The Lawyer Who Reads Tomorrow - Chapter 29
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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 29
How far should I dig into this.
Lee Na-yoon.
She had previously packaged herself as a ‘crazy dog repaying favors’ or something like that, but she was a dangerous card through and through.
She had been rolling around as a legal affairs reporter for a long time, had tremendous ambition, and possessed the ability to realize that ambition.
Recently, she had been fixated on the prosecution side, pouring out articles with her characteristic sarcastic writing style.
As my thoughts grew lengthy for a moment.
Unable to wait for that gap, Lee Na-yoon opened her mouth as if urging me on.
-Should I try to guess first what you want, lawyer?
The way she spoke in circles made it seem like she already knew everything.
I thought she was only focused on the Prosecutor’s Office.
Let me test how much she knows.
“I’m curious. Please tell me.”
Lee Na-yoon answered without hesitation.
-BelVix’s Sage, I heard lawyer Sung Tae-hyun is being mentioned as his attorney. Isn’t that the case?
That stalker instinct of hers hadn’t gone anywhere.
Where could she have gotten such information.
…Don’t tell me, did she see him?
Even Assistant Manager Yoon Ha-young, who said Sage was her ultimate bias, didn’t seem to recognize Sage immediately when he was wrapped up from head to toe.
“…It’s regrettable that it leaked to the outside.”
-It’s just gossip, you know. It’s quite famous in this industry.
“Where exactly do you get these gossip sheets?”
-Haha, well there are various channels… Are you curious?
“I’m not curious.”
-I heard Sage talked about you to his group members several times.
I see.
To quickly get proper answers from Lee Na-yoon, I had to pretend not to be curious.
Truly useful information.
-Of course, this is also just gossip.
I let out a hollow laugh.
Lee Na-yoon laughed along, then put on a serious expression and continued speaking.
-So, do you know where Sage is right now?
She really was a reporter you couldn’t let your guard down around.
This person was trying to extract information from me by taking advantage of the moment I relaxed while laughing.
…If Lee Na-yoon doesn’t know, then no one outside the agency knows Sage’s whereabouts yet?
I wasn’t certain.
Lee Na-yoon wasn’t an entertainment industry specialist reporter either.
“How would I know that.”
I deliberately spoke ambiguously, but Lee Na-yoon answered without caring.
-Then why did our lawyer call me?
That was the problem.
The recording I had heard a little while ago, and the assemblyman’s name mentioned in the perpetrators’ conversation.
Kang Hwan-pil.
Since he was a figure with almost nothing known about him, I wasn’t sure whether Lee Na-yoon would have information on him or not.
“…I have something to ask.”
-Ah, the main point. I love it. So, what is it?
Lee Na-yoon’s excited voice became muffled.
With Noh Hae-min and Assistant Manager Yoon Ha-young busily moving in the background, I slowly opened my mouth.
“Kang Hwan-pil.”
A name of unknown depths, who knows how far he might be entangled, slipped through my lips.
* * *
“Let’s see… Assemblyman Kang Hwan-pil. Really an insignificant figure?”
We still couldn’t get in touch with Sage.
Noh Hae-min, who had been making hundreds of calls, seemed to give up and came over to pick up some documents.
It was a neatly organized profile that Lee Na-yoon had sent.
“City assemblyman… Well, he hasn’t had any special activities until recently either.”
I read through several pages of the profile, but there were no notable activities.
There didn’t seem to be any connection to the agency where Sage and the missing trainee belonged either.
However.
“Donated to twice a year, a total of 10 times.”
Commonly known as NOVA.
I know about this.
Before I died, that is, when I was Judge Kim Wook-han, I had received a membership invitation from them too.
I did receive a catalog, but I just stuck it somewhere on my bookshelf and never looked at it.
What was it again…?
I think it was an organization that supported multicultural families, single-parent households, and especially children from quite difficult circumstances.
There were articles about how quite well-known figures were affiliated and made regular donations.
