You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 308

You Have Been Defended – Episode 308

It was three days after Kang Min-jae had been doing some ‘physical work’ that only I didn’t know about when he came home.

“I’m home.”

“You worked hard.”

Chief Kang greeted him and patted him on the shoulder.

Kang Min-jae had lied, quite despicably, to Chief Kang, saying that there was someone in the countryside who could testify, so he went to persuade them.

I was so dumbfounded when Chief Kang told me that.

If I had made that call with Secretary Oh in front of Chief Kang, Kang Min-jae would have definitely been scolded by Chief Kang for three hours.

“…….”

I stared intently at Kang Min-jae as he approached me.

I wanted to see how great an achievement he had made without telling me, the person involved, anything.

“Why are you looking at me like that, Attorney?”

“How did it go? Did you persuade the witness well?”

“Can we go up to the second floor to talk? I want to change my clothes and take a shower…….”

Kang Min-jae was wearing large mittens on both hands as he said that.

It’s still chilly, but I’ve never seen Kang Min-jae wear gloves before.

It was clear he was hurt, but I didn’t want to create a troublesome situation by mentioning it in front of Chief Kang.

I nodded and followed him to the stairs leading to the second floor.

“You’re hurt.”

I said, following him up the stairs.

Kang Min-jae reflexively hid his right hand.

His right hand was injured, so he must have worn gloves on both sides so as not to arouse suspicion if he only wore one.

“……It’s not a big deal.”

“Really? Since when is wrapping a bandage around something not a big deal?”

“Do you have X-ray vision, Attorney?”

Kang Min-jae looked back at me in shock.

Wasn’t it obvious?

It wasn’t just a Band-Aid, but a bandage wrapped tightly around it, so he was hiding it like that.

Considering Kang Min-jae’s usual taste, he would have worn leather gloves rather than mittens if he had to wear gloves.

But the reason why he chose mittens was also because he could wear them even with a bandage, right?

I could have guessed it even without X-ray vision.

“Take a shower first. Let’s talk after that. Have you eaten?”

“Yes. I ate at the rest stop on the way.”

[Lie]

Even without using my ability, I could tell, let alone the word ‘lie’ shining above Kang Min-jae’s head.

I just used it to make sure, but I felt resentful when I confirmed it was a lie.

“Are you going to pretend to me that you went on a business trip to the countryside?”

“……I’ll go take a shower.”

Kang Min-jae ran into his room as if fleeing, and I sighed and returned to my room.

The last direct contact I had with them was the phone call with Secretary Oh, telling him to help Kang Min-jae.

After that, Kang Min-jae, Secretary Oh, Choi Jong-hyun, Jo Bong-joon, and even Tae-shik and Sang-gil, didn’t answer my calls as if they had planned it.

Instead, Kang Min-jae seemed to be trying to reassure me by reporting his survival to Chief Kang once a day.

I don’t know what they did, but I couldn’t help but worry that they might have done something I would vehemently oppose.

Both their safety and the success or failure of the work, and what kind of situation would unfold in the future, weighed heavily on my mind.

While Kang Min-jae was showering, I called Secretary Oh again, but he didn’t answer.

I think they must have made a promise among themselves.

‘Kang Min-jae will let you know, so don’t answer my calls before then.’

-Attorney.

About an hour later, I heard Kang Min-jae knocking on the door from outside.

When I told him to come in, he entered the room with a tray containing a roll cake and teacups.

It was the roll cake and tea that Chief Kang had once said to me, ‘You enjoy this.’

I thought it was taking him a long time to shower, but it seemed he was trying to soothe my anger by preparing refreshments.

“Sit down.”

“Yes. Shall we have a cigarette and talk comfortably?”

How many cushions are you taking out [referring to his attempts to soften the situation]?

“Do as you please. And don’t just beat around the bush; just tell me the truth.”

“Then you won’t get angry?”

“I’ll have to hear it to know.”

I also think that it’s not a situation for me to be angry about.

Whatever Kang Min-jae did, he was working hard to prove my innocence, and if I got angry, it would be like I was sitting still and undermining his efforts.

I don’t want to undermine that.

Rather, I feel grateful and sorry.

But regardless of my feelings, I have to continue working with Kang Min-jae in the future.

I don’t know when this kind of thing will happen again and I’ll be absent.

Kang Min-jae will have to make a decision again at that time, and if I don’t address it properly now, he may make a dangerous choice again.

Until now, Kang Min-jae must have felt regret every time he had to abandon these methods because of my opposition.

And when I was absent, he finally had the thought that he could use that method, and I don’t know if he grew greedy to prove to me that this method wasn’t all bad.

“……I pushed the meter reader a bit.”

“Pushed?”

“Yes. I used Tae-shik’s family to make it look like the Hanlim Corporation guys were coming to kill the meter reader. So I made the meter reader feel betrayed, so he confessed.”

[Lie]

It seems like he didn’t intend to tell me the truth from the beginning.

Kang Min-jae usually tells me and shows me his sincerity, but today it was all lies.

I crossed my arms.

He seems to have come up with a scenario to avoid getting scolded by me, but this is troublesome.

“So?”

“So Tae-shik’s family came in like they were Hanlim Corporation guys, and we pretended to fight each other like we were strangers.”

