You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 588

You Have Been Defended

“I’ll wait until So-eun wakes up before leaving. Lawyers, you can head back to Seoul first.”

“How can we leave you alone, hyung [older brother or respected male figure]?”

“Alone? What about the police guarding So-eun?”

“That’s true, but we’ll wait with you.”

“Just go, I’ll wait”—the squabble between Heo Min-woo and Kang Min-jae had just begun when a familiar voice called out from the emergency room entrance.

“Detective Heo!”

It was Choi Jong-hyun, Jo Bong-joon, and Manager Oh.

“How badly are you hurt?”

“I heard you got over 20 stitches?”

“I can’t show you the wound right now because it’s bandaged. It’s not a serious injury, just a lot of blood.”

Heo Min-woo said, showing his bandaged arm.

Kang Min-jae had already shared the situation with them when they learned about Heo Min-woo’s injury through the CCTV in the greenhouse.

I told them we’d probably be heading back to Seoul soon and to meet at my place, but they insisted on coming all the way here.

“Why do these guys keep getting hurt? First Attorney Cha, then Min-jae, and now Detective Heo. My heart can’t take this constant worry.”

Choi Jong-hyun sighed, holding his forehead.

Manager Oh nodded in agreement.

Then, they both glared at me and Kang Min-jae.

“You need to value your bodies. Huh?”

“That’s right. You young folks don’t know how precious your health is.”

It seemed Manager Oh had missed the chance to scold me and Kang Min-jae when we got hurt and had been holding it in.

With the stage set, he began to lecture all of us in earnest.

“Well, I’m a police officer……”

Heo Min-woo muttered, feeling wronged, but he was overwhelmed by Manager Oh’s outburst and fell silent.

“So, Detective, are you cleared to leave the hospital?”

Having finished his lengthy speech, Manager Oh calmed down and asked in a much softer tone, perhaps feeling a bit awkward.

“Yes. I just need to get regular dressing changes at a hospital in Seoul.”

“Then you’re heading back to Seoul now?”

“The guys we caught at Ribbon Medical Center have all been sent to Seoul, and the forensic team should be arriving by now, so we’re free to go.”

“But what if Go Sang-joon’s mole in the forensics team edits the CCTV footage?”

“The lawyer backed up all the files, so it doesn’t matter. And we took photos too.”

“Then let’s get going.”

“Ah, I’m waiting to see So-eun’s condition when she wakes up before heading back with her. I wonder if she’s awake yet……”

Heo Min-woo peered toward the bed where So-eun was lying.

“Ah, what’s the plan for protecting So-eun?”

Jo Bong-joon asked.

Now that So-eun can’t stay at the House of Angels, we need to take her out.

In fact, all the children at the House of Angels are in a precarious situation, so we’ve been looking for a solution.

Heo Min-woo was investigating the director of the House of Angels and Kim Young-ji regarding Son Jung-min’s case, but we still lacked sufficient justification to take all the children out.

However, now that this incident has occurred, once the news breaks, it will prove that there are significant problems with the House of Angels itself.

Since Woo-shin won’t be able to threaten the children at the House of Angels now that the organ trafficking attempt has been thwarted, we can move them with the help of relevant agencies once the news is out.

The problem is So-eun.

So-eun needs to be separated from the House of Angels from this moment on, but in such cases, she would typically have to go to another facility.

However, we can’t effectively prepare for any potential emergencies there, can we?

“Jung-min has been admitted to a closed ward, so we can protect her at my place.”

Heo Min-woo said.

Choi Jong-hyun responded with skepticism.

“You live alone, Detective Heo.”

“Tae-shik’s people send staff when I’m not there anyway.”

“We’re all going to be incredibly busy, including you, Detective Heo. How are you going to care for a child who’s not even a teenager?”

“……That’s true. Ah, but both my parents live far away and work, so I can’t leave her with them. In that case, I’ll have to see if any of my staff have a live-in caregiver and a suitable environment to care for a young child.”

Heo Min-woo, on a roll, turned on his phone and started flipping through his contacts, saying he would pull up a list right away.

Then, Manager Oh, who had been quiet, spoke up.

“If it’s okay with you, I can take care of her at my place.”

“Manager Oh? You’re busy too, wouldn’t that be too much for you?”

“My wife loves children. She even does babysitting jobs even though I tell her not to work, and she’s studying to get a childcare teacher certification. Plus, we have two daughters, so we have a lot of experience raising girls, and our eldest recently moved out, so we have a spare room. If everyone’s okay with it, I’ll ask my wife.”

