You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 428

You Have Been Defended – Episode 429

#429

I returned home, took a shower, and sat blankly in my study.

A mountain of documents received from Kang Su-il was piled on one side of the desk.

My thoughts became complicated.

This incident, which Kang Kwan-woong had labeled the ‘Comfort Woman Affair,’ was a problem that had never surfaced in my previous life.

Back then, Choi Jong-hyun and I had focused on the House of Angels because Ko Sang-jun had created and used nominee accounts [accounts held in someone else’s name to conceal the true owner] under the names of the children living there, not because of the Comfort Woman Affair.

My perspective was narrow, it seems.

To not have known this fact despite knowing about L&B’s existence.

More than anything, the story I heard from Kang Su-il today was incredibly shocking.

The fact that this inhumane forced prostitution had been going on since the 80s, or even before, until now.

Of course, when we first learned about the Comfort Woman Affair and met Lee Ga-yeon and Kim Seung-hee, we didn’t think they had only been doing this for a year or two.

But now it’s 2011.

If this has been happening since before the 80s, then it means this has been going on for at least 30 years.

“…….”

Silently, I picked up the personal information sheet lying on top of the pile of documents.

The writing on the yellowed paper, the black and white ID photo, and the person’s birthdate written inside showed that they were older than me.

The person on top was currently 45 years old.

It showed that they first went to Japan at the age of 13.

What kind of life did this person, who spent 32 years in Japan, live, or perhaps they are no longer in this world?

How old was she when she first started providing sexual favors?

Lee Ga-yeon said she served alcohol to high-ranking Japanese officials from an age corresponding to elementary school.

Did she in this black and white photo live such a life too?

That day, I couldn’t fall asleep until I had looked through a third of the mountain of personal information sheets.

* * *

“Is the lawyer here?”

The first to arrive at work today was Secretary Oh.

His car broke down, so it must have been inconvenient for him to come, but it’s amazing to see him always coming out first and guarding the empty office.

“Your car broke down, so it must have been inconvenient for you. You could have come in later.”

I said, drinking water.

Then Secretary Oh waved his hand.

“I’m getting paid this much for doing nothing, so I should at least come to work early.”

“Ah, right.”

Secretary Oh’s answer reminded me of something, and I went inside the front desk.

Then, I opened the drawer containing the corporate car keys.

“Use this car for the time being.”

“Isn’t this a corporate car?”

“Yes. Anyway, both Kang and I have cars, and there’s no need to use the corporate car. Use it comfortably, and return it when you get a new car later.”

“Oh my, how can I use a corporate car for personal use? Especially from a law firm.”

“Then, should I get you a car as a bonus?”

“Yes? No! I’ll get a car soon. Until then, I’ll use the corporate car for a bit. Haha.”

“Yes. Ah, and…….”

I trailed off, checking my wristwatch.

Secretary Oh looked at me, curious, and I continued, seeing Kang Min-jae entering the office.

“Since Attorney Kang is here, let’s have a meeting for the first time in a while. And please contact Reporter Choi Jong-hyun and Mr. Jo Bong-jun and tell them to come to the office now.”

Not long after, Choi Jong-hyun and Jo Bong-jun came into the office with five cups of coffee that we had ordered.

Kang Min-jae, who had been sitting in the conference room, got up and went out to greet them, and soon Kang Min-jae’s intense groan was heard.

“Ugh!”

“Min-jae, how much have you suffered? Your face is half its size, our Min-jae.”

When I went out, Jo Bong-jun was hugging Kang Min-jae so tightly that his blood wouldn’t circulate.

At Kang Kwan-woong’s funeral, they couldn’t stay long because of the surrounding attention, and since then, they had only exchanged greetings by phone, so this would be the first time seeing him in person after Kang Kwan-woong’s death.

Choi Jong-hyun squeezed between Jo Bong-jun and Kang Min-jae, shaking them together.

Kang Min-jae looked back at me, as if suffocating, and shouted.

