The Lawyer Who Reads Tomorrow - Chapter 123

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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 123

 

“I’ll be really honest with you. We got stuck with this patient too.”

 

The doctor let out a long sigh.

 

404 was sleeping. Thank goodness.

 

I only moved my eyes to look at 404’s sleeping face.

 

As expected, it didn’t look like she would wake up anytime soon.

 

“Is that so?”

 

Let me try moving along the subtle boundary between neutrality and agreement.

 

When I nodded as if I understood, he gulped down the cold water in front of him as if frustrated.

 

Then he suddenly raised his eyes and asked.

 

“You’re really a lawyer, right?”

 

“Of course.”

 

To give him confidence, I took out a new business card and handed it to him. After checking it, the man nodded.

 

“I think I’ve heard of it somewhere… Ilchul…”

 

“People remember us a lot from the Nexarum Gate case before.”

 

When I casually dropped this information, a strange light appeared in the doctor’s eyes.

 

“Nexarum… Ah.”

 

“Do you know them?”

 

“Know them? Of course. Those damn bastards… such rotten scum doing politics…”

 

I almost burst out laughing at his muttered words that didn’t fit the situation.

 

“I handled that case.”

 

“Really? Ah, come to think of it, I think I saw an interview or something.”

 

He roughly stuffed the business card into his gown and leaned back deeply into the sofa.

 

Since it was a VIP Room, the leather seat was indeed nice.

 

However, the doctor was now looking at me and making countless calculations, as I was both a representative for 404’s, no, Lee Yeon-woo’s guardian and potentially Lee Yeon-woo’s lawyer.

 

Should I open the floodgates a little?

 

I opened my mouth gently.

 

“What do you mean when you say the hospital bills are overdue?”

 

Hwan said he had paid the full 5-year cost to the nursing home.

 

However, 404 was unexpectedly in the 3rd floor inpatient room of A Nursing Hospital, the building right next to A Nursing Home.

 

And the hospital claims they never received any payment.

 

Actually, it didn’t make sense.

 

404 should have been in the nursing home in the first place.

 

Moreover.

 

‘Where did all the coins go?’

 

That’s right.

 

Just converting the coins I gave to 404 would have been more than enough to cover all the hospital bills.

 

404 had even received very expensive fees.

 

Though he did handle things well for that price.

 

“Ah, no-.”

 

The doctor moved his lips several times.

 

There’s something there.

 

If a rat had snuck into 404’s granary, which side would it be?

 

He glanced at me, then raised his voice loudly as if conscious of something.

 

“This patient we have now, the more we look at her, she’s a loss! A loss!”

 

“Is that so?”

 

“No, yes. I wasn’t going to say this much, but anyway, didn’t you say you were the guardian’s representative?”

 

“I did.”

 

The doctor shouted as if breathing fire from his mouth.

 

“The guardian can’t be reached, the nursing home sucked out all the sweet benefits and dumped her on us, huh? The patient absolutely won’t listen-”

 

“The patient won’t listen?”

 

“That’s right! I’m so frustrated!”

 

What a mess.

 

“She made such a fuss demanding we give her a computer! We’re at our wit’s end!”

 

“I see. Where did you put the computer?”

 

Seeing that Hwan had entrusted it to him, it seemed computer use was possible at the nursing home.

 

Considering he had been working with me all this time, his consciousness was clear enough to do hacking work.

 

Yet 404 was moved to the hospital like baggage and wasn’t receiving proper treatment.

 

“That’s probably somewhere in storage. Do I have to worry about such things?”

 

So it seemed.

 

He didn’t care at all.

 

Well, I understood to some extent, but from a guardian’s perspective, it was clear that the patient treatment was poor.

 

So much so that the VIP designation and facilities looked ridiculous.

 

“Anyway, that patient Lee Yeon-woo too. He doesn’t like this, he doesn’t like that. He’s been causing such a fuss-”

 

He huffed and puffed angrily.

