You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 262

You Have Been Defended – Episode 262

I immediately called the number that sent the text.

I needed to confirm if it was really Lee Jung-chan, and also wanted to know why he sent me such a message.

He might not answer, but if he sent such a message, shouldn’t he at least confirm his identity as a matter of courtesy?

-Yes.

It was a short, one-syllable voice, but I could clearly recognize it.

It was Lee Jung-chan.

Then why?

He is currently confined to his home, awaiting trial.

Originally, he was arrested due to the severity of his crimes, but he was released midway due to health issues.

I didn’t like the situation, but I was just observing because the general consensus was that he would end up serving time in prison after the trial anyway.

I never expected him to contact me in the meantime.

No, even if he did contact me, I thought he would pour out resentment or curses, but he says he has something to report about Wooshin?

“This is Cha Ju-han, Representative.”

-It seems you received the message. So, have you thought it over carefully?

“…Before that, I’m curious as to why you’re offering me this information.”

Perhaps it’s a scheme to hand over false information and damage my public credibility.

To create a scenario where Wooshin completely refutes the questions I raised, making me look like a fool.

The possibility that it’s a mission from Wooshin cannot be completely ruled out.

-I thought Attorney Cha would know. I must have overestimated you.

However, if I had to consider the reason why he’s trying to give me the information, one hypothesis comes to mind.

Lee Jung-chan, abandoned by Ko Sang-jun, with whom he used to be close, wanted to take revenge on Wooshin, and he thought that I was the only one who could properly utilize the information he provided.

I have taken down all sorts of famous people so far.

Through trials or by making issues public.

Is it because the prosecutors or reporters didn’t know about it?

I probably don’t think so.

Those who have obtained significant information are afraid of the powerful backing behind it and cover up the case, or they are forced to discard it because they are blocked by those in higher positions.

In my previous life, haven’t I met people who were afraid of revealing themselves and eventually chose to conceal the truth?

But I somehow made all the cases I got my hands on public and brought them to trial.

In this country, touching Wooshin is like committing a suicide bombing.

Even if you do, you only get hurt, and Wooshin often comes out clean without a scratch.

Various suspicions and criticisms of Wooshin continue, but from Wooshin’s point of view, they are treated as rumors that are not even bothersome.

In such a situation, what if Lee Jung-chan judged that even if he gave this information to someone he could trust, it would be buried or, on the contrary, it would likely fall into Wooshin’s hands?

I even brought down himself, who was a leading presidential candidate, so he might have seen hope in me.

If so, his choice to choose me is not a bad decision.

“I understand what you mean. I’d like to meet and talk first.”

-I don’t have much time, though.

“If you’re okay with early morning today, I can see you right away.”

-…Tomorrow night would be good. Not today.

“Okay. Then let me know the time and place that’s convenient for you, and I’ll go there.”

Lee Jung-chan hung up without answering.

I met Kang Min-jae’s gaze, who had a bewildered expression.

“He wants to meet tomorrow night.”

“L-Let’s go up first. And let’s meet with Bong-joon hyung [older brother/male friend] and Jong-hyun hyung too. What’s going on?”

Kang Min-jae repeatedly exclaimed ‘Wow…’ as if he couldn’t believe it, and then came to his senses.

“I need to say hello to the adults first and hurry up. I told them I’d be sleeping over, so when I said that something urgent came up and I had to go, my parents and aunts looked disappointed.

They said they had a ton of legal questions to ask me, and I barely managed to appease them by saying I’d come again later, and got in the car.

In that short time, I hurriedly loaded the trunk full of the food they packed for me.

It didn’t take long to get to Seoul since it was early morning.

On the way up, when I told Jo Bong-joon and Choi Jong-hyun that Lee Jung-chan was going to give us information about Wooshin, they couldn’t hide their excitement.

They were even on their way to drink, but they said they couldn’t attend the meeting drunk and went back home.

I wasn’t going to call Oh Secretary because he seemed to be sleeping, but I got a call from Choi Jong-hyun saying that he woke up and got dressed after receiving a call.

“Attorney Cha, Min-jae! Come quickly!”

When we arrived at the studio, they were already fully prepared.

…Not a huge preparation, but it means they took out coffee before the meeting and put out bread and snacks.

“No, why is Lee Jung-chan giving Attorney Cha such jackpot information?”

Jo Bong-joon asked before we even sat down properly.

They looked very excited.

They’ve been gloomy because they haven’t had anything to broadcast lately and are barely holding on to viewers who are trying to leave for stock broadcasts…

Without delay, I played the short recording of the call with Lee Jung-chan.

And I explained why Lee Jung-chan was trying to give me the information, as I had guessed.

“But I’m a little worried.”

After the recording ended, Secretary Oh quietly opened his mouth.

