You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 263

You Have Been Defended – Episode 263

The Hwagun Reservoir is located near Seoul.

“If we leave right now, we can arrive by 10 o’clock at the latest, so we have plenty of time.”

As soon as I shared the text message I received, Tae-shik slammed his desk with both hands and stood up as if he had been waiting for it.

“Let’s go, Attorney!”

He seemed very excited to receive a different mission other than investigating someone else, and he struck a pose with his suit jacket over his shoulder.

“Can’t we go together?”

“If Reporter Choi and Jo Bong-joon go together, we’ll have to move with three cars, which is too cumbersome.”

I curtly dismissed the idea and handed the car keys to Kang Min-jae.

“Are you taking me with you?”

Kang Min-jae, who received the thrown car keys with both hands, asked with a touched expression.

I just needed someone to drive, but seeing him act like that makes me want to take the car keys back. Does he know that?

“If you don’t want to, forget it.”

“No, Attorney, why are you being like this? Like an amateur. There’s no way I’d say no.”

Kang Min-jae seemed afraid that I would take the car keys back, so he hid them securely in his inside pocket and followed me.

Tae-shik and the staff decided to go in their car, and Kang and I would go in my car.

Considering the possibility that Lee Jung-chan’s side might be watching us, Tae-shik departed from a different location as if he were moving separately from us.

In fact, bringing Kang along was like carrying a kind of amulet.

In case this is a conspiracy, and in case he really intends to hit me with a frying pan and take me away, as Jo Bong-joon said.

If so, they would be monitoring us from the moment I depart, and I judged that if I took Kang Min-jae, the grandson of Kang Kwan-woong, with me, they would at least not kill me by staging a car accident.

I also thought that hitting me with a frying pan would be okay if Kang Kwan-woong’s grandson was glaring at him next to me.

Anyway, Lee Jung-chan is a politician, after all.

Whether he knew it or not, Kang Min-jae, who was excited, started humming and talking nonsense in the driver’s seat.

“Hwagun Reservoir is famous for its fishing spot.”

“Is it?”

“I used to go night fishing with my friends a few times. It was fun. Oh, a homeless man stole our cigarettes back then, and the store *ajumma* [middle-aged or older woman] said that he was a famous homeless man and we messed with the wrong guy. She said there were probably more things stolen besides that, and when I checked, he had stolen snacks and alcohol too! Oh, and it’s a little slippery if you sit a little closer to the water, right? So, a friend almost fell in…….”

I sat in the passenger seat, listening to Kang Min-jae’s story while searching for information about the Hwagun fishing spot on my phone.

From what I could see, there were people fishing even at dawn, so it wasn’t crowded, but there were quite a few people.

Is Lee Jung-chan fishing because he’s feeling restless before going to jail?

I hadn’t heard that story, but it wouldn’t be strange.

I nodded slowly and looked out the window.

I don’t know how to fish and I don’t want to touch bugs, so I was having the idle thought that I should refuse if Lee Jung-chan asked me to fish and talk with him.

“There’s a really famous dried pollack hangover soup place there.”

In the silence, Kang Min-jae cautiously opened his mouth.

The time is 9 o’clock now.

According to the navigation, it seems like we’ll arrive around 9:40.

The appointment time is 11 o’clock, so we have plenty of time.

“Then shall we have a bowl of dried pollack hangover soup each?”

“Yes! Yes!”

Kang Min-jae nodded his head vigorously and started stepping on the gas, saying he wanted to eat dried pollack hangover soup quickly.

“Maintain your speed.”

“Yes, sir.”

At this rate, we’re not going to get into an accident due to Lee Jung-chan’s conspiracy, but we’re going to cross the river Styx together because of Kang Min-jae’s speeding.

“There wasn’t any specific mention of where to meet at Hwagun Reservoir, right?”

It was already 10:30.

Tae-shik and the staff were scattered nearby, watching us, and Kang Min-jae and I bought a cup of coffee each in front of the store at the entrance of the reservoir.

There were still 30 minutes left, but Lee Jung-chan had not yet appeared.

The area in front of this store is quite bright because of the lights, but it was very dark when you go into the reservoir.

When I went inside for a moment, I saw that the people fishing were carrying high-powered lanterns.

There were lights here and there inside, but there were far more dark places.

So, even if Lee Jung-chan was inside, it seemed like I wouldn’t be able to see him.

If he didn’t specify the location, wouldn’t it usually be near the entrance?

If not, he would check if I had appeared and then contact me to tell me where to go.

“……Hmm.”

That’s how it became 11 o’clock.

The coffee I bought from the store was already finished, and there were no people passing by.

I called Lee Jung-chan, but he didn’t answer.

Did something happen?

Or is it really a trap?

I was getting complicated with these thoughts, and Kang Min-jae pointed to the inside of the reservoir and said.

“Why don’t we go around the inside once, just in case? He might be inside.”

“Okay.”

As we passed the store and entered the reservoir, we saw a few fishermen sitting around the reservoir.

The reservoir was quite large, so they were sitting far apart from each other, but even that was a small number, so the light from their lanterns didn’t make it that bright.

“This is really ridiculous. He calls someone out and doesn’t even come, and doesn’t even contact them.”

We split up and checked the faces of the fishermen sitting here and there, and went around the reservoir.

But nowhere, was Lee Jung-chan to be found.

“That’s strange.”

