You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 521

You Have Been Defended – Episode 521 (521/641)

“Didn’t I say I wanted to talk to the club president?”

As soon as I arrived in front of the administration office, the director opened the door and came out.

It was such a quick reaction that I wondered if she had been watching.

The director’s tone and non-verbal expressions were hostile.

Among them, crossing her arms was particularly defensive, which made it seem like she was still blaming Kim Hyun-jong.

“So, I rushed all the way here, but is there a reason why you can only talk to me alone?”

Given the situation, the president’s words weren’t kind either.

I didn’t think much of the director when I first came here for volunteer work and greeted her, even after hearing from Choi Jong-hyun that she wasn’t the type to make people feel comfortable.

But now I see she was worse than that.

Now that it’s been revealed that the child from the House of Angels lied and made things difficult for Kim Hyun-jong, I couldn’t understand why she was so confident and acting like this.

“I wanted to talk to the president because I thought it was something to discuss with the person in charge. Didn’t I already say I have nothing more to say to Kim Hyun-jong? Don’t you remember, Kim Hyun-jong?”

“It’s an issue we can’t discuss without the person involved. And this friend next to Hyun-jong is the representative of the House of Angels volunteer team. Even though I’m the club president, this friend knows the situation better than I do. That’s why we came together. We are all people who need to be involved in the conversation.”

“……Ha.”

The director put her hands on her hips and sighed.

“Well, it doesn’t matter. Come in.”

The three followed the director into her office, and soon after, Coordinator Kim Young-ji arrived.

Kim Hyun-jong had expected to hear an explanation from her, since she had disappeared with Sung-yoon earlier, saying she would talk to him, about why she did that.

“Does that glasses the president is wearing have a camera on it? I’m scared to talk.”

The director pointed to the president’s silver-rimmed glasses and asked.

“This isn’t a camera, and I’m not recording anything. But if you’re afraid to say something because you’re afraid of being filmed, shouldn’t you just not say it at all? If you’re going to say something so outrageous that you don’t want others to hear it, we don’t want to hear it either.”

The president spoke more firmly than ever before.

Kim Hyun-jong, who was listening, was also a little surprised.

Of course, things had never escalated this much, but the president had often argued with related parties due to minor and major troubles.

At that time, the president was always careful, worrying that it might cause disadvantages to the entire club or damage the club’s image.

“What did you say?”

“Isn’t that right? From the first time we volunteered until now, we have no qualms about all our conversations being made public to others. We have always been polite and have done our best for the children. It’s not that we were perfect. Of course, there were shortcomings. Still, we always improved when the staff at the House of Angels pointed things out.”

“……”

“But the director made all sorts of abusive remarks to our club member, saying she would report him, that he wasn’t qualified to be a teacher, and that he was stupid, without even knowing the situation for sure. And even after it was revealed that it wasn’t our club member’s fault, didn’t you refuse to apologize and kick him out?”

“Ha, of course, I feel sorry for misunderstanding. But no matter what, we must protect the child first when something like this happens. Isn’t that obvious? We are mandated reporters of child abuse. It’s natural to consider reporting if a problem arises, especially if we think it was caused by a volunteer we accepted at our facility, so we can’t help but react sensitively.”

“The director is right. If you had reacted sensitively to the level you mentioned, we wouldn’t have been upset either. But you didn’t even listen to our club member’s story properly and just started with abusive language, so no matter how I think about it, it’s hard to say that it was a reasonable response.”

“This student is quite interesting too… Haven’t you ever thought about this? Why Sung-yoon had to drive Kim Hyun-jong so hard. How can someone who is going to educate not think about the child’s psychological state? If it were me, I would have been more heartbroken than upset. I would have wondered why the child did that, and if I had done something wrong.”

This was an unexpected answer.

The president looked straight at Kim Young-ji and asked.

“Did Sung-yoon say that?”

Then, Kim Young-ji glanced at the director with a flustered look, but soon realized what she had to say and answered firmly.

“He didn’t say that, but I think the director’s words make sense. If a child who never had these problems suddenly shows erratic behavior, it’s not right to only look for the problem within Sung-yoon.”

Kim Young-ji said the same thing.

Come to think of it, the director had specifically called her as soon as the incident happened.

There must have been a reason.

