You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 53

You Have Been Defended – Episode 53

I spent several days searching for articles about school violence.

I was looking for patterns in similar incidents and legal precedents, but most of the articles were press releases about school violence prevention campaigns conducted by schools or local governments.

As time passed and smartphones became more widespread, students began to be exposed to unfiltered media.

As a result, students’ methods became more elaborate and cunning, and they became more violent.

Of course, back in 2018, I wasn’t a parent and wasn’t particularly interested in that area, so I didn’t look closely, but I remember clicking my tongue [expressing disapproval] when I occasionally came across articles.

I wondered if Jin-cheol’s parents had made a decision.

It had already been almost a week since then.

“Orai, orai!”

As I entered the outdoor parking lot on the first floor of the office, lost in thought, I opened the window at the sudden voice from behind.

“Oh, Mr. President.”

It was the building owner, who also owned my favorite cafe.

“Orai, orai.”

A parking assistant out of nowhere.

I parked as he directed and got out of the car.

“It’s been a while.”

“Yeah, why haven’t you been coming to the cafe lately?”

“It’s because I have a sidekick now.”

The sudden voice that cut in was Kang Min-jae’s.

He was smiling cheerfully, holding a carrier with two coffees in one hand.

“Good morning, Attorney Cha.”

“Yeah.”

“Wow, Attorney Cha. You’re doing great. That drama, that’s Attorney Cha’s case, right?”

“Yes, it is.”

“You can tell just by looking at Yeon-jun. If you meet Attorney Cha, winning the trial is a given. Hehe.”

“Of course, if you meet our attorney, you’re guaranteed to win the trial! That’s why, Mr. President… Do you happen to know anyone around you who needs help?”

It was the moment when Kang Min-jae’s salesmanship was subtly revealed again.

I crossed my arms, intending to see how far he would go.

Just yesterday, when I told him to review another pro bono [free legal service] case that had come in, he looked like he was about to die.

“Well, no. Why, are you out of work these days?”

“…Yes. At this rate, we’re going to starve to death. Is Attorney Cha just going to do free legal aid all day long, and only have me review free legal aid? If you’re going to volunteer, you should have started an NGO [Non-Governmental Organization]. You’d be very good at it.”

Kang Min-jae muttered in a dejected voice.

I couldn’t tell how much he was going to reveal.

I should cut him off at this point.

“Kang, go inside now.”

“…Mr. President, even if it’s a really, really minor case, that’s fine. Don’t you have anything like that? Huh?”

“Kang. Don’t make me say it twice.”

“Mr. President, if you think about it, there must be someone…”

“Kang. I said it three times.”

Kang Min-jae stopped talking and turned to walk towards the entrance of the building.

I nodded to the president and went into the office with him.

“Kang, are you short on money?”

“Huh? Of course not.”

Kang Min-jae laughed as if it didn’t make sense.

“If you’re not short on money, why are you so desperate for cases? It hasn’t been that long since Na Eun-sung’s case ended.”

“It hasn’t been long, but cases came in right after Kim Yeon-jun’s case, but this time it feels like there’s a bit of a gap. I wonder if we haven’t promoted ourselves enough.”

“There’s no way we haven’t promoted ourselves enough.”

I entered the office and pointed to the newspaper clippings hanging on the wall with my chin.

These were all the newspapers that Kang Min-jae had clipped and hung on the wall to show off.

He said that this way, even people who came just for a consultation would be tempted to ask for a request.

“No, how can we have so many articles and still have no clients? I’m so frustrated, Attorney.”

“Don’t you think it’s amazing that an office that hasn’t been open for a year has already had two cases of that scale?”

“So, let’s continue our third march… is that what you’re saying, I guess.”

Kang Min-jae slumped down at his desk, looking dejected.

Then, he suddenly remembered that he hadn’t given me the coffee, so he took out one of the cups in the carrier and put it on my desk.

Then he went back to his seat and sighed.

