You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 249

Seol Hyo-seok and Kim Seong-woo met shortly after I inquired with the guards about the witness.

Kim Seong-woo canceled all his outpatient appointments after receiving a call during his rounds, and Sang-gil called me while following Kim Seong-woo’s car.

Based on these facts and a rough calculation of the timing, Kim Seong-woo received a call from Seol Hyo-seok about 30 minutes after the guards and I parted ways.

In other words, it’s reasonable to assume that Seol Hyo-seok, after being informed by the guards about my meeting with them, summoned Kim Seong-woo.

The reason is obvious: he’s anxious.

He assumed no one knew about the witness, but it seems I do.

He’s likely planning to ask Kim Seong-woo what happened and discuss their next steps.

“…Seol Hyo-seok orchestrated his brother’s murder?”

This is the most logical conclusion I can reach right now.

Moreover, if I accept this conclusion, all the pieces fall into place.

Seol Hyo-seok conspired with Kim Seong-woo to kill Seol Hyeong-seok.

So, Kim Seong-woo decided to inject Seol Hyeong-seok with cephalosporin to induce anaphylactic shock.

However, admitting such a mistake himself would create problems, so he decided to frame someone else.

And the target was Dong-jin, Kim Seong-woo’s rival.

‘Then, is Seol Hyo-seok also the witness?’

Clearly, Seol Hyo-seok and his wife were among those who visited Seol Hyeong-seok in the hospital that day.

If I identify Seol Hyo-seok as the witness and connect the dots, everything aligns perfectly.

What if I make this assumption?

Seol Hyo-seok scheduled the execution day with Kim Seong-woo in advance and visited Seol Hyeong-seok in the hospital that day.

After speaking with Seol Hyo-seok, Seol Hyeong-seok fell asleep, and Seol Hyo-seok hid in the hospital room’s bathroom.

Later, around 11:30 PM, Gu So-jeong and Dong-jin entered the hospital room.

Dong-jin ordered the administration of moxifloxacin, and Gu So-jeong confirmed that she understood.

Dong-jin, having given the order, left the hospital room, and Seol Hyo-seok emerged from the bathroom.

Gu So-jeong injected Seol Hyeong-seok with cephalosporin in front of Seol Hyo-seok, and they reaffirmed that she would testify it was according to Dong-jin’s order.

This explains why Seol Hyo-seok was in the hospital room at that time and overheard their conversation.

‘What was the typical relationship between Seol Hyo-seok and Seol Hyeong-seok like?’

Even though I’ve concluded that Seol Hyo-seok is the culprit, I need to understand his motive.

Also, since there’s no definitive evidence yet, I can’t rule out the possibility that Seol Hyo-seok isn’t the culprit.

I pondered for a moment and then called Manager Bae.

[The call cannot be connected; you will be connected to voicemail after the beep, and call charges will apply. If you do not wish to continue, please hang up.]

…He’s not answering?

I’ve spoken to Manager Bae several times so far, but he always answered the phone before the third ring, regardless of the time.

Is he busy finding out who contacted the guards?

‘No…’

[…Um, before that, I wanted to ask you something. Does Attorney Cha think that the person who ordered the guards to lie was the witness in that hospital room?]

Suddenly, Manager Bae’s voice from the previous call echoed in my mind.

I didn’t pay much attention to it at the time because the situation was urgent, but now that I think about it, there were suspicious elements.

I thought I had spoken sufficiently with Manager Bae at headquarters earlier.

However, about an hour later, he called me and asked if I thought the person who instructed the guards was the witness.

Of course, judging by the lack of emotion in his voice, he might have been asking because he had doubts after reviewing the conversation after we parted ways.

But an hour is more than enough time to check the guards’ activities yesterday.

Perhaps he contacted me again to confirm after being informed that the person the guards met was none other than Seol Hyo-seok.

He said that even if he was an insider of Hanyoung Group, the culprit must be revealed, and the truth detector confirmed he was telling the truth.

However, even Manager Bae couldn’t have imagined that the insider would be the eldest son of Chairman Seol.

“But if Manager Bae doesn’t cooperate…”

Even if I discover the culprit’s identity, I need concrete evidence to completely exonerate Dong-jin.

And there are three crucial pieces of evidence I need to find.

Evidence that Dong-jin never ordered the administration of cephalosporin.

Evidence that Kim Seong-woo instructed Gu So-jeong to administer cephalosporin.

Evidence that Seol Hyo-seok conspired with Kim Seong-woo.

The most important thing is that, right now, I shouldn’t directly ask Seol Hyo-seok, ‘Were you in the hospital room at that time?’

If Seol Hyo-seok admits to being a witness and then claims he heard Dong-jin order cephalosporin, the situation will worsen.

“…Manager Bae.”

Unless Manager Bae is an idiot, I don’t think he would have asked such a question even if he found out that Seol Hyo-seok was the one who instigated the guards.

