The Lawyer Who Reads Tomorrow - Chapter 14

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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 14

 

 

The homeroom teacher nodded casually.

It didn’t seem to be particularly secret information.

 

“Ah… Yes, Seung-jun and Jae-yoon, and there’s another friend too. These three were really close.”

“I see.”

 

This was information not included in what the Police or Kim Wan-gil’s side had announced.

They might have excluded it since it wasn’t related to the crime. Well, who knows.

 

I asked the homeroom teacher casually, as if trying to understand ordinary friendships.

 

“So Jung Seung-jun’s closest friends were Kim Jae-yoon and that other friend, that’s all?”

“Yes, that’s right. Actually, Seung-jun wasn’t really the sociable type.”

“That friend must have been shocked too.”

“Of course. That friend was so surprised that I heard he’s currently hospitalized to treat trauma from the incident.”

“Could I possibly know which Hospital that is?”

 

At that question, the homeroom teacher shook her head looking troubled.

 

“That far… I’m sorry. These days with the personal information protection law and all… Also, our student must still be very shocked…”

 

I expected as much.

I’ll have to look into this from a different angle.

 

“Not at all. This must be difficult for you, so I’m the one who should apologize.”

 

Perhaps feeling a bit more at ease now, Jung Seung-jun’s homeroom teacher seemed much more comfortable.

 

“Actually, I’m really worried. The fact that Seung-jun… did such a thing. Of course I’m his homeroom teacher, but he was really a good kid.”

 

I suppose this is the extent of common testimony.

 

Jung Seung-jun is good.

Since everyone was saying that, no matter how much I tried to exclude such one-sided judgments, I couldn’t help feeling uneasy.

 

Moreover, since Kim Wan-gil, the father of Victim Kim Jae-yoon, was revealing every detail of the crime process through articles, the homeroom teacher and other people who knew them must have been shocked too.

 

“Wasn’t there any strange atmosphere among those three friends right before the incident happened?”

“Well… There didn’t seem to be any particular unusual circumstances at School. Since they’re still young, there might be occasional arguments, but to call it a sign that such a big incident would happen is a bit…”

“You mean that’s how it was at School?”

“Yes. Ah, this is somewhat outside the incident, but… there is something that frustrates me a bit…”

 

What could this be about?

The homeroom teacher frowned as if pondering, then finally let out a long sigh and spoke.

 

“Jae-yoon’s Father… Yes… You know. Since he’s famous for school violence issues…”

 

When I nodded as if I understood, the homeroom teacher easily brought up another piece of information.

 

“Of course he went through such an ordeal, but he’s continuously pressuring our side through the Office of Education.”

 

This is well within the predictable range.

 

Kim Jae-yoon’s father, National Assembly member Kim Wan-gil, had been releasing articles like briefings throughout this incident, even bringing in materials from his school violence campaign and holding a tearful press conference.

 

The content was… that.

 

His sincere and upright son unknowingly suffered from school violence by Jung Seung-jun and was eventually murdered.

 

‘The lawyer who’s making a fuss about defending such a devil has no conscience either!’

 

He even said such things in today’s interview.

As if he wanted to completely isolate Jung Seung-jun.

 

Whatever his intention, in the background of his interview that appeared on the news, our Office with mosaic was also faintly visible.

It was Law Firm Ilchul’s first terrestrial TV debut.

 

“I’m really frustrated too. Jae-yoon really wasn’t the type to suffer school violence anywhere.”

 

If I do this well, I might discover new evidence.

I didn’t miss the chance and asked the homeroom teacher.

 

“What kind of student was Kim Jae-yoon at School?”

“As I already mentioned, he was kind and well-mannered, and also good at studying. He was even class president in Our Class and other kids followed him well.”

 

This contradicts what Kim Wan-gil said at the press conference.

 

“Are you saying it’s not true that he suffered school violence?”

“Yes! I can definitely tell you that for sure. Jae-yoon was the type to raise his voice when he raised it, but he really wasn’t the type to get beaten or bullied by anyone.”

“How was the relationship with that other friend, excluding Jung Seung-jun?”

