You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 65

“What did the homeroom teacher say, Attorney?”

As soon as we got back to the car, Kang Min-jae asked. He seemed quite curious, asking even before I got in the car.

I shook my head as I fastened my seatbelt.

“Isn’t that… didn’t the homeroom teacher lie?”

I hoped so too, but my abilities rarely fail.

I wondered if there wouldn’t be even one exception, but it seemed not.

“No, she didn’t.”

“How can you be so sure, Attorney? Even if you’ve met a lot of liars, if they’re really determined to deceive…”

You might not know…

Kang Min-jae trailed off, as if he couldn’t believe it.

Instead of answering, I gestured for him to start the car.

We didn’t say anything as the car smoothly merged onto the road, heading towards the office.

I, too, was deep in thought.

Jin-cheol’s statement and Han-joon’s statement about being treated the same way by Hyuk-min had too many shortcomings.

I can prove that Jin-cheol was assaulted, but I can’t prove that Lee Hyuk-min was the one who assaulted Jin-cheol.

Looking at Han-joon’s case, he reported it to the police and tried to convene a school violence committee, but failed.

A witness’s statement is needed more than ever, and the only potential witnesses are the kids in that class.

But the kids in that class had no intention of opening their mouths.

“How do we solve this? There are no CCTVs [closed-circuit television cameras], no witnesses, and no evidence.”

Kang Min-jae said with a sigh.

On the day Jin-cheol first testified, after hearing Lee Hyuk-min mention CCTV, I checked to see if they actually existed.

But as he said, there were no CCTVs.

“The problem is that the students in that class are completely under Lee Hyuk-min’s control.”

Kang Min-jae nodded at my words.

“I thought he was like Um Seok-dae from *Our Twisted Hero*. How can no one say anything after seeing such a terrible accident because they’re afraid of one kid?”

Um Seok-dae’s authority collapses due to a newly appointed teacher, but Lee Hyuk-min was under the complete protection of the school.

Nevertheless, we must find a way to bring down Lee Hyuk-min’s kingdom.

Only when the children escape from Lee Hyuk-min’s fear will they open their mouths one by one.

The problem is, how to get them to open up…

“This is really troublesome.”

I muttered, looking out the window.

“Ah, why are you so late? And you didn’t answer your phone. Attorney, you always carry your phone as a decoration, but Kang should answer, shouldn’t he?”

When we arrived at the office, we found Tae-shik and Dae-cheol squatting in front of the door.

Kang quickly opened the office door, and Tae-shik sat on the sofa, grumbling.

“What’s going on?”

“Would I come if there was nothing going on? I came to give an interim report.”

Tae-shik took out a file from the bag he was carrying under his arm.

“That thing you told me to look into. Kim Hak-seong. The tutor.”

At his words, I picked up the file.

The first page contained detailed information, from his date of birth, address, and phone number to his family relationships.

“Married for five years with one child. But he’s having an affair? He’s a complete madman. He goes to the sauna every day before going home to take a bath, you know?”

Tae-shik said with a smirk.

The file even contained pictures of him kissing his mistress in the car.

Kang let out a hollow laugh as he looked at it.

“Your background checks are no joke.”

“Isn’t investigating cheating husbands our specialty?”

“Besides this useless stuff, anything else?”

“Useless? Dae-cheol worked so hard to take these pictures!”

Tae-shik hugged Dae-cheol, stroked his head, and grumbled.

“Turn to the next page. I also found out who this guy tutored, like Lee Hyuk-min.”

According to the investigation, Kim Hak-seong is a star instructor at Sangjin Academy and a popular instructor in online lectures.

He seemed to have quite a significant stake in the Sangjin Academy corporation.

As I slowly turned the pages, I found a chart in the back showing the academic performance trends of the students Kim Hak-seong had tutored.

“I found that out through a broker, so the information cost is a bit high. I spent a lot of money to find out, so Attorney, please pay well.”

Tae-shik said with a grin.

Come to think of it, he has brokers in all sorts of fields, and he’s the kind of guy who can find out phone numbers and home addresses with just a name and birthday.

He sometimes misses the point, but his skills are undeniable.

“They’re all Jangmyeong High School students.”

Kang Min-jae said, looking at the chart.

The list only had fourteen students with their surnames written as initials, but every single one of them was from Jangmyeong High School.

“He seems to tutor only the children of wealthy families at night, and he tutors about three or four at a time.”

“It’s the same method as Lee Hyuk-min’s.”

Next to the name, the midterm and final exam scores for each semester were written in a table.

All of them had quite a large increase in grades.

“Their GPA [Grade Point Average] has improved a lot.”

The grades of the students in the chart had all increased significantly.

The child who was originally good at studying got perfect scores after meeting him, and the child who was bad at studying rose to the top.

