You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 270

It had been several seconds since I read the words ‘murder weapon found,’ but the meaning didn’t immediately register.

They wouldn’t use such definitive language for something as simple as a kitchen knife.

It must be because the murder weapon, stained with blood and matching the wounds on the body, had been found.

It seems they’ve planted fake evidence in addition to the fake witness.

Since I’ve been away from home since yesterday, someone must have entered my house and planted the weapon before the police obtained a warrant today.

“Lawyer, your secretary is on the phone.”

“Take it.”

I figured Secretary Oh had seen the breaking news and called immediately.

“Secretary, the lawyer is here with me.”

Kang Min-jae switched the call to speakerphone.

-Lawyer, I’m on my way back from meeting with the detective.

“Detective?”

Since there hadn’t been a search and seizure at the office today, I thought they hadn’t contacted that side yet.

Secretary Oh sighed heavily.

-Yes. To get straight to the point, they’re asking if I know where you are. I said I didn’t. I told them I haven’t been able to reach you and I’m not sure what to do with the office. I also said that the lawyer I know wouldn’t do such a thing, but I doubt they believed me.

“I’m sure. You did well.”

-But the detective said something strange.

“Strange?”

-He said someone saw you kill Lee Jung-chan.

That was the story Chief Kang had told me this afternoon.

Since that story wasn’t in the breaking news about the discovery of the murder weapon, I thought they were going to keep it hidden for a while, but apparently not.

I guess the weapon is more critical evidence, so they highlighted that first.

“What?”

I hadn’t told Kang Min-jae about this yet, so he seemed quite surprised.

“They said it was a fisherman at Hwagun Reservoir.”

-Did you know about this?

“I just found out today.”

-It must be an actor hired by Wooshin, right?

“Probably.”

-We need to expose that witness as a liar, don’t we?

“Yes. That’s why I need you to work with Attorney Kang from now on.”

Kang Min-jae’s eyes widened in surprise as his name was suddenly mentioned.

“That place where the witness claims to have seen me killing Lee Jung-chan. First, we need to find out where that is. Then, we need to find people who were in a position to see that place. That’s the easiest way to prove the witness is lying.”

-We can’t find out where the witness saw you because there’s no publicly available information about the location.

“Attorney Kang will be going to the police soon to be investigated about being with me at that time. Attorney Kang can find out then.”

“So you had a plan?”

Kang Min-jae said, his face brightening.

It wasn’t so much a plan as it was just what I thought we should do.

“And if you can pinpoint the location, Attorney Kang and I went around the reservoir that day, so we can tell if there were people there or not.”

-I see. Understood.

“There was a convenience store and a fishing supply shop near the entrance of the reservoir.”

-I’ll start by contacting them to find out who went to the reservoir at that time. It would be easiest to meet them in person and ask.

“Yes. Thank you. Please prepare so we can start working as soon as Attorney Kang returns from the investigation.”

-Understood. And since it’s Hwagun Reservoir, there are probably a few fishermen who are always there, so I’ll check with the fishing club as well.

“Oh, and I don’t think you’ve heard this news yet, so I’ll tell you in advance so you won’t be surprised.”

-Oh, is there more surprising news?

“They say the tool used to kill Lee Jung-chan was found in my house.”

“What?”

“There’s no information about it yet, so I think we need to wait and see before deciding what to do.”

Secretary Oh didn’t respond.

-…….

It was always Kang Min-jae’s job to fill the silence at times like this, but strangely, he didn’t say anything either.

-……I won’t say things like, ‘How can you say such a thing so calmly?’ I think you’ve already heard that from many people.”

“That’s right.”

-Rather than being anxious and agitated at a time like this, it might be better to be calm. Because now is the time to deal with things rationally, not emotionally.

“Yes.”

-I believe you can solve this well. Because the lawyer I know has always been like that. Since your days as a prosecutor.

Secretary Oh said in a warm voice.

Since my days as a prosecutor.

That was when I had no ability.

I didn’t even know the future in advance.

Until now, I thought people were overestimating me because of that ability.

I smiled bitterly.

-Oh, this might be a silly thing to say at a time like this, but I’ve been inside the office ever since I came, and it’s been a long time since I’ve been on the field. Thinking about investigating with Attorney Kang, this is quite exciting, isn’t it?

Secretary Oh seemed to be trying to lighten the mood.

I chuckled softly.

“That’s right. It’s time to show off your skills, Secretary.”

Secretary Oh said he should go home now and ended the call appropriately.

After hanging up, several text messages had arrived.

They were catch call service messages that are sent when someone calls while you’re on the phone.

Yoon Se-yeon, Choi Jong-hyun, Jo Bong-joon.

It seems they took turns calling.

“Come to think of it, my mother and father must have been very surprised too… but I haven’t heard from them.”

“Attorney Kang talked to them well. They must be waiting, believing what he said.”

I know well because I was there when he talked with my mother.

Of course, my mother cried even without hearing my voice, but Kang Min-jae conveyed the story well in a calm voice.

He told them that we don’t know what kind of false evidence will appear and that the public opinion will be shaken because of it, but it will be resolved well, and we are just waiting for the right time, so don’t worry.

I think it’s fortunate that the two of them know Kang Min-jae.

If someone they didn’t know at all had said that, they wouldn’t have believed it.

“Lawyer, it’s Hyung [older brother/close male friend] Jo Bong-joon.”

At that moment, the phone rang again.

Attorney Kang showed me the phone screen and said.

“Take it.”

“Yes. I’ll take it on speakerphone.”