“NOVA? Oh, I know this place. My father said he got an offer from them too.”
“…Is that so?”
Noh Hae-min nodded and continued speaking.
I was already taking out my mobile phone to search for the organization.
“Youth talent discovery and sponsorship…”
It was a homepage that seemed to have quite a bit of care put into it.
Against a background of various children smiling, the most recent achievements were written in large, eye-catching letters.
“Oh yeah, that’s right. This is it.”
“…”
“And this organization is probably quite big, right? They transparently disclose donations, and especially focus on youth…”
“That’s right. Global mentoring and even scholarship programs…”
The homepage was truly a textbook example of promotion.
Sponsorship programs, campaigns, newsletters, and even volunteer work.
Just looking at the surface, there seemed to be absolutely nothing problematic.
Should I say it was so clean that it was rather suspicious?
“Kang Hwan-pil…”
“Well, my old man at home just went ahead and set up an animal shelter, saying he’d donate to whatever he wanted to do.”
However, what caught my eye was something else.
“…Senior.”
My hand stopped scrolling through the phone screen.
…It was an unexpected harvest.
Having discovered a name I never expected, I held back laughter that seemed ready to burst out and showed the relevant page to Noh Hae-min.
“Why?”
Noh Hae-min’s expression, which had been responding cheerfully, hardened instantly upon seeing the phone screen I handed him.
“…Kim Wan-gil.”
Yes, it was that Kim Wan-gil’s name.
Not much time had passed.
It was also an unforgettable name.
The perpetrator who had bullied Jung Seung-jun, and the father of Kim Jae-yoon, the victim of the murder case.
“…Kim Wan-gil is NOVA’s founding chairman?”
Noh Hae-min’s face turned red, blue, and white.
What an entertaining face to watch, really.
I brushed away the stray thoughts and looked at the homepage’s history again.
“I guess this was the opportunity for Kim Wan-gil to seriously enter politics.”
So this is where he built his social contribution image.
“…The founding chairman position, it seems he stepped down after becoming a National Assembly member.”
Even though the incident involving his child in school violence had erupted not long ago.
On NOVA’s homepage, in the section, there was a photo of Kim Wan-gil smiling warmly.
[NOVA, Leading the Way in Building Social Safety Nets for Youth.]
Even Kim Wan-gil’s past interview materials.
Was it slow to update?
Or was Kim Wan-gil’s influence still at work?
NOVA was still introducing Kim Wan-gil as .
“…This is unbelievable.”
The corner of Noh Hae-min’s lips trembled finely.
“Come to think of it, didn’t they say Assemblyman Kim Wan-gil has been busy lately?”
After the last trial, the Jung Seung-jun case I had defended was extensively reported, and public opinion about Assemblyman Kim Wan-gil rapidly deteriorated.
He’s probably struggling just to contain the damage on that front.
Not only Park Hyung-il, who was the real perpetrator, and his father Park Ji-hyung, but even Kim Wan-gil couldn’t escape public condemnation.
“Hmm… right. A public petition even appeared demanding his expulsion from his National Assembly position.”
Noh Hae-min had signed that petition too.
“400,000 so far… 500,000 seems possible soon.”
“Yeah. Even fellow party members who were hardcore Kim Wan-gil supporters are cutting ties with him.”
It was ridiculous.
Even a quite powerful assemblyman became infinitely small in the face of downfall.
“Kang Hwan-pil and Kim Wan-gil… Perhaps we could completely send those two away.”
NOVA.
It was an unexpected connection.
My instinct as a legal professional sharply stabbed at the back of my neck.
There must be something connecting them.
“…Reporter Lee Na-yoon probably already knew.”
Well, this wasn’t as blatant a test as Ho-shin Senior had given me.
She was indeed a formidable reporter.
I was trying hard to suppress the laughter that seemed ready to burst out when suddenly a loud voice erupted from behind.
“I found it!”
Manager Yoon Ha-young shouted sharply with gleaming eyes.
“I found it! Attorney.”
