You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 470

You Have Been Defended – Episode 471

#471

Kim Mi-ja didn’t have much time, so we declined her family’s offer for an overnight stay and boarded the boat to Mupyeong.

To avoid Oda Satoshi’s pursuit, she had been using a cell phone registered under the gallery’s name since our initial contact. She promised her family she would definitely stay in touch using that number before boarding the boat.

“Mi-ja! See you again! Keep in touch! Call anytime! If anything happens, be sure to call, okay? Eat well, sleep well, okay?”

The family, who came to see her off at the pier, waved and shouted at Kim Mi-ja as she looked back.

The farewell left a sense of regret, but it also fueled Kim Mi-ja’s determination to keep living.

She didn’t seem as distressed as I had anticipated.

We didn’t talk much on the boat or in the car to Seoul.

Kim Mi-ja seemed preoccupied, and I was also deeply 고민 [agonizing/contemplating] about how to proceed with her case.

Kang Min-jae was exhausted and fell asleep in the car.

Kim Mi-ja would change cars at a rest stop near Seoul, then go straight to the hotel we had booked for her, sleep there, and leave for Incheon Airport the next morning.

Kim Mi-ja’s statement that she wanted to live happily with her family was verified as true, so there was no need to worry about her taking her own life anymore.

I’m terrible at comforting people, and I’ve been drained for days, but I think I can finally breathe a little easier.

“Lawyer, thank you so much for your hard work.”

Kim Mi-ja bowed as she got into the car we had arranged for her at the rest stop.

“I can’t thank you enough. If you don’t mind, I’d like to show my gratitude…”

“No, it’s more than enough reward for us just to have Kim Mi-ja’s help with our work.”

“Is that so?”

“Oh, right, something’s been bothering me. That taxi driver, Gil-du, mentioned someone named Kyung-pil.”

“Kyung-pil… Ah, you mean Kyung-pil oppa [older brother figure/male friend] who went to Seoul University?”

“Yes. The driver said he’s a department head at Wooshin now.”

“Ah, yes. I was a little surprised too. But Wooshin is the biggest company in Korea, and it has so many affiliates…”

“That’s true, but I wanted to know if he’s unrelated to Kim Mi-ja’s case.”

“My case?”

“Yes. I was wondering if the people who came to kidnap Kim Mi-ja might be connected to him, or something like that. In some way.”

Kim Mi-ja waved dismissively.

“That oppa is one year older than me. I was in the first year of middle school back then. How could he have arranged for me to be kidnapped?”

“That’s true, but wouldn’t there be a risk if he heard that Kim Mi-ja met her family again?”

Kim Mi-ja 침음 [remained silent], as if 고민 [contemplating] for a moment.

In fact, I think it’s close to being a 杞憂 [groundless fear/unnecessary worry].

The sex bribery and organ trafficking that Wooshin is carrying out are top secrets that even the strategic planning team, who are 고상준’s [Go Sang-jun’s] henchmen, don’t know about.

Moreover, the targets of the business are Japanese, and even if there are Koreans involved, I don’t think a mere department head of an affiliate could 접근 [access/get involved].

If that weren’t the case, Kim Chan-young would have known.

But it’s good to check everything.

“I don’t know which affiliate that oppa is a department head at, but I don’t think it’s him.”

“Why do you think so?”

“First of all, the only people who know me are the people who frequent the 요정 [yojung – high-end Korean restaurants/entertainment establishments]. The people who frequent the 요정 are only a small portion of the Japanese political and business world. There were Koreans sometimes, but they were all big shots. I’m 불안 [uneasy], so I’ll check it out, but I don’t think there’s even a 1 percent chance. Oh, and I heard something like this before. A CEO of a Wooshin affiliate who came from the strategic planning team found out about a connection related to the House of Angels. So, about kids like me… who are sent to Japan for that purpose.”

“Yes.”

“But Wooshin ran him over with a dump truck, I heard. He died instantly. He didn’t even threaten to expose anything, but they must have judged that just knowing this fact was a threat.”

A CEO of a Wooshin affiliate from the strategic planning team died in a truck accident?

Come to think of it, a face comes to mind.

It was quite a while ago, before 2008 when I started this life, so I don’t remember exactly, but there was definitely such an incident.

