You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 188

You Have Been Defended – Episode 188

In 2010, on a day in the future that hasn’t arrived yet in this life.

It rained heavily that day.

The unexpected rain caused traffic congestion, and I gripped the steering wheel nervously, worried about being late.

It was the day of the warrant re-examination for a criminal whom the entire Violent Crimes Division had painstakingly arrested after working day and night for a long time.

When I arrived in front of the courthouse, there were only 10 minutes left until the hearing, so I hurriedly got out with the documents.

My steps quickened due to my anxious mind, and I didn’t pay attention to my surroundings, stepping into a deep puddle.

The bottom of my pants got wet, and the water sloshing in my shoes made me feel deeply unpleasant.

I muttered a small curse under my breath and hurried towards the courtroom.

As I barely squeezed into the crowded elevator, my clothes got even wetter from the people who hadn’t used disposable umbrella covers.

My irritation grew, and as I got off the elevator, a call came in.

It was my father.

Normally, I would have answered the phone, explained that I had to go into trial and would call back later.

But that day, I was so annoyed that I didn’t want to answer.

Especially, I didn’t want to feel guilty hearing my father’s voice, which always sounded somewhat disappointed whenever I said I was busy.

I was already an unfilial son who didn’t visit my parents often and didn’t answer their calls promptly.

My heart was always worried about my parents, but strangely, my actions didn’t reflect that.

So, I put the phone on silent and slipped it into my pocket.

And I went into the trial.

The trial dragged on because the defendant kept strongly requesting to be investigated without detention.

I was distracted, thinking about how the bottom of my wet pants wasn’t drying, and continued the warrant re-examination.

How many minutes had passed?

Suddenly, the courtroom door opened, and Officer Oh rushed towards me, bowing slightly.

With a stern expression, he handed me a neatly folded note and quickly left the courtroom again.

While the defendant’s lawyer was passionately arguing their case, I quietly unfolded the note under the desk.

[Prosecutor, we just received a call from your mother in Pyeongtaek that your father has passed away.]

To be honest, I don’t remember exactly how I felt at that moment.

At first, I didn’t immediately grasp who the mother and father in the note were referring to.

But Pyeongtaek was where my parents lived, and the reality of the situation quickly dawned on me.

-Prosecutor.

The judge’s voice faded faintly in my ears.

I couldn’t hear anything.

Everything became distant.

-Prosecutor.

The judge knocked on the microphone and called me out loud once more, and I finally snapped back to attention.

I heard the audience murmuring, and I realized that all eyes in the courtroom were on me.

The defendant in this case had a significant reason to be investigated under detention.

Knowing I couldn’t afford to mess this up, I did my best to complete the warrant re-examination.

Fortunately, the detention warrant was not dismissed.

Before calling out the next case for re-examination, I jumped up and ran out of the courtroom.

Outside, Officer Oh was pacing back and forth.

“Prosecutor, let’s go quickly. It’s at Hyemin Funeral Hall in Pyeongtaek.”

“…….”

“Prosecutor!”

Officer Oh shouted loudly at me, who was staring at him blankly, unable to fully comprehend the situation.

“I’ll drive, so give me the car keys.”

Officer Oh urged me, seeing that I was still standing there, stunned.

Then, he took off my legal robe, reached into my pants pocket, and took out the car keys.

He practically dragged me to the parking lot.

“Where did you park?”

“I, I’ll drive. Officer Oh, you take care of the remaining work,”

“How can you drive all the way to Pyeongtaek in this rain when you’re so out of it? I’ll take you, so hurry. Where did you park?”

Officer Oh entered the funeral hall’s address into the navigation system and started the car.

Meanwhile, I lifted my trembling hand and picked up my cell phone.

There were over 20 missed calls.

Two from my father, and the rest from my mother and relatives.

I called my mother.

-……Why are you answering the phone now, you rascal. Waaah, you rascal…….

As soon as I answered, my mother’s sobs filled the line.

I couldn’t say anything, struck dumb, and just listened to my mother’s grief.

Listening to my mother’s wails, I understood that my father had passed away from a heart attack.

And that the last call my father made before he passed away was to me.

It seemed that my mother had also received this news late, as my father was found collapsed in his office at the factory.

I managed to say that I was on my way to the funeral hall and hung up the phone as if running away.

In my head, I pictured my father clutching his chest in sudden heart pain and struggling in agony.

And that the one thing he thought of while writhing in pain was me, his only son.

And that I had ignored that call for help, or the call to hear his son’s voice one last time, because I was annoyed, because I might be late for the trial.

The thought of that made me feel like I was going crazy.

Officer Oh spread the news of my father’s passing in my place.

Relatives were busy comforting my mother, who was crying as if she would faint, and I remained trapped in guilt, mechanically acting as the chief mourner.

