The Lawyer Who Reads Tomorrow - Chapter 49
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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 49
“Trust?”
Is there any reason I need to earn his trust?
To me, Lim Do-hyuk is superficially a senior from my former workplace.
I don’t know how Sung Tae-hyun thought of him, but I had no particular grudge against him.
I just saw him as someone fun to mess with.
“Yes, trust.”
Therefore, I couldn’t understand Lim Do-hyuk’s proposal.
Trust for what purpose?
Though I didn’t know before, Lim Do-hyuk was that Lim Sang-jin’s son.
Moreover, he was the heir walking the golden path at Haeil, backed by his father’s reputation.
“…Why would I need something like that?”
I deliberately asked that way.
It was also a hint to speak clearly if he wanted something from me.
“Huh.”
Lim Do-hyuk’s face froze like the first human to discover aliens.
This guy must have only met people who came carrying bundles of cash seeking his trust.
“…Sometimes I wonder if you’re really Sung Tae-hyun.”
I didn’t bother responding to such muttering.
Lim Do-hyuk, who had been licking his dry lips while looking at something strange, opened his mouth again.
“Sung Tae-hyun, I don’t know why I have to say this to you.”
“Then don’t, senior. It sounds like it’ll be bothersome to hear.”
Haha. Laughter followed again.
“Once I become a partner, Haeil will practically be mine.”
Was Lim Do-hyuk this kind of person?
“That remains to be seen.”
“…Won’t you need my help someday?”
Of course, those words might be true.
If I got closer to Lim Do-hyuk than now, it would be convenient.
However, I had debts to collect from Haeil.
Because the price of my life, Kim Wook-han’s life entangled with Cheondong and Haeil, wasn’t that cheap.
Now that I knew Lim Do-hyuk was Lim Sang-jin’s son, he was just another target from whom I had to collect debts.
“Senior.”
Having finished my calculations, I spoke gently.
“It seems like you’d help me anyway, even without that word ‘trust.'”
So it’s insufficient as payment.
However.
“Still, five thousand for a restraining order is an absurd fee.”
“…”
“I’ll handle this much, at least.”
The half-hearted gambit Lim Do-hyuk threw out was neither won nor lost by him.
What good does it do to be Haeil’s heir?
He’s still just a rookie.
“And.”
“…”
“What you should be worrying about isn’t giving me trust or anything like that.”
“…Then what is it?”
“How to earn my trust.”
A sound escaped through Lim Do-hyuk’s lips.
Soon he covered his face with both hands and began laughing.
“Try a little harder.”
* * *
[Lim Do-hyuk lied.]
Sung Tae-hyun’s Diary, which I opened after Lim Do-hyuk left.
Yesterday, that is, one day before Lim Do-hyuk gave me this ridiculous retainer fee and asked me to take the case.
Sung Tae-hyun had shown me just one line of warning.
“Lim Do-hyuk lied.”
So there was a reason I answered his probing words defensively.
“What kind of lie would he tell Sung Tae-hyun?”
However, it wasn’t clear.
Sung Tae-hyun only presented [Lim Do-hyuk is lying.],
When Lim Do-hyuk spoke with me today, he only explained his sister’s case.
Other than that, well….
“Trust?”
He just spouted such nonsense.
Since the diary’s text hadn’t changed, Lim Do-hyuk had lied to me.
The documents from the court wouldn’t be included in that lie, so his purpose must be false.
“These young ones sure live complicated lives.”
What could Lim Do-hyuk’s purpose be.
Why did he specifically bring me his sister’s private case.
The ‘trust’ he mentioned must be a pretty deception, so there must be something he wants to obtain from me through this case.
“…I can’t tell right now.”
Nevertheless, I willingly stepped into these youngsters’ game.
Five thousand for writing a few documents.
Besides, from now on, I planned to show Lim Do-hyuk nothing, using the excuse that this was his ‘sister’s’, Lim Do-i’s, private matter.
[I don’t really want to take on this case.]
As if it had been waiting, Sung Tae-hyun’s Diary began vibrating and displaying new sentences.
