You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 78

You’ve Been Defended – Episode 78

The next day, Jung Young-joon came to the office again.

Unlike yesterday, he was alone and looked disheveled.

His hair and clothes looked like he had rushed to get ready.

As he got closer, I could faintly smell alcohol.

As promised, Jung Young-joon handed me the necessary documents and a USB containing the video that had become a hot topic.

“I’m sorry, but I would appreciate it if you could watch the video after I leave,” Jung Young-joon said in a small voice to Kang Min-jae, who picked up the USB.

I just hoped that Jung Young-joon couldn’t read the curiosity in Kang Min-jae’s eyes.

“Of course. Have you had a chance to talk to your wife in the meantime?”

“…No. My wife doesn’t even answer my calls. I don’t know if she’s seen my texts or marked them as spam. I also sent them to my wife’s email, but it shows that she hasn’t read them yet.”

It seemed that Go Jin-ah had already made up her mind.

Jung Young-joon messed up his hair in frustration and hung his head.

“I couldn’t talk to my wife, but I received a text message from her lawyer.”

Jung Young-joon fumbled for his phone and showed it to me.

[Jung Young-joon, if you go to court like this, you will be at a disadvantage. Let’s get a divorce by mutual agreement. It’s a waste of time for both of us.]

[And please refrain from contacting the executive director directly. The executive director wants to communicate through me.]

[I look forward to a positive response.]

“The executive director here is my wife. She is in charge of legal counsel for Yangjin Group at Taekwang [a large South Korean conglomerate], and this time she appointed a lawyer from Taekwang. A divorce specialist with a very long career…”

“Don’t worry too much, Jung Young-joon. Taekwang doesn’t always win. I used to be affiliated with Taekwang, and above all, we have won against Taekwang in civil lawsuits.”

Jung Young-joon seemed somewhat comforted by Kang Min-jae’s words.

Jung Young-joon nodded slowly.

“…Yes.”

“Jung Young-joon, what was your relationship with Go Jin-ah like usually? Looking it up, it seems you two have been married for seven years this year.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“I don’t think you have any children. I would like to ask if you both agreed on this.”

“Ah… It wasn’t agreed upon. We tried to have a child, but it didn’t work out. The hospital said that my wife had a problem with her uterus, so it would be a little difficult to get pregnant. After that, we tried to do IVF [in vitro fertilization], but we couldn’t because we were always busy… and then 7 years passed.”

“After checking, it said that you two got married after dating… Is that as it’s known?”

“Ah, yes. My wife and I were senior and junior in college. We only knew each other’s names and greeted each other, but we met again at an alumni association a few years later. At that time, we ended up talking for a long time, and it seemed like we got along well, so we exchanged contact information… Then we started dating, and then we got married. That’s how it happened.”

“I know that you joined Yangjin F&B as a general manager after you got married, and soon became a managing director.”

“That’s right.”

“Then, what were you doing before you got married?”

“Um, I had a store. It wasn’t big, just a small Western-style restaurant in front of the university. With a brother I know.”

“I see.”

Most of those called chaebols [large, family-owned business conglomerates in South Korea] value marriage alliances.

In Korea, marriage means the union of two families, so it is to maximize business synergy through this.

Children of politicians and children of entrepreneurs, or children of entrepreneurs with each other.

Lawyers or doctors, who are treated as the top tier in the marriage market, are only second tier to them.

But Jung Young-joon did not fall into any of these categories.

In other words, it was a love marriage without conditions.

“When you two said you were getting married, what was the reaction from your in-laws?”

“Of course, it wasn’t good. But when my wife persisted, they eventually gave permission.”

“Then, what was the treatment from your in-laws after the marriage?”

Jung Young-joon pondered for a moment and stroked his stubbly chin.

Apparently, he had been contacted by the opposing lawyer and was so distraught that he had skipped shaving.

“Actually, it wasn’t good. My father-in-law and mother-in-law often ignored me. In fact, no one in the family besides the two of them liked me.”

“Why do you think so?”

“I was always alienated at family gatherings. No one took care of me except my wife. Also, if I did something that deviated from even the slightest etiquette, they would scold me for not being educated, or whisper behind my back. And even before I joined Yangjin F&B, they told me to go to graduate school first because even if my university was good, I hadn’t learned anything. So I think I only studied like a dead person for two years. It’s funny. I went to the same school and the same major as my wife.”

It was a common story.

They have a habit of putting up walls against those from families that are not what they call ‘prestigious families.’

It’s not the caste system in the 21st century, and where are the prestigious and non-prestigious families, but among the chaebols, there are people who try to save face like that.

For example, there are rumors that daughters-in-law from other prestigious families alienated daughters-in-law from ordinary families by speaking in French.

In fact, the children born in such ‘prestigious families’ are often not properly managed by their parents, which tarnishes the company’s image, which is ridiculous.

“Then, have you ever heard your in-laws tell you to get a divorce?”

“Haha, of course. Very often. It was almost a habit for my father-in-law and mother-in-law. Whenever I made big and small mistakes because I wasn’t used to it after joining Yangjin F&B, they would say that. There were also times when they asked my wife if she still liked that fool, and they said it was fortunate that she didn’t have a child, and it wasn’t too late to break up now. They said things like that.”

“You must have gone through a lot.”

Kang Min-jae sighed as if he felt sorry for him.

But Jung Young-joon shook his head.

“No. My wife suffered more than I did. She always cheered me on and comforted me even while listening to those words. And… when I first saw that video, it breaks my heart to think about how disappointed and betrayed she must have felt. So more… I want to know who put me in such a trap…”

Jung Young-joon washed his face with his dry hands.

