You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 341

You Have Been Defended – Episode 341

I gave Kang Min-jae a look.

It was a signal for Kang Min-jae, who had been closely monitoring her condition for the past 30 minutes, to tell me if she seemed capable of giving a statement now.

Kang Min-jae nodded.

Even though the bedroom wasn’t far from here, it seemed like things weren’t too bad, considering we hadn’t heard any significant noise.

Kim Hwa-young seemed much calmer now, so should we hear her out?

“You said it was the housekeeper’s boyfriend?”

“Yes. …Actually, I didn’t know he was the housekeeper’s boyfriend. Not until yesterday.”

“Then why did you refer to him as the housekeeper’s boyfriend?”

“Chan-young told me. When the Taekwang lawyers released their statement, they mentioned that the housekeeper would bring her boyfriend into the inner quarters and spend time with him. If he was there at that time, I thought he might have been her boyfriend…”

“So, you saw that man there at the time when it was known that only your mother and the housekeeper were present?”

“Yes. Actually… I was so out of it, or rather, my memory is so fragmented that I couldn’t remember… But earlier, I’m embarrassed to say… when I shouted like that, the events of that day suddenly came back to me. I remember bumping into someone while running out of that house.”

“If you bumped into him, does that mean he wasn’t hiding?”

“No. He, he seemed to be hiding… I mean, ha, I mean…”

Kim Hwa-young touched her forehead and briefly rolled her eyes upward.

She seemed to be feeling dizzy.

Then, Kang Min-jae checked her condition and spoke up.

“I’ll explain this part, Attorney. While listening to Madam in the room, I asked her in a bit more detail… Chan-young, do you have a pencil and paper?”

“Yes. Just a moment.”

Kim Chan-young quickly brought writing materials from inside the room.

Kang Min-jae roughly drew a rectangle on the paper, then drew a door like a floor plan of a house, and a small square outside the rectangle, opposite the door.

“What is this square?”

“This is a pillar. Madam, the structure of your room in the inner quarters was like this, right?”

“Yes… The bed is on this side, the vanity is here, and it’s opposite the door. I noticed it as soon as I entered the room and started arguing. The pillar outside the room feels a bit bigger than in the drawing.”

“Madam said she argued with the housekeeper around here and then left the room. But usually, someone leaving in such a hurry wouldn’t turn back and would go straight out. So, the housekeeper’s boyfriend seemed to be hiding behind the pillar, thinking she would pass in front of it.

But Madam felt a bit dizzy at that time and lost her sense of direction, so she turned back. That’s when she bumped into the housekeeper’s boyfriend who was hiding behind the pillar. Madam, is that right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Then, just one more question. When you were arguing with the housekeeper, was the door open?”

“Yes. It was open. As soon as I pushed the door open, the housekeeper… and my necklace, and, and I saw what was happening, so I rushed in without even closing it.”

“Then, the photo that was handed over to the police, was the composition also taken from behind that pillar?”

“That’s right. Yes, yes, that’s right. Attorney, this person… this person must have reported it. This person, this person must have thought I killed the housekeeper and reported it!”

Kim Hwa-young was somewhat agitated, but thanks to the medication, it remained within normal limits.

“Madam, do you remember the housekeeper’s boyfriend’s face?”

“Yes. I remember.”

“Is he an outsider?”

“No. He’s the Umi Gallery employee who comes to replace the paintings in the inner quarters before the Chairman arrives…”

Umi Gallery.

Umi Gallery is a gallery under the cultural foundation run by Yoon Sung-hee.

It’s a gallery where transactions of art pieces are active not only domestically but also overseas, and naturally, it’s a hotbed for money laundering in political and business circles.

I have had minor involvements with them before.

It was used when Myunghwa Pharmaceutical offered bribes to the Central Pharmaceutical Affairs Committee members and Lee Jung-chan during the Myunghwa Pharmaceutical case.

Anyway, since it’s a gallery under the Wooshin Group, it’s not strange for them to regularly come to Koh Sang-joon’s inner quarters to change the paintings.

The important thing is that this Umi Gallery employee is highly likely to be the ‘informant and unreachable employee’.

“On this day, after receiving a call that Koh Sang-joon would not be coming home, the housekeeper contacted all the employees and told them not to come. But the fact that the Umi Gallery employee was there suggests that the Umi Gallery employee and the housekeeper were likely in a romantic relationship, as Madam said… Is there anything else that would suggest the two were lovers?”

Judging by the circumstances alone, that’s the case, but we need something more concrete.

“…I once saw the housekeeper touching the employee’s butt while the gallery employee was changing the paintings.”

“What was the gallery employee’s reaction?”

“He urgently told the housekeeper to take out the gloves in his back pocket. So, I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but looking back, I think he might have been improvising because he knew I was watching.”

“That makes sense.”

If the informant is the housekeeper’s boyfriend, then reporting it becomes quite natural.

He couldn’t come forward as an employee of Umi Gallery, but if he thought Kim Hwa-young killed his girlfriend, he would have had no choice but to act anonymously.

But weren’t we thinking of this informant as a witness?

“Ah, Chan-young. Let’s go outside and talk for a bit. Something came to mind.”

I said, checking my watch.

“Is it related to our case? Then you can do it here.”

“No. We have another case we’re working on, and there’s not much time left to reply, so I’m going to talk to the secretary.”

“Ah, okay.”