I wondered why we were worrying when the right person was right in front of us.

Everyone nodded as if they had met a savior, and Manager Oh immediately made a call.

He only briefly explained the situation, and the call ended quickly.

“She said, ‘Of course, we should bring her to our house. Why are you even hesitating?’ Haha.”

“Problem solved. There’s no one better than you, Manager Oh. You’re the most trustworthy person we know.”

“Thank you, Manager Oh.”

“Oh, don’t mention it. I’m happy to be of help in any way I can.”

About an hour later,

So-eun woke up.

At the news, we all rushed to the bed where So-eun was lying.

It didn’t seem like she had been through anything too rough on the way to Ribbon Medical Center, but So-eun kept her mouth tightly shut, perhaps frightened by the unfamiliar environment.

“Oh? It’s the ahjussi [term for an older man, like ‘uncle’ or ‘mister’].”

Then, So-eun shouted, pointing at Choi Jong-hyun.

“So-eun, do you remember the ahjussi?”

Choi Jong-hyun approached the bed, knelt down, and sat.

With a deeply moved expression, he took So-eun’s hand and asked.

“Yes. Ahjussi, where are we?”

“This is a hospital.”

“Hospital? Why are we at the hospital?”

“So-eun was a little hurt, so we came here, but she’s okay now.”

“Oh, I see.”

“The doctor said So-eun can leave now. Shall we go?”

“Yes.”

“Is there anything So-eun wants to eat? Ahjussi will buy it for you.”

“Um, um……. Ice cream.”

“So-eun wants ice cream? Is there anything else you want to eat?”

“Two ice creams.”

So-eun smiled brightly and shook Choi Jong-hyun’s hand.

Choi Jong-hyun stared blankly at So-eun, who was smiling innocently, then hugged her tightly.

“I’m so glad.”

“What is it?”

“It’s just that I saw So-eun after a long time……. And So-eun has grown up so beautifully.”

Choi Jong-hyun cleared his throat repeatedly, as if he was choked up.

I could only see his back, but his ears were bright red.

He seemed to be crying.

Choi Jong-hyun had been worried about So-eun ever since he learned why the House of Angels was sending children to study in Japan.

Even though he knew it was unlikely, he kept mentioning So-eun, perhaps fearing that we might forget about her.

It was a meaningless assumption now that we had successfully rescued her, but if we had failed, Choi Jong-hyun would have been tormented by guilt for a long time.

I was relieved that we didn’t have to burden him with that.

* * *

Afterward, we each went our separate ways to do our jobs, and it wasn’t until 4 a.m. that we could gather again.

“Detective Heo, you must be tired. You should have gone home to rest instead of coming here.”

“It’s okay. My staff is currently identifying the suspects, and I need to go back in once they’re done. I was the one who responded to the call, but since I’m in the narcotics unit, I can’t conduct the investigation. I need to stay at the station to snoop around and get some information.”

“Then wouldn’t it be better to catch some sleep in the duty room or something?”

“I was going to, but my staff kept pushing me to go home. But since I’m going back soon anyway, it’s not worth going all the way home, and I can’t go to the sauna with my arm like this, so I came to the lawyer’s place for now.”

Heo Min-woo said, sitting down in an empty seat and picking up a chicken leg from the table.

“Ah, now that I think about it, I haven’t eaten since lunch.”

“Eat plenty.”

He began to eat in earnest.

Even though Kang Min-jae offered to heat it up for him, he said he couldn’t wait even that short amount of time and ate the cold chicken as aggressively as if it were freshly fried.

“When will the article be released?”

“Ah, with dozens of people going in and out, the reporters in the press room were asking about it. I gave them a hint, and they said they’ll get information once the identities of the key figures are confirmed and then release the article.”

“So, probably around morning?”

“Most likely.”

“Have you identified the middle-aged men and the woman who were hiding at the scene?”

“Ah, I forgot to mention the most important thing. The middle-aged woman isn’t talking, and she’s Japanese, so we haven’t identified her yet. The President helped us find Onodera Shizuka’s forged passport entry record, but we have to find out about her. But I guess she’s just an employee accompanying the Onodera family?”

“What about the two men?”

“The two men are Kim Soo-chan and Gong Won-ho. They’re keeping their mouths shut, so we haven’t confirmed what they do yet. But we’ll find out soon.”

Heo Min-woo replied, chewing on the chicken.

