The Lawyer Who Reads Tomorrow - Chapter 5

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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 5

 

 

“Bring back our Wook-han, you bastard…!”

 

Did he just say Wook-han?

 

Sung Tae-hyun’s body is definitely not in good shape.

It seems like there’s a problem with his hearing.

 

I never thought my name was particularly common.

Even so, perhaps another unfortunate person named Wook-han might have gotten entangled with Park Ji-hwan.

 

“Our Wook-han! Our Kim Wook-han—!”

 

Cancel that.

Isn’t this really about me?

Somehow I’m getting more and more anxious.

 

Park Ji-hwan was stubborn.

Even as the Old Man screamed in a desperate voice, he nonchalantly grabbed the Old Man’s hands and removed them from his clothes.

 

“That’s enough.”

“Enough my ass, you bastard!”

“…Or what, did you bring some evidence? Huh? You’re not even police, did you get a warrant?”

 

Park Ji-hwan acted as if he knew the Old Man well.

 

Both the Old Man who casually blurted out my name like an old friend, and Park Ji-hwan who treated such an Old Man so casually, seemed absurd to me.

 

Security Guards who had approached surrounded the Old Man as if to isolate him.

 

“Aren’t you afraid of heaven!”

“Why do you say such things, what times are we living in now.”

“Seon-ju… even Seon-ju wasn’t enough! These bastards finally…!”

 

The Old Man struggled.

 

Several Security Guards and Lawyers crowded around to calm him down.

In the rough scuffle, the Hat that the Old Man had been wearing pulled down low had come off.

 

His fierce eyes were blazing as if they would melt Park Ji-hwan at any moment.

 

“…Senior Ho-shin?”

 

He looked so completely different from what I remembered that I recognized him late.

 

Kim Ho-shin, a senior who was once called the mountain god of Goshi Village.

 

In Goshi Village, each time you failed the bar exam, the distance between the Academy District and your Studio Apartment naturally grew farther.

Senior had failed the bar exam for a full 10 years and was pushed up to the highest area farthest from the Academy District.

 

But didn’t they say you never know about a person’s life until it’s over.

Even though he earned the less-than-honorable nickname of mountain god, he hadn’t failed completely in the end.

 

After Choi Yoon-ki and I entered Goshi Village, all three of us passed the bar exam together.

 

It’s a long story to tell.

But it was one of the biggest events in my life, so there’s no way I could forget it.

 

‘But why…’

 

Choi Yoon-ki was appointed as a prosecutor, and Senior Ho-shin and I put on Judicial Robes together.

 

We met often even when we worked at the same District Court, but when was it…

Right, Senior suddenly took off his Judicial Robe and left one day.

 

There was no contact after that.

We never encountered each other in court either.

Not even until I became Chief Judge.

 

“I’ll definitely find out, just wait and see.”

 

The farce before my eyes was coming to an end.

 

While I was lost in thought for a moment, the subdued Old Man, no, Senior Ho-shin, was dragged by Security Guards and escorted outside the entrance.

 

They call it escorting, but it actually looked like elder abuse.

Park Ji-hwan, who had already been roughed up enough to have red handprints on his neck, cleared his throat as if nothing had happened.

 

“Ahem, hmm. Everyone go back to your work.”

 

Kim Ho-shin had come all the way to the Branch Office to grab Park Ji-hwan by the collar.

Come to think of it, he had said ‘Seon-ju’ earlier.

I know that name.

She was also a senior, a former judge from the same District Court, and she married Senior Ho-shin.

 

‘…I even attended the funeral, surely not.’

 

Senior Seon-ju passed away a few years ago.

But to hear that name in a place like this.

They say it’s one mountain after another, there must have been quite a few things I didn’t know about.

 

“What are you spacing out for.”

 

Lim Do-hyuk quietly approached from behind.

However, I couldn’t take my eyes off Park Ji-hwan until the moment he closed the door to the Representative’s Office and went inside.

 

“That person just now, wasn’t that Judge Kim Ho-shin?”

“…You know him too?”

 

Lim Do-hyuk frowned as if he found it distasteful.

 

Park Ji-hwan and Kim Ho-shin.

And my name that popped out of Ho-shin senior’s mouth.

 

“We don’t really know each other, I’m just curious.”

“Give it up. Even for you, getting involved with Kim Ho-shin is a bit…”

“Why?”

“Because he’s crazy. He doesn’t even go to his own office and follows our representative around all week.”

