You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 635

You Have Been Defended – Episode 635

Kang Min-jae said that additional personnel were needed at the scene, so a follow-up team would be dispatched, and he would check if I could go with them.

I watched Kang Min-jae disappear and headed straight for the restroom.

I locked the restroom door and went into the last stall.

I locked the door once more and knelt down in front of the toilet.

“Ugh!”

Acid-mixed liquid spewed from my stomach, burning my esophagus.

Then, my abdomen convulsed again, and stomach acid surged back up.

Tears welled up from the vomiting and streamed down my cheeks.

My arms, supporting my body as I gripped the toilet, trembled.

Immediately after facing Go Sang-jun, there was a definite disturbance in my consciousness, but during the investigation, there was no particular sign of it.

I thought it would be fine, but as soon as the investigation ended and the tension was released, the reaction came immediately.

“Ugh…”

I tried to calm my breathing as I had practiced.

I closed my eyes tightly and slowed my breathing.

After about five minutes,

I felt the discomfort gradually subside.

I took out a handkerchief from my pocket.

“Ah.”

As I gripped the handkerchief, I felt a stinging sensation in my palm.

I stared at my palm.

I had stabbed my palm with the nib of my fountain pen to avoid showing an unsightly fit, but I didn’t realize I had torn it up this much.

Blood had flowed along the lines of my palm and dried.

‘It doesn’t seem like anyone saw it.’

As I lightly clenched my fist while leaving the investigation room, no one would have seen my palm.

I flushed the toilet and stood in front of the sink.

Then, I turned on the water and put my palm directly under it.

“Ugh.”

The pain became more vivid as the water touched the wound.

It didn’t seem deep at first glance, but it was slightly torn.

After wiping away the hardened bloodstains, I opened the locked restroom door, the bleeding having stopped during the investigation.

* * *

While heading to Go Sang-jun’s house with the investigators, I checked the news.

[Go Sang-jun Heads to Detention Center Awaiting Warrant Review]

[Go Sang-jun’s Investigation Ends in 2.5 Hours… Due to Health Reasons?]

[Go Sang-jun’s Lawyer: “Elderly Go Sang-jun Cannot Endure Long Investigation”]

[“Even Being Detained in Detention Center is Worrying” – Sigh from Go Sang-jun’s Lawyer]

[Special Prosecutor Cha Ju-han Directly Oversees Seizure and Search Site]

[Special Prosecutor Team Heads to Go Sang-jun’s Residence]

It seemed that the lawyer, who would normally keep his mouth shut and push Go Sang-jun’s wheelchair, was running his mouth in front of reporters, trying to get the arrest warrant dismissed at all costs.

The reporters were curious about the details of the investigation, but he never answered those questions.

How could he talk about the farce of denying everything, claiming he didn’t remember, making nonsensical excuses, and then asking them to stop because he was in pain?

The comedy they couldn’t talk about would soon be revealed by Go Il-guk at the regular briefing.

“We have arrived.”

Before I knew it, the vehicle stopped in front of Go Sang-jun’s house.

The investigators grabbed folded boxes and rushed through the open gate.

“…….”

As I stepped inside, I met Yoon Seong-hee’s eyes. She stood with her arms crossed, watching the search and seizure with a troubled expression.

Whether she had called them as soon as the search and seizure order was issued, she was standing with two lawyers.

Some investigators began unfolding blue boxes and taping them together on one side of the living room, while others immediately took action.

“Check this side too!”

The voices of investigators were heard from all directions.

Go Sang-jun’s house was very large, as had been reported.

I was glad that I had requested a warrant that allowed for nighttime execution, as there were too many places to look.

There was even an elevator inside the house, and Kim Jong-seok was getting into it, the door open, seemingly about to go to the basement.

“Did the Special Prosecutor come in person?”

As I followed him in, Kim Jong-seok asked with a mix of admiration.

“It just happened that way.”

“This is the first time in my life I’ve seen a house with a 15-passenger elevator.”

Kim Jong-seok muttered as we descended to the basement.

I had already received the blueprints through Kim Chan-young, so I roughly knew the structure of this house.

The first basement floor had a warehouse for storing Go Sang-jun’s collectibles and luxury liquor, as well as a bunker for emergencies.

The bunker was suitable for hiding evidence, but it was a space that could be confirmed on the blueprints submitted to public institutions.

So, I went straight down to the second basement floor.

“What kind of house is this?”

A young investigator seemed to mutter unconsciously, then shut his mouth as he noticed me and Kim Jong-seok.

It was understandable that he would say that.

