it be that Kim Yeon-joon is really the suspect in his mind?

If so, did Yeo Hee-sook tell the director that Kim Yeon-joon was the one who assaulted her?

“What does that mean?”

“I have not heard from Ms. Yeo Hee-sook who assaulted her. I just heard that it was one of the two sons.”

It was fortunate, but it didn’t meet my expectations.

“Director, didn’t Ms. Yeo Hee-sook explain the situation in detail? I mean, why one of the two sons is doing that, why he’s doing that….”

As Kang Min-jae asked urgently, the doctor shook his head.

“No… Ms. Yeo Hee-sook hasn’t fully opened up to me yet. She just said that she was being verbally abused and assaulted by her son. She didn’t want to go into detail, and I prescribed based on the overall test results and Ms. Yeo Hee-sook’s explanation of her symptoms.”

“Ha….”

Kang Min-jae looked at me as if asking what to do.

He wasn’t the only one who expected Kim Hyung-joon’s name to come out of the doctor’s mouth.

I felt the same way.

Still, there might be other clues, so it’s too early to be disappointed.

“Then, please tell us what kind of counseling you had with Ms. Yeo Hee-sook.”

“Haa… Ms. Yeo Hee-sook was in a state of severe mental trauma. So, I suggested that she try medication and counseling with her son, along with treatment. Ms. Yeo Hee-sook said she would bring her son, but she never did. As time went on, her son’s behavior became more and more out of control. As someone who is not a doctor, I thought I should report my son before something bigger happened. So I told her to take legal action first.”

“What was Ms. Yeo Hee-sook’s reaction?”

“At first, she said she couldn’t report him because he was her son. Also, I think she thought it wouldn’t work because Ms. Yeo Hee-sook’s family had such a harmonious image to the outside world.”

“You said, ‘At first.’ Did Ms. Yeo Hee-sook’s reaction change after that?”

The doctor brought a chart from the bookshelf.

I couldn’t read the letters, but it seemed to be organized by week.

The doctor seemed to be lost in recollection, pointing to the chart one by one with his hand.

“Yes. About three weeks in, she asked what would happen if she reported him. She asked if she could report that level of assault… I think it was hard for her to think normally about the matter. Um, when she was in her seventh week at our hospital, she stopped all broadcasting activities.”

“What was the reason for the suspension? Is it also because of the visible wounds on her body?”

“That’s also part of it, but it’s because it’s almost impossible to live a social life.”

“Why?”

“She said that if she heard someone swearing outside, or if a scene of swearing was shown in various media, she couldn’t stand it because it felt like she was being verbally abused by her son. She used to enjoy watching movies as a hobby, but she couldn’t watch movies anymore.”

This means that Yeo Hee-sook’s condition was very serious.

She must have known that other people and the characters in various media were not swearing at her, but it had become so bad.

“Um, you just said that she asked if she could report that level of assault. So, did Ms. Yeo Hee-sook finally decide to report it?”

“That wasn’t certain. But I advised her to secure evidence in case she wanted to report it.”

“Evidence, you mean….”

“She said that it always led to assault after verbal abuse, so I told her to record the situation from the beginning of the verbal abuse.”

Recording!

Perhaps there is a recording of the day of the incident.

“Director, have you ever seen that recording?”

“No. Ms. Yeo Hee-sook was in a state of mixed feelings between wanting to protect her son and wanting to live. Even during counseling, she implicitly protected her son or rationalized his actions. She never showed me the recording either.”

“…Then, did she ever say where the recording was, or how she kept it?”

I haven’t heard about the recording in the days of the investigation.

Kim Yeon-joon, the maternal grandmother, and Kim Hyung-joon. None of them talked about the recording.

“I don’t know about that either. But she did say this. She said that every time her son verbally abused her, she would reflexively start recording, so now, even if she just hears someone swearing, she would unconsciously press the record button. Then she would barely come to her senses and turn off the recording again. She said that happened more and more often.”

“Maybe that camera contains the scene of the incident.”

“It could be.”

If so, there are many strange things.

But the police must have swept the scene, so if the camera had fallen into the hands of the police, Kim Yeon-joon would not have been indicted.

Because the camera would have clearly contained everything from the scene of Kim Hyung-joon murdering his parents to the scene of him handing the baseball bat to Kim Yeon-joon.

“Until when did Ms. Yeo Hee-sook come to the outpatient clinic?”

“The last consultation was about a week before she passed away.”

“Until then, Ms. Yeo Hee-sook continued to have the habit of recording?”

“Yes. As I said before, she showed almost obsessive behavior.”

I have to find the camera.

That’s the only physical evidence.

“Could you testify in court tomorrow at 10 a.m.?”

“…What should I testify about?”

“The same things we talked about today.”

“Okay. I’ll testify.”

“Thank you. Excuse me, I’m in a hurry now, so I’ll get up. I’ll send you the related documents by fax.”

As I grabbed my coat and ran out, Kang Min-jae followed me.

There is no time. I have to find the video quickly.

“Attorney, should we go to Ms. Yeo Hee-sook’s house?”

“Kang, you go ahead. I’m going to the detention center to meet Mr. Kim Yeon-joon.”

“Why Mr. Kim Yeon-joon… Ah, if Ms. Yeo Hee-sook went to turn on the camera at the time of the incident, Mr. Kim Yeon-joon might have seen it.”

