You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 273

“According to the road and on-site CCTV footage, the suspect appears to have traveled from Seoul to Hwagun Reservoir in Kang Min-jae’s vehicle. And after the incident, it seems he returned to Seoul with Cha Ju-han, also in Kang Min-jae’s car.”

The detective recited the contents of the report in a monotonous voice.

Kang Min-jae, too, listened to the detective’s words with an indifferent expression.

He raised no questions or objections.

Although the police wouldn’t reveal all their cards, it was necessary to see how much they had pieced together.

“So, it’s concluded that Kang Min-jae was also at Hwagun Reservoir during the time the suspect was there.”

“Yes.”

“So, you admit that you accompanied the suspect to Hwagun Reservoir, and that you stayed there while the suspect was there?”

“Yes. Because that’s the truth.”

“Then I’ll ask a few questions related to this. What was the purpose of going there with the suspect?”

“There was someone we were supposed to meet there.”

“Who was it?”

“It was Lee Jung-chan, the former leader of the Minwoo Party who passed away.”

After the incident, Cha Ju-han agreed that Kang Min-jae should appear at the police station as a witness.

If the suspect himself was in hiding, it could cause problems if his close aide, who was with him at the scene, refused to appear.

Instead, they worked on setting the scope of what to tell the police.

Of course, Cha Ju-han, true to his nature, prepared for many scenarios and set the scope of disclosure, but even so, unless he could enter the interrogation room, he couldn’t prepare for every additional situation that might arise.

Kang Min-jae’s independent choices would determine much.

“Former leader Lee Jung-chan… I’ll refer to him as the victim for now. Why did you agree to meet the victim at Hwagun Reservoir?”

“Detective, the police must have a reason for identifying Cha Ju-han as a suspect. It was already reported that you investigated the victim’s phone. So, you must have checked the text message history, right?”

The detective didn’t answer for a moment.

But Kang Min-jae continued without stopping.

“Even if the history was deleted from Lee Jung-chan’s phone, you would know if you checked with the telecommunications company. Initially, Lee Jung-chan sent a text message to the suspect’s phone first. And to reply to that message, the suspect called Lee Jung-chan. Then Lee Jung-chan texted the suspect to meet at Hwagun Reservoir at 11 o’clock. I thought the police had already figured this out.”

“It has been confirmed.”

“Then isn’t it obvious why I accompanied the suspect? I went with the suspect to meet Lee Jung-chan. The place and time were set by Lee Jung-chan first.”

The police were clearly suspicious of Kang Min-jae.

Of course, it was understandable.

They knew he was a close aide, and perhaps they even considered the possibility that he was an accomplice since he was there.

They might have wanted to see where he was lying.

But even so, the other party was a lawyer, so it seemed like they were digging into very basic things.

“Then I’ll ask about the day of the incident. After arriving at Hwagun Reservoir, where did you meet the victim?”

The police now thought that Lee Jung-chan and the two had met.

Even if Woo-shin’s influence hadn’t reached the police, as Cha Ju-han said, the police had clearly grasped the exact evidence that they had promised to meet and that the two had gone to the meeting place that day at that time.

And although this wasn’t accurate, the police had at least grasped evidence that Lee Jung-chan had also arrived at Hwagun Reservoir.

Even though Lee Jung-chan’s body was found at Hwagun Reservoir, if they hadn’t secured evidence that Lee Jung-chan had arrived there, they wouldn’t have unconditionally framed Cha Ju-han as the suspect.

They had confirmed that the victim and the suspect were in the same place at the same time, so it would have been difficult to think they hadn’t met.

So, he had to make it clear that they hadn’t met.

‘This is where I need to unravel things,’ he thought.

Cha Ju-han couldn’t appoint a lawyer because he was in hiding, but Kang Min-jae gained qualifications similar to a lawyer because he was at the same location.

The qualification to speak directly to the police as a person involved in the case.

“We didn’t meet.”

“You didn’t meet?”

“No. Hwagun Reservoir isn’t a small space. If you look at Lee Jung-chan’s text message history, the meeting place was simply written as Hwagun Reservoir. So, we waited at the entrance. But when the time came, Lee Jung-chan didn’t show up, so the suspect called him several times. But Lee Jung-chan didn’t answer. This, too, will be in Lee Jung-chan’s phone’s missed call history.”

“Yes, there’s a history from 11:05 to 11:15.”

“Looking at Lee Jung-chan’s text message history, he said to meet at Hwagun Reservoir at 11 o’clock. But when he didn’t show up, he called at 11 o’clock. He wondered if he was in a different place.”

Kang Min-jae took out an envelope from his pocket and placed it down.

“It’s a receipt. Around 10:30, I bought coffee from a store located at the entrance of Hwagun Reservoir, and I waited for Lee Jung-chan until 11 o’clock while drinking that coffee.”

The detective accepted the receipt and checked it once.

Judging from the fact that he hadn’t raised any objections to Kang Min-jae’s words so far, it seemed that it was definitely left in Lee Jung-chan’s text message history.

No matter how much Woo-shin flew and stretched, he couldn’t do anything about the records left with the telecommunications company.

So far, everything fit together properly.

The detective had no reason not to believe these words.

Even if they were labeling Cha Ju-han as the suspect, they would think that he eventually encountered Lee Jung-chan and killed him after this.

“Yes, but Kang Min-jae’s car is shown to have left Hwagun Reservoir after 12 o’clock. Please continue to testify about this.”