“Even though Sung-yoon is a minor, he’s 18 years old. The fact that a child who wasn’t like that before even lied to make Kim Hyun-jong be misunderstood means that, although I can’t say for sure, there must have been a strong desire to be separated from Kim Hyun-jong, right?”

“Director, you’re talking as if Hyun-jong has been emotionally abusing Sung-yoon all along…”

The team leader, who had been listening to the story quietly, opened his mouth, but the director didn’t listen to the end and said what she had to say.

“We can’t know that. Sung-yoon has been silent, and I think it will take time for him to tell the truth. Anyway, we need to consider whether Kim Hyun-jong has been emotionally abusing Sung-yoon on a regular basis. Of course, I hope not, but can you say for sure that there’s no possibility?”

“Director, I have never done that. You’re speaking based on speculation, and if you suspect that there was a problematic statement, please gather the other students and ask them. At the very least, ask if any of the children heard Sung-yoon say that I made him feel bad.”

“That’s our business. Anyway, I understand that Kim Hyun-jong didn’t commit violence today. But for whatever reason, there is a problem with our student, and as guardians, we must separate the student and Kim Hyun-jong until we feel safe. But we can’t send Sung-yoon out to separate them. Of course, the only option is for the volunteers, who are outsiders, to stop coming. Isn’t that right?”

Now, even the president was fed up with the director’s attitude.

No matter what she said, she always implied that there was a problem with Kim Hyun-jong, so there was no way to insist on continuing to volunteer here.

In the first place, it wasn’t volunteer work.

The House of Angels wasn’t paying them, and the entire team had started this with good intentions, taking time out of their schedules.

Since Kim Hyun-jong was so concerned, they could have suggested continuing the volunteer work without him, but there was no reason to come here while being treated like this.

Besides, she seemed sensitive about the matter of asking about Son Jung-min’s whereabouts, so she didn’t want to be misunderstood unnecessarily.

She had tried because of Choi Jong-hyun’s sponsorship and request, but the children in educational blind spots weren’t only in the House of Angels.

With the club’s reputation tarnished, she had no desire to stay here even if Choi Jong-hyun cut off his sponsorship because of this.

“I understand what you mean. We will no longer come to the House of Angels. And if you claim that our club member abused a student without legal basis in the future, we will find our own way to deal with it.”

*

“Who’s talking about abuse to whom? She’s contributing to human trafficking while pretending to be an educator. Ah, this is really pissing me off. Ah! Damn it!”

Choi Jong-hyun, who was listening to the audio file, hit his chest with his fist.

Kang Min-jae, who was leaning against the hospital bed, also started laughing as if he was dumbfounded.

The others were no different.

Secretary Oh and Jo Bong-joon just let out cold laughs without saying anything.

“She must not have known when she was sneering about filming. She should have checked if we were recording, not just asking about video recording. Well, she would have said no even if she had asked.”

It is now a well-known fact that it is not illegal for a participant in a conversation to record the conversation without the other party’s consent.

“Anyway, the club president seems to want to quit because she’s so disgusted with the director of the House of Angels. She’s worried about the children, but she said she would accept any children who contact her personally. At this point, I can’t force her to stay at the House of Angels, no matter how much I’ve sponsored them, so I had no choice but to say okay.”

In fact, I think it’s fortunate that it ended like this.

According to the wiretapping file received from Kim Mi-ja, they were even considering accusing the college student of sexual harassment.

They said that sexual harassment was the best way to block his future, rather than assault.

They said that if they scared him like that, the club would definitely run away with its tail between its legs.

But Go Yoon-soo changed the direction to assault while talking to the two senile old men.

This is because if they went with sexual harassment, the House of Angels would have to report the volunteer without fail.

If things got bigger, they would inevitably have to disclose some of the internal affairs to the outside world.

Then, he said, I would give them another chance to bite.

He also said that if they only gave him a scare from behind the scenes and stopped, I would keep nagging the House of Angels, saying that they were just standing still even though a student had been sexually harassed.

Besides, if this case went to trial due to sexual issues, the volunteer would also try to fight back in some way, so it would be a headache.

As expected, Go Yoon-soo had studied me quite a bit.

He knew too well how I would react.

Anyway, therefore, it is unconditionally advantageous for the House of Angels not to escalate the situation.

In particular, since they are kicking out the college students in order to continue the long-term sale of children, they should not create anything that would attract attention.

