You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 578

“While continuously checking So-eun’s location, let’s head to Ribbon Medical Center for now.”

Since I had the phone on speaker, Tae-shik changed lanes as soon as he heard our conversation.

Kang Min-jae also heard the conversation between Dae-cheol and me and informed the group chat of the newly discovered facts.

“Min-woo hyung [older brother or respected male figure], did you check So-eun’s location? Yes, it seems like she’s heading towards Ribbon Medical Center. Just in case she changes her route midway, Dae-cheol will continue to follow So-eun, and we’ll head straight to Ribbon Medical Center.”

He immediately called Heo Min-woo, who needed to respond to the changing situation, and quickly briefed him.

Fortunately, the evening road heading towards Miseong, Gyeonggi Province, was wide open, so Tae-shik pressed down on the accelerator even harder.

“How long would it take for the NIS [National Intelligence Service] to depart for Ribbon Medical Center on a motorcycle? So-eun seems to be still around Daesu-dong. The NIS should arrive at Ribbon before So-eun, right?”

Jeong-hyeok, who was sitting in the passenger seat, turned to me and said.

“If the NIS agent is at the karaoke bar right now, then yes.”

“That bastard is definitely at the karaoke bar,” Tae-shik interjected.

“Since the NIS agent’s karaoke bar is closer to Miseong than So-eun is, he’ll arrive about 15 minutes earlier if he goes by motorcycle,” Jeong-hyeok, who had checked the map on his phone, replied.

“Tell the NIS to grab their gear and head to the greenhouse in front of Ribbon Medical Center.”

“Attorney, you’re thinking that So-eun is going there for surgery, right? Not Okashima Hospital, but Ribbon,” Kang Min-jae asked me, skimming through the pouring messenger messages.

“I’m not calling the NIS because I’m certain. I’m calling them to prepare for the worst-case scenario. Besides, if the surgery is happening at Ribbon Medical Center, a few things make sense.”

“You mean the fact that the Onodera family hasn’t been found near Okashima Hospital even though it’s been a while since they left Kyoto.”

“That’s right.”

It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Kirihara, but I was planning to conclude that there was a hole in her surveillance if the Onodera family hadn’t been seen near Okashima Hospital by today.

But if the surgery is happening at Ribbon Medical Center, the story changes.

“And it also explains why Im Hyun-il didn’t book a ticket to Japan.”

“…To have the surgery in Korea.”

I nodded heavily once.

“But it’s too early to jump to conclusions that this is a surgery signal. So-eun might be staying at Ribbon Medical Center for various tests before going to Japan.”

“That’s true, but since Im Hyun-il hasn’t gone to Japan yet and So-eun is moving, isn’t there a high probability that the surgery will be in Korea? I’m not sure if the surgery is today, though…”

It would have been a disaster if we hadn’t taken out insurance on Ribbon Medical Center [meaning they had prepared for this possibility].

I called the employee who was monitoring Im Hyun-il.

My judgment would change depending on where the surgeon, Im Hyun-il, was right now.

─ Yes, Attorney.

“Where is Im Hyun-il?”

─ He seems to still be at Wooshin Hospital. Im Hyun-il hasn’t been seen leaving.

Im Hyun-il is still at the hospital?

I fell into silence.

The thoughts about Im Hyun-il, which I had briefly put aside to focus on So-eun’s whereabouts, filled my head.

I had attached a GPS tracker to Im Hyun-il’s car, and several people were monitoring his movements.

I acknowledge that it was the best surveillance that individual employees could do, but I can’t definitively say there were no gaps.

“What time did Im Hyun-il leave his house for Wooshin Hospital?”

─ Around 8 AM.

“And he arrived when?”

─ 9 AM.

“And he hasn’t come out even once until now?”

─ That’s right.

“Usually, when Im Hyun-il goes to work around that time, what time does he usually leave?”

─ Um, around evening. But today is Sunday, so he usually doesn’t come to work. But it seemed like he was called in quite a few times on the weekends. When he came in on the weekends, he would park very quickly and run into the hospital. Once he went in like that, there was no telling when he would come out.

“Did he run in today too?”

─ Yes.

“So you judged that he was called in urgently today as well?”

─ That’s right. I was planning to contact you separately if he didn’t come out by midnight. Surgeries don’t usually take that long….

It seemed like today was just one of the many days he was urgently called in, and it’s understandable that they didn’t think it was strange if he ran in as usual, proving that.

Until now, Im Hyun-il had driven his own car to and from work, as well as to various appointments, so there were no difficulties in tracking his movements.

