You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 328

You Have Been Defended – Episode 328

Kim Chan-young, who always seemed more than capable of managing his expressions, looking so disheveled like this meant something serious had happened to his mother, Kim Hwa-young.

But whatever it was, it didn’t seem to be something publicly announced.

If it were, I, who knows information from my previous life, would have known in advance.

“Tell me in detail what you mean. What happened to your mother?”

-My mom has been indicted by the prosecution.

Kim Chan-young said, composing himself.

Kim Hwa-young indicted by the prosecution?

She was once a famous actress, but after becoming involved with Go Sang-jun, she declared her retirement and lived quietly.

Even the paparazzi all said, ‘No one knows where Kim Hwa-young is or what she’s doing,’ never showing her face outside.

This was information I learned while looking into Kim Chan-young in my previous life, but it was no different when I met Kim Chan-young again in this life.

No one knew that Kim Hwa-young secretly gave birth to Go Sang-jun’s son.

Among seasoned entertainment reporters, there were rumors that Kim Hwa-young had become someone’s mistress, but it was not accepted as the complete truth, and they did not know that the person was Go Sang-jun.

Living so hidden is difficult with mere willpower alone.

People don’t forget easily.

Entertainment reporters don’t let them forget.

No matter how much she hid, they would find her. To be free from those hyena-like reporters, she must have lived like a survivor who covered her mouth, trying not to be caught by soldiers stabbing corpses in the aftermath of war.

But how could an incident that leads to indictment by the prosecution even happen?

Wasn’t it something that didn’t exist in my previous life?

Did some different condition arise in this life?

“Why was she indicted?”

-…Murder. She was sent to the prosecution when the lawyer disappeared, back then.

“Which district prosecutor’s office is in charge?”

-The Central District Prosecutor’s Office.

That’s certain.

It didn’t exist in my previous life.

Kim Hwa-young was indicted for murder, and I didn’t know about it, with the Central District Prosecutor’s Office in charge?

That’s impossible.

Above all, the case would have been assigned to the Criminal Division 3, even more so.

-Lawyer, my mom didn’t kill anyone. It’s a false charge.

Kim Chan-young added urgently.

I had already guessed that from the moment I first heard she was indicted.

“Let’s meet and talk first. Where are you?”

-…I can’t go to the office.

“I know. That’s why I asked where you are.”

-Ha, I’m at work right now… There’s a hotel near the company, would that work? After work. I’m a little worried about the attention. Go Sang-jun might be watching me. This is a burner phone too.

“Okay. What company are you working for now?”

-Wooshin Corporation.

Wooshin Corporation.

In his previous life, he chose a career path completely unrelated to Wooshin.

But in this life, it seems he jumped directly into Wooshin Corporation, perhaps triggered by the Myunghwa Pharmaceuticals case.

It seems he’s trying to squeeze in while Go Yoon-sung is away.

“Then let’s meet at the Imperial Hotel nearby. I’ll book a room and text you.”

-Yes. Thank you. Oh, and just in case… I’d appreciate it if you could come alone, without Attorney Kang.

“That’s what I was planning to do.”

-Yes. Then please text me.

Kim Hwa-young with a false murder charge?

Who died, and why?

Nothing made sense.

I’ll find out when I meet him.

* * *

I arrived at the hotel around 6 PM and waited for Kim Chan-young.

Before coming, I searched the internet for articles about Kim Hwa-young, but apart from a few special articles reminiscing about how great an actress she was in the past, there was nothing about her.

I also looked through murder case articles, but similarly, there was nothing involving Kim Hwa-young.

That means it’s a story that hasn’t been made public yet.

Whoever it is, they seem to have tightly shut off the faucet [prevented information from leaking].

“Lawyer.”

Ten minutes later, Kim Chan-young rang the doorbell of the room.

After opening the door for him and pressing the do-not-disturb button, I sat down in the chair in front of the table.

Even if it’s close to Wooshin Corporation, it wasn’t a distance he could have covered in 10 minutes, so he seemed to have come early because he was in a hurry.

He was panting as if he had been running.

“Have a glass of water.”

“Thank you.”

Kim Chan-young, after gulping down a glass of water, finally put down his bag and sighed.

Unlike the tearful voice he had on the phone earlier, he seemed to have calmed down now, and apart from looking somewhat exhausted, he was no different from usual.

“Why did your mother get falsely accused of murder?”

-…There’s a villa-like place in Joyeon-dong that Wooshin people go to. It’s just a detached house. High fences, good security. They call it a ‘safehouse’ [a secret location used for meetings or hiding].

Go Sang-jun’s Joyeon-dong safehouse was a place already widely known to the world in my previous life.

Of course, not at this point, but a few years later.

Joyeon-dong is located in a quiet area of Gangnam [a wealthy district in Seoul], a neighborhood with many luxury homes.

With forests and streams behind it, and a highway behind that, and undeveloped forests in front, it’s excellent for security.

Above all, a luxury housing complex was built there because of its good accessibility to Gangnam.

“The housekeeper who resided at the Joyeon-dong safehouse died. The body was also found at the safehouse. My mother is being framed as the murderer of that housekeeper.”

“Was that safehouse used as a rendezvous point for your mother and Go Sang-jun?”

