You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 504

You Have Been Defended – Episode 504

Besides Kang Su-il and me, Chief Oh was the first to arrive at the hospital.

He was visibly shaken, his shirt buttoned incorrectly in his haste.

His hair was disheveled, as if he’d rushed out the moment he heard the news.

Chief Oh had already heard the gist of the story from Tae-shik while I was being transported in the helicopter, so he knew the circumstances of the accident.

However, it fell to me to explain Kang Min-jae’s condition, as he was currently undergoing surgery.

“So, the surgery… is expected to last at least two and a half more hours.”

Chief Oh checked the numbers displayed on the electronic board and sighed deeply.

After speaking with me, he approached Kang Su-il and exchanged a few words, but I didn’t pay close attention and didn’t catch what was said.

“Detective Heo said he’s currently on duty, but he’ll come to the hospital after his shift. Reporter Choi and Tae-shik are on their way from Munyeok. I believe they’ve already entered Seoul…”

“Tell Detective Heo not to come. He should have finished assessing the situation in Wooshin by now. He would have been monitoring the dump truck driver to ensure he was doing his job, and he would have seen Kang and the driver being loaded into the ambulance. If he followed the ambulance, he would have even seen them being transported by helicopter. Even if that’s not the case, others may have been discovered by the people from the House of Angels [a criminal organization] in Munyeok. If any of them were followed, they would quickly find out that Kang is having surgery here. They’ll get the information within an hour or two at the latest.”

“…You mean Wooshin shouldn’t know that the news of Kang’s accident was immediately conveyed to Detective Heo?”

“That’s right. We’re all exposed already, but Detective Heo must be protected.”

“Okay. Then I’ll contact Detective Heo separately. And Tae-shik asked me to check when it’s okay to deliver the report from the employees he sent to the Munyeok Health Center to the lawyer… He said you were too preoccupied to focus, so you told him to report after the situation is sorted out.”

“Ah, yes.”

“It seems like you’ve calmed down considerably. Should I tell him to report now?”

Kang Su-il, who had been sitting quietly in the opposite chair, spoke up at Chief Oh’s question.

“Min-jae’s surgery will be over in about two hours anyway, and things will be somewhat clearer by then. Wouldn’t it be better for Tae-shik to rest until then and report to Attorney Cha later? Unless Attorney Cha needs to respond directly.”

Because I had been so agitated and rambling to Kang Su-il, he seemed to think I was in a fragile state.

And he wasn’t wrong.

My head is so full of tangled information and emotions that I’m not confident I can properly process a report right now.

Of course, I need to know the situation on Son Jeong-min’s side.

But now it’s almost certain that Son Jeong-min was bait to lure me out, and from their perspective, they’ve succeeded in their trickery, so they won’t move rashly.

Besides, if they found Son Jeong-min at the scene, Tae-shik’s employees would have somehow followed him to see where he was going. And if they didn’t find him, they would be thoroughly searching Munyeok for traces of Son Jeong-min.

So, if they are following Son Jeong-min, they will receive instructions from Tae-shik, and if Tae-shik can’t come up with an answer himself, he will seek opinions from Choi Jong-hyun and Jo Bong-joon.

Conversely, if they searched but couldn’t find any trace of Son Jeong-min, then that’s it; there’s nothing more we can do here.

I could ask Heo Min-woo for help, but Munyeok is not his jurisdiction, so the chances of getting the desired result are very low.

There may be someone who can control the situation even if it’s not me, or it may already be out of my hands.

“Hah, hah, huh, Min-jae, what happened to Min-jae?!”

Suddenly, Jo Bong-joon’s voice echoed in the quiet hallway.

I turned my head towards the sound, and Choi Jong-hyun and Jo Bong-joon were running towards us, panting.

Their faces were pale, and as soon as they arrived, they checked the electronic board in front of the operating room.

“It’s been 2 hours and 48 minutes since the surgery started? How’s Min-jae? Is Min-jae okay? Is he badly hurt? They said he had a brain hemorrhage. Huh? They said he’s okay, right?”

Jo Bong-joon grabbed my shoulder, took a breath, and asked.

Then Chief Oh glanced at me and Kang Su-il for a moment, then took the two of them aside and began to explain the situation.

“What? No, wait a minute. More than 60%?”

I could hear their voices of astonishment from time to time, but I had nothing to say.

In fact, I was careful even to utter a single word.

Kang Su-il easily noticed my agitation, even though he hadn’t known me for long.

His perception may be good, but it also means that I’m not controlling myself as much as I should be.

I scolded Kang Min-jae for not being able to shake off his guilt in front of everyone.

If they knew that I was just like Kang Min-jae, or even worse, it would only add to their worries.

Above all, if they saw me wavering, everyone would become anxious.

It’s enough that I revealed my inner thoughts to Kang Su-il.

“Oh, Min-jae…”

Whether the explanation was over or not, Choi Jong-hyun collapsed to the floor as if his legs had given way.

