The Lawyer Who Reads Tomorrow - Chapter 51
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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 51
Lim Do-i ignored my warning.
It’s a situation that was somewhat predictable.
It’s also common for lawyers who specialize in domestic cases.
But she got hurt?
“You’re saying Lim Do-i got hurt?”
Lim Do-hyuk nodded with a dark expression.
“Because of Park Mu-hyun?”
“Yeah.”
I’ll need to think about that.
Depending on the situation, it could be taken as assault.
When I kept my mouth shut, Lim Do-hyuk’s gaze cautiously turned toward me.
“Park Mu-hyun’s side contacted us too.”
Now that’s surprising.
“Tell me straight, senior. Get to the point, conclusion first.”
“Hey. You’re really young, why are you talking like our Partner Lawyer?”
Thinking about the Partner Lawyer I left at Haeil while on vacation.
“Get to the point.”
“Fine.”
However, Lim Do-hyuk seemed to be reading my mood.
It also seemed like his thoughts weren’t fully organized.
“What is it then?”
“…Let’s settle this. That’s what Park Mu-hyun’s side contacted us about.”
Ah.
I could roughly picture the conversation that took place.
It seems Park Mu-hyun’s side made quite a mistake.
“Why?”
I asked out of courtesy.
I should at least know what happened.
“It seems my sister getting hurt was their mistake.”
“Of course it was. What did they do and how badly for them to want to settle?”
“…I haven’t been able to meet my sister yet, but according to their explanation…”
Lim Do-hyuk’s lips moved several times.
“They said my sister secretly came to that house and charged at them.”
“When, why, and for what purpose?”
“You sound like that department head, no, Partner Lawyer-“
“Senior.”
Seeing how he keeps deflecting, it seems Lim Do-hyuk has something he feels guilty about too.
And I really hate conversations that go around in circles like this.
“…Fine. I’ll tell you.”
Lim Do-hyuk let out a long sigh, raised both hands, and rubbed his face several times.
Does that young guy even know he has the exact same habit as his sister?
“A little while ago. I think it was past ten o’clock.”
“And?”
“According to them, Park Mu-hyun was just getting in the car with the sleeping child to go to the family home… that is, Chairman Park Chang-beom’s house.”
“At that time?”
Well, it’s not completely unreasonable.
“There must have been circumstances. But they said my sister saw that and suddenly charged at them.”
So why?
The Lim Do-i I spoke with wasn’t an unreasonable person.
Of course, she still had anger toward her ex-husband, but she was especially careful when it came to matters involving the child.
She even promised to be more careful after I said I would submit the response brief to the restraining order application.
But suddenly she charged at them?
“Something seems to be missing.”
“I answered based on what I heard. I just got the call myself.”
“What’s the conclusion?”
Lim Do-hyuk seemed to be contemplating.
The man who had been staring at the empty space behind the office for a moment slowly opened his mouth.
“Park Mu-hyun told the driver to depart, but the driver seemed a bit flustered.”
“So?”
“In the process of departing, while trying to avoid my sister charging at them-“
“…?”
“They lightly hit my sister’s body with the car. And ran over her foot too.”
Ah, now I understand.
I reconsidered my assessment of Lim Do-i.
This woman isn’t crazy for no reason.
“Park Mu-hyun apologized to me. He admitted his wrongdoing too.”
“…And?”
“He said he’d withdraw the restraining order application. He thinks he was wrong about it.”
I almost clapped for him but stopped myself.
What a confused expression.
At this point, doesn’t it seem like Lim Do-i’s family owes some kind of debt to Park Mu-hyun’s family?
“In exchange for not reporting it, I suppose.”
“…Yeah. You’ve gotten pretty quick on the uptake.”
I’ve been rolling around in this field for decades, so it would be problematic if my intuition stayed the same.
“My sister was hospitalized at a hospital that Father knows. She wasn’t seriously injured.”
Even his last words, recited like excuses, were ridiculous.
I believed in not meddling in other people’s family affairs, but well.
Lim Do-i was my client.
So to some extent, I had responsibility too.
“…Sung Tae-hyun, you’re not thinking something strange again, are you?”
