You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 509

You Have Been Defended – Episode 509 (509/641)

Today, as I prepared to move Kang Min-jae to a regular hospital room, I decided to bring him a book to read when he was bored.

Of course, he might not be in a state to read right now, but he will likely have to be hospitalized for quite a long time.

Reading seemed like one of the few ways to spend that meaningless time in a somewhat meaningful way.

As I went through the bookshelf one by one, wondering if there was a book I could recommend to Kang Min-jae, my gaze stopped at the end of the middle row.

In that corner, there was a book made in an unusually exposed binding format.

It was a catalogue I had purchased at an exhibition a long time ago.

Since I started digging into Wooshin in earnest, I hadn’t had the leisure to pay attention to such cultural activities, so at some point, I had forgotten about the existence of that book.

After opening the long-neglected, dust-covered book, a chunk of the inner pages bound by thread fell to the floor, probably because it had been neglected for too long.

“…….”

At that moment, surprisingly, I felt betrayed.

The advantage of exposed binding, or saddle stitching [a bookbinding method where pages are sewn together through the spine], is that it is stronger than commonly used perfect binding because the inner pages are sewn together with thread and then glued, right?

Saddle stitching cannot have the spine designed unless a hardcover is attached to make it case-bound, so you can’t check the title when it’s on the bookshelf.

The reason why the author deliberately chose saddle stitching, even while putting up with such disadvantages, was probably to reduce the inconvenience of case binding while covering the instability of perfect binding.

And since saddle-stitched books are rare anyway, even without a spine, you can tell what this book is.

So, I thought it had something special.

That’s why when I first saw this catalogue, I bought it, thinking that my second life was like this saddle-stitched book, even though I wasn’t interested in the catalogue.

It only has advantages, doesn’t it?

I excluded the failure factors from my previous life and only took the advantages.

I even gained the ability to distinguish between truth and falsehood, which anyone would covet.

Of course, there was a minor disadvantage that I had to live a life I had already lived once and had a secret to hide from everyone, but I thought the advantages were enough to cover it.

But now, that special saddle-stitched book has been torn apart.

In the end, it can’t perform its most important function as a book.

Of course, I can get the catalogue again, and if I can’t, I can glue it back together.

But I was doing some trivial self-projection, thinking that this book was like my life, and then the book broke.

Even my life was worse than a book.

You can get a book again, and you can glue it back together, but not my life.

Even if I die again, I don’t know if a third life will come to me.

I felt like I had been scammed.

I think I saw with my own eyes that this special life, which I thought had only advantages, could actually fail like any other ordinary life.

Of course, I thought a lot.

In the time I spent worrying about whether this life was real or fake, there was also time to consider whether it was a blessing or not.

However, since thinking about it was meaningless once I had already started this life, I stubbornly denied it, saying, ‘It’s real, and it’s a blessing,’ and have been holding on until now.

If I kept thinking about it, I might get closer to the essence, but I was afraid that I would see a monster, so I stopped thinking and kept myself busy, rolling around.

Come to think of it, I once said something pretentious, telling the media not to distort the truth, even if it was monstrous…….

It seemed that I had developed a strange habit of telling others to do what I couldn’t do myself.

“……Ha.”

Once I realized it, I let out a hollow laugh.

Of course, if I only look at the goal of catching Wooshin, it’s too early to say that I’ve been scammed this time.

That’s because I’m definitely tightening the noose around Wooshin faster and more effectively than in my previous life.

I prevented the people I wanted to protect in my previous life from dying, so that’s definitely not a scam either.

The problem is that a new situation has arisen where I can’t protect the people I have to protect in this life.

In that sense, I feel like I’ve been scammed, but strictly speaking, it’s not a scam.

I was told that I would be able to protect the people I wanted to protect in my previous life, but I wasn’t told that I would keep the people added to this life safe as well.

That’s why you have to read the contract carefully.

‘Or is it? No one ever told me that.’

To be a little more honest, no one has ever said that.

I’ve just been living thinking that way on my own.

