You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 427

You Have Been Defended – Episode 428

Kang Min-jae immediately contacted Kang Su-il to let him know I wanted to meet. Kang Su-il suggested having dinner together and invited me to his private residence.

It wasn’t easy going into the private residence without Kang Kwan-woong, but I accepted and got into the car with Kang Min-jae to go to the residence.

“There used to be guards watching, but now that they’re gone, it’s a little more comfortable.”

“Do reporters still snoop around?”

Kang Min-jae chuckled and shook his head.

“No, they don’t. It was like that on the first day, but I guess a local resident uploaded a photo to the internet. They got a lot of criticism and haven’t come since. Of course, we still get requests for interviews. I don’t know how they found out the number. Just like now.”

Kang Min-jae pointed to his cell phone, which was ringing with an unfamiliar number.

I hung up the phone for Kang Min-jae.

Kang Min-jae had become a celebrity, and with the continuous stream of good deeds associated with Kang Su-il, many reporters wanted to cover them.

Among us, I was the one who usually attracted attention, but now the focus had shifted to Kang Min-jae.

Perhaps because Kang Min-jae is involved in the legal profession, many people are curious about whether he intends to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps and enter politics.

It’s inevitable.

Anyway, if we stay quiet, people’s attention will shift elsewhere.

Of course, we won’t be staying quiet.

“We’re here.”

Kang Min-jae parked the car in the garage, and I got out.

I climbed the stairs leading into the house, and Kang Su-il opened the door, having heard the noise.

“Hello, Attorney.”

“Hello.”

“Please, come in.”

Kang Su-il greeted me with his usual expression.

I figured that Kang Su-il wouldn’t be consumed by the emotion of losing Kang Kwan-woong, since he had been maintaining his composure and handling things even after Kang Kwan-woong’s attack.

More than anything, he would have realized why I asked to see him.

He wouldn’t have shown his emotions in such a setting.

“Hyung [older brother or close male friend], I’m here too.”

“Yeah. Why are you wearing such thin clothes? It’s getting colder every day.”

“It’s not even November yet.”

“It’s almost November. Dress warmly.”

“Ugh, nagging again.”

Kang Min-jae glared at Kang Su-il and handed his jacket to the housekeeper who came to take it.

“Attorney, please give me your coat too. I’ll hang it up for you.”

“Ah, okay.”

I also took off my jacket and handed it to the housekeeper, then followed Kang Su-il towards the dining table.

Perhaps because it hadn’t been long since Kang Kwan-woong’s death, it wasn’t the lavish feast I had seen in this house before.

“I’ve reduced the number of employees a bit. Now that we don’t need staff to care for the elder, I’ve only kept a few ladies to clean and cook. I’m sorry there’s not much to eat.”

I shook my head at Kang Su-il’s words.

“There’s plenty. The three of us can’t even eat all of this.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Let’s eat.”

Fortunately, Kang Min-jae didn’t act pretentious by putting food on my plate.

Kang Kwan-woong, who made things difficult for me, wasn’t there, and the meal ended quickly.

But I also felt Kang Kwan-woong’s absence.

I kept glancing at the head of the table because I was bothered that no one was there.

“What kind of tea would you like?”

“Anything is fine.”

I was resting on the sofa when the housekeeper soon brought out tea and some simple refreshments.

Soon, the people around us disappeared, and only Kang Su-il, Kang Min-jae, and I were left in the living room.

“I’m glad that Min-jae seems to be recovering well thanks to you, Attorney. I’ve already said it, but thank you for your help throughout the funeral.”

“I was just doing my job.”

“I was wondering how to repay you, but I figured you wouldn’t want anything from me…”

With those words, Kang Su-il got up from his seat and went into Kang Kwan-woong’s study.

He soon came out with a box.

Kang Min-jae looked at me, as if he didn’t know either, and then looked at Kang Su-il.

“I think you’ll want this.”

Kang Su-il placed the box on the table.

“May I look at it?”

“Yes.”

When I opened the box, it was full of documents that had turned yellow with age.

Moreover, seeing the seals stamped with ‘Confidential’ in Chinese characters, it seemed that Kang Kwan-woong had taken the documents from the Blue House [the executive office and official residence of the President of South Korea].

In particular, the printed font wasn’t the one used these days, which gave an even stronger impression.

I carefully lifted the rustling paper.

[Wooshin Group Tribute Girl Incident]

The title at the very top of the document read like this.

Tribute Girl.

It was unpleasant to realize what this meant as soon as I saw it.

It probably referred to people like Lee Ga-yeon and her companions, whom we had contacted directly, who were sent to Japan to engage in prostitution.

“Because the elder passed away so suddenly, I didn’t hear the whole story. He was probably going to meet with you and tell you. But I looked through the documents with him and heard a brief story.”

“What’s the story?”

“It’s about an incident when the Wooshin Group sent numerous minors or young women to Japan when the elder was president. They told the minors they would send them to study abroad, and they told the young women they would find them high-paying jobs.”