At that time, the dump truck driver said he couldn’t resist the 졸음 [drowsiness] and caused the accident, and he apologized for his mistake.

I only saw it briefly in the news at the time, so I didn’t check it properly.

It was also a time when I wasn’t interested in Wooshin.

“They’re the kind of people who would run over a CEO from the strategic planning team with a truck just for knowing that fact, so there’s no way they would have exposed me to a mere department head. I was there when they were drunk and talking about it, so I remember it clearly.”

“If that’s the case, I’m relieved. But I’ll still look into it in my own way.”

“Yes. Then I’ll be going now.”

“Okay. Please contact me when you arrive in Japan.”

Kim Mi-ja nodded slightly and got into the car.

We confirmed that the car carrying Kim Mi-ja had departed, and we also parted ways and headed to Seoul.

* * *

The next afternoon, I received a call from Kim Mi-ja saying that she had arrived safely in Japan.

Oda Satoshi didn’t seem suspicious and was acting as usual, so there seems to be no need to worry.

I ignored my physical limits and ran around here and there for a few days, so I felt extremely tired and ended up resting at home for a few days.

I didn’t have a cold, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of my body 늘어지는 [feeling sluggish/heavy] no matter how much I slept.

Above all, I’ve been sleeping more since I changed my medication right before meeting Kim Mi-ja, so I couldn’t get out of bed even more.

Tae-shik left a comment saying, ‘It’s unlike you, Lawyer,’ and I didn’t budge from home and just slept.

So, I spent a week like that, and it wasn’t until the following week that I came to work after so long.

“Good morning. How are you feeling?”

“It wasn’t that I was sick.”

“Still. You’ve rarely rested like this unless you were sick, Lawyer.”

“That’s true… Did anything happen in the meantime?”

“No, nothing happened. There were just 상담 [consultation] inquiries as usual. And as usual, I said that we couldn’t take on all of them. I’m starting to feel guilty about getting paid this much.”

“What are you talking about? We wouldn’t have even been able to 접근 [approach/contact] Kim Mi-ja without you, 사무장님 [Office Manager].”

“Thank you for saying that. Haha. But if you say you’re going to cut my salary, I’ll humbly accept it.”

“That won’t happen.”

Since it was my turn to get coffee today, I handed Office Manager Oh and Kang Min-jae their coffee and went into the office.

There’s a pretty expensive coffee machine in the company, but I don’t know why I keep buying coffee out.

Anyway, I sat down in my office and checked the information about Park Kyung-pil that Chan-young sent me this morning.

Since Chan-young entered the strategic planning team, 접근 [access] to Wooshin insiders has become much easier.

He graduated from Seoul University’s College of Business and Economics and joined Wooshin Heavy Industries.

Wooshin Heavy Industries’ headquarters is in Gyeonggi-do, not Seoul, and unlike what the taxi driver in Seoul said, he seemed to be working in Geoje-do.

He used to work at the headquarters in Gyeonggi-do, but it seems he was demoted to Geoje-do three years ago.

It is presumed that Park Kyung-pil’s parents were ashamed of this and didn’t tell their neighbors.

He doesn’t seem to be highly regarded within the company, so it seems unlikely that he knows about Kim Mi-ja.

I can rest assured knowing this.

─Lawyer, can I come in?

Then, Kang Min-jae’s voice was heard from outside the door.

When I answered, Kang Min-jae opened the door and came in.

“You’re a little late?”

“I was on the phone in the parking lot.”

“Okay.”

“Aren’t you going to ask who I was on the phone with for so long?”

“Do I need to know that?”

I just assumed he was talking to someone he knew.

But Kang Min-jae didn’t seem satisfied with my answer.

He crossed his arms and stood leaning against the door, looking down at me.

“I don’t want to tell you if you’re like this.”

“Do I need to know?”

“I think you’d like it if you knew. Ah, but I don’t know if I should say you’d like it… You’d find it interesting? Um, that’s a bit… Ah, you’d be interested. That’s better.”

“What is it?”

As soon as I asked, Kang Min-jae pulled up a chair and sat across from me.

Then, he sipped the coffee I had bought earlier and opened his mouth.

