You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 190

“Good morning.”

As always, Secretary Oh was the first to arrive and safeguard his post.

Of course, Kang Min-jae, the owner of the desk next to him, was nowhere to be seen.

He must have been tired from driving from Jinseong-gun to Seoul yesterday, so it was understandable.

“You must be tired too, Attorney. You should have come in later.”

Secretary Oh gave me a worried look as I put my bag on the desk.

“I’ve had enough rest. And you must have had a hard time alone yesterday and the day before, Secretary Oh.”

Given Secretary Oh’s experience, he could handle simple legal consultations and was in charge of most of the practical work, so there was no great burden in leaving the office.

But it must have been difficult to bear so much work for two days.

Even leaving the seat for a short time would have been uncomfortable.

Secretary Oh shook his cigarette pack and pointed to the veranda.

“It’s been a long time since we had a conversation, maybe because we’ve been so busy lately.”

He said, closing the veranda door tightly.

I lit his cigarette and nodded briefly.

“That’s right.”

“I think this case is a full-fledged attack on Wooshin. You started with that intention, right?”

Until now, I had been involved in cases that had already happened, but this time, the case itself happened because of me.

Secretary Oh was also the one who helped me prepare the data to hand over to Jo Bong-joon and Choi Jong-hyun, so he would naturally know that fact.

“It could be dangerous for you.”

“I’m already prepared for that.”

“It sounds like you have a bigger picture in mind.”

Secretary Oh smiled a little bitterly.

I smiled with him without answering.

He probably doesn’t know that he said the same thing to me in my previous life.

He was worried about me back then too.

That it would be more dangerous.

His words were indeed correct, and I didn’t think I could ensure my safety while doing this job.

But the definite difference is that I was really a person with that much experience at that age back then, but not now.

My experience is long, and I know the events that will happen in the future in advance.

So, it can be different this time.

So, you can rest assured a little.

I wish I could say that.

“Don’t worry too much.”

I said, watching Secretary Oh throw his cigarette butt into the ashtray.

He probably doesn’t know how much strength it gives me that he left the prosecution and stayed by my side.

-Good morning… Huh? What, am I the first?

At that moment, Kang Min-jae’s voice echoed loudly from outside the veranda.

The soundproofing here is so good that you can’t hear it well unless you speak very loudly with the door closed.

“What should we do? Attorney Kang, you’re not first, you’re last.”

Secretary Oh said, opening the veranda door and going out.

Then Kang Min-jae drooped his shoulders and pouted his lips.

“What is it? I was happy too soon.”

“Attorney Kang, you know you have to stop by the Northern District Court today, right?”

“Yes? Ah, yes. Yes. I know.”

Yoo Min-hyuk handed us the private safe key in advance instead of being late because he was organizing the pharmacy and coming up.

The location is only 10 minutes away from the Northern District Court.

I didn’t know there was a private safe there.

In fact, I knew a few famous places because private safes are also used a lot for crime.

Maybe Tae-shik knows some places well too.

Most of them have a pawnshop sign.

It looks like that from the outside.

But when you go inside, there are safes packed tightly inside steel walls where you wouldn’t even know if someone died.

The people guarding that place are also usually ‘tattooed *hyungnims*’ [older brother figures, often associated with gangs] who have a shoulder in the area.

Banks also have safes, but some people prefer private safes because such institutions have to show everything if they have a warrant.

Of course, I didn’t know that Yoo Min-hyuk had stored the Myung-hwa Pharmaceutical-related data there.

“Shall we go now, then?”

Kang Min-jae said, stretching.

Did time already pass like this while we were chatting?

I nodded and opened the drawer where I had put the key I received from Yoo Min-hyuk.

The top drawer, always locked with a key.

“…….”

“What’s wrong?”

Kang Min-jae, who was waiting for me at the door, looked at me rummaging through the drawer as if I was strange.

“…….”

“What is it? Is it not there?”

Kang Min-jae asked, hardening his expression.

But soon, he looked at me and Secretary Oh, smiled, and waved his hand.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No, it’s not there.”

Even after completely separating the drawer and searching through it, the safe key was not visible.

Only then did Secretary Oh and Kang Min-jae realize the seriousness of the situation and came to my desk to start searching through the drawer together.

Because I usually organize the drawers well, it didn’t take long to search.

