You’ve Been Defended – Episode 161
There were more reporters than I expected, camped out in front of the Prosecutor’s Office photo line.
They were working hard to make the trivial affairs of a small-time lawyer like me seem like a big deal.
Not too many to look suspicious, but not too few to make me look like a major criminal.
The reporters mobilized to strike this balance were watching the clock, waiting for 2 PM, my scheduled appearance time at the Prosecutor’s Office.
“There are so many people. Do you think you can go in alone, Attorney Cha?”
Kang Min-jae, who had been looking at the entrance of the Prosecutor’s Office from inside the car, said worriedly.
“What’s there to be unable to do?”
I answered nonchalantly, and Kang Min-jae chuckled softly.
I was the one facing indictment by the prosecution, but he seemed to have lost his composure more than I had.
He was trying to appear calm, but it didn’t seem to reassure him.
“How long do you think the investigation will take? Should I wait here?”
“No, don’t wait. It’ll probably take a long time.”
In truth, what they would say to me was obvious.
They would present the evidence they had gathered and urge me to confess.
They didn’t have any plausible repertoire because they weren’t investigating me for any significant suspicion, but simply conducting an investigation for the sake of investigation.
However, what was certain was that they would keep me locked in the investigation room for as long as possible, meaninglessly.
“Attorney Cha, I’ll accompany you as your defense counsel.”
Kang Min-jae took out a tie from the console box and put it around his neck.
“No matter how I think about it, I don’t think you should go alone. I might not be of much help, but still, going together…”
“Did you forget that I said I’m fine?”
“Attorney Cha, if you don’t trust me, bring another lawyer. I know you’re a competent lawyer, but even so, it’s not efficient for you to defend yourself. You know that too.”
He wasn’t wrong.
A lawyer needs to observe the situation more objectively than ever.
Once you have the biased idea that ‘I am not at fault,’ you might as well abandon objectivity.
But even so, I couldn’t think of anyone I could entrust with this case.
Go Sang-jun, who had just sent his youngest son to prison, Go Sang-kyung, who had sent his only daughter to prison, and Tae Kwang, who had tarnished its shining reputation as the best law firm in Korea with consecutive defeats, were all rushing to take me down.
In times like these, if someone helped me, it was obvious that they would also suffer disadvantages.
That was the case even for Kang Min-jae.
I roughly knew that his family was influential enough for even Tae Kwang’s Yoon Won-hyung to cherish him, but I wasn’t sure if he could handle the Go Sang-jun and Go Sang-kyung brothers.
“Let’s stop talking about this. I won’t change my mind.”
“…I understand. Please contact me after the investigation. I’ll come to pick you up.”
“How long are you going to keep that gloomy face, Attorney Kang?”
“How can I feel comfortable when you’re being framed and suffering like this? Just don’t mind me. Let me at least worry.”
Office Manager Oh, who always laughed and smoothly handled things, had also been sighing more since hearing the news that the tax investigation had been converted into a tax crime investigation.
His face reminded me of when I was excluded from the special investigation team due to retaliatory investigations in my previous life.
I didn’t want them to erode their emotions with such worries.
“I think there might be a way.”
I said, unfastening my seat belt.
Kang Min-jae widened his eyes and asked.
“Yes? Really?”
“Yeah, so don’t worry too much, and help the Office Manager prepare the documents well.”
“You really have a way, right?”
“I told you I do.”
In fact, I didn’t.
I was thinking about various breakthroughs, but there was nothing that felt right.
But if I could reassure them with just these words, I could lie as much as necessary.
I was just grateful that he didn’t have the abilities I had.
“I’ll be back.”
I didn’t have time to dawdle any longer, so I got out of Kang Min-jae’s car.
And walked towards the photo line.
Sitting in the Prosecutor’s Office investigation room, not as an investigator, was a first for me.
Was this what it felt like?
Sitting alone in a dark room, waiting for the prosecutor who hadn’t arrived yet.
The mirror opposite me was actually a one-way window that allowed people outside to see inside.
The red light was blinking on the camcorder placed on the tripod next to the desk.
It was an unspoken pressure that they would capture all my actions and even analyze the signs I unconsciously sent.
Even I, who had been in the prosecution for a long time, felt some pressure, so what about those who hadn’t?
And for the prosecutor, dealing with such intimidated opponents might have been a piece of cake.
Of course, I would have been one of those prosecutors.
Until a verdict is reached, every suspect has the right not to be treated as a criminal.