“Could it be that while the attorney was away from home, they searched the attorney’s house or installed a wiretap?”

“There’s nothing much in the house, I’ll have to run a detector once. The office and the studio too.”

“Sigh. What a waste of effort.”

In my previous life, Lee Jung-chan had a considerable connection with Wooshin.

From the time he became president, he poured a lot of business into Wooshin, and when I think about how much Wooshin grew thanks to that, it’s even more so.

So, if Lee Jung-chan had anything to reveal about Wooshin, I thought it would be a huge issue, whatever it was.

That’s why I came all the way here, taking some risks, but at this rate, geez.

“Let’s go back for now.”

In the end, we wandered around the reservoir until 12 o’clock, but we couldn’t get anything and had to return to Seoul.

* * *

From that day on, I called Lee Jung-chan whenever I had time.

I also left a few text messages, but there was no reply.

His trial was already a week away, and I became anxious thinking that it would be even harder to meet him once the trial started.

But no answer ever came back.

In conjunction with that, preparations for this year’s presidential election were in full swing.

I received a call from Lee Se-hwa that the date for the launch of the election camp had been set.

“Oh, Attorney Cha. Welcome.”

Lee Se-hwa called me to a Korean restaurant, saying that she would introduce me to the people I should meet by attending today’s election camp launch ceremony.

Since I promised to join Lee Se-hwa’s election camp, shouldn’t I help her to truly repay my debt?

So, I thoroughly researched and investigated the people of the Liberty Justice Party whenever I had time before coming today.

“It seems like no one has arrived yet.”

“I called Attorney Cha a little early. I’m going to roughly inform you because Attorney Cha doesn’t know our party members well yet. Of course, they don’t know Attorney Cha well either, so I explained about Attorney Cha. Attorney Cha’s personality is so stiff that it’s easy to be misunderstood by people who see Attorney Cha for the first time.”

Lee Se-hwa seems to have already finished interpreting me.

In fact, I have a few shortcomings that make me easy to be disliked by so-called ‘old people’.

First of all, I don’t smile often.

It’s not because I’m trying not to smile, but personally, I’m not good at forcing a smile.

I hear a lot that it’s because I’m not used to it, but still, what I can’t do, I can’t do.

If I smile when I’m not sincere, it shows, and my expression looks even worse.

Secondly, I’m not good at being sociable.

That’s why I might envy Kang Min-jae.

I’m terrible at jokes that adults like, or other jokes that respond to adults’ jokes.

While living in society so far, I’ve heard a lot of people say that I’m rude to adults because of my personality.

And the election camp is a space full of such ‘adults’.

“Ah, Representative. While we have some time left, can I ask you one thing?”

“What is it?”

“It’s about former Representative Lee Jung-chan.”

Lee Se-hwa shrugged her shoulders at the mention of Lee Jung-chan.

“Was there anything else you needed to confirm about that person? The Myunghwa Pharmaceutical case is all over.”

“It’s not that, it’s about Representative Lee Jung-chan personally.”

“What happened?”

Lee Se-hwa asked as if she was puzzled.

It was as if she was saying, ‘What could you have to do with Lee Jung-chan?’

Looking at her reaction, it hits me even more clearly.

To those who know my relationship with Lee Jung-chan well, my personal business with Lee Jung-chan seems this strange.

When Lee Jung-chan first said he would hand over information about Wooshin to me, I thought he had made a wise choice.

But considering that he didn’t show up at Hwagun Reservoir that day, and that he has been out of contact ever since, I’m starting to think that I made too naive an assessment of Lee Jung-chan.

“Former Representative Lee Jung-chan’s trial is less than a week away, isn’t it?”

“That’s right.”

“I was wondering if he was preparing well. There aren’t any articles about it these days.”

“How long has it been since the Lee Jung-chan case broke out? How can articles keep coming out until now? These days, it’s rather the Han Young Group’s Seol Hyo-seok issue that Attorney Cha newly broke out that’s causing a stir. Anyway, Attorney Cha is creating all the issues in Korea.”

Lee Se-hwa joked and laughed.

I thought Lee Se-hwa would know if something happened to Lee Jung-chan, but since there’s nothing else to say, it seems like nothing’s wrong.

Lee Se-hwa went back to the main point and started talking about the people she would meet today again.

I was also busy checking and familiarizing myself with the materials she gave me.

About 30 minutes passed like that.

“Huh?”

Lee Se-hwa’s and my cell phones started ringing at the same time.

“That’s unusual?”

Lee Se-hwa looked at my cell phone ringing and shook her own cell phone.

“Answer the phone. I’ll answer too.”

Just as we put our cell phones to our ears at the same time.

-Attorney Cha, where are you now?

Park Young-gi’s urgent voice came from over the receiver.

“I’m with Representative Lee Se-hwa right now.”

-Attorney Cha. Don’t be surprised and listen carefully.

“……Please speak.”

-Lee Jung-chan is dead.

What?

“……Are you talking about the Lee Jung-chan I know?”

–Yes.

“What’s the cause of death?”

-That’s not important right now.

“What do you…….”

You said you’re with Representative Lee Se-hwa right now?

“That’s right.”

-Get out of there for now. There’s no time to hang out with Representative Lee right now. Attorney Kang sent me your location, so let’s meet with Attorney Kang for now.

“You have to tell me the reason why you’re doing this.”

-Attorney Cha is being accused of murdering Lee Jung-chan!