But what if Manager Bae is Seol Hyo-seok’s man?

“…”

I called Manager Bae again, but he still didn’t answer.

It seems he’s deliberately avoiding my calls.

If that’s the case, I need to create a situation where he has no choice but to contact me.

A way to force him to contact me, regardless of whether Manager Bae is Seol Hyo-seok’s man, Seol Hyeong-seok’s man, or neither and only Chairman Seol’s man.

[Manager, I’m leaving a message because you’re not answering the phone. I found out who it is. Please contact me.]

I deliberately worded it ambiguously.

So that it’s impossible to know whether I found the witness, who instigated the guards, or who orchestrated this whole incident.

If he’s Seol Hyo-seok’s man, he’ll be anxious and call. If he’s Seol Hyeong-seok’s or Chairman Seol’s man, he’ll wonder if I’ve discovered something new and call.

After sending the text, I called Lee Se-hwa.

To check her stance before I hear back from Manager Bae.

I need to understand her position so I can decide how to handle Manager Bae.

-Attorney Cha? What’s going on?

“Hello.”

-I’m fine. Is work progressing well?

“I’m calling because of that matter.”

-What’s not going well?

Her intuition is remarkable.

She could easily assume I’m calling to express my gratitude.

“I’m calling because I have a question. Is now a good time to talk?”

-It’s fine. What do you want to ask?

“I’d like to ask about Manager Bae.”

-Manager Bae? Um, haven’t you already met him?

“I have. But there are things I need to confirm about him.”

-About Manager Bae?

I could directly ask whose side Manager Bae is on, but I suspected that Lee Se-hwa, being quick-witted, would quickly deduce the unfolding situation.

It’s not that Lee Se-hwa shouldn’t know, but it wasn’t the right time to tell her yet.

Because I haven’t obtained the necessary evidence yet.

“It seems like Manager Bae is avoiding my calls right now.”

-Avoiding your calls?

“I wanted to be sure if I could trust him and proceed, so I asked Manager Bae all sorts of questions, and it seems he didn’t appreciate that. When I considered who would benefit if Executive Director Seol Hyeong-seok became incapacitated [in a vegetative state], my thoughts turned to Manager Bae, and I think I made a mistake.”

-That’s a mistake Attorney Cha would make. But Manager Bae has a reason to be angry. If you corner someone who’s been harmed and ask if they benefited, they’re bound to get upset, right?

“Someone who’s been harmed?”

-Everyone who needs to know is aware of the situation. In fact, until Executive Director Seol became like that, Hanyoung Group was likely to be succeeded by Executive Director Seol. Even though he was diagnosed with glioblastoma [an aggressive type of brain cancer], which has a high mortality rate, Chairman Seol was considering handing over lucrative affiliates to Executive Director Seol. And Manager Bae, being Chairman’s loyalist, naturally supported Executive Director Seol.

Listening to Lee Se-hwa’s words, the motive for Seol Hyo-seok’s crime became somewhat clearer.

It’s a common motive: greed.

Since it appeared that Seol Hyeong-seok would inherit the company, he planned to eliminate his brother and take over Hanyoung.

“I see. Manager Bae must have had promises from Executive Director Seol, so it must have been quite difficult for him when Executive Director Seol became incapacitated.”

-Difficult is an understatement. He’s dedicated his life to serving the Chairman, so he expected to manage a significant affiliate as a reward, but suddenly Executive Director Seol ended up in that state. How frustrated would he be? Attorney Cha poked at that frustration, so why would he want to answer your calls? Haha.

“I made a big mistake. I think I should apologize.”

If Lee Se-hwa is correct, Manager Bae must be furious with Seol Hyo-seok.

No, perhaps he’s desperately contemplating his options in this situation where he’s been cast aside.

Whether he should align himself with Seol Hyo-seok now or wait for Seol Hyeong-seok to awaken from his vegetative state.

If he decides to join Seol Hyo-seok, Manager Bae might offer to cover up the Seol Hyeong-seok case as a condition for acceptance, like a general surrendering to the enemy with his lord’s head.

It would be ideal if Manager Bae is furious with Seol Hyo-seok, but even if it’s the latter, I’ve bought some time.

Even if Manager Bae is leaning towards joining Seol Hyo-seok, he won’t reach a decision overnight.

At least, he wouldn’t have informed Seol Hyo-seok about this entire situation yet.

-Do your best.

Lee Se-hwa laughed as if amused and ended the call.

And as soon as the call ended, I noticed a new notification in the text message inbox.

[2 missed calls]

Manager Bae had called while I was speaking with Lee Se-hwa.

As expected, sending the ambiguous text message effectively triggered his anxiety.

And soon, another text message arrived from Manager Bae, who couldn’t contain himself.

[You’re on the phone. Please contact me as soon as possible.]