 

So that’s what it was.

I wondered what he’d been doing with his life all this time.

 

“How do you know that?”

“I know. I know it well. How desperate must the representative have been to even file a stalking report.”

 

Lim Do-hyuk waved his hands as if he’d seen something he shouldn’t have.

Then he started pushing my body toward the office.

 

“Stop talking nonsense and get to work. You know you have a lot to do.”

“I’m going to resign anyway.”

“Hey, Sung Tae-hyun!”

 

What do I care.

 

It was a very thin thread.

If I let go of the thread right in front of me, I might have to retrace a tangled path.

I pushed off Lim Do-hyuk’s hand and ran toward the entrance.

I didn’t care about the afternoon meeting.

 

I had already submitted the legal opinion and the resignation letter as well.

 

[I think deciding to follow Attorney Kim Ho-shin was a good choice.]

 

It’s just that Sung Tae-hyun’s diary from earlier suddenly flashed through my mind.

 

How did he foresee this?

That diary was written for tomorrow’s date.

That deciding to follow Attorney Kim Ho-shin seemed like a good choice.

 

Really?

This looks like it’s telling me to meet Kim Ho-shin today and cling to him.

 

[Though I’m scared about having to meet the staff at that office.]

[If I do well, I might be able to gain recognition too.]

 

These sentences are the same.

I’ve never heard that Kim Ho-shin has an office.

Even now he’s grabbing Park Ji-hwan by the collar looking like a vagrant.

How could anyone see such a person as a respectable lawyer with an office.

 

‘Let me check.’

 

But I’ve already gone wrong too.

 

Maybe because I died once, Sung Tae-hyun might not be the only one whose personality changed.

I seem to have changed as well.

 

Whether it was my work characteristics becoming part of my personality, I hated doing physical work.

What I was good at was review.

To the end, making judgments by comprehensively analyzing given evidence without prejudging anything.

 

So now, running after this vagrant-looking senior like this didn’t suit Kim Wook-han.

 

“Senior―!”

 

Far away, Kim Ho-shin was sitting slumped in the flower bed in front of the building.

If it hadn’t been for Park Ji-hwan earlier, I wouldn’t have been able to recognize him properly.

 

When did this gentleman who always dressed neatly change like this.

My connection with senior only lasted until we wore judicial robes together, so it’s been several years already.

 

“….”

 

He looked quite broken down.

I caught my breath and slowly approached him again.

 

Still, his eyes were as sharp as ever.

It was the kind of look that reminded me of when we worked together in the District Court Criminal Division.

 

“Senior, I came because I have something to ask.”

 

At my words, his fierce gaze instantly became gentle.

The wrinkles under his eyes were impressive, symbolizing the time that had passed between us.

 

Compared to me wearing Sung Tae-hyun’s mask and looking much younger and more handsome than before, senior looked ready to get into a coffin.

 

…Wait, did I just say senior?

 

“Have we ever met before?”

 

Damn.

A spark of suspicion lit up in Ho-shin senior’s eyes.

 

I should have been more careful.

 

A person I never expected to meet in a place like this suddenly shouted my name at the top of his lungs, causing me to make a mistake.

 

But in times like this, it’s better to be brazen.

At that age anyway, it’s common to not remember faces you’ve seen here and there.

 

When I met Ho-shin senior’s eyes without avoiding them,

as I expected, Ho-shin senior soon burst into hearty laughter.

 

“Haha, my memory has been coming and going lately.”

“…Ah.”

“You’re from Hankook University, I suppose?”

 

…Did he let it slide.

 

It sounds more accurate to say he deliberately let it pass.

Ho-shin senior changed his demeanor instantly and spoke gently.

It was impossible to imagine this was the same person who had been grabbing Park Ji-hwan by the collar and shouting at the top of his lungs just minutes ago.

 

“Yes, I graduated from Korea University Law School.”

“Oh, I see… I showed you quite an unseemly sight up there, junior.”

“Rather, I was the one who was rude in my haste.”

 

When I spoke respectfully, his laughter grew even bigger.

 

Right, he was fundamentally someone who often laughed things off with a hearty chuckle.

Even when preparing for the bar exam for so long that my studio apartment kept moving further up the mountain.

Even when everyone was anxious and sensitive before exams, this senior actually looked after other juniors too.

 

Even in the gossip-filled court, no one dared to speak ill of Ho-shin senior’s character first.

