You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 253

After that, the photos Chief Bae provided showed Kim Sung-woo and the woman from slightly more diverse angles.

They weren’t just holding hands; he was also wrapping his arms around her shoulders and waist, and whispering in her ear. These were intimate moments that suggested a sexual relationship.

Could he be having an affair with this woman while preparing for his wedding with Gu So-jeong?

“Did you also find out who this woman in the photo is?”

Chief Bae, who was reviewing the photos of Gu So-jeong and Kim Sung-woo that I handed over, chuckled at my question.

“There was no need to find out in the first place.”

“What do you mean?”

“This woman is Chairman Seol Jeong-ho of Hanyoung Motors’ niece. So… she is Seol Ye-ji, Chairman Seol’s daughter and Seol Hyo-seok’s cousin.”

I frowned.

Kim Sung-woo’s affair partner is Chairman Seol’s niece, making her Seol Hyo-seok’s cousin.

“Has the nature of Seol Ye-ji and Kim Sung-woo’s relationship been confirmed?”

“We have confirmed that they are in marriage talks. I heard that Dr. Kim Sung-woo has already met Miss Ye-ji’s parents.”

Kim Sung-woo, who seems so career-oriented, is turning down Hanyoung Motors as a marriage prospect and marrying Gu So-jeong? That doesn’t quite add up.

But if you flip the situation around, it makes more sense.

Kim Sung-woo is planning to marry Seol Ye-ji, and Gu So-jeong is his mistress.

It doesn’t matter who he dated first.

“Where did CEO Seol Hyo-seok and Seol Ye-ji meet? Was it a formal meeting?”

“No. It was a private gathering hosted by CEO Seol for the children of prominent business owners. From what I’ve heard, Kim Sung-woo was introduced as Miss Seol Ye-ji’s fiancé that day.”

From Chairman Seol’s perspective, Kim Sung-woo will become his niece’s husband, making him a distant relative. However, within the larger framework of the Hanyoung Group, it means bringing someone into the fold, so Chairman Seol would have likely received reports about him.

It wouldn’t have been too difficult for Chief Bae to find out about this.

“Did you also check when they started dating?”

“It’s not unusual to want a doctor as a son-in-law, but I was particularly interested in the fact that he was a neurosurgeon at Myungdae Hospital, so I looked into it. Apparently, the director of Myungdae Hospital and Chairman Seol Jeong-ho discussed arranging a marriage between their children. Since they met with marriage in mind, they haven’t been dating for very long—maybe a month or two. It seems they started seeing each other at the beginning of this year.”

Seol Hyeong-seok’s surgery ended on December 31st of last year.

I remember it clearly because Dongjin came out of that surgery and wished me a Happy New Year.

Could it be that Seol Hyo-seok extended his influence to Kim Sung-woo after his younger brother survived the operation? Perhaps the first target wasn’t Kim Sung-woo, but his father, the director.

“What was the relationship between Hanyoung Motors Chairman Seol Jeong-ho and CEO Seol Hyo-seok like?”

“It was close. Chairman Seol Jeong-ho doesn’t have a son, so CEO Seol Hyo-seok looked after him like one.”

“Then, who was Chairman Seol Jeong-ho closer to: CEO Seol Hyo-seok or Executive Director Seol Hyeong-seok?”

“It was CEO Seol Hyo-seok,” Chief Bae said firmly.

“Would Chairman Seol Jeong-ho support CEO Seol Hyo-seok that strongly?”

“He would. Ever since the Chairman decided to pass on Hanyoung to Executive Director Seol, CEO Seol has been trying to gather support. Chairman Seol Jeong-ho is one of those supporters.”

Chief Bae sighed deeply.

“I think I understand roughly what’s going on now that we’re talking. At first, I wondered why Dr. Cha was showing me photos of Dr. Kim Sung-woo’s affair, but…”

Chief Bae didn’t seem to pay much attention to Seol Hyo-seok meeting Seol Ye-ji and Kim Sung-woo together at first.

