You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 339

You Have Been Defended – Episode 339

I had many questions for Kim Chan-young, but considering the article had just been published and I didn’t know Kim Hwa-young’s condition, I decided to wait for Kim Chan-young to contact me rather than reaching out first.

I figured that whether Kim Hwa-young’s condition improved or worsened, Kim Chan-young would contact me once the situation settled down to some extent.

And this prediction was correct.

Two days later, I received a call from Kim Chan-young.

“Hey, it’s me. How’s your mother doing?”

“Mom’s okay now. We went to the hospital together to adjust her medication, and we’re keeping her from seeing the articles… Well, those kinds of articles are as good as nonexistent if you don’t see them anyway. It’s not like someone’s going to barge into our house and demand why she did that.”

“That’s right. That’s a relief. She hasn’t tried to look at the articles?”

“She’s curious. I even caught her trying to sneak a peek at my phone while I was sleeping. But, you know, she’s holding up well in her own way.”

“Has Go Sang-jun said anything else?”

“……He says he’s sorry. I don’t know if he’s sincere, though. Anyway, after looking into it, once the news got out that the housekeeper was running amok in the hideout, some people started to sympathize, saying they understood why Mom had a bad relationship with the housekeeper. Of course, there’s moral criticism that the deceased is a victim, so should we have revealed such flaws, but what can we do? If we didn’t reveal that story, my mom would be seen as crazy.”

“Speaking of the housekeeper, did you know? That the housekeeper was running amok in the hideout like that.”

“No, I didn’t know. I don’t think Mom knew either. She knew the housekeeper sometimes touched her things, but she didn’t know she was messing around with the house like that.”

She didn’t know.

After I realized that the information I had about this case was incomplete, it suddenly occurred to me that Kim Chan-young and Kim Hwa-young had been hiding things from me – things that could be considered flaws.

Since I hadn’t officially taken on the case yet, it was natural for them to provide information in a limited way from their perspective.

However, I am more involved than I thought, even though I haven’t taken on the case.

So much so that the limited information provided is a hindrance.

That’s why I was worried if they were hiding something from me, but it seems that wasn’t the case.

“There are a few things I want to ask. I’d like to meet with you and your mother if she’s up to it.”

“With Mom too?”

“Would that be too difficult?”

“……Going outside might be a bit much. It’s not a good idea to meet at a hotel like last time, um, would you like to come to our house?”

“Okay. Can Attorney Kang come with me?”

“Yes. I’d be grateful. I actually feel sorry that you’re going through so much trouble for us even though you haven’t officially taken on the case.”

“You don’t have to think like that. Let’s think about that slowly. Let me know when you’re free, and I’ll come right over.”

“Yes. I’ll talk to Mom.”

I decided not to mention that this whole incident could be Go Sang-jun’s doing.

If I brought it up before it was confirmed and it got into Kim Hwa-young’s ears, it could lead to an unnecessary situation.

* * *

That afternoon, Kim Chan-young asked if I could come to their house around 8 p.m.

From Kang Min-jae’s perspective, it was like having overtime for a case that wouldn’t make him any money, but he said he would go with me quite enthusiastically.

“You’re here?”

Kim Chan-young opened the door, and I took a step inside.

Seeing Kim Hwa-young standing behind Kim Chan-young, who was smiling and greeting us, Kang Min-jae let out a sigh that was barely audible.

“Please sit over here. Can I get you something to drink?”

“Just water is fine.”

“Chan-young, cut up some fruit for them. Wait, I’ll do it.”

As she was about to go into the kitchen, she suddenly stopped as if she had realized something.

There are no sharp objects in this house right now.

Even the curtains I saw in the living room before had been removed.

It seems they were removed because she might hang herself with the curtains.

In the house that seemed generally empty, Kim Hwa-young sighed and sat on the sofa.

“I’m showing you lawyers too much of an unsightly side.”

“Oh, come on, unsightly? Mother, people have clear days and cloudy days in their lives. We people usually meet people on cloudy days. Among the clients we’ve met who have had cloudy days so far, you are the most beautiful and as radiant as ever. You’re really worrying for nothing.”

As Kang Min-jae spoke cheerfully, Kim Hwa-young covered her mouth and smiled.

“And my close friend doesn’t know that I’m involved in your case at all? But somehow the topic came up briefly. And he said that there’s no way you would have done that, and that the reporters are just making up trash. There are a lot of people like that, Mother. Not everyone thinks badly of you.”

“……Really?”

“Yes. So don’t worry too much. That friend of mine was foaming at the mouth, saying that it doesn’t make sense to condemn someone like that with a trial that hasn’t even come out yet. That’s right. Frankly, the verdict hasn’t come out in the trial. Until then, even if you attended as a defendant, you’re just a defendant.”

“You’ve heard of the presumption of innocence, right? No one can call anyone a murderer before the verdict comes out. But people just say what they want to say, they just do it. They’re all jealous. You’re so beautiful, and you make a lot of money, so they think you live happily.”

Kang Min-jae seemed to be good at comforting people.

With each word he uttered, Kim Hwa-young’s expression visibly brightened.

I need to learn that skill.

I can’t seem to think of those kinds of words.

No, I don’t even think I need to say these things in the first place.

I only talk about realistic things, thinking that the best prescription is to solve the case as quickly as possible.

“I’m sorry that all I have to offer is water.”

Kim Chan-young placed glasses of ice water in front of me and Kang Min-jae, then sat in front of Kim Hwa-young.

“You said you had something to ask? What is it?”

Kim Chan-young went straight to the point.

I told them about the questions I had.

The housekeeper told the employees to return by 6 p.m., and since Go Sang-jun and Kim Hwa-young spent time there, they would have been there too.

