You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 193

I carefully removed my hand from the bug to avoid making any noise, then sat back down at my desk.

I didn’t know the sensitivity of the bug, but it seemed like it could pick up even a mumble, so I deliberately didn’t make any noise.

Then, I paused to think.

The person who planted the bug was obvious.

Myung-Hwa Pharmaceuticals.

And I didn’t know when they had planted the bug, but it could have been any time.

It made sense even if they had planted it after Jo Bong-joon was sued and when they hired me as their lawyer.

Because anytime after we left work, they could have picked the lock on the office door, slipped in, planted it, and left.

So, we had to assume that they were listening to everything we said and come up with a plan.

And if this bug was installed before today, Myung-Hwa Pharmaceuticals would already know that the evidence was in our hands.

Because I had talked to Secretary Oh while shaking off the man who was tailing us and heading back to Seoul, saying that Yoo Min-hyuk had handed over the evidence to us.

“……”

I briefly thought about tearing the bug off right away, but it would be a shame to waste all the effort I had put in today.

I even pretended not to notice that Myung-Hwa Pharmaceuticals was tailing us, and acted accordingly.

‘Should I use this against them?’

We staged a farce at the rest stop to secure the evidence.

But that wasn’t the only reason.

It was also to keep them from knowing whether Yoo Min-hyuk had decided to help us or had ultimately refused.

Considering Myung-Hwa Pharmaceuticals’ behavior so far, if they knew that Yoo Min-hyuk had given us some evidence, there was no telling what they would do.

They could harm Choi Jong-hyun and Jo Bong-joon, who were doing the broadcast, and me, or they could target Yoo Min-hyuk.

We were prepared for that from the beginning, but Yoo Min-hyuk wasn’t.

‘In the end, Myung-Hwa Pharmaceuticals only doesn’t know the *location* of the evidence, but they know everything else.’

Since Yoo Min-hyuk had the courage to become a whistleblower, we had to protect him too.

But if that happened, they might do something to Yoo Min-hyuk to prevent us from disclosing the evidence.

Of course, even Myung-Hwa Pharmaceuticals couldn’t pose a big threat to Yoo Min-hyuk, who had already resigned and gone down to the countryside to run a small pharmacy and live quietly.

What I was worried about was that they would use primitive and ignorant means such as assault to stop him from handing over the evidence.

Because they knew best that even if I was the best lawyer, I couldn’t do anything if Yoo Min-hyuk changed his mind because of such violence.

But even that wouldn’t be a concern for long.

We only had to worry until the evidence was released.

If they retaliated against the internal whistleblowing and caused him physical harm, they knew best that I, who had even put Ko Sang-joon’s precious youngest son in jail, wouldn’t stand still.

Considering how much influence Jo Bong-joon and Choi Jong-hyun had gained, and how much they would rage about this matter, they would have a bigger headache than I would.

‘Good.’

I stood up, bracing myself on the desk.

There was only one way to solve all the risks at once.

Just let them take the evidence.

Ah, of course, I wouldn’t *actually* let them.

“Oh, what is this? I left it at home.”

I had to leave my seat, so I said something to myself so that the bug could hear it well.

* * *

“How did you come?”

The man I had met a few hours ago was still guarding the private vault counter.

I was dressed the same way I was when I came here with Kang Min-jae earlier.

I was worried that I might still be followed, so I deliberately disguised myself again and took a taxi.

Judging by his eyes, he seemed to remember me from before, but pretending not to know seemed to be part of his job, so he asked me as if nothing was wrong.

“I came to store something.”

“How long will you use it?”

“About a month.”

It wouldn’t take that long, but I decided to give myself plenty of time just in case.

The man tapped the calculator a few times, then asked me again.

“What size is the item?”

“About this size.”

I said, holding up the envelope.

I used the same envelope that Yoo Min-hyuk had used when he first stored the evidence in the vault.

I thought that the traces of time would keep Myung-Hwa Pharmaceuticals from being suspicious.

He busily tapped the calculator again and showed me the amount on the calculator.

It wasn’t as expensive as I thought.

When I paid the amount, the man took out a piece of paper from his desk drawer and handed it to me.