“Why don’t you wait for Tae-sik’s case?”

“You mean Jin-cheol’s case?”

When I nodded while flipping through the documents, Kang Min-jae waved his hand.

“I respect Attorney’s courage to take school violence to trial, but I’m a little worried.”

“Why, wasn’t Kang the one who was doing business right in Tae-sik’s office?”

“Oh, I didn’t know it was that kind of problem. Still, school violence is a bit…”

It was then.

The office door opened and a woman and a man came in.

Kang Min-jae, who had been running out with a delighted expression, turned to me, startled.

It was Jin-cheol’s mother and Tae-sik.

“Hello, Attorney.”

Jin-cheol’s mother greeted me, and I also got up from my seat and approached the consultation table.

Tae-sik, who had brought her, was in a serious mood, unlike before.

Moreover, he was doing his best to minimize his presence.

It was what he did when he had done something terribly wrong or made a mistake.

“Hello. Have you discussed it with Jin-cheol’s father?”

“Yesterday, he didn’t go to school.”

But what came out of her mouth was a completely different story.

“What do you mean?”

I looked at Tae-sik with an expression asking for an explanation, but he was staring intently at the ground.

“Director Jang. Weren’t you supposed to have an employee watching Jin-cheol during his commute to school?”

“…Y-yes. That’s right.”

Tae-sik nodded.

“It’s no use pretending to be pitiful now. Tell me honestly.”

“I already told his mother. Our employee saw Jin-cheol enter the school and then left.”

“No, but why did his homeroom teacher call to say he didn’t come to school!”

The mother, who received a call from the homeroom teacher in the morning, immediately contacted the employee in charge of Jin-cheol.

The employee was also confused because he had seen Jin-cheol pass through the school gate, and from then on, the two of them kept trying to call Jin-cheol.

But Jin-cheol had turned off his phone, and he returned home at 11 p.m. after skipping his after-school academy.

“Didn’t you check with Jin-cheol to see what happened?”

“I kept asking him, but he wouldn’t answer and told me to leave him alone and cursed at me. Haa, so… so how can my heart not be torn apart? Our Jin-cheol, he wasn’t like that. He’s not the kind of kid who curses at his parents…”

The mother pounded her chest with her fist and only sighed.

If a child who wasn’t like that before showed violence to his parents, it was also proof that the only place to vent his anger was at home.

The pride that was already hurt so much was feeling even his parents’ worries as an insult.

“Attorney, I think we need to take action somehow. I can’t stand by and watch what will happen to my healthy son if we leave him like this!”

I nodded slowly.

As she said, if we continued to leave him alone without solving anything, we didn’t know what would happen to Jin-cheol.

There were many cases of people who were bullied at school and tried to commit suicide, or who developed mental illnesses.

To adults, it may seem like just children playing and getting upset, but that is a mistake.

Although they are still teenagers, 18-year-olds know everything.

What Jin-cheol is experiencing is clearly violence.

“Please take any legal action. I can’t let the guy who made our Jin-cheol like this get away with it! If it doesn’t work legally or anything, I… I… Heuheuk [sobbing sound].”

She burst into tears again.

Tae-sik handed her a handkerchief and didn’t know what to do.

In fact, the ‘tattooed uncle’ solution has its limits.

It is a method that uses the fear that Jin-cheol has an uncle like a gangster behind him, and that if they bully Jin-cheol, that uncle will retaliate.

But if the students who are bullying Jin-cheol are not afraid of that tattooed uncle, the bullying will not end there.

But if Tae-sik’s employees all look like vicious criminals, they should be scared enough…

“Director Jang.”

“Yes, Attorney.”

“Did the employee you assigned to Jin-cheol ever talk to the students who were bullying Jin-cheol?”

“Ah, yes. Once, they tried to take Jin-cheol away after school, so our employee gave them a warning.”

“How?”