I now realize that the person who gave me my second life never established this life as a reward for my unhappy life.

So, in the end, I was scammed by my own stupidity.

“Lawyer Cha, are you still far?”

At that time, Tae-shik peeked his head through the study door and asked.

“No, I’m pretty much done.”

I put that stupid catalogue back on the bookshelf and went outside.

Tae-shik had already packed all of Kang Min-jae’s belongings from his room and was holding a bag.

“No, why do you look so bad again when Kang is going to a regular hospital room today? Can’t you be a little better today? No, you were fine this morning?”

“What’s wrong with my expression?”

“You look like you’ve been scammed.”

Tae-shik chuckled as he said that.

But I had nothing to say because he hit the nail on the head.

* * *

I arrived at the hospital in Tae-shik’s car.

As it is one of the largest hospitals in Korea, it was naturally crowded.

While having idle thoughts like, ‘Are there so many sick people in the world?’ I headed towards the elevator when suddenly my heart started beating fast.

I habitually touched my chest.

“What’s wrong? Is your heart beating fast? Are you having trouble breathing?”

Tae-shik was so surprised that he didn’t know what to do.

He seemed worried that I would have a seizure.

My heart is beating faster than usual, and I feel like I can hear my heartbeat in my ears, but it doesn’t feel like it will lead to a seizure.

Just in case, I’m repeating the thought of enduring for 20 minutes if I have a seizure.

“I’m okay. Let’s go.”

“What is it? Why is that? What’s causing it? Did someone chase us? I didn’t see anyone. Could we have been followed? But you said it was only a matter of time before Kang’s hospitalization was known anyway. And it’s not strange for you to visit Kang’s hospital room. It’s naturally inferable…….”

“No, it’s not because of that, so just be quiet and wait for the elevator.”

To be honest, I think I know why I’m like this.

It’s because there are so many people.

My surface consciousness was ‘Are there so many sick people in the world?’ but my subconsciousness clearly flowed to ‘I’m uneasy because there are so many people.’

Even if it’s just my subconsciousness, I don’t understand why it’s flowing so extremely, but if I had to guess, it’s probably because I’m afraid that someone sent by Onodera will suddenly pop out of the crowd and kill me.

I’m wearing this damn bulletproof and stab-proof vest to prepare for that, but I don’t know why I’m so anxious as someone who is governed by surface consciousness.

But with this, I clearly sensed it.

I was scammed by my own stupidity, and as a result, Kang Min-jae went to the brink of death.

I confirmed that he had returned safely, but I will now try to prepare for the threats lurking everywhere more sensitively and paranoidly than before.

Even if I don’t want to.

“The medicine?”

“I always carry it with me, so I’m okay, and I’ll take it if it doesn’t subside. Okay?”

“……Yes. Still, it’s a relief that this is a hospital. If something happens to you, you can get treatment right away.”

It sounded like a joke, but it’s true.

The elevator arrived, and I got into the crowded elevator.

Tae-shik pushed me into the corner and stood like a fence to prevent me from contacting other people, probably because he thought I would feel threatened by assassination.

It was a thoughtful gesture in its own way, and I was glad that I didn’t have claustrophobia.

“Lawyer Cha!”

When I opened the hospital room door, Choi Jong-hyun, Jo Bong-joon, and Manager Oh had already arrived.

They must have brought a lot of things with them, as Kang Min-jae’s bed was full of fruit baskets and snacks.

“What did Tae-shik bring so much of?”

“I brought some things from home in case Kang might need them. Lawyer Cha went into the study to lend Kang a book and then just came out. Only Lawyer Cha came empty-handed.”

“Oh, I want to read the book that Lawyer Cha read. Why? Did you not bring it because I’m stupid and wouldn’t understand the book you like?”

Kang Min-jae said playfully.

“That’s not it, but I didn’t have time. I’ll bring it next time.”

“But Min-jae seems to be talking well and full of energy. I thought he would feel very weak.”

“I know. I was surprised that Min-jae looked so healthy, considering that Lawyer Cha was trembling so much. Tell me honestly. You’re not sick, are you?”