“This is the vault usage policy. Read it, and if you have any questions, ask me. If not, write your name and social security number right below and sign it. Here, in both places.”

There was nothing special about the usage policy.

In some parts, I could read a strong desire not to be involved with investigative agencies, stating that they were not responsible if the stored contents caused problems.

In fact, private vaults are usually not a problem.

Among the cases I investigated, the only time a private vault company was directly involved was when they stored a large amount of illegally created cash.

Even then, they were only charged with aiding and abetting the creation of slush funds because they didn’t seal the money in boxes and just piled it up.

The man at the counter didn’t check what the contents were, as he had just done, so this case doesn’t fall under aiding and abetting.

Because they don’t know what it is either, so if they say that they thought we were trying to store something legal, we have nothing to say.

Storing drugs is the most common case, but even in those cases, private vault owners have often gotten away with it.

But seeing that there are these clauses, it seems like they’ve seen a lot of trouble here too.

“Here you go.”

I wrote down Yoo Min-hyuk’s name and information and returned the contract. The man glanced at me and then quickly put it back in the drawer.

“Follow me.”

I went into the vault with the man who opened the barred door.

“If you’ve seen the usage policy, you’ll know that if you bring this key back, we’ll open it for you. If you lose the key, you can show us the contract. But you’ll have to pay for the key duplication fee.”

“Yes.”

The man came out and handed me the key, then went back to the counter.

“Goodbye.”

The perfunctory greeting was a bonus.

I went straight back to the office.

“Ah, I’m suffering for nothing.”

And I grumbled.

The person listening to my voice beyond the bug had to think that I was annoyed because I had forgotten something at home and was having a hard time.

In fact, being annoyed was the truth itself.

Because of the stingy Myung-Hwa Pharmaceuticals guys who were putting people behind me, I had to go back and forth, disguise myself, change clothes again, disguise myself again, and change clothes again.

What kind of wild goose chase was this?

“Sigh.”

Sitting at my desk, I opened my phone.

And a little later, I started talking to myself.

“Secretary Oh. I’m sorry to contact you so late. Ah, that’s a relief. It’s just that I told you I got the key from Yoo Min-hyuk earlier, right? Yes, the private vault. I didn’t know Yoo Min-hyuk would use such a place. It was near the Northern District Court. When I looked it up, it turned out to be a road I often passed by. It was labeled as a pawnshop, but it turned out to be a private vault. Yes, yes. I think it’ll be closed now, so I’m going to go with Attorney Kang tomorrow. Yes. I was a little uneasy about keeping the key at home, so I came to the office from home. Yes. But I can’t see the key to lock that drawer? Ah… where is it? The pencil holder on Secretary Oh’s desk, ah. Here it is. Yes. I found it. Yes. I understand. Thank you. See you tomorrow.”

I put down the phone with the screen turned off.

I thought the acting was not bad, but I don’t know how they heard it.

I put the vault key in the first drawer and locked the drawer well.

And I put that key in the pencil holder on Secretary Oh’s desk.

Now I have to go home quickly.

That way, the Myung-Hwa Pharmaceuticals guys will come to the office to steal this key.

The next day, on the way to work, I was filled with a different feeling than usual.

It was something I did to ensure safety, but I had to admit it a little bit.

I was a little excited about teasing Myung-Hwa Pharmaceuticals.

I was a little faster than usual because I was curious about whether the Myung-Hwa Pharmaceuticals guys had stolen my desk drawer key.

“Good morning.”

This was not what I expected, but Secretary Oh was the first to come to work.

“You must have been tired, Attorney Cha. You should have come out slowly.”

“I rested enough. And you must have suffered a lot alone yesterday and the day before, Secretary Oh.”

It was a lie that I had rested enough, but I wasn’t that tired.

I wanted to open the drawer quickly.

But not yet.

The desk drawer was right next to the bug, and the only drawer that could be opened with a key was that one, so the sound of opening it would definitely be heard by the bug.

And not long after, Kang Min-jae came to work.

“Shall we go now, then?”

