You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 314

“Are you going home now?”

As I came out of the room where Director Shin was locked up, Tae-shik followed and asked.

I wish I could, but the case isn’t completely over yet, so I still have things to do.

If Kang Min-jae knew, he would have made a fuss, saying he would do it himself and I should rest, but that’s why I came without contacting him.

“Open the door where the meter reader is.”

“Are you going to beat up the meter reader too?”

Well, the meter reader also framed me as a murderer, so I wouldn’t mind hitting him if I had to, but I didn’t really want to.

He decided to open his mouth because he was caught in the trap set by Kang Min-jae, but anyway, he helped me clear my name, so I shouldn’t hit him.

I didn’t have any bad blood with him in my previous life…….

“I do.”

Looking at the meter reader’s face as he sat on the sofa with his head down, I was reminded of my previous life again.

-Section Chief Cha Joo-han?

-Mmph!

-Let’s go for a moment.

He still has a youthful face, but he was the one who gagged me and made me inhale the anesthetic when I went out after receiving a call from Manager Oh and was kidnapped in my previous life.

A hollow laugh escaped me.

The Hanlim Corporation guys must have been recognized by Woo-shin and absorbed as they were, killing me in 2018 in my previous life.

I just wanted to clear my name, but I ended up taking revenge for my previous life unintentionally.

A saying that enemies meet on a narrow bridge suddenly comes to mind.

In my case, it became ‘the enemy who killed me’ rather than ‘the enemy who killed my father.’

“What is it?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

Anyway, the meter reader will spend his youth in prison with various charges attached to him.

In Director Shin’s case, I was angry about the time I had been suffering since I came to this life, so I wanted to hit him at least once, but if that wasn’t the case, I would have left everything to the judicial process.

“I’ll open the door for you right now!”

Tae-shik gestured to an employee, who took the lead, opened the door, and guided me.

The meter reader was sitting blankly on the cot, still handcuffed.

As soon as he sensed someone, he raised his head, and he looked noticeably embarrassed as if he recognized me.

But even that was only for a moment.

He returned to his expressionless face.

He couldn’t hear any news from the outside while he was locked in that room, so he simply thought I was on the run, but he seemed surprised at the moment I appeared in front of him.

With himself and Director Shin caught, it wasn’t strange that I was back in the world, so the distorted expression soon disappeared.

“……”

The meter reader didn’t say anything.

He wouldn’t have decided to turn himself in because of guilt for killing Lee Jung-chan, or because of self-reproach for framing an innocent person as a murderer.

It was simply because the safest path he could choose in this situation was to turn himself in.

That being said, I don’t want to blame such a meter reader.

No matter how much I say, ‘You should feel sorry for me and live with a guilty conscience towards Lee Jung-chan,’ it’s useless if he’s not someone who can sympathize with such things.

And if he was someone who could sympathize, he would have done so a long time ago.

“I won’t ask the cliché question of why you did that now that it’s too late. I have other business.”

“Do you still have business left?”

The meter reader had already finished discussing everything with Kang Min-jae about what to say to the police.

He decided to confess that he had infiltrated Oseong Landscaping after talking to Kang Min-jae, who came to Hanlim Corporation.

Kang Min-jae recorded the contents meticulously and sent them to a stenography office to create a stenographic record, which was then submitted to the police.

It also contained a confession about Director Shin.

Director Shin came to Oseong Landscaping to kill him, and after a brawl at Oseong Landscaping, he subdued and imprisoned him.

He thought about killing Director Shin out of betrayal and running away, but he thought it would be better to turn himself in side by side, so he came like this.

So, the final plan is for the meter reader to go to the police first and turn himself in, and then the meter reader will inform the police of the location where Director Shin is being held, and the police will directly arrest Director Shin.

Then, the meter reader will also be recognized for his remorse and cooperation with the investigation, which will serve as a mitigating factor.

With everything perfect, he seemed tired that I had more business to attend to.

Who cares?

I was also tired of being stuck in Kang Kwan-woong’s private residence without being able to go outside.

“……Speak.”

“The day you and Director Shin murdered Lee Jung-chan at the Hwagun Reservoir that month, someone must have come to check if you killed Lee Jung-chan properly.”

Kang Min-jae had already asked him the same question once.

However, he said that he couldn’t get a definite answer from the meter reader about who it was.

