You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 38

Screech.

I was on my way home from work.

The phone vibrated suddenly, and I pressed the call button.

“Lawyer Cha! We have a problem. Why aren’t you checking your texts?”

It was Tae-shik.

Only after hearing his words did I notice the text icon in the status bar.

“I was driving. What’s going on?”

Tae-shik is usually excitable, but he’s not the type to call something a big deal over nothing.

“Those lawyers from Blue Island went to Na Eun-sung’s house. Sang-gil said he texted you! He couldn’t call because he was afraid they’d hear him…”

“What?”

I made a U-turn in a hurry.

I didn’t even have time to check if U-turns were allowed there.

“Did Na Eun-sung let them in?”

“I don’t know if Na Eun-sung let them in, but they’re inside. Apparently, one of the women was badmouthing you like crazy.”

It was a smear campaign.

They’re resorting to such low tactics?

I chuckled, but it wasn’t something to be ignored.

It’s easy for a lawyer with a silver tongue to manipulate a naive client.

Besides, Na Eun-sung is so easily swayed.

“Okay. First, have Sang-gil check if the lawyer is leaving, and if she does, have him contact me immediately.”

“Yes, sir.”

I was about to call Kang Min-jae but stopped myself.

I remembered how he had been agitated by Yoo Jung-won’s words when we first met for mediation at Blue Island Media.

If he arrived first, things might escalate, so I had to handle this myself.

“Is this it?”

I arrived in front of a shabby building.

Sure enough, an imported car that didn’t match the building was parked there, which meant Yoo Jung-won was here.

I parked haphazardly and rushed inside.

“Lawyer Cha!”

Sang-gil shouted, his face lighting up as soon as he saw me.

But I didn’t have time to deal with him.

I went straight past him and rang Na Eun-sung’s doorbell.

“Na Eun-sung, it’s Cha Joo-han.”

I heard some rustling inside, and then the door opened.

Na Eun-sung cautiously opened the door and peeked out.

“Lawyer Cha? What brings you here at this hour?”

She asked with a frightened expression, like a child caught doing something wrong.

There was a pair of beige shoes in the entryway.

Yoo Jung-won was still inside.

“You’re with Yoo Jung-won.”

Na Eun-sung’s face turned pale in an instant.

I sighed and shook my head.

“I’m not here to blame you. May I come in for a moment?”

Na Eun-sung hesitated and glanced back inside.

She seemed to be exchanging signals with Yoo Jung-won, but she knew.

If she refused to let me in under these circumstances, her credibility would only suffer.

If she had been badmouthing me, she should be able to say the same things to my face with confidence.

“…Yes.”

In the end, Na Eun-sung opened the door wide for me.

Yoo Jung-won, who was sitting in the room, looked up at me with a bright smile.

Two differently shaped cups were on the small table.

Yoo Jung-won’s juice glass was empty, so she must have been here for quite some time.

“Oh, Lawyer Cha. Coming to a woman’s house alone at this late hour. Isn’t that a bit rude?”

Yoo Jung-won said.

She emphasized the word ‘rude,’ so she must have been emphasizing how rude I was at the mediation.

She had been snickering about my rudeness back then, so it was not unexpected.

“I tend not to be bound by time when a client needs help.”

“Whose standard is it that help is needed?”

“Of course, mine and Na Eun-sung’s.”

“Did Na Eun-sung call you, Lawyer Cha?”

When Yoo Jung-won asked, Na Eun-sung shook her head, still standing stiffly.

“Let’s say Na Eun-sung needs help, as you say. How did you know to come? Don’t tell me you’ve been tailing Na Eun-sung?”

“Tailing? That’s absurd.”

I answered, making eye contact with Na Eun-sung, who flinched at the word ‘tailing.’

“I tailed you.”

What I assigned to Na Eun-sung was closer to a bodyguard, but it wouldn’t be strange to call it tailing.

In fact, Sang-gil had been following her to confirm if anyone from Blue Island Media was contacting her.

Fortunately, she was usually at home unless she was going to the supermarket or our office, so it shouldn’t have been too uncomfortable.

In any case, agreeing with Yoo Jung-won in this situation would only fuel Na Eun-sung’s anxiety.

“You tailed us?”

“Yes. It’s not illegal, is it?”

Yoo Jung-won laughed as if she was dumbfounded by my answer.

“What are you so guilty about that you had to tail us?”

“It’s not me who’s guilty, but I thought Blue Island Media might do something that would make them feel guilty. And indeed, you did something that makes you feel guilty.”

“Listen here, Lawyer Cha Joo-han!”

Yoo Jung-won glanced at Na Eun-sung, trying to gauge her emotional state.

“What do you mean by ‘something that makes you feel guilty’? Watch your words.”

“If that’s not the case, why did you contact Na Eun-sung personally, excluding me, her legal representative? Looking at the situation, it seems like you’re trying to say something I shouldn’t hear, and if it’s something I shouldn’t hear, it must be something you can’t say openly. Can you say that’s not something that makes you feel guilty?”