Then she hurriedly approached and handed over several documents.
“This is…”
[20▲▲~20●● Youth Culture and Arts Support Recipients List (PDF)]
As I flipped through the documents Manager Yoon Ha-young handed over, a name marked with highlighter caught my eye.
“…Shin Da-ye.”
The date and support category were clearly specified.
“The age and region are identical, and even the birthday matches.”
“…Wasn’t Miss Shin Da-ye already not affiliated with Elus Entertainment at this time?”
The marked date was quite long ago.
At this point, Shin Da-ye would have been around middle school age.
Moreover, the specified sponsorship amount was also quite large.
“Yes, that’s right. Looking at the detailed sponsorship breakdown, it seems most was used for training programs and camps rather than cash support.”
“And?”
“Elus Entertainment was on NOVA’s sponsor appreciation page.”
It was true.
Perhaps worried someone might get confused, the sponsor appreciation page even had Elus Entertainment’s distinctive CI embedded.
However, Manager Yoon Ha-young didn’t stop there.
Manager Yoon, with slightly flushed cheeks and sparkling eyes, handed over several more documents.
“…Another list of support recipients.”
The names on the printed documents were heavily marked with highlighter.
“There were quite a few Elus Entertainment celebrities who received sponsorship from NOVA.”
Now Manager Yoon Ha-young’s voice became even lower.
It felt like the surrounding temperature had dropped about 5 degrees.
“And one of NOVA’s board members was a former Elus executive director.”
“…You knew that too?”
“Of course, how much did I chew over this. It’s an unforgettable name.”
Let’s not ask any more.
This was enough.
I could smell illegality disguised as legality.
NOVA and Elus Entertainment.
And…
Kim Wan-gil.
“Still no contact from Sage’s side, right?”
Noh Hae-min nodded.
As expected.
They said rumors were circulating in gossip sheets that Sage had contacted me.
But it wasn’t an officially confirmed fact yet.
The agency was still maintaining a no-response stance regarding the media-spread rumors about Sage’s girlfriend being kidnapped, confined, and assaulted.
“Let’s be careful. Let’s start by meeting Miss Shin Da-ye’s family.”
Speed was crucial in matters like this.
I didn’t know who had ‘reported’ Sage for kidnapping, confinement, and assault.
But if we delayed any longer, it could become a matter serious enough for Sage to actually be detained.
“…First, I’ll check with the police to see if an investigation schedule has been set, and if so, I’ll try to ask them to postpone it.”
Sage wouldn’t have voluntarily appeared at the police station.
If he had, articles would have come out first.
Sage, who didn’t trust his agency, would have contacted me too.
It was strange that more articles weren’t breaking when everyone from fans to the general public was in an uproar online.
But then.
-Ah… that matter? Huh, well, there was a separate attorney besides the agency.
“Has a schedule been set?”
-Oh… um, ah. Here it is. We haven’t requested his appearance yet.
…What?
-Well, we don’t have any plans to request Lee Se-hyung’s appearance yet. Didn’t you hear through his agency?
“….”
-Just wait and see. We’re also checking internally right now.
“I understand.”
-But it’s strange, Alice? Ellus? Anyway, they said Lee Se-hyung was, what was it, admitted to a psychiatric hospital?
The more I dug, the more nonsense kept coming out.
I couldn’t hold back and asked.
“If Lee Se-hyung was admitted to a psychiatric hospital, what happened to his girlfriend who was the victim?”
-Um… well, we don’t have any investigation results on that yet either. But wait, do you really not know?
Now they were asking me instead.
How absurd.
I gave the police the same answer back.
“We don’t have any investigation results on this side either.”
-Hmm… yes, well.
Click.
The call ended.
Shin Da-ye had gone missing,
the agency had notified police that Sage was in a psychiatric hospital,
and the police weren’t looking for Shin Da-ye.
Moreover.
“…They didn’t even file an attorney appointment form, yet they’re spilling sensitive information left and right.”
It was a complete mess.
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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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