You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 225

You Have Been Defended – Episode 225

Lee Jung-chan’s side still hadn’t offered any response.

They were probably busy trying to concoct a plausible story.

Lee Jung-chan’s political career, spanning over 30 years, had been remarkably smooth.

He had never been defeated in an election.

He was a rare seven-term assemblyman in South Korea, and I heard he had been favored by the party leadership since his first term.

He must have had dreams as a young politician, but when did he start down the path of corruption?

Seeing his petty demeanor, clinging to pathetic excuses and lies, makes one wonder if he ever had glorious days.

“The prosecution has secured solid evidence regarding the data you disclosed. They even booked a ticket to Germany. A route from Incheon to Munich,”

“With a connection to Cologne, I presume.”

“That’s right. How did you know?”

“There’s a spinal cord specialty hospital in Cologne. The head of neurosurgery at Myungwoon University Hospital went on a business trip there.”

“So, the plan was to process it as if he had surgery there?”

“Probably. I found out there’s a Korean doctor at the Cologne hospital. I suspect they made a deal with him.”

I had confirmed this fact by sending an email to the Cologne spinal cord hospital a while ago.

He wasn’t a Korean expatriate, but it seemed he graduated from Myungwoon University Medical School, then went to Johns Hopkins University for further studies before being headhunted by the Cologne hospital.

Judging by his graduation year, he seemed to be a senior or junior to the department head.

His position wasn’t very high, but he would have tried to manipulate the documents in some way.

It wouldn’t have been difficult.

I couldn’t get confirmation because they couldn’t disclose a patient’s medical records, but I suspect that the hospital where Lee Se-hyung had surgery in the past was that very place.

They said Korea didn’t have the technology to perform such surgery back then.

Since he already had a surgical history from a long time ago, they could simply modify the dates and the surgeon’s name when disclosing the documents.

If reporters sent emails to the Cologne hospital to verify this, the Korean doctor there would confirm it as true.

“If you need it, I can share the information I have. I know the name and background of the doctor whom the head of neurosurgery at Myungwoon University is suspected of dealing with.”

“Well, no. It’s under the jurisdiction of the Central District Prosecutor’s Office anyway. As the deputy chief of the Western District Prosecutor’s Office, I can’t intervene. How about you break it on your broadcast instead?”

The current plan is that as the investigation progresses, if we break the Myunghwa Pharmaceutical case, Park Young-gi, who was in charge of the Myunghwa Pharmaceutical case at the Western District Prosecutor’s Office, will be promoted to deputy chief of the Central District Prosecutor’s Office to oversee both the Lee Jung-chan case and the Myunghwa Pharmaceutical case.

In other words, even if I don’t release it right now, it means I can keep the information and use it later when I’m assigned to the Central District Prosecutor’s Office.

But he’s offering this to me.

The brief moment when I misunderstood that he was greedy for promotion makes me feel ashamed.

“Right now, I think it’s better to break it on your broadcast than to hand over the data you have to the prosecution. The difference in the amount of information between the prosecution and your broadcast is too great. And the credibility is the same.”

Park Young-gi showed me today’s editorial page of a morning newspaper.

It was an editorial from a moderate newspaper, not one of the top three.

[…The unfortunate phenomenon of having no choice but to watch the prosecution targeting Lee Jung-chan with uneasy eyes…]

I had already read the editorial this morning, but one sentence caught my eye again.

In this situation where the leader of the ruling party is being investigated by the prosecution, the content was that the prosecution, which might conduct a lenient investigation, cannot be trusted.

Not only the editorial, but the public was already viewing the prosecution with skepticism.

Lee Se-hyung had been pretending to be disabled for so long, there’s no way that not a single person noticed.

I agree with that opinion.

Perhaps the people around him had already noticed, but they were probably keeping quiet because they were watching Lee Jung-chan’s every move or were busy receiving the crumbs falling from Lee Jung-chan.

Even if the president directly mentioned that the investigation into the Lee Jung-chan father and son was necessary, the ruling party is still the ruling party.

“It’s not certain, just a simple guess. All that’s been confirmed is that there’s a Korean doctor from Myungwoon University at that hospital. It’s not something we can investigate.”

“So, what are you going to do?”

“Let’s break it together when you get promoted, Chief.”

“Haha, are you sure it’s okay to hand this over to me?”