Tomorrow’s events?
[…Still, I had no choice but to meet Lim Do-i.]
[Her situation is pitiful, but it would be better not to do it.]
[I contacted Lim Do-hyuk and refused, saying I couldn’t take on this case.]
“…What.”
These sentences had a different tone from the previous ‘tomorrow’ diary entries.
Sung Tae-hyun was refusing.
And quite stubbornly at that.
“I think he refused once before too.”
When was that.
Ah, right, he did the same when taking on Jung Seung-jun’s case.
…This case doesn’t seem dangerous enough to warrant that level of concern.
Moreover.
“Lim Do-i’s situation is pitiful?”
Of course, the restraining order application Park Mu-hyun sent would contain Park Mu-hyun’s side of the story in full.
So some consideration would be necessary.
But what pitiful circumstances would warrant Sung Tae-hyun’s specific mention?
While I pondered, Sung Tae-hyun displayed a few more lines as if making a plea.
[Lim Do-hyuk is suspicious. I don’t understand why he wants me to take on this kind of work.]
[So I refused.]
[I decided to earn the fifty million by finding a new case.]
…Has this guy ever tried so hard to persuade me before?
[Ah! My hand broke.]
[It’s difficult to work, so I decided to take time off.]
The diary, which had been spouting nonsense as if trying to hold me back, fell silent.
“Crazy.”
* * *
In conclusion, my hand didn’t break.
However, perhaps because of Sung Tae-hyun’s Diary.
Throughout the morning commute, ‘hand-breaking accidents’ occurred one after another, just as the diary had predicted.
“Oh my! I’m sorry.”
My hand nearly collided with the side mirror of a taxi speeding through a narrow alley.
“Gasp, are you okay?”
A flower pot that had been swaying precariously near the railing of a 5-story building’s rooftop fell toward my hand.
“A-are you okay? No, why is this acting up…? I’m sorry!”
Out of nowhere, cargo from a moving truck’s ladder fell as well.
“It’s determined.”
That’s my assessment.
Sung Tae-hyun’s Diary.
No, did Sung Tae-hyun have this kind of power?
Whether it was just coincidence, or something of Sung Tae-hyun’s desperate attempt to stop me was moving the world, I couldn’t tell.
“…!”
Right in front of the office building.
Having nearly been hit by a truck until the very end, I went up to the office and immediately shoved Sung Tae-hyun’s diary into the refrigerator in the corner of the break room.
“Go ahead and taste the freezer.”
This is what they call adult wisdom.
Childishly whining about not wanting to take on cases while causing all sorts of incidents and accidents.
At this point, he’s an evil spirit. Sung Tae-hyun.
“Do you hate Lim Do-hyuk that much? Learn to separate work from personal feelings.”
Just as I closed the freezer door and turned around.
“Lawyer Sung Tae-hyun, Ms. Lim Do-i who made a consultation appointment for today has arrived.”
Behind Assistant Manager Yoon Ha-young, a woman who looked exactly like Lim Do-hyuk greeted me with a pale face.
* * *
As I had told Lim Do-hyuk, I rarely handled family law cases.
I had only dabbled in it during my days as a research staff, but after being appointed as a judge, I had mostly worked only in criminal law, so it was close to ancient history that I could barely remember.
If it weren’t for Lim Do-hyuk, I would have just casually assigned it to Noh Hae-min.
“…I… I’ve heard a lot about you from Do-hyuk.”
The woman who had just started speaking resembled Lim Do-hyuk.
If he aged and became a woman at the same time, wouldn’t he look like this?
There are siblings who don’t resemble each other, but this case was different.
They looked alike as if they had been stamped from the same mold.
“Yes, I’m Sung Tae-hyun.”
So I felt somehow curious.
The woman, who had Lim Do-hyuk’s face but with all the relaxed attitude completely gone, actually looked intimidated.
As Lim Do-hyuk had described, she didn’t give off the feeling of being a free spirit at all.
“…Do-hyuk seems to trust you a lot, lawyer.”
The woman speaking flattering words had an innocent face.