Before leaving for the private vault, I opened the drawer, using Kang Min-jae’s voice as a signal.

“What’s wrong?”

“……”

“What’s wrong? Is it gone?”

“Are you kidding me?”

“No, it’s gone.”

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

That way, I could be a stupid lawyer who had the evidence stolen by Myung-Hwa Pharmaceuticals, and at the same time, a smart lawyer who hadn’t been stolen from.

* * *

“I rushed up to Seoul, but when I met you in front of the place, you said it was all a lie and apologized. I really almost collapsed and sat down.”

Yoo Min-hyuk said, recalling that time.

“There might be people behind Yoo Min-hyuk, so I didn’t tell you in case it would be obvious if you didn’t seem to be coming up urgently. I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s okay. I’m sorry. I understand. And it turned out well like this.”

Yoo Min-hyuk laughed and drank his tea.

“I think they’re having a lot of fun outside right now. I want to see it too. Jo Bong-joon and Reporter Choi are so good at talking.”

He gestured towards the outside of the studio.

I nodded and stood up, bracing myself on the desk.

[Bisairomakga: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[Scissorshand: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[10 Years of Substitute Driving: Not only Bong-joon and Jong-hyun, but the lawyer is also crazy ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[凸Myung-Hwa Pharmaceuticals凸: Thinking about Myung-Hwa Pharmaceuticals, who must have been celebrating thinking they had stolen the evidence, makes me so happy and laugh to death ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

While Yoo Min-hyuk and I were talking in the office, Choi Jong-hyun and Jo Bong-joon were telling the story on the broadcast about how we tricked Myung-Hwa Pharmaceuticals.

Yoo Min-hyuk and I went out to listen to it too, but everyone was laughing happily, as if the story was already over.

The chat window was being flooded with ‘ㅋ’ [Korean equivalent of ‘lol’].

“Oh, viewers. The crazy lawyer has appeared. Viewers are so curious about you, Attorney Cha. Please come out just once. Anyway, it’s all in the news that you’re defending me.”

Jo Bong-joon waved his hand at me with a big smile.

I crossed my arms and paused to think.

I still didn’t want to rashly show my face on internet broadcasts, which still didn’t have a good reputation…….

“They want you to so much, so please come out once.”

Yoo Min-hyuk looked at me and laughed as if he was having fun.

Ha, really.

“Then it’ll be really brief.”

I quickly made a gap and sat down, saying to Jo Bong-joon and Choi Jong-hyun, who were bringing a chair in between.

Somehow, appearing here is more burdensome than appearing on the news.

“Okay, everyone. Let’s bring in Attorney Cha Joo-han, who greatly helped to publicize the Antrosol Alpha case. He’s someone who doesn’t usually appear on such shabby broadcasts, so it was really difficult to get him here, so anyone who curses will die. Only praise him. Let’s welcome him with applause!”

As Jo Bong-joon and Choi Jong-hyun applauded wildly, I finally stepped into the camera angle.

[Efukilla: I was thinking of praising him forcibly because you told me to only praise him, but I don’t need to do that;;; He’s so handsome, crazy]

[Bossam Kimchi: ???? What’s with his face]

[A Man’s Way: That person seems to be the lawyer who came out on the news when Go Jin-ah’s husband divorced. I think I saw an article about him because of his face ㅋㅋㅋ]

[Messibal Towel: Why is there only lighting behind the lawyer?]

[Scissorshand: Huh? Where’s the lighting?]

[I Only Eat Dew: There’s no lighting;;]

[Messibal Towel: Ah; Shit; He’s so handsome that I just felt a halo ㅅㅂ Is he Won Bin [famous Korean actor] ㅋㅋㅋㅋ]

[Apollo Worshiper: Bong-joon, I can’t shield you this time. Sit as far away as possible before comparison pictures are created;]

“……Shit, I shouldn’t have made the lawyer sit down. Go back out of the camera. Don’t ever come on our broadcast again. You’re banned from appearing.”

[Bossam Kimchi: Bong-joon, are you crying?]

……I didn’t want to embarrass Jo Bong-joon. I just couldn’t resist the constant requests to show my face on the broadcast.

Really.