The Lawyer Who Reads Tomorrow - Chapter 1

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 1

 

 

*This work is fiction, and all names, characters, organizations, institutions, companies, place names, events, etc. that appear have no relation to reality. If there are any cases that are the same as reality, we clarify that this is purely coincidental.

*The precedents, judgments, laws, rules, and all other procedures that appear in this work may differ from reality.

 

 

“—I will now pronounce the verdict.”

 

The courtroom is as quiet as a tomb.

 

Reporters in the gallery and officials from Cheondong Group.

All those people who flocked here to witness with their own eyes the conclusion of this protracted legal battle.

Tension was clearly written on their faces.

 

“Defendant Choi Yoon-ho.”

 

Several pairs of eyes roll around, focused only on my lips.

I already know that countless arguments have gone back and forth over the outcome of this trial.

Those who hope for justice to be served and those who don’t.

Even the judges who can never be free from cases where capital and politics are filthily entangled.

 

‘Still, it’s Cheondong… Surely the heir to Cheondong Group won’t actually get prison time, right?’

‘There’s definitely something going on between them. It’s all rigged anyway.’

‘They’re all the same bastards.’

 

Even without them saying it, it was obvious what they were thinking inside.

I briefly closed my mouth and scanned the audience.

I almost burst out laughing.

 

…Curious, aren’t you?

 

Cheondong’s defense team, Haeil Law Firm, had been relaxed throughout, already confident of victory.

They had to be.

They were the ones who had pressured me multiple times through the chief judge.

Of course they thought they would win.

 

Naturally, I smiled along with them.

Very faintly.

 

“Life imprisonment.”

 

But.

Clearly.

 

The defendant’s face, which had been smugly smiling all along, crumpled up.

 

“Hey…”

 

A small trembling sound echoed through the courtroom that had been quiet as if time had stopped.

 

“…You… son of a bitch—!”

 

Bang!

 

The defendant slammed the desk and shot up to his feet.

I expected that.

 

“That bastard…! What the hell are you thinking, huh!”

 

Ah, I didn’t expect that though.

 

While it’s common enough to see defendants get agitated in court, it’s not often that defense attorneys get worked up.

The sight of Park Ji-hwan, Haeil’s lead attorney, rolling his eyes back and screaming meant it was just that rare.

 

I just looked down at them expressionlessly.

It’s just business anyway.

 

Dragging it to the second or third trial actually becomes an opportunity for ‘lawyers’ to collect additional fees.

But to get that worked up.

Did Cheondong threaten them or something?

 

“Kim Wook-han, you bastard…! You’re going to regret this, you son of a bitch!”

 

Choi Yoon-ho’s other attorneys from Haeil swarmed out to restrain Park Ji-hwan.

They could have kept going for all I care.

I watched them with interested eyes before turning away.

Unfortunately, I’m a very busy man.

 

…By the way, was he a Hankook University graduate?

 

Park Ji-hwan had contacted the chief judge through connections I can’t even remember and Cheondong’s financial backing.

The pressure that trickled down through those channels was ultimately an attempt to shut my mouth.

 

Some congressman or other is supposedly Park Ji-hwan’s in-law.

And through that connection, he made ties with Cheondong.

It’s such a common story in this field.

Regional ties, blood ties, school ties… things like that.

Of course, I have absolutely no interest in such trivial matters.

 

No matter how much money Cheondong gave him.

At his age, actively working in the field, I wonder if he might collapse.

 

“Thank you! Thank you, Your Honor…!”

 

Behind me as I walked away, an old man’s loud voice rang through the chaotic courtroom.

Hearty laughter followed, drowning out Park Ji-hwan’s curses.

I only glanced back briefly to look at the old man.

 

The victim’s family member.

He’s the victim’s father who has been exposed in various media outlets multiple times.

The case where the heir of Cheondong, one of South Korea’s leading conglomerates, was arrested for murder and attempted murder was an issue covered in depth across all media.

 

Thanks to that, the old man’s face was familiar to me as well.

 

“Thank you…! Our Hye-young… surely even from heaven…!”

 

The old man with tears welling up in his eyes bowed deeply.

Thanks to Cheondong’s relentless media play for months, there was also a lot of public opinion cursing the dead victim in some circles.

 

Although an appeal trial would certainly proceed, this first trial verdict would be a comfort to that old man in this tiresome legal battle.

 

The old man laughed like a madman and shouted loudly.

 

“Look, you bastards! Justice is—! Justice is alive—!”

