You Have Been Defended [EN]: Chapter 98

“Ah, the day has come for me to set foot in Tae-kwang’s office again,” Kang Min-jae muttered, fiddling with his tie in the elevator for no particular reason.

He was dressed in a suit as usual, but it was clear he had put a lot of effort into his appearance today.

“How may I help you?”

I simply told the employee at the information desk my name and the name of the lead attorney for Go Jin-ah’s defense team, and she guided us without delay.

As we entered the office, the attorneys who had been rushing around, busily working, began to whisper among themselves.

I could feel their eyes on me.

“Attorney Kang Min-jae. Long time no see?”

We stopped in our tracks at the sudden sound of a middle-aged man’s voice.

It was Attorney Kim Yoon-hee.

I had no acquaintance with him in my current life, but I had seen him a few times in my previous life.

Tae-kwang’s unofficial second-in-command.

He was a founding member who had been with Yoon Won-hyung since the beginning when he first started Tae-kwang.

Unlike Yoon Won-hyung, I knew that he was still active.

“Ah, Attorney Kim. Hello. It’s been a while,” Kang Min-jae said, shaking Kim Yoon-hee’s outstretched hand and bowing slightly.

“Yes, yes. Is your grandfather doing well?”

“…Ah, yes.”

Kang Min-jae answered, looking visibly uncomfortable.

Kim Yoon-hee, who had been laughing heartily, soon turned his gaze to me.

“Who is this? The famous Attorney Cha Joo-han. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m Cha Joo-han.”

“Oh, really? What class were you in at the Judicial Research and Training Institute?”

“Class 29.”

“Really? That makes you ten classes behind me. You look young, so you must have passed the bar exam early. Let’s see, were you in the Criminal Division of the Central District Prosecutor’s Office? Which division was it?”

“Division 3.”

“Ah, then you were under Chief Prosecutor Hwang Young-chan.”

‘If he’s class 19, he’s Hwang Young-chan’s classmate,’ I thought.

He probably asked knowing that.

Hwang Young-chan never missed any gatherings.

Needless to say, he always attended alumni meetings.

Come to think of it, I think Kim Yoon-hee, Tae-kwang’s second-in-command, used to brag about being close to him.

In fact, Kim Yoon-hee wasn’t particularly annoying to me because he would leave Tae-kwang a few years later to start his own firm.

I checked my watch.

I had arrived a little early for the appointment, but I was being held up by Kim Yoon-hee.

“Oh, my. You must have come here on business, but have I been holding you up for too long? Go on, go on.”

Kim Yoon-hee said with a smile and walked past us.

As he disappeared down the hallway, Kang Min-jae sighed deeply, stroking his chest.

“Hoo.”

“What?”

“I was under Attorney Kim Yoon-hee when I was at Tae-kwang.”

“Really? You were only a first-year prosecutor, but you were under a big shot like Kim Yoon-hee. That’s impressive.”

I said it without much thought, but Kang Min-jae didn’t answer.

“Let’s go quickly! I’ll guide you. I know the office layout very well. And I know a lot of good restaurants around here. Let’s stop by one of them later after we’re done.”

He’s still awkward at times like this.

“There’s no one here yet.”

As soon as we arrived in front of the conference room, Kang Min-jae said, checking through the glass wall.

“They should have been notified that we arrived. Are they deliberately making us wait?”

He grumbled and opened the conference room door.

However, the conference room lights were on.

Two bottles of water were placed on our side of the table, and four bottles of water were placed on the other side.

It seemed that this was our designated seating.

I put my briefcase down on my seat and looked at my watch.

Even with the time I lost to Kim Yoon-hee, there were still five minutes left.

“Kang, I’m going to wash my hands for a moment.”

“Yes.”

As I was about to leave the conference room, Kang Min-jae grabbed me as if he had remembered something.

“Instead of the restroom in front, go to the restroom to the left of the conference room. It’s better there because it’s near the partner attorneys’ offices.”

“Okay.”

That’s what I said, but I was just going to go to the closer one.

However, the restroom area was quite crowded because it was around the end of lunchtime.

Judging by the fact that people were standing there with toothbrush sets, it seemed that the inside was already packed with people brushing their teeth.

I had no choice but to head to the restroom Kang Min-jae had told me about.

“Ah, yes. Yes. That’s right.”

I had barely taken a few steps into the hallway when a woman was walking towards me from the opposite side, talking on the phone with the phone tucked between her shoulder and ear.

At the same time, she was rummaging through her bag rather frantically.

“Yes, Chairman. They said they’re about to start the discussion. I’ll report to you as soon as they get started.”

She seemed so preoccupied with her call and her bag that she didn’t notice me getting closer.

“Ah!”

I was going to move slightly out of the way, but she suddenly turned in my direction, causing us to collide.