But it’s hard to say that we know every single thing he does.

What if Im Hyun-il doesn’t move in his own vehicle?

There might be passages in the large Wooshin Hospital that we don’t know about, and what if he went out that way?

“They’re saying Im Hyun-il isn’t at Wooshin Hospital right now?”

Kang Min-jae, who was busy sharing the situation with others, asked as I hung up the phone.

“No, they’re saying he’s at Wooshin Hospital, but there’s something bothering me.”

I scrolled down the list of messenger conversations and checked the message I had received from Hyung-shik, who was monitoring Ribbon Medical Center, earlier today.

[Black Benz 5359 entered at 11:31 AM]

[Black Benz 5359 exited at 2:02 PM]

Black Benz 5359.

It was a vehicle that had been periodically visiting since we started monitoring Ribbon Medical Center until recently.

It came to Ribbon Medical Center at least once a week, stayed for a couple of hours, and then disappeared.

We thought it was someone overseeing the process of preparing for the opening of Ribbon Medical Center.

So, there was a high probability that they were a hospital official, and just in case, we thoroughly searched the parking lot of Seoul Wooshin Hospital.

As a result, we found out that 5359 was owned by the Chief of Planning at Seoul Wooshin Hospital.

Until we got the information that So-eun was heading to Ribbon Medical Center today, the appearance of 5359 was not a situation that could be interpreted as signaling the start of any event.

Because it was a routine movement.

“About the 5359 Benz.”

“The Chief of Planning’s car?”

“That car went into Ribbon at 11:30 AM today and left at 2 PM.”

“Yes. It was there for about two hours as usual?”

“Yeah.”

“And?”

“Im Hyun-il arrived at Wooshin Hospital at 9 AM and hasn’t come out yet. But you can get from Wooshin Hospital to Ribbon Medical Center in an hour on a Sunday morning.”

“So, Im Hyun-il might have gone to Wooshin Hospital in the morning and headed to Ribbon with the Chief of Planning?”

“We can’t rule out the possibility.”

And if that’s right….

“If Im Hyun-il has been using 5359 to go to Ribbon, the probability of surgery at Ribbon also becomes very high.”

“Then is Onodera’s grandson also at Ribbon right now?”

“We can’t know that. It depends on when the surgery date is. If the surgery is today, he’ll be there.”

“Right away today? But in different cases, when you look at liver transplant donors, they’re hospitalized the day before, take medicine, and get all sorts of tests, right?”

“Isn’t that pre-hospitalization because of the liver donor’s condition? The liver donor has to live even after the surgery. I don’t know if it’s possible to go straight into surgery as soon as the donor is moved to the hospital, but it doesn’t seem impossible.”

“That’s true. From those bastards’ perspective, So-eun is going to die anyway after giving her heart, so they don’t care about So-eun’s condition….”

In the wiretapping file Kim Mi-ja gave me, they definitively said they would have the surgery at Okashima Hospital.

But suddenly Ribbon Medical Center.

Many thoughts flashed through my mind, but I decided not to worry about why they changed their plans right now.

“How much further to Ribbon Medical Center?”

Instead of Tae-shik, who was focused on driving, Jeong-hyeok answered my question.

“62 minutes left.”

“When will So-eun arrive at Ribbon Medical Center?”

“Dae-cheol says there are about 45 minutes left.”

Since we had mainly prepared countermeasures for surgery at Okashima Hospital, some plan revisions are inevitable.

I rolled up my sleeve a little and checked my wristwatch.

45 minutes is not enough time.

But at least I think I can figure out how best to respond until So-eun enters Ribbon Medical Center.

“What’s the best thing to do? The original plan has gone wrong. Preventing So-eun from leaving the country at the airport and preventing So-eun from entering Ribbon Medical Center will be received differently in court.”

Kang Min-jae is right.

Both seem like the same act because they are preventing the execution of their existing plan, but there is room for different interpretations.

Of course, the route through which we grasped their existing plan is wiretapping, so the evidentiary power is not recognized.

However, from the beginning, the wiretapping file was intended to be a legally recorded file, so there is no problem.

Therefore, let’s assume that we use this as evidence.

In the case of stopping So-eun from crossing over to the departure hall, this is not a problem because it is consistent with the organ trafficking plan of Wooshin and Onodera, which can be confirmed in the wiretapping content that will be released later.

Because it will be interpreted as a move to realize their plan.

In other words, it meets the requirements for attempted crime.

But stopping her before she enters Ribbon Medical Center is another matter.

Of course, it would seem very suspicious that she was riding in a vehicle disguised as a delivery truck and moving to an illegal medical facility.

