The Lawyer Who Reads Tomorrow - Chapter 61
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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 61
What is this.
I definitely thought I had grabbed the door handle.
“Ugh….”
A groan escaped through my teeth.
My heart, which had been beating irregularly for a while, was now pounding wildly as if having a seizure.
With the strength leaving my hands, I collapsed and fell to the ground.
‘Get it together.’
Huff, huff, huff.
Ragged breaths leaked out.
An intense emotion I had never felt before surged up and blocked my throat.
I’m dizzy.
Tears I had never shed flowed over my fingers pressed against the ground, wetting my skin.
‘Sung Tae-hyun.’
My condition became strange the moment I met Park Noah’s eyes.
Surprisingly, my reason remained intact.
So again, the unpleasant sensation of my heart beating wildly shook my entire body.
Was it when I first saw ‘Mother’?
It felt the same as back then.
That damn sensation, as if Sung Tae-hyun’s emotions were pushing out my mind as Kim Wook-han and dominating my entire body.
Smack!
A new friction sound burst out from outside the door.
No, this can’t be.
I put all the remaining strength in my fingertips into effort.
But the door was still locked, no one could see me, and my body wouldn’t move.
-Smack!
The sounds that followed made my head so foggy that it was hard to tell if they were reality or the past, or even someone’s memory.
“Again! What did the gospel say?”
An unknown man’s voice echoed loudly through the corridor.
‘Again! Can’t you raise your hand properly? Sung Tae-hyun!’
This is a voice I already know.
Sung Tae-hyun’s ‘Mother.’
But why would the memories of a woman who seems to have no connection to Cardia shake my mind this much?
I panted and clawed at the ground.
It was an action I hadn’t intended.
Unmanaged concrete debris pricked my fingertips.
“Please, forgive… sob… I was wrong… I….”
‘I, I was wrong, Mother… ugh….’
Blurry images overlapped.
Park Noah being forced to recite the gospel by the man in the black mask.
And Sung Tae-hyun’s memories of unknown origin shook my foggy mind one after another.
“What punishment should Satan receive?”
This was the man in the black mask,
‘Can’t you get your act together? What did I say I’d do to you if your grades drop again this time?’
This was Mother.
“Pu, purification….”
Park Noah answered,
‘You’d, you’d dump me… at the orphanage.’
Sung Tae-hyun answered, his voice blurred as if from an old memory.
So, damn it.
‘PTSD flashback.’
It was a typical trauma response.
I had seen it before.
Though it wasn’t a case I had handled.
Especially child abuse victims often showed this kind of reaction even after their bodies had grown.
…Once carved memories don’t easily fade.
That’s because the nervous system reacts first, not the brain.
‘I didn’t know Sung Tae-hyun’s body would remember the trauma though.’
Somehow, I had a bitter taste in my mouth.
It felt like I had found the limits of Sung Tae-hyun’s body.
The body consumed by trauma was scratching at the ground on its own and shedding tears.
Was that all?
My heart was beating roughly and my breathing was uneven with breath rising up to my chin.
My head was foggy because oxygen wasn’t being supplied properly.
I muttered coldly as if whipping my hazy mind into focus.
‘Sung Tae-hyun.’
The feeling of observing the body’s changes from a third person’s perspective was quite unfamiliar.
But I had to control it anyway.
While I was wasting time outside the door, Park Noah was being abused.
‘So, let’s set aside your trauma for now.’
Not forever, just for a very brief moment.
Thump, thump, thump.
My body trembled as my heart beat roughly as if disagreeing.
This is quite troublesome.
How was it when I met ‘Mother’?
The memory of that time wasn’t clear.
I think I roughly comforted Sung Tae-hyun.
If I let go of the thread of reason even slightly, I felt like I would get swept up in Sung Tae-hyun’s PTSD.
‘Sung Tae-hyun.’
The voices of unfamiliar men flowing out from inside the room were still echoing in this corridor.
So absorbed in abuse that they didn’t even know there was an intruder outside.
‘Don’t create one more victim like you.’
A cool sensation enveloped my entire body as if cold water had been poured over my head.
…Was it working?
‘If it hurt enough to have a seizure while looking at Park Noah.’
Just a little more.
‘Wouldn’t it be more comfortable to save the victim rather than waste time like this?’
Thump, thump, thump.
As if answering, my heart that had been beating irregularly began to slowly calm down.
Sung Tae-hyun’s emotions that had been surging up to my head were reducing in volume.
“Ugh… Cough, cough.”
I coughed convulsively and wiped away the cold sweat.
The trembling in my fingertips, which had been scratching the ground on their own and were now dotted with blood drops, also stopped.
And.
‘I’ve been caught.’
The door opened.
“…Well, this is…”
A light man’s voice echoed from above my head.
“I didn’t expect you to find your way here, Mr. Sung Tae-hyun.”
A man wearing a pitch-black mask slowly removed his mask.
“It would have been better if you had just quietly prepared for baptism.”
Kim Yo-han.
He was the leader of this insane cult.
* * *
“Do you know this? Park Mu-hyun Cerius thinks quite highly of you, Mr. Sung Tae-hyun.”
By the time my breathing returned, Kim Yo-han slowly continued speaking.
His gaze went toward my bloodied fingertips and then back up.
I barely managed to stand up and leaned against the wall.
“I think so too.”
Just like a con artist who had led a cult for a long time.
He continued speaking leisurely even in this situation.
Even after showing me a scene that shouldn’t have been seen by an outsider like me, he didn’t seem surprised at all.