Even the documents inside were turned upside down, but there wasn’t even a piece of metal similar to a key.

“……Attorney, are you sure you put it here?”

Secretary Oh asked, tilting his head as if it was strange.

“Yes. I even asked Secretary Oh where the first drawer key was yesterday.”

“……You did. No, where did it go?”

It was truly chaos.

Kang Min-jae and Secretary Oh scattered and started searching everywhere in the office.

That was the same for me.

After rummaging around for about an hour, we sat down on the sofa in front of us in despair.

“If the attorney is sure that he put it in that drawer, could it have been stolen?”

“……Then does that mean someone came into the office after I kept the key here and left yesterday?”

“It could be.”

I sighed deeply.

“Isn’t it the work of those Myung-hwa Pharmaceutical bastards?”

Kang Min-jae said, grinding his teeth.

“Didn’t those bastards search the office and find it?”

“……It could be.”

I answered, touching my forehead.

“I’m going crazy, really. What should we do? Yoo Min-hyuk must have made a big decision and entrusted us with the key…….”

Kang Min-jae stamped his feet.

As he said.

It was me who pushed him, who refused, saying he didn’t want to be involved in this, and got the key.

But if I say I lost it, it’s only natural that I’ll lose trust.

I leaned back on the sofa as if slumping and closed my eyes tightly.

“If Yoo Min-hyuk directly entrusted the private safe, he can open the safe even without the key. Even if Myung-hwa Pharmaceutical stole the key, they wouldn’t know where the safe is.”

Secretary Oh said calmly.

And he dialed Yoo Min-hyuk’s number on my phone and held it out to me.

I hesitated for a moment and pressed the call button.

Yoo Min-hyuk might faint if he hears this news.

No, maybe he’ll say that joining this work is just off.

I bit my lip and just listened to the continued ringing tone.

-Yes, Attorney. Did you find the data well?

“Yoo Min-hyuk. I sincerely apologize, but the key was stolen.”

-Yes?!

Yoo Min-hyuk screamed.

I explained the situation to him appropriately and apologized at length for not managing it properly.

At the same time, I hoped that he wouldn’t change his mind.

But even if he changed his mind, there would be nothing I could do.

Even I wouldn’t be able to trust such a lawyer.

-……Ha, I, I’m going to go up to Seoul now.

But Yoo Min-hyuk answered obediently.

-If I leave right now on the fastest train, I’ll arrive in Seoul around 5 o’clock. Let’s meet there in front of it by 6 o’clock.

* * *

“Yoo Min-hyuk!”

At exactly 6 o’clock, Kang Min-jae, who was pacing in front of the private safe, shouted loudly towards the other side.

Yoo Min-hyuk, who got out of the taxi, hurriedly looked around and crossed the road.

“Yoo Min-hyuk, I’m really sorry. We should have been more careful with the storage, but we were careless. I’m sorry.”

“……I’m sorry.”

“It can’t be helped. The Myung-hwa Pharmaceutical guys aren’t easy opponents. Why would I store the data in a private safe?”

Fortunately, Yoo Min-hyuk just sighed and didn’t seem very angry.

He hurried into the shopping district, saying not to delay any longer.

Kang Min-jae and I also followed him.

The private safe was located on the top floor.

After climbing the stairs for a long time, a tightly closed iron door appeared.

It was the same structure as the top floor of a villa where ordinary houses are located, commonly called the owner’s house.

When Yoo Min-hyuk pressed the doorbell, the iron door lock was soon opened.

Yoo Min-hyuk gestured as if to follow him, opened the door, and went inside.

“How did you come?”

When I entered the private safe with the pawnshop sign, the man sitting at the entrance counter looked over us.

He was a man with a rough impression that anyone would think of as a gangster, with tattoos on his muscular arms.

But Yoo Min-hyuk answered as if he was familiar with it.

“I came to find the stored items.”

“Give me the key.”

“I lost the key.”

At the words that he lost the key, the man frowned and looked over us again.

“Then what about the contract?”

When he asked bluntly, Yoo Min-hyuk took out an orange envelope from his arms and put it on the counter.

The man snatched that envelope.

And he carefully looked at the contract and even shone it with UV rays.

It seemed like he was checking for forgery.