“Lawyer, save me!”

After what happened to Kang Kwan-woong, Choi Jong-hyun and Jo Bong-jun were hesitant to contact Kang Min-jae directly, so they anxiously only heard news from me.

They must have been more worried about Kang Min-jae than anyone else.

“Min-jae only has his brothers now. The brothers have to take care of him. Isn’t that right, Choi hyung [older brother/friend], Cha hyung?”

Jo Bong-jun looked back and forth between Choi Jong-hyun and me.

Kang Min-jae looked at me at that moment.

Kang Min-jae, who had always wanted to call me hyung, gave me a look as if telling me to say yes quickly.

“Why am I a hyung? I’m a senior [more experienced colleague].”

It’s true that Kang Min-jae had a sad thing happen, but I don’t want to hear Kang Min-jae call me hyung.

If the title changes, the relationship also changes.

Thinking about him sticking to me, calling me hyung, hyung…….

“You’re so cold-hearted. Anyway, what’s the matter that you called us all here?”

Choi hyung and Jo hyung came into the conference room with their arms around Kang Min-jae’s shoulders.

“We have to move again, us.”

After settling down in the conference room, Kang Min-jae said.

“Because of my matter, all the investigations we were doing were stopped. Everything is about timing, and I’m worried that I’ll miss the timing because of me.”

“Hey, Min-jae. Don’t worry about that. How many days has it been delayed?”

“Still. When Wooshin kidnapped the lawyer, the timing was cut off, and I don’t want to make that happen again.”

“No. It might be a good thing instead.”

Choi Jong-hyun shook his head and said.

When Kang Min-jae looked at Choi Jong-hyun as if asking what he meant, Choi Jong-hyun replied clearly.

“Think about what we released on the broadcast before Attorney Cha was kidnapped. We only introduced L&B, located in Liechtenstein, as a paper company [a company that exists only on paper, with no real operations or assets] for Ko Sang-jun and Lee Jung-chan’s slush funds [funds used for illicit purposes], right? Then, while Attorney Cha was in the hospital, we learned that the children from the House of Angels were being sent to Japan through L&B and Iljung Daily. So we met Kim Seung-hee and Lee Ga-yeon and found out that sexual favors were also being provided. There’s much more involved with L&B, and we don’t know what else there might be. Maybe we popped the champagne too early.”

“That makes sense.”

Secretary Oh also agreed.

“We don’t know what else might come out of here, and we don’t know how much bigger the case might get. In fact, I thought that if we dug into just the existence of L&B, we could even conduct a special investigation. But after the lawyer was attacked and the broadcast was cut off, and we couldn’t keep pushing from our side, Wooshin immediately stepped in to bury it. Maybe that alone wasn’t enough.”

“As Secretary Oh said, it might be better to dig as much as we can and then blow it up when Wooshin can’t do anything about it. Rather than broadcasting every time something comes out and dispersing our firepower, it might be better to blow it up continuously and greatly to increase our firepower.”

Kang Min-jae, who had been listening carefully to Secretary Oh, Choi Jong-hyun, and Jo Bong-jun, soon nodded as if he understood.

I think the same way too.

Anyway, the flow was already cut off when I was kidnapped on the sea.

Then now, we have no choice but to gather bullets [gather evidence].

“Anyway, everyone here seems to be of the opinion that we should gather more bullets and shoot them all at once.”

Everyone nodded at my words.

“We have one more bullet. It’s the legacy that the deceased elder left us.”

“The elder?”

Choi Jong-hyun, Jo Bong-jun, and Secretary Oh looked at me and Kang Min-jae, surprised.

Kang Min-jae nodded heavily.

“The Wooshin sexual favors case we were investigating, he was also investigating it during my grandfather’s term. So my grandfather left us data. But he was murdered just before he handed over the data to us. Fortunately, my hyung, who was his secretary, helped my grandfather and had the data, and I received it yesterday.”