‘Even revealing his face.’
Behind him, those who formed a circle hiding Park Noah all seemed to be VVIPs.
I had seen them before.
Those who were closest to Kim Yo-han when he was giving his speech at the dinner banquet.
…Would Lim Sang-jin also be here?
However, since they all had their faces covered, it wasn’t easy to recognize them.
“…That’s precisely why I paired my younger sister with you.”
Kim Yo-han clicked his tongue as if feeling sorry.
I slowly stood up, brushing the dust off my body.
I see.
So the woman named Elucia was Kim Yo-han’s younger sister.
He even sold out his own sister to prevent Lim Do-i and me from stirring things up.
What a remarkable lunatic.
“You couldn’t endure just those few hours and caused this incident…”
He let out a long sigh.
“What are you doing to the Child?”
Seeing Park Noah made my trembling breath burst out again.
Damn Sung Tae-hyun.
I tried to slowly steady my breathing.
Even if it’s a traumatic reaction, still.
‘Not now.’
I can’t collapse again.
I casually rubbed my ears that were buzzing as if submerged in water.
Could he hear the irregular pounding of my heart?
Kim Yo-han was smiling.
“We’re performing purification.”
“Purification?”
Kim Yo-han cleared his throat.
The cult leader slowly turned around and made the others who had participated in abusing the Child with him step aside.
The Boy, who seemed to have already fainted with his eyes closed, caught my attention first.
Thump, thump, thump.
My heartbeat irregularly struck against my ribs.
I forced myself to ignore it and looked at Kim Yo-han.
“This Child is possessed by Satan.”
“Ha.”
However, when I heard these words, I couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh.
…Satan?
As I looked around at them in bewilderment, Kim Yo-han spoke gently as if he had expected this.
“Are you surprised? You have every right to be. You’re an outsider, after all.”
“So, what are you doing?”
“Exactly what I said. Park Noah Lucemiel. We’re purifying this Child.”
Park Noah was much thinner compared to the Photos Lim Do-i had shown me.
Considering the people who had been spouting nonsense until just moments ago, it was a natural result.
Kim Yo-han gently lifted Park Noah and continued speaking to me.
“This Child became possessed by Satan and caused his mother and father to separate.”
It was garbage talk not worth responding to.
“As you know, Park Mu-hyun Cerius wanted to meet Miss Lim Do-i to make the path of Ecclesia 111 shine even brighter.”
Does Lim Do-i know about this?
I’ll have to ask her if I get out of here.
Depending on Lim Do-i’s answer, I’m also considering switching her identity to that of a child abuse Perpetrator.
“But… unfortunately, because Satan possessed this Child’s body, Miss Lim Do-i chose divorce. Leaving blemishes on the path of following Ecclesia 111 is an unforgivable sin.”
“You have quite an imagination.”
“Hahaha. Well now… I suppose it might look that way from an outsider’s perspective.”
Kim Yo-han was smiling as if he found it amusing.
He soon placed the Child on a Mobile Bed.
Where are they planning to take him?
One of those who had been standing silently was gripping the Child’s bed rail and rolling the wheels.
“In other words, that’s how it is. Once Satan leaves our Park Noah Lucemiel’s body, Miss Lim Do-i will return.”
“…!”
“Are you saying you’re abusing a Child just because of a divorce?”
That’s when it happened.
“Just a divorce?!”
Park Mu-hyun’s voice, which I had been trying to find for days, burst out.
I see,
Park Mu-hyun was involved in abusing his own son.
The corner of my mouth almost lifted at Evidence I didn’t even need to fabricate, then dropped back down.
Of course, that’s only when the camera was working properly.
Anyway, not surprisingly, I had been filming all the events of these past few days with the mobile phone camera hidden between my chest.
“…Park Mu-hyun.”
The man roughly tore off his mask and threw it away.
The people around him tried to block his way as if to stop him, but Park Mu-hyun was quite agitated.
Was he originally this kind of person?
He looked quite different from when I saw him at the office.
“Lawyer Sung Tae-hyun, do you think I’m joking right now?”
Park Mu-hyun roughly approached and grabbed me by the collar.
His eyes were blazing with fire.
“Yes.”
When I answered, his face became even more furious.
“A joke? A joke? The sacred ritual to drive out the Satan that has possessed my son, right now. You think it looks like a joke?”
This won’t be easy. Park Mu-hyun was quite a serious cult member.
At this point, I feel sorry for Lim Do-i.
No matter how much it’s a political marriage, marrying a fanatic. Lim Sang-jin is definitely trash.
“That’s right.”
“Ha, you’re crazy. Completely crazy.”
“Aren’t you the ones who are crazy? I’m in a very rational state.”
The plan had already gone awry.
The plan to cooperate with these cult members and endure until Sunday before escaping.
When I entered the center of this creepy fanatic cult, it was already a plan that had crumbled to pieces like tissue paper.
“Driving a child with Satan and abusing him. You deserve to be divorced. Maybe you got divorced because you did such strange things normally?”
Park Mu-hyun’s lips trembled.
It was true that I provoked him childishly, but it was also words filled with raw emotions.
Right?
“Sung, Tae-hyun, lawyer.”
He bit his lips and cut off his words.
“Do you really think… you’ll be able to return home alive and well-“
His hand gripping my collar trembled.
Just as he was about to spit out words like some kind of curse.
“…!”
The sound of several footsteps began to echo loudly through the corridor I had entered from.
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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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