You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 271

The two arrived at Kang Kwan-woong’s private residence exactly one hour later.

Upon hearing that the housekeeper had opened the gate, Kang Min-jae and I went out to greet them.

It was because of Kang Min-jae’s comment that even I couldn’t navigate this house’s garden, let alone them.

“……Why are you two dressed like that?”

Unusually, they were dressed in suits, with their hair meticulously styled with wax.

Their shoes were also polished dress shoes, a stark contrast to the sneakers or slippers they usually wore.

“We couldn’t just dress casually when visiting the residence of a former president, could we?”

“……Wow, Min-jae. Have you always lived in a house like this?”

The two looked around at the illuminated garden, their eyes wide with wonder.

Kang Min-jae chuckled, scratching the back of his neck.

“I was just lucky to have a good grandfather…….”

“I’ve only seen houses like this in movies; this is my first time seeing one in person. It’s like an art museum.”

“Are you trying to show off your country bumpkin side? Even if you’re amazed, just be quiet. That’s the least you can do.”

“I am a country bumpkin. I lived without knowing there were houses like this, so what else would I be?”

Jo Bong-joon stroked a sculpture in the garden and asked.

“Is this worth about a billion won [approximately $750,000 USD]?”

“I don’t know? I don’t think it would be that much.”

“Can I dare to call you Min-jae? Should I call you young master?”

“What nonsense are you talking about, *hyung* [older brother or respected male figure]?”

“Just drop the formalities with me too. Call me Bong-joon.”

“Oh, no thanks.”

While Jo Bong-joon was fawning over Kang Min-jae, Choi Jong-hyun strode up to me and began to examine me.

“Your hair seems to be washed as usual. Your face is handsome as usual. You’re tall as usual. You’re dressed well. Your stomach……. Ah, Cha-byun [Cha-attorney], you didn’t have a belly to begin with, did you?”

Choi Jong-hyun scanned me from head to toe, then sighed deeply, placing his hand on my shoulder.

“You look fine.”

“This kind of thing doesn’t make me shorter.”

“That’s true, but I’m glad you seem okay. I thought Cha-byun would be fine, but people are different on the inside. Cha-byun is also a person.”

Choi Jong-hyun patted me on the back.

He wasn’t wrong.

They think I’m okay because I don’t show it, but that’s not entirely true.

I was quite angry that Wooshin not only tried to kill me but now is trying to frame me as a violent criminal.

That’s why I’m even more puzzled when people around me ask why I’m not bothered.

I’m not okay.

I just don’t show it.

I may seem relaxed, but I’m not.

I’m thinking and thinking fiercely in my head.

“Ahem, now that I think about it, I’ve been too busy admiring the scenery when Cha-byun is in this situation.”

As if hearing Choi Jong-hyun’s words, Jo Bong-joon finally approached me and took my hands.

“But honestly, I thought you’d be fine. It’s not like Cha-byun is the type to cry and beg, ‘Save me!'”

Jo Bong-joon laughed heartily and walked ahead towards the open gate of the mansion.

Kang Min-jae hurriedly followed him, and Choi Jong-hyun watched them and added.

“He may talk like that, but Bong-joon was really worried about Cha-byun.”

“Is that so?”

“As soon as he heard the news about Cha-byun, he called you about 100 times. Then he was so worried that he went to your house. I don’t know for sure since I didn’t go with him, but who knows, he might have shed a tear in the car on the way to Cha-byun’s house?”

I appreciate the concern, but I’d rather do without the tears.

Anyway, the housekeepers, hearing that guests were coming, prepared tea and desserts in the dining room while chatting.

The two, guided there, sat at the table with their backs straight, like people on a blind date at a fancy restaurant.

“……By the way, don’t we need to greet your grandfather?”

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

Then Kang Min-jae took out a few sugar cubes from the container and placed them in front of me, answering.

“Ah, it’s okay. He’s either sleeping early or reading a book right now.”

“Oh, really? Still, I feel bad for intruding at this late hour……. Should I have bought something?”

“No. Attorney Cha, please put sugar in your tea. It tastes better that way.”

Kang Min-jae pushed the plate of sugar cubes, which I had pushed aside, closer to me again.

“I don’t like sweet things.”

“Min-jae must be happy?”

“About what?”

“Even though there’s a crisis, you get to be with Cha-byun, whom you love, respect, and always think about.”

“Hey, it would be better if the situation ended quickly. I can’t go outside, and I want to work on cases with you, but I can’t.”

I sighed, looking at Choi Jong-hyun and Jo Bong-joon, who were chuckling.

“Let’s continue the story you were telling earlier. The story about how someone seemed to be in my house around 11 AM.”

“Ah, right. Because of that, I did a test with my brother at home.”

They said they had been testing at their house, which had the same model of intercom as ours, for almost an hour.

Jo Bong-joon repeatedly rang the doorbell from outside, and Choi Jong-hyun kept cutting off the intercom from inside.

Because of that, they got a complaint from the neighbors about the noise, but they didn’t care and continued the experiment, even shouting back at them.

