You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 433

#434

[When will the lawyer arrive?]

[It’s past 10 AM, why aren’t they here yet?]

[Is something wrong?]

[Nothing bad happened, right?]

[ㅠㅠㅠㅠ Why aren’t they answering the phone?]

When I parked in the company’s underground parking lot and checked my phone, there were numerous messages and missed calls from Kang Min-jae.

I had stayed up late searching for information about Im Hyun-il online until sunrise. As a result, I rushed to get ready and didn’t even look at my phone.

I was about to reply, but I just put my phone back in my pocket.

I figured there was no need since I would be seeing them in less than a minute once I went upstairs.

As I got on the elevator, Tae-shik, who was behind me, answered a call.

“Hello? Yes. Huh? I’m on my way up now. Yes.”

Tae-shik hung up and chuckled, looking at me.

“I didn’t tell Attorney Kang you overslept.”

“What is it? Is it Attorney Kang?”

“Yes. They were saying they couldn’t reach you and were worried something happened.”

“What a fuss. You could have just said I went to bed late and woke up late.”

“That’s why I told you to go to bed early. I said our guys would look into Im Hyun-il.”

“It’s not just about finding out his personal information.”

The elevator arrived at the company floor, and as soon as the doors opened, I spotted Kang Min-jae.

He was leaning against the desk, talking to Secretary Oh, it seemed.

“Why are you late without saying anything!”

“I was looking into something until late last night.”

“You’re usually so punctual about letting us know if you’re going to be late. I was worried when I didn’t hear from you,” Secretary Oh said.

I was about to talk about Im Hyun-il, but I firmly closed my mouth.

I didn’t have solid evidence that Im Hyun-il was involved in Wooshin’s organ trafficking business. Bringing up the story of Kang Kwan-woong’s surgeon seemed premature.

Kang Kwan-woong hadn’t been dead for long, and if I told Kang Min-jae that the doctor who performed Kang Kwan-woong’s surgery seemed to be involved in Wooshin’s organ trafficking, Kang Min-jae would surely be shaken.

There was also the possibility of losing objectivity.

It’s better if I’m the only one who knows until it’s certain.

Above all, the reason I suspect Im Hyun-il might be involved in organ trafficking is because of my knowledge of the future, so I can’t naturally explain the connection right now.

“No. I was just looking around aimlessly.”

I wrapped up the conversation and went into my office to turn on the computer.

I had asked Dong-jin to narrow down the thoracic surgery societies with some authority, and I was about to go to the society websites to look for traces of Im Hyun-il.

There was a knock on the door from outside.

“Yes.”

I turned the computer screen to a portal site and answered. Surprisingly, it wasn’t Kang Min-jae but Secretary Oh who came in.

“Attorney.”

“Yes.”

“Did you happen to look at the Angel’s House website?”

“To some extent.”

“I couldn’t sleep last night, so I ended up looking at some old posts. I was hoping you could take a look with me.”

“Ah, yes. Did you take any screenshots or anything?”

“Yes. I just emailed them to you.”

At Secretary Oh’s words, I went to my inbox and found an email had arrived.

I downloaded the attached photos, and screenshots that seemed to be from the Angel’s House website popped up.

The content was ordinary.

It said that Wooshin Hospital, which belongs to the same foundation, dispatched a mobile comprehensive check-up bus and medical staff to Angel’s House for the health of the children.

There were photos of a large bus, medical staff guiding children onto the bus, and Angel’s House staff and medical staff smiling brightly while holding banners.

“This person here.”

Secretary Oh pointed to a corner of the second photo.

The focus was slightly off, and it wasn’t the main subject, but the face was identifiable.

“Isn’t that the doctor who operated on former President Kang Kwan-woong? I compared it to the photos in the news yesterday, and I think it’s him.”

I zoomed in on the face of the person Secretary Oh was pointing at, and it was definitely him.

It was Im Hyun-il.

The post was dated 2009.

It was presumed to be when Im Hyun-il was at Yongin Wooshin Hospital.

As I had confirmed overnight, he had been working at Yongin Wooshin Hospital since before 2009.

“I looked this person up, and he’s currently a professor of general surgery at Seoul Wooshin Hospital. Why would he be dispatched? I’m asking because I don’t know much about this field. It seems strange to me. And above all, it’s strange that the doctor isn’t in the last photo, the one taken with all the medical staff. Well, something urgent might have come up, but still.”

I don’t know much either, but it’s definitely strange.

If a mobile comprehensive check-up bus went out, they would have collected the data after the check-up and taken it back to the hospital.

The analysis would have been done there, and it’s common to send less experienced doctors to the orphanage.

And in reality, all the medical staff in the photos were young people who appeared to be in their 20s or early 30s.

Even if they dispatched a professor-level doctor for show, it would have made more sense to send a pediatrics professor, but why was Im Hyun-il here?

And if he was officially dispatched, why wasn’t Im Hyun-il in the photo taken with the medical staff?

Doesn’t that mean Im Hyun-il was unofficially dispatched?

If so, it would have been most secure for Im Hyun-il to just receive and check the data from the hospital, so why was he unofficially dispatched to Angel’s House?

“I didn’t tell Attorney Kang. I was worried it might unnecessarily confuse him.”

“You did well. For now, please keep it to yourself from Attorney Kang, and I’ll look into it further and tell you.”