“A star instructor is a star instructor. He’s really amazing.”

Kang Min-jae said in admiration.

“I also had high-priced tutoring, but it didn’t go up that much. Wow, this kid went from 50th place to 1st place after being tutored by Kim Hak-seong. This kid was 80th in the first semester of the first grade and became 1st in the second semester of the first grade.”

“So, he gets high-priced tutoring. Ah, if my family was rich when I was young, I would have done this kind of tutoring and gotten first place. Then I wouldn’t be living like this. Ah, life is unfair! Why was my family so poor that it led me down this dark path…”

Tae-shik writhed as if he was wronged.

Kang patted him on the shoulder as if to comfort him and asked me.

“Attorney.”

“Why.”

“Did you get high-priced tutoring when you were a student?”

“No.”

Then Kang Min-jae pointed at me and said to Tae-shik.

“Let’s not use the excuse that your family was poor. That person went to Seoul National University Law School without tutoring.”

“……”

Tae-shik glared at Kang Min-jae without answering.

While they were talking, I was busy finding the source of the lingering sense of discomfort as I looked at the chart.

“Something’s strange.”

“What is it?”

“It’s not just one or two things. It’s strange that there are only Jangmyeong High School students in this neighborhood where there are many schools.”

I slowly underlined the rate of grade increase with the tip of my pen.

The chart also showed the school ranking at the end, but it was strange that the school ranking went up so much just because the math score went up.

Top students are generally good at many subjects.

Even if there is a weak subject, it is often a good grade by other people’s standards.

The ranking is divided by a difference of 1 or 2 points, so isn’t it strange that the ranking goes up so much just because you overcame math?

Besides, the student who took first place every year got perfect scores in all subjects.

“Does Kim Hak-seong tutor other subjects besides math?”

At my question, Tae-shik shook his head.

“He only does math.”

“When did Lee Hyuk-min start getting tutoring from Kim Hak-seong?”

“I think it was from the first grade.”

I leaned back deeply on the sofa and groaned.

Lee Hyuk-min has a surprisingly insufficient amount of studying for a student who has never missed first place in school.

However, he has been tutored by Kim Hak-seong since the first grade and has never missed first place on the exam.

And in the chart, there is one student every year who becomes first place after meeting Kim Hak-seong.

Of course, grades can naturally improve.

There are often cases where the last place becomes the first place in the school and appears as an article in the newspaper.

But in this area, the story is a little different.

This place is known as the mecca of academies [private tutoring centers] in Korea.

Of course, the enthusiasm for education is very high and the academic atmosphere is good.

Although high school is equalized [students are assigned to schools regardless of academic ability], most schools have high academic standards at the level of special purpose high schools [schools that specialize in certain subjects].

More than 10 students from one school are admitted to Seoul National University, and the top students here are devoted to studying while reducing sleep.

Even if you are ranked 50th in the school, there are many cases where you go to SKY [Seoul National University, Korea University, and Yonsei University, the top three universities in South Korea].

This is because there are many children with excellent grades, so even if they are outside of 50th place in the school, they are often in the top tier when ranked nationally.

Various news and documentaries often cover this area.

However, in this area, Lee Hyuk-min is still ranked first, even though he spends his time committing violence and delinquency against students.

The only difference between Lee Hyuk-min and other students is that he is tutored by Kim Hak-seong, who produces the top student at Jangmyeong High School every year, three times a week for two hours.

Of course, he may be secretly studying like crazy where people can’t see him.

But Lee Hyuk-min is not the only one who does that.

Other top students at Jangmyeong High School also receive tutoring from teachers who are famous for their pinpointing skills and take lectures at academies that many top students attend.

“It’s funny that Kim Hak-seong produces all the top students at Jangmyeong High School.”

At my words, Kang Min-jae nodded silently.

“Sangjin Academy existed when I was a student, but it wasn’t that famous. I don’t know what it was like at Jangmyeong High School, but usually, for an academy to become famous in this area, all the top students from all schools have to attend this academy.”

“In the first place, if he’s such a great pinpoint tutor that he can raise the grades of the top student in the school, it doesn’t make sense that he only tutors Jangmyeong High School kids. He would have received a lot of love calls [requests for his services].”

“That’s right. Usually, there is a connection between top mothers, so they introduce tutoring teachers because they are not competitors if they are not from the same school. If he’s a teacher who raises grades like this, wealthy parents will definitely try to get tutoring from Kim Hak-seong.”

Kang Min-jae’s addition was solidifying the direction of my thoughts.

I put the file on the table and took a moment to synthesize my thoughts.

Of course, it will be certain only after receiving the mock exam scores of the students who became the top student in the school through Kim Hak-seong and Lee Hyuk-min.

Considering all these circumstances, the most likely thing was one thing.

“I think it’s worth suspecting a test paper leak.”