You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 168

Seeing six people walk into a pork back-bone stew restaurant with tired faces on a Saturday morning, anyone would assume they’d been out all night and were looking for a hangover cure.

If anything seems slightly out of place, it’s me, dressed casually among the five others who are dressed to impress for a club.

Being here with them makes me feel like a chaperone.

“Since we’ve met like this, why don’t we introduce ourselves?”

While waiting for the pork back-bone stew to be served, we took the time to introduce ourselves, led by Kim Chan-young.

Everyone, including Kim Chan-young, was a senior in the Department of Economics at Myungwoon University.

Kang Min-jae briefly introduced us as lawyers working at the same firm.

“Then, let’s drop the honorifics. I think it would be more comfortable for us, too.”

“I’ll drop them when I feel comfortable.”

“Oh, don’t do that, just drop them now. And Attorney Kang, you already dropped them at the club.”

Lee Sung-jin chimed in, urging us to drop the honorifics.

Seeing him, who had been cursing at the police station, suddenly smiling and talking is a bit strange.

Could it be because he’s sober?

Kang Min-jae, too—alcohol is the enemy.

“Where’s the large [stew]?”

“Here. Give the small one over there.”

Before long, the pork back-bone stew was served.

Kim Chan-young picked up the ladle and stirred the pot, continuing the conversation.

“But Attorney Cha is Attorney Kang’s superior, but you guys seem really close. You even came to the police station.”

Kim Chan-young put a piece of pork rib and some dried radish leaves on my plate and asked.

Instead of answering, I looked at Kang Min-jae.

It’s been three years since we’ve shared the same office, so I can’t exactly say we’re not close.

Of course, if something happens to him, I’m willing to help.

But I really want to avoid cleaning up after him like this.

If it weren’t for the unexpected benefit of meeting Kim Chan-young, I would have threatened to fire Kang Min-jae if he ever called me out for something like this again in the early morning.

“It’s just that I was too drunk, and I didn’t have anyone else to call, so I unconsciously…”

“You’re not a kid, did you really have to call someone, Attorney Kang? There could have been a way to sober up and take care of it yourself.”

I put the plate that Kim Chan-young handed over from across the table in front of Kang Min-jae and answered.

“Haha. I unconsciously thought of you first in a moment of crisis! Haha! Doesn’t that mean I respect you?”

Kang Min-jae answered with a good-natured smile.

“I still think Attorney Kang is cool. He works hard and plays hard. It’s not easy to do both.”

Kim Chan-young handed me a bowl full of pork back-bone stew again.

“Really? But how does Chan-young know if Kang is working hard?”

“Oh, doesn’t he work hard?”

Kim Chan-young covered his mouth as if he had made a slip of the tongue.

Then Kang Min-jae shouted.

“Attorney, why are you saying things that make me sad? I do work hard!”

“Oh, Attorney Cha’s expression doesn’t seem to think so. Are you slacking off?”

“What are you talking about? Slacking off? Tell me if there’s anyone more diligent than me.”

“Haha, you seem even more suspicious when you get so excited.”

“You little punk. Then, are you studying hard, Chan-young? Economics must require a lot of studying. If you’re a senior, isn’t next semester your last?”

Kang Min-jae glared as if he couldn’t be the only one suffering.

“He’s at the top of our department.”

Then Lee Sung-jin chimed in.

“His GPA is over 4.4, right?”

“It’s still like that, but there’s still the remaining semester. You never know what will happen.”

Kim Chan-young answered vaguely, stirring the pork ribs with his chopsticks for no reason.

I haven’t watched him for long, but I think I have a sense of his personality.

He studies well and enjoys life.

Just looking at how he handled Lee Sung-jin at the police station earlier, I could tell that he was in a leadership position in the group.

However, seeing him speak coldly to Lee Sung-jin, he seems to have a bit of a temper.

Looking at his affable impression, he seems somewhat similar to Kang Min-jae, but the feeling is completely different.