“I was on the phone with Detective Heo.”

“Detective Heo? Why?”

“No, just to say hello. He’s a police officer we needed, and I’d feel bad if I didn’t contact him and then suddenly had something to ask him. So, I’ve been keeping in touch with him from time to time.”

Kang Min-jae seemed to like Heo Min-woo quite a bit.

Well, it’s not strange.

I couldn’t explain why Heo Min-woo shouldn’t be our colleague, and Kang Min-jae knows that I trust him.

“You didn’t tell him everything about us, did you?”

“You told me not to yet, Lawyer.”

“So, did you or didn’t you?”

“Ah, really. I didn’t!”

Fortunately, it’s the truth.

Kang Min-jae has a history of lying to me while communicating with Heo Min-woo, so I can’t believe him unless I use my ability.

“Anyway, so?”

“He told me something that you might be interested in, Lawyer.”

“What is it?”

“A doctor who worked at Seoul Wooshin Hospital died.”

“A doctor?”

“Yes.”

“What was the cause of death?”

“A gas explosion.”

“A gas explosion? Where?”

“The doctor’s house. It’s a villa building.”

“Was he the only one who died?”

“Yes. The villa building doesn’t seem to be that big. It’s a 5-story building with two or three houses on each floor. The only person who was in the building at that time was the doctor and one other person living in another household, and that person was injured.”

I listened to Kang Min-jae’s words and searched the internet.

Not many articles have been posted yet, but a few photos are circulating mainly on social media.

“But why is that?”

“The doctor is a general surgeon. Im Hyun-il is the professor in charge. General Surgery at Seoul Wooshin Hospital.”

“That’s right.”

“Of course, a gas explosion accident can happen… But it just feels suspicious. Gas explosion accidents aren’t common these days.”

We’re the kind of people who suspect anything with the name Wooshin attached to it, so I don’t know if it’s reasonable to feel suspicious.

But if this is the case, I want to know.

Whether it’s really a normal accident.

“Did they do a site inspection?”

“They’re doing it.”

“Detective Heo told Kang about a case that hasn’t even been concluded yet?”

“Ah, he said that it would be in the news tomorrow anyway, so he just told me. But if you think about it, a 5-story building with two or three houses on each floor… Even if you take the minimum, it’s a house where ten households live. But the accident happened when eight houses were empty and only two were left? Doesn’t that seem strange?”

“Hmm…”

“It feels like they were aiming for the timing.”

“What time did the accident happen?”

“Around 3 p.m.”

“Then it’s a time when 직장인 [office workers] would all be out. How big is that villa?”

“I don’t know, but the biggest house is said to be a two-room, so it seems like a house where many people living alone live.”

If I were a police officer in charge of this case without the name Wooshin, I wouldn’t suspect it much.

Of course, if the inspection results showed signs of intentional damage, I would investigate it, but considering the current situation, that’s how I would feel.

“Did Detective Heo say that too?”

“What?”

“That it’s suspicious.”

“He didn’t say anything like that. Isn’t that why he told me about the case without any hesitation?”

Well, if Detective Heo also had suspicious points about this case, he wouldn’t have easily told others.

He must have thought it was just a simple accident.

“Then Kang, write a novel.”

“What novel?”

“You said it’s suspicious now. So, you think that the explosion accident was done by Wooshin to kill the doctor?”

“That’s right.”

“If so, why?”

“He’s said to be in his mid-30s, so he’s probably a fellow [resident/junior doctor]. Well, he was working under Im Hyun-il and 접근 [accessed] information he shouldn’t have, so Wooshin killed him. Something like that? Kim Mi-ja also said that the CEO of an affiliate from the strategic planning team found out about the House of Angels and Wooshin ran him over with a dump truck. It’s that kind of feeling.”

“If it’s information that a doctor under Im Hyun-il shouldn’t 접근 [access], it would be organ trafficking, right?”

“Right? Well, it’s a novel, but… Ha, I wish it was a novel. I’m getting pissed off again. How many people are these bastards killing?”

I don’t know which direction Heo Min-woo will take the investigation.

But if the novel Kang Min-jae wrote is true, I’m overcome with anxiety that Heo Min-woo might be in danger again.