You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 523

I connected the laptop to the monitor in the hospital room.

Then, I brought up the presentation materials I had prepared.

“First, let’s start with the big picture. As you all know, Onodera’s grandson’s surgery will be performed at Okashima Hospital, with Im Hyun-il as the surgeon. Therefore, So-eun and Im Hyun-il will be heading to the airport to leave the country. Of course, they won’t be traveling together. Im Hyun-il will probably clear his schedule under the pretext of attending a conference or taking a vacation to his hometown.”

“We can check that on the hospital website.”

“But right now, Im Hyun-il has outpatient appointments every Monday morning and Thursday afternoon. Japan is a nearby country, and he could easily go for just the surgery and come back, so he might leave on Monday afternoon and return on Thursday morning. It would be difficult to confirm on the website. That’s why Hyun-beom’s team is monitoring Im Hyun-il.”

“Onodera’s grandson is a VIP to those guys, no… a VVVIP [Very Very Important Person]. From the moment he steps into the hospital until he leaves, they’ll be bending over backward to make sure there’s nothing to criticize, treating him like royalty. Im Hyun-il probably won’t just go and do the surgery. He’ll greet the parents, suck up to them, and check the kid’s condition himself, right? I don’t think 3 nights and 4 days will be enough.”

Choi Jong-hyun is right.

That’s why we’re also considering that Im Hyun-il might take a fairly long business trip.

However, when we checked the website, there were no gaps in Im Hyun-il’s outpatient schedule for the next three months.

He’ll probably be at the hospital for surgery even on days when he doesn’t have outpatient appointments, so even if he goes for a 3-night, 4-day trip, he’ll take a vacation, but we have no way of knowing when that will be.

Well, Im Hyun-il will be caring for Onodera’s grandson in the long term, so he’ll be going out more than once. If we really want to find out, there will be a way, but….

This isn’t very important.

We’re going to stop the surgery itself, and Im Hyun-il won’t even set foot in Japan.

“We don’t know if So-eun will leave first or Im Hyun-il will leave first. So, we need to divide the cases and prepare for them.”

I moved to the next slide.

“The first case is when So-eun moves first. The House of Angels kicked out the college students, but they must know that this will make us suspicious. So, So-eun and the people taking her out of the country will all be using forged passports.”

“Except for old cases like Kim Mi-ja, haven’t there been no cases of using forged passports?”

“If there’s a record of departure, it could cause problems later, so they might use it this time.”

Besides, in my previous life, forged passports were used in the Yerim case, which led to Heo Min-woo’s murder.

It is presumed that forged passports are used when they are not officially sending them to study abroad.

All the cases we’ve identified so far have involved going under the guise of studying abroad, so we haven’t encountered any cases of using forged passports yet.

“Especially since So-eun is scheduled to die in Japan according to their plan, they will definitely use a forged passport. So, if it is confirmed that So-eun is moving towards the airport, we will share it with Inspector Heo immediately. Then, they can be arrested for forging official documents before they leave the country.”

“Hmm, so Inspector Heo will request cooperation and strengthen the inspection, right?”

“That’s right. In addition, we can specifically inspect them by saying that we received a tip that someone is trying to leave the country using a forged passport. But that alone may not be enough.”

“Right. There’s no guarantee they’ll use a forged passport.”

“That’s right. So, in case of an emergency, we are considering officially handing over the data we have to Inspector Heo and having the police protect So-eun.”

Kang Min-jae nodded slowly at my words.

“You mean that instead of just sharing it among ourselves, we will officially report it to the police through Inspector Heo?”

“Right. We need to make it look like Inspector Heo didn’t know so that there won’t be any problems within the police later due to procedural issues. Inspector Heo can say that he moved based on a tip from a reliable source. Choi, the reporter, will play the role of the reliable informant.”

In fact, Heo Min-woo said he didn’t care if he got into trouble because of this.

However, he shared data with us that he could only access as a police officer, and since this is illegal, there could be a backlash against us if that fact is revealed.

To prevent all these problems in advance, we must treat it as if Heo Min-woo didn’t know anything.

“And the second case is when Im Hyun-il leaves the country first. The big picture is the same in this case. It’s easier with Im Hyun-il. We can handle it as an extension of the gas explosion incident and make Im Hyun-il a subject of investigation.”

“That’s right. At first, I thought it would be okay to start with the Choi Jae-hoon case and gradually expand it to expose the organ trafficking.”

“The gas explosion incident was a case that Inspector Heo was already in charge of, and Choi Jae-hoon’s blog diary reveals that Im Hyun-il ordered the removal of organs from a healthy person. Also, there was the testimony of Jung Ji-min, who was in a relationship with Choi Jae-hoon. Even if there is an argument that the diary cannot be fully trusted, we have confirmed that Im Hyun-il and Choi Jae-hoon went to Ribbon Medical Center as described in the diary. The credibility of the diary is sufficiently proven.”

“That’s right. It would be much easier to target Im Hyun-il. Then we don’t have to hand over all the data.”

Jo Bong-joon is right.

If we have to hand over the data because we can’t just stop So-eun from leaving the country with a forged passport, we have to report the key evidence that the House of Angels is engaged in human trafficking.

We’ll only hand over enough to stop the departure, but it’s like exposing a big card, so I hope it doesn’t come to that.

