You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 360

“Witness, you stated that you designed the victim’s life insurance. Are you referring to a life insurance policy where the victim is the insured and Mr. Byun Seungmin is the beneficiary?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Did you also design a life insurance policy where Mr. Byun Seungmin is the insured and the victim is the beneficiary?”

“Yes.”

“Then you must have met with Byun Seungmin and the victim together. What was it like? Did you notice anything unusual?”

Jung Najin answered without hesitation.

“I definitely thought it was unusual for an unmarried couple to take out insurance for each other. Usually, insurance is taken out among family members. In such cases, we also pay close attention and handle it with special care, such as thoroughly obtaining the insured’s consent.”

“I see. So, when you met the victim and Byun Seungmin together, did you get the impression that they might not be in a romantic relationship?”

“Not at the time. They seemed to be on good terms and appeared confident in each other. I couldn’t know what was going on beneath the surface, but outwardly, they definitely seemed that way. They also said they were going to get married.”

The prosecutor had only presented the possibility that Byun Seungmin might not be the housekeeper’s boyfriend while cross-examining Byun Seungmin.

In fact, whether or not Byun Seungmin is the housekeeper’s boyfriend isn’t very important to our case.

Even if Byun Seungmin wasn’t the boyfriend, we could still call him as a witness as long as we had that photo.

However, I didn’t want to give the impression that our argument was flawed in front of the reporters.

Our mistake would soon be perceived as Kim Hwayoung’s mistake.

“Besides that, is there anything you remember about the victim?”

“As I said before, they seemed to love each other very much. I remember meeting them at a cafe to help them design their insurance, and I commented on how well they seemed to get along. And……”

“Yes.”

“Actually, Byun Seungmin made a stronger impression on me than the victim. It’s because of his actions after signing up.”

In fact, the witness’s impression of Byun Seungmin isn’t particularly relevant in this court.

This trial is ultimately to determine Kim Hwayoung’s guilt or innocence, and even if an investigation is launched because Byun Seungmin is suspected, that’s a separate matter.

However, the prosecutor seemed inclined to hear more.

Without any other reaction, he simply listened to Jung Najin’s words.

“Why did Byun Seungmin make a stronger impression on you?”

“The existing insurance that Byun Seungmin and the victim had paid out 500 million won in the event of death. However, Byun Seungmin wanted to sign up for a product with a slightly larger insurance payout, and there were difficulties in the process of consulting about this. Not only that, but there were also some unpaid insurance premiums.”

The statement that he wanted to sign up for a product with a larger insurance payout is clearly something that could be used to attack Byun Seungmin.

Just like the prosecutor asked Byun Seungmin if he really loved the housekeeper, and like he brought up the fact that he didn’t save the housekeeper when she was in danger, it casts doubt on the purity of his intentions.

Indeed, people in the audience were tilting their heads, one by one.

They seemed to be wondering why the defendant’s lawyer had requested a witness who was making the witness they had requested look bad.

“What kind of difficulties were there?”

“He would contact me directly, even though inquiries about unpaid payments should be made to the call center. He would call me at any time, even late at night, to inquire about every minor detail related to insurance, or he would yell at me… It was so hard because of that, that I shouldn’t have, but I started ignoring his calls and did my own thing.”

The audience members, who had seemed to be tilting their heads, were gradually becoming agitated.

It was as if they didn’t understand my strategy.

However, Hwang Youngchan and Taekwang were different.

Knowing me well, they were carefully listening to the witness interrogation, trying to figure out my reasoning.

“Do you have any memorable phone calls or conversations?”

“Ah… I only realized this later, but I remember the phone call I made on the day of the victim’s death.”

As soon as the words “victim’s death day” were spoken, I could feel the audience and the prosecutor tensing up.

“Why do you remember it?”

“It was when Byun Seungmin had been asking me to switch to a product with a larger insurance payout, so I was looking into products for him. I told him I would contact him the next day, but he called me right away… I later found out that that day was the day the victim died.”

“I see. What kind of conversation did you have that day?”

“At that time, I told him that he had some unpaid insurance premiums, so he should think carefully about changing to a larger product. Also, since he wasn’t married yet, it wouldn’t be too late to change it after he got married… Then Byun Seungmin strongly protested. He claimed that he *hadn’t* been trying to avoid paying the unpaid amount, but that the money was in his account but it kept being unpaid due to a system problem. I told him to contact the department in charge about that, but he kept making a fuss with me. So I thought, ‘here we go again,’ and I put my phone down and ignored him.”

“I see. About what time was that?”

“It was very late. 10 o’clock? 11 o’clock? It was late at night, which made it even harder to deal with.”

“Your Honor, that time is after the defendant left the villa on CCTV. If the defendant really killed the victim, it means that she was already dead and buried in the ground. If Byun Seungmin was really at the villa at that time, as he claims, there is no way he would have asked to change the insurance product, knowing the victim was dead. Witness, it is expected that the victim’s consent is required to change the insurance product. Is that correct?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“There would have been no reason for Byun Seungmin to do that, since he couldn’t get consent from the already deceased victim.”

