You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 456

“What brings you here?”

“Y-you t-two are the ones who should be asking that! Ugh, what brings you here?”

Kang Min-jae fumbled for the massage chair remote.

I turned off the massage chair for him, and he got up from the chair, dusting off his clothes.

“Five minutes left. Want to use it?”

“No, thanks.”

“But to see you here, Prosecutor. Unexpected. When did you get here?”

“Just now. What about you, Kang?”

“I got here about 30 minutes ago. I was going to shower at home, but I wanted to get a good scrub for once. What about you two?”

“We came to get scrubbed too.”

“Why? Got something important coming up? You don’t usually go to bathhouses.”

When I was a prosecutor, I often spent the night at the office, so I used to go to the nearby bathhouse with Secretary Oh to relieve fatigue.

But now I can bring work home, and I don’t have as much work piling up as I used to, so there’s no need to go.

Kang Min-jae started to look at me suspiciously as I didn’t answer.

If I told him that Tae-shik was getting a scrub to look good for my parents tomorrow, he might ask to come along, so I kept my mouth shut.

“I’m going to visit the Prosecutor’s parents with him tomorrow. I’m here to make a good impression.”

Tae-shik revealed the truth before I could signal him, and Kang Min-jae glared at me with betrayal in his eyes.

“You told me to come with you.”

“It was decided suddenly today.”

“You could have contacted me after it was decided.”

“I didn’t know if you had any plans tomorrow, and I didn’t want to disrupt your schedule by suddenly asking you to come along.”

“Oh, is that so? Then that’s a relief. I have no plans tomorrow.”

“If you go, Jung-hyuk has to go with you.”

I made a last-ditch effort.

Tae-shik is protecting me, and Jung-hyuk is protecting Kang Min-jae.

After Kang Kwan-woong’s death, I thought there would be no threats to Kang Min-jae for the time being, so I considered letting Jung-hyuk go to reduce the inconvenience, but I stopped there.

Since I was already paying Tae-shik’s family a monthly salary, it was better to have them work than to let them idle, and since we were starting to handle information that Wooshin was treating sensitively, I decided there was no reason to dismantle the security system.

Instead, I stopped short of operating in two shifts to avoid security gaps like mine, who was under the greatest threat.

But Jung-hyuk always accompanied Kang Min-jae when he was out and about.

When Kang Min-jae had personal appointments, he would stay within a radius where he could respond immediately, respecting his privacy appropriately.

Jung-hyuk is quite tight-lipped and serious, so I’ve never heard what Kang Min-jae is up to.

Well, I wasn’t curious in the first place, so I didn’t ask.

“Since Tae-shik is going with us, why bother having Jung-hyuk come along? Just let Jung-hyuk rest and only have Tae-shik.”

“Well, I can handle about 20 people on my own.”

Tae-shik shrugged his shoulders and boasted.

I can’t help it.

The reason I didn’t want to take Kang Min-jae was because it was a hassle, but I’ll just have to think of him as a clown who can entertain my parents in my place.

“Kang, we’re going to eat eggs. Do you want some?”

“Yes, please.”

“How many should we buy?”

“Well, I think I can eat about three.”

“Really? You eat more than you look.”

“Is three a lot?”

Tae-shik nodded and said to the store clerk.

“Four trays of eggs, please. And three cups of iced sweet rice drink [Sikhye].”

“Huh? Four trays?”

“You said you’d eat three trays.”

“No, I meant three individual eggs…”

“You and Prosecutor are the same. Your stomachs can’t be more than 2 liters.”

The human stomach is not even 2 liters.

“The iced sweet rice drink is big too. I’ll share it with Prosecutor. If you’re going to drink a whole cup, just order two.”

“How can you live on that? I’m disappointed in you, Kang.”

Tae-shik handed the keys on his wrist to the store clerk and clicked his tongue.

It seems that Tae-shik thinks his unusual appearance is the standard for the world.

Anyway, with one tray and six eggs, and two cups of sweet rice drink that looked like 1.5 liters, we sat in a corner of the sauna.

Actually, I wanted to take a bath and go home quickly.

Because it was Friday, there were too many people, it was noisy, and kids were running around everywhere, so I was out of my mind.

“Prosecutor, why didn’t you do the sheep head?”

“What’s that?”

“This.”

Kang Min-jae pointed to the towel on his head.

I was wondering why so many people were wearing such turbans when I went to the sauna, and I was curious.

I guessed it was to keep warm.