“I used to want to be a prosecutor. As far as I know, you can choose your desired position among judges, prosecutors, and lawyers at the Judicial Research and Training Institute [a postgraduate program for aspiring legal professionals]. Did you two choose to be lawyers?”

“Ah, that’s not it. Attorney Cha and I were both first appointed as prosecutors.”

“Wow. That’s cool, you must have had good grades.”

“I was just okay, but Attorney Cha was amazing. He was the top student. Right?”

“Well, I was.”

I put the cleanly eaten bones in the container and answered.

“Wow, that’s so cool. If I were the top student at the Judicial Research and Training Institute, I would have bragged a lot, like, ‘Haha, I was the top student, am I cool?’ But, ‘Well, I was.’ Wow.”

Lee Sung-jin babbled, imitating my words like a parrot.

“Attorney was famous since college. I heard about Attorney before I even met him. You know, like those legendary stories about seniors. He was the main character of those unicorn-like stories.”

“Wow, that’s really cool. Were you in the same school?”

“Yeah. Same school, same department. But we didn’t overlap [in attendance].”

Kang Min-jae proudly told them stories about my college days as if it were his own resume.

Passing the bar exam while in school, always being at the top of the department—it was a stale story.

“How many fried rice orders should we do?”

Before we knew it, we had emptied all the pork back-bone stew, and Kim Chan-young scooped up the remaining ingredients in the empty bowl and asked.

“Shouldn’t we do one per person? Are you guys full?”

Kang Min-jae looked at Kim Chan-young and his group and asked.

They had finished one large and one small stew, but they still didn’t seem satisfied.

They nodded vigorously at Kang Min-jae’s question.

“I’m good. Are you full?”

“No, the highlight of pork back-bone stew is fried rice. Why are you being so weak, Attorney?”

“I have to go home and sleep, but if I eat too much, I’ll get acid reflux. You’ll see when you’re my age, Attorney Kang.”

For me, who lives on cigarettes and coffee, acid reflux is like a companion in life.

Kim Chan-young and his group looked at me with solemn faces.

They had faces that seemed to be asking if they would become like me when they got old.

“You guys be careful, too. It’s not a distant future. I’m going out for a smoke.”

Leaving them ordering five servings of fried rice, I went outside the restaurant.

The sky, which had been clear until just now, seemed to be gathering dark clouds, and thin raindrops began to fall.

I went under the eaves and lit a cigarette.

I kept thinking about Kim Chan-young.

Creating relationships with people I didn’t know now based on the knowledge of my previous life was more difficult than I had expected.

I thought it would be easier since I knew all the information about the other person, but it was all my miscalculation.

At least Choi Jong-hyun was very close to me in my previous life, and I knew his life well, so even if I consider that a success, Kim Chan-young is different.

The only information I have is his personal details that I found out through background checks in my previous life.

Even then, there isn’t much about this point in 2010.

For now, I should be satisfied with making a connection with him and continue to nurture it, and maybe contact him again when more time has passed.

The Kim Chan-young who revealed the Wooshin corruption documents is from 2018.

I have no way of knowing what Kim Chan-young in 2010 is thinking right now.

“Attorney, can I borrow a light?”

While I was lost in thought, I suddenly heard Kim Chan-young’s voice next to me.

When I handed him the lighter, Kim Chan-young lit his cigarette as before, returned the lighter to me, and then squatted down.

“Did you bring an umbrella? It’s suddenly raining.”

“There’s a convenience store next door. I’ll have to buy one there.”

“Ah, but Attorney… I’ve been familiar with Attorney’s name since I first became an attorney. I’ve been thinking about where I’ve seen you.”

He looked up at me and stared for a long time.

“But when I heard Attorney’s name, I knew it right away. You’re the attorney who was in charge of the Go Yoon-sung case a while ago, right?”

“That’s right.”

“Wow, you were a famous person. You’re so handsome, I remembered you right away. Haha. But recently, didn’t that attorney have some tax and speculation issues? Are you okay now?”

“The charges were dropped.”

“That’s a relief. When I looked at the internet, people were saying that Wooshin was retaliating because Go Yoon-sung went to jail.”

