You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 202

You Have Been Defended (2)

I managed to control my expression, but I couldn’t completely hide my surprise.

Kang Kwan-woong sat down at the table, looked at me, and chuckled.

“It seems Attorney Cha is quite surprised.”

“Didn’t I tell you I would be, sir?”

Park Young-ki also laughed heartily.

“Sit down quickly, Attorney Cha.”

Park Young-ki told me, who was still standing stiffly.

Only then did I realize I was still standing, and I sat down.

“The food will get cold. Let’s eat quickly.”

“Yes, you eat a lot too. Attorney Cha, you eat a lot too.”

I moved my spoon, but my mind was still racing.

I was trying to figure out why Park Young-ki was here.

Could it be that Kang Kwan-woong contacted him after this incident?

Did Kang Kwan-woong decide to help me, and Park Young-ki also decided to help this time, so they thought of joining forces since they had the same goal?

But it seemed like the two were too close to say that.

Let’s assume the two were originally well acquainted.

If so, wouldn’t Park Young-ki, who already had a close relationship, have been asked to arrange a meeting to build a friendship with me?

“Attorney Cha, the sound of your brain working is so loud, I can’t eat my meal,” Kang Kwan-woong joked.

Then Park Young-ki burst into laughter again.

“Yes, Attorney Cha. Stop thinking and eat first.”

The two, who already knew the situation, were relaxed in front of me, who was completely in the dark.

“I was more surprised than when Attorney Kang appeared during the conversation with the elder.”

“Ah, Attorney Cha didn’t know that Attorney Kang is the teacher’s grandson? Isn’t Attorney Kang working under Attorney Cha now?”

“Yes. Attorney Kang didn’t seem to want to reveal it, so I didn’t pry and waited until he told me directly.”

“You’re so considerate. Attorney Kang is lucky. He gets to work for a boss like Attorney Cha.”

His background had nothing to do with my decision.

I accepted Kang Min-jae into the office because of his ability.

“Min-jae has a very high job satisfaction. When he was at Taekwang, he used to drag his feet every morning because he didn’t want to go to work, but after joining Attorney Cha’s team, he even hums. Haha.”

Was that so?

Attorney Kang loved vacations and holidays so much that he hummed even on his way home from work.

“If you’re done with your meal, how about a cup of tea? I brought some good tea for the teacher,” Park Young-ki said, lifting a small paper bag that had been placed under the chair.

“Good.”

A scene that was hard to imagine anywhere else was unfolding in Kang Kwan-woong’s living room.

The former president, the current deputy chief prosecutor of the Western District Prosecutors’ Office, and a maverick lawyer who left the prosecution and was greatly disliked were gathered together to drink tea.

All of them are prosecutors or former prosecutors, but the gap in their careers is so enormous that it’s almost embarrassing to even call them senior and junior colleagues.

“Now, I should slowly satisfy Attorney Cha’s curiosity.”

“I’ve been waiting.”

“The teacher was my professor when I was at the Judicial Research and Training Institute [a government institution that trains judges, prosecutors, and lawyers]. It was about 10 years before he took office as president, I think?”

“That’s right. It was a time when I was temporarily away from politics,” Kang Kwan-woong nodded and replied.

So there was such a connection.

Park Young-ki had quite a valuable experience, having taken classes from Kang Kwan-woong at the Judicial Research and Training Institute.

Kang Kwan-woong is a former prosecutor, but before entering politics, he left the prosecution and became a lawyer, and was recognized as a master of civil law.

If he lectured at the Judicial Research and Training Institute, he probably taught civil execution law.

As someone who studied civil law using his book, I find it amazing that there is someone who learned civil execution law directly from him.

“Thanks to that connection, I have been honored to meet with the teacher occasionally until now.”

“But this friend, he never contacted me even once while I was in the Blue House [the presidential residence]. Before that, he used to contact me so often, saying he would come to greet me to the point of being annoying.”

“Well, it’s not good for a prosecutor to contact the president privately, and I was worried that it would be seen as having ulterior motives regarding the teacher.”

“Hey, you used to come to me all the time when I was a professor at the training institute, living leisurely, even when you were a junior prosecutor. Why would I have such a misunderstanding?”

“You have to think about how others see it. Were you that upset?”

“Yes, you.”

The two seemed to have a very close relationship, as I had initially thought.

“Actually, I thought that Attorney Cha had already greeted the teacher around the time Attorney Kang joined the company, since Attorney Kang went to work for Attorney Cha.”

Anyone who knows who Kang Min-jae’s grandson is would have thought that way.

I also knew that Yoon Won-hyung had already treated him specially at Taekwang [a fictional large corporation].

Even if Kang Kwan-woong’s faction during his reign was the opposite of Taekwang’s, he is now called the father of civil law.

They would have learned civil law from Kang Kwan-woong’s book, and considering the image that Kang Kwan-woong has established in our society, it’s not good for Taekwang to look bad to Kang Kwan-woong either.

But Taekwang is one of my main enemies.

