You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 50

“Lawyer, I’m here.”

At exactly 12 PM, I arrived at the restaurant Verdin, which Na Eun-sung had mentioned.

Judging by the wet paper under her cup, she seemed to have been there for at least 30 minutes.

“Oh, the weather is really nice today!”

She said awkwardly, looking out the window.

“It is.”

“You don’t have to work today, did you force yourself to come all the way here because of me?”

“No. I was planning to have lunch with Ms. Na Eun-sung and then go back to the office.”

“…Ah, I see.”

Na Eun-sung fiddled with her straw and nodded.

Kang Min-jae insisted yesterday after she left that she definitely had feelings for me.

He said that she used to be more comfortable with me than with him, but her attitude had subtly changed since the day Yoo Jung-won barged in.

When he pressed me about what happened that day, I told him nothing happened.

And that was the truth.

“Shall we eat?”

“Ah, yes. Um, are you okay with Western food, Lawyer? Now that I think about it… I wonder if I chose the menu too much to my liking.”

I prefer Korean food to Western food, but there’s no need to embarrass her.

“It’s fine. I’ll have this.”

Until the food we ordered came out, she and I went over the stories we had talked about yesterday once more.

It was because I wasn’t particularly sociable, and she wasn’t a very outgoing person either, so there wasn’t much to say.

Na Eun-sung repeatedly said thank you and sorry, and I just said it was okay.

“It’s delicious. Does it suit your taste, Lawyer?”

Na Eun-sung asked, who had been quietly eating, after the food came out.

“Yes. It’s good.”

During the meal, there was no other conversation.

She would lift her eyes to steal glances at me, and then lower them again as if hiding.

I was used to pretending not to notice it, even though I knew.

“Shall we get up when you’re done?”

I said, watching her put down her fork.

There was still half of the food left in her bowl, but she seemed to have no appetite, as she had been eating poorly since earlier.

Na Eun-sung looked around, flustered, and then looked up at me.

“D, dessert, or…”

“Sure.”

I was thinking of buying coffee from Kim Yeon-joon’s cafe on the way back to the office, but she looked desperate, so I nodded.

I ordered coffee, and she ordered ice cream.

And then silence flowed again until the dessert came out.

“Oh, have you worked with Attorney Kang Min-jae for a long time?”

It seemed that this was the answer she came up with while looking for a topic of conversation.

I replied briefly.

“No.”

“…Ah, I see.”

“Yes.”

“Then… did you post a new lawyer recruitment ad, or did you end up working together that way?”

“Neither.”

“Ah… yes.”

She covered her red earlobes with her hands and lowered her head.

“I thought you two worked well together, so I thought you had been working together from the beginning.”

“Is that so.”

“…Yes.”

I didn’t feel like our conversation was flowing very smoothly either.

But what else could I say?

I didn’t want to tell a former client the details of the office, and I didn’t feel the need to.

I wondered what Kang Min-jae would say in this situation.

He would suddenly ask if she had a lot of money and what she was going to do with it, or what her plans were for the future.

But it was none of my business where she spent her money.

As for her future plans, she said she would continue writing, so she would.

“…”

In the regrettable silence, my coffee and her ice cream were gone.

It seemed like it was time to leave, so I tried to put my jacket back on.

“Lawyer!”

“Yes.”

The server cleared the empty dishes, and the table was clean again.

I was looking at the bill that was left alone on the table, thinking that I should pay for this meal.

“I have something to tell you.”

“Please speak.”

“Um, maybe…”

Na Eun-sung bit her lip.

And after a long time, she asked in a barely audible voice.

“Do you, by any chance, have someone you’re seeing?”

“No.”

“Th, then, would you, by any chance, consider seeing me…?”

She asked in an insecure voice.

I barely held back a short sigh.

I had been aware to some extent from the beginning that the atmosphere would flow like this, but I didn’t want to blatantly avoid her.

Also, she might have just wanted to have a meal out of simple courtesy as a client, so I didn’t want to embarrass her.

That’s why I came to this place, but it ended up like this.

“Ms. Na Eun-sung.”

“…Yes, Lawyer.”

“I haven’t been in business for very long, and my office isn’t stable yet. And I’m too busy with work right now, so I don’t have any free time.”

“…”

“Ms. Na Eun-sung would be very uncomfortable if she met someone like me.”

“I don’t think that,”

“I want Ms. Na Eun-sung to continue to be active in her work in the future. And I want that work to be successful. But, in many ways, it will be difficult for me to be of help to Ms. Na Eun-sung.”

Na Eun-sung, who had been persistently following me with her eyes, soon dropped her head.

“You sound like an adult who is more than ten years older than me.”

And she said with a sigh.

I was trying to finish the conversation appropriately, but I stopped and looked at her.

What is she talking about now?

There is more than twenty years, no, now it’s 2008, so there is more than ten years age difference between me and her.

“Ms. Na Eun-sung.”

“Yes?”

“How old do you think I am?”

“Around late twenties…”

This time I couldn’t hold back my sigh.

Did she ask me to date her because she saw me as the same age?

In fact, the reason I thought Na Eun-sung might have feelings for me but dismissed it was because of the large age gap between her and me.

But it was a misunderstanding.

It doesn’t mean she was trying to make me a thief.

