You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 335

“Hmm, I see.”

Kang Min-jae, who looked like he was about to wash his face with jajangmyeon [black bean noodles], had his nose buried in the bowl as he ate. He suddenly looked up and spoke.

I naturally expected his face to be covered in jajangmyeon, but surprisingly, it was clean.

“But are you sure you’re okay with this, Attorney? If Yoon Seong-hee really did it, it would be a great opportunity.”

Secretary Oh, having finished his meal, set down his spoon and poured tea into his cup as he spoke.

It seemed that not only I, but anyone who looked at it, would think that this was the perfect case for me, who had almost been framed as a murderer by Woo-shin.

“That’s right. Honestly, if that happens, Chan-young and his mother would have a happy ending, but in the end, the real culprit would be hiding behind the scenes,” Kang Min-jae added, expressing his regret.

“And what guarantee is there that something like that won’t happen again? From what I heard back then, it looked like Yoon Seong-hee was trying to frame Chan-young’s mother, and Go Sang-joon was covering it up. If she gets away with it like this, Yoon Seong-hee will be desperate to get her hands on the mother again. There’s no guarantee that something like this won’t happen again.”

“In principle, that’s true. But Go Sang-joon will take measures to prevent Yoon Seong-hee from doing such things… Besides, I thought that if I took on the case, Chan-young or his mother might be in danger, so I shouldn’t get involved.”

“That’s right. You made a good decision, Attorney. If you take on the case, do you think Go Sang-joon will let it go? No matter how much Chan-young acts like he’s at odds with his mother in front of Go Sang-joon, it can only work so many times. For that act to work, Chan-young would have to leave the house, but from Chan-young’s point of view, he might not want to leave his sick mother alone.”

“Well, taking on this case is ultimately our own greed. If we think about preventing recurrence, we should root it out, but we have to believe that Go Sang-joon will take care of it.”

The exposure of the relationship between Go Sang-joon and Kim Hwa-young would be a big problem for Kim Hwa-young, but it would be an even bigger blow to Go Sang-joon.

Kim Hwa-young has been out of the spotlight for a long time, but Go Sang-joon is still involved in the management of Wooshin Group as its chairman.

Kim Hwa-young may be called a mistress, but such voices are like ghosts that disappear when you turn off the internet. As someone who doesn’t go out much anyway, she will only have to overcome the pain of having her flaws exposed publicly, and nothing much will change.

But Go Sang-joon is different.

Affair, sexual favors, making Kim Hwa-young live in hiding, illegitimate child.

Several problems will hit him at once, affecting the stock price and damaging his image significantly.

The problem isn’t just this, but the chain reactions that will erupt as this case comes to the surface.

I don’t know how far it will spread, but I expect its destructive power to be considerable.

Perhaps that’s what I want.

Ha, this.

The fact that what I want and my conscience are pointing in opposite directions is more difficult to bear than I thought.

“But why did Yoon Seong-hee want to make Kim Hwa-young like that, even to the point of killing someone? This might sound a bit harsh, but if she hated her that much, wouldn’t it have been better to kill Kim Hwa-young? If she kills the housekeeper, Go Sang-joon might save her, or the real culprit might appear. It’s not a sure thing.”

Secretary Oh’s casual remark is quite eerie, but it’s true.

“Isn’t it because Yoon Seong-hee thought Go Sang-joon’s anger would be greater if she killed Kim Hwa-young? Yoon Seong-hee tried to frame Kim Hwa-young because of jealousy or the desire to protect her family. Then she shouldn’t ruin her relationship with Go Sang-joon.”

“But whether she kills Kim Hwa-young or frames her as a murderer, wouldn’t her relationship with Go Sang-joon be ruined anyway?”

“If Yoon Seong-hee knew that Go Sang-joon was trying to divorce her, Go Sang-joon would have nothing to say. Yoon Seong-hee would have something to say, and Go Sang-joon would be okay. But the divorce story would have been between Kim Hwa-young and him, so I don’t know how she found out.”

“Someone must have told her.”

When I, who had been listening to their conversation, interjected, Kang Min-jae nodded.

“Was it the housekeeper?”

“If so, she would have been using the housekeeper as a confidante, or trying to use her as a confidante. She wouldn’t have killed her, would she?”

“Hmm, the reason the housekeeper was chosen is simply because she knew that Kim Hwa-young and the housekeeper had a very bad relationship. If the housekeeper is found dead in that house, at least the employees will all point to Kim Hwa-young. That’s what she was aiming for.”

“But didn’t Yoon Seong-hee think that Go Sang-joon would cover this up?”

At my question, Kang Min-jae and Secretary Oh shook their heads as if they had planned it.

“There’s no way, right?”

“Then Yoon Seong-hee would have known that she would fail to frame her as a murderer. Then why did she do this, even killing the housekeeper? It’s going to fail anyway.”

“…I guess?”

“Let’s assume that Yoon Seong-hee thought that Go Sang-joon would remarry Kim Hwa-young if he divorced her, and framed Kim Hwa-young as a murderer to prevent that. In this case, even if Kim Hwa-young doesn’t become a murderer, Go Sang-joon won’t choose Kim Hwa-young as his new spouse if she only has a record of being suspected. There’s no reason to remarry someone with a bad image to the outside world.”

Until now, I had overlooked this part because there were many questions thrown at me.

But if you think about it this way, there is one serious problem left.