“Kim Soo-chan is Go Sang-joon’s henchman, and Gong Won-ho is Go Yoon-soo’s henchman. They’ll be listed as belonging to the Strategy Office.”

“They’re a bit old to be in the Strategy Office, so they must be pretty high-ranking. They’re at the point where they’ll be directly appointed as executives of subsidiaries if time passes. But how did Attorney Cha know those people were affiliated with the Strategy Office? I didn’t even know that.”

Choi Jong-hyun asked.

Well…….

It’s because I summoned them as witnesses when I conducted the Woo-shin special investigation in my previous life.

As Choi Jong-hyun said, they each rose to the position of chairman of different subsidiaries and were still Go Sang-joon’s loyalists.

Unfortunately, I was fired from the special investigation team after sending them subpoenas, so I don’t know what statements I obtained from them.

If I had died a little later, I would have heard about it through news reports or rumors from the prosecution.

“Chan-young is in the Strategy Office. He mentioned it once.”

“It’s not easy to identify the higher-ups on Woo-shin’s side because they don’t expose themselves externally, but we caught them. And if those Strategy Office guys were there, it’s proven that Woo-shin is also involved in organ trafficking, even if we don’t release the evidence. So-eun is from the House of Angels, Im Hyun-il is a doctor at Woo-shin Hospital, and the higher-ups from the Woo-shin Group’s Strategy Office were there? Game over.”

Choi Jong-hyun clapped his knee and shouted.

“They’re not causing a fuss about calling a lawyer?”

“They are. The medical staff and everyone else caught there all said they wouldn’t say a word until their lawyers arrived, as if they had planned it.”

“Will Tae-gwang come?”

Kang Min-jae said, snickering.

He seemed to like that nickname quite a bit.

“Maybe? Even if it means resigning later.”

“You never know. They got bad publicity for representing the House of Angels, and if they show up again, especially with organ trafficking involved, wouldn’t they want to lay low?”

“Tae-gwang would never do that. Since when have those bastards cared about what people think? They quit representing the House of Angels because it was a losing hand anyway, and there’s no need to tarnish their already bad image. They don’t give a damn about their image unless they’re planning to go into politics. Why? Because the people who hire law firms only care about the results, not the firm’s ethical standards.”

“That’s right. Companies or individuals who get caught up in lawsuits can have their lives ruined, so they wouldn’t abandon a law firm with a high success rate and go to another firm just to uphold their beliefs.”

Manager Oh chimed in.

But nothing will change even if Tae-gwang comes.

I acknowledge their imagination.

When faced with a situation that requires explanation, they make up stories out of thin air and string them together like dried fish to avoid responsibility.

Since I became a lawyer, I’ve clashed with Tae-gwang countless times, and they’ve never not done that.

They’ll do it again this time, but there’s something they don’t know.

Until now, I started gathering evidence after they had already done the deed.

But this time, I’ve been scraping it all together even before they started.

“Tell Tae-gwang to come. I’ll make sure to brand them as washed-up. I’m already looking forward to hearing what kind of nonsense they’ll spew this time.”

Kang Min-jae said, crushing a beer can.

I also want to see the novel they’ll write soon.

I’m already excited to point out the inconsistencies in their plot.

“Ah, by the way, it’s a bit of a problem that Detective Heo can’t directly investigate, isn’t it?”

Jo Bong-joon clicked his tongue.

Until now, we’ve always conducted our own investigations, but it’s unsettling to suddenly hand it over to someone else.

“Is there no good way?”

Jo Bong-joon muttered, glancing at me.

He meant for me to come up with the brilliant solution I had been entrusted with.

And at this moment, I understood, just a little, why the National Intelligence Service was so upset with my words.

Because there is a way.

You Have Been Defended [EN]

You Have Been Defended [EN]

너희들은 변호됐다
Status: Completed Author: , Native Language: Korean
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[English Translation] Prosecutor Cha Juhan's relentless pursuit of the corrupt Wooshin Group ended in betrayal and death at the hands of those he trusted most. But fate, it seems, has other plans. Granted a second chance, reborn as a Wooshin sniper, Cha Juhan vows to bring the entire Wooshin family to justice, no matter how many lifetimes it takes. Trading his prosecutor's badge for a lawyer's gavel, he embarks on a path of vengeance, armed with extraordinary abilities beyond human comprehension. They told him to know his place in the next life? He'll show them exactly where they belong – behind bars. Prepare for a thrilling saga of revenge, justice, and supernatural power as Cha Juhan targets Wooshin once more, turning the courtroom into his battleground.

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