You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 369

You Have Been Defended – Episode 369

I was a little late because I was arguing with Kang Min-jae.

When I arrived at the park entrance, I saw someone who looked like Jo Ah-young sitting on a bench in the distance.

As I got closer, Jo Ah-young glanced up at me and got up from her seat.

“Hello.”

“I’m sorry to ask you to meet me at this late hour.”

“Let’s get straight to the point.”

Jo Ah-young had a bitter look on her face for some reason.

Was it because the situation hadn’t turned out as she had confidently predicted—that I wouldn’t be able to protect Kim Hwa-young?

Was she embarrassed that her confident words to me had become meaningless?

“First of all, congratulations on Kim Hwa-young’s acquittal.”

“It’s not something I should be congratulated for.”

“Still, Joo-han, you worked hard, so you deserve to be congratulated.”

“Is that what you came here to say?”

“No.”

Jo Ah-young stretched her legs out and sighed briefly.

“I thought Tae-kwang [a powerful law firm] was the best place to grow as a lawyer.”

“And?”

“Even in this case, now that I’m saying this, I knew it was the doing of the Go Yun-seok and Go Yun-ho brothers, but I thought it would be better to choose the next best thing since we couldn’t stand up to Wooshin [an even more powerful corporation] anyway.”

“You mean creating a fake culprit to take Kim Hwa-young’s place?”

“…Yes.”

Jo Ah-young hesitated for a moment before nodding, as if resigned.

I know what she’s thinking.

From her previous life, she dismissed all my actions to strike Wooshin as trying to break a rock with an egg [an idiom meaning attempting something futile].

Even if I had the right to investigate, even if I was a prosecutor who was an individual institution, her theory was that it didn’t make sense for me, a mere individual, to go up against a giant corporation that controlled Korea.

Would it be any different in this life?

In this life, she said I was trying to break a rock with an egg.

In this life, she was busy covering the rock so that the egg wouldn’t get on it.

So I didn’t want to listen if she was going to complain to me.

“But Joo-han, you finally did it. I don’t think I could have done that, no matter how sure I was.”

“Did you ask me to meet you to complain about your situation?”

“I feel a sense of inferiority. Should I call it Joo-han’s talent? I’m envious of that.”

Talent?

Talent isn’t that important to a lawyer.

Even without talent, you can make up for it with faith in your client, diligence, and not compromising with the situation.

Even if I have talent, I think my strength is not talent, but trying to make the truth of the case shine through as it is.

She got it wrong.

“But I don’t think Joo-han’s success is all due to talent.”

“Did you come here to evaluate me?”

“No, just… I came to admit my defeat.”

Was that the reason for the bitterness from before?

I looked down at Jo Ah-young quietly.

In our previous life, our fight ended without victory or defeat.

“When I think about how I tried to teach Joo-han, my face gets hot. Haha.”

But this time, Jo Ah-young seems to have a different mindset.

“I’m on my way out after submitting my resignation to Tae-kwang.”

This is the right choice, unlike her previous one.

If she stays there, she will only learn how to use illegal methods and how to be liked by those in power.

If the original goal is to become a dragon from a ditch [an idiom for achieving great success from humble beginnings], there is no better place than Tae-kwang to help those in power and rise to a high position yourself.

But the bar exam is a difficult exam.

Wouldn’t it be better to live according to the direction the law points, rather than becoming a dog of power [a derogatory term for someone who blindly serves those in authority] after preparing for such a difficult exam?

“I’m too scared to start an office like Joo-han, so… I begged Jang-young [another law firm] to take me back. Fortunately, they accepted me.”

“I see.”

Jang-young isn’t a completely clean law firm either, but it’s better than Tae-kwang.

Just like Han-young is better than Wooshin.

“I felt a lot. Well, I don’t think Joo-han wants to hear everything I felt.”

“We’re not that close.”

“Yes, that’s right. We’re not that close.”

There’s no lingering attachment left for her.

My priority was to strike Wooshin rather than my family, and her priority was love rather than realizing justice.

Our values were too different.

That’s why I didn’t feel the need to leave any room for her in this life either.

But at least in this life, our fight seems to have come to a different conclusion.

“Let’s stop telling our families that we’re seeing each other.”

I didn’t want to change her.

But since she’s changed a little, paradoxically, I think it’s time for me to stop getting involved with her.

“Okay.”

Jo Ah-young answered coolly.

And she picked up her handbag and got up from the bench.

“I’ll cheer you on, on your way.”

She said, holding out her hand.

Jo Ah-young is cheering me on?

It’s an amazing thing that I would have been touched by in my previous life.

“I’ll cheer you on too. On Jo Ah-young’s way. I hope it’s a straight path if possible.”

I shook Jo Ah-young’s outstretched hand lightly.

“Don’t you have any intention of being less crooked?”

Jo Ah-young asked, glaring at me.

“I’m being as un-crooked as possible.”

“I’m only saying this because it seems like it’s the last time, but you know your personality is really weird, right, Joo-han?”

“I don’t know.”

At my answer, she laughed and answered briefly.

“If we ever meet in court, I want to flatten your nose [an idiom meaning to defeat someone decisively].”

After saying that, she passed me and left the park.

What did I do to make her like that?

I didn’t know, but there seems to be no way to find the answer.

Kang Min-jae, Secretary Oh, Choi Jong-hyun, and Jo Bong-joon didn’t say my personality was weird.