At Kim Chan-young’s words, I smiled faintly.

Oh ho. Look at this guy.

“Chan-young seems to be very interested in Go Yoon-sung.”

At my words, Kim Chan-young grinned.

The expression and eyes that I saw for a moment were not those of an ordinary college student full of curiosity.

“I’m not interested in Go Yoon-sung. He’s just a famous thug. I think it’s a good thing [he’s in jail]. I hate guys who act up without ability, trusting in their family background.”

Anyone who knows Go Yoon-sung could say that, but I could read more than that from Kim Chan-young.

For example, hatred towards the children of the legal wife.

“If you’re not interested in Go Yoon-sung, what are you interested in? That case was famous, but if you remember even me, the attorney, you must have been watching with quite a bit of interest.”

“Actually, I’m a bit interested in Wooshin. I invest in stocks. I have some Wooshin affiliate stocks.”

[Truth]

Wooshin stocks.

Is he talking about the affiliate stocks that Go Sang-joon gave him?

“Really? You invest in stocks too. You’re still a student—that’s amazing.”

“Ah, come to think of it, Attorney also invests in stocks, right? When you were investigated by the prosecution, there was talk about stocks, and every place you invested in went up several times. So I thought you were being investigated for manipulating stocks.”

“I was lucky.”

“Hey, how is that luck? You seem to have an eye for stocks. Please tell me a little bit. Where’s a good place these days?”

I threw the cigarette butt in the ashtray.

“Let’s go inside.”

“Ah, if there’s anything good, please let me know. I’ll invest a little, too. Okay?”

“It’s hard for me to tell you what to do. But I think I can tell you whether the Wooshin affiliate you invested in is good or bad.”

“Oh. I’d love it if you told me.”

Kim Chan-young’s face lit up.

“I have a little bit in Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals right now. I bought it when it was listed, and it’s gone up a lot because of Antrozol.”

Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals.

I almost burst out laughing.

Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals, which was listed at the same time as the launch of the next-generation Antrozol, will see its stock price skyrocket astronomically as it passes the second half of this year, as it should.

This is because a new drug with some of the ingredients of the existing Antrozol has been changed and is about to be released.

However, in the case of new drugs, the package design was not intentionally changed, and the drug name was also used almost as is, targeting those who do not want to take the drug until people see the effects.

Although the name Alpha was added later, the existing Antrozol was discontinued and no longer used, so everyone conveniently called Antrozol Alpha just Antrozol.

Because the ingredients are almost similar to the existing Antrozol, it was treated as an upgraded version of the existing drug, not a new drug, which made it possible.

Antrozol Alpha showed tremendous effects.

Testimonial posts began to pour out, and even though it cost millions of won to get Antrozol once, it was so popular that it couldn’t be sold.

Patients who had been taking Antrozol also took Antrozol Alpha and saw great results.

Then, media play continued, saying that patients who had been steadily taking Antrozol were finally starting to see results.

Despite the great effect of the changed ingredients, Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals seemed reluctant to announce that the ingredients had been changed.

That’s natural.

Because the ingredients they changed were no different from poison.

Anyway, people who don’t know that fact would think that Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals has achieved a great feat that will contribute to the development of mankind.

So it’s no wonder that Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals’ stock price is soaring.

But this time, it will probably look different.

“I don’t want to recommend bio stocks.”

“Why? I don’t know much, but I’ve heard that bio stocks are a jackpot once they hit. Besides, Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals has the good news of the Antrozol upgrade version launch.”

“That’s true, but I think I heard that Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals has some problems.”

“Ah… What kind of problems?”

The fact that there is a fatal problem with the newly released Antrozol Alpha will soon be revealed to the world.

Of course, that’s what I was going to do.

Before even one person is harmed by the poison that Wooshin made to take care of their own interests.

“I don’t know that far, it’s just a rumor. I can’t tell you what to do, but I want to recommend selling it anyway.”

My goal is to recall all Antrozol, arrest executives and those in charge who knew about the ingredient change, and delist Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals.