You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 208

I called Taeshik into the office as soon as I got back from Gangneung.

Just then, Manager Oh had gone to court on document matters, and Kang Min-jae was about to leave for an outside appointment.

“I bought coffee! …You’re already having some?”

Taeshik said, looking at the coffees placed one by one on my desk as he entered the office energetically with four cups of coffee in his carrier.

Seeing Taeshik quickly become dejected and sit down at the consultation table, Attorney Kang approached him and picked up his coffee.

“Wow, what’s this? My favorite cafe Americano? I was just craving one, how did you know? Thanks, I’ll enjoy it.”

“What is it, Attorney Kang? You’re already drinking the same thing.”

Taeshik frowned and pointed to the coffee cup on Attorney Kang’s desk, which was already more than half empty.

There’s a coffee machine in the office, but since there’s a cafe on the first floor, we keep buying coffee there.

Today, I bought a cup for each of us on the way back from lunch.

“You can have it later. Why are you sulking over something like that?”

“Geez, when did I ever sulk?”

Attorney Kang gently rubbed Taeshik’s shoulder as he sat across from him.

“What brings you here today?”

“I called him.”

“Ah, I want to listen too.”

“Attorney Kang, how much time do you have left before your appointment with the client?”

“I have some time, but…”

“Then that’s even better. Go sit at the meeting place in advance. You won’t gain trust if you’re late.”

“…Okay.”

Kang Min-jae, who had become gloomy, picked up the coffee Taeshik had bought and jumped up.

“I’ll be back.”

“If the consultation gets long, just go home.”

“Yes, sir.”

After Attorney Kang left, it was just Taeshik and me.

I sat across from Taeshik and picked up the coffee.

“You have the same coffee, why are you drinking mine?”

“It’s nice to drink a new one.”

“Hehe, is that so?”

He cheered up quickly.

He’s so simple.

“Anyway, what did you call me for?”

“Well, it’s nothing much. There’s someone I want you to tail.”

“Who is it that you kicked Attorney Kang out to talk about?”

“I didn’t kick him out because I didn’t want him to hear. I kicked him out because he might be late.”

Actually, it’s a story I didn’t want him to hear, so I called Taeshik at a time when the two of them were out on business.

“Well, anyway. Who is it this time?”

“You know Lee Jung-chan, right?”

“Lee Jung-chan? Who’s that?”

He tilted his head as if he really didn’t know.

I wondered if there was anyone in Korea who didn’t know Lee Jung-chan, but as expected, Jang Taeshik is below the average common sense of Korea.

“A politician.”

When I handed him the document in front of him, Jang Taeshik read his picture and various information in it, and then belatedly exclaimed with a thud.

“Ah, ah! I know Lee Jung-chan. I’ve seen that old man a lot on the news? Isn’t he the one whose son has a disability?”

“That’s right.”

Hmm, maybe he’s not below average?

“It’s a little difficult to follow people like that…”

I looked at him with a ‘so?’ expression, and Taeshik closed his mouth for a moment, then burst into laughter.

“Hahaha! Of course, what can’t I do for the lawyer who invested 200 million in our office! Hahaha!”

“The exact target isn’t Lee Jung-chan, but Lee Jung-chan’s son, Lee Se-hyung.”

I said, turning a page of the document I showed him.

“His son? Why?”

“It seems like this son is hiding something, so I’m trying to check it out.”

At my words, Jang Taeshik narrowed his eyes as if looking at me like a bad guy in an instant.

“He’s not feeling well, do you have to go that far?”

“Can’t someone who’s not feeling well do bad things?”

At my question, Taeshik muttered in a subdued voice.

“That’s not it, but…”

“Just because you’re not feeling well doesn’t mean you can’t do bad things or do well. Everyone is the same. Your way of thinking is rather discriminatory.”

“No, that’s true, but…”

Lee Se-hyung is an acquired disabled person and cannot walk due to paraplegia.

The tragedy struck Lee Se-hyung one day, a month before the college entrance exam.

A sudden traffic accident caused him to lose both legs.

In despair that he could no longer walk, he began to seclude himself.

Above all, he lived hiding his accident even more because he didn’t want to create unnecessary issues for his father, a famous politician.

But one day, Lee Se-hyung thought he couldn’t live like this anymore.

So, after a long discussion with his father, he announced to the world that he could not walk.

Lee Jung-chan donated hundreds of millions to disabled organizations, promising to work harder for welfare because he had seen with his own eyes how difficult it was for his son, who had suddenly become disabled.

Lee Se-hyung had an accident a month before the college entrance exam, so he naturally could not take the exam.

So, not long after disclosing his disability, he applied for and was accepted into a prestigious private university’s special education program.

He graduated from the Department of Social Welfare and immediately joined a welfare organization for the disabled, to which his father donates every year.

It was truly a touching story.

It is natural for Lee Jung-chan’s image to be enhanced.

So far, this is the touching story of Lee Se-hyung that has been revealed in documentaries and autobiographies.

There is one problem, though.

“Lee Se-hyung, what’s wrong with this person? I’ve seen this person’s documentary too. I cried while watching it.”

Taeshik asked, reading the article about Lee Se-hyung on my laptop.

“The problem is that Lee Se-hyung’s legs are fine now.”

“…Yes?”

Taeshik shouted in a voice that seemed to turn over.

“His legs are fine? No way? I saw a picture of Lee Jung-chan attending an award ceremony with him in a wheelchair recently? Look here.”