…Did they?

As I was about to leave the park, tilting my head, the cell phone in my pocket started to vibrate.

[When are you coming, lawyer?]

[Boring……]

Ha…

* * *

When I got home, Kang Min-jae was lying on the sofa watching TV.

In the meantime, I went into the dressing room to change my clothes, but when I thought about it, I was still worried that Kang Min-jae was wearing a suit, so I handed him comfortable clothes.

“Oh, sense. Thank you.”

I can smell alcohol in his tone?

Only then did I check the table in the living room.

I clearly checked that he had eaten four cans before I left, but there were three more cans on the table that I hadn’t seen before.

“Kang, no more alcohol. Why are you taking off your clothes here?”

And as he started to unbutton his shirt right in front of me, saying he was going to change his clothes, I pointed to the dressing room.

“Change in the room.”

“No, we even went to the sauna together, why are you being like this between men? Ah, you’re so strict.”

“Let’s be polite.”

“Ha, you’re really a young master. When I change clothes with my friends, they take them off in front of each other.”

Come to think of it, I think I did that with Dong-jin.

But I pointed to the dressing room again.

“Wow, the clothes fit me perfectly.”

“That’s a relief. Did you wash up?”

“Not yet.”

“Then wash up. I need to wash up too.”

“Are you going to sleep already? We should have another drink! Are you kidding me?”

“Why would I joke with you? Is my house a beer warehouse? Stop drinking.”

“Ah, really… You drink well, why don’t you want to drink like this?”

“Shut up. Ha, you can use the bathroom over there. There are toiletries and a new toothbrush there.”

“…Yes.”

Kang Min-jae went into the bathroom like a sulky child.

It’s not the first time I’ve had Kang Min-jae sleep at my house, but I don’t think he’s ever washed up and slept.

Usually, he just passes out after drinking.

Ah, I wanted to soak in the water and relax today, but it’s all ruined because of Kang Min-jae.

“You came out faster than I thought, hehe. Shall we have a beer?”

When I came out to the living room, Kang Min-jae was sitting on the sofa watching TV.

Moreover, there were two cans of beer that hadn’t been opened yet on the sofa table.

“Stop drinking.”

When I said that while sitting on the one-person couch, Kang Min-jae looked at me as if he was dumbfounded.

“Are you avoiding sitting there because I’m on this wide sofa?”

“Is that not allowed?”

“Do I smell?”

Kang Min-jae smelled his clothes and muttered, ‘Ah, these are the lawyer’s clothes?’

“There was no special meaning.”

“I have to work with someone who is so aloof and catch Wooshin. I’m really frustrated, really frustrated.”

“What does being aloof have to do with catching Wooshin?”

“Still, we have to be united, united.”

What unity.

“Let’s cheer quickly, us. Quickly.”

Kang Min-jae said, opening two cans of beer.

I could have said I wouldn’t drink, but judging from Kang Min-jae’s current level of intoxication, I thought he would really get drunk if he drank two cans of beer by himself, so I ended up grabbing a can of beer too.

“Cheers.”

“If you get drunk, I’ll kick you out of the house, so keep your mind on straight.”

“Yes.”

But Kang Min-jae ended up getting drunk with the last can.

“Kang.”

“…Huh?”

“Go to sleep now. Go sleep in that room.”

I took Kang Min-jae to the guest room, supporting him.

When I threw him down on the bed as if throwing him away, Kang Min-jae moved on his own and went into the blanket.

“Sleep well. I’m leaving.”

As I was about to turn off the stand light and leave, Kang Min-jae grabbed my wrist.

“Where are you going? We have so much to talk about.”

“Why do we have so much to talk about when we see each other every day?”

“That’s because there are things we can’t say even if we see each other every day. Like something you can’t say when you’re sober?”

“…Is there something like that?”

I’m willing to listen if it’s an employee’s complaint.

“You don’t talk about yourself too much.”

“I don’t have much to say about myself.”

“…Why not? What about panic disorder? You take medicine. Are you okay these days?”

I didn’t expect him to come in like this suddenly.

I haven’t had a panic attack since then, so I can’t say I still have panic disorder, but it’s true that I have anxiety disorder, so I take medicine morning and night.

It’s probably closer to PTSD than panic disorder.

I couldn’t talk to the doctor at the hospital I go to about that experience, so he seems to think it’s a sign of panic disorder.

I didn’t think he knew because I never ate in front of Kang Min-jae, but it seems like he witnessed it once.

Since he didn’t say anything after the first seizure at Kang Min-jae’s house, I thought he didn’t care.

“I’m okay these days.”

“What about the medicine?”

“I’m taking it.”

“You shouldn’t stop taking the medicine. They say it’s harder to get better if you stop taking it on your own. Taking down Wooshin is important, but you’re more important. You know that, right?”

“Okay.”

“…If there’s anything I can do to help, please tell me.”

“I know.”

“Can I ask if it’s because of those Wooshin bastards?”

“You already asked.”

“…Yes.”

I told you it’s my second life.

I died at the hands of those Wooshin bastards in my previous life.

I died so painfully that I can still feel the cement being sucked into every hole in my body.

I’m a human being, so I’ll die someday, but I don’t want to die like that.

When I died like that, I was almost there, it was the time when I could catch Wooshin if I went a little further.

Now that time is getting closer and closer.