The prosecution is trying to tie Kim Hwayoung to being an accomplice anyway.

If I say this, they have to argue that she was killed *after* that phone call in order to tie her to being an accomplice.

But Kim Hwayoung wasn’t home at that time, so it’s impossible to tie her to being an accomplice.

In the end, what they have to choose is Kim Hwayoung’s sole crime, not being an accomplice, and they have to argue that Byun Seungmin only took the photo of her being strangled and left the mansion.

However, if you check the base station [cell tower] recorded at the time of the phone call with Jung Najin, it will show Jo Yeon-dong, so that doesn’t make sense either.

“Now, witness, it has been quite some time since the victim died. Since it is life insurance, it seems that Byun Seungmin would have received the insurance money. Has he?”

“Currently, we are having conflicts with Byun Seungmin over that issue. Since it is a case where an unmarried couple took out insurance, and it has not yet been revealed who killed the insured, we are unable to pay.”

“You must have had numerous phone calls with Byun Seungmin about that issue.”

“Yes. Both our call center and we record calls due to work-related content. We also inform our customers in advance. In the case of Byun Seungmin, he wanted to change to insurance with a large coverage amount, so I was concerned about this and had been listening to all the conversations I had had with him until a few days ago. I shouldn’t have, but I was tired of talking to Byun Seungmin and had just put the phone down a lot… So I listened more. But……”

“Please speak freely.”

“That day, I discovered something strange recorded on the day of the victim’s death yesterday.”

* * *

Three days before the trial.

[I found it. When I searched with the information that Attorney Cha told me, I found a record of life insurance taken out with our Hanyoung Life Insurance. The insurance planner will contact Attorney Cha directly. And the person in charge of the insurance payment department at Hanyoung Life Insurance will also contact you.]

Not long after asking Manager Bae to check, a text message arrived from him.

It was worth the hard work of trying to find a life insurance policy with good value for money.

It is not certain whether the person Byun Seungmin spoke to in Taesik’s van at that time was a Hanyoung Life Insurance official.

Even so, it seems that Byun Seungmin took out the insurance for an impure purpose, and if so, I think he would have made statements or actions that revealed that intention while talking to the insurance company.

Then, if I’m lucky, I might be able to get something out of it.

For example, evidence that Byun Seungmin induced Ko Yunho and Ko Yunseok to kill the housekeeper is revealed.

“Byun Seungmin, that bastard, should never receive the insurance money.”

Kang Minjae gritted his teeth while waiting for the insurance planner who was supposed to come to our office.

“The insurance money is 500 million won from Hanyoung Life Insurance alone. Even if we don’t receive 400 million won from us, it seems like he can go to Canada and live as he wanted with that amount.”

“That’s right. I feel sorry for the housekeeper. To be involved with such a bastard. If it is revealed that Ko Yunho and Ko Yunseok did it, it seems like he will be able to receive the insurance money even if he goes to a lawsuit for insurance payment unless Byun Seungmin specifically induced something there. What do you think?”

“Well. I’m not a professional in the field, but I don’t think he *won’t* be able to receive it.”

“Ha, what should I do with this bastard?”

At that time, Office Manager Oh carefully opened the conference room door.

The insurance planner was standing behind him.

“Hello. I’m Attorney Cha Juhan.”

“I’m Attorney Kang Minjae.”

As Kang Minjae handed over his business card to me, the insurance planner also handed us her business card.

“I’m Jung Najin from Hanyoung Life Insurance.”

“Come in. Please sit here.”

Jung Najin sighed as she sat down at the table.

“I heard you had something to ask about Mr. Byun Seungmin…”

“Ah, yes. Then let’s get straight to the point. I heard that there is a separate department for insurance payment, so I would like to ask you only about the time when you took out the insurance.”

“Yes.”

Jung Najin answered everything without hesitation, as if she had been instructed to cooperate fully.

The first impression when she saw them, what kind of conversations they had, and even what the atmosphere was like.

It seems that the two took out the insurance with complete mutual agreement.

“It’s true that it’s hard because of Mr. Byun Seungmin. He says he’s going to sign up for a product with a larger insurance payout… That also felt a bit off. Even if they are a married couple, it feels a bit much to sign up for a larger coverage amount again, but they are unmarried. So I’m being indirect… I had a lot of trouble. He’s so stubborn.”

“Anything else?”

“The insurance money hasn’t been paid out yet, but as you said, the department is different, but he keeps making a fuss with me about that too… Ha, I’m really going to die. Look at this. He calls me so many times….”

Jung Najin took out her cell phone and showed us the call recording list.

There were a *lot* of calls with Byun Seungmin.

Even if I roughly estimate scrolling down, it seems to be over twenty.

“Huh?”

At that time, Kang Minjae briefly stopped Jung Najin’s hand, which was scrolling down.

“This, the title of the recording file. These numbers are the dates, right?”

“Yes. It’s the date.”

“This day… This day is the day the victim died.”

At Kang Minjae’s words, Jung Najin widened her eyes as if she didn’t know.

“Have you listened to this too?”

“No, as you can see, the calls are all so long… I haven’t been able to listen to this yet.”

“Can we listen to this now?”