“Oh, then…”

“Yoon Seong-hee will probably try to expose Kim Hwa-young’s trial now. Go Sang-joon blocked it during the first trial, but he knows that Go Sang-joon will somehow save Kim Hwa-young before the second trial. Until the real culprit confesses, somehow.”

It’s not difficult to expose the case.

Even if you only know the case number, it’s only a matter of time before you find out why Kim Hwa-young is on trial.

No other words are needed.

It is fatal even if Kim Hwa-young attended the trial as a defendant.

Even if another culprit appears, people will accept the first news most strongly and will not be curious about the rest.

Even if the trial ends because Kim Hwa-young is not suspected, rumors will circulate.

Besides, for more than 20 years, people have been wondering what Kim Hwa-young has been doing.

But there was no news, and her mysterious image became even stronger.

In such a moment, if an article about a murder breaks out, the image will be imprinted that way.

With one article, her image will fall into hell.

“I’ll contact Jong-hyun hyung [older brother/male friend]. See if there’s any news over there.”

“It’ll be Iljung Ilbo if it breaks.”

The reason why Iljung Ilbo was able to have such a close relationship with Wooshin was thanks to Yoon Seong-hee.

Because Yoon Seong-hee is the daughter of the owner of Iljung Ilbo.

The two are a marriage alliance that represents the collusion between the media and the chaebol [family-owned conglomerates].

“Even if Go Sang-joon blocks it, if Yoon Seong-hee says it’s to prevent the divorce, they’ll probably publish the article.”

Even if Go Sang-joon protests, if he says what’s the problem with a mistress who doesn’t go out and has no external activities getting some criticism, Go Sang-joon will have nothing to say.

They don’t treat everyone as human beings unless they are people they think are on the same level as them.

They don’t care if others are hurt, if their lives are ruined, or if a trivial life is ruined.

“Should we ask Reporter Yoon?”

At Secretary Oh’s words, I took out my cell phone.

When I called Yoon Se-yeon, she answered the phone after a while.

-Wow, who is this? Is this Attorney Cha Joo-han, the representative lawyer of a large law firm in Seocho-dong! Wow, such a big shot is contacting a reporter from the boonies! Wow, do you have something new? Are you going to give me a source? Then can I get my notepad?

“Reporter Yoon.”

-Why? Why are you talking so seriously? Is there anything new? Are you going to give me a source? Then can I get my notepad?

“The opposite.”

-The opposite?

“I was wondering if you could check if there are any articles on standby.”

-I can check if it’s in our department, but I don’t know about other departments. Which department is it?

“It’ll be in your department.”

-What is it?

“It’s a murder case.”

-Attorney, you’re a ghost. How did you know this?!

“Is it a murder case?”

-Yes. But just in case, should I check? I don’t want to leak it first, so can you tell me the place and the first letter of the culprit’s name?

“Jo, Kim.”

-That’s right. It’s going out in tomorrow’s morning paper. This is a secret, so you can’t tell anyone, okay?

“…Is there any way to stop the article?”

-Stop it? Why? Is there anything complicated involved in this?

Yoon Se-yeon asked with a curious voice.

“I didn’t contact you to give you a source.”

-I’m sorry. I was too curious without realizing it. But this is such a scoop, I don’t think it’ll work. No one knows about this except the people in our department and the desk because we’re releasing it exclusively.

“…Has it been printed yet?”

-Is printing important? Even if it’s printed, we can just print it again. There’s still time. But first of all, as you know, I’m not in a position to stop it, and the person who got this source is our boss.

The fact that it was directly plugged into the boss gives me the certainty that it is an article that Yoon Seong-hee is telling her family to publish.

I sighed.

-Why are you doing this? Are we talking about the same case? I’m not being fished, am I?

“That’s right. The Kim Hwa-young case.”

-……Yes. No, but how do you know this? You’re really a ghost?

“I’ll hang up for now.”

-Yes? No, Attorney. Tell me and hang up! Why are you doing this! Why are you doing this!

I put my cell phone on the table and said to Secretary Oh and Kang Min-jae, who had been watching me, “It’s on the front page of tomorrow’s morning paper.”

“Wow, this is a real disaster…”

I put the corporate card in the bill and handed it to Kang Min-jae, and went out of the restaurant first.

It was time to go out for dinner, so it was almost 8 o’clock.

I called the burner phone that Kim Chan-young had given me.

-Hello?

“This is Cha Joo-han, I have something to say.”

-What is it? Do we have to meet and talk?

“No. There’s no need for that. You shouldn’t meet me, you should meet Go Sang-joon.”

-What’s going on?

When the name Go Sang-joon came out of my mouth, Kim Chan-young’s voice was noticeably tense.

“There’s an article about your mother on the front page of tomorrow’s Iljung Ilbo morning paper. Go Sang-joon has been blocking it so far, but it seems like Yoon Seong-hee is pushing it out.”

-Damn it, that doesn’t make any sense…

“I don’t know if Go Sang-joon doesn’t know it’s going out, or if he knows but can’t stop it… Anyway, check it out.”

-I understand. I’ll check it out. Thank you.

I hung up the phone and sighed.

Go Sang-joon’s heart to save Kim Hwa-young was sincere, so if he knew the article was going out, he would be able to stop it.

* * *

[Top Star Kim Hwa-young, Murder of Villa Manager Owned by Herself]

And the next day, an article about Kim Hwa-young was published on the front page of Iljung Ilbo’s morning paper.