“It’s not something a small broadcast like ours can handle anyway. It’ll come out like a string of sweet potatoes [meaning a series of related discoveries].”

“Really? Then I wonder if I should accept it even more?”

“You’re helping us like this, so I should give you strength too.”

“Just hearing that is enough to make me grateful. But the important thing is the Myunghwa Pharmaceutical case, right? We should start preparing for that too.”

“Not yet.”

“Not yet? Then?”

“Lee Jung-chan was the one who held the most influential Protestant votes among the religious circles. Even in this situation, some Protestant supporters are saying they feel sorry for Lee Jung-chan… The Minwoo Party votes have already been split since Kang Jong-myung’s statement, so next, we need to disperse the Protestant votes as well. We need to break the concrete before starting the Myunghwa Pharmaceutical case.”

“Is there a way?”

I crossed my arms.

Giving the Christian votes to another candidate is also a way.

But I heard that the presidential candidate of the Liberty Justice Party is Buddhist.

If I know even the religion of a politician, Christians probably know it too, so that won’t work.

Well, even if the Liberty Justice Party’s presidential candidate is Christian, it doesn’t mean that all of Lee Jung-chan’s Protestant votes will go to the Liberty Justice Party, so it won’t matter much.

It’s obvious, but not all Christians vote according to religion, so the votes Lee Jung-chan has are only a portion of the Protestant population.

But that portion forms a concrete and evangelizes as if to make it the kingdom of God, so it’s a problem.

“First, I think we need to investigate the Light and Salt Foundation. There’s a high probability that the Light and Salt Foundation has a close connection with Lee Jung-chan.”

“That’s right. Lee Jung-chan donates hundreds of millions of won every year, and people who want to be on Lee Jung-chan’s good side donate there. There’s no way there isn’t.”

“If corruption breaks out there, Christians will be outraged too. They’ve worked hard to establish themselves as a leading welfare foundation for the disabled in Korea and created a good image, so they’ll naturally be angry at the guys who made it look like the entire Protestant church is a hotbed of corruption.”

“Who do you think should take on that role?”

“CEO Lee Se-hwa and the broadcasting station. First, we need to slowly start by finding out if the foundation knew that Lee Se-hyung wasn’t disabled, and then slowly expand the area to confirm if it was Lee Jung-chan’s money laundering service.”

And I need to get back the 500 million won I donated.

* * *

[Live) Lee Jung-chan, receiving grace from Jesus and repaying with enmity ㄷㄷ]

“Okay, everyone. Today, the prosecution announced a shocking fact. The Light and Salt Foundation, known as Lee Se-hyung’s workplace and the undisputed mecca of welfare for the disabled in Korea, oh, it’s a Protestant foundation, so I should use a different word than mecca. The Jerusalem of welfare for the disabled in Korea! The fact that it was used as Lee Jung-chan’s money laundering service has been announced, causing shock.”

The direction of the case development that I had hinted to Park Young-gi was immediately conveyed to Lee Se-hwa.

Lee Se-hwa, who had decided to accept my plan, ran as the rumors said, pushing forward without looking back once she made a decision.

She immediately spread hints to the media that they should investigate the Light and Salt Foundation, and the Liberty Justice Party also issued a statement urging an investigation into the Light and Salt Foundation.

Having concluded that Lee Jung-chan could no longer make a comeback, the media also began to pay attention to the Light and Salt Foundation as Lee Se-hwa said.

The scene of chasing after foundation employees and asking about Lee Se-hyung was broadcast on the news of every broadcasting station.

Then, as if being towed, the prosecution finally raided the Light and Salt Foundation.

As a result, they found the ledger that the Light and Salt Foundation had.

A ledger that shows how the money that came into the Light and Salt Foundation flowed into Lee Jung-chan’s political funds.

“The funny thing here is that the first place to cut off the tail was the Light and Salt Foundation. Let’s take a look at the interview with the head of the Light and Salt Foundation, Pastor Lee Kang-jin.”

[-Some argue that the Light and Salt Foundation already knew that Lee Se-hyung was not disabled, but hid it to improve their image. What do you think about this, Pastor?