 

“I wanted to see the face of that so-called guardian. Really, they said not to touch him at the nursing home, so what is he, some child of darkness?”

 

Ah, summing it up, this doctor’s complaint was just one thing.

 

He just didn’t like Lee Yeon-woo.

 

Seeing how he started to bring up money but stopped, that probably wasn’t the real issue either.

 

And child of darkness, what kind of ridiculous nonsense was that.

 

“It’s better not to mess with that side.”

 

I advised him with all my heart.

 

This was truly advice for that man’s sake.

 

No matter how much Hwan was stuck in prison, would he really neglect his younger brother?

 

If that were the case, he wouldn’t have paid expensive money to entrust him to the nursing home in the first place.

 

There was a world of theirs that I didn’t know about.

 

“Mess with what! Me!”

 

Well… if he was going to walk into the line of fire himself, I had no intention of stopping him.

 

I had only asked him to check if Hwan was doing well from the beginning.

 

Though I would need to talk to 404 separately.

 

“And what does it mean that a patient with total paralysis caused a commotion?”

 

I asked this out of genuine curiosity.

 

The doctor snorted and answered.

 

“This is why guardians don’t understand the situation. You know that patient Lee Yeon-woo has full function above the neck, right?”

 

“Is that so?”

 

“Even if her voice doesn’t come out well, she can communicate through head shaking and blinking.”

 

I see.

 

When I nodded as if in agreement, he became even more triumphant and shouted.

 

“Anyway, not a single hospital bill has been paid! We’re really in the red now!”

 

“I’ll discuss that with the patient when she wakes up.”

 

When I answered lightly, he beat his chest as if even more frustrated.

 

Does this side have some circumstances too?

 

However, as far as I knew, 404 really had a lot of money.

 

If such a 404 embezzled her own money, that would be one thing, but no money? How could that be possible.

 

“You really don’t need to worry about the hospital bills. If you’re really concerned, I can pay them in advance.”

 

“…!”

 

“I’m serious.”

 

I reassured him and gently asked again.

 

“That aside, when did patient Lee Yeon-woo’s health start deteriorating like this?”

 

I asked while pointing to 404, who was still sleeping.

 

The doctor shook his head, now somewhat calmer.

 

“I wouldn’t know. She was already sleeping when she was transferred here. Speaking of which, huh? Why is a lawyer asking such-”

 

…Transferred? Could that transfer mean from the nursing home?

 

No.

 

The man bit his lips as if he had misspoken.

 

“You just said transferred.”

 

“….”

 

“Was she originally somewhere else?”

 

I hadn’t particularly noticed anything awkward until now.

 

Until this man made his slip of the tongue.

 

I was just about to check 404’s mobile phone too.

 

And there was no way sleeping 404 could have spoken.

 

“….”

 

The silence grew long.

 

Only then did I realize. This doctor wasn’t angry for no reason.

 

I don’t know anything about hospital systems or whatever.

 

“She was sleeping during the transfer too.”

 

“….”

 

“What did the lawyer say like this.”

 

“….”

 

“That’s what you just said.”

 

The man pressed his lips tightly shut.

 

Now I really understand why he was angry.

 

Since a lawyer requested a visit, he probably wanted to reduce any potential problems.

 

A normal hospital wouldn’t have bothered with such troublesome matters.

 

There must be something there for them to do that.

 

“Manager Han Kyung-ho.”

 

I said, looking at the name tag hanging from his pocket.

 

“….”

 

“Patient Lee Yeon-woo wasn’t originally in this hospital room, was she.”

 

* * *

 

If he hadn’t gotten that agitated, I wouldn’t have known about the room transfer.

 

The sudden move from the nursing home to the nursing hospital was also suspicious somehow.

 

A quadriplegic patient being moved around here and there like luggage.

 

And that being 404.

 

It was something I couldn’t even imagine until coming here.

 

“Of course, I’m not saying that’s a problem.”

 

I looked at him with a gentle smile.