Now the surgery time has exceeded 3 hours.

In about two hours, we will know more details about Kang Min-jae’s condition.

“…”

Jo Bong-joon and Choi Jong-hyun uttered ‘What should we do?’ like an exclamation, then soon fell silent.

It seemed to take them that long for reality to sink in.

There were five people in front of the operating room, but no one opened their mouths.

Everyone was staring at the electronic board with pale faces like corpses.

“But aren’t you all tired? You must have been busy moving around since morning. I’ll stay here, so why don’t you go and have a meal? There’s more than enough time to eat since there’s over an hour left anyway.”

It was Kang Su-il who broke the silence again.

Come to think of it, I realized I hadn’t eaten anything today.

But surprisingly, I hadn’t felt hungry even once.

“I’m fine.”

Even if I did eat, I would definitely get indigestion in my current state.

And that’s probably what everyone else is thinking too.

But Kang Su-il winked at the others.

It was as if he was telling them to take me and get me something to eat.

“Don’t wink. I’ll get indigestion even if I eat now.”

“…I was caught.”

Kang Su-il smiled wryly.

I know he’s not really in the mood to worry about me right now.

He couldn’t focus solely on Kang Kwan-woong even when Kang Kwan-woong had an accident.

He was busy taking care of Kang Min-jae as well.

At that time, I was so concerned about Kang Min-jae that I didn’t pay much attention to Kang Su-il, but now I noticed him.

I realized that I shouldn’t let Kang Su-il take care of me too.

“It’s hard to eat, but I think I can drink something. I think there was a cafe on the first floor here…”

“Are you going to drink coffee? On an empty stomach.”

“I’ll drink something that’s moderately filling instead of coffee.”

“Okay. Go and come back.”

“Aren’t you two going together too?”

Chief Oh asked as Jo Bong-joon waved his hand.

“We’re okay because we ate breakfast. And I don’t think I can eat anything right now…”

“Still, you two went all the way to Munyeok. You must be tired from running around, so take a break even if it’s just for a moment. And it’s not good to leave the lawyer alone.”

“Well, I guess so. Then we’ll go and come back, so please call us right away if there’s any news about Min-jae.”

We left Chief Oh and Kang Su-il in front of the operating room and headed to the elevator.

It’s not like liquids don’t cause indigestion, but I knew that Kang Su-il and Chief Oh were both worried, so I didn’t want to insist on staying just to suit my own feelings.

When we arrived at the cafe, we ordered a *misutgaru* [a traditional Korean grain powder drink] called multigrain latte, following Choi Jong-hyun’s suggestion that it was the only thing we could drink as a meal replacement.

After the drinks came out and we took a seat at the table, we fell silent as if we had planned it.

I thought they would pour out the worries that they couldn’t bring themselves to say in front of Kang Su-il, but surprisingly, they didn’t say anything.

I fixed my gaze on the straw piercing the multigrain latte and didn’t move.

I didn’t try to organize the thoughts floating in my head.

I let them come as they came, and let them flow as they flowed.

“Attorney Cha, drink some.”

Choi Jong-hyun lifted the cup and brought it in front of me.

Because of that, my gaze, which had been fixed on the end of the straw, scattered and I was quickly sucked back into reality.

I put my lips to the straw and pretended to drink a little.

“When Min-jae wakes up, I’m going to tell him that Attorney Cha couldn’t even swallow liquids because he was so worried about Min-jae. He’ll be so happy. Right?”

“But I don’t think he’ll be happy. Because he’ll say that he’s glad you’re worried about him, but it breaks his heart that you couldn’t eat anything.”

“Ah, that’s right. I’ve only seen Min-jae sporadically. But he’ll only be like that in the beginning, and then he’ll get excited and keep talking about it.”

Perhaps recalling Kang Min-jae’s ridiculous appearance, smiles gradually spread across their faces.

They looked at me mischievously and began to tease me, though not really.

“Attorney Cha, if you don’t want to be teased when Min-jae wakes up later, drink it quickly. It won’t end with being teased for a year. It’ll be a lifetime of teasing.”

“That’s right. We’ll milk it for the rest of our lives. Later, if Attorney Cha scolds him or threatens to fire him, he’ll say he’s just saying empty words since you couldn’t eat anything when he was sick, right?”

“Attorney Cha can’t stand seeing that again. Don’t give Kang Min-jae a weakness and drink it quickly. Then we’ll keep it a secret from Min-jae.”

“…I wish that would happen.”

“Huh?”

“I wish Attorney Kang would wake up and tease me, and be cheeky.”

Whether he teases me, sings loudly in the shower, insists on living in my house forever, insists on sleeping in my room, eats snacks on my sofa while dropping crumbs, makes my house dusty, or makes noise from morning, I just want him to wake up as if nothing had happened.

I want him to appear exactly as he was when I last saw him last night, not even an inch different.