Colleagues who heard the news came down to Pyeongtaek one by one after work to pay their respects to my father on his final journey.

They offered words of comfort, but I felt that I, as a sinner, was unworthy of such solace.

As I was buried in guilt, my uncle said this to me.

“……Juhan. Shouldn’t we have your father undergo an autopsy? Your aunt said that Youngho [father’s name] never had any problems with his heart, but suddenly a heart attack…….”

Foolishly, it was only after hearing those words that I began to question my father’s death.

After requesting an autopsy, I ran around busily all night.

First, I met the doctor at the emergency room where my father was taken.

The doctor asked if my father had any heart conditions, and I said no.

The next thing the doctor asked was if my father was taking any medication.

After thinking for a moment, I remembered my father asking if it was okay for him to get an expensive injection for his arthritis.

It cost millions of won per injection [Korean currency, roughly thousands of US dollars], but he said it was very effective.

I replied that he should definitely get it since he was in pain, and I gave him my credit card.

As soon as the conversation with the doctor ended, I ran to a PC cafe [Korean internet cafe].

I didn’t even think about the fact that I was in mourning; I just wanted to find out about that medicine.

As soon as I searched the internet, a cafe appeared at the top of the results.

[Antrozel Alpha Side Effect Victims Cafe]

There were many people in that cafe who had experienced the same thing as my father.

Families who had lost loved ones due to Antrozel [arthritis medication] had researched Antrozel Alpha [an upgraded version] and were preparing a lawsuit.

They said that they had been getting Antrozel injections, and then, at the recommendation of their doctors, they started getting Antrozel Alpha, which was an upgraded version of Antrozel.

They said that after getting Antrozel Alpha, people suddenly started dying of heart attacks or collapsing with cardiovascular diseases.

I read every post on the cafe until sunrise that day.

“Juhan, where have you been?”

After returning to the funeral hall, I couldn’t do anything.

I sat blankly in the chief mourner’s seat, recalling the posts I had read at the PC cafe, over and over again.

I knew that the medicine my father had been given was Antrozel.

But if so, had my father also been given Antrozel Alpha?

I asked my mother, who was resting inside the room, exhausted from crying.

“Was it Antrozel Alpha?”

“……Huh?”

“The medicine my father was given. Not just Antrozel, but Antrozel Alpha?”

“Why are you suddenly…… What are you talking about?”

“Antrozel Alpha has side effects. People who have lost their families because of Antrozel Alpha side effects have gathered and are even preparing a lawsuit……. Isn’t that right? My father only got Antrozel, right?”

“…….”

“The medicine my father got was Antrozel, right? You told me you were going to get that medicine, so I asked Dongjin if it was a good medicine and looked into it for you. I said it was okay, so that’s why you got that medicine. But you didn’t tell me about Antrozel Alpha. Isn’t that right? You only got Antrozel, right?”

My mother turned pale at my question.

I could tell from that expression.

That the medicine my father had been given was Antrozel Alpha.

Like the victims I had seen in that cafe, she had heard that it was an upgraded version of Antrozel and had simply gotten it without thinking much about it.

It was an expensive medicine that cost millions of won per injection.

I kept thinking about my father apologizing as he took my card.

I thought that if my father’s arthritis could be cured, or at least if his pain could be relieved, I didn’t care how much money it cost.

I just wanted to die.

If I had lived with my parents, wouldn’t I have known when my father decided to switch to Antrozel Alpha?

Then, wouldn’t I have researched the information about that medicine, just like when he first said he was going to get Antrozel?

Then, wouldn’t I have been able to tell him not to get it?

I was so consumed by self-blame that I couldn’t even look at my father’s portrait surrounded by chrysanthemums.

“Cha Pro [short for Prosecutor Cha], what’s going on?”

And on the second day, Hwang Youngchan and the Violent Crimes Division members visited the funeral hall.

I told him the story of Antrozel Alpha, which I couldn’t tell anyone else.

Hwang Youngchan was even more furious than I was.

He raged, saying that it wasn’t my fault, but the fault of Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals for developing and distributing such a drug, and that they were conscienceless bastards who were thinking of killing people by selling such drugs.

“Those bastards at Wooshin have no conscience. How many people are they planning to kill by selling such drugs?”

“…….”

“Cha Pro, hang in there. I’m sure you’ve heard this a lot, but hang in there.”

What he said wasn’t wrong.

If Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals hadn’t made such a drug, my father wouldn’t have died.

Most of the people who get those drugs are elderly, and many of them think that whatever doctors say is right.

The very idea of selling such a dangerous drug to such people was an unpardonable crime.

The people who developed that drug in the first place, the company that decided to sell that drug.

They were all criminals.