You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 311

“It’s a relief there’s a parking space.”

According to the summons, government offices often have parking difficulties, even suggesting people use public transportation due to the lack of space.

Yet, fortunately, there was one spot available today.

Kang Min-jae packed his heavy briefcase, and we walked toward the police station.

On the way, we saw people who appeared to be police officers, all busy looking at something as they walked.

“Huh?”

Just then, a woman’s voice came from ahead.

“Oh, aren’t you Attorney Cha? I thought you’d disappeared! What brings you here? What a coin.ci.dence!”

She pointed her camera at me, displaying acting skills so poor I thought she should never become an actress.

As she rushed in and started taking pictures, people entering and exiting the police station began to pay attention to us.

“Ah, I can’t do this. I need to send out a breaking news alert before asking questions.”

As attention began to gather, Yoon Se-yeon seemed worried about being scooped and quickly started making a phone call.

She seemed to be getting permission from the editor-in-chief to release it as breaking news.

After a call that lasted less than 30 seconds, she quickly began writing an article on her phone.

Seeing her write an article about skipping the main content for a breaking news alert on her phone, right in front of the police station entrance with the person involved present, makes me think the world has become a much better place.

Of course, it was a common occurrence in my previous life, but this is the first time someone has tried to publish an article with me standing right in front of them…

“It’s Cha Ju-han!”

Just then, an unfamiliar voice came from inside the police station.

Only then did Yoon Se-yeon, whose plan to interview me step by step had been mercilessly trampled, realize what was happening.

Because with that someone’s voice as the lead, I began to receive the glare of countless people.

As if they had planned it, they all put their radios to their mouths and began reciting coded messages.

I don’t know all the police codes, but even if I didn’t, it wasn’t difficult to understand.

They were all saying that I, Cha Ju-han, the suspect in the Lee Jeong-chan murder case, had appeared at the police station.

“Mr. Cha Ju-han!”

At that moment, detectives rushed out from inside the police station.

Even though Jo Bong-joon and Choi Jong-hyun’s broadcast had made it known to the public that I wasn’t a strong suspect, I knew that an arrest warrant had been issued because I hadn’t responded to the summons and had disappeared.

Therefore, expecting to be immediately arrested, I looked at them calmly.

Kang Min-jae stood in front of me, very nervous.

“Mr. Cha Ju-han, you’re really showing up early.”

The detective, who had run up to me, looked at me as if I were a pain in the neck.

I thought they would put handcuffs on me right away, but it was unexpected.

I don’t know if it was because I turned myself in, but they took me quite peacefully inside the police station.

Just as I was thinking that it might be Lee Se-hwa’s influence, they led me in the direction of the investigation room.

“You cannot enter unless you are an attorney.”

Perhaps because my job is a lawyer, or because the lawyer I brought wasn’t a partner-level lawyer from a major law firm, the police subtly blocked Kang Min-jae.

Kang Min-jae seemed upset and frowned, about to say something, but I spoke before him.

“Isn’t it possible for someone with a relationship of trust to be present?”

I could have simply said he was my lawyer, but I wanted to point out the police’s mistake.

I had been arguing that I shouldn’t be disliked by them, but from this point on, wasn’t I entering into an argument with the police?

They wouldn’t try to investigate with illegal procedures, but anyway, I intended to give the impression that I wouldn’t just overlook even small mistakes.

As someone who used to be involved in the investigative agency, I understand why they had no choice but to designate me as a suspect.

But I was suddenly branded as a suspect, my name became known to the world, and I was burdened with a dishonorable stigma.

Even though Iljung Daily unilaterally broke the embargo, the police failed to protect me, who was still a suspect without any decisive evidence.

If I show them an attitude of understanding and tolerance, they will not feel a sense of problem about this.

It means that they will not be aware of the situation even when they have to be careful.

Actually, I didn’t intend to do this at first, but seeing that they didn’t handcuff me as soon as I appeared, I thought it would be okay to stretch my legs when I saw a place to lie down…

I think it was a good idea to contact Lee Se-hwa.

“……”

“I guess the detective doesn’t think I’m worthy of being accompanied by someone I trust.”

But I decided to give him a way out.

According to the 2009 precedent, a person with a relationship of trust must be deemed necessary under the judgment of a police officer to be accompanied.

No matter how such a law exists, no one other than a lawyer can be present unless the police officer feels the need for it.

“Yes, I guess so. It doesn’t look like it. If you are a lawyer, you can be present.”

“He is my lawyer.”

Kang Min-jae seemed to resent me for choosing a roundabout way, or rather, for not immediately saying that he was a lawyer.

But doesn’t a person with a relationship of trust mean that you trust them a little more than a lawyer?

At least, that’s what I think.

“Mr. Cha Ju-han, you have the right to remain silent or not answer individual questions. And you will not be disadvantaged for remaining silent. If you waive your right to remain silent and make a statement, it may be used as evidence of guilt in court. Finally, you have the right to have the assistance of an attorney when being questioned. As you know.”

The detective explained in considerable detail the suspect’s right to remain silent, which must be notified to me before the investigation.

Usually, they just say it to get the meaning across, but he explained it almost identically to the legal provision.

“Will you refuse to testify?”

The detective asked, typing on his laptop.

“No.”

“As I told you earlier, it may be used against you in court. You still want to testify, right?”

“That’s right.”

“You will receive the assistance of an attorney, right?”

He glanced at Kang Min-jae and said.

“Yes.”

“Do you agree to the video recording?”

“I agree.”

While the detective went to turn on the camera, I looked at the large mirror in front of me.

There are probably police officers gathered behind that glass window watching the investigation, and since I agreed to the video recording, I think I should do it right.

