You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 398

“Pardon?”

Heo Minwoo shouted, his voice booming as if in disbelief. The sound was loud enough to make the children playing in the nearby playground turn and stare.

Choi Jonghyun sighed and settled down next to Heo Minwoo.

“I saw her getting out of a car the day before yesterday. I haven’t seen her since.”

“You saw her get out of a car, but you haven’t seen her since? If she got out of the car, she should have come here. Why hasn’t she been seen?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you come here every day?”

“Yeah, pretty much. I’m investigating something here, too.”

“May I ask what you’re investigating?”

At Heo Minwoo’s question, Choi Jonghyun fixed him with an intense stare. A look of contemplation flickered across his face before he finally spoke.

“It seems like they’re embezzling money from the Angel House Foundation.”

“Embezzling?”

“You know this foundation is connected to Wooshin Hospital, right?”

“Ah, yes.”

“The foundation has been pulling in a huge amount of money, supposedly to build schools and hospitals in Africa.”

Choi Jonghyun pulled out his cell phone and opened his photo album.

“This is the school the foundation is supposed to be building.” He showed Heo Minwoo a picture.

The photo revealed a rickety shack in the middle of the African wilderness, looking as if it were on the verge of collapse.

“This is a school?” Heo Minwoo asked, incredulous.

“And this is the hospital site.”

Choi Jonghyun swiped to the next photo, which showed a makeshift structure with a tarpaulin roughly covering the ceiling.

It looked so shabby and worn that no one would ever believe it was intended to be a hospital.

“Wooshin said they would build schools in five countries, but all five countries are like this. The same goes for the hospitals. They’ve already spent over ten billion won [approximately $7.5 million USD] to build this.”

“Ten billion won?” Heo Minwoo repeated, shocked.

“It seems like they’re embezzling the money. I requested an interview with an employee of Angel House, but they absolutely refused. But who am I? I’m a pit bull; that’s my nickname. I come here every day and cause a ruckus.”

“So, have you had any success?”

“No. The employees cringe whenever they see me. But because I’ve been coming here every day, I was able to see that kid, Yerim, right?” Choi Jonghyun said with a wry smile.

Heo Minwoo became thoughtful. The Angel House Foundation had embezzled a large sum of money, and for some reason, they seemed to have hidden Yerim.

“Could Yerim be related to the embezzlement?”

“I don’t know. But if the embezzlement issue gets bigger, can’t we investigate Yerim’s case together? If we do a search and seizure, we can also see the CCTV footage. In that sense, I was wondering if you, Detective, could help me a little…”

“But it seems like an investigation is impossible based solely on what you’ve said.”

“Ha, that’s right, isn’t it? I think I need to gather more evidence. I’m even trying to get testimony from an insider, but there’s no luck. Sigh.” Choi Jonghyun sighed and shook his head.

“I’m not in a position to help anyone. I don’t know where Yerim went. The golden time [critical window for finding a missing person] is passing, and time is running out, but the child isn’t showing up…”

“Would you like to have a drink of soju [Korean distilled rice liquor]?”

“Yes? Suddenly?” Heo Minwoo asked, looking surprised. Choi Jonghyun slapped him on the shoulder.

“Neither I nor the Detective has solved anything, so let’s have a drink of soju and rack our brains together. I’ll help you find Yerim, too. Please help me, too, Detective.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes. I think there might be a reason why Yerim disappeared, and if we find out, we might be able to investigate Angel House.”

* * *

“That’s what happened.”

It was a long story, almost boring, but it fully explained why Heo Minwoo had decided to team up with Choi Jonghyun. I nodded and asked him,

“So, did you find the child named Yerim?”

“No. I haven’t found her yet.”

“How long has she been missing now?”

“About half a month… I heard that Reporter Choi saw Yerim and questioned the employees, but they said that Reporter Choi was misunderstanding them and was lying.”

“Those Angel House guys think I’m a crazy pest because I’ve been stirring them up so much about embezzlement,” Choi Jonghyun said annoyedly, distributing the grilled meat onto my and Heo Minwoo’s plates.

“She was seen at Angel House, but she hasn’t been seen since, and she can’t be found anywhere. Is that what you’re saying?”

“Yes.”

“I saw her bringing the child in on the first day, but I didn’t see her leaving. And I didn’t see her inside Angel House either. It seems like they took her somewhere in the meantime. Where did they take her? And if they took her, why did they take her?”

Choi Jonghyun tilted his head and poured soju into his mouth.

“The scope of the investigation seems a bit narrow.”

At my words, Heo Minwoo and Choi Jonghyun fixed their gazes on me.

“The scope of the investigation?” Heo Minwoo asked.

“She came into Angel House, but she can’t be found in Angel House. But if they sent her to another orphanage, the orphanage would have contacted you, right? Because the Detective has made contact.”

“That’s right.”

“And they wouldn’t have abandoned the child. If they abandoned the child, she would have been handed over to the police.”

“That’s right, isn’t it?”

“Then what’s left is overseas, isn’t it?”

“Overseas?”

Heo Minwoo asked back. He seemed to think it was half absurd and half surprised that he hadn’t thought of it.

“The child has amnesia, so she doesn’t even know who she is, and she doesn’t have a passport, so how can she go overseas?”

“I don’t know. We have to think about that. If Angel House was determined to take the child overseas, they would have made a fake passport, although I don’t know why.”

“Fake passport…”

“Isn’t that going too far?”

