You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 269

The morning meal was prepared just before Kang Min-jae was scheduled to leave for work.

Kang Min-jae, who had practically dragged me, despite my lack of appetite, to the table, met Kang Kwan-woong’s gaze as the elder leisurely appeared and sat at the head of the table.

“Grandfather, the *Iljung Daily News* is…”

“Yes, I saw it,” Kang Kwan-woong replied indifferently, picking up his spoon.

Kang Min-jae seemed to be waiting for some reaction from Kang Kwan-woong, but the elder didn’t seem to have any intention of providing one.

I, too, didn’t expect anything more from him.

Providing a hideout was already a significant debt.

“I heard reporters are swarming the office, so Attorney Kang should be careful too,” I said, taking a sip of the fruit juice the housekeeper had prepared, changing the subject.

I had thought reporters would flock to my office as soon as the embargo was lifted, but it seemed even more crowded than I expected.

I had received a call from Secretary Oh, who had gone to work early.

He said he had seen about twenty people as soon as he arrived, and that there would probably be more as time went on.

“I’ll tell them that I can’t reach the attorney.”

“Other than that, remain completely unresponsive. Say you don’t know anything.”

“Yes.”

“Since they think I ran away, it seems they’ve flocked to the office instead of my house.”

Their intention was to get an interview from Secretary Oh or Kang Min-jae.

“The police will come to search the place, so stay in the office until then and then go home. Tell Secretary Oh that too.”

“What about tomorrow?”

“Do we have any pending cases right now?”

“No, fortunately, we don’t. We finished everything the day before yesterday, and we haven’t taken on any new cases yet because we were planning to take them on with you after Dong-jin *hyung’s* [older brother or close male friend] case is over.”

“That’s a relief then. I think it would be better to close the office from tomorrow. It might look strange for the two of you to be running the office without me, the representative.”

“Yes. I’ll tell the secretary that.”

I was giving Kang Min-jae a few instructions when Chief Kang came into the dining room with his cell phone.

“Attorney Cha, Chief Park called.”

“Give it to me.”

Park Young-gi informed me that search warrants would be issued for my house and office around the afternoon, and that my acquaintances would gradually be contacted.

I wasn’t surprised because I had already expected it, but I was a little surprised that they had only now issued the search warrant.

The fact that they, who had designated me as a suspect since yesterday, had only now issued a warrant meant that they had not anticipated the report would be released so soon.

If they didn’t know that *Iljung Daily News* would break the embargo, I wondered if the police’s top line wasn’t directly receiving instructions from Wooshin.

Otherwise, it was strange that the police didn’t prepare for this in advance, since *Iljung Daily News* broke the embargo because it was instructed by Wooshin.

Then, was the plan to make the situation as favorable as possible so that when the police hand over the case to the prosecution, they could intervene at the prosecution stage?

That is, they’re going to make it so that the police have no choice but to send the case to the prosecution.

Perhaps other evidence would emerge.

For example, a fake witness.

“I’ll go to the office first,” Kang Min-jae said, getting up first.

“Elder, I’ll go see Attorney Kang off to work.”

“Okay.”

Leaving Kang Kwan-woong, who was still eating, behind, Kang Min-jae and I left the dining room.

“Let’s have a cigarette.”

“The secretary will be waiting…”

“Don’t rush,” I said, handing him a cigarette. “If you look too anxious, you’ll be even more suspicious.”

“…Yes.”

“And Attorney Kang, when you go in for questioning, you’re going to testify that you were at the scene that day, right? You’re already planning to take my side, so you’ll be even more suspicious. So you shouldn’t be swayed by your emotions. Think about how my actions will look to others every time you say a word or make a face.”

“…Yes.”

“And you have to think about using that to deceive others or confuse them. To put it simply, it’s similar to playing poker. Have you been to a casino overseas?”

“Yes. I lost all my money, though.”

“That’s why you lost.”

Kang Min-jae smoked in silence, seemingly lost in thought, then slowly opened his mouth. “Then I should be angry right now. Because I know you’re innocent, but this situation happened.”

“Again?”

“I want to prove your innocence no matter what.”

“Again.”

“I’m also worried about whether you’re doing well, and I resent you for disappearing without a word, and I’m worried if there’s something I don’t know.”

“That’s right from a general perspective. But on the other hand, what if Attorney Kang acted like nothing was wrong?”

“…To the police?”

“Just externally.”

Kang Min-jae seemed to be thinking hard, then nodded as if he had realized something. “Wooshin would become more anxious. Wooshin will be watching me from somewhere anyway, so if I act like nothing’s wrong, they might think I have evidence.”

“That’s right. So what should Attorney Kang do?”

“I’ll pretend like nothing’s wrong.”

“That I’m hiding too,”

“Like there’s a reason I’m hiding.”

“Good. Now go,” I said, patting him on the back.

Kang Min-jae bowed his head to me and ran towards the garage.

* * *

After Kang Min-jae left for work, he sent me a few pictures through Chief Kang.

They were pictures taken from behind the blinds, showing reporters sitting in front of my office.

It wasn’t surprising because it wasn’t the first time reporters had camped out in front of my office, but there were definitely more of them than before.

Lee Young-ho, the building owner, wielded a broom at Kang Attorney’s request, but it was useless, so that says it all.

