You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 201

He grabbed the cane that was leaning against the side of the table.

Then, he stood it upright on the ground, using it as support to rise.

Chief Kang supported him.

“Cha, would you like to take a walk?”

“Yes.”

Kang Kwan-woong told Chief Kang to give them some space, and then slowly strolled through the beautifully landscaped garden with me.

“When I first became president, I wanted to stand up for the workers who had been sacrificed for rapid economic growth. When I was labeled as the first president directly elected by the people who had successfully achieved democratization, I felt even more compelled to do it. Our country had become a prosperous nation, but it broke my heart that its people weren’t. I thought the people made me president to solve that problem.”

He spoke slowly, his voice filled with regret.

The 1980s were a time when labor disputes were in full swing.

In today’s Korean society, the word ‘labor’ has become somewhat politicized, but he was talking about labor in its literal sense, and laborers.

I’m talking about the people who make up the majority of the economically active population today.

It is perhaps natural for workers who were sacrificed for national growth to want to be compensated at the stage of achieving growth.

Even now, there are complaints about the fact that Korea’s minimum wage is lower than other OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development] countries.

I felt like I knew why Kang Kwan-woong brought up the word labor.

Kang Kwan-woong’s reign was after the time when Korea’s leading conglomerates [chaebols] were emerging and had established themselves to some extent.

While his predecessors had worked hard for the growth of Korea, which had been devastated after the war, the task left to him was to find the ethics hidden behind the greater good.

So he had no choice but to focus on human rights.

In fact, many of the books he wrote were about labor law.

However, his actions made Kang Kwan-woong appear myopic to some.

The idea of improving the lives of individual citizens now that the country has achieved some economic growth was framed as a complacent remark that he was satisfied with the current level of South Korea.

Attacks followed, claiming that the president, who should be leading the country, was short-sighted.

“It was Go Sang-jun’s father, Go Geun-hyung, who framed me as a dreamer who wasn’t interested in national growth and only pursued ideals. People would naturally think it was the opposition party at the time, but it was Go Geun-hyung who first came up with the idea. Of course, the opposition party people put it into action.”

The opposition party at the time of Kang Kwan-woong’s presidency was the Korean Justice Party, the predecessor of today’s Minwoo Party.

The first thing Kang Kwan-woong did after becoming president was to expose the corruption of the chaebols.

Numerous chaebol figures went in and out of the prosecutor’s office.

It was around that time that the showmanship of covering himself with a blanket, coughing, and sitting in a wheelchair to enter the prosecutor’s office was first displayed.

Numerous investigations were conducted, and some chaebol companies that had grown excessively were torn apart into their affiliates.

As labor laws became more detailed and workers’ rights were guaranteed by law, the financial losses incurred by the chaebols inevitably increased.

Go Geun-hyung, the founder of Wooshin Group, must have also considered himself a victim.

“My term of only five years passed quickly. While I was president, I became accustomed to the war with them. It was also quite difficult to see the guys who used to be my students, the guys who used to call me their mentor, turn into monsters as they entered the political arena. A world where my former students and friends had to bite and tear each other apart to survive was no different from a Shura field [a place of carnage or intense conflict]. So after I retired, I wanted to stay out of the public eye. I chose to live quietly.”

The Kang Kwan-woong standing next to me now seemed to have returned to his younger days, during his term.

When he was president, I was a student, so I don’t remember the social atmosphere at the time in detail.

What I remember were the words of people who evaluated him later.

I was so impressed that I even remembered part of his inaugural address.

“I had only one goal. To raise my only grandson to be a decent person and live a decent life.”

He said, sitting in a rocking chair in one corner of the garden.

“I’ve forgotten a lot of my ideals. And around that time, I forgot the times when my former friends who used to bite me were driving me like a fool. At some point, they started calling me the father of the Korean Civil Law. Haha. After I completely abandoned my political colors after retirement, they started treating me like a human being again, thinking I was no longer an opponent.”

“I also learned civil law from the books you wrote, sir. I don’t think that’s the only reason.”

“Really? It’s good to hear, even if it’s just empty words.”

It’s true that I use more empty words in front of Kang Kwan-woong than usual, but this was not an empty word.

Even now, the political and legal circles are full of people who learned law from the books written by Kang Kwan-woong.

Becoming president is like becoming the leader of the party that once held power.

No matter how much he abandoned his political colors after retirement, the political colors he had did not change.

Nevertheless, the fact that his books were widely used means that his expertise was recognized that much.

“I had many dreams since I was young. And sometimes I did things that went against my standards in order to achieve them. I became president that way, but when I look back now, with death so close, I don’t think I’ve achieved anything.”

He wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief and continued calmly.