“I am in charge of the Choi Jae-hoon case alone, so it has not yet been officially shared within the team. But if Im Hyun-il tries to leave the country, I will immediately share it with the team and stop him from leaving the country. In particular, Im Hyun-il has a high risk of destroying evidence and fleeing, so he can be arrested.”

“If he’s banned from leaving the country, is that just a temporary block?”

“That’s right.”

“I see, it’s hard to ban him from leaving the country because he’s a foreigner.”

“Yes. That’s also true, but it’s not irrefutable evidence, and he’s just a suspect based on several circumstantial pieces of evidence, so it won’t be banned. He’s a person involved in the illegal medical institution, Ribbon Medical Center, and he ordered Choi Jae-hoon to remove organs from a living person… Well, we have to tie him up by presenting only those things. It’s better to keep the wiretapped audio, right?”

“Right. It’s the most sensational thing. We should release it last.”

“But this is just in case, what if we don’t catch Im Hyun-il going to the airport? In that case, it might be better to arrest and detain Im Hyun-il early on.”

I had considered the method Jo Bong-joon mentioned.

But I ruled it out because it would buy time for Woo-shin.

I don’t know when the surgery will be, but it seems like there’s still time left.

But if we arrest Im Hyun-il now, Woo-shin will find another breakthrough.

No matter how famous Im Hyun-il is, if that happens, they can abandon Im Hyun-il and just find a doctor to perform the heart transplant.

Even if they don’t, Shingaku Medical University is famous for heart transplants, so they can find a substitute in Japan.

Perhaps they will use Im Hyun-il as bait to draw attention to that side, and then quickly perform the surgery.

Listening to the wiretapped content, Onodera was about to slap Go Sang-joon’s cheek if he was blocked one more time.

“It’s different to screw things up in the early stages of the plan versus screwing things up when only the execution is left. If it’s in the early stages of the plan, you can revise it and come up with another plan, but if it’s just the execution left, it’s burdensome to create a new plan and it takes a long time. Besides, they’ll be confused at first, and we need to seize that timing to hit Woo-shin hard. And aren’t Tae-sik’s guys experts at tailing [following someone discreetly]? They’ve never missed before.”

“That’s right. Hyung [older brother or respected male figure] is right.”

The moment Im Hyun-il’s corruption is revealed to the world, Woo-shin will quickly realize how much we’ve figured out.

They will monitor us more intensely, and naturally, it will become more difficult for us to monitor them.

It’s a waste to blow it up early.

“This is what I and Inspector Heo have discussed. Anyway, the police won’t be able to conduct a public investigation as soon as they catch Im Hyun-il. Even if we give them the data, it will take time to figure it out. So, before the police hold an official briefing, Reporter Choi and Jo Bong-joon need to quickly release additional information to stir up public opinion, before Woo-shin uses his influence to downsize the case.”

“That’s right. Well, I’ve already prepared a lot, so I’m not too worried. But I still need to write a scenario. How to effectively keep the hot potato from cooling down.”

“That’s right. And for the same reason, Inspector Heo needs to gather reliable colleagues who can handle the case within the police without leaking information to Woo-shin’s side. We’re going to turn on the broadcast early to prevent the police from covering up the case, but the police are still the ones investigating.”

Heo Min-woo nodded.

“I’ve been thinking about some people. I’ve been narrowing it down since we first started working together.”

“Then can you tell us who you’re thinking of? Of course, it’s not that I don’t trust Inspector Heo’s judgment, but the reputation within the police and the reputation among reporters like us are completely different. I’ll look into it too.”

“Ah, yes! Of course, I was going to talk to you about it. Then I’ll go home, organize my thoughts, and send you the list.”

“Good. That’s settled. Then Bong-joon and I become important from then on.”

Jo Bong-joon said, stroking his chin.

From the time he brought up the ICIJ [International Consortium of Investigative Journalists] membership story until now, Choi Jong-hyun and Jo Bong-joon had been preparing to start broadcasting again.

They decided to move the broadcasting platform and revamp the studio.

They are also making preparations to function as a media outlet, not just a broadcast of chatting uncles.

“Oh, now that I think about it, I don’t remember how much of the presentation material Jung-woo made has been shared. I’m busy working on the subtitles for the wiretapped audio right now…”

“I think it went as far as comparing how similar RND and KDL Company are.”

“Oh, right. I haven’t sent that yet because it’s incomplete, so take a look and see if it’s okay.”

Choi Jong-hyun opened his laptop and turned on the internet.

“Heok!”

Then, he suddenly let out a strange exclamation and pulled the laptop right up to his face.

Everyone’s attention was focused on his strange behavior.

“Hyung, what’s wrong?”

“I got a reply from ICIJ.”

“Huh? ICIJ? What did they say? Get lost? No? Dream on? You’re not needed?”

“Do you want to die?”

“Ah, what is it? What did they say!”

As Jo Bong-joon fidgeted, Choi Jong-hyun smiled and said.

“They said they are very pleased that a wonderful journalist like me will be joining ICIJ, and that my activities so far are in line with their goals. They want to have a video interview to discuss the details and decide whether to join.”

“Oh, judging by what they’re saying, it seems like it’ll be okay as long as you don’t mess up the interview? They’ll do it in English, right? Are you confident, Hyung?”

“Hey, I got a TOEFL [Test of English as a Foreign Language] score of 109. I’m a high scorer.”

I think I can already hear the list of nominee accounts in the British Virgin Islands coming to me. Am I hallucinating because I’m so happy?