I gave Kang Min-jae a look, and he quickly nodded and got up.

“I’ll be back soon.”

He didn’t forget to reassure Kim Hwa-young.

I went down to the parking lot with Kang Min-jae.

I thought it would be best to talk in the car in case someone was listening.

“Did you have the same thought, Attorney?”

As soon as we got in the car, Kang Min-jae asked.

“We thought the informant was a witness because Koh Sang-joon said there was an employee who entered the inner quarters around the expected time of the incident.”

“That’s right. But suddenly, there’s a possibility that he’s the boyfriend. Since Koh Sang-joon wasn’t coming to the inner quarters, the housekeeper might have called him to come. To spend time together.”

“Exactly… Ah, now I feel like he might not have witnessed it.”

Kang Min-jae said with a sigh.

“Why?”

“He’s someone who even reported to the police because his girlfriend was murdered and he was afraid it would be buried. If he had witnessed it, I think he would have testified. That’s the first thing. And the second thing is, if he really witnessed it, he wouldn’t have sent a photo that made it look like Kim Hwa-young was the culprit. Then, of course, the blame would fall on Kim Hwa-young, and the real culprit would hide behind Kim Hwa-young. If he was just a complete stranger, I don’t know, but since he’s the boyfriend…”

“Then why did he go into hiding?”

“Well, he was caught on CCTV and caught by Kim Hwa-young, so he went into hiding. If it’s revealed that they’re dating, and that he was rummaging around in that house, wouldn’t that be a problem?”

Kang Min-jae made a gesture of slitting his throat.

He’s right.

But I couldn’t rule out other possibilities.

That Umi Gallery employee witnessed the scene and saw someone from the Koh family killing the housekeeper.

First, case 1.

The Umi Gallery employee already reported the culprit to the police.

But the police ignored it.

This case is practically impossible.

If the police had ignored it, Wooshin would have been contacted before that.

Wooshin would have heard the information and tried to meet the person.

But Koh Sang-joon said that the gallery employee couldn’t be reached and that he was looking for him everywhere.

If he had reported it to the police, he would have moved with the full awareness that the word would spread to Wooshin, since he was an employee of Umi Gallery, not just any other place, but it’s strange that he’s now gone into hiding.

Even if he was forced to go into hiding by Koh Sang-joon, then the [false] judgment should have come out in Koh Sang-joon’s expression ‘looking for’.

Case 2.

He reported it directly to Wooshin.

This is also not possible for the same reason as case 1.

Case 3.

He saw who it was, but for some reason, he didn’t have the courage to come forward, so he anonymously reported the photo, only informing that a murder had occurred, and then went into hiding.

This case is what I was thinking about when there was no information that the Umi Gallery employee was the housekeeper’s boyfriend.

But even if he’s the boyfriend, nothing changes.

He may have been afraid to come forward because the other party is Wooshin.

So, he chose to report it and then go into hiding.

Case 4.

He didn’t witness it.

He saw Kim Hwa-young strangling the housekeeper, so he reported it thinking that it might not be a disappearance but that Kim Hwa-young killed her.

Thinking about it now, cases 3 and 4 are the most likely.

Whatever it is, what’s certain is that we need to find that Umi Gallery employee.

It’s already daunting how to find someone that even Koh Sang-joon couldn’t find.

If case 3 is correct, then the gallery employee is holding the key to solving the problem.

“Hmm, after listening to you, Attorney, that’s true.”

Kang Min-jae nodded after listening to my explanation.

“Anyway, our reasoning that the informant is likely a witness wasn’t wrong.”

“If case 3 is correct, then that’s the case. First, we need to confirm whether the employee in the CCTV that Koh Sang-joon secured is the Umi Gallery employee, and then find out when he left the house after that.”

“We should ask Chan-young to find out first. We can’t find out about that.”

Kang Min-jae nodded and put his hand on the doorknob to get out of the car, but soon turned his head towards me.

“Wait a minute.”

“Why.”

He grabbed me as I was about to get out.

“One of the reasons Kim Hwa-young is being framed as a murderer is because she was the only person in that house besides the housekeeper at that time.”

“So?”

“The problem is that a photo of Kim Hwa-young strangling the housekeeper was found.”

“That’s right.”

“What if the boyfriend is the culprit? Koh Sang-joon said that too. That the employee seems to be the culprit. And the boyfriend deliberately handed over the photo to the police to make Kim Hwa-young suspected. He might be the culprit, not the witness, that’s it! I must be an idiot. When you said that the informant might be a witness, I should have thought that he might be the culprit instead!”

“That doesn’t make sense.”

“Why?”

Because the culprit is someone from the Koh family.

…I can’t say that.

“What a murderer wants most is for the crime not to be revealed. Even if the target isn’t themselves, even if it’s identified as someone else, the target could change to themselves during the investigation process. It’s normal to want the investigation not to proceed at all. In fact, if he hadn’t reported Kim Hwa-young’s photo, there wouldn’t have been a search and seizure, and the body wouldn’t have been found, so she would still be missing.”

“…That’s true.”

“Don’t tell Kim Hwa-young and Chan-young about that.”

“But doesn’t Chan-young already think so?”

I think so.

I’ll know if I talk to him.

It’s really difficult not to properly share what I know with the person who is conducting the investigation together.

Fortunately, I was able to block it logically this time, but how difficult would it be if a situation arose that couldn’t be explained without the assumption that the culprit was someone from the Koh family?