“I think it could be a trap. It’s true that Lee Jung-chan has a considerable motive to hate Wooshin. But Lee Jung-chan’s people are now creating a new party, and I don’t know how many years Lee Jung-chan will serve, but when he comes out again, he’s going to start a new political activity in that party… Isn’t it a bit reckless for such a person to hand over Wooshin information?”

“Hmm, after listening to Secretary Oh’s words, that’s true.”

Choi Jong-hyun nodded in agreement.

“Wooshin has been funding Lee Jung-chan’s political funds so far, right? He was abandoned, but he’s taken so much from Wooshin, so it’s honestly funny that Lee Jung-chan is taking revenge. He would have abandoned Wooshin if Wooshin had a problem. Above all, Lee Jung-chan has maintained his friendship with Iljung Ilbo’s chief editor and Ko Sang-jun for a long time. He can’t not know how strong the influence those people have on this society when they collude with each other, but he’s going to throw them away? That’s a little…”

Choi Jong-hyun tilted his head and repeatedly said it was strange.

“Is it certain that Lee Jung-chan was abandoned by Wooshin? Isn’t it Wooshin’s influence that Lee Jung-chan was arrested and released?”

At Jo Bong-joon’s question, Choi Jong-hyun shook his head.

“Iljung Ilbo is too aggressive towards Lee Jung-chan to say that. No matter how much they’re trying to put up a smokescreen, the tone is a bit strong. I heard from Se-yeon that Lee Jung-chan seems to be a completely abandoned card.”

“What’s the atmosphere like in the political world regarding Lee Jung-chan?”

I know that in the political world, Lee Jung-chan is seen as almost finished.

Even if he serves his sentence and comes back, he will never dream of becoming president, and at best, he will only be able to use his concrete base to become a member of the National Assembly a few times.

Of course, he will run for president separately from that, but he has already left the mainstream, so there is no chance that he will be elected.

“They also see Lee Jung-chan as bye-bye. Even if Iljung Ilbo moves in collusion with Wooshin, they do it while watching the atmosphere.”

And Choi Jong-hyun also gave the same opinion.

“Hmm, so Secretary Oh and Jong-hyun hyung are thinking about the possibility of a trap?”

“Yeah, maybe? The information Lee Jung-chan gives could be false information, or it could be information to disrupt something.”

“But how does Lee Jung-chan know how much we know about Wooshin to try to disrupt us?”

“That’s true, but it wouldn’t be strange if Wooshin knew, not Lee Jung-chan. Don’t you remember Myeonghwa Pharmaceutical wiretapping Attorney Cha’s office before?”

“At best, we only talked about it in the office a long time ago, but after that, we don’t talk about it there and come to the studio for meetings. After that incident, Attorney Cha meticulously turned on some kind of machine detector in the office, right? To check if there were any bugs.”

I periodically turn on a detector in my office in case Wooshin installed a bug, but I didn’t know it looked meticulous.

“So what’s our conclusion? Is Lee Jung-chan really trying to give information to Attorney Cha?”

“Ssiba [a vulgar Korean expression, similar to ‘damn’], if we go out because Lee Jung-chan told us to, a monster will be hiding and hit Attorney Cha in the back of the head with a frying pan really hard and kidnap him.”

In the end, Jo Bong-joon gave up on the discussion that didn’t come to a conclusion and started making nonsense.

In fact, I can find out Lee Jung-chan’s intentions by meeting him directly and using my ability.

But I can’t say that here, so I have to come to a proper conclusion.

“Anyway, it’s a shame to throw away this opportunity because we’re afraid of a trap in many ways. First, let’s meet and check, and we have to receive that information. And we can check whether that information is intact or not.”

“That’s right.”

“There might really be someone trying to hit the lawyer in the back of the head with a frying pan, so let’s contact Tae-shik and have him watch. I think that would be good.”

“If you’re really worried, that might be a way.”

* * *

I stayed in the studio until late at night, so I didn’t wake up until noon.

I don’t usually eat breakfast, but I thought I should eat since I woke up late, so I filled my stomach with the food my mother packed for me.

As a result of yesterday’s meeting, Tae-shik’s family, Attorney Kang, and Choi Jong-hyun decided to watch me near the meeting place, so even though it was still daytime, I was busy preparing.

At the word that we should stay together and move together, everyone gathered at the studio.

Lee Jung-chan hasn’t told us the meeting place and time yet, so it was somewhat difficult to set up the route in advance, but the plan seems to be well established.

In fact, I was going to go out alone, and I didn’t feel much danger, but it wouldn’t hurt to be careful.

“It feels like we’re filming a spy movie. Right.”

Besides, those people seem to be quite excited while preparing like this…

I wanted to give them a word of nagging, but I didn’t care and left them alone.

As evening approached.

[Let’s meet at Hwagun Reservoir at 23:00 today]

A text message arrived from Lee Jung-chan.