“Why do you do it?”

“Just for style.”

“It’s not stylish at all.”

“Are you even Korean? How do you not know the sheep head [a towel-folding technique to resemble sheep horns]?”

“You saw my passport. I’m Korean.”

“Give me your towel. I’ll make one for you.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Geez. This is stylish, but you don’t know it. Do you want to do it, Tae-shik? Do you know how to make it?”

Tae-shik silently handed his towel to Kang Min-jae instead of answering.

While Kang Min-jae was strangely folding the towel and twisting the corners, I roughly searched for a sauna that I could enter.

I don’t like sweating, so I don’t think I can go to the kiln…

Looking at the temperature, the cypress room would be suitable for me.

“It’s done. Now, let’s go to the kiln.”

“I’m going to the cypress,”

“Are you kidding me? Don’t be a baby. If you’ve come this far, you have to go to the kiln.”

It’s over 90 degrees…

“Kang knows what’s up. Men go to the kiln.”

I wish I wasn’t a man, I don’t want to go there.

“……”

But regardless of my wishes, Tae-shik dragged me into the kiln.

It was crazy hot.

The air filling the dome-shaped interior made it hard to breathe.

The sauna suit, which was full of moisture and well-dried, stuck to my skin.

It was shocking that there were so many old people sitting motionless and closing their eyes as if meditating.

“Oh, it’s cool. How about you, Prosecutor? It’s more bearable than you thought, right?”

“No.”

Tae-shik and Kang Min-jae chuckled as they looked at me, but I got up, bending over, intending to just leave.

But faster than that, an old man with white hair who had been closing his eyes spoke to me.

“How can a young man not endure this?”

Based on the scenery of the sauna that I had seen when I was flipping through channels and my few experiences, I knew that the elderly were stronger in the kiln than the youth.

But the old man looked up at me, breathing as if nothing was wrong.

“Are you a lawyer?”

“Yes.”

I answered in an awkward posture.

“How did you pass the bar exam with the patience to not even endure 10 minutes here?”

“I know, Grandma. How can he not even last a minute? Hahaha, I’m dying of laughter.”

“Are you a lawyer too, young man?”

“Ah, yes. Haha.”

“I’ve seen you somewhere. Are you famous?”

The old man narrowed his eyes and stared at Kang Min-jae.

Kang Min-jae smiled awkwardly and turned his head slightly.

I have to get out of here.

As I moved towards the entrance, the old man shouted at me.

“Stay longer! There are so many more pains in the world than this!”

Tae-shik, unable to bear the laughter, bowed his head and chuckled.

“No, Elder. I’m going to stop…”

“Wait a minute. No, wait. Young man, aren’t you the grandson of our President Kang Kwan-woong? I think I saw you on the news?”

“Yes? No,”

“That’s right, Elder.”

I quickly interrupted Kang Min-jae before he could deny it.

“Oh my, you’re the grandson of our President Kang Kwan-woong. Oh my, that’s right. I’m the one who dragged this old body to the memorial altar during the state funeral. I’m the one. Oh, young man, you must have suffered a lot. I really cried when I heard the news. It felt like my heart was torn into a thousand pieces.”

It was a pleasant revenge.

I left the kiln and breathed in the fresh air.

Finally, I was able to enter the cypress room, and Kang Min-jae came out of the kiln 30 minutes later.

Only after holding hands tightly with the old man and talking for a long time could Kang Min-jae be free.

“Prosecutor, you’re too much. When someone recognized you somewhere, I just stayed quiet if you said you weren’t.”

“So, you didn’t want to talk? She seemed to sincerely respect the Elder.”

“No, it’s not that I didn’t want to! I just, ah, I just, you know what I mean! I’m so grateful and sorry, but, no…”

“Let’s eat.”

Kang Min-jae pouted and scanned the menu.

“You know that sauna food is seaweed soup, right?”

“Of course. I’ll have seaweed soup, spicy noodles [Bibim Guksu], and Bulgogi stew.”

“I’ll have Galbi-tang [short rib soup].”

“Boss! Three bowls of seaweed soup, spicy noodles, and Bulgogi stew, please!”

He keeps committing insubordination.

“Ah, I’m full.”

While Kang Min-jae and I were eating a bowl of seaweed soup, Tae-shik ate all three menus.

I took the last spoonful, and Tae-shik put the last chopstick of spicy noodles in his mouth, so it can be said that he was a little faster.