So I was also sure that they would not report Kim Hyun-jong.

Besides, they know that I sent the college students, so they know better than anyone how dangerous it is to falsely accuse them of something that didn’t even happen.

I am an expert in deciphering the fabricated evidence and situations created by Woo-shin, no matter what anyone says.

“You did a good job. Even if I had told you to stay there and the students had done so, it’s better to back down at this point because you’ll be caught up in a big incident for no reason.”

“Ah, I’m so glad I had a camera. The club members went to the House of Angels at our request, but it was a bolt from the blue [a complete surprise]. Hyun-jong almost ruined his future. I talked to the president and she said that Hyun-jong is really kind and cares a lot about the kids…”

“Let’s maintain the club’s sponsorship a little longer for the time being. We should keep the channel open so that Kim Hyun-jong can contact us immediately if there are any strange enticements or threats.”

“I should. Ah, the club president told me to thank Attorney Cha. She couldn’t say hello because the situation was too urgent at the time. She said that Attorney Cha coached her on various things so she could finish the conversation with the director well. She sent the kids a dinner fee to cheer them up because they were feeling down.”

Listening to the recorded conversation, I thought that the president would have done well even if I hadn’t coached her in advance.

Anyway, there was an unfortunate incident, and since many of the students in the club have chosen careers in education, I need to manage them so that they don’t suffer any disadvantages.

In fact, even if the House of Angels had sued Kim Hyun-jong, I was confident that I could prove that he had done nothing wrong.

Without going far, if they had really taken legal action, the House of Angels would have prepared another stepping stone for going to the special prosecutor.

It would have been a great example of their conspiracy turning into real action.

Besides, they tried to put the blame on a volunteer who worked hard for the education and welfare of the students, so they could be branded as an ungrateful group.

Of course, if they were determined to escalate the situation, they would have constantly leaked actual child abuse cases and tried to lump them together as the same kind of people, but they weren’t the only ones who knew how to do that kind of production.

“Anyway, it’s a bit of a shame that we can’t check in real time whether children have disappeared from the House of Angels. I’m worried about whether we’ll be able to catch them right away without being late.”

“It’s okay. We’ll be able to catch them if we have surveillance personnel near the House of Angels, various entrances to Gyeonggi-do Ribbon Medical Center, and near Okashima Hospital. We’ve dragged this out for quite a while.”

It was a method that we had put on hold until the day was closer, because it was a burden for us to disperse a large number of people indefinitely in a situation where we didn’t know when the surgery would be performed.

Since Onodera called Go Yoon-soo and even made him kneel, Go Sang-joon is also speeding up the work in consideration of his relationship with Onodera.

It will be within a month at the longest.

“Well, we have the supplies, so we won’t miss them.”

“That’s right.”

“Ah, when did you say the Japanese presidential election was?”

“It’s at the end of this month, so there’s not much time left.”

Kang Min-jae answered quickly, as if he had searched for it on his phone.

“Onodera is crazy too. The presidential election means he’s busy campaigning, and it’s a time when a lot of attention is focused on him, but he’s asking for his grandson’s surgery to be done quickly… It’s common to be careful about even the smallest gestures during the election season, but these guys are hopeless. Why are there so many guys who think people are fools?”

“I guess he’s in a hurry.”

“But will Onodera be elected? If he’s elected as the president of the ruling party, the prime minister’s seat will automatically follow, so it’s practically a prime minister election. I don’t know whether I should cheer for him to be elected or not. Let’s say he becomes the prime minister. Then the top Korean conglomerate and the Japanese prime minister have done something crazy. If we make it well, it’s a problem that the whole world could rise up against. Since human trafficking is involved, the medical community and human rights groups will be in an uproar together. But on the other hand, he’s the leader of a country, so if he tries to bury it somehow, it’ll be difficult in its own way.”

To sum it up, Onodera will become the prime minister.

He’ll be doing it for quite a while too.

But no matter what he is, there’s no way he can withstand this kind of issue.

In that sense, I’d rather have Onodera elected.

I was secretly delighted when I found out that the son of the current Prime Minister Ishida was frequenting that fairy [brothel], but now the Prime Minister himself has come into my trap.

If I succeed with Onodera after Lee Jung-chan, I might become an expert in replacing future heads of government.