 

“…But, what you wanted to ask….”

 

Let me nip this in the bud before he becomes suspicious again.

I recalled Sung Tae-hyun’s diary.

 

[It seems like following Lawyer Kim Ho-shin was a good choice.]

 

I submitted my resignation letter, and I was the top graduate of the bar exam.

All I have to offer is well-founded confidence that I’ll do good work.

To verify the diary’s contents, I should take at least this much of a gamble.

 

“I heard you’re running an office.”

 

That’s what Lim Do-hyuk said.

 

“…I do have a small office… but how did you….”

 

So it was true.

 

Ho-shin senior trailed off.

Just how small must this office be that even his colleagues at the court don’t know about it?

Even in this state, Ho-shin senior is a former judge turned lawyer.

His accumulated experience is different from Sung Tae-hyun, who’s just a first-year junior lawyer.

 

Though since I’m inside him, it would be correct to consider Sung Tae-hyun also a former judge turned lawyer….

Anyway, unless I put up a sign saying I’m Kim Wook-han, I’m just junior lawyer Sung Tae-hyun.

 

“I’ve been respecting you for a long time.”

 

Once I finished confirming, the lies flowed smoothly.

The diary only had a few lines written like impressions.

I don’t know if it truly predicted facts, or if it’s a novel written by ‘someone’ hoping to make it fact.

 

But I had a strange premonition.

A premonition that if I use Sung Tae-hyun’s Diary well, I could reach Cheondong, which is so far away, more easily.

 

“…Me?”

“Yes.”

“Huh….”

 

Those are eyes that find it hard to believe.

 

I would feel the same way.

He grabbed the Representative Lawyer by the collar and caused a scene, and then a junior lawyer who just ran out from there says he respects him.

 

There’s no bullshit quite like that bullshit.

 

“It’s true. Lawyer.”

 

I subtly corrected the title too.

Kim Ho-shin still seemed to be wavering.

 

Flattery doesn’t suit my nature, but I need to know how to use it appropriately when the time comes.

That was one of the few options available to me, having just fallen from the cradle of Chief Judge.

 

“Judge Kim Wook-han, whom you mentioned earlier, is the person I respect most.”

 

When I suddenly brought up Kim Wook-han’s name, Kim Ho-shin’s eyes flashed.

See, I told you it would be interesting.

 

“You… know Wook-han?”

“Of course.”

 

That’s me, senior.

 

“In my childhood, I was indebted to brother Wook-han’s mother.”

 

Since it was a lie I’d told before, it flowed smoothly even without wetting my lips.

 

“To Wook-han’s mother?”

“Yes, after his mother passed away, I couldn’t meet him much, but we still kept in touch occasionally.”

“…I see.”

 

Kim Ho-shin seemed to be gradually trusting me.

Bringing up the name ‘Kim Wook-han’ in the first place was the key point to opening his heart.

I’d have to find out gradually why he had been calling out to me so desperately.

 

“When I occasionally contacted Wook-han hyung, I heard a lot about you, senior… no, Attorney Kim Ho-shin.”

 

Now tears began to well up in Senior Ho-shin’s sharp eyes.

He was clearly captivated by my touching storytelling.

 

“He said you were the most respectable senior even in the Court that symbolizes justice, and hearing that so much…”

“…”

“I think the word ‘senior’ just slipped out without me realizing it.”

“…Huh…”

“I apologize for the rudeness.”

 

I was good at flattery even on my first try.

See, there’s nothing I can’t do when I put my mind to it.

 

“Wook-han… Yeah, that guy was like a rough stone, but he wasn’t a bad person…”

 

Senior looked into the distance with eyes filled with sentiment.

 

I shouldn’t miss this moment.

I casually turned my gaze left and right to survey the surroundings, then approached Senior Ho-shin closely.

When I lowered my voice considerably, I could feel his tension.

 

“…There are rumors that Wook-han hyung made an extreme choice…”

 

This is real.

 

Cheondong’s name was completely omitted from my death.

Even the investigation wasn’t conducted properly.

 

There was only a single line in an article saying that a Chief Judge of a District Court who was leaving work made an extreme choice at the seaside due to excessive workload.

 

Not a single line of it contained the truth.

 

“I think I know who killed him.”

 

A quiet gaze passed by.

Silence.

A brief moment to gauge each other’s intentions.

 

“You…”

 

After a short silence, Senior Ho-shin’s lips moved.

—————
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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