After checking the contract for a long time, the man abruptly reached out from outside the counter.

“Identification card.”

Yoo Min-hyuk took out his driver’s license from his wallet and handed it to the man.

The man scanned the license into the machine and then walked out from the counter.

“Follow me. Only you.”

He extended his arms in front of Kang Min-jae and me.

Yoo Min-hyuk gestured as if it was okay, and went inside the safe with the man.

Nothing was visible from the outside.

No sound was heard beyond the tightly closed iron door.

About 5 minutes passed like that.

While waiting anxiously, the iron door opened again and Yoo Min-hyuk and the man came out.

“……Yoo Min-hyuk.”

Kang Min-jae scanned his hands as soon as he came out.

That was the same for me.

He wasn’t holding anything in his hands.

It was then that we checked his expression.

“……It’s not there.”

Yoo Min-hyuk muttered in a pale face.

“The safe was empty…….”

* * *

[Live) Tearful Myung-hwa Pharmaceutical bashing broadcast]

[Epuquila: Today’s title is unusual, isn’t it?

Coconut: Why are Bong-joon and Jong-hyun tearful?ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

“Hello. It’s already the fifth broadcast. I’m reporter Choi Jong-hyun.”

“I’m Apollon Jo Bong-joon.”

The faces of the two people, who always smiled and made opening remarks, looked haggard as if they hadn’t eaten gruel.

As the faces of the two people with stiff expressions filled the screen, people who entered the broadcast started chatting, asking what was going on.

“……Ha, I don’t know where to start. Reporter, you say it.”

“Ah, why do I always have to tell the shitty story? Jo Bong-joon, you do it.”

“……Ha.”

Jo Bong-joon sighed deeply.

And he just read the chat that was going up quietly and quickly.

“In fact, we were planning to show evidence today that would prove the atrocities of Myung-hwa Pharmaceutical.”

[Scissors Hand: Wow, really? Was there such a thing?

Black Tiger: What does it mean that you were planning to show it? Does that mean you can’t show it today?]

“A while ago, we received a report from someone who had evidence and went far to receive the evidence. But, really……. It all went down the drain.”

[My belly fat pork belly: ㅋㅋㅋㅋYou guys just can’t stand to see Myung-hwa Pharmaceutical doing well, so you’re scheming and in the end, you can’t prove it, so you’re acting pitiful, right? Damn, I knew itㅋㅋㅋㅋ

凸Myung-hwa Pharmaceutical凸: Shut up a bit, you haven’t even heard the end of the story yet

My belly fat pork belly: Have you ever seen proper evidence so far? It was all just circumstantial evidence, damn, I knew it]

“Ah, don’t fight. If you fight, I’ll ban you.”

“That’s right. Don’t fight. I’m already distraught to death, so how can the viewers fight each other? If you’re going to fight, just leave.”

Choi Jong-hyun retorted irritably, ruffling his hair.

The chat, which was always full of laughter, gradually slowed down.

“The Myung-hwa Pharmaceutical officials must be watching this broadcast now. Then listen. Are you relieved that you snatched the evidence like that? Say it once, damn it, say it. Huh? You struggled to obtain the evidence, are you happy that you stole it like that, damn!”

“Bong-joon, calm down. It’s still a broadcast.”

“Damn it, what do you mean calm down? It was all done. It was really all done, how can it be like this!”

Jo Bong-joon, who was shouting, beating his chest wildly, then fixed his gaze on the center of the screen.

“……I was hoping you’d say that, Myung-hwa Pharmaceutical bastards?”

[Athlete’s foot man: ?? What is it

Pork belly: ????

Burger King: Whatㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

“First release. This is evidence that Myung-hwa Pharmaceutical requested the US research institute to falsely create the clinical records when they received a report that the clinical results of High Zolam were not good. We obtained it exclusively. It’s not over here. Stay tuned!”

At the same time as Choi Jong-hyun’s words, a scanned copy of a document written in English was displayed on the screen.

[I want to date my girlfriend: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

9th year of reservist training: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Billiards 300: It’s a fake, you idiotsㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

Jo Bong-joon and Choi Jong-hyun glanced slightly towards me and Yoo Min-hyuk, who were watching the broadcast from outside the angle.

I smiled faintly with my arms crossed.

That was the same for Yoo Min-hyuk, who was standing next to me.