“But not so……. It doesn’t seem that bad. Just, well, the degree of pain after surgery? I wondered if everyone was making a fuss over nothing, so I looked up subdural hemorrhage [bleeding between the brain and its outer covering] and there were a lot of scary things.”

“It’s really amazing that there are no aftereffects. It’s not just amazing, it’s almost a miracle, isn’t it? You were unconscious until you were put on the helicopter.”

“I know. I guess I’m surprisingly tough. And I wonder if there’s a god?”

“Why? Did you say hello to King Yama [the judge of the dead in some Eastern religions] while you were unconscious?”

“No, that’s not it……. The doctors, Dong-jin hyung, and the nurses all said that it’s not strange to say that healing without any minor aftereffects is a miracle. So, I thought, maybe I received God’s blessing? I’m too pitiful to die like this. Okay, let’s take down Go Sang-joon and die. With that kind of feeling.”

Kang Min-jae smiled.

God’s blessing.

I really wish there was such a thing.

If that god made me start my second life and threw Kang Min-jae, who wasn’t important to me in my previous life, next to me with this much volume, then he should definitely give me a blessing.

Kang Min-jae has done nothing wrong, but he happened to like me in this life, so he had to go through this.

If Kang Min-jae had any aftereffects, I might have started the counseling that I had been refusing on my own.

“Are you sure there are no aftereffects?”

I moved a little closer to Kang Min-jae.

And I decided to do some tests focusing on the aftereffects that are common in subdural hemorrhage patients.

I first spread two fingers in front of his eyes and shook them quickly.

“How many is this?”

“……What is this, I’m not a kid.”

Why doesn’t he answer?

Double vision is quite common in patients with cerebral hemorrhage.

Is he avoiding answering?

Is he trying to hide the aftereffects from me?

“How many is it?”

“Two.”

“Cover one eye and do it again. How many is this?”

“Three. This time, one. Ah, I really don’t have any aftereffects!”

“Then move your fingers now.”

Kang Min-jae laughed and started moving his fingers wildly.

Then he folded all the fingers except the middle finger.

“That bastard starts cursing at his hyung [older brother or male friend] as soon as he wakes up.”

“Ah, mistake. I guess I’m not fully recovered yet.”

“I let you off because you’re a patient.”

“But why doesn’t my middle finger fold?”

Then Kang Min-jae shook his hand with his middle finger raised.

“Seeing him joking like that, he’s all better. I don’t have to worry.”

“I know.”

“Ah, why? Worry about me. I’m a patient. I’m sick……. Ouch, it hurts so much.”

“He’s terrible at pretending to be sick. He’s the kind of guy who would fail every time he tried to fake illness and leave school early.”

“Would he have tried to fake illness and leave school early? He graduated from Seoul National University Law School. He must have been the top student in the school.”

“I wasn’t number one, I was around number two or three.”

“That’s the same thing. You’re annoying, really.”

“Hyung, you graduated from a prestigious university too.”

“That’s right. You know? Our school has a high rate of students going to Seoul National University. Everyone registers and then transfers to Seoul National University. Well, everyone here is from Seoul National University, so you wouldn’t know how I feel. I’ve never been inferior to anyone in terms of education.”

“Were there not many Seoul National University graduates in the securities firm where Bong-joon hyung used to work?”

“There were. There were, you brat. There were! Come to think of it, Jong-hyun hyung is also from Seoul National University. You top and second/third place students. I guess I’m destined to be surrounded by Seoul National University graduates for the rest of my life. Tae-shik, you’re the only comfort for my heart.”

“What are you talking about? Hyung, you graduated from college. Why are you suddenly bothering someone who’s just standing still? I’m a middle school graduate.”

“Hehehe, ah, sorry.”

“You don’t look sorry at all.”

Having confirmed that Kang Min-jae was all better, they laughed and talked as usual.

I also tried to force the corners of my mouth up to avoid ruining the atmosphere, but it didn’t work out as I wanted.