You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 352

The sound of the car starting visibly flustered Byun Seung-min.

“Are you kidding me?”

He reached for the door handle, but Kang Min-jae quickly locked the car door, startling him and making him pull his hand away.

Seeing him react so strongly to just a simple lock, it was clear he was panicking.

“What the hell are you doing now, you son of a bitch!”

“It’s because you keep trying to make ridiculous deals, Seung-min.”

Inside the reversing car, Byun Seung-min fumbled around, not knowing what to do, before finally turning the lock. He looked ready to jump out at any moment.

“Do you think you can get away with jumping out here? Our people are waiting outside the tunnel. You seem to have underestimated us because we’re a small firm, but we have the resources to keep someone like you contained.”

Kang Min-jae scoffed.

“You guys are bluffing, right? What manpower!”

Byun Seung-min glanced back, seemingly unable to believe it. He seemed to want to confirm if our people were really waiting outside the tunnel.

Unfortunately for him, he spotted the van parked to block the tunnel entrance.

“We knew you’d try to run, so did you think we’d come empty-handed?”

*It’s not like we’re going to imprison him, but we can stop him from running away, right?*

Byun Seung-min was the one who started acting like a thug.

If he was simply hiding because he felt threatened by Go Sang-jun, I would have understood well enough.

But from the moment Byun Seung-min tried to exploit the victim, Kim Hwa-young, using what he knew to make a quick buck, I didn’t feel the need to be polite to him.

“You guys, I’m going to report you to the police.”

“What are you going to report us for?”

“……What?”

“That I know who the real culprit is, and I told the person framed for the crime that if they give me 400 million won [approximately $300,000 USD], I’ll hand over the evidence of the real culprit, but the other side said that if I don’t give them the photos first, they’ll hand me over to the real culprit?”

“…….”

“Then the police will either demand the evidence of the real culprit, or if there’s a rat-like cop, a report might go straight to Go Sang-jun, right?”

I watched Byun Seung-min, who was clearly racking his brain.

*You little thug, without any fear.*

*I’m a former prosecutor from the criminal division. I’ve dealt with hundreds, even thousands, of guys like you.*

“You were planning this from the start……!”

Byun Seung-min gritted his teeth.

I wanted to say the same thing back to him.

Why else would he be taking pictures while his girlfriend was being beaten by Go Yoon-ho and Go Yoon-seok, even to the point of death?

Wasn’t it because he thought it might be useful to him someday?

He took those pictures from the start to rip someone off.

“The photos come first.”

“……Then when the hell are you going to give me the money!”

“There will be a second trial soon. I’ll submit the photos then. You come out and testify then. The money comes after that.”

Byun Seung-min squeezed his eyes shut.

He was probably thinking that the photos were the only thing protecting him, and if he handed them over to me like this, he would have nothing left.

That’s the truth.

“Don’t bullshit me. You’re going to throw me to Go Sang-jun? Are you sure you can do that? If you throw me to Go Sang-jun, that evidence will disappear too, right?”

“Just because the evidence that Go Yoon-ho and Go Yoon-seok are the real culprits disappears doesn’t change the fact that they are criminals. You don’t need to worry about that. The reason I’m trying to get the photos from you is just because I want to make things easier.”

“I’m the only one who saw those two are the culprits, what good is it if I die! Don’t lie, you can never hand me over to Go Sang-jun!”

Byun Seung-min chose to struggle to the end.

Instead of answering, I took out my phone from my jacket pocket and showed Byun Seung-min that all our conversations were being recorded.

“At least I got the testimony, so it doesn’t matter.”

“What, this……!”

“Byun Seung-min will be found dead, but at least he told the truth before he died, so that’s valuable enough. I’ll fight with that somehow. Kang, contact Taekwang [a fictional company]. Tell them we’re handing over Byun Seung-min.”

“Understood.”

As Kang Min-jae took out his phone, Byun Seung-min opened the car door and started running madly towards the outside of the tunnel.

Kang Min-jae and I quickly opened the car doors and got out.

We never thought we’d miss him in the first place.

“Where are you going, buddy.”

Tae-shik, who had grabbed Byun Seung-min’s arm as he flailed and ran, was grinning in the darkness.

“This, shiiiiit!”

Byun Seung-min screamed, thrashing as he was subdued.

He tried to resist a few times, but he soon slumped as if he had given up.

It seemed he had finally realized that it was better to give the photos first than to be thrown to Go Sang-jun right now.

Although the method was a bit extreme, if I were Byun Seung-min, I would have thought it was better to give the photos first.

If I didn’t give him the money and wiped my mouth clean, he could at least report it to a newspaper and get an article with a title like ‘Violent Lawyer’.

*Well, I already have a lot of titles, so it wouldn’t make a difference if I had one more.*

“Don’t hold him too tight. We’re not gangsters.”

I walked up to Byun Seung-min and said to Tae-shik, who was holding him.

Byun Seung-min looked up at me, scoffing in disbelief.

I just sincerely said that because I thought Tae-shik was holding Byun Seung-min too tightly.

It would be a problem if he tore a ligament or something.

“Byun Seung-min, you seem to have calmed down, can we negotiate now?”

Tae-shik patted Byun Seung-min and put him in the van.

Because there was a risk of him running away, Tae-shik and Jun-beom sat on either side of him, squeezing Byun Seung-min in the middle.

Kang Min-jae and I sat across from them.