“Ms. Na Eun-sung. I’m thirty-four.”

“…Yes?”

“You misunderstood.”

“That’s a lie!”

Na Eun-sung shouted, jumping up as if she couldn’t believe it.

“Even if you don’t want to meet me, you don’t have to lie like that. How can a lawyer be thirty-four years old? Anyone can see that you are a handsome man in his twenties! I, I just came out thinking that it was okay if you rejected me, but I didn’t know you would lie like this…”

Na Eun-sung looked more hurt than when I rejected her.

It was time for a quick explanation.

I took out my ID from my wallet without hesitation and showed it to her.

“I have experience as a prosecutor and I have served in the military, so I can’t be in my late twenties.”

“Now that you mention it, and 750617… it’s real…”

“It’s real.”

“Lawyer, I don’t care about age, if it’s because of that,”

“Ms. Na Eun-sung. I told you other reasons earlier.”

“Ah, you did…”

Na Eun-sung calmed down and sat back down.

Now that she had calmed down, she seemed embarrassed and didn’t even glance at me anymore.

I’m afraid she might start crying.

“Ms. Na Eun-sung.”

“…”

“As the lawyer who was in charge of Ms. Na Eun-sung’s case, I want my client to do well in the future.”

She didn’t answer for a long time.

But soon, she raised her head and answered brightly.

“I know what you mean. I’m sorry for acting like a mess.”

“It’s okay.”

“And… I got a good environment thanks to you, Lawyer, so I’m going to work hard. In fact, I’ve been writing a new work for a while now.”

“Is that so? You should rest a little more.”

Na Eun-sung shook her head.

“I haven’t been able to write for a long time, so I have to write hard again now. I’ve decided on the title. I’ve also decided on a pen name.”

“Are you using a new pen name?”

“I’m going to write again, but I don’t think I’ll be able to write scenarios for a while. I’m going to write a novel.”

“Still, Ms. Na Eun-sung has become famous, so it would be good to use your real name.”

“No. I want to be famous for my skills rather than becoming famous like that.”

It was a healthy way of thinking.

The reason I put her as a co-author was because I wanted to serve as her previous work if she wanted to work as a writer.

But since she had brought a storm-like issue to the drama world, it was better to stay away from the drama side for a while.

I was in a position to take advantage of it anyway, because it was obvious that her identity would be revealed whether she put her name on it or not.

“That’s a good idea.”

“I’ve decided on the title, would you like to hear if it’s okay?”

“Sure.”

“It’s .”

Each Other’s Way.

As I repeated the title, I suddenly remembered something that remained in my memory from my previous life.

It was the drama that my ex-wife liked the most.

A huge hit drama with viewership ratings close to 40%.

I remember my ex-wife even bought the novel because the original was a novel.

That’s Na Eun-sung’s work.

“It will be successful.”

“I hope so.”

“It will be.”

Very, really successful.

* * *

I went to see my parents over the weekend.

The results of the health checkups that both of them had a few months ago showed that there were no abnormalities, so I was able to visit them without much worry.

Above all, the fact that I lied that I was working at Taekwang was exposed by my father, who likes newspapers and news.

Still, seeing that they pretended not to know until I visited them again like this, they didn’t seem to dislike it.

I looked for a house for them to move into in my spare time, and this weekend I took them to see the house.

It was a small apartment in my father’s hometown, and it was suitable for the two of them to live in, and my mother liked it very much, so I immediately completed the sales contract.

I still remember my father’s face as he shook his hand, saying that he could have a bigger house.

‘Changing the flow is ultimately like this.’

The happiness of being able to see my deceased father again.

The happiness of being able to talk to my mother again, who was left alone and sick before she passed away.

I reminded myself once again that all that happiness came from changing the future.

‘If I don’t get a new job soon, should I proceed with pro bono [legal work undertaken without charge, especially for a client on low income]?’

I thought as I took out the mail from the mailbox on the way to the office.

When I arrived at the office, Kang Min-jae had already come out and opened the door.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning.”

“What is that?”

Kang Min-jae came up to me, looking at the white envelope in my hand.

I hadn’t checked it yet because I was lost in thought.

I lifted it up.

“It looks like a fine notice?”

I tore open the envelope and unfolded the paper.

Violation Date: X, 2008

Violation Location: OO Intersection

Violation Details: Violation of Traffic Separation (limited to crossing the center line)

“Oh, illegal U-turn! When did you make an illegal U-turn again?”

I sighed.

It was the day I received a call that Yoo Jung-won had barged into Na Eun-sung’s house.

“Now, Lawyer, you’re also disqualified from being an FM robot [a person who strictly follows rules and regulations].”

“I don’t know what to do with myself because I’m so grateful.”

“You’re welcome.”

Looking at Kang Min-jae, who was bowing ridiculously, I was dumbfounded and laughed in vain.

“You laughed. You just laughed, didn’t you?”

“Shut up.”

“You laughed?”

“Go do some work.”

“I don’t have any work.”

“Then find some.”

Suddenly, I remembered Na Eun-sung’s words that he and I worked well together.

Looking at Kang Min-jae’s back as he drooped his shoulders and returned to his seat, I thought for a moment.

Maybe Kang Min-jae and I really get along well.