-It’s a difficult argument for us to accept. We are also victims. We sincerely prayed with Lee Se-hyung that he would overcome his disability and stand on his own two feet again as soon as possible. But when it was revealed that all of that was a lie, how great would the shock have been to us? We’ve been together for a long time, but we didn’t feel any signs of it. Especially since we were seeing disabled people up close, we should have felt even the slightest difference, but the fact that we didn’t feel it at all is shocking. It means he’s been acting meticulously.]

“It’s really shameless. Why? The Minwoo Party initially explained that Lee Se-hyung had surgery last month and came in. Then, of course, it should be shown that he didn’t come to work at Light and Salt either. But why would Lee Jung-chan announce that he had surgery last month when the attendance records are all there?”

[凸Myunghwa Pharmaceutical凸: Ab.so.lute.ly.not.

Tears of the Minwoo Party: ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋThey must have thought that if they explained it, all the controversy would subside, so they made all the evidence ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

Bongjun, let’s get married: Lee Jung-chan isn’t really stupid, is he? He’s a meticulous bastard ㅋㅋㅋ He must have talked about it all in advance]

“Predicting that the media would verify it, they must have deleted all the attendance records, right? Who do you need to talk to in order to delete the attendance records?”

[Yuzumap: It’s Lee Kang-jinㅋ

Nightmare of Nonsan: It’s Lee Kang-jinㅋ

Fate-chan♡: ㅇㄱㅈㅇㅈ

Wig of Choi Jong-hyun: ㅇㄱㅈㅇㅈ

Bring back the handsome lawyer…: ㅇㄱㅈㅇㅈ]

“Yes. Of course, isn’t it Pastor Lee Kang-jin? So, until then, he was in cahoots [conspiring together] with Pastor Lee Kang-jin. They must have said, ‘Let’s get through this crisis and suck money again.’ But as soon as we broke the infrared camera, Lee Kang-jin said, ‘This isn’t it. This is fucked. If I’m on the same boat as Lee Jung-chan, I’ll die together,’ so he hurriedly gave that interview. Isn’t it really funny?”

[Maje Yoon Seung-boo Manipulation: Hurriedly ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ Why are there so many bastards who manipulate things? It’s really annoying]

“Right now, as I said earlier, the Light and Salt Foundation is the mecca, no, the Jerusalem of welfare for the disabled in Korea. But they acted as a money laundering service for politicians there. With the name of Protestantism on the line. Christians, aren’t you really angry? My mother also goes to church, and she even donated to the Light and Salt Foundation. Right now, my mother is sick in bed.”

For reference, Choi Jong-hyun’s mother goes to church.

She says that the only donation she has ever made since she was born was when she sold Choi Jong-hyun’s gold ring during the IMF [International Monetary Fund] gold collection campaign.

“I also went to church once when I was playing with kids and some older sister said she would give me chocolate. My mom told me not to go, so I went twice and didn’t go anymore. So, in other words, I’m someone who almost became a Christian. Even I’m angry. Right now, Light and Salt has smeared shit on the face of Korean Protestantism, right? Above all, CEO Lee Jung-chan. No, Elder Lee Jung-chan. Didn’t you say you were going to preach the gospel in Korea recently? But is this the gospel?”

“In other words, according to their claims, they received grace from Jesus and raised a crippled son, but they repaid Jesus with enmity [hatred].”

The main goal of today’s broadcast is to break Lee Jung-chan’s Protestant concrete [solid support base].

I turned on the broadcast as soon as the fact that the Light and Salt Foundation acted as a money laundering service was aired, so I don’t know the public opinion yet.

But right now, all kinds of reporters are writing articles by taking this broadcast, so it won’t be difficult to gather public opinion.

And a few days later.

“Lawyer, all kinds of organizations are in an uproar?”

Finally, a bite came.

All kinds of major Protestant organizations are demanding that Pastor Lee Kang-jin be expelled and issuing statements urging Lee Jung-chan and Lee Se-hyung to quickly apologize in the name of God for their actions of seeking personal gain and deceiving the public.

That wasn’t all.

It was a natural step, but disabled organizations also rose up.

Donors are demanding the return of donations to the Light and Salt Foundation.

The whole country criticized the Lee Jung-chan father and son.

In a situation where they still haven’t made any statements, Lee Jung-chan’s house is crowded with people and reporters demanding explanations.

The protests from nearby residents were pouring in because the alley was packed with people.

Rather, in such cases, the controversy is ended by quickly making a statement.

With the prosecution summons not far away, how will Lee Jung-chan come out now?