“Yes.”

Someone killed the housekeeper, and Kim Hwa-young was the only person who used the safehouse besides people with the surname ‘Go,’ so Kim Hwa-young became the scapegoat [a person who is blamed for something they didn’t do]?

The story seemed to be roughly drawn in my head.

“Your mother visited with Go Sang-jun?”

“Yes. But sometimes Mom was there first, and sometimes Go Sang-jun left first. She says Mom was alone in that house quite often.”

“So, the incident happened when your mother was alone, while Go Sang-jun wasn’t there?”

“The housekeeper was missing at the time. The family had reported him missing. They must have because they couldn’t reach him at all. So, the police apparently looked at the places where the housekeeper’s cell phone GPS was tracked. The last location was tracked to the Joyeon-dong safehouse. So, Mom received a call once. The house is under Mom’s name. No one is registered as living there.”

“So?”

“But Mom doesn’t go to that house except when she meets Go Sang-jun, so she just told the police, who were asking about the housekeeper’s whereabouts, that he was a manager she hired, but she didn’t know where he was.”

In the current situation where Kim Hwa-young has been indicted, Kim Hwa-young’s attitude is easily seen as a lie to hide the murder.

“So the police asked if they could search the house, and Mom said no. She thought it would be a big problem if they searched the house because it was Go Sang-jun’s safehouse. Anyway, they can’t search private property without a warrant. The police also checked public CCTV, but there was nothing special, so there was no problem until then. And Go Sang-jun said he would check just in case.”

Listening to the story, I also wondered about this point.

If the housekeeper of the safehouse went missing, Go Sang-jun would have been informed.

Kim Hwa-young would have told Go Sang-jun first.

If so, Go Sang-jun would have turned on the internal CCTV of the safehouse to assess the situation.

Since the housekeeper’s body was found in the safehouse, he must have confirmed through CCTV that the housekeeper only entered the safehouse and was not seen leaving.

Then, the approximate size of the situation would have come out, so he would have searched the inside of the house and, of course, found the body.

Go Sang-jun would not have cared about the housekeeper and would have disposed of the body somewhere and treated it as a missing person to prevent problems.

However, there must be a reason why the case was handed over to the police.

Someone made it public.

“When Go Sang-jun checked, the body didn’t come out?”

“Yes. It didn’t come out. So, he was relieved. But suddenly, a search warrant came out.”

“Suddenly?”

“An anonymous tip came in. They said Mom and the housekeeper didn’t get along well. Moreover, the family apparently knew that the housekeeper was working as a caretaker for actress Kim Hwa-young’s villa. But the housekeeper apparently told his family that Mom was like an arch-enemy… These points were intertwined, and eventually, a search warrant came out.”

“So. Even if they searched, there wouldn’t have been a body anyway.”

“No. The body came out. So, Mom was arrested. Fortunately, she was investigated without detention after that…”

Go Sang-jun clearly said that there was no body during the search, but the body came out.

“What about the internal CCTV?”

“Go Sang-jun took care of everything, but the scene of Mom entering and leaving after the housekeeper last entered the safehouse remains. So, even more… Ha, that fucking bastard… If he was going to erase it, he should have erased the scene of Mom coming and going too? How, how could he do this…”

I roughly confirmed the whole story of the incident.

But there are still questions.

The house was nominally Kim Hwa-young’s, but it was actually a safehouse used by Go Sang-jun.

Therefore, after confirming that the housekeeper had disappeared, there is a high probability that he deleted all the CCTV footage taken after that or replaced it with previous footage.

Because he couldn’t have his own appearance coming and going.

But why did he leave Kim Hwa-young’s video?

And who killed the housekeeper?

“Do you think Go Sang-jun deliberately drove your mother to her death?”

“If not, how else would he erase his own video but leave the video of Mom entering the house? And why would he lie that there was no body when there was a body?”

“Did you talk to Go Sang-jun?”

“Damn it, he contacted me first. That bastard says it’s not him. He said he told them to erase everything and that it’s best not to have unnecessary misunderstandings among family members. Family? Damn it, is this a family? Since when were we a family?”

It’s a sad story for Kim Chan-young, but from Go Sang-jun’s perspective, Kim Hwa-young would have been a card he could discard.

No matter how much he loved Kim Hwa-young, since a body came out of his safehouse, he would have needed someone to cover it up before it became more of a problem.

But even so, it’s questionable why Go Sang-jun tried to make Kim Hwa-young a murderer.

“Are there any housekeepers or other employees at that house besides your mother?”

“Yes. There are about two resident housekeepers. People who eat and sleep at that house. And that housekeeper, and a gardener who comes once a week… Four security guards. So, there’s employee housing in the back of the house.”

“There are so many resident employees, so why did Go Sang-jun make your mother a murderer instead of them?”

“…I don’t know. At first, I thought Mom was just a stranger to Go Sang-jun, like those employees. But, even so, Mom was a movie star. If she goes to trial for murder, it will definitely attract attention, so I wondered why he didn’t replace her with someone else. But now I think I know.”

Kim Chan-young said, clenching his trembling fist.

“Go Sang-jun has a reason to eliminate Mom. I don’t know what it is.”