Therefore, even if it is different from the wiretapping content, the public would believe us if we claimed that they changed their plan.

However, it is difficult to derive a meaningful ruling in court.

Because there is no mention of Ribbon Medical Center in the wiretapping content.

In this case, we must obtain evidence through investigation that they really intended to perform surgery at Ribbon Medical Center.

Otherwise, it will be settled at the level of preparation and conspiracy.

The level of punishment is relatively light, and it may not even be indicted.

What can be confirmed by wiretapping is only the utterance of a simple plan, and this does not correspond to the external preparatory act, which is one of the requirements for the establishment of preparation and conspiracy.

If we find specific preparatory acts through investigation, indictment is possible, but there is a high possibility that a not guilty verdict will be issued in court due to insufficient evidence.

Even if a guilty verdict is issued, the accomplice is not subject to punishment.

Loopholes are created for most of the key players.

“I’m also negative about stopping her before she enters Ribbon Medical Center. If they just took the wrong road and say they weren’t trying to go to Ribbon Medical Center, it gets complicated.”

“Yes. Then we’d have to search the people in the truck and Ribbon Medical Center to prove it’s a lie, but it would take time to get a warrant. Wooshin will destroy the evidence in the meantime. I think it’s right to raid after So-eun enters Ribbon Medical Center.”

“If we’re going to raid today, the police have to raid Ribbon Medical Center. That way, they can immediately identify Ribbon Medical Center as an illegal medical facility and use that as an excuse to conduct an internal search.”

“But what if the surgery is supposed to be at Okashima Hospital? If the reason So-eun is going to Ribbon Medical Center now is just to get tested before being transferred to Okashima Hospital, that’s a problem in itself. If the police suddenly raid and there’s no sign of surgery there at all….”

If we can’t prove that visiting Ribbon Medical Center was also part of the organ trafficking plan, Ribbon Medical Center will only be punished as an unlicensed medical facility and it will end.

The only additional action we can take is to try to apply preparation and conspiracy based on the wiretapping content, as mentioned earlier, but isn’t the chance of success low?

It also becomes difficult to promise the next time.

In the process, Wooshin will retrace the traces of how we learned about the organ trafficking plan.

In the process, the watchtower we set up will be discovered and collapse.

This is the only chance for proper punishment, and if we miss it, it’s over.

“So-eun has 45 minutes… no, time has passed, so there are about 40 minutes left until she arrives at Ribbon Medical Center. I think we need to grasp the situation as specifically as possible, even in 40 minutes. Is there any way to check if the surgery is really going to be done at Ribbon Medical Center, and if so, when it’s scheduled to be done?”

“What time is it now?”

“8:30.”

8:30, huh.

“Kim Mi-ja is flying to the United States at 8:40 today.”

“40 minutes is the departure time, right? So that means the plane takes off in 10 minutes.”

“That’s right. So she’s already on the plane.”

Even if Oda Satoshi came to the airport to see Kim Mi-ja off, she would have crossed over to the departure hall alone.

And since the plane departs at 8:40, it’s already past the time when boarding is closed at 8:30 now.

Even if Kim Mi-ja calls Oda Satoshi now and tries to sound him out, even if Oda Satoshi feels uneasy, there’s nothing we can do.

No matter how much of a five-term lawmaker he is, there’s no way to stop a plane that’s about to depart.

That’s the same even if the Prime Minister steps in.

Ah, it might be possible if we suddenly make Kim Mi-ja a wanted person, contact the airport police within a few minutes, delay the plane’s departure, and then arrest her.

But Kim Mi-ja is already a celebrity known throughout Japan as Oda Satoshi’s wife, so can we take such measures just because he felt uneasy?

Those people who think of their paltry honor as their lives.

“That’s right. If it’s now, there’s no problem even if Kim Mi-ja directly asks Oda Satoshi about the surgery date.”

Until now, I wanted to ask Kim Mi-ja to confirm the surgery date, but I couldn’t.

Because there was a high possibility that the words would act as pressure on her and make her act recklessly.

But now her safety is guaranteed.

“I hope she hasn’t turned off her phone yet?”

This was the time when flight attendants would check the cabin just before takeoff and ask passengers who had their phones turned on to turn them off.

Many phones had airplane mode, but I remember receiving such a request on a flight to Switzerland because it wasn’t properly promoted.

It’s 10 minutes before takeoff now, so she might have already turned it off as Kang Min-jae said.

“We have to hope she hasn’t.”

I muttered as I called Kim Mi-ja.