You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 461

#462 You’ve Been Defended

As soon as I hung up, the call recording naturally stopped.

Kim Mija gave me only a week.

Kim Mija might commit suicide by Sunday.

I should book the fastest ticket to Japan first…

Should I find a psychiatrist who can travel and go with me?

A psychiatrist would say it’s best to be hospitalized, but there’s no way Kim Mija, who wants to die, would choose that herself.

Her guardian, Oda Satoshi, would also object.

In the first place, he wouldn’t properly understand Kim Mija’s mental illness.

No, it’d be better to just get advice.

Kim Mija might feel resistant if she sees me bringing a doctor.

“Lawyer. Are you done with your call?”

I was sitting on the bed, lost in thought, when Kang Minjae’s voice came from outside the door.

“Come in.”

Kang Minjae carefully opened the door and came inside.

“What did you talk about?”

“To sum it up, Kim Mija was planning to send us all the data she has and then die.”

“…Yes?”

Kang Minjae seemed shocked.

It’s not surprising.

When we heard that Kim Mija had contacted me, no one expected her to tell me about her suicide plan.

“So… so what did you say?”

“Well, it seems she’s set the date for Monday, so I told her to meet and talk, and Kim Mija said she can only hold on until the end of the week. We have about a week.”

“Are you going to Japan?”

“I have to. I have to stop her from dying.”

Kang Minjae plopped down next to me and rubbed his forehead.

He seemed confused.

I also wondered if I had pushed her to death by pressuring her in any way during our conversation.

Kang Minjae would feel even more guilty.

“I don’t know what the weekend schedule will be like, but anyway, there’s a chance I’ll be home, so it’d be good to meet as early as Monday. Is that possible?”

“I think I need to adjust my schedule first. She said she’d meet me, so she won’t ignore my calls.”

“…Yes. How should we do this? I’m worried we touched Kim Mija too rashly.”

“I think it’d be good to get advice from a psychiatrist. How to deal with it. I don’t think bringing a doctor is a good idea.”

“I’ll make some calls.”

“I’ll ask Dongjin about it too.”

“Yes. Uh, what should we do? Should we go back to Seoul now?”

At Kang Minjae’s question, I checked the time.

It’s already late.

There’s nothing special we can do right now if we go back to Seoul, and we can find a doctor to consult with from here if we have a cell phone.

I came to see my parents after a long time, and it’s a bit much to suddenly go back to Seoul.

“There’s somewhere I need to go tomorrow.”

“Where?”

Since I’ve come this far, I wanted to go to Baekgeum Island, which is Kim Mija’s hometown.

Taesik’s employees are looking for Kim Mija’s parents, but I haven’t received a report on how much they’ve found out yet.

However, the information we have is very old, and it seemed they were having great difficulty because Kim Mija was too young at the time.

Still, we found out that Kim Mija’s hometown is Baekgeum Island, so maybe we can find something from there.

Kim Mija said that if she dies, she wants us to throw her necklace into the sea near Baekgeum Island.

The reason is that she wants to go to the West Sea [also known as the Yellow Sea], which lies between Korea and Japan, but that’s not the only reason.

Kim Mija’s hometown, Baekgeum Island, is the worst place for her.

Isn’t it a place that contains her childhood with her parents who sold her off?

If she just wanted to turn her back on Korea and Japan, any part of the West Sea would have been fine.

Maybe her memories remain in Baekgeum Island.

So maybe there’s a lingering feeling of longing left.

Her family is likely to have moved, but there might be neighbors who know her.

If we ask around, we might find a way to grab Kim Mija’s heart.

“Why Baekgeum Island?”

“Because that’s Kim Mija’s hometown.”

“Hometown? Ah, that’s right. Hometown… If we go there, we might be able to find Kim Mija’s parents. But finding Kim Mija’s parents doesn’t mean we can stop her from committing suicide. Kim Mija hates her parents…”

“Finding her parents isn’t important. Kim Mija seems to be… longing for Baekgeum Island. I’m going to see what’s there.”

“I understand. Then I’ll look for a doctor to consult with first. Should I ask Secretary Oh to book the plane? I think you should make an appointment with Kim Mija first.”

“I’ll contact her tomorrow.”

Kang Minjae, who had been searching for something on his cell phone while talking to me, held the phone screen out to me.

“The Baekgeum Island ferry leaves at 8 a.m. and 2 p.m.”

“Where do I have to go to get to Baekgeum Island?”

“Um… you have to go to Mupyeong.”

“How long does it take to get to Mupyeong from here?”

“You should allow about 3 hours.”

“Um… then it’ll be hard to leave here by 4:30 to catch the first ferry. It’d be better to take the 2 p.m. ferry.”

“Yes. And the last ferry back is at 8:30, so that should be enough, right?”

“Probably. If it’s not enough, we’ll have to sleep there and come out in the morning. Are there accommodations there?”

“There are a few guesthouses.”

Unexpected plans have come up, but Kim Mija said she’d give me time, so she won’t suddenly take action on Monday.

Of course, I have to consider the possibility…

Even if we sleep in Baekgeum Island and come out, if we go straight to Incheon and go to Japan, we’ll arrive by Monday afternoon, so it won’t be too late.

“Did the guests leave?”

“Ah, yes. They just left. They said they were sad they couldn’t say goodbye to you.”

“Okay. I’ll go tell my parents that we have to leave early tomorrow, and Kang will share the schedule with Taesik.”

“Yes.”

I went down to the first floor and approached my parents, who were cleaning up the table where the guests had been.

