You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 260

And my prediction was spot on.

It all started with, ‘How on earth does he know Lee Se-hwa?’

Then, ‘How does Lee Se-hwa know you’ve been suffering because of my case?’

And finally, ‘What do you mean you’re helping Lee Se-hwa?’

I answered, carefully avoiding revealing that I owed Lee Se-hwa a debt from Dongjin’s case, which was why I joined her campaign.

I didn’t want Dongjin to feel unnecessarily guilty if he knew.

Anyway, Dongjin had already paid before I could even offer, so he ended up treating me.

So far, so good.

The problem started when we went to a second bar for drinks.

But the real problem is, I don’t even know what the problem *is*.

Because my memory is completely blank.

“Ugh. How much did I drink?”

I felt incredibly nauseous and had been running to the bathroom since morning.

Even though I knew Kang Min-jae was really looking forward to the company dinner today, I couldn’t imagine going to the office in this state, so I sent him a KakaoTalk message.

[I don’t feel well today, so I’m taking the day off.]

But Kang Min-jae replied:

[Are you okay? Should I buy you some medicine?]

And that was it. He didn’t say anything else.

I expected him to make a fuss about me drinking when we had a company dinner, but it was strange that he didn’t.

But I didn’t have time to worry about his feelings.

I genuinely felt like I was dying.

“Haa.”

Still, I felt much better as 2 PM approached.

The fact that I, who rarely gets drunk, was this hungover meant I must have been drinking heavily with someone who could really hold their liquor.

I’d been struggling with guilt from my past life, but now that I’ve completely saved Dongjin, I guess I relaxed and celebrated too hard.

But what on earth happened?

I remember going to the second bar with Dongjin, but I can’t remember anything after that.

I probably took a designated driver home, but…

Should I ask Dongjin?

‘He’s not answering his phone.’

He said he was off today, so he must be sleeping in.

First, I decided to take a shower because I looked terrible from all the morning’s commotion, and I went into the bathroom.

I felt a little better after turning on the hot water and washing up.

I kept wondering if I had said anything stupid to Dongjin while drunk, but I still couldn’t remember anything.

I wouldn’t have said things like I’m in my second life or that I killed Dongjin, would I?

“…What.”

Lost in thought, I opened the bathroom door to find Kang Min-jae sitting in the dining chair.

“Second life lawyer, feeling a little better now?”

…What?

My hair stood on end, but I tried to act normal as I tied my bathrobe.

I shook the water from my hair and covered my face with a towel to hide my expression.

Damn it, did I blurt out that I was in my second life when I was drunk?

I knew this would happen; that’s why I didn’t drink at all in my previous life.

I was afraid I would spill all the information about Wooshin that I had gathered while drunk.

“You said you’re in your second life, lawyer.”

“When did I say that?”

“Yesterday, when I said everything goes according to your plan and asked if you had some kind of divine power, you told me not to tell anyone because you’re in your second life. Don’t you remember?”

[Truth]

The word shone brightly above Kang Min-jae’s head.

I really didn’t want to believe it.

“I was just kidding.”

I tried to play it off again.

“You’re saying you were kidding, lawyer?”

“I’m human too, can’t I joke around? I was drunk.”

To be honest, it’s not like there’s a law against revealing that I’m in my second life.

There was no such rule in the first place; I just voluntarily kept it hidden.

The reason I did that was because there was no real benefit to telling others.

Of course, if I urgently needed someone to believe me about a future event, like in Kim Jung-woo’s suicide attempt, it might be necessary, but otherwise, it’s not very useful.

In the first place, they probably wouldn’t believe it, and even if they did, I’d be lucky if I didn’t end up forcibly appearing on TV as a gossip item or being dragged to a laboratory and dissected.

Besides, how many people would try to exploit someone like me?

“You believed that? Kang, you’re so naive.”

“I didn’t believe it, of course. Who would believe that? I was just joking because it was funny that you said that, but I just felt awkward because you took a comedy as a documentary.”

[Truth]

The welcome word floated above his head.

I almost sighed in relief without realizing it.

Of course, I tried my best to hold it back.

“By the way, why did we meet yesterday? And how did you get into my house?”

As I asked this, I had a feeling I knew the answer.

“You called me yesterday when you were with Dongjin. And you told me the password while I was taking you home. I rang the doorbell, but there was no answer, so I just came in. I’m sorry.”

As expected.

I should have checked my phone’s call history.

There’s a record of me calling Kang Min-jae at 11 PM.

“Wait. By the way, Dongjin *hyung* [older brother/male friend]? Since when is Dongjin your *hyung*?”

“Since yesterday.”

What amazing social skills.

It reminded me of how Jo Bong-joon and Choi Jong-hyun, who haven’t even started using informal speech with me, immediately started calling each other *hyung* after riding in the same car once.

“You don’t remember anything from yesterday?”

“…I guess not.”

