You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 41

You Have Been Defended – Episode 41

Before the trial began, the assistant director texted that he would be a little late, so I didn’t have a chance to meet him beforehand.

I scanned the gallery.

But I couldn’t see him anywhere.

“Has the witness not appeared?”

“…Your Honor! Please wait a moment. The witness has contacted us to say he will be a little late.”

As Kang Min-jae jumped up and shouted, a strange smile appeared on Yoo Jung-won’s face.

Was she simply pleased that a key witness was delayed, or was there another reason?

I suspected the latter.

She had likely ensured the assistant director couldn’t appear as a witness.

I tapped Kang Min-jae’s tense hand.

When he turned to me, I quietly shook my head.

‘Why?’

He mouthed the word clearly.

I can’t answer here.

The situation needs to be turned around before the court’s atmosphere is further disrupted.

“Your Honor, as the witness seems to be delayed, I would like to present the testimony of Sung Min-jung, submitted as Exhibit A, No. 5.”

At my words, Kang Min-jae looked uneasy.

He seemed to think that if the cooperative assistant director hadn’t appeared, Sung Min-jung wouldn’t be any different.

“Very well. Witness Sung Min-jung, have you arrived?”

A solemn silence filled the courtroom at the judge’s words.

She couldn’t be found in the gallery either.

“What should we do, Attorney?”

It was as if Kang Min-jae and Na Eun-sung had switched roles. Na Eun-sung, already disheartened, remained silent, while Kang Min-jae was unusually agitated.

This was because Sung Min-jung hadn’t shown up even during the recess.

And then,

“I’m here!”

Sung Min-jung’s cheerful voice rang out as the courtroom door opened.

“I’m sorry I’m late. I ran into some thugs on the way to the court who tried to stop me.”

She said, looking towards the defendant’s side.

“But I took care of them in one go.”

“Witness, be quiet.”

The judge looked stern at Sung Min-jung’s joking tone.

She was probably referring to the people from Blue Island Media that she had mentioned yesterday.

-Aren’t you aware that Blue Island contacted me? They called and said they’d give me 100 million won [approximately $75,000 USD] if I didn’t testify. Seriously, I was so dumbfounded. They should be splitting the money they made from with me. I was so dumbfounded!

Sung Min-jung had refused a large sum of 100 million won and came to the trial.

Her determination to bring down Jung Hye-jin at all costs was strongly felt.

“Witness, you were originally an assistant writer for the defendant, Jung Hye-jin, correct?”

And the witness examination began.

“Yes.”

“But I understand you quit. Why is that?”

“It’s because Jung Hye-jin routinely vented her anger on the assistant writers with verbal and physical abuse.”

“Verbal and physical abuse? That’s surprising. What was the reason?”

“It was because she couldn’t write well. She had been on a hit streak from her debut work to her sixth, but from her seventh work onwards, she would often become hysterical, saying that no matter how hard she racked her brains, ideas wouldn’t come to her.”

Jung Hye-jin’s face contorted.

“How did she commit verbal and physical abuse?”

“Your Honor! This question is irrelevant to the case!”

“It is to demonstrate that the defendant’s attorney’s previous statement is false.”

“Objection sustained. Plaintiff’s attorney, focus on the case.”

The intention was to show that Yoo Jung-won’s claim that the defendant was weak-hearted was false and to undermine her credibility.

But as expected, it didn’t work out as planned.

In fact, Sung Min-jung’s attitude in court wasn’t helping much.

That old presiding judge should have been promoted by now, but he’s still in the civil division.

Anyway, that kind of old judge is likely to be the epitome of what young people call a ‘꼰대’ [kkondae – a Korean slang term referring to an older person who is condescending and authoritarian].

Especially Kim Hong-gil.

After looking into it, Judge Kim Hong-gil has a history of siding with corporations, even in a small lawsuit involving a subsidiary of the Wooshin Group, despite public opposition.

He must have sided with Wooshin in the hopes of getting promoted.

This case will be no different.

Judging by the fact that he doesn’t listen to relevant information…

‘It’s a big deal that the assistant director couldn’t make it.’

I thought that if we only stuck to the similarities, Judge Kim Hong-gil wouldn’t side with us.

So, I was going to tie it in with her usual behavior.

That’s why I needed the assistant director.

Still, I have no choice but to think that it won’t be a big problem since Sung Min-jung is here.

“Witness, is there another reason why you quit being the defendant’s assistant writer?”

“Yes. It’s because Jung Hye-jin stole my work.”

Sung Min-jung answered clearly.

Jung Hye-jin started to jump up for a moment, but Yoo Jung-won grabbed her hand tightly to stop her.

But Jung Hye-jin’s hands were still trembling.

If Yoo Jung-won hadn’t stopped her, the courtroom would have descended into chaos.

A low-quality argument like ‘When did I do that!’, ‘You did!’, ‘When did I!’ would have ensued.

It was a good decision.

“The defendant stole the witness’s work, can you elaborate on that?”

“Your Honor! This story is irrelevant to the case.”

“It is to demonstrate that the defendant’s plagiarism and theft are not isolated incidents.”

The judge was silent for a moment.

In his heart, he clearly wanted to object, but he knew he couldn’t refuse to hear this testimony.

“Plaintiff’s attorney, proceed.”

“Witness, please speak.”