“He said he just talked to them well and sent them away. At first, he said Jin-cheol had to go to the academy, so he couldn’t.”

“At first? That means the conversation wasn’t just once or twice. What about after that?”

“After that, they said they were just going to talk for a minute, so he said no again… At that time, they smiled and told Jin-cheol to tell his uncle well.”

It seems that they have figured out that the tattooed uncle is not a real uncle.

It was surprising, since it wasn’t a very common care method in 2008.

Then, wouldn’t those students have figured out the power dynamics between the two?

That’s why they would have targeted Jin-cheol rather than the employee.

“So Jin-cheol said that his uncle’s words were true, that he had to go… and he came with them.”

“The next day was that day. The day he came in beaten up.”

The mother said, covering her forehead.

What is certain is that the ‘tattooed uncle’ really can’t beat up the students who are bullying Jin-cheol.

That was all about giving them a scare because it was assault on a minor.

Perhaps the students who were bullying Jin-cheol also realized that fact, and they beat Jin-cheol without fear of retaliation.

Besides, now, for the past week, those students have even confirmed that the tattooed uncle really doesn’t retaliate against them.

Rather than being helpful, it would have become a laughing stock.

“Mother, you said that Jin-cheol went to the hospital when his leg was broken, so you should be able to prepare a diagnosis certificate.”

“Ah, yes. That’s right.”

“You must also keep the evidence of the most recent assault. I’m a little worried that the bruises might have disappeared by now, but,”

“The day I came to consult with the attorney, when Jin-cheol was sleeping… I took pictures of the bruises and stuff.”

She took out a few pictures from her bag and spread them out on the table.

The skinny body in the picture was full of bruises.

Bruises weren’t the only problem.

There were scratches, tears, and traces of being 찍힌 [pressed or stamped] somewhere.

“I was so upset, really…”

The mother, who was stopping her tears, trailed off and brought the handkerchief to her eyes again.

Looking closely at the pictures, there were new bruises, but there were also disappearing bruises.

It was evidence that the assault was happening quite frequently.

Some of his toenails and fingernails were even broken.

It seemed that the student who was bullying Jin-cheol was acting smartly, so he didn’t hurt him much in visible places.

Certainly, there were many scars on the area covered by clothes.

“I was so surprised to see that… I didn’t know it was that bad, I really…”

Kang Min-jae sighed as he watched her stammer.

“What do you think about opening a school violence committee?”

Kang Min-jae asked me.

But I had no choice but to shake my head.

If the perpetrator is the student Lee Hyuk-min, Lee Hyuk-min is currently the vice president of the student body, and his mother is said to hold a position in the parents’ association.

There was a high possibility that the opening of the school violence committee itself would be difficult, or that it would be inconclusive even if it was opened.

In addition, the students’ statements are important in the school violence committee, and if Lee Hyuk-min is a popular student as his mother says, it can have a negative effect.

There is a possibility that the school violence committee will not be held at all, and even if it is held, if the result is minor, it will have a bad effect on criminal and civil complaints.

“First of all… you said that you are thinking of proceeding with civil and criminal complaints.”

“…Yes.”

“The complaint takes a little longer. For immediate action, the school violence committee may be better as Kang said. But I don’t think the school violence committee will take appropriate action.”

“I think so too. I heard that the father of that kid Hyuk-min is the head of a public institution. His mother is also a woman who makes a fuss at school. Besides, the teachers say there’s no problem… There’s no way there’s no problem at school when the kid comes in beaten up like this.”

“That’s right. First of all, a detailed investigation is needed to file a complaint… I’m worried that Jin-cheol will continue to be subjected to violence at school while the investigation takes time.”

It was then.

The mother’s cell phone started ringing.

She asked for a moment of understanding and picked up her cell phone, and immediately her face turned pale.

The number saved on her cell phone screen was ‘Jin-cheol’s homeroom teacher.’

“Yes, teacher. Yes, yes… Yes?! Jin-cheol?!”