 

Han Kyung-ho looked at me and scratched his head irritably.

 

“It’s not even a problem. That is. I know too. No, what kind of guardian would try to make an issue out of this, so I unconsciously just-”

 

“I had no intention of making an issue out of it either.”

 

This is unnatural.

 

I originally just came here to meet 404.

 

And just because I revealed that I’m a lawyer doesn’t mean he needs to act this sensitive.

 

Nothing like this had ever happened at any hospital I’d experienced before.

 

“Well, since you say that, Lawyer, I’ll speak honestly with you.”

 

“Please go ahead.”

 

“That patient with total paralysis is quite a burden for us here too.”

 

He no longer raised his voice.

 

“Huh? On top of that, I also. Well, having to take on a patient with overdue hospital bills as my patient-”

 

“So there was originally a different attending physician.”

 

“Ah, well, that’s right. So now they brought in a lawyer. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t have.”

 

This doctor in front of me seems to suffer from a disease that makes it difficult to distinguish between what he should and shouldn’t say.

 

I looked at him with pity and continued speaking gently.

 

“Who handled the transfer process?”

 

“That’s internal affairs… Why are you interrogating me like this?”

 

This man named Han Kyung-ho was quite an amusing character.

 

He would ramble on freely, then suddenly become guarded and hostile.

 

I smiled at him soothingly.

 

“Interrogating? I also have a duty to confirm that Ms. Lee Yeon-woo is doing well, so I’m just asking.”

 

“…Well, that’s true.”

 

He looked at me with eyes that held a slight sense of camaraderie.

 

Well, it’s not completely incomprehensible.

 

If he really was a doctor who had only handled VIPs, he would have seen this often.

 

There were occasionally ‘VIPs’ who used junior lawyers as errand boys.

 

“So is today the first time you’ve directly taken on patient Lee Yeon-woo, who supposedly complained about this and that?”

 

“….”

 

Han Kyung-ho’s lips twitched for a moment.

 

“N-no. I misspoke about that. We tried to do well too, but the patient was so resistant.”

 

“So how would someone who wasn’t Lee Yeon-woo’s attending physician know about that?”

 

“…Ah, geez! Even if I was on a different floor! There are rumors that everyone hears! Besides, Lee Yeon-woo is a total paralysis patient, and she’s currently the only one we have in our hospital.”

 

Ah. So it seems he heard through rumors that 404 had been rebellious.

 

“So, you see. VIP rooms have fewer patients, and the care costs are much higher. Caregiver fees are also more expensive.”

 

“That must be difficult.”

 

“Of course it’s difficult! Naturally! Right now with Lee Yeon-woo, I took her on because they told me to, but the costs really pile up in an instant.”

 

So to summarize what he just said.

 

Han Kyung-ho was originally a doctor in charge of VIP rooms, but he suddenly had to take Lee Yeon-woo as his patient and seemed very upset about it.

 

So him rushing over here to vent his anger was probably because he couldn’t contain his frustration.

 

Does this hospital have different performance systems depending on which patients you’re assigned?

 

I set aside that unnecessary thought and asked.

 

“You don’t need to worry about the costs.”

 

“No, I don’t want to worry either. I don’t want to, but no matter how much you, the lawyer, pay in advance, hospital bills pile up day by day! Every day!”

 

“She’ll pay when she wakes up.”

 

“She has no money!”

 

“How can you be so certain of that?”

 

At this continued back-and-forth, he seemed tired and scratched his head vigorously again.

 

“That’s what they said at the nursing home too. How would I know? How am I supposed to know every single patient’s circumstances?”

 

“I see. I understand.”

 

I slowly stood up from my seat.

 

I had roughly gotten everything I could from this doctor.

 

“…So you’re leaving?”

 

He asked with hopeful eyes.

 

Leaving?

 

As if.

 

“No.”

 

“…?”

 

“I really want to go too.”

 

404 hadn’t woken up yet,

 

and I still had things I needed to hear from him.

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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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