Kang Kwan-woong would also know that.

However, the fact that he said he would help me also means that he is willing to risk being at odds with Taekwang someday.

Just as it’s not bad for Taekwang to look good to him, it wouldn’t be bad for him to maintain a good relationship with Taekwang.

“When the teacher told me to find a way to support you in this case, I naturally thought that was the reason.”

At Park Young-ki’s words, Kang Kwan-woong just smiled faintly at me.

I was surprised once again.

I now know for sure why Park Young-ki made me a special investigator and put me in the briefing session.

Of course, Park Young-ki openly said he would support me, but I was curious about the underlying reason.

I wondered if he was being nice to me because he had another purpose.

So I used my ability to confirm Park Young-ki’s true intentions.

‘This makes sense.’

I think I know now why his words were consistently judged as false.

He didn’t think I started the Anthrozoal Alpha case to realize justice.

He already knew it was done to catch Wooshin.

Of course, that could be part of realizing justice, but it’s not the sole purpose itself.

And the reason he gave strength to this case was also judged as false when he said the purpose was to realize justice.

It was not for the purpose of realizing justice, but because he received instructions from Kang Kwan-woong.

Therefore, the statement that he would support me was judged as true.

When I had that conversation with Park Young-ki, I was being tested by Kang Kwan-woong, so I naturally didn’t think he would be involved.

So I re-evaluated Park Young-ki, whom I knew, after seeing that false judgment.

“You surprise me several times today, elder. I thought you were testing me, but you were already helping me.”

“The teacher made up his mind a little earlier. He asked me a lot about Attorney Cha. Well, I had a good impression of Attorney Cha, so there was no reason to speak badly of you.”

“Thank you.”

“Besides, this is a good opportunity to make Attorney Cha’s name known, so it’s a shame to miss it.”

“As soon as the Myunghwa Pharmaceutical case is over at the Western District Prosecutors’ Office, this friend will go to the Central District Prosecutors’ Office.”

Kang Kwan-woong, who had been listening to the conversation between me and Park Young-ki, suddenly spoke.

Finishing the Myunghwa Pharmaceutical case at the Western District Prosecutors’ Office means that a satisfactory result has been achieved.

In that situation, if Park Young-ki goes to the Central District Prosecutors’ Office, it is naturally a promotion.

It’s too early to become a prosecutor general, so maybe he will be appointed as the 3rd deputy prosecutor.

The 3rd deputy prosecutor of the Central District Prosecutors’ Office is at the level of an average prosecutor general and receives the treatment of a vice-ministerial official.

“Congratulations on your promotion, Deputy Chief.”

I got up from the sofa and bowed to Park Young-ki.

Then Park Young-ki waved his hand.

“It’s only possible if the Myunghwa Pharmaceutical investigation goes well without any problems. But thanks to Attorney Cha, I’ve cleared up my relationship with the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, so it will go well unless there are any unexpected events. If so, it’s naturally thanks to Attorney Cha.”

“No, it’s not.”

“When Deputy Chief Park goes to the Central District Prosecutors’ Office, he will help you a lot. Since I’ve decided to support you, I have to do this much.”

With this, my assumption that the current Park Young-ki is different from the Park Young-ki I knew in my previous life has been proven wrong.

But Park Young-ki becoming the 3rd Deputy Chief of the Central District Prosecutors’ Office is something that did not happen in my previous life.

And above all, the position of the 3rd Deputy Chief of the Central District Prosecutors’ Office was a position that Hwang Young-chan would take around next year.

At this point, Hwang Young-chan had already served as the head of a local branch office, and was now waiting to be appointed as the head of the Seoul Central District Prosecutors’ Office after going through the Supreme Prosecutors’ Office and the Ministry of Justice.

But if Park Young-ki takes this position, what will happen to Hwang Young-chan?

“…Thank you.”

It would be good for me if Hwang Young-chan fell.

And it wasn’t strange either.

In my previous life, Hwang Young-chan secretly took care of Wooshin from behind and succeeded in his promotion, but this time he failed to cover up the Go Yoon-sung case after all.

Isn’t it too natural for Hwang Young-chan to be disliked by Wooshin?

In his previous life, Hwang Young-chan went through the 1st Deputy Chief, became a prosecutor general, and was promoted to prosecutor general, skipping two steps.

It was truly unstoppable.

But since he has been sidelined in the middle like this, what will happen in the future? If Park Young-ki gets to the position of prosecutor general as it is, I may be able to see good results when the Wooshin special investigation takes place in the future, as long as Park Young-ki doesn’t betray me.

But this is just my wishful thinking.

I don’t know how Hwang Young-chan will react, and since Park Young-ki has had this unexpected promotion, he will have to start engaging in at least minimal politics.

I don’t know what will happen to Park Young-ki in the process.

It’s difficult.

Perhaps now, I may not be able to cope with the future with just the knowledge I have.

Many things have already changed in the places I know, and many things are probably changing in the places I don’t know as well.