“Did you have a good call? You said it was urgent.”

“Yes. Ah, we’re going to leave around 9 or 10 tomorrow.”

“So early? Sleep in and have lunch before you go.”

“Something came up. I’ll really make time next time I come.”

“When you said you were quitting being a prosecutor, I thought you’d be less busy, but you’re still very busy.”

“I guess so.”

“You’re leaving early tomorrow?”

At that time, my father came out of the warehouse near the kitchen and asked.

“Ah, yes.”

My father looked at me without saying anything.

I could vaguely read worry in his eyes.

“Always be careful.”

My parents know to some extent that I’m doing dangerous work, but every time I hear these words, I feel like I’m really a zero as a child [meaning I revert to feeling like a helpless child].

“Of course.”

* * *

The next day at 9:30, we departed for Mupyeong.

While going to Mupyeong, I searched and found that Baekgeum Island is about a 40-minute ferry ride from Mupyeong, and although the island is not very small, the nearby rocky islands are beautiful, making it quite popular as a tourist destination.

[I’m planning to visit you in Japan when you have time. When and where would be a good time to meet? I’d like to see you as soon as possible.]

After doing some preliminary research on Baekgeum Island, I sent a message to Kim Mija.

She must have been looking at her cell phone, because she replied soon.

[Don’t worry. I’ll keep my promise.]

My saying that I wanted to meet quickly was read as meaning that I was worried she would do something rash.

Of course, that was true.

[Would you like to come to the school? Come to my lab. Any time is fine. After you book your flight, let me know. I’ll be at school all week anyway. I have a lot to sort out.]

Before I could reply, Kim Mija sent another message.

I replied that I understood, then put my cell phone in my pocket and opened the window.

I didn’t sleep well yesterday, and I barely ate breakfast, so I felt like I was getting seasick.

“The psychiatrist is the one who sees that lawyer, right? I contacted him, and he said he could make time after his appointment on Monday. Should we visit him then?”

“Okay.”

I don’t know if it’s okay to do this since I’m a patient of that doctor, but he was quite skilled among the psychiatrists I’ve met so far, so I trusted him.

Even in my previous life, I suffered from terrible insomnia, and in this life, I also have PTSD [Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder].

I’ve been to many psychiatric hospitals throughout my lives, so I also felt that the doctor was definitely skilled.

Kang Minjae seemed to feel that way too.

“Oh, I think that’s Mupyeong Port over there.”

Taesik, who had been driving quietly, pointed to the sea on the right.

Unconsciously, I shifted my gaze to where Taesik was pointing, and a bright blue sea stretched out before us.

And at the same time, the salty smell of the sea began to waft in from the open window.

No, maybe I had smelled the sea before.

I just didn’t notice it.

“…”

Thump, thump.

My heart started beating fast.

It’s a bad sign.

I swallowed hard, quietly picked up a bottle of water, and took out a pack of medicine from my bag.

Since the day I was almost killed by Go Sangjun, it was the first time I had seen the sea directly or indirectly.

So I didn’t even think I would react just by seeing the sea.

So far, I had only had seizures when I first saw the guy named President Shin who killed me in my previous life in this life, when I heard Go Sangjun’s voice, and when I was kidnapped recently.

I knew that vivid memories of death stimulated me, but now just the sea?

I can’t even see the sea properly now?

I let out a dumbfounded laugh, took a sip of water, and poured the medicine into my mouth.

After swallowing it loudly, I closed the window that had been open and closed my eyes.

It was to block the smell and appearance of the sea from me.

“Kang, close the window.”

“The window? Ah. Yes.”

Kang Minjae closed the window that had been open in the passenger seat.

In my experience so far, it took about 30 minutes for the medicine to take effect when I took it when I was anxious.

Can I calm down in 30 minutes?

It felt like my heart was beating faster.

No, I could feel it throbbing so much that it felt like my heart was about to pop out of my mouth.

I couldn’t figure out what was making me anxious, but I was in pain because of the physical reaction.

If I had anxious thoughts in my head, I would soothe myself by saying, ‘I’m not going to die now. It’s okay,’ but it was frustrating because I didn’t have any thoughts, but this reaction was coming out.

The palms of my hands, which I had placed on my knees, were wet with sweat.

I had opened the window because I felt like I was getting seasick from earlier, but now that I closed the window to block the smell, I felt suffocated.

When I pounded my chest with my fist, the sound echoed.

“Lawyer, what’s wrong? Are you feeling stuffy?”

Kang Minjae, who had inadvertently turned around at the pounding sound, discovered me hitting my chest and widened his eyes.

“No, I just think something I ate this morning is stuck.”

“Lawyer, you’re sweating…”

At Kang Minjae’s words, I wiped my forehead with my hand.

Cold sweat was on my brow.

“Lawyer.”

“…Look ahead. I’m okay.”

I tried to pretend I was okay and gestured towards the passenger seat, but the hand that was reaching for the passenger seat was shaking.

No matter how hard I tried not to move, it vibrated up and down on its own.

Kang Minjae stared at me for a long time, then soon shifted his gaze to the window.

He seemed to have noticed too.

Why I’m like this.

“Taesik, is there anywhere to park the car for a while?”

“The car? Why? Mupyeong Port is just a little further.”

“Before we go to the sea. I think we need to stop before that. Let’s go to the downtown area.”

“I said I’m okay. I took medicine. So go where you were going.”

“I can’t. I don’t think you’re in condition to take the ferry right now.”

Kang Minjae said firmly.

“Just go. The medicine will take effect soon anyway.”

“Still.”

“Just go!”