As a result, they said that the ‘pop’ sound never occurred if they just left it alone.

“Someone was definitely inside. I’m sure of it. And Cha-byun, you were home yesterday, right? But there was nothing like that.”

“Yes.”

If they left it in a place I don’t usually go, there’s a chance they came into my house beforehand and left it there.

I hardly do anything at home except wash and sleep.

But if I weren’t in a situation where I had to keep leaving the house, I don’t think I would have just left evidence that could be discovered at any moment.

When Jo Bong-joon came to my house, there’s a high probability that someone came in and left it then.

“So Jong-hyun-*hyung* is suggesting we check the CCTV in the *officetel* [a multi-purpose building with residential and commercial units]. I don’t know if they’ll show it to us, though.”

“CCTV?”

“We need to check if anyone visited the house at that time.”

“If you make up some excuse, they’ll show you the CCTV. I handled a sexual harassment case when I was at Taekwang before. The police weren’t even present, but they showed it to me just because I went and asked.”

“I heard some intercoms these days have a feature that detects when the door opens and immediately takes a picture. You don’t have that kind of device at home?”

“No, I don’t. The *officetel* was built quite a while ago.”

Choi Jong-hyun crossed his arms and opened his mouth.

“I don’t think there was CCTV on every floor. Should we check the one in the elevator?”

“We don’t know when that bastard went into the house, so we need to watch it from the morning until the time the search and seizure came out.”

“Does it show which floor they went to?”

“It does. The elevator CCTV is on the back.”

The two nodded at Kang Min-jae’s words.

“But, would it be evidence that someone went into Cha-byun’s house right before the search and seizure? Until we find out who that person is, all we can claim with the CCTV footage is that someone went into the house before the search and seizure and left the weapon there. Would that even work?”

“It won’t work. And more than anything, there’s no one to argue that while I’m in hiding. I can’t even use an agent.”

“So even if we secure the CCTV, we can’t use it properly until we find out who it is.”

Even if I try to argue through a lawyer, I can’t do that from the time I disappeared.

That’s why I said I’d rather be arrested.

To stay in jail and appoint Kang Min-jae as my lawyer so he can plead my innocence on my behalf.

In the end, I agreed to go into hiding, so I can’t blame anyone now, but until there’s a change in the situation, there are significant restrictions on what I can do.

“Shall we use the broadcast for a change?”

After a long thought, I opened my mouth.

“Our broadcast?”

“Yes. Neither I nor my lawyer can step forward. The police’s claims won’t work either. But we need to keep informing people about the questionable aspects of this situation where I’m being accused of being the culprit. Right now, the media is reporting as if I’m a very definite suspect, so public opinion is leaning that way a lot.”

“Hmm, that’s true.”

“It won’t seem strange. I’ve been on that broadcast before, and it’s already known that we’re close.”

“This is a huge responsibility for us.”

Jo Bong-joon shrugged his shoulders and said.

“If Secretary Oh and Attorney Kang, and you two, each move and conduct investigations, we can keep presenting strange points on the broadcast based on that. While asking the question of whether I’m really the culprit. If we plan it properly, the broadcasting station will take the bait, like with the Myunghwa Pharmaceutical case.”

In today’s internet age, so-called ‘netizen investigators’ [internet users who investigate and share information about various topics] are actively involved in all kinds of cases.

They reveal facts that even the police couldn’t uncover and raise questions.

Of course, many cases end at the level of conspiracy theories, but there are also cases where they are actually accepted as the established theory and overturn the investigation.

In this case, they would be playing the role of those netizen investigators.

“It’s okay to say on our broadcast that this is Wooshin’s doing. People who won’t believe it won’t believe it anyway, but there will definitely be people who do.”

“That’s right. Our broadcast is watched by people who share our sentiments.”

“And our broadcast started because of the Myunghwa Pharmaceutical case, so it wouldn’t be strange to keep harping on Wooshin.”

And if my innocence is revealed through this opportunity, the two’s broadcast will once again ride a wave of popularity.

They were bored because there hadn’t been any issues since the Myunghwa Pharmaceutical case.

“The police have secured a witness who claims to have seen me killing Lee Jung-chan.”

I shared the story I had with Secretary Oh today with them.

Secretary Oh digs into the witness, and Choi Jong-hyun and Jo Bong-joon dig into the witness.

Investigating in two directions will be faster.

“Wooshin has set the stage properly.”

“But this is also proof that Cha-byun is doing well right now.”

Choi Jong-hyun, who had been listening seriously, poured the cold tea into his mouth in one gulp and said.

“It means that Cha-byun is a huge thorn in Wooshin’s side. So it means we’re on the right track.”

“That’s true.”

“On top of that, there’s one more thing to look forward to.”

The starting point of this whole incident.

Something I haven’t gotten my hands on yet.

“While proceeding with this case, let’s also think about how to find the data that Lee Jung-chan was trying to hand over to me. There might be a clue somewhere. Anyway, the purpose of Lee Jung-chan and I meeting that day was to receive that data.”