Lim Do-hyuk’s sunken gaze reached my face with persistent intensity, as if trying to pierce through it.
He began speaking in a gentle voice, as if trying to appease me.
“Since I’m the one who commissioned this, I have no intention of getting back the retainer I already paid.”
“….”
“Since things are settled with Park Mu-hyun’s side, the restraining order application will be withdrawn soon. Oh, and they said they’d resume interview negotiations once my sister recovers from her injuries.”
It was an interesting proposal.
Considering Lim Sang-jin and Haeil, it wouldn’t be a bad decision.
Putting even his own blood on the negotiation table was very much like Lim Sang-jin.
I don’t know what kind of person Park Chang-beom is, but Park Mu-hyun might resemble Lim Sang-jin even more than Lim Do-i does.
And I don’t like him for that.
“I think you’re mistaken, senior.”
At my answer, Lim Do-hyuk’s lips pressed tightly together.
“…Sung Tae-hyun.”
“My client isn’t you, senior, but Ms. Lim Do-i.”
“…Hey.”
“You just provided the money.”
“Sung Tae-hyun!”
Now I understand why Sung Tae-hyun’s Diary was so wary of Lim Do-hyuk.
His hidden side, which I couldn’t see properly at Haeil, was revealed so easily.
“Whether to report or not will entirely depend on Ms. Lim Do-i’s opinion.”
“Hey!”
The empty office echoed with his voice.
“You should think carefully too, senior.”
“…You’re crossing the line right now-“
“Whether I cross the line or not, that’s for you to figure out, senior.”
“….”
Lim Do-hyuk still showed his youth.
“It seems Park Mu-hyun’s side is quite important to you and your family, senior.”
“….”
“Just taking what Father gives you like that, can you really take over Haeil?”
And provocations work easily on young guys.
Lim Do-hyuk’s eyes, which had been reddening with anger at me, slowly settled.
“What are you saying right now….”
“Senior.”
“….”
“Use your head a little. You call yourself Haeil’s successor?”
“…Hey.”
“At this rate, even after 10 years, you won’t be able to take over Haeil.”
I should go meet Lim Do-i.
* * *
[I accepted the deal that Park Mu-hyun’s side offered.]
[I didn’t even work much, but I made good money.]
[Maybe I should have another beef dinner.]
“Geez.”
Did he dislike Lim Do-i’s case that much?
Sung Tae-hyun, who I thought was taciturn until now, was quite talkative.
As if he’d stop at nothing to persuade me.
“You’re noisy.”
[I am not noisy.]
[Text is meant to be read, not heard.]
Look at this.
Now he was even responding to everything I said.
I don’t know if it was a coincidence or if it was really trying to talk to me,
but Sung Tae-hyun’s Diary was steadily trying to interfere with my actions.
Of course, ever since I went into the freezer, it hadn’t tried to hurt my hands like before.
“Want to be frozen again?”
No answer this time.
It doesn’t matter either way.
I don’t care what the diary mutters about, but I can’t have my body getting hurt.
If freezing was effective, then next time I’ll do it again—
[…I reported it, but they couldn’t catch the culprit.]
[I’m sorry to Ms. Lim Do-i, but this is all I can do.]
Again, Sung Tae-hyun displayed new text under tomorrow’s date and said nothing more.
The words he had written as if rebelling against me had already disappeared.
“…I reported it, but they couldn’t catch the culprit.”
Lim Do-hyuk said Park Mu-hyun’s side had already admitted fault.
Then it’s safe to assume they’ve already deleted anything that could serve as evidence.
However, Sung Tae-hyun’s prophecy is about ‘tomorrow.’
I put the diary in my bag and moved into the large hospital.
“He does have good connections.”
A large general hospital located in Seoul.
I had contacted Lim Do-i this morning and confirmed the visiting time.
Lim Do-i was admitted to a private room in this hospital, where even getting a reservation wouldn’t be easy for ordinary people.
“Oh, you’re here, lawyer?”
When I knocked and entered, a woman who looked even paler than before was lying on the hospital room bed.
One foot wrapped tightly in bandages on the unrealistically white sheets.