 

The old man’s shouts could be heard even from beyond the closed door.

 

I have no interest in finished trials.

As I walked down the corridor, mentally calculating the tasks I needed to handle immediately, a shadow fell across my path.

 

“…You really went and did it.”

 

Chief Judge Park Gil-young.

He had called me aside to tell me to end this trial quietly.

 

“I merely processed it according to the law.”

“The sentence was too harsh compared to the prosecution’s demand.”

“That’s my decision.”

“Hah…!”

 

The chief judge let out an exasperated breath.

The chief judge’s wrinkled eyes, which had been glaring at me steadily, soon showed a tired expression.

 

“The nail that sticks out gets hammered down.”

 

I burst into laughter that I had been holding back at those words.

 

“What are you saying, Chief Judge?”

 

I wiped the tears that had welled up in the corners of my eyes and hardened my expression.

 

“The nail that sticks out would be Cheondong.”

 

I have a personality that can’t say wrong things.

 

“And I’m the hammer.”

 

* * *

 

“…Geez, why won’t you listen to what people say? Respected Judge? Huh?”

“Cough, cough.”

 

I wasn’t conscious at all.

 

Only the light of headlights coloring the pitch-black night was illuminating the dark sea.

I tried to wipe away the red liquid flowing faintly before my eyes.

But my hands wouldn’t move properly.

 

A few steps behind me, a figure was silhouetted like a shadow, tearing out my car’s black box.

 

“Didn’t Park Gil-young tell you to be careful?”

 

Through my reddened and blurred vision, a man in a pitch-black mask muttered.

The voice of the guy, who seemed annoyed as if he was handling troublesome work, was definitely unfamiliar.

However, Park Gil-young.

The name he mentioned belonged to the chief judge who had warned me.

 

“What? Hey, has our judge’s throat gotten blocked up?”

 

Crack!

 

The guy’s hand roughly grabbed my hair.

This… rude bastard.

My limp body was forcibly pulled up to meet the eyes of the guy whose face wasn’t covered.

I barely managed to open my mouth while spitting out the blood rising in my throat.

 

“Cheon… dong…”

“Whether it’s Cheondong or thunder, I don’t care about that.”

“Urgh…”

 

It was about an hour ago that I discovered a vehicle following me right after leaving work.

I pressed the accelerator to the floor as if I were racing, which wasn’t in my nature.

 

However, the escape didn’t last long.

 

While I was concentrating and couldn’t even contact the police, a truck had already caught up close behind my car and was pressuring me as if it would crush my trunk.

At the same time, a van that had been blocking the road ahead suddenly hit the brakes.

 

I also hurriedly hit the brakes to avoid colliding with the van, and after masked men jumped out from inside and grabbed me by the collar and dragged me out, I don’t have proper memories.

 

In less than an hour, my body was already damaged beyond any possibility of resistance.

 

“Judge, you studied a lot, didn’t you? Huh?”

 

Slap, smack!

 

The guy’s gloved hand struck my cheek several times.

The intensity was enough to knock out what consciousness I had left, and I spat out blood again.

 

Unfortunately, the blood I spat out landed on his jet-black mask.

He ground his teeth together.

Apparently quite angry, he irritably threw my head, which he had been gripping, down to the ground.

 

Thud!

 

My ribs all ached as my body was mercilessly slammed into the ground.

 

“Cough, cough…!”

“Let’s keep this nice and easy.”

“…”

“No family. No friends. Hell, not even a damn dog to take care of.”

 

The man shook his head while folding his fingers one by one.

 

“Living so lonely like this, there’s nothing to shake you down for or blackmail you with. That’s why our chairman is so pissed off.”

“…Cheon, cough, dong is doing this-“

“Tsk tsk. Stop saying such disrespectful things.”

 

My already injured and immobile body was secured in the driver’s seat of my car with the headlight on.

The man placed my broken foot on the accelerator with practiced movements.

 

Vroooom-.

 

The foot of another thug who had been pressing the brake slowly lifted away.

 

“Have a safe trip, yeah?”

 

The man looked toward the coastline as if checking the direction one last time.

My car, with the door still open, began rolling slowly and within a few meters started tumbling down below the breakwater.

 

I couldn’t move.

 

“While you’re at it, give our regards to the Lord too.”

 

The voice of the man sitting on the breakwater and mocking me echoed out.

The accelerator under my powerlessly fallen foot roared as it cut through the water.

But before long, the engine died and water rushed into my throat.