I was fine, but the problem was not me, but her.

She dropped the bag she had been rummaging through, and the contents spilled out onto the floor.

“I’m sorry.”

“Ah, Chairman. It’s nothing. I’ll call you back.”

She hung up the phone and immediately began picking up the contents that had fallen on the ground.

She was so flustered that she didn’t even respond to my apology.

Not wanting to just pass by, I helped her pick up the contents.

I was picking up and putting things like a pencil case, clear file, lipstick, and glasses case into her bag when…

“…”

I found a small ring on the floor.

A silver ring with a blue gemstone in the center.

There was a long inscription on the side.

It was Jo Hyun-seok’s ring.

No, to be exact, it was a ring with the exact same design as Jo Hyun-seok’s.

I picked up the ring while she was busy picking up other things.

I could tell for sure when I touched it directly.

I didn’t think I could wear it.

The same would be true for Choi Hyun-seok, who is 193 cm [approximately 6’4″] tall, so it was definitely a ring made for a woman.

Before she realized I was holding the ring, I quickly shifted my gaze to the letters engraved on the ring.

[Naci Para Conocerte]

A Latin phrase.

It was about love, but I memorized the short sentence just in case.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t someone’s name that we were desperately looking for that was engraved on the ring, but it wasn’t like we didn’t get anything.

No, rather, I would say that I found out more than I did when I found out the name.

There is a very high probability that this woman is the owner of the ring.

“What are you doing, touching other people’s things?”

It was then.

The woman quickly snatched the ring from my hand.

She had already picked up all the items that had fallen on the floor.

“I was going to pick it up for you. I apologize. It seems to be a precious item.”

When I asked, she finally looked at my face.

It was a very brief moment, but her eyes widened as soon as she saw me.

She quickly composed herself, but I was sure.

She knows me.

“I don’t think I have to tell you.”

She replied curtly.

I used my ability just in case, but it wasn’t an answer that could distinguish between truth and falsehood, so it wasn’t very effective.

“Thank you for your help. Then.”

She turned her body in the opposite direction from the one she had been heading in.

I stopped there and followed her back with my eyes.

The fact that she was going in the opposite direction from the way she had come meant that she was going to inform someone that she had run into me.

The fact that she was moving so busily without even answering the phone or taking her bag meant that she had urgent business elsewhere.

‘She said “Chairman” to the person on the phone,’ I recalled.

I didn’t mean to listen, but I couldn’t help but notice her conspicuous movements.

‘It seems like they’re about to start the discussion.’

‘I’ll report to you as soon as they get started.’

Only these two things were meaningful.

There must be many people who have come to the Tae-kwang office to discuss something.

There’s no reason why the person she’s referring to is me.

But what if you consider the other person called ‘Chairman’, the look in her eyes that clearly recognized me, and the matching couple ring with Jo Hyun-seok?

The person she is referring to is definitely me.

‘Jo Hyun-seok’s lover.’

It became clear that she was Jo Hyun-seok’s lover, but in order to make everything more certain, I had to find out the identity of the ‘Chairman’.

Then, in fact, it was as good as solving all the cases in one go.

Jo Hyun-seok – Jo Hyun-seok’s lover – Go Sang-kyung.

Revealing the connection between these three was the biggest goal right now.

Leaning against the coffee vending machine next to me and pretending to look at my phone, I followed her trail with my eyes, and after confirming that she had turned the corner, I quickly moved my feet.

I moved very carefully because it would be difficult if I followed her before she turned the corner and gave the impression that I was being watched.

Just as she reached the inside of the hallway, I also moved my body to the corner and briefly checked the hallway.

The woman was still standing in the hallway.

In front of the room with the sign [CEO].

“…”

She suddenly looked around before opening the door to the CEO’s office.

I hid behind the wall again.

If her destination is the CEO’s office, does that mean that Chairman Go Sang-kyung sent her to Yoon Won-hyung?

It wasn’t strange.

It’s only natural that he would be concerned about his only daughter getting divorced.

Knock, knock, knock.

Then, I heard a knock on the door from the hallway.

It seemed that she had knocked on the door of the CEO’s office.

I peeked my head out into the hallway and watched her movements.

I was trying to see who else was inside besides Yoon Won-hyung, the CEO.

‘…Oh, no.’

The door, which opened just enough for one person to enter, closed before I could see who was inside.

It was a shame, but there was nothing I could do.

I couldn’t just sit here and watch.

I shook my head and went back to the conference room.

The owner of the ring is probably one of Chairman Go Sang-kyung’s henchmen.

The reason she went to the CEO’s office was probably to check how much progress our discussion was making today and quickly report it to Chairman Go Sang-kyung.

I decided to go back to the conference room first.

It’s not too late to find out who she is later.