The leg elevated on the support frame at the foot of the bed looked more serious than I had expected.
“Just stay lying down.”
When I spoke, the woman who had been struggling to sit up stopped moving.
Lim Do-i smiled awkwardly and buried her head back into the pillow.
“I must look quite a mess… I had emergency surgery yesterday…”
“Not at all.”
I slowly walked over and sat in the chair beside her bed.
The arm connected to what appeared to be pain medication IV fluid, the leg wrapped in bandages, and her gaunt face.
Would it be possible to have a conversation in this condition?
While I was briefly contemplating, Lim Do-i spoke first.
“I wasn’t trying to break my promise with you, lawyer.”
To think she’d worry about that first in this situation.
The woman had her eyes downcast as if she was truly sorry.
She looked like a child being scolded by a teacher.
“I just… suddenly became so anxious. I really didn’t intend to, but my body reacted first.”
“I see.”
When I answered calmly, Lim Do-i paused for a moment and swallowed.
“…I’m sorry.”
“Not at all.”
There’s nothing to be sorry about.
Lim Do-i slowly let out a long sigh.
“This morning, Do-hyuk and my brother also got a call.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. My ex-husband’s side said they would… withdraw the restraining order application…”
This was the main point.
I looked at the pale-faced woman for a moment.
Whatever Lim Do-i’s decision, I just need to do my best as her attorney.
Worth about the fifty million won that Lim Do-hyuk paid on her behalf.
“What would you like me to do?”
However, at my words, Lim Do-i froze slightly.
It didn’t seem like that difficult a question.
The woman who had been looking up at me silently for a few seconds smiled briefly.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I know it’s your job, lawyer, but…”
“Yes.”
“It’s been so long since I heard someone say that.”
What does she mean?
“Just choose what you want. I’ll do whatever Ms. Lim Do-i decides.”
When I said this as if urging an answer, the woman smiled gently despite her pale complexion.
I had thought she looked exactly like Lim Do-hyuk, but it wasn’t quite to that extent.
Lim Do-i was indeed Lim Do-i.
She was different from Lim Do-hyuk.
“I have something like maternal instinct. Of course, you might not believe it.”
“I believe you.”
Believing the client is a lawyer’s fate.
“…I went because I was anxious. I felt like something dangerous was happening to Noah. But….”
“Yes.”
“I ran into my ex-husband at the apartment entrance. Noah was… sleeping, but something was a bit strange.”
If he was sleeping, then he was sleeping, but strange?
“…It was strange. Really. The child was completely limp, and his face was too red… I wondered what was wrong, so I ran to my… no, my ex-husband.”
“Yes.”
“He was taking the child away in some van. Even though he definitely saw me.”
…A van?
“Did Park Mu-hyun drive it himself?”
“No! That was strange too.”
Lim Do-i slightly frowned as if digging through her memories of that night.
Even while pressing her temples hard as if her head hurt, the woman continued speaking.
“I’d never seen a car like that before. Like a van…? We didn’t have a car like that at our house.”
Good.
Lim Do-hyuk said Park Mu-hyun’s driver drove the car.
And that he accidentally hit Lim Do-i.
But Lim Do-i described seeing that car for the first time.
“Did you know the driver?”
“No. It was a man I’d never seen before. And that person….”
Hit Lim Do-i.
Lim Do-i’s words were correct.
It was a strange situation.
“…As soon as my ex-husband saw my face, he ran and shoved Noah into the van as if hiding him. And… yes, he hit me while driving away.”
If he already had the child, what could have happened that required him to urgently take the child away at that time?
Moreover, no matter how things had turned out, Lim Do-i was Park Mu-hyun’s former spouse.
Even knowing that such a woman had been hit by a car, he just disappeared without taking any action?
“Lawyer.”
I turned my gaze toward the woman. Her eyes, which seemed somehow firmer than before, looked at me.
“…I want to report this.”
On Lim Do-i’s pale face, only her eyes seemed alive.
“I can’t do this anymore. I can’t wait any longer. I’ve waited too much already, until now.”
She spoke clearly even while panting as if her chest felt tight.
“I don’t want to endure it anymore. Please help me.”
I nodded.
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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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