As soon as Kang Min-jae pressed the receive button, Jo Bong-joon’s booming voice erupted even before the speakerphone button was pressed.

-Who were you talking to so hard? No, that’s beside the point, damn it, what is this all about?!

Kang Min-jae looked at me once as he pressed the speakerphone button.

It was a look that said, ‘Prepare to have your ears blown off.’

“Hyung, calm down first,”

-Why is the murder weapon coming out of Attorney Cha’s house! Does that make any sense?! Huh?

When I added a word, he, who was shouting like he had swallowed a train boiler, became silent.

-Attorney Cha?

“Yes.”

-Are you with Attorney Kang now?

“Yes.”

-You have to hide well there. Really, don’t get caught. The atmosphere is not good. You know? Don’t act like it’s someone else’s business, like you’re Attorney Cha. Stop being so relaxed. Huh?

Choi Jong-hyun suddenly burst in and poured out words quickly.

Park Young-ki, Chief Kang, Secretary Oh, and even Choi Jong-hyun.

I don’t know what they think of me.

Whatever it is, it’s definitely not something to ignore when several people who know something are raising their voices, saying that the atmosphere is not good for me.

“Did you hear anything?”

When Kang Min-jae asked, Choi Jong-hyun sighed.

-It seems that the Iljung Ilbo media group has agreed to bury Cha Joo-han. Wooshin’s money must have gone in.

“Bury with a pen? Is it possible for an even stronger article to come out than this? I’m going crazy looking at the internet articles.”

-It’s possible. Not just reporting on the case, but also writing columns and editorials saying ‘The Fall of a Lawyer’ and covering Attorney Cha in detail, and doing feature articles. Even the columns and editorials have a loyal following, and parents often have their students read them for essay education, so even kids in school uniforms will probably be talking about Attorney Cha. They’re going to use all sorts of petty methods. Whatever it is. The good thing is that other media groups are still quiet.”

At Choi Jong-hyun’s words, I looked at Kang Min-jae.

I thought Kang Kwan-woong or Lee Se-hwa might have been involved.

But Kang Min-jae didn’t seem to know either.

-Attorney Cha, I have something to ask you.

Jo Bong-joon, who had been silent, opened his mouth.

“Please speak.”

-Do you know what time the cops searched Attorney Cha’s house?

“Well, I heard it was in the afternoon.”

-Really? Then, did Attorney Cha happen to stop by the house around 11 a.m. today?

“The house? Are you talking about the Seocho-dong house?”

“Yeah.”

“No. I was at Attorney Kang’s house the whole time.”

-Didn’t the housekeeper, your parents, or Attorney Kang go home either?

“I didn’t.”

This time, Attorney Kang answered.

“Why, Hyung?”

-No… it’s strange?

“What is it?”

-Before Min-jae called me this morning, I was surprised to see the breaking news and called Attorney Cha, but Attorney Cha didn’t answer the phone? So I went to the house.

“And?”

-No matter how much I rang the bell, there was no answer, so I rang it like crazy. I hit it repeatedly. Da-da-da-da. But then I heard the sound of the intercom being cut off. Pfft! This sound. So I thought Attorney Cha was inside.

“Are you saying that someone cut off the bell because Jo Bong-joon kept ringing it?”

-That’s what I’m guessing. Of course, it could be a mechanical error, but now that the murder weapon has come out of Attorney Cha’s house, it’s suddenly bothering me.

“…It seems that Jo Bong-joon was there when someone went into my house and planted the weapon.”

They probably didn’t expect the situation to turn around so quickly.

The fact that I was singled out as a suspect after Lee Jung-chan’s death came to their ears earlier than they thought.

So I was able to hide quickly, and that’s why Wooshin chose to switch to a public investigation before I could find a proper hiding place.

Of course, they couldn’t move the police themselves, so they released the embargo through Iljung Ilbo.

From the beginning, they must have intended for the weapon used in Lee Jung-chan’s murder to be found on me.

However, since the situation was switched to a public investigation, the police urgently issued a search warrant for my house, so they broke into my house that morning to have the weapon found there.

Because they knew I wasn’t home anyway.

They were going to do it the day before, but the reporters who had received information that I was suspected of murdering Lee Jung-chan gathered in front of my house, so they couldn’t do it.

In the end, to divert the reporters’ attention, they emphasized and continued to report that Cha Joo-han was on the run and out of contact.

And as they expected, the reporters changed their target to my office, thinking that there was nothing to gain by staying at that house.

So it’s clear that Wooshin was finally able to buy time to break into my house this morning.

“It looks like it’s going to be a long story, would you two like to come to our house first? It would be better to talk face to face.”

At Kang Min-jae’s question, the two people who had been talking loudly became quiet in an instant.

-Your house?

“Yes.”

-So, the house of former President Kang Kwan-woong?

“…That’s right?”

-Are we allowed to go to a place like that?

To the cautious question, I answered clearly.

“Even if you two come here, it won’t be thought that I’m here. You two have been close to Attorney Kang, and you can say that you were worried about my case and came to meet and talk.”

-No, that’s not important.

If that’s not important in this situation, what is?

-It’s the former president’s house! I’ve never been to a place like that. Can we really go? Wouldn’t your grandfather dislike it?

“No, he doesn’t dislike it. Why would he dislike it when his grandson’s friends are coming to play?”

-Wow, then of course I have to go. When else would I get to see something like this? We’ll be there in about an hour. Hyung, take a shower quickly. You haven’t showered in days! And wear something neat. Huh? Hurry, hurry!

“…You can just come as you are.”

-We’re hanging up! Send us the address in a text message!