Choi Jonghyun waved his hand as if it didn’t make sense.

I don’t think she went abroad with a 100% fake passport either.

But Heo Minwoo has investigated using all the methods he can domestically, and isn’t there nothing else he can do now?

But Heo Minwoo, who is a police officer, can investigate fake passports, and if he finds anything there, he might be able to find Yerim.

“I don’t know why Angel House had to urgently send that child abroad, but if we can’t find her under the sky of Korea, I think we need to broaden our horizons overseas.”

“I think Prosecutor Cha’s words are correct,” Heo Minwoo said, 벌떡 일어서며 말했다 [벌떡 일어서며 말했다 is Korean for ‘jumping up and saying’].

“I have to investigate the passport. Even if it’s a fake passport, the passport photo would have Yerim’s face on it, so if she really left the country like that, it wouldn’t be difficult to find her.”

“I guess so. The number of children leaving the country is smaller than that of adults, so it wouldn’t be that difficult to compare faces. And we only need to search the history of departures in the last half month,” Choi Jonghyun nodded.

“Then I’ll be on my way.”

Heo Minwoo said, putting on the coat he had placed on the back of his chair.

“Are you leaving already? You haven’t even finished your meal yet?”

“I have to go and request cooperation from the airport side and start the comparison work. Ha, but I’m worried about what to do if she really left the country.”

“Don’t worry from the start; just look for her first. Maybe she couldn’t leave the country because she was caught with a fake passport? Then we can search Angel House again.”

“I understand. Then I’ll go first. Prosecutor Cha, I’ll see you again next time.”

Heo Minwoo offered a quick greeting and left the meat restaurant.

“You have to acknowledge his hasty personality,” Choi Jonghyun shook his head and put the meat in his mouth with tongs.

“Don’t eat with tongs.”

“The tongs didn’t touch my mouth. I just grabbed the meat with my front teeth and put it in my mouth like this.”

“Still, don’t eat with tongs. Ask them to change the tongs.”

“You really act like you look…”

* * *

It was about two days after that.

I was working late and heading home when I got a call from Heo Minwoo.

“This is Cha Joohan.”

-Prosecutor Cha, you were right!

“What are you talking about?”

-Fake passport. There is a record of Yerim leaving for Japan with a fake passport. I also found the people who went out with Yerim. These people also left with fake passports.

“Is there a record of them coming back?”

-Yes. But there is no record of Yerim coming back, only the people who took Yerim out came back in. There are two of them, and after checking their identities, they are employees of the Wooshin Welfare Foundation.

“It’s become certain. Then we can summon those two people and investigate them.”

-Yes. So I’m preparing to start a proper investigation now. Thanks to you, things have become easier. Thank you so much.

“What did I do? Detective Heo did everything.”

-You’re also humble.

“I’m not humble.”

-Haha. I like that you are upright, Prosecutor. I’ve been respecting you for a long time. You don’t know, do you?

“……”

I couldn’t think of anything to say, so I kept silent.

I didn’t know what to say when I suddenly heard those words.

-Anyway, I’m going to start investigating the people of the Welfare Foundation on charges of leaving the country with fake passports. Then we’ll know where Yerim is and why they took her.

“I guess so.”

-Ha, I finally have a face to see Yerim’s mother. Then I’ll hang up now! I called to say thank you.

Heo Minwoo’s voice sounded excited.

Why wouldn’t he be?

He got a clue to know the whereabouts of Yerim, whom he had been searching for for more than half a month.

“I hope you find Yerim.”

-Yes. Thank you.

“Ah, wait. Detective Heo.”

-Yes?

“I don’t know why Yerim was taken out of Angel House like that, but it seems like you need to be careful.”

-……Ah, yes. I’m fully aware that I need to be careful too. Sending a child who was just taken from the hospital out of the country using a fake passport seems to have a secret reason.

“Angel House belongs to Wooshin. It may be related to what Wooshin is doing. Children are involved in secretly handled work. You could be in real danger if you do something wrong.”

-Um… Prosecutor, I’m doing my job. So, I hope you don’t worry too much about me. Ah, I mean… it’s not like, don’t nag me, haha. I’m very grateful for your words, but I also have a sense of duty.

Heo Minwoo said, laughing awkwardly.

He said it while hesitating whether to say it or not.

It may have felt rude to him.

“I was rude.”

-Ah, no! Haha. Anyway, if I find Yerim, I’ll definitely buy Prosecutor Cha a meal! With Reporter Choi.

And two more days passed since then.

Heo Minwoo was busy with the investigation, and there was no news. There was no news report, perhaps because it was still a secret investigation.

I thought he would do well, so I didn’t contact him separately.

But…

“This is Cha Joohan…”

A call came at 2 a.m.

I answered the phone while lying down because I had just woken up, and I heard sobbing from the other side of the receiver.

I was startled and checked the phone screen.

The caller was Choi Jonghyun.

“What’s wrong?”

-Prosecutor Cha…

Choi Jonghyun called me in a tearful voice.

He wasn’t the type of person to do this in the middle of the night, so I woke up completely.

“Yes. What’s wrong?”

-Detective Heo… Minwoo is dead…

“Yes? What are you talking about?”

-Minwoo was stabbed by a stranger. I don’t know what happened yet, but the culprit fled, and it seems like they haven’t caught him yet.

“What…”

Heo Minwoo died.

Unexpectedly.