It was a more stable composition than before.

We didn’t do anything barbaric like handcuffing him or tying his hands.

We just wanted to have a conversation, but we were worried that the other party might leave during the conversation, so we just took our seats like that.

“You have the photos on your phone, right?”

“……Ha, fuck. This is fucked up, really.”

“We’re fucked up too, Seung-min. Answer politely.”

Tae-shik poked Byun Seung-min in the side with his elbow, and Byun Seung-min sighed.

Byun Seung-min, who was afraid to show up in front of Wooshin [a fictional character] and thought Kim Hwa-young was easy to deal with, even contacting her first, would be regretting it greatly now.

Well, it seems like a better choice since we don’t have a chance of killing Byun Seung-min like Wooshin might.

“He probably has the photos with him now. Hand over the photos.”

“……If I hand over the photos, will you give me the money right away?”

Byun Seung-min asked in a tired voice.

“There will be a second trial soon. Attend there as a witness. If Byun Seung-min has the evidence, the prosecutor will drop the charges. So, we’re talking about making all the trials against Kim Hwa-young disappear. The money comes after that.”

“When is the second trial?”

“In a week.”

“……Then who will guarantee my safety until then?”

It’s funny how he’s suddenly talking about safety when he’s been running away from Wooshin’s eyes so well until now.

But if Byun Seung-min participates in this plan, then from now on, Byun Seung-min will also become a valuable asset to us.

Of course, we have to protect him.

“We’ll protect you. Just stay in the accommodation we provide, and we’ll give you everything you want to eat, so just eat delicious food and stay quiet until the trial date.”

*I’m not planning to put Byun Seung-min on the witness list.*

*It’s safer to have him sit in court and then apply for him as a defense witness to testify.*

*If we apply in advance, we don’t know if Wooshin will find out that we contacted Byun Seung-min and track him down somehow.*

*It’s safer to have him sit in court because no matter how much of Wooshin it is, they can’t openly drag Byun Seung-min, who is sitting in court.*

“Ha…… This is really fucked up.”

“Seung-min, watch your mouth.”

Tae-shik warned him every time Byun Seung-min swore.

I would have told him not to do that normally, but with a thug like Byun Seung-min, there’s nothing more effective than creating fear, so I just left it alone.

“Send the photos to Kim Hwa-young’s phone.”

“Now?”

“Then is it now, or is it tomorrow?”

“Hey. If I give you the photos now, I really have nothing. I have no means to protect myself, and I’m just getting robbed of everything. But how can I give you the photos right away? Write me a contract or something.”

“Contracts have no legal effect.”

“……Fuck, then I can’t just give them to you either. You said I have to attend the trial date. I’ll give them to you on the trial date, so bring 400 million in cash on the trial date. After I see 400 million in person, I’ll reveal the evidence in court.”

Byun Seung-min said with his teeth clenched, as if he couldn’t concede any further.

If Byun Seung-min hands over the photos to us, he has nothing to protect himself.

Even if I take the testimony and suddenly don’t give him 400 million, he has no power to resist.

“If you don’t like this either, I’ll just go to Go Sang-jun and give him the evidence and beg him to let me live. Fuck, at least that has a fifty-fifty chance of getting the money. This is just taking the photos and even if that side says they’ll give it to me, I have no way to get it. Then I’ll just die. Ha, I’m not saying I won’t give you the photos! I’m saying I’ll be watched like a dead man in the accommodation you provide, and on the day the court opens, I’ll go out as a witness and reveal the photos myself!”

“If you’re thinking of running away in court or something,”

“I won’t. I’m in a hurry too. I want to get 400 million and leave this country quickly too! Fuck, I don’t even want to piss in the direction of Wooshin!”

[Truth]

*His fear of Wooshin is so great that he doesn’t seem like he’ll betray this side, which is his only source of money.*

I nodded.

“Okay. Then I need to check if the photos are definitely there. Let’s take a look.”

Byun Seung-min hesitated for a moment, then took out his phone.

Tae-shik leaned towards Byun Seung-min and glared to make sure he wasn’t doing anything funny.

And soon, Byun Seung-min showed me the photos.

“……It’s definitely there.”

Kang Min-jae, who was checking the photos with me, nodded after a long time.

It’s as Kim Chan-young said.

The amount of blood spilled by the butler who collapsed on the floor is enormous, and Go Yoon-ho and Go Yoon-seok have blood on their hands.

There are also traces of being beaten on the butler’s body.

“It’s not a composite, is it?”

“No. Would I lie about something like this?”

[Truth]

*It’s also certain that it’s not a composite.*

I want to get the photos first, but Byun Seung-min is in such a desperate situation that there seems to be no way to get them except by forcibly taking them away.

It’s better not to use such methods because there could be repercussions.

Standing against Taekwang, I don’t want to do the same thing.

Today’s gangster play ends with threatening Byun Seung-min, who was occupying the high ground, and making him an equal to us.

“Take good care of Byun Seung-min.”

“Understood.”

As Kang Min-jae and I got out of the van, the car soon departed.

It was heading to the place that had been arranged for Byun Seung-min to stay until the day of the trial.

“Will it be okay? Not getting the photos first.”

“He said he’d go to Wooshin himself if he had to give the photos now. Is there a way?”

“That’s true, but……. Then what about the 400 million?”

“Do we really have to give 400 million to a thug like that?”

“Then are you just going to wipe your mouth clean?”