It’s understandable, since there was nothing outwardly suspicious about Kim Sung-woo, except for the fact that he was a neurosurgeon at Myungdae Hospital.

“If Nurse Gu So-jeong and Dr. Kim Sung-woo are this close, does Attorney Cha think that CEO Seol, Dr. Kim Sung-woo, and Gu So-jeong are accomplices?”

“Yes. If my prediction is correct, CEO Seol offered a deal to Dr. Kim Sung-woo, and Dr. Kim Sung-woo had his lover, Nurse Gu So-jeong, inject cephalosporin [an antibiotic] and frame Dongjin for it.”

“That makes sense.”

Chief Bae closed his eyes for a moment and pondered, as if trying to piece together the relationships in his head.

“So, I was wondering what CEO Seol Hyo-seok promised Dr. Kim Sung-woo to get him to commit such a serious crime. But it seems…”

“He was introduced to Miss Ye-ji, and Dr. Kim Sung-woo was accepted as Hanyoung’s future son-in-law.”

In this case, Kim Sung-woo is promised something much bigger than Seol Hyo-seok helping the director’s reappointment.

If he becomes the son-in-law, Hanyoung helping the director’s reappointment is just one of the benefits that naturally follows.

Maintaining a romantic relationship with Gu So-jeong was only to use her.

There is no reason for Kim Sung-woo to marry Gu So-jeong, leaving Seol Ye-ji behind.

Even looking at the conversation between the two in the recording file that Sang-gil sent me, Kim Sung-woo was too cold to Gu So-jeong to be considered someone who treats her as a lover.

“I think I’ve roughly grasped the conspiracy and relationships surrounding Executive Director Seol.”

Chief Bae said, pressing his temples as if he had a headache.

Even if Chief Bae has ambition, his dedication to Hanyoung is genuine.

The tragedy orchestrated by Seol Hyo-seok within Hanyoung won’t sit well with him, even if it ultimately benefits Chief Bae.

Anyway, the information I gained from meeting Chief Bae today is more than I expected.

I didn’t come here expecting to find a new advantage, so this feels like a bonus.

* * *

“Oh, Attorney Cha. Welcome.”

I came to the Central District Prosecutor’s Office to meet Park Young-gi after receiving his call.

“Have you been well?”

“I have. Except that I’ve become very busy because of you, everything is the same,” Park Young-gi joked as he poured tea into the teacup in front of me.

Neither Park Young-gi nor I are the type to waste time with meaningless pleasantries.

He went straight to the point.

“As you said, it seems that there was a deal between Jin Su-yong and Seol Hyo-seok. But it looks like it fell through? The money that came in went right back out.”

Park Young-gi said, checking the documents on his desk again.

If it seems that the deal fell through, it must be related to evidence implicating Seol Hyo-seok.

Since the deal between the two was broken when Jin Su-yong was arrested, he would have had to return the money if he had received it in advance.

“Unfortunately, I can’t show you the investigation data.”

“Of course.”

“The investigation of Jin Su-yong is currently focused on finding transaction records related to military service exemptions for influential figures during his time as the head of the Department of Neurosurgery at Myungdae Hospital. You know this better than anyone, since you brought the Jin Su-yong case to our attention in the first place. So, the press releases have all focused on military service exemptions.”

“Well, the details of the transaction with Seol Hyo-seok aren’t related to the military service exemption issue, but wouldn’t it be possible to tie it to a violation of the Medical Service Act through illegal transactions? Anyway, if the Seol Hyo-seok case becomes public, it will be a huge scandal. Jin Su-yong is also involved, and he’s already under investigation by the prosecution for other charges. If you uncover Seol Hyo-seok’s murder conspiracy during that investigation, the credibility of the prosecution will increase significantly.”

Whether the prosecution is trusted by the public or not isn’t really important to me.

However, since Park Young-gi, who is helping me, has been appointed to a new leadership position, it benefits me to help him build credibility.

“That’s right.”