That being said, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to catch even one person who Woo-shin had given a title to.

“What would I hide now? But I don’t know who it is. I don’t even know his title……. Maybe only the president knows. I don’t even know what to call him. He just……. The president didn’t even call that person there.”

I took out several photos from my inside pocket and handed them to him.

“Check if he’s in here.”

The meter reader raised his handcuffed hands and began to check the photos.

He quickly scanned the photos one by one without any reaction.

“I don’t know. He wasn’t among them.”

Since we randomly selected people who were suspected without any clues, it was natural that he might not be there.

But even in this situation, I couldn’t help but think about the possibility that he was lying.

“Look again carefully. Has this person ever been to the scene?”

“……No.”

[Truth]

“This person.”

“I’ve never seen this person before either.”

[Truth]

“Next.”

“I don’t know.”

[Truth]

Until the bundle of photos went around once, the letters floating above his head were only the truth.

How nice would it be if the meter reader just testified that ‘someone from Woo-shin’s side came and checked if we killed him properly,’ and the police investigated Woo-shin’s side and found out who it was.

But realistically, it’s impossible.

They might even try to find him by drawing a composite sketch, but the meter reader is only at the very end.

If Director Shin, the head who received direct orders, insists that ‘someone else instigated the murder of Lee Jung-chan’ and clings to someone else, the investigation direction will not even be caught on Woo-shin’s side.

“……”

As I was about to retrieve the bundle of photos from the meter reader’s hand, the meter reader grabbed the photo tightly and didn’t let go.

When I looked at him, the meter reader was staring intently at a certain point in the photo.

My gaze naturally flowed towards that side.

“……I think it’s this person.”

What he was pointing at was not the person the photo was focused on, but the blurry figure of a man in the back, out of focus.

“Are you sure?”

“That’s the person. The person who came to check if Lee Jung-chan was killed properly that day.”

[Truth]

Although the focus was off, it wasn’t difficult to check his features.

Above all, I had seen thousands and tens of thousands of photos of Woo-shin people closely related to the Go family, encompassing both my previous and current lives, so it wasn’t even more difficult.

The main character of this photo, the clearest subject, is Jin Soon-ki.

As Kang Min-jae mentioned before, he is the current president of Woo-shin Life Insurance.

He is the hope of Korean secretaries, having been appointed to key positions while making the greatest contribution to Go Yoon-soo’s succession of management rights.

The man who was photographed out of focus next to him is Sung In-ho, Go Yoon-soo’s chief of staff.

In a way, he could be seen as the post-Jin Soon-ki.

Just as Jin Soon-ki had been by Go Sang-joon’s side since his youth and enjoyed his current glory, Sung In-ho was the person who would become like Jin Soon-ki when Go Yoon-soo became chairman.

“Is that all?”

The meter reader asked.

I nodded.

Of course, I don’t think this will tie in Go Yoon-soo as well.

However, that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to gain.

Now that his face is known, the post-Jin Soon-ki will go to jail for instigating murder, and this history will eventually break down the highway that was laid within the Woo-shin Group.

He’s not an economic criminal, but a violent criminal.

There are only 7 years left until 2018.

It is a known fact that Go Sang-joon has already decided to pass on Woo-shin to Go Yoon-soo, and he was appointed as vice chairman as part of the succession process a few years from now.

Go Yoon-soo is at the point where he is trying to figure out what his father wants and acts like a tongue in his mouth, while at the same time, he is eager to prove how proactive he is.

If he hadn’t met me, he might have successfully scored points with his father.

But now, instead of scoring points, he will be held responsible for having his name disgracefully mentioned in the media.

Moreover, if it becomes known that Go Yoon-soo’s closest aide, who will receive the next management succession, killed Lee Jung-chan, no one will trust Go Yoon-soo, no matter what Sung In-ho says.

Who knows?

Go Sang-joon might change his mind because of this and try to pass on the company to another son.

If they had given up on framing me in the first place and just killed Lee Jung-chan, it might not have come to this.

Even in death, I’m the guy who will be carried on Go Sang-joon’s shoulders.

He should have picked his opponents carefully before attacking.

* * *

“It seems that the investigation into Cha Joo-han is no longer necessary. Of course, we may ask you to appear again depending on the circumstances, but the data is sufficient and there is nothing that deviates from the results we have verified.”

The judicial police officer said to me with a faint smile as he sat across from me in the investigation room.

