You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 543

“……”

Kim Young-ji, who had been glaring at Sung-yoon, suddenly burst into laughter as if she had heard the most absurd thing.

“Sung-yoon, get a grip. How could Jung-min do drugs?”

“I don’t know. But can you guarantee that Jung-min hasn’t touched drugs? How? Jung-min doesn’t go to school, and it’s not like the teachers are always watching him. Unless you’re keeping him locked up and under surveillance, it’s impossible, right?”

“Ha… Do you even know how much drugs cost? How would Jung-min get them?”

“If there’s a possibility, we have to check.”

“So, you want to check if Jung-min is addicted to drugs?”

“Yes. And if he is, we need to stop him from using them.”

Kim Young-ji sighed deeply.

She had been quiet right after they met, but now she was suddenly acting like this after hearing something somewhere.

“The teachers don’t think so, but if it’s true, we need to stop him, as you said. I’ll talk to Jung-min first, to see if it’s true.”

“……You’re saying that as if you don’t know anything.”

“Of course, I don’t know anything. It’s not like we’re constantly watching him, as you said. We’re just protecting you until we find a place for you to live together, not imprisoning you. We can’t control everything Jung-min does in his personal time. And we shouldn’t. I’m saying this because you seem to be suspiciously thinking, but even if Jung-min has touched drugs, it’s his personal misbehavior.”

Kim Young-ji said that, but she also sarcastically told Sung-yoon to stop watching movies and that if his imagination was that good, he should pursue a career in creative writing.

“……Aren’t you worried about Jung-min, Teacher?”

“If what you’re saying is true, of course, I’d be worried. But since what you’re saying isn’t true, there’s no need to worry. In the first place, Jung-min doesn’t have the means to get drugs. How could losing some weight and looking unwell be symptoms of drug addiction in that situation? But since you’re so worried, I’ll talk to him thoroughly, and if it’s true, I’ll get him treatment. Is that enough? I’m hearing all sorts of nonsense.”

“You could just finish the paperwork or whatever and let Jung-min and me live together. Then you wouldn’t have to hear this from me.”

Kim Young-ji stood up abruptly instead of answering.

Then, looking at the menu board above the counter, she said,

“Pick something to drink. I’ll buy it for you, and then we’ll go in together.”

“I’m not going in right now.”

“Why?”

“I’m meeting up with the others later for the performance assessment.”

Kim Young-ji frowned without realizing it.

Sung-yoon was unpredictable now.

She had to take him in.

‘Until yesterday, he didn’t seem to suspect anything, but now he’s suddenly talking about drugs… Could it be.’

Was he communicating with those college students?

There had been no such activity in Sung-yoon’s call history so far.

Still, she was bothered by the fact that he nodded when she said it was a cold when she first saw Jung-min, but suddenly he was talking about drugs.

‘I can’t just leave him alone.’

Even now, Um Sung-yoon was showing signs of breaking free from the House of Angels’ control.

Appropriate measures were needed.

Running away was already a method used on Son Jung-min, so if she used the same method on Um Sung-yoon, Cha Joo-han might blow things out of proportion, saying that two runaways in a short period meant there was a problem with the House of Angels, so she was leaving it as Plan B [a backup plan].

After Um Sung-yoon’s self-harm was revealed, the director strictly ordered her not to create even a single cause for complaint.

But now it seemed that the risks of letting Um Sung-yoon roam freely were getting bigger, so there was no other way.

Everyone already knew that Um Sung-yoon had tried to harm himself in front of the volunteers and frame them, so she could just say that he ran away due to his unstable mental state and lock him up.

‘The others would agree.’

The very few House of Angels employees who were cooperating with Woo-shin’s human trafficking business had nothing to worry about except for forging documents appropriately.

But since the college students were dispatched, they were under so much stress from being watched that they were reaching their limit.

She could understand why they couldn’t kill Son Jung-min because his resistance was too strong to keep him alive, and they were worried about the aftermath if they killed him, but Um Sung-yoon was different.

‘If it weren’t for those college students, I wouldn’t have had to do this…….’

Even if she told the children not to contact the college students, they wouldn’t listen.

She had considered taking away all the children’s cell phones for the time being, but she knew that if she did that at this time, it would immediately reach Cha Joo-han’s ears.

She could handle it if it only reached Cha Joo-han’s ears.

She could just say that she took them away because they were interfering with their studies, and Cha Joo-han would only be a little annoyed.

The problem was that the college students knew which schools the children attended, and she couldn’t stop them from going to meet them.

She had to decide to lock them up.

Since So-eun would be processed as adopted on paper anyway, she wouldn’t have to be so conscious of their eyes once So-eun’s matter was finished.

Then she could disguise Um Sung-yoon’s death as a suicide and kill him, and deal with Son Jung-min while watching how the dump truck incident turned out.

“No. Come on, hurry up.”

Lost in thoughts mixed with annoyance, she tried to grab Um Sung-yoon’s shoulder and pull him up.

But Um Sung-yoon didn’t budge.

“It’s a performance assessment. I barely managed to schedule time with the others because of their academy [private tutoring] schedules, and we can’t meet unless it’s today.”

“Since when have you been so concerned about studying? And it’s almost vacation. What performance assessment? Stop talking nonsense and come with me.”

“It’s not just my grades that are at stake; it affects the other kids too.”

“Are you college students? Just ask them to count it as if you did it together. Come on, hurry up.”