“Ah, Hyung-il… The child I mentioned earlier is Hyung-il, and he got along well with Hyung-il too. I don’t know about other things, but the idea that Jae-yoon suffered from school violence is really…”

 

Hyung-il, I got the name.

It was the name of a new person who might know more details about the whole story of the incident.

 

“I’m truly sorry that you got involved in such matters.”

“Not at all. This too shall pass…”

 

The homeroom teacher sighed as if enlightened and stood up from her seat.

Leaving behind the Woman who looked completely exhausted, I walked out to the Parking Lot.

 

She said Hyung-il.

Another person mixed into the relationship between Jung Seung-jun and Kim Jae-yoon.

 

“He killed him, no he didn’t.”

 

Old Man Jung from the Fruit Store, my client, said his Grandson couldn’t have done such a thing.

Of course, I don’t believe such words.

 

However, there were several incomprehensible holes in this case, and those holes could ultimately become important clues to determine whether Jung Seung-jun was the real culprit or not.

 

“If he’s the real culprit, then he just needs to receive the appropriate punishment.”

 

But after hearing even the homeroom teacher’s words that he was completely unrelated to school violence, the thought that there was something that neither the police, nor the homeroom teacher, nor anyone else had properly examined gained a little more weight.

 

“Hyung-il….”

 

I should look into this.

I picked up my mobile phone and contacted Noh Hae-min.

 

* * *

 

“Park Hyung-il, 18 years old. He was a classmate of Jung Seung-jun and Kim Jae-yoon, and is currently receiving outpatient treatment at a hospital.”

 

It hadn’t even been two hours since I had asked Noh Hae-min to investigate the person called ‘Hyung-il’ that the homeroom teacher had mentioned.

 

I don’t know when she had conducted the investigation, but Associate Yoon Ha-young was rattling off Park Hyung-il’s personal information in a flat, cold voice.

 

“Wait a moment, did you say outpatient treatment?”

“Yes. He’s currently receiving outpatient treatment at an addiction treatment center in Seoul. It’s not far from here either.”

 

Well, look at that.

 

Had the homeroom teacher lied?

Or perhaps Park Hyung-il had deceived his homeroom teacher.

 

Either way, since it differed from what I had known, a smile actually appeared on my lips.

 

Interesting, anyone could see this was suspicious.

 

“Does that addiction treatment center also provide trauma treatment?”

“Huh? No. The addiction treatment center sent a response saying they focus intensively on outpatient and inpatient treatment for adolescents with drug-related addictions.”

 

Park Hyung-il was receiving treatment for drug addiction, not trauma?

This was another new fact.

 

The more I dug, the more strange stories kept emerging.

Had drugs become this easy to access?

 

Come to think of it, before I was killed by those damn bastards, there had been talk at the Criminal Division too.

That drug offenders were increasing year by year, making the workload too heavy.

 

Well, I had worked more on other types of cases than drugs.

 

“Oh, lawyer. And this is something I looked into separately….”

 

Associate Yoon Ha-young subtly lowered her voice.

 

The office, which had been quiet with no one else besides me, Noh Hae-min, and Associate Yoon Ha-young, now began to feel like a place where criminal conspiracies were being plotted.

 

“About Park Hyung-il, his father turns out to be Park Ji-hyung, the CEO of Sanghwan Construction.”

 

…Sanghwan Construction?

Wasn’t that a construction company with a fairly well-known name domestically?

 

And the CEO was Park Ji-hyung.

It was a common name, but if it was the one I knew, the story would be different.

 

“Is that Park Ji-hyung the same Park Ji-hyung from the former Josang Trading?”

“…You already know?”

 

Of course I know. Quite well, in fact.

 

He was someone who had already served prison time several times for economic crimes including assault in cases I had handled.

Originally, the predecessor of Josang Trading was the now-defunct criminal organization called the Gisang Faction.

At this point, there was bound to be a rotten smell coming from somewhere.

 

“That Park Ji-hyung’s son is Park Hyung-il, and he’s currently attending an addiction treatment center for drug addiction?”

“Yes! Oh, this is the evidence.”

 

The files that Associate Yoon Ha-young handed over were full of photos that seemed to be posted on SNS.