He didn’t even touch the drink Kang Min-jae had given him, and only sighed deeply.

“It seems more important to prevent the divorce than to find out who did it. I can’t concentrate on that…”

“Did you report it to the police?”

“I did. I went to the police to report it right after I was slapped by my father-in-law. The police said they would try, but they said it would be difficult to catch them. They said they would try to prevent it from spreading…”

Until now, many celebrities, and even ordinary people, have suffered from unwanted sex videos.

In most cases, it was spread by someone they were dating, so it was not difficult to get a sense of who the original distributor was.

There were also cases where punishment was carried out.

The police always tried to prevent the spread.

However, even after a lot of time has passed, it is not difficult to find sex videos that were distributed a long time ago.

This time, I don’t even know who the distributor is.

Jung Young-joon’s situation was even more serious.

“You said that you seemed to have committed such a rape while drunk, but is the space in the video even a little familiar?”

“No, not at all… It looks like a hotel, or maybe a residence… I don’t know.”

“Even if you blacked out, didn’t you ever wake up in a place that was different from usual the next day, or feel strangely heavy, or anything like that?”

“No, I don’t. That’s why I’m going crazy. Even if I blacked out, I always called a designated driver and came home to sleep. I have never stayed out alone except for business trips. The day after I blacked out, I was always at home. There were many times when I had a hangover the next day… But every time, I was always so drunk… I don’t know if my body was particularly heavy or anything like that.”

His in-laws told him to get a divorce as a habit, and no one in that family welcomed Jung Young-joon.

Perhaps his in-laws planned this to drive Jung Young-joon out.

However, since the relationship between Go Jin-ah and Jung Young-joon was strong, they would not have been able to divorce them in a situation where the two people’s will was firm.

What if they had endured it for 7 years, and Yangjin Group could no longer tolerate Jung Young-joon?

For example, Jung Young-joon caused a great loss to the company, which had already been tolerated, or the situation where Jung Young-joon’s position had to be replaced with someone more useful than Jung Young-joon.

It is questionable whether they had to do it even while making a self-defeating move that made the company’s image ridiculous, but among the chaebol species, there are sometimes guys who treat the human rights of people belonging to ‘ordinary families’ like bugs.

“It’s just a simple assumption, but what if your father-in-law or mother-in-law planned it?”

“Yes? My father-in-law and mother-in-law?”

“It’s just an assumption. Is there anything strange about it?”

“To be honest, my father-in-law and mother-in-law are the kind of people who would do that. No, everyone in that family. But then the company’s image will be bad. There should be plenty of other ways…”

“Mr. Jung Young-joon’s relationship was so strong that they may have thought that this was the only way to break it. Anyway, Go Jin-ah is also part of a family full of ‘people who would do that,’ to borrow Mr. Jung Young-joon’s words. Go Jin-ah’s image was greatly tarnished by Mr. Jung Young-joon’s video, and she lost trust in Mr. Jung Young-joon. If it was your father-in-law and mother-in-law’s doing, they may have thought that Go Jin-ah would abandon Mr. Jung Young-joon in this situation.”

“…Lawyer, you’re being a little harsh.”

To Jung Young-joon, his in-laws would have been a reference group and an out-group.

It’s somewhat contradictory, but I can read the desire to blend in with them while having a sense of rebellion against the in-law group.

But the reason why his hostile in-laws became a reference group was only because of Go Jin-ah alone.

It was because Go Jin-ah belonged to that out-group.

Nevertheless, he was feeling angry at the fact that Go Jin-ah was part of those in-laws.

But it was true.

Go Jin-ah covered Jung Young-joon because of the feeling of love, but when that love ends, Go Jin-ah will eventually have no choice but to see Jung Young-joon in the same way.

Since Go Jin-ah has already suffered several losses while marrying against her family’s wishes, there is no reason to maintain the marriage even while enduring all of that.

“…”

“…That doesn’t make sense. My father-in-law and mother-in-law did it…”

“It’s just an assumption. And you said that your father-in-law and mother-in-law wouldn’t have done that because of the company’s image. Right now, Yangjin Group doesn’t have any major damage that stands out. It’s a bit of an embarrassing situation, but in fact, the public is too busy criticizing Jung Young-joon, and not many people are mocking Yangjin Group. On the contrary, it’s really surprising, but the public is feeling sorry for the chaebol.”

“Lawyer…”

Kang Min-jae pulled my arm and gestured.

He probably wants to say that I’m being too harsh, but there’s nothing I can do.

Jung Young-joon keeps repeating that he doesn’t want to lose his wife, and he showed up today looking somewhat messy.

The situation he is in is very unfortunate.

It must be difficult to be criticized by the people around him for a crime he did not commit, but he was being ridiculed by the entire nation.

But if he really wants to protect his family, he shouldn’t show such a disheveled appearance after receiving a few lawyer’s texts.

It was not enough to come to his senses now.

He still didn’t seem to be thinking objectively about the situation he was in.

“No. Yes. That’s right. I think you’re right, lawyer. Maybe… my father-in-law and mother-in-law did it. They are the kind of people who would do that, and if they could separate me from Jin-ah, they wouldn’t hesitate to make me a cripple.”

“…”

“And when I think about it, I made a small mistake three months ago and caused a loss of about 200 million won to the company. It’s not that big of a loss, but could it be because of that?”

Jung Young-joon’s eyes widened as if he had thought of something.

“I think my father-in-law and mother-in-law did it. I think that’s right. Then, then what should I do now?”