Unlike Go Yoon-soo, Go Sang-jun didn’t go to the office building often, and he received most reports at home, so the second basement floor looked like one of the offices in the Wooshin office building had been moved here.

Office desks and chairs, PCs, and document storage cabinets were lined up.

As the strategy team employee who was investigated by the police had mentioned in passing, it would have handled high-level information.

We would seize and open the electronic records, but it wouldn’t mean much as the hard drives would have been replaced.

Still, the investigators began turning on the PCs and checking the hard drives.

“Even if Go Sang-jun had already gotten rid of all the evidence in advance, the investigation period was long, so there should be traces of documents he brought home while receiving various reports. If he left it as data, it would come out in forensics, so he would have received it on paper.”

Kim Jong-seok said, placing his hand on the shredders placed in various locations.

“Special Prosecutor, this is very hot.”

Then, he turned to me and smiled.

I deliberately didn’t inform Go Sang-jun that a search and seizure warrant had been issued, and the investigators arrived at this house before Go Sang-jun’s summons investigation was even over.

The time it took for the investigators to go from the Special Prosecutor’s office to Go Sang-jun’s house was only about 15 minutes.

But if it was shredded to the point of being this hot, it meant that the information was leaked as soon as the warrant was issued.

“The inside of the shredder is empty.”

It must have been documents that he had to keep to report to Go Sang-jun, or documents that were difficult to process at the Wooshin office building, so he processed them here.

The good thing was that he probably couldn’t take the shredded material outside because so many reporters were camped out in front of this place.

It must still be hidden inside this house.

Of course, we could consider the possibility that he burned it, but if the shredder is still this hot, it means he was shredding it right before the search and seizure came out.

There wouldn’t have been time to burn it.

“This one is empty too.”

“This one too.”

The investigators shouted as they opened the shredders in various places.

I didn’t expect anything from the beginning.

Instead of answering, I approached the wall.

And I quietly started knocking on it.

Tick tock.

This is a load-bearing wall.

Tick tock.

This is also a load-bearing wall.

“The hard drives are completely empty.”

“There’s some data alive! I’m searching by keyword now, but nothing’s coming up.”

“Whether the hard drive is empty or alive, we have to do forensics on everything.”

While I was knocking on the wall, I heard the voices of the investigators looking at the PCs.

Of course.

That’s how they did it when they searched and seized the Wooshin office building.

Thanks to that, it was recognized that they had attempted to destroy evidence, and Go Yoon-soo’s arrest warrant was issued.

Go Sang-jun also knew that this search and seizure result would affect the warrant review that would be held tomorrow, based on his experience at that time.

Nevertheless, seeing him turn the shredder on, it seems like he’s just trying to get arrested and then get a suspension of execution due to health reasons.

Tung tung.

When I knocked on the opposite wall, it sounded different from the existing load-bearing walls.

It was a wall behind the pillar.

“Officer.”

I called Heo Min-woo, who was sitting in front of the PC.

Heo Min-woo left it to the investigator standing next to him and ran to me with a surprised expression.

“When did you get here?”

“I just got here. I can’t unfold the blueprints here right now, so I checked based on my memory.”

I lowered my voice and spoke in a volume that only Heo Min-woo could hear.

“It seems like there’s a secret space behind this that I saw in the blueprints. The location is roughly right too.”

If it’s something that can’t be taken out and can’t be burned, wouldn’t he have hidden it here?

During the raid on Libon Medical Center, the police found a secret space and a secret passage, so Wooshin would have calculated that the secret space in this house wouldn’t be safe.

So, he would have already taken out the main evidence that we definitely want to find, such as overseas accounts or paper company data related to RND [Research and Development].

But it doesn’t matter.

It’s good to have as much evidence of Go Sang-jun’s crimes as possible, whatever it may be.

There will definitely be something that can be a clue, even if it’s minor.

“It seems like the location of the secret space is right here.”

Heo Min-woo also nodded.

“Bring Go Sang-jun’s agent here!”

Heo Min-woo shouted to the investigator.

While Yoon Seong-hee was coming, I recalled the location of the secret space door that I saw in the blueprints.

“It seems like it’s behind those big cabinets.”

Heo Min-woo seemed to be thinking the same thing as me, pointing to where five cabinets were placed in a row.

I grabbed the cabinet doorknobs and pulled them one by one.

Of course, they don’t open.

“What’s going on?”

Before I knew it, the elevator stopped on the second basement floor, and Yoon Seong-hee and the lawyers appeared.

“I want to see inside these cabinets, but they’re locked. You’ll have to open them.”

I said.

Then, Yoon Seong-hee sighed and replied.

“I don’t use them, so I don’t know the password. I don’t even come to this floor.”