Along with several photos taken together by Park Hyung-il, Kim Jae-yoon, and Jung Seung-jun, there were also photos that seemed to be taken by Park Hyung-il at the hospital.

 

#loneliness #at_the_center #looking_for_a_damn_pretty_girlfriend.

 

No matter how I looked at it, he didn’t seem like a student suffering from trauma.

I looked away from the photos and spoke to Associate Yoon Ha-young again.

 

“Their family backgrounds are quite impressive.”

“Right, Kim Jae-yoon’s father is National Assembly member Kim Wan-gil, and Park Hyung-il’s father is a construction company CEO. But then Jung Seung-jun is a student with no backing whatsoever.”

 

This made Kim Wan-gil’s claims even more absurd.

School violence? Yeah right.

 

“Isn’t there any evidence that Jung Seung-jun was subjected to school violence?”

 

This side of the story was actually more plausible.

I recalled Jung Seung-jun, whom I had met during the recent interview.

 

On the neck, back, and behind the ears of the boy who had kept his head down and remained silent for a long time, there were wounds that seemed recent and old bruises exposed together.

 

Based on my experience handling several cases of violence and assault, these were wounds that had been repeated for quite a long time.

 

Skin densely covered with new wounds carved over old scars like layers of paint.

This kind of thing wasn’t common.

But even when I had asked probing questions on purpose, the homeroom teacher seemed to know nothing about it.

 

“…How did you know?”

 

Assistant Manager Yoon Ha-young said with wide eyes, looking surprised.

I calmly asked her back.

 

“Do you have evidence that Jung Seung-jun was actually the victim of school violence?”

“Testimony.”

 

Assistant Manager Yoon Ha-young soon copied a conversation with someone and handed it to me.

One side was Assistant Manager Yoon Ha-young, and the other side was─

 

“I tried to have conversations on SNS with some of Jung Seung-jun’s classmates.”

 

At this point, I was amazed.

 

…There’s an employee who works this well?

 

Why on earth was Ho-shin Senior neglecting this office?

 

If Assistant Manager Yoon Ha-young had been one of the research staff I worked with in my previous life, my workload would have been cut in half.

A sigh escaped from my regretful heart.

 

“…Amazing.”

 

At that word that naturally came out like an exclamation, Assistant Manager Yoon Ha-young casually continued speaking.

 

“I built rapport with about three kids on SNS by pretending to like the same characters.”

 

In that short time? Does that make sense?

However, despite my astonished gaze, Assistant Manager Yoon Ha-young spoke nonchalantly.

 

“I’m somewhat famous online.”

“…Excuse me?”

“Well… there’s that kind of thing. It’s not important.”

 

Somehow I felt like I shouldn’t know more.

 

I quickly nodded my head.

What was important now wasn’t that Assistant Manager Yoon Ha-young was famous enough online to easily build rapport with kids.

 

“Anyway… these are the chat records, and once the kids started talking, they even sent me photos.”

 

The chat records and photos that Assistant Manager Yoon Ha-young presented were quite a sight.

 

The timestamps on the photos were all different.

Kim Jae-yoon and Park Hyung-il, looking much younger than now, were slapping Jung Seung-jun’s cheeks.

 

There were plenty of even worse photos.

 

As they got older, Kim Jae-yoon and Park Hyung-il’s cruel acts seemed to get progressively worse, and Jung Seung-jun was covered in wounds all over his body, including his face.

 

There was even a video of Kim Jae-yoon and Park Hyung-il laughing while beating Jung Seung-jun.

 

“…This looks quite important.”

“Yes, there was one thing everyone said without exception.”

“What was it?”

“That Jung Seung-jun killing Kim Jae-yoon would only be possible in fantasy.”

 

They meant it seemed that impossible.

 

“If things had continued like this, Kim Jae-yoon would have killed Jung Seung-jun.”

 

I slowly examined the photos that Assistant Manager Yoon Ha-young had shown me again.

 

This is dangerous. This is actually.

 

“…It looks a bit different to me.”

 

Assistant Manager Yoon Ha-young closed her mouth and nodded.

 

“In court, this could actually… be used as evidence against us.”

 

Damn it.

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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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