“Lee Jung-chan continued not to answer the phone, and we thought about the possibility that Lee Jung-chan might be waiting inside, so we decided to look around the reservoir and then leave.”

“Yes. Can you testify in detail from here?”

“I can’t testify in detail. I looked around inside, but Lee Jung-chan wasn’t there, so I came straight to Seoul.”

The detective sighed deeply.

It was a sigh that seemed a little annoyed.

That would be the case.

The testimony that had been detailed until then suddenly became comprehensive, and the moment they thought the incident occurred would be at this point.

But that’s the situation.

Really, there’s nothing special to explain inside.

So, to be exact…

“Inside the reservoir, were you with Cha Ju-han the whole time?”

The detective asked.

Kang Min-jae wore an indifferent expression, but he began to feel nervous inside.

This was the part he didn’t want to talk about the most.

In reality, they started looking for Lee Jung-chan by scattering because the reservoir was too wide.

After searching together, they split up in the middle and searched in opposite directions.

The time the two were apart was only less than an hour.

The murder weapon of Lee Jung-chan came out of Cha Ju-han’s house, but Cha Ju-han was wearing a thin suit at the time and didn’t have a bag to hold such a thing.

Kang Min-jae was carrying the bag.

But if he told everything as it was, they would judge that Cha Ju-han killed Lee Jung-chan while separated from Kang Min-jae and end the witness investigation.

‘What would the lawyer have answered here?’

Kang Min-jae thought hard in that short time.

The time between the detective’s question and answer shouldn’t be too long.

It gives the impression that he’s hiding something.

So, before he thinks the silence is long, he has to end his worries in a few seconds.

And he has to choose.

Whether to say they were together the whole time, or to tell the truth.

* * *

“I wonder if Min-jae did well?”

Jo Bong-joon asked Choi Jong-hyun, who was pouring ramen soup into the drain while cutting off the phone.

Choi Jong-hyun replied as if it were nothing.

“He must have done well. I think you’re forgetting, but he’s a lawyer too. He used to be at Taekwang.”

“That’s true, but.”

“Why, did his voice sound bad?”

Jo Bong-joon glanced at his cell phone.

It was a simple call saying that he was on his way now after the investigation and that he would arrive at Cha Ju-han’s officetel [a Korean term for a multi-purpose building with residential and commercial units] in about 30 minutes.

So, he didn’t have a long conversation enough to feel the difference in tone, but he didn’t know well, but if it was different from usual, he would have noticed it as soon as he heard it.

“No? It was just the same?”

“He must have done well, then.”

“I’m still worried. I guess it’s because he’s still like a kid.”

“What kid? He’s a dark adult. He’s also tall. Hey, hurry up and put on your clothes. Let’s go out.”

“Ah, aren’t you worried, hyung [Korean term for older brother or a term of endearment for a close older male friend]?”

“Is Cha Byeon [short for ‘byeonhosa,’ Korean for lawyer] an idiot? It’s a matter of his life, so even if he’s a guy who chases after him like a puppy, would he entrust the work if he didn’t have the ability? Cha Byeon must have a lot of people he knows on that side. He entrusted it because he thought he was capable.”

“That’s true, but…”

“Hey, worry about your falling stock. Samho Construction fell again.”

“Damn it, really?”

Jo Bong-joon, who was scratching his stomach, was shocked and ran to the computer.

When it was time for the appointment, the two arrived at Cha Ju-han’s officetel earlier than expected.

Kang Min-jae was looking around, wondering when he would come, and he caught sight of him coming closer from afar with a juice box in his hand.

“Min-jae-ya!”

When he called out loudly, Kang Min-jae ran to them.

“Let’s go in!”

And before Jo Bong-joon could ask if the investigation went well, he pointed to the management office with an enthusiastic expression and strode away.

“……”

The office manager, who was dozing off, looked at the three men who suddenly appeared with a box of juice.

There was a gangster-like guy, an uncle, and a guy who looked incongruously handsome standing side by side.

“What’s going on?”

The office manager rubbed his eyes and put the hat he had taken off for a while on his gray hair.

Then, the handsome guy came up and handed him the juice box.

“Thank you for your hard work. Please have some of this.”

“Ah, thank you. But what for…”

“There’s something I want to ask you.”

“Yes, ask me.”

As soon as the office manager’s permission fell, the handsome guy smiled brightly and continued to speak as if he had oiled his tongue.

“It’s not that, there’s a case, so I’m trying to see the CCTV.”

Saying that, the handsome guy subtly fixed his suit jacket.

Suddenly, the office manager’s eyes caught the badge embedded in the jacket collar.

The appearance of a balance scale engraved inside a gold rose of Sharon-shaped border.

It’s a lawyer’s badge that I only saw on television.

No wonder he looks so handsome, he must have been a lawyer.

“I received a request that a woman living in this officetel is being stalked and threatened. So I’m going to proceed with the complaint.”

“Oh my, really? Being stalked and threatened?”

“Yes. He keeps putting blood letters in front of the house, and he keeps putting strange things. She lives alone…”

“He’s doing that to a single woman? Oh my, why is he so scary?”

“The client has roughly specified the time when the stalker put strange things in front of the house. So, after checking the CCTV, she said she would proceed with the complaint if the suspicious person is right. So, can I see the CCTV?”

“Ah, yes. Please do.”

While the office manager was approaching the computer to view the CCTV, the handsome guy turned around slightly.

And he clenched his fist at the gangster-like guy and the uncle and said in the shape of his mouth.

‘Yes!'”