“When I see you, I think of my younger days. To be exact, I wonder what it would have been like if my younger days, when I didn’t know what to do, were like you. I envied you.”

I didn’t answer.

I, too, had fallen into a kind of nihilism that Kang Kwan-woong felt.

It was at the point of death.

At that time, I was more full of anger than nihilism, so I sometimes forget the despair of that time.

I thought I had failed in the end.

So I exclaimed that even if I died and became a ghost, I would have to ride on Go Sang-jun’s shoulders.

I thought I could take revenge more efficiently if I went back to the old days again.

That’s how I’m living now.

I’m living my second life.

No one knows, but Kang Kwan-woong has no reason to envy me.

It’s like I have an answer sheet of wrong answers in my life.

“What if I had been like you when I was young? Oh, of course, I think I was a better talent than average. But I wish I had experienced less trial and error. And if I could have thought about everything rationally, if I hadn’t been emotional, I think I would be living a more satisfying life now. And I thought of one more thing.”

“What did you think?”

“I wondered what it would have been like if I had a powerful helper.”

He let out a long sigh.

“When I was in many difficulties, I fought alone in solitude. Sometimes I survived desperately with the thought that I had to achieve my goals, but sometimes I gave up. Of course, I had just helpers. But I didn’t have a powerful helper.”

Kang Kwan-woong looked up at me standing next to him.

“Do you know how much I expect from you? Can you satisfy me like this?”

His eyes, which had been soft, had become fierce again.

I hesitated for a moment to answer.

I already knew what answer would please him.

But I felt like I shouldn’t lie at this moment.

“If you were a young man who needed a helper, what would you have thought if someone said that you shouldn’t fail and that they would give you strength on the condition that you meet their expectations?”

“Haha, that’s right.”

“But sir, I will do everything I can to not fail. And I will try to make sure that the process is not something I will be ashamed of when I am your age someday.”

This is something I can say even if the other person is not Kang Kwan-woong.

It was a kind of belief that I had been trying to keep until now.

I can’t guarantee that all of my actions will be without any deviation from the concept of justice.

In fact, the concept of justice itself is quite relative and variable, but I know that I can’t deal with Wooshin by just walking that path.

But even so, I will choose the best way I can think of.

So, that’s why I need Kang Kwan-woong.

“I’ve heard enough of your answer. I know what you’re thinking.”

“Thank you.”

It was then.

Chief Kang, who had given us some space, approached us.

“Sir, I know you’re enjoying talking to Attorney Cha, but it’s time for dinner.”

We’re waiting for someone to come, so we’ve been putting off dinner.

Then that means that person has arrived.

“Okay. I’ll be in soon, so get ready.”

“Yes.”

Chief Kang left again, and Kang Kwan-woong leaned on the tree again and grabbed his cane.

I thought I should support him, so I approached him, but he refused as before.

As I was about to move to go inside with Kang Kwan-woong, he suddenly opened his mouth.

“By the way, Attorney Cha.”

“Yes.”

“What about our Min-jae [Kang Kwan-woong’s grandson]?”

“Yes.”

“What do you think? Does he seem like a useful guy?”

He looked genuinely curious.

I had already felt several times that Kang Kwan-woong had a great affection for Kang Byun.

His grandson left the job that his grandfather had prepared for him and jumped into the job he wanted, so he must have been curious.

“He’s very useful.”

“Really?”

“He’s smart. He has great empathy and a good personality. I’m envious of that.”

“Well, he’s more affectionate than Attorney Cha. Hehe.”

Kang Kwan-woong smiled brightly, as if he was in a good mood.

“That’s also why I can’t easily put Kang Byun in or take him out of my blueprint.”

Kang Kwan-woong looked at me for a moment, then took off his shoes in front of the entrance and answered.

“You can do whatever you want with that. As I said before, my helping you has nothing to do with Min-jae. Even if Min-jae comes out from under you.”

There was no special conversation while going to the dining room with him.

Now I was curious about who the other guest was.

Seeing that there was a pair of shoes in the hallway earlier, it seemed like they were waiting for us in the dining room.

“…….”

The door opened, and as Kang Kwan-woong went inside, the man sitting at the table pulled the chair back and stood up.

“Teacher, you’ve been taking a walk for a long time in this hot weather.”

He greeted Kang Kwan-woong happily.

His voice was very familiar.

I had a face in my head, but it couldn’t be that person.

But this voice is that person’s, and even though I can’t see his face yet, his physique and hairstyle are that person’s.

He soon turned his head from Kang Kwan-woong to me.

“I’ve been seeing you a lot lately, Attorney Cha.”

I almost opened my mouth wide without realizing it.

The face I encountered there was, as I thought, Deputy Chief Prosecutor Park Young-ki of the Western District Prosecutor’s Office.