But in this room, where even this simple arrangement makes you feel the overwhelming power difference between the two sides, is that really possible?
“Are you very tired?”
About 15 minutes later, the prosecutor entered the investigation room.
Prosecutor Kim Dong-soo.
I was able to get information because he was a classmate of Prosecutor Lee Ye-jin at the Judicial Research and Training Institute [a postgraduate program for aspiring judges, prosecutors, and lawyers in South Korea], but she said that Kim Dong-soo wasn’t a very noticeable type.
There was a high probability that he would become a deputy director around next year, but by then, everyone in his class would be a deputy director.
It wasn’t necessarily proof that he was outstanding.
But from the perspective of someone who needs to exploit weaknesses, the fact that he has no noticeable points is even more difficult.
It would have been easier to deal with if he were a type like Yang Han-seok.
Anyway, the only strategy I can establish right now is to avoid indictment.
If it goes to trial, the image consumed in the meantime will be difficult to recover.
Even if I am found innocent, there will be comments that I was indicted because there were considerable suspicions until the verdict was reached.
The person who will be most excited to write that will be none other than the chief editor of Iljung Daily.
“A lot of people came. I heard you were famous when you were in the prosecution, but you’ve become famous in many ways outside the prosecution too.”
The prosecutor made a joke that wasn’t even funny and flipped through the investigation records.
“Cha Joo-han, let’s make this easy. Even now, if you confess cleanly, pay the additional tax, and pay the fine, you won’t go to jail.”
The prosecutor read the investigation record emotionlessly over his rimless glasses.
“In 2008, you purchased land in the green belt area of northern Gyeonggi Province, and in early 2010, there was an announcement that the green belt would be lifted [a designation restricting development to preserve green spaces]. I heard that area is included in the new city to be developed. That area, which was worthless land until then, suddenly became a goldmine. As a result, the profit that Cha Joo-han saw alone exceeds 3 billion won.”
I just used future knowledge.
When I heard the news that the land near there would be developed, I remembered my ex-wife complaining that she should have bought that land.
Anyone in the same situation as me would have made the same choice.
People often imagine going back to the past and buying up everything before land prices skyrocket.
I just made it happen.
The land in northern Gyeonggi Province is a place I had forgotten about, intending to leave it for a long time because it would rise even more after the new city was completed.
I never thought that there would be a profit of 3 billion won already.
It will be several times more if a few more years pass.
It would be a little difficult if I had to go in and out of the Prosecutor’s Office for just this much.
My main focus is still Bitcoin, which the National Intelligence Service is diligently mining even at this moment.
Considering the assets I will acquire at that time, this is nothing compared to it.
“A person who was struggling to repay all kinds of loans while in the prosecution started buying land like crazy as soon as he left the prosecution, earning huge retainer fees. Wouldn’t anyone find it suspicious?”
What can I do if my perspective on the world suddenly changed?
I needed a lot of funds, and simple retainer fee income was not enough to meet all my needs.
So I was just trying to increase my wealth a little more, but speculation?
There’s also the good word ‘investment’.
I didn’t buy it with illegally obtained information, so it’s really unfair.
“The decision to develop the new city was made in 2010, but discussions had been going on before that. If you didn’t have information in advance, no one would have poured billions of won into that worthless land. Cha Joo-han knows that best.”
“So, you’re saying there was no way for me to invest except by hearing information from a related person in advance.”
At my answer, Kim Dong-soo nodded coolly.
“It seems like we’re starting to understand each other.”
“So, I’m curious about who that related person the prosecution found is. I don’t know anything about it. What is the relationship between that related person and me? How did we get connected? Are we alumni? Or relatives?”
Kim Dong-soo didn’t answer my question.
It seemed like he hadn’t gotten that related person on standby yet.
He naturally changed the subject.
“You’re saying you’re going to deny it, I understand. Then, is it the same for the tax evasion charges?”
“There’s nothing to admit or deny about tax evasion. My tax affairs are handled by a tax accounting firm, and I have been faithfully paying taxes without using any illegal methods. The tax accounting firm even recommended several times that I create a corporation, but I didn’t even do that because I didn’t know what kind of illegal methods I would have to use if I used corporate funds personally.”
All of it was true.
I was stubbornly adhering to my individual business status to the point of being foolish, and paying huge taxes.
It’s been my long-standing habit to avoid creating even one loophole for the future.
“Ah, it seems like the news hasn’t arrived yet. This morning, the tax accounting firm in charge of Cha Joo-han’s taxes admitted to creating double books.”