“He might not have known what Ms. Yeo Hee-sook was doing and just dismissed it.”

“That’s right. Hooo, a video… If we have this, it’s a sure thing.”

Can we really find the camera that the police, who searched the house thoroughly, couldn’t find?

“Drop me off at the office. Kang, go straight to the scene and look for the camera.”

“Yes. I’ll contact you immediately if anything comes up.”

* * *

“Filming?”

Kim Yeon-joon visibly brightened.

“The situation on that day may have been recorded.”

“I didn’t know my mom was recording.”

“Think back carefully to the day of the incident. When Kim Hyung-joon started verbally abusing the couple, did Yeo Hee-sook suddenly head somewhere or do anything else?”

At my words, Kim Yeon-joon wiggled his fingers and raised his eyes.

He seemed to be trying hard to remember that day.

“So… after dinner, while eating fruit… Hyung [older brother] suddenly started picking on Dad… and then he started swearing….”

Kim Yeon-joon squeezed his eyes shut.

“…I don’t know.”

He hung his head.

Perhaps thinking he had missed the hope in front of him, he soon began to sob.

“I don’t know, Attorney… I don’t remember.”

“Where did Kim Hyung-joon mainly assault the two of you?”

“The living room and the master bedroom. When a fight broke out in the living room, Mom would run to the master bedroom… Hyung would grab her and yell at her to look at him and talk to him straight. If Mom couldn’t shake off his hand, he would start assaulting her in the living room, and if Mom shook him off and went into the master bedroom, he would assault her in the master bedroom… Dad would try to stop him and get hit too….”

“Then, on the day of the incident, where was Yeo Hee-sook when Kim Hyung-joon started verbally abusing her?”

“The fight broke out in the living room, and Mom ran to the master bedroom. Dad was in the master bedroom at that time… He locked the door, and Hyung started acting violently, telling him to open the door. Eventually, Mom opened the door, and Hyung went into the master bedroom. He was holding my baseball bat. So I followed him too….”

“Okay, I understand for now. I’ll look for it.”

The camera is likely to be installed in the living room and the master bedroom.

And the camera containing the scene of the day of the incident will be installed in the master bedroom.

Because he couldn’t have turned on the camera in the living room with Kim Hyung-joon glaring at him.

“Attorney.”

“Yes.”

“…If we can’t find that camera, am I going to jail?”

With the trial tomorrow, he can’t help but be anxious.

Kim Yeon-joon looked at me with trembling eyes.

“Don’t think like that. Just do well in court tomorrow. I won’t tell you to act. Kim Yeon-joon’s honest feelings, honest story. Just tell it like it is. There’s no need to try to be calm, and there’s no need to try to sob.”

“…Yes.”

I checked my phone after leaving the detention center, but there was no contact from Attorney Kang.

I drove towards Dogok-dong and called him.

-Attorney! Does Mr. Kim Yeon-joon know the location of the camera?

“He doesn’t know. But the camera is likely to be installed in the master bedroom and the living room.”

-The scene of the incident is the master bedroom, so I looked all over the master bedroom first. I haven’t found it yet. I’ll check the living room too.

If he couldn’t find the camera in the master bedroom, he had to find the one in the living room, even if it was there.

Even if there is no video of the day of the incident, it will prove that Kim Hyung-joon was the one who committed the assault.

“Attorney!”

When I arrived at Yeo Hee-sook’s house 40 minutes later, Attorney Kang was sitting on the sofa with vinyl spread out [referring to the protective covering used during the search].

“I’m going crazy, really. I have to find it today to register the evidence….”

“It doesn’t matter if you find it right before the trial if you really can’t. Don’t be too impatient.”

“How can I not be impatient! Are you a robot, Attorney? No, I think you’re a real robot? When do you charge? Do you plug in the cord and go to sleep before you go to bed?”

He was quite agitated.

Instead of answering, I walked past the police line and went into the master bedroom.

The blood that flowed from the body was black and hardened on the floor.

Two lines of preservation of the scene that clearly reveal the last 모습 [Korean word meaning ‘ 모습’] of Mr. and Mrs. Kim Cheol-hwan and Yeo Hee-sook.

It shows the tragedy of that day.

‘Generally, to capture all the scenes that take place in this room, it should be installed in each ceiling corner.’

Only clean white wallpaper is applied to all corners.

I changed my position and looked at the interior.

Yeo Hee-sook started filming to use it as evidence, so she would have naturally installed the camera in a place where the inside of the room could be captured at once.

‘If I install it here, it won’t be visible because of the speaker.’

In 2018, as 몰카 [Molka, meaning “secret camera” in Korean] crimes increased rapidly, camera detectors could be easily obtained even in the private sector.

It would have been easier to find if I had that.

“I can’t find it in the living room either. How well did they hide it?”

“Kim Hyung-joon must have hidden it more securely so he wouldn’t notice.”

“Maybe the police took it?”

“If they took it, they would have played the video and arrested Kim Hyung-joon.”

“Kim Hyung-joon gave them money… Hmph, that’s not true. Kim Hyung-joon isn’t a chaebol [a wealthy person from a family-owned conglomerate] either.”

Kang Min-jae finished those words and went back to the living room and started searching every corner.

I also started another search of the master bedroom, which I don’t know how many times it was.

The search, which started from midday when the sunlight came in through the veranda, ended late at night after the sun had set.

“I’m going in.”

“Good job.”

“…Yes.”