“Eat slowly, Tae-shik. We can wait.”

“Aren’t you two eating slowly?”

Tae-shik still 맞춰 [matches] us to his standards.

Anyway, after spending time in the sauna, we finished bathing and came outside.

It was already past 11 p.m.

Sang-gil comes to my house at 11 p.m. and switches with Tae-shik at 8 a.m., so it seems a bit late.

“What time are you leaving to see your parents tomorrow?”

“It takes about an hour and a half to get down there, so I think we have to leave by 11.”

“Hmm. Then I’ll go home, pack my clothes, and sleep at your house. Then we can leave together in the morning.”

“Why? You know where my parents’ house is. Come on your own.”

“I don’t want to miss the fun of riding in the car together.”

“I’m going to sleep.”

“You can play with Tae-shik. Right, Tae-shik?”

“Well, I like it when someone talks to me while I’m driving.”

It’s going to be too noisy to sleep.

Why did I have to meet Kang Min-jae here today…

“Do as you please.”

As expected, Sang-gil was pacing around the house when I went inside.

“Huh, Hyung [older brother/term of respect]. Why are you so late?”

“Something happened. I’m going. Have a good one.”

“It’s not hard. Time flies when you watch a movie.”

Tae-shik is busy following me and driving, but Sang-gil doesn’t have much to do because he only works at night when everyone is asleep.

Unless I go around at night, all Sang-gil does is follow me to the gym.

Of course, he turns on the movie very quietly and pricks up his ears when he hears noise from outside.

“I should have worked at night. You’re having it easy, you bastard.”

“No, Hyung is the one who needs to be by Prosecutor’s side.”

“That’s right? Prosecutor likes me so much. Anyway, I’m going.”

As soon as Tae-shik left, Sang-gil sat on the couch and followed my movements with his eyes.

My movements were just going to the bathroom, changing clothes in the dressing room, and taking medicine in the kitchen.

“Just watch a movie comfortably. Oh, and don’t come to work tomorrow.”

“Why? I didn’t hear anything about that.”

“I’m going down to my parents’ house with Tae-shik tomorrow and sleeping there. You can check who’s coming into the house with CCTV, so you don’t have to come out.”

“You have to sleep too, Prosecutor. Who’s going to protect you then?”

“There’s a security company that protects my parents’ house separately. They’ll take care of anything that happens.”

There hasn’t been a threat to my parents so far, but my biggest weakness is my parents.

Besides, my parents are old, and my parents’ house is in a quiet place, so it may be difficult to secure even a witness if something happens at night.

I didn’t want to worry my parents by telling them that I had hired a security company, so I asked them to watch without being noticed.

I was going to send Tae-shik’s people there, but I thought there would be a hole in Tae-shik’s family, who were performing other tasks, so I just entrusted it to a private company.

“Prosecutor, how much are you spending on security? How do you save money? You spend so much money.”

I still have a lot of money, but I have a future asset that is being mined diligently.

When I checked the status of the coins that the National Intelligence Service sent me a while ago, it would be worth at least hundreds of billions if converted to the highest price I had checked around 2018.

At this point, it seems to be only around 100 million, but…

Even if I stop mining now and sell it around that time in 2018, I won’t have any problems living for the rest of my life.

I started mining as soon as Bitcoin was created, so it’s not strange.

I don’t know what the price will be after 2018, but I don’t want to be a super-rich person.

It’s good to stop when you think it’s appropriate.

I’m still mining because I don’t know how much more I’ll need to do this, but I’m going to adjust it so that the scale of my assets doesn’t get too big.

I even received an email from the Bitcoin developer in the past.

The National Intelligence Service sometimes asks why I’m doing something that doesn’t make much money while paying for all these electricity bills and equipment costs.

I always answer that they can mine the National Intelligence Service’s share when they have the opportunity, but it seems they won’t.

“Didn’t you spend it all?”

There is still a lot of 수임료 [retainer fee] left over from before the current degree was created.

Anyway, I don’t have to worry about money.

There are so many things to worry about, so I don’t have to worry about money.

“I’ll take care of that, so you don’t have to worry about your salary being delayed.”

“Ah, I wasn’t worried about that.”

“Anyway, I’m going to sleep. Kang will come later, so don’t wake me up when he comes, just tell him to sleep anywhere.”

“Yes.”

When I lay down on the bed, the worries I had when I met Chan-young came to mind.

I shook my head.

Tae-shik also told me to rest without thinking about anything on the weekend.