He was generally friendly to me, except when I told stories about being in a hermitage and not knowing anything.

The explanatory data submitted by Kang Min-jae properly proved the direction and integrity to the extent that they didn’t have to investigate deeply separately, so he had reason to feel good.

When starting an investigation, it is often frustrating to set the scope of where to investigate from the beginning.

As for this case, the police literally got it for free.

“Oh, and the real culprit turned himself in this morning. I don’t know if you know.”

“I heard. I heard that he came to my lawyer before turning himself in.”

“Yes. It seems that it would be better to check the details through a press release later due to investigative issues.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

“At least, let go of the anxiety that you might become a murderer.”

Is that what you should be saying now?

You should apologize for identifying me as a suspect with insufficient conditions.

Anyway, once the case is properly closed, I plan to file lawsuits in every place I can sue and hold a lawsuit feast [sue everyone possible].

I will file an administrative lawsuit against the police if possible.

Of course, Iljung Daily, which published my article first, and the broadcasting station that used the data screen are no exception.

But the judicial police officer, who doesn’t know my inner thoughts, just kept talking.

“And wow, it’s really amazing. Even though it’s our job, it’s the first time we’ve received such excellent explanatory data in a violent criminal case like this.”

I wanted to ask how he could have created such excellent data, but I didn’t bother to open my mouth.

“Personally, the hermitage story is really……. I didn’t believe it at first, but it’s honestly really amazing that it was real. Mr. Cha Joo-han must have been surprised to suddenly come down from the mountain and become a murderer. Anyway, thank you for your hard work.”

[Lie]

I almost laughed without realizing it as I looked at the letters floating above the judicial police officer’s head.

He has no choice but to admit it because the evidence is so clear, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t believe the hermitage story.

Well, I think I would have done the same.

“Can I go now?”

“Yes. Go carefully.”

I came out of the investigation room and headed to the smoking area.

Kang Min-jae insisted on following me as a lawyer, but I thought it was better to leave him behind, saying that there was no need to do so since the investigation was coming to an end anyway.

He would have pestered me to go out for a drink since the investigation was over.

I shook my head and lit a cigarette.

“Lawyer Cha Joo-han!”

Then, suddenly, a familiar yet unfamiliar voice came from behind.

I turned around with a strange feeling.

A young man wearing a field jacket was running towards me.

“Huff, huff. You were still here!”

It was not easy to identify who it was because of the sunlight shining brightly on the man’s face, so I frowned and stepped aside a little.

“Who are you?”

“Oh, don’t you remember me? I’m Detective Heo Min-woo from Gangnam Police Station.”

The moment I heard that name, my heart seemed to sink.

Reflexively, I checked his police officer ID card hanging around his neck.

Along with the name Heo Min-woo, I was able to see his face more clearly.

I stared at him without realizing it.

I checked his eyes, nose, and mouth in turn, and even his overall appearance.

“I’ve seen you a few times in court before. It’s been a while because of the case. I guess you don’t remember. Haha……. Well, it’s been a while. It’s already been a few years since you left the prosecutor’s office.”

“……”

“Lawyer?”

“Ah, yes. I remember.”

“Haha, yes.”

I was trying to act natural, but my gaze was fixed.

Heo Min-woo scratched his cheek, somewhat embarrassed, as I kept staring at him.

“Is there something on my face?”

“No. It’s not that. But, what’s going on……”

“Oh, it’s nothing special……. I just wanted to tell you that you’ve worked hard. I heard the news. Your investigation was also somewhat completed today, and the real culprit turned himself in this morning.”

“Ah, yes.”

“I believed that you wouldn’t have done that. It’s not the first time that Woo-chin has put you in trouble.”

“……”

“Actually, I was a little interested in that side, so I was paying close attention to your activities related to that side. I thought you were really cool when you were in the prosecutor’s office, and your career as a lawyer is really cool too. Personally, I respect you. Haha.”

Heo Min-woo winked and clenched his fist.

But I didn’t feel like accepting it kindly.

“Detective Heo Min-woo.”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t know why you think so.”

“……Yes?”

“I’m not exactly working in relation to that side. It just happened that way while I was working.”

“Ah……. Ah, is that so…….”

Heo Min-woo replied awkwardly.

“Then I’ll go first.”

I ran away from that place.

I didn’t know I would meet him at this point.