A woman who had come alone to this unfamiliar office, even though her father was someone who had made a name for himself at one of the top law firms in the country.
Lim Do-i was different from the description in the restraining order application that was filled with violence and verbal abuse.
Of course, that’s just what the first impression suggested. You can never know what’s inside a person’s heart.
“Yes. I was close senior and junior colleagues with Lawyer Lim Do-hyuk at Haeil.”
“I see…”
On the coffee table between Lim Do-i and me.
The restraining order application that Lim Do-hyuk had given me in advance was placed there.
Even after seeing it, Lim Do-i seemed to want to delay saying something and was beating around the bush.
“Um, lawyer…”
“Please speak.”
Lim Do-i moved her lips for a long time.
It seemed like she was organizing what she wanted to say, or perhaps she didn’t want to say anything at all.
“I don’t want this matter to become big.”
What she finally said was just this.
The same thing Lim Do-hyuk had requested.
The fact that I could understand the reason without asking made it even more tiresome.
It must be because of Lim Sang-jin. And Haeil Law Firm.
…Even after being abandoned by her father, she’s still a child who cares for him.
“To respond to the restraining order application, we’ll first clarify our position and send a response brief. It’s not that complicated a procedure. There’s no need to be scared from the start.”
“…”
“However.”
I pointed to the documents on the table and said to Lim Do-i.
“As written in the application, inappropriate words and behavior toward the child, parenting attitude, going to the residence and kicking the front door, or loitering around institutions the child attends…”
“…”
“These are not good. Because it increases the possibility that the court will grant the restraining order application.”
Lim Do-i drew in a breath.
The woman’s face became a little paler.
Hearing it spoken directly would probably be much more impactful than just reading it in writing.
“N-no… it wasn’t that bad…”
Transparent tears began to fall on Lim Do-i’s pale face.
I pushed the tissue box on the table toward her.
“Ms. Lim Do-i, it’s okay. What’s written in the application isn’t necessarily true, and it won’t necessarily be granted as is.”
“Huh…”
“This is also just the claim of the applicant, Mr. Park Mu-hyun.”
After crying for a long time, Lim Do-i calmed down a bit while drinking the rooibos tea that Assistant Manager Yoon Ha-young had brought.
She had cried so pitifully that Noh Hae-min, who was sitting in his seat, was on the verge of tearing up.
“I think it was wrong from the beginning.”
A trembling voice flowed from the woman who had closed her eyes as if recalling a long memory.
“It was a marriage that Father pushed through. Neither I nor my husband wanted that marriage….”
It was exactly as Lim Do-hyuk had said.
These were people whose life choices, even marriage, were entangled with business.
If they had respected Lim Do-i as a human being, it would have been a decision they couldn’t have made.
“…So, when I told him I wanted a divorce, Father….”
A face that looked exactly like Lim Do-hyuk’s was shedding tears.
Suppressing the inexplicable revulsion that rose up, I took out a handkerchief and handed it to Lim Do-i.
The box of tissues had already run out.
“He… he said he wouldn’t consider me his daughter anymore. Even that was fine. It was all… fine. Because it was my choice.”
“…Yes.”
Sometimes it can be comforting when someone listens to inner thoughts you couldn’t tell anyone else.
Perhaps it was the same for Lim Do-i, as her trembling had subsided considerably compared to earlier.
“But….”
However.
“That… that bastard…!”
Lim Do-i’s voice suddenly grew loud.
The woman began screaming as if having a seizure.
She was trembling all over as if she had some major trauma.
“That, that… Park Mu-hyun, my… my child….”
“Ms. Lim Do-i, please calm down for a moment-.”
“That, that bastard… Noah, my child… he’s definitely trying to kill him, lawyer.”
“Ms. Lim Do-i.”
“He’s definitely trying to kill him behind my back. Isn’t that right… it’s true… please believe me….”
There was a fact that Lim Do-hyuk hadn’t properly mentioned.
“I should kill him… wouldn’t that be faster? Custody, custody… I should have gotten it…!”
Lim Do-i was insane.
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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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