Throughout the morning, I turned on the television and laptop from time to time to check if there were any updates.

“Attorney Cha.”

I was feeling stuffy from being cooped up in my room all day, so I came out to sit in the garden, and Chief Kang approached me.

“Chief Park Young-gi called.”

“Put him through.”

“No. He only contacted me to relay the situation, so he hung up.”

He contacted me this morning to tell me that he had issued a warrant, so if it was processed urgently, the warrant would have been issued by now.

Was that what he was trying to tell me?

“Is there another issue?”

“A witness has come forward.”

“Which side’s witness are you talking about?”

As I put out my cigarette in the ashtray, Chief Kang sighed and replied, “Someone saw you kill Lee Jung-chan.”

I had thought about this this morning.

That Wooshin had drugged the prosecution, and the police wouldn’t be the ones directly receiving orders.

So Wooshin would try to feed the police evidence in order to hand me over to the prosecution.

I thought about it just a few hours ago, and it’s already becoming a reality.

I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Amazing. I guess anyone with a good imagination can be used as a witness these days.”

“…Attorney.”

“Is it the fisherman who was at Hwagun Reservoir?”

At my question, Chief Kang reacted with a slightly surprised expression. “How did you know?”

“Because that’s the most natural thing. The only people I saw when I was at the reservoir at that time were the fishermen. The other people were near the entrance of the reservoir, in a bright place.”

“You’re not surprised. This time, it might be really dangerous. If Chief Park was here, he would have scolded you for talking so leisurely.”

“It doesn’t change anything if I’m surprised.”

“What are you going to do? Do you have a plan?”

“Well, not yet…”

“Haa.”

Chief Kang sighed as if he was frustrated. “Attorney, this isn’t a case you’re in charge of, it’s your own matter.”

“I know.”

“But you seem to be thinking of it too much like it’s someone else’s problem.”

Thinking of it as someone else’s problem rather than thinking of it as my own is more helpful in solving the case.

Because it gives me a chance to think about it from a distance.

Getting excited only makes things worse.

This is especially true when it comes to Wooshin.

And I’m really confident that I won’t be surprised even if something else happens.

Because if Wooshin had planned to make me a murderer from the beginning, I thought it wouldn’t just end with accusing me of such charges.

Now I have one more task.

Since a person who is committing perjury has appeared, I have to think about proving that it is perjury.

“How did he testify specifically?”

“He seems to have mentioned your appearance and height. And that appearance matched the appearance in the CCTV footage. I couldn’t hear it in detail because I was watching from afar, but he said that you had an argument with Lee Jung-chan.”

Since a witness has been secured, the situation has become almost undeniable in appearance.

Since there are frequent briefings on such major issues, the news that a witness has appeared will be released as early as this evening, or at the latest tomorrow morning.

“It seems Wooshin is very determined.”

“Does Attorney Kang know about this?”

“I told you first. Now I have to go up and tell the Elder, and tell Min-jae too.”

“…For now, don’t tell Attorney Kang. I’ll tell him when he comes back later.”

Kang Min-jae didn’t act like it, but he’s feeling burdened by this.

Even this morning, he hadn’t properly decided what attitude he should take.

He still seems to need more time to accept the situation.

If he finds out that a witness has appeared and falsely testified that I’m a murderer at such a time, he’ll be confused.

It’s not too late to tell him when he comes home later.

“Haa… I understand.”

Chief Kang seemed to want to say something more, but in the end, he sighed and went into the mansion first.

I remained in the garden.

I had a lot of thoughts, but I soon shook my head.

Isn’t it rather fortunate?

In my previous life, Wooshin ‘drowned’ me directly.

Feeling the sensation of cement entering my respiratory system as it was, I struggled in pain and died.

I really couldn’t do anything back then.

But at least they didn’t kill me that way this time, so isn’t there something I can do?

Should I be grateful for this?

* * *

“I’m home.”

Kang Min-jae said as he came home around 8 o’clock, taking off his shoes and slumping on the sofa.

“How did the office search go?” I asked.

Since the warrant was issued today, I thought they would have searched the office as well.

But I was wondering why I hadn’t heard from Kang Min-jae.

“It didn’t happen.”

“It didn’t happen?”

“Yes.”

“The police did call. They asked if I knew where you were.”

“So what did you say?”

“I said I didn’t know. But they said they would come to the office tomorrow, so I told them to do so.”

He looked very tired.

He must have been harassed a lot by the reporters.

Dark circles had come down to under his chin, but he didn’t care and immediately looked for the TV remote control.

“Were there any other issues?” he asked, fumbling around the table.

I thought it would be better to talk about the witness after we had a meal, so I shrugged instead of answering.

Kang Min-jae sighed and finally turned on the TV with the remote control he found.

A daily drama was being broadcast.

[Why are you doing this to me! I’m so frustrated! What did I do so wrong!]

Below the face of the actor who was shouting while smashing all the objects on the desk, a breaking news banner quickly appeared.

[“Murder weapon found at the home of suspect Cha, accused of murdering Lee Jung-chan…”]

Even if I changed the channel, breaking news with the same content was flowing on every channel.

“What the fuck, what is this…” Kang Min-jae muttered a small curse as his phone started ringing like crazy.