“Then who knows the password?”

“……I’ll have to check.”

“Is that person currently at Go Sang-jun’s house?”

“I’ll have to check that too.”

“Then that means we can’t promise anything. Can we break it?”

As soon as I finished speaking, the lawyer shouted.

“It violates the principle of proportionality [legal principle that ensures actions taken are not excessive in relation to the desired outcome]. Unless there is evidence that there are items to be seized inside this cabinet, we cannot agree to the destruction.”

The worse the crime, the weaker the principle of proportionality becomes.

But if Wooshin spends tens or hundreds of billions on the defense team, they will somehow try to get away with it.

“Is that so? Then we’ll have to find a way to open it without breaking it. First, let’s call an expert and wait while we take a look around. It’s okay to lay the cabinet down, right? There might be a way to open it without damaging it.”

At my words, Heo Min-woo and the investigators approached the cabinet.

I pretended to step aside and leaned against the wall.

“Hmm?”

“What’s wrong?”

Heo Min-woo asked.

I bumped my body against the wall once more so that Yoon Seong-hee and the lawyers could hear.

“This, the sound is like a false wall. There doesn’t seem to be a reason for this to be a false wall structurally.”

As soon as I finished speaking, the lawyers exchanged glances.

They seemed to be the ones who knew that there was a secret space behind this.

They probably received instructions from the lawyer who was with Go Sang-jun.

“Yoon Seong-hee. Why is there a false wall here? What space is behind this? I don’t see a door.”

Then, Yoon Seong-hee replied with a slightly annoyed voice, as if she couldn’t understand.

“I don’t know.”

I was so anxious that I just wanted to break down the false wall, wasting time arguing.

Even if it’s a search and seizure, I can’t do it like the scenes that often appear in the media.

“One, two, lift and lay it down over there!”

At that time, three investigators who were gathered in front of the cabinet shouted.

At the same time, the lawyers’ faces hardened, and one of them hurriedly left the scene.

It seemed like he was going to make a phone call.

Bang!

As the investigators lifted the cabinets one by one and laid them on the floor, the lawyer who remained here closed his eyes tightly.

I looked at the wall where the cabinets had disappeared.

“There’s a door. It seems like there’s a space behind this.”

As I said, fixing my gaze on Yoon Seong-hee, she bit her lip and retorted.

“……It’s a place I’ve never seen before.”

“Is that so? Isn’t Go Sang-jun, your husband, the architect of this house? How could you not know that there’s a space like this in your own house?”

“I didn’t check all the blueprints one by one. It’s not a place I use.”

“I see. Then you wouldn’t know the password for this door either.”

I pulled the doorknob and pointed to the password input device installed on the wall next to the door.

“I don’t know.”

“Break it.”

I said to the investigator standing next to me.

Then, the lawyer shouted.

“The principle of proportionality should be applied in the same way as the cabinet! There is no evidence that there are seized items inside…….”

“Well, it’s true that the cabinet is an item that cannot be repaired if it’s broken, but what difference does it make if we break this lock? Above all, Article 120 of the Criminal Procedure Act stipulates that in the execution of a search and seizure, it is possible to open the lock or take other necessary measures. I’m sure you’re not saying that because you don’t know.”

At that time, the lawyer who had disappeared as if he had finished the call returned.

The two lawyers had a quiet conversation, then protested to me.

“Whether breaking the lock on this door falls under other necessary measures is open to interpretation.”

Where is there room for interpretation here?

Seeing them talking nonsense, it seems like they were told to block it or buy time somehow.

“Lawyer. Why do you keep blocking it with inappropriate logic? Does this seem like a voluntary submission? Search and seizure is a compulsory investigation.”

“…….”

“Isn’t this room Go Sang-jun’s house? It’s a place included in the search location. Right now, the agent and the lawyer are not opening the door even though the Special Prosecutor is saying that he will search the inside of the room. We’re not saying we’re going to break the wall, but are you saying that taking off the lock isn’t a necessary measure?”

When I asked, the lawyer bit his lip.

“Besides, the shredders on the second basement floor are very hot. There’s no shredded material in the shredder, so it seems like you were diligently destroying evidence until the search and seizure started. There’s a high probability that the shredded material is inside here. The shredded material is also included in the seized items. Considering the importance of the evidentiary value and the suspicion of destroying evidence, the principle of proportionality is also satisfied. Even if you risk your body to prevent us from breaking it, we’ll call an expert to open it. As you can see, it’s a warrant that allows for nighttime execution. There’s no point in wasting time.”

I spoke to the investigators again.

“Tear off the doorknob.”