The pre-start procedures were somewhat completed, and the full-scale investigation proceeded.

I had to restate the facts that were already known, and the amount was so vast.

The investigation continued non-stop for several hours.

“Right now, Mr. Cha Ju-han, because you failed to respond to the summons and fled, if the police had directly secured your custody, you would have been immediately detained. It’s still a good choice that you cleared up your escape and voluntarily attended. Of course, that doesn’t mean you can go home after the investigation.”

“I didn’t mean to, but I apologize for making it seem like I failed to respond to the summons and fled.”

“……Seem like?”

The detective frowned.

“I had no intention of failing to respond to the summons, and I never fled, so I have no choice but to say it seemed that way. I just didn’t know about this situation.”

“Mr. Cha Ju-han, do you think that makes sense now? The whole country was buzzing about this. It’s not like Mr. Cha Ju-han was staying abroad. It’s been well over a month now, and you didn’t know?”

The detective, who had been conducting the investigation without showing much emotion from the time he first came to the investigation room until now, showed an emotional reaction for the first time to my words.

To be exact, it wasn’t emotional, but rather… an attitude of disbelief.

“Mr. Cha Ju-han, you’ve been cooperating well with the investigation so far, why are you suddenly saying things that undermine your credibility?”

“……It’s not undermining credibility, I really didn’t know. I’ve been running busily for a long time, and I was a bit tired. So I decided to take a break for a while, and I went into a hermitage [a secluded religious retreat] in the countryside, cutting off contact with everyone to sort out my thoughts.”

“……”

“If it was a general temple, I might have been contacted, but the hermitage was deep in the mountains, and there was no one except for a few monks who came to meditate for more than 100 days. I left my cell phone in the office because I wanted to be cut off from the world for the duration of my stay there. I heard on the way that the lawyer said my cell phone wasn’t in the office. Didn’t you take it during the search and seizure?”

“……There was no cell phone among the seized items.”

“Then I don’t know where it went. Anyway, I left it in the office. And of course, there were no televisions or newspapers in the hermitage.”

The detective said nothing.

He was just looking at me with a still dumbfounded expression.

“You were in a hermitage with nothing for over a month? Okay. Let’s say that’s true. In a place with nothing, what were you doing all that time? And in this emergency situation, didn’t anyone around you come to find you?”

“I took a lot of books in there and spent my days reading one a day. And I didn’t tell anyone where I was going. I didn’t even say I was going to a hermitage to think for a while. So maybe the people around me were quite worried about me. It was a half-impulsive decision, and I was too tired to explain it to the people around me. So they probably couldn’t find me.”

“……You run a law firm, don’t you? You didn’t even tell your employees?”

“That’s what happened.”

I know I’m talking nonsense, but if I don’t do this, I have to admit that I fled.

Even if I’m cleared of the charges, it’s not good for me at all that I, as a lawyer, ran away when I was accused of being a suspect at the time.

Of course, I had taken all of that into account and hid at the time, but now that it’s time to go out into the world, I felt sorry that I had to wear the image of a fugitive.

I know it doesn’t make sense, but there’s nothing I can do.

I’ve already matched all the words.

There will be no way to prove that my words are false.

“Ha, then let me ask. How did you come down from the hermitage at such a good timing? Just when evidence to support Mr. Cha Ju-han’s claim of innocence is prepared like this. Of course, the police will have to conduct a verification of the explanatory data you submitted today, but I’m asking on the assumption that everything is okay.”

“I’m not as good as the monks there, but I was planning to stay for about two months, but I got restless and came down earlier than planned. As soon as I came down, I called my lawyer from a public phone, and only then did I realize the situation. If someone had reported me there before the lawyer came to pick me up, I would have been arrested, but fortunately, it was a remote place, so I was not discovered and was able to come safely.”

“……”

“I heard an explanation of the situation in the car coming up to Seoul with my lawyer. When I searched with my smartphone, I could see that the situation had been going badly so far. So I came straight to the police station without stopping anywhere.”

“……Haa.”

“And thankfully, my capable acquaintances believed in me even though I had disappeared, and I also learned in the car coming up to Seoul that they had conducted investigations and created data to prove that I had not committed a crime. Fortunately, my lawyer explained it to me in an easy-to-understand way, so I was able to properly understand the situation I am in now.”

The detective was just staring at me, as if he had lost his words.

“If you suspect me, you can detain me for now and verify whether my words are false. I came up from the hermitage located in Mt. Manak in Chungcheong Province today, so please track it down with the lawyer’s car number… Oh, and you can check directly at the hermitage. Also, I used a public phone at the foot of Mt. Manak this morning to call my lawyer, so you can check that too.”

I’m confident that I won’t get caught even if I do that.

I went from Kang Min-jae’s house to Director Kang’s house, changed cars, and went down to Chungcheong Province.

That’s because the temple where Kang Kwan-woong had stayed for 100 days after his retirement was there.

It was said that there was a hermitage operated by the temple deep in Mt. Manak, so I decided to say that I had stayed there.

I actually went to the temple, greeted the head monk, and made a small donation to the temple.

It was said that the hermitage had already been cleaned up when I decided to go down the mountain, but I left a little trace just in case.

And I came down Mt. Manak alone on that road and called Kang Min-jae on the nearest public phone.

Kang Min-jae, who received the call, drove his car from Seoul to Mt. Manak, and I took that car and came back to Seoul with him to the police station.

“I know it’s hard to believe even if I look at it… But what can I do if this is the truth.”

I shrugged my shoulders, and the detective sighed in frustration instead of answering and rubbed his forehead.