Everyone looked surprised.

At the fact that Kang Kwan-woong was investigating this case during his term, and that he was murdered just before handing over the investigation data to us.

This is because everyone here firmly believes that Kang Kwan-woong was murdered by Wooshin.

“The timing……. is very coincidental.”

Breaking the silence, Choi Jong-hyun carefully opened his mouth.

“It must be Ko Sang-jun.”

Kang Min-jae said in a confident voice.

“There’s no way to reveal it now……. But Wooshin definitely made that happen to my grandfather. Wooshin knew that my grandfather was investigating the sexual favors case during his term. So they interfered with my grandfather every time. Then, when my grandfather gave up, they must have been relieved. Then Wooshin learned that Kim Seung-hee had contacted us, and they heard what Kim Seung-hee had told us. So they must have thought that we might have noticed the sexual favors case. And if we received my grandfather’s help and learned about Wooshin’s sexual favors case in detail, they thought things would get bigger……. So, they definitely made that happen to my grandfather because of that.”

Kang Min-jae clenched his hands tightly on his knees.

“So, we must reveal it.”

* * *

Following an employee, a man in his 40s was walking along the hallway.

The man did not raise his head but looked only at the employee’s heels, walking with both hands clasped in front of him.

The man had to hand over all his belongings and identification to the guards, and after being checked with a metal detector, he was finally allowed to enter this mansion.

Climbing the stairs, when he reached the last room on the second floor, the employee stopped walking.

“Please wait a moment.”

The employee left those words and knocked on the tightly closed door.

“Chairman. Dr. Im Hyun-il from Yongin Wooshin Hospital has arrived.”

At those words, the door soon opened.

The person who opened the door was Ko Sang-jun’s new chief of staff.

The employee stepped back and disappeared, and Im Hyun-il followed the chief of staff to the desk where Ko Sang-jun was sitting.

“Chairman, Dr. Im has arrived.”

“Greetings, Chairman. Nice to meet you for the first time!”

At Im Hyun-il’s voice, full of military discipline, Ko Sang-jun took off his glasses and closed the book he was reading.

Then, he slowly raised his head and looked at Im Hyun-il.

“Young friend, you’ve been through a lot.”

At Ko Sang-jun’s words, Im Hyun-il shook his head as if it were absurd and bowed at a right angle.

“No, Chairman!”

“No. Thanks to Dr. Im, we were able to send the President [Kang Kwan-woong] to a good place, so Dr. Im’s contribution is great.”

Ko Sang-jun replied with a voice mixed with laughter.

Im Hyun-il couldn’t say anything, slowly raised his head, politely clasped his hands, and lowered his gaze.

“I felt it when I heard that no problems were found in the autopsy. That what our Chief Choi said was not a lie.”

“Yes?”

“I heard that Dr. Im is the best in our country.”

“I’m embarrassed to hear that, Chairman.”

“No, in my opinion, Dr. Im is the best surgeon in our country.”

“No, Chairman.”

Im Hyun-il’s words were too firm to be an expression of humility.

When Ko Sang-jun raised one eyebrow, Im Hyun-il opened his mouth once more.

“Not in our country.”

Im Hyun-il answered calmly.

Then Ko Sang-jun crossed his arms and looked up at him as if he were interested.

“I know what you mean.”

Ko Sang-jun said pleasantly after thinking carefully.

“I like that point even more.”

“Thank you, Chairman.”

“Then Chief Choi, find a good position for our Dr. Im to go to at the main hospital.”

“Yes, Chairman.”

“Thank you, Chairman.”

Im Hyun-il said, bowing his head.

After leaving the room, Im Hyun-il stroked his chest.

It was a position he had never even imagined when he had just graduated from a local medical school.

Im Hyun-il was confident that accepting the deal Ko Sang-jun had proposed was the best choice in his life.

Anyway, Kang Kwan-woong didn’t have long to live.

He passed away without pain in the end, so that’s a good death.