 

‘I’m going to die like this…?’

 

Cheondong.

 

No matter what nonsense they spouted, the ones who killed me were Cheondong.

I didn’t regret the trial.

But no matter how much I denied it, the pain and anger wandering through my head wouldn’t disappear.

 

“Death is this fair.”

 

My breath is cut off.

My consciousness slowly fades away in the seawater that has filled up to the ceiling.

His voice tormented my eardrums irritatingly until the very end.

 

“Whether you’re a thug bastard or a judge, everyone’s the same when they die.”

 

The last air bubble that had squeezed up through my throat burst.

 

* * *

 

“Haaah!”

 

A violent cough burst out.

There was no painful seawater that had been pressing against my lungs until just before I lost consciousness.

I bolted upright and raised my hands.

 

‘…There are no wounds.’

 

My legs move perfectly fine.

The headache that had been pressing on my head like a cracked skull was also gone.

I couldn’t feel any of the vivid pain that had seemed to push death right to my chin.

 

“What the…”

 

A low voice flowed out.

Wait, something’s strange.

 

I opened my mouth again in bewilderment.

 

“Ah, ah.”

 

…This isn’t my voice.

 

Those Cheondong bastards strangled my neck so much, did they damage my vocal cords?

 

No, the voice was too clear for damaged vocal cords.

I rolled my eyes and looked around in all directions.

 

First, a ceiling I’d never seen before.

Next, the floor.

Pure white wallpaper everywhere with a desk sitting alone and a bed supporting my body.

 

“…Don’t tell me Cheondong…”

 

Imprisoned me?

 

That persistent bastard who sat on the breakwater watching my death until the very end might have done that.

He might have pulled me up just before I died.

If it was Cheondong, they wouldn’t have taken me to a hospital.

 

But the surroundings were too clean.

I didn’t know who the room’s owner was, but it was organized as if hardly anyone lived in it.

 

Moreover.

 

“What’s this note….”

 

Under my hand lay a carelessly folded piece of paper.

The handwriting on the paper that simply read [I’m sorry] was too messy to be mine.

 

“…What the hell.”

 

Hazy smoke drifted through the coughing fits that erupted again.

No way.

I reflexively jumped up and threw open the closed window.

 

“Cough, damn… I finally feel like I can breathe.”

 

The continuous coughing from earlier seemed to have been caused by the smoke.

The acrid smell made my throat, which I hadn’t noticed before, start to hurt.

Fortunately, the bathroom window had been open, so I didn’t suffocate to death from the smoke.

 

“…They tried to kill me by disguising it as suicide….”

 

That makes sense.

The sensation of stepping on the accelerator was vivid.

 

For some reason, those bastards from Cheondong must have pulled me out of the sea and locked me in this room.

Was leaving the bathroom door open a mistake?

 

…Let me at least wash my face to clear my head.

 

In the bathroom I entered, hoping all of this was a dream, I screamed for the first time in years.

 

“Aaaaah!”

 

I rubbed my eyes.

 

How does this make sense?

When people face an unbelievable situation, they reflexively burst out with profanity.

 

After roughly rubbing my eyes once more and looking into the mirror, it remained silent.

Which meant it was reflecting the same strange thing.

 

“What, what is this….”

 

It was an unfamiliar face.

Late twenties? Early thirties?

A face completely different from what Judge Kim Wook-han possessed was reflected in the mirror.

Though there were slight shadows under the eyes from fatigue, it was fundamentally a tall and handsome face.

 

“But who are you supposed to be.”

 

When I spoke, the man in the mirror moved his lips identically.

 

Damn it, is this really a dream?

 

I fled the bathroom and began searching through the room.

From being an associate judge to becoming a chief judge, I had handled countless cases.

Among them were naturally many bizarre cases.

I had even stayed up for days and nights with researchers writing verdicts.

 

But I had never heard of or received a case where a person had changed.

 

“Damn it.”

 

No matter what, the bewildered emotions wouldn’t easily disappear.

I paced back and forth the few steps from the bed to the desk, thoroughly searching the surroundings.

Books and piles of documents, and a work diary engraved with the logo.

 

“…Huh.”

 

This doesn’t make sense.

Haeil, of all things.

Haeil…!

 

Stay calm.

After what I went through earlier, there might be mental issues.

I bit my lip anxiously and picked up the mobile phone that had fallen to the floor.

 

And then.

 

I was startled by a text message that suddenly vibrated and dropped the mobile phone.

 

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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