I suddenly stepped on a torn piece of paper.

I picked up one of the pieces.

It wasn’t torn into small pieces, so I could easily tell what it was.

It was a post about me from the legal community.

Of course, along with the comments that were fiercely criticizing me.

“Ah, you printed out these posts and showed them to Na Eun-sung.”

When I held the piece of paper out to her and asked, Yoo Jung-won’s face flushed.

She herself knew how crude this tactic was.

But there was something I wanted to praise her for.

She realized that Na Eun-sung was easily swayed because she didn’t show up in person.

That’s why she came up with this method.

If I hadn’t told Tae-shik in advance, I would have been in big trouble.

Na Eun-sung definitely seemed shaken by Yoo Jung-won’s words.

“Na Eun-sung.”

“…Yes, yes.”

“Please tell me. What did Yoo Jung-won come here to talk about?”

“Lawyer Cha. That’s beyond your authority. Na Eun-sung, you don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to. Even as a lawyer, he doesn’t have the right to know everything about you.”

As Yoo Jung-won spoke, Na Eun-sung looked at me with trembling eyes.

“Yes, I don’t. But if a lawyer and a client want to work together to win a case, it’s good to know the issues related to the trial. But… you don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to.”

I turned my gaze to Yoo Jung-won and continued.

“But Na Eun-sung wouldn’t have looked up these posts herself, so it seems Yoo Jung-won showed them to her. Looking at the fact that you even printed out the comments, it’s clear you were trying to badmouth me. Let me make an assumption.”

I continued without giving Yoo Jung-won a chance to interrupt.

“Most of the comments said that I was disliked because I pointed out the prosecution’s fault in the Kim Hyung-joon case I handled before. So I withdrew from the case, which had nothing to do with the prosecution, and switched to civil litigation… That’s what I remember.”

“Lawyer Cha, you seem very interested in your own reputation. You even look up these kinds of posts.”

“Yes. Are there any lawyers who aren’t interested in their own reputation?”

I wouldn’t deny it.

I started this job because of my reputation from the beginning.

“Na Eun-sung. Look at this. He’s admitting it himself, isn’t he? Lawyer Cha took on Na Eun-sung’s case because of his reputation. Even if he loses, he’ll gain a reputation as a lawyer who stood up against a giant corporation. That’s why he took on Na Eun-sung’s case for such a small fee. If he wanted to help her win, or at least if he really cared about Na Eun-sung, he wouldn’t have been so rude at the mediation.”

Yoo Jung-won said, as if trying to seal the deal.

I had so much to say about my flaws that I was curious about what she had said specifically.

“Ah, so that’s what you said.”

“You’re saying it as if it’s not true. Being rude at that meeting was a very rash act, even if you thought Jung Hye-jin was at fault. Na Eun-sung, how can you trust a lawyer like this to handle such a big case?”

Yoo Jung-won looked at her with genuine concern and asked.

Even I, who thought I wouldn’t lose in acting with my years of experience, wanted to applaud.

“Na Eun-sung. It’s true that I only asked for 3 million won as a retainer, but we have another agreement, don’t we?”

Now it was time to stop the argument with Yoo Jung-won and reassure the wavering Na Eun-sung.

I had only engaged in this unnecessary argument to show her that I was not inferior to Yoo Jung-won in eloquence.

“…Yes.”

“We agreed to receive a certain percentage of the alimony as a success fee if we win. The amount of damages I claimed from Blue Island Media is 7.67 billion won [approximately $5.8 million USD]. Yoo Jung-won, you know how big a certain percentage of 7.6 billion won would be.”

“…Even so, the fact that it’s an absurdly low retainer if we don’t win doesn’t change.”

She replied hastily, but her expression was quite stiff.

Na Eun-sung hadn’t told her about that.

It was obvious.

Yoo Jung-won was so busy talking that she didn’t give Na Eun-sung a chance to speak.

“And that amount of success fee is too much. Lawyer Cha, it only sounds like you’re chasing money and fame.”

Yoo Jung-won said with a sneer.

It was absurd that a lawyer belonging to Taekwang [a large South Korean conglomerate] was talking to me about money and fame.

“Well, let’s say that’s the case. Which reputation would be greater, the reputation of a lawyer who lost but stood up for a aspiring writer against a giant corporation, or the reputation of that lawyer who even won?”

“Of course, the latter, but neither title is meaningless.”

“Yes. Then, you said I was chasing money. I wouldn’t be going through all this trouble for just 3 million won. My goal in chasing money is obviously the hundreds of millions in success fees. Then I’ll do whatever it takes to win the trial. Wouldn’t I?”

Yoo Jung-won was speechless at my words.

She had fallen into a self-contradiction, so there was nothing she could say.

“Na Eun-sung. A lawyer who chases money and fame and tries to win the trial by any means, or a lawyer who only chases morality and doesn’t care whether they win or lose. Which one would you want to hire?”

At my question, Na Eun-sung smiled weakly and answered.

“A lawyer who will do whatever it takes to win.”

And above her head, the word [Truth] sparkled.