“Jung Hye-jin’s other hit drama, , is actually a work I was preparing. I had always admired Jung Hye-jin’s dramas, so I dreamed of becoming a drama writer while learning under her. However, there were too many assistant writers under Jung Hye-jin.”

Sung Min-jung bit her trembling lips in anger and took a moment to compose herself.

“Since there were so many assistant writers waiting to debut, I was worried about when I would get my chance. I had no choice but to show Jung Hye-jin the scenario I was preparing, ask for advice, and plead for her consideration.”

Sung Min-jung glared at Jung Hye-jin and continued.

“Then, one day, Jung Hye-jin called me separately and said she would write that scenario for me. At first, I took it as a sign that she would help me debut and was happy, but I realized that she meant to make it her own. Instead, she gave me lip service, saying that I was a person with a lot of potential, so if I prepared another work, she would debut me right away. Sooner than the other assistant writers… even sooner.”

Gradually, Sung Min-jung’s voice became tearful.

The anger and betrayal she had been holding back seemed to amplify even more with Jung Hye-jin in front of her.

“Witness, are you okay?”

“So I! In the end, I gave that manuscript to Jung Hye-jin. That script became a drama under the name and was loved by the whole nation. But I was only left as an assistant writer for that drama. I was very bitter, but I thought it would be okay if I could debut soon. But 1 year, 2 years, 3 years passed since then… I had to watch other assistant writers debut first….”

Tears began to stream down Sung Min-jung’s face.

Na Eun-sung also seemed to empathize with her words.

She had a pitiful expression on her face.

“Unable to bear it, I told the other assistant writers this story, and I also learned that there were many people who had been through the same thing as me. There were assistant writers who had handed over their manuscripts even earlier than me, so my turn was still far away. Jung Hye-jin is that kind of person! Wouldn’t it be strange if that kind of person did the same thing again? She’s originally someone who can’t even write a single line of her own work properly!”

Sung Min-jung shouted while crying.

I had all the information I needed.

And Sung Min-jung was too agitated.

I quickly handed her a tissue and concluded the witness examination.

After Sung Min-jung left, the defendant’s witness appeared immediately.

“Witness, please introduce yourself.”

“I’m Lee Ha-young, an assistant writer who has worked under writer Jung Hye-jin for 10 years. And I was also a colleague of witness Sung Min-jung.”

“If you’ve worked with the defendant for 10 years, you must know a lot.”

“Yes. Among the assistant writers, I’ve worked with the writer the longest. I mainly play the role of mediating between the assistant writers and writer Jung Hye-jin. The assistant writers and writer Jung Hye-jin rely on me a lot. If there are any misunderstandings or problems, they consult me first.”

“Then, has witness Sung Min-jung ever told you about the story?”

“No.”

Lee Ha-young answered neatly.

The word [Lie] floated above her head.

“Witness, then have you ever seen Jung Hye-jin steal another assistant writer’s manuscript because she was having trouble creating? Or, have you ever had your manuscript stolen?”

“No, I haven’t. The reason I can be sure is that I’m always with writer Jung Hye-jin when she’s planning her work. And when writer Jung Hye-jin is busy, the assistant writers would show me their manuscripts. But I’ve never seen anything overlap.”

It’s not difficult to prove that Sung Min-jung is the original author of .

That’s because I also have a file that shows when she started preparing it.

However, it was very difficult to prove that she used it verbatim.

It is true that Jung Hye-jin stole the manuscript, but at that time, Jung Hye-jin didn’t blatantly copy it like she does now.

She took the trouble to change a lot of the lines, modify some of the content, and alter the keywords a little.

When she wasn’t caught, she became more and more reckless and has come to this point.

So, in the end, even if I show Sung Min-jung’s file, there’s no defense if they simply claim it’s a separate work with similarities.

Unless I had prepared for it, that was the reality in the current situation.

In the first place, Sung Min-jung and our purpose was to prove Jung Hye-jin’s pattern of behavior, not to sue her specifically for .

“Then witness, why do you think Sung Min-jung is falsely slandering the defendant?”

“From what I’ve observed, witness Sung Min-jung seems to harbor a significant inferiority complex towards writer Jung Hye-jin. She used to curse behind her back, saying, ‘What kind of writer is she when she has no skills and only uses clichés?’ and we would frown because of that.”

[Truth]

Ha, this.

It would be surprising if Sung Min-jung’s personality didn’t lead her to slander Jung Hye-jin, but this is only going to turn out unfavorably.

I sighed.

“Nevertheless, writer Jung Hye-jin tried to mentor witness Sung Min-jung, but I know that witness Sung Min-jung continued to disrupt the atmosphere, so she was eventually asked to resign voluntarily.”

At that moment, Sung Min-jung’s words came to mind – that she was receiving unemployment benefits because Blue Island Media had processed her resignation.

Could it be that she had done that in preparation for this situation since then?

If so, she was unusually calculating.

According to Sung Min-jung, all of the assistant writers stayed under Jung Hye-jin while suffering unfair treatment in the hope that they would debut someday.

She said that she was the only one who quit.

Then, could it be that Sung Min-jung had taken out insurance, so to speak, because she didn’t know what she would do with her resentment towards her?

“Then, witness, are you saying that all of witness Sung Min-jung’s words are lies intended to slander the defendant due to her inferiority complex?”

“That’s right.”

I stared at Yoo Jung-won without expression.

She was also looking at me.