He turned the laptop to me as if he couldn’t believe it and showed me the picture.

It’s a natural reaction.

Unless you are very interested in politics, most people remember Lee Jung-chan as a ‘touching story with a poor son who became disabled after birth’.

That means that image making using Lee Se-hyung was active, and it worked very well.

“So, the accident was a lie from the beginning?”

“I don’t think so. Maybe he was able to use his legs again at some point, but he seems to be acting a little more because he doesn’t want to waste the image he’s been using so far.”

I said as if predicting, but this was the truth.

Lee Se-hyung was able to use his legs during the presidential election campaign.

The specific picture is like this.

It was when Lee Jung-chan became a presidential candidate and started campaigning in earnest.

Because they were a good father and son, Lee Se-hyung, who was expected to appear in the election campaign, was nowhere to be seen.

People asked why Lee Se-hyung didn’t come out, and Lee Jung-chan replied that he was abroad.

And shortly before the presidential election, Lee Se-hyung’s appearance of getting up from his wheelchair and walking towards his father with trembling legs was revealed to the world at the rally.

Lee Jung-chan shed tears and revealed that he had found a hospital abroad that could operate on Lee Se-hyung, and that he had been abroad for a while to rehabilitate there.

The sight would have seemed to the older generation as if the will of heaven was with Lee Jung-chan.

Some people even praised Lee Jung-chan, comparing him to Jesus, who raised the crippled.

Of course, it was a plot by the Minwoo Party.

It was Choi Jong-hyun in 2018 in his previous life who found out about all this fraud.

He found out that Lee Se-hyung was able to use his legs before he revealed his disability to the public.

In other words, his story of overcoming disability is all a lie.

Lee Se-hyung, who came out into the world with great determination and determination, did not actually have the confidence to do so, and had been hiding throughout his disability.

Of course, I’m not trying to criticize that choice.

Even if it were me, I would have fallen into despair if I had such an accident.

But what I find offensive is that even though he was already completely healed, he continued to pretend to be disabled, appealing to the public with a fabricated image, and trying to turn this into his father Lee Jung-chan’s votes.

The problem is not just this.

He entered a prestigious university through a special education program that only severely disabled people can apply for, even though he is not disabled, and naturally received a military exemption.

In other words, they are the greatest liars who solved their son’s military exemption and university entrance exam at the same time as improving their image with a national fraud.

“I’m a little shocked. Are you sure about that?”

“That’s what I’m telling you to find out now.”

Taeshik, who was hit hard on the back of the head, nodded slowly.

“Honestly, I didn’t really like Grandpa Lee Jung-chan in terms of politics, but I was a little fond of him because of his son’s story? But if that’s not the case, I need to be compensated for the tears and snot I shed while watching that documentary.”

Taeshik clenched his fist tightly as if he had made a firm decision.

“Ah, I’m pissed! I’ll find out for sure!”

Then he jumped up and sighed.

“Then, should I tell Lee Se-hyung to take a picture of him getting up and walking around?”

“That would be nice. But it won’t be easy.”

Who is Lee Jung-chan?

He is said to be the most promising presidential candidate in Korea.

There must be more than one or two reporters who want to dig into Lee Jung-chan, who has been making images for several years.

When he first revealed his son’s story, there were some people who suspected it was a lie.

But is it because they were stupid that they couldn’t catch the evidence?

No.

Because he is extremely careful not to be suspicious at all, and the documents are perfect.

Besides, he will be able to live as a normal person again in just a few months, so he will be even more careful until then.

Even more so with the presidential election ahead.

“Then, what should I mainly look for while following Lee Se-hyung?”

“Everything about his personal life. Ah, I saw a hospital he was going to for rehabilitation in a documentary before. It seems like he moved to another hospital. Check where he moved to.”

“I understand.”

* * *

“Oh my, CEO. You’re here?”

A high-end Japanese restaurant located in Jongno [a district in Seoul].

The president, who was known among the employees for being cold and aloof, went out to the front door as soon as he discovered Lee Jung-chan.

He usually doesn’t even show his face in the store, but as soon as he heard that Lee Jung-chan had made a reservation, he put everything aside and came to work.

Lee Jung-chan’s secretary, who was looking at the approaching president, whispered briefly to him.

“Ah, President Jung.”

“Yes, CEO.”

“Your daughter got married this time, right? Did you finish well?”

“Oh my, how do you remember even that?”

Lee Jung-chan’s secretary handed him an envelope to the president, who put his hand on his chest and bowed his head as if he was honored.

“The CEO said to prepare it because he was sorry he couldn’t go to the wedding.”

The expression on the president’s face brightened as he grabbed the envelope Lee Jung-chan’s secretary handed him.

It was because the feeling in his hand was quite thick.

“Oh my, CEO. How can I receive this? And how can I dare to hope that the CEO will come to my daughter’s wedding? That’s why I didn’t even give you an invitation…”

“No. Take it as a thank you for always serving delicious food.”

“Oh my… Then I will receive it without being impolite. I always pay a lot of attention, but I will have to tell them to pay more attention today.”

“It’s enough if you do as usual. Hehe.”

Lee Jung-chan entered the interior with the president’s guidance.

And there was an eye watching the scene.

“Mister, please wipe the floor here! It’s too dirty.”

It was none other than Choi Jong-hyun, who had briefly disguised himself as a cleaner to reveal the relationship between Lee Jung-chan and the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration.