The Lawyer Who Reads Tomorrow - Chapter 114

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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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Chapter 114

 

“Wouldn’t it be worse if news broke when I was dead?”

 

When I protested with my hoarse voice, Lim Do-hyuk’s face scrunched up even more.

 

“Stop talking nonsense, Sung Tae-hyun.”

 

Oh my, it seems he received quite harsh training at Haeil.

 

Lim Do-hyuk had become sharper than before. That’s putting it nicely—he’d become more sensitive.

 

Even Noh Hae-min, who was keeping watch on Lee Jin-seop while perking up his ears, could feel the sensitivity from that dull man.

 

“…What a damn—”

 

Perhaps the stress was too much, as Lim Do-hyuk glared at Lee Jin-seop while quickly muttering curses under his breath.

 

Then he approached me for no reason and shouted angrily.

 

“You’re not twenty years old, do you think blocking with your body will work forever?”

 

Was this advice or worry?

 

When I looked at him questioningly, Lim Do-hyuk made a face like he was extremely annoyed.

 

“You almost died and came back to life, so now you’re not even afraid of death?”

 

…Now he’s even getting angry on his own.

 

Even after that, as if his anger wasn’t subsiding, Lim Do-hyuk roughly rubbed his face with both hands.

 

“Almost died and came back to life. How does Senior know about that, *cough*?”

 

At my casual question, Lim Do-hyuk’s hands stopped.

 

He now had an expression like he just wanted to burn everything down.

 

Well, from my perspective, it was a reasonable question.

 

Almost dying and coming back to life.

 

It had happened several times since I awakened as Sung Tae-hyun, but the most impressive one was Sung Tae-hyun’s first impression.

 

When I first woke up.

 

“…”

 

“Why aren’t you saying anything, Senior?”

 

Now even Lee Jin-seop had gone quiet.

 

I asked Lim Do-hyuk, who had been venting all kinds of irritation.

 

He glared at me with a face that had somehow become even paler than before.

 

“You.”

 

He moved his lips several times before quietly muttering.

 

“Do you think I don’t know what happened on the day you changed, claiming you lost your memory?”

 

Lee Jin-seop and Noh Hae-min’s gazes gathered on us.

 

Fortunately, since Lim Do-hyuk had muttered like a whisper, they seemed unable to properly hear what he said.

 

It wasn’t my business, yet at the same time it was my business.

 

The story of the day Sung Tae-hyun died wasn’t something to bring up in a place like this.

 

“You’ve been acting like a completely different person since that day.”

 

“What’s the point of bringing up something that happened so long ago?”

 

“Because there hasn’t been a single day since then that I haven’t thought about that day.”

 

Has this bastard lost his mind?

 

“Why did you change?”

 

Lim Do-hyuk’s eyes took on a dangerous gleam.

 

“How can a person change so drastically in an instant?”

 

“…”

 

“You used to be someone who couldn’t even look me straight in the eye.”

 

Ah, so that’s it.

 

Now he’s trying to throw a tantrum.

 

I could tell just from looking at Lim Do-hyuk’s past behavior.

 

How much he had looked down on and ignored the previous Sung Tae-hyun.

 

But suddenly I started achieving results outside the shelter of Haeil.

 

Along with jealousy-.

 

“Are you scared?”

 

I spoke provocatively.

 

Yes, Lim Do-hyuk fears me.

 

No matter how hard he tried to hide it, those confused emotions were easily revealed every time.

 

“Senior, are you scared of something like this? Are you afraid I might trample on you?”

 

“…Sung Tae-hyun.”

 

“So that’s why you’re getting irritated for no reason even after helping me out?”

 

“…Don’t say ridiculous things.”

 

Lim Do-hyuk glared piercingly at my neck, which had red handprints on it, as if he wanted to grab me by the collar.

 

It was already starting to swell and hurt, and now he was making me worry about unnecessary things.

 

Anyway, that bastard Lim Sang-jin had even raised his son in such a pathetic way.

 

“Scared? Of you?”

 

He continued glaring at me and muttered once more.

 

“Scared my ass, someone like you could be taken care of right now-”

 

Does that bastard know that I can’t feel even a shred of sincerity in those words?

 

Lim Do-hyuk fears Sung Tae-hyun who has left Haeil.

 

At the same time, he feels self-loathing about such feelings.

 

Even while looking at Sung Tae-hyun as if he wants to kill him, he doesn’t want to let him out of his sight.

 

So in the end, he wants to control the uncontrollable risk called Sung Tae-hyun under his own hands.

 

“I guess you received quite the successor training at Haeil-”

 

Siren sounds began to be heard from outside.

 

Lim Do-hyuk’s gaze was persistent, as if he would strangle me to death at any moment.

 

In this situation, the most threatening thing to Sung Tae-hyun wasn’t Lee Jin-seop, who had actually put his hands on my neck.

 

…It would be Lim Do-hyuk right in front of me.

 

“You’re taking your irritation out on the wrong person.”

 

I tried to speak lightly on purpose.

 

However, thanks to my terribly hoarse voice, I ended up creating an atmosphere as if I were some demon from hell.

 

Lim Do-hyuk took a deep breath and calmed his racing heart.

 

Finally, the words he spoke were remarks that surprised even me enough to widen my eyes for a moment.

 

“…I was trying to warn Chief Prosecutor Choi Yoon-ki.”

 

“….”

 

“I didn’t know he had already slipped from my grasp.”

 

So that’s why he contacted me like that.

 

The several missed calls and messages that were left after meeting Choi Yoon-ki.

 

I had ignored them because I was busy at the time.

 

Warning me, when he’s supposed to be Cheondong’s biggest collaborator.

 

If Choi Yoon-ki had known, his head would have rolled immediately.

 

“I’m leaving.”

 

Lim Do-hyuk turned around and left with a coldly sunken expression.

 

* * *

 

The commotion had passed.

 

However, knowing that an even bigger commotion was in store, I squeezed my eyes shut and opened them.

 

Even the sky is indifferent.

 

Even though I had deliberately let myself be caught without resisting, my neck hurt quite a bit and I wasn’t in good condition.

 

“Hyung…!”

 

A familiar voice echoed loudly through the quiet office.

 

“Are you really crazy? Have you lost your mind? Are you really insane?!”

 

I thought I heard a siren, and what arrived was Sung Tae-jun in uniform.

 

Don’t they usually work in teams of two when responding to calls?

 

I don’t know much about police procedures, but that’s generally how it seemed.

 

Before I could confirm my question, the third police officer, Sung Tae-jun, rushed toward me.

 

“Fuck, what’s with your neck? Did that bastard do this?”

 

Lee Jin-seop, who had gone outside with the other two officers for victim separation, looked completely defeated.

 

I spoke to Noh Hae-min, who was rolling his eyes at this dramatic brotherly reunion.

 

“Senior, go outside and watch if Lee Jin-seop is talking nonsense, then head home.”

 

“Huh? Yeah. I’ll do that….”

 

Perhaps because Sung Tae-hyun’s real younger brother had appeared, Noh Hae-min seemed somewhat relieved.

 

“Tae-hyun, make sure you go to the hospital.”

 

“I got it, so hurry-”

 

Even while I was speaking, Sung Tae-jun was grabbing my collar as if pulling it, examining the wounds on my neck.

 

“What did they do to you? That’s why I told you to exercise more regularly, hyung!”

 

Ah, so noisy.

 

Thanks to Sung Tae-hyun’s unnecessarily loud-voiced younger brother, the office was echoing.

 

And “what did they do to you.”

 

Those words didn’t suit me, who had willingly sacrificed my neck to help reduce Lee Jin-seop’s sentence.

 

It was, so to speak, one step back for two steps forward. You damn bastard.

 

“First, take photos.”

 

I unbuttoned a few buttons on my shirt to make my neck clearly visible and handed over my mobile phone camera.

 

We needed to take evidence photos.

 

When I lifted my head up, the swollen skin on my neck was stimulated and stung.

 

“Hyung’s way of thinking is strange. You’re talking about collecting evidence right now? This is unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable.”

 

“Stop talking nonsense and just take the photos.”

 

Still, compared to his mouth that was constantly grumbling, his hands moved diligently.

 

Sung Tae-jun asked while photographing the handprints left all over my neck.

 

“Do you have CCTV footage? Ah, there is a CCTV up there.”

 

“Yeah. Give it to me when you’re done taking photos.”

 

They came out well.

 

Perhaps thanks to the lighting, the photos came out very well, looking like a more serious problem than the pain I was actually feeling.

 

Now I just needed to go to the hospital and get a proper medical certificate.

 

My mind was working rapidly.

 

“Hyung.”

 

“What.”

 

“Please take care of yourself, I’m begging you.”

 

Look at this.

 

Now even his voice was mixed with sighs.

 

When I, who had been organizing the evidence photos, looked at him, Sung Tae-jun let out a long, deep sigh as if he had been waiting for this moment.

 

“Mother is worried about you.”

 

She’s not someone who would come out with words like that.

 

If it’s Sung Tae-hyun’s mother, wouldn’t she be worried about her own safety rather than Sung Tae-hyun’s?

 

“It’s been quite a while since you went home.”

 

“Well, that’s true.”

 

“Hyung, I’m really worried. What on earth made you change like this?”

 

Even I had no choice but to stop talking at those words.

 

It was a strange day.

 

Quite a long time had passed since I became Sung Tae-hyun, at least from my perspective.

 

Those who had moved without complaint until now were adding a word or two today.

 

That I had changed.

 

It was an obvious statement, yet at the same time it felt absurd.

 

“Tae-jun.”

 

“…Yeah. Let’s really talk now. Hyung, I feel like I’m walking on thin ice these days.”

 

Why would you end up like that?

 

Today, those who came to find Sung Tae-hyun and worried about him meant nothing to Sung Tae-hyun.

 

They were the ones who weren’t by his side even when Sung Tae-hyun chose death.

 

“What would change if I told you?”

 

If there’s one fact they don’t know, it’s this.

 

Sung Tae-hyun no longer exists.

 

The sentences in my diary that leave behind a few lines about future events.

 

That’s all that remains of Sung Tae-hyun’s last traces.

 

“…Hey, why are you being like this? Hyung. You were never like this before. Mother misses you too. She was really sick recently. You don’t care about any of that at all.”

 

Look at this.

 

Even Sung Tae-jun, who came all the way here because he was worried about Sung Tae-hyun.

 

Rather than being genuinely concerned about Sung Tae-hyun’s condition, he’s just trying to dump it on him like another burden.

 

Whether he knows it or not.

 

“Well, I don’t think I’ll be visiting Mother in the future either.”

 

“Hyung!”

 

Sung Tae-jun’s eyes wavered at the coldly delivered words.

 

Those were the eyes of someone who had never once considered a situation like this.

 

“If you really want to have a conversation with me, Sung Tae-hyun.”

 

“…”

 

“Don’t drag other people like Mother into this, and say what you want to say directly.”

 

Sung Tae-jun’s eyes sank deeply with complex emotions.

 

I had no intention of comforting him.

 

The world that made up Sung Tae-hyun was essentially no different from hell for Sung Tae-hyun.

 

“Well, if it’s about lacking support money-”

 

“…Hyung.”

 

“I’ll transfer some occasionally.”

 

Sung Tae-jun looked down at me with a hurt expression.

 

“Do you really not need family anymore?”

 

“…”

 

“You’re in the news and doing well now. Do you really not need family anymore? Are we strangers?”

 

Ah, here we go again.

 

There’s no way Sung Tae-jun doesn’t know how Sung Tae-hyun was treated in that house all this time.

 

The evidence of abuse he suffered from that human called ‘Mother’ was more than abundant.

 

All the records Sung Tae-hyun left point to one thing.

 

Not a single person in that house was on Sung Tae-hyun’s side.

 

“Tae-jun.”

 

I buttoned up my shirt and called out to Sung Tae-hyun’s brother.

 

Between an underdeveloped human and a human who could no longer endure and died.

 

As a judge, I always gave weight to the words of those already dead.

 

Because the dead cannot speak.

 

“I’ll visit the police station with the medical certificate.”

 

“Hyung!”

 

“So go now. It’s late, so be careful.”

 

If Sung Tae-jun did anything wrong, it was standing by and watching.

 

Of course, it’s a choice that children raised under such a mother instinctively make.

 

Nevertheless, Sung Tae-hyun was dead.

 

Since the person Sung Tae-jun needed to have a conversation with was no longer in this world, I gently pushed that large frame out the front door.

 

“Ah, I’ll call you again if something comes up next time.”

 

“Hyung!”

 

“Take care.”

 

Until the moment the door closed, Sung Tae-jun looked confused.

 

Like the moment when he felt a familiar person become strange for the first time.

 

Yes, you should feel strange.

 

Because Sung Tae-hyun’s family must have always felt strange to him too.

—————
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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