“Well, even if that’s not the case, wouldn’t it be beneficial for the prosecution to uncover everything possible since Jin Su-yong has been arrested? Rather than having additional charges revealed later.”

Park Young-gi slowly nodded.

“That’s right. In fact, before you told me about Seol Hyo-seok, there were indications of funds of unknown origin being exchanged. Jin Su-yong didn’t say anything until the end, but after listening to your information and investigating that angle, everything fell into place.”

“Did Jin Su-yong have frequent contact with Seol Hyo-seok?”

“Very much so. There were a lot of call records with Seol Hyo-seok’s personal secretary. So, I’m calling Jin Su-yong in for questioning again.”

All the data, including Jin Su-yong’s mobile phone transaction history and bank account details, were already in the hands of the prosecution.

Therefore, I thought that if they specified Seol Hyo-seok as the target and searched, they would be able to find suspicious points quickly, and it was even faster than I anticipated.

However, the key point is that there is no concrete evidence, either in my situation or in the prosecution’s situation.

There is enough circumstantial evidence, but they can avoid everything if they want to.

This is especially true because the criminals were identified based on the evidence, but in this case, the criminals were identified in advance and the evidence was then sought.

To put it bluntly, it could be called a targeted investigation.

But there will be no problem with the result.

I am presuming that Seol Hyo-seok is the culprit, but even if I concede that, he would have played a role as an accomplice at the very least.

Anyway, Seol Hyo-seok is in a situation where he can’t avoid punishment.

“If Jin Su-yong admits to the transaction with Seol Hyo-seok, we can immediately summon Seol Hyo-seok for questioning.”

If things go according to Park Young-gi’s plan, the rest will be easy.

If Seol Hyo-seok is summoned, Kim Sung-woo and Gu So-jeong will also be extremely anxious.

“Will Jin Su-yong admit it?”

“He will, probably,” Park Young-gi replied confidently.

“Even though it’s a murder conspiracy?”

“Well, the incident didn’t actually happen. But Seol Hyo-seok is still acting on it. Executive Director Seol Hyeong-seok is now in a vegetative state. If Jin Su-yong testifies, it’s the same as making a significant contribution to bringing out the mastermind, Seol Hyo-seok, right?”

Anyway, aren’t the charges being added day by day for giving military service exemptions to the children of all kinds of influential figures?

Jin Su-yong has already returned the money and is now completely unrelated to the Seol Hyeong-seok case, so there are plenty of loopholes for him to escape.

It will be even easier if the prosecution helps.

“If you need something to pressure Jin Su-yong, I’ll share a piece of information with you. If it is revealed that Seol Hyo-seok ordered the murder of his younger brother, Hanyoung Group will abandon Seol Hyo-seok.”

I decided to offer one more piece of help in case Jin Su-yong was afraid of Seol Hyo-seok and kept his mouth shut.

If Seol Hyo-seok becomes a criminal because of this incident, he won’t be able to use the power of Hanyoung anyway.

Even if Jin Su-yong keeps his mouth shut for Seol Hyo-seok, there’s no way he can get help in the future, right?

If Jin Su-yong knows this, he will realize that there’s no need for him to remain silent.

“How did you know that?” Park Young-gi asked, widening his eyes in surprise.

“Your information is truly unbeatable. Haha.”

“You flatter me.”

“How about coming back to the prosecution? No matter how I think about it, it seems like a big mistake for the prosecution to accept your resignation. Are you thinking of applying as a career prosecutor?”

“No.”

Park Young-gi clicked his tongue as if he was disappointed.

If I were a prosecutor, it would be a disadvantage to meet all kinds of people like this.

The methods I use would become unfair.

Why would I go back to the prosecution with so many restrictions?

Above all, the salary is too low.

* * *

Several days later, I received good news from Park Young-gi.

The news was that Seol Hyo-seok’s name came out of Jin Su-yong’s mouth, and accordingly, they decided to summon Seol Hyo-seok as a witness.

Now, the time has finally come to properly use the card I have been holding.