“No, even if I’m a fucking orphan, do I have to follow everything you say, Teacher? Anyone can see that there’s no reason to stop me, right? Do you have something to hide?”

As Um Sung-yoon raised his voice, the eyes of the café’s customers instantly turned to him.

Kim Young-ji’s face flushed.

“Sung-yoon, why are you doing this…….”

“You’re the one who’s doing this! Is the House of Angels a place that originally prevents the kids it takes in from studying?!”

As Um Sung-yoon shouted at the top of his lungs, people began to whisper.

“Let’s go outside and talk.”

“What am I supposed to talk about with a teacher who won’t tell me any reason and won’t let me do my performance assessment! Was the House of Angels originally like this?!”

He was intentionally emphasizing the words “House of Angels.”

Kim Young-ji bit her lip hard.

“You just wait.”

She glared at Um Sung-yoon and eventually left the café.

* * *

That evening, night, and until the next morning, Sung-yoon did not return to the House of Angels.

“Is his phone still off?!”

“……Yes.”

“The part-timer at the café said that after you left, that bastard just left too.”

“Yes, that’s what happened…….”

“That’s why you should have dragged him out of there! Why did you come alone!”

The director screamed at Kim Young-ji.

Then Kim Young-ji rolled her eyes as if she was flustered.

“……Don’t you know how scary the internet is these days? He was causing such a ruckus, I thought it would be a bigger problem if someone filmed a video or something, so I couldn’t help it!”

“Where the hell did that bastard go?!”

She thought about calling the school to see if Sung-yoon had attended, but the director calmed herself first.

If the House of Angels contacted them first, the teacher would notice that Sung-yoon had disappeared.

Depending on the situation, she would have to pretend to be worried about Sung-yoon, saying that his mental state was unusual and that he seemed to have finally given up and ran away, but not right now.

Anyway, if Sung-yoon didn’t attend, the teacher would contact them first, so it was better to wait for that.

“He’s not at the PC café [internet cafe]?”

“We’ve been searching the neighborhood since last night, but he’s not there, and we’re searching other neighborhoods now, but he’s not there.”

“He doesn’t have any money, so what the hell is he doing? He didn’t spend the night at his school friend’s house, did he?”

“I don’t know, that…….”

It wasn’t that she didn’t think Sung-yoon would do something unexpected, but she didn’t know it would be yesterday.

Kim Young-ji was panicking, thinking that she had made a grave mistake.

If things went wrong and Sung-yoon really went to the police as he kept saying, what would happen?

Woo-shin would stop it, but she didn’t know what responsibility he would hold her accountable for.

She should have dragged him out of the café then.

She should have dragged him out by any means, and if she couldn’t overpower him, she should have called the staff and put him in the car.

She bit her lip.

Suddenly, in a situation where Sung-yoon was shouting about the House of Angels in front of many people, all the stress she had been receiving came up at once and she couldn’t bear it.

If she had known this would happen, she wouldn’t have gotten involved in this kind of work just to make some money.

And time passed, and it became 11 a.m.

“Yes, Teacher. Yes. Ah……. Yes. Actually, Sung-yoon is going through a difficult time these days. Yes. Ah, yes……. Um, yes. I’ll try to persuade him so that he can go to school before the vacation starts. Yes. I’m sorry, Teacher. Yes.”

The director finished the call with a gentle voice and hung up.

“That bastard didn’t go to school.”

“We need to find him quickly, what should we do? What if he really goes to the police, or……. Isn’t the worst thing that he goes to Cha Joo-han?”

“How does he know Cha Joo-han and go to him?”

“What if he feels guilty and contacts Kim Hyun-jong to apologize? Kim Hyun-jong will connect him!”

The director’s eyes widened at Kim Young-ji’s words.

That was truly the worst-case scenario.

If he went to the police, she could say that Sung-yoon was going through puberty and kept lying, or she could put pressure on them and get him out.

Cha Joo-han was a very difficult person to deal with.

“First, try contacting the kids he was close to.”

“……He was closest to Jung-min.”

“Then tell Jung-min to ask that bastard! And that girl who used to talk and say things well, wasn’t there another one?”

“Ah, Yoo-kyung.”

“Ask her too. Find out all the kids he seems to be close to.”

Kim Young-ji turned on the app and opened the memo she had saved when she investigated Um Sung-yoon before.

There seemed to be a list of people he was close to in it.

The director, who was watching Kim Young-ji busily scrolling, shrugged and said,

“Anyway, he can’t go straight to the police or Cha Joo-han.”

“……Do you really think so?”

“He’s the kind of kid who had a hard time because he felt guilty about framing Kim Hyun-jong. And he’s so worried about Son Jung-min.”

“That’s why he might stab us in the back to the police even more to find Son Jung-min!”

“No. What does he expect when he stabs us in the back to the police? He’s just giving up on getting money from us and trying to find Son Jung-min.”

“So?”

“Then wouldn’t he think that Son Jung-min would also be arrested as a drug offender? He’s so worried about Son Jung-min. At least he’ll contact us once before stabbing us in the back to the police. He’ll try to make a deal with Son Jung-min.”

“……That’s right.”

“And the deposit for the studio apartment and the monthly living expenses, aren’t those conditions so easy to give up? Have you seen one or two kids leaving here after becoming adults? They’re all busy worrying about making a living. Um Sung-yoon knows that best. The moment he stabs us in the back to the police, the house deposit and living expenses are all over, so he’ll try to do something more before that.”

And then she could catch Um Sung-yoon and make sure he never acted so cocky again.