“I’ve never seen you so drunk before either.”

“Did I say a lot of nonsense?”

“No. Just the second life thing. Ah! And you kept saying sorry to Dongjin *hyung*, but you wouldn’t tell him why, and you apologized every chance you got.”

…That’s terrible.

But even in that situation, should I be relieved that I didn’t tell Dongjin the reason?

I don’t think I should ever drink again.

I guess I drank without thinking because I was drinking with someone comfortable…

“Dongjin *hyung* really tried hard to get you drunk. Haha.”

“Dongjin tried to get me drunk?”

“Yes. Since you don’t get drunk easily, he was planning to see you drunk this time, so he kept toasting while throwing away the alcohol. He only gave you straight shots. Haha.”

Now everything makes sense.

There’s no way I would have drunk so carelessly, so I wondered why I drank so much that I blacked out…

“Besides that, did I make any mistakes?”

“Made a mistake? Hmm…”

Kang Min-jae touched his chin and fell into thought.

If he can’t remember anything even after thinking for a long time, then I probably didn’t make any other mistakes.

“Ah!”

“…What.”

But the ‘Ah!’ that clearly meant he remembered something made me nervous.

“You called me Min-jae.”

“So what if I did.”

I was nervous for nothing.

I was worried because he acted like it was something big, but it really wasn’t a big deal.

“What do you mean? That means the psychological distance between you and me has narrowed. You always called me Kang, so formally!”

“What psychological distance? Are you saying I was uncomfortable with you?”

“It’s not that, it means you were putting up a wall. But in fact, in your heart, I wasn’t Kang, but Min-jae. That’s what’s important.”

“That’s nothing special.”

“Ha, then call me Min-jae again.”

“There’s no reason why I can’t. You’re younger than me, and a junior in school and socially, so why can’t I call you by your name?”

“Exactly. So try saying Min-jae again.”

Kang Min-jae said with eyes full of anticipation.

“I don’t want to do it anymore because you’re acting like that.”

“Ah, why? Honestly, we’ve already worked together for 3 years. If it were other people, they would have said all sorts of things like ‘Min-jae, you bastard.’ Lee Ye-jin *sunbae* [senior colleague] also calls me Min-jae, so why do you keep calling me Kang!”

“What’s so important about titles? And we’re close enough. So don’t keep trying to confirm that we’re close. It makes me look like I’m being really mean.”

“It’s not that you’re being mean, but how is this being close!”

Kang Min-jae started acting like a child.

“You put your arm around Dongjin *hyung’s* shoulder, comfortably swear at him, and even push his shoulder, but you never do that to me! Yesterday, you let Dongjin *hyung* call you *hyung* even though it was his first time meeting you, but you absolutely wouldn’t let me.”

“Dongjin has been my friend since we were young, and you’re not. No, besides all that, I don’t know why I’m explaining all this to you?”

“You said ‘you.’ You just said ‘you,’ right?”

“Yeah, I said ‘you.'”

Kang Min-jae looked very happy.

He laughed quietly to himself, then followed me as I headed to the dressing room to change, and said in a subtle voice.

“Juhan *hyung*~”

Is he crazy?

“Don’t cross the line.”

I said firmly as I closed the dressing room door.

When I came out after changing, Kang Min-jae was sitting in the dining chair again.

I couldn’t go to the office today, so I was going to rest all day, but why did Kang suddenly come? Is he planning to make fun of me?

“Kang, aren’t you working? Why are you home during work hours?”

As I changed my clothes and went outside and asked, Kang Min-jae replied in a prickly voice.

“…You said you were going to see your parents. You asked me to drive you.”

Kang Min-jae seems quite sulky because of the ‘don’t cross the line’ comment earlier.

“I asked you to drive me? Isn’t it that I just said I was going to see my parents, and you insisted on driving?”

“…”

I guess so.

The fact that I drank so much that I blacked out means that my alcohol consumption was enormous, so even if it’s afternoon, driving might be impossible.

Besides, it’s a long distance.

Kang Min-jae may have appealed to that point and gotten permission from me.

It would be a disgrace if a lawyer got caught for drunk driving.

“It’s okay. I can take the express bus.”

“You’ll get motion sickness.”

That’s true.

“And you said your mom wanted to see me.”

That’s also true.

Did I even say this?

“Then wait a minute. I’ll go pack my things.”

“Will it take long?”

“No, I bought some red ginseng a while ago. I’m going to give it to them.”

“Are you sleeping over at your parents’ house?”

Kang Min-jae asked with eyes full of anticipation, like a high school student going on a retreat.

“No. I’ll see them and come back up at night.”

“Your mom and dad will want you to sleep over.”

“Then I’ll sleep over and you can go back first.”

“…”

“Aren’t you going to work tomorrow? Skipping out.”

“Tomorrow is Saturday.”

I am,

really,

Kang Min-jae is so annoying.