“Is that so…”

“The elder listened to Min-jae and said that it seemed the target had narrowed to the children at the House of Angels under the Wooshin Welfare Foundation. He said that in the old days, they randomly recruited people and sent them. Now that times have changed, the old methods wouldn’t work.”

“But how did the elder find out that the recruited people were being forced into prostitution?”

“One of them requested an investigation with the help of a civic group.”

“Is that person still alive?”

“I’m not sure about that. But the civic group heard their testimony and demanded an explanation from Wooshin. But Wooshin had connections with Iljung Ilbo [a fictional newspaper], as you know, and threatened to pull all advertisements from other media outlets, burying the truth.”

Nothing has changed from then until now.

“The elder aimed to overcome the social situation in which human rights were being eradicated during the period of rapid economic growth at the time, so he took this seriously. So he started investigating secretly.”

“So, did you find out anything?”

“Since it was a matter of Korean women going to Japan, it required the help of the Japanese authorities to investigate. However, although relations between Korea and Japan were improving at the time, it was a problem that could not be approached unreasonably, and if it was conducted publicly, it could cause anti-Japanese sentiment at a time when relations between Korea and Japan were barely improving, so there were several obstacles. So, I heard that he didn’t achieve great results.”

Kang Su-il sighed and took out a bundle of documents from the box.

“Instead, he succeeded in securing a list of women sent to Japan. Not all of them, but some of the women who went to Japan before and during his term. The elder said that the relationship between Korea and Japan was asymmetrical at the time, and Wooshin was not a global company like it is now, but a company known only in Korea, so he did this to humbly request help from Japan. The elder was furious, saying that it was no different from sending tribute and tribute girls to foreign countries in the distant past, and I heard that he named the incident like this.”

I checked the bundle of documents Kang Su-il handed me.

A black and white ID photo was attached to the right corner, and the details were written in Korean, Chinese, and English, including the name, date of birth, residence, school graduated from, and even blood type.

I flipped through a few pages of the list and put it back in the box.

I shouldn’t look at it in detail here; I should look at it with the help of Jo Bong-joon and Choi Jong-hyun.

“Was it because of the relationship between Korea and Japan that the elder couldn’t handle this case during his term?”

Kang Su-il shook his head heavily at my question.

“You’ve heard the story that the elder visited his friend’s memorial park on the day he was attacked.”

“Yes.”

“That friend was the chief of staff at the Blue House during the elder’s reign. I heard that they were close friends.”

“I see.”

“I heard that the two of them were conducting the investigation carefully, but one day, the chief of staff suddenly died in a traffic accident. Of course, it was heavily reported.”

I feel like I remember it.

I think I’ve heard the story that the chief of staff at the Blue House died in a traffic accident, but I didn’t know it happened during Kang Kwan-woong’s term.

“The elder thought it was Wooshin’s doing.”

“…That’s a possibility.”

“He said it was probably a warning not to dig any further into the ‘Tribute Girl Incident.’ The elder, who lost an old friend, was greatly saddened and seemed to think that he couldn’t give in to the chief of staff’s death. So, he tried to continue investigating after that, but he said that he was repeatedly obstructed by Wooshin.”

“So, is the investigation over?”

“He was obstructed like that until his term ended, and he said that he tried to continue the investigation after his term, but he couldn’t. But the elder heard the news about Min-jae and the attorney and was happy, saying that he might finally be able to fulfill his long-cherished wish.”

I nodded slowly.

The reason Kang Kwan-woong called me that day was to pass on information to us after hearing from Kang Min-jae that we were digging into the House of Angels case, which is an extension of the Tribute Girl Incident.

“I’ve put the data I organized with the elder here, but I don’t know if there’s anything more. Min-jae and I will look into it a little more.”

“Okay. Ah.”

“What is it?”

“Does President Lee Se-hwa know about this? That the elder conducted such an investigation.”

Kang Su-il seemed to be contemplating for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders.

“I’m not sure. But I think she knows.”

“If we expand this case through sufficient investigation, can we get help from the President?”

“I’m not sure about that either.”

Kang Su-il isn’t a secretary at the Blue House, so how would he know Lee Se-hwa’s mind, but if the incident happened in the 80s or even earlier, it would definitely have a big impact.

It means that this dirty business has been going on secretly until 2011, for at least 30 years.

We’re going to try to make this fact known to the world, but one thing is clear: we definitely need the President’s help to do that.

“Thank you for your words.”

As I picked up the box and got up, Kang Min-jae, who had been silent, got up with me and asked.

“Are you leaving?”

“You have a copy, right?”

“Ah, yes.”

“Kang Attorney, take a good look at it too. Let’s call Reporter Choi and Jo Bong-joon tomorrow and review it together.”

“Yes.”

“You said it was the elder’s long-cherished wish. We have to make it come true.”

Kang Min-jae smiled slightly at those words.

“Yes. We have to. Definitely.”