“The meter reader saw that and felt betrayed, thinking they were coming to kill him?”

“Yes.”

“Ah. Does the meter reader not know the faces of the Hanlim Corporation people he’s been through thick and thin with?”

“……Not really, the meter reader only heard the sounds. We pretended to fight in front of that room.”

“Then why is Kang Attorney’s hand hurt?”

“The meter reader wouldn’t believe it if we did it where he couldn’t see, so we all decided to get hurt a little.”

[Lie]

I could see him adding to the story little by little every time I asked an additional question.

Even Tae-shik wouldn’t believe this kind of lie, let alone me.

“Then show me Kang Attorney’s hand.”

“……I can’t. The hospital told me not to take it off until my next visit.”

“Really? Then did you wash with your left hand just now?”

“Yes.”

“I see.”

“Haha. Yes. But it worked out well, right? We got the meter reader to confess!”

Kang Min-jae smiled and started chattering, as if he was relieved now.

“The meter reader said he would say that we didn’t kidnap him! And that President Shin, ah, President Shin is the guy who had his arm around him in that photo. He also told us that President Shin ordered it and that Wooshin was involved. We have it all on video!”

The meter reader wouldn’t have confessed just because he saw such a show once—no, heard it.

Besides, if he only heard it and didn’t see it with his own eyes, he would have been even more suspicious.

I would have, and so would Tae-shik.

Besides, I knew that President Shin wasn’t the kind of person to make such a reckless move.

Rather, he must have already thought that he had been abandoned by President Shin throughout the kidnapping.

In that situation, if they suddenly took this action after a long time since he was kidnapped, wouldn’t he be suspicious?

Of course, even President Shin would have made some reckless moves if the meter reader was about to spill everything, but what has changed is…….

Ah, I have a feeling about this.

[However, information continues to be collected, and the quality is quite good, so we have high expectations.]

Suddenly, I remembered the phrase I saw in Choi Jong-hyun and Jo Bong-joon’s broadcast announcement.

At first, I thought it was referring to the homeless man’s testimony.

That’s why I was puzzled.

We decided to hand over the homeless man’s testimony to the police without disclosing it, so why did they suddenly say that?

So at the time, I thought it was an intentional bluff to make Wooshin and Hanlim Corporation nervous and moved on.

But now that I see it, these guys have been constantly spreading the rumor to Hanlim Corporation that the meter reader will confess, or has confessed.

“Really? That’s good. If we have the meter reader’s confession, we can prove that I’m innocent. But no matter how I think about it, it seems like we have to catch President Shin, so what are you going to do about that?”

“I’ve thought about that too. We’ll use the meter reader as bait to subtly expose his location, and when President Shin comes to kill or take the meter reader back, we’ll catch him. We won’t get hurt doing that. That’s because we’re going to hand over the meter reader’s confession to the police first and then work on securing President Shin. Then we can call the police.”

It was as if he was talking about his future plans, but I sensed it.

This is what they did this time.

But they couldn’t have contacted the police, so in the end, the private investigation agency employees and the Hanlim Corporation employees had a brawl.

“Ah, so that’s how you got the meter reader to confess and caught President Shin?”

“Yes. Hehe. I’m glad the result was good. Right?”

I didn’t answer and stared intently at Kang Min-jae.

It was a simple method that took advantage of the fact that he was careless in front of me and couldn’t control his emotions when he was too excited, but I didn’t expect him to fall for it so easily.

And it didn’t take long for him to realize what mistake he had made himself.

“……Ah.”

“You leaked the meter reader’s location, and President Shin came in, so you fought with them, and Kang Attorney got hurt in the process. Right? And President Shin was trying to kill the meter reader, and the meter reader felt betrayed when he saw President Shin trying to kill him, so he said he would confess. And I don’t know the process well, but as a result, you succeeded in capturing President Shin alive. Tae-shik and Tae-shik’s family, and Kang Attorney, were all hurt because of that. Also, I told Secretary Oh to go to such a dangerous place? A place where knives are flying. Right?”

“…….”

Kang Min-jae didn’t say anything.

That’s why no letters were printed above his head, but I realized that everything I said was correct.

And after sorting out the situation, I felt a chill down my spine.

It was too dangerous.

Even if they were able to capture President Shin alive and get the meter reader’s confession, it was only possible because they were lucky.

If the private investigation agency employees couldn’t handle the Hanlim Corporation employees’ power, if the meter reader didn’t open his mouth despite President Shin’s betrayal, if President Shin had run away…

There were so many variables, and each of those variables was extremely dangerous.

“……If Kang Attorney was hurt this much, the private investigation agency employees must have been hurt too. How badly were they hurt? Did anyone die?”

“No. Really no.”

“How’s Tae-shik?”

“Tae-shik and the private investigation agency people were all a little hurt, but they’re okay. And Secretary Oh and the brothers weren’t hurt at all. The Hanlim Corporation guys were hurt too, but they can’t do anything about it.”

I was relieved to confirm their safety, but I still couldn’t help but think that this operation was successful because of sheer luck.

“Kang Attorney, you knew I’d be angry if I found out, right?”

“……Yes.”

He answered in a subdued, barely audible voice.

“Then you have nothing to say even if I get angry?”