“Yes.”

As soon as Secretary Oh left the room, I accessed the Angel’s House website and went to the bulletin board.

Looking through it, it seemed that medical staff visited Angel’s House every year with a check-up bus. While the other medical staff hardly changed, Im Hyun-il’s appearance couldn’t be found in the photos in other posts.

Even when I searched for Im Hyun-il and Angel’s House together on major portals, there were no results.

I guess he must have visited Angel’s House that day to urgently check something.

It’s definitely starting to seem like Im Hyun-il might be involved in organ trafficking.

But the important thing is that this is not solid evidence.

It only increases the plausibility of my suspicions, but it doesn’t prove anything by itself.

Still, it seems like I’ve caught a good keyword.

I have a feeling that if I dig deeper here, something will keep coming out.

* * *

─Attorney! Attorney!

It was the weekend, and I had finally slept in and was about to go into the bathroom to shower.

I turned on the water and even wet my hair when I heard Tae-shik’s urgent voice from outside the door.

“What.”

─Do you want ramen? I’m about to boil water, so answer quickly!

While looking into Im Hyun-il, I hadn’t slept much for days because I was rereading the investigation data Kang Kwan-woong had left me.

I was finally catching up on sleep and about to take a refreshing shower, but he’s making a fuss over something trivial.

“I’m not eating.”

I just came into the bathroom; how could I eat ramen?

I ignored him and squeezed shampoo into my hand.

─Then I’ll just boil three! You can’t ask for a bite, okay!

“Okay, just don’t talk to me. Not even if the Earth splits in two.”

Wait, he’s boiling three packs and can’t even spare a bite?

That’s surprising in its own way.

─Shouldn’t I talk to you if the Earth splits in two?

“Then talk to me then.”

I answered nonchalantly and squeezed shampoo into my hand, but I heard Tae-shik’s voice again from outside the door.

─Then I’ll talk to you right before the Earth splits in two.

“Just try talking to me before that.”

Tae-shik was quiet until I finished showering.

Thanks to that, I was able to take my time and come out.

I must be getting old.

I used to live like this for months when I was preparing for the bar exam, but now I’m exhausted after just a few days of intensely reading papers and data.

I went to the kitchen to get a glass of water, and Tae-shik was already standing in front of the sink, doing the dishes, having finished three packs of ramen.

I put the cup I used on top of his dishes and said to him.

“I’m going to rest at home today. You can relax too.”

Instead of answering, Tae-shik glared at me and picked up the dish I added.

He looked at me with a look that said, ‘What is this?’

“It’s good to do it together while you’re at it.”

“…….”

“I’m going to order food. You don’t need to eat since you had ramen, right?”

Tae-shik shook his head at my question.

What, why isn’t he talking?

“Why aren’t you answering?”

“…….”

Tae-shik made a gesture of splitting something with his gloved hand and put his index finger to his lips.

Ah, could it be that he’s doing that because I told him to only talk to me right before the Earth splits in two?

What is he, a grade schooler?

“I told you not to talk to me because I was showering. You can talk now.”

“What are you going to eat?”

“I don’t know.”

“I want to eat too.”

“You had ramen.”

“I can eat more.”

I thought it was amazing, but I figured that’s how he maintains that physique, so I nonchalantly opened the delivery menu book.

“Ah, right.”

I was pondering the menu when Tae-shik, who was bustling around doing the dishes, opened his mouth.

“Someone called 30 minutes ago and said they found out some information about Im Hyun-il.”

“……What?”

I reflexively raised my head.

Tae-shik took off his rubber gloves, wiped his hands, and turned to look at me.

“Why?”

“Why are you telling me now?”

“You said not to talk to you until the Earth splits in two.”

“Is that the same thing? What did they find out?”

At my question, Tae-shik shrugged and sat across from me, pointing to spicy braised chicken in the delivery book.

“I want to eat this.”

“Okay, what is it?”

“It wasn’t much. It seems Im Hyun-il is a Korean-Japanese. What’s a Korean-Japanese? Does it mean the best of the Koreans?”

“……You mean a Zainichi Korean [a permanent resident of Japan of Korean descent].”

“Yeah, that’s what I said.”

“‘A’ is different from ‘O’…….”

“Ah, so that’s what it meant. Anyway, he was born and raised in Japan and only came to Korea for high school.”

“Wait a minute, a Zainichi Korean?”

“Yes.”

“Then can you find out the names of the elementary and middle schools he attended?”

“I don’t know. It’s in Chinese characters. Do you want to see it?”

Tae-shik handed me his phone.

The screen showed the elementary and middle schools Im Hyun-il attended in Japan, and the high school in Korea.

A quick search showed that the elementary and middle schools don’t seem to be affiliated with Chongryon schools [North Korean-aligned schools in Japan] or foreign schools. They seem to be ordinary schools that Japanese people attend.

Then it’s highly likely that he used a 通称名 (tūshōmei, a Japanese alias) in Japan.

“The 通称名 isn’t listed, is it?”

“What’s that?”

“It’s a Japanese-style name used in Japan, and it’s also listed on the alien registration card.”

“They didn’t mention that. I’ll tell them to find out.”

If he has a 通称名, he would have used that name when he was a thoracic surgery resident in Japan…….

Then is it possible that he submitted papers to the thoracic surgery society under that name?