Why were there no CCTV videos of the employees entering and leaving the house, and why was Kim Hwa-young the only one on the suspect list?

“Isn’t that because the CCTV footage was deleted? They actually went in and out. That’s why I was angry, asking why they deleted everything but didn’t delete Mom’s video.”

“But, if that were the case, Go Sang-jun should have known that the employees were in that house at the time the housekeeper was presumed to have died. But he said no one was there, so it’s strange. Seeing that one employee was filmed at that time, it seems like other people weren’t filmed either.”

“The police may have thought that only your mother was at the hideout at that time because there was no CCTV footage, as you said, but why is Go Sang-jun being so secretive about the employees? There’s only one employee who can’t be contacted, and he can contact the rest. If there were other employees, Go Sang-jun should have suspected them too. But he didn’t.”

“I just understood that only Mom was on the CCTV, and when the employees were questioned by the police, they claimed they weren’t there, so Mom was naturally cornered. Go Sang-jun said he cleared out the scenes with Mom as well.”

“But the security team seems to have accidentally missed the scene with Mom. If they said that the employees were actually at the house at that time, it would be revealed that they manipulated the CCTV, so they couldn’t say it. Anyway, Go Sang-jun said he chose a fake culprit among the employees, so I thought that was the result of Go Sang-jun cracking down on the employees.”

It’s understandable if you put it that way.

If all the employees were called in by the police not just as simple witnesses but as people who could have committed the crime, he was worried that it would be revealed in the process that the hideout belonged to Go Sang-jun, so he didn’t bother to reveal them.

So, the employees were actually there, but he hid the employees.

“But if the employees were there at that time, the time your mother was filmed was before that. Your mother came in at 5 o’clock, so even if they were alone, the employees would have come in at 6 o’clock and seen the housekeeper alive. But why do they say they didn’t know because they weren’t there at that time? They could just say they were alive at that time. They could just say that the CCTV was like that because of an error, and if they had, your mother wouldn’t have been a suspect from the beginning. I’m wondering why this problem arose in the first place.”

At first, Kim Chan-young thought that Go Sang-jun had deliberately driven Kim Hwa-young into a dead end to get rid of her, so this point wouldn’t have felt strange.

But now it has been confirmed that that is not the case.

Then, it is necessary to think differently.

“Didn’t you say at first that there were no employees at that house that day?”

“I thought so. ……But after listening to you, if we assume that Go Sang-jun really has the will to help Mom, it means that he wasn’t trying to make Mom like that on purpose. You’re right. That’s strange. Mom and Go Sang-jun were supposed to meet there that day, and if they were told to come back at 6 o’clock, the employees should have been there after that. But everyone says they weren’t there……. Mom also told me they weren’t there, so I just thought according to what she said……”

The number of cases is divided into two:

1. If they really weren’t there.

2. If they were there but lied that they weren’t.

Right now, if situation 1 is correct, I’ve come to hear why.

If situation 2 is correct, we should think that Go Sang-jun has already cleared all the CCTV, so they had no choice but to lie to match the story.

And if it’s situation 2, we have to consider the possibility that there was a witness inside.

Go Sang-jun already knew who the culprit was.

He may have confirmed it through CCTV, or he may have heard the story from an employee who witnessed the situation.

At first, I thought that only the employee who was presumed to be the informant and witness, who had lost contact, had witnessed the murder.

But if all the employees are witnesses, the range of options can be widened a bit more.

Of course, it won’t be easy to bring this to the surface because Go Sang-jun, who knows who the culprit is, is blocking it.

Still, the article about Kim Hwa-young has already been published.

Even if we are not Kim Hwa-young’s lawyers, it means that there is a way to intervene from the outside.

Then, shouldn’t we find out who the real culprit is and, as far as the situation allows, make sure that the real culprit is punished to the extent that Kim Hwa-young is not hurt?

“……Ah, um, I don’t understand very well.”

Kim Hwa-young, who was listening to the conversation with Kim Chan-young, said in an unsure voice.

Then Kim Chan-young grabbed Kim Hwa-young’s hand and asked.

“That day, you know. The day the housekeeper was last filmed entering the hideout. And after that, she never came out again. The day the GPS stopped at the hideout. And the police said that the time of death was around that time, right? Do you remember when it was?”

“Ah…… Yes.”

“But that day, Mom was supposed to meet Dad [Go Sang-jun] there. At 6 o’clock. Do you remember this too?”

“Uh…… Yes, I remember.”

“So Mom went to the house at that time, but she said that there was only the housekeeper. And all the employees were gone too.”

“……Was that so?”

“Yes.”

“I think that’s what happened……”

“At that time, Mom asked the housekeeper why the employees weren’t there, and she said it was a vacation, and they were supposed to come back by 6 o’clock, right?”

“Uh-huh.”

“So, did those people come back? At 6 o’clock?”

As Kim Chan-young asked Kim Hwa-young questions one by one, Kim Hwa-young squeezed her eyes tightly.

It seemed impossible to think logically due to the effects of the medication.

“……That person didn’t come that day.”

After a long time, Kim Hwa-young opened her mouth.

“She said she had an appointment suddenly, so that person didn’t come. So I was alone in that house.”

“The employees didn’t come until then? How long was Mom there?”

“Until 8 o’clock……. They didn’t come until then. Phone! I heard the housekeeper making a phone call. I heard her saying that the chairman wasn’t coming today, so there was no need to come back! That bitch, that bitch did that!”

Kim Hwa-young shouted with her eyes wide open.

“Mom, Mom, calm down.”

“And she told me to go home quickly, she told me…